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[missmara13]

I have a fic idea I love and am considering...

Ryan has custody of Frank and Julie's son. Basically, Julie ended up marrying Frank, and when Ryan's little brother (Jake, because I like that as his name... lol) was about six or seven, Ryan found out that Frank was hitting him. Ryan confront Frank and Julie, and Frank got beat the crap out of Ryan, bad enough that Ryan could have gotten Frank tossed in jail for years. Julie still went and bailed Frank out, then begged Ryan to refuse to press charges/co-operate with the police, so that Frank wouldn't go back to prison. Ryan told her that she had a choice: Frank goes to prison and Julie keeps Jake OR Julie and Frank give Ryan custody of Jake and Ryan will refuse to co-operate with charges against Frank (No complainant, almost zero chance of conviction). And Julie f***ing chose Frank. So Ryan got custody and started raising Jake. Jake has No Contact with Frank (One of Ryan's main rules/conditions... especially since Julie divorced Frank a few years after giving Ryan custody), and Limited Contact with Julie, who has had a string of short term marriages to rich men... leading Jake to have 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West as his ringtone for her... Officially Ryan disapproves, but he actually finds it hilarious.

Julie starts trying to get custody back, even though she and Frank signed away their rights to Jake in front of lawyers and a judge, and Julie outright told the Judge that she felt Jake was better off with Ryan than with her and Frank. She doesn't really stand a chance, but she's annoying the hell out of Ryan. Ryan would love to just cut off all contact, but can't bring himself to do so unless Jake asks him to, because he doesn't want to leave Jake without a mom, even if she's a bad one.

I don't really have much beyond that. Ryan and Jake are close, and while Jake doesn't call Ryan 'Dad', he doesn't correct others who refer to Ryan as his Dad. Jake calls Julie 'Mom' when actually with her, but the rest of the time she's called 'Julie'. He's never excited to see her, and in fact the older he gets the less he really wants to see her, but he does because he thinks he should and he thinks Ryan will be disappointed if he stops, though actually Ryan would prefer Jake didn't see Julie, but he doesn't want to deny Jake what he thinks are wanted visits... basically the Atwood Boys don't have very good communication skills... lol...

I'm thinking that Sandy, Kirsten, Kaitlin, Bullit, Seth, and Summer are all Team Ryan in the custody issue... and at some point Trey would show up and Ryan would have a very tense conversation with him about he if he wants to be in Jake's life, he needs to stay clean, sober, and law abiding... not sure if Trey actually succeeds at that...

I'm thinking Brooke would be a good romantic interest for Ryan... although I also kinda wanna meld it with another idea of mine...

Crossover between The OC and The Night Shift (NBC Summer Series about doctors, most of whom are Army Vets, at a hospital in San Antonio, Texas) Ryan Atwood/Dr. Drew Alister (Brendan Fehr) pairing... Drew is my favorite TNS character, and is gay in canon (He married his boyfriend at the end of Season 2, and in Season 3 they became adoptive dads), and I just adore him. In addition to being a Doctor, he's an Army Medic and an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. He's all around awesome.

As much as I love Rick (Drew's boyfriend/husband) I love the idea of a Ryan/Drew pairing... and I sorta have an idea how the above Ryan and Jake story could combine with a Ryan/Drew pairing... (for the sake of this idea, there is no Rick, and no Brianna, Drew and Rick's adoptive daughter)

So, Julie is harassing Ryan and Jake trying to get my contact, get unsupervised visits, talking about trying to get custody back. Bullit, being Team Ryan, offers to help Ryan relocate himself and Jake anywhere they want to get away from it (since Julie signed away her rights, she has no legal claim to Jake and can't interfere with them moving. Ryan lets her have contact, he doesn't have to). During this, Ryan gets a call from Drew, who he had been somewhat dating for a little while around the time he got custody of Jake. Ryan is Bisexual, but wasn't out about that, and Drew was very much in the closet (as far as anyone else knew, they were good friends and that's it), so they ended up breaking up, and no one ever knew they were a couple, they just thought the two were friends... I could potentially have it AU that in his grief over Marissa, instead of the cage fighting, Ryan enlisted and that's how he and Drew met, and Ryan left the Army when he got custody of Jake... anyway, Drew calls him and they talk, Drew finds out about the crap Julie's pulling and suggests that maybe Ryan and Jake could at least come on vacation to San Antonio, they could hang out. Drew is still closeted, but over the course of the story he would come out and he and Ryan would get back together as an actual, official, couple...

I don't know, I kinda wanna do it... lol... I'll defintiely write the Ryan and Jake part of it, it's the Ryan/Drew pairing part I'm iffy on... but I am rewatching the first two seasons of TNS on Netflix so I can get a beter grasp on Drew's character... lol...

Comments

[crossover_fan]

I haven't seen The Night Shift, but I have been watching Chicago Med and doctor wise, I'd like to see a fic with dating Dr. Natalie Manning.

As for this idea, I like and I'd like to see Ryan with Brooke.

[cailleachbheur.livejournal.com]

I actually really like this! (And not just because its 2017 and you're one of the only writers still writing new OC fic lol - I came to the fandom waaaaaay too late). But I have a serious SERIOUS weakness for Dad!Ryan, especially Single Dad!Ryan, even if Ryan and Jake aren't a traditional father/son dynamic. Also, I loathe Frank Atwood and the entire S4 Frank storyline, and think its a serious disservice to the character of Ryan as he was initially presented on the show, and just a cheap and easy way to bring in a mysterious figure from Ryan's past while totally glossing over the issues that should accompany that. Like.....given how important family is to Ryan and how many times he forgave Dawn and Trey for endless shit and screwing him over, there's gotta be a reason he NEVER talks about Frank before S4. As much as fanfic usually goes the 'Ryan just doesn't like to talk about his past, period' route, the truth is on the show Ryan drops tidbits about his past all the time, he just does so in a totally dismissive and mitigating fashion as to pretend it wasn't as bad as it really was or doesn't hurt him as much as it really does. Like Dawn was literally an absentee mother who abandoned him twice....but he still mentions her a great deal and references the issues she raised for him. For Frank to be a total non-entity until S4....him just being out of the picture and someone Ryan could forgive and accept was a brand new person within the span of like...four episodes? Nope. Pull the other one, Josh. I ain't buying it.

Aaaaaanyway, I might have digressed a little, its just there's barely any opportunity to talk The OC anymore and I really am glad to see new story ideas still being tossed around by a prolific author such as yourself. I do like your Ryan/Brooke stories, but tend to prefer non crossover pairings so am curious to see who Ryan might end up with here without it being a crossover....however, I like the Night Shift too and Drew is my favorite character, and I could TOTALLY see a Ryan/Drew pairing, albeit a very quiet, intimidating Ryan/Drew pairing with lots of monosyllabic grunting back and forth that only Jake can decipher and leaves everyone else completely baffled as to how they manage to communicate at all.

(Also ps, since I've never really commented on any of your other stuff, I do have to give a shout out to my two favorite fics/universes of yours - the Good Enough 'verse with Ryan as the secret Walker lovechild....despite my usual reticence about crossovers, Ryan as the long lost Walker just fits SO WELL and makes so much sense. The other fave fic of yours is These Walls, because probably my all time favorite OC fanfic plotlines is the 'Ryan was kidnapped by Dawn or Frank as a young child' one - I actually contemplated writing one myself, where mid S1 its discovered that Ryan is actually Luke Ward's kidnapped twin brother. Anyway, I digressed again).

[missmara13]

Hi! I don't write fic in general as much as I used to, but I am still writing and I know what you mean about new The OC fic... I don't think I've found any knew ones lately either... at least not much of any quality....

I love Dad!Ryan, too, which should be obvious by how many fics I've written with him as a dad... lol... and yes, Frank is... ugh. I like Kevin Sorbo, and I think he did a great job as the completely retconed Frank who just sucked as a dad, but the hints dropped earlier in the series, and even Sandy's reaction to Frank, implied at lot more than just 'absent' as the reason for Ryan's initial reluctance. I've only very rarely written anything that portrayed Frank positively, and even then, while he was a father who loved his boys, he was still abusive to both them and Dawn (fic I'm talking about is 'Two Beds And A Coffee Machine'... closest I ever got to 'good' Frank). I always try to balance canon and fanon in fics that aren't a complete AU, so in my head, Frank could be a good dad if he was clean and sober. But the minute he got high or drunk he started being the abusive Frank we had hints of all along.

If I end up NOT making it a crossover, Ryan would almost certainly end up with Summer... since they are my favorite non-crossover couple. Or Alex Kelly could turn up... her and Ryan are my second favorite... lol

I actually have 3 different starts for the fic, two taking place when Jake is little and Ryan is trying to get custody, and the third with Jake about 14 and Julie is trying to get custody back after at least 7 years... so I am working on the fic, just exploring my different options for what feels best for it... lol

I'm glad you like 'Good Enough'! It's one of my favorites to write! I love juxtaposing Ryan's quiet and reserved personality to the loud and boisterous Walkers... they are overwhelming sometimes, but they are solidly in Ryan's corner and god help anyone who tries to hurt him on their watch. I actually kinda wish I hadn't ignored the existence of the Frank/Julie kid when I started GE, because think of how perfect the idea of Ryan taking custody would be if done in that universe? The Walkers rallying around Ryan... taking turns sitting with Jake so Ryan can get custody things done but the little boy is never alone... Nora treating Jake like one of her grandkids by spoiling with presents on holidays... Yeah, it would probably be a bit mroe of an uphill battle to get custody, since Ryan would be no blood relation to Jake, but there'd be evidence that Ryan has always been a devoted big brother, going to junior league soccer games Jake played in, and his preschool and kindergarten graduations, there's more pictures and video of Ryan and Jake than there are of Frank or Julie with Jake combined...

As for 'These Walls'... I need to write more of that one... lol... one of my favorite things about it is how I wrote Caleb. Usually I have him be at least canon level of 'evil', but in 'These Walls', he loves his daughters and grandsons, he's more tolerant towards Sandy, he's a good man who just happens to be a little greedy about money and power.

And you should right your fic! I don't always have a lot of free time to read fic lately, but if you let me know you wrote it, I'll read it! The idea of Ryan being Luke's long lost twin is definitely intriguing... and it coming out just as , I presume based on you saying 'mid S1, Ryan and Luke are starting to become friends? I would definitely read...

[cailleachbheur.livejournal.com]

Agreed with everything you said about Frank. To be honest, the show's biggest dropped ball was Ryan's entire life pre-Cohen...they kinda just used 'well he was abused and that's why he's quiet and angry a lot' as window dressing for his character but never made the slighest attempt to delve into what that realistically might mean for him and how he developed and I will never forgive the show for that lol.

And I know what you mean about trying to decide the right approach to take with the fic. That's kinda what's holding me up with the Ryan and Luke as twins fic, I've got another one I'm writing first. (And yeah it'd probably be set right around The Secret as that's one of my favorite episodes of the show and I love Luke and Ryan's totally unexpected friendship, and it struck me while rewatching it that the two of them actually look a LOT alike, Ryan's just smaller, which could definitely be due to being malnourished as a child. Also I kinda love the Cain and Abel aspects of realizing you almost killed your long lost twin brother in a house fire fighting over a girl, but its okay cuz you saved him instead dude. ANGST!)

I'm definitely here for more Summer/Ryan though! They are definitely my fave non-canon couple....well actually fave couple in general, probably. I've never really put too much thought into Ryan/Alex just because of how quickly the show skipped right past them, BUT I did always think it felt a little fake how hard the show tried to push the idea that Alex and Ryan had nothing in common and Seth was a better match for her after their disastrous double date. Like....you can't tell me they'd have NOTHING to talk about. There's a reason Marissa dated both of them, lol.

And yes, I love Good Enough. I've actually never really delved into Brothers and Sisters fandom or felt that fanfic itch to write or read fic set in it, but when I came across it on your LJ, I was just like....this makes total sense and I could totally see Ryan trying to find his footing in their wild, chaotic family. Any excuse to give Ryan a huge family with lots of love and attention to balance out the drama is good in my book. As much as I like the Cohens, and I do.....they failed to live up to the 'promise' of giving Ryan a family and a second chance at a childhood IMO. (Also part of why I enjoyed Good Enough so much....I am occasionally partial to fics that take a less than charitable view of Sandy. It's one of those things where I love Sandy as a character and an individual....but I really do not like how he interacted with Ryan on a lot of occasions, particularly the first couple seasons. For someone who was convinced within five seconds of meeting Ryan that they were cut from the same deck, he really just did NOT understand what made Ryan tick most of the time, and it...bugged).

But yes, Nora would absolutely see past her husband's infidelity to the bruised, damaged product of his affair and give Ryan the love and attention he needed regardless of how he ended up in her home. I like where Good Enough was set timewise, but I did also really like that AU version of it you did where they found out about Ryan before he met the Cohens.

(and umm yes please, I would love more of These Walls, I always really wanted to see how Ryan's first meetings with most of the other OC cast would play out once the Coopers, Summer, etc met the long lost Cohen. And I liked Caleb in it too. Caleb is one of those weird characters for me where he's fun in almost any incarnation. Like he really works as the evil old bastard who hates Ryan and makes his life miserable, but he also works when he has a soft spot once Ryan manages to find a way to his good side....and then everything in between).