Ryan woke up some time later to find his door open and a great deal of noise coming from across the hall. It was obvious from the music coming out of Seth's room that Seth had to be home. Ryan started to get out of bed to go see him, but looked up to see Seth walk into his room.

"Hey, you're up. Good to see." Seth said

Ryan smiled, "Hey, you're back. When did you get home?"

Seth shrugged and pulled out Ryan's desk chair, "Only been home for a little while. Was supposed to let you sleep, but now that you're awake....."

Ryan just laughed, he seemed like the same old Seth, "Like I could sleep through all of that!" he told him.

Seth just shrugged, "Yeah, well if they ask, you woke up on your own. I think I'm in enough trouble."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Ryan told him, "I'm definitely in deeper then you."

Seth only stared for a minute. Ryan looked like hell, and Seth knew it probably wasn't the time to go into it with him. But Seth couldn't help being mad, and Ryan sitting there trying to act like nothing happened made Seth even madder.

"Well, you deserve it more." Seth snapped.

"Thanks, man. Nice bed side manner." Ryan said, "Really helps. Thanks. Thanks a lot."

"I'm just saying, Ryan, that it was bad enough when you left, but not calling?" Seth shot back, "I can't believe you could just turn your back on us like that. Cold, Ryan, really cold."

Ryan just looked down at the blanket on his bed, the one he kept wrapping around his hand.

"It wasn't like that," he quietly told Seth.

"Yeah, well, we wouldn't know what it was like." Seth snidely told him.

"Seth," Ryan said, finally looking Seth in the eyes, "All I can say is I'm sorry. It's hard to explain. I know it was messed up. That I messed up. And believe me, your parents haven't made it exactly easy for me."

"Well, they shouldn't." Seth snapped.

"Thanks again." Ryan snapped back, "Really enjoying your homecoming. Anything else?"

Seth just shook his head. He wasn't sure what he wanted Ryan to say, and at that moment, he was still too mad to try to figure it out.

"No, not really." he told him, "Just. Well, look, Mom and Dad said you need to sleep so I better go. Unpack. Let Summer know I'm home."

Ryan just looked down at his blanket again, "Yeah. See ya later."

Seth's only answer was, "Yeah," as he pushed Ryan's desk chair back.

"Seth? I'm glad you're back." Ryan called out as Seth walked out of his room.

He was surprised when he heard Seth answer back,

"Yeah, I'm glad you're back, too."

Ryan stared up at his ceiling, listening to Seth in his room. Ryan knew Seth had every right to be pissed at him. He just didn't know how he could make it right, and after seeing Seth so angry, he wasn't sure if he could ever make it right.

Ryan woke up a little while later and found that someone had shut his door again. He had to stop taking the percocet. It kept making him fall asleep. He could no longer hear Seth in his room and had no idea where anyone was.

On his way back from the bathroom, Ryan opened his door in the hopes of letting Seth know he was awake, and hoped that Seth would want to try to talk again. It was only a few minutes later when Seth walked in,

"Hey, you're awake again." Seth said, again pulling out Ryan's desk chair.

"Yeah, what time is it?" Ryan asked. He wanted to start the conversation slow, gage how mad Seth still was.

"About dinnertime." Seth told him, "Dad went to go pick it up. Should be home soon."

"Wonder if I'll be allowed to eat with you guys." Ryan asked.

Seth only shook his head and almost smiled when he informed Ryan,

"Not unless we all eat in here. Mom said you had to stay in bed for a while. Doctor's orders."

Ryan sighed, "I'm bored."

Seth actually smiled at that comment. It sounded funny to hear Ryan whine.

"Yeah, well," Seth told him, "I doubt Mom cares if you're bored. She said you had to stay in bed and rest. And, Ryan, I really wouldn't argue with her right now."

"Tell me about it." Ryan told him before he asked, "Hey, do you know if she talked to Marissa?"

Seth nodded. He really didn't want to talk about Marissa, but naturally Ryan would ask about her.

"Marissa was here when I left for Summer's. Mom wouldn't let her come up to see you." Seth said.

"What did she say?" Ryan asked, and was surprised when Seth snapped,

"I don't know. I went to Summer's."

Ryan figured it really wasn't the time to talk to Seth about Marissa. He'd have to ask Kirsten when he got the chance about Marissa. Now was the time he needed to talk to Seth, apologize to Seth again.

"Are you and Summer? You know, ok?" Ryan asked.

"Of course," Seth joked, "How could she resist the Seth Cohen charm?"

"No, seriously," Seth continued, "She was upset when I first left, especially with the whole Coast Guard/Tahiti disaster. But we're ok. She spent a lot of time with me in Catalina."

Ryan laughed thinking about it, and then said, "Yeah, you've got to tell me about Tahiti."

"Mom and Dad didn't tell you?" Seth asked. He figured Ryan would know all about it by now.

"Not really," Ryan told him, "Just that after I left you left on the Summer Breeze and the Coast Guard found you, and then somehow you ended up in Catalina."

Seth just shrugged, "That's pretty much it. Don't want to bore you with the details."

"Since when?" Ryan joked.

Seth snapped, "Since you left and didn't call."

"You left, too." Ryan said, in his own defense.

"Yeah, because you left." Seth told him, "and I called. I kept in touch with my family. I didn't turn my back on them."

Ryan just looked down at his blanket again. How could he get Seth to understand, if he wasn't sure how to explain it?

"I didn't turn my back, Seth." Ryan tried to explain, "I just needed time. I thought I was back in Chino for good. Believe me, I did think about calling. Every time I tried, I couldn't. I knew I'd want to come back, and I had to get used to being back in Chino. I thought, you know, Teresa and I. Look, Seth, I'm sorry. That's all I can say. I know it doesn't change what happened, but I'm sorry."

Seth was trying to stay mad at Ryan. He really wanted to stay mad. Ryan put them all through hell. But sitting there, listening to Ryan talk, he knew Ryan probably went through the same hell as they did. Part of him still wanted to be mad, wanted to slap some sense into Ryan. But part of him just wanted to forget. Forget what happened. Pretend like it never happened. Pretend they were both away at camp for the summer, or something else equally as juvenile and immature. Seth just wanted it to all go back to the way it was before May, before Teresa came to find Ryan, and just pretend Teresa was never pregnant.

"Yeah, about Teresa," Seth said, "I'm sorry about the baby. That's rough."

Ryan just looked away. He hadn't really thought much about the baby. It all seemed so surreal.

"I guess it wasn't meant to be." Ryan finally said, because isn't that what people say when something like that happens?

Then he continued, "At least she's going to Atlanta. Or she may have left for Atlanta, I don't really know. But she gets to start over. Get away from Eddie, and be safe."

"Sounds like you're both safe from Eddie." Seth said, and was surprised to see that Ryan didn't know what he was talking about.

"Didn't Dad tell you?" Seth asked, "Eddie's been arrested and charged with all kinds of stuff. Dad says he's going to jail."

"We don't exactly agree on Eddie," Ryan told him, "Besides, your parents aren't really talking to me. Yelling at me, yes, but not really talking to me."

Seth laughed. He was glad that he wasn't home when Ryan first got home. He could only imagine how it's been with Ryan and his parents.

"Believe me," Seth said, "I just spent the day with Dad. Be thankful they're not talking to you, yet. They will, though. As soon as you feel better, they want to have some kind of family meeting. So just do me a favor, do yourself a favor, don't get well anytime soon."

Ryan made a face before asking, "That pissed, huh?"

"Yeah," Seth said, "Something about the consequences of our actions. Rushing into things without thinking. Making the wrong choices. Blah, blah, blah. So really, stay sick for as long as you can."

"You know Seth, I'm not really sick." Ryan said.

"Then stay injured." Seth told him, "For say, two months. Long enough for them to forget."

Ryan just shook his head before saying, "I doubt they're going to forget. Besides, I should be okay in like two, maybe three weeks, and I doubt I have to stay in bed the entire time. Face it, man, the talk? It's coming, and my guess, it's coming soon."

"Then you'll just have to do something else to get into more trouble. Take more heat off me." Seth said.

"I'm telling you, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," Ryan told him, "It seems like every time I open my mouth, I get into more trouble."

Seth sarcastically said, "And I told you, you deserve it more."

"Yeah," Ryan sighed, "It's real nice to see how happy everyone is to have me home."

"We're happy you're home," Seth told him, "Just pissed that you left and never called."

Ryan looked down at his blanket again before asking Seth, "You and me ever gonna be okay?"

"On one condition." Seth advised him.

Ryan already knew what the condition was. That was an easy one to guess.

"Don't worry," he said, "With your parents pressing charges against Eddie and his friends, I can never go back to Chino again."

But Seth just snickered, "Yeah, like Mom and Dad would really let you go back to Chino again. That's not my condition."

When Seth wasn't very forth coming with his condition, Ryan finally asked, "Well?"

"I get to choose the color of the car." Seth blurted out.

"Car? Color?" Ryan asked. He wasn't exactly sure what Seth was getting out, so Seth decided to explain, as only Seth could,

"Our car. The convertible. Two guys driving a yellow car. Even for brothers, that's not a good idea. Water polo playing jocks and a yellow car. Too many pee jokes. So Dad said we can paint it. I pick the color and then we're cool."

Ryan was quiet for a minute. He said brothers, Ryan thought, Seth actually said brothers.

"Depends on the color." Ryan said, trying to sound like he was serious.

"Candy apple red." Seth told him.

"Candy apple red?" Ryan repeated and then laughed, "You want me to paint my car candy apple red?"

"Our car," Seth corrected, "And if you want, you can call it fire engine red."

"Fire engine red?" Ryan again repeated, "Seth, I stopped playing with fire trucks when I was like eight."

"What color would you paint it?" Seth asked.

Ryan shrugged and suggested, "How about black?"

"Black?" Seth asked, "With a black roof and black interior?"

Seth pretended to think about that suggestion for a moment before adding,

"Sure, and why we're at it, we can have them paint 'Atwood Funeral Home' on the doors."

Ryan laughed, "Fine, no black. How about white then?"

Again Seth took a moment to pretend he was thinking about it before commenting,

"A black and white? Hum? You mean you haven't spent enough time in police cars?"

Ryan just looked at him and said, "But candy apple red sounds like such a girl's color," and then it dawned on Ryan,

"Summer picked out the color, didn't she? She told you to paint it candy apple red."

Seth tried to sound convincing when he told Ryan,

"She suggested the color. But I think the car would look good red, and I think we'd look good in a red car."

"You and me?" Ryan asked.

But Seth just laughed. "No, me and Summer."

"Hey, I thought it was supposed to be our car." Ryan said.

"Don't worry. I'll let you drive it, too." Seth told him, "Of course, that all depends on how long it'll be before you're even allowed out."

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," Ryan said, "Red, huh?"

"Yeah, red. You know, you can call it blood red, if you want. But I would suggest you not in front of Mom and Dad given your latest accident." Seth told him.

Ryan wanted to tell Seth that red was fine. If that's all Seth required for them to be cool, then red was okay by him. But Sandy walked in at that point,

"Hey, Seth. Dinner's ready. Ryan, yours will be up soon. Kirsten is getting it together now."

Ryan sat up and was hopeful when he said, "I can come down."

Sandy just shot him a look before telling him, "No, you already came down once today, you don't need to come down again. You stay put. Come on, Seth."

"Hey, Dad," Seth told him, "Ryan and I decided on a color for the car. We're going to paint it red. Fire engine red."

Sandy just looked from Seth to Ryan and then said, "Yeah, okay. If that's what you both want, I'll take it over tomorrow. As long as you both agree on red."

Because Sandy knew red was not Ryan's idea, he looked at Ryan for his answer.

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, red's fine. I mean it's better then yellow, right?"

"Yeah, Ryan likes the idea of red," Seth added, "He wanted to call it blood red, but I didn't think that was such a good idea."

"Thanks a lot, Seth." Ryan said.

Sandy just shook his head. They obviously were working out their problems. Sandy didn't doubt for a minute that painting the car red was Seth's idea, and Ryan just went along with it. Either way, it was good to see them getting along and joking with each other.

"Let's go, Seth," Sandy said, "Ryan, stay put. I know I don't have to say that again. After dinner, try to get some sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

As Seth walked out of Ryan's room, they exchanged looks. They both knew. The talk comes tomorrow.