Okay, off to finish chapter 09, but it's half written. I'm on a roll, aren't I? Thanks to Sister Rose for beta-ing.
I don't own it.

When they regained their composure, the boys sat up straight and stared at each other with bemused expressions. The air was charged and everything felt different. Not so heavy and suffocating like it had been the past few months. They turned their gazes to the patio, where they saw Sandy planted on a patio chair daring them to come out before their issues had been resolved.

"Do you think he's going to stay there all night?" Seth asked, appraising his father from across the patio.

Ryan cocked his head to the side. "I don't know. Your dad really frightened me for a minute. I've seen him pissed, but he was downright scary just then."

"Not just my dad," said Seth. He pulled his eyes away from Sandy and fixed his gaze on Ryan. "I know you'll never call him dad. That wouldn't be fair to your own father. But he doesn't think of you as some kid he pulled off the street. Sometime last year both he and my mom started to think of you as their other child."

Ryan got up from the bed and bounced across the room to the kitchen area. He opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of sodas. Kirsten and Rosa insisted on keeping him well stocked at all times so that he didn't have to wander out in the cold in middle of the night. He was especially grateful for that now.

Tossing a soda to Seth, he said, "I wish they were my real parents and that they always had been, but I have a dad and a mom. It's not like I can start calling Sandy and Kirsten-"

"I know," Seth cut him off. "I just mean, that when you say 'your mom' or 'your dad,' it's as if they're not any part of you. And that isn't true. You didn't see mom after you left last summer."

Seth closed his eyes. He had spied her from his bedroom window as he packed his bag and wrote his good-bye notes. He'd seen Kirsten walk into the pool house and strip the sheets and then fall onto the bed, hugging the linen to her chest as her body heaved with sobs. It had almost made Seth stay. Almost. He supposed he was a terrible son for leaving her and causing her more grief, but he couldn't imagine staying in Newport without Ryan.

"She cried," he explained to Ryan. He opened the can of soda and the fizz hissed and crackled and ran over the top and down the sides like a small geyser. Seth quickly bent his head forward slurping up the falling fizz. "Your leaving made us all realize what we were losing and you know what a difference you made to our family."

Ryan scratched at the back of his head, trying to shrug off the obvious compliment. "So I don't get it then. Why did you cut me off?"

Seth twisted in his seat and tapped his feet rhythmically on the ground. Ryan was sure it was to some song that only Seth could hear in his head. "I didn't cut you off." Seth sipped at his soda and looked off into the distance. "I guess I did. I – I came back to Newport, and it was awful, Ryan. Mom forced me back to school the day I came back, and Saunders and his goons lit into me right away. I didn't know that it was you trying to call me. I didn't recognize the number, so I ignored it. And by the time I figured it out, well, I was afraid you'd realize what a lameass I really was."

"I knew that from the first day I met you."

Seth arched his brows.

"I knew that you weren't Mr. Cool. You were just you. Why would you think that it would make a difference to me if you were being taunted again at school? It wouldn't make me think any differently of you."

"Maybe I'm tired of being everyone's punching bag or your project. I just want to be."

"You're not my project."

"No?"

"No." Ryan shook his head vehemently. "I hate bullies. I knew way too many bullies growing up. It brings up lots of old memories and lots of old issues when I see people picking on anyone else who's weaker than them. I wasn't always strong enough to stop it, but here I can, so I will. Whether or not you want me to."

Seth tapped his soda can, but didn't answer right away. "Yeah, so when you explain what happened in school, I wouldn't tell it that way. That will totally piss off the 'rents. And we just made a very bad first impression on them. I'm looking at two weeks, but you man, you're looking at a month in Alcatraz."

Ryan looked out at the patio and saw Sandy still sitting guard. Kirsten was coming out of the kitchen holding a square, flat box. Pizza, he thought. His stomach growled. He had missed lunch, and he had ignored Kirsten's suggestion to fix a snack.

"You think she's going to bring it in?"

Seth followed Ryan's gaze. "It looks like she wants to, but I bet Dad's going to be a hard ass."

Holding the steaming box of pizza before her, Kirsten stopped behind her husband. "How's it going?" she asked.

"They're talking."

"No fighting."

"They're not even yelling at each other."

"They must be hungry. Ryan missed lunch, and he didn't have anything to eat when he came home."

"It didn't affect his ability to wrestle with Seth."

"That wasn't just his fault."

"I didn't say it was his fault. They're both culpable in this." Sandy ran his fingers through his thick head of hair. "I hope this works."

"Does this sort of thing actually work if it's not a TV show?"

Sandy wrinkled his nose and pursed his lips. "You're being cheeky, Mrs. Cohen." He pulled Kirsten on his lap and pulled her close to him.

"Sandy," she squealed, "The boys can see everything."

"If they're smart, they'll concentrate on their task on hand."

"Or what? You're going to keep them in there forever? We need to talk this out with them. We need to help mediate. We're the adults."

"How is it that you're always calling me the softie? You're definitely the softie in this parenting duo."

"Oh? When Seth was 3 and refused to clean up his toys?"

"He was 3."

"And he still doesn't pick up after himself!"

Sandy laughed. He snaked his hand around Kirsten's waist and onto her lap where the pizza box. He tried to open it, but his wife slapped his hand away.

"Ouch. That hurt."

"It's for the boys."

"And what about me? I'm hungry, too."

"I'll cook dinner for us."

"I didn't do anything wrong. Why am I being punished?"

"Sanford Cohen!"

"Actually," Ryan observed, "It looks like Sandy and Kirsten are the ones who should be locked in here. With the blinds down."

"Eww. Ryan, that is not an image one should have of one's parents."

"Grow up, Seth. How do you think you got here?"

"Fine for you to say. When your children ask you, you can just tell them dad brought you home from jail."

Ryan threw a pillow at Seth. Seth caught it and hugged it to his chest.

"So," Ryan started. "The reason you've been pretty much ignoring me since Sandy made me come home was because you were afraid that I'd find out about Saunders and his goons."

Seth looked down and felt the moment of levity dissipate. "Yeah. I mean, it got pretty bad. Dad was doing a career fair in school last month when someone peed in my shoes and I decided I was going to walk around barefoot. So everything came out and Mom and Dad have been on Dr. Kim's case ever since about the bullying that goes on at Harbor."

Ryan narrowed his eyes. "That's why Dr. Kim is being so easygoing with me. She's afraid of pissing off your parents."

"Probably. Then Mom and Dad made me go into therapy. There's no comic book club. Though I did get Dr. Berger hooked on the X-Men."

"You really thought you couldn't tell me this? You thought it would change how I thought about you?"

Seth shrugged. Ryan shook his head and advanced towards Seth, raising his fist high and bringing it down hard on Seth's arm, giving his less related brother a dead arm. "You're a tool, you know. An idiot. Here I am, feeling totally out of place. Feeling like this can't be my home anymore and it's because you thought-"

"You really felt like that? Just because I wasn't talking to you?"

Ryan rocked back and forth on his heels. "Well, yeah," he said, refusing to meet Seth's eyes. "You're the reason I felt like this could be home in the first place."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such a…"

"An ass," Ryan finished for him.

Seth rolled his eyes. "If you must be so vulgar."

"So, I know your secret now. Can we put this behind us?"

"Truce?" Seth stuck out his hand.

Grinning Ryan shook on it. He glanced out again onto the patio and sighed. "I think we're better off staying in here for now."

Seth whirled around. "Why?" He crinkled up his nose. "Eeww. Ryan, that is so— Eww."

Kirsten was nestled in Sandy's lap, snuggled up against his chest and she was feeding him bits of pizza.

"That's our pizza," Ryan grumbled.

"Don't you keep food in here?"

"Rosa doesn't let me."

"Yeah. Don't cross Rosa. She almost has as much power in this house as Mom." Seth slapped the top of his legs with a loud thwack. "Okay. We're stuck in here, but we're not, because we have a key, and we've worked things out, so Dad won't lynch us if we open up. But," there was a lilt in Seth's voice, as if he were studying the Talmud. "The 'rents are on the verge of doing the nasty right there by the pool. But," Seth held up his finger. "We're hungry and the food is in there." He pointed to the house. "Ryan, I see no choice. We're going to have to face the disgusting snogging head-on so we can obtain provisions. We need a plan."

Sandy licked the tomato sauce off of Kirsten's fingers. "It's quiet in there. No thumping." He peeked out from around Kirsten's torso. "No blood splattered on the glass. It must be going well."

"You are so not funny, Sandy."

"I thought I was."

She leaned in and kissed him. "I won't be signing you up for an open mike night." She put both hands on his chest and pushed off of him. "Sandy, we have to talk seriously."

"I thought we were." He bent forward trying to kiss her again.

"Stop it. I'm serious," she said, putting on the same severe voice she used with the boys when she meant business.

Sandy sat up straighter to show he was listening.

"Did you hear the part before when Ryan said Seth was still being bullied."

Sandy sighed and nodded his head.

"What are we going to do about it? We can't keep letting Seth be a victim."

"I don't know. Obviously, working with the school administration hasn't been effective. Perhaps we should look at legal action. A civil suit? If there's enough evidence we might even consider talking to the DA and asking him to file criminal charges. But the burden of proof will be great and I don't know if we'd manage."

"Do you think that's a viable option? Is it wise?"

"We'd have to talk to Seth and see what he wants us to do. It's for him to decide."

Leaning her head against Sandy's chest, Kirsten said, "You're right. We'll have to discuss this with Seth. You are very wise, dear."

He stroked Kirsten's mane of blond hair. "Just call me doc."