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, ...)
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Part 4
Part 5
Wednesday Afternoon
Sandy was sitting on the patio talking to Mr. Stevens, Ryan’s social worker when they were suddenly interrupted by an angrily yelling Julie Cooper “Ryan, where is she?”
“I want to know what you’ve done to my daughter!”
“As if you don’t know that she didn’t come home Monday night!”
They heard Ryan shout a reply, but it was still too quiet for them to understand.
“If you don’t tell me where she is, I’ll call the police and your sorry ass will be back in juvie faster than you might think!” Julie yelled, sounding more pissed with every sentence.
Ryan’s voice got louder, allowing them to understand the end of his response “… call them, but I’d really like to hear how you’ll explain to them how I should have managed to do something to Marissa while I was already spending the night in juvie?!”
A few seconds later Ryan appeared around the edge of the house, lost in thoughts and clearly pissed. Still cursing, he absently kicked a stone out of the way before he finally looked up and recognized the two men staring over to him from their seats on the patio.
When Ryan reached them, he seemed calm again, no trace of the anger his face had shown only seconds before.
“Hello Ryan” Mr. Stevens greeted the boy friendly, but studied him still closely.
“Hi Mr. Stevens. I assume that this is your mandatory visit concerning the last few days’ events?” Ryan replied while he greeted Sandy with a nod.
“Yes. Just the same like two weeks ago.”
Ryan pulled out the empty chair next to his social worker, put his backpack down next to it and slumped down in it.
“So, what do you want to know this time?”
Mr. Stevens turned to Sandy, wanting to ask him to give him and Ryan privacy to talk. But Sandy beat him to it, by rising from his chair while saying “I know the drill; I’ll leave you alone so you can talk in private.”
Both men were surprised when Ryan suddenly told his social worker “If it’s ok with you, it doesn’t really make any difference to me if Sandy is staying or not.”
His foster son not minding him to stay gave Sandy a little bit of hope that his boy might start to forgive him. So after a silent nod from the social worker he lowered himself back in his seat.
“Ok Ryan, before we start I’d like to know what this yelling earlier was all about” Mr. Stevens asked.
Ryan hesitated, but answered “That was Mrs. Cooper, she lives next door. … Seems like Marissa, her daughter hasn’t come home since Monday night. She accused me of having something to do with it. … But that’s not really anything new. She can’t stand me; … tries to blame me for everything bad that happens around here, especially if Marissa is involved.”
“Ryan, I’ve to ask. … Do you have anything to do with her disappearing?”
“No! Besides I was already in custody when Julie saw her the last time on Monday afternoon” Ryan replied, his tone making it clear, that he wasn’t really liking the implications of the question.
“Alright. … So back to the issue I’m actually here for. … I’ve read all the reports as well as the statement you gave the police, so there is no need to go over the facts of what happened again. What I’d like to talk about is how you were affected by what happened.” Mr. Stevens asked.
“It’s over, what’s there to talk about?” Ryan answered, trying his usual approach of “it’s over, let’s forget it”.
“Well, for starters I got the impression that Mr. Cohen didn’t believe you during the whole incident. That he even said some harsh words to you in the hospital.” the social worker said and Sandy winced inwardly, remembering Sunday evening; the way he accused his (foster) son, not even giving him a chance to explain; the defeat the boy showed afterwards.
“He didn’t believe Seth either.” Ryan stated like it would explain everything.
“But still, it must bother you that he practically accused you of being responsible for Seth’s condition.”
Still trying to avoid that topic Ryan agreed indifferently “Yeah it bothered me.”
“So much that you took off from the hospital? Even before being discharged?”
“What do you want me to say? … That I was pissed? … Yeah I was pissed, but who wouldn’t be. And I didn’t take off until my discharge was only a matter of paperwork.” Ryan replied unnerved.
“Even so, I have to say that your course of action over the weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen’s, are worrying me. It’s the second time in only a few weeks that you were not believed and therefore reacted impulsively. … To me it looks like there are huge trust issues between your guardians and you. … I’m really afraid that your placement here isn’t working out as well as I expected.”
That last revelation caught Sandy off guard; he hardly managed to remain calm. He hadn’t thought that there was a real threat to Ryan’s placement with them this time.
Ryan on the other hand didn’t show the slightest reaction; his facial expression not giving away anything.
Looking at his foster son Sandy was really surprised that he couldn’t read the boy at the very moment. Over the months he’d learned how to read Ryan, but now he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was only because Ryan allowed them to be read.
“So what, you’re gonna take me away from them? Because of a weekend gone wrong?” Ryan asked indifferently, his feelings hidden by his stone-like poker face.
“Ryan, it got bad enough for you that you took off from the hospital. I can’t ignore that.”
“So the fact that I’m feeling safe enough around them that I let myself get attached to them; that I felt like I could even show it if I’m pissed off, only scored me a trip to a group home?! … First I’m arrested because of your bustling colleague jumping to conclusions and now you’re separating me from my family, destroying my future because of this? Really nice system you’re working for. All the time claiming to do the best for me, but never listening to what I want, feel or need.”
Despite the serious issue Sandy felt like he was in the twilight zone. Not only was Ryan talking more or less voluntarily, but he also spoke openly about his feelings. Then again his poker face was still in place, not allowing Sandy to judge if Ryan really meant what he was saying.
Mr. Stevens seemed stunned for a moment, but recovered quickly and asked “Ok, if it was up to you, what would you want me to do?”
Ryan studied the man for a moment, trying to evaluate if he was serious.
“I would want you to let me stay with the Cohens; to leave me in peace like I was their real son; to don’t take actions unless you’d take them as well if I was Seth.”
When Mr. Stevens hesitated Ryan continued “Mr. Stevens, I’m nearly sixteen, not six. I can watch out for myself if necessary. And despite everything that happened in the last weeks I know that I’m in way better hands with the Cohens, than I ever was with my biological parents.”
“I’ll consider what you said. You’ll get my decision within the next few days.” Mr. Stevens finished and got up from his chair.
next
Part 6