It was seven o' clock in the morning when Sandy Cohen finally walked in the front door to his house. He was overwhelmed with thoughts. Thoughts about everything that had happened in the past two weeks - Kirsten, Caleb, and now Trey. Never before had he experienced this amount of anxiety in such a short time.

Sandy put his keys down on the table by the door, and walked into the kitchen where Seth was pouring himself a bowl of cereal. He took the bowl, sat down at the island, and sighed. He looked at his father with an empty expression on his face. There were no words to be said, for no one knew what to say.

Finally, Sandy broke the silence. "Did you bring Ryan home?"

"Yeah, after the emergency people checked him out, me and Summer brought him back here," Seth replied.

"Is Summer still here?" Sandy asked. Although usually he would not accept Seth's girlfriend to be sleeping at their house, this was an unusual circumstance.

"What? No, I brought her home on the way here, like hours ago," Seth explained to his father.

"Oh," Sandy replied. "How is Ryan?"

Seth glanced out the window towards the pool house, and then looked back at his father. Although he was not capable of processing this level of emotional stress, he understood to know that Ryan needed to be alone. "When I brought him home, he went out to the pool house, and that is where he has been ever since. I offered him some breakfast, but he turned it down," Seth told Sandy.

"I'll go talk to him," Sandy answered. He walked out the door, which lead onto the patio, and to the pool house, where Ryan was situated. The blinds were all pulled down so that no one could see inside of the pool house. Sandy figured it was so that Ryan could shroud himself in darkness. He came up to the door and knocked twice. There was no answer. Slightly worried, Sandy went in. He found Ryan lying on his bed just staring at the sealing.

"If it's all right with you, I thought we might talk," Sandy said as he sat down. "I figure a lot must be goin' through your head right now 'cause I know a lot is going through my head."

Ryan looked at him and said, "I'm not really in a talking mood right now."

"I figured you'd say that, so how 'bout I talk and you listen? Fair enough?" Sandy asked. Ryan shrugged his shoulders.

You know, I'm really sorry for what happened to your brother, and Marissa for that fact -," Sandy said. Ryan's head bolted around.

"Yeah, she told me - she had to. I just hope you know that she didn't shoot him because she hated him, she shot him to save you, and whatever happens, I hope you remember that," Sandy said.

Ryan sighed. He stared at the ceiling, and said to Sandy, "I know that I went over to Trey's to end things between me and him, but I never thought things would turn out like that. I know - I know that Marissa was trying to help me, and she probably saved my life, but... She shot my brother, and now... he's dead. We didn't always get along - that's for sure, but he was my family. My flesh and blood. The only real family I had left, and now... he's gone."

Sandy sighed, and patted his shoulder. He continued to sit there with Ryan in the pool house in the wicker chair. Although there were no words being said, a connection was being made, a connection that Sandy hoped would help Ryan through this.