Disclaimer: Not mine…

A/N: I have a midterm coming up, so it'll be a while until the next one, and I apologize if this one is similar to the show for the first half…I just didn't know how else to write it. Many thanks to Spykid18, SVOC Luva, Co, Dogsbody, Kursk, jhhhhjfjk89, slimkay for the reviews. Happy reading!

Chapter 6 – Casa Cohen

Seth and Ryan sat on the couch playing a video game. Lee sat next them watching them play with the same intensity as the boys, who were actually playing.

"Oh, oh," Seth laughed as Ryan attempted to kill is character, "Oh really? You think so?"

"I do." Ryan argued back.

"Well, we'll see about that, Monkey Pox," Seth said back.

"Monkey pox?" Lee rolled her eyes, "Who says monkey pox?"

"Player 1 wins," the game announced.

"Losers apparently," Lee smiled at Seth who sighed dramatically as Ryan looked at him smugly.

"So the pupil has become the teacher," Seth passed the controller to Lee, "You're up. Good luck."

"Thanks. Get ready, Ry, because I am going to kick your…" she looked up to see Sandy and Kirsten walk in, both dressed in business clothes and looking serious, "Hi."

"Hey guys!" Sandy greeted.

"Hey," Ryan set down his controller.

"Who died?" Seth joked.

"Seth, we need to talk to Ryan and Lee alone," Kirsten said and both Seth and Ryan began to look a little guilty.

"Okay," Seth stood up, "But if this has to do with the rug though, I just want to tell you that neither of them had anything to do with it."

"What about the rug?" she looked down at the rug.

"I'm going to go now," Seth quickly made his exit, leaving Kirsten looking at the rug.

"So, Kirsten and I went to child services this morning," Sandy began sitting down on the chair and Kirsten moved to stand next to him, "And we told them that, uh, that we want both of you to stay with us," he explained and both Lee and Ryan began to look a little hopeful, "But there's a catch. Because you're minors, the only way they'll allow that to happen is if we assume all legal responsibility for you guys."

"We can't ask you guys to do that," Ryan said quickly.

"Yeah, it's too much," Lee echoed.

"Well, you don't have to," Sandy smiled, "We're asking you."

"We've all talked about it. And we want to be your legal guardians. We want you to be part of the family," Kirsten looked at them hopefully, "If you want to be..."

"What if it doesn't work?" Ryan asked, sharing a concerned look with his sister.

"Well, how do you mean?" Kirsten asked.

"Well," he looked at Lee to see if she wanted to say anything, but she made it clear that she was deferring to older brother on this one, "What if something happens and... and you guys change your mind."

"Like what? You steal a car? You burn down a house? You beat up the captain of the water polo team?" Sandy asked with a smile, "Those ships have sailed, my friend."

"What if I do something?" Lee asked nervously.

"Well, Kirsten assured me that you're not pregnant," he joked and Lee blushed slightly, "As long as you stay that way and have no plans of challenging your brother's rap sheet, then we're good."

"You just have to promise us you'll stay out of trouble," Kirsten told both of them, but then looked pointedly at Ryan, "From now on... no more fights."

"You're still on probation," Sandy warned Ryan specifically, "And child services will be up our ass all the time."

"No more trouble," Ryan said gratefully, "I promise."

"Me too," Lee grinned, matching Sandy and Kirsten.

"Well," Sandy stood up along with Ryan and Lee hand, "Welcome to the family."

"Thanks, guys," Ryan said as he shook hands with Sandy.

"Yeah, thanks," Lee added as Kirsten gave her a gentle hug.

"No, thank you," Sandy hugged Lee, and she tensed slightly at his touch. Looking over at Kirsten and Ryan, he noticed how awkward Ryan was about hugging her back. Sandy knew that for both of the kids the 'happy home' was going to be an adjustment.

"Okay, Seth," Kirsten called loudly, "You can come out now."

Seth popped his head around the corner from the kitchen with a smile. Sandy and Kirsten laughed at their son, and stepped out of the room to give the kids some privacy.

"You knew about this and didn't say anything?" Ryan asked as Seth sauntered into the room.

"You're terrible," Lee added.

"I didn't want to jinx it," he shrugged shaking hands with Ryan, "You're Cohen's now," he threw his arm over Lee's shoulder, "Welcome to a life of insecurity and paralyzing self-doubt."

"You make it sound so appealing," Lee rolled here eyes.

"Yeah," Ryan took a deep breath, "Now, all I have to do is... stay out of trouble."

"That could be…difficult," Seth looked at Lee who slipped out from under his arm, "What do you have to do?"

"As long as I'm not pregnant, I'm good."

"An admirable goal," he smiled, "But now we must focus on how to celebrate."

"We could just hang out here," Ryan suggested.

"No," he shook his head, "This is a monumental moment. You two have just officially been welcomed into the Casa Cohen, we need to cherish this day."

"How about we go to the pier," Ryan suggested, "You bring your skateboard, I'll take my bike and you…"

"I'll take a book and relax on the beach while you two do whatever 'guy stuff' you like to do," Lee finished for him, "Sound good?"

"Uh, sure," Seth agreed.

"Just let me go change," she pushed past them, "I'll be back in a minute."

"She's controlling, you know that?" Seth asked Ryan.

"You think?" Ryan shook his head and laughed, thinking about how all of this might just actually work giving Lee and him a real family.

Lee sat at one of the tables near the edge of the beach wearing board shorts and a simple tank over the bikini Kirsten had bought her. She had contemplated actually venturing onto the sand, but the overwhelming sight of bleached blond forced her away from the center of the beach. Adjusting to Newport was clearly going to be a slow process.

She looked up from her book to see a guy her age sit down at the table opposite of hers. He had sandy blond hair, wore workout clothes, and was drinking a bottle of water. From Lee's perspective, he was tall and skinny, but also muscular, and she assumed that he was a runner.

Deciding that he was probably another spoiled Newport kid, Lee returned to her reading. She was reabsorbed into the plotline of her book when someone grabbed it from her hands, "Hey!"

"All the Pretty Horses."

"Do you mind?" she glared up to find the guy she had been observing earlier.

"Sorry, I was curious," he thumbed through the pages, "Do you like it?"

"Um, I guess," she shrugged as he handed the book back to her.

"I've never been a big Cormac McCarthy fan," he offered his hand, "I'm Matt."

"Lee," she shook it, thinking how his blue eyes made up for the fact he probably had a trust fund worth more than her old house, "You want to join me?"

"If you don't mind," he sat down opposite of her, "You new around here?"

"Yeah," Lee smiled, "I take it your not?"

"Newport born and raised," he grinned, "But I'm not sure if I really should be proud of that."

"It's not that bad here," she teased.

"The locations great," he looked over at a group of surfers walking past them, "It's the people."

"They can't be all bad," she laughed, "I'm sure they have more depth."

"I like that you're optimistic, even if it makes you tragically wrong," Matt told her, "But once you get to Harbor you'll understand completely."

"Harbor?"

"It's the private high school here," he explained, "You will be going to high school, won't you?"

"Of course; I'll be a freshman," Lee paused, "We just haven't figured out the details yet."

"I see. Well, I'll be a freshman too. But my brother will be a sophomore, and he is the school's golden boy."

"What do you mean?"

"He plays soccer and water polo, is dating the social chair, and is the ideal to which all the harbor kids aspire," he mocked.

"That was a little harsh."

"Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy, but he's just a bit one-dimensional," he clarified, "And pretty much everyone else at Harbor is the same."

"Now that you've told me that, maybe I won't go to Harbor," she made a disgusted face, "I mean, there are other schools, right?"

"None as good as Harbor," he said matter-of-factly, "Besides, I need you there."

"You need me?"

"Well," Matt backtracked, "You seem normal."

"Thanks," she feigned offended.

"What I mean is, you're not corrupted by the O.C. world."

"Ah, well, that's probably because I'm not from around here."

"Where are you from?"

"Chino," she said quickly. Part of her wanted to hide the truth and blend in with this world, but enough people had seen the catastrophe of Casino Night, so sooner or later the truth would come out.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Lee glared, "Is that a problem?"

"No," he answered quickly, "It's you're the second person here from Chino and…oh…are you related to that Ryan whatever?"

"He's my older brother," she half-smirked as she watched him figure it out, "And it's Atwood."

"You were at Casino Night, right?" Matt asked the question Lee had been dreading, "With the Cohen's?"

"Yeah."

"So are you staying with them?"

"Yeah," she smiled, relieved that he did not comment on her mother's behavior, "They're great people."

"So I've heard," he spotted his brother approaching, "Oh no."

"What?"

"Don't look now, but my brother, his girlfriend, and her best friend are approaching," he hid a shudder.

"They can't be that bad," she casually glanced over her shoulder, "Please tell me Marissa Cooper is not your brother's girlfriend."

"Okay, I won't."

"This is just great," she groaned.

"Hey, just because Luke hates your brother, it doesn't mean he'll hate you."

"So now you're the optimist?"

"It'll be fine."

"Whatever," Lee groaned and plastered on a fake happy smile.

A/N: Shorter than the last, I know and I'm sorry. Next chapter will be longer and will be include more of the teens interacting as a whole and some more adjusting to the 'Casa Cohen.' Please review…you know you want to!