Little Wonders l The O.C.

Chapter 4 - The Decision

Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C. or any of its characters. Everything belongs to FOX and Josh Schwartz.

Kirsten and Sandy made the decision to try IVF first. And they had even tried a second time when the first time she failed to get pregnant. And when that failed, they attempted to try out surrogacy. They went through many candidates until they found whom they thought would be the perfect donor. But then she had a miscarriage. They then turned to adoption. After a long wait, they managed to find a young and healthy sixteen year old girl who wanted to give up her baby when it was born. And as the due date of the teen's baby girl approached, Sandy and Kirsten were starting to believe it would work out this time. They bought all the things they were going to need and set up the room for the baby. They even picked out a name: Rose, after Kirsten's late mother. But they were devastated when the teenager changed her mind after the baby was born, when her boyfriend came back into the picture.

It had been two weeks since the adoption fell through and Kirsten had been hauled up in their bedroom for most of the time since. She had done minimal work from home and only the work that was most crucial. Her father, Caleb, was no help with actually helping Kirsten through that tough time. He only cared about her being able to return to work. And his attempts to help only insulted her. He would insinuate that the baby wasn't even hers and she shouldn't be hung up on something that was never hers. Meanwhile, Sandy tried to be there for her the best he could. He understood what she was going through; he was going through the same. The baby was going to be his as well; he also lost that child. But there was only so much he could do as she continued to push him further and further away. But he was never going to stop trying.

While Kirsten was up in bed, Sandy had to answer a call from her father. Sandy only picked up the phone when he had continuously tried calling and by the fifth time, Sandy had enough of it. Clearly, he can't take a hint. "Cal, I don't know when she will be able to take your call, let alone come back into work." Sandy rolled my eyes as he went on again with his opinions over the matter. "Well, to be frank, I wasn't asking for your opinion. And now if you'll excuse I am going to check on my wife." Sandy slammed the phone down after he hung up the call. He'll never understand how Kirsten could deal with him.

Sandy went upstairs and then into the bedroom. Kirsten was turned on her side, away from the door. "Was that my father?" She asked, speaking softly.

"Yeah." Sandy nodded. "Don't worry, I got rid of him." He sat down on the bed, moving up closer to Kirsten. She shuffled away in response but Sandy ignored her attempts to push him away as he wrapped his arms around her.

"He just doesn't understand why I care so much about a child that wasn't mine." Kirsten's voice cracked.

"He is probably wondering when we're going to return the baby stuff." Sandy replied, but regretted it instantly. Well that was a stupid thing to say. "I'm sorry, honey."

"Rose was our baby!" Kirsten was at the point where she was angrier than she was upset.

"She was supposed to be." Sandy nodded. And though he wasn't showing it as much as Kirsten was, but the adoption going south truly killed him. He was looking forward to having another baby in the house. He was looking forward to having a daughter. "But we did know the risks."

"Are we just not meant to have another child?" Kirsten flipped over and looked at Sandy. He moved the hair away from her face and behind her ear.

"Don't say that." Sandy didn't want her to give up. He certainly hadn't given up yet.

"Why not? We keep trying and nothing is working." Kirsten was frustrated. "We haven't even been called about a foster placement. And we know that those could just be temporary or not work at all." Kirsten was beginning to wonder if all this trouble was worth given how much pain it caused them. "Maybe we should just cut our losses. We have Seth and we love him." She was starting to think that maybe one child would be enough and they should just put this thing to rest.