AN: Another update for you guys. I'm trying to get them out for you guys sooner, but I'm having a little trouble getting my ideas down. I know where i want this story to go and what kinds of conflicts i want to happen, but I'm not sure how to put my ideas down into words. Anyway, please R&R!

Summary: See earlier chapters.

Chapter 8: Valentine's Day

Saturday night found Ryan dressed in a pressed suit as he sat on the bottom step of the stairs. He looked up as Seth came downstairs and sat down beside him as he looked equally as glum as Ryan did.

"I think I have a spinal injury." Seth told him.

"No more talk of fish sex." Ryan said.

"Are you ready, boys?" Kirsten came down with Sandy.

"No." they both mumbled.

"Come on. We'll suffer through it together." Sandy told them and they all slowly walked outside and got into the range rover.

Once they arrived at the club, everyone went their own ways. Ryan sat at a table by himself at the dance as he saw everyone else clearly enjoying themselves. He sighed deeply as he looked around trying to find Taylor so he could actually try to have a little fun at this party. He saw Sandy and Kirsten at the bar, and spotted Seth and Summer having an intense discussion. He got up from the table as he saw Marissa try to approach him and headed outside. As he opened the door, he heard a high-pitched voice.

"Taylor, you need to-"

"I know, mom."

"So where is this friend of yours that you said was meeting you here?"

"He's probably already inside."

"You'll excuse me if I don't hold my breath."

"There you are, Taylor." Ryan went out to them. "I thought we were meeting inside. I was starting to believe that you blew me off."

"Not a chance. I just got here." She smiled at him. "How is it inside?"

"Boring." He sighed as he glanced at Taylor's mom. "Ms. Townsend."

"Ryan." She said curtly as she walked inside.

"Thanks for that." Taylor looked at him. "My mom can be-"

"It's not a problem." He told her.

"We can hang out together out here." Taylor told him. "So how's it going?"

"Better. There was a slight misunderstanding between me and Sandy yesterday. I almost called you, but I didn't think you'd want to hear about my pointless problems."

"You could've called me." She smiled at him. "You can call me anytime if you need to talk to someone. No matter how pointless you think your problem is."

"Thanks."

"Hello, Ryan." He looked up and saw Kirsten's father.

"Mr. Nichol."

"How's the party?"

"Boring. Why do you think I'm out here?"

"I wanted to tell you that I was planning on coming over for dinner next week." He told him.

"Ok." Ryan shrugged.

"I'm hoping you can be there."

"Why?" Ryan eyed him suspiciously.

"Kirsten made me promise to some conditions after she heard about the conditions I made you promise to. One of them was weekly dinners with you."

"Seriously?" Ryan made a face.

"I guess we'll both be suffering."

"Come on. Let's go to the pier." Taylor started to pull Ryan away.

"I'll tell Kirsten." Caleb told them.

"Tell them I'll be back by curfew." Ryan told him as he followed Taylor down the steps and Caleb walked inside.


Ryan sat with Taylor at a table on the pier as they had slices of pizza and shared some nachos. Taylor let off some steam about an all-day argument she had with her mom. Ryan actually listened to her even though he couldn't really give her any advice.

"Sorry for rambling." She told him. "Once I get started, it's hard for me to stop talking."

"I live with Seth. I'm used to it."

"So how's therapy going?"

"I've only had one session."

"You don't have to tell me what you said. I just want to know how it went."

"It's ok, I guess. He only wanted to know how I felt about the Cohen's. I told him that I don't trust them."

"I guess that's understandable."

"I want to trust them-"

"You just don't."

"No."

"Come on. I'm still hungry. Let's get a corn dog. We can talk some more if you want to." Ryan followed her down the walkway as she went to one of the vendors and got them each a corn dog.


Sandy and Kirsten arrived home after helping to clean up the club a little bit. They wanted to spend some time alone together, but they wanted to make sure the boys arrived home. Kirsten went to check on Seth, while Sandy went towards Ryan's room. He knocked briefly on the door before walking in. He saw the room dimly-lit by the small lamp on the bedside table as Ryan lay stretched out across the bed.

"Hey. You made it home."

"Taylor dropped me off a little bit ago." He said softly.

"Are you ok?" he noticed that his color was off.

"We ate way too much."

"Do you need me to get you anything?"

"I'll be fine. I'll sleep it off."

"All right. See you in the morning." Sandy walked out and saw Kirsten coming from the direction of Seth's room.

"Summer is here. I told them she had to leave in ten minutes."

They walked up to their bedroom and closed the door behind them.


Kirsten slowly awoke the next morning as she heard a faint noise coming from down the hall. She sat up fully on the bed as Sandy turned over and looked at her.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Can you hear that?" she looked at him.

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like one of the kids is sick."

"When I checked on Ryan last night, he said he ate too much food."

"I'll go check on him." Kirsten got out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe as she walked out of the room.

Kirsten went to Ryan's room and quietly opened the door. She glanced into the bathroom and saw it empty. Then she walked further into his room and spotted him sitting on the edge of his bed looking a little green as he held his trash can on his lap in front of him.

"So I take it you were the one that I heard a little bit ago." She went to him and he nodded his head.

"Shouldn't have done that." He mumbled. "I tried to lie down. Room was spinning."

"What all did you eat last night?"

"Stuff from the pier."

"You really shouldn't have too much of that at once."

"No more talk of food." He moaned.

"Sorry." She felt his forehead. "You don't have a fever. It's probably a 24-hour thing."

"How's the patient?" Sandy appeared in the door.

"I think it's just his stomach." Kirsten told him.

"I'll go down and see if we have anything that can help him." Sandy left again and Kirsten took the trash can and tried to get Ryan to lie down.

"Are you feeling anything?" she asked him.

"Not yet." he mumbled sleepily.

"It's bed rest for you today. I'll see if Seth won't mind lending you some video games to occupy you today."

"Mmm." His eyes started to close as Kirsten sat down beside him as she softly rubbed his back.

Sandy rummaged around in the refrigerator for the ginger ale he knew they still had. He looked up as he heard a noise and saw Seth come stumbling into the kitchen.

"Why is everyone up so early?" he mumbled. "And what is all the noise coming from Ryan's room?"

"Ryan ate too much food at the pier last night." Sandy told him as he finally found some ginger ale in the back of the refrigerator. "He is out of commission today."

"Got it." Seth slumped at the counter. "I'll take him a survival package later."

Sandy walked back upstairs into Ryan's room and saw him lying down on his side fast asleep as Kirsten covered him back up.

"How is he?" he asked her.

"He fell back asleep." She sighed.

"I found some ginger ale. Maybe it'll help him." He set it down on the table beside his bed. "I'll go to the store later and get some more."

"I think it might be food poisoning." She told him.

"Yeah. Probably."

"He said he was up a few times last night. How did we not hear him?"

"We were a little…occupied." He looked at her.

"That's right." She smiled at him.

"I'm not asleep, you know." They heard a soft voice and looked at Ryan as he turned over on the bed. "You're not succeeding very well in making me feel better."

"Sorry, kid." Sandy went to him. "I got you some ginger ale for your stomach."

"Thanks." He said softly.

"Can we get you anything else?" Kirsten asked him.

"Just tell Seth to leave me alone." He mumbled. "I can't handle his ramblings today."

"He has a survival package for you." Sandy told him. "After he brings it to you, this room is off-limits to him."

"Thanks." Ryan covered his head with the blanket and Sandy and Kirsten walked out of his room.


All that day, Ryan stayed in his room. He slept most of the day; except when Seth brought in his survival guide for the bedridden which consisted of some comic books, Seth's PSP with a few games, and his ipod. After he was there for more than ten minutes, Sandy had to pull him out of the room and ban him from Ryan's room for the rest of the day.

Kirsten brought up a bowl of soup around lunchtime to see if Ryan would eat anything, but he refused it. So she left some crackers for him in case he did get hungry later.

Kirsten quietly opened Ryan's bedroom door to check on him again and saw him turning over onto his side as his eyes slowly opened.

"Kirsten?" he spotted her standing there.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." he slowly sat up. "I'm thinking Summer is in Seth's room with him right?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "She arrived a few minutes ago."

"That's what woke me up." He mumbled.

"So how are you feeling? Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"Well, you should try to eat something. You haven't had anything all day. I'll go heat up some soup for you." She started out of the room again.

"Hey, Kirsten?" Ryan called after her.

"Yeah?" she turned back around.

"Thank you for today."

"I didn't do much. You slept most of the day away."

"It was still more than my mom ever did. I'm just not used to it is all."

"Well, you better start getting used to it." She smiled at him as she walked out of his room.

Kirsten returned a few minutes later with a wooden tray that had a bowl of chicken broth, some crackers, and some more ginger ale for Ryan. He slowly started to eat as Kirsten sat nearby.

"Did you really make your dad promise to weekly meals here?" Ryan looked at her.

"Yes, I did."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"You'll get through it." She smiled at him. "Besides, we'll all be there."

"Like that'll stop him from insulting me." He mumbled.

"I think he's softening. He got you out of that place."

"He had a momentary lapse."

"Give him a chance for me."

"Fine." He sighed as he managed to eat more than half of the soup.

AN: So what'd you all think? Please give me some ideas where you think this is going or where you would like this to go. So please R&R!