A/N
Thanks soooo much for all those reviews. I'll do my best to keep you wishes and suggestions satisfied. Thanks to the anonymous reviewer who made me aware of a small mistakes in the previous chapter. Of course Kirsten doesn't know that Ryan's mother passed away. I did correct it.

Sorry for this slow chapter, but it suits an obvious purpose, so I hope you can bear with me.

Chapter 10:

She had summoned Mr. Cohen to her office after she found the note on her desk. How could he? He knew about the disastrous situation of the company. He couldn't possibly leave them now. This was a very bad timing and he knew that! Was he kidding? Leaving them? Now? What went wrong? What did she do wrong? What was wrong with him! Anxiety crept up her spine. How was she supposed to rescue the company when the most competent person was leaving? She heard a firm knock on her door.

"Come in," she answered the sound. The door was only halfopened and she already knew it was Mr. Cohen.

"Mrs. Nichol, you wanted to talk to me?" he asked her, obviously unaware of why she had summoned him to her office.

"Thanks for coming. Please, take a seat," she didn't want to go like a bull at the gate in the first seconds. He did as she told him and then there was a silent halt in which nobody of them knew what to say.

"Well, as I've noticed you're leaving us by the end of this week?" she started the conversation.

"That's right," he answered her plainly. There was not the slightest tone of regret or apology swinging within this answer, but pure self-confidence.

"Would you mind explaining to me the reasons for this?" she started.

"Sorry, it's private. I doubt this belongs here," Mr. Cohen answered her. At least he didn't belong to those spreading information about his private life publicly, something she thought of being very charming. Nevertheless, she couldn't tolerate this sudden personal need for a change in life.

"This might be your opinion, but I want to understand this sudden development during a crisis like the one we are facing," she explained to him. She had trouble controlling her voice. She didn't want to meet Mr. Cohen with the panic which the note had caused inside of her. She didn't want to scare him away and thus needed to show some sort of understanding.

"I can understand your worries, Mrs. Nichol, but I planned on having finished a first draft for a solution by tomorrow evening. I'll try to settle the case before I leave."

"But I can't be sure that your solution will cover all problems," she countered. She had to make him understand why it was impossible for him to leave them now, to leave her.

"Well, there's always a possibility that new facts will turn up. It's impossible to foresee the outcome of a case before it's settled," he answered her with a coy smile, and she was confused. She ought to be angry about this answer, but instead she was impressed by this man's adroitness.

"Mr. Cohen, I sometimes can't refrain from thinking that you're not taking this seriously enough," she started telling him what she thought about his work ethics. She was torn between falling for his charm and keeping up he tough business façade. Her way of conducting her business collided with her way of conducting her private life and the result was a huge emotional implosion.

"Mrs. Nichol, I am fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. That's why I'm planning on having the first draft done by tomorrow evening."

"What about the other problems? It's not like this case is the only one we're facing."

"But the most important one. A colleague of mine will take care of the others."

"A colleague of yours? I'm not paying a colleague of yours, I'm paying you and I want you doing this job." She was being selfish. She wanted to see this man every day and if it was only for a few seconds. She hated the weekends on which she didn't see him or hear his voice, and she started to stalk on him, without success. There was nothing offering her an insight into this man's life despite the homepage of the law firm he was working for. It offered her little information about his career. She didn't want to let this man walk away on her just like that. She needed to find out whether she was about to abandon all her principles, and whether this man was worth it. She wanted him to be worth it so badly that her heart ached at nights in which she lay awake, alone with her thoughts.

"Actually, you're paying the law firm I'm working for."

"I'm not working with someone else," she made her point clear, not caring whether this sounded childish or not. She didn't like it if someone made a decision which affected her without owning the decency of asking her in advance.

"You should get used to it," Mr. Cohen answered her harshly and for a second she was taken aback. He used to be calm and now this? This behaviour didn't match him at all, but she couldn't get a handle on it. She couldn't understand what was suddenly making him angry and indifferent towards his obligations.

"What?"

"Uh…sorry…for…," instantly, Mr. Cohen seemed to have realised how he had behaved in front of her and found back to his charming character.

"Well, I hope that nothing I've said or done is the reason for your leave," she tried to coax the reasons for his decision out of him. Her question did have an effect: it forced a small smile on Mr. Cohen's face, a smile she adored.

"No! No, of course not. It's private as I've told you, and I'm sorry that I can't give you any more information." What the heck could be that life changing that someone quit a job like the one this man had? He didn't seem unhappy to her. There had been no signs that some sever issues were bothering him. Well, he always seemed to be somewhere else with his thoughts, but she didn't consider that as something which might develop into a crisis like this.

"There's nothing I can do to change your mind?" she asked carefully.

"I stopped believing in miracles, so unfortunately no, but thank you for asking," he replied and dark sadness washed over his face, clouding his eyes. She knew this look. Her very own reflexion had looked like that after the conflicts with Jimmy had escalated. She feared that Mr. Cohen's private life was such a catastrophe like hers had been back then.

"I want to see the drafts tomorrow evening," she switched to the business mode again. She wanted to proof to him that she made sure that he was working on the case if she wanted to. Yes, she was challenging him.

"Okay, but then you have to pick them up from my apartment. I can't stay in the office from morning until late in the evening," Mr. Cohen let himself in for her challenge and imposed conditions.

"Alright, but I want the drafts to be ready by then," she got herself in on his conditions. She didn't want to throw a bitchy tantrum, leaving her being the spoilt, rich daughter who couldn't cope with a 'no'. She wanted to demonstrate her strength and professionalism. Added to that, this was her chance to get a very close insight into his private life. She had to take it. This might have been the only chance which would ever be offered to her.

"And it will be," Mr. Cohen stated calmly, not picking up her challenging manner at all. She wanted to fight with him, but he wouldn't let himself in for that. This was antagonising her, as well as the fact that he was so withdrawn and rarely let something about his private life slip. Anyhow, she would get an insight in his private life and maybe this meeting revealed to her what was that important that he had to neglect his job. Maybe there she could make out some sort of sore point within his professionalism, or it was just a good opportunity which would help her deciding if this man was worth taking a risk.

Meanwhile at Seth's school:

Seth was depressed. The weekend had turned into an ordeal after the incident, and Seth's mother was incapable of realising her mistakes. Seth had decided on giving her the silent treatment as long as necessary, or better: as long as his Mom hadn't apologised for what she had done and said. In fact, this measure of punishment wasn't easy for him to implement, but it was his proof of friendship to Ryan. He had tried to apologise, written text messages, which remained unanswered; e-mailed and IMed his friend, but got no response. On top of that, he hadn't met Ryan in the subway this morning. It felt utterly unfair to him. He, for once, had found a friend and his Mom did everything to badmouth it. A friendship to Ryan meant too much of a commitment; with Ryan as friend, Seth was blocked from being a usual teenager; Ryan couldn't do, what other teenagers did their age; blah, blah, blah. Seth was sick of it, but the more he fought his mother's prejudices, the more she tried to dissuade him from this friendship. But Seth was determined not to let it slide. He would fight for it. His Mom might not know how it felt to be shunned because of just "being", but he did and he wouldn't do the same mistakes others did to him.

The more Seth was glad, when he saw Ryan sitting at his usual desk as he entered the class room. Ryan didn't see him enter the room. How could he? He was reading a book. Seth took a seat next to Ryan, as casually as possible.

"Hey," he greeted his hopefully-still-be-friend. Ryan looked up from his read.

"Hey," Ryan answered and then turned his attention back to the book. Seth tilted his head as to get a look at the cover of the book.

"So, not "Fifty Shades of Grey", uh?" Seth commented jokingly, trying to pick up their friendship from where it had ended last Saturday.

"No, just somethin'," Ryan answered absently. He didn't react to Seth's comment. Seth felt disappointed. How could one minute destroy a friendship which had taken days to be built up?

"Okay Ryan. I'm so sorry for what happened and…"

"It's okay," Ryan cut him off and Seth remained silent, dumfounded. What was that? It took some time for Seth shaking off this harsh reaction.

"No, it wasn't. My Mom totally went overboard with her mothering. I don't even know where that came from. Usually, she's…" Seth wanted to say "laid back", but once again was cut off by Ryan.

"Seth, it's okay. Really," Ryan tried to stop him. It might have been okay for Ryan, although Seth was certain that Ryan didn't take it as cool as he wanted to make him believe, but for Seth it was not tolerable. He wanted to say that, but the teacher already entered the class room and they were doomed to be silent. After the end of the classes, Ryan left for the next classes, alone. Seth noticed that Ryan did everything to avoid him. Seth felt ashamed. He wasn't any better than those Newport-kids. This felt awfully embarrassing to him. He didn't get a chance to talk to Ryan until lunch. He spotted him sitting alone at a table, papers spread all over it and Ryan working over them. As Seth got closer he saw that it was probably for his piano classes or lessons, or whatever.

"Hey, is this seat taken?" Seth asked. Ryan looked up and sighed.

"This is not such a good idea," he replied and Seth didn't get what he meant.

"Why? We've been having lunch together before, so why not now?"

"It's…complicated," Ryan sighed and then started scribbling some strange signs on the paper.

"Yeah, I've noticed that there are a lot of complicated things in your life," Seth countered annoyed. Why couldn't Ryan accept his apology and just let their friendship go on the way it did before?

"Sorry, but you really should go and sit with the others. This here isn't something you should burden yourself with," Ryan explained to him. Well, for him it was nothing but a lousy attempt of an explanation.

"Alright, I admit: this isn't easy for me to handle, but if you give me a chance and some advice at what to do, it could work out," Seth wouldn't give up that easily. He watched how Ryan started gathering together all papers. He sensed that this was another attempt of running.

"It wouldn't work. At some point you'd be fed up, so this way I safe us both a very bad awakening," Ryan spat, took the papers and went off. Seth remained muted. What was that supposed to mean? How could Ryan judge his abilities as a friend after only knowing him for a few days? Ryan couldn't know how Seth dealt with it, thus he couldn't know if that friendship could survive it. Angrily, Seth went over to the table were Josseline and some others of his class-mates sat and ate lunch. As soon as they saw him walking towards them, they made space for him. Something which had never happened back in Newport, but Seth couldn't feel happy about it.

"Hey Seth, what did you want from Ryan?" Josseline asked him warily.

"Just talk," Seth replied, with his thoughts still being with Ryan and how to make right what his mother had done wrong.

"He's…strange, isn't he?" she rather stated than asked. Seth looked up, watching how the others at the table silently nodded at her comment.

"No, he's…just different," Seth defended his former-friend. Not getting the point of the conversation.

"As she said: strange," Josseline's boyfriend stated and the girls started giggling.

"Take my advice and stay away from him. He's…trouble," Josseline's boyfriend added.

"Why?" Seth asked confused. He had spent nearly his whole Saturday with Ryan and he didn't notice anything which could mean that Ryan was trouble. Okay, he did have issues, but Seth doubted that there were teenagers who didn't.

"Don't you know what's wrong with him?" Josseline exclaimed surprised, nearly shocked. Seth fiercely raked his brains to understand where this "gossip-sharing" was going to.

"He's…sick, but that's all I know," Seth said, still not figuring what this conversation was about.

"Yeah and that's all you need to know,"Josseline's boyfriend responded. At that point, Seth had lost the thread of conversation, having trouble to comprehend what the others wanted to make him understand.

"Sorry guys, but I have no idea what you want to tell me," Seth said, holding his hands up in defeat.

"Let me explain it that way: you shouldn't hang around with someone who's puking publicly on a basketball field," Joessline's boyfriend explained and the others burst into laughter. No matter what this was about, Seth didn't think of things like that as funny. Who knew what had caused this accident. Alright, Seth figured out what it could have been.

"I doubt that he did that on purpose. He's sick," Seth tried to defend his hopefully still-be-friend.

"He's sick and that's sad, but he doesn't have to display it publicly. All this puking and bleeding …," Seth zoned out, not listening to any more words said. He had trouble grasping what was happening around him, what was happening with him. Seth shook his head in disbelieve and suddenly wasn't that sure that he wanted such friends like Josseline and her boyfriend. Sitting there together with them, made him feel ugly, as if he wasn't any better than the Newport-kids which used to treat him the way these kids treated Ryan. It felt wrong and Seth let out a strained sigh. Still, he remained seated. He had to clear his mind. What if his mother was right about Ryan and he wasn't a good pick as a friend? At least, his other class-mates saw it the same way, so there had be something right about his Mom's prejudices.

When she entered the apartment, she was greeted by the blaring music pouring out of her son's room. She sighed and put her briefcase down. She went to her son and entered his room without knocking first.

"Hey Seth!" she called. Her son turned around and looked at her but didn't react. He hadn't been talking to her since the incident last Saturday evening. She felt awful for her reaction, but her son didn't give her a chance to explain herself. She turned around and left his room. She didn't see her son until dinner was delivered and then still, Seth did all in his power to avoid her, her glances or any kind of conversation with her.

"Seth, I'm sorry. How often do I have to tell you that? I'm happy for you having friends, but I'm afraid of how Ryan's condition will affect you. I only want to protect you from being hurt or disappointed, or both," she started pleading again.

"I know," Seth mumbled and her heart jumped at the fact that her son had stepped out of his moodiness and actually talked to her and not merely grumbled his responses.

"Maybe, what you've said wasn't that wrong," her son added thoughtfully and that got her attention.

"What caused this sudden change?" she asked Seth curiously.

"Just…some gossip spread around at school," Seth replied, trying to cut off the conversation.

"Seth, gossip is not necessarily true," she warned her son.

"I know,…just…Josseline and the others know Ryan better than I do, or at least they know him for longer than I do." Seth looked up and at her. His eyes were thoughtful and she noticed the inner turmoil rambling in her son's inner world.

"What did they say?" she asked on. As glad as she was that her son started to understand her reasoning, she also was afraid of the sadness it caused her son. The last thing she had wanted to effect with her concerns was her son's sadness.

"Basically, that Ryan's trouble…uh…I dunno," Seth responded.

"And how do you feel about this now?"

"Strange, I guess. I mean, Ryan's avoiding me anyway," Seth told her. It dawned on her what might have caused her son's new sadness.

"Don't be sad about it. It's probably better that way," she said, being glad about Ryan's reaction after the incident. That way he saved her son the experience of being the bad friend, who turned his back on Ryan during difficult times.

"Really, you think so?" her son spat bitterly and then left for his room. She let out a deep breath of desperation. No matter what she said, nothing seemed to be right these days.