Author's note: These stories are not meant to follow one another they are just parenting scenes in the Cohen1 household. Scenes that I would like to have seen on the show but because of time constaints they were not. So I wrote them for myself and have posted them for other's who may be interested.

We've all learned a lesson

"So you guy's thirsty?"

Ryan bumped into the refrigerator door and Seth nearly dropped the juice bottle his hand held, at the sound of Kirsten's voice. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw her sitting at the kitchen table arms crossed and a very angry look on her face. A coffee mug was sitting to her right.

They both began to speak at once.

Ryan stuttered, "No…. Um…. Just.. I mean…Yeah"

Seth rambled, "Yeah, Ryan was just saying how thirsty he was. Since we had such a rough time tonight and we tried to reach you but the cell towers in Newport must be down cause we tried to call, I mean we knew you would be worried…."

"Sit now," Kirsten ordered as she pointed to the counter stools.

Both boys quickly did as they were told.

Kirsten stood up and approached the breakfast counter. She put out her hand in their direction. "Hand over your cell phones. Now who wants to explain first?"

Seth and Ryan looked at each other and reached into their pockets for their cell phones. Why hadn't they thought of a cover story? Oh, yeah Sandy was out of town. And Kirsten is clueless or so they thought. That was a major planning mistake.

"Well, I can see that your cell phones are off. That's rule number one. Do you know how worried I was? I was considering calling the police. Your curfew is 11:00; it is now 3:00 in the morning. I can't wait to hear your story? And it had better be a good one."

"Mom, Mom…There's no need to go psycho," Seth spoke softly and reached to pat his mother's shoulder.

Ryan dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his temples. 'What is Seth thinking; this is not a good time to piss Kirsten off more than she already was.'

"Seth, I suggest you sit down now. If I am psycho it is because I have been worried out of my mind for 4 hours. Actually, you know what you go to your room and wait for me. I will be questioning you two separately."

Ryan's eyes showed panic as he looked towards Seth. He couldn't lie, he didn't want to lie, he wanted Seth to do it, like the other times. Quick cover stories was not one of his skills. Dawn never noticed when he stayed out late or didn't come home at all. This was definitely new territory.

Seth knew they were in trouble now. No way would Ryan come up with a convincing story and even if he did how would he know what Ryan had said. It didn't matter Ryan would cave at the first question.

Seth spoke up in desperation, "Mom, come on, we just… ran out of gas. Marissa's car ran out of gas and we did not hear the cell phones because we ..um ….left them in the car…".

"Seth, room, now!"

Seth stopped his attempt at creating a story for Ryan to fill in, shrugged his shoulders in Ryan's direction with palms up and turned to go to his room.

Kirsten and Ryan watched him go and then she stepped into the living room to check out the stairway. "Seth, room."

Seth jumped up from the second landing stoop on which he had sat and headed towards his room.

Kirsten reentered the kitchen; Ryan was staring at his hands, and was looking quite pale. "So what's the story?"

Ryan continued to look at his hands and quietly said, "Like Seth said."

"Uh Huh. Look at me young man and tell me where you have been and don't try to give me that lame story about running out of gas. Believe me I tried it with my own parents and it didn't work then either. Let me hear it."

Ryan turned his eyes towards Kirsten. "Kirsten, please we didn't do anything too bad. And we are safe. I don't want to get Seth into trouble."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. You guys are already in big trouble. Right now we are just determining if you will be grounded even longer for not telling me where you were and then lying about it."

"Okay, we went to a party and lost track of time. We turned off our cell phones because we didn't want to have to lie to you if you called." Ryan shrugged his shoulders and said sheepishly, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Who's party?"

"A kid from Harbour."

"And his name is?"

"I'm not sure..I think Seth knows him."

"Ryan, unless you want to grounded until you are thirty you had better talk."

"Josh…" Ryan said quietly and turned his eyes back towards his hands. He closed his eyes in anticipation on Kirsten's response.

"Smithfield, Josh Smithfield. Didn't Sandy and I just last week tell you guys to stay away from him?"

Ryan looked up and nodded slightly.

"The Josh Smithfield that was expelled from Harbour for ecstasy!"

Ryan looked at his hands and nodded. "We didn't do any drugs," he stated quietly.

"So there we drugs at this party and I'll bet drinking."

"Yes, but we only drank beer and not very much."

"You're sixteen, not much, is too much.

"Anything else you want to tell me."

"No," Ryan almost whispered. Oh, there was a lot more to tell but if he just kept it to short answers maybe they would only be grounded a week or two.

"You stay right there. I'm getting your partner in crime."

Ryan couldn't believe it. His interrogation was over. Well so much for short answers, Seth would be talking now. Ryan put his head in his hands, he felt the pressure of tears but he would not let them fall. How could he be such an idiot, now what would she think of him. 'This is stupid I'm not going to cry. Seth and his crazy ideas. Why do I listen to him? Why didn't I just tell him no?' He had tried to convince Seth tonight's plans were not in their best interest but Seth's argument had seemed more convincing. 'All things considered maybe I should have tried a little harder. Kirsten's going to think I am a bad influence. That this was all my idea.'

As Kirsten and Seth entered the kitchen, he heard Seth confessing, "Yeah, but Mom did Ryan tell you why we had to go to LA? Did he?" Ryan's head jerked up and tried signal to Seth to cool it on the confession. None of his facial gesturing stopped Seth's mouth. Kirsten turned towards Ryan and Ryan froze mid-head shake and throat-cut gesture.

Kirsten put her hands on her hips and asked sternly, "Trip to LA, huh?" She smiled slyly at Ryan and said, "All I had to say was I knew everything and he started singing like a canary."

Seth stopped talking for only a second as he realized his error and then said, "Oh, you didn't know about LA. Did ya? Okay, I got hand it to you, Mom, you really pulled a fast one on us. You are really much sharper than Da….."

"Can it, Seth. Tell me about LA."

Seth shifted his eyes to the floor and put his fingers to his offending lips. He moved to one of the kitchen stools. Ryan's stare-of-death was about to burn a hole in the side of his head.

Ryan looked Kirsten in the eyes and his voice shook slightly as he spoke, "Okay, here's the deal…..We stopped by Josh's party,…. for a maybe, a minute….and some of Summer's friends mentioned a rave in…..LA. And we thought it would be fun. But it really wasn't.

Seth interrupted, "We turned our phones off. I know, not a smart move. But Mom you're usually so clueless."

At Kirsten's glare, he said, "And I mean clueless in only the sweetest, most-caring mother kind-of-way. Okay, so it's usually Dad who watches the curfew clock. But we really only planned on being an hour late but then we lost track of time and then we had to drop everyone back home. So, if you really think about it only about two hours is our fault. And the first party doesn't count because we were only there a couple of minutes. When we drove up, all of the lights were out. We thought you had gone to bed and were as clueless as we had hoped. And now we know for the future you are really not that clueless, so I think we have all learned a lesson here."

Kirsten was angry, angrier than Ryan or Seth had ever seen her. "What were you two thinking? Do you know how dangerous that little escapade was? Anything could have happened to you and I would not have known where you were. Not to mention underage drinking. Drugs at two parties. You could have been arrested." Her voice cracked with emotion as she continued, "Ryan, you might have been put back in juvie and taken away from us. What were you thinking?" Tears were forming in her eyes.

Ryan could not look at her. What could he say? She was right. And she cared about him being taken from them not about whose idea it was.

Seth said to the counter top, "I guess we weren't thinking."

"Damn, right you weren't. Okay, you both are grounded for 4 weeks, 1 for the cell phones, 3 for the parties. No TV, no video games, no phone, no friends, no nothing, got it. Both of you go to your rooms now. I am sure your Dad will want to discuss this further when he gets home tomorrow."

"4 weeks, Mom, Come on that's too much. We have a …."

"Seth would you like to make it 8 weeks, because I am that angry right now."

"No, I'm good." Seth removed himself from the kitchen stool and made a quick exit.

Kirsten turned towards Ryan who was still sitting on his stool. Drained she said, "Go to bed, Ryan."

Ryan lifted his head and said sincerely, "I'm sorry. You're right we weren't thinking and it was stupid. I'm sorry we worried you, and I'm sorry about the drinking and well like I said for just being stupid."

Kirsten walked over to Ryan, placed her hand on the top of his head and tiredly said, "Yeah, I think stupid is the right word. But you are safe now that's what matters most. Maybe after the 4 weeks is up you guys will think about it before being stupid again."

"Thanks, Kirsten." He shyly glanced up at her and then back down at his thumbs.

"You're thanking me for grounding you. I'm sure that's a first"

A sly grin crossed his face as he turned to face her. "No the grounding sucks." He paused and then added, "Thanks for caring and I'm cool with the groundings, we deserve it." With that he slid off the stool and headed towards the pool house. Stopping at the patio door he looked in Kirsten's direction and said, "Good Night."

"Sleep tight," she said softly as she wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and drew in small, sharp breath.