This the last chapter. Thank you all so much for reading it,and sticking with me. You are all awesome and deserve the freaking biggest piece of cake in the world, and if I could bake, I would bake you one and send it to you. Alas, I am about as good of a cook as Kirsten is...so you know, you don't want anything that I make. Please reivew one last time and let me know what you thought. Thanks!
Disclaimer: For the last time, repeat after me, the characters are not mine.
When they heard the car pull up in the driveway, Seth was hanging up the last picture on the wall. They stepped back to admire their work.
"It looks so good you guys," Marissa said.
"We did good, didn't we?" Summer agreed.
"Guys? We're home?" Kirsten's voice traveled through the house and the four hurried down to the living room and met her in the front hall. Kirsten gave each of her boys a hug, and then smiled at the girls. "Hi girls."
"Hi Kirsten," Marissa said smiling back at her. "Did you have a nice time?"
"I did," Kirsten nodded. Sandy came in behind her holding the bags. He gave Ryan thumbs up, to which Ryan nodded. "But it's good to be home."
"That it is," Sandy agreed.
"So what did you guys do this weekend?" Kirsten asked as she shrugged out of her jacket and handed it to Sandy to hang up for her.
"Well," Seth started. "Close your eyes."
"What?" Kirsten asked. She felt Sandy's hand take hers.
"Honey, just close your eyes," he told her. Reluctantly, she did what she was told, and with Sandy and Seth's help they led her up the stairs and to her bedroom. Halfway up, Kirsten must have figured out where they were going, and began to shake without realizing that she begun to. Sandy's hand tightened on hers, and he began to whisper in her ear that it was okay. They reached the top and Sandy uncovered her eyes.
Kirsten gasped. It was her bedroom, but it wasn't. The bloodstain was gone, the furniture was gone, and the color of the walls was different. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"Do you like it?" Summer asked softly.
"I love it!" Kirsten sobbed pulling the closest person to her, which just happened to be Ryan. "Thank you." She walked farther into the room.
"What about the color?" Marissa asked.
"I love the color!" Kirsten assured her. Marissa shot Sandy an I-told-you-so look.
"What about the furniture?" Seth asked.
"It's gorgeous," Kirsten said. She ran her hand over the comforter. "It's all gorgeous." She turned around to face the four kids. "Thank you so much." Kirsten put her hand to her mouth and choked back a sob. "It's perfect." Sandy crossed over to her and wrapped her in his arms and kissed her temple.
"It's beautiful," he told them. "Thank you." Once Kirsten had gotten herself back together, she walked over to the kids and gave each one a hug.
"You really like it?" Seth asked. He was the first one in the pseudo receiving line.
"I do," his mother nodded and reached up and touched his face. "I love you."
"I love you too," Seth replied quietly as his mother gave him another hug. He was glad to see finally something good for her. Something happy for her. She had needed this. Not just the room, but needed to reminded that there were plenty of people who loved and worried about her. Actually, Ryan had needed this too. Not to show him people cared about him, but to see how happy this simply thing had made Kirsten.
Ryan blamed himself for AJ. For knowing AJ, for AJ getting into the house. No matter how many times any of the Cohens tried to assure him that it wasn't his fault, he still felt guilty. It was one of things that he had mentioned in therapy the last time he had gone, and one of the things that Dr. Gregory was working with him on. But by doing something nice for Kirsten, Ryan almost felt like he could be relieved of some of the burden. Therapy was definitely helping, but this was just a little push in the right direction for him as well.
"Thank you sweetie," Kirsten said to Summer giving her a hug. Summer had always liked Seth's mother. Half the time she came over here, it wasn't just to see Seth, but also to be a part of his family. They were warm and inviting, and made practically everyone feel at home.
"You're welcome," Summer beamed at Kirsten. She loved that something they had done had made Kirsten this happy.
"And you too honey," Kirsten said to Marissa.
"No problem," Marissa said smiling back at her neighbor. Ryan was at the end of the line, and Kirsten silently wrapped her arms around her foster son.
"Thank you so much for doing this honey, I love you so much," Kirsten whispered in his ear.
"I love you too," Ryan replied softly. "I'm glad that you like it." Kirsten pulled away and nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Well," Sandy said coming to his wife and wrapping his arm around her waist. "I believe that you guys have earned a celebratory dinner. Why don't you go change and we'll go somewhere nice?" The four kids nodded, and left to change out of their old clothes.
"You knew about this?" Kirsten accused waggling a finger at him, but a smile was on her face.
"I did," Sandy confirmed.
"Thank you, it's beautiful," Kirsten replied reaching up to give him a kiss.
"Honey, I think something needs to be done in here though," Sandy said.
"What's that?" Kirsten asked confused looking around.
"Well, I do believe this bed needs to be christened," Sandy grinned at her. She grinned back at him and gave him another kiss.
"I think that can be arranged later," she told him. "But for now, I have to get changed." With that she walked into the bathroom, and closed the door hearing him groan on the other side.
"You couldn't wear a tie?" Kirsten asked her son when she came down the stairs dressed for dinner. "Seth, go get a tie."
"Mom," he whined.
"Jacket and tie Seth, go get one," Kirsten demanded. Sandy had to smile to himself. Kirsten was back to being her normal, controlling self. And he, for one, was relieved. She had been so withdrawn the past week, almost fragile. The weekend away and the room had done wonders for her.
Sandy wasn't an idiot. He knew that the aftermath of this would be fairly long lasting. Just because the bedroom changed didn't mean that everything was okay. Kirsten would probably need therapy to deal with this. Ryan would continue to need therapy. What had Anna said about the Balboa heights so long ago? Right, it was a band-aid for a bullet wound.
But it was a start. For all of them. It was a start to begin to heal. To begin to be okay again.
"Better," Kirsten announced when Seth came down again with a tie on. He rolled his eyes. A knock on the door interrupted them and they opened it to find Marissa and Summer all dressed up and ready to go.
"You look beautiful girls," Sandy complimented as Ryan appeared and they headed out towards the cars. They were going to have to take two, and Sandy handed the keys to the Range Rover to Ryan, as he led Kirsten to the BMW.
"We'll meet you there," Kirsten called as Sandy opened the door for her.
"Hey buddy, I think Dad meant to give me the keys," Seth said reaching out for them.
"I don't think he did," Ryan argued.
"No I really think he did."
"Cohen, get in the backseat," Summer directed getting irritated with the whole exchange.
"But…"
"Cohen, I feel a rage blackout coming on," Summer started.
"Right, so I'm going to get in the backseat," Seth said climbing in. In the other car, Sandy and Kirsten shared a smile. Summer was good for him.
Sandy reached over and placed a hand over his wife's as they drove in relative silence to the restaurant.
They had a lovely meal, and Summer regaled them all with stories of how Seth can't wield a hammer if his life depended on it.
"I can too!" Seth said, feeling like his manhood was being questioned.
"It's okay son, we Cohen men just aren't very crafty by nature," Sandy told him.
"No! Dad, okay, our ancestors were carpenters! We can build things. Noah built the ark right?"
"Please don't try to build anything," Kirsten pleaded.
"Dad!"
"Nope, I'm with your mother on this one. Stay away from the tools." Seth looked confused for a second and then dropped his voice down to a whisper and leaned closer to his father.
"We have tools?"
"What did you use to hang up the pictures?" Sandy asked laughing.
"We made a special trip to the hardware store," Seth answered shrugging.
Kirsten laughed along with everyone, and finally felt like everything could be better. It was a long way from being better, but it was going to get better.
"My mom once tried to hang up a picture of clowns in my bedroom," Ryan spoke up. They turned to him surprised. "She made Trey hold the nail, and she when she went to hammer it, she hit his finger instead and broke it." He could see his mother dropping the hammer and the nails and yelling,
"Oh shit! Oh Trey! Shit, I'm so sorry honey." Ryan shook his head at the memory and laughed a little.
"She was so clumsy," he said softly. Kirsten reached over and put her hand over his.
"I'd like to know more about your mother," she told him. Ryan looked up at her. "The good things…I'd like to hear more about the good things." Ryan nodded, and a small smile crept onto his face. "It's good to talk about people who we loved and aren't here anymore." Kirsten felt Sandy's hand creep onto her leg and give it a squeeze and she turned away from Ryan just long enough to give him a smile.
It was in that moment that they knew. They all knew, that they were going to be okay. They had their share of pain and sorrow, but no one more so than Ryan. It was time for him to be happy. It was time for him to be able to enjoy the rest of his childhood.
It was only fair, after all.
I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all so much for reviewing! I appreciate it more then you know. If you could review just one more time? I felt like this was the appropriate place to try to wrap things up, let me know what you thought of the end. Thanks!