AN: Don't anyone kill me for not updating in so long. I took a little time off from my OC stories to focus on my Friends stories. I am back to writing these stories because I would like to start wrapping up these stories. So PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See earlier chapters.

Chapter 22: What Ryan Wants

Sandy and Kirsten were at the kitchen counter re-reading the flier that Ryan had brought home. Seth came in followed by Hailey, but Ryan was nowhere to be seen.

"Still reading the flier?" Seth grumbled.

"Are you guys going to the parent meeting?" Hailey asked them.

"We agreed to check it out." Kirsten told them. "Since it seems so important to Ryan."

"Where is Ryan?" Sandy looked at Seth.

"I think he's calling Taylor. Probably to tell her about his awesome plans this summer." Seth walked out of the room.

"He was a little upset when Ryan told him about his possible summer plans." Hailey told them. "I think he had made his own plans for them for the summer."

"He'll get over it." Sandy sighed.

"So are you going to let him try out?" Hailey asked again.

"We decided to go to the meeting tonight." Kirsten told her. "But we were supposed to take Ryan to another support group meeting."

"I can take him if you want. Besides, I don't think he's very comfortable going with you guys when he knows that you're watching the meeting the whole time."

"It might actually be better this way." Sandy looked at his wife. "He might actually talk if we're not there."

"Ok. You can take him." Kirsten relented as they heard a honk from outside.

"Taylor's here!" Ryan rushed down the stairs. "Did they go for it?"

"Hailey can take you tonight." Kirsten told him. "We'll be going to the meeting tonight."

"Thanks." Ryan started for the front door.

"Kid, don't forget your breakfast." Sandy tossed a bagel towards him and Ryan caught it before he headed out the door.

"So who's this Taylor girl?" Hailey asked.

"She's his lab partner in Chemistry." Kirsten told her. "She's helped him a lot these past few weeks. We definitely owe her a big thank you."

"Sounds like a girl I should meet."


"Let it go, Cohen!" Summer rolled her eyes as Seth went on and on about all their summer plans being ruined. "Ryan likes his sports. It's not that surprising that he would want to go to some sort of sports camp."

"But we had plans!"

"No, you had plans. And just assumed that Ryan would just do what you wanted him to."

"But-"

"Shut up, Cohen!"

"Is he still going on about it?" Ryan came up to them with Taylor. "Let it go, dude. I'm not even sure if Sandy and Kirsten will let me go at this point."

"They'll let you do anything you want at this point because of-everything."

"Well I don't think I should have to put everything I want to do on hold just to hang out with you to give you an ego boost."

Seth watched Ryan storm off as Summer and Taylor both smacked him on either side of his head and glared at him.

"Ow!" Seth grumbled as he rubbed his head and glanced at them both.

"Contrary to what you believe, Ryan is not living with you guys just so you can have a playmate whenever you feel the need." Taylor stated.

"So whatever your problem is with Ryan, you need to find a way to get over it." Summer added. "Because Ryan is here to stay, and he has other interests than comic books and video games like you."

"Walk with me, Summer." Taylor pulled her away and she followed her down the hall, leaving Seth in the middle of the hallway.


Ryan followed behind Luke with his lunch tray as they tried to find a table to sit at. They found one near the vending machines and slid into the chairs as Luke continued to talk about the bomb his dad dropped on him a few nights ago.

"So you're moving with your dad?" Ryan asked

"Yep. The divorce finally went through." Luke told him. "He wants a fresh start, and I think I do too."

"Well, I'll miss seeing you." Ryan revealed. "Maybe I can come and visit this summer."

"Absolutely, man. So you're really joining this all-star team?"

"It depends what Sandy and Kirsten find out at the meeting."

"I've always wanted to join." Luke told him. "I can't believe that Cohen is being such an ass because you want to do something for yourself."

"Apparently he's been planning our whole summer for us."

"I'm sure he'll get over it eventually." Ryan sighed in agreement as Summer and Taylor came up to join them.

"Where's Seth?" Ryan asked them.

"Who cares?" Summer mumbled. "I think he's being totally selfish about all of this."


Ryan followed Hailey into the center where the support group meeting was held. They sat near the back as the moderator came forward to start the meeting.

"This is really pointless," Ryan mumbled.

"It's not that bad." Hailey looked at him. "Some of these stories are really inspiring. To me they are anyway."

"They're great stories, but I am not standing up and telling my story."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Sandy wants me to talk."

"Well Sandy's not here now is he?"

"Would anyone like to talk next?" the moderator asked the room.

"I will," Ryan heard Hailey say as he watched her stand up beside him. "I came here today to support my nephew, but I have a story of my own."

Ryan listened contently as Hailey shared in vivid detail about her experience. Everyone listened intently as Hailey went through the emotions.

"Thank you for sharing, Hailey." The moderator smiled at her. "Ryan, would you like to share this week?"

"I-" Ryan looked at all the eyes on him as Hailey patted him on the back.


Sandy and Kirsten looked through the brochures and all the information as the speaker ended the meeting. Sandy was looking through all the equipment that Ryan would need as Kirsten was looking through the pictures of living quarters.

"So what do you think?" Sandy looked at her.

"I think he'll want to go." She told him.

"Will you let him?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "On the one hand I would miss him. On the other hand it's the first thing he's been excited about in weeks."

"Let's go home and talk to Ryan about it." They left the school auditorium and walked out to their car.

They arrived home and walked inside to find it eerily quiet. They spotted Hailey watching TV in the living room and could hear video games coming from the den. They spotted empty pizza boxes sitting on the counter as Hailey spotted them and got off the couch to go greet them.

"Hey. How'd the meeting go?" Hailey asked them.

"Fine. How'd the support group go?"

"It was all right. I actually talked. They tried to encourage Ryan to talk, but he didn't want to."

"Why is it so quiet?" Sandy asked. "It hasn't been this quiet since before Ryan came."

"Seth and Ryan aren't speaking to each other." Hailey told them.

"What happened?"

"Ryan made summer plans that didn't include Seth."

"Seth is still upset about that?"

"He's even more upset after they had an argument at school that even Summer isn't talking to him because of it."

"Do you know what the argument was about?" Kirsten asked.

"Well I talked to Taylor a bit when she stopped by to see Ryan earlier. She said something about Ryan telling Seth that he wasn't going to not do things that he wants to do just so Seth can have a playmate."

"I think I'm going to go talk to Ryan," Kirsten started upstairs.

"I guess that leaves me to talk to Seth," Sandy walked into the den and shut off the TV. "We need to talk."

"Look, I'm sorry how I acted with Ryan." Seth looked at him as he sat down beside him.

"It's a nice apology, but I think it needs to be directed elsewhere."

"Do you think I haven't tried? Every time I approached him today, he walked off. Luke, Taylor, and Summer seemed to be guarding him all day."

"Then you need to keep trying."

"Fine."

"Do you not see how hard Ryan has been struggling since Oliver came along? He needs a lot of support right now."

"I know."

"He never had much of a childhood. He never had the chance to be a regular, care-free kid growing up. So if he's interested in something, your mother and I will look into doing anything we can to make it happen for him."

"Ok. I'll try again." Seth left the room and started upstairs.

Kirsten approached Ryan's room and knocked softly. She didn't hear a response, so she knocked again.

"Ryan, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Yeah." She heard him softly call and saw him sitting at his desk typing on his laptop.

"Are you doing your homework?" she asked him.

"I already finished it." He mumbled. "I'm messaging with Taylor."

"Can you sign off for a little bit while we talk?"

"Fine." He signed out and closed the laptop. "I'm not apologizing to him. I have nothing to be sorry for."

"I agree with you." She told him and he turned to look at her.

"Really?" he asked wearily.

"I agree that you need to do things that you're interested in, and not to worry about Seth. We've wanted you to do that since you moved in."

"So does that mean that I can join the soccer team?"

"Sandy and I are still talking about it."

"When will you know for sure?"

"A couple days maybe." She assured him as there was a knock at the door and it slowly opened to reveal Seth standing in the doorway.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I've been acting today." He told them.

"I accept your apology," Ryan glared at him. "But that doesn't mean that I like you right now."

"I understand."

"I think I deserve the right to do what I want to do; not just to be here to hang out with you when you feel the need."

"He's right, you know." Kirsten looked at Seth.

"I know," Seth left the room, closing the door behind him.

"What else did you want to talk about?" Ryan looked at Kirsten.

"I just wanted to see how the support group went tonight."

"I know Hailey already told you." He mumbled. "I told you that I wasn't going to talk. You'll be lucky if I decide to talk to you about it."

"Well one more meeting, then you can forget about these meetings."

"Good." Ryan sighed.

"All right. I'll leave you alone now." Kirsten stood up. "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't." he watched her leave and booted up his laptop again.


Ryan was sleeping soundly one weekend morning; he was finally sleeping through the whole night now. He hadn't had any nightmares for awhile now, and they were all relieved. But they knew that there was a big possibility that they would come back full force when he had to go into court.

His door slowly opened and Ryan turned over to see Sandy slowly coming into his room.

"Is it time already?" Ryan asked him.

"Not yet." Sandy told him. "Kirsten and I want to talk to you in the kitchen."

"Ok." He slowly got out of bed and followed Sandy downstairs and into the kitchen.

Ryan could smell the coffee brewing as Kirsten was getting some bagels out for all of them. He sat down on one of the stools at the counter as he spotted all the information about the all star camp spread out before him.

"So we have made a decision about the team," Sandy started.

"And?" Ryan looked at them, hopeful.

"And we've decided that you can do it." Kirsten told him.

"Seriously?" he smiled at them.

"We've already filled out the form, your coach wrote a letter of recommendation, and Seth edited a DVD that he took at one of your games. So do you still want to go?"

"Yeah, I do. It's just-"

"What?" Sandy looked at him. "What has you so concerned?"

"W-What if my nightmares come back while I'm there? If I have to share a room with someone-"

"You get your own room when you're there." Kirsten interrupted him. "It's like living in a dorm."

"Oh."

"We can talk about everything later," Sandy told him. "We all need to eat some breakfast, and head out. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long day."

Ryan finished his bagel and coffee and went up stairs to get changed for the day ahead. He heard Kirsten calling for him and he went downstairs and met up with everyone else. They all went out to the range rover and they started their journey to their destination.

AN: So what'd you all think? Where do you think the Cohen's are going? PLZ R&R!