A/N: I still don't own The OC. I also don't own Harry Chapin, though I do have some of his CDs.

When they finished eating, Kirsten handed Ryan the keys. "Your turn to drive," she said.

Once they got in the car, Ryan told Kirsten, "That makes you keeper of Seth's game. Dare we chance another card?"

"I'm game if you are," Kirsten replied.

"All right, let's see what he has in store for us next."

Kirsten reached into the envelope and pulled out the next card. "Time for some introspection. Ask the other person a question you always wanted to know about them but were afraid to ask."

Kirsten noticed Ryan tense up and she silently cursed Seth. In what universe did he think Ryan would enjoy that? "We don't have to do it. We can just listen to some music or something."

"No, we can," Ryan decided. "It doesn't say we have to answer the question, just that it has to be asked." He glanced at Kirsten to see what she thought.

Kirsten smiled. "You're right. But we can answer it if we want. How's that?"

"That sounds OK."

"All right. You go first." Kirsten wanted to gauge what level of intensity Ryan's question was before she asked him her question. She didn't want to probe too deep and then have him ask what her favourite colour was, or if she had pets growing up.

Ryan thought for a minute. Then he asked, "Why do you let your father push you around?"

Kirsten was taken off guard. "Pardon me?"

Ryan looked embarrassed, but he explained his question. "Well, you don't take much from anyone else – Sandy, Seth, Hailey…me." Ryan smiled a little, then turned serious again. "But you let your father tell you what to do. I just wondered why."

"Oh. I…I don't know." Kirsten was flustered. That wasn't a question she was expecting.

"You don't have to answer. I'm sorry I asked."

"No, don't be sorry. I'll answer. I guess it's just…he's my dad."

Ryan nodded. He could understand that.

But Kirsten continued. "I sort of rebelled when I went to college. I married Sandy and we lived in Berkeley and my dad wasn't happy about any of it. Then we moved home when my mom got sick and I started trying to be everything he wanted me to be, for her sake, so we wouldn't be fighting anymore. But he's never really forgiven me, so I guess I keep trying to win him over."

"But shouldn't he be grateful you came back? You run the most successful division of The Newport Group, you've given him his only grandson…"

"Grandsons," Kirsten corrected.

Ryan shook his head. "You know what I mean. What else do you have to prove to him? He'd be lost if you weren't around."

"Yeah, but he's still my dad."

"Yeah, I guess," Ryan agreed. The he braced himself. "It's your turn."

Kirsten looked at Ryan. There were so many things about him that she didn't know. But what was a safe question, that wouldn't upset him too much. She was pretty sure anything she really wanted to know about him would upset him.

"OK, you asked about my father; I want to ask about your mother." Kirsten paused. "Did she hit you?"

Ryan was quiet for a long time. Kirsten thought he wasn't going to answer. Then he said, "No, my mother never hit me."

Kirsten was relieved to hear that. She couldn't imagine hurting her own child.

"But she didn't care if anyone else did."

"Oh," was all Kirsten could manage to say. She would do anything to protect her boys and she couldn't imagine letting anyone hurt them.

"So what's next on the cards?" Ryan quickly changed the subject.

"Let me see. Time for some more music. Whoever didn't pick last time, gets to pick this time. And remember, pick something you want to listen to. I guess that's me."

Kirsten looked through the CDs. She found one she liked and popped it in.

Ryan didn't recognize it at all. It was some song about a guy driving a truck full of bananas. "What is this, Kirsten? The guy just got crushed by 30,000 pounds of bananas? You aren't serious, are you? I at least picked something that you liked."

Kirsten acted offended. "It's Harry Chapin, Ryan. He was a great singer/songwriter from the 70s. I listened to him all the time in college."

Ryan made a face at Kirsten. "Well, it's not my fault you didn't follow Seth's instructions. You didn't have to pick something I liked. That was your choice. This is mine. Give it a chance."

Ryan couldn't imagine liking this stuff. A song about the Titanic sinking? A song about a mail order bride? They weren't all as weird as that first banana song, but this guy sang about strange stuff.

Then a song came on about a man who was always too busy to play with his son. When the son grew up, the father had more time, but then the son was too busy.

As I hung up the phone it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me, yeah.
My boy was just like me.

Ryan thought about the song. He said to Kirsten, "I'm not going to be like my mother."

Kirsten was surprised by this disclosure. "Of course you're not, Ryan. What made you say that?"

"That song. The son grew up and was too busy for his family, just like his father was. I'm not going to be just like my mother."

"But it doesn't say the son was too busy for his family; he was too busy for his father. The son couldn't visit his father because he had to be with his family. Why should he make time for someone who never made time for him? So the son wasn't like his father – he was the opposite of his father."

Ryan thought about this. He could be the opposite of Dawn. He could put other people ahead of his own needs. He could take care of people around him, not use them when he needed something and ignore them all other times.

Finally, the CD ended. "Thank God that's over," Ryan said.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Kirsten asked.

"Well, it's not one I'd put on willingly, but I guess some of it was all right," Ryan grudgingly admitted.

"You'd better be careful, or you might end up with a Harry Chapin CD in your Chrismukkah stocking this year."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "You can give it to me, but you can't make me play it!"

"OK, let's see what Seth has in store for us next." Kirsten pulled out the next card. "Tell the other person something about yourself that you don't think they know." Kirsten looked at Ryan. "Do you want to go first?"

"Not especially."

"Do you want to do it at all?"

Ryan looked back at Kirsten. "We can do it. Just, you go first."

"OK." Kirsten thought about what she could tell him. "But you have to promise not to tell Seth or Sandy about this."

This intrigued Ryan. "OK."

"No, you have to promise."

"Yeah, I promise. No telling Seth or Sandy."

Kirsten couldn't believe she was going to admit this. "Sometimes, after everyone's gone to bed…"

Kirsten paused and Ryan couldn't imagine where she was going with this. "Yes?" he said.

"I play Seth's videogames."

"What?"

"The rush of the stabbing and killing? Especially if I've had a rough day with contractors, my dad, you boys? It's great to take out my frustrations." Kirsten smiled. "And I'm pretty good at it."

Ryan couldn't believe this. "You play the ninja game?"

Kirsten nodded her head giddily.

Ryan smiled. "Seth will flip when he hears this."

"No, he won't. Because he won't hear it. You promised you wouldn't tell him."

"So what are you going to do when we take the Playstation with us in the fall? You'll have to tell Sandy why you need a buy one for yourself."

"Oh, you won't be taking it with you in the fall. It will distract too much from your studies. No, it's best if the Playstation stays at the house, and you boys can play it when you come home to visit." Kirsten smirked.

"That is so unfair. Seth won't be happy. At all!"

"Sometimes it's fun being a parent," Kirsten laughed. "OK, are you ready? It's your turn."

"I don't know if I can follow that. Let me think." Just then Ryan saw an exit for Fresno. "I used to live in Fresno."

Kirsten looked at Ryan. Was that his answer in the game, or was that just a random fact he decided to state? Because while Ryan had never mentioned it before, it was something she and Sandy were aware of.

"My mom moved us down to Chino after my dad went to prison." He glanced at Kirsten. "Did you know that?"

Kirsten wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't told them much about his past, but he had to know Social Services would have given them some information. She also didn't want to lie to him. "I knew that your dad was arrested in Fresno County, and that you were still living with him at the time."

Ryan just nodded, tight lipped.

Kirsten continued. "But that's the extent of our knowledge." She smiled at him. "Social Services didn't really tell us much about you. You're a mystery," she tried to joke, but Ryan wasn't in the mood.

"So I guess that doesn't count for the game then, since it's something you already knew."

Kirsten thought Ryan had shared quite a bit with her today and felt no need to make him reveal more of himself if he wasn't comfortable. "I think it counts, since it's something you didn't think I knew."

"OK."

Ryan was feeling uneasy, and Kirsten didn't know how to make it better. She thought they should move on to another card, but she'd hate for it to be another probing question. "Do you want to try another card?" she asked him.

Ryan was wary. "I don't know."

"What if I read it first, and if it's something easy, I'll let you know. If it's another discussion question, we'll set it aside."

"Yeah, OK."

Kirsten pulled the next card. "Oh, it's another game. Are you up for a game?"

Ryan smiled. "Sure, as long as you're up for losing again!"

"I didn't lose the last one," Kirsten said indignantly, "but let's not get into that again. Here goes: Let's play The Alphabet Game. Keep your eyes on billboards, license plates, and anything else that has writing on it. Find the letters of the alphabet in order."

Ryan looked disappointed. "How can I win at that? It sounds like we work together."

"We could each do the alphabet separately and the first one to finish wins," Kirsten suggested.

"You're on!"

It took some time to work out the rules but they had a great time playing, as Ryan put it, "Cutthroat Alphabet". Kirsten ended up winning, because she found the elusive "Q" first. There was much dispute over who actually first saw the van with "Suzy Q The Clown" written on the side, but Kirsten asserted that it was her Q. Ryan then claimed that because he was driving, he was at a disadvantage and it wasn't really fair.

By the time they finished the game, they were close enough that they had to concentrate on taking the right exits and finding the right streets for their hotel.

TBC4