So I was thinking of going through and reviewing each chapter, but I'd already read the whole story and I can't unread it and give you the thorough review you deserve for each chapter. I know I'm (literally) ten years late with this review, but thanks to Hulu I've only just watched the series for the first time a bit ago and am really late to the game.

First of all, I just wanted to say "thank you.". Partially sarcastically, because I've now read this story a few times and each time I drop all my responsibilities and just hunker down to read it, but also I mean it wholeheartedly. This story is amazing and incredibly well-written. I want to thank you for the hours (yes, hours) of entertainment this story has given me. I know entertainment is a weird way to put it because the massive amounts of angst contained in this story, but it's the only way I can really put it.

Typically, I don't like stories with OCs. They often tend to take me out of the story because they aren't part of the world that I was looking for when reading fan fiction. However, your OCs felt so real to the story and the world. Carol was a great foil to Ed. She provided Ryan and the Cohen's with some much needed sanity with the situation and got the Cohen adults to look at the broader picture of what Ryan was going through by providing an opening into the Carden family. Ed, who I can tell was really put through the ringer with some previous reviewers, was a fantastically written "villain.". He was just a sad guy who was really lost and confused and just trying to make things in the broader picture right, but by not looking at his finer actions and what was truly at stake, he really risked losing everything. I felt really bad for him, even though I was mad at him for what he was putting Ryan and the Cohen's through. I loved that you made Brad the one who looked like Ryan as he was much more the "Seth" sibling. The one who could lighten up the mood of a room just by being his chatty and distracting self. It provides all the characters with a heart breaking "what if" kind of thing that also stuck with me, the reader. Josh, on the other hand, was much more angry and quiet, a weird twist on Ryan's own personality, but also served to show that Ed was in way over his head on everything. I felt bad for him, going through something so rough and feeling as though no one really understood him. All this is to say, your OCs: fantastic.

I've read a lot of your stories and I think I finally placed what I like so much about how you write Ryan. Your Ryan isn't overly emotional or overly hidden. He's a kid just trying to make it from one day to the next. He gets overwhelmed and tries to cope on his own, and generally does well with it, but you convey him as a kid who's trying to be a kid, but really just doesn't know how to be dependent. I think that characterization of him is so in line with how I saw him on the show and what I picture for him. It truly impresses me how you're able to convey him as someone full of emotions but, as you said, has the emotional output of a rock.

As I said earlier, I know I'm 10 years late to the game, and I suspect you may never read this or see this, but I feel it's important to leave this review and thank you for your writing. Hopefully if you do see this, you enjoy the fact that your writing for the OC is still being appreciated ten years later. Thanks again!

Enjoyed this story. Would love to read more.

Awesome!

Hey muchtvs, I've read pretty much everything you've posted in this fandom anywhere, ever, and I just wanted to tell you that you are an amazing writer. It's been a while since I've read through your stories, but I stumbled upon this one again recently and the only thing my brain will process is, "Damn, muchtvs, you really know how to tell a story," and honestly, muchtvs, just...damn, you really, really do. In fact, when I look back at the most beloved show of my youth, I seriously wonder whether I would have enjoyed it half as much as I did, if I hadn't had your stories to fill in those troubling gaps in the series. Anyhow, I don't know if you're out there anymore, but if you ever feel like revisiting the fandom, you've got a captive audience in me.

saw your name over on an LJ ask and came to reread this chp, still love it x

Gawd, Sandy's attitube is really starting to piss me off. _'

He is completely ... for the lack of a better word, overreacting not to mention insecure. He's so afraid of loosing Ryan that hes just chosing to paint Ed as the bad guy, without even thinking to give him a chance or at least a bit of leeway. The experience with Dawn is just causing Sandy to paint anyone who tries to get close to Ryan as the same sort of character Dawn and her string of boyfriends (like AJ) are; Untrustworthy, evil/violent and with an ulterior motive.

I mean sure there could be some merrit in the accusations he made against Ed, but Jesus, thats a given! The guy just found out he has a kid and that he missed all 17 years of his sons life! WTF, any parent would want to fill in that time and try not to miss anymore! And itd only be human and instictive on some level to blame yourself for missing out all that time. Only a heartless and comeplete waste of a human being would chose to completely disappear and not acknowledge they have a child, even if after they find out that child is happy & in a good home.

Great story

Wow. Just...wow. Are there any words I can use to describe what I have just read? Well, no. But I'll try anyway. (I apologize in advance if none of this makes the least bit of sense. I'm writing this review at four in the morning, after spending the last three hours reading your fic - are you officially creeped out now? - and my neurons are no longer firing at top speed. I hope you're still able to get the gist of what I'm saying though.)

I read this entire fic in three days. It’s like one of those good books that you just can’t put down. Scratch that, one of those rare, utterly fantastic, able-to-catch-your-attention-from-the-first-sentence books. And I am completely in awe of you for that. You have a way with words that a very slim number of writers are lucky enough to possess, and you should be very proud.

I honestly wish that the two fics in this series had made their way into the plotline of the actual show. You should have been the scriptwriter for the O.C. It definitely would have lasted longer!

And what can I even say about the ending? I have no idea why you seemed so doubtful about it, it's absolutely perfect because it leads into the rest of the show and, yes, it also filled in some gaps for us. I wish we could have heard more about the Carden's though. Does Brad ever forgive Ryan? Do things work out for them? I heard tell of an epilogue... Does this mysterious document exist somewhere and is there any possibility, even the smallest bit of chance that you'll ever actually post it? Don't make me beg, please. Seriously. I will. I will grovel and get down on my knees and maybe cry if I have to. I hope I don't have to...

Alright. Now that you've been alerted to my mental instability, let me just say again how much I enjoyed reading this. You have no idea. It may be the best thing I have read since well, ever. And I'm not even kidding. How's that for brutal honesty? You deserve every review and every award you get for this because it is a freakin' masterpiece and I sincerely hope that you are working on some sort of novel outside of the realm of fanfiction. Your writing talents should not be allowed to go to waste!

So yeah, I think that's about it. I'm done showering you with praise now. Oh wait, you are an absolutely fantastic, superb, stunning and a-ton-of-other-adjectives-that-I-cannot-think-of-at-this-very-moment writer. There, now I'm done.

Thanks for posting this. It's people like you who make me want to ontinue with and improve my own writing. Okay, I lied. I really am done with the praises now. Unless you'd like some more? Haha.

Enjoy them, you deserve every word of it.

This was fantastic. I just got into watching the OC on DVD...and just found this story and is prequel...both FANTASTIC...some of the best fanfiction (not just OC fanfiction), I have ever read. I know you finished this like 6 years ago, but figured I would still let you know how awesome I thought it was.

Overall very good stories...Kept me up too late last night wanting to get to the end...one negative comment is you kind of just gave up at the end and didn't wrap up the story.

I'm speechless. No words to describe this story. I usually get annoyed with Ryan Angst because people make him talkative or CRYING (and Ryan crying sounds kind of ridiculous most of the time), but this is awesome. You captured him just right and wow congrats!

This story reads as a poorly executed online roleplay. I think part of the problem, for me as a reader personally, is the tense you use. There is also a lack of description to paint a picture which leaves something to be desired.

Best of luck anyways.

Okay, so my frazzled college-student-brain needs to have a word with you-

For the last four days, forsaking all deadlines for my professors and my bosses, I've been kept glued to my blinking computer screen, rather ungracefully devouring your story.

I'm not sure what all to say without rambling, so I'll try to sum it up. Ahem:

First off, I'm glad I came to this story late, when it was all ready for me to read in one great big sitting - and I'm extra extra glad you finished it. Deft, compelling, quippy, and relatable, your rendering of the Cohen family-plus-one was prettyfrekaingfantastic.

You navigated each of their relationships with empathy and elegance; and you plotted out your story with a flair both for drama and pacing; and you wound together the angsty and the funny in an altogether remarkable way; and...

Okay. I'll stop. Suffice to say, finding a good story on is always a treat. Finding a long one an even sweeter treat.

But finding something like this? So so rare - and, more, something to treasure because of that.

So, umm, yeah. My brain is getting booted back up into student-mode. And I'll stop showering you with praise (though you deserve all of it) and promise only one thing more: that I'm going to go back through everything you've written and read all of it.

Because how can I not?

M.

revisiting an old haunt and was so surprised and delighted to see an ending to this story!

had been an old favorite in the past... glad that it ends well for our family :) thx for all the work in the past and for posting this last chapter :)

Oh, this was great thanks for updating. It was always one of my favorite stories and I hope you will finish it by posting the epilogue.