Burn
First fic in my ‘table’. The prompt is ‘burn’.
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I don't own the O.C. characters or actors. This is a work of fiction and not meant to infringe on any copyrights.
Summary: Ryan needs them, the Cohens are there. Set early in season 1.
Unbetaed: I'm tired, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.
Ryan was sitting at a table by himself, hunched over with his eyes closed.
His chest was burning with a pain he’d never felt before. It wasn’t like the pain from after he’d gotten in a fight, it hurt inside and for once he was worried.
His grandma had lived with them until he was six years old.
She taught him to ride a two wheeler without training wheels and how to print his name. She was a good cook and always made him chicken soup from scratch when he had a cold. He had always been her favourite and she loved to spoil him.
She filled in the gaps left by his mother, and there were a lot of gaps.
Then one night his grandma had a pain in her chest- his mom took her to the hospital and came back without her.
He never saw his grandma again.
It would be just his luck to finally be settled with the Cohens, only to drop dead from a freak heart attack.
His grandma had been about sixty, which was old but not that old. He wondered if this was what her pain had felt like, and if she’d been scared.
“Hey kid, are you okay?”
He nodded, glancing up to see Sandy standing over him looking concerned.
“Did something happen with Marissa?”
He shook his head, but didn’t offer any information.
“What’s going on?”
He shrugged his shoulders and Sandy sat down beside him; Ryan wasn’t getting off that easy.
Sandy made small talk for a while, noting that Ryan was even quieter than usual- something was definitely up.
“Kid, I really wish you could trust me enough to tell me when something’s wrong.”
He spoke gently and with a sincerity that Ryan could not ignore.
“My chest hurts.”
Sandy looked alarmed- that was the last thing he had expected to hear, but looking closely at the boy’s face and body language he could tell that Ryan wasn’t feeling well.
“Just wait here for a minute, I’ll be right back.”
Kirsten was talking to some slight acquaintances by the giant swan ice sculpture (which was a bit smaller now, having slowly been melting for the last two hours). She had been scanning the room for Sandy for the last ten minutes, looking for an escape.
“Excuse me, may I borrow my wife? One of our boys isn’t feeling well.”
The man and woman nodded and continued to talk. Sandy put an arm around Kirsten and steered her in the opposite direction.
“Oh thank god you finally came! I was cornered by the Fishers and I couldn’t get away- quick thinking with the excuse.”
“Actually Ryan isn’t feeling well. He said he’s having pain in his chest- I think we should take him in to emergency.”
Kirsten looked at her husband and saw the worry in his eyes.
Chest pain… but Ryan was so young.
Could he have a heart condition that they didn’t know about?
She wished she had asked more questions when he’d come to live with them. They’d never even taken him to the doctor; he’d always seemed so healthy.
She had just assumed that if Ryan had any medical problems he would tell them; which was a stupid assumption, she now realized. With Ryan you didn’t get the answers if you didn’t ask the questions- and they hadn’t been asking the right questions.
“I’ll get Seth and be around front with the car in five minutes.”
Sandy nodded and went back to Ryan’s table.
He had a hand on his throat and looked miserable.
“Okay Ryan, Kirsten’s getting the car and we’re going to leave. Is the pain getting worse?”
Ryan shook his head, standing up gratefully and allowing the older man to lead him out of the banquet hall.
…
Seth didn’t understand why they were leaving in such a hurry, but he was glad they were going. He’d also been cornered- by the doting parents of a kid he’d given sailing lessons to- and was tired of listening to their long winded stories, most of which could be summarized by ‘our son is a genius so we're allowed to brag a lot'.
Sandy opened the door and waited for Ryan to get inside the vehicle before getting in himself.
“Dad, why aren’t you kicking me out of the front seat? What’s going on? Why are we leaving? Not that that isn’t cool with me, because it definitely is-”
Sandy quieted his son with a look and a slight shake of the head. Ryan didn’t need any more excitement or stress right now, they just had to focus on getting him to the hospital, and quickly.
Ryan sat with his eyes closed, sitting upright the entire drive. Sandy told him he could unbuckle his seatbelt ‘just this once’ and lay down, but he declined.
Seth reached back and gave Ryan’s shoulder a light squeeze, his hand shaking a bit.
“You’re going to be fine, man. HOAG is like, the best hospital.”
Kirsten was trying to focus on what needed to be done: number one, get Ryan to the hospital. She could do that.
She had to.
…
Seth didn’t like hospitals.
He remembered coming to visit his grandma when he was little. She had been very sick.
He would go into her room for a short period of time to give her a picture he had drawn or play a game of go fish.
Then Sandy would take him to the cafeteria and buy him a popsicle while Kirsten stayed behind with her parents.
One day his father took him to the cafeteria first.
His mom came a bit later and sat down at their table; he saw her cry for the first time.
He hadn’t known that adults could cry.
Then he had felt sorry for them- when they fell and skinned their knees there was noone there to put on the Spiderman band aid and give them a hug.
After that, he was wary of getting old, and he lost his taste for popsicles.
…
Sandy came to meet his wife and son in the waiting room.
They were sitting close to each other- closer than Seth would permit under normal circumstances. They both stood up as he approached and braced themselves- waiting for the axe to fall.
“Ryan’s going to be fine.”
Kirsten and Seth both sighed with relief.
“Why was his chest hurting then?” Seth asked, still not entirely reassured.
“The doctor said it was heartburn. He gave him an antacid, he’ll be okay.”
Ryan walked toward them slowly, his cheeks hot with embarrassment.
“Kirsten, I’m sorry for ruining your night. You too, Seth.”
“You didn’t ruin anything, Ryan. I’m just glad you’re okay. I didn’t want you to get sick, but I was relieved to be leaving that dinner. The Newpsies really wear me out,” Kirsten added conspiratorially.
“Forget it, buddy. I wanted to get out of there before the thing even started,” Seth confessed. He was too relieved to even tease his friend for the false panic. This was the outcome he had prayed for and he wasn’t taking it for granted.
Ryan gave them a weak smile, and the four of them headed for the car.
…
Kirsten was lying in bed, sipping a cup of tea and thinking about what had happened.
She wondered if he would have told her about the pain if Sandy hadn’t been there. She wondered if she would have noticed on her own that something wasn’t right with Ryan.
Sandy sat down beside her, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his wife’s ear.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t answer at first, taking a drink of tea and inspecting her cuticles. She didn’t know if she could put her thoughts into words, it was kind of like a phrase in another language that just didn’t translate.
“He’s probably not used to all the rich foods they serve at those things… Did the doctor say anything else?”
“He said Ryan needs to avoid anything really spicy or greasy, and we both need to relax.”
Kirsten smiled and put an arm around her husband, remembering why she loved this man.
“The first time you looked after Seth alone you called me at the office, frantic.”
“He was screaming like there was a knife in his side- I was scared.”
“And do you remember what was wrong with him?”
“Gas,” Sandy admitted.
“Well Seth has always been vocal, Ryan on the other hand… You went with your instincts Sandy, and even though it wasn’t anything serious- thank god -your heart was in the right place.”
“I was really worried. Even if it was only heartburn, he was scared; he wouldn’t have let us bring him to the hospital if he wasn’t.”
…
The next day, a Saturday, Sandy got up early, planning on having a quick bite to eat before heading for the beach.
He wasn’t the only one who’d gotten up early.
Ryan was fully dressed and waiting for him when he went to pour his coffee.
“Hey kid, you’re up early.”
Ryan shrugged, and Sandy didn’t say anything more about it. He was glad that Ryan was up- he’d been planning on talking to him after he got back from surfing, but the sooner the better.
“Feeling better today?” he asked, speaking gently so Ryan would know he wasn’t being teased.
“Yeah, I wanted to apologize for last night… I’m sorry for making a big deal when it was nothing.”
He looked embarrassed and wasn’t meeting Sandy’s eye.
“But you thought it was something… isn’t that what counts?”
“I guess so, but I'm sorry that everyone had to leave because of it.”
“If it’s a Ryan problem, it’s a Cohen problem. We’re in this together, kid.”
Ryan paused, taken aback by Sandy’s words.
In this together.
That was a new concept.
Sandy seemed to have repackaged the unwritten Atwood rule of thumb: don’t drag anyone else down with you.
Sandy quirked one masterpiece of an eyebrow as Ryan tried to explain his thoughts.
“Oh, kid. Haven’t you ever heard of sharing the load? Feelings aren’t diseases, they’re meant to be shared.”
Ryan nodded. Seth entered the kitchen and sat down on a stool.
“But if feelings were diseases… it would be an interesting premise for a graphic novel, Dad. The heroes could wear latex capes… for protection.”
Ryan grinned at Sandy’s eye roll- it was just like Seth to both eavesdrop on and then change the subject of a serious discussion to comic books.
He thought about what Sandy had said and how it differed from what he’d been taught to believe.
He had to admit, he liked Sandy’s philosophy better than his mom’s. Sticking together sounded better than the alternative… drifting apart.
That had already happened once.
Whether it was heartburn or a heart attack, this family stuck together.
Fin
A/N: There. I can never get enough hurt/sick!Ryan and concerned!Cohens. The ‘burn’ prompt was the one I was writing for, but somehow ‘grandmother’ kind of snuck in there too.
I hope you enjoyed!