The Truth Hurts (Part 5 - Summer's POV)
Jun. 7th, 2007 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missmara13We're ahving such nice June weather... it's freaking SNOWING outside! Of course, a couple year ago, we went to bed on a June night with it nice and warm out, and woke up with there having been a huge ice storm that pulled down power lines and broke trees... lol... so this is nothing compared to that... lol
Title: The Truth Hurts - 5
Author: Mara
Rating: PG-15
Warnings: God... mentions of violence, nothing too bad.
Summary: It's not the best result, but it could be so much worse... Summer's POV
Notes: An AU to 'The Truth'.
The Truth Hurts - 5
Summer had an excuse for not noticing how screwed up Oliver was, she was too mixed up with the mess that was her love life, trying to get in between Seth and Anna because she was scared that someone had been chosen over her. It was outrageous and unbelievable and she had been so focused on it that she'd completely missed just how messed up Oliver really was and how screwed up things were getting.
"Summer, I... something's happened..."
When he father told her about the shooting the morning after it happened, her first thought was that Marissa had been hit, maybe killed. But her father had quickly dispelled that, explaining that it was Ryan who'd been shot. Ryan who was in critical condition after being in surgery all night. Ryan who wasn't expected to wake up because of the amount of damage the bullet did to his brain.
"This isn't fair."
Her father took her to the hospital, first to visit Marissa since the girl was still sedated and under observation from her complete meltdown, and then to see Ryan, though they could only stand outside Ryan's ICU room and look in the window as various monitors told them what his condition was. She stared silently for a moment before turning and burying her face against her father's chest, letting out a choked sob and insisting that it wasn't right, that Ryan had just been trying to protect Marissa, that he didn't deserve this and it just wasn't right! It sucked royally and Summer wished that she could get her hands on Oliver and make him pay. But he was dead thanks to the hotel security and their guns.
"You're a selfish asshole, Cohen!"
She couldn't understand how Seth could pretend everything was okay, like Ryan wasn't laying there in a coma, maybe never going to wake up. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't visit Ryan anymore, while she went almost every day and sat by his bed, talking to him about whatever popped into her head. It wasn't so strange for her, Ryan had always been a good listener, the type to just sit there and take it all in without interrupting. Except now he couldn't give that one sentence of advice, that one thing that put it all in perspective and helped her figure it out. And that hurt so damn much that she had to stop talking sometimes and just hold his hands while tears streamed down her face.
"I missed those eyes."
She teased his mercilessly when he first opened his eyes, trying to get the same kind of amused irritation that she used to get, but only getting the blank stare most of the time. Slowly, though, so very slowly, he did react. It was small things, subtle things, starting with there being that hint of life in his eyes, and then how he'd narrow them when she talked about something that would have made him mad before, and the way he would cry slightly when she said something that begged an answer that he just couldn't give her.
"Don't worry, Chino, you'll come all the way back to us when you're ready. We can wait."
She spent more time with him when it started to become clear just how much he was aware, and paid attention to what the nurses did during physical therapy and would do the same movements with his hands during her visits, sure that since the doctors thought his verbal skills would be impaired, he'd need his hands in good shape to write down what he needed to say. And then, one day while she flexed each of his fingers as much as possible, he suddenly tightened his grip around her hand, catching her attention, and when she looked up at his face, the corner was turned up just slightly in a triumphant smile.
"You can do this, Ryan."
There wasn't much to be triumphant about. He could tighten his hands around objects, but they shook too much for him to hold a glass and drink from it without spilling it all over. He could manage to write short notes, in handwriting that looked like a six year-old's. And when they tried to get him to walk, to grip two metal bars and walk between them, he could only make it a few steps before the tremors got to be too much and he'd collapse to his knees, tears of pain and frustration on his face. It was all made worse because he couldn't manage to say anything understandable, it all came out mangled, so he couldn't even make them understand him that way.
"Stop being a wuss and do this, Chino!"
When he stopped trying, just sat there with his arms wrapped around his stomach and a sullen look on his face, Summer had lost her temper. The Cohens had stared at her in shock when she yelled at Ryan, and he just sat there, wide eyed for a moment, before his expression turned stoney and he glared at her coldly, his mouth slowly opening and his lips carefully forming the words to tell her to go to hell, and while normally should would have been pissed, this time she just grinned because it worked and he agreed to climb into the waiting wheelchair and go to physical therapy. As they left, she turned to the Cohens, her own triumphant smile on her face.
"Now we know, to get him motivated, we just need to piss him off."
The End
Summer is the only person who could get away with yelling at a brain damaged guy and not seem totally horrible... lol
Title: The Truth Hurts - 5
Author: Mara
Rating: PG-15
Warnings: God... mentions of violence, nothing too bad.
Summary: It's not the best result, but it could be so much worse... Summer's POV
Notes: An AU to 'The Truth'.
The Truth Hurts - 5
Summer had an excuse for not noticing how screwed up Oliver was, she was too mixed up with the mess that was her love life, trying to get in between Seth and Anna because she was scared that someone had been chosen over her. It was outrageous and unbelievable and she had been so focused on it that she'd completely missed just how messed up Oliver really was and how screwed up things were getting.
"Summer, I... something's happened..."
When he father told her about the shooting the morning after it happened, her first thought was that Marissa had been hit, maybe killed. But her father had quickly dispelled that, explaining that it was Ryan who'd been shot. Ryan who was in critical condition after being in surgery all night. Ryan who wasn't expected to wake up because of the amount of damage the bullet did to his brain.
"This isn't fair."
Her father took her to the hospital, first to visit Marissa since the girl was still sedated and under observation from her complete meltdown, and then to see Ryan, though they could only stand outside Ryan's ICU room and look in the window as various monitors told them what his condition was. She stared silently for a moment before turning and burying her face against her father's chest, letting out a choked sob and insisting that it wasn't right, that Ryan had just been trying to protect Marissa, that he didn't deserve this and it just wasn't right! It sucked royally and Summer wished that she could get her hands on Oliver and make him pay. But he was dead thanks to the hotel security and their guns.
"You're a selfish asshole, Cohen!"
She couldn't understand how Seth could pretend everything was okay, like Ryan wasn't laying there in a coma, maybe never going to wake up. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't visit Ryan anymore, while she went almost every day and sat by his bed, talking to him about whatever popped into her head. It wasn't so strange for her, Ryan had always been a good listener, the type to just sit there and take it all in without interrupting. Except now he couldn't give that one sentence of advice, that one thing that put it all in perspective and helped her figure it out. And that hurt so damn much that she had to stop talking sometimes and just hold his hands while tears streamed down her face.
"I missed those eyes."
She teased his mercilessly when he first opened his eyes, trying to get the same kind of amused irritation that she used to get, but only getting the blank stare most of the time. Slowly, though, so very slowly, he did react. It was small things, subtle things, starting with there being that hint of life in his eyes, and then how he'd narrow them when she talked about something that would have made him mad before, and the way he would cry slightly when she said something that begged an answer that he just couldn't give her.
"Don't worry, Chino, you'll come all the way back to us when you're ready. We can wait."
She spent more time with him when it started to become clear just how much he was aware, and paid attention to what the nurses did during physical therapy and would do the same movements with his hands during her visits, sure that since the doctors thought his verbal skills would be impaired, he'd need his hands in good shape to write down what he needed to say. And then, one day while she flexed each of his fingers as much as possible, he suddenly tightened his grip around her hand, catching her attention, and when she looked up at his face, the corner was turned up just slightly in a triumphant smile.
"You can do this, Ryan."
There wasn't much to be triumphant about. He could tighten his hands around objects, but they shook too much for him to hold a glass and drink from it without spilling it all over. He could manage to write short notes, in handwriting that looked like a six year-old's. And when they tried to get him to walk, to grip two metal bars and walk between them, he could only make it a few steps before the tremors got to be too much and he'd collapse to his knees, tears of pain and frustration on his face. It was all made worse because he couldn't manage to say anything understandable, it all came out mangled, so he couldn't even make them understand him that way.
"Stop being a wuss and do this, Chino!"
When he stopped trying, just sat there with his arms wrapped around his stomach and a sullen look on his face, Summer had lost her temper. The Cohens had stared at her in shock when she yelled at Ryan, and he just sat there, wide eyed for a moment, before his expression turned stoney and he glared at her coldly, his mouth slowly opening and his lips carefully forming the words to tell her to go to hell, and while normally should would have been pissed, this time she just grinned because it worked and he agreed to climb into the waiting wheelchair and go to physical therapy. As they left, she turned to the Cohens, her own triumphant smile on her face.
"Now we know, to get him motivated, we just need to piss him off."
The End
Summer is the only person who could get away with yelling at a brain damaged guy and not seem totally horrible... lol
