Okay, so please review and let me know what you think. I'm currently addicted to VH1, and I was watching wacky celebrity baby names, and I just think that naming your daughter God'iss is one of the most ridiculous things ever. Or how about Pilot Inspektor? Or Reign Beau? Rumer? Those poor kids. Anyway, please review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

Kirsten was at home, doing some work that she had brought home at the kitchen table when her cell phone began to ring. Thinking that it was her father, she groaned as she sifted through the papers that were spread all over the table to find her phone. When she picked it up and glanced at the screen, she was surprised to see a number that she had never seen before.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Cohen? It's Ryan, uh…I need a favor…."

"Ryan," she fought to keep the surprise out of her voice. Standing up, she walked to the counter and grabbed the keys to her car. "What's wrong?"

"I, um, I need somewhere to crash for the night. Just the night, I promise, I'll start looking for a place tomorrow, I just…it's late, and I don't have anywhere to go…"

"Of course," Kirsten said. "Where are you? I'll come get you." She scribbled down the address that Ryan rattled off, and hung up, assuring him that she would be there as soon as she could.

"Hey, honey, how's the work going?" Sandy asked walking into the kitchen just as she was hanging up the phone.

"That was Ryan," she said gesturing to her phone. "He needs somewhere to stay. I'm going to go get him." Sandy nodded.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He asked.

"No," Kirsten shook her head. "Can you stay here? Get some clean sheets on the bed in the guest room? And some clean towels?" Sandy frowned, clearly remembering what had happened the last time that she went alone into Chino. As if reading his thoughts, Kirsten placed a kiss on Sandy's cheek, and replied, "I'm not going to get out of the car, Sandy. I'll be okay."

"Right, well call me when you get down there, and I'll go get the guest room ready," he gave her a kiss on the mouth and she grabbed her purse and headed towards the front door.

"Mom? Where are you going?" Seth asked as she passed him in the front hall.

"Ryan's going to stay with us for a few days, I'm going to pick him up," Kirsten explained quickly.

"That's awesome. Can I come? Please?" Kirsten hadn't seen Seth this excited about anything in a long time, so she nodded, and Seth ran up the stairs to grab a pair of shoes.

"Seth's coming with me," Kirsten called to Sandy in the kitchen, who sighed with a great deal of relief.

"Okay."

"Ready," Seth said as he reappeared on the steps, shoes halfway on his feet. Kirsten nodded, and the two climbed into the car. "So why is he staying with us?"

"I'm not sure," Kirsten said shrugging. "I don't know if he'll say. He just called and said that he needed somewhere to stay tonight."

"He's not really eighteen, is he?" Seth asked.

"No, he isn't," Kirsten replied. "Your dad represented his brother, Trey, and he found his file this morning when he went to work. Trey's little brother Ryan, isn't eighteen, he's sixteen. He just turned sixteen a few months ago. Trey's in jail, his father is in jail, and his mother has been arrested a few times for possession, but none of the arrests have ever stuck." Kirsten snuck a look over at her son, who seemed to be taking this all in better than she had. What a rotten hand Ryan had been dealt in life. She had actually wept over the unfairness of it all. Wept when Sandy called her, as she sat in her corner office, in her father's multi-million dollar company, and felt like such a hypocrite for crying, knowing that she had no right to cry when she had everything that she could possibly want or need. But she wasn't crying for herself, she was crying for the boy that never got the chance to be a boy. A boy who had to lie about his age, presumably, so that he could get a job to help support his family.

A family that had fallen apart years ago, and a family that never thanked him for giving up his childhood, for giving up any chance that he had at a decent future. She wondered what she had done to deserve her charmed life, and what he had done to deserve such shitty parents.

"There's no balance to the world," Seth said quietly. "I mean, sure, I often think that the balance for me having everything that I do is that the water polo players pee in my shoes, but really…I mean, what is that compared to having a father and brother in jail, and an addict mother? I mean, he has nothing. And I have…well, maybe not everything, but once I claim Summer as my own, then yeah, I'll have everything. Shouldn't…shouldn't it be more equal?" It was in that moment that Kirsten had to face the fact that her son was no longer a child, and she reached over and took his hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.

"Yes," Kirsten said nodding. "It should be more equal." They drove in silence for a little longer before Seth finally spoke up again.

"Are you going to let him just leave? Go back to his construction job, and just let him…continue pretending?" Kirsten hadn't even thought about what would happen after that night, after they brought Ryan home.

"I don't know Seth, all I know is that he called asking for a place to stay, and I'm going to give him a place to stay," Kirsten replied. "Hey, help me navigate." She thrust the directions that Ryan had given her in Seth's direction. They found Ryan a few blocks down from the construction site. There was no mistaking the look of relief on his face when Kirsten and Seth pulled up. Seth hopped out of the Range Rover and threw open the trunk so that Ryan could put his bike in the car.

"Thanks again," Ryan said as he climbed in the backseat. "It's only for tonight. The place that I was staying at…it didn't really work out. I'll start looking for an apartment tomorrow."

"You can stay as long as you need to," Kirsten told him, looking in the rearview mirror back at Ryan. He clutched his backpack nervously, and his gaze never left the passing scenery out the window.

"Hey, dude, I know that you were probably hoping for shotgun," Seth said turning around in his seat to face Ryan. "But I insisted on coming. Couldn't let my Mom venture back down into dangerous territory without some sort of protection, right Mom?" Kirsten rolled her eyes.

"I can take care of myself," Kirsten argued.

"Right, and the other night proved just that," Seth replied sarcastically. "Thanks again for that, Ryan. I mean, my dad would have been a mess if something would have happened to her. When she's away on business, he can't do anything for himself. He once walked around the house for three hours looking for a blue sock. And I mean…I would have been pretty bummed out too. While she can't cook to save her life, she makes amazing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Kirsten shook her head with a laugh.

"Thanks a lot Seth," she said. "I'm glad to see that I mean so much to you." Ryan just managed a small smile. "Ryan, do you have to work tomorrow?" Ryan panicked suddenly, realizing that he hadn't even thought about work.

"Yes, I do…if you could just tell me where the nearest bus station to your house is I can take a bus in the morning back to Chino," Ryan said calculating in his head the time that it would take by bus to get to the site, and how early he would need to get up.

"Why don't you take the day off?" Kirsten suggested. "We'll call Mr. Gregory and tell him that I requested that you come help me on another project. He won't mind, will he?" Ryan wasn't too sure about Mr. Gregory not minding. But he knew that Mr. Gregory wouldn't say anything to Mrs. Cohen, it would be Ryan that would hear about it. "I'll take you back down and talk to him. Tell him that you were just helping to foster a good relationship with the Newport Group. Lay it on thick. It'll be okay. Seth, why don't you take a day off too? Show Ryan around."

"Meaning, I wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow? I'm in."

"No really, Seth doesn't have to skip school," Ryan said. "I'll just take a bus to work."

"I insist," Kirsten said. And Ryan got the sinking feeling that when Kirsten insisted on something, it happened.

A day off. He hadn't had a day off in years. Every day off of school he had spent working in the grocery store, or helping Trey out with something. Days off did not exist in his world.

Seth chattered on relentlessly for the rest of the drive. Something about a girl named Summer and Tahiti.

"It's going to be awesome," Seth said. "That is, if my parents let me."

"We'll see," Kirsten said.

"We'll see always means no," Seth whined. "It's giving me false hope, when everyone knows that you and Dad are going to get all overprotective like you always do, and for the seventeenth summer of my life, I will be stuck at home with nothing to do."

"No, Seth," Kirsten replied. "You're becoming an adult. Dad and I recognize that. We'll talk about it when it gets closer to summer." Even in the darkness of the car, Ryan could see that Seth's face lit up. He closed his eyes listening to Seth's babble. God, that kid could talk. Finally Kirsten announced that they were there, and Ryan opened up his eyes.

It was the biggest house that he had ever seen in his life. They just didn't make houses like this in Chino. Seth helped him unload his bike, as Kirsten grabbed his bag for him and they made their way into the house.

"Sandy? We're back," Kirsten called. Sandy came down the stairs and smiled at Ryan.

"Hi Ryan, nice to see you again."

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Ryan said softly.

"No problem, we set up the guest room for you, so if you want to put your…"

"The guest room?" Seth interrupted. "Dude, campaign for the pool house."

"Wherever is fine," Ryan said heading towards the stairs.

"No, dude, the pool house. It has its own kitchen, and bathroom, and it's totally more private."

"It is more private," Kirsten said looking up at Sandy.

"It's up to you kid," Sandy said coming down the rest of the way. "Whichever you prefer."

"It's fine. Whichever is easiest," Ryan said. "I don't…I don't care."

"The pool house," Seth insisted. "Definitely the pool house." With that, he grabbed Ryan's bag and started to head to the back yard.

"Let me just grab some clean sheets," Kirsten said hurrying up the stairs. Sandy led Ryan out back, and Ryan had to admit that if he had a choice, it would be the pool house. Seth was right, it was more private, and his own bathroom and kitchenette were a plus, but it was that view. That amazing view with the sound of the waves breaking against the beach. Ryan knew that if he lived here, he would never get used to that. He would never take that view for granted.

Seth was already lying on the bed when he and Sandy stepped into the pool house. Seth acknowledged that they had entered, but didn't get up from where he was lying.

"I'm just making sure it's comfortable," Seth said as he flipped around on it. Kirsten came in with the sheets, and made Seth get up so that she could make the bed.

"I can do that," Ryan said.

"No," Kirsten said smiling at him. "You're the guest. I can make the bed."

"She's an excellent bed maker," Sandy said grinning at Ryan. "She makes hospital corners like nobody's business." Ryan wrapped his arms around his middle and watched uncomfortably as Kirsten finished making the bed.

"There are fresh towels over here," Kirsten said pointing. "And if you need anything, mine and Sandy's bedroom is right there. Just knock on the door." Ryan nodded, knowing that short of a catastrophe, there was no way that he was going to bother Mr. and Mrs. Cohen that night. The adults said goodnight, and made their way across the lit backyard to the kitchen.

"Well, dude, I guess I should probably let you get some sleep," Seth said climbing out the chair he had been lounging on while his mother made the bed. "I'll see you tomorrow. It's going to be awesome."

"We really don't have to do anything," Ryan said. "You can go to school."

"Dude, me and school don't really mix. Actually, it's not the school part, it's the people there. There's all these water polo players, and let's just say that it's understatement by saying that they don't like me. But hey, they shave their chests, so I'd say that we're even." He headed towards the door, and turned back to face Ryan. "Seriously, when my parents say stay as long as you like, that means that you can stay as long as you like. My aunt Hailey's record is like seven months. Then she got bored and moved to Calcutta for awhile, so I'm sure that it would have been longer." With that, Seth waved goodbye and headed back into the house leaving Ryan alone in the pool house wondering if he should have just stuck it out in Chino.

It's only a night, he reminded himself. I'll be out of here by tomorrow night.

It's only for a night.