A Question For A Fic...

[missmara13]

Okay, so I'm working on a new fic (A One-Shot) and desperately need a bit of info and don't know where I might find it...

In the 4th season of The OC, Frank told a story about an Atwood family vacation... I can't remember any details though... what I need to know is:

How old was Ryan? (Had to be younger than 8 since I believe that was established as how old he was when Frank got locked up)
Where did they go/were they going to go? (I seem to remember something about it being aborted, but maybe I'm crazy... lol)
Any other little details about that story? lol

The fic is a little short thing chronicling Ryan and Trey's early childhoods, at least up until Frank got locked up, maybe continuing until stealing the car... although if I continue it to that point, with how this story is written so far, it's gonna turn into a backstory for 'Heavily Broken'... lol

Thanks!

Comments

[supreme-empress.livejournal.com]

I've been actively trying not to study for finals. Ergo, for the past hour I've been researching your question on the net and have thus far not found an answer. I will persist though!

[missmara13]

Well, i'm glad I could help you procrastinate! lol... and I got my answers, so no worries...

[dreamy-betty.livejournal.com]

Here's a (self typed) transcript of that dinner scene from episode 9 "My two dads" and possibly a foto from Ryan on that trip. There were no details on when they tried that family trip, so it looks like you're free to choose your own canon, maybe based on the screencap I've uploaded you as well.


Ryan: Yeah so I guess the plan is that I start there in fall.
Frank: Oh, Berkley is a great school, or so I hear. How did you pick it?
Sandy: Kirsten and I went there.
Kirsten: We met there so it's a very special place for us.
Frank: Well, that's great. Family tradition.
[pause]
Frank: Ryan, do you remember the time we went to San Francisco?
Ryan: No.
Frank: Well, that's cause we never quite made it. Your mom and I had this idea in our heads that we should take a family trip. So we all piled into that old pickup track we had and drove up north for the weekend. But it was just .. miserable. Trey got carsick, we got two flat tyres and course we only got one spare...
Ryan: ... a day in the life of Atwoods ...
Frank: you know I actually have a foto from that trip.
Taylor: Babie pictures, yay!
Taylor: Oh my god, look at baby Ryan. you can already see this long jawline, this piercing blue eyes that stare right into your soul.
Ryan: That's my cue to get dessert.
...

[supreme-empress.livejournal.com]

SNAP! I knew it was from The My Two Dads!

I searched everywhere for a transcript but I couldn't find one and I wasn't near my OC stash. Cruds.

[missmara13]

That most definitely helps a bit... it says that Ryan was still pretty little, since he doesn't remember it...and it tells me a couple little details (they took a pickup truck, the flat tires, Trey getting carsick... which actually works so well since most of the fic is Trey taking care of Ryan, I can have a moment of the reverse...)...

[millstone1005.livejournal.com]

Ryan was 10 when Frank went to prison. They mentioned "eight years" several times (as how long it has been since Ryan has seen him, as how long Frank has been without a woman, etc). And since he was then 18 when Frank showed up, that would make him 10 when Frank left.

You might have been thinking of the 8 years ago they mentioned, and thought it was 8 years old instead.

[missmara13]

Well, I think they changed it many times over the course of the series... especially since the Atwoods moved to CHino only after Frank got locked up, and yet suppossedly Ryan was at Theresa's 6th birthday party... so unless Theresa was 11 in Season 1 (4 years younger than Ryan...) they clearly changed his age multiple times... lol

[millstone1005.livejournal.com]

Over at TWoP we came up with a possible scenario which reconciles the multiple conflicting statements that they moved from Fresno to Chino after Frank got arrested, and the other things which said that Ryan lived in Chino his whole life (multiple statements that Ryan and Theresa grew up together, that they knew each other their whole lives, plus the birthday party thing). Plus the statement that Frank did live in Chino (e.g. when Kirsten told Taylor that Chino is inland and Frank was a mechanic, not a fisherman).

The theory is that Ryan and the Atwoods (including Frank) lived in Chino ever since Ryan was born, then maybe a year or a couple of years before he went to prison, Frank moved the family to Fresno, and Dawn moved herself and the boys back to Chino after Frank got arrested.

[missmara13]

That so totally makes sense and works.... lol...

[katwoman76.livejournal.com]

Well, looks like all your questions are already answered.
So nothing left to do for me here apart from telling you, that I'm looking forward to reading the mentioned story and any other possible updates from you.