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: Another chapter for you guys within a week of my last update. Thank you to everyone for the positive feedback I've been getting from this story. Please R&R!

AN: On a side note, I've been thinking about starting another OC story. It'll be about the Cohen's helping Ryan adjust to life in Newport. It'll be first season around when Ryan's mom left him. It'll having bonding moments with all the Cohen's, but I want it to be mostly Ryan/Kirsten bonding. I've been torn between two titles, Ryan Adjusting, and Parenting Ryan. They both seem a little lame to me, but if any of you have any ideas let me know.

ON WITH THE STORY...

Chapter 10: Talking

Ryan edged around the bushes that lined the driveway leading up to Taylor's house. He rang the doorbell and a few moments later, Taylor opened the door and smiled at him.

"Come on in." she closed the door behind him. "I'll make us some tea. It usually calms me down."

"Thank you." He sat at her kitchen counter and watched as she put a kettle of water on the stove to heat up.

"So what's going on? I thought you would have a good day. Did you go to the batting cages with Luke?"

"My day was fine until I got home. Sandy informed me that my therapist wants to have monthly group sessions with all of us."

"And you don't want to?" he shook his head. "Can I ask why?"

"He said in our first session that he wouldn't tell the Cohen's about what I say in the sessions, but how am I to know that he's telling the truth."

"Ryan, he can't say anything. It's part of the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing. If he says anything, he can lose his job."

"I have a problem with trusting people, as you've probably already figured out."

"You were able to trust the Cohen's, weren't you?"

"A lot of good that did me." He mumbled. "Besides, I didn't trust them completely. I never let my guard down completely."

"Maybe that's one of the things that the doctor can help you work on as well."

"Maybe."

"The Cohen's don't know that you're here, do they?"

"I kind of snuck out."

"You should probably call them. They're probably worried about you."

"Not yet." He sighed as the kettle started to whistle.

"Ok. A few more minutes." Taylor brought their mugs of tea over. "So do you want to talk about anything else?"

"Not right now." He looked at her. "I'm sorry I'm always unloading on you."

"I told you that's what I'm here for." She assured him. "I don't mind listening and trying to help you."

"Well, what about you?" he looked at her. "Do you want to talk about anything? Like your tyrannical mother or anything?"

"She's actually mellow right now." She smiled at him.

Ryan smiled back at Taylor as they drank their tea. He felt bad about worrying the Cohen's, but he didn't want to deal with them right now. Right now, he wanted to escape what he was trying to deal with and pretend that he was normal.


Dinner finished and Sandy went upstairs to try to talk to Ryan; to see if he had calmed down any. As soon as they finished eating, Kirsten started working on some new project for work and Seth called Summer to see how her dinner with her father had gone.

Sandy reached Ryan's door, and knocked softly on the door. He waited a few moments, and after getting no answer, knocked again.

"Ryan, I know you're upset. But we need to talk." All he heard from inside the room was silence. "Ryan, could you please open the door so we can talk?"

"What's going on?" Kirsten came from their bedroom after hearing all the noise.

"Ryan won't answer me." He told her.

"Ryan, please let us in." Kirsten knocked loudly on the door. "Ok. We're coming in."

She tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. She tried a little harder, and then realized that there was something blocking the door.

"Ryan, open the door." Kirsten pleaded. "Please let us in."

"What's going on?" Seth came from his room after hearing all the noise and spotted them there.

"Ryan's not opening his door." Sandy told him.

"I think there's something in front of the door." Kirsten said.

"Watch out," Sandy pushed the both of them behind him and kicked the door open.

They all filed into his room and saw the room empty. His books from school were spread over the bed and the window was wide open.

"There's no way-" Sandy went to the window and peered down to the ground below. "Well, he's not lying unconscious in the yard, so he must've run off somewhere."

"Do you think he ran away?" Kirsten immediately panicked.

"His duffle bag and hoodie are still here," Seth looked in his closet. "So he probably just went somewhere so he could cool down."

"Seth, start calling around." Sandy ordered. "See if anyone has seen or heard from him."

"On it." He left the room as he took out his cell phone.

"I didn't realize he was that upset." Kirsten sighed.

"None of us did." Sandy went to her. "Don't worry. He'll come back."

"Summer hasn't heard from him." Seth came back in to them. "And Luke hasn't seen him since they left the batting cages."

"Where could he be?" Kirsten demanded.

"I hate to say it," Sandy looked at them. "What about Marissa?"

"He ignores her at school." Seth told him. "Why would he go to her with a problem? Besides, she'd probably turn it around so that it's all about her."

"What about Senora Townsend?" They all turned as they heard a thick Spanish accent and saw Rosa.

"Taylor Townsend?" Sandy asked her.

"He says she's the only one he feels he can talk to." Rosa notices their looks. "He talks to me in the mornings before school."

"He has been spending a lot of time with her." Kirsten said. "I think he's most likely with her."

"One problem." Seth told them. "None of us have Taylor's number."

"I have Veronica's. With her being on the school board and all." Kirsten started to look through her phone's memory as it started to ring and she clicked it on. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Cohen?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Taylor Townsend."

"Taylor." She glanced at the other three in the room. "Is he there with you? Is he ok?"

"He's fine. He just needed to talk to someone. He was really upset when he got here. But he's a lot calmer than he was when he arrived."

"Can you put him on?"

"Sure. Hold on a minute." There was some background noise and Kirsten heard another voice on the line.

"Kirsten?"

"Ryan." She sighed in relief. "You scared us. We're standing in your empty room right now."

"I'm sorry I worried you." He said softly. "I just needed to get out of the house for awhile."

"I understand. Are you coming home now? We can come and get you."

"No. It's all right. Taylor said she'd bring me home. I should be there in about ten minutes."

"Ok. We'll see you in a few." She hung up and looked at the other three that were in the room. "He's on his way. Taylor is bringing him home."

"Is he ok?" Seth asked.

"He's fine. He said he just needed to get away."

"He could've at least told us he was leaving." Sandy said.

"Sandy, don't." Kirsten warned him. "He's coming home. Don't get mad at him about that when we have bigger problems to deal with. Pick your battles, honey."

"You're right." Sandy sighed. "Let's go down and wait for him. We're in for a long talk when he gets back."

"Is this a family talk?" Seth asked them. "Or is it a strictly parent talk?"

"You're excused from it, Seth." Sandy told him. "Ryan will tell you about it if he wants to."


Ryan sat in the passenger side of Taylor's thunderbird as she drove him back home. She slowed down as she approached his house and drove up the sloped driveway. She turned the engine off and glanced at Ryan, who had been silent since his talk with Kirsten on the phone.

Ryan had been in the bathroom when she had taken his cell phone and searched through the memory for the Cohen's phone number. He had quietly come up behind her as she talked on the phone with Kirsten. He had reluctantly taken the phone from her and immediately felt guilty after hearing the worry in Kirsten's voice.

"Ready to go in?" she asked him.

"Ready to face the firing squad." He mumbled as he opened the car door.

"I'll walk you in." she offered and got out of the car and caught up to him as he reached the front door.

Before Ryan could get his hand on the doorknob, it swung open suddenly and he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.

"Don't you ever do that to me-us- again!" Kirsten released him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you realize how much you scared us?"

"I'm sorry." He told her softly.

"You're back now." Sandy appeared behind them. "Let's go inside. The three of us need to talk."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryan." Taylor told him.

"Thank you." He told her before the door closed behind him and she went back to her car.


Ryan slowly walked into the kitchen as Sandy and Kirsten followed behind him. He stopped and looked from the stools at the counter-the punishment stool- to the dinner table; he glanced back at them asking a silent question.

"This is more of a table discussion." Sandy assured him.

They all sat down at the table with Kirsten sitting next to Ryan and Sandy sitting across from them. Ryan couldn't look at them; he just kept staring down at his hands as he waited for one of them to start. Finally, he couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"I'm sorry I left." He said softly.

"It's ok. We understand." Kirsten touched his arm. "It was a stressful dinner. You're not in trouble. This time."

"What do you mean this time?" he finally looked up at them.

"It's ok if you feel like you need to get out of here to blow off some steam if you have to." Sandy told him. "As long as we know where you're going, who you're with, and what you'll be doing."

"What if I just want to take a walk?"

"Then you need to have your cell phone with you and make sure it's on."

"Agreed." Ryan finally relented.

"Now that that's settled," Kirsten looked at Ryan. "Would you like to tell us why you got so upset at dinner tonight?"

"No." he shook his head.

"Well, Seth came up with a theory." Sandy looked at him. "He thinks that you think that the doctor will tell us what you've been talking about in your sessions."

"Is there any truth to that?" Kirsten asked.

"Maybe." He said softly.

"That won't happen." She assured him. "There is a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement. If he says anything to anyone other than you without your permission, he'll get fired."

"That's what Taylor told me."

"Well, she's right." Sandy told him.

They were all quiet for awhile as they all thought back to earlier in the day. Kirsten could see the troubled look on Ryan's face and could see that he wanted to say something, but wouldn't. So she decided to give him a little nudge.

"Is there anything you'd like to talk to us about right now?" she glanced at Sandy, who also noticed the look on Ryan's face.

"No." he said softly as he started to trace the design on the wood table with his index finger. "Nothing."

"I promise we won't get mad." Sandy assured him. "We'll talk about it and try to fix it if we can."

"There is one thing." Ryan eventually spoke up.

"What is it?"

"Why haven't you mentioned anything about the adoption since I got out of that facility?" he looked at them both and they exchanged shocked looks.


Of all the things he expected to come out of Ryan's mouth, he wasn't expecting that. He could see the hurt look in his eyes and realized what he must be thinking: that they didn't want to adopt him anymore. He felt extremely bad for making him feel that way.

"We didn't want to tell you anything until there was some progress." Sandy told him.

"And is there any progress?" he looked at them both. "When Rachel came to see me in that place, she said she would try to get them to sign over their rights."

"Stay here. I'll be right back." Sandy got up and left the kitchen and returned a few moments later with his brief case. "Take a look at this."

"What is this?" Ryan glanced at the legal-looking documents that Sandy had handed him.

"Rachel returned from Fresno with those documents this afternoon." Sandy explained. "She spent the day at the prison with your father. She explained the situation and convinced him that it would be in your best interest to sign over all his parental rights."

"And he did?" Ryan saw the signature at the bottom. "Just like that? Why would he do that after not doing anything for me my entire life?"

"Because Rachel convinced him that if we had to take it to trial, he'd get his rights taken away anyway."

"So what does this mean?"

"It means that we're one step closer to you becoming a legal member of this family." Kirsten spoke up. "Which is what we all want."

"So what about my mom?" Ryan looked at them. "Have you been able to track her down?"

"No, we haven't." Sandy told him. "I called one of my PI friends to try to track her down."

"And if you do, what happens?"

"We'll try to get her to sign over her rights as well."

"If she tries to fight it?"

"We'll set up a court date. But with her history, I'm sure the judge will agree to terminate her rights."

"And if you can't find her?"

"Then I can get a judge to hear why her rights should be terminated, and he'll most likely terminate them anyway."

"So why go through all the trouble of tracking her down if you're going to be able to terminate her rights either way?"

"Because every mother deserves the right to defend herself," Kirsten spoke up, seeing that Sandy didn't know what to tell him. "No matter what the circumstances."

"Do you have any questions about anything you just heard?" Sandy looked at Ryan.

"No questions, but I do have a request." He told them.

"What is it?"

"Will you keep me informed about everything as you receive it? I mean, it is about my life. It's not fair that you try to keep it from me."

"We weren't trying to keep it from you. We didn't want to tell you anything until we got both your parents to sign." Sandy told him. "But yes, we will keep you informed of everything as we hear it."

"Thank you." He said softly.

"It's been a long night for all of us." Kirsten told them. "You have school and therapy tomorrow. You should get some sleep."

"Ok." Ryan got up from the table. "Again, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"It's all right." They smiled at him. "Good night."

"Good night." He slowly walked up the stairs and Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a grateful look.

"It's a start, I think." Sandy told her. "For him to start opening up to us."


Ryan got to the top of the stairs as he spotted Seth; he had obviously overheard the entire conversation downstairs. He should've known that he had been listening to his talk with Sandy and Kirsten.

"Dude-" Seth started to say.

"Not in the mood, Seth." He pushed past him. "I'm all talked out for tonight."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Maybe. I need to rest up to prepare for my therapy session tomorrow."

"Sure. Good night, man."

"Night." Ryan went into his room and cleaned everything off his bed before changing into some sweats and a t-shirt and climbing into bed for the night.

AN: So what'd you all think? I think this is one of my longest chapters yet. So I don't know a thing about California adoption laws. If anyone knows of any good websites or anything, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm just going to wing it in this story and hope that no one makes a big deal out of it. So please R&R!