A/N: Ahh, ain't it funny how stories can take on a life on their own? Take note that I'm fudging on ages somewhat. Marissa is a couple of years older than Seth and Ryan in this fic.
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Chapter Two
Kirsten slipped out of bed and entered the bathroom. Her head pounding. She rummaged through the cabinet for some aspirin, then filled a glass with water and washed them down. Two arms wrapped around her waist and a soft voice asked, "you ok?".
"Seth will be home from school soon", she said, ingnoring the question. Looking at herself in the mirror, she checked her makeup and ran her fingers through her hair.
He sighed and rested his forehead against her neck. "Kirsten, what is this? What are we doing?"
"We're having sex, Jimmy. The same as it's always been with us", she stated.
He pulled away, studying her in the mirror. "That's not true, Kirsten. You were my first love...I still..."
Her eyes caught his reflecting back at her. "That was a long time ago, Jimmy. A lot of water under the bridge. We're both married. This...", she gestures to him, "..will never amount to anything. If you have a problem with that you don't have to come back". With that she pushed past him and retrieved her clothes.
Jimmy stared after her a moment before he followed and silently got dressed, wondering what the hell he was thinking. She was right. He didn't have to come back. He didn't intend to. "You're right, Kirsten. I don't. This was a mistake", he said as he left.
Kirsten didn't believe for one moment that he wouldn't be back. Jimmy was always weak. Just out of high school she'd gotten pregnant and Jimmy immediately gave in to his parents demands to give the baby up for adoption. Kirsten had wanted to keep the baby, despite her own parents' pressure, but Jimmy had caved. Undoubtedly from the not so veiled threats that if they had gone ahead and kept the baby and gotten married they'd be on their own, with no financial support. Kirsten was devastated that Jimmy didn't fight for her and for their child. What hurt more was that he also agreed not to see her anymore. His parents felt that if they'd continued to see one another the town would never forget their indiscretion. So not only had Kirsten lost her child, she'd lost Jimmy as well. The final blow was how easily he'd moved on. Kirsten had been sent away to have the baby and when she'd returned Jimmy was already involved with Julie. Within a few months of dating she, too, had gotten pregnant. Jokes began circulating about Jimmy Cooper never wearing a jimmy. His parents were not willing to be humiliated further and this time around had insisted that Jimmy "do the right thing" and marry Julie before the child was born. Once again, Jimmy obeyed and they were wed. Six months later Marissa was born. That had stung. Kirsten smiled to herself. Who was getting the last laugh now? She could destroy his marriage with a snap of her fingers.
Kirsten walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine and resumed her place at the table. She tried to return her attention to the plans for her latest model home but her thoughts kept drifting to Sandy. He'd been distant these past couple of weeks. Canceling lunch or dinner plans and not coming home until late. Seth had been holed up in his room most nights, leaving the house quiet and still. She sighed and thought back to when she met Sandy. He was nothing like Jimmy. He was principled and stubborn and he fought for her tooth and nail. She'd put him through the paces before going out with him. He had no money but had worked his way through school. He was a fighter. She loved that about him. She wasn't going to settle for another Jimmy Cooper. The bonus had been how much her parents had hated Sandy. Once again trying to exert their control over her by threatening to cut her off if she continued to see him. She defied them gladly. They'd made her give up her child. They'd caused her to lose her first love. No one was going to control her life like that again. She shook off her thoughts and forced herself to focus on her work while she waited for Seth to come home.
Sandy had been throwing himself into his work and when he wasn't working he resorted to driving through the streets of Chino, trying to catch a glimpse of Ryan. He hired a private investigator to see if he could find Dawn but with no luck yet. Things at home hadn't been good. Seth was barely speaking to Kirsten and neither was he if he were to be truthful. He had begun to dread going home so he'd been finding himself driving aimlessly down street after street, using the search for Ryan as an excuse to put off making that drive to Newport. It wasn't that he didn't really want to find Ryan but he hadn't a clue as to what he'd do once he did. He knew the system had failed Ryan before and would most likely fail him again, due to his age. It wasn't easy to find a foster home for a teenage boy. The best he could hope for was a group home that wasn't too crowded. That is, if Ryan wasn't with his mother. If he was, well...then that would be that. He'd do what he could to make sure his probation was intact and would try to keep the kid from falling into the pitfalls that so many of the boys that crossed his path did. It was too late for his brother but not too late for him. If only Kirsten...he shook the thought off. She'd dug her heels in about this kid. He sighed in frustration and decided to throw in the towel early for the day. There were no pressing cases and he hoped to finally catch up to Ryan tomorrow.
Unbeknown to Sandy, Seth had been doing a little sleuthing of his own the past couple of weeks. He had suggested that he and his dad go and look for Ryan but Sandy said no and that he would handle it. So Seth took it upon himself to do a little stealth searching on the down low. He had some fairly mad computer skills and thought he could come up with something. He thought wrong. He couldn't find jack. So he'd skipped a few days of school and hopped a bus to Chino. His mom would murderize him if she'd known he was cruising around Chino on his skateboard. His dad would be none too happy either. On the upside, no chance of getting carjacked. On the downside, not much chance of a fast getaway. He wasn't an idiot, though, so he'd stuck to the more public areas, checking out diners and arcades and any place he felt a possibly homeless Chino youth might hang out. Well, the Chino youth that wasn't into drugs and gang activities. Which he was pretty sure Ryan wasn't.
Between the two of them, Sandy and Seth had unwittingly been canvassing the area quite well. Unfortunately for them, Ryan had been holed up in a motel room. He'd come down with something and broke down and gotten another room to try to sleep it off. He didn't like using up his money like that but he felt terrible. He was chilled one minute and burning up the next. He'd already been there a week, missing work on top of everything. After the warehouse incident with the knife-wielding pervert, work had been difficult. He had gotten cuts on his arms and hands trying to get away from the guy. He cleaned them up as best he could and kept them wrapped and tried to hide the injuries. He couldn't afford not to work, but the foreman had caught sight of a bloody bandage on his hand and told him to have it checked out at a clinic at least and that he couldn't come back to work until his hand was healed. He couldn't have Ryan risking injury to himself or to anyone else on the job site. Ryan couldn't argue seeing as they guy was already risking a lot by giving him work at all and paying him off the books. So he'd reluctantly agreed. He passed on the clinic, though. He figured all he needed was a few good nights rest and a chance to let the wounds heal a little bit. His right hand hurt terribly and looked a little swollen but he wrote that off at having to continually use it. He'd just give it a rest and he was sure it would be ok.
As a result of the lengthy motel stay, the money he had saved was dwindling away and he didn't know if he was ever going to be able to get his new I.D. and an apartment. He didn't know how anyone on the street was ever able to pull themselves up again. It seemed like a losing battle. The minute he seemed to be getting ahead something would happen to knock him back a few steps.
His next probation meeting was in the morning and he wanted to try to look as presentable as possible. He still felt like shit and his hand didn't seem any better but he couldn't miss his meeting unless he wanted his P.O. checking around and getting his probation being revoked for not going to school and keeping his living situation a secret. He began to think again about foster/group homes or emancipation. His optimism about being able to do it all on his own was waning. He hadn't realized just how much having a house to go home to meant. Even a home housing a dick-wad like A.J.. Sure, he'd have to take a few hits before he made it to his room sometimes but what he wouldn't give to have that option right about now. At least he wouldn't be pissing away the money he was saving for his new start. He was tempted to try calling Mr. Cohen again. Or maybe another lawyer. He liked Mr. Cohen, though. Maybe if he explained everything he'd forgive him for blowing off his son. He decided that he'd go by his office after his probation meeting. It was too late to try him at work again and he didn't want to risk calling his home and having Mrs. Cohen pick up. His stomach churned at the thought. He wondered if you could really get an ulcer from just stressing over shit. If so, he was doomed. He flopped back on the bed with a sigh. Tomorrow was another day. Maybe things will be better.
Seth exited the bus and started for home. The bus stop was down by the pier so he had a bit of a trek home. He was tired. Sleuthing was hard work. Although, he had netted no payoff except discovering a pretty cool arcade and a minty little comic shop that he may or may not have spent a little more time in than he should have instead of looking for Ryan. He'd been getting discouraged. Everyone he'd asked about Ryan said they didn't know him or hadn't seen him. Not that he felt they'd really be forthcoming if they had. He had the feeling that he stuck out like a sore thumb. So all he could really hope for was lucking out and catching sight of him, but the fates were not on his side. Then he stumbled onto this little hole in the wall shop with a pretty rare comic sitting in the window. He could not resist the lure and then had spent an hour talking to the shopkeeper and even bought a couple of issues. So the day wasn't a complete bust. He found himself a new dealer for his comic book fix. Sweet. Finding Ryan would have been way sweeter, though. He rested his hopes on tagging along with his dad tomorrow and seeing Ryan when he went for his probation meeting. If he showed up for it. No. He would.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the beep of a horn. He turned to see his dad pulled up beside him.
"Seth? What are you doing here?", Sandy asked as he reached over and opened he door. He had been on his way to pick Seth up from school. He looked at his watch and frowned.
Seth ambled over and climbed in, stowing his skateboard in the back seat. "Uh, I wanted to check out this new comic shop I found!", he exclaimed, holding up the comics he bought as proof. He looked at his dad innocently.
"You skipped school?", Sandy asked with the hint of a smile, as he pulled back onto the road. He'd skipped school a time or two himself. Of course, he wished Seth had some friends to hang out with when he did such things but he couldn't help but be happy at his boy doing the normal teenage things. He'd been so closed off and unhappy here in Newport. He didn't know why he let Kirsten talk him into staying after her mother had died.
"Well, you see, father. I simply felt that I would benefit more, educationally, if I were to get out and experience life for myself as opposed to from a book today", Seth tried to explain.
Sandy snorted, "Ah, I see. You traded an education behind the school walls for an education inside a comic shop and traded traditional book learning for the realism one can find within the pages of a comic?"
"Graphic novel...and yes", Seth smiled, happy that his dad not only bought his story but also didn't seem mad that he skipped classes today at all. Oh how his tune might change if he knew just how often he'd done that these past couple of weeks. "Um, dad? I was thinking...uh, Ryan's probation meeting is tomorrow and I really really want to go", he blurted out.
"I don't know, Seth. For one thing, you should have thought about that before you skipped class today. I don't know about you missing two days in a row and, secondly, I don't want Ryan to feel ambushed. He already might if he feels I'm checking up on him", Sandy said.
Seth frowned, "but, see, that's precisely why I should go. I have mad tension breaking skills. Plus, if he won't talk to you maybe he'll talk to me. You know, solidarity against the authority figures." He looked at his dad hopefully.
Sandy sighed. "All right, Seth. You can go. I'll call Dr. Kim in the morning and tell her you'll be out for half of the day, but this is it, Seth. No more skipping class. For a while." He smiled. "And only if there's nothing important going on in class".
"You so rock sometimes, dad", Seth said happily.
"Only sometimes?", Sandy said with mock hurt.
Seth nodded distractedly, "What about mom? What do we tell her?"
"We tell her nothing. We'll just go talk to Ryan in the morning and then you'll go right to school and finish out the day. None of this concerns your mother", Sandy declared. Not really liking lying to her but she's made it clear that she doesn't want to hear about Ryan. There's no sense in stirring her up again.
They arrived home and entered the house to find Kirsten going over some blueprints on the kitchen table. She looked up as they walked in and said, "Sandy? What are you doing home?"
"We wrapped things up at work early and I decided to call it an early day. I picked up Seth on the way home", he stated as he leaned over the table to kiss her.
Kirsten turned her attention to Seth. "Hi sweetie. How was school today?"
Seth rummaged in the refrigerator as he mumbled a "fine. Same old, same old". Then, with a wave, he headed up to his room with a bottle of juice in hand.
Sandy smiled inwardly. If he hadn't already been aware that Seth had skipped school, he never would have known. He tried to catalog his tells. He noted that he hadn't looked Kirsten in the eye and quickly exited the room.
Kirsten's voice pulls him from his thoughts. "How about you, honey? How has work been going? You haven't been around much. I'm surprised to see you home so early", she says as she rolls up the prints and clears the table.
"Work's been work", he says, taking a similar page from Seth's book. "I know I haven't been home much lately but I think things are settling". He decided to change the subject. "How about you? I didn't know you were going to work from home today."
"Oh, well, I get more done here than I can at the office. You know, without dad hovering", she said with a smile. "So, what do you feel like for dinner?"
The rest of the night was filled with similarly light conversation that never really touched the surface. Each holding their own secrets, hoping they'd never see the light of day. Sandy eyed Kirsten at dinner, wine glass in hand. He wondered how much she went through in a day. They should talk about that but he knew they wouldn't. He wondered when exactly they stopped communicating meaningfully and just started going through the motions. Something had to change.