'After' - Chapter Three - Scars
Jun. 22nd, 2008 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missmara13Finally posting the third chapter of this one... partially because I truly adore a couple parts of Chapter four and have to post this one first... lol
Chapter Three - Scars
Ryan gratefully sat down on a bed in the back of the clinic while Peter closed the door, looking through a file that Ryan knew was seriously incomplete. "That information is seven years old," he pointed out to the nurse. "Haven't been in town since then."
"Any significant injuries in between?" Peter asked. "I'm guessing yes, since you refused to let the Cohens come in?"
"Knew you'd want my shirt off," Ryan said, slowly trying to pull it off over his head and stopped to hiss in pain as it pulled on his ribs.
"I'll get you another one once you're doped up," Peter said, grabbing a pair of scissors to cut off the shirt. "Injuries not in the file?" he asked again.
"Open fracture to my left radius a little over a year ago," Ryan said. "Concussion and incomplete rib fractures at the same time. Other than that mostly bumps and bruises."
"How'd those injuries... happen," Peter said, momentarily stopping as he got Ryan's shirt off and saw the combination of tattooes and scars.
"The squared off ones are from my biological father's belt," Ryan said. "All of them are over a decade old. The long one that's still really obvious is from surgery to remove shrapnel around the same time as the other stuff I listed. Tattoos... well... I got drunk with friends and they dared me."
"Above All?" Peter questioned as he slowly moved his hands over Ryan's ribs, checking them.
"My friends are Air Force guys," Ryan explained, trying to only show enough pain to let Peter know he'd found the fractures. "They said I earned it."
"Must have impressed them."
"I guess."
"Alright, looks like you were right about them being incomplete fractures," Peter said. "I'm gonna give you something for the pain, but I want someone to check on you every few hours. They don't have to wake you up, just make sure you're not having trouble breathing. With the power grid down, I can't take an x-rays to confirm, so..."
"Don't worry, Sandy's not gonna sue you for malpractice if I drop dead," Ryan said. "Hell, he might give you a medal."
"The guy was looking down the hall like I was taking his puppy to put it down," Peter said. "I think if you drop dead, he'll kill me. If he gets to me before Kirsten does."
Ryan snorted, then whinced at the jolt from his ribs. "You said something about getting me the good drugs?" he asked hopefully. He wouldn't take them for long, but one night of sleeping soundly would be good enough to get him thinking on his feet again. And he had a feeling that he'd need to be thinking on his feet very soon.
Sandy stood by the desk, nervously watching the door Ryan and Peter had disappeared through. "We should have insisted on staying with him."
"He's 25, Sandy, and he didn't want us in there," Kirsten said with a sigh.
"And he's stubborn enough to argue if you'd tried," Haley said handing them each a cup of coffee. "It's pretty strong," she warned before going around to the desk and trying to make some sense of the hastily written notes she and Peter had both been making all night.
"You don't seemed phased in the slightest by him being home," Sandy commented.
"It's his home, always will be," Haley said. "He told me that before he left. Around the same time he said that if Nate didn't get off his ass and marry me, he'd come back and kick his ass."
"Did he?" Ryan asked as he and Peter came out, Ryan wearing a scrub top instead of his t-shirt.
"He'll probably live," Peter said. "But..."
"No x-rays to confirm, so don't blame him if I drop," Ryan finished for him. "And right now I'm about to. I need to figure out where I'm sleeping..."
"At home," Sandy and Kirsten said immediately.
"You sure you want me there?" Ryan asked, his gaze on Sandy. "You didn't this afternoon."
"This afternoon I didn't... I didn't think I could lose you, too," Sandy replied. "Come on, let's get you home. We can talk in the morning, hopefully when there's more news."
Ryan nodded tiredly, but paused as he pass the desk, looking over at Haley and offering her a small smile. "Did Nate get off his ass?"
"He is an amazing father and a pretty good husband, too," Haley promised him. "Come see us soon, alright?"
"You got it, Hales," he said before letting Sandy and Kirsten each take one of his arms to help him stay upright.
"Check on him every few hours, make sure he's breathing okay," Peter instructed. "No need to wake him unless something seems wrong. Let him sleep as much as he wants, too. It'll help him heal."
"And keep him from running off to play hero and hurting himself worse," Haley added. "I do remember you jumping into the river to grab Kaitlin's cat when you were barely better from the head injury."
"I can't help saving a damsel in distress," Ryan teased tiredly.
"Go sleep," Haley said. "You earned it."
"That's the plan," Ryan said as Kirsten put an arm around his shoulders to lead him out of the clinic.
Peter leaned against the reception desk and let out a long sigh. "I think we really lucked out. None of the kids were hurt bad, Ryan should be okay.... it could have been a lot worse."
"I don't think we're out of the woods yet," Haley said.
"I think you're right," Peter agreed. "I know you're probably anxious to get home to Jamie, but... could you come back in the morning?" he asked. "I can get stuff restocked and ready overnight, but... I'm gonna need sleep and I'd rather have someone awake here to deflect people whining about papercuts and splinters and wake me up if there's anything I need to treat."
"I can do that," Haley agreed. "I'll see you in a couple hours, Peter."
"Thanks again, Haley," Peter said.
"Thanks for letting me crash over here," Kaitlin told Luke as he helped her finish making the bed in the guest room at his house. "Marissa going crazy about Johnny being away for that stupid surf thing... and you know my mom's at the resort, Bullit was... he was coming home from Texas, so he's probably..."
"Don't start thinking like that," Luke said. "Bullit's... he's a weird old guy, but he's tough. He'll be okay. He'll be back in no time."
"What do you think happened?"
"I think... I think we finally pissed off the wrong people and they hit back," Luke said, shrugging. "But we, everyone in Tree Hill, are gonna be okay. We'll take care of eachother, it's what us small town folk do."
Kaitlin snorted. "At least the people who matter the most are here," she said. "I'm glad Ryan's home."
"Me, too," Luke agreed. "Maybe he can save you cat again next time it goes for a swim."
"You tossed her in," Kaitlin said, smacking Luke in the stomach.
"What are psuedo big brothers for, princess?" Luke asked, placing a kiss on her temple. "You want me to wake you up before I head over to see Ryan in the morning?"
"Yeah, I wanna go with," Kaitlin said, nodding. "Gotta see with my own two eyes that my other psuedo brother is okay."
"Alright, sleep tight, Kaitlin."
"You too," Kaitlin replied.
Ryan tried to sleep, but sometime after Sandy and Kirsten finally went to bed, he slowly got out of bed and headed down the hall, only to stop outside of the closed door to Seth's room. Even when the other boy had been alive, Ryan hadn't gone into the room much, instead Seth tended to barge into Ryan's room in the mornings and talk at him for what seemed like hours, even if it was really only a few minutes.
Ryan took a shaky breath and slowly wrapped his hand around the knob, turning it and stepping inside for the first time in seven years. It looked exactly like he remembered it from the last time he'd stuck his head in to talk to Seth earlier the day of the accident, except cleaner. All of Seth's posters were still on the walls, the bed was made, his comics were mostly in their sleeves and boxes but the latest ones were sitting on the nightstand, waiting to be read, and standing on top of them was Captain Oats, the toy horse that Seth had insisted more than once was only there as a paperweight. Ryan slowly crossed to sit on the bed, picking up Captain Oats and runnign his fingers over the horse's back.
"I know," Sandy said from the open doorway. "It's like a shrine."
"You didn't really change mine, either," Ryan said. "But..."
"We didn't have to clean yours first," Sandy said, sitting down on the bed beside Ryan. "Kid..."
"You don't..."
"I don't want the last words I ever say to one, the last words with any meaning, to be that I wished you had died instead. Because I don't, not really."
"Sandy..."
Sandy reached over to getly turn Ryan's face towards him. "You are my son, and I love you, no matter what, I love you. And I want you safe, and happy, and home. I never... I said a lot of things because I was hurting, but they weren't..."
"You meant it seven years ago, last time we talked," Ryan said. "I saw your eyes, Sandy. You meant it back then."
"I was... I was hurting, and... I directed it at the wrong person."
"I never... if I'd known, I wouldn't have let Seth come," Ryan said. "I wouldn't have gone either. I just... I tried to go back for him, Sandy... but... the troopers wouldn't let me, and they wouldn't listen. I kept screaming at them that my brother wa sin the car, but they wouldn't listen. Not until Deputy Parkman showed up, and by then... by then Seth was gone. I promised him I'd be right back, I was gonna get Trye to help us... and... I tried!"
"I know," Sandy said, gathering Ryan into his arms as the boy disolved into deep, ragged, sobs. "Oh god... I know, kid, I know... it wasn't your fault, it wasn't..."
"You're home," Nathan said as soon as Haley walked in.
"I had to stay until Peter after checked out Ryan," Haley replied. "Ry's been one of my closest friends since... forever. Pre-Cohens."
"I know he threatened my life enough times in high school to burn it into my mind," Nathan said, rolling his eyes. "I need to go check in with Dan, see if there's any new information, but I couldn't leave Jamie with Brooke when someone's gotta keep checking on her 'cause of her head injury..."
"Well, I'm here now, so... go," Haley said, a tight smile on her lips. As soon as Nathan was out the door, she let it fade away and looked ready to punch a wall.
"I'll hit him for you," Brooke said as she came into the living room.
Haley sighed and walked over to hug Brooke tightly. "Did I tell you lately how much I love you, Tigger?" she asked as she held onto her friend.
"Not today," Brooke replied with a smile. "You don't deserve the crap Nate is pulling. Sleeping with that little whore..."
"She used to be one of my closest friends," Haley said. "It was me, Ryan, Luke, and Peyton. And now she's sleeping with my husband."
"She's not good enough to be your friend," Brooke said, stroking her hair. "But..."
"You wanna know about Ryan, don't you?" Haley asked, pulling back with a knowing look on her face.
"Am I obvious?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Who is he?"
Haley laughed. "An enigma," she said. "He's so... Ryan used to get in trouble almost constantly, he spraypainted grafitti on people's houses and barns, he skipped school, he got in fights, stuff like that. But his friends... he would do anything for the people he loves. And I was lucky enough to be one of them. If Ryan's on your side... you're set."
"Ah, but does he like brunettes?" Brooke said, trying to make the conversation lighthearted again.
"He likes girl with good hearts," Haley said. "And you have one of the best hearts I've ever known."
"You are such a suck up," Brooke said. "Come on, let's have ice cream before it melts the rest of the way."
"Sounds good," Haley agreed.
To Be Continued...
Supernatural FINALLY makes it's appearance into things next chapter... just remember, I'm using CHARACTERs from Supernatural, but not the backstory. There's no ghosts/demons/monsters in this universe... lol...
Chapter Three - Scars
Ryan gratefully sat down on a bed in the back of the clinic while Peter closed the door, looking through a file that Ryan knew was seriously incomplete. "That information is seven years old," he pointed out to the nurse. "Haven't been in town since then."
"Any significant injuries in between?" Peter asked. "I'm guessing yes, since you refused to let the Cohens come in?"
"Knew you'd want my shirt off," Ryan said, slowly trying to pull it off over his head and stopped to hiss in pain as it pulled on his ribs.
"I'll get you another one once you're doped up," Peter said, grabbing a pair of scissors to cut off the shirt. "Injuries not in the file?" he asked again.
"Open fracture to my left radius a little over a year ago," Ryan said. "Concussion and incomplete rib fractures at the same time. Other than that mostly bumps and bruises."
"How'd those injuries... happen," Peter said, momentarily stopping as he got Ryan's shirt off and saw the combination of tattooes and scars.
"The squared off ones are from my biological father's belt," Ryan said. "All of them are over a decade old. The long one that's still really obvious is from surgery to remove shrapnel around the same time as the other stuff I listed. Tattoos... well... I got drunk with friends and they dared me."
"Above All?" Peter questioned as he slowly moved his hands over Ryan's ribs, checking them.
"My friends are Air Force guys," Ryan explained, trying to only show enough pain to let Peter know he'd found the fractures. "They said I earned it."
"Must have impressed them."
"I guess."
"Alright, looks like you were right about them being incomplete fractures," Peter said. "I'm gonna give you something for the pain, but I want someone to check on you every few hours. They don't have to wake you up, just make sure you're not having trouble breathing. With the power grid down, I can't take an x-rays to confirm, so..."
"Don't worry, Sandy's not gonna sue you for malpractice if I drop dead," Ryan said. "Hell, he might give you a medal."
"The guy was looking down the hall like I was taking his puppy to put it down," Peter said. "I think if you drop dead, he'll kill me. If he gets to me before Kirsten does."
Ryan snorted, then whinced at the jolt from his ribs. "You said something about getting me the good drugs?" he asked hopefully. He wouldn't take them for long, but one night of sleeping soundly would be good enough to get him thinking on his feet again. And he had a feeling that he'd need to be thinking on his feet very soon.
Sandy stood by the desk, nervously watching the door Ryan and Peter had disappeared through. "We should have insisted on staying with him."
"He's 25, Sandy, and he didn't want us in there," Kirsten said with a sigh.
"And he's stubborn enough to argue if you'd tried," Haley said handing them each a cup of coffee. "It's pretty strong," she warned before going around to the desk and trying to make some sense of the hastily written notes she and Peter had both been making all night.
"You don't seemed phased in the slightest by him being home," Sandy commented.
"It's his home, always will be," Haley said. "He told me that before he left. Around the same time he said that if Nate didn't get off his ass and marry me, he'd come back and kick his ass."
"Did he?" Ryan asked as he and Peter came out, Ryan wearing a scrub top instead of his t-shirt.
"He'll probably live," Peter said. "But..."
"No x-rays to confirm, so don't blame him if I drop," Ryan finished for him. "And right now I'm about to. I need to figure out where I'm sleeping..."
"At home," Sandy and Kirsten said immediately.
"You sure you want me there?" Ryan asked, his gaze on Sandy. "You didn't this afternoon."
"This afternoon I didn't... I didn't think I could lose you, too," Sandy replied. "Come on, let's get you home. We can talk in the morning, hopefully when there's more news."
Ryan nodded tiredly, but paused as he pass the desk, looking over at Haley and offering her a small smile. "Did Nate get off his ass?"
"He is an amazing father and a pretty good husband, too," Haley promised him. "Come see us soon, alright?"
"You got it, Hales," he said before letting Sandy and Kirsten each take one of his arms to help him stay upright.
"Check on him every few hours, make sure he's breathing okay," Peter instructed. "No need to wake him unless something seems wrong. Let him sleep as much as he wants, too. It'll help him heal."
"And keep him from running off to play hero and hurting himself worse," Haley added. "I do remember you jumping into the river to grab Kaitlin's cat when you were barely better from the head injury."
"I can't help saving a damsel in distress," Ryan teased tiredly.
"Go sleep," Haley said. "You earned it."
"That's the plan," Ryan said as Kirsten put an arm around his shoulders to lead him out of the clinic.
Peter leaned against the reception desk and let out a long sigh. "I think we really lucked out. None of the kids were hurt bad, Ryan should be okay.... it could have been a lot worse."
"I don't think we're out of the woods yet," Haley said.
"I think you're right," Peter agreed. "I know you're probably anxious to get home to Jamie, but... could you come back in the morning?" he asked. "I can get stuff restocked and ready overnight, but... I'm gonna need sleep and I'd rather have someone awake here to deflect people whining about papercuts and splinters and wake me up if there's anything I need to treat."
"I can do that," Haley agreed. "I'll see you in a couple hours, Peter."
"Thanks again, Haley," Peter said.
"Thanks for letting me crash over here," Kaitlin told Luke as he helped her finish making the bed in the guest room at his house. "Marissa going crazy about Johnny being away for that stupid surf thing... and you know my mom's at the resort, Bullit was... he was coming home from Texas, so he's probably..."
"Don't start thinking like that," Luke said. "Bullit's... he's a weird old guy, but he's tough. He'll be okay. He'll be back in no time."
"What do you think happened?"
"I think... I think we finally pissed off the wrong people and they hit back," Luke said, shrugging. "But we, everyone in Tree Hill, are gonna be okay. We'll take care of eachother, it's what us small town folk do."
Kaitlin snorted. "At least the people who matter the most are here," she said. "I'm glad Ryan's home."
"Me, too," Luke agreed. "Maybe he can save you cat again next time it goes for a swim."
"You tossed her in," Kaitlin said, smacking Luke in the stomach.
"What are psuedo big brothers for, princess?" Luke asked, placing a kiss on her temple. "You want me to wake you up before I head over to see Ryan in the morning?"
"Yeah, I wanna go with," Kaitlin said, nodding. "Gotta see with my own two eyes that my other psuedo brother is okay."
"Alright, sleep tight, Kaitlin."
"You too," Kaitlin replied.
Ryan tried to sleep, but sometime after Sandy and Kirsten finally went to bed, he slowly got out of bed and headed down the hall, only to stop outside of the closed door to Seth's room. Even when the other boy had been alive, Ryan hadn't gone into the room much, instead Seth tended to barge into Ryan's room in the mornings and talk at him for what seemed like hours, even if it was really only a few minutes.
Ryan took a shaky breath and slowly wrapped his hand around the knob, turning it and stepping inside for the first time in seven years. It looked exactly like he remembered it from the last time he'd stuck his head in to talk to Seth earlier the day of the accident, except cleaner. All of Seth's posters were still on the walls, the bed was made, his comics were mostly in their sleeves and boxes but the latest ones were sitting on the nightstand, waiting to be read, and standing on top of them was Captain Oats, the toy horse that Seth had insisted more than once was only there as a paperweight. Ryan slowly crossed to sit on the bed, picking up Captain Oats and runnign his fingers over the horse's back.
"I know," Sandy said from the open doorway. "It's like a shrine."
"You didn't really change mine, either," Ryan said. "But..."
"We didn't have to clean yours first," Sandy said, sitting down on the bed beside Ryan. "Kid..."
"You don't..."
"I don't want the last words I ever say to one, the last words with any meaning, to be that I wished you had died instead. Because I don't, not really."
"Sandy..."
Sandy reached over to getly turn Ryan's face towards him. "You are my son, and I love you, no matter what, I love you. And I want you safe, and happy, and home. I never... I said a lot of things because I was hurting, but they weren't..."
"You meant it seven years ago, last time we talked," Ryan said. "I saw your eyes, Sandy. You meant it back then."
"I was... I was hurting, and... I directed it at the wrong person."
"I never... if I'd known, I wouldn't have let Seth come," Ryan said. "I wouldn't have gone either. I just... I tried to go back for him, Sandy... but... the troopers wouldn't let me, and they wouldn't listen. I kept screaming at them that my brother wa sin the car, but they wouldn't listen. Not until Deputy Parkman showed up, and by then... by then Seth was gone. I promised him I'd be right back, I was gonna get Trye to help us... and... I tried!"
"I know," Sandy said, gathering Ryan into his arms as the boy disolved into deep, ragged, sobs. "Oh god... I know, kid, I know... it wasn't your fault, it wasn't..."
"You're home," Nathan said as soon as Haley walked in.
"I had to stay until Peter after checked out Ryan," Haley replied. "Ry's been one of my closest friends since... forever. Pre-Cohens."
"I know he threatened my life enough times in high school to burn it into my mind," Nathan said, rolling his eyes. "I need to go check in with Dan, see if there's any new information, but I couldn't leave Jamie with Brooke when someone's gotta keep checking on her 'cause of her head injury..."
"Well, I'm here now, so... go," Haley said, a tight smile on her lips. As soon as Nathan was out the door, she let it fade away and looked ready to punch a wall.
"I'll hit him for you," Brooke said as she came into the living room.
Haley sighed and walked over to hug Brooke tightly. "Did I tell you lately how much I love you, Tigger?" she asked as she held onto her friend.
"Not today," Brooke replied with a smile. "You don't deserve the crap Nate is pulling. Sleeping with that little whore..."
"She used to be one of my closest friends," Haley said. "It was me, Ryan, Luke, and Peyton. And now she's sleeping with my husband."
"She's not good enough to be your friend," Brooke said, stroking her hair. "But..."
"You wanna know about Ryan, don't you?" Haley asked, pulling back with a knowing look on her face.
"Am I obvious?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Who is he?"
Haley laughed. "An enigma," she said. "He's so... Ryan used to get in trouble almost constantly, he spraypainted grafitti on people's houses and barns, he skipped school, he got in fights, stuff like that. But his friends... he would do anything for the people he loves. And I was lucky enough to be one of them. If Ryan's on your side... you're set."
"Ah, but does he like brunettes?" Brooke said, trying to make the conversation lighthearted again.
"He likes girl with good hearts," Haley said. "And you have one of the best hearts I've ever known."
"You are such a suck up," Brooke said. "Come on, let's have ice cream before it melts the rest of the way."
"Sounds good," Haley agreed.
To Be Continued...
Supernatural FINALLY makes it's appearance into things next chapter... just remember, I'm using CHARACTERs from Supernatural, but not the backstory. There's no ghosts/demons/monsters in this universe... lol...
