Not nearly as long… But IMHO stopped at the perfect spot. Glad everyone is enjoying the story. The reviews have been overwhelming. I really need to buy a new thesaurus… Okay, Josh and Fox the OC and the line everyone will recognize from the finale do not belong to me. I'm just using some dramatic license.

Summer wasn't sure what had possessed her to go after Ryan. She didn't even like Ryan that much. Mostly, she tolerated him for Seth's sake. But when she saw that fraught look on Sandy's face when he had asked when she had talked to Ryan, she knew that a lot had happened that she was not privy to. Bad stuff. Maybe even worse than Seth hitting his own father. It was the wrong time for Seth to go looking for Ryan. He needed to work things out with his parents. So now Summer was her very own search party.

She took out her cell phone and dialed Marissa's number. She had no idea where she could find Ryan, but if Ryan and Marissa's relationship was half as strong as hers and Seth's, then she could suggest a few places for Summer to look. But Marissa's phone went directly to voice mail. She vaguely recalled that Marissa had some family obligation with Julie, Caitlyn and their grandmother. She had mentioned something at lunch after Summer had begged her to go to a movie. With both their boyfriends on restriction, it gave them a lot of time to have a girl's night out. She guessed, Julie had forced Marissa to turn her phone off.

Silently, Summer cursed Julie Cooper. She needed Marissa more than ever. But instead of dwelling too much time on Julie, she focused on Ryan. Where would a brooding Ryan run off too? He hadn't taken any of the cars, so it was doubtful that he was on the way back to Chino. She thought of calling the Cohens to see if his bike was still there, but it didn't make a difference. In this rain, he wouldn't get far on bike or by foot.

Seth sat across from his father. But he knew he wasn't in any more trouble than he had been earlier that day, because they were sitting knee to knee on the sofa in the family room. Seth knew that all the scolding and punishments were handed out in the kitchen. That's how it had always been. No, whatever was in store for him now was fatherly concern. Fatherly love. And Seth didn't know if he could handle it any better than the yelling and screaming. He didn't know that he could face his father without breaking down if Sandy showed him any compassion or forgiveness.

"There's still another NA meeting tonight," Sandy told him.

Seth nodded, but didn't say he would go.

"I can drag you there, but I'd rather you go of your own free will. It won't help your problem if you're forced to go and don't own up to it."

Seth tried to avert his gaze from Sandy, but his father gently pushed his face forward, forcing him to look into his eyes.

"Dad I—"

"Seth, are you using drugs?"

Seth nodded his head. He looked down at his feet. Too ashamed to admit the truth, but too afraid of not telling the truth. Earlier, when he had pushed his father it had revealed a side of him that he never wanted to see again. He closed his eyes. He knew he needed help. But he was frightened of what that help meant he would have to face. There was so much truth and ugliness inside of him and he just couldn't deal with that right away.

"How often do you use?"

Seth shrugged.

"Answer me Seth." Sandy's voice was firm but gentle.

"I've been smoking three or four joints a day."

"For how long?"

"I first started smoking about three months ago."

"But you weren't high on marijuana today."

Seth shook his head. "X. It was the first time I tried it though. I swear."

"I believe you."

Seth expelled a breath, relieved at what Sandy said. He knew Sandy had no reason to trust his word.

"Go wash your face, Seth. I'm going to grab my keys and we're going to head off to that NA meeting."

"I don't think I can do it, Dad."

"You don't have to talk. You can just sit and listen. You'll benefit from that too."

"Please Dad, don't make me," Seth begged, his voice cracking.

Sandy held onto both of Seth's knee and looked him straight in the eye. "You're a Cohen Seth. You've got your Nana in you. Her courage and her gumption. You've even got Caleb in you, God help us all. His cunning and doesn't take crap from anyone attitude. You definitely have lots of your mother in you and she's a fighter. There's even some of me. You can do this."

Seth shook his head, his curls flopping from side to side.

"You can Seth."

Kirsten stood in the doorway, phone in hand, listening to her son and husband talk. It felt like her heart was breaking into pieces.

"I can't stop. I – I need it," said Seth.

"You mean you want it."

"There's no difference, Dad. Not anymore."

"Seth," Sandy repeated. "All you have to do tonight is sit and listen to others talk about their drug addiction. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to promise me or your mother anything. All you have to do for us is sit." Sandy spoke slowly and deliberately as if he were talking to toddler.

Kirsten wanted to say something, but she didn't know what to say. She'd never seen her Seth like that. Even when the jocks were beating him up at school, he'd always been able to deal with it using humor. He'd crack self-deprecating jokes or even better he'd joke about the jocks who were bothering him. He called it the Seth Cohen retaliatory zinger. He'd never broken down in front of them. Maybe that was part of the problem. They always expected him to be so strong around them, never letting his true feelings show. But kids who went through what Seth went through bought guns and used them on their schoolmates.

"You can do it, Seth," Kirsten said quietly. "I know you can."

He swallowed hard, showing his adams apple.

"Your dad will sit right there next to you."

"Will you come too?" he asked, feeling small and ridiculous, but he really wanted his mommy.

Oh God, he was ripping her heart out, she thought. "Seth, someone has to stay here in case Ryan comes back."

"Wh- What happened with Ryan? Why'd he leave?"

"We'll talk about it another time," Sandy said quickly. "Right now, we need to focus on you."

"But –"

"Seth, we should get going," Sandy said. "Come on. We can talk about it in the car. Okay? Come. Let's go."

Sandy stood and to his great relief, Seth followed.

Summer dialed Ryan's number. She didn't expect him to answer, but he did.

"Thank God, Chino. Where are you? I've been looking all over for you."

"I'm fine Summer. Did you find Seth?"

So that was why he answered his phone. She had forgotten to call him to say Seth was all right. "I brought him home. He's with your parents."

"Is he okay?"

"He will be. I think he and your dad are talking. They were really worried about you, trying to decide if someone should go after you or stay with Seth. They didn't know what to do. Chino, tell me where you are."

Ryan hated when Summer called him Chino. He knew she did it without thought. It rolled off her tongue as easy as calling Seth Cohen or calling Marissa Coop. But he knew it had started so she could rub in where he came from.

"I'm fine Summer. I'd rather be alone."

"What's that noise behind you?" She strained to identify something in the background.

"Summer, I just need to be by myself."

"I don't know if it's such a good idea."

It sounded like water lapping onto the shore. He was at the beach, she thought. Her eyes searched the area around her. Newport was full of beaches. He could be anywhere! But he was probably close to home, because he didn't have more than a bike to get him around.

"Ryan, please just stay where you are. Don't do anything stupid."

"Too late for that Summer," and he shut off his phone.

Ms. Rothman and the baby were upstairs for all it made a difference, because Kirsten felt absolutely alone. She paced the kitchen back and forth, only stopping briefly to make sure the phone was working. No one was calling her, though she didn't expect to hear from Sandy and Seth for a while. But why was Summer not calling? Had she found Ryan? Did she have a clue as to where he was? Silently, Kirsten cursed herself for not taking Summer's cell phone number. She had tried Ryan three times, but he kept sending her call to voicemail.

She should have never let him run off like that. What if he didn't come home?

When the phone finally did ring, the shrill sounds caused Kirsten to flinch.

"Hello," she said into the phone. She sounded breathless as if she had run for the phone from the other side of the house.

"Kirsten, it's Summer. I think I know where Ryan is."

"You think?"

"I just spoke to him. He sounds okay. But he wouldn't tell me where he was."

"So?"

"I heard water in the background. He's on the beach somewhere. Did he take his bike?"

"No. No. I don't think so. I ran after him to give him his phone and the bike was still up against the house." She walked to the front door to make sure.

"I'll find him. I promise." Summer was silent for a minute. "How's Seth?"

"I'm sorry Summer. I should have told you right away. He and Sandy are at an NA meeting."

Summer closed her eyes. "That's great, Kirsten. You know, Seth is strong. He'll get through this."

"Yeah he is. I just wish he hadn't fallen this far. But we'll all help him back up."

"I'll be there for him. And Ryan too. I better go get him now."

Seth had pictured the NA meeting to be in a dark dank room in the basement of some church. And maybe there were NA meetings in such places, but not this one. The room was well lit with fluorescent lights and comfortable mesh chairs formed a circle two-rows deep. A card table was set up in the back, laden with donuts, croissants and cookies. There were also two urns and stacks of hot cups next to all the food. Most of the people were crowded around the table, casually talking to each other. Some were smiling, even laughing. And Seth wondered how they could be so easygoing with each other in such a place. How did they get back to that place where they could laugh and smile? It had been so long since he had really laughed.

"Dad, I can't do this," he said for the hundredth time that night. He started to leave, but Sandy grasped his shoulder and blocked his exit.

"Yes you can. You've gotten this far," Sandy whispered in his ear. "You'll just sit in the back and listen. No one is going to force you to talk."

"First time?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Seth looked up with a smile that twitched. "Yeah."

"I walked in and out six times before I actually sat down at one of these meetings."

Seth nodded nervously.

"It's not so bad. You can just listen to people talk and hearing their stories was pretty amazing. Scared me off drugs pretty good. I'm six weeks clean," the man said proudly.

"That's great, man. Congratulations."

"It could be you in six weeks too. But only if you stay." He nodded his head to the circle, where people were starting to grab seats. "It's not so bad."

"Thanks."

"I told you so," Sandy said wiggling his brows. "All you have to do is listen."

"Okay. Okay," Seth said holding up his hands. "I'll go sit."

Summer started combing the beach near Holly's beach house. She barely remembered seeing Ryan at that party the summer before junior year, she was too drunk, but Seth assured her that she had invited Ryan after the charity fashion show. That party often came up in their conversation. Seth liked to remind them how Luke had tried to beat the crap out of them, and actually had accomplished just that. They all liked to laugh at how Ryan and Luke had ended up friends.

She tried to recall the events of that summer as she scoured the empty beach. She pulled her hood tight around her face. The rain was really starting to come down hard. He probably wasn't even on the beach anymore. Who in their right mind would sit on a wet beach in middle of a rainstorm?

But then she saw him. A long figure, sitting with his knees to his chest, his head bent low to protect his face from the wind and the rain. He was sitting close to the ocean, so water was lapping up against his legs. From a distance, she couldn't really be sure it was Ryan, but who else could it be?