I'm Not Sick I The O.C.

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C. Anything you may recognize belongs to FOX and Josh Schwartz. I only own Callie, Mei, and Jon.

A/N: This is set in future, post series. Jon is portrayed by Pierce Gagnon, Callie is portrayed by McKenna Grace, amd Mei is portrayed by Peyton Elizabeth Lee.

Ryan's POV

I ended up getting off work late one night after having a long meeting with one of my newer clients. They had some concerns they wanted to address because of some bad experiences with building a home before. By the time I finally managed to get out of there, I felt utterly exhausted. As soon as I got through the door I dropped my keys on the table and then dropped onto the couch.

"Sounds like someone had a long day." My wife, Taylor, commented as she came over and sat next to me.

"You're telling me?" I chuckled. "My new clients had some concerns…and they wanted them all addressed tonight." They definitely made themselves heard. "This woman may give Julie Cooper a run for her money." I Julie Cooper could be a pain. I just hope I won't have to have many more conversations with this woman.

"How does some peach torte sound?"

"You don't have to ask me twice." I smiled at her and managed to sit up enough to give her a kiss. That sounded really good right about now.

"Just sit and I''ll get it."

"So where are the kids?" I asked as Taylor went into the kitchen. "It's too quiet." When you have three kids, usually it didn't get quiet when they were all home.

"Callie isn't home from soccer yet and I think Jon is in his room studying." Taylor answered.

"And Mei?"

"She went to her room as soon as we all got home," Taylor said. "She's been really quiet today."

"Maybe I should check on her." I made a move to get up, but was pushed back down by Taylor.

"You're going to relax for ten minutes and eat this." I knew better than to argue with her. Especially with how hungry I was. "Mei is fine, you know how she is."

I nodded, but still I had this feeling that I should check on her. Mei was our adopted daughter. We adopted her a few years back and she's always been more closed off than our other two kids were. So retreating to her room wasn't very out of the ordinary.

After finishing my torte, I pushed myself up. "I haven't seen my kids all day," I pointed out to Taylor so she didn't tell me to not worry. It was a fair excuse. "I'm just going to pop in."

I went to Mei's room, knocking gently before going in. I noticed the lights off and Mei was curled up in bed. "Mei?" I kept my voice low and she rolled over, rubbing her eyes.

"Mmmm," Mei groaned. "What is it?"

"Sorry," I said. "Did I wake you?" It was a bit odd for Mei to be going to sleep so early. Usually she stayed up later than the rest of the kids.

Mei nodded. "Yeah, but it's fine."

"Feeling okay?"