Disclaimer: I don't own anything OC related.

AN: This started out as a strictly Dawn POV but it developed into a story. Read and Review if you feel the urge.

It was raining in Chino. To the woman sitting on the sagging loveseat, sometimes it seemed like it was always raining.

Her baby had hated the rain.

She was out of gin again. Jakey should know that the rain made her think about her kid. Maybe she had something stashed in the bathroom.

But Ryan had hated the rain, she thought as she retrieved the half-empty bottle of vodka and sloshed a splash into a rewashed 7-11 cup that she picked up off the floor.

She had left a lot of furniture at that jackass AJ's house. Jakey's apartment was a single bedroom with a shitty view of the freeway and no a/c. But there was hot water most days and that made anyplace home to Dawn.

She missed her baby. He was such a good kid. He was so quiet compared to that fucker, Trey. Trey took after his Dad but Ryan…he couldn't possibly have been an Atwood. He was good. He was the only good thing that Dawn ever had. He made stuff okay.

The phone rang and she jumped, startled. Jakey must have paid the bill. It rang again. No one should have the number. She picked it up.

"Yeah?" She murmured, waiting to see if she'd recognize the voice.

"Is Dawn Atwood around?"

She didn't recognize the voice. "Who's asking?"

"Her husband. Is that you, Dawn?"

Fuck. "Hey, David. And we're divorced. How'd you get this number?" God, she hadn't talked to him since he got sent up.

"What the fuck have you done, Dawn?"

She sunk into the couch. She lit a cigarette. Goddammit, he still got to her.

"Dawn?"

"What?"

"Trey wrote me. Said he got arrested."

"Trey's a fuck up, always has been. That's not my fault. Since when do you care?"

"You know I fucking care, Dawn." He hissed her name. "Where is Ryan? Trey said…"

"Trey doesn't know anything, he's doing three to five," She snapped. "He's in a fucking cage just like you."

"I want to talk to my son."

"Ask Trey who got him arrested. Ask your fucking golden boy what he did to my baby," She snorted, taking a long swallow of the harsh vodka.

"So it's true. You lost Ryan."

"He's not lost. He's living with his rich ass lawyer up in Newport."

"Why isn't he with you, Dawn?"

"He got arrested. Trey fucked the kid up, he stopped listening to me…"

"That kid always listened to you, he was always your little sheep…"

"You weren't there, he changed," Dawn said urgently. She needed him to believe her. She couldn't help that Ryan had run wild.

"I don't believe it. I don't believe you, Dawn. I think you're a worthless drunk that should have never had kids…"

"I'm a good mother, I did what was best for my baby…"

"You gave him to strangers. He's your son. He's our son…"

"You can't be a father from inside a cage…"

"You can't be a mother with a needle hanging out of your vein, either…"

"Fuck you, I'm clean," She replied. Her gaze automatically went to her tray on the table beside her. She was almost clean. After one more hit, she'd get clean.

"You'll never be clean," He hissed.

She hung up. The bastard always got to her, damn, she was still shaking as she topped off her cup. She loved her baby. Ryan was a good kid he just got out of control. That bastard, Trey, he corrupted her baby. Trey, he was all evil, all bad, and Ryan, well, he was the opposite. God, she missed her baby sometimes. Fuck Davey for calling and making her feel bad about her baby.

She loved Ryan. David knew that. Ryan knew that. She was not a bad mother. Trey and David didn't know anything. She was a good mother. Wait. What day was it?