The Perfect Storm – Original Airdate – November 3, 2005

Disclaimer – All Italics are Josh's words

Sorry for the wait!

The Honeymoon phase was definitely over. Kirsten could feel it and she hated that it went by so quickly. The few weeks she and Sandy spent together upon her return from Suriak reminded her of the days when they first got married. They couldn't keep their hands off each other and every word spoken was with kindness and sincerity. All that was gone now.

Their conversation at The Newport Group brought her back to reality. Her boys went through hell this summer and she wasn't there for any of them. Granted she was going through her own hell, but that wasn't going to comfort her anymore. She needed to focus on being a better person, a better wife and a much better mother.

Over the past week, she threw herself into confronting her fear of cooking. She was constantly online doing research, lingering in the cookbook section of the bookstore and even keeping up with her garden. Even if she didn't feel as productive as she did while operating as the CFO of The Newport Group, it kept her busy and her mind off of wanting to drink.

Her relationship with Sandy was not strained under any circumstance. Not like it was the previous year. Nothing compared to that year of hell. Things were just much more routine which she figured was probably a good thing. She didn't want Sandy to be constantly worried about her anymore. He needed to focus on himself for once and she wanted to help him do that.

Little did they know the upcoming week would prevent anyone in their family from moving forward. In a very fancy smelling kitchen is where Sandy found his wife. Of course dressed in an apron and serving plates of food was an image he would never get used to.

Sandy felt that Kirsten was taking this cooking thing a little bit too far, but he was afraid to approach the subject. He knew she was trying to keep herself busy, but taking one look at his sons' faces, he knew they recognized how bizarre this was as well.

He used to think the image of Kirsten as a housewife was extremely hot, but now it felt like she was hiding from herself a little bit. Besides that, his mind was occupied with other things such as the college fair they were attending tonight. His focus was on Ryan's attendance or lack thereof depending on that damn dean that was intent on making Ryan's life hell.

He made a mental note to let his mind fantasize about his sexy wife in an apron and stiletto heals later on that night.

The shrill ring of the phone interrupted his thoughts as Kirsten looked up worried at him. They were expecting a call from Dr. Kim to make sure it was okay for Ryan to be there tonight. Once the boys left, Sandy explained to Kirsten the personal vendetta Dean Hess has against Ryan. How could they feel like they were still in the honeymoon stage when all this stress was laying on their shoulders?

Sandy left for the day promising to meet Kirsten later on so they could all go over to Harbor together. He found her in their bedroom, putting the finishing touches on getting ready. She was trying to fasten her necklace when he snuck up behind her.

"Let me help you with that." He whispered, startling her a bit.

"Thank you." She said, leaning her weight into him a little bit.

Sandy took in the image of his wife, dressed in business pants and a button down blouse. It had been awhile since he seen this Kirsten. The business-like Kirsten. "You look..." Sandy paused, wondering how to word it.

She turned around to face him, arching her eyebrow wondering what he was going to say.

"...like you." He finished.

She wasn't mad at his comment, but she was taken back by it. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He smiled sheepishly. "It's just that lately it's been all aprons an workout clothes. Believe me, I told you before, the whole housewife thing is extremely hot. I just haven't seen you in business attire in awhile."

"You're lucky you're good with words." She said walking away from him and toward her nightstand.

He immediately followed her. "Just so you know, this is equally hot." He swept her hair away from the nape of her neck and placed soft kisses there while he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Don't get any ideas!" She scolded him, removing his hands from her body. "We have to leave in five minutes."

He would have made a joke about that being plenty of time, but he knew Kirsten was not in the mood to hear it. He chose to safely change the subject. "I can't believe we are attending a college fair. How did we get so old?" He asked rhetorically.

She laughed at him. "Well, seeing the Berkeley representative should help you feel young again."

"I just hope we can convince Seth to go over there."

"Not just Seth!" She exclaimed, hoping that either of her boys would go to Berkeley. Kirsten was just excited about the whole promise of what college had to offer in general.

It wasn't long before advanced academia was presented in front of all the Harbor School seniors. Seth's eyes were wide with anticipation of what his future held. Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut were just a few of the places that held his interest. Kirsten could tell Sandy was a little disappointed, but his focus was more on Ryan. Ryan's eyes were wide with anxiety.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, fine. Just a little weird being back here. I feel like a fugitive." Ryan hadn't been back at Harbor since he punched the dean.

Kirsten felt terrible that Ryan felt this way. Ryan overcame so much to be here tonight. Thankfully, Sandy spoke out her thoughts.

"You have as much right to be here as anyone." Ryan looked at him skeptically, but Sandy ignored him.

"So where do you want to start?"

"I really don't know." Ryan was unsure about being there, let alone his entire future.

Sandy took this as the perfect opportunity. "I hear Berkeley's an excellent choice." Ryan smiled at Sandy's antics. "Lots of pretty girls at Berkeley too."

Kirsten couldn't help but jump in. "And there's the UC sign."

"Sound good?"

It didn't take long for Sandy to notice the dean taking notice of Ryan's presence and Sandy needed to put that fire out before it erupted into a volcano. The last thing Ryan needed was to have attention drawn to him.

Ryan saw Sandy approach the dean and felt terrible that Sandy was defending him when he was the one that did something wrong. As disastrous as this evening was, Ryan viewed this as one of the best nights of his life. It was one of the those moments that would be embedded in his mind forever.

"Unless you have a court ordered injunction against my son, recommend you keep your hands off him."

Sandy referred to him as his son. They always treated him as such, but never did he hear those words spoken out loud. Although he felt that Dean Hess was going to make his life a living hell, he knew no matter where his life took him, he would always be a part of the Cohen family.

That night Kirsten dubbed that as the beginning of the tension between her and Sandy. It wasn't monumental, but it was there. They were on the same side. They both wanted the best for Ryan, but how they went about it were completely different.

"Do you think Ryan is okay?" Kirsten asked, once they were in the privacy of their own bedroom.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." Sandy said brushing it off as he went into their closet to change for bed.

Kirsten headed toward the bathroom, walking past Sandy. "You don't seem that concerned about it."

"About what?"

"About what happened with Ryan. Don't tell me you didn't notice the almost look of shock on his face when you called him your son?" She asked incredulously.

"I'm not blind Kirsten." He snapped back. "But I think Ryan is always going to be surprised when someone comes to his side to defend him."

Kirsten slipped out of her pants, her tucked in shirt now hanging over her most private of parts. She noticed Sandy watching her every move and that frustrated her even more. She was seriously concerned and Sandy was looking at her like a piece of meat. "Sandy don't belittle what happened today." She slipped on her pajama pants not giving him the chance to view any part of her. She started unbuttoning her shirt when she continued. "After his look of shock, he looked utterly defeated the rest of the night."

Sandy looked away from her when he noticed she was not in any sort of playful mood. "Well I would feel defeated too if I heard someone say that pursuing my future was a waste of time."

Sandy made his way over to their bed and crawled in, pulling the covers up. Kirsten thought about what he said and Sandy was probably right. He always read Ryan better than her. "I guess you're right." She said making her way to bed as well.

Sandy could tell that Kirsten didn't feel any better about their conversation and was still very worried. As she turned her bedside lamp off, he snuggled up next to her in complete darkness. "Kirsten, we will just have to reassure him that he can do anything. It's our job, no matter how difficult it is."

"I know."

The next day when Kirsten received a phone call from Ryan's tutor requesting her final payment, she wanted to scream at Sandy 'I told you so'. Ryan was so frustrated that he was not going to finish high school. That was absurd to her. What kind of future could he possibly have? It was bad enough that college was questionable at this point.

"We'll talk to him at dinner tonight." Sandy promised once she told him what Ryan had done. "Just give him a little bit of time to digest everything."

Once again Kirsten didn't agree with him and she wanted to scream another big fat 'I told you so' when Ryan didn't show up for dinner. Seth was making matters worse. He was babbling about all types of scenarios of where Ryan could be. He always babbled when he was in trouble and they both scolded him for lying for Ryan earlier that day.

Sandy could tell that Kirsten was pissed. She was clearly upset about Ryan, but ultimately pissed at him. He didn't think her anger was warranted considering there was really nothing he could have done at this point to prevent Ryan from behaving this way.

"I'm going to try his cell again." Kirsten said, feeling the need to do something.

At that very moment Ryan walked in and Sandy felt the need to take the reigns, but Seth interrupted him.

"Dude, where were you? We were about to sound an amber alert."

"I'm sorry." Ryan said, clueless to any of their worry or concern.

Sandy couldn't hold back. "Look, I know you've had a rough twenty four hours and I am a firm believer that every man deserves his space. You can't go off like that!" Sandy said feeling that he got his point across.

"It won't happen again." Ryan smiled like he was hiding something.

Without scolding him, Sandy continued. "Listen, lucky for you, I was able to do a little damage control with your tutor. She's agreed to come this weekend to make up for what you missed today."

"Oh, well I appreciate that but..." He holds out a piece of paper, unfolding it for Sandy to see.

"What's this?" Sandy takes it, waiting for the mystery to be revealed.

"It's a guardian release form. I got a job."

Kirsten immediately worried but Sandy stayed completely calm. "Oh."

Ryan continued. "On a boat."

Sandy's reaction now mirrored how Kirsten felt.

"You mean like a cruise ship because you don't really seem like the type." It was the first time Seth really spoke, stunned at what was going on around him.

"This is a joke right? These boats go out for weeks at a time." Sand's blood began to boil as Ryan nodded. "Your not of age!" His voice raising a few decibels.

"Well that's why I need your signature." He said, not looking Sandy in the eye.

"So you want to throw away your future so you can go work on a fishing boat?" Sandy asked becoming frustrated. Kirsten was right.

"Come on, my future is already trashed. I tried it your way. It didn't work." Ryan answered back.

"You have to keep trying!" Sandy yelled, wanting Ryan to understand the severity of this decision.

"No I don't." Ryan yelled back. He and Sandy were both so angry they were staring each other down while Seth and Kirsten watched the entire event.

Ryan continued trying to make Sandy understand. "I have been trying. And I appreciate everything you've done for me, I really do but I need to make my own decisions. I am asking you to let me go."

Sandy knew that yelling at Ryan was not the approach to take. People have been raising their voice to him his entire life. Ryan was mature beyond his years, but with maturity comes a sense of settling his mind by himself. Sandy knew no matter what he could have said or did at this moment, he wouldn't be able to change Ryan's stubborn mind. He knew he had to let Ryan come around on his own. He signed the paper and handed it back to Ryan.

Kirsten couldn't believe that Sandy was giving up so easily on him. Why was he not fighting harder? "Sandy!"

"Dad!" Seth couldn't believe it either.

Sandy ate with his head down as Ryan was thrilled that Sandy obliged. Kirsten decided that she couldn't sit there for another second. She picked up her plate, threw it in the sink and continued to her bedroom. She was more than aggravated.

The loud clash of the plate snapped Sandy back to reality. He didn't need that piercing sound to make him aware of how pissed Kirsten was.

Later that night, Sandy found Kirsten with her eyes closed already in bed. He didn't bother speaking in case she was already asleep, but he knew better. Kirsten hardly ever went to bed angry. Once under the covers, her soft voice surprised him.

"Care to explain?"

"I honestly didn't think you were going to give me the chance."

"I am giving you the benefit of a very big doubt."

"Thank you." Sandy was once again reminded of how much Kirsten had changed since Suriak. Normally she would just jump to her own conclusions. She was a much better listener now. "Did you see how defensive he got when I raised my voice?"

"It was hard to miss."

"He has never answered me back like that before." Sandy's feelings were crushed by this. "We can't force him into making the decisions we want him to make."

"You are not making a very good argument." She joked, although she truly didn't agree with this.

"Let's sleep on it and when we get up tomorrow, maybe we will see things differently." He softly kissed her. "Or hopefully Ryan will."

The next morning Kirsten woke up in an empty bed. Sandy must have gone surfing to clear his mind and search for a new solution. She got dressed and waited for him to return. She didn't want to face Ryan without talking to Sandy first.

"You going to talk to him?" She asked once the pleasantries were exchanged.

"I'm sticking with our plan."

"Your plan, Sandy, he's leaving on a boat tomorrow. This is the wrong time to be stubborn."

"Honey, I'm stubborn all the time. We can't force Ryan to make the right choice."

"Yeah but we can stop him from making a horrible mistake, from permanently knocking his life off course." She argued.

"Yeah, it's a course we set for him."

She knew he was right. "Would you let Seth do this?" She had to approach this at a different angle.

"We kind of did."

"No. No, that was different. It was summer, he didn't miss school and it was Seth, we knew he'd come back."

"You know, in Ryan's position at his age, I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same thing. I left home at seventeen." He turned the argument in yet another direction.

"Yeah to start your life not throw it away!" She never thought of Sandy leaving home as a negative thing. Probably because it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

"Ryan doesn't want this. He'll come around, but we got to let him get there on his own."

"And what if he doesn't?" She questioned.

Sandy didn't have an answer, but they were interrupted by Marissa, who it turns out, had no idea of Ryan's plan to leave. To embrace the plan Sandy decided to have a going away dinner to support Ryan's decision. Sandy hoped this would be helpful in making him want to stay with a loving family than with a bunch of strangers.

The next morning Ryan felt the need to get his point across to Sandy and Kirsten. He knew that although appearing supportive, it couldn't be further from the truth. They valued education and striving for the very best. He was just tired for striving for so long.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Kirsten asked as one last ditch effort to get him to stay.

"Well you've beaten the Sandy Cohen mind melt. I was hoping if we gave you the space you need, you'd realize this is not the answer to your problem." He hated that his plan didn't work and maybe Kirsten was right. Maybe if he was going to make childlike decisions, they should treat him like one. It was too late for that.

"Yeah, maybe my problem doesn't have an answer." He said once again defeated.

"Sure it does Ryan! If you keep out of trouble until you graduate, at the very least, you'll land at a good community college." Kirsten realistically thought about his future and that sounded much better than what his current plan was.

Sandy knew it was time to agree with Kirsten. "Yeah, you post a couple of semesters of good work. Then you could transfer to a four year school." Sandy wanted it to seem simple.

"You come from my family, it's not so easy."

"We're your family now." Sandy hated having to explain that to him and he knew how much that hurt Kirsten.

Ryan knew he had to finally explain how he honestly felt. "I may not be an Atwood anymore but I'm not a Cohen either. I don't know what I am."

Kirsten didn't want to give him any sympathy to support his decision. "So your going to figure it out lost at sea?"

"Well lost at sea, lost on land, what's the difference right?"

Sandy knew it was over. They had to let him go. "Well kid, we can't force you to stay, but this is your home now and the door is always open."

Ryan didn't want to witness a teary goodbye. "Thank you. I'm going to head out. See you in a couple weeks." He hugged each of them and didn't turn back.

Kirsten was entirely crushed, but Sandy didn't have to time to dwell on what just happened. He need to help Seth and Summer with their crisis with the dean. He hated this man with a passion for pretty much ruining three years of building Ryan's confidence.

He was at least successful at one thing today. The dean was readmitting Ryan and leaving town for good thanks to Taylor Townsend. He knew he still had a lot of ground to cover with Ryan but it was a start. When Ryan returned in a few weeks, he would tell him the good news and that life isn't so unfair to someone who isn't an Atwood or a Cohen. Life was fair to Ryan!

He hurried home to tell Kirsten the great news. He found her in the kitchen attempting to bake.

"Kirsten?" He yelled, not keeping the excitement out of his voice.

"In here." She called back.

He hurried in and took in the sight of her back in her apron, being domestic all over again. He couldn't help himself as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "The apron thing is hot too!"

She spun around in his arms, looking at him like he was crazy. "How could you possibly be in a good mood?"

"Because things are turning around." He started to lean in to her lips, but Kirsten pulled back.

"What do you mean?"

"I spoke to our friend Dean Hess and it turns out, he is going to let Ryan return to Harbor." Sandy said with a smile on his face.

"How on earth did you convince him to do that?"

"Lying and blackmail. Two things I am not proud of." He backed away from Kirsten a little when she didn't look utterly happy with the news. "Kirsten, I know it's not what we want in the long run, but it is a start. When Ryan comes home in a couple of weeks, we'll talk to him."

"Why would you do all of this for him when he clearly doesn't want to go back to school."

"Ryan doesn't know what he wants." Sandy argued. "He's a smart kid. His stubbornness will wear off and he'll come around."

"When is your stubbornness going to wear off?" She asked, her lips curving a bit to a smile. "We should have made him stay."

"Maybe you're right." Sandy said, thinking for the millionth time that he should have never signed that paper.

The phone rang and broke them from their intense conversation. Kirsten went to answer it as Sandy listened to one side of the conversation.

"Hey Seth. Where are you? What news? Really? You're kidding me right? Well that I didn't see coming. Is he with you now? Take your time. See you tonight." She hung up the phone, hating that she was going to have to face that smug look on Sandy's face when she told him he was right.

"What was that all about?" Sandy had an idea from the smile on her face, that it was about Ryan.

"How is it that you are always right?"

"What do you mean?"

"It really is an annoying quality." She said moving closer to him, ignoring his question.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?"

"Ryan never got on the boat. He is with Seth now."

And there was the smug smile. "Really?"

"How did you know that this was going to work out?"

"I didn't. It's just easier to be positive."

She embraced him and held him tightly to her. "He is coming home." She whispered.

"He's coming home." He whispered back.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

--

--

Please hit that button and make me feel better about writing this fic. I am starting to get a little discouraged and I am only five episodes in!