missmara13

A long time ago, I had this random, silly idea of an AU taking characters from favorite fandoms and having them all live in the same neighborhood with lots of drama and intrigue, ala 'Desperate Housewives'... this is just a tiny snippet of that idea, centered on one of the storylines that would have been revealed to readers early on, then drug out before anyone in the story found out... lol

Desperate Housewives of Newport

"I'm not gonna tell anyone," Ryan said as he looked over at Kirsten.

"Ryan..." Kirsten began. "I..."

"No, I get it, I wish I could pretend I'd never met him either," Ryan said, chuckling slightly, painfully.

"It has nothing to do with you," Kirsten said, then realized how stupid that sounded, to tell him that her refusal to acknowledge her past with his father, the past that led to him existing, had nothing to do with him. "I mean..."

"It's okay, really," Ryan said. "Frank puts a roof over my head and food in my stomach. That's all I really need."

"You're... okay... living with him?"

"I don't have anywhere else to live," Ryan replied, shrugging. "Kids belong with their parents, and Frank's the only one I have anymore."

"Ryan..." Kirsten began.

"I'll see you around, Mrs. Cohen," Ryan said as he pasted a smile on his face. "Hi, Mr. Cohen," he greeted Sandy as he walked past the man, heading across the street towards the Atwood House.

"Kirsten?" Sandy asked.

"I..." Kirsten began, then stopped and took a deep breath. "How was work?" she asked, pasting on a smile that she knew would be an exact match to the one Ryan had just used, if anyone thought to look for similarities.

The End

I may still at some point expand on this and fully write it, but... for now it's a glimpse at a fic that might have been.