Heavly Broken (Chapter Fifty Four)
Jul. 11th, 2007 01:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missmara13Title: Heavily Broken (Chapter Fifty Four)
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Sex, mentions of rape, violence. Language. (Including, in this chapter, swearing in Spanish!)
Summary: Ryan didn't call Sandy after Dawn kicked him out, but he still finds his way to the Cohen family.
Notes: I only speak a tiny, tiny, tiny, little bit of Spanish, so the translations were done with Babelfish. Don't blame me if they're wrong, especially grammar and such, blame Babelfish! lol... Translations of the bits of Spanish are at the end of the chapter.
Heavily Broken (Chapter Fifty Four)
Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chrissydechagny for the most excellent banner!
Ryan and Summer spent most of the dinner exchanging baffled looks as Che talked about environmental activism, then got into an argument with Seth over the amount of paper used to make comic books.
"This is scary," Summer whispered to Ryan.
"You don't know the half of it," Ryan replied.
"You better tell me," Summer said.
"Later," Ryan promised as the fight got louder and more ridiculous.
"Half the comics I read are made from recycled paper!" Seth said.
"But the other half aren't and it's a waste of paper to tell silly stories on!"
"Silly stories?!"
"Ryan, why don't you and Summer escape..." Sandy began, then shook his head. "Excuse yourselves, since you've eaten."
"Sure," Ryan said as he and Summer pushed back their chairs and got up, heading towards the poolhouse.
"Oh my God!" Summer said, laughing.
"No, trust me, there's more to this," Ryan said as they walked into the poolhouse and he opened the blinds as well as opening doors to catch the evening breeze.
"What?" Summer asked, stretching out on her stomach on his bed.
Ryan lay down beside her, also on his stomach, trying not to laugh as he even thought about it. "Okay, so, I came home earlier than planned this afternoon. I was completely wiped after my session so I took a cab instead of waiting for Marissa. Well, I got here and I came around the side of the house, and I heard voices. Seth and Che are standing on the patio, and Seth is saying how he doesn't think he's parents would want Che here, and he better leave, and all that stuff. And then... then Che mentions them kissing while stoned."
"Oh my God," Summer said, mouth open. "Kissing? Seth and Che? Eachother?"
"Yup," Ryan said.
"Oh my God..." Summer repeated, then burst out laughing. "So inside... a lover's quarrel?"
"I guess," Ryan replied, snickering.
"Can I tell everyone? Pretty please?"
"Sum..."
"No, I don't mean everyone everyone, I mean our group everyone."
"I don't think Seth wants anyone to know," Ryan replied. "Especially since somehow frogs and otters have something to do with it."
"Frogs and otters?"
"Yeah, I don't know either," Ryan said, laughing again. He leaned in to give her a soft kiss, then pulled back. "Playstation?" he asked, getting up.
"Hell yeah," Summer agreed, sitting up and swinging her legs around so she could sit on the floor and lean back against the bed. "Are you gonna be okay tomorrow? With the funeral?"
"I have to be," Ryan said as he finished putting in the game and came back over with the controllers, sitting down beside her. "I can't skip it, Theresa deserves better than her best friend skipping her funeral."
Summer leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "If you need me, I'm just a phone call away," she said.
"I'll remember that," Ryan replied, turning to kiss the top of her head. "Now let's play."
~~~
In the morning, they all went to the airport to see Sophie off, and she gave Ryan as warm of a hug as she gave Seth. "You take care of yourself, understand?" she told him.
"Yes, Ma'am," Ryan said with a shy smile.
And you two better take some good pictures of him and send them my way," Sophie continued to Sandy and Kirsten. "I need some pictures of my new grandson to go next to Seth's pictures."
"We will, Ma," Sandy said, hugging her. "But you need to take care of yourself, get treatment, and..."
"I know, Sandy, I will," Sophie said. "I have a doctor's appointment first thing tomorrow morning to find out when I can start treatment."
"That was easy," Sandy said, surprised.
"You're not the only one to discuss this with me," Sophie said, glancing over at Ryan, who had stepped away to look at some magazines in one of the gift shops and was nodding in response to Seth's babbles about comic books and the lack of a selection there.
"Ryan talked to you?" Sandy asked.
"That boy's got a good heart," Sophie said. "But you need to keep an eye on him, Sandy. He's carrying around a hell of a lot of weight on his shoulders."
"We know," Kirsten said with a sad sigh.
"You're doing right by him," Sophie said. "I think he'll be okay, he just needs a time to get there."
"I don't think I've ever wanted you to be more right," Kirsten said, giving Sophie a quick hug. "Take care, okay?"
"I intend to," Sophie agreed. "You two just take care of your boys. And keep that boy's mother away from him if you can. I get the feeling she's very bad news."
"You don't know the half of it," Sandy agreed.
~~~
After much whining on Seth's part, they dropped him off at Harbor and took Ryan home so they could all change for the funeral. Ryan was trying to tie his tie without the help of a mirror when Sandy came in.
"Almost ready?"
"The few times I had to wear one of these, Trey or Theresa always tied it for me," Ryan whispered, a hint of defeat in his voice.
"Come here," Sandy urged, meeting Ryan halfway and slowly taking control of the tie. "I didn't learn to tie one of these until I was marrying Kirsten and she told me to learn on my own or she'd get Caleb to teach me," he said.
Ryan grimaced. "Taught yourself, huh?"
"Spent a whole weekend learning," Sandy confirmed. "But I scored some serious points with Kirsten for that, and she rewarded me well..."
"I really don't want to here anything else," Ryan said, grimacing.
Sandy smiled and smoothed down the tie. "There you go, kid. You clean up pretty good."
Ryan smiled slightly and nodded, grabbing his jacket off the back of a chair. "I'm ready," he said.
"Then let's go," Sandy said, putting a hand on Ryan's back as they left the poolhouse and met up with a waiting Kirsten. "Do we pass?" Sandy asked.
"Yes," Kirsten replied, putting her hand just below Sandy's as they walked through the house.
The drive was long and almost silent, but as they neared Chino, Ryan began giving Sandy quiet directions to the church, and when they pulled into a parking lot filled with cars that had seen better days a couple decades earlier, he took a deep breath then climbed out first to lead the way. Eva and Arturo were standing in the entrance of the church, and he excepted hugs from both of them, whispering his condolences in Spanish then arguing softly with Eva before finally nodding.
"Eva asked me to sit up front with her and 'Turo," he told the Cohens as they walked inside. "She said you guys are welcome to sit up there with us. Not much family made it, and... and Theresa liked you guys."
"Sure," Sandy agreed, and they took seats up front, joined a few minutes later by Arturo and Eva.
Eva reached to grasp Arturo's hand with one of hers, and Ryan's with her other hand, and together they watched the priest begin the ceremony, talking about all of Theresa's virtues and leaving out several of her more obvious flaws, the ones that both made Ryan laugh and made him want to smack her. All of it part of why he'd loved her so much. Finally, it moved on to people standing up to talk about her, and right after Eva and Arturo, Ryan stood and took the podium, trying not to notice the ripple of surprise running through the church.
"I was 10 when I first met Theresa," Ryan began. "Our brothers were instant best friends because at 14 they both wanted to ditch their younger siblings and go talk to cute girls. So Theresa and I were told to go play somewhere else, and we did... at least until Theresa saw my brother making out with some girl... then Theresa decided she wanted to get her first kiss, and I was there, so it was my job to give her said first kiss. I was 10, she was a girl and therefore had cooties, so I did the only thing a kid in my position could do. I ran for my life." He paused while a ripple of laughter ran through the church. "She caught me though, pinned me to ground, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before getting up, putting her hands on her hips and smirking while she asked if that was so hard. I always think of Theresa that way, determined, tough, not willing to let someone get away without giving her what she wanted. I remember..."
He paused again, taking a deep, shaky, breath before continuing. "I remember all the times that she used to take care of me when things got bad at my house. She'd sit with me on the porch and just have an arm around me, telling me that everything would be okay, it was going to get better because it couldn't get any worse. And that as long as I needed her, she would be right there for me. And she was, every time it got to be too much at home, I could go to her and count on her to just be there. I didn't have to talk if I didn't feel like it, and she wouldn't talk unless she thought she needed to. We'd just sit together and that alone made it all seem less horrible. She was good at making life seem a lot better than it was."
There was one more pause and he took another breath, less shaky this time. "We used to talk about how when we grew up, we were going to find a way to leave Chino and not look back, which was a lie because as long as Eva and Arturo were here, she'd look back and as long as Trey was here I would, but... it was a silly dream that we never really believed in, so it didn't matter. Anyway, one day we were talking during lunch, and I drew a picture on notebook paper, a picture of Theresa's dream house. I gave it to her, and she fell in love with it, told me she'd treasure it always. She lost it about a year later, I don't know what happened to it, but it disappeared from her bulletin board. So... so last night I made her a new one, a better one."
He turned to face the open casket, Theresa's bruises carefully hidden beneath make up and her hair gently curled around her face. "Te quiero, Theresa, y yo le faltaremos," he whispered as he pulled the folded piece of paper from his jacket and kissed it lightly before tucking it between her folded hands. Then, he kissed his fingertips and gently touched them to Theresa's lips. "Adiós." He turned away and walked back to his seat beside Eva, accepting her hug then shifting and gratefully leaning against Kirsten as she wrapped an around around his shoulders.
~~~
When the official funeral ended, Ryan and the Cohens went over to the Diaz house and soon Ryan found himself surrounded by old friends of his and trey's all of them asking concerned questions and teasing him about the expensive suit. "¡Vete a la mierda, usted es apenas celoso!" he said with a laugh as he slid off his jacket and folded it over the back of a chair to go play in the spontaneous game of socer in the backyard.
"Lengua, niño," Eva scolded lightly.
"What did he say?" Sandy asked, curious.
"Language I don't use or repeat," Eva replied with a soft smile as she watched Ryan get control of the ball. "He's a good boy.
To Be Continued...
Translation #1 (In the church): "I love you, Theresa, and I'll miss you." and "Goodbye."
Translation #2 (At the Diaz House): "Fuck you, you're just jealous!"
Translation #3 (Eva's response to the above): "Language, child."
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Sex, mentions of rape, violence. Language. (Including, in this chapter, swearing in Spanish!)
Summary: Ryan didn't call Sandy after Dawn kicked him out, but he still finds his way to the Cohen family.
Notes: I only speak a tiny, tiny, tiny, little bit of Spanish, so the translations were done with Babelfish. Don't blame me if they're wrong, especially grammar and such, blame Babelfish! lol... Translations of the bits of Spanish are at the end of the chapter.
Heavily Broken (Chapter Fifty Four)
Many thanks to
chrissydechagny for the most excellent banner!Ryan and Summer spent most of the dinner exchanging baffled looks as Che talked about environmental activism, then got into an argument with Seth over the amount of paper used to make comic books.
"This is scary," Summer whispered to Ryan.
"You don't know the half of it," Ryan replied.
"You better tell me," Summer said.
"Later," Ryan promised as the fight got louder and more ridiculous.
"Half the comics I read are made from recycled paper!" Seth said.
"But the other half aren't and it's a waste of paper to tell silly stories on!"
"Silly stories?!"
"Ryan, why don't you and Summer escape..." Sandy began, then shook his head. "Excuse yourselves, since you've eaten."
"Sure," Ryan said as he and Summer pushed back their chairs and got up, heading towards the poolhouse.
"Oh my God!" Summer said, laughing.
"No, trust me, there's more to this," Ryan said as they walked into the poolhouse and he opened the blinds as well as opening doors to catch the evening breeze.
"What?" Summer asked, stretching out on her stomach on his bed.
Ryan lay down beside her, also on his stomach, trying not to laugh as he even thought about it. "Okay, so, I came home earlier than planned this afternoon. I was completely wiped after my session so I took a cab instead of waiting for Marissa. Well, I got here and I came around the side of the house, and I heard voices. Seth and Che are standing on the patio, and Seth is saying how he doesn't think he's parents would want Che here, and he better leave, and all that stuff. And then... then Che mentions them kissing while stoned."
"Oh my God," Summer said, mouth open. "Kissing? Seth and Che? Eachother?"
"Yup," Ryan said.
"Oh my God..." Summer repeated, then burst out laughing. "So inside... a lover's quarrel?"
"I guess," Ryan replied, snickering.
"Can I tell everyone? Pretty please?"
"Sum..."
"No, I don't mean everyone everyone, I mean our group everyone."
"I don't think Seth wants anyone to know," Ryan replied. "Especially since somehow frogs and otters have something to do with it."
"Frogs and otters?"
"Yeah, I don't know either," Ryan said, laughing again. He leaned in to give her a soft kiss, then pulled back. "Playstation?" he asked, getting up.
"Hell yeah," Summer agreed, sitting up and swinging her legs around so she could sit on the floor and lean back against the bed. "Are you gonna be okay tomorrow? With the funeral?"
"I have to be," Ryan said as he finished putting in the game and came back over with the controllers, sitting down beside her. "I can't skip it, Theresa deserves better than her best friend skipping her funeral."
Summer leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "If you need me, I'm just a phone call away," she said.
"I'll remember that," Ryan replied, turning to kiss the top of her head. "Now let's play."
~~~
In the morning, they all went to the airport to see Sophie off, and she gave Ryan as warm of a hug as she gave Seth. "You take care of yourself, understand?" she told him.
"Yes, Ma'am," Ryan said with a shy smile.
And you two better take some good pictures of him and send them my way," Sophie continued to Sandy and Kirsten. "I need some pictures of my new grandson to go next to Seth's pictures."
"We will, Ma," Sandy said, hugging her. "But you need to take care of yourself, get treatment, and..."
"I know, Sandy, I will," Sophie said. "I have a doctor's appointment first thing tomorrow morning to find out when I can start treatment."
"That was easy," Sandy said, surprised.
"You're not the only one to discuss this with me," Sophie said, glancing over at Ryan, who had stepped away to look at some magazines in one of the gift shops and was nodding in response to Seth's babbles about comic books and the lack of a selection there.
"Ryan talked to you?" Sandy asked.
"That boy's got a good heart," Sophie said. "But you need to keep an eye on him, Sandy. He's carrying around a hell of a lot of weight on his shoulders."
"We know," Kirsten said with a sad sigh.
"You're doing right by him," Sophie said. "I think he'll be okay, he just needs a time to get there."
"I don't think I've ever wanted you to be more right," Kirsten said, giving Sophie a quick hug. "Take care, okay?"
"I intend to," Sophie agreed. "You two just take care of your boys. And keep that boy's mother away from him if you can. I get the feeling she's very bad news."
"You don't know the half of it," Sandy agreed.
~~~
After much whining on Seth's part, they dropped him off at Harbor and took Ryan home so they could all change for the funeral. Ryan was trying to tie his tie without the help of a mirror when Sandy came in.
"Almost ready?"
"The few times I had to wear one of these, Trey or Theresa always tied it for me," Ryan whispered, a hint of defeat in his voice.
"Come here," Sandy urged, meeting Ryan halfway and slowly taking control of the tie. "I didn't learn to tie one of these until I was marrying Kirsten and she told me to learn on my own or she'd get Caleb to teach me," he said.
Ryan grimaced. "Taught yourself, huh?"
"Spent a whole weekend learning," Sandy confirmed. "But I scored some serious points with Kirsten for that, and she rewarded me well..."
"I really don't want to here anything else," Ryan said, grimacing.
Sandy smiled and smoothed down the tie. "There you go, kid. You clean up pretty good."
Ryan smiled slightly and nodded, grabbing his jacket off the back of a chair. "I'm ready," he said.
"Then let's go," Sandy said, putting a hand on Ryan's back as they left the poolhouse and met up with a waiting Kirsten. "Do we pass?" Sandy asked.
"Yes," Kirsten replied, putting her hand just below Sandy's as they walked through the house.
The drive was long and almost silent, but as they neared Chino, Ryan began giving Sandy quiet directions to the church, and when they pulled into a parking lot filled with cars that had seen better days a couple decades earlier, he took a deep breath then climbed out first to lead the way. Eva and Arturo were standing in the entrance of the church, and he excepted hugs from both of them, whispering his condolences in Spanish then arguing softly with Eva before finally nodding.
"Eva asked me to sit up front with her and 'Turo," he told the Cohens as they walked inside. "She said you guys are welcome to sit up there with us. Not much family made it, and... and Theresa liked you guys."
"Sure," Sandy agreed, and they took seats up front, joined a few minutes later by Arturo and Eva.
Eva reached to grasp Arturo's hand with one of hers, and Ryan's with her other hand, and together they watched the priest begin the ceremony, talking about all of Theresa's virtues and leaving out several of her more obvious flaws, the ones that both made Ryan laugh and made him want to smack her. All of it part of why he'd loved her so much. Finally, it moved on to people standing up to talk about her, and right after Eva and Arturo, Ryan stood and took the podium, trying not to notice the ripple of surprise running through the church.
"I was 10 when I first met Theresa," Ryan began. "Our brothers were instant best friends because at 14 they both wanted to ditch their younger siblings and go talk to cute girls. So Theresa and I were told to go play somewhere else, and we did... at least until Theresa saw my brother making out with some girl... then Theresa decided she wanted to get her first kiss, and I was there, so it was my job to give her said first kiss. I was 10, she was a girl and therefore had cooties, so I did the only thing a kid in my position could do. I ran for my life." He paused while a ripple of laughter ran through the church. "She caught me though, pinned me to ground, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before getting up, putting her hands on her hips and smirking while she asked if that was so hard. I always think of Theresa that way, determined, tough, not willing to let someone get away without giving her what she wanted. I remember..."
He paused again, taking a deep, shaky, breath before continuing. "I remember all the times that she used to take care of me when things got bad at my house. She'd sit with me on the porch and just have an arm around me, telling me that everything would be okay, it was going to get better because it couldn't get any worse. And that as long as I needed her, she would be right there for me. And she was, every time it got to be too much at home, I could go to her and count on her to just be there. I didn't have to talk if I didn't feel like it, and she wouldn't talk unless she thought she needed to. We'd just sit together and that alone made it all seem less horrible. She was good at making life seem a lot better than it was."
There was one more pause and he took another breath, less shaky this time. "We used to talk about how when we grew up, we were going to find a way to leave Chino and not look back, which was a lie because as long as Eva and Arturo were here, she'd look back and as long as Trey was here I would, but... it was a silly dream that we never really believed in, so it didn't matter. Anyway, one day we were talking during lunch, and I drew a picture on notebook paper, a picture of Theresa's dream house. I gave it to her, and she fell in love with it, told me she'd treasure it always. She lost it about a year later, I don't know what happened to it, but it disappeared from her bulletin board. So... so last night I made her a new one, a better one."
He turned to face the open casket, Theresa's bruises carefully hidden beneath make up and her hair gently curled around her face. "Te quiero, Theresa, y yo le faltaremos," he whispered as he pulled the folded piece of paper from his jacket and kissed it lightly before tucking it between her folded hands. Then, he kissed his fingertips and gently touched them to Theresa's lips. "Adiós." He turned away and walked back to his seat beside Eva, accepting her hug then shifting and gratefully leaning against Kirsten as she wrapped an around around his shoulders.
~~~
When the official funeral ended, Ryan and the Cohens went over to the Diaz house and soon Ryan found himself surrounded by old friends of his and trey's all of them asking concerned questions and teasing him about the expensive suit. "¡Vete a la mierda, usted es apenas celoso!" he said with a laugh as he slid off his jacket and folded it over the back of a chair to go play in the spontaneous game of socer in the backyard.
"Lengua, niño," Eva scolded lightly.
"What did he say?" Sandy asked, curious.
"Language I don't use or repeat," Eva replied with a soft smile as she watched Ryan get control of the ball. "He's a good boy.
To Be Continued...
Translation #1 (In the church): "I love you, Theresa, and I'll miss you." and "Goodbye."
Translation #2 (At the Diaz House): "Fuck you, you're just jealous!"
Translation #3 (Eva's response to the above): "Language, child."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 07:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 11:32 am (UTC)Ryan's speech nearly made me cry, he seemed so happy to share this memory with his friends and family.
Nice update dude!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 11:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 10:43 pm (UTC)That was a great post !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2007-07-11 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 11:50 pm (UTC)I loved Ryan's little speech and the idea of drawing her a new dream house was just Awwww.
Can't wait to see the Seth/Che developments. LOL
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-19 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 03:22 am (UTC)The references to Seth and Che provide some balance and levity to some degree, but also showcases how Ryan protects and values privacy and respects others' feelings, even if he isn't accorded the same treatment. With all of his experiences, he only wishes and hopes that were true. He'd never be one to encourage gossip of any kind, or revealing something even potentially hurtful. He's lived that pain and felt its consequences.
What resonates most is the way the two oldest women perceive Ryan and interact with him. Sophie has accepted him and demonstrates that with a clear message to Ryan and also with her warning to Sandy and Kirsten about nurturing and being being vigilant. And how much do I love that she DOES call him her grandson (like in your other series/universe where Ryan is currently trying to get his bearings in the safe harbor she's provided) and asks for pictures to prove how invested she is- and how she wants others to know.
Eva appears only briefly, but she's obviously very fond of Ryan and cares for him within the limits she has been able to. There's a silent sort of bond there that the Cohens seem to sense, one that can only come from familiarity and time.
And I'm getting to your "Truth"-related AU stories soon!
Thanks!