Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C. or any of its characters. Everything belongs to FOX and Josh Schwartz.
Kirsten and Sandy made the decision to try IVF first. And they had even tried a second time when the first time she failed to get pregnant. And when that failed, they attempted to try out surrogacy. They went through many candidates until they found whom they thought would be the perfect donor. But then she had a miscarriage. They then turned to adoption. After a long wait, they managed to find a young and healthy sixteen year old girl who wanted to give up her baby when it was born. And as the due date of the teen's baby girl approached, Sandy and Kirsten were starting to believe it would work out this time. They bought all the things they were going to need and set up the room for the baby. They even picked out a name: Rose, after Kirsten's late mother. But they were devastated when the teenager changed her mind after the baby was born, when her boyfriend came back into the picture.
It had been two weeks since the adoption fell through and Kirsten had been hauled up in their bedroom for most of the time since. She had done minimal work from home and only the work that was most crucial. Her father, Caleb, was no help with actually helping Kirsten through that tough time. He only cared about her being able to return to work. And his attempts to help only insulted her. He would insinuate that the baby wasn't even hers and she shouldn't be hung up on something that was never hers. Meanwhile, Sandy tried to be there for her the best he could. He understood what she was going through; he was going through the same. The baby was going to be his as well; he also lost that child. But there was only so much he could do as she continued to push him further and further away. But he was never going to stop trying.
While Kirsten was up in bed, Sandy had to answer a call from her father. Sandy only picked up the phone when he had continuously tried calling and by the fifth time, Sandy had enough of it. Clearly, he can't take a hint. "Cal, I don't know when she will be able to take your call, let alone come back into work." Sandy rolled my eyes as he went on again with his opinions over the matter. "Well, to be frank, I wasn't asking for your opinion. And now if you'll excuse I am going to check on my wife." Sandy slammed the phone down after he hung up the call. He'll never understand how Kirsten could deal with him.
Sandy went upstairs and then into the bedroom. Kirsten was turned on her side, away from the door. "Was that my father?" She asked, speaking softly.
"Yeah." Sandy nodded. "Don't worry, I got rid of him." He sat down on the bed, moving up closer to Kirsten. She shuffled away in response but Sandy ignored her attempts to push him away as he wrapped his arms around her.
"He just doesn't understand why I care so much about a child that wasn't mine." Kirsten's voice cracked.
"He is probably wondering when we're going to return the baby stuff." Sandy replied, but regretted it instantly. Well that was a stupid thing to say. "I'm sorry, honey."
"Rose was our baby!" Kirsten was at the point where she was angrier than she was upset.
"She was supposed to be." Sandy nodded. And though he wasn't showing it as much as Kirsten was, but the adoption going south truly killed him. He was looking forward to having another baby in the house. He was looking forward to having a daughter. "But we did know the risks."
"Are we just not meant to have another child?" Kirsten flipped over and looked at Sandy. He moved the hair away from her face and behind her ear.
"Don't say that." Sandy didn't want her to give up. He certainly hadn't given up yet.
"Why not? We keep trying and nothing is working." Kirsten was frustrated. "We haven't even been called about a foster placement. And we know that those could just be temporary or not work at all." Kirsten was beginning to wonder if all this trouble was worth given how much pain it caused them. "Maybe we should just cut our losses. We have Seth and we love him." She was starting to think that maybe one child would be enough and they should just put this thing to rest.
"Yes we do love him." Sandy never denied that.
"Maybe we're only meant to have one child."
"Do you want another child?" Sandy asked.
"Sandy—" Kirsten thought they had already gone over this. And she had just explained to him what she was feeling. "I know we talked about the risks before, but nothing is working out." She was starting to believe the universe was telling her something. That maybe they should give this up and focus on Seth completely.
"That's not what I asked you." Sandy pointed out. "Do you want another child?"
"Yes, I do." She admitted. She had been upfront about that since before they found out she couldn't get pregnant again. Of course her wanting another child hadn't changed.
"Then let's keeping trying." Sandy encouraged.
"Really? After all this, you still want to try?" Kirsten was surprised.
"I know this is hard and believe me, I understand what you're feeling. Not being that little girl's dad killed me." He truly had been looking forward to it. He had thought this had been it. "But you know maybe we weren't meant to be her parents. Maybe there is a kid out there that really needs us." Sandy believed that it would happen, but they would never know for sure if they threw in the towel now.
"You really believe that?"
Sandy nodded. "I do." He placed a kiss on her forehead. "So what do you say?"
"Okay." Kirsten nodded, reluctantly. Something about what Sandy said made her want to try for a bit longer.
Then the phone started to ring. Sandy went and looked at the caller ID before answering it. "Hello? Yes, this is Sandy Cohen." He smiled slightly and put a hand over to phone, turning to Kirsten. "It's the fostering agency." He told her before putting the phone back to his ear. "Yes, yes we can be there in an hour. Thank you for calling." He hung up the phone.
"The fostering agency?" Kirsten wondered if that call was what they were hoping for.
"They want us to come and talk about a possible placement." Sandy smiled and then Kirsten got up from the bed and he embraced her. He then kissed her on the lips and Kirsten let out an excited noise in response.
"Thank you for not letting me give up." It seemed the universe was listening. And this might be the moment they were waiting for.
Kirsten and Sandy got cleaned up and ready and then headed over to the fostering agency. They waited for a few moments before being brought back into an office and meeting with their agent, along with a social worker. "Kirsten, Sandy, good to see you."
"Likewise." Kirsten replied to their agent, pleasantly. Sandy gave a firm nod as he shook their agent's hand.
"This is Pam." She introduced the social worker. Kirsten and Sandy shook hands with the tall blonde woman and then took a seat. They could only assume that she was the social worker of the possible placement. "Anyways, we asked you here to discuss a possible placement."
"Well, great." Kirsten tried to keep neutral, but she found it difficult. She was excited that this could work out. But given their history with past attempts, she was trying not to get her hopes up too soon.
Pam took a photo out from the file she was holding in her left hand and handed it to Sandy and Kirsten. "This is Ryan. He's been in care for a little over a year." She then went onto explain a little bit about him. "His mother is an alcoholic and according to him, she kicked him out. We tried to locate his father but were unsuccessful." She explained.
"How old is he?" Sandy asked. He could tell from the picture that the boy was fairly young. He looked no more than a few years younger than their son.
"Seven." Pam answered. That was the same age as Seth.
"His mother kicked out a seven year old?" Kirsten asked, finding that almost hard to believe. How could a mother abandon their child? Especially one so young.
"It appears so." Pam nodded. "Anyways, he's been through a few foster homes in the year. Most of them have been crowded and the most recent one, they are requesting that he is not returned." Kirsten was going to ask a question but found herself unable to as Pam continued. "We were thinking it might be better if Ryan was placed in a less crowded home. You only have one son, correct?"
"Yes, Seth. He's the same age." Kirsten thought it could be nice to bring in someone around the same age. "So you're recommending he be placed with us?"
"A lot of foster homes are filled. You are fairly new to the system and your home situation is ideal." Their agent, Taryn, chimed in. "Ryan needs to be in a proper environment and we believe that could be in your home."
"But we do have to tell you about some circumstances." Pam added.
"What circumstances?" Sandy asked.
"Just a few days ago, Ryan was arrested for shopping lifting." Pam said and then looked through his file. "And there's some notations of violence—"
"Violence?" That concerned Kirsten.
"He's had a lot to overcome and his previous homes weren't able to provide the proper environment he needs." Pam went on, flipping through. "You know how kids can be."
Sandy knew how foster families could be. From his line of work, he had seen many kids from the wrong side of the tracks. He knew where they come from could take a part in how people see you and how you can react. Sandy understood though it didn't seem like Pam knew how to properly explain. "Did you just get this case?"
Pam nodded, "I am still catching up. But I know the details."
Sandy figured as much. Not well apparently. "Well, could you give Kirsten and I a few minutes to discuss this?" Sandy knew it would be better if they weren't in the room, putting the pressure on them.
"Of course." Pam and Taryn left the room.
"I don't know, Sandy." Kirsten sighed once the two women had left the room and shut the door behind them. "I mean, we have Seth to think about." The facts about an arrest and mentioning violence worried her.
"I know." Sandy understood where she was coming from. "But think about it." He could make a case in his defense. "You've heard stories about certain foster homes." Kirsten nodded. "We don't know the details or the circumstances. But I am going to take a guess and say that the kid was being defensive. How violent could a seven year old really be?"
"I guess you have a point." Kirsten was still worried. He could end up hurting Seth.
"Listen, what I gather from this is that this Ryan has a pretty rough start to life. And it doesn't seem be getting better." Sandy thought living in Bronx was hard until some of the cases he had seen come across his desk. "This might be his best chance. We could help him."
"You want him, don't you?" Kirsten knew her husband and she could tell that he was pushing for this kid.
"I just have a good feeling." Sandy admitted. "Look, we decided to give this a try and I feel like we should give this a try; this kid deserves a second chance."
Kirsten smiled slightly. "Alright, we'll give it a shot."
A/N: I apologize for the long wait but I have many WIPs and I needed to figure out what to do next. Anyways, the Cohens made the reluctant decision to foster Ryan. He is going to go home with them next chapter. His new social worker, Pam, is portrayed by Gwendoline Christie.
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