fic - generations (a miniseries)
title - generations (a miniseries)
fandom - the oc
pairings - where's your curiosity, folks?
warnings - language, sexitimes, familial confusion
disclaimer - never owned it, still broke.
words - 3K-ish
author's note:
MONDAY.
TUESDAY. DAYTIME.
TUESDAY. NIGHTTIME.
WEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY. AFTERNOON.
THURSDAY.
Carter cleared his throat when he finally found Jane sitting in the backyard with Enya, their extremely temperamental housekeeper. "Hey."
Enya glared at him and squeezed the girl's shoulder before leaving them alone.
"Hey," Jane replied.
"I thought since you're going to be here a while and it's going to take time to get your stuff sent out, that maybe we could go get you some things."
Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to take me shopping?"
"Hailey's in meetings all day and since I work from home, I thought it would give us some time to get to know each other," Carter said.
"You're not my dad."
Carter shrugged. "Still. You're stuck with us a while."
Jane visibly steadied herself. "You're right."
"Huh. That never happens in my house, I think I'm going to like having you around," Carter said, earning a smile. "Even if you get up too early."
"I hope I can get a job where I can sleep late," Jane said.
"Plenty of time for that, school's a priority for now," Carter replied. "We have to get real parents to help us figure out how all that works, but I am versed in spending money so chop chop."
She rolled her eyes but followed him to the garage.
"So you just stay home all day while your wife works?" Jane asked.
"I have a nice nest egg from writing and I wasn't a big spender. I lived on my boat for over ten years," Carter said. "I didn't feel like settling down until I met Hailey."
"But you're, like, old," Jane hesitated.
He shrugged. "Some of us take a while to get ourselves together. I liked the ladies, never really thought I'd be happy with just one, you know? And Hailey, well, I'm pretty happy I caught her."
"Are you sure it's okay if I stay here?" Jane asked.
"Well, you have no criminal record, so that's a mark in your favor. Hailey says you like girls, so that eliminates any pesky pregnancy scares," Carter said carefully. "Your test scores are impressive so we won't have any problem sending you the private school Hailey says you have to go to and you haven't burned anything down yet."
"Um, okay. So as long as I don't get arrested, don't get pregnant or burn anything down, I'll be fine to stay?" Jane asked.
Carter wondered why that sounded familiar. "We're not going to put you out on the street, we're just going to take this a bit at a time."
"Everyone's so rich, I won't fit in," Jane said.
"My name doesn't mean anything, but Hailey and Kirsten are the reigning society queens around here. Things used to be a lot worse. Sophie and Jacks will look out for you, too."
"I don't get how they're cousins but they're dating," Jane said.
"There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. Sandy and Kirsten adopted Ryan and along the way, his biological father hooked up with Kaitlyn's mother and had Jacks. Some things happened and Ryan and Kaitlyn take care of their brother now. So Sophie is actually Jacks' aunt in a backwards kind of way. There's a flowchart lying around somewhere, I think Sandy keeps it in his office," Carter said.
"I shouldn't have asked because now I understand even less," Jane replied.
"The point is, they're not breaking any laws and their family isn't a family because of genetics," Carter said. "Are they dating?"
"If they aren't, they will be. She kept giving me dirty looks and then when I told her what was up, he started giving me dirty looks. They need to deal with that. But they're nice apart from the sexual tension," Jane replied. "Sophie's been spazzing out because Jacks missed school yesterday. I mean, I barely know her and she's telling me all about her drama."
"You could just ignore her texts," Carter said.
"No! I mean, it's cool. I didn't have a lot of friends at home. The whole gay thing didn't go over too well with everyone," Jane said.
"I have no idea how to give you a safe sex talk so dating is off the table at the moment. I have to consult the lesbians down the street," Carter said thoughtfully.
"Oh wow, no, you don't have to do that," Jane said, her eyes wide.
"Let's just focus on shopping today, I'll leave the girl-stuff to Hailey. And you're not old enough to date yet anyway. I don't think," Carter replied.
"Even if this doesn't work out, I have a feeling it's going to be hilarious," Jane said evenly.
***************
"So how was your visitation?" Hailey asked, settling into her seat across from his cluttered desk.
"How was your surprise step-kid?" Ryan replied. She smirked at him.
"I asked first."
"It was complicated. Jacks took a stand and made me take him up to see his mom. He doesn't want us to contact her anymore."
Hailey was surprised. "Really? But you've been doing it for years."
"I know. But he wants to move on and it's his decision. I'm still keeping the time free, Kaity and I are going to have regular, scheduled dates," Ryan said.
"So you're just dropping her?" Hailey asked. She hoped he was, but she knew Ryan Atwood a little better than that by now.
"We'll keep her commissary fund topped off but that's all, and you can't tell Jacks. He's really serious about this," Ryan said.
"And you're letting him do it?" Hailey questioned.
Ryan slumped slightly. "I can't change the way he feels. You know I don't talk about stuff like emotions and all that but I remember visiting my mom, hell, my dad, after I moved to Newport and it twisted me up every time. It shaped the man I am now, that feeling of being insignificant to the people that made me - I'll never lose that. He has to deal with it, too, but I'm not going to push him to deal with something that I couldn't deal with myself."
Hailey nodded, knowing she had poked something too close to the surface.
"Anyway, that happened. Kaitlyn didn't go see Frank and when she found out how Jacks had ended things with Julie, she convinced Trey to take responsibility for him."
"Trey? What's he up to these days?" Hailey asked.
"He's a chaplain at this rehabilitation center. It's a halfway house for cons getting released," Ryan replied.
"Shit, why hasn't he been seeing your father?"
Ryan shrugged. "They hate each other. Not my business. Kaity handled it."
"I really don't know how you've made it this long with your emotional constipation," Hailey said.
"Do you really want to go there?" Ryan warned.
"Jane's going to stay with us. She's not Carter's kid, but she's still a kid. Kirsten always said I copied her but we're still going to take in the stray," Hailey said.
"And you're okay with that?" Ryan asked, holding her gaze. "Because you love your life."
"I do love my life and hopefully that won't change. But Carter - I think he was lying when he said he kids. So we can try this foster parent stuff out and see what happens."
"Everything changes when you get a kid, no matter how old it is," Ryan replied.
"Are you worried about Seth and Summer?"
"I've got nine months to worry about them, you've got a teenager moving into your house." He lowered his voice. "Your poolhouse is full of pot, Hailey."
"We took care of that. Well, Enya's buying stock in Febreze but she had that stuff off the property before we got home from Kirsten's the first night," Hailey said. "Do you think we can do this?"
"Hailey, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything."
***************
"Holy shit," Seth said, skidding to a stop in the hallway. "I'm going to turn around and when I turn back, you will be at least three feet away from my sister with all your clothes on."
"Seth! What are you - " Sophie gasped. Jacks scrambled for his shirt but Seth was reasonably sure they were dressed otherwise. He hoped he wasn't too old to be able to repress the memory of his baby sister straddling his brother's baby brother.
"I'm just going to go..." Jacks said.
Seth swiveled around to face them. "Oh no you aren't - apart from the fact that you live here - you are going to sit there until I figure out what I'm supposed to do in this situation."
"Seth, we weren't doing anything, we didn't - " Sophie started.
"Shh," Seth hushed her.
"Are you going to tell Ry?" Jacks whispered.
"I should tweet it right now so everyone can come over and lecture you," Seth threatened. God, he wasn't ready to be a parent. And Sophie was his sister - his baby sister - Jacks wasn't supposed to be touching her with his mouth.
"I told you we should have gone to my room," Jacks whispered.
"I'm tired of waiting for you to man up, and you already had your shirt off," Sophie replied.
"It's hot in here," Jacks defended.
"Oh my God, be quiet," Seth said. "When did this happen? I mean, are you guys even dating?"
"Ryan doesn't like to date and Jacks does whatever he does," Sophie pouted, crossing her arms.
"We are going out, I texted her last night and we had lunch together. I didn't know she was coming over tonight," Jacks said.
"I'm not giving you a window to change your mind," Sophie said. "I'm staking my claim."
"Seriously, Sophie?" Seth asked. When had she turned into a girl that would dry hump her best friend?
"We don't have to go that fast, I already told you we're going out. I kissed you in front of Yao and he's the biggest gossip at Harbor," Jacks said.
"I'm activating my brother and uncle executive rights. Sophie, I'm driving you home and Jacks, you're going to sit in the kitchen on the stool until Ryan or Kaitlyn gets home."
"Please, Seth, Mom and Dad don't need to know - we didn't do anything - I'm still wearing my purity ring," Sophie said, holding up her hand.
"That is a plastic Green Lantern ring. That I gave to you," Seth said. "And there is no argument about this - getting busted making out when you're under the age of eighteen must be reported."
"This is why you're not the 'cool' brother," Sophie muttered.
"Seth, Ry already knows I like Sophie and he has sex talk reminders programmed in his phone," Jacks said.
"And Mom figured out that Jacks was the guy I had a crush on," Sophie said.
"But I doubt they knew you were at the horizontal stage," Seth replied.
"We were just kissing," Sophie said. "I thought he was going to run away."
"I wouldn't run away," Jacks murmured. "You're insecure and you shouldn't be."
"This isn't couples counseling," Seth protested. "You are both still in a lot of trouble!"
Their shoulders slumped and he felt a rush of righteous Cohen Guilt for making the next generation sad. "No, I will not feel guilty for cock-blocking my sister," he said out loud.
"Oh wow, should I have worked late tonight?" Kaitlyn walked in and gave them all a surprised look.
"They were kissing. And Jacks wasn't wearing a shirt," Seth blurted out.
Kaitlyn was properly alarmed. "Jacks?"
"It's hot because Summer keeps touching the thermostat," Jacks said.
"His shirt was already off. I was just taking advantage," Sophie murmured.
"We have a call tree for this," Kaitlyn sighed. She looked at Seth. "Tell your wife to stop touching the thermostat."
***************
Sandy narrowed his eyes at Ryan and Kaitlyn across the kitchen. "Are you seriously playing rock-paper-scissors?"
"Um. I gave the masturbation talk, it's her turn," Ryan replied, flushed.
"You talk to him about sex all the time, there's no reason it's my turn now," Kaitlyn protested.
"She's my sister, I have to come up with a whole different lecture about this," Ryan replied.
Sandy shouldn't have interrupted.
"Hey, you're not the one talking to Sophie, you can't judge," Kaitlyn pointed out.
"It's her turn," Sandy said. "We knew this was coming."
"Yeah, I wonder who won the betting pool," Ryan muttered.
"Summer's calculating the data," Kaitlyn said absently. She sucked in a breath and headed for the stairs. "I'm going in."
"I never thought it would be Sophie making the first move," Sandy admitted.
"I thought they'd take longer, honestly. I mean, girls call for Jacks all the time. Granted they call the house because he doesn't give them his cell number, but he's always been really careful around Sophie. Sisterly."
"That's what we said about you and Kaitlyn last week," Sandy said.
"I've been reconsidering group family therapy," Ryan replied.
"Me, too," Sandy grinned.
fandom - the oc
pairings - where's your curiosity, folks?
warnings - language, sexitimes, familial confusion
disclaimer - never owned it, still broke.
words - 3K-ish
author's note:
MONDAY.
TUESDAY. DAYTIME.
TUESDAY. NIGHTTIME.
WEDNESDAY
WEDNESDAY. AFTERNOON.
THURSDAY.
Carter cleared his throat when he finally found Jane sitting in the backyard with Enya, their extremely temperamental housekeeper. "Hey."
Enya glared at him and squeezed the girl's shoulder before leaving them alone.
"Hey," Jane replied.
"I thought since you're going to be here a while and it's going to take time to get your stuff sent out, that maybe we could go get you some things."
Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to take me shopping?"
"Hailey's in meetings all day and since I work from home, I thought it would give us some time to get to know each other," Carter said.
"You're not my dad."
Carter shrugged. "Still. You're stuck with us a while."
Jane visibly steadied herself. "You're right."
"Huh. That never happens in my house, I think I'm going to like having you around," Carter said, earning a smile. "Even if you get up too early."
"I hope I can get a job where I can sleep late," Jane said.
"Plenty of time for that, school's a priority for now," Carter replied. "We have to get real parents to help us figure out how all that works, but I am versed in spending money so chop chop."
She rolled her eyes but followed him to the garage.
"So you just stay home all day while your wife works?" Jane asked.
"I have a nice nest egg from writing and I wasn't a big spender. I lived on my boat for over ten years," Carter said. "I didn't feel like settling down until I met Hailey."
"But you're, like, old," Jane hesitated.
He shrugged. "Some of us take a while to get ourselves together. I liked the ladies, never really thought I'd be happy with just one, you know? And Hailey, well, I'm pretty happy I caught her."
"Are you sure it's okay if I stay here?" Jane asked.
"Well, you have no criminal record, so that's a mark in your favor. Hailey says you like girls, so that eliminates any pesky pregnancy scares," Carter said carefully. "Your test scores are impressive so we won't have any problem sending you the private school Hailey says you have to go to and you haven't burned anything down yet."
"Um, okay. So as long as I don't get arrested, don't get pregnant or burn anything down, I'll be fine to stay?" Jane asked.
Carter wondered why that sounded familiar. "We're not going to put you out on the street, we're just going to take this a bit at a time."
"Everyone's so rich, I won't fit in," Jane said.
"My name doesn't mean anything, but Hailey and Kirsten are the reigning society queens around here. Things used to be a lot worse. Sophie and Jacks will look out for you, too."
"I don't get how they're cousins but they're dating," Jane said.
"There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes. Sandy and Kirsten adopted Ryan and along the way, his biological father hooked up with Kaitlyn's mother and had Jacks. Some things happened and Ryan and Kaitlyn take care of their brother now. So Sophie is actually Jacks' aunt in a backwards kind of way. There's a flowchart lying around somewhere, I think Sandy keeps it in his office," Carter said.
"I shouldn't have asked because now I understand even less," Jane replied.
"The point is, they're not breaking any laws and their family isn't a family because of genetics," Carter said. "Are they dating?"
"If they aren't, they will be. She kept giving me dirty looks and then when I told her what was up, he started giving me dirty looks. They need to deal with that. But they're nice apart from the sexual tension," Jane replied. "Sophie's been spazzing out because Jacks missed school yesterday. I mean, I barely know her and she's telling me all about her drama."
"You could just ignore her texts," Carter said.
"No! I mean, it's cool. I didn't have a lot of friends at home. The whole gay thing didn't go over too well with everyone," Jane said.
"I have no idea how to give you a safe sex talk so dating is off the table at the moment. I have to consult the lesbians down the street," Carter said thoughtfully.
"Oh wow, no, you don't have to do that," Jane said, her eyes wide.
"Let's just focus on shopping today, I'll leave the girl-stuff to Hailey. And you're not old enough to date yet anyway. I don't think," Carter replied.
"Even if this doesn't work out, I have a feeling it's going to be hilarious," Jane said evenly.
***************
"So how was your visitation?" Hailey asked, settling into her seat across from his cluttered desk.
"How was your surprise step-kid?" Ryan replied. She smirked at him.
"I asked first."
"It was complicated. Jacks took a stand and made me take him up to see his mom. He doesn't want us to contact her anymore."
Hailey was surprised. "Really? But you've been doing it for years."
"I know. But he wants to move on and it's his decision. I'm still keeping the time free, Kaity and I are going to have regular, scheduled dates," Ryan said.
"So you're just dropping her?" Hailey asked. She hoped he was, but she knew Ryan Atwood a little better than that by now.
"We'll keep her commissary fund topped off but that's all, and you can't tell Jacks. He's really serious about this," Ryan said.
"And you're letting him do it?" Hailey questioned.
Ryan slumped slightly. "I can't change the way he feels. You know I don't talk about stuff like emotions and all that but I remember visiting my mom, hell, my dad, after I moved to Newport and it twisted me up every time. It shaped the man I am now, that feeling of being insignificant to the people that made me - I'll never lose that. He has to deal with it, too, but I'm not going to push him to deal with something that I couldn't deal with myself."
Hailey nodded, knowing she had poked something too close to the surface.
"Anyway, that happened. Kaitlyn didn't go see Frank and when she found out how Jacks had ended things with Julie, she convinced Trey to take responsibility for him."
"Trey? What's he up to these days?" Hailey asked.
"He's a chaplain at this rehabilitation center. It's a halfway house for cons getting released," Ryan replied.
"Shit, why hasn't he been seeing your father?"
Ryan shrugged. "They hate each other. Not my business. Kaity handled it."
"I really don't know how you've made it this long with your emotional constipation," Hailey said.
"Do you really want to go there?" Ryan warned.
"Jane's going to stay with us. She's not Carter's kid, but she's still a kid. Kirsten always said I copied her but we're still going to take in the stray," Hailey said.
"And you're okay with that?" Ryan asked, holding her gaze. "Because you love your life."
"I do love my life and hopefully that won't change. But Carter - I think he was lying when he said he kids. So we can try this foster parent stuff out and see what happens."
"Everything changes when you get a kid, no matter how old it is," Ryan replied.
"Are you worried about Seth and Summer?"
"I've got nine months to worry about them, you've got a teenager moving into your house." He lowered his voice. "Your poolhouse is full of pot, Hailey."
"We took care of that. Well, Enya's buying stock in Febreze but she had that stuff off the property before we got home from Kirsten's the first night," Hailey said. "Do you think we can do this?"
"Hailey, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything."
***************
"Holy shit," Seth said, skidding to a stop in the hallway. "I'm going to turn around and when I turn back, you will be at least three feet away from my sister with all your clothes on."
"Seth! What are you - " Sophie gasped. Jacks scrambled for his shirt but Seth was reasonably sure they were dressed otherwise. He hoped he wasn't too old to be able to repress the memory of his baby sister straddling his brother's baby brother.
"I'm just going to go..." Jacks said.
Seth swiveled around to face them. "Oh no you aren't - apart from the fact that you live here - you are going to sit there until I figure out what I'm supposed to do in this situation."
"Seth, we weren't doing anything, we didn't - " Sophie started.
"Shh," Seth hushed her.
"Are you going to tell Ry?" Jacks whispered.
"I should tweet it right now so everyone can come over and lecture you," Seth threatened. God, he wasn't ready to be a parent. And Sophie was his sister - his baby sister - Jacks wasn't supposed to be touching her with his mouth.
"I told you we should have gone to my room," Jacks whispered.
"I'm tired of waiting for you to man up, and you already had your shirt off," Sophie replied.
"It's hot in here," Jacks defended.
"Oh my God, be quiet," Seth said. "When did this happen? I mean, are you guys even dating?"
"Ryan doesn't like to date and Jacks does whatever he does," Sophie pouted, crossing her arms.
"We are going out, I texted her last night and we had lunch together. I didn't know she was coming over tonight," Jacks said.
"I'm not giving you a window to change your mind," Sophie said. "I'm staking my claim."
"Seriously, Sophie?" Seth asked. When had she turned into a girl that would dry hump her best friend?
"We don't have to go that fast, I already told you we're going out. I kissed you in front of Yao and he's the biggest gossip at Harbor," Jacks said.
"I'm activating my brother and uncle executive rights. Sophie, I'm driving you home and Jacks, you're going to sit in the kitchen on the stool until Ryan or Kaitlyn gets home."
"Please, Seth, Mom and Dad don't need to know - we didn't do anything - I'm still wearing my purity ring," Sophie said, holding up her hand.
"That is a plastic Green Lantern ring. That I gave to you," Seth said. "And there is no argument about this - getting busted making out when you're under the age of eighteen must be reported."
"This is why you're not the 'cool' brother," Sophie muttered.
"Seth, Ry already knows I like Sophie and he has sex talk reminders programmed in his phone," Jacks said.
"And Mom figured out that Jacks was the guy I had a crush on," Sophie said.
"But I doubt they knew you were at the horizontal stage," Seth replied.
"We were just kissing," Sophie said. "I thought he was going to run away."
"I wouldn't run away," Jacks murmured. "You're insecure and you shouldn't be."
"This isn't couples counseling," Seth protested. "You are both still in a lot of trouble!"
Their shoulders slumped and he felt a rush of righteous Cohen Guilt for making the next generation sad. "No, I will not feel guilty for cock-blocking my sister," he said out loud.
"Oh wow, should I have worked late tonight?" Kaitlyn walked in and gave them all a surprised look.
"They were kissing. And Jacks wasn't wearing a shirt," Seth blurted out.
Kaitlyn was properly alarmed. "Jacks?"
"It's hot because Summer keeps touching the thermostat," Jacks said.
"His shirt was already off. I was just taking advantage," Sophie murmured.
"We have a call tree for this," Kaitlyn sighed. She looked at Seth. "Tell your wife to stop touching the thermostat."
***************
Sandy narrowed his eyes at Ryan and Kaitlyn across the kitchen. "Are you seriously playing rock-paper-scissors?"
"Um. I gave the masturbation talk, it's her turn," Ryan replied, flushed.
"You talk to him about sex all the time, there's no reason it's my turn now," Kaitlyn protested.
"She's my sister, I have to come up with a whole different lecture about this," Ryan replied.
Sandy shouldn't have interrupted.
"Hey, you're not the one talking to Sophie, you can't judge," Kaitlyn pointed out.
"It's her turn," Sandy said. "We knew this was coming."
"Yeah, I wonder who won the betting pool," Ryan muttered.
"Summer's calculating the data," Kaitlyn said absently. She sucked in a breath and headed for the stairs. "I'm going in."
"I never thought it would be Sophie making the first move," Sandy admitted.
"I thought they'd take longer, honestly. I mean, girls call for Jacks all the time. Granted they call the house because he doesn't give them his cell number, but he's always been really careful around Sophie. Sisterly."
"That's what we said about you and Kaitlyn last week," Sandy said.
"I've been reconsidering group family therapy," Ryan replied.
"Me, too," Sandy grinned.