The reviews have been wonderful and where as I was dragging in the beginning of the story, I've really started to like it.  I hope you like this update as much as I do.  And as usual, I don't own the O.C. or any of its characters. Sniff. Sniff.

            Sandy stood in front of the full-length mirror in his bedroom wrestling with a tie.  "When I said I thought you should do what's best, I didn't think I'd be putting on another tie." 

He was yet again playing host at another dinner party, this time for his father-in-law Caleb.  Kirsten had decided to do him the favor after all in exchange for a few more weeks of maternity leave.  She wasn't eager to go back to work with the new baby, but didn't have the courage to commit as a stay-at-home mom.

            "What did you think?"  Kirsten was sitting by her vanity mirror, working with her cover-up to hide the dark bags under her eyes.  Last time she had seen her father's new bride, Julie had snidely commented that there was make-up that could conceal Kirsten's sleepless nights. 

            Sandy sighed.  "I wasn't thinking.  If I had been, I would have tried to convince you not to do this."  He pulled the end of the tie into the loop he created and pulled the knot up to his chin.  "I'll go check on the boys."

            He knocked softly on Seth's door and walked in without waiting for an answer.  His son was wearing a white button down shirt that wasn't tucked into his dark jeans and a sports jacket over it. 

            "We don't wait for an answer here anymore?" Seth asked.

            "Sorry.  I was just checking to see if you were ready."

            Seth sighed.  "I'm grounded.  Doesn't that mean I have to stay in my room and think about what I did?  I shouldn't have to sit through such an enjoyable dinner."

            Sandy couldn't hide his smile. "I think this will be more of a punishment.  What do you think?"

            "Well then, can I at least see if Summer can come?  Ryan is going to have Marissa to keep him company."

            Caleb was dragging both his stepdaughters to his idea of a family business dinner.  Seth's grandfather had become strangely familial since his marriage to Julie Cooper.

            "I don't know," said Sandy. 

            "Come on, Dad.  Be fair," Seth whined. 

            "Okay," relented Sandy.  "Do you think she can make it here on such short notice?"

            Seth shrugged.  "I'll call and find out."  

But he knew she'd be ready, because Seth had already invited her at school.  He had decided either he would either wriggle permission from one of his parents beforehand or he'd deal with the consequences later.  Sandy and Kirsten were too polite to throw Summer out if she were to suddenly arrive and it wasn't like they could do much more than ground him for another month.

            Sandy playfully slapped his son's arm.  "You look great.  I'm going to check on Ryan."

            Ryan didn't know why this dinner was such a big deal to Kirsten, but he put on a jacket and tie anyway.  He looked into his closet surprised at how many ties he had collected in the year since had moved in with the Cohens.  In Chino he hadn't even owned a tie.  Here he wore one practically every other day.  He fiddled with the knot, so it wasn't so tight at the neck and smoothed down his hair one final time.

            He heard Christina cry and yanked his door open to find Sandy standing at his door ready to knock.

            "I'll get the baby," Ryan said.

            Sandy nodded, then called out.  "Put one of those cloth diapers on your shoulder in case she spits up."

            Ryan turned briefly and rolled his eyes and went to his sister's nursery.  He did what Sandy had instructed, because he didn't feel like changing his jacket or having spit up all over his shoulder.

            "Hey baby," he said sweetly.  "Need some TLC?  No one paying attention to you with this big party going on?"  There hadn't been many Cohen galas since Christina's birth with the exception of a small celebration to welcome her into the family.  That had been two months ago and Ryan hadn't missed not being dragged to one Newport event after another.

            "Is she okay?"

            Ryan turned and saw Kirsten behind her.  She looked beautiful, with her hair swept up in a chignon and make-up delicately applied to highlight all of her features.  She wore a simple red dress that cinched at her waist and faired out into a full skirt.

            "She's fine," he answered.  "You look beautiful."

            Kirsten smiled.  "Thank you."  She fixed his collar, glad that Ryan no longer recoiled at her touch.  "You look quite dashing yourself."

            Ryan smiled but the heat still rose to his cheeks. 

            "I'll take her," offered Kirsten.

            "Will you have someone to help out with her during dinner?"

            His adoptive mother shook her head.  "But I haven't been cooking and I definitely won't be serving, so I think I'll be okay to hold my daughter for a while."

            "I can hold her."

            Kirsten shook her head.  "Marissa will be there.  Dad's new business associate will be bringing his son, who's also a senior at Harbor.  You young people will be busy."

            Reluctantly, Ryan gave Kirsten the baby. 

            "Do you know who this kid is?  Maybe I know him?" Ryan asked as they left the nursery and started down the stairs.

            Kirsten shook her head.  "Didn't ask my dad.  Sorry.  But it's not a big school.  I'm sure you've at least seen him around."

            "We'll see."

            The bell rang just as they reached the bottom of the stairs.  Ryan went for the door, but Sandy reached it first.  He watched Sandy cordially, if not stiffly, shake Caleb's hand and offer a Julie a perfunctory kiss.

            "Hey Caitlin," Ryan said, giving Marissa's little sister a high five.  "How are you doing?"

            "Well, thank you," she said politely and walked away from Ryan to Kirsten.  "Is she really my niece?" asked the little girl, excitedly.  "Mommy said Christina was my niece now that she and Caleb are married."

            Kirsten coughed hard, while Marissa buried her head in Ryan's shoulder.

            "Um, I guess, she is." Kirsten said with a smile.  "I hadn't thought of that."

            "Can I hold her?"

            "Oh, I'm sorry sweety.  She's a little fussy now.  I better keep her."

            Marissa grabbed Ryan by the hand and pulled him from the foyer until they were alone in the family room.  She pinned Ryan against the wall and gave him a long luscious kiss.  "You smell nice."

            "Cologne," he said huskily.  He bent his head forward and kissed her deeply.  "I'll need to make sure we get some alone time tonight."

            "We need an alone weekend." 

In the background, they could hear the doorbell ring again.

"Ryan," Sandy called from the other room.  "Can you please go and find Seth."

Grudgingly, they pulled apart and Ryan left the room to find his brother.  He took the steps two at a time sharply rapped on Seth's bedroom door and walked in when no one answered.

"Hey Seth.  I think Summer's here."

"Jeez, Ryan doesn't anyone around here knock?"  Seth scrambled to extinguish the joint he was smoking, but Ryan saw it anyway.

Ryan just stood there for a moment, unable to move.  He shook himself as if to snap out of a daze.  "In the house?  Are you nuts?  What if I was Sandy or Kirsten?"

"Well you aren't."

"Seth, this is really becoming a problem."

"It's like the third time I've tried it."

"But you're doing it in the house now.  You're not even trying to hide it."

"It's not a problem."  He opened the top drawer in his desk and stuck the joint inside.  "I promise.  I can handle this."

Ryan knew Seth was wrong.  He had seen this too many times before.  His mother had tried to clean up her act countless of times.  She would stop for a few days, but when the shakes got too bad, she would light up again or start to snort some coke.  Then she would mix it with alcohol, whatever alcohol she could get her hands on.  Whether it was Jack Daniels, Vodka, or cough medicine when she was really desperate.  He didn't want to see Seth go down the same road as his mother.  He wouldn't let Seth go down that road.  He wouldn't let someone else he loved lose their life to drugs and alcohol.

"It'll be fine," Seth reassured Ryan one more time.  "Let's just go downstairs before Mom or Dad come up to check up on us."

"Wait," Ryan commanded, holding up his hand and stopping Seth in his tracks.  "Who gave you the drugs?  Where'd you buy it?"

Seth tried to walk past Ryan, but Ryan held him back.

"I didn't buy it.  Someone gave it to me. I wouldn't even know where to buy it."

"Who gave it to you?"

"Ryan, you're not my mother.  Stop interrogating me."

"Was it Mitch?"

"Hey, Seth, Ryan.  Everyone's waiting for you.  Caleb's business associate arrived."  Sandy came up to the room and stopped when he saw the expressions on his sons' faces.  "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Ryan said after a brief pause.  "We were just debating something that happened in school."

"Okay," Sandy said slowly.  "We better get down, before your mom kills us with her glare."

"I thought that was Ryan's m.o.," mumbled Seth. 

            Seth was expecting to see Summer at the bottom of the stairs and she was.  She stood beside the tall, gangly, redheaded son of his grandfather's business associate.

            "Seth!" Caleb said with a genuine smile.  "Turns out you already know Mr. Weider's son."

            Seth swallowed.  "I do.  What a surprise."

            He came down the last step and extended his fist to Mitch, who bumped knuckles with him. 

            "Ryan," Caleb asked.  "Do you know Mitch?"

            "We met once in school.  Hey," Ryan said.  He quickly shook Mitch's hands and walked to Marissa's side. 

            "That's the look I usually save for Caleb," Marissa whispered to Ryan while everyone broke into conversation.  "What's up?"

            "I'm going to beat that kids' ass."  Suddenly, Ryan wished Luke hadn't moved to Portland.  Luke would have Ryan's back and help him take care of this kid. 

            "What's going on?"

            "I can't explain now." 

            Kirsten was signaling for everyone to move into the dining room.

            "What's wrong with Cohen?" Summer asked coming up to Ryan and Marissa.

            "What do you mean?"  Ryan dug his hands in his pants pockets and looked down at his shoes.

            "He's just acting funny.  He barely said hello to me.  What took you so long to get him down here anyway?"

            "He couldn't decide what to wear," Ryan said quickly, briefly catching Summer's disbelieving glower.

            Marissa covered her mouth as she did something that was between a snort and a giggle.

            "Seriously, Chino.  He's acting strange... for Cohen that is."

            "Neither of us expected Mitch to be here.  He's probably weirded out by it."

            It took a few minutes for Kirsten to decide on the seating arrangements.  Finally, it was decided that Caleb would sit at the head with Julie on his right and Andrew Weider on his left.   Sandy and Kirsten sat across from each other while the teenagers and Caitlin dominated the end of the table.

            "This way you won't be bored with all our business talk," Mr. Weider said.

            "What deal are you working on?" Ryan asked curiously.  He had worked for the Newport Group during the summer.  And even though he wasn't much more than a gofer, he had been familiar with some of the projects that were underway.

            "Your grandfather and I are working on a deal to develop some property out of town.  Riverside, actually."

            Julie coughed when nearly all eyes turned to look at her.  "Riverside.  That's a — lovely place. Kirsten," she said, changing the subject.  "You did a lovely job with the table setting.  Where did you find these flowers?  They're scent is just divine."

            Kirsten took Julie's bait and continued the conversation.  Dinner was a three course meal, starting with an appetizer, then a cold soup and finally the entrée'.  Ryan picked at his food while he was forced to make small talk with Mitch.  Every time he looked at Seth's dealer, he pictured his fist slamming into the other boy's nose.  He could almost taste the blood that was inevitability land on his raw knuckles.

            "Mom, Dad, is it okay if we go into the family room now?" Seth asked.  "I have a playstation game that Mitch hasn't played yet."

            Sandy eyed his wife across the table.  Seth saw them hesitating.  Apparently, so did Mr. Weider.

            "Let the kids go.  We're just boring them," he said.

            "I'll just watch," Seth assured them, realizing this was about him being grounded.  "I just want Mitch to see it."

            "Okay," agreed Sandy.  "Just keep the volume down."

            The teenagers pushed back their chairs and left the adults to talk amongst themselves.  Seth put the game in for Mitch and handed him the controller.

            "Why don't I play with someone?" Mitch asked.  "Seth?"

            "Grounded.  That's why they were hedging about lettings us go.  Ryan why don't you play?  I'm going to show Summer what we've done to the Pool House."

            Ryan watched Seth take Summer by the hand and pull her out of the room.  It seem like Seth had every intention of continuing where he and Summer had left off earlier that week.

            "I've missed you," Seth said in the pool house.

            Summer looked around.  "I like what you've done with the place."  Aside from new shades, they hadn't updated the pool house since Ryan had moved into the big house.

            Seth pushed Summer down onto the bed and fell on top of her.

            "Can we?" he asked eagerly.  "It's been so long."

            "Cohen!  Are you smoking weed?  Anyone can walk in on us.  I'm not doing it here.  I'm grounding you from sex until you get yourself ungrounded.  I like doing it in my bedroom much better."

            "That's not going to happen anytime soon.  You saw them in there!" he complained. 

            Summer rolled out from under him.  "You better figure out something soon," she whined.  "I miss you."  She buried her face into his chest. 

            "Nice house," Mitch commented as his fingers tapped the controller buttons in rapid succession.  "Is there more to it?"

            Ryan glanced away from the screen.  "No.  There's just a family room and dining room.  It only looks big from the outside."

            "It suddenly got frigid in here."

            Marissa studied Ryan trying to figure him out.  It wasn't like Ryan to be so sarcastic.

            "Why don't you give Mitch a tour?" Marissa suggested.  She regretted her words instantly.  If looks could kill, she would be mincemeat.  But Ryan was too polite to say anything in front of their guest.

            "You want to see the place?"

            "Don't sounds so thrilled."

            "Do you want to see the place?" Ryan repeated.

            "Sure."  Mitch paused the game and stood.  "Where'd Seth go?"

            "He took Summer to the pool house.  They wanted some privacy."

            Mitch smiled knowingly and Ryan realized that he was no longer Seth's sole confidant.

            Ryan took Mitch upstairs and pointed out some of the rooms, reverting to his monosyllabic exchanges.  He was always careful with his words, but with each day, as he grew more comfortable in the Cohen household, conversation had been easier.  But each polite word to Mitch was like eating glass.

            "This is the pool."

            "Sweet."

            Ryan whirled around to face Mitch.  "I want you to stop giving drugs to my brother."

            "I don't know what you're talking about."  Mitch's voice was steady as a rock.

            "I saw the pot."

            "And Seth said I gave it to him?"

            "Who else would give it to him?  Seth has never touched drugs in his life.  Suddenly he becomes your friend and he's doing it all the time.  Seth has never been in trouble until he met you?"

            "So what about that incident where he helped you run away last summer?" Mitch retorted.  "What?  Are you jealous that I'm taking your place in Seth's life?"

            Ryan clenched his fist at his sides and took a menacing step closer.  "Don't… give…. my…. Brother…. Drugs.  Understood?"

            "Get a life."

            Ryan couldn't hold it in any longer.  This kid was as slick as the dealers he knew back in Chino.

            "How much of a cut does your dad get for all your sales?"

            Mitch threw his head back and laughed.  "Now you're calling my father a drug dealer?"

            Ryan was nose to nose with Mitch.

            "You mean, you're dad doesn't get a cut of all your sales?  What type of dealer is he?"

            "I told you—"

            Ryan wasn't listening to Mitch anymore.  He thought he heard the sound of the adults coming towards the pool area.  He needed to end the conversation quickly.

            But then Mitch whispered.  "I didn't sell him the drugs. I don't do sales.  I just had some extra pot.  I'm not so into it anymore and I gave him a bit.  What's the big deal Chino?  You never did any drugs with your first mommy?"   

Ryan didn't think, he just took his balled up fist and threw it at Mitch's jaw.  As usual his aim was pitch perfect.  Before Mitch could recover himself, he jabbed him in the stomach over and over again until Mitch was doubled over trying to protect his stomach, to shocked to throw a punch back.

            Ryan was so blinded with rage he didn't hair the voices running from every direction.  He only felt the strong arms of Sandy and Caleb pulling him off of Mitch.