She had sent the housekeeper home and was now kind of missing the company. She had attempted to work and at least be productive on her ditch day, but then she abandoned all of her files on the kitchen table and opted for getting drunk and laying out by the pool. She was on her third glass of wine when she doorbell rang. Knotting her pool robe, she went to answer the door. Summer stood on the front step, looking bright and perky as she usually did.

"Hi, Summer," she smiled and opened the door wider.

"Hi, Mrs. Cohen. Sorry to, um..." she eyed the robe, "disturb you."

"I was just tanning."

"Oh. God, okay. I was just...that would have been...I mean, not because you're old...because you totally aren't...sorry. Nothing. I've just...walked in on my dad and my step mom more than...nothing. Sorry." Kirsten smiled but couldn't help but wonder why so many people had her sex life on the brain lately. This was the third or fourth time in the past few days that someone had said something. It was a little disturbing. She suddenly realized the awkward silence that had settled between her and her son's girlfriend and she smiled uneasily.

"You know, Seth actually isn't around. I'm not sure where he is."

"Yeah. He's at some comic...thing."

"Oh. Okay." What was she doing here if she knew where Seth was?

"I actually...oh, this is weird. Um, I actually wanted to talk to you. I saw your car pull in awhile ago...which sounds so creepy...I totally wasn't watching your house or anything, I just happened to see you pull in and I thought that with Seth gone, this might be a good time to talk to you."

"To me?"

"It's about Seth."

"Oh. Of course, sure. Come on in." Kirsten crossed her fingers as she lead Summer inside that this wasn't a sex talk. She would not be able to handle that. She had never felt comfortable. "Have a seat." They sat in chairs opposite each other and Summer swung her legs nervously. "Is something the matter?" Summer absently nodded.

"I'm really worried about Seth."

"Me too," Kirsten smiled wanly.

"Is it okay for me to be talking to you about this? Because you seem really cool and everything...but I don't want Seth to know I'm here because he would totally hate me for going behind his back to his mom."

"What happens here stays here," she said with a shrug. Summer smiled.

"Thanks."

"So what's the problem?" Summer took a deep breath and stared at her lap.

"He's planning on running away." This took Kirsten by such surprise that she almost felt as though she'd had the wind knocked out of her.

"What?" She then realized that she didn't want to hear the sentence repeated and hastily cut herself off. "Where?"

"He's taking his boat. I don't know exactly...he asked me to come with him."

"What did you tell him?"

"I thought he was kidding. It freaked me out a little but I just laughed it off. And then he got really quiet, which, you know, is weird for Cohen—um, Seth. And I asked him if he was joking and he said something like 'I knew it was a dumb idea.' And then he started talking about the Backstreet Boys or something and when I tried to ask him about it he would just change the subject."

"God dammit." Kirsten held her head in her hands. "I knew he was upset...I just didn't know how upset."

"I wanted to tell you because I thought you might be able to help him. He said something about how last night you guys were talking and how it was really nice. And Cohen's not a feelings guy. Normally that would totally sick him out, you know? Like, feelings discussion with the parents. But he said that you said some really cool things and that it was nice." Kirsten glanced up.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Summer smiled. "I was just thinking that maybe...I don't know. You could talk him out of running away or something." She shrugged. "I'm just really worried about him. I wouldn't be able to...I would feel really bad if he ran away and I hadn't said anything to you."

"Thanks for coming to me," Kirsten said. "I really appreciate it. That you care about Seth that much. That means a lot to me." She played with her hands and then looked up. "Are you guys okay otherwise? I mean, obviously this is probably kind of a...barricade for your relationship, but aside from it?" Summer shrugged.

"Yeah. He's definitely the most interesting guy I've ever gone out with. It's a little scary...I'm just waiting for him to dump me. He's, like, freakishly smart and just really, really clever. He's going to get bored with me." Kirsten couldn't help but laugh and Summer looked a little offended. "What?"

"You couldn't be farther from the truth, sweetie. He would absolutely kill me if he knew that I told you this..." she studied Summer and then shrugged. "He said the same thing about you last night."

"Cohen thinks I think he's boring?" Kirsten nodded. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Summer opened her mouth to speak, looking quite pleased, when the front door opened and Seth walked in. Summer jumped up.

"Cohen!" she squeaked. Seth eyed her suspiciously as he closed the door behind him.

"Hi, honey," Kirsten followed suit and stood up next to Summer.

"Hey. What are...both of you doing here?"

"Your grandpa gave me a day off," Kirsten explained, and Summer nodded supportively.

"And you?" Summer froze and Kirsten took over.

"She just got here. She was looking for you and I made her come in."

"No. I asked," Summer lied blatantly. "I wanted to hear embarrassing stories about you as a kid. She wouldn't tell me any."

"That's because there are none," Seth said, grinning. "Once a stud, always a stud."

"Ew," Summer remarked.

"Yeah. Good one," Kirsten laughed. "Well, I've got work to do. You guys going out?"

"Yeah, Cohen, I found this really cute bag the other day and I decided to wait until you could come with me. Because we all know how much you love the mall."

"No..." he moaned, and Summer bit her lip.

"Please?"

"Damn. The lip-biting thing. You suck. Let me get my wallet." He disappeared upstairs and Summer turned quickly to Kirsten.

"Thanks a lot." Kirsten smiled.

"No, thank you. We'll talk to him more. I won't let him leave. Thanks for coming to me."

"I'm such a bad liar," Summer muttered.

"You did fine."

"I've decided that I'm only coming if you'll let me indulge in some Guns N' Roses!" Seth yelled as he bounded down the stairs. "I feel the need to do some really dramatic 'Welcome to the Jungle' air guitar solos." He galloped out the front door and left Summer to follow. She turned to Kirsten, laughed, and said softly,

"How could I ever get bored of that?"

---------------------------------------------------

As much as she didn't want to, Kirsten knew she had to discuss what Summer had said with Sandy. She found him in the kitchen, holding an open file in one hand and a beer in the other.

"Hey," she said softly, and he glanced up.

"Hi. How was your day?" His voice was painfully cold.

"Okay, thanks. You?"

"Can't complain." He returned to reading his file and she sighed.

"Sandy, I know you're mad at me, and you have every right...but something's going on with Seth and I think we really need to talk about it." He calmly set down the file and focused his attention on her. "Summer came over today when Seth was out. She says that he's been talking about running away."

"What? That's crazy. Seth would never do that."

"She said it seemed pretty serious."

"That's ridiculous."

"She knows him, Sandy." He stared at her skeptically.

"No. No way. I'm not losing two kids in one week." His voice was oddly quiet and she could hear how much pain he was in. "I'll go talk to him."

"No! Wait. I promised her that we wouldn't directly say anything to him. She says he'll be really mad if he finds out that she told us. He's already suspicious because he saw her here today. I think we should just keep a close eye on him for a few days and make sure...nothing happens."

"How are we supposed to do that? It's summer vacation. We're working, he's home. He could pick up and get the hell out of here any time he wanted and we wouldn't have a clue until we got home."

"Summer's with him during the day and she's just as worried as we are," Kirsten reasoned. "Just...act normal. Overly friendly, if you must. And if we think it's necessary, we'll intervene." He sneered and she looked hurt. "What?"

"You're just calling all the shots lately, aren't you? Aborting one child, keeping an eye on another. She does it all. No task too great or too small for Kirsten Nichol." She was stunned, to say the least.

"Sandy!" It came out as sort of a strangled yelp.

"I'm sorry, should I have run that by you first?" She had never heard him be so openly vicious.

"Fuck you," she muttered, too close to tears to say much else. He stormed out of the room. It was like they were back in college again, slinging insults. Verbal dodge ball, if you will. He was obviously very distraught by all of this. He would come to his senses eventually and apologize. She leaned against the counter and closed her eyes and tried not to hate him.

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Okay, that's it for now. I have more ready, I'm just doing some editing. So review and let me know. I was a little unhappy with the way I ended it, because it's a little out of character, I think, for Sandy to get so angry. But I kind of did that on purpose. Just to...show that he's quite mentally distraught over everything. Like my interpretation of a little breakdown, perhaps? Let me know what you think. Thanks for the outstanding feedback so far, you guys are awesome! ;) xoxo, Claire