Title: Black Diamonds
Summary: Ryan makes friends with an African-American student at Harbor.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C..
Author's Notes: This is the last chapter of this story. It has been my longest story yet. It was a challenge. A thank you to my loyal reviewers. And a thank you to my beta, Eileen.
Chapter 20
Gwen watched Ryan leave the dining room. She turned towards her brother. "God, Nathan, I never knew you were so insensitive."
Gwen got up and followed Ryan out of the dining room, hoping to catch up with him and make sure he was OK. She found his dishes in the kitchen, but he wasn't there. She figured he probably had retreated to the pool house. Sandy and Kirsten had told her and Henry that Ryan did that when he was upset. Gwen looked out the french doors in the kitchen and saw Ryan standing next to the pool, with his back to her.
Gwen went outside and walked up behind Ryan. She didn't want to scare him, so as she approached, she gently said his name.
"Ryan?"
Ryan turned to look at Gwen, and she could see that he was still upset, but he didn't look really angry like he did inside. Maybe Ryan was the kind of person whose anger flared up then went away quickly.
"I'm sorry, you know, about ---" Ryan gestured in the direction of the house.
Gwen put her hand reassuringly on Ryan's arm. "No, I'm sorry, about my brother. He can be a real jerk sometimes."
"That's OK."
"No, Ryan, it isn't. When we decided to do this thing to try and teach Nathan a lesson, we didn't think about how it would affect you, bringing up your past and your family and everything. So I'm sorry we even started this. I'm sorry we upset you."
Ryan blinked a few times rapidly and looked down.
Gwen continued, "You know what, I'm thinking maybe you should go home. You don't need to be here like this. I'm going to end this thing, tell Nathan the truth. You don't need to be here for that."
When Ryan looked up at her, he looked so uncertain. Gwen couldn't help but reach out and hug him. The boy needed a hug. She was happy when he hugged her back.
After she released him, she told him, "Go on, pack your stuff. I'll have Sam drive you home."
Ryan gave her a little smile, then nodded and turned and walked into the pool house.
Gwen went back into the house. She found the whole family in the kitchen, cleaning up after brunch. Henry and Nathan were standing by the french doors, presumably they had been watching the scene in the back yard. When she saw her brother, Gwen gave him a glare. He at least had the sensitivity to look down, looking a little embarrassed. Gwen looked at Henry and gestured with her head, indicating that she wanted him to follow her out of the kitchen, so that they could talk alone. She wanted to tell him about sending Ryan home and that maybe they should call ahead to let Sandy and Kirsten know that Ryan was coming home upset.
Nathan watched Gwen and Henry leave the kitchen, and turned back towards the now empty back yard. He looked at the pool house and could see Ryan moving around in there, but couldn't tell what he was doing. Nathan had watched Gwen get upset about Ryan being upset. He had watched her talk to Ryan quietly, then hug him. It looked like she really cared about Ryan. And it looked like Ryan responded to her, too.
Nathan went back to helping clean up after brunch, while keeping an eye on the back yard for Ryan, and keeping an eye on the doorway to the livingroom for Gwen. He wanted to apologize to both Gwen and Ryan. He now saw that he was wrong. Gwen and Henry really cared about Ryan, and he did really need the home that they could provide.
After a couple minutes, Nathan saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and turned towards the back yard to see Ryan coming out of the pool house, carrying a full dufflebag and bookbag. He started to head along the pool, maybe to walk around the house to the front. Nathan panicked. Ryan was obviously leaving, running away. He quickly looked towards the livingroom, but Gwen and Henry still weren't back yet from wherever they went.
Nathan knew it was up to him to fix this. He was the one that screwed everything up. He quickly went through the french doors and went over to intercept Ryan.
Ryan saw Nathan hurry over from the kitchen. He really didn't want to deal with him, so he sped up. But Nathan came to a stop in front of him, so Ryan had to stop.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"This is your home."
"No, it isn't."
Ryan tried to walk around Nathan, but he moved to block Ryan's path again.
"Could you just let me talk to you for 30 seconds. Please."
Ryan's attention was caught by Sam, who had come out into the back yard and was now standing a little distance behind his Uncle Nathan. He was nodding at Ryan, so Ryan took a deep breath, put down his dufflebag and bookbag on the ground and turned his attention back to Nathan to listen.
"I'm sorry, Ryan. Really, I am. I didn't mean to make you feel like this isn't your home. It is."
Ryan opened his mouth and was about to tell Nathan the truth when he spotted Sam again behind Nathan. When Ryan looked over there, he saw that Gwen and Henry had also joined Sam. Sam was shaking his head at Ryan and put his finger to his mouth like Shhh. So Ryan didn't say anything and went back to letting Nathan talk.
"You can't leave. Gwen and Henry really care about you. And Sam and Angela and Maggie, too. Don't let me being an ass ruin your chance to have a new life, a new home here with them."
At this point, Gwen and Henry and Sam came over and joined Nathan and Ryan. Henry told them, "Let's go inside. We all need to talk."
Nathan followed Henry and Sam into the livingroom. Ryan picked up his bags and went with Gwen. Gwen told him, "You know, you don't have to be here for this, if you don't want."
Ryan gave her a little smile. "I know. I want to be." Gwen smiled back at Ryan.
When Ryan got into the livingroom, he saw that everyone was there. He put down his bags near the french doors and sat down on an available chair. Maggie came over and climbed up on his lap. He got her settled in and put his arms around her.
Henry cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. "OK, everyone, it is time to clear the air. Nathan, Beverly, we haven't been entirely truthful with you about Ryan."
Nathan looked from Henry to Ryan and back to Henry. "You've been lying to us? What about?"
"I wouldn't call it lying. Think of it more as we've been putting on a play, all of us, for your benefit." Nathan looked confused.
Henry continued, "Ryan is a friend of Sam's from school. What we told you about him and his background is pretty much the truth, but he doesn't live here with us, he lives with the Cohens. You remember, we told you about Sandy Cohen, Ryan's lawyer?"
"Yes?"
"Well, it was him and his wife Kirsten who took Ryan in, not us. And that was last summer, not last month. Actually, remember back in September when I told you that we were seriously going to pursue taking in a troubled kid, because we met one?" Nathan nodded. "Well, that was Ryan."
Nathan looked at Ryan, nodding thoughtfully. "OK. So... Why did you tell us that he lived here with you?"
Gwen answered, "To teach you a lesson."
Nathan looked at his sister, surprised.
"We didn't take Ryan in, but we could have, or someone like him. We could have a white member of this family, and we wanted you to accept that, to face some of your prejudices and overcome them. And I think you have. From what you said outside, you accepted Ryan as a member of this family. So, I think, mission accomplished."
Nathan still looked confused. He looked from Ryan to Gwen and Henry. "But -- All of that was just play-acting? But it seemed so real. It seemed like you really cared about him."
"Oh, that was real." Gwen looked over at Ryan. "We do care about Ryan. If he didn't already have a home with the Cohens, we would be happy to give him a home here with our family."
Ryan was surprised. Happy, but surprised. He didn't know that the Reeses felt that way. Ryan found a smile spreading over his face. Gwen smiled back.
"Ryan, I know I said you should go home, but now that everything is out in the open, how would you feel about staying for dinner, like we planned?"
"Um.. Sure. Sure."
"Great."
Ryan sat there, watching Gwen and Henry talk with Nathan and Beverly, and watching Sam and Angela, and holding Maggie in his lap. He thought about what Gwen said. Yeah. If he didn't already have a home with Sandy and Kirsten and Seth, he wouldn't mind living here. He wouldn't mind being the newest black diamond. He wouldn't mind at all.
The End.