Thanks to melanie39 for beta-ing

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R+R

Come Undone

Chapter 10

As soon as Seth finished the call he regretted it. Ryan was probably going to kill him or at least never trust him again.

Missy and Chris had both given him 'looks', Chris's 'look' had been more malevolent than Missy's and he'd added a few choice words. Both were now in the frantic process of removing any incriminating evidence from the house, both obviously shit scared that his dad was going to call the police. The cover story was that Ryan had had his little mishap in the car on the way home from the club, the name of which was NOT going to be mentioned.

Seth could really kick himself but when he was worried or nervous his mouth overtook his brain. Why the fuck had he mentioned the overdose? He hadn't intended to but panic ensued at having to deal with something this big. He didn't know what to say to his dad about the abuse, so he hadn't said anything over the phone. He'd just mentioned the overdose, although he knew that he'd have tell Sandy when he got here for Ryan's sake.

He just wanted Sandy to come out here and take control so he didn't have to deal with it. He didn't want to have to face Ryan with what he now knew about him and that made him feel like a real bastard.

Ryan was still the same but somehow something had shifted. Ryan had always been the strong one, the one who fought everyone's battles, and the one that jumped in feet first to help anyone but now in Seth's mind Ryan had become a victim. His brain was now crowded with images that he couldn't remove.

He knew that it would show on his face if he saw Ryan and if Ryan saw the pity in Seth's eyes he knew that their friendship would be over. Seth knew that much about Ryan. Seth just hoped that his dad would know what to do. He had to know…. because Seth had a horrible feeling that they were definitely on the verge of losing Ryan forever.

Seth was waiting on the sidewalk when the BMW pulled up. Sandy and Kirsten both got out and rushed over to where Seth was stood.

The questions started.

'Where is he?"

"Is he O.K?"

"Why isn't he in hospital, why didn't you take him to the hospital?"

Seth stood dumbly; for once in his life the words weren't there. Thank God Missy chose this moment to come outside and take charge. Seth noted that she had changed from the boob-hugging top she had on earlier and looked quite respectable in a sweater and jeans combo. She introduced herself and tried to reassure his parents.

'He's sleeping at the moment and he's fine." She looked at Kirsten and told her she would take her to him.

Sandy started to follow, but Missy gave a pointed look to Seth.

Seth reached for Sandy's sleeve stopping him.

"Dad, we need to talk."

Sandy looked at Seth realising that his son was uncharacteristically quiet; he furrowed his brow, and told Kirsten he'd be right in.

Seth swallowed, wondering how he would approach this.

"Firstly dad this wasn't Chris and Missy's fault, Ryan had taken something at the club, he started going weird in the car. If it wasn't for them Ryan might be in a worse state than he is right now. So don't go all Lawyer on them O.K. It wasn't their fault…. This was just the one time for Ryan."

Seth tried for the damage limitation first.

Sandy's face was like thunder.

" Seth, do you think I'm completely stupid? ... Don't lie to me. How long has he been doing drugs, since he's been living with us?"

"No Dad…Ryan never…. I mean… No…I don't think."

And there was the thing Seth really didn't know. Ryan could have been snorting coke every night in the pool house for all he knew. That might explain the mood swings, the erratic behaviour during the Oliver episode. But Ryan hadn't shown any interest before. At the parties they had attended just about everything had been on offer but Seth had only ever seen Ryan drink beer. Seth weighed up the evidence in his mind.

"Dad…. I don't think he's been thinking clearly the last few days and I don't think he's making the right choices at the moment…that's why I phoned you. Theresa called and told me he was here…so I snuck out, I wanted to talk to him myself as he seemed to be pissed at you. So I followed him here. He said he was pleased to see me and promised to meet me the next day…but something was off…. I've never seen him quite like that before."

Sandy's expression had changed from one of anger to one of concern, it was not often his son was serious…and it was scaring him.

"So ten minutes down the road I turned around and came back here, the others didn't even know he had come in and when we got to his room he was… he was lying there twitching…God it was horrible…."

Seth was getting choked up; Sandy pulled him in for a hug.

"It's OK son."

Seth continued.

" They didn't want to call an ambulance or take him to hospital cause Ryan had told them he'd just come out of Juvie…. It's like we had never existed Dad…But the worst thing is that his bag was packed…. he was going to leave…he wasn't going to meet me, he was going to run out on us again."

Seth sat down on the sidewalk, his left foot tapping frantically, intently staring at the asphalt. Sandy joined him.

"Dad…Missy knows Trey and she told me…"

Seth paused if he could only get the words out.

"She told me that Trey would talk about his Dad then he was drunk…Ryan's dad abused him as a kid…sexually."

The last word was a whisper.

" If it happened to Trey, then it probably happened to Ryan, right?"

Seth looked into Sandy's eyes as if willing him to say that this was all some kind of sick joke. Sandy's face told him it wasn't.

Seth sounded so much like a kid right now; there was no trademark Seth sarcasm, no wit or banter. He seemed so lost.

Sandy shut his eyes and grabbed hold of Seth. Hugging him as if his life depended on it.

Seth had just confimed his worst fears. Kirsten had been right, he was the adult and he had to take charge. No matter how much it might upset Ryan. So he had read the file. It was standard stuff, things that Sandy had seen many times at the PD's office, police reports relating to disturbances at the Atwood residence, charges always being dropped. Ryan and Trey seemed to be very accident-prone. Lots of 'incidents' involving doors and bikes…. but on one page the words 'possible sexual abuse' had leapt out at Sandy. That one line had caused Sandy to crash down to earth. Nothing else was mentioned again in any reports but that one line had remained static on the page and in Sandy's mind.

Sandy released Seth.

"It's going to be O.K Seth, we'll get him through this. I think though it'll be for the best if you didn't mention to Ryan you know about this. I don't think that it's something that Ryan would be comfortable with. If he wants to talk to you then fine…but leave this up to your mom and me, deal?"

" But I'm not sure I can hide it from him dad…. I don't know what to say, how to act around him."

Sandy grew stern.

"Don't make this about you Seth. Ryan is still the same. NOTHING has changed and it's up to you to show him, he deserves that from you. He's going to need you to be yourself and not act weird around him. If you can't do that then we might as well let him leave cause this is his family and we need to be here for him...you got that?'

Seth miserably stared at the ground and nodded. Sandy gave him one last hug then got up and made his way into the house.

He found Kirsten sitting on the bed next to Ryan. Her eyes were red again; she'd been doing a lot of crying these last few days. Sandy pondered on how this kid had made his way into his wife's heart, when just a few short months ago she'd been adamant that she didn't want him anywhere near the family. Now it was like he'd always been there. Sandy felt guilty that it was Kirsten who had stood by Ryan when he'd questioned if it had been the right thing to bring him into their lives during the Oliver suspension episode. One thing was for sure he wasn't about to let him down now.

Kirsten looked at Ryan and stroked his forehead gently.

"I didn't want to wake him, he looks so pale."

Sandy sat down next to her. He looked over to Ryan. Nietzsche said 'That which does not kill us makes us stronger' That was a crock, this kid had been through so much in his sixteen years and that thin veneer of strength had begun to crack, he looked vulnerable and so young when he was asleep.

The phone rang in the next room causing Ryan to stir. He opened his eyes expecting to see Missy by the side of him. He sat up when he saw Kirsten.

"Whoa there sweetie…. It's O.K."

Kirsten tried to give him a smile but the tears had started again.

Ryan looked from Kirsten to Sandy with a look of panic and confusion on his face.

" Hey kid, Seth called us. He was worried about you. We were worried about you."

Sandy tried to sound calm.

"I'm O.K."

"Ryan, You are NOT O.K, You took an overdose last night…You've been using cocaine, you are far from O.K. We're going to take you to a doctor to get checked out, then you are coming home…No arguments."

Ryan nodded. He felt like he had had all the stuffing knocked out of him, he had no fight left and he couldn't bear to see Kirsten upset.

Sandy had stayed in the room with him whilst he had gotten his things back together. He knew that Sandy thought that if he left him alone he might make a break for it out the window and he probably would have done if he hadn't felt like shit. He didn't think he had the energy to open the window let alone climb out of it.

There was an awkward silence in the room. Ryan seemed to have lost any connection he'd had with Sandy and that depressed him more. Sandy had been the one person who had believed in him and that had kept him grounded. Now when he looked in Sandy's eyes all he saw was disappointment. Newport was going to be fun now, what he'd done had gone so way beyond grounding…The Cohens weren't going to let him out of their sight.

They walked out to the car to find Missy talking with Seth and Kirsten. Ryan walked over and gave her a sad smile.

Missy leaned in for a hug. She whispered in his ear.

"Give them a chance. They need you as much as you need them baby. Don't forget me." Ryan stifled a weak laugh as she gave him a wink and an ass-graze.

He got into the car with Sandy and Kirsten and pulled away, heading towards Newport. Seth followed on in his car. He looked back at Missy waving.

He was going to miss her. He shut his eyes. Maybe if he could sleep he could avoid the silence in the car. He felt like a stranger again.

TBC