A/N: This is going to be just as realistic as the show. The POV changes with the chapters. I hope you enjoy it. There'll be around fifteen chapters.

Pairing: Ryan/Anna. Appearances by most of the other characters.

Summary: Seth sails to Tahiti on his 'boat.' His loved ones try to find him.

Genre: Romance.

Rating: P.G. 13

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Anna POV

I hadn't taken my finger off the doorbell when someone hastily opened the door. I looked into my ex-boyfriend's mother's stricken face and felt tears sting my eyes - it was exactly like I'd imagined.



Her son Seth, and I had taken to exchanging regular phone calls once every week since I'd returned to Pittsburgh. Therefore, like every other Thursday, I called him up to hear the latest gossip circulating the very posh Newport neighborhood.

I tried my best not to panic after calling his cell phone three times in twenty minutes to no response so, to reassure myself that everything was kosher, I called his home phone.

It had barely rung once when it was picked up.

"Seth?" A female voice asked expectantly.

"Ehm... no, this is Anna. Is this Mrs. Cohen?"

"Yes."

"Oh, hello. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I have to go now, Anna. Take care," she said right before she hung up.

At this point, I realized that something was off. Not only was Seth not answering his phone, it appeared that his mother couldn't find him -and she was very worried. Mrs. Cohen, like most mothers, was concerned about her child but from what I could tell, she wasn't one for paranoia, hence, I knew that something was definitely going on.

Even though Seth's girlfriend and I had been friends during my brief stay in Newport, we hadn't really kept in touch, so I felt a little odd about calling her. Nevertheless, I did because I wanted to set my mind at ease that nothing terrible had happened to my dear friend. I dialed her number and after the third ring, she answered.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver not knowing what to expect.

"Hi... Anna?" she asked. She must have checked her caller-id.

"Yeah, it's me. How's it going? It's been a while. Ho..."

"Do, you know where he is?" she said cutting me off in mid-speech. Her voice was a little shaky and for the first time in my life, I imagined that tears were actually capable of falling from her eyes.

"Who?"

"Cohen! Seth Cohen! That's who. Who else would I be talking about?"

"Calm down, Summer. How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm in Pittsburgh for chrissakes."

"I know," she said, her tone lowering, "I know that you guys still talk and IM, so I was just wondering if he'd said something."

"Summer, what's going on? I called his house but his mom pretty much hung up on me. And he's not answering his cell..."

At this point, she broke down in tears. Mothers rushing me off the phone, hysterical girlfriends bawling, I was beginning to wonder if Seth had run off to join a cult, or even worse - the circus.

"Just tell me what's going on," I softly implored.

I didn't have to ask twice before she told me everything. She explained how Ryan's engaged ex-girlfriend was pregnant with his baby, how he'd then decided to return to his old neighborhood in Chino and that a devastated Seth had run off in his sailboat... which would have been fine, if I hadn't already seen Summer Breeze and recognized that it wasn't fit to sail anything larger that a Jacuzzi.

"Do you know where he went?"

"I... don't... know," she managed between sobs. At this point, she'd been crying so hard that I had to strain my ears to make out her words.

"What exactly did he say in his note?" He'd left letters for her and his parents explaining his motives. But instead of reassuring them, they'd only served to frightened them even further. There's just something about a desperate person leaving notes that reeks of suicide.

"Just that he loves me and that he'd be gone for the summer. But the whole summer? How am I supposed to survive worrying about him for so long!" I didn't quite know what to say to that so I kept my mouth shut. "Cohen is so dead," she declared in a much stronger voice. "I'm going to totally kill him for putting me through this! He's, like, completely ruining everything. But... but where is he?" she asked right before breaking down once again.

She sounded so miserable that I wanted to reach through the phone and put my hands around her. I just wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright.

Boys can be so dumb, I thought to myself. I always realized that Seth wasn't the most mature boy of his age, but even by his standards, this stunt was a bit much. I spent about twenty minutes consoling her, hoping that in a small way, I was making it easier for her to sleep at night. But the minute I said goodbye to her, I called a travel agency and bought a ticket for the Red Eye to John Wayne Airport.

"Anna," Mrs. Cohen said, confusion written all over her face. "What are you doing here?" She tightened her bath robe around her before she stepped aside to let me in.

Since I'd come directly from the airport, I wheeled my luggage in after me. "I came to help."

She shook her head slowly, "what?"

"I heard about what happened and I came to help."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she put her hand over mouth. I reached over and hugged the broken woman - she'd become a shadow of her former self. The very confident career woman had turned into a whimpering mess. I knew that once found, I'd strangle her very selfish son for putting her through this.

When we broke apart, she said, "Anna, you didn't have to do this. I'm sure you're needed back home."

"Actually, I'm not; school's already out." I said cheerily, hoping that the appearance of optimism would brighten her mood a little. Unfortunately, it didn't.

She nodded then turned around and walked down the corridor. I followed her into a living room occupied by her husband and Summer, speaking with two policemen and Ryan who was sitting at the other side of the room feeling sorry for himself - or so he appeared. I'd known they were close but till that moment, I hadn't realized how strong their bond really was. I waved at Summer, pasted a smile on my face, then walked up and plopped myself next to Ryan.

"Hey," I said.

He looked at me, his blue eyes betraying nothing but guilt and replied, "hey."