This little... story just came to me one day. It's a one-shot (surprise, surprise), and it takes place in season 3. Obviously, it's a little AU.

Enjoy reading, and please review!

Veronica Townsend sipped her vodka and downed a few more pills. She had a headache. She'd just gotten a call that her daughter had shown up for the first half of the school day, but had mysteriously disappeared after lunch.

Stupid girl. Didn't she know Veronica had better things to do than talk to the dean about her attendance? She downed another shot of vodka. That was better. She stood up, leaving the glass on the table for later, and went to find her daughter.

"Taylor! Where are you?" Her voice was harsh - she was annoyed that she actually had to be a parent. She knocked, or, more truthfully, pounded on her daughter's door. There was a thump from the other side and a hurried whisper. What the hell was that girl doing?

Veronica shoved the door open, not surprised her daughter was careless enough to leave it unlocked. She found Taylor on her bed, looking a little red and breathless, but alone.

"The dean called, you skipped the second half of school. What the hell in your life could have been more important?" She spit out the words, mocking her daughter's lack of a social life.

"I felt sick, mom, and the nurse wouldn't let me go home," Taylor gave a little cough, trying to play sick. Veronica scowled.

"I don't buy that for one second. I swear, Taylor, if you get kicked out, I am not shelling out the money for you to get back in." She turned around to leave, but froze when a rustle came from the closet. Turning around, she noticed her daughter had frozen as well, eyes wide. Without saying a word, and ignoring her daughters' protests, she stormed to the closet and tugged the door open. She gasped when a half naked boy fell out.

"Ow," he muttered, getting off the floor, and Veronica was shocked to see it was the boy from – even her mind was horrified to think the word – Chino.

"Taylor!" she screeched, spinning to her daughter, whose eyes were so wide she thought they would pop out.

"Mom, I can explain," Taylor choked out.

"Explain that you're screwing around with this… this boy in my house when you're supposed to be at school?"

"Ryan Atwood," he extended his hand to her, and to be honest, it shocked her a little. In a daze, she shook the hand. That was when she really took him in. The boy was clad only in jeans, which were hanging low on his hips because the button was undone. She dragged her eyes from his hips up his very well toned chest. She barely stopped herself from licking her lips.

"Right. Well," she was momentarily stunned, but recovered well. "Taylor, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I still maintain that I was sick. Ryan just came over to make me feel better." She immediately realized how that sounded when Ryan let out a laugh.

Veronica shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed another drink. "Taylor, this is unacceptable. Skipping school, and hiding him in your closet? I swear you make me really regret ever getting pregnant. I go and ruin my body so you can throw your life away with him? This is not how I raised you," her voice was a hiss, and she reveled in the hurt look on her daughter's face. Taylor was such a failure. Taylor could never be as good as her, as successful or good looking. She had to realize that before she could be a well adjusted person. If she went through life thinking she was better than she was, she would only be disappointed.

Taylor looked on the verge of tears, and Veronica sensed the boy from Chino stiffen. Oh God, he was going to shoot her, or whatever they did where poor people lived. She rolled her eyes at her daughter's tears and the boy's reaction. He must be an idiot to be defensive of her daughter.

She turned back to look appraisingly to the boy. Why had Kirsten Cohen taken him in? Veronica had no trouble seeing Sandy doing this, but Kirsten should have better social graces. Why endanger all of their children by bringing a criminal into the community? It was so rude.

On the other hand, he was very nice to look at.

She wondered if he would make a good plaything. He certainly had the body for it, and the bad-boy thing was a nice change from the dull men around Newport. And he was young, which meant he was at a higher sexual peak than the men her own age...

"Mother!" Her daughter's horrified voice woke her out of her reverie. Taylor was looking at her, wide-eyed, and Veronica assumed it was because of the way she had been examining the boy from Chino. Taylor quickly rose from the bed, grabbed a t-shirt off the floor that was obviously out of place, and handed it to the boy. He put it on, and the two women were momentarily caught up in watching his abdomen flex as he lifted his arms over his head. Veronica bit her lip a little, and her daughter saw that. Taylor stepped between her mother and the boy from Chino, and buttoned up his jeans, glaring at Veronica over her shoulder.

She was pleased that Taylor was this worried. The boy would have good taste to choose her over Taylor, the older woman thought.

"Ryan, why don't you go? I'll see you in school tomorrow," Taylor kissed his cheek, and pushed him lightly towards the door. He nodded.

"You know," Veronica called after him, "I have some furniture to move, and you look very handy. You must come back some time to lend a hand."

"We don't have any furniture to move," Taylor groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. She had gotten the habit from her mother. "Just go, Ryan. I'm sorry." The boy looked slightly puzzled, but nodded. Veronica gave him a small wave as he left, smiling.

"Mom!" Taylor whispered venomously as the boy disappeared. "That was so embarrassing!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Veronica replied, tilting her head up.

"Well how about the obvious flirting with the guy who's twenty years younger than you!" Taylor paced her room, still pinching her nose. Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Stop being such a brat. Now, tomorrow, you're going to go to the dean's office and explain your absence. I don't care what you say, just try not to embarrass me." She turned and left, hoping a little bit that she could catch a glimpse of the boy again.

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