The Defense – 11

This chapter is tagged to The Ex-Factor (2x09). Specifically, this follows Ryan's foray into the surf after a drunk Lindsay while she was passed out in Alex's office. As a result, Ryan unloads on Marissa.

I've modified some of the scenes and timelines to fit the narrative. For one thing, I removed the whole dinner with Sandy, Kirsten, Caleb, and Julie about the magazine.

Kirsten was in the kitchen getting ready to boil water for some tea when she heard the front door open and shut. She was surprised to hear Seth's voice in the foyer. She looked at the clock on the stove and saw that it wasn't even 10pm. She made her way from the kitchen to greet them but stopped short at seeing Ryan standing in still-wet clothes.

"What on earth, Ryan?! What happened?!" Kirsten hurried over to him and instinctively put her hand on his cheek and forehead to check for fever. She could feel him shivering slightly.

When she took a step back, he gave one of his patented side glances and told her, "It's a long story."

"Well, you can go change and then come into the kitchen and tell me all about it." When he simply glanced at Seth but made no attempt to move, she put one hand on her hip and the other she pointed towards the pool house. "Room! Change! Then, kitchen! Now!"

That seemed to get him moving. He quickly started towards the kitchen, with her and Seth following. Halfway through, she called to him, "You may want to jump in the shower for a couple of minutes, too, just to help you warm up." He acknowledged her suggestion with a nod, and then was out the door.

As Ryan was drying himself off, he was actually glad Kirsten had suggested jumping in the shower. He didn't realize how badly he was shaking from the cold surf of the Pacific. Yeah, he was shaking because of the water. As he pulled on his boxers and sweats, he could feel the knot of guilt building in his stomach. Especially, as he recalled the sting of pain from Marissa's face, and even a hint of fear on Alex's. The guilt then turned to trepidation as he thought again of Lindsay. How would he explain this to Kirsten? Once again, he was dragging a member of her family down with his Atwood luck or genes or whatever it was.

He was still running the towel through his damp hair as he left the bathroom. He saw Seth sitting on his bed and sighed a bit in frustration and rolled his eyes. Ever since moving back to Newport with the Cohens, he finally felt for the first time in a long time that this was his home and family. He started appreciating things more as his own. It kind of irked him how people, Seth in particular, would sit or lay on his bed without his permission. But he also knew how to pick his battles. He would gladly choose a brother who jumped on his bed without invitation over one who got him arrested any day!

Ryan took a seat on the ledge next to his bed and looked at Seth, "So, um, do you think I should apologize?"

Seth made a weird face for a moment, almost as if he was considering his answer. "Well, I do have to say that there were flashes of the 'old Ryan Atwood'. But I do kind of agree with some of what you said. I don't think you're going to have to worry about it tonight, though. Mom already said she doesn't want us leaving."

Ryan looked at Seth a little alarmed, "Why? Am I grounded?"

Seth had to chuckle a little at that. Ryan was truly a Cohen; more concerned about being grounded and in trouble with the 'rents then girl trouble. "No, at least I don't think so. She's just being Mom. You know, worried that you may spontaneously develop a cold or something."

Ryan was relieved that he wasn't in any real trouble, and the knot in his stomach eased a little with the knowledge that Kirsten was concerned for his health, like a real Mom would.

Seth stood up, "Now, I am under strict orders from Mom to deliver you to the kitchen after you've changed. So, come on; she's already got the hot chocolate made."

Ryan stood to follow. "Hot chocolate?", he asked with a weird look on his face.

Seth was almost at the door as he whirled around, clearly somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, hot chocolate! I know I'm like 9. But listen, dude, Mom wouldn't let us make a new pot of coffee. And decaf?". His face was one of revulsion. "Decaf coffee is an oxymoron. And I don't care how enlightened we are as 21st century men, but I don't see either one of us drinking tea. So that means that the only other hot beverage is hot chocolate!"

Ryan just blinked a couple of times as he processed everything Seth just quickly shot at him. Ryan shook his head slightly as if to lift the fog from his brain. "Ok, first, I thought you were 9 3/4. And second, you left Kirsten in the kitchen? Alone? With the hot chocolate? Dude, it's going to be ruined!"

Ryan was almost out the door when Seth caught the grin on his brother's face. All he could hear as he made his way towards the main house was Seth's, "DUDE...!"

By the time he got to the door to the kitchen, the knot in his stomach started to grow again. He had no idea how he was going to explain everything that went on tonight. When he walked through the doors, he was a little surprised to see three cups sitting at the kitchen table. He had just assumed that he would be sitting at the island on one of the bar stools, where he and his brother sat many times during lectures.

Kirsten walked in about a second later. "Oh, good. You've changed. Are you feeling better?" She came closer and ushered both boys to their seats at the table and sat down; she at the end with Ryan on her left and Seth across from him.

"Yeah, I am. Thanks for suggesting the shower. I guess I didn't realize how cold I was." He responded and gave her a shy smile.

Before Kirsten could respond, Seth chimed in, barely containing his excitement. "Mom! Guess what?! Ryan is officially a Cohen!"

Kirsten looked at her curly-haired son oddly, "Yes, Seth. We know this already. He's been our son and your brother for a while now." She looked at Ryan with a loving smile and noticed a weird look on her blond-haired son.

"No, but Mom, Ryan just tried to make a joke. Two of them, actually!"

At this point, Ryan started panicking. It looked like Seth was going to sell him out, but he didn't know how Kirsten would take it. When Kirsten wasn't looking at him, Ryan was glaring at Seth, trying to get him to shut up.

"Oh, really? What was the joke?" she asked, not noticing the daggers shooting across the table.

Seth was either completely oblivious to the trouble he was wading into, or he just didn't care. "Well, mother, when I told Ryan that you were making us hot chocolate, he was worried that you would ruin it by leaving you in here by yourself!" He laughed again at the joke.

Kirsten turned slowly to face him, and Ryan could only keep eye contact for less then a second before averting his eyes, with his cheeks tinting pink. He could feel his heart start beating faster.

With the best Mom-face she could muster, she asked, "Oh, did he?!" While she was thrilled that Ryan felt comfortable enough to tease her, she could tell he was very unsure of her reception of the joke. She decided to continue the mean-Mom routine to tease him back. Reaching for his mug she said, "Well, for that, you lose a marshmallow!" She plucked one of the large, spongy treats from Ryan's mound and added it to Seth's.

When Ryan realized Kirsten was joking with him, too, he relaxed markedly and let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. He couldn't help but notice that Kirsten had a wide grin on her face to show him that she was happy. He also couldn't avoid the smug expression on Seth's face across from him. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his own face, or the eye-roll aimed at his brother.

Kirsten didn't want to, but she felt she had to bring the conversation back to earlier in the evening. "Now, about what happened earlier…" But Kirsten couldn't finish her statement.

"Yeah, about that. I'm really sorry, Kirsten," Ryan interrupted.

Kirsten wasn't all that surprised that he would feel responsible for the evening. But she felt ready for it this time. "Ok. For what are you sorry?"

Ryan was briefly taken aback by that. He wasn't ready to actually answer that. "Well, I'm sorry for Lindsay getting drunk, and ruining your evening, and getting the Rover all wet." He couldn't meet Kirsten's gaze by the time he was finished.

Seth decided to jump in, "Bro, the car isn't even that wet. You weren't all that wet by the time we got to the car." Ryan wasn't sure if Seth was being completely truthful, or if he was just trying to make him feel better, but he appreciated it.

Kirsten also tried to reassure him. "And even if it was wet, we will get it cleaned. Please, there is no need to worry about the state of the car. As far as my evening goes, I didn't have any plans." He didn't make eye contact with her, but she had a feeling he didn't quite believe her. "Ryan, please look at me." When he did manage to make eye contact, she continued, "Did you really think that when one of my kids comes home soaking wet, that I wouldn't care?" She gave him a look that he better not believe that, or at least change his mind really quickly.

Kirsten took a moment to gather her thoughts for the next point. "Now, with regards to Lindsay… While I'm not that thrilled that my teenaged sister is out getting drunk, I'm even less thrilled that my teenaged son comes home soaking wet because she got drunk."

Kirsten took a drink from her tea before continuing. "From what Seth told me, you guys had a 'guys night out' or 'guys night in' or whatever it was called. So, you had separate plans from the girls; you could not have been responsible for what she did. She's responsible for herself. The only person you can be responsible for 24x7, is yourself."

Ryan took a careful sip of his beverage in front of him, so Kirsten knew he was still listening and processing. Kirsten continued, "Now, I'm guessing there was a conversation with Marissa that didn't exactly go well." At the shy, almost embarrassed shake of his head, she said, "So, tell me about it. What did you say?"

He almost had a pained expression, at the thought of having to go through the conversation again. He lamely tried to get out of it, "I don't really remember the exact words."

Seth immediately threw his hand up. "Oh, I do! I do! He pretty much told her that she had messed up her life and now she was messing up Lindsay's." Ryan was silently cursing and thanking Seth for being there.

Kirsten just put her head in her hands for a moment, cursing the fact that she had children of opposite dichotomies; one who barely spoke and one who was all too eager to tell what he knew. It was as though they enabled each other. She sighed heavily as she looked at Ryan, "Is that pretty accurate?"

Ryan held the cup in front of him with both hands, indicating his nervousness. He wouldn't make eye contact with anyone, but eventually nodded his head.

Kirsten again took a sip of her tea to stall for time as she considered how to deal with this. "Now, I get the distinct impression that you aren't happy with how that conversation turned out."

She wasn't really expecting an answer, so she was a bit surprised when he answered, "Yeah. I guess it just kind of happened." He was still holding his mug with both hands to keep them from shaking too badly.

Kirsten nodded in response. "Well, let me ask you this: are you more upset about what you said or how you said it?"

Ryan took his time to consider the question and took a drink from his own cup to buy some more time. "Well, I guess it was more how I said it. It's just… when I found out Lindsay was drunk with Marissa, it just brought back old issues, you know… my… Dawn," he corrected while looking at Kirsten significantly. She seemed to get the message, since her smile grew deeper and she patted his hand.

Seth felt like interjecting, "Yeah, I don't think you have to lump Lindsay in that category. She was probably just trying to let loose."

Looking at both boys with a bit a concern for her sister, she asked, "Do you think she was pressured by Marissa?"

Ryan and Seth looked at each other for a moment. Seth spoke first, although a little reluctantly, "I think that if Lindsay was feeling pressure, it may have been coming from you, bro. I mean, you kind of pushed them really hard into that friendship. I mean, the girlfriend and the ex as friends, I think that goes against nature."

Ryan nodded his acknowledgment. "Yeah, looking back, I did kind of push them together pretty quickly, didn't I? I should probably apologize to both of them and lay off the friendship thing. At least for a little while."

"I think that would probably be a good idea." Kirsten continued, looking at both of her boys, "One of the things my mother told me, and while I don't always follow it, and I certainly wish my father would learn this lesson, is that your delivery can destroy your message. In other words, you could have the best argument in the world for something, but if you don't say it well, people may not focus on what you said, just on how you said it."

Kirsten saw Ryan give her a side glance to indicate he was listening. So, she decided to continue, "So, take tonight's conversation for instance, while you may have had some valid points to make, because your… frustration took control, Marissa may not have heard the points you made. She just heard the anger and frustration. Does that make sense?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I think it does. I know I need to work on stuff like that a lot more."

Kirsten again patted his hand. "Honey, we all have areas in which we can improve ourselves. You've already made a lot of progress in handling your emotions. We all just have to keep working on things."

As if on cue to end the conversation, Sandy walked into the kitchen. As he got a bottle of water out of the fridge, he looked oddly at his family sitting around the table. "What's going on?" Looking at the time and confirming that it was only about 10:30, "Boys, what are you doing home so early?"

Seth spoke up first, feigning hurt, "What, can't we spend just a little bit of time with our mother?"

"Well, no, of course, but usually, you, uh, how do I put this… don't!" came Sandy's good-natured response.

At that, Seth rose from his seat at the table, and with mock indignation said, "Well, just for that… Come, Ryan! Let us go to the pool house to play some video games!" Then he simply walked out the back door.

At first, Ryan was a little reluctant to follow, figuring Sandy would want to know about tonight's events, as well. When he made eye contact with Kirsten, she nodded her head towards Seth's retreating form, signaling his release. Not that he didn't like spending time with Sandy and Kirsten, but he was already 'talked' out and nearly ran out the door.

Kirsten chuckled at Ryan's haste in following his brother and made her way closer to Sandy. They enveloped each other in their arms. Sandy asked, "So, what was going on here tonight?"

She thought about it for a minute, "Ryan had an unfortunate conversation with Marissa tonight, and we just were talking some things threw." She was a little hesitant on revealing everything to her husband right now. She knew he would be concerned with Ryan's frustration and anger getting the best of him again, and she wanted to spare her son another long conversation. She would tell him later tonight in bed or in the morning.

Sandy could tell that Kirsten was withholding some information from him, but he trusted she would tell him in due time. He noted that the whole time they were embraced, Kirsten couldn't take her eyes off the pool house, or more accurately both her boys.

He nodded his head sagely, "Ok. Well, it looks like the boys are going to be occupied for a while. What say you and I find something to occupy our time!" She looked into his eyes and could stifle the laugh when she saw the waggling of his monstrous eyebrows. He took her hands in his own, gave her a deep kiss, and then led her towards their bedroom.

Please let me know what you thought, ways I can maybe improve my writing, and any ideas for future chapters. Thanks!