Hey everyone! Now, I know that I've been horrible with posting, but I have had a hard time with working 2 jobs and all! But, I am determined to keep going, and I have tons of ideas. So, please stick with me and review! Here's a nugget from Kirsten/Sandy's life. Trust me when I tell you that it will have some Seth/Ryan/Julie/Hailey popping up. A preview for upcoming chapters: Ryan's European adventure, Anna's sage wisdom falls on deaf ears, Julie lashes out at Neil over her daughter's ugly departure

Chapter XIII: Empty-Nest Syndrome

Kirsten had been mentally preparing herself for this moment. Although, granted, she didn't expect that she would be experiencing empty-next syndrone with her two boys still living in the house. Searching the cupboard for her favorite coffee cup, she remembered the days when Ryan had first come to live with them. Everything was so up in the air and exciting. He and Seth were finally realizing their full potential; meeting their dream girls, pursuing their respective hobbies, preparing for college. As she located her old "I love my mom" cup Seth had bought her in second grade, she sighed heavily, wondering where those days had gone.

Just as she was about to sit down and analyze why her boys had seemed so distant lately, the phone began to ring.

"Who would be calling at this hour?" she muttered to herself as she checked her watch. 6:45 A.M. 'Man,' she thought, 'I really need to learn the art of sleeping in on the weekends.' "Hello?"

"Kirsten….hey, it's me Hailey. Sorry, did I wake you up?"

Kirsten was initially staggered that Hailey was actually calling her. It had been almost two months since she had last emailed, and Kirsten knew that she was really busy with her new job. Something must be up for her to be calling.

"No, don't worry about it. You know me…always the early bird."

Hailey laughed slightly to herself, remembering that Kirsten had always been the one that followed her father's "early bird gets the worm" mantra. She had been more of the one that slept the whole day away only to come alive after dark.

"Yeah…I do remember that. You and dad would switch off reading the Arts & Leisure section while mom and I would sleep the days away…," she recalled, "I guess some things never change."

Kirsten laughed, reflecting on the childhood that seemed so far away. She was curious why her sister was calling at this hour, but she didn't want to interrogate her. Luckily, Hailey was pretty good about sensing these kinds of things, so she just came out and stated her purpose.

"So…I got a call from Marissa Cooper the other day," she admitted, hoping to gauge her sister's reaction from a world away. Kirsten just stayed eerily quiet, trying to pinpoint which path she was going to take with this new information. The moment she heard "Cooper" come out of Hailey's mouth, she instinctively knew that this conversation was heading in the direction of Jimmy.

"Oh…really? Is she still in Greece?"

So, Kirsten did know about Jimmy and Julie's split, about his decision to once again abandon Newport for other adventures. She wanted to know more…was he with anyone on these escapades? Did he and Julie ever get re-married? Had he mentioned her since she left him? The last question in particular hung in Hailey's mind. She had been the one that had left him. Did she really have any right to go poking around in his possibly happy life after all this time apart? Or, could it be maybe, just maybe, his voyages were just as hollow as her's without someone special to share them with?

"Um…yeah, I think so. So, anyway, I guess when I heard from her…I just started to wonder…about you know…"

Kirsten smiled knowingly, speculating on how long Hailey would stall until she unleashed the real reason that she had called her: to find out about Jimmy. It had been a little disconcerting at first to imagine that Hailey and Jimmy could have fallen in love. After all, she had been his high school sweetheart. But, after seeing them together, Kirsten knew that Jimmy hadn't just been using her sister as a substitute for her, but that he really had loved Hailey.

"Hailey…are you asking me about Jimmy?"

Hailey hesitated, resuming the nervous habit of twirling her hair around her finger that she had when she had been a younger girl. She still felt somewhat uncomfortable discussing Jimmy around Kirsten, even though Kirsten had finally voiced her consent to their relationship right before she left for Japan.

Kirsten took her sister's silence as a yes, and thought meticulously on how she was going to answer this.

"Honestly, honey…I haven't really spoken to him since he left town. After what he did to Julie…I felt a sense of loyalty to her."

"Wait…what did he do? You never told me," Hailey interrupted, surprised to hear that Jimmy had been the reason for he and Julie's most recent bust-up.

"Well…I'm not sure how much of what I heard from Julie is the truth, but she did say that he was in some sort of trouble again and left for Hawaii in the middle of the night."

Hailey was not stunned to hear that Jimmy had gotten himself into another sticky situation. At that moment, she knew what she had to do. She was going to Greece.

"Thanks Kiks…that's all I needed to know. Gotta run now…work beckons!"

Before Kirsten could say anything, the line on the other end went dead. Frustrated by her sister's neverending selfishness, she huffed to herself as she placed the receiver back on the hook.

"Nice talking to you too, sis."

Just as Kirsten was about to pick up her morning paper and continue on with her routine, in rushed a manic version of the son she usually knew as Ryan. She could tell by his furrowed brow that he was in full-brooding mode, so she decided if she was going to get any information from him, she would have to tread very carefully. He made a bee-line straight for her, a nervous look of concern on his face. She could see some faint discoloring of his skin that she had noticed over a week ago, but she had decided to keep quiet on that topic, sensing that it might be a sore subject in more than just the literal sense.

"Good morning, honey," she said discreetly.

"Hey Kirsten," he replied, hoping to avoid her eyes with his next question, "can we…um talk?"

She was thankful that at least Hailey had put her in the mood to talk before she had so abruptly hung up. Honing in closer on his appearance, Kirsten knew that he was about to ask for something. His palms were already sweating with anticipation, expecting her to say no. He wasn't like Seth was when he wanted something. No, Ryan only asked for something if he felt like it was truly a necessity. And, even then, it was done with an anticipation of rebuttal. Ushering him to the kitchen table while refreshing her cup of coffee and getting him one, Kirsten braced herself for whatever was coming next.

"Sure, honey, you know you can always talk to me."

As Ryan was about to begin, Kirsten felt the need to interject one more statement, so that he was totally clear that she knew he had been hiding something.

"Before you begin, though, I would like to say something."

Ryan's eyes attended to his adopted mother's frame, as she handed him his favorite mug full of of java. She gingerly sat down, and thouroughly mapped her next statement.

"I have kept my distance lately, knowing that something was up but not wanting you to feel pressured into telling me what it was. But, last night, I realized that you might presume that my non-interference to be me not caring…but, it isn't. I've honestly been worried sick about you since…Marissa left."

The utterance of her name panged Ryan's heart with her memory again. Refocusing on why he had originally come into here to talk with Kirsten, he decided that it was his turn to speak up.

"Uh..actually that's what I came in here to talk to you about. You know, I'm really sorry that it's seemed like I've been pushing you and Sandy out here lately. There's just been a lot going on, and I needed time to figure out my next move. But, now I have. And, that's why I need to talk to you. I need something…something big…"

Kirsten knew that for Ryan to even be asking her that it must be something big, bigger than he himself could handle.

"You know you can always come to us. What is it? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Ryan smiled faintly, appreciating the worry that he had never seen from his real mother. Kirsten in many ways had surpassed his own mother's capabilities at being a parent. He knew that what he was about to ask for, she would probably say yes to. But, he didn't want her to just agree because he was her son. He wanted her approval.

"No…it's nothing like that. But, Marissa is. I need to go to Greece…find her, stop her from making a huge mistake."

Kirsten remained quiet for a moment, letting the fact that her son wanted to rescue Marissa Cooper again flood over her. She knew in her heart that Ryan would never fully get over Marissa. She could only hope that whatever it was, whatever mistake that he wanted to protect her from making, that Marissa was as responsive to his plea as she was.

"Some things never change, do they? Well, even though I am worried about the possible outcomes that this adventure might provide, and I hate to think of the heartbreak that she could once again inflict upon you, I know you love that girl more than anything. And, it would be cruel of me to stand in the way of true love."

Ryan leaned over in his chair and wrapped his mother in a strong, grateful hug. Every emotion that he could never verbalize transferred through that contact, and Kirsten knew that she had done good by her adopted son.

"Thank you…I'll get you the details soon."

With that, Ryan mimicked his aunt's earlier action and sprang out of Kirsten's world in a flurry. She wasn't as frustrated with him doing this…after all, Hailey had put her in the mood for being a quick fix today.

Kirsten started to think about what would it be like when the boys were actually gone. Could she live her life without the constant chatter and frenzy that she had come to adore? What if they were to think about adding another Cohen to the brood? She had always wished for a little girl, even though she loved her two sons dearly. Maybe it was time to start letting go of her older kids and start thinking about expanding the brood.