Deception, Chapter Nine
Title: Deception
Author: Why, me, of course. Un-beta'd cuz that's just how I roll
Warnings: Language, violence
Summary: AU version. Sandy didn't go in when he dropped Ryan off in the pilot. Ryan has been trying to make it on his own but reaches out to Sandy for help, only for Kirsten (an uber-bitch in this one. For now. That may or may not change) to throw up roadblocks.
Crossposted at fanfiction.net
A/N: It's been a while on this one but I finally got to it. It was a little hard getting back into the right mood and frame of mind and I'd lost all of my notes on this story so I'm starting back from scratch and it's taking on a bit of a different turn but I think it's still going in the same general direction that I had envisioned when I started this fic . Anyway, sorry for the delay.
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Chapter Nine
Sandy studied Seth as they stood in the hall. Dr. Monroe had come in and asked them to leave while he checked Ryan over, having heard that he'd had a difficult night that had resulted with his work on Ryan's hand needing to be redone. Seth was wearing a small swath of hallway out, his pacing matching the speed with which his thoughts were swirling.
"Seth? Talk to me. What are you thinking?", Sandy asked.
Seth stopped and sighed. "I don't know, dad. This is so fucking messed up. What are we going to tell mom? How is Ryan going to feel about all of this? What the hell is Trey going to think about it all? You heard Ryan. Trey doesn't want to know us. He's not going to want to know me. I don't even know if I want to know him from what Ryan said in there. He's...he's in jail....and I know that Ryan could be, too, but it just sounds like Trey is way hard core what with the drugs and guns and car stealing and while I think it's kinda cool that this makes me and Ryan sorta like brothers, is Ryan going to think that's cool?", he said in a rush. "What do we do, dad? How is mom going to take this? She hates Ryan. What the hell is she going to think about Trey? She's going to burst a vein when she finds out he's the baby she gave away."
"I don't know, son. I honestly don't know", Sandy admitted. "I thought that if she knew her son was alright she'd finally be able to make peace with it and maybe find that part of her that she let herself be when we lived in Berkeley....but now....I just don't know. I don't want to keep the truth from her but I really don't know what good it would do for her to know just yet. She's in such a delicate place right now. Then there's Ryan....and Trey. It sounds like their relationship is complicated enough without adding this to the mix. Who knows how either will react." He blew out a breath. Truth be known, he was quite concerned with how Trey would react to learning that his birth mother is wealthy. It's clear that he and Ryan grew up with very little. His criminal activities were all attempts at easy money and wanting what he didn't have. He may resent her for all she had. He may see dollar signs and a chance to take what he'd been denied.
"So, we don't tell them?", Seth asked. "I don't know how I feel about lying to Ryan about this, dad."
Sandy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with a grimace. "I don't want to either, Seth, but I think we need to sit on this for a little bit. I need to try to get through to your mother and maybe I can get her to a place where she can accept this without going completely over the edge. As for Ryan, well, I want to get him settled and back to full health", he stated. Finding out that Kirsten, a woman that hates him with a passion and blames him for all her woes, is his brother's biological mother would be a difficult pill to swallow.
Dr. Monroe exited Ryan's room and approached Sandy and Seth. "You can go back in now", he said with a smile. "They did a good job redoing the stitches but I had to put a splint on his hand to keep this from happening again. In retrospect, I should have done it before but I thought the thickness of the wrapping would keep his hand fairly immobile in order to allow the wound to close up properly...."
Seth zoned out on the doctor-speak after hearing that Ryan was ok. His mind still swirling with doubts and growing questions. This was one huge fucked up mess. Sandy and the doctor finished talking and they are allowed back in to see Ryan.
They sat in relative silence as Ryan tried to choke down some of his mystery breakfast. Dr. Monroe had insisted that he needed to have something in his stomach when they gave him his pain meds. He pushed the tray away, half eaten.
Seth had been fidgety and, unable to quash the lingering questions left from their earlier conversation. "Ryan? Can I ask you something?.....about what we were talking about before?", he ventured cautiously.
Sandy glanced from Seth to Ryan with eyebrows raised in interest. He shifted in his chair as Ryan slid his eyes to Seth.
"Uh, I guess", Ryan said warily. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about anymore but he started it when he chose to share it in the first place.
Seth leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and looked down at his hands for a second. "Well, I was just wondering....if you and Trey don't get along so well, why do you want to get a place and have him live with you when he gets out?", Seth asked, desperately wanting to understand the dynamic.
"He's my brother", Ryan stated simply. He sighed as Seth looked at him expectantly, that answer clearly not sufficing. "It's complicated. Like I said.", Ryan said, trying to figure out how to explain it. "I just want him to have a place ready for him when he gets out. Maybe I can keep him from going back. I....I know I wasn't able to stop him from doing all the stupid shit he did to get sent up in the first place but maybe without Dawn in the picture stirring shit up....maybe I can this time."
Sandy smiled sadly. "It's admirable that you want to be there for him but whether or not Trey goes back is up to him". Not to mention the fact that it was Trey who had nearly influenced him right into a jail cell along with him. He decided to keep that observation to himself.
Seth, however, did not. "He got you arrested", he stated bluntly.
Sandy grimaced as he and Ryan both turned their eyes to him.
"What? I'm sorry but it's true", Seth defended.
Ryan scowled. "He didn't 'get me arrested'. I made the choice to get in that car. Things sucked at home and he was always telling me stories when we were growing up, about how he was going to get a camaro and we'd go far away. Just him and me. When he picked that car, I knew. I knew he'd had enough of Chino. Then the cops were there and it was like, if we were going to go down we'd go down together. So I got in", he tried to explain. Ryan looked away and settled back in his bed tiredly. "It's hard to explain, Seth. I don't think you'd understand unless you had a brother". He missed the flinch from both Sandy and Seth at that. The truth was, Ryan felt guilty. From all accounts, both of his parents loved Trey before he came along. After he was born, Dawn stopped paying attention to him and things between her and Frank got more and more tense and things began to disintegrate. Maybe if he hadn't been born Trey never would have started getting into so much trouble. Maybe if he hadn't been born they'd have been able to pull things together and been a happy family. He knew Trey blamed him for their dad getting sent up. He had to make it up to him. They used to be close. They could be again if he could show Trey that he was there for him when he got out. He pressed on, "....and I know he's going to have to keep himself out of trouble", Ryan said. "..but it will help if he's got someplace to go. Someone to help him".
"You're right", Sandy conceded, giving Seth a passing squeeze on the shoulder as he stood and approached the bed. "It does help give them a fighting chance if they've got a stable environment and some solid support behind them but, as I said before, your chances of getting emancipated and being out on your own are pretty much nil".
Ryan closed his eyes and sighed dejectedly. "Foster care", he stated plainly.
"Not necessarily, dude", Seth forged ahead.
That caught Ryan's attention and he looked puzzlingly to Sandy.
"I had approached your social worker about you staying with us but then..."
"Mom went all pod person on us"", Seth interjected.
Sandy shot him a look and continued, " the only reason your social worker pulled back on the idea of you staying with us is because of Kirsten's behavior. Seth and I are getting an apartment, so that's no longer an issue. I'll speak to her and see if something can be worked out."
"And Trey?", Ryan asked hopefully.
Sandy was conflicted about Trey. He was Kirsten's son. He should help him. That much he knew, but he felt in his gut that Trey was bad news. He needed to find out more about him. Maybe pay him a visit in Chino and see if he could get a feel for him before making a decision on how and when to tell Ryan and Kirsten. That would wait. His first priority was Ryan. "Why don't we concentrate on you for right now", he eluded.
Caleb had been contemplating his next move. He didn't know what frame of mind Kirsten was going to be in when she finally awoke. She'd destroyed Jimmy's marriage and she could do a hell of a lot more if she was feeling as vindictive as she was last night and Jimmy wasn't the only one with a lot to lose. His fortune was on the line. His freedom. Hell, even his life if some of his under the table wheeling and dealing became known to certain parties. He needed to turn her attentions elsewhere. He needed to appease her and get rid of the boy, then maybe she'd focus on trying to repair her marriage. The worry he had, though, was that if she and Sandy reconciled he would definitely tell her about Trey. Damn. Why had he caved and told Sandy who he was? He should have lied. He could have set up a false trail and paid someone off to point to a happy home or, hell, even told him the child was dead. He had no doubt that normally Sandy would never keep something so important from her but maybe he'd thoroughly shocked Sandy with her son's identity and with Kirsten in so unpredictable a state of mind, along with the fact that Trey was incarcerated, Sandy might see the benefits of keeping quiet about it. It was a shame that the boy's life had turned out so poorly but he'd seen his rap sheet. The damage was done. He was a lost cause. No good would come from Kirsten knowing about him. He just had to convince Sandy of that. Ryan's connection to the boy would be a problem. Another reason to get him out of the picture. Knowing Sandy, he would be reluctant to step back where he was concerned, especially now that he knew about Trey, but if he could reunite Ryan with his mother he could set them up away from Newport. She might need a little incentive but it was a small price to pay if he could get the boy, and, in effect, Trey out of the picture for good. Then, if he could keep Sandy and Kirsten from reconciling, she need never know the truth. He never liked Sandy. He smiled. It would be a delicate balance but he could still come out on top in the long run.
The late morning sun cast its rays into Kirsten's bedroom, awakening her with a groan. She squinted her eyes and looked at the clock. It was nearly noon. She hadn't slept that late in a long time. She rolled over and got out of bed, her head pounding. She made her way to the bathroom and shook out a couple of aspirin and looked at herself in the mirror. As she stared into her own eyes the events of the previous night came back to her. Sandy. Jimmy. Ryan.......Ryan. God damn him. She'd lost her husband because of him. She had probably lost her son because of him. She closed her eyes and sighed. She'd lost another son. She shook her head. No. She hadn't lost Seth yet and she'd be damned if she let Sandy or this boy take him from her. No one was going to take anything from her again. She showered and dressed and made her way toward the kitchen. Looking into the living room she noticed the empty mantle and tabletops. She slowly recalled her destructive alcohol induced rage and vaguely remembered her father carrying her to her room. He must have cleaned up the mess. He could still be of use to her. She'd give him one more chance. She could get Seth back if that boy was out of the way. She wanted Sandy to forgive her but the affair with Jimmy may be too big an obstacle to overcome and she was not going to beg any more than she already had. She was through letting other people dictate her life. She was in control now.
A/N: A little on the short side but I figured that was a good enough place to end it. Not much happening here but more a set up for what is to come and I really just wanted to get an update out there.