Kirsten x Sandy

Kirsten x Sandy is the het ship between Kirsten Nichol and Sandy Cohen from The O.C. fandom.

Canon
Sandy and Kirsten met in college when he was on a political campaign; he tried to give Kirsten a flyer, but she refused it and so he proposed that she take the pin which she accepted as trendy. Sandy then proposed to offer her a coffee and she feeling intrigued by his personality, accepted.

Despite both having come back from important stories, Kirsten and Sandy end up falling in love and their story will lead to marriage. Years later Sandy will say that the year he met Kirsten was the best of his life.

Sandy will never get along very well with Kirsten's father, Caleb, and the same can be said of Kirsten and Sandy's mother, Sophie. This will mainly depend on the fact that the two spouses come from very different families (Kirsten was born into a rich family and is a Christian, while Sandy is Jewish and comes from a poor family).

At some point the couple will have a son Seth, and when Kirsten's mother falls ill with cancer, the family will move from Berkley to Orange County (where Kirsten's family lives) to be close to her. When Rose Nichol dies, the three will remain to live in Newport, whose bigoted and conceited society will not suit Sandy's personality.

However, Kirsten has landed an important role in her father's company the Newport Group and so the family remains to live in Orange County.

Ryan's arrival
Sandy becomes a public defense attorney and one of his clients is a boy named Ryan Atwood who tried to steal a car with his older brother Trey. Sandy manages to get him released, but realizing that Ryan's mother and her partner are not in the least able to take care of him, she gives him his business card, telling him to call him in case of need.

The need comes almost immediately: Dawn Atwood's partner throws Ryan out of the house without her objecting too much and unable to find accommodation, the boy can do nothing but ask Sandy for help who decides to host him in her house for on the weekend, without asking Kirsten if she agrees. Seth is a lonely and introverted guy, but he and Ryan make friends almost immediately.

Kirsten is far from happy to have Ryan host, but she is convinced almost immediately. Unlike his wife, Sandy thinks it's okay for Seth to be with Ryan, but when his wife tells him to take him home, he agrees. However, the two find the house deserted and so Sandy decides to keep Ryan at home for a while longer. Sandy knows he can't help but put Ryan in foster care, but that it's pretty hard for anyone to choose to adopt a teenager and Kirsten begins to empathize with the boy.

Seth tries to help Ryan not end up in foster care by hiding him in an empty house owned by Caleb, but due to the attraction between Ryan and Marissa, the latter's boyfriend, Luke and his friends attack Ryan and due to the fight the two unintentionally trigger a fire. Ryan is back in jail and Kirsten is persuaded by Seth to visit him.

An inmate makes a vulgar comment about Kirsten and when Ryan tells him to stop it, a fight breaks out. Shocked by the environment in which the boy has ended up (who grew up in a difficult situation, but he is not a criminal) Kirsten is unable to abandon him and takes him back to her house.

This time it's Sandy who doesn't like it, telling his wife that they can't keep making fun of that poor boy by pulling him out of jail to get him adopted by giving him hope and then taking it away. Kirsten retorts that she doesn't want to adopt Ryan, but seek his mother. Sandy retorts that Ryan doesn't want to look for her, but his wife still thinks it's the right thing to do. When he finds out that his wife has lent a hundred thousand dollars to Jimmy Cooper her ex without telling him anything, he gets angry not for the money, but for jealousy.

Kirsten: Ryan's gonna stay with us now.

Seth: ''That's awesome. I mean that's... that's awesome, right? Let's go talk about stuff. Come on.''

Ryan: I'll unpack later.

Sandy: Well, there's a no-return policy now, you know that.

Kirsten: ''I love you. You know that? Are we okay?''

Sandy: Yeah.

Kirsten: ''Good. Beacause we just got in way over our heads.''

- Kirsten and Sandy decide to adopt Ryan. Eventually Sandy tracks down Dawn Atwood, who broke up with the man she was with, but very soon after, she turns out to be totally unreliable and addicted to alcohol and eventually realizes she herself is unable to look after her child, so she decides to leave, leaving his son with the Cohens. At that point Kirsten is unable to abandon Ryan to his fate and she decides to adopt him, finding Sandy's immediate consent.

Sandy discovers that Jimmy is under investigation for scam and immediately decides to talk to his wife, revealing that her ex has drawn money from his clients' accounts (he is a financial advisor) to cover his debts. Kirsten is shocked by this and convinces her husband not to tell anyone what he has discovered until he has talked to Jimmy.

Kirsten is upset and convinces her husband not to tell anyone what he found out until he talks to Jimmy and after doing so she asks Sandy to defend him. Sandy, however, does not want to know, and a nasty altercation ensues. That evening Sandy just because of Jimmy doesn't want to go to the debutante ball, but he eventually changes his mind and joins Kirsten. When Jimmy is attacked by one of his clients, Sandy defends him and his wife appreciates him. Caleb visits the family and berates his daughter for adopting Ryan without consulting him and says he wants to reduce her responsibilities at work (a clear punishment). Sandy is silent, but taking advantage of a moment when he and his wife are alone, he tries to console her and proposes to resign and go back to live in Berkley. Kirsten refuses, however.

"''My dad isn't the reason we stayed here. We are. We chose this. If you're telling me that all this time you've been unhappy, that this isn't what you want, then this much a bigger conversation". - Kirsten to Sandy.''

Sandy later berates her father-in-law for treating her daughter, but the blonde doesn't like it and tries in vain to mediate between her father and her husband. Sandy later apologizes to his wife, but she points out that they didn't stay in Newport to please her father, but because they decided it and that if it made Sandy unhappy they will have to talk about it. Sandy later arrives to give Caleb advice on how to treat her daughter, all in order to see her happy. Later Sandy watches father and daughter make peace from a distance. Jimmy's wife Julie asks for a divorce and the man who has to leave home finds himself homeless and asks Kirsten for help.

Kirsten later helps her ex also to paint his new home, and when she asks Sandy if it's okay he says yes, having come to feel sorry for Jimmy. When she finds out that her husband is thinking of going to work for a law firm, Kirsten tries to dissuade him and when Sandy notices that she is pleased that he is earning a lot less than her, she feels bad. As they talk, Jimmy asks his ex if he ever thinks about how it would have been if they hadn't broken up and she admits that sometimes happens. At that point Jimmy tries to kiss her, but Kirsten refuses and Jimmy apologizes immediately realized that he acted badly and because of the sadness caused by the bad moment he is going through. Eventually Sandy accepts the job and Kirsten realizes it before she tells her, but he offers to leave him if she wants. The blonde, however, decides not to force him.

Marissa, Jimmy's daughter, learned of her parents' divorce and being cheated on by her boyfriend Luke, overdoses and ends up in the hospital. Julie then decides to ask for sole custody of her daughters. The man can not help but ask for Sandy's help, but when he arrives at his house he is not there and therefore Kirsten accompanies him to the office, but her husband is already gone, and found out that he is celebrating the first. working day in a club joins him in the company of Jimmy, becoming jealous when she sees him in the company of an attractive female colleague. The couple talk about it back home and Sandy tries to persuade his wife not to be jealous. Kirsten states that she doesn't want to accuse him of having a mistress and he points out that even though he's been spending a lot of time with his ex lately, he hasn't complained about it because he knows there's nothing between them of romantic. The two spouses then proclaim mutual trust. Sandy and Kirsten try to get together for a while in the morning, but their work commitments prevent them.

Work tensions
Kirsten: ''I was tying to keep this from my dad, and now it's in front page. I thought we could settle this privately.''

Sandy: This was not to go to the press.

Kirsten: It's your firm! And now the entire community knows we're fightning.

Sandy: Well, I guess they got the story straight.

- Kirsten and Sandy argue.

Sandy at work discovers that Caleb's company wants to build in a wilderness area and the plaintiff wants him to work on the case. When Kirsten finds out about it, she goes to talk angry with her husband, who however points out that her father wants to destroy one of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world, so Kirsten realizes that her husband wants to take the case. The blonde tries to hide it from her father, but the news ends up on the front page and the two argue.

Sandy: ''I'm gonna take it. I gotta. I'm sorry. It's who you married.''

Kirsten: I know.

Sandy: You know, I've been pissing you off for years. Why stop now?

Kirsten: ''My father, my husband... it's gonna be a long year.''

Sandy: Could be a couple of years.

Kirsten: ''Yeah. Well, I couldn't be married to a man wasn't a man.''

Sandy: I'm all man.

Kirsten: ''We'll get through this. There's a reason why we're together.''

Sandy: I'have that suspicion.

- Kirsten accepts Sandy's decision. Sandy knows he can win the case, but he fears he might lose Kirsten, so he brings her flowers in the evening and tells her he feels compelled to take the case and in the end Kirsten says it's okay.

When the conversation comes up, Sandy points out that he and his wife have not had sex in a while and decide to enjoy a romantic evening, but due to work Sandy is forced to postpone. The next day he apologizes, and promises that they will catch up if the negotiating meeting goes well, but the meeting doesn't go well. The two later argue as Sandy realizes that Kirsten is still complaining about her having to work with Rachel, with Caleb making unkind hints. Rachel later kisses Sandy, but he ignores her. Sandy says nothing to his wife, but back home, the two finally manage to have sex. The two later try to match Rachel and Jimmy.

Jimmy grateful for all the help Sandy got and sure Kirsten told her she apologizes to the jew for kissing her when she sees her husband again, the blonde immediately realizes that something is wrong and he tells her what she has discovered. After scolding her for her jealousy over Rachel, the man goes away angry and during dinner he and his wife continue to argue about it, albeit so that her children don't understand. Eventually the two make peace. Caleb refuses to negotiate and so Sandy risks spending the Chrismukkah period (the hybrid version of Christmas and Hannukah celebrated by the Cohens) working and Kirsten then complains to her father by refusing to work during the holidays. Kirsten accidentally discovers that her father has ordered a survey on the Balboa Islands and gets something for it. Discovered that her father intends to scam Sandy (the Balboa Islands are seismologically unstable, so it is impossible to build on them, and they are not worth a damn) she decides to warn him even if it could cause her to lose her job. So thanks to Kirsten, Sandy forces Caleb to give him the Balboa Islands for the symbolic sum of one dollar.

Kirsten's sister, Hailey shows up at the Cohen house without warning and notices that Kirsten and Sandy know each other perfectly and are quite a habit. Her sister's comments prompt Kirsten to want to attend a party she told her about. The two, however, discover that they have ended up at a party where the couple is swapped and as a challenge, they decide to stay, even if in the end they will not play along and leave. Hailey settles in the Cohen house much to Sandy's annoyance, starting to live at the expense of her sister, who decides not to do anything. Knowing that the redhead is planning to go out to dinner with Jimmy, the couple decide to take advantage of the evening to be together. Unfortunately for them Hailey discovers that there is a television marathon of a series that she likes and so she decides to stay at home by inviting Jimmy too.

Having no money and not finding a job, Jimmy thinks of moving to his brother in Phoenix and Sandy who has become his friend does not want him to leave so he decides to run a restaurant with him. Kirsten supports the idea and appreciates that Sandy does so much for Jimmy. Kirsten is excited about Valentine's Day, but Sandy isn't, and when he tries to avoid her big gala that evening, she gets angry. Kirsten scolds him for never wanting to do anything she likes and refuses to go to lunch with him. Kirsten is still pissed off the next day. On the night of the gala, hearing Sandy giving love advice to Marissa Cooper, however, she is moved and forgives him. Back home Kirsten discovers that Sandy has prepared a romantic surprise for her and is very happy about it.

Caleb asks Kirsten to convince Sandy to help his friend Shaun who got drunk and got the wrong room in a hotel. Kirsten cares about Shaun too, but she tells her father that if after so many years of ignoring him he wants Sandy's help, he has to ask him. In fact, Sandy rejoices us, and realizes that it was Kirsten who told her father to talk to him and decides to help him, which his wife appreciates. Sandy, however, realizes that Shaun has entered that room to do industrial espionage for Caleb, but the man points out that if he is indicted for something he could get away with accusing Caleb whom he has known for forty years and of whom he knows many secrets. Sandy is then forced to accept when Caleb tells him that if he sinks, Kirsten will follow him as his daughter and big shot of his company the Newport Group. Sandy later forces his father-in-law to tell Kirsten the whole truth if he wants his help. Caleb eventually does, and his daughter is upset when he finds out what wrongdoing he is involved in. Sandy sets out to help her, but she states that she won't let her get caught up in Caleb's cheating or have her compromise to protect her. To protect his wife, Sandy helps Shaun by convincing the plaintiff to drop the complaint by going against his principles for Kirsten's sake.

Kirsten: ''I talked to my dad. He told me what you did.''

Sandy: ''Obstructed justice. Tempered with a witness.''

Kirsten: So, what happens now?

Sandy: ''My guess is, not much. Since it's an election year, the DA can't afford to lose. And without this star witness, the don't really have a case. And if you're gonna go after the king, Caleb then you have better know you can kill the king.''

Kirsten: I told you I didn't want you to get involved.

Sandy: I do what's best for my family.

Kirsten: I'd rather go to jail than be responsable for you being mixed up in this, getting into bed with my father.

- Kirsten confronts Sandy about his actions Caleb tells her daughter what her husband did and Kirsten talks to Sandy about it saying she would rather go to jail than see him go against his ideals, but he declares that he will always act in the interest of the family.

Discovered through Ryan that Hailey has started a stripper in Los Angeles, Sandy decides not to say anything to his wife so as not to disappoint her as she believes her sister works as an aerobics teacher.

Sandy gets tense when his mother arrives for the Seder (Passover), and his wife tries to calm him down. The lady is strangely polite and when Sandy suspects something is going on, Kirsten tries to push him not to investigate.

Sophie: You married a woman whose father represents everything I have fought against my entire life.

Sandy: I did't marry her because of her father's politcs or principles.

- Sandy defends his love for Kirsten too against his mother suffering from a dangerous disease. Sandy finally asks his mother for an explanation. The woman admits to being ill with lung cancer and Kirsten then hugs her husband in an attempt to comfort him.

The two later try to get Sophie to heal, and when she complains about her marriage to Kirsten whose father is the perfect antithesis of his values, the man says that this has nothing to do with his relationship with his wife. Kirsten later talks to her mother-in-law and manages to push her to chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, the restaurant's alcohol license is revoked as the commission manager was a client of Jimmy's and wants revenge and on hearing this Kirsten urges her husband to ask Caleb for help and eventually he is persuaded. Caleb fails to get Sandy and Jimmy licensed, but offers to buy the restaurant. Later Julie and Caleb decide to get married and Kirsten doesn't like it at all, but Sandy seems to take it more philosophically and she complains.

Fanon
is a popular ship in The O.C. Despite being a teen drama and their characters being always seen as adults (except in a flashback), being the only adult couple who remain together throughout the series has been something fans of the ship enjoy. According to them, this shows that they have a marriage that always remains strong, despite the shocks. There are fanfics and videos dedicated to this ship. And on AO3, the ship currently has over 60 works.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Kirsten/Sandy on Fanfiction.net
 * Kirsten/Sandy on Fanfiction.net