fic : Shattered Faith
title
Shattered Faith
fandom
The OC
summary
Sandy doesn't believe Ryan
timeline
AU, shortly after "The Truth"
beta
If it counts, MS Word 03
disclaimer
Sadly "The OC" isn't mine, but belongs to others (Josh Schwarz, FOX, ...)
previous
Part 1
Sunday Night
He thought that he’d never have to do this again. He finally let himself believe the things Seth and his parents told him about his place in their family.
It was a given to him, that they would kick him out after he got suspended from Harbor for punching Oliver, but they didn’t. The worst of punishment was that Sandy grounded him. Never in his life had he been grounded before, but that’s the way it was done in the Cohen family. No punching, not even much yelling, simply a lot of lecturing and an awful lot more time for himself to think about what he’d done wrong.
So he finally had let his inner guard down a bit. He didn’t show it, but he had let himself believe that they really wanted him in their family; that they wouldn’t kick him out, no weather what.
But yet he was currently packing his duffel bag with the few belongings he had. It didn’t take him long, since he had no intention of taking even a single thing Seth’s parents had gotten him, but only the things he brought from Chino or bought himself. Zipping up the duffel bag he took a sad last look around the pool house. Leaving wasn’t what he wanted to do, but considering Sandy’s reaction at the hospital a few hours before staying wasn’t an option at the moment.
He turned off the lights before he stepped out on the patio and slowly made his way through the back doors into the kitchen. He stopped at the counter and left his house keys on the top. Next to them he placed the cell phone Kirsten had purchased for him shortly after the Oliver incident two weeks ago and the watch Sandy gave him for Chrismukkha. He took some bottles of juice from the fridge stuffed them in his duffel bag and left the house - his home as they all wanted to make him believe - through the front door. Once outside he got on his bike and left the Cohen property without glancing back.
He cycled aimless through the night, trying to figure out what to do next, but he was still shocked from the day’s events and couldn’t really think straight. Soon enough the painkillers he got in the hospital started to wear off and he decided to stop at a near hotel to settle down for the night. At this time he didn’t really have a plan for what to do next, but he was sure of one thing - he wouldn’t run away. Despite his current relation, or better non-relation to the Cohens, he had learned something very important from them and that’s that running from your problems usually makes them only worse. So he got a room for the night - nothing special, but it would do - and after a short shower he was amazingly soon fast asleep.
Monday Morning
The next morning Ryan awoke early, but didn’t get up immediately. Laying in bed his thoughts drifted to Seth. He hoped he was ok, or at least would get there but he wasn’t so sure about that. The last time he had seen Seth was when he brought him to the ER the previous evening. By the time they had gotten there Seth was already unconsciousness. Ryan hadn’t wanted to leave Seth’s side, but when the staff had noticed his own condition he was led into another room. He had tried with his usual “I’m fine”, but his bruised body and the two bleeding stab wounds in his side hadn’t helped his case.
A while later, what felt like an eternity, his doctor had informed him that they had moved Seth to ICU, that his condition was really critical and that they didn’t know at the moment if and up to what extent Seth would recover.
That was the last information he had about Seth’s condition. When Sandy had arrived later in the night the only exchange between the two of them had been that Sandy accused Ryan for landing Seth in the ICU. He hadn’t even asked what had happened but had started his accusations immediately after he entered the room “How did you get into trouble whilst you where grounded? You two had another argument in which you couldn’t hold your fists still? Was it worth landing Seth in ICU?”
Ryan hadn’t known how to respond to that. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Not even the grounding was justified. It was the result of Sandy’s apparent disbelieve in him. On Saturday Seth had gotten himself into a fight with some guys and Ryan had rescued him once again. But they hadn’t gotten out without a few bruises. Back at home they had decided that it was time for Seth to learn how to defend himself. And that had been what they did. Unfortunately Sandy had found them while Ryan was holding Seth down to the ground in the backyard whilst Seth struggled to break free. It had only been to show Seth what he could do in such a situation. But Sandy, remembering the arguments between Seth and Ryan he had witnessed in the days before and seeing their bruised bodies, had jumped to the conclusion that Ryan couldn’t hold his fists once again. That he hadn’t learned anything from the whole Oliver debacle only two weeks back. And that he indeed had to have major anger management issues and tendencies to violence if he now was fighting with Seth too.
Sandy was stressed, he had only been at home to get some files he needed, but had forgotten in the morning. So he had grounded Ryan without giving him any chance for an explanation and not even Seth trying to tell him what had happened got through to him and was brushed of with a simple “I don’t have time for your covering for Ryan”.
The next time Ryan had seen Sandy had been in the hospital. After Sandy had finished his accusations, he had waited for Ryan’s response. But Ryan hadn’t said a word. He hadn’t even looked at Sandy. He had simply lain in his bed and starred at the ceiling, not showing the pain and anger Sandy’s words had caused. It hadn’t taken long before Sandy had left visibly frustrated.
It was only a few minutes later that Ryan’s doctor had stopped by and asked if his parents were there so that he could be discharged. I had been that moment that he decided to leave and so he had told the doctor a quick lie. Despite the scrubs they had given him in place of his torn shirt he had still worn his own cloths. So shortly after the doctor had left, he had taken off as well.
Ryan was pulled back to reality by the alarm of the clock radio on the night stand. He had planned on going to school. There was a meeting with Dr. Kim scheduled for this morning and he didn’t want to jeopardize his future more than necessary by also skipping school. It also gave him a chance to see if the Cohens at least cared enough to call school or even show up.
next
Part 2