Title: Nobody Leaves This Family Twice

Summary: A little missing parenting from 2.03 The New Kids On The Block.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C. No profit is taken from this story.

Author's Notes: This takes place during The New Kids On The Block right after the morning kitchen scene with the Cohen family.

"Oh... oh... Seth, don't worry. Your grandfather's situation is very serious, but your father and I are handling it."

"Right, Grandpa. To tell you the truth I haven't even like... um... slept well for the past couple of nights, so concerned have I been for his well-being."

"But everything is gonna be ok..."

"Right. Right?"

"Right."

"And, what? If Grandpa, like, he did have to go to some white collar prison with tennis and Tivo then..."

"Don't worry, Seth. It won't affect you."

"You wouldn't lose the company?"

"No."

"What about the house?"

"Son, that's crazy talk."

After that, Kirsten hurried off to work. Seth went upstairs to finish getting ready for school. Ryan stood up from the kitchen table and started getting his things together to head off to school with Seth. Sandy remained seated at the table, working on his paperwork.

Or at least, that's what Sandy was supposed to be doing. What he was really doing was watching Ryan. They had just gotten him back, and Sandy was worried that Ryan still didn't feel like his place in the Cohen family was secure, despite what he said when he came back last week that he knew that this is where he belonged. Sandy wasn't fully convinced that Ryan was fully convinced of that. And now with all this uncertainty thrown at them by Caleb...

After a few moments, Ryan noticed that Sandy was looking at him. He stopped packing up and looked back at Sandy and gave him a look like What?

Sandy gave Ryan a little embarrassed smile, knowing he'd been caught watching him.

"I just wanted to say... um... Ryan..."

Ryan waited patiently for Sandy to get to the point.

"It's just... if it did happen -- which it won't -- but if it did, you know... if we lost the Newport Group and... everything... which won't happen --"

Ryan smiled to himself. Seth and Sandy were so alike sometimes. "Sandy..."

"Right. Get to the point. I just wanted you to know, that no matter what happens, you're staying with us. You're part of this family now."

Ryan sat back down. This sounded like it was going to be a serious enough talk to warrant sitting down.

"But..."

"Look, I know that we let you leave this summer, but that was for a good reason. We're not letting you leave again. Like I told you last week, nobody leaves this family twice."

Ryan leaned forward on the table. "But, wait. If you lose all your money... I mean... You guys pay for everything for me. School. Clothes. Everything."

"Yeah. And we do for Seth, too."

"But Seth is your son."

"You're not a burden, Ryan. Don't even think that. We want you here. Money is not an issue."

"But if I left, I could support myself. I had that construction job in Chino that paid pretty well. I could afford to rent a room..."

Sandy shook his head emphatically. "No way. We're not letting you drop out of school. If needed, you and Seth could work part-time, but we're not letting you guys – either of you – drop out of school. Well, OK, maybe we won't be able to afford Harbor any more, but you boys could go to public school."

"But this summer..."

"Yeah, I know. You had dropped out of school. But that was to support a girlfriend and a baby. You won't need to do that."

"Still, if I did support myself, you guys wouldn't have to."

"Ryan, look, I know you would just want to help, but leaving us won't help us. The best way that you can help is to stay. You have to be here with us to help us. Make sense?"

Ryan looked down.

Leaving. That's what his family was good at. His mother left him, abandoned him, for his own good, to help him. And while that worked out, and he was happy here with the Cohens, he still wished deep in his heart that she had been able to stay with him and clean up her act and be a real mother to him. And he himself had left the Cohens and Newport this summer to try and make life easier for everyone, but like he told Theresa, it just made everything more complicated. Yeah. Leaving. Leaving sucks.

Ryan looked back at Sandy and nodded.

Sandy continued, "Besides, if this happens, we're going to need you. You and me, we know how to survive without money. Kirsten and Seth, they don't. They've never had to. Even when Kirsten had her bohemian phase, she always knew that she had her trust fund to fall back on, which isn't really the same as really being without money."

"Yeah."

"Kirsten and Seth -- They're going to need us, both of us, to help them through this. You know, if it happens, which it won't."

Ryan looked at Sandy for a moment. He understood what Sandy was trying to say. They wouldn't abandon him when he needed them, and he wasn't about to abandon them when they needed him. He wasn't going to run out on them just because they lost their money. Ryan didn't care about the money, anyway. He cared about the family.

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. OK. Don't worry about it. I'm not going anywhere. No matter what."

Sandy smiled back. "Good."

Ryan nodded to Sandy then got up and finished packing up his stuff for school.

The End