Title: Using His Head

Description: What if Ryan used his head in a different way to avoid the fight with Volchok in 3.7 The Anger Management?

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.

Johnny watched as Ryan hurried out of the Yacht Club after getting the call from Volchok that he had taken Marissa. After a moment of indecision, Johnny rushed after him. He had promised Ryan that if anything went down with Volchok, that he'd be there. And if Ryan wanted to confront Volchok instead of calling the police, then the least Johnny could do was support him. After all, Ryan and Marissa were in this mess with Volchok because of him.

On the way out, Johnny saw Ryan almost stop, and then change his route to the door when he saw a man enter the club. It wasn't someone that Johnny recognized – a father-type wearing a dark suit and yellow tie – but obviously Ryan recognized him and wanted to avoid him. But Johnny didn't have time to ask Ryan who it was.

Johnny lost sight of Ryan for a minute when he went out the door. By the time he caught up to him, Ryan had taken off his suit jacket and was loosening his tie and rolling up his sleeves. He approached the same black Range Rover that Johnny had seen Ryan driving before, used the remote to unlock it, then climbed into the driver's seat. Johnny rushed to catch up and hurriedly climbed into the passenger seat before Ryan drove off.

Once they were on the road, Johnny glanced over at Ryan. He looked very intense, and barely in control of himself. Kind of intimidating, actually. Johnny couldn't really blame him. If Volchok had kidnapped his girlfriend – well when he had a girlfriend – he'd be pretty pissed off himself, and wouldn't be able to wait to get his hands on Volchok.

After a few minutes, Johnny finally got up the nerve to ask Ryan, "Where are we going?"

Without looking at him, Ryan answered briskly, "Volchok said they were under the pier."

"Dude, this is a bad idea. Last year, Volchok almost killed this guy."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Would you mind telling me what that is?"

"I'm gonna try and use my head for once."

"With Volchok?"

Ryan just glared at him for a moment without answering. Johnny didn't try to say anything more. He knew when to keep his mouth shut. They drove in silence for a few more minutes, until Ryan suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. Without shutting off the engine, Ryan undid his seatbelt and opened the car door and started to get out.

"What –"

Ryan glared at him again. "Wait here."

Ryan slammed the car door shut, and moved away from the car. Johnny saw him take out his cell phone and make a call. He couldn't hear what he was saying or who he called. So Johnny just stayed in the car and waited, as instructed. He was a little afraid of what Ryan would do if he didn't do what Ryan told him. Not that he didn't think Ryan was his friend, but, well, he was a little scary right now.

After a minute or two, Ryan climbed back into the car and without saying one word, drove off, still in the direction of the pier. Johnny tried to keep quiet as they drove, but soon his curiosity got the better of him.

"Ryan, what was that? Who did you call? What's going on?"

Ryan took a deep breath. "Nothing. Look. Just trust me, okay? Whatever happens, go with it."

Johnny studied Ryan for a moment. It was obvious that he wasn't going to give anything more away.

Johnny sighed. "All right."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. Johnny stole a few glances at Ryan along the way. He wasn't sure what Ryan was up to, but he really hoped that he could take Volchok. As much as Johnny wanted to be there for Ryan, he knew that he wouldn't be much help if it came to an actual fight. He prayed that Ryan really did know what he was doing.

When they got to the pier, Ryan screeched the SUV to a stop and they both jumped out as quickly as they could and ran down to the beach. As they approached the underside of the pier, Johnny could see Volchok, Marissa, Heather, and Volchok's friend Bradford. At least Marissa looked like she was all right. Johnny knew Volchok pretty well, and didn't think that he'd hurt her – Johnny figured that he just wanted to use her as bait to force Ryan into a fight – but he was relieved to see that she was okay anyway.

As Johnny and Ryan reached the pier, the others came forward to meet them.

Ryan asked Marissa, "You all right?"

"Yeah. I'm okay."

Of course Volchok decided to joke around. So typical. "I said she could go, but she wanted to stay." Then he spotted Johnny. "Check it out. You brought Harper. You want some when I'm through with him?"

Johnny was still hoping to keep this between him and Volchok and not let Ryan do his fighting for him, so he stepped forward. "Let's do it now."

But Ryan held him back. "No, this is mine."

Then Ryan shocked Johnny by picking up one of the discarded liquor bottles that littered the beach under the pier, breaking it off, then brandishing the broken bottle like a weapon. All Johnny could do was stare at it in disbelief. He hoped that this wasn't what Ryan meant when he told Johnny he knew what he was doing.

Marissa was clearly shocked as well. "Ryan!"

Even Volchok seemed taken aback. "Whoa, bro. Come on, now, let's not get crazy, man... you don't wanna do this..."

"Oh, you givin me advice now?" Ryan leaned over and grabbed a piece of wood and threw it to Volchok, who caught it seemingly by reflex. Then Ryan egged him on. "Come on."

At this point, Johnny didn't know what to think. He was going along with whatever Ryan was doing, as Ryan asked. He really, really hoped that Ryan was just bluffing and wouldn't really use the broken bottle in a fight with Volchok. It was like a knife, you could really hurt or kill someone that way. Johnny was hoping to avoid anything like that.

Volchok didn't seem to know what to do, either. He looked over at his friends for Johnny didn't know what – an indication of how to handle this, maybe, or maybe for some backup.

And Marissa looked totally panicked.

Just then, Johnny saw on the beach behind Volchok the best thing he'd ever seen in his life. Two cops. They were walking along the shoreline, towards the pier. They had their flashlights out and Johnny could hear the crackle of their radios. He relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Ryan to see what he'd do.

Ryan obviously heard or saw the police as well, because he quickly threw away the bottle and completely changed his posture and facial expression to be non-threatening. Volchok looked behind him to see what Johnny and Ryan were looking at, and then followed suit immediately, throwing away the wood. Marissa and Volchok's friends also looked behind them. Marissa right away took advantage of the situation and moved over next to Johnny. He put his hand on her arm, to try and calm her down.

This all happened in just seconds, and the cops obviously had seen them, too, because they were there under the pier with the teens before Johnny had a chance to even say anything, to anyone.

The cops checked out all the teens with their flashlights, then one of the cops addressed them. "What are you kids doing here? What's going on? Are you kids drinking?"

The kids all kind of simultaneously denied that anything was going on.

Then the second cop spoke to the first one. "Hey, Joe." He pointed at Ryan. "Don't we know that kid?"

Both of the cops trained their flashlights on Ryan. Johnny stepped back a little. He knew a little bit about Ryan's past, from Marissa, and knew that he'd been in juvie before. He held his breath waiting to see what the cops were going to do. When Marissa started to move forward, Johnny grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. He didn't want her to get herself into any trouble.

After a moment, the first cop (Joe, presumably), answered his partner. "Hey, yeah. Atwood, right? From last month?"

Johnny could see Ryan swallow nervously, and look down, blinking his eyes a few times. He really looked nervous. He took a few steps back when the cops moved towards him.

"What's going on here, Atwood? Attacking somebody else? One arrest for attempted murder not enough for you?"

Johnny nodded to himself. They were talking about the whole thing that he had read about in the paper. The thing where Marissa shot a guy to save Ryan's life. He had read that Ryan had been arrested, before they believed that it was Marissa that pulled the trigger. Johnny looked back up at Ryan and the cops.

By this time, Ryan had backed up to the sea wall and the cops were right in his face. "I didn't do anything."

"This time, you mean. Maybe it's a good thing we got here when we did."

"Hey, Joe, maybe we should bring him in, remind him what the inside of a cell looks like."

Johnny gaped at that. They couldn't really do that, could they? He didn't really know much about the law, but he knew that much. Ryan seemed to agree.

"You can't do that. I have rights. I haven't done anything."

"Yeah, the guy you almost killed had rights, too." Joe poked Ryan in the chest. "You be careful, Atwood. We'll be watching you. And next time, maybe you won't have your girlfriend and your brother to lie and cover for you."

"They weren't lying –"

Joe scoffed at that. "Whatever you say, kid."

Then the cops backed off and looked around at all the kids. Johnny tensed up, waiting to see what would happen next. But all they said was, "You kids get home." And then they left.

Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. Those cops were scary. Johnny looked around. Oh, yeah. They still had the problem of Volchok. But by this time Volchok was staring at Ryan with a look of something like fear in his eyes. Johnny smiled. Maybe it was all that talk about attempted murder.

As Johnny watched, Volchok seemed to break himself out of it and gestured to his friends. "Let's go."

The three of them started walking down the beach away from Johnny, Marissa, and Ryan. After a few seconds, Volchok turned back and walked backwards for a few steps, calling to Ryan, "Hey, man, no hard feelings, right?" But he didn't wait for a response before turning around and jogging after his friends.

Johnny smiled, glad that this was over. He turned back to look for Ryan and saw him now in an embrace with Marissa. He knew that he should get out of the area and leave them some privacy, so he started to head for the steps that led up from the beach to the parking lot where the Range Rover was. But he stopped to listen when he heard Marissa's voice.

"Ryan, weren't those the two cops that helped you guys set up that surprise anniversary party for Kirsten last year?"

Ryan laughed. "Yeah, Joe and Tim. They're friends of Sandy's."

"So –"

"So, I asked them for a little favor."

Marissa laughed too and hugged Ryan again.

Johnny smiled and started to head towards the car again. He guessed that life around Marissa and Ryan would never be boring.

The End.