Oh my goodness! Thanks all for voting Downward Spiral as the Best Unfininished Fic. How amazing. And now it's time for this story (novella?) come to an end. I've enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Usual disclaimers apply.

It was an unusually warm day for Newport in late November. Seth was taking a much-needed break from his studying. There was a flurry of tests and papers as the semester was coming to a close and he was scrambling to catch up so that his grades would be at least respectable. Colleges would focus on his scores from his junior year, but they would look at his current scores too. The stress was taking its toll on Seth, but proudly he could say he resisted the urge for drugs. And the urge was definitely there.

It was hard to believe that only two weeks had passed since he had been arrested and forced to face his drug problem. Seth had no time to be bored despite the fact he was grounded. Between studying, NA meetings, therapy sessions with Dr. Acobas, both individual and family ones, his free time was all booked up. It also didn't leave much time to talk to Ryan and try and work things out.

Ryan avoided him. He wasn't pointedly ignoring Seth. He answered his brother's questions, came looking for things Seth may have borrowed, and tried to work out how they were getting to school when Kirsten said she needed her car. But if Seth was in the family room studying, Ryan found another spot to do his work. If Seth was in the kitchen fixing a snack, Ryan waited until his brother was done before going in or came to the kitchen did what he needed to do without a word. It made Seth feel like the outcast he had been before Ryan had come to Newport.

So Seth was surprised that Ryan came out to the pool, knowing that Seth was there. He put his bare feet into the pool and kicked at the water.

"The water feels nice," Ryan said quietly.

"It is. You should come in."

Ryan sniffed. "Kirsten would kill me. She yelled at me when I came through the kitchen barefoot."

"She's back to being a mother hen." Seth grinned.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "You're loving every minute of it."

Seth shrugged. "I won't deny the truth. Mom is back to herself. Wheeling and dealing with Grandpa. Annoying us. What else could I ask for?"

"It would be nice if we could be all right again."

Seth caught his breath. That had been his line for the past week. But Ryan hadn't wanted to meet him halfway. Seth had started to give up, thinking things would never be all right between them, and just ready to move on despite it. Was Ryan finally willing to forgive him?

Seth turned, purposely falling off his floater so that he could climb out of the pool and sit next to Ryan.

"I wish I could change how I acted."

"You can't."

"I know and I'm sorry. You were being a pain, but I know you were looking out for me."

"I didn't want you to be like Trey or my mother and you almost went there."

"I wasn't a very nice person."

Ryan shook his head in agreement.

"I know sorry isn't enough, but I don't know how to make it up to you. I'm not using the drugs anymore, and I swear Ryan that's what was making me act like that."

"Oh come on. You were being a prick, even before you were addicted. When I first met Mitch you acted like a royal jerk and you had only used a couple of times."

Seth bit his bottom lip. "Hindsight is twenty/twenty. You were dissing my friend when I didn't see a problem. I mean, how would you like it if last year I told Marissa to stay away from you, because she drank too much?"

"Point taken."

"So how do we fix it?"

"We don't. It's like with Sandy, we can't go back. We can just go on."

"Brothers?" Seth stuck out his hand.

Ryan grinned mischievously. "Brothers." He accepted Seth's hand, pretended to pull him in a hug so that he could throw Seth into the pool.

"Oh no. You're coming with me," yelled Seth. He grabbed his brother's leg and pulled a fully clothed Ryan with him.

The splashing and giggling caught Kirsten's attention. She walked over to the glass door, cradling a cup of ice coffee in her hands. Her motherly instinct told her to get Ryan out of the pool, because he had just gotten over a cold, but she quashed her instincts. She hadn't seen Seth and Ryan have this much fun together since early summer. They were finally mending fences and who was she to get in the way.

"They look like they're having fun."

"Dad." Kirsten jumped. "I didn't hear the bell ring."

Caleb shrugged. "I let myself in." He put a hand on Kirsten's right shoulder. "Seth looks happy again. So does Ryan."

"We're getting there." She turned around. "How can I help you?"

Caleb shrugged, keeping his gaze fixed on the boys out in the pool. "Why didn't you tell me that Andrew Weider's son was responsible for Seth's drug problem?"

Kirsten sighed. "Because Seth is responsible for his own actions."

"But Weider's son was the one who gave Seth the drugs in the first place. Introduced him to it. Introduced him to his dealer."

"Yes. He is."

"And you didn't see fit to tell me that?"

Kirsten recognized the careful controlled voice her father was using. As a child, it had frightened her. Now it annoyed her that he was using it with her even though she was an adult with teenage children. She didn't feel like being rebuked. And she didn't feel like answering to her father about how she and Sandy chose to deal with Seth's problems.

"Who told you about Mitch Weider?" Kirsten walked over to the coffee maker to fill her mug with more coffee.

"Believe it or not, Sandford. And I'm glad. I was about to go into a business deal with Andrew Weider."

"About? What do you mean Dad? What do Seth's problems have to do with your business deals?"

"I'm not about to help a bunch of drug pushers to make a lot of money, even if it's at a loss to me." Caleb crossed the kitchen to stand near his daughter.

"That's ridiculous. If you back out of the deal now, you're going to take a huge hit. Can you afford it? Things at the Newport Group are precarious at best. This Riverside deal was important. It was supposed to turn things around."

Kirsten and Caleb were so deep in conversation they didn't notice that the splashing had stopped and that the boys had emerged from the pool.

"Kirsten, I don't care. I want to wash our hands of the Weiders. I want them out of our lives once and for all."

"It's not smart business Dad," Kirsten insisted. "And frankly, you can't blame Andrew Weider for his son's mistakes any more than you can blame Sandy or I for Seth taking drugs. At some point our children have to take responsibility for their own actions."

"Uh oh, Ryan. I think we walked in on something."

"Yeah. We'll go around the other way," offered Ryan.

"You're dripping all over the place," Kirsten said, irritably. "Just go upstairs quickly and change."

"I was trying to do that." But Ryan didn't move.

"So, you guys were talking about me?"

"Not really, Seth. We're talking about the Riverside deal. You did come up though," she amended, realizing Seth had heard part of the conversation and would know she was lying.

"Oh." Seth looked at his grandfather. "You mean you found out that Mitch's dad knew about my drug use?"

"What?" Kirsten spluttered.

Caleb grabbed Kirsten by the arm, because she looked like she was about to lynch someone. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Ryan's face go pale. He wasn't sure if it was because Ryan had known and was afraid of being found out or because he hadn't know anything.

"Seth, explain," demanded Caleb.

Seth's shoulder's visibly sagged and a shiver went up and down his spine. He wrapped the towel tightly around his chest. Water was dripping from his wet suit forming a small puddle around his feet.

"Mitch and I were once smoking a joint in his room and his dad walked in. I thought for sure he'd call you Mom. But instead he just yelled at Mitch, telling him how stupid he was and how he was jeopardizing his business deal. Next thing I know, the Riverside deal is going through."

"The bastard!"

"Dad, calm down. You're going to have a stroke."

"You still believe we should go through with the deal, Kiki?"

Kirsten sighed. "It's business Dad. It's not personal." She heard a cough, and turned to see a dripping Ryan still standing there in his wet clothes. "Ryan, you're going to get sick again if you don't change out those wet clothes. Go change. Now."

"Okay." He ducked and ran past Kirsten, avoiding her glare, even though he knew it really wasn't aimed at him.

"Seth you too."

"Mom, don't be mad."

"I'm not mad Seth. I just wish you had decided to stay away from Mitch."

"What do you mean?" Caleb bellowed. "You still let that boy near your son."

"It's Seth's choice, Dad."

When Seth had returned from the NA meeting, the night Sandy had insisted Seth stay away from Mitch, he was still adamant about maintaining his friendship. Sandy and Kirsten had tried to dissuade him from his decision. They had discussed it with Dr. Acobas at family therapy, but he wouldn't change his mind. So Sandy and Kirsten had let it go. Seth was grounded anyway. His time with Mitch would be limited to school time. And Dr. Acobas had agreed forbidding Seth from staying friends with Mitch would likely push their son to do exactly what they didn't want.

"You're being ridiculous Kiki. You and Sandy need to grow a spine and forbid Seth from even talking to that delinquent."

"Dad, you had your chance to be a parent. Don't tell me how to be one. Do whatever you want with the Riverside deal. But leave me and my family out of it. Seth," she turned to her son, "Go. Change."

"Yes ma'am."

But Seth went to Ryan's room instead. "Yeah. So I left a couple of facts out."

His brother was wearing a dry pair of slacks but his chest was bare. "Just a little fact." He held up his thumb and forefinger holding them slightly apart.

Seth imitated him. "Just a little fact."

Ryan rummaged through his drawers, looking for a clean shirt. "I thought Caleb was going to pop a vein in his forehead."

"He still might."

"Julie will be happy. She'll inherit."

"I can't believe I just blurted that out. I never intended that anyone else know about that."

"Mitch is toast."

"Should I warn him?"

"No."

"You would say that."

"I have no sympathy for the guy."

"What do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know."

They found out two days later. The Harbor campus was quiet. It seemed like every student's head was bent over a book. For a change Ryan and Seth had arrived at school with more than a few minutes to spare. Summer was off in a corner trying to memorize a few last minute facts. Marissa hadn't arrived yet. Ryan sat near by at a table with his notebook open trying to study for a pop quiz, but he knew he couldn't cram one more fact about the government and politics into his head. So he put his head down, hoping to absorb facts through osmosis.

"Hey."

Ryan looked up at the sound of Mitch Weider's voice.

"Hey man," returned Seth.

"So how's it going?"

"It's going."

Mitch nervously glanced at Ryan, expecting him to jump up and punch him in the gut. "I don't k now if you heard, but your grandfather called off the Riverside deal."

"Uh, yeah," Seth answered. "I did."

"My dad blew a gasket. Especially when Mr. Nichol called him a drug dealer. Anyway, my dad decided to ship me back to New York. I'm leaving as soon as the semester is over."

"Your mom is okay with it?"

Mitch shook his head. "She's enrolled me in some military school. But she agreed I could stay by her for vacation."

"That was generous."

Mitch nodded. "Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." He didn't give Seth a chance to answer. He turned around and walked away.

Ryan, who hadn't said a word during the entire exchange, looked after the receding figure. And he suddenly felt sorry for Mitch Weider, because like him a year-and-a-half ago, the boy had no one to turn to and no hope. His parents were abandoning him, but Mitch didn't have wonderful people like the Cohens to take him in. He turned to Seth, but didn't have to say anything. Seth could see what he was feeling.

"You okay?" Ryan asked.

"Everyone will be happy. Mitch Weider is out of our lives."

"Yeah, but you still have all the baggage he saddled you with."

"Mitch was just an excuse Ryan. He's not the reason any of this happened. I am. I'm taking responsibility for what I did with drugs and what I did to our family."

"Good. And now we can just focus on being normal."

"Dude, you're talking about the Cohens. That's an oxymoron."

Summer came over. "The bell's about to ring. We should get going. We can't wait for Marissa to get here."

"Okay."

Seth and Ryan gathered their books.

"You guys look okay again."

The boys turned to each other. Ryan offered his patent sideways look and Seth raised his brows.

"Are we okay?" Seth asked.

"We're okay," Ryan agreed.

"But is she okay? Owe!" Seth rubbed his shoulder, where Summer swatted him. "Girl, you need to meet with our therapist to deal with those rage blackouts."

They were all laughing as the bell rang signaling the start of another school day.