Disclaimer – I do not own any part of The OC…I just have an active imagination.

A/N – So this is my first OC fic and I really should be doing my actual work for school, but I couldn't get this idea out of my head. Also, I should be finishing up my other fic for JAG, but I'm a bad person with slight writers block, so hopefully those people can forgive me. Anyway…happy reading!

Chapter 1 – Chino Chic

"There are some great historical homes in the area," Kirsten opened the front door and walked in followed by Seth and Ryan. They had been setting up for Casino Night and Ryan was slowly beginning to win her over, "And we can always go on an architectural tour.

"Yeah," Seth agreed, "Those things are awesome."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Ryan smiled as he walked into the house. He froze when he looked into the living room. Seth and Kirsten stopped abruptly behind him and followed his gaze to a bleached blond woman talking with Sandy and made the logical assumption that she was his mother, Dawn.

"Hey, Ry," she stood up awkwardly and Ryan just tensed his jaw, "Aren't you going to say hello?"

Kirsten watched as Ryan did not respond. She shared a concerned look with Sandy who directed his wife's gaze to the other person in the room. She had been so focused on Ryan's reactions, that Kirsten completely missed the presence of a teenage girl who had to be the half-sister Ryan had mentioned.

According to Ryan, Lee was a year younger than him, but wearing tight jeans, a white tank top, and too much make-up, she looked to be his equivalent or older. As Kirsten watched her, she walked across the room to give Ryan a hug.

"Hey big brother," she whispered in his ear.

"Hey Lee," he hugged back and they shared a look that spoke volumes. He directed his next question at his mother, "What are you doing here?"

"Sandy found me," Dawn took a step forward and Ryan took one back, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Well I don't," with that Ryan left the room and presumably headed for the pool house.

"Nicely done," Lee rolled her eyes and walked up to Kirsten and Seth, "Hi, I'm Lee Atwood, Ryan's half-sister."

"Nice to meet you," Kirsten shook her hand, "I'm Kirsten and this is our son Seth."

"Hey," he gave her a wave and she nodded back.

"Hi, I'm Dawn," she followed in suit.

"Nice to meet you," Kirsten smiled, "Would you excuse us?"

"Sure," Dawn shrugged.

"Seth. Groceries. Kitchen. Now," Kirsten ordered, referring to the food they had left at the front door, "Sandy, a word?"

"Excuse us," Sandy followed his wife out of the room.

"You need help?" Lee called after Seth, clearly wanting to avoid being in the same room with her mom.

"Sure," he shrugged and she followed him out, leaving Dawn alone.

"You found his mother?" Kirsten asked as Sandy closed the door of the study behind them.

"I thought that's what you wanted?"

"It was…is," she paused, "I just – I don't know – thought you'd give us some warning."

"I tried calling your cell."

"Which was off, sorry," she sighed, "I just wish Ryan could have had some warning."

"Believe me, Kirsten, he would have run off to the pool house either way."

"You're right," she turned to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"Kitchen," she smiled, "I have to tell Rosa to set two extra places."

"I'll go tell Dawn," Sandy followed her out.

Kirsten walked into the kitchen and asked Rosa to add two people to the menu. She watches Seth and Lee talking as they unloaded into the groceries into the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen. They were wrapped up in conversation and do not notice her at first.

"I'm just saying," Seth began reaching into the bag, "Between you and Ryan, I don't think they sell anything other than wife beaters in Chino."

"This isn't a wife beater!" she exclaimed indignantly taking the can he handed her and putting it on the shelf, "It's a tank top."

"You're splitting hairs."

"You're a pain."

"I'm just making an observation," he shrugged, "I don't know what's 'Chino Chic.'"

"Right," she smirked, "Besides, if I knew I was coming here when my mom told me to get in the car, I would have changed. Although the car alone should have tipped me off," she muttered out the last part, and then looked over to see Kirsten watching them, "Sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Kirsten smiled, "You're dressed fine."

"But not appropriately?" Lee raised an eyebrow as she examined what Kirsten wore. Since she had been setting up Casino Night, Kirsten was in her 'casual' clothes, but from Lee's perspective Kirsten's fitted tanks and perfect hair gave another argument.

"Seth's practically in his pajamas," Kirsten countered.

"Mom!"

"But if you're really uncomfortable, I can grab you a sweater," she ignored her son.

"If you don't mind," she asked hesitantly.

"I don't," she smiled and left. While she was gone, Seth and Lee finished putting the rest of the groceries away, "Here you go."

"Thanks," Lee took the simple zip-up cotton jacket and slipped it on.

"It looks good," Kirsten smiled.

"Thanks," Lee smiled back.

"You're welcome. Lee, you and your mom are staying for dinner. Seth, I'm going to grab a quick shower, but will you get Ryan back in hear in…"

"15 minutes," Rosa answered for her.

"Thanks Rosa," Kirsten tossed over her shoulder, "In 15 minutes."

"I heard Rosa," he smirked at her.

"Just go," Kirsten shook her head as she left the kitchen.

"Let's go," Seth said to Lee and led her outside.

"Holy st!" she gasped when she saw the gorgeous view, "Sorry."

"Yeah, um," Seth shrugged it off and pointed to the pool house, "Ryan's in here, so"

"Yeah," she followed him, but her gaze lingered on the infinity pool. Mentally she compared it to the YMCA pool where she and Ryan learned to swim.

"Hey Ryan," Seth cracked open the door and walked in while Lee lingered in the doorway. Ryan sat on the bed and gave Seth a slight nod of acknowledgement, "So that was your mom?"

"Yeah."

"My mom invited them to dinner," he sat down on the bed next to him.

"That's nice of her," he half shrugged and continued to glare at a spot on the floor.

"Rosa's the one who's doing all the work. Because, as you know, my mom in the kitchen could probably result in less food than more," Seth rambled, "But nobody's perfect."

"I'll come to dinner, so you can stop."

"Good," he smiled, "Because I was struggling. Could you tell I was struggling?"

"Does he always talk this much?" Lee piped up from the doorway.

"Pretty much," Ryan answered, "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Well, if you'd talk there wouldn't be a problem," Seth argued.

"Whatever," she looked at Ryan whose eyes held the question 'why'? Lee conveyed back a 'why else' clearly referring to the actions of their mother. She followed this with an apologetic look that was quickly countered by a 'don't worry about it' look from Ryan.

Okay," Seth broke in, "So while this whole silent Chino-talk thing you two have going on is fascinating, could you give it a break?" the siblings shared an amused look, "Stop!"

"Sorry," Ryan smiled slightly and Seth smiled back, happy to have achieved his goal of partially cheering his friend.

Eventually, they all made it to the table and sat there in awkward silence. Sandy and Kirsten were at the head and foot with Seth and Ryan on one side and Dawn and Lee on the other.

"Thank you, Rosa," Kirsten smiled as the maid/cook/housekeeper served them food.

"Thanks," Lee repeated when Rosa came to her.

"Um...thanks," Dawn seemed thrown off by someone serving her.

"No, thank you, Rosa," Sandy declined and the awkward silence returned.

"So, Dawn, how long have you been working at the Laundromat?" Sandy asked, even though he already knew the answer, but he wanted to start with a neutral subject.

"Uh, not long. Just a couple of weeks."

"What happened to the restaurant?" Ryan asked.

"Um...they were making cutbacks," Dawn cast a sidelong glance to Lee who remained silent.

"You got fired," Ryan concluded.

"Well, it was for the best. They had rats, cockroaches."

"You seen Trey?" he asked next.

"Uh, I went to visit him at the prison. He wouldn't see me," she answered, "Lee stayed home."

"Where are you living these days?" Kirsten changed the subject.

"With friends," Dawn tried to keep it light, "We're between places right now."

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" she offered.

"What about A.J.?" Ryan broke in.

"No," she shook her head, "I broke up with him. We're through. No more. I put up with too much. He laid his hands on me, Lee, and Ryan too many times."

"Mom?" Ryan looked gave her a shut-up look. There was a reason he didn't talk about his past. It wasn't a comfortable topic and seeing the way Lee started staring intently at the carrots on her plate, Ryan knew that she didn't want their mother going there as well.

"What? I'm just saying...he was a bad influence, you know...with his drinking and..."

"'Cause A.J. was the problem?" he gave her a look of complete disbelief.

"Hey, I haven't touched a drop since I dumped his sorry ass last week," she swore and when Ryan looked at Lee she gave a slight nod of assent, "The scum he used to bring into the house, and his whole coke thing."

"Mom," Lee whispered harshly as Ryan angrily got up from the table and started to leave.

"Where are you going?" Dawn ignored Lee.

"It was bad enough living through it the first time," he muttered storming out. He hated that the Cohen's had to hear all that. Sandy knew his history from the case files, but he preferred to leave that out when it came to Seth and Kirsten.

"Ryan, wait, sweetie," she stood up and excused herself, "I...sorry."

"Awkward silence number 17," Seth smirked

"Seth!" Kirsten scolded, but her voice softened when she noticed Lee's amused smirk, "So, Lee, what year in school are you?"

"I'll start ninth in the fall."

"Oo! The big high school," Seth raised his eyebrows in glee.

"Right," she rolled her eyes with the same semi-amused smile, "Where's your bathroom.

"Down that hallway on your left," Kirsten answered.

"Excuse me," she left the table.

"Will you at least talk to me?" Dawn followed Ryan into the living room.

"What are you even doing here?" he spun to face her.

"I came...for you."

"Why? What do you want from me? You left a note. A note."

"Okay, let me explain..."

"You abandoned me," he tried to hid the pain from his voice, "You threw me out. You just took off."

"I know, honey. I was...and A.J., and...the drinking, and...It's going to be different now," she made one excuse after another.

"That's what you said when we moved from Fresno after dad got arrested."

"I'm going to be different now. We have a chance to start over, babe. I mean, we've never had people like them, you know, who wanted to help us."

"Right. So, someone offers you a nice place to stay, and suddenly, you're all about the mom thing?" Ryan walked over to the window sadly.

"I didn't know what I was doing when I married your dad. I was too young when I had your brother. But with you... You and Lee were always the smart ones. You know? The good ones…you kept Lee protected…you were the reason she stayed in school. When you got arrested...I knew I'd failed, and...you were my last hope," she pleaded, "I should go."

"Wait."

"You ever going to forgive me, Kiddo?" she walked towards him and he took a hesitant step back.

"Let's just go slow, okay?"

"Okay, whatever you want. I'm not going to lose you again," she noticed Lee watching them silently from the doorway, "Come her," she took her hand and squeezed it, "We're all going to be a family."

A/N: So, what do you think? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Let me know please!