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 |
Part 2
Part 3
Monday Late Afternoon
It had been a long and exhausting night and day for Sandy and the day wasn’t even over yet. He knew that once Kirsten arrived at the hospital and stayed with Seth that he could start looking for Ryan. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Ryan taking of from the hospital last night and not answering his cell, but Seth’s condition was way too critical as that he would risk leaving him. Ryan might be upset, but at least he was ok, whereas Seth was only slowly getting there.
Nevertheless was he glad that Kirsten’s plane would be landing in about an hour, so that he could finally hunt down his second son.
After being up so long Sandy was dozing in his chair next to Seth’s bed, but awoke immediately when the door was opened. He’d gotten used to the nurses stopping by regularly and taking a look on Seth’s condition, so it took him by surprise when the nurse didn’t follow her usual routine, but addressed him “Mr. Cohen, there is a Dr. Kim waiting at the nurses’ station. She wants to talk to you, something concerning your other son Ryan?!”
Sandy didn’t even want to think about the implications that Dr. Kim showing up at the hospital asking for him because of Ryan could mean. He quickly thanked the nurse and made his way to the nurses’ station.
“Mr. Cohen, Ryan told me briefly what happened. I hope Seth’s getting better?!” Dr. Kim said after their initial greeting.
“His condition is still critical, but slowly improving. … You said Ryan told you, so he was at school?” Sandy replied.
“You seem surprised by that?”
“I was a bit harsh towards him last night and after that, when his discharge was only a matter of paperwork, he took off. I couldn’t reach him on his cell, but Seth’s condition was and still is too critical as that I could leave him alone.” Sandy explained.
After a moment of silence he continued “I’m sorry Dr. Kim, but I have the feeling you are not here because of Seth?!”
“You are right. I’ve tried to reach you all afternoon, but was always sent to voice mail, so I thought you might be still here.”
“My cell died at some point during the night, I haven’t had a chance to recharge it yet.” Sandy explained quickly and a bit concerned.
“Mr. Cohen, I’m sorry that I couldn’t reach you earlier, but during lunch break two officers came by. They arrested Ryan for assault and violation of his probation.”
“What?” Sandy asked hoping that he might have heard wrong.
“Ryan, he got arrested.” Dr. Kim repeated.
“Shit” cursed Sandy, but added a quick “Sorry”.
“There is something else I think you should know. … In our meeting this morning, Ryan mentioned that he might not stay with you much longer, something about you having lost your trust in him?!”
That revelation hit Sandy like a slap in the face. Truth to be told he had been really disappointed in Ryan for fighting with Seth. Saying that he’d been furious the previous evening when he talked or better not talked to Ryan would be an understatement, but sitting next to Seth provided him with a lot of time to think. And after a while he had realized that he had been so stressed the last days with Kirsten away and this monster case at work that he hadn’t even paid attention to what his two boys were doing. After the incident with Oliver two weeks back it was simply convenient to think that Ryan, quick-tempered as he thought he was, just acted out again, that there wasn’t anything else going on. But he wasn’t so sure of that anymore, especially if Ryan felt betrayed enough to think of leaving them.
“Thank you for stopping by and telling me about Ryan, Dr. Kim.”
“Ryan’s a nice kid. It’s the least I could do. I’m only sorry that I couldn’t get out of my office earlier. Goodbye Mr. Cohen and I hope everything works out.”
After Sandy got hold of a phone, the call to Ryan’s probation officer was rather short. But Sandy didn’t like what he’d been told, that Ryan’s social worker, or better the wannabe social worker that came by last night due to Ryan’s admittance to the hospital, was responsible for Ryan’s arrest. Apparently she had overheard Sandy talking to Kirsten on the phone and telling her his speculations about what he thought had happened. According to the PO she filed a report saying that Ryan indeed had caused Seth’s injures whilst they were fighting and that he took off from the hospital as in running away. Due to that report and since both, the assault and the running away, were violations of it, Ryan’s probation had been revoked and he’d been taken into custody.
His following call was directed at social services. He kept it short since his main concern was getting Ryan out of juvie as fast as possible, but made it clear that he expected a full investigation, that they better hope that Ryan doesn’t even get a scratch in there and that it still said “innocent until proven guilty”, and not the other way round.
When Kirsten finally arrived Sandy was drained. He had tried all he could to get Ryan out of juvie before the night, but had failed. All they could do now was hope that they would get Ryan back in one peace in the following morning. That’s if he even wanted to come back to them, because Sandy feared that Ryan might believe that he, Sandy had sent the cops after him.
next
Part 4