Thanks for all the wonderful supporting review. In time for Dulcey's birthday, here's the conclusion of her challenge. Thanks again to Chazper for her encouraging words and fantastic proffreading, especially this chapter. I was in a serious fog while writing this.

And I'm under no delusions. The O.C. does not belong to me.

Ryan threw all of his things into his overnight bag while Seth sat on the corner of his bed, replaying his earlier conversation with Caleb, describing each of his grandfather's reactions. Ryan only listened with half an ear even though, for a change, he was actually interested in Seth's tale. He had only been able to hear Caleb's reactions and hadn't been able to see very well through the slit in the door. But Ryan was distracted with packing. He couldn't find all of his things, which was strange, since he hadn't brought much, but it seemed like half his stuff had been thrown about the room.

"Seth, I really don't need a play by play," Ryan said irritably

"Come on man, it was funny."

Ryan smirked. "It was one of your more inspired moments."

"I told you, I am the master."

"That's yet to be seen. There's still enough rope to hang ourselves. And your grandfather may recover before your parents return."

"True. But he seems to have lost the momentum."

"We won't know until Sandy and Kirsten come home. My advice," Ryan threw a wifebeater at Seth. "Pack now so we can make a mad dash for the car. The less time your parents and Caleb spend together the less likely all will be revealed."

"What's the worse that can happen?"

"Do you really want to find out? I mean, your parents sent us here, because they didn't think they could trust us on our own, even though Julie and Caleb can't stand me."

"Right. How much worse can it get?"

"When you put it that way?" Ryan found a pair of Seth's boxers among his things. Scrunching his nose in disgust, sincerely hoping they were clean and fresh, he picked them up, using a pencil and tossed them in Seth's direction. "Seth Ezekiel pack."

"Hey!" Seth pouted. "You can't call me that! Only Mom and Dad can call me that. And they only do that when they're seriously pissed."

Ryan just wiggled his brows and smirked. "Seth Ezekiel."

"Don't. Call. Me. That."

"Seth Ezekiel," Ryan teased. He backed up an inch as Seth got up from the bed and came towards Ryan. Ryan couldn't resist. "Seth Ezekiel."

"That does it."

And they were off, climbing over the beds, jumping to the floor and pulling the linen along with them. They tripped over the flat sheets which tangled around their ankles. Seth tackled Ryan to the floor and tried to pin him down. But Ryan, who was shorter than Seth, but much more muscular, quickly got the upper hand and was on top of Seth. He pinned Seth's arms over his head.

"Seth Ezekiel."

Seth banged his heels on the floor. "Don't." He giggled and tried to wiggle out from under Ryan's grasp, but Ryan was too strong. "Help," he yelped.

"Is everything okay in here?" Julie entered the room. She stopped in her tracks as she surveyed the scene. "Oh. I didn't know. I'll leave you both alone."

Ryan thought his face would turn a permanent shade of red. He quickly let go of Seth and allowed him to scramble up to a sitting position.

"Oh no." Seth groaned. They exchanged looks and burst into a fit of laughter. "I hope she doesn't talk to Grandpa, because after today, I'll never be able to convince him that I'm not gay."

"As long as he doesn't tell Summer."

"Comforting, man. You're just plain comforting."

Two minutes later there was a hesitant knock on their door. "Ryan. Seth." It was Julie again, but she stayed on the other side of the door. "Sandy and Kirsten called. They'll be here in five minutes."

"Thanks," Ryan called out. "We're just going to finish packing. We'll be downstairs in a minute."

Suddenly, Seth was a blur of motion, as he scrambled around the room grabbing all of his things and haphazardly throwing them into his overnight bag. He didn't bother to check if the stuff he was taking belonged to him or Ryan, figuring they could sort that out at home. He just wanted to make sure he could open the door say hi to his parents and as per Ryan's advice make a mad dash for the car.

He only heard the tail end of Ryan's words. "….Don't be so obvious when they come. They'll know we're hiding something right off, even if Caleb and Julie don't say anything."

"Huh?" Seth looked up.

"You look guilty of something. We have to play it cool."

"You know me, Ryan. I'm Mr. Cool. Don't worry about me."

Ryan sighed. They were screwed.

They bounded down the steps, their bags bobbing up and down beside them and found a place for them to rest near the front door. There was no sign of Sandy and Kirsten and they didn't see Caleb and Julie anywhere, so Ryan and Seth decided they might as well sit and watch television to kill the time. Seth took control of the remote and flipped through the channels absently, not settling on any one program for more than five minutes. Not even reruns of Summer's favorite show The Valley.

"What's taking them so long?" Seth asked. "They should have been there already."

Ryan shrugged. "Traffic?"

"I guess." Seth squirmed in his seat. "Maybe their luggage got lost."

"I thought they only took hand luggage."

Seth snickered. "Ryan, did you ever see how mom packs? She does not just take hand luggage. Even for a weekend."

Ryan grinned. He had seen how Kirsten packed. Sandy had assured him it was a female thing. Thinking back to their trip to Tijuana when he had first moved in with the Cohens, he recalled how Summer had packed. Sandy was probably right.

The bell finally rang making Ryan jump, but he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He waited to hear Sandy and Kirsten's voice and when the bell rang a second time started to get up to answer it, but then saw Julie was only a step away.

"Sandy, Kirsten." She opened the door wide with smile to match. "So good to see you. How was your trip back?"

"Hi, Julie." Kirsten leaned forward and pecked her friend on the cheek. "Are the boys ready?"

"They're chomping at the bit to go home."

"I'm not surprised," Sandy mumbled. Julie heard him and raised her brow. He had the decency to blush; after all, she had kept their boys in check for the weekend.

"Boys," Julie called. She turned around and nearly collided with Ryan. Seth stopped on his brother's heels. "Oh. You're here."

Kirsten's face lit up as soon as she saw her boys. "Seth. Ryan. We missed you." She took them both in her arms and hugged them tightly. Sandy walked up to the trio and wrapped his arms around them too.

"So, how was the weekend?"

Ryan guiltily glanced at Julie before quickly saying, "It was fine." He didn't add any enthusiasm, knowing Kirsten and Sandy would definitely realize he was hiding something if he had. "How was yours?" he asked.

"Productive." Kirsten kissed him on the top of his head. "You boys ready to go home?" She turned to Julie. "Thanks so much for having them."

"It was our pleasure."

Seth and Ryan glanced at each other, wondering when it had been Julie's pleasure, but decided it wasn't worth risking exposure and grabbed their bags, heading for the front door.

"Is my dad home?" Kirsten asked, stopping Ryan and Seth mid-stride. "I just want to thank him too."

Caleb strode into the entrance hall at that moment. "Kiki. You're home."

"Hi, Dad." She stood on her tiptoes and dutifully pecked her father on the cheek. "I hope the boys weren't too much trouble."

Seth, his overnight bag slung over his shoulder, held his breath. He could feel Ryan doing the same beside him.

But before Caleb could answer, Julie interrupted, "Kirsten, would you like to stay for dinner? I'm sure you and Sandy are tired from the long trip and won't want to prepare dinner at home."

Seth let out his breath slowly, relief washing over him, even though they weren't out of hot water yet. Surely his parents would refuse. "Takeout would be fine, Mom." Seth thought he heard a squeak in his voice, but no one commented, and he hoped it was his nerves playing tricks on him. He clenched his fist until it was lily white and bounced on the balls of his feet. "We can call it in now and pick it up on our way home. We wouldn't want to upset our routine."

"But you have a home cooked meal waiting for you right now," Julie insisted with her mannequin smile. "Dinner will be ready in five minutes. In the meanwhile you can catch Caleb up on your meeting."

"Julie has a point." Kirsten turned to Sandy. "Is that okay with you?"

The boys turned hopefully to Sandy. Surely he'd refused supper with his hated father-in-law. No such luck. Sandy reluctantly nodded. "Go catch up with your dad." He turned to Julie. "Do you have a pre-dinner beer for me?"

"Right this way."

"Are we in a pod village?" Seth whispered to Ryan. "Something is going on."

"I don't know. But this does not bode well for us. Just keep your cool. We'll get through this in one piece."

"Did you notice," Seth continued, "that Grandpa wouldn't look me in the eye? What do you think that's all about?"

"So, tell me about your weekend boys." Ryan's heart leaped into his throat when he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.

Sandy was standing behind them, a beer bottle in one hand and the other draped lazily over Ryan's shoulder. His smile was so big, all his teeth were showing. If Ryan didn't know any better, he'd think Sandy had something up his sleeve. But there hadn't been time for Julie to share everything had there? His stomach tightened and cramped wondering what Sandy and Kirsten knew.

"Let's go watch TV until dinner is served. I'm sure we can find a Stallone movie on one of the one hundred sixty channels."

"Yeah, you go ahead Dad. Ryan and I are just going to check our room one more time to make sure we didn't leave anything behind."

Sandy winked. "Don't take too long."

Ryan followed Seth, though he was certain they had packed everything. It took him a moment to realize Seth wanted him alone so that they could talk.

"They know," Seth insisted.

"You're overreacting."

"I'm not. They know. And we've got to play it cool. There's the Junior class ski trip next month and the prom and you know that's all going down the tank if we get caught."

"Well, Sandy will definitely know something's up if we stay away. Just play it cool. Come on," Ryan cajoled. "I saw you in action today. You can do it."

Seth straightened his back and stood ramrod straight, a smile spreading across his thin lips. "I can. I did. Okay, let's go in."

But Sandy didn't say anything. By the time they came to sit with him, good to his word he had found a Stallone movie. Seth and Ryan sat on either side of him and Sandy spread his arms on the back of the couch, casually resting them on each of his boy's shoulders. Neither Seth nor Ryan could concentrate; instead they kept stealing glances at behind Sandy's back.

Finally, unable to take the stress anymore, Ryan asked Sandy about his weekend. But before Sandy could answer with any embarrassing details — and his face clearly showed that he was about to divulge some— Julie announced dinner.

They all adjourned to the formal dining room, where the table was set with the same fine china of the night before. It seemed to Ryan that Julie always had to put on a show.

"I'm glad the meeting went well, Kiki. Thank you for doing this for me," Caleb said as they all sat down. "I know it wasn't easy to leave the boys for the weekend."

"It seems that was just an overreaction on my part. You all looked unscathed," Kirsten said as she covered her wineglass, refusing the red wine the maid was offering.

"What did you expect, Mom? Scratch marks?"

"I thought your grandfather might lose a few more hairs. I thought Julie would retreat for all day spa treatments."

"She did that anyway," Seth offered with a grin.

"I must admit," Julie commented, sipping her wine, "having two boys in the house takes more energy than having two girls. Kaitlin and Marissa bicker. They whine. But the house doesn't shake."

Kirsten covered her face. "I'm afraid to ask."

"Mom, we're innocent. Don't listen to them."

Seth caught his grandfather's gaze and looked down at his plate. Suddenly, he was more interested in the food and the arrangement of his cutlery than in the conversation around him.

"Well, at least they weren't sneaking out every chance they go," Sandy generously added to the conversation.

Ryan choked on the soda he was drinking and broke into a fit of coughing. He was bent over his plate, trying to catch his breath, while Sandy calmly patted his back. "You okay?" he asked softly.

Red-faced, but able to breathe again, Ryan nodded.

"The way you and Seth were acting," Kirsten said once she was sure Ryan was okay, "You'd think that your grandfather had forgotten to fill me in on some important details." Kirsten dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "But I lived with Grandpa. I know you can't get anything past him."

"Right," Seth agreed. "Not even with my stealth ability to get past by you and dad."

Ryan didn't know how Seth could act so calm and glib. His hand was shaking so hard, he couldn't direct his fork to his plate. His stomach lurched at the conversation, because in his hearts of hearts he knew and Sandy and Kirsten knew every intimate detail of the weekend and were just waiting to bawl them out.

"So how was it in the Newport group?" Kirsten asked as she sliced her chicken cutlet into bite-size pieces. "What did you do all day? It must have been boring."

Caleb broke out in a hacking cough.

Kirsten stopped cutting and quickly poured a glass of water for her father. "Are you okay, Dad? Is your heart bothering you?"

Caleb sipped the water and nodded. "Just choked on my food. I'm fine. I'm interested to hear how the boys kept busy today. Tell us."

"Oh. This and that," said Seth. "Mostly we surfed the web."

"Really? When I spoke to Maria today she told me the Internet connection was down."

"That was just for a little while," Ryan explained hastily.

"That's strange. I couldn't get it up for most of my meeting," Caleb added.

Ryan felt the sweat trickling down the side of his head. He bit his bottom lip.

"Come on. Why don't you want to tell us what you did?" Kirsten asked in a teasing voice. "You think you can shock dear old mom?"

Seth stared at Ryan and suddenly saw everything. He noticed Ryan's shaking hands, the sweat dripping down the side of his head, and the gnawing of his bottom lip. Ryan was going to crack. Sighing, Seth put down his fork, and slumped back in his chair waiting to see what would happen. He surveyed the faces of his grandfather and parents and even Julie. They knew what was coming. They had all conspired together to make him and Ryan crack under the pressure.

He shook his head and wondered how he could get Ryan to see what was going on. Clearing his throat loudly, Seth jumped back into the conversation. "Mom —"

But Seth didn't have a chance to say anything.

"Okay. We were making out with some girls," Ryan blurted out.

"Really?" Sandy leaned forward on his elbows.

Seth tried to kick Ryan under the table.

"Caleb made us go to the Newport Group because the night before we had snuck out of the house. And it wasn't the first time we had tried. Julie caught us trying to leave the afternoon before."

"Aha," Kirsten declared.

"And Seth tried to distract his grandfather by asking him to share his Viagra."

Kirsten spit out the water she had in her mouth, a stream spraying the table.

"You forgot to add that detail, Dad" she laughed.

Ryan's heart sank. "You knew?" He turned his head to Seth. "This was all a set up? Oh Lord." He buried his head in his hands as he noticed all the faces nodding at him. "So we're grounded until next fall?"

Sandy shook his head. "Boys, I think this weekend calls for a lot more creative punishment."

Kirsten raised her glass in toast and the sound of glasses clinking was heard while Seth and Ryan faced each other in horror, trying to figure out what Sandy had in store for them.

FIN