Thanks everyone for being so patient. I was a little stuck on this story – aside from having many guests- but I'm back into it now. It's a little short, but it was just a good place to end it. Next, I'm off to the Sunny State for a conference, so it may take a while to update. Usual disclaimers apply.

As soon as Ryan had put Christina down for another nap, he anxiously waited for Seth to come home. He paced the front foyer, jumping at noises of the house settling, the clock ticking, and the shrill ringing of the phone. It was only a telemarketer. He glanced at the clock every few seconds, wondering who would make it home first Seth or his parents. And what would Ryan do if Sandy and Kirsten did come home first? What would Ryan tell them?

When he first heard the gravel in the driveway crunch under the tires, his heart jumped in his throat. But then he realized it could still be Seth and was relieved to see an unfamiliar car in front of the house. He watched Seth stumble out of the front seat and sling a backpack over his shoulder. He waved to someone inside the car; Ryan would bet a month's allowance that it was Mitch.

Ryan yanked open the front door and grabbed Seth as he nearly tumbled into the house.

"How much did you smoke?" Ryan asked not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. He led Seth into the family room and eased him onto the couch where they so often fooled around with the play station.

"Hi Ryan. I had a great day? How about you?"

"I asked—"

But Seth cut him off. "I heard what you asked," he snapped, "and it's none of your damn business."

"Yes it is," Ryan said softly. "I can't help you if you —"

"Who the hell asked you to help?" Seth was leaning back against the couch with his legs were splayed apart. "I don't need help."

"Yeah? So what are you going to tell Kirsten about where you were after school?"

Seth shrugged.

"You were at litmag," Ryan said quietly.

"Thanks," Seth said, running a hand through his curls. He didn't get it. On one hand, Ryan wouldn't stop riding him about the drugs, but on the other hand, Ryan kept covering for him with his parents.

"Maybe you should go to bed or something."

"Yes Mommy." Seth rolled his eyes. He was getting tired of Ryan's constant mothering.

"If they see you like this, they'll figure it out. It's not like they've never seen someone high on Marijuana."

"I'm just a little buzzed."

"You're high as a kite," Ryan muttered.

He twisted the leather cuff around his wrist, wondering if he should force Seth up into his room or just let Sandy and Kirsten see for themselves what was going on. But he knew no good would come of it, if they realized Seth was using drugs. He wasn't sure how they would react, but he was certain it would be the straw that broke Kirsten's back. This afternoon had been the first glimmer of her former self that Ryan had seen since the baby had been born. But Ryan felt that he had to keep things perfect so things would stay okay.

Seth tried to stand, but he stubbed a toe against the coffee table and swore loudly. "I'm starved. Is there anything to eat?" He bent down to rub his sore toe.

"If you go up to your room and stay there," offered Ryan, "I'll make you something to eat."

"Why are you so hell bent on getting me out of the way?"

"Because Sandy and Kirsten are due home any minute and I don't want them to see you like this."

"What's the difference? They don't give a damn."

Ryan wrinkled his nose. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't noticed they've been in absentia of late?"

"Not really. They noticed fine when I tried to beat the crap out of Mitch."

Seth rolled his eyes. "That was hard to miss."

"They noticed when you cut school. When you came home at three a.m."

Seth sighed. "When was the last time they noticed anything good about us? If Dad's not working, he's taking care of the baby or Mom. And Mom has totally freaked on us. It's like she's suffering from postpartum depression or something."

Ryan looked away from Seth, because on some level he knew his brother was right. The only time Kirsten or Sandy had noticed them in the past few months is when they had not been doing what they supposed to do.

"Well, using marijuana will definitely put you on their radar."

"You going to cook something for me?" Seth asked, ignoring Ryan's comment.

"Are you going up to your room?"

"Fine." Seth half stalked half staggered out of the room. Ryan watched him go up the stairs, tempted to stand behind him in case he fell, but just stood from afar and watched. When he was halfway up, and it looked like he would make it to the top of the steps safely, Ryan turned to the kitchen to make Seth something to eat.

Seth flipped on his computer as soon as he was in his room. In only a couple of minutes he was logged on to the Internet and checking his buddy list. He smiled when he saw Summer was online.

Hey Summer.

Seth, she answered. What r u doing online? I thought u were grounded.

The 'rents aren't home. What they don't know won't hurt. ; )

U R such a bad boy, Cohen. You should be punished.

Will u do it? he wrote back.

Eww! Cohen. You're gross.

U love me anyway.

Sigh. U R right.

Want to do something 2night?

Didn't we just go over this? U R grounded.

That didn't stop u the other night at the Rave. Come on. Let's meet on the beach someplace.

Fine. Only if u r sure you won't get in trouble.

I'm sure Ryan will cover 4 me. He always does. Midnight?

See u then.

TTYL.

Seth hit enter one more time, sending his final message to Summer and then closed the window. He opened up a new one and was checking out some other sites when Ryan walked in. He was holding a plate with a thick sandwich and a cup of orange juice.

"Food. Thanks. I'm famished." Seth reached out for the plate.

"It's one of the side effects of marijuana," Ryan stated as a matter of fact. "It makes you hungry. Whenever my mom was using she'd start to blimp out."

"I don't think I have to worry," Seth said. "My shapely figure can handle it."

He turned from Ryan and back to the computer.

"What are you looking up?" He didn't bother reminding Seth that he was grounded. It wouldn't make a difference.

"Nothing special." He closed the screen when Ryan leaned forward and tried to peer over his shoulder.

Giving up, Ryan sat on Seth's bed. He racked his brain for something neutral to discuss with Seth. Something that wouldn't land them in a fight. He hated that Seth had his back turned to him. Once, it felt like eons ago, Seth would talk a blue streak, barely taking a breath, giving Ryan a headache. He didn't like the Seth that used drugs.

"Were you at the senior meeting, where they started talking about the college application process?"

Seth shook his head. "I was at the pier."

Smoking pot, thought Ryan. He couldn't believe Seth would screw up his chance at college. All summer long Seth had talked about escaping Newport with Ryan and going off to college. They'd started choosing colleges, Seth's number one criteria that it was far away from Sandy and Kirsten's watchful eye. He guessed with Sandy and Kirsten no longer as vigilant, it made no difference to Seth.

They heard doors slam in the driveway. Ryan got up to look out of Seth's window. "It's Sandy and Kirsten."

Seth put his index finger up in the air and whirled it around.

"I'll tell them you have a headache. You might want to look sick in case they peak in."

"Yeah. Whatever."

"You're not going to make this easy."

"Why should I? I don't give a damn."

Ryan missed the old Seth.

"Seth, stop it," insisted Summer, pushing him off her. He had a hand up her top and was cupping her breast and he was kissing her — hard. He wasn't being gentle, but he was squeezing — hard. "You're hurting me, Cohen. Get off." She pushed him harder and she felt him release her breast and slip his hand out from under her shirt.

They were in the back seat of Summer's car, which was parked overlooking the golf course belonging to the country club. It was the same club that he and Ryan had been white knights during the debutante ball the last summer.

"I bet Princess Sparkles has been getting more action lately."

"Don't be like that, Seth."

"Like what?"

Summer closed her eyes and shook her head. Seth was not acting right. Lately, he was ravenous for sex. Not that they weren't all about the sex most of the time, but Seth had always been tender, making sure she was ready for each step as they went along and never pushing her to anything she wasn't in the mood for. In the beginning of the relationship, it was Summer who had taken the lead, but lately Seth was so much more aggressive and always trying to take the lead. If he had been aggressive and tender she would have liked it, but this was a Seth Cohen she barely knew.

"You're being… mean."

"What are we in kindergarten? Mean?"

"Do you enjoy hurting me? The other day, I came home and I had a black and blue mark on my breast because you squeezed so hard!"

"I'm sorry. You should have said something."

"I'm saying it now."

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."

It was the way he was saying it that riled Summer up. "Cohen, what's the matter with you. Why are you like this?"

"Like what?" Seth asked, exasperated. He turned around and faced front. He kicked the seat hard. "You didn't tell me you were hurting you. Now you did. I'll be more careful. What do you want from me?"

"I want the Seth Cohen I fell in love with."

"Who the hell was that Seth Cohen?"

"A sweet, tender boy who loved me from here to the moon," she said, trying to lean on his shoulder and to recapture some of those moments from when they first started dating.

"Well he was never real. I mean that Seth Cohen was an only child. That Seth Cohen thought he had a brother who wanted to be part of his family. He thought his parents gave a damn about him. That Seth Cohen thought he was actually Jewish. He had a bar mitzvah. He ate a Passover Seder and he loved celebrating all the other holidays –especially the ones with presents – but then that Seth Cohen found out the Jews don't consider him Jewish!"

"What are you talking about?" Summer stared open-mouthed, horrified at Seth's tirade.

Seth closed his eyes and leaned his head back on his seat. Suddenly, he felt like all the energy had been sapped out of him. His feet, his chest, even his eyelids felt heavy. He just wanted to stop talking, but Summer wouldn't let him.

"Talk to me Seth. What are you talking about? Of course you're Jewish. You're name is Cohen." She didn't know why she was focusing on that, because there were so many other things obviously bothering Seth.

"That's what I thought, until someone told me otherwise."

"So they're wrong."

"I looked it up. I've checked all over the Net and I went to the school library and Ms. L helped me look it up. It's true."

Summer paused, not sure what to say. "So what if it is? And I'm not sure you're right. But say you're not Jewish. Who the hell cares? You're still Seth Cohen."

"You just don't get it."

"So make me get it."

"I was always Seth Cohen the boy with the Jewfro. The geeky awkward kid who couldn't play sports, because he was all Jew and not an athlete."

"I didn't care that you were Jewish. I didn't even know until you said something about your Jewfro. It didn't matter to me either way," Summer said softly, trying to put a reassuring hand on his arm.

He shook it off. "You just don't get it. You don't get me. If you can't understand it maybe we shouldn't date anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about Cohen?"

"I'm talking about us. It's not going to work out. We're both changing too much."

"I'm not changing." Her voice shook and tears welled up in the corner of her eyes and threatened to slip, but Summer Roberts would not cry. Especially over a boy. Especially over Seth Cohen. "You're the one who hasn't been acting the same. It's ever since –"

Seth climbed over the seat and slid into the driver's side. He turned the ignition and jerked the gearshift into reverse. He pressed on the accelerator and turned onto the nearly empty street so violently that Summer fell over in her seat. She was glad the streets were empty, because Seth was driving like a madman.

Five minutes later, he reached his house and screeched to a halt before the gate's entrance. He jumped out of the car, nearly colliding with Summer who was trying to get into the driver's seat.

"Sorry," he said.

"So am I," she said hotly. "I'm sorry I wasted my time on such a prick. To think I wasted my time and energy being jealous of Anna, because you had chosen her. Go to hell Cohen. I don't care if I ever see you again."

"Yeah. Have a nice life too," he said and walked up the drive.

He was looking at his feet, wondering if he should smoke another joint before he went to bed, when Ryan hissed his name. Seth jumped. He hadn't seen his brother.

"Isn't it passed your bedtime?" he mocked.

Ryan tore off the skin from the edge of his thumb. "I've been waiting here for the past five minutes, praying you'd come home. Sandy went into your room and saw you were gone. I had to do some fancy footwork, but I think he believes me that you're in the pool house looking for something."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Sneak around back and try to make it look like you were really searching for something."

"Okay." Seth turned and started to walk to the back of the house.

"I can't keep covering for you Seth."

Seth stopped and turned around to face Ryan. "So don't," he said and walked away.