Riptide Fic: CSU 4 "Father's Day" (1/1)
I know this is just going to get lost in all the others being posted right now, both in the fandom and in all the holiday exchanges, but I'm just posting it for myself, really. This year when I do my End Of The Year Writing Meme (in a day or two), I'm only including fics that I've posted, as oppoed to last year, when I had a ton of finished, partly finished, or mostly finished fics that just hadn't been posted yet. I'm probably gunna take a posting brake after this, as this is I think my eighth Riptide fic in the last month? Which, yah, don't wanna burn you all out. Thanks for putting up with the newbie as I find my place in the fandom. This sieres isn't done yet, this isn't the end, just a good resting point.
ETA: Fixed the rating and summery. Copy/Pasted the wrong thing.
Title: "Father's Day"
Author: torra
Pairing: Nick/Cody
Rating: G
Word Count: ~2,500 Words
Warnings: AU
Series: Cub Scout Universe: (1) "Scout's Honor" | (2) "Study Night" | (3) "Army Of One" | (4) "Father's Day"
AU Summary: What if Nick and Cody had grown up together? This is an AU series that follows their relationship through high school.
Fic Summery: Cody has an unexpected visitor to the Riptide.
Author's Notes: My usual thanks to my betas Tinx_R and Catyah, any mistakes left in are my own. I've skipped ahead for this fic, so they are all adults. It's still an AU (technically), but this one is set around where they would be in the show. Can be read as a stand alone, but the setup will make more sense if you read the earlier ones.
"Father's Day"
"Excuse me? I'm looking for slip seven."
Cody looked up from his newspaper and out the side door. It was open, but he couldn't see the person on the dock yet. "Yeah, this is slip seven, come aboard."
He pushed himself out from the table, folding the paper in half and tossing it aside before walking over to greet the visitor. He had his hand outstretched before his brain fully processed who it was. "Welcome to the Riptide, Mr..." he trailed off dumbly.
Stewart Ryder stepped carefully though the doorway and looked Cody over carefully before giving him a nod as Cody's hand dropped limply to his side. "Mr. Allen."
"Cody." He corrected automatically before mentally kicking himself. "Sir. Sorry. I..." He frowned. "What are you doing here, sir?"
Stewart heaved a great breath and looked around, but seemed to change is mind before he spoke. "Is Nick here?"
"No, no he's on the Mimi, said he wanted to restock some of the supplies we keep on her."
"The Mimi?"
Cody gave a small smile. "His helicopter."
He continued to look around. "I see. And do you expect him back soon?"
Cody shrugged and resisted the urge to stare at his feet. "Yeah, I guess so. He left awhile ago, he probably won't be gone too much longer." He paused, considering his next words carefully before deciding it was best just to jump in. "Mr. Ryder, why are you here? I have to tell you, if you're here to yell at Nick or tell him how much you disapprove of his life, I think it would be better if you just left before he gets back."
Stewart let out a small sigh, and Cody could see his shoulders slump slightly beneath his jacket. "I'm not here to give him a hard time. I just want to talk to him." Cody didn't say anything, and Stewart finally looked into his eyes. "I mean it. I just want to talk to him."
Cody gave him a hard look, but his friend's father just stood there, letting him, letting himself be judged. Finally Cody sighed and nodded, holding an arm out and gesturing him over to the seats in the back of the salon. "Is Mrs. Ryder here, too?"
Stewart shook his head as he eased himself onto the chair, Cody perching on the edge of the one facing him. "No, Sylvia is back home."
"Does she know you're--"
"She knows I'm here."
They fell silent, neither one looking at the other. Finally Stewart asked, "Do you have any coffee? That was a long drive, and I didn't want to stop along the way."
Cody leapt on the excuse to do something, and was across the room and halfway to the galley before he finished nodding. "Yes, of course, I just started up a fresh pot a few minutes ago."
He really wasn't sure how to handle this situation, he'd honestly never thought he'd have to. It had been nearly eight years since Nick had last seen or spoken to his parents, and they hadn't left on amicable terms. Nick and Cody had both agreed they didn't want to tell their parents about their relationship, at least not any time soon, and especially not right out of high school. Nick had gotten his football scholarship in to UCLA, and Cody had been lucky enough to get in too, with his parent's financial backing. They found an apartment on campus, and had been planning to live together openly, as roommates at least.
Cody's parents hated the idea, of course, they didn't like the choice of school, nor Cody living with Nick. Nick's father had been fine with the idea, he wanted to see his son get a better life then the one he'd had, and he knew college was the first step towards that. Strangely it had been Nick's mother who had been the greatest opponent to the idea. Cody still wasn't sure why, it might have just been the fact that she didn't want her only son to move that far away (even though they would remain in the same state), but Cody had a feeling that she might have suspected their relationship, at least on some level. But even with his father's support, tensions in the Ryder household had been high for the last half of their senior year, and had only gotten worse as the summer had progressed. The fighting had been near constant by the end, and always over little things, random things, things the family never would have broken down over in the past.
Nick had never forgiven himself for outing them both in a fight with his parents. He never wanted to tell them like that. He'd never wanted to use his partnership with Cody as a weapon to inflict pain on someone else.
Nick's parents had kicked him out of the house that night. Nick had spent the last three weeks before school living with Cody and his parents. They had never asked why Nick was not spending it with his own family, and to Cody's surprise, the Ryders had never contacted his parents to tell them the truth. And in fact, they still hadn't. To the best of Cody's knowledge, the Ryders and the Allens had not spoken a word to each other either since that night, at least judging by the fact that Cody's parents were still speaking to him.
Nick had tried a few times, early on, to reconnect with them, he'd even sent them invitations to his graduation four years later. They had never responded, except for his mother's hate-filled words she spewed at him the one time he'd dared show up on their doorstep to try to talk.
Nick still missed his parents dearly. They'd always been a close family when he had been growing up, and the holidays were especially hard on him now, but he'd never given any indication that he expected things to change. Cody always did his best to keep Nick distracted during this time of the year. Christmas was usually pretty easy, with so much else going on around them, but Thanksgiving was usually a quieter affair between them, little more then a slightly larger weeknight meal spent in private. Cody was always especially grateful for the years Murray could be swayed out of his labs to join them, as it was one more person there to help keep Nick occupied.
And now it was the day before Thanksgiving, and Nick's father was here, on their boat, waiting for his cup of coffee, and Cody had no clue what came next, or how they'd gotten to this point. Cody wanted to turn around, and yell and scream, and rail against this man for the hell he'd put his son though, to chastise and punish him for everything Nick has suffered. But he wasn't sure why this was happening, why he was here, and if Stewart Ryder was truly here to make peace with his son, Cody didn't want to be the reason that was thrown away.
Coffee in hand, Cody finally went back to their corner, setting Stewart's cup on the table between them. "You take it black, right?"
It was the first they'd spoken since the coffee had been asked for, and Cody's voice sounded thicker then he expected.
Stewart nodded. "Yes, thank you."
They drank in silence for a few moments, before Stewart offered. "This is a nice boat. Do you..." he paused before pushing forward, surprising Cody. "Do you own it together?"
Cody swallowed his coffee too fast, and it burned on the way down. He found himself nodding, though. "Yes. Well, technically it's in my name, because only one name can go onto the license, but I never could have afforded to buy it outright when it was for sale, and so Nick put up half the cash with me. And I did the same for him when he had the chance to buy the Mimi."
Stewart kept his eyes on his coffee. "I'm surprised you had to. With your family's money at your disposal..." he trailed off.
Cody clenched his jaw, his knuckles going white where they gripped the whale mug. "I used to tell you I had no intentions of living off my parents, Mr. Ryder, and that never changed. They helped pay for my tuition, and that was it. I paid my way though college, same as Nick. I got a job, bought my own books, and paid my own rent. I earned every cent I used to buy the Riptide. I haven't taken any money from my parents since I started college, and even that I intend to pay them back for some day."
Stewart looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded before looking into his coffee again. "Yes, yes, you always did say that. I have to admit, I always wondered if you'd stick to it." He set his cup down and clenched his hands together tightly. "I'm proud of you for it, son. You were always a good, honest boy. A hard worker. Nick chose his friends well."
Cody couldn't help it. He slammed his cup down harder then he meant to, pushing himself foreword in the seat. "Mr. Ryder, why are you here?"
Stewart finally looked up at him again, and Cody could suddenly see how much the man had aged in the last eight years. For the first time in Cody's life, his friend's father looked old. And tired.
"I've come to get my son back." He turned his eyes back to his hands, as if he was only strong enough to speak to or look at Cody, but not both. "I've wasted a lot of time, and I've spent a lot of dinners sitting at an empty table and hating myself for it." He closed his eyes. "I've spent every holiday alone since Nick left. My wife sits across from me, but I'm alone, and I hate it. And maybe that makes me selfish, not wanting to be alone anymore, but it's the truth."
He opened his eyes again and looked back to Cody. "I love my wife, but she's wrong about this. I just want my son to be happy. As long as he's happy, and healthy, and safe, then nothing else matters. Not even what his mother says."
"I..." Cody started, but found he couldn't finish whatever the thought had been.
"Is he happy? Mr. Allen, is--" He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Cody, is my son happy?"
"Yes, sir." His voice came out strangled, and he cleared it before trying again. "Yes, sir, he's happy. We have a good life here, and people who care about us, people who don't care about how we live, as long as we're good people." He tried to smile, tried to show he was telling the truth. "Your son has a family here, now. He has a good and full life. He's happy."
Stewart gave a sad smile, and nodded again. "Good. Good, that's...that's very good to hear." He looked back to his coffee and nodded again, to himself. "Good." He pushed himself up, turning away from Cody immediately. "I should go. I don't want to upset him any further."
He was a few steps away before Cody realized that he'd said the wrong thing. Or at least that Stewart had taken it the wrong way. "No!" He jumped up, arm outstretched, "No, please, don't go."
Stewart froze where he was, body turned away, headed back towards the door.
"Please," Cody started again, "He'd want to see you. He misses you both...so much. He'd want to see you."
"Even if--" He cleared his throat again, clearly having trouble asking, "Even if it's just me, and not his mother, too?"
Cody closed the distance between them and rested a hand on Stewart's shoulder, stunned to find he was actually taller than the man for the first time in his life. "He'd want to see you, sir."
They both heard Nick jumping over the boat's railing, his feet hitting the ship's hull with a happy thud, and a light step as he bounced down the stairs from the stern. "Hey, Cody, you'll never believe who was hanging around the Mimi today. And in beachwear, no less!"
Nick's voice was light and happy and full of laughter, but as soon as he hit the landing and jumped up the last few steps into the salon, he froze, his eyes riveted to his father. "Dad?"
Cody let his hand drop, but he doubted either man noticed him there. Their eyes were locked on only each other.
"Son, I..." Stewart started, then coughed. "I... Son, I know I have no right to be here, but...but I wanted... That is, I had to..."
"Dad?" Nick was still frozen halfway across the room, not blinking.
Stewart pulled himself up a little straighter and tried again. "I'm here to see if you have any place for me in your life. I can't ask for forgiveness for what we did, for turning you away, and I can't take that back, but you're my son, and I love you, and I miss you. I can't remember any of the speech I had planed out in my head, but all I'm asking for...all I want is...I--"
Cody didn't see it happen, but one minute Nick was across the room, frozen in place, and then next he had his arms wrapped around his father, face buried in the smaller man's neck, hands clutching tight at the fabric of his jacket. "Dad." His voice broke across the word.
And slowly, his father's arms came up, and then in a flash, were wrapped just as tightly around his son.
Cody took the chance to slip silently out the side door. He wasn't needed at this point.
ETA: Fixed the rating and summery. Copy/Pasted the wrong thing.
Title: "Father's Day"
Author: torra
Pairing: Nick/Cody
Rating: G
Word Count: ~2,500 Words
Warnings: AU
Series: Cub Scout Universe: (1) "Scout's Honor" | (2) "Study Night" | (3) "Army Of One" | (4) "Father's Day"
AU Summary: What if Nick and Cody had grown up together? This is an AU series that follows their relationship through high school.
Fic Summery: Cody has an unexpected visitor to the Riptide.
Author's Notes: My usual thanks to my betas Tinx_R and Catyah, any mistakes left in are my own. I've skipped ahead for this fic, so they are all adults. It's still an AU (technically), but this one is set around where they would be in the show. Can be read as a stand alone, but the setup will make more sense if you read the earlier ones.
"Father's Day"
"Excuse me? I'm looking for slip seven."
Cody looked up from his newspaper and out the side door. It was open, but he couldn't see the person on the dock yet. "Yeah, this is slip seven, come aboard."
He pushed himself out from the table, folding the paper in half and tossing it aside before walking over to greet the visitor. He had his hand outstretched before his brain fully processed who it was. "Welcome to the Riptide, Mr..." he trailed off dumbly.
Stewart Ryder stepped carefully though the doorway and looked Cody over carefully before giving him a nod as Cody's hand dropped limply to his side. "Mr. Allen."
"Cody." He corrected automatically before mentally kicking himself. "Sir. Sorry. I..." He frowned. "What are you doing here, sir?"
Stewart heaved a great breath and looked around, but seemed to change is mind before he spoke. "Is Nick here?"
"No, no he's on the Mimi, said he wanted to restock some of the supplies we keep on her."
"The Mimi?"
Cody gave a small smile. "His helicopter."
He continued to look around. "I see. And do you expect him back soon?"
Cody shrugged and resisted the urge to stare at his feet. "Yeah, I guess so. He left awhile ago, he probably won't be gone too much longer." He paused, considering his next words carefully before deciding it was best just to jump in. "Mr. Ryder, why are you here? I have to tell you, if you're here to yell at Nick or tell him how much you disapprove of his life, I think it would be better if you just left before he gets back."
Stewart let out a small sigh, and Cody could see his shoulders slump slightly beneath his jacket. "I'm not here to give him a hard time. I just want to talk to him." Cody didn't say anything, and Stewart finally looked into his eyes. "I mean it. I just want to talk to him."
Cody gave him a hard look, but his friend's father just stood there, letting him, letting himself be judged. Finally Cody sighed and nodded, holding an arm out and gesturing him over to the seats in the back of the salon. "Is Mrs. Ryder here, too?"
Stewart shook his head as he eased himself onto the chair, Cody perching on the edge of the one facing him. "No, Sylvia is back home."
"Does she know you're--"
"She knows I'm here."
They fell silent, neither one looking at the other. Finally Stewart asked, "Do you have any coffee? That was a long drive, and I didn't want to stop along the way."
Cody leapt on the excuse to do something, and was across the room and halfway to the galley before he finished nodding. "Yes, of course, I just started up a fresh pot a few minutes ago."
He really wasn't sure how to handle this situation, he'd honestly never thought he'd have to. It had been nearly eight years since Nick had last seen or spoken to his parents, and they hadn't left on amicable terms. Nick and Cody had both agreed they didn't want to tell their parents about their relationship, at least not any time soon, and especially not right out of high school. Nick had gotten his football scholarship in to UCLA, and Cody had been lucky enough to get in too, with his parent's financial backing. They found an apartment on campus, and had been planning to live together openly, as roommates at least.
Cody's parents hated the idea, of course, they didn't like the choice of school, nor Cody living with Nick. Nick's father had been fine with the idea, he wanted to see his son get a better life then the one he'd had, and he knew college was the first step towards that. Strangely it had been Nick's mother who had been the greatest opponent to the idea. Cody still wasn't sure why, it might have just been the fact that she didn't want her only son to move that far away (even though they would remain in the same state), but Cody had a feeling that she might have suspected their relationship, at least on some level. But even with his father's support, tensions in the Ryder household had been high for the last half of their senior year, and had only gotten worse as the summer had progressed. The fighting had been near constant by the end, and always over little things, random things, things the family never would have broken down over in the past.
Nick had never forgiven himself for outing them both in a fight with his parents. He never wanted to tell them like that. He'd never wanted to use his partnership with Cody as a weapon to inflict pain on someone else.
Nick's parents had kicked him out of the house that night. Nick had spent the last three weeks before school living with Cody and his parents. They had never asked why Nick was not spending it with his own family, and to Cody's surprise, the Ryders had never contacted his parents to tell them the truth. And in fact, they still hadn't. To the best of Cody's knowledge, the Ryders and the Allens had not spoken a word to each other either since that night, at least judging by the fact that Cody's parents were still speaking to him.
Nick had tried a few times, early on, to reconnect with them, he'd even sent them invitations to his graduation four years later. They had never responded, except for his mother's hate-filled words she spewed at him the one time he'd dared show up on their doorstep to try to talk.
Nick still missed his parents dearly. They'd always been a close family when he had been growing up, and the holidays were especially hard on him now, but he'd never given any indication that he expected things to change. Cody always did his best to keep Nick distracted during this time of the year. Christmas was usually pretty easy, with so much else going on around them, but Thanksgiving was usually a quieter affair between them, little more then a slightly larger weeknight meal spent in private. Cody was always especially grateful for the years Murray could be swayed out of his labs to join them, as it was one more person there to help keep Nick occupied.
And now it was the day before Thanksgiving, and Nick's father was here, on their boat, waiting for his cup of coffee, and Cody had no clue what came next, or how they'd gotten to this point. Cody wanted to turn around, and yell and scream, and rail against this man for the hell he'd put his son though, to chastise and punish him for everything Nick has suffered. But he wasn't sure why this was happening, why he was here, and if Stewart Ryder was truly here to make peace with his son, Cody didn't want to be the reason that was thrown away.
Coffee in hand, Cody finally went back to their corner, setting Stewart's cup on the table between them. "You take it black, right?"
It was the first they'd spoken since the coffee had been asked for, and Cody's voice sounded thicker then he expected.
Stewart nodded. "Yes, thank you."
They drank in silence for a few moments, before Stewart offered. "This is a nice boat. Do you..." he paused before pushing forward, surprising Cody. "Do you own it together?"
Cody swallowed his coffee too fast, and it burned on the way down. He found himself nodding, though. "Yes. Well, technically it's in my name, because only one name can go onto the license, but I never could have afforded to buy it outright when it was for sale, and so Nick put up half the cash with me. And I did the same for him when he had the chance to buy the Mimi."
Stewart kept his eyes on his coffee. "I'm surprised you had to. With your family's money at your disposal..." he trailed off.
Cody clenched his jaw, his knuckles going white where they gripped the whale mug. "I used to tell you I had no intentions of living off my parents, Mr. Ryder, and that never changed. They helped pay for my tuition, and that was it. I paid my way though college, same as Nick. I got a job, bought my own books, and paid my own rent. I earned every cent I used to buy the Riptide. I haven't taken any money from my parents since I started college, and even that I intend to pay them back for some day."
Stewart looked surprised for a moment, but then nodded before looking into his coffee again. "Yes, yes, you always did say that. I have to admit, I always wondered if you'd stick to it." He set his cup down and clenched his hands together tightly. "I'm proud of you for it, son. You were always a good, honest boy. A hard worker. Nick chose his friends well."
Cody couldn't help it. He slammed his cup down harder then he meant to, pushing himself foreword in the seat. "Mr. Ryder, why are you here?"
Stewart finally looked up at him again, and Cody could suddenly see how much the man had aged in the last eight years. For the first time in Cody's life, his friend's father looked old. And tired.
"I've come to get my son back." He turned his eyes back to his hands, as if he was only strong enough to speak to or look at Cody, but not both. "I've wasted a lot of time, and I've spent a lot of dinners sitting at an empty table and hating myself for it." He closed his eyes. "I've spent every holiday alone since Nick left. My wife sits across from me, but I'm alone, and I hate it. And maybe that makes me selfish, not wanting to be alone anymore, but it's the truth."
He opened his eyes again and looked back to Cody. "I love my wife, but she's wrong about this. I just want my son to be happy. As long as he's happy, and healthy, and safe, then nothing else matters. Not even what his mother says."
"I..." Cody started, but found he couldn't finish whatever the thought had been.
"Is he happy? Mr. Allen, is--" He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Cody, is my son happy?"
"Yes, sir." His voice came out strangled, and he cleared it before trying again. "Yes, sir, he's happy. We have a good life here, and people who care about us, people who don't care about how we live, as long as we're good people." He tried to smile, tried to show he was telling the truth. "Your son has a family here, now. He has a good and full life. He's happy."
Stewart gave a sad smile, and nodded again. "Good. Good, that's...that's very good to hear." He looked back to his coffee and nodded again, to himself. "Good." He pushed himself up, turning away from Cody immediately. "I should go. I don't want to upset him any further."
He was a few steps away before Cody realized that he'd said the wrong thing. Or at least that Stewart had taken it the wrong way. "No!" He jumped up, arm outstretched, "No, please, don't go."
Stewart froze where he was, body turned away, headed back towards the door.
"Please," Cody started again, "He'd want to see you. He misses you both...so much. He'd want to see you."
"Even if--" He cleared his throat again, clearly having trouble asking, "Even if it's just me, and not his mother, too?"
Cody closed the distance between them and rested a hand on Stewart's shoulder, stunned to find he was actually taller than the man for the first time in his life. "He'd want to see you, sir."
They both heard Nick jumping over the boat's railing, his feet hitting the ship's hull with a happy thud, and a light step as he bounced down the stairs from the stern. "Hey, Cody, you'll never believe who was hanging around the Mimi today. And in beachwear, no less!"
Nick's voice was light and happy and full of laughter, but as soon as he hit the landing and jumped up the last few steps into the salon, he froze, his eyes riveted to his father. "Dad?"
Cody let his hand drop, but he doubted either man noticed him there. Their eyes were locked on only each other.
"Son, I..." Stewart started, then coughed. "I... Son, I know I have no right to be here, but...but I wanted... That is, I had to..."
"Dad?" Nick was still frozen halfway across the room, not blinking.
Stewart pulled himself up a little straighter and tried again. "I'm here to see if you have any place for me in your life. I can't ask for forgiveness for what we did, for turning you away, and I can't take that back, but you're my son, and I love you, and I miss you. I can't remember any of the speech I had planed out in my head, but all I'm asking for...all I want is...I--"
Cody didn't see it happen, but one minute Nick was across the room, frozen in place, and then next he had his arms wrapped around his father, face buried in the smaller man's neck, hands clutching tight at the fabric of his jacket. "Dad." His voice broke across the word.
And slowly, his father's arms came up, and then in a flash, were wrapped just as tightly around his son.
Cody took the chance to slip silently out the side door. He wasn't needed at this point.