"So Ryan's going back to school on Monday," Kirsten smiled happily as she scooped salad onto his plate. He'd made it to the dinner table for the second night in a row, but Kirsten had been quick to notice that moving around to reach and grab stuff was hard for him, so without asking she had taken it upon herself to serve him. Ryan was grateful, and relieved that Seth and Sandy declined to comment on the baby-ish treatment.

"That's great Ryan!" Sandy said, beaming. He'd been worried about the kid, and hoped that when his life normalized a little more he might snap out of his funk a little.

"Yeah Ryan, that's awesome!" Seth chimed in, although he didn't look quite as enthusiastic as Sandy. In fact, he didn't even meet Ryan's eye. Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a glance, that didn't go unnoticed by Ryan.

"Yeah Seth, thanks..." He muttered, picking at the thick steak that had landed on his plate. An awkward silence fell over the table.

"So Seth's, how's school?" Sandy managed.

"Fine..." Seth muttered.

"Ryan went to his first physical therapy session today too,"

"Oh yeah?" Sandy asked, "How'd that go?"

"Fine..." Ryan muttered. After that, the rest of the meal was completed in almost complete silence.

After dinner, Sandy went upstairs and found Seth reading a comic book by himself in his room, "What's going on with you?" He asked.

"What? Nothing..." Seth muttered, rolling over, and continuing to read the comic book. "Then why are you up here, by yourself?"

"Is that a problem?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, it's a problem. I don't know how more ways to tell you this, but Ryan needs you right now."

"Ryan's tough, he can take care of himself."

"Yes Seth, of course he can, but we're a family. And in a family, if someone needs you, even if they don't ask, you put aside whatever petty differences you may be having and you make sure you're there for them."

"Fine..." Seth said, sighing. As much as he hated to admit it, his father was right, and it wasn't Ryan's fault that Luke and Summer had somehow ended up... Okay, he wasn't going to think about that too much. He grabbed a couple of comic books, and ignored his father's satisfied smile as he made his way down the steps and into the pool house.

***************************

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Seth asked, as he walked into the pool house.

"Fine..." Ryan looked up from the thick textbook on his lap, if he was going back to school soon, he needed to start doing all his makeup work- some of which they had picked up today during the visit to the shool. He was a little surprised to see Seth standing there in front of him, he thought he was still mad at him because he had told him about Luke and Summer.

"I uh..." Seth scratched his head, as if he was a little unsure about what he was doing there. "Thought you could use a break from studying?" Seth said, holding up the comic books he had brought with him.

"I just started like fifteen minutes ago," Ryan said.

"Then it's definitely time for a break," Seth said, tossing him one of the comics. Ryan smirked, but obligingly picked up the comic book. Seth settled himself in the chair at the desk, and the two sat in companionable silence for awhile. "So, you're going back to school next week?" Seth asked.

"Yeah," Ryan nodded.

"That's cool, it pretty much sucks without you."

"Thanks Seth," Ryan smiled a little.

"So you're leg's feeling better?"

Ryan shrugged, "A little, I guess. I'll be able to walk on it."

"That's a start," Seth said.

"That's actually..." Ryan wasn't sure how to start, "I think Oliver's coming to Harbour."

"Huh?" Seth asked.

"When we were with Dr. Kim today, I saw a file on her desk for a transfer. The first name was Oliver-"

"Ryan, there are a million Oliver's." Ryan raised an eyebrow, "Okay, so maybe not a million. But why would he come to Harbour? Doesn't he have his own fancy private school?"

Ryan shrugged, "I don't know... But if he is coming... I want to be there too."

"Have you talked to Marrisa? She'd probably know..." Seth pointed out. Ryan looked away.

"No, we haven't talked."

"She's worried about you, you know."

"Well, she sure does a good job of showing it." Ryan said.

"Maybe she's just embarrassed or something... She tried to call you. She wanted to come over too... But I told her that wasn't such a good idea..."

"Thanks Seth,"

"So, are you going to talk to her?"

"Maybe... I don't know if I'm ready yet..."

"Yeah..." Ryan picked up his textbook, the comic book lay forgotten, and went back to studying, signaling and end to the conversation.

A/N: I really need a beta- anyone interested?