Brothers – Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The OC does not belong to me, meaning Kirsten, Sandy, Caleb, Seth and Ryan all do not belong to me...though mini-fied as they are...Seth and Ryan does sort of belong to me - SORT OF is the key word. Oh, and Luke or whoever else might end up popping up in the story from The OC do not belong to me either...though mini-fied people...yeah...it's all confusing...let's just say that I'm not making money out of nothing, and I don't fully own nothing!

In an alternate universe, Ryan is born to the Kirsten and Sandy as their child, Seth's twin. They live an almost fairytale life in their happy complete family, but beneath every smiling face, there is always a story. And this is one such story, one of courage, of hope, and of twin brothers who were never quite complete without the other...

First there was Ryan, and then Seth. Kirsten Cohen never in her life even contemplated that she would be blessed enough to have twins, but here they were, side by side. They didn't look like twins, not one little bit. Ryan, even though he was two minutes older, was about half a head smaller, and light featured, blonde hair, blue eyes, much like Kirsten herself. Seth on the other hand, aside from being bigger in size, resembled more her husband Sandy, a large mass of brown hair even at his infancy, and large brown eyes that rolled curiously around. Taking a glance at her babies' name tag, Kirsten couldn't help but suppress a giggle. It was so fitting that she had won the dibs to naming their first child, Ryan Andrew, a name that suit his boyish charming looks. Seth on the other hand, was named by Sandy, and in an effort to please his mother, Seth's name was actually in full, "Sethelah Ezekiel."

"Poor sweetie, I sure hope you won't get teased by the other kiddies when you grow up," mused Kirsten, reaching over to stroke a soft brown curl.

"What was that?" asked a voice at the door, and Kirsten turned to greet her husband with a welcoming kiss.

"I was just thinking about our babies...and their names that's all," she smiled.

"Their names are perfect," said Sandy, pride gleaming in his eyes, "They're both perfect."

It wasn't long before the boys had grown from infants into toddlers into young boys, keeping Sandy and Kirsten on their toes day and night. Ryan was their active child, always playing some sort of game with a ball and bat. He was quite a gifted athlete, even at this age, managing to use a bat and hit a flying ball with strength and precision. Seth, even though he was an active little bunch also, lacked in this department...in fact, he was quite the klutz, often missing the target of whatever he was trying to kick or bat. However, for what Seth lacked in athleticism, he made up for in words. On his first birthday, much to the amazement of Kirsten and Sandy, he had managed to utter his first word, and he never stopped since.

"Mommy, can we go and buy ice-cream today? Me and Ryan would like ice-cream," begged Seth one fine morning just as Kirsten was trying to decide what she wanted to do with her boys on her day off. After moving back the Newport since her mother's illness two years ago, she now worked with her father in the Newport Group whilst Sandy worked as a lawyer for unprivileged youths, and between them, they juggled their time to look after Ryan and Seth. Although they still required a nanny part-time, both were determined that they would spend enough time with their boys to actually raise them, unlike much of the other children in Newport who had full time nannies. Today, Kirsten had especially taken a day off to be with her boys after working a fortnight of overtime. Her father Caleb was displeased, but for the sake of his grandsons, he allowed her to miss.

"Mommy, please?" her four year old Seth begged again, tugging on her arm. Ryan stood by smiling in anticipation, eager for her to answer yes. Kirsten shook her head in resignation, this was the dynamics between her sons, Seth did the talking, and Ryan did the charming.

"Of course darlings, now be good and finish your breakfast and we will go to the shopping mall okay?" she replied them, giving them each a quick pat on the head.

"Yay! Ryan we get ice-cream!" screamed Seth in delight, throwing himself a little too hard onto his brother in a hug.

"Ouchie!" whimpered Ryan when he was knocked to the ground by the unexpected gesture, but seeing Seth's worried look, he quickly sat up and returned the hug properly.

"Sethy, by careful!" Kirsten scolded gently, "Ryan hasn't been feeling too well lately," she told him. It was the truth; her older son had been feeling a little off color for the past week. Sandy had reassured her that it was probably just an infection, and Kirsten knew that Ryan had always been prone to ear infections. Plus, he was mainly complaining about feeling tired, and Kirsten was sure that it had something to do with the "baseball training" that Sandy had started her sons on in the evenings. Now watching as Seth rubbed Ryan's back and apologized to Ryan, Kirsten had to hide her grin at her affectionate boys. This was something else about her sons that made Kirsten and Sandy beam with pride. Whilst they had heard awful tales about sibling rivalry, themselves also having experienced the same problem with their own siblings, Seth and Ryan never fought, but instead, were most willingly to give each other hugs and kisses on the cheeks, as well as pats on the back and high fives. Ryan being all but two minutes older than his brother still took on his role with pride, always protecting Seth whether it is from the imaginary boogie man living in the closet, or the tree root that his brother had klutzily tripped over. Seth was just as important to Ryan, being the only one able to calm him when in the rare occasion he got into one of his tantrums, or speaking out for him, as was usually the case since Ryan was a quiet child and was often shy to speak out to strangers, or obscure relatives and friends. The boys shared all their toys and books, and as both boys had different interest, Kirsten and Sandy found they didn't need to always be buying two of the same things. Ryan preferred toys he would be able to move around with, balls, bats, jumping ropes, bicycles. Seth liked more, toys that he would be able to hold into his hands and imagine with, action figures, plastic toy animals and figurines. Both boys loved books, Kirsten had made sure of that, reading to them every night since they were merely infants in the crib. Even though they were not yet able to read themselves, Ryan and Seth loved flicking through the big illustrated books Kirsten had bought them, looking happily at each picture for hours on end.

"Mommy, we're done!" cried Seth, waking Kirsten from her thoughts as two empty breakfast bowls were held up before her.

"That's great you guys! Okay, how about Mommy cleans up here, and you go to your room and choose what you want to wear today?" said Kirsten, taking the bowls from them as they rushed off. Placing the bowls into the sink and running them under water, Kirsten then picked up the phone and dialed Sandy's number.

"Sandy? I'm taking the boys shopping today, anything you need me to get?" she asked when her husband answered the other side.

"How about a few bagels? Rumor is they have a new sesame kind!" was her husbands answer, causing Kirsten to laugh.

"Okay then, bagels it is!" she replied back cheerfully.

Suddenly a scream erupted from upstairs startling her.

"Sandy I have to go check on the boys, love you!" she cried into the cordless, quickly hanging up and rushing up the steps into Seth and Ryan's room.

"Boys?" she called as she peeked in. "What happened?"

"Ryy…Ryan," Seth managed to say, before he burst into sobs.

"Ryan?" asked Kirsten looking at her older son who was sitting up on the floor rubbing his head.

"N...Nothing happened Mommy. I...uh...got dizzy, and then I was on the floor and everything was black," was his reply, as Seth sobbed harder. Kirsten quickly walked over to her elder son and picked him up off the floor.

"I'm sorry Mommy, I'm sorry Ryan," whimpered Seth, wiping away the tears falling out of his big brown eyes, but Kirsten was too worried over Ryan to hear him.

"Ryan, does it hurt anywhere? Are you tired again?" asked Kirsten, but Ryan only stared back blankly. Picking him up into her arms, Kirsten beckoned Seth to follow.

"We better get you to the hospital," said Kirsten to Ryan, "Come on Seth," she called to her other son before taking a shaky breath. Inside her heart was racing, "it's probably nothing, he's just tired out," she told herself, but she knew that children who were tired did not faint, and she couldn't help the knot from tying in her stomach.

----------------------------------------------------

Please Review! I've written up to Chapter 5, so they should be coming along shortly!