DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
Ok, well here's the next chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews. I hope you like this chapter. I don't think its too good but I could see this happening if the show had continued and Caleb had came back from the grave. Also, I've said it before, that this story is going to be extra long and I now have another idea I want to incorporate into this fic so this story is definitely going to be long. I hope that's all right. Well, let me know what y'all think!
Julie had left the pitcher of tea she had been making out on the counter and as Sandy and she entered the kitchen she saw it, remembering how she had planned on her day going. Julie walked over to the pitcher, no longer in the mood for tea, she was definitely going to need something a lot stronger. Dear God, if she needed something stronger to cope with the revelation of Caleb being alive what would that mean for Kirsten, a recovering alcoholic.
"Sandy, do you have an alcohol?" Julie asked, turning to face Sandy, almost as angry at him as she was Caleb.
"Yeah but Julie, I don't think getting smashed is going to help anything," Sandy said, not wanting to add anything that would make the situation any worse than it already was.
"I'm not gonna drink it dumb $$, I'm gonna pour it out. What do you think Kirsten is going to do when she finds out he's alive?" Julie rolled her eyes, growing more and more annoyed with Sandy.
Sandy stood there a moment, thinking about what Julie had said. From the moment he had answered his phone the night before, recognizing the voice, he had worried about how Kirsten would react, and unfortunately Sandy knew that she would probably end up relapsing again. He hated the thought of it and even though he wanted to have more faith in her and her will power he knew that a situation as sensitive as a father coming back from the grave would drive anyone to drink.
"Good idea Julie, it's in the freezer!" Sandy said as he walked over to the freezer and pulled out a unopened bottle of wine and nearly full bottle of vodka. Sandy then walked to the sink and began to unscrew the lid to the vodka. Julie watched as Sandy began to tilt the bottle and a few drops began to fall to the sink and begin to flow down the drain.
"Let me have that!" Julie said as she pulled the bottle away from Sandy, salvaging the last half of the bottle. She quickly put the bottle to her lips and downed a few ounces, closing her eyes as the cool liquid cascaded down her throat, setting her mouth and throat on fire. "Here!" Julie said as she handed the bottle back to Sandy, already beginning to feel the effect of the couple of ounces she had just drank. Sandy looked at Julie questioningly for a moment then continued to pour the vodka down the sink. He then opened a near by drawer and began pulling out the cork screw when he heard something that sent chills down his spine. It was so faint that he did not know if he had heard anything at all but when he heard something crashing against the wall he knew that his worst fear was about to be played out right in front of him. Sandy and Julie quickly ran into the living room, both knowing that Kirsten was home.
Caleb had not known what to expect when he saw Kirsten for the first time in person in over five years but the one thing he did not expect was to be ducking a flying bottle of Children's Tylenol. Sure enough though Kirsten's first reaction to seeing Caleb standing in the living room was to send the medicine she had picked up for Sophie flying at her father's head. Caleb had seen the flying object and ducked, luckily for Caleb he had seen the bottle in time and did not meet the messy fate that the wall behind him had. The wall was covered in the sticky, red liquid making the room smell like cherries as the medicine ran down the walls and dripped onto the floor.
Sandy and Julie came running into the living room just as Kirsten fell to the ground, her body shaking as she began to sob. Sandy quickly ran past Caleb, shoving him out of the way. Sandy wrapped his arms around Kirsten and kissed her temple, trying to soothe her.
"Kirsten, honey, everything's gonna be ok, I promise!" Sandy said, knowing that he could not promise that. Kirsten buried her face into his chest as fresh tears sprang to her eyes.
"Kiki, I…" Caleb began as he took a step toward Kirsten.
"Don't you dare!" Kirsten growled, pulling away from Sandy and quickly standing to her feet. "Don't call me Kiki you bstrd! Get out of my house, I don't want to see you ever again!" Kirsten said in a low, shaky voice. Kirsten then turned around and began to walk out of the living room, trying as hard as she could to keep herself under control.
"Kirsten, please, let me explain!" Caleb called pleadingly after her. Kirsten stopped in her tracks upon hearing words that had been muttered by Caleb too many times for her to count.
The first time she had heard those words she had been four years old, when she had found Caleb putting presents under the Christmas tree with tags that said they were from Santa. She had heard those words many times after that but the second time she had heard those words had been when she had been applying to college and Caleb had hidden her acceptance letter to Berkley from her. He had then said for her to let him explain. The third time had been when he had called her the morning of her wedding, telling her that he would not be able to walk her down the isle. And since she had began working for him at the Newport Group she had heard those exact same words too many times. Every time she heard those words Caleb was trying to protect himself from her anger and hatred and each time she had heard those words she had forgiven him and went on about her daily life. But as those words escaped his lips, words she had not heard in over five years, she could feel all the years of anger and hatred she felt toward him and those five little words surge through her body.
"Explain what? Explain that you faked your death to probably save your own $$ at the expense of your family?! Explain that you would do anything to make sure you didn't get punished even if it meant putting your family through hell? Is that what you want to explain? Is it you cold hearted B$TRD?!" Kirsten shrieked as she ran toward him, her hands clenched tightly in fists as she began beating on his chest, hoping to inflict as much pain on him as he had on her.
"Kirsten!" Sandy said as he grabbed her around the waist, trying to pull her off of Caleb.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Kirsten screamed at Sandy, shoving him off of her as she continued to pound on Caleb's chest. Caleb continued to stand there, not putting up a fight to calm his daughter down or to shield himself from the blows to his chest and stomach that were beginning to hurt more and more each time she hit him.
"Kirsten, calm down, you're gonna wake the kids!" Julie said as she grabbed Kirsten's wrists, pulling her away from Caleb.
"LET ME GO JULIE!" Kirsten screamed once again.
"No!" Julie's voice was filled with domination as she looked Kirsten in the eyes. Kirsten stopped struggling to get free of Julie's grasp, shocked that her best friend would raise her voice to her and speak to her in that tone. Kirsten slowly began to unclench her fists and began backing away from Julie. Julie let go of Kirsten's wrists and Kirsten began backing up, too numb to notice that she had bumped into Sandy.
"Honey, please calm down!" Sandy whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his strong arms, creating a shield that would protect her from everything. Kirsten began sobbing once again as she stood in the living room, looking Caleb straight in the face as Sandy held her protectively in his arms and Julie stood beside of her, scared that she would try and attack Caleb again. Sandy began gently stroking Kirsten's hair as she covered her face with her hands, not wanting Caleb to see that he still had the power to reduce her to tears. Kirsten could not see what was going on but felt Julie put her cold hand on her shoulder then wrapped her arm around her and pulled her close for a hug as Sandy still held her.
Caleb stood watching the entire meltdown, too shocked to see Kirsten to say or do anything. He had not realized what this could mean for Kirsten but as he watched his daughter, a woman that was stronger than he had ever been, a woman that had faced more in her life than he had in his, crumbled into a small ball, her husband and best friend holding her, he realized just how much he had hurt her.
Curiosity, much like the tendency to ramble on and on, was an inherited Cohen trait and when Sophie had been awoken from her nap by the sound of screaming she was determined to see what was going on. She had heard screaming many times before but this scream was different. Instead of the screaming like she did when she got hurt or was told 'no' this scream sounded different. She had heard different screams from her own, like the time Seth had found that she had cut up his Superman comic book to make Captain Oats a bed of hay. Or the time her Mommy had found a mouse in the garage. She had even heard Taylor scream when Ryan and she had been locked in Ryan's room at night but the scream that had shaken her from dreams of new Barbie's and new dresses was a different scream. The scream scared her but she knew that she had to go see what was going on, make sure that no one was hurt or that there were no more mice lurking around the corner.
Slipping out of her bed Sophie noticed Blake lying on the foot of her bed, his Curious George doll wrapped tightly in his arms. Sophie rolled her eyes at her friend, he had obviously wandered into her room when the movie he had been watching in Ryan's room had went off. Sophie grabbed the pink and purple blanket that had hearts on it off her Cinderella chair and draped it over Blake. She had seen her Mommy do that several times when her Daddy would fall asleep in front of the television. Sophie glanced at the blanket for a moment, recognizing it from pictures that had been taken at her Aunt Julie's 'non-wedding' as Seth called it. Upon hearing another shrill scream Sophie quickly put thoughts of the blanket out of her head and began walking down the hall, determined to find out what was cause of such horrendous screams.
"Mon Capon Oaps!" Sophie said to the plastic horse as she grabbed him off the top of the toy chest before running out of the bedroom.
Sobbing, screaming, and slapping, it all reminded Sandy too much of the second year Ryan had been with them. It reminded him of the entire legal mess Caleb had gotten himself into, the Lindsey situation, the Rebecca debacle, the Carter misunderstanding, and the alcoholism. But mostly it all reminded Sandy of the distance that had been put between Kirsten and himself and as he looked at Caleb he was reminded for the first time that Caleb did nothing but bring drama into his family. Sandy did not know why he had not realized that when Caleb had called him, if he had he could have told Caleb 'no' that he would not get involved with him and he could have spared Kirsten a lot of heartache. Instead though Sandy had not pretended like everything was normal and that Caleb was dead which had led to the meltdown of his wife. Sandy and Julie were too involved with trying to calm Kirsten down, Caleb was too preoccupied with the realization that he had hurt his daughter more than ever imaginable, and Kirsten was so upset that none of them saw or heard Sophie enter the living room. Sophie with a quizzical look in her eyes, disheveled hair, and still in her wrinkled pajamas was frightened when she saw her mother crumbled up in her father's arms, sobbing violently.
"MOMMY!" Sophie screamed as she ran to Kirsten, tears beginning to stream down her face. Everyone quickly turned to see Sophie as she sprinted across the living room and wrapped her tiny arms around Kirsten. Horrified that her daughter would be traumatized for life Kirsten immediately straightened up, pushing away from her husband and friend and scooped Sophie up in her arms.
"Sophie!" Kirsten gasped between sobs as she wrapped her arms tightly around Sophie and pulled her as close to her as possible. "Shh, sweetie, everything's all right!" Kirsten cooed at her daughter, trying to keep her voice as calm and steady as possible. Sophie continued to cry into Kirsten's shoulder, burying her face in the crook of her mother's neck. Sandy wrapped his arm protectively around Kirsten's waist and began talking to Sophie in a hushed tone, trying to calm her down.
"Sophie, sweetie, Mommy's right. We're just having a grown up talk, everything's gonna be fine!" Sandy whispered to his little girl.
"Your Daddy's right, everything will be ok!" Julie chimed in, hating to see Sophie so upset. No matter what Sandy, Kirsten, or Julie said the little girl continued to cry into her mother's neck and as Sophie continued to cry so did Kirsten.
"Sophie, the…." Caleb finally spoke up, hoping he could calm his daughter and granddaughter.
"Don't speak to her! You are nothing to her!" Kirsten hissed as she began stepping closer to Caleb. Sandy and Julie both automatically reached after her but were both shocked as Kirsten lost her footing and fell backwards in Sandy's arms, her body going limp. Julie barely caught Sophie before Kirsten had released her grip completely.
"MOMMY!" Sophie screamed again, reaching out for her mother, trying to fight against her aunt Julie's grasp.
"Julie, take her to the bedroom please!" Sandy said as he picked Kirsten's frail frame up in his arms.
"Is she ok?" Julie asked as she began walking through the living room with Sophie screaming in her ear.
"She's passed out!" Sandy stated as he quickly headed off in the direction of their bedroom with her. Julie quickly followed behind with Sophie in her arms, carrying her to her bedroom.
"What have I done?" Caleb asked aloud when everyone had left the living room. He had truly ruined his relationship with Kirsten this time.