Obvious FYI: I don't own anything that even remotely has to do with The O.C.!

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By the fifth day of Ryan's hospital stay, he was taken off the respirator and his eyes began to flutter. He was still responding well with toe wiggling and grasping of his left hand. Conchetta, a translator, and a neurologist came in the room that afternoon to further evaluate his progress.

"Hello, Ryan," a young girl translated for the doctor. "You probably don't remember me but I was one of the doctors who you saw when you first came here. I bet you're happy to get rid of that tube? I hear you've been pulling at it," the translator smiled at the doctor's comments. "Are you awake, Ryan? Squeeze my hand if you are awake." Nothing. "Ok, Ryan if you can hear me, I'm going to press on your thumb ok?" the doctor pushed her own thumb into Ryan's and right away the teen pulled his hand away.

"I think he's awake!" Sandy, who was on 'Ryan rotation,' exclaimed with a smile.

"Ok, I've got your attention," the translator continued to talk for Dr. Di Francesca. "Ryan can you stick out your tongue for me?" Everyone could see Ryan's mouth move a bit but nothing more. "You're doing great, Ryan. Try again." More movement.

"Ryan, come on, you can do it," Conchetta chimed in. "Move your tongue for us, yes?"

There. Finally Ryan's tongue could be seen slightly poking out of his mouth.

"That is very good!" the translator started again. "I am now going to put my fingers on your neck and I want you to swallow, ok?" the doctor put two of her fingers on Ryan's Adam's apple. "Go ahead and swallow, Ryan."

It took a few more encouraging words to get any reaction but the result was worth the wait as is larynx elevated and depressed properly. Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the day was when Ryan was able to cough on command. By doing so, he demonstrated that his glottis was moving accordingly which ruled out damage to major nerves. Although it was hard for Sandy to understand, Ryan was making amazing progress. Ryan's recovery would be a long series of baby steps.

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The next day was New Year's Eve and Ryan went back into surgery early that morning to reconstruct the damaged area around his left cheek, eye, and ear. The swelling around the area had lessened significantly and the surgeons deemed the operating time as 'now or never.' That left the Cohens with eight to ten hours of thinking and praying time.

The prognosis for Ryan was a stay at a long-term rehab facility following successful surgery. He had many skills to relearn and much strength regain which required intense physical, occupational, and speech therapies, however none of the Cohens thought anything less of Ryan.

Seth was thinking about school. Their 'vacation' in Italy was technically over in two days and Harbor would reopen its doors two days later. What would happen when he went back without Ryan? Seth hadn't told anyone about Ryan's accident yet and hadn't picked up his cell phone once while in Italy, save for answering his parents' calls. Ryan's cell phone was in his backpack, and Seth noticed multiple missed calls, mostly from Marissa. Seth would have to call someone tonight.

"So honey listen," Sandy began, looking at Kirsten. "Seth and I went noticed this small specialty grocery store this morning and we were thinking of having take out New Year's Eve dinner here in the hospital, all four of us later tonight." He took her hand on his lap.

"That sounds great. I bet we can get them to bend the rules again," Kirsten smiled. "They all have certainly taken a great liking to Ryan."

"Yah, no kidding," Seth chimed in, shaking his head. "So jealous. He's semi-conscious and he still gets the girls."

"Speaking of girls," Sandy began looking at his healthy son, "did you call Marissa or anyone? I'm sure she'd like to hear about this. You know she'll notice when Ryan doesn't come back to school…"

"I haven't called anyone." Seth paused. "Have you?" he continued, looking from one parent to the other.

"I called your grandfather," Kirsten admitted. "I called him right after you two left the first night. I told him not to tell anyone, but I'm sure half the town knows." Kirsten trailed off, wondering what she started.

"Tom Jackson called asking how we were liking the villa. I told him that the vacation was more than we expected, and then hung up. At least that's the truth," Sandy quickly added as he got a look from his wife.

"Seth why don't you go call Marissa now. We've still got some time before Ryan comes out of surgery," Kirsten replied calmly, patting him on the knee.

Seth nodded and offered a small smile. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and went around the corner to dial Marissa's number.

"Seth!" Marissa's voice could be heard after five rings. Seth could tell there were multiple people in the background. "Seth what are you guys doing over there? I've called Ryan like twenty times and he better not be ignoring me! Put him on the phone. I bet he's right next to you, isn't he? He's probably laughing at me."

"Trust me, he's not laughing," Seth said sharply. He could hear Marissa take a quick breath.

"What do you mean?" She was interested why Seth's voice sent a chill down her spine.

"Marissa, have you heard anything from Caleb Nicol by any chance?" Seth looked up and down the hall to see if anyone was listening.

"No," Marissa replied, her eyes squinting in confusion. "Why?"

"Look, Ryan had an accident. The very first day we were here—"

"Oh my God what kind of accident?" Marissa squealed. Seth could tell that the noise in the background had died down suddenly.

"He hit his head on the banister outside the house we were staying in. He slipped and he, well, he's really hurt, Marissa." It felt weird for Seth to say it out loud.

"How bad? He's going to be ok, though. Right? Right?!" She repeated after no answer from Seth.

"He's in surgery again. For a second time. He still hasn't really woken up yet…it's been six days and he's still semi out of it."

"Six days!" Marissa didn't know what to think. Her boyfriend was lying in the hospital thousands of miles away and hadn't really woken up yet—why hadn't anyone called her? On the other hand, her boyfriend was lying in the hospital thousands of miles away and hadn't really woken up yet!

"Yah. They said that if the surgery goes well, then he'd stay here a few more days and then go to a rehab facility," Seth recounted.

"In Italy? He's coming back to Newport, right, Seth?" Marissa began to panic.

"They want him to stay here for a few weeks until he's ok enough to travel. Then he'll continue rehab back home somewhere I guess," Seth finished dejectedly. There was a pause.

"Is he, like, you know…"

"Is he what, Marissa?" Seth knew exactly what she meant but was appalled that she'd ask.

"Well, you know. Like, will he get better? Or is he…well you said he's still out of it. Is he going to stay like that? Will he still be Ryan? Seth you're scaring me." Hundreds of thoughts were running through her head.

"Well physically they aren't sure if he's going to be able to see out of his right eye. I guess the bone around his eye and ear area was messed up so they're fixing it now. They said he'd have balance problems because of it. Maybe permanently. He's got a lot to re-learn. It's going to take months, Marissa." Seth sank down against the wall, closing his eyes as he pressed his head back on the cool cement. He didn't go into further detail.

"Well, when he comes out of surgery, tell him I'm thinking of him?" Marissa wasn't sure how to reply to Seth's differential. "Wait, here's Summer. She wants to talk to you. Call me later."

"Cohen!" Summer grabbed the phone before Seth could protest. "What is Marissa saying? I can hear her. What is going on?"

"Look, don't go spreading it around, ok? I can picture rumors flying everywhere. Ryan had an accident on the first day here, actually the first five minutes here. He's been in the hospital with a really bad head injury, alright?" Seth was getting angry.

"Oh my God. Cohen. When is he coming back?" Summer replied softly.

"A few weeks I think. Just, can we not talk about this now. You heard what you need to." Seth knew his comment was a little harsh, but didn't care. The past week was the worst of his life. Ryan was the one in physical pain, but Seth was taking the brunt of the mental unrest. What next?

"I understand. How much longer will you be there? I know Ryan's staying, but are you coming back for school?" Summer talked in a soothing voice.

"I think once Ryan gets settled my dad and I are coming back. My mom is taking time off from work to be with him. I won't miss much school. I'll call you tomorrow. Happy New Year." Seth hung up, not believing a word of his last statement.

"Seth?" a voice came from down the hall. Seth's head whipped around to see Angelina walking towards him. "Seth, I heard the last bit of your phone call. I'm sorry, I was walking by."

"Wait a minute, you speak English?!" Seth was bewildered.

"Yes, I'm sorry. You were so cute. It was fun to see you try to impress me all those times. I lived in America for five years while my father's job transferred him to New York. But I've been back in Venice for a while. It's ok to talk about your brother, you know."

"So for the past week you let me speak like an idiot? I've done more research with that dictionary than I've ever done for school! I gave you my last piece of chocolate yesterday!" Seth wasn't mad. He was embarrassed and laughing. He stood up.

"Please forgive me. Come on, I'll walk you back. Ryan should be done soon." She looked at Seth and saw tears well in his eyes. She stopped walking and squared his shoulders to her. "You be strong, Seth Cohen. You told me that you were a 'masculine American.' Lets see that. It'll be ok. Just wait. I've only been here a few years, but I've seen many cases like Ryan's. Your family is great to him, and that makes a bigger difference than you'll ever know."

Seth nodded slightly. "I know."

"You be strong for him, yes?" Angelina pulled Seth into a hug as he let six days worth of tears flow steadily down his face.

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Ryan made it through the surgery with flying colors. Although he would now have about twenty degrees of vision in his left eye at best, the surgeons were able to reconstruct the socket as well as to be expected. The damage to his inner ear was not as severe as they once thought, yet Ryan still would have to work hard to regain balance. The incisions were made mostly from the inside out so there was minimal scaring, something Seth was sure Ryan would be happy about.

Sandy had gotten the take-out he promised and the three Cohens ate while they watched the sedated fourth member of their family. The news was positive about Ryan's surgery yet spending the holiday in the hospital wasn't exactly according to plan. It was going to be a long year, but, as Seth proclaimed to his parents after his talk with Angelina, bring it on.

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Depressing, I know, sorry. Happiness to come! Please keep reading and reviewing!