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. Hope you like how this came out for me. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: See earlier chapters.

Chapter 12: Doctors Appointments

Ryan awoke on Wednesday morning and felt like he'd slept for a few days. He turned over to look at his alarm clock and saw that it was almost eleven. He slowly climbed out of bed and silently walked downstairs, thinking that maybe either Sandy or Kirsten were home.

"Hey, Ryan." Kirsten looked up from her work at the table as she heard him come into the kitchen. "Good morning."

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"We're working on a new development." She told him. "I'm working from home today."

"No. I mean its 11 o'clock on a Wednesday morning. Why didn't my alarm go off and why didn't you guys wake me up?"

"Sandy and I thought you needed a day." She stopped what she was doing and got up from the table. "Come here and sit. I need to talk to you about something."

"Ok." He sat at the counter with her as he slowly ate a bowl of dry cereal.

"Sandy called Dr. Jackson last night and scheduled an appointment for you this afternoon." She told him.

"Why?" he looked at her.

"There is a chance that you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We want to see if you do because the faster we know the faster we can help you through all this."

"You think I have PTSD?" Ryan looked at her, abandoning his cereal.

"We're not sure. We want to know for sure so we can help you."

"So I'm going to be put on anti-depressants?"

"We're not sure yet. First, we find out if you have PTSD. Then we'll go from there."

"I don't want to go on them if it comes to that. I don't want to become a zombie."

"We're not sure of anything yet. But we'll discuss everything and decide as a family whether or not it will be in your best interest if we put you on medication, all right?"

"Ok."

"Now why don't you finish your cereal and you can go and watch some TV before Sandy comes to pick us up for your appointment."

"Ok." Ryan went back to his bowl of cereal as Kirsten went back to working at the table.


Sandy arrived at the house a little after one o'clock in the afternoon. He walked inside and found Kirsten looking through some contracts for work. She looked up as he came into the kitchen and smiled at him as he went to her and greeted her with a kiss.

"How was your day?" he asked her.

"Very quiet." She sighed.

"Where's Ryan?"

"He's in the den watching TV."

"Did you talk to him about the appointment?"

"I told him that we were taking him to the doctor's and what we suspected."

"And what was his reaction?"

"He told me that he doesn't want to go on anti-depressants."

"We don't know if he'll be put on them."

"I know, but he was very adamant that he not be put on them."

"His appointment is at two. I'll talk to him for a little bit before we leave."

"Good luck." She told him. "He's barely said a thing to me since our conversation this morning."

Sandy walked into the den and spotted Ryan lying stretched across the couch as the TV played some kind of special. Sandy went to him and saw his eyes open, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to what was on TV.

"Hey, kid." He sat down in the chair across from the couch.

"Hey," he looked up at him. "Is it time to go?"

"Not yet. I wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"You want to ask me about last night, don't you?" he slowly sat up.

"No. I mean, I'd like to talk to you if you want to. But only if you're comfortable with that."

"Then what do you want to talk about?"

"It's just-we don't talk like we used to."

"I've never been comfortable sharing my feelings, you know that."

"I don't just mean that. We used to talk all the time; you would tell me about school and other things."

"I don't have much to say right now."

"I know." Sandy sighed. "I just feel like if I had been paying more attention to both you and Seth, I would've seen this whole thing coming."

"You mean my possible PTSD? How could you have known? I hate to admit that I need any help at all. I'm still getting used to this family who is overbearing with all their helpfulness."

"Ok. Point taken."

"Ryan," Kirsten came in to them. "We got to go if we're going to make your appointment. Hurry up and get dressed."

"Right." He got off the couch and went upstairs.

They all met in the foyer ten minutes later and they went outside and got into the range rover. The entire ride to the doctor's office was quiet. Ryan silently followed Sandy and Kirsten inside and they were immediately shown into a private exam room. The door opened after awhile and Dr. Jackson came in followed by Dr. Freedman.

"Hello everyone." Dr. Jackson greeted them all. "How are you doing Ryan?"

"Fine." He said softly.

"Sandy, Kirsten, if you don't mind stepping out of the room we can start doing some tests."

"Will you be ok in here without us?" Kirsten looked at Ryan.

"I'll be ok." He assured them.

"We'll be right outside, ok kid?" Sandy told him and he nodded.

"Ok, Ryan." Dr. Jackson started. "First I would like to take some blood."

"Why? I thought it was just a physical exam." He looked at him.

"We run a blood test when there's a possibility of PTSD to rule out other illnesses that are similar."

"All right." Ryan pushed up his sleeve, suddenly wishing that he had asked Kirsten to stay.

He turned away as Dr. Jackson got out a needle and some vials that would hold his blood in a few minutes. He felt a sharp pinch and a little bit later Dr. Jackson announced that he was finished.

"Ok. I'm going to take this down to the lab. I'll be back in a minute." Dr. Jackson left the room and Ryan was left alone with Dr. Freedman.

"So we won't talk about what led to this, but I would like to know what happened at dinner last night."

"Didn't Sandy call you and tell you about it?"

"Yes, he did. But I would like to hear it in your words."

"I was just feeling a little overwhelmed." Ryan finally admitted.

"Why were you overwhelmed?"

"Because I was at this stupid dinner with Caleb who was only there because Sandy and Kirsten made him agree to it when he got me out of that place. I wasn't hungry and didn't want to be there so I started an argument that would distract everyone so I could slip out of the room."

"And there were a couple things that brought back some things for you?"

"Yes. I hate the smell of fish and cigars, all right? It makes me think of that place, and I don't want to think about it anymore."

"Ok." Dr. Jackson came back in. "The lab should have your results back in a few minutes. So let's get this exam started."

Ryan tried to sit patiently as Dr. Jackson not only did a physical exam, but also a mental health exam. When he was done, Dr. Jackson made some notes in his chart.

"Now Sandy and Kirsten said that you don't want to be put on antidepressants if it comes to that. Would you like to tell me why?"

"If you talked to them, then you already know why." Ryan mumbled.

"Yes, I do." Dr. Jackson sighed as Dr. Freedman slipped out of the room to find Sandy and Kirsten. "What makes you think that you would turn into a zombie?"

"You have that doctor/patient confidentiality thing too, right? You can't tell Sandy and Kirsten even though I'm still a minor?"

"I promise that they won't find out anything from me."

"I've been on antidepressants before." Ryan said softly. "They put me on them when I was around ten, and I became like the walking dead."


Sandy and Kirsten tried to sit patiently in the hall outside of Ryan's exam room. Kirsten kept having to stop herself from going back into the room to be with him. They watched as Dr. Jackson came out of the room with some vials of blood and rushed down the hall. They could hear Dr. Freedman conversing with Ryan in a low voice as Dr. Jackson returned to the room. Dr. Freedman came out of the room and approached them as they sat up.

"Ok. He told me what happened at dinner last night. I think I might be a little closer to getting him to open up about his time spent in that facility. Which means you're also close to getting him to talk about it with you."

"We don't want to force him." Kirsten said. "He'll shut down on us completely then."

"I don't think he'll feel forced. I'm sure he'll feel ready to talk to you."

"Ryan's on his way out." Dr. Jackson came out. "He told me why he doesn't want to be on any medication, but he doesn't want me to tell you guys."

"You can't tell us anything at all?" Sandy asked him.

"Hypothetically," Dr. Jackson glanced back to make sure Ryan wasn't coming out. "If you were to get his file-I don't mean the file you got from Child Services when you took him in. I'm talking about his official medical file. If you were to get a hold of that, I'm sure you'd find some interesting information in there."

"So does he have PTSD?" Kirsten asked as Ryan came out and joined them in the uncomfortable chairs. "Will you put him on medication?"

"Ryan has a mild case of PTSD." Dr. Jackson told them. "I believe we caught it in time that there won't be that long of a treatment time."

"So do you recommend that we medicate?" Sandy asked seeing Ryan sit passively beside Kirsten.

"That is something you'll need to discuss with each other. But here's my suggestions." He handed them some papers with a list of medication names. "There's some antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and sleep aids. They're all very low dose. And you guys can control when and if he takes them."

"Ok." Sandy looked through all the papers.

"There's another treatment that I don't recommend unless nothing else works. It's called desensitization. It's where we would encourage Ryan to remember the event and express his feelings about it."

"No." Ryan finally spoke for the first time since he came out of the exam room.

"Like I said, it's the very last resort." Dr. Jackson assured him. "I also suggested a list of support groups with others who are suffering from PTSD. None of this is mandatory. The choice is up to you. These are just suggestions."

"We'll talk about it all later tonight." Sandy told them as they all stood up and walked out of the medical building.

They definitely had a lot to think about before they made any final decisions. All Sandy could think about, though, was calling Rachel as soon as he got home so they could track down Ryan's medical records in Chino and Fresno. Ryan remained silent in the back once again on the ride home. As soon as they arrived home, Ryan went into the house and right up to his room without saying a word to anyone. Kirsten watched him go and sighed as she followed Sandy into his office so they could talk about what all both of the doctors told them that day.

AN: So what'd you all think? I hope I got all the information right. Please R&R!