Once again, I'm overwhelmed by the reviews.  Thanks everyone.  Enjoy the next installment, even though I don't own the O.C. or any of its characters.

            Seth sat in the front seat of Mitch's car with his long legs resting on the dashboard.  He was flipping through a graphic novel, holding a joint in his hand, casually smoking.  It had been over a week since Kirsten's dinner party and both Mitch and Seth had practically forgotten how Ryan had pummeled his unwanted guest.  Even if Seth's parents had a long memory.

            "How many have you had today?" Mitch asked, referring to the joint.

            "This is my second. Fagan was out and I was able to skip out on history."

            "Where do you go?" asked his friend.

            Seth shrugged.  "Behind the cafeteria.  By the trash."

            "With all the stoners?"

            "If the shoe fits…" Seth smiled. 

            "So you're a stoner now?" Mitch asked with a laugh.  "Last month, didn't know what pot looked like."

            "I'm a quick study."  Seth closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the seat.  It was past midnight and the sky was dark, with only a few stars peaking through the smog.  "Does Summer know where to meet us?"

            Mitch rolled his eyes.  "Not even the pot can get you to relax.  Yes, I told her how to go."

            "Good," Seth said and took another puff. 

He didn't like to worry about the details, but rather let Mitch take care of them.  They were heading off to another Rave.  At first, Seth had been reluctant to sneak out of the house, citing his grounding and the wrath of his parents if he were caught as two reasons to stay inside at night.  But Mitch quickly persuaded him that if he snuck out close to midnight, chances are that everyone was asleep.  Seth had realized his friend was right.  Even when Sandy and Kirsten were up, they were usually busy quieting down the baby.  They never noticed him slinking down the stairs and going out the front door. 

Mitch waited for him outside of the gates and it was easy for Seth to party until nearly dawn and sneak back into his room.  He would catch only a couple of hours of sleep before being prodded awake by his alarm clock.  He'd only done it a few times, but he hadn't been caught yet.

            Ryan twisted and turned in bed.  Something was wrong with the air conditioning, because he was hot and sticky.  He kicked off his covers, plumped his pillow and tried to go back to sleep.  After ten minutes, Ryan gave up and sat at the edge of his bed, wondering what he could do.  He glanced at the book on his night table, but dismissed it, because it was for school and not very interesting.

He stood and peeled off his tee shirt, leaving just a pair of loose shorts made of a jersey material.   He ran a hand through his damp sandy hair and sighed.  It wasn't even late.  Most nights, he was only just getting to bed, but Ryan had turned in early, because Sandy was playing warden, not allowing the least bit of activity while he and Seth were grounded.  He had disconnected the computers, and taken away their cell phones, and had hidden the game controllers for the playstation.  And when Marissa had called the other evening, Sandy said Ryan couldn't use the phone while he was grounded.  Ryan had felt the red creep burn his face and had muttered something about having more freedom in Juvie, which only caused Sandy to pin him to the wall with an icy stare and prompt him to say one more time, "I'm still here, willing to listen." 

It had turned into a battle of wills.

At home, Ryan's only activities were homework, cooking dinner, and reading.  He wasn't sure if music was off limits, but Ryan had never been very into music, so he stayed away.  It wasn't the first time Sandy and Kirsten had grounded him, but it was the most restrictive of any of the times.  The fact that there was no end in sight, unless Ryan explained why he had punched Mitch, didn't make it easier. 

Ryan left his room for the bathroom and noticed a light coming out from under Seth's door.  They had barely exchanged a civil word since Kirsten's dinner party.  Ryan knew it was because he was needling Seth to lay off the drugs.  Seth was using more and more.  He could see the signs.  He had become an expert at reading the signs living with Dawn, her myriad of boyfriends and Trey.  But Mitch, drugs, and the pestering had caused a rift between Seth and Ryan.  Ryan hoped they could repair their relationship to what it once was.

He knocked lightly on the door and waited for an answer.  None came.  "Seth," he whispered, "Can I come in?"  Ryan sighed at the silence on the side of the door, but decided to test his luck anyway.  He crept into the room and called quietly, "Seth."  He was almost surprised to find the room empty.  Instinctively, Ryan knew that Seth was not in the house.  He walked back out and quietly closed the door behind him.

"How's Seth doing?"

Ryan jumped at the sound of Sandy's voice.

"Sleeping like a baby," he answered, hoping Sandy wouldn't notice the slight tremor in Ryan's voice.

"Don't know how he's sleeping through this heat."

"Yeah.  It's pretty hot."

"I'm going to check on the thermostat.  Hopefully it's a programming glitch and not broken."  He tapped Ryan on the shoulder and walked down the hall.

Ryan expelled a breath, not realizing he had been holding one in.  He hoped Sandy wouldn't get paternal and decide to watch Seth sleep and start tucking his blanket up around his chin, because there was no chin to tuck in.

"Summer!"  Seth lips turned up into a genuine smile.  He extinguished the joint and threw the roach into his pocket.  He threw his hands around her waist and swung her around.  "I've missed you."

"Cohen, it's only been like six hours since you saw me."

"I was eating dinner with my family six hours ago."

She slapped his hand lightly.  "You know what I mean.  So tell me, you're parents sprung you loose for this rave?"

Seth raised his brows.  "What do you think?"

"I think you're finally starting to live dangerously."  She pulled his hand and started to weave through the haphazardly parked cars.

"Summer, let's not go inside."  Seth stopped and pinioned his girlfriend against the car.  He leaned in and kissed Summer, jamming his tongue into her mouth.  His hand caressed her waist and searched for the opening of her shirt, and he stuck his hand inside, feeling the smooth creamy skin.

"Not here, Seth," she complained, trying to push him away.

"Come on.  It's been so long.  Mitch won't be back for ages.  His car is big enough."

"Not in a car, Seth."

"Can we at least kiss?"

Summer fell against Seth's lean chest.  "Yeah.  We can kiss."

He pulled her hand and took her back to Mitch's car.  They crawled into the back seat and Seth immediately tried to tug Summer's shirt off. 

"We said, just kissing."

"I thought today kissing was a euphemism for –—" 

Summer cut Seth off with a kiss.  She pushed him down on the seat and ran her hands through his hair.  "God Cohen," she said, pulling away from him, "your heart is racing."

"You do that to me," he said in a husky voice.  He knew it was probably the drugs, but he was glad he had answered the way he did as Summer rewarded him with yanking off her top and she wasn't wearing a bra.

"Turn off the damn alarm, Seth."  Ryan barged into Seth's room and slammed the off button.  "It's been buzzing for thirty minutes and it's damn irritating."

"Thank you," mumbled Seth.

"Thanks!  Thanks?  You're lucky I swore off fighting, because my fists are just itching to slam into your gut."

Seth swung his legs over the side of the bed.  "You're being way too confrontational for this hour of the morning."  He yawned and stretched his hands over his head.  "I didn't sleep much last night.  It was hot."

"What time did you get in?" 

Seth looked up, trying to hide his surprise.  He grabbed a pair of jeans off of his computer chair and slipped his legs into them.  He tugged them up to his waist and fastened them all while sitting, barely lifting his butt off the mattress.  His eyes were red and watery.  Ryan wondered if it was from the drugs or from lack of sleep.  Probably both.

"I don't know what you're talking about."  It was an obvious lie.  Seth had never been a good liar.

"I didn't tell, though Sandy almost poked his head into your room."

"Almost never counts."  Seth tried to grin, but Ryan was having none of it.

"You're both going to be late," Kirsten admonished, when they walked into the kitchen.  She handed them each a bagel in a napkin and told them to go.

"Since when do you do breakfast?" Seth asked, sitting down despite his mother's fierce look.  Since Christina kept Kirsten up most nights, she often skipped the morning breakfast ritual that both Seth and Ryan had grown so accustomed to.

"Since your alarm woke me up.  They invented the snooze button for a reason."

"Well, you actually have to hear the alarm to hit the button," Seth retorted.  "Besides, I put the alarm on the other side of the room to get me out of bed.  It just didn't work this morning."

Kirsten took a quick look at the kitchen clock and said, "I noticed.  Come on, it's time to get moving."

"And pray tell, how are we supposed to get to school?"

"Dad said he would drive you."

"If you would give us our own car," Seth started again, rehashing the old argument.

"If you had your own car, you wouldn't be able to use it, because you're both grounded.  Now is so not the time to bring this topic up."

Ryan pulled a travel mug from the cabinet and filled it with some coffee.  He listened to Seth and Kirsten's banter, unwilling to interrupt.  It felt a little like old times, when the house wasn't filled with tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Hey, Ry," he said turning to his brother.  "Can you get one of those for me too?"  He got up from his chair. "And Mom," Seth said, getting back to the car conersation "there's no time like the present.  In a week, I'm off restriction and I can have my life back."

Kirsten frowned.  She still wondered where Seth was till early in the morning.  After meeting Mitch, she doubted her son's story even more.  She had talked to Sandy, mentioning that they should give Seth the same ultimatum as Ryan.  Tell the truth or face an indefinite grounding.  Unlike Ryan, she knew Seth would cave under the pressure.  But Sandy had said it wasn't fair to change the rules on him, and she had agreed, though inwardly she thought, they were the parents and could do whatever they wanted.

"You know Seth, we can always change the terms of the punishment to mirror Ryan's.  You still haven't told us where you were that night."

Ryan handed Seth his coffee and slipped out of the kitchen, not wanting to hear anymore.  He wasn't sure what Seth had been up to that night, but it was probably similar to whatever he had done the night before.

"Ready for school?"  A ring of keys was dangling from Sandy's pinky.  "If we don't get moving now, you'll be late."

"So I hear.  Yeah, I'm ready," Ryan said after Sandy just threw him a puzzled look.  "I'll be in the car.  Seth's in the kitchen."

Ryan slid into the back seat of Sandy's BMW, balancing his coffee and bookbag at the same time.  He leaned his head against the cool window and waited for Seth to come in.  Seth had been in unusually high spirits this morning.  Ryan had actually enjoyed listening to him complain about their lack of transportation.  But he wondered where Seth had been the night before and what he had been doing.  Even though Ryan had barged in on Seth, ready to take off his head that mornign, Seth had been pleasant, warming up considerably since the night Ryan had punched Mitch.

"Ryan," Sandy said as he slipped in the driver's seat.  Ryan didn't see Seth coming out of the house.  He glanced at his watch and calculated how fast they needed to drive to make it before the late bell.  "Ryan," repeated Sandy.  "Kirsten and I spoke last night.  We decided you should go back to Dr. Acobas."

Ryan didn't say anything.  The words stuck in his throat.  After the adoption, they had tapered off his sessions with the shrink.  His nightmares rarely returned, though they still surfaced every so often.  He didn't want to go back to see the therapist. He had never grown comfortable with the idea of talking about his feelings, though Dr. Acobas had been okay.

"I don't want to go back."

He noticed Seth leaving the house, carefully closing the front door behind him.

"My exact words were," Sandy said carefully, "we decided.  You're going back to work out your aggression issues and your lack of communication."

Ryan scowled and leaned his head against the seat as Seth scrambled into the front seat. 

"Okay, Jeeves," he cried, "it's off to school we go."

Sandy started the ignition and they rode off silently to face the rest of their day.

Ryan couldn't keep his head wrapped around the Supreme Court cases the law teacher was trying to get them to understand.

"Mr. Atwood," he said, trying to pull Ryan out of his reverie.  "In this school, we have a policy that forbids you to use your cell phone or even have it on during the day."

Ryan's eyes darted around the room.  "I didn't bring my cell phone today." 

The teacher smirked.  "I wasn't accusing you, I'm trying to illustrate a point."

"Oh.  Sorry."

The teacher slowly exhaled.  "If you were to bring your phone and say use it in this class.  Turn it on – start playing with it – would I be permitted to confiscate your phone and start scrolling through your phone book and look through your personal files?"

Ryan shrugged.  He knew he was supposed to know this answer.  It related to one of the court cases they had studied last week about search and seizure, but he couldn't remember what it had been all about.

"Mr. Atwood, questions like these are going to pop up on your final exam.  You're going to have to be able to cite cases to back up your answer."

"Yes sir," he mumbled.

The teacher accepted Ryan's apologetic response and went on to his next victim.

Ryan thought about Seth.  What could he do about Seth?  During Seth's lunch period, Ryan had ducked out of class and had gone searching for his brother.  He had finally found Seth where he usually hung out, by the forbidden pier and noticed right away that Seth was smoking a joint.  In some ways, he was relieved that Seth was using an innocent drug and hadn't graduated to the harder stuff.  In Chino most of the kids who started with marijuana quickly started experimenting with Coke or X. 

"How are you affording all these drugs?" Ryan had asked, causing Seth to start.

"Checking up on me?"

"Yes," Ryan said simply.  He jammed his hands into his pockets and lifted his shoulders.  "Someone has got to."

"Mom and Dad have been doing a pretty job of late." 

And to some extent it was true.  Christina wasn't nearly as difficult as she had been the colic disappearing as suddenly as it had come.  She still cried often, but even Ryan was learning the difference between her cries.  Sometimes when she wailed it meant she was hungry, or tired.  Sometimes she just wanted to be held.  Now that she was crying for a reason, it was easier to tend to her needs.  In the past week, it seemed like the bags under Kirsten's eyes had grown smaller.  Ryan knew he was able to get a little more sleep than he was used to.  But Sandy and Kirsten were still busy as ever and didn't understand how deep Seth's odd behavior was.

"They like playing warden."

Seth laughed.  It was true. 

"So how are you affording all this?"

"Marijuana isn't as expensive as you think.  My allowance hasn't stopped.  I have birthday money.  Don't worry, I won't resort to knocking over convenience stores."

"Where do you buy?"  That was the question that had been burning in Ryan's mind.  Was Mitch Seth's dealer?

"It's not Mitch.  He gave me my first samples, but he just hooked me up with his dealer.  I'm not going to tell you who.  I know you Ryan.  You'll start playing hero and beat the bejeezus out of this guy and then you'll be in deep shit."

"I won't hurt anyone."

"That's what you say.  You better get back to class," Seth said, nodding his head at the pass that Ryan clutched in his hand.  "You don't need anymore trouble.  Not because of me."

Sitting in Law, Ryan was touched, realizing that Seth was trying to protect him.  But he knew that it was his job to help Seth and suddenly, like a light bulb going off on his head, he thought of something he could do.

At lunch, Ryan asked Marissa if he could borrow her phone.  He took it and dialed Dr. Acobas's number.  His secretary answered and he asked if the doctor could see him immediately, it was very important.  It took some urging and prodding, but the secretary finally agreed.  He hung and up and dialed the school and deepening his voice he pretended he was Sandy, requesting that Ryan be released from school.

As soon as he hung up and returned the phone to Marissa, trying to ignore her quizzical glare, he gathered up his books and headed for the main office.

"I'm supposed to sign out," Ryan told the elderly secretary.

"Yes, Mr. Atwood, your father called.  Said you had called him because you were feeling ill."

"Yes," he agreed.

He signed the book and left the building, suddenly not sure if his idea had been a good one.

"Ryan," Marissa called.  She caught up to him in the parking lot.  "Is this about Seth?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I thought so."  She leaned over and kissed him on the lips.  "Here, you'll need transportation."  From the way Marissa smiled, it was obvious she saw the relief on Ryan's face.  "Park it in my old driveway or on the street so Sandy and Kirsten don't get suspicious.  I'll get someone to drive me over and pick it up."

"You're a lifesaver," he said.

"I love you."

"Me too."

"Go," she urged patting his ass.  "He'll help you figure out what to do."

He walked over to Marissa's car; suddenly glad that he didn't have to explain things to her and that she was so intuitive to his needs.  He had never told Marissa that Seth was a using regularly.  She had been with him the time Ryan had picked up a wasted Seth from Mitch's place, but they had never discussed it. It was obvious she had guessed, putting two and two together.  This would work out.  He would go to Dr. Acobas and get the advice he needed and he'd be able to help Seth.

But the minute Ryan sat down in the shrink's office; he knew he had made a major mistake.