Thanks to Melanie39 for beta-ing

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

Come Undone

Chapter 14.

You could have heard a pin drop in the kitchen. It was like a scene from an old Weston. Ryan was pretty sure who was going to draw first by the look on Caleb's face.

"You brought a junkie into this house Kiki." Caleb's voice boomed. "I can't believe you'd be so irresponsible."

"Dad, it's not like that." Kirsten face reddened and she looked at Ryan. Her eyes pleading with him to know that she would have done anything to avoid this for him if she could.

"Not like that…so you're not testing this piece of trash for drugs Kirsten? What about my grandson? Your son…don't tell me you are happy with his, I know how you were with Hailey. This is Sandford's fault, his bleeding heart has put my grandson at risk and I'm not having it."

"Dad…No! I won't have you interfere in this, this has nothing to do with you!"

"This has everything to do with me Kiki…. You have put Seth at risk. Who knows what that kid has been encouraging him to do." Caleb shouted.

Ryan dropped the swab on the floor as Seth, Luke and Summer entered the kitchen from one direction and Sandy rushed in from another. Everyone started shouting at once, voices merging over one another. He stood there rooted to the spot.

"Granddad. Ryan's my friend he'd never…"

"Caleb, this is none of your business"

"That scum has been nothing but trouble…. He burnt down my house."

"Mr Nicol, that was my fault…."

"His father has just died granddad,"

"He's been taking drugs for gods sake. Why are you defending him Kiki?"

"He's having a hard time at the moment dad."

Ryan wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. Ryan never liked being the centre of attention at the best of times; they were all speaking about him, all shouting. He could feel the tell tale signs of anxiety creeping back.

"Please just shut up…please just shut up. Please just shut up." his brain screamed.

"PLEASE JUST SHUT UP."

Six pairs of eyes looked round at him. Only then did he realize he had shouted the words.

"Please stop shouting." He modified his voice but that didn't stop the looks.

Caleb strode over to Ryan and poked him in the chest.

"I don't know what hold you have over my family Boy, but I'm not fooled by you. You're scum, no wonder your own family didn't want you."

Ryan stepped back but the finger poked again. He could hear Kirsten say 'dad!' in a shocked tone. Caleb continued.

"You don't deserve people treating you like a human being, you're an animal Ryan and it's only a matter of time before they see it too, let's face it your gene pool is pretty tainted, alcoholic mother, jailbird father and brother. That's where you should be."

Caleb was inches from his face, invading his space. The finger stabbed his chest again. Caleb's face amalgamated into all the bastards who had put him down in the past. He could see Sandy rush over as he pulled his arm back and squarely hit Caleb on the jaw. Sandy tried to catch a stunned Caleb as he stumbled back but missed and he crumpled to the floor. As Ryan drew his arm back again he felt a body behind him grabbing both his arms and pinned them to his sides. He struggled against the restraint wanting to pound Caleb to the ground.

Caleb sat on the floor; Kirsten tried to help him up. Caleb gave a snorted laugh.

"You've just proved my point Ryan, That's assault and you better believe I'm going to press charges. You're heading straight back to where you belong."

"Get him out of here." Sandy shouted at Luke.

Luke pulled a struggling Ryan out of the door leading to the pool and contemplated throwing him in to cool down.

"Ryan, calm down man." Luke tentatively released his hold.

Ryan laced his hands behind his head and paced.

"Fuck…. fuck…what did I just do?"

"Look, let's just get out of here for a while." Luke got his keys out and led Ryan to his car.

They drove around in silence for a while before Luke finally spoke.

"Can he really send you back to Juvie for that?"

"Yeah…with that and the drugs. Yeah I'm in direct violation of my probation."

" I didn't know you did drugs Chino. I mean enough for the Cohen's to want to test you?"

"That's just another manifestation of my fuck up week. I partied hard in Chino, did too much coke. I hadn't built up a tolerance or something and I OD'd." Ryan looked embarrassed.

Luke took his eyes off the road to look at Ryan for a second.

"Shit, Ryan that's heavy. So that's why Seth was so freaked."

"Yeah...he found me." Ryan shut his eyes at the memory of that night. "I've really fucked up this time Luke. Caleb isn't going to let this go. He's always hated me and now I've given him the perfect excuse to get rid of me. I'm probably not high on the Cohens list either…Shit, I punched out Kirsten's dad. What the fuck is wrong with me."

Luke wished there was something he could say. Luke pulled into a gas station.

"I've just got to juice this baby, then we'll figure something out O.K?"

"I don't think we are gonna be able to fix this Luke but thanks. I mean that."

Luke got out and filled the tank, Ryan watched as he went into pay. He slid his way over the seat and was just starting up as Luke emerged from the station. As he pulled away he could see Luke sprinting towards the car.

"Ryan! STOP."

Hell, things couldn't get much worse so he might as well add another car theft to his growing list of misdemeanours not that he thought Luke would press charges but his dad might. Hey, he was on a roll might as well go for the hat trick.

Caleb sat with an ice pack on his face. He was still spitting vitriol about Ryan even though Kirsten was trying he best to make him back down.

"Sandford, I told you to call the police."

Seth squawked "Grandpa… You can't do that."

Summer added "Mr Nicol…No please."

Sandy had had enough.

"Caleb, My office now."

Caleb followed, icepack still clamped to his jaw.

"Nothing you can say is going to change my mind on that boy."

Sandy rounded on Caleb as he shut the door.

" I'm going to appeal to your better nature, assuming that you still have one. You must have had a heart at some point otherwise you wouldn't have got Kirsten's mother to marry you."

" Hang on a moment there Sandy. What gives yo…"

"Shut up…. you are going to listen to me for once." Sandy held his voice very even. He removed Ryan's file from the filing cabinet.

" I'm going to show you something, and I swear to god if you use ANY of this against Ryan at any time now or in the future we WILL cut you out of this family. I'm sure I speak for Kirsten and Seth on this one. I mean It Cal. Just read this file and then tell me you still want to call the police."

He placed the file in front of Caleb.

"Sandford…I don't know what you are trying to do but…"

"Read!"

Caleb opened the file. Sandy watched as he read and flicked the pages.

He walked over to the small drinks trolley and poured two scotches and placed one next to Caleb. The icepack lay forgotten now pooling water on the desk. He watched as Caleb's expression changed to a frown as he studied a photo of Ryan taken after one of the many social service investigations that had led to nowhere except a short stay in a foster home. When Caleb got to the page that contained the possible sexual abuse allegation, he looked up at Sandy and took a swig of his scotch and continued to read. When he finished he closed the file and Sandy took it and replaced it in the draw. Caleb was for once in his life very quiet.

Sandy refilled both their glasses.

"So Cal, Do you still want to call the police?"

Caleb looked slightly green.

" I…I had no idea about any of this…I…."

"No, you chose to think the worst of Ryan, no matter what anyone said. That's an admirable quality you have Cal, forming your own opinions on people before you have the facts. Now do you know why we took Ryan into our home? Do you have any idea what that kid is going through at the moment. His father dying brought back a lot of painful memories for him, I think you know what I mean…and you rubbed his nose in it…If Ryan hadn't have hit you first…I tell you now, I was on my way over to do it."

Caleb just nodded.

"His Father?"

"Yes Caleb…. his father."

"Here's what we are going to do…you are going to forget you read this file. I don't expect you to be nice to him over night because that kid is sharp and he'll know something is up but lay off him... I mean it."

Caleb nodded again and finished his drink. He needed it.

Ryan drove around Newport for a while before he left the car in a car park and texted Luke on his phone to tell him where it was. He set of on foot wandering around Newport seeing the side he had never been to. He walked into one bar but they had carded him. He continued down the street and on his third attempt found one that served him.

He was on his second boilermaker when he got his phone out. He had four messages from Luke, two from Summer, six from Seth and two from Sandy when he switched it on. He finished his beer as he deleted them one by one. He wasn't running he told himself, just giving himself a little more time before the shit really hit the fan. He knew that he told the Cohens that he wanted to leave but a trip back to juvenile corrections was not what he wanted at all. The thought scared the hell out of him. Now that was a very real possibility he realized that leaving the Cohens was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.

He punched a number in and ordered another round.

" Hey Chris it's Ryan…. is Missy there?"

TBC