Summary: After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.
AN: Here's an update for you guys! I can't believe I got so much positive feedback from everyone. Thank you to everyone who left reviews! Anyway, please R&R!
Disclaimer: I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.
Chapter 2: Adjustments
No one got any sleep the night that Ryan was taken away. After they all eventually went back inside, they all just stayed in the den not doing or saying anything. Summer called her house and told her dad what had happened and that she would stay overnight because Seth really needed her. It was well past two am when Sandy forced everyone to go off to bed, but he knew that none of them would be able to get any sleep.
Seth slowly climbed out of bed after finally giving up on getting any kind of sleep and walked out of his room. He saw Summer coming out of the guestroom and she went to him as soon as she saw him there.
"It'll be ok." She whispered to him. "He'll be back."
"That's what my dad kept saying last night."
"It's true." She told him as they walked downstairs.
They walked into the kitchen and saw Sandy and Kirsten standing at the counter with cups of coffee sitting in front of them as they had a whispered conversation. They looked up as they heard a noise and saw Seth come in with Summer and they offered them small smiles.
"Thank you for letting me stay here last night, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. I didn't want to leave any of you alone." Summer told them.
"It's no problem." Kirsten told her.
"Have you heard anything yet?" Seth looked at his dad.
"Not yet." Sandy sighed. "But I called Rachel from my law firm, and she agreed to be Ryan's legal counsel. She's going to make a stop at the facility later today."
"We wanted to talk to you about something," Kirsten told Seth. "We've talked about this for weeks, and with this happening we think we should just do it now."
"Should I leave for this?" Summer asked.
"No. It's ok if you stay."
"So what is it?" Seth asked.
"We want to legally adopt Ryan so that he can be a permanent member of this family. So this can't ever happen again."
"What do you think?" Sandy asked.
"Well, what took you guys so long?" Seth asked. "He's been living here for almost a year, and you just now decided to do this?"
"Like we said, we've been talking about this for awhile. Rachel said she'll try to put a rush on it."
"Oh!" Summer said suddenly, making the other three look at her. "I have the perfect idea for a present for him when he comes home."
"What is it?" Kirsten looked at her.
"I don't have all the details." She glanced at Seth. "But we're going to need back up. Cohen, let's gather the troops."
"What troops?" Seth followed her out.
"For starters, Luke and the rest of the soccer team."
"I don't know what she's planning, but I have a feeling it's going to take awhile." Seth told his parents as she pulled him out of the room.
"At least she'll keep him occupied for a few hours." Sandy sighed. "I can't say the same for us, though."
"Not again." Kirsten sighed as her cell phone rang and she reluctantly answered it. "Dad, I already told you I'm not coming in. I'm taking some personal days. No. You'll have to handle it all by yourself. Ryan was taken away from us last night, and I'm not going back to work until he is returned."
Sandy held her as she hung up the phone and threw it on the counter. She started to cry and he comforted her.
"It's going to be ok. We'll get him back." He assured her.
"We don't even know what's happening to him in that place."
"Try not to think about it."
"So I just heard Summer's idea," Seth came back down after he got dressed. "I think it's a great idea, but I told her we had to run it by you since it does involve the house."
"What are you talking about, Seth?" Kirsten wiped her eyes.
"The guest room next door to Seth's room." Summer came in after hanging up the phone. "I was thinking that we could turn it into Ryan's bedroom."
"You were?" Sandy glanced at Kirsten.
"With the adoption process underway, you want to appear as a close family unit. Having Ryan in the pool house far away from the rest of you isn't practical. He needs to be close to the rest of you."
"I think that's a great idea." Kirsten smiled at them. "It'll be a great surprise when he comes home again."
"There's Luke." Summer said as they heard a loud honk outside. "We'll be back in a couple hours. We're going to Home Depot."
"Home Depot?" Sandy looked at Seth
"I don't argue with her. I just go along." Seth followed her out and they got into Luke's truck.
"Maybe having a project will keep his mind off everything." Sandy said as his cell phone rang and he picked it up. "It's Rachel. Maybe she has news on Ryan."
"Answer it." Kirsten told him.
"Rachel, any news?" Sandy listened to the other end. "What? Why would they do that? I thought they were taking him to a group home. He's not violent. Ok. Can you get us to have a phone call today sometime? Seven? We'll be waiting for it tonight. Thank you. Bye."
"What's going on?" Kirsten looked at him as he hung up.
"He's not in a foster care group home. They sent him to a teen youth facility."
"Why?"
"Because of his attack on Oliver, they think he's violent."
"He's not violent."
"I know. Rachel's going to try to have him transferred. She's going to meet with him in a little bit. And she told me to expect a call around seven o'clock tonight."
"I just want to hear his voice. I need to make sure that he's ok."
"I know." He held her.
Ryan slowly awoke that morning as he heard a lot of noise outside the 'room' he was assigned to. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep that night after he was brought to a youth facility instead of a group home. As soon as the agents pulled up to the facility instead of a group home, he had wanted to call and inform Sandy. But the agents didn't listen to him and just shoved him into the facility.
As soon as he was inside, he met up with the administrator and they took his belongings and made him take a shower using this nasty-smelling shampoo. Then they gave him the list of rules for the facility and showed him to his room. He was sharing with two fifteen-year-old twin boys, Alex and Andrew, who were taken from their crack-dealing parents three months ago and who had a history of violence.
"Ryan, you'd better get up." Alex came into the room. "Hurry up and make the bed. They just started down our hall."
Ryan shot out of bed and scrambled to finish before they reached their room. He placed the pillow at the head of the bed as the door opened and the 'warden' came in.
"Impressive," he looked Ryan up and down. "Breakfast is being served."
Ryan quickly followed Alex out of their room and they met up with Andrew in the cafeteria after they got themselves some of the substance that they called food.
"Thanks for that back there." Ryan told Alex.
"No problem." He assured him. "So why are you here? I hear you live with a family in a gated community."
"They think I'm violent because I attacked someone in my school's lounge." He explained to them the entire Oliver situation.
"So no one believed you? Not your foster family or your girlfriend?"
"Well, I didn't tell my parents what I thought, but my brother I told everything to."
"This kid almost killed himself and your girlfriend." Andrew told him. "And you forgave them so easily?"
"Just because I forgave them doesn't mean that I trust them." He looked at them. "And I don't have a girlfriend right now."
"Ryan," he looked up and saw one of the 'counselors' standing there. "You have a meeting with your lawyer now."
"Catch you guys later." Ryan stood up. "I'll meet up with you in the yard."
"See you then." They called after him as he followed the counselor down the hall and into a room.
"Ryan," a lady stood up to greet him once they walked in. "I'm Rachel. I work with Sandy. I'm taking over your case."
"Nice to meet you." Ryan smiled at her.
"You only get a half hour." The counselor informed them.
"I'm Mr. Atwood's legal counsel. I get as much time as I need to talk with my client." Rachel informed him as he left. "So how are you doing here, Ryan? Are they treating you ok?"
"It's fine. Better than Juvie actually. My roommates are decent."
"Good." She opened up a folder. "Now I wanted to inform you that the Cohen's want to move forward with the adoption as soon as possible."
"Adoption? They mentioned something a few months ago, but they didn't say anything else about it, but-"
"They've been steadily working on it the last several months," she explained. "But with what happened last night, they've decided to get it done immediately."
"So what happens then?"
"Well, we'll either have to get your parents to sign over their parental rights or get them taken away."
"It probably wouldn't be too difficult to get their rights taken away." Ryan sighed. "I don't want them to think that I don't care about them anymore."
"If you want, you can write them letters of explanation."
"Yeah." He agreed. "Can I get some letters to the Cohen's as well?"
"Of course." She took out some pieces of paper and a pen and handed them to him. "Now about your stay here, we're still looking at Monday when you can leave here. You just need to go to a couple therapy sessions so they can evaluate your state of mind."
"You mean they want to make sure I'm not insane."
"I guess you can put it that way." She smiled at him. "Sandy wanted me to remind you not to give them any ammunition."
"I know," he sighed as he quickly penned some letters to the Cohen's and his parents and handed them back to Rachel. "Thank you."
"I'll get these to the right people." She assured him. "Now I've been promised that you can make a phone call to the Cohen's tonight at seven. I told Sandy if they don't hear from you by seven-thirty, to call me. You will get to talk to them tonight no matter what."
"Thanks." He shook her hand as they both walked out of the room.
Ryan met up with Alex and Andrew in the yard and saw them under a tree kicking a beat-up soccer ball back and forth to each other. They looked up and smiled when they saw him approach them.
"How'd your meeting go?" Alex asked.
"Good." Ryan smiled. "Apparently, the Cohen's are rushing to get the adoption finalized."
"That's awesome, man."
"But they have to relinquish my parents' rights."
"But you said they were both train wrecks."
"That doesn't mean that I want to hurt them."
"I totally understand," Andrew said. "Even if our parents are losers, you still feel a sense of loyalty towards them."
"Enough about me," Ryan said. "What about you guys? Do you think you'll be out of here soon?"
"Hopefully by the end of the week." Alex told him. "Our maternal grandparents are trying to get custody of us right now."
"Good for you guys," Ryan joined them in kicking the ball, trying to take his mind of things
To Be Continued...
AN: On a side note, did anyone watch Rachel Bilson's new show, Hart Of Dixie? I loved it! It's going to be one of my favorite shows for sure! I think it's great that she was the first choice of Josh when he started casting for it. Anyway, until the next update...
