OC Fic : Helping Hands (1/3)
I'm still alive. So, as promised...
Title : Helping Hands
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : A series of related drabbles, about Ryan and his families-both of them.
Spoilers : Everything up to The Ties That Bind is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning : May be a tiny little bit angsty.
A/N : Many thanks to the awesome joey51 for beta'ing this!
Part I. The Magic Word
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.
Margaret Laurence
1. (150 words)
Dawn used to say, "I'm sorry."
Usually, she said it after she had drunk until she passed out, or after she had slapped Ryan, or after she had let one of her boyfriends use him as a punching bag.
Once, she said it after she had tried to get into the pants of a friend Ryan had brought home. Ryan was twelve then, his friend never spoke to him again and Ryan stopped inviting people over after that. It had been too embarrassing to risk it happening again and he was already growing tired of explaining that Dawn wasn't a bad mother, really, that she just had problems.
Dawn said she was sorry again, that night, as Ryan was leaving to meet Trey. Ryan took a good look at AJ's passed-out form on the couch and at the coke still on the table before whispering, "Sometimes, sorry is not enough."
2. (150 words)
Ryan used to say, "At least, things can't get any worse."
Naturally, life in the Atwood household being what it was, he was always proven wrong.
The abuse began slowly, insidiously, after Ryan's father was arrested and their family moved to Chino. And Dawn protested the first slap Trey or Ryan received, the first kick, the first beating.
Then, at some point, she stopped standing up to her boyfriends; stopped defending Trey, claiming he deserved it for being a smartass and a good-for-nothing punk; stopped defending Ryan, claiming he was a know-it-all and he'd amount to no good, just like Trey.
With each new boyfriend, with each bottle Dawn drank, with each blow Trey or Ryan took, their family sank a little lower.
Through it all, Ryan never stopped hoping Dawn would step in and try to make things better-even long after he had understood that she never would.
3. (150 words)
Trey used to say, "Things can always get worse. It's only when you're dead that things can't get worse."
Naturally, life in the Atwood household being what it was, he was always proven right.
But even after fifteen years of living with Dawn, Ryan still kept hoping for better days, still kept hoping that eventually, Dawn would get her act together and stop self-destructing.
When AJ arrived and started dealing drugs from their living room, started yelling at Ryan to sleep outside tonight or else…, Ryan thought that certainly, this time, they had hit rock bottom.
But Trey had been right after all, things could always get worse, as Ryan realized when Dawn left him-first with a note, then with a wave.
As he was standing near the pool house, watching her walk away, it occurred to him that this time, she hadn't even bothered to say, "I'm sorry."
Part Two
Title : Helping Hands
Author : Helen C.
Rating : PG-13
Summary : A series of related drabbles, about Ryan and his families-both of them.
Spoilers : Everything up to The Ties That Bind is fair game.
Disclaimer : The characters and the universe were created and are owned by Josh Schwartz. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning : May be a tiny little bit angsty.
A/N : Many thanks to the awesome joey51 for beta'ing this!
Part I. The Magic Word
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry.
Margaret Laurence
1. (150 words)
Dawn used to say, "I'm sorry."
Usually, she said it after she had drunk until she passed out, or after she had slapped Ryan, or after she had let one of her boyfriends use him as a punching bag.
Once, she said it after she had tried to get into the pants of a friend Ryan had brought home. Ryan was twelve then, his friend never spoke to him again and Ryan stopped inviting people over after that. It had been too embarrassing to risk it happening again and he was already growing tired of explaining that Dawn wasn't a bad mother, really, that she just had problems.
Dawn said she was sorry again, that night, as Ryan was leaving to meet Trey. Ryan took a good look at AJ's passed-out form on the couch and at the coke still on the table before whispering, "Sometimes, sorry is not enough."
2. (150 words)
Ryan used to say, "At least, things can't get any worse."
Naturally, life in the Atwood household being what it was, he was always proven wrong.
The abuse began slowly, insidiously, after Ryan's father was arrested and their family moved to Chino. And Dawn protested the first slap Trey or Ryan received, the first kick, the first beating.
Then, at some point, she stopped standing up to her boyfriends; stopped defending Trey, claiming he deserved it for being a smartass and a good-for-nothing punk; stopped defending Ryan, claiming he was a know-it-all and he'd amount to no good, just like Trey.
With each new boyfriend, with each bottle Dawn drank, with each blow Trey or Ryan took, their family sank a little lower.
Through it all, Ryan never stopped hoping Dawn would step in and try to make things better-even long after he had understood that she never would.
3. (150 words)
Trey used to say, "Things can always get worse. It's only when you're dead that things can't get worse."
Naturally, life in the Atwood household being what it was, he was always proven right.
But even after fifteen years of living with Dawn, Ryan still kept hoping for better days, still kept hoping that eventually, Dawn would get her act together and stop self-destructing.
When AJ arrived and started dealing drugs from their living room, started yelling at Ryan to sleep outside tonight or else…, Ryan thought that certainly, this time, they had hit rock bottom.
But Trey had been right after all, things could always get worse, as Ryan realized when Dawn left him-first with a note, then with a wave.
As he was standing near the pool house, watching her walk away, it occurred to him that this time, she hadn't even bothered to say, "I'm sorry."
Part Two