Thanks again to all of those who reviewed, I updated as soon as I could because I know I left you hanging! Hope you like it. Please review!
Surprisingly however, it was Jimmy Cooper who answered the door. "Seth! There you are! Your parents have been worried sick, kiddo!" he smiled despite what he was saying. "Good to see you're okay, though." Seth smiled a little back.
"Are they here?" he said as he stepped inside and dropped his bags on the inside of the door.
"Yah, your mom's sleeping." they walked into the kitchen where Sandy was on the phone facing away from them.
"okay. Thank you so much Josh. Yes, I'll tell him. Bye." Sandy whirled around and saw his son.
"Seth." He breathed. "Son, I'm so glad you're home." Sandy had thought carefully about what he would say to Seth first. He knew that Seth would later be reprimanded for his actions, but for now, all Seth needed to know was that they cared. He enveloped his lanky boy in a huge bear hug while Jimmy went upstairs to get Kiersten. "I'm so glad your safe."
"Seth Cohen!" Kiersten screamed as she ran down the stairs, apparently her thoughts on Seth's return had been quite different. "Where have you been!"
"You know where I was." he answered meekly, but looking straight at her.
"How could you justleave like that!?" he tone was quite a bit calmer after seeing that her son was okay. He shrugged and she grabbed him for a tight hug. She was squeezing him so hard he could barely breath, but he kept quiet. His mom didn't hug often. When she let him go he took a few steps back and looked at them both, trying to meet their eyes but finding himself staring at the floor as he quietly said, "I'm sorry."
"Its good that you're sorry, son." Sandy didn't smile, but care and concern lingered strongly in his voice.
"But that doesn't excuse you from what you did."Kiersten said calmly, lifting his chin to look at her.
"I know. I justI just"
"You needed to get out, get away." Jimmy said from behind.
"Yeah, I thought I could escape my problems if I escaped Newport." Seth had never had a problem telling his parents the truth, and how he felt. That was part of why he wasn't the spoiled brat he should have been.
"Well, we all wish that things weren't the way that they are, but there isn't much we can do." Kiersten explained.
"All we can do is take each day at a time, okay?" Sandy said. Seth understood and nodded. They all seemed to take a huge sigh of relief.
"So, how come your back so early?" Sandy said, his tone brightening.
"I didn't see any reason to stay out there, andI got homesick."
"That's my boy." Kiersten smiled.
"Well, I gotta go"Jimmy stated.
"Oh, yes. You go, don't let us keep you here." Sandy said loudly.
"Okay, I'll catch you guys later." Jimmy casually stated at he left their house.
"So?" Seth looked up.
"So what?" he parents shared questioning looks.
"So, that's it?"
"What do you mean?" his dad asked, confused.
"Well, don't I get a verbal lashing of some sort? A punishment? A lecture at least?"
"Did you learn your lesson?"
"Yeah, I guess. Yes."
"Then why would we need any of that?"
"The truth is, Seth, we're just really glad that you're home and you're safe. We couldn't ask for anything more." his mom cut in. Seth let out a silent sigh of relief. He could only hope that Summer's reaction would be similar.