AN: A thank you to the eagle eyed reader who corrected my Spanish. Many thanks to those who are taking this trip with me and I too am glad the boys are finally together where they're supposed to be.

Disclaimer: I have to be doing this for fun because there is certainly no profit in it for me.

VAMPING THE OC

Part 1

The Real Chino

Bienvenido a Chino, Puto

The shutdown message flashed on the computer monitor's screen and Ryan flipped off the power switch on its surge protector. All the computers in the new Chino Valley YMCA computer lab were off now. At the front of the lab Seth was trying to pack up the materials he planned to take home, balance a tiny cell phone between his ear and shoulder, and carry on a conversation with his mother. Ryan could tell from the pained expression on Seth's face that this was a conversation he did not want to be having. He tried not to listen; but with the hum of the last computer stilled, it was impossible for him not to hear.

"Mom, please, I'm not a little kid. The class ended at nine o'clock. I am trying to get out of here. But things, like this call, keep interrupting me." Seth sighed loudly. "I don't know when I'll be home." Ryan watched Seth's chin sink onto his chest. "I know what I promised." He looked up and, seeing Ryan, rolled his eyes, as together they shared one of the age old rites of adolescence - teaching the parent to let go. "But, I need to get something to eat. There is? Who made it?" Pause. "I repeat; I need to stop and get something to eat."

Ryan saw the irritation on Seth's face change suddenly into a look of surprised interest. "Where are you guys? There's a lot of noise at your end. Are you at a party?" Seth stopped stuffing books into his backpack and stood looking up at the ceiling, his head cocked to one side, a finger in his ear. "Oh, really! I never heard about that. How long will you be gone? No I didn't. I do too listen to you!" Seth smiled at Ryan and shook his head no.

"No, I could not have because I had my first classes tonight at the Y and there is such a thing as school tomorrow. A guy still likes to know; however, where his aging parents are and if he should expect them to come home." He continued in a plaintive tone. "How am I supposed to plan a rocking the-parents-are-out-of-town party if you don't give me any advance notice? There are girls to invite, beer to order, and the local dealer to contact for the requisite recreational drug de jour. You know the usual thousand and one details that go into planning the perfect Newport teen scene party." Seth jerked the cell phone away from his ear. "Just kidding, Mom. Chill already! I haven't been to a party of my peers since you bribed Julie Cooper into inviting me to Marissa's tenth birthday party. You remember what a highlight of my prepubescent life that was? Luke almost drowned me in the Cooper swimming pool." Seth looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I know, he said it was an accident. I accepted his apology there, in front of everyone, didn't I?"

Ryan leaned against the wall by the door fascinated by this mother/son dialogue. He tried to remember the last time that Dawn had shown this much interest in what he was doing or when he'd be home. It probably hadn't happened since he'd become the other one - the other teenager in the house. When she'd been drinking, Dawn would tell anyone who'd listen, including her sons, that she'd gotten married too young and had her kids too soon. It was so unfair that she had to raise two teenagers all alone. She had too much living yet to do to be tied down with all this baggage.

Seth mouthed something at Ryan as he listened to his mother. Ryan interpreted his lip movements as soon. "Mom, if you want me home by midnight, you've got to get off the line and let me get on the road. No, I will not promise to call you when I get home. What would that prove? I could call you from anywhere and say I was home." Seth paced back and forth behind the desk as he talked. "If you call me after I've gone to bed, I won't answer the phone so, again, what would that prove? You'll just have to trust me. Rosa and I have managed without you guys before. I will do my best to be home by midnight."

Seth listened and shook his head. "Goodnight mom, I hope you and dad have a good time." He paused. "I can't believe you said that too me in the middle of a party. Are there people around you?" Seth's free hand came up and he began to knead his forehead. "Do any of these people know me? They don't know you're talking to me, do they? Mom!" Seth punched the disconnect button on his cell phone and flipped the cover shut.

The look of disgust on Seth's face brought a smile from Ryan that he quickly suppressed. "You ready to go," Ryan asked? Seth crammed one last computer manual into his already full backpack. Seemingly satisfied that he had everything he'd need, Seth took hold of one of the backpack's shoulder straps and started to pick it up when Ryan chuckled. "Do you need to take that much stuff home?"

Seth looked down in surprise at the backpack's bulging sides and gave it an experimental tug. The backpack rose perhaps six inches before landing back on the desk with a loud thud. "I guess I lost track of what I was doing. You're right. I definitely don't need all this." A mound of manuals quickly grew on Seth's desk. Ryan scooped up these excess books and deposited them in the cabinet reserved for materials for Seth's two classes. Closing the cabinet's doors, he waited for Seth to bring him the key. As Ryan locked the doors, Seth swept the lab with his eyes for anything he'd missed. "This time I think we're good to go." Seth hoisted the now lighter backpack onto his shoulder. "You get the door. I'll turn out the lights."

The two boys walked down the hallway toward the main entrance of the Y. "Thanks for helping me close up. If my mom knew, she'd send you a thank you note. Don't smile. It's true. Kirsten Cohen has the fastest pen in Newport for the thank you notes. Believe me, you'd rate one for helping me get out of Chino faster." As they stepped out of the air-conditioned coolness of the building, they ran head-on into the muggy heat of Chino in the early fall. "Where's your car parked?"

Ryan pointed to a lone bike chained to a rack by the entrance. Walking over to it, he knelt down beside the bike and unlocked the padlock. As he pulled the bike out of the rack and walked back to where Seth waited, Ryan could feel his face burning. He was grateful for the poor light that hid his embarrassment. "I guess most kids where you're from have their own car?"

"Yeah. Just about everyone I know who has a license. There's even this kid, he's only a freshman at Harbor, and his parents bought him a Corvette. It's parked in their garage waiting until he has his license. I hear he lets his friends come over and sit in it for 5.00. God! Where's the justice in that?"

Seth's complaints about the unfairness of life brought no response from his audience of one. Ryan kept his attention focused on the pavement as they walked down the sidewalk toward the street. "That is, at least, everyone who has normal parents has one. My Dad went straight from the Bronx to Berkley and didn't have a car until he was a Junior in college. He didn't even have a license until he was eighteen." Seth continued sourly. "That's not my truck I'm driving tonight. It's my mom's. At home, my only wheels are attached to a skateboard." This time it was Seth's turn to blush. He hurriedly added, "It's actually good exercise, great for the calf muscles, does wonders for your balance, and is good practice for snowboarding. Still pretty lame though, huh? Even a bike puts you a leg up on me in the cool department." Seth wasn't looking at Ryan as he said this and so missed the look of surprise on Ryan's face.

"So, you don't get to use the car much?"

"As much as I want," Seth said. As he stopped to adjust the strap of his backpack, he added, "They let me drive to COMICON in San Diego over Labor Day."

"Oh, then they make you take the bus to school?" Ryan remembered his own years on the school bus and what could happen to nerdy kids like Seth.

"To Harbor?" Seth laughed. "One of the parents drops me off at school and then one of them or Rosa, she's our housekeeper, picks me up. How humiliating is that? I'll be seventeen soon and my parents are still driving me to school. If they have their way, they'll drive me to graduation."

Ryan tried to reconcile Seth's attitude with what Seth was telling him. Finally, still hopelessly confused, he asked, "But they make you pay for your own gas and insurance?"

Seth gave Ryan a puzzled look. "No, I've got a credit card for car stuff and they take care of the insurance. I do my part though. I get the car washed and serviced and I take it to be detailed once a month so Mom doesn't have to deal with it. I make sure there's always a fresh air deodorizer in the car," he said proudly.

Ryan shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. He didn't know what the hell Seth was complaining about. He decided it must all be a matter of perspective.

Ryan watched Seth out of the corner of his eye as he surveyed the street in front of the YMCA. The street was, just as he'd forecast, empty of parked cars and almost devoid of traffic. Seth turned from looking at the deserted street to the bike Ryan was pushing along side of him. "How far are you going? I could give you a lift, if you wanted. Not that I think it's like late, or too dark to be riding a bike, or anything. Dude, I'm sure you're comfortable with the hour and totally able to take care of yourself. I just thought that I'd like a ride if it was me; but, of course, you aren't me. You're nothing like me. So you probably don't. Forget I said anything." Seth's voice faded away to indistinguishable mutterings.

That was exactly what Ryan intended. He wasn't taking any rides from Seth. He wasn't going anywhere with Seth. He had no intention of letting this kid into his life. "Thanks, but I'm not going far. It is in the same direction as the lot you're parked in though." When they reached the street, Ryan turned north with Seth. He was unobtrusive about it, but Ryan made sure that he walked on the street side. "I'll walk with you as far as the parking lot, if you don't mind?"

"Cool."

Earlier in the evening, as they'd worked together to set up the lab, Seth had regaled Ryan with an account of what he'd described as his mother's hormonally induced fantasies about Chino. Ryan didn't say anything during Seth's recital of Chino's potential dangers. He only listened; but privately he thought that Seth's mother was right. Someone like Seth had no business wandering about alone on the streets of Chino at night - even on a weeknight. That was why Ryan was now walking away from his room at the Chino Motel and toward Seth's parking space. If Seth thought he went home this way, he'd have no reason for suspicion if Ryan walked him to his car every week.

"Do you think it went okay?" Seth asked excitedly. He hurried on before Ryan had a chance to answer. "I think people got it. I mean what I was trying to do tonight. But, what do you think, Ryan? Did I ramble too much? I hope you didn't get hoarse from all the coughing you did. That was a good idea though. It got me back on course every time I started to wander." Ryan decided that most of Seth's questions were rhetorical and that he neither expected nor wanted an answer. He certainly didn't leave time for one. A nod was apparently all the input that Seth really required from a listener. Ryan could do that. He had the meaningful nod thing down cold.

"Did I bore everyone? Did I bore you? I was so afraid that I'd be boring and people would be like snoring right through my class. Maybe I should be a teacher. Can you see me in front of a class?" Seth struck what Ryan supposed was meant to be a pedagogical stance. "I always thought I'd be a writer or creator of graphic novels but maybe this is my real calling." Seth pumped the air with his fist. He looked over at Ryan with an sheepish expression. "Sorry, dude, but I am so up after tonight!"

Ryan stayed alert as they walked. His eyes roved over the street and the neighborhood around them. He was alert for potential problems and so he was only half listening to what Seth was saying. He supposed at some point Seth would run down; and then, if he really wanted Ryan's opinion, he'd give him a chance to voice it. So Ryan had walked several steps past him before he realized that Seth had stopped walking and had asked him a question to which he apparently expected an answer.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ryan stopped and looked back at Seth who was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

Seth repeated his question patiently. "I said, do you know someplace I can get something to eat around here?"

Ryan walked back to where Seth stood waiting under a street lamp. "What about your mom and getting home by midnight?"

"I told her I was getting something to eat before I went home. There's no way I'm going to eat something mom made if I have an alternative. So, that's what I need to know. What are my alternatives and, Ryan, my standards aren't that high. You've never experienced my mom's cooking." Seth shivered melodramatically.

"Well, there's Gwennie's. It's open all night and the food's good."

"Would they have pancakes now," Seth asked with interest?

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because, Ryan, Gwennie's can be the first stop on the Seth Cohen Pancake Tour of North America." At Ryan's blank look Seth said, "Kerouac." But at the squint this drew from Ryan, he elaborated. "A Beat Generation author who wrote about a pancake tour of North America he made in his book, On the Road. It's one of my favorites. I intend to do my own tour when I make my escape from Newport."

Ryan's eyebrows lifted. "What's to escape from?"

Seth's life looked pretty good to Ryan. He was rich, or at least his parents were; and he went to a private school that even Ryan, here in Chino, had heard of. It was true that Seth had parents who worried about him and who coddled him in an embarrassingly old fashioned way; but having had experience with a different kind of parenting, that sounded pretty good to Ryan. How bad could life be in Newport? Ryan couldn't see that Seth had any real problems that were worth giving all that up for.

"Where to start?" Seth stopped the bouncing and his cheerfully manic mood turned off as though a switch had been thrown. He met Ryan's questioning look directly. "The bullies at school have been ragging on me since my first day at Harbor. Neither my body nor my belongings are safe from their depredations during gym or at any other time I encounter them in school or anywhere else."

Seth hesitated for a moment. "The girl I've… The girl I've been in love with since the second grade thinks I'm a total spaz and won't give me the time of day. Actually, that pretty much sums up the general feeling among the members, male and female, of Homo Harboris." Seth spread his hands. "Ryan, here I stand, a loser, who after eight years at the Harbor School has not one friend there."

"Finally to place the maraschino cherry atop this gooey confection of woes, my parents don't have a clue that I'm having any problems. As long as I bring home the grades they expect and don't get busted for anything, for them, everything is fine in Cohenville." Ryan saw that Seth's eyes had grown shiny under the light of the street lamp as he talked. "So, to sum up, Ryan: I'm miserable at school and at home and all alone with no friends to share any of this with."

Ryan blinked and looked away, embarrassed for Seth. Ryan was lost. He didn't know what to say to Seth; but he hated his cowardly silence that followed Seth's explanation. It seemed to him to be like a canyon between them whose far rim receded faster and faster into the distance as the silence stretched on. This guy, who'd been a stranger to him four hours ago, had in his pain and loneliness shared more with Ryan about his life than anyone else he'd ever known. He felt he knew Seth now as well as he did Theresa whom he'd grown up with. Seth had spilled his guts to him and deserved an honest response from him. But, Ryan avoided emotions and didn't talk about or share his feelings with anyone.

When he and Theresa had still been together he'd thought that he knew what she wanted. Then it had seemed that all she needed from him was for him to be with her, to hold her, to keep her safe until whatever had hurt or frightened her went away. After they drifted apart he thought perhaps she'd wanted more from him, an emotional commitment to her that he hadn't been able or willing to make. He hoped she'd finally found what she needed with her new boyfriend. Maybe that was what Seth needed from someone. Ryan felt relief that he had the solid reality of the bike as a reminder to keep his distance from this kid.

Ryan did what he was able to do. He reached out to Seth and took his arm. "Hey, I thought you wanted to get something to eat?" Ryan wanted desperately to distract him and lighten the mood. From the way he'd lapsed into silence after his outburst, Ryan guessed that Seth was also embarrassed by his admissions and would welcome a way to climb out of the emotional hole he'd dug for himself.

Ryan didn't want to hear any more of Seth's story tonight. He didn't want to feel an obligation to this rich kid from Orange County to share his story. Ryan worked hard at keeping the past separate from the day-to-day struggle for survival in Chino. He didn't need anyone around him who wanted to swap life stories. Seth's life was too different from his. He was too innocent. Ryan guessed that Seth didn't really want to hear his story anyway. He seemed too self-absorbed to spend much of his time on other people's lives and their problems.

Seth looked at him and nodded slowly. "Right, the pancakes."

Ryan ignored the redness in Seth's eyes. "Well, let's get something to eat then and stop standing around."

As Ryan drew back his hand, an empty beer bottle exploded on the curb spraying their legs and the sidewalk with splinters of glass. A red convertible, riding low to the ground, had stopped while Ryan was distracted. Now it idled quietly in the street near them. The four men in the car, all in their twenties, stared at the boys. One, the one who didn't have a bottle in his hand, was standing up on the passenger side of the car. He leaned casually against the windshield, a smirk on his face. "Hey Atwood, you handling boys now? How much you asking?" He pointed to Seth. "He's kind of scrawny. You won't get much for him; but bring him over. Let's get a look at the new talent." He motioned for Ryan and Seth to come closer. Neither boy moved.

"Hey, Vic, what's up?" Ryan asked calmly. He could feel Seth's eyes on him or maybe it was just embarrassment heating up his neck. He would have offered Seth a word of reassurance if he had been sure what was going on. But, Ryan didn't know how serious or interested in trouble Vic and his boys were tonight. "You and I have a problem I don't know about?"

The guy vaulted easily over the door and out onto the street. He stood watching them, motionless, muscular arms crossed over a broad chest that was barely contained by a black mesh T-shirt. A thin smile, devoid of warmth, played on his handsome face. "Yeah, you keep sticking your nose into things that don't concern you, Atwood. Taylor's not one of yours. She and I were just having a little disagreement, a lovers' quarrel," He said this with a sneer that robbed his face of its good looks and made a lie of his words. "There was no cause for you to get involved. We were working it out when you barged in. You need to learn to mind your own business."

"Anytime you're willing to go one-on-one, Vic." Ryan's head came up as he looked pointedly past Vic at the guys sitting quietly in the car. "Doesn't look like that's what you've got in mind tonight though. And Vic, Taylor ended up in ER with three broken fingers as a result of your 'little disagreement'. You don't treat a woman like that when I'm around." As Ryan said this he swung his bike around so that now it was between the boys and the occupants of the convertible.

"Ryan, what's going on?" Seth was excited but also apprehensive to find himself in the middle of one of his mom's worst case scenarios.

His attention centered on Vic and his friends , Ryan could spare only the briefest glance at Seth. "Seth, if I tell you to run, ditch the backpack and do it. Head north, the direction we were walking, as fast as you can. The police station's that way and they won't follow you there. Okay?"

"Hey, Puto," One of the guys in the car's backseat called out to Ryan. "I hear the boys in Juvie and Crawford House like the little blondes. They give those that come their way a real education. You putting your education to work, Atwood?" Ryan watched the mouthy one push himself up to sit on the back of his seat where he had a better view. "I think the skinny one's worried, Vic, that there won't be enough of Atwood left after we're finished with him for him to get his money's worth." His friends in the car found this hilarious and a second bottle hit the sidewalk at their feet.

"Vic, if you've got a problem with me, take it up with me. Leave the kid out of it." Ryan gestured toward Seth who stood listening, a look of disbelief on his face. "He just started teaching classes at the Y tonight." Ryan knew he needed to try and get Seth out of and away from this business if he could. "He's on his way to pick up his car at Sanford's lot up the street. Let him go."

"Ryan's taking my classes. He goes this way to get home so we were walking together,"

Leaning back against the convertible, the smile on Vic's face broadened. "Ryan lives at the Chino Motel, kid, which happens to be back in the opposite direction. But that's a good story."

Seth glanced at Ryan in confusion. Ryan only gave a slight shake of his head and said under his breath, "Later."

"Kid, if you get tired of little men and want more for your money…" Vic stopped and his right hand slid down the front of his tight, black jeans to his crotch. "Look me up."

Seth's eyes were wide but he had a determined look on his face, as he shrugged out of his backpack and let it slide to the ground at his feet. He kept his eyes on the car's occupants as he questioned Ryan. "What about you, Ryan? I run and you stay here and, what, get the shit kicked out of you by your friends over there? Why don't we both beat it? They couldn't catch you on your bike and I'm pretty fast. I'm not on Harbor's track team but I've had a couple of footraces with some of its members and some players on the soccer team, too. I almost always got away when I had this much of a start on them."

Ryan shrugged and watched as the doors of the convertible opened and the two men in the backseat started to climb out. "Seth, just do what I told you and you'll be alright. I'm not going to fight them if I can help it. I'll just delay them until you're clear. Then I'll split. Don't worry. I'll be okay. This isn't your problem."

"That's your plan?" Seth noted with dismay the size of the three men now standing by the side of the convertible talking. "I run away while you take on guys by yourself who look like each of them bench press more than I weigh? That's a monumentally dumb idea, Ryan. A good general never divides his forces. I'll stay with you and have your back. I won't be much use in a fight; but if I can keep just one of them busy chasing me, or more likely, using my face for a punching bag, that's one less that you'll have to handle." Seth straightened and stood taller. "Improves the odds for you and it allows me to put my years of being a doormat for Harbor's goons to some use."

Seeing a scowl starting to form on Ryan's face, Seth hurried on. "When I saw you sitting on the bench this evening, I thought you were like all the other punks that had ever hassled me. I was wrong. But, I decided before I ever got out of my car that things were going to be different from now on. I was going to be a mensch. I was tired of always just taking it. Issue number one of The New Adventures of Seth Cohen appears tonight." Seth did a little bob and weave thing with his upper body. "I'll float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." Seth answered Ryan's look of bewildered astonishment with a broad, happy smile. "The title needs to be punchier, I know. We can work on it together later."

Before Ryan had a chance to comment on the idiocy of Seth's plan a Chino black and white cruiser drove slowly north on Edison Avenue. The officers inside hit their lights and siren when they saw the stopped car and the men standing outside of it. The median strip running down the center of Edison; however, meant that they had to go to the next intersection, two blocks away, before they could make a U-turn and get back to where Ryan and Seth were.

Vic frowned at the interruption and waved his men back into the car. From the passenger's side of the front seat, he glared at Ryan. "This isn't finished, Ryan," he shouted. "Your brother's a punk and you're just like him. " Pointing at Seth he looked him up and down before saying. "And puto, bienvenido a Chino, we'll have this conversation again when I have more time. Count on it." The convertible sped south on Edison and was soon nothing but a pair of red taillights in the dark.

Broken glass crunched under the tires of the police cruiser as it pulled up to the curb. A tall, sandy haired police officer got out of the passenger side and came over to the boys. "What about them. They're getting away! Aren't you going after them?" Seth demanded excitedly.

The cop looked at him calmly. "My partner radioed in the information on the car. Chino has a policy against hot pursuit chases unless lives are at risk. Is that the case here?" At Seth's shake of his head, he went on. "Didn't think so. Are you okay?" At Seth's subdued yes, he turned his attention to Ryan. "How about you, Ryan? What happened here?" Without seeing Seth's face, Ryan knew that the officer's use of his first name surprised him.

Ryan met the officer's stare for a moment and then looked away. "Officer James, I didn't think you worked on Wednesday."

The officer, his hand resting on the butt of his holstered revolver, took in the broken glass scattered around. "Esparza needed some time off. So…?" He gestured at the glass.

"Nothing happened." Ryan's eyes were fixed on a spot on the officer's chest just above his badge.

"Just a case of over exuberant littering, officer." Both Ryan and the officer turned to stare at Seth who smiled back at them with wide-eyed innocence.

"If that's all it was, why were those guys getting out of their car? Why did they leave so fast when they saw us?"

Ryan shrugged and did not meet the officer's eyes. He hated dealing with the police. There was always the chance that his fake ID wouldn't work some time or he'd end up at a police station and someone there would recognize him. Then his created persona of Ryan Alwood, age 21, would be discovered. They'd find out that he was Ryan Atwood, 16, a runaway from Crawford House. He realized that he'd clenched his left fist and relaxed it slowly, shaking his hand to relax the tension. "Like I said, nothing happened, Officer James."

The patrolman's eyes narrowed as he considered Ryan. Then he turned back to Seth who'd been paying close attention to their exchange. "Let's see your ID, kid. You too, Ryan." He pursed his lips and looked hard at Seth as he examined his license. "Newport Beach. You're a long way from home, son." He handed the boys' licenses to his partner in the car who spoke quietly into his radio. "What brings you to Chino so late at night, Mr. Cohen? There's an eleven o'clock curfew here for young people your age on weeknights." His face wore a thoughtful expression as his head swung back and forth between the two boys studying them.

"I started teaching night classes – computer classes - at the Chino Valley YMCA tonight. Ryan's in both classes and we were going to my car. We were minding our own business when the bottles landed near us."

Ryan watched Seth as he answered the officer. He tried to keep his face neutral, not showing anything, but he was worried that Seth might say too much.

"Did the guys in the convertible throw the bottles?"

Standing off to the side of the officer, Ryan gave a barely perceptible shake of his head and was relieved when Seth said, "No, I didn't see who threw them."

"Then why were you so anxious that we go after that car a few minutes ago?"

Seth hesitated before answering. "I don't know. Isn't that how it works? People run and the police chase them,"

The patrolman looked up from the notebook he'd pulled from his pocket and frowned. "Sometimes. Why were the guys out of their car?"

"Maybe they stopped to help get the glass off the sidewalk and street? Sort of like good Samaritans," Seth answered the officer deadpan.

The officer's eyebrows went up at this and his opinion of Seth's theory could be seen clearly on his face. His frown morphed into a scowl as he flipped close his pad. "And, I suppose they left so suddenly because one of them had to go rescue his grandmother's cat from a tree?"

Seth shrugged.

The policeman retrieved their ID's from his partner. "Remember what I said about curfew, Mr. Cohen. You're going home now?" Ryan thought the officer's comment sounded more like an order than a question.

"Actually I was going to a place called Gwennie's that Ryan told me about. I need coffee and food before I drive home."

The officer handed them their ID's. "That's a good choice. You going to show him how to get there, Ryan?" At Ryan's nod, he continued. "Stay out of trouble you two. I want a quiet night tonight."

As the officer walked back to the cruiser, Ryan muttered under his breath, "I don't cause trouble."

The policeman paused as he was about to climb into his patrol car. He turned and caught Ryan's eye. "No, you don't cause trouble Alwood but trouble has a way of searching you out. Ryan, don't make me sorry that I'm doing a favor for a friend tonight."

As the patrol car pulled away from the curb, Ryan held up a hand to forestall the questions from Seth that he saw in his eyes, piling up like the water in a tidal wave about to crash over him. "I could use some coffee. I talk better when I have coffee." Seth's very visible struggle to restrain himself would have been funny if Ryan didn't find the prospect of the upcoming conversation so grim.

"Okay, you're reprieved Ryan Alwood but only until coffee." Ryan heard the emphasis Seth placed on his last name. He'd used Alwood on his application at the Y and that's what the police office had called him but Vic and his friend had called him Atwood. Damn! It's going to be a long night.

AN: Major gap coming up. I'm going to Seattle for 10 days so the earliest that the nest chapter, The Uses of Silence, can be posted is the 28th. Hopefully this chapter was long enough to make up for the wait.