Title: A Spot Of Trouble
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.
Description: Ryan gets into a spot of trouble with a girl. (Set in early season 1.)

Chapter 5

After he finished with Jane, Jane's father turned to Ryan. Oh, god, Ryan thought, now it's my turn.

"Ryan, is it? And you're sixteen?"

Ryan nodded. "Yes, sir."

"You're a minor, so that means that you must have parents –" Ryan figured he must have done something to react to that subconsciously because after the briefest of pauses the Chief of Police continued with, "Or somebody else who's responsible for you."

Ryan nodded, hoping that he wasn't going with this where Ryan thought he was going.

The Chief got up, went over to his desk, and stopped in front of the phone. "I'd like you to call them and ask them to come down to get you. Here – I'll get you an outside line."

The Chief picked up the phone and pressed a single button, either an 8 or an 9, Ryan thought. Then he held the phone out to Ryan, clearly indicating for him to come over and take it.

After a quick look at Jane, Ryan reluctantly got up and went over and took the phone. As Jane's father went back over to sit in the chair that he'd been sitting in, Ryan tried to think about what he was going to say to Sandy. Although, no matter what he said, it wasn't going to sound good. He Ryan took a deep breath and started dialing the Cohens' home phone number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Seth, could you get your dad for me?"

"Ryan! Ryan, where are you, man? You just missed The Black Ninja, totally the best B-movie of 2003."

"Seth –"

"You know, if you get home soon, we can still have our ninja marathon –"

Ryan finally resorted to raising his voice to get Seth's attention. "Seth! I need you to go get your dad. Now. It's urgent."

"Geez, man, you didn't have to yell."

Ryan finally heard Seth put down the phone and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he noticed Jane's father looking at him curiously. So he put his hand over the mouthpiece and explained, "Seth's parents are my legal guardians."

The Chief nodded his understanding. Ryan hoped he wouldn't have to explain any further. Ryan looked away, out the window. He was going to have enough explaining to do tonight to explain this mess to Sandy. As he waited for Sandy to pick up the phone, he tried to think about what he was going to say.

Whatever he came up with, though, went out the window when he heard, "Hello? Ryan?"

Oh, god, it was Kirsten. "Um... oh... hey... hi."

"I'm sorry but Sandy's out wining and dining a new client for the law firm. Can I handle it? Seth said it was urgent..."

Ryan sighed and dropped down into the desk chair, dropping his head into his free hand. How could he explain this to Kirsten? "Um... well... I'm... um... I'm at the police station."

Ryan could hear Kirsten's shock. "What? Oh, my god, Ryan! Are you okay? What happened? Are you under arrest?"

"No, no." Ryan glanced at the Chief of Police. "I'm not under arrest." Not yet, anyway. "I just need someone to come and pick me up. I thought Sandy –"

"Could I come? I hate to bother him –"

"No!" Oh, god, he hadn't meant to raise his voice at Kirsten. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I mean, that is, I think Sandy should come. I might need, you know..." Oh, god.

"You might need a lawyer."

Ryan sighed again. "Yeah."

Ryan heard Kirsten sigh also. "Okay, Ryan. I'll call him and let him know that you need him. I'm sure he'll be right there."

"Oh! Um... I'm not... I'm not in Newport."

"You're not?"

"No, um, I'm in Long Beach."

"Long Beach? I thought you said you were hanging out with some friends from work. In Newport."

"Um..."

Kirsten sighed again. "Okay, Ryan, we'll talk about that later, when you're home. Right now, I'm going to need directions to give to Sandy, you know, to the police station there."

"Hold on." Ryan put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked over at Jane's father. "She's going to need directions. From Newport Beach."

Jane's father got up and started walking towards the desk with his hand out for the phone. "Let me talk to her."

Ryan got up from the desk chair and handed him the phone, then continued on to go back sitting on the couch next to Jane. The Chief sat down in his chair and was about to start talking into the phone when he covered the mouthpiece himself and whispered to Ryan, "What's her name?"

As Ryan sat down, he told him, "Kirsten Cohen."

The Chief went ahead and started talking to Kirsten on the phone. Ryan could only hear his side of the conversation. While they were talking, Jane took Ryan's hand, and Ryan hung on to it, giving Jane a grateful smile for the gesture.

"Mrs. Cohen? This is Michael Garibaldi. I'm the Chief of Police here in Long Beach... No, no, nothing like that." He looked over at Ryan and Jane. "Your, um, Ryan was with my daughter Jane... Trespassing... No, we're not filing charges. I'd just like either you or your husband to come down... That's fine... I can give you directions."

The Chief gave Kirsten the directions and then ended the call. Immediately after that, a police officer stuck his head in the office, asking for a moment of the Chief's time. He went with the officer, leaving Ryan and Jane alone in his office, again, to wait, this time for Sandy to show up. Ryan figured it would probably be at least a good 45 minutes to an hour.

Once her father was gone, Jane turned to Ryan. "I'm so sorry I got you in trouble."

Ryan shook his head. "It's not your fault."

Jane shook her head back. "But I'm the one who insisted that we go to the gazebo. You didn't want to..."

Ryan took her hand in both of his. "It's not your fault. I knew we were trespassing. I could have said no. It was my decision to go with you, and I'll deal with the consequences. Really. Don't worry about it."

Even though she didn't look convinced, Jane dropped the matter and didn't say anything more, for which Ryan was grateful. This situation reminded him too much of stealing that car with his brother. All this time, he'd been saying to himself that it was really his brother who stole the car, not him. It wasn't his idea. He didn't want to do it. But just like here, he could have said no. He didn't have to go with Trey, but he did. He chose to go. He was responsible for his own actions.

Ryan slouched down on the couch and put his head back, settling in for the long wait for Sandy. God, he couldn't wait for all of this to be over. Which could realistically be a long time. If Jane's father ran his name through the computer and saw that he was on probation, well, committing a misdemeanor was definitely a violation of his probation. As soon as they found out, they could arrest him right then, and he could go off to juvie and never go home. Not for another two years, anyway. Ryan sighed. He really hoped it wouldn't come to that. But it could.

That's why he really needed Sandy to come and not Kirsten. Just in case. And maybe Sandy could even argue them out of sending him to juvie. Maybe just extend his probation, or add more restrictions, or add community service, or something. As much as he dreaded seeing Sandy – his disappointment, his anger about Ryan getting himself into trouble again – he also couldn't wait for Sandy to get there. Ryan really needed him there, and not just for the legal stuff.

To Be Continued