Now that I've finished Downward Spiral I can concentrate on finishing this fic. I hope you enjoy. The usual disclaimers apply. The one where I lay absolutely no claim to The O.C. or its characters and just wish I did.

Ryan took a deep drag of his cigarette, knowing that when he went back up to the house Kirsten would say something. But he didn't care. What would she do? Ground him? Kick him out? It didn't matter. Ryan didn't think that she known how Sandy intended to drag him back to Newport. But… But… Ryan searched for a reason to be angry with Kirsten and couldn't find one, but at that very moment he was angry with his foster mother too. Even if there was no logical reason for it.

"Hey, Ryan."

He looked up, surprised to see Summer Roberts pulling up in an electric blue Mini Cooper.

"Nice set of wheels." Ryan walked up to the car and rested his hands on the roof and bent down to look into the car. "When did you get them?"

"Yesterday."

"What was the occasion?"

"I didn't have a car. So my dad bought me one."

Ryan poked his head through the open window and studied the interior. "What sort of stereo system to does it have?"

"It's pretty hot. You want to check it out?"

"Sure." He yanked the door open and hopped into the front seat. "Really nice." He fingered the leather seats. "But shouldn't you be showing this to Seth?"

"Cohen's home?"

"Yeah. Isn't that why you came by?"

She shrugged. "I was… you know… just driving by."

"Marissa doesn't live here anymore."

"Coop is a mess. I know it stinks, but I'm just not getting involved with her drama right now. I have my own."

Ryan didn't want to think about what Summer had just said. He couldn't deal with Marissa just yet. So he said, "Seth misses you."

"Then why'd the jerk leave me? With just a note?"

"I thought he invited you to sail to Tahiti with him."

Summer rolled her eyes. She flipped on the stereo and Gavin Degraw filled the tiny vehicle. She angrily tapped the steering wheel, concentrating on the empty street ahead of her.

"You want to go get a slurpee? I need some sugar."

"Okay."

"Do you have to tell the Cohens you're leaving?"

Ryan shrugged. "It doesn't matter." He wasn't so sure that was true. Sandy had been pretty firm before, and he knew that he expected him for dinner, but a sugar rush sounded good since he had smoked his last cigarette for a while. Besides, it sounded like Summer had Seth on her mind and he wanted Seth to be happy. Summer made Seth happy. Maybe he could smooth things over for his foster brother.

"When did you get back to town?"

"Yesterday."

"Are you here to stay?"

"I guess."

"You don't sound too thrilled."

Ryan sighed. "It's not that I don't want to be here. It's just that I need to be in Chino for Theresa."

"You really think it's your kid?"

"No."

"I don't get it."

"I don't get why you're pissed at Seth when he asked you to sail to Tahiti with him."

"He left a note. He wrote, 'I can't stay in Newport without Ryan. I'm sailing to Tahiti this summer on the boat I named for you. Meet me in Catalina tomorrow and we'll do it together.'" She tonelessly recited the note Seth had left her. "Nowhere in the note did he stop to think about my needs. And frankly, while I realize that you coming to live in Newport with the Cohens changed things for Seth, didn't our relationship change things for him too? Wasn't I enough for Seth to stay?"

Ryan chewed on Summer's words. He turned up the volume slightly and stared ahead at the open road. Finally, he said, "You and Seth need to talk. It's hard to say what was in Seth's mind, because well, his train of thought is so difficult to follow, but I think Seth thought that by inviting you along he was showing you how much he loved you. He couldn't stay in Newport, but he couldn't not be around you. Maybe he didn't do it right Summer, but his heart was in the right place. Don't punish him for that. Don't punish yourself for that."

Summer glanced sideways at Ryan and then hung a sharp left into the Seven Eleven parking lot. "He loves me?"

"Without a doubt Summer. He's bummed because he thinks you don't love him back."

She sighed. "I really need that sugar."

They went into the store. Ryan watched Summer take the largest cup and fill it with a mixture of cherry, grape and cola flavors.

"That's just disgusting."

"Taste it before you judge." She waved the oversized cup in his face.

"No way."

She took a long sip. "Yum. Don't bash it until you taste it."

"I'll pass."

"Chicken."

"Who're you calling chicken?"

"You Chino." She held out the cup again.

He grabbed it out of her hand, smirked, and took a sip from the straw. Summer watched his expression change from skepticism to surprise.

"It's good."

"Told you."

"Who would have thunk it?"

"You have to have a little more faith Chino."

He watched as she swaggered to the counter, her ass swaying, making his pants go tight. Quickly, he turned to the slurpee machine and filled a cup for himself, hoping the proximity to the cold drinks would get rid of the bulge in his pants. This was his best friend's girlfriend. Not to mention that he had a girlfriend, albeit a rather messed up girlfriend, and there was a girl he had possibly impregnated back in Chino. He wondered if complicated was tattooed to his ass.

"Chino, you coming?" Summer called.

He wished Summer would stop calling him Chino. Ryan went to pay. He put the cup onto the counter and asked for a pack of Marlboros. He knew he had more smokes in his room, but he wouldn't get at them for a while and he wanted to smoke another before he faced the Cohens again.

"You have to be eighteen. You have some ID?" The clerk pointed to the sign that said "Under 18 no tobacco. We card."

Ryan groaned. The same signs were all over the stores in Chino. No one bothered to card him in Chino. "Just the slurpee then."

"What's with the smoking," Summer asked when they were back in the car. "Don't the Cohens have a thing against it? I mean the Nana has lung cancer, right?"

"It calms my nerves."

"You don't seem happy to be back in Newport."

He shrugged. "It's complicated."

"Why'd you come back?"

"Sandy made me. It's weird." Ryan leaned against the headrest. "When I beat up Oliver, Sandy came in to tell me that Dr. Kim had suspended me. He tried to get me to talk and I wasn't talking. At least, Sandy wasn't listening."

"That was pretty messed up time."

Ryan nodded. "Sandy said he couldn't keep me there. That if I wanted I could walk out. But if I wanted to stay I was pretty much grounded."

"What a choice."

Ryan laughed, suddenly realizing how bizarre it sounded, especially when he added, "I chose being grounded. But last week Sandy let me go. Then he suddenly changed his mind and told me I had to come back. I mean he gave me an ultimatum between jail and Newport."

Summer whistled under her breath. "Sandy and Kirsten must have realized how much they loved you to do that. They must have realized how they didn't want to continue without you in their lives."

"So you think what they did was okay?"

"Oh, I'd be pissed if my dad did that. But well, aren't you glad that someone cares enough about you to do that. From what Seth told me—" Summer paused and cast a sideways glance at Ryan, looking to see if he would be mad or annoyed that she and Seth talked about him when he wasn't around, especially about his personal life. But Ryan didn't look upset. "From what Seth told me you didn't have anyone who really cared about you before you came to Newport."

"I guess I didn't. But—"

"No buts Ryan. They care about you. Bottom line. Listen, if I have to give Seth a chance and talk to him, then you have to give the Cohens a chance and listen to them."

Ryan didn't answer. When he stopped to really think about it, he was glad that someone was looking out for him. He just didn't know how to reconcile that with his feeling of total responsibility for Theresa.

"So you're going to listen?" She asked as she pulled into the Cohen's driveway.

"I won't have a choice. I reek of smoke and I'm late for dinner and I'm bound to be in for a lecture."

"Well, good luck then."

Ryan got out of the car, but looked back at Summer. "You should drop by later on. While I'm being reamed out, Seth will be eavesdropping, because well that's what he does, but he can't do anything else while he's grounded. He really wants to talk to you Summer."

"I'll be by later." She waved and sped off, leaving Ryan to face the Cohens on his own.

When he walked into the kitchen, Kirsten, Sandy and Seth were seated around the table eating supper quietly. A place was set for him, conspicuously empty. Ryan mumbled an apology and sat down. He caught Kirsten's glare as she passed him the chicken, even though she didn't say a word. He looked down at his plate, concentrating on the china pattern.

Kirsten sniffed loudly. "Were you smoking? It smells like smoke."

Ryan's eyes snapped up. He opened his mouth, about to deny it, when his gaze met Sandy. "Sandy already took away my pack," he said conveniently leaving out the fact that he had palmed one or that he had half a carton stashed in his duffel bag. He liked to smoke. Sometimes he needed to smoke. And if he was going to live in Newport, an hour away from his maybe child and its mother, he was going to need them even more.

Kirsten nodded, instead choosing to start grilling Seth, asking him if he was planning on getting a job during the summer.

"Can I?"

"I'd like you to. You can't sit around all day. Ryan will be working at the Newport Group. I can find you something to do there."

"Uh. No thanks."

"How about my office then?" Sandy asked.

"Actually, I'd like to see if the comic book store could use some help. Maybe I can give some sailing lessons."

"No sailing lessons." Sandy pointed his finger at Seth. "You're lucky we're not selling your boat."

"Okay. No sailing lessons." He stabbed his food with his fork. "So, Ryan. You're going to start working in the bowels of hell?"

"Seth!"

"What?"

"Eat your dinner," Kirsten demanded with an exasperated sigh.

"I am."

His mother shot him a dirty look. Seth just looked down at his plate and concentrated on his food. The rest of the dinner was silent.

Ryan rolled over, slamming the snooze button on his alarm. He curled up, scrunching his pillow under his head. One more minute, he thought. Then I'll get ready for my first day of work. He snuggled under his covers, until he heard a light knock and the door creaking open.

"Ryan. Are you up? We have to leave here in about forty minutes."

Ryan rolled over. "I'm up."

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit. I'll put on some coffee."

Thirty minutes later, Ryan was showered and dressed. He grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee, took a box of cereal out of the cabinet and started munching right out of the box.

"There's enough time for you to pour a bowl and eat like a mensch."

"What's that?" He put another handful of Captain Crunch in his mouth.

"It's Yiddish for man. It usually denotes a decent man." She put a bowl in front him. "I learned that from Nana Cohen."

Ryan smiled and poured the cereal in the bowl.

"Ryan." Kirsten's voice was hesitant. "Are you planning on wearing that to work?"

He looked down at his jeans, wifebeater and button down shirt. "Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"Um, it's a bit casual for the office. Why don't you go back upstairs and put on your black chinos. If you button up this shirt and grab a tie, you'll be fine."

"A tie?"

"It's an office Ryan."

"I didn't know I would have to wear a tie."

"First impressions." Kirsten glanced at her watch. "We don't have a lot of time."

As soon as he came down the stairs Kirsten was hustling him into the front seat of the Rover, quickly glancing at him to make sure she approved of his attire. The first few minutes of the drive were quiet, except for the low rumble of the newscaster's voice as Kirsten listened for the traffic report.

"I'm sorry about last night. About being late for Dinner." He fidgeted with the tie that was choking him.

"Okay."

Ryan tried not to be surprised that she didn't say it was fine. That's what he expected her to say. Instead, she was simply accepting his apology as if that's what she had expected of him.

"I should have called."

"You should have been there on time. Or told us where you were going. I sent out Seth to get you. Then Sandy. I even went looking myself and I was worried Ryan. We were worried. You didn't consider how we would feel when we didn't know where you were."

Kirsten recalled Sandy's arms around her, reassuring her that Ryan would return to them. "Let's just sit down for dinner," he had said. "He'll show up soon enough. He'll get hungry." And he had been right.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"I know this is tough for you, but we really have to work together at this family thing."

"You've been a family for a long time… without me."

"You were doing a pretty good job at it until now." She reached over and squeezed his knee. "I'm not mad. I was more worried than mad. And I just needed you to know it."

She pulled into the parking lot of the Newport Group and pulled into a spot, which had a sign "Reserved for Kirsten Cohen." She parked and asked, "Ready?"

"I guess." He tried not to show how nervous he really was. He hoped to God that he didn't embarrass Kirsten and make her regret her decision to let him work at the Newport Group.