Title: Trouble in Portland

Summary: What if Ryan had a harder time dealing with the loss of the baby in episode 2.01 The Distance?

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

Chapter 7

Once they got back to the house, Ryan told Carson, "I'm gonna go crash. Thanks -- for coming to get me."

Carson found himself a little surprised to hear Ryan's voice. Ryan hadn't said anything entire ride back from the police station. The only thing Carson had heard him say was back at the station. Just one word. He told the policewoman thanks. Then again, Carson himself hadn't said much, either. He wasn't sure what to say to this boy who wasn't his. And like Ryan, Carson wasn't really a talker. Carson smiled to himself. Put two non-talkers together, and what do you get? No talking.

But now that they were home, there was definitely a few things that Carson had to say to Ryan.

"Hold up for a second."

Ryan stopped and turned around to listen. Carson liked that about Ryan -- he always listened.

"Before you crawl into bed, I think you should take a shower and throw those clothes into the laundry basket." Carson gestured up and down at Ryan's dirty and slept-in clothes.

Ryan looked down at himself, then gave Carson a small embarrassed smile.

"Do you still have a hangover? There's Advil and stuff in the hall bathroom."

Ryan shook his head a little. "That's OK. The police gave me aspirin. It didn't really help, though."

Carson nodded. "Um... one more thing... you're grounded."

That got a reaction from Ryan. He looked straight at Carson's face and raised his eyebrows. "You're grounding me?"

"Well... I talked to Sandy. He's grounding you. I'm just, you know, implementing it."

Carson watched as Ryan stood there for a second, blinking his eyes, like he was trying to process this information and didn't quite believe it.

"Look, Ryan, it's up to you if you want to respect my authority on this or not, but I did just tell the police that I'd be responsible for you. They did release you into my custody."

Ryan raised his eyebrows again at hearing this, but then he looked down and nodded before heading down the hallway towards the bedroom and the bathroom.

Carson couldn't help but smile at that. Nothing like a little guilt to motivate a kid to do what you want.

After Ryan was gone, Carson grabbed the cordless phone and dialed Luke's cell phone. After four rings, it went to voice mail. Carson figured that Luke was probably busy with a customer or something, so he left a message.

"Hey, Luke, it's Dad. I just wanted to let you know that Ryan's back, safe and sound. He got drunk last night and got picked up by the police and spent the night in a holding cell. I had to go sign for him before they would release him. I hope this serves as a lesson to you, too, Luke. I don't ever want to get a call from the police to come get you, understood? Good. I'll see you and Seth for dinner. Bye."

After hanging up, Carson sighed. He hoped that worked. He knew that Luke drank, more than he should, and had gotten drunk on more than one occasion. Carson had talked to his son about his drinking before, but it never seemed to get through. Oh well, no point on dwelling on that now, he had work to do.

Carson spent the next half hour or so talking on the phone to his secretary and others at his dealership, answering questions and making decisions, and then on his computer working remotely.

Once he heard the shower go off, he gave Ryan a few minutes to dry off and get dressed while he packed up his briefcase to head in to work. He didn't really like leaving Ryan all alone, but he had to go in and get some work done. It was still a new business, and he was struggling a little getting it off the ground.

Ryan had just finished his shower, dried off, gotten into his night clothes, and climbed into bed when there was a knock on the door. It had to be Luke's Dad -- there was no one else at home, or at least Ryan didn't think Luke or Seth would be home since they should be working. Although he wouldn't really have heard them come home if they did while he was in the shower.

In either case, Ryan called out, "Come in."

As expected, it was Mr. Ward. Ryan sat up.

"Ryan, I'm heading off to work now, so you'll be here alone until Luke and Seth get off work at 5 O'clock. I put the Advil on the kitchen table if you want it. If you get hungry later, help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

"OK."

Mr. Ward paused for a moment, watching Ryan. "I can trust you to stay put here while I'm gone, right? And just so you know, it isn't true that the way to cure a hangover is to drink more alcohol."

Ryan nodded. Right, he was grounded. "Don't go anywhere. Don't drink any more. Got it."

"OK. Good." Mr. Ward looked a little like he wanted to believe Ryan, and didn't quite, but didn't have much of a choice. "I'll see you guys for dinner. I might be a little late."

"OK."

After Luke's Dad left, Ryan snuggled down in the comfortable bed with the clean sheets and the clean clothes and the clean him. It was definitely an improvement over the bunk at the police station. Ryan drifted off to sleep. Mercifully, he wasn't kept awake by the same thoughts that had been running over and over in his head all morning about Theresa and the baby.

A few hours later, Ryan was awakened by the phone ringing. He checked the clock -- it was lunch time. He wondered if maybe it was Carson checking up on him. He got up and headed out to the living room where the answering machine was. By the time he got there, the answering machine had picked up.

"Ryan, Ryan, it's Carson Ward. If you're there, pick up."

Ryan sighed and picked up the phone. "Hey, Mr. Ward."

"Hey, Ryan. How are you doing?"

Right, like that's why he called. "Better."

"If you're feeling up to it, you should have some lunch."

"Yeah, OK."

"OK... well... if you need anything, you have my cell phone number, right?"

"Um... actually, no, I don't." It would have come in handy this morning if he did...

"Oh, OK, let me give it to you."

After Carson gave Ryan his number, he didn't seem to know anything else to talk about. 'Um... OK... well, I have to get back to work. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yup." Ryan rolled his eyes. Subtle.

"OK. Bye, then."

"Bye."

After Ryan hung up, he did a self-check and realized that he was feeling better, and maybe even a little hungry. Having lunch didn't sound so bad. He hadn't eaten since like lunch yesterday. So Ryan went back to the guest room and got dressed, not in the clothes he was wearing yesterday, though, of course. They were still dirty. He made a mental note to do some laundry later.

Ryan headed out to the kitchen. He took a couple of Advil, just in case they might help with what was left of his headache. Then he made himself a sandwich and settled down in front of the TV in the living room. He vaguely thought about calling Seth or Luke, but figured that Luke's Dad would have told them that he was back, so they'd call if they wanted to talk. And same with Sandy. Carson had said that he had talked to Sandy, so obviously Sandy knew he was here. If he wanted to talk -- and Ryan was sure that Sandy would want to talk at some point today -- he would call Ryan.

So for now, Ryan just settled down to eat his lunch and veg out in front of the TV, hoping that there would be something on the TV that could keep his mind off things.

To be continued.