Title: Firebug
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C.. Not for profit.
Description: There is a fire at Harbor. Arson. Guess who is the prime suspect?

Author's Note: Much thanks to my new beta fredsmith518 for all of her valuable input.

Chapter 1

Sandy whistled as he put his surfboard away in the garage, then put the Range Rover away. As he picked up The Orange County Register from the front doorstep and headed into the kitchen for coffee, he couldn't help but smile happily with a bounce in his step. It was a glorious day. He had gotten to the beach just as the sun was coming up. Beautiful. Okay, so, not quite the same as back in New York where the sun rose over the ocean, but still – beautiful. And the surfing. The surfing was incredible. Six-foot waves. He smiled again as he remembered how he nailed them time after time.

Sandy settled in on the couch in the family room and opened the newspaper to see what was going on in the O.C. this week. But he kept getting distracted by thoughts about how good everything was going lately. He lowered the paper and stared at the blank TV, lost in thought for a moment. All the troubles with Ryan and Oliver seemed to be behind them now. Ryan had even gone with Seth and the rest of their friends to a ski resort a couple weekends back and seemed to have a good time. And Seth, well, Sandy had never seen his son happier, now that he was dating the girl of his dreams.

As for himself, everything was going smoothly with Jimmy and the restaurant. And he and Kirsten were doing great – except for that one little hiccup over Valentine's Day, which wasn't entirely unexpected – but other than that... Well, let's just say that last night he and his wife had outdone even themselves.

Sandy went back to reading the paper with a big grin on his face. He was just skimming, mostly thinking about his plans to spend the weekend with his family (along with some work on the restaurant), when a small headline in the Police/Fire Blotter section caught his eye.

Fire at Newport Beach's Harbor School

"Oh, my god." Sandy pulled the newspaper closer to read the entire news item.

The Newport Beach Fire Department responded to an alarm at The Harbor School at approximately 5:25 PM Friday night. The fire department reports that the blaze was extinguished quickly. The property damage was reportedly contained to one office. There were no injuries. The Newport arson investigator was at the scene but had no comment for reporters. The investigator's presence may indicate that the fire is thought to be of suspicious origin.

He read the item several times, then lowered the paper, not knowing what to think. A small fire wasn't serious, but what if it was arson? That was something else entirely. What if someone was targeting the school? You hear so much about school shootings. What if that was the next step, instead of an empty office after school hours?

Sandy drank the rest of his coffee while contemplating what he should do. Once he made his decision, he folded the paper to display the news item, put his cup away in the dishwasher, and headed off to the master bedroom to let Kirsten know what was going on.

When Ryan entered the kitchen from the pool house to get breakfast, Seth was already sitting at the kitchen island, eating cereal and reading a comic book. He looked up and smiled when Ryan came in.

"Hey, man." Ryan reached around Seth and snagged a cereal bowl.

"Good morning, Ryan!"

Ryan looked at Seth a little strangely as he sat down next to him and grabbed the box of cereal. Seth was even more hyper than usual for this time of the morning on a Saturday.

Seth continued, "So what are the plans for today? A little playstation perhaps? X2? Oh, I know! Let's go to the comic book store. Anna told me she saw a Sandman there that I don't have."

Ryan looked at Seth, confused. "I thought you were hanging out with Summer today."

Seth shook his head. "Not until tonight, buddy. We have a date at six. So we have all day for a little Seth/Ryan time." Seth's face fell. "Unless... Did you make other plans? I saw you talking with Luke..."

Ryan shrugged. "We didn't really set anything up. And we were talking more about tomorrow anyway."

Seth smiled in relief. "Great! Then Seth/Ryan time it is. Comic book store?"

Ryan smiled back at Seth's enthusiasm. "Sure."

After a few minutes of silence as the boys ate their cereal and read comic books, Ryan heard footsteps and looked up to see Kirsten and Sandy coming into the kitchen. They both looked very serious. Ryan was suddenly worried. There was no reason that he knew of that they should look that way.

"Morning, boys." Kirsten greeted them without her usual enthusiasm.

Ryan and Seth both mumbled, "Morning," in response.

Sandy told them, "I'm glad you're both here. There's something we need to talk to you about."

Ryan exchanged a look with Seth, who looked just as worried and confused as Ryan felt. Obviously he didn't know what was going on any more than Ryan did. Unless...

Ryan studied Sandy and Kirsten. Did they find out what happened on the ski trip? Were he and Seth both in trouble now? Ryan held his breath and waited to hear what they had to say.

Kirsten nodded towards Sandy and the newspaper he was holding. "Did either of you know that there was a fire at Harbor yesterday?"

Ryan was taken aback. That was totally not what he was expecting to hear. "What? No. When?"

Seth shook his head. "Yeah, that's news to me, too. What happened?"

Sandy gestured with the newspaper. "It was in this morning's Register. Here, listen."

Sandy proceeded to read the news about the fire. Ryan couldn't believe it. It sounded like somebody set it on purpose. Why would anybody do that? It made no sense...

After reading from the paper, Sandy addressed the boys. "So neither of you were still at school when it happened?"

Seth and Ryan both shrugged and shook their heads.

Seth volunteered, "No. I left right after final bell and went over to Summer's."

"And what about you, Ryan? You had detention, right?"

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, but it got out at five, and I had no reason to hang around, so I just left."

Sandy glanced at the paper. "It says here the fire was at 5:25." He looked back up at Ryan. "So you were probably home by then –"

"Uh, no, actually. I walked home. I didn't get back until after six."

Kirsten looked questioningly at Ryan. "You walked home?"

"Well..." Ryan felt a little embarrassed. He shrugged and took a quick look at Seth. "I didn't have my bike and everyone was already gone, so..."

Seth spoke up. "Hey, man, you could have called me at Summer's and we would have come and picked you up."

Ryan shook his head slightly. "I didn't want to bother you, and besides, I felt like walking." He looked back at Sandy and Kirsten, who looked like they wanted to apologize, or something. "It's fine, really. I like to walk home sometimes. No big deal."

"Oh. Okay..." Kirsten said, uncertainly, and looked at Sandy.

After a moment, Sandy cleared his throat and said, "Okay. So. Neither one of you were there. All right. Um... I'll go make some calls. See if I can find out more about what's going on with this fire." Sandy leaned over and kissed Kirsten on the cheek. "Don't worry, Honey. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." Kirsten gave Sandy a little smile, then he headed off to his office.

Ryan heard Seth mutter to himself, "Wow, another fire." Then he stood up, gesturing towards his room. "I should go call Summer. Um... okay." Then he was gone, too.

Ryan took a deep breath and looked over at Kirsten, who gave him a slight smile. "Sandy's probably right. It's probably nothing. I'm sure Harbor will be back to normal in no time."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, I'm gonna..." And he left the kitchen as well.

In the pool house, Ryan flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't believe it. Another fire. Another arson. He just hoped that he wouldn't get blamed. But with his luck...

To Be Continued

A/N: If anyone is curious about what happened on the ski trip, check out my story Ryan's First Ski Trip, listed on my profile page.