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: My beta fredsmith518 deserves credit for giving me some ideas for this chapter.

Chapter 5

Kirsten stood in the kitchen looking out at the pool house while she waited for the coffee to finish brewing. The shades were still down, which was not really that unusual for that time of the morning on a Saturday. But she was willing to bet that Ryan was already awake, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. He'd been doing a lot of that in the past week, ever since they'd learned about the fire at Harbor.

Kirsten sighed. Poor Ryan, he just couldn't seem to catch a break. Okay, some of it was self-inflicted, but even when he wasn't doing anything to invite it, trouble always seemed to find him. Kirsten wondered if he'd automatically be suspected every time there was a fire – or a stolen car – anywhere in his vicinity. She laughed to herself at the absurdity of the question. If she knew anything about the Newpsies, the answer was obviously yes. Poor kid.

God, those Newpsies, what a bunch of shrews. Kirsten had pretty much had to stop answering the phone and let the machine get it – and she had to screen the calls on her cell – because of them. And Julie was the worst: bad-mouthing Ryan, jumping to the assumption that of course he had set the fire, without any proof. Julie had been making catty comments to her all week about how they would all be better off if she and Sandy threw him out.

Kirsten was tired of having to defend her family – and that included Ryan – to Julie, the Newpsies, and worst of all, her father. God, her father. He was being an ass about this whole thing, too. He had never liked Ryan, accusing him of being after their money. Ridiculous. Her dad had become one of the most vocal ones campaigning to get rid of him. Finally, Kirsten had had to ban the topic of Ryan and the fire altogether from the office, just to get some work done.

Kirsten sighed again. She couldn't wait until all of this was over and Ryan was cleared. Maybe then they could all finally get on with their lives.

A few seconds later, the coffeemaker beeped, signaling that it was finished. Kirsten poured two cups of coffee and headed out to the pool house. She paused just outside the door and took a deep breath. She was going in. Carefully holding both cups in one hand, she knocked and then opened the door.

"Ryan? I thought you might like some coffee."

Kirsten stepped inside the doors and waited as Ryan shuffled himself over to sit on the side of the bed. She'd been right. He had been lying on the bed, mostly on top of the covers – with just his feet underneath – and staring at the ceiling.

Once he was settled, she went over and handed him his coffee. He took it with both hands. "Thanks."

She smiled at him. Polite no matter what, that was her Ryan. "You're welcome."

Kirsten sat down in the chair at the foot of the bed. It felt weird to be sitting there. She thought of this as Sandy's chair, or maybe Seth's, since they both sat in it a lot. She hardly ever did. Then again, how often did she come out to the pool house to talk to Ryan?

Kirsten watched as Ryan held his cup in both hands and blew on the coffee to cool it before taking a careful sip. She took the opportunity to sip her own coffee before starting.

"How are you doing?"

Ryan took his eyes off his coffee to look over at her. "I'm okay."

"Are things any better at school?"

Seth had been reporting to her and Sandy all week that Ryan had been getting harassed at school, with comments and looks, and mumblings of firebug behind his back. Junior Newpsies at work.

"Not really. I just..." Ryan looked away and blinked a few times.

"What?" She prodded him gently.

Ryan looked back at her. Kirsten waited while he gathered his thoughts.

"It's just... Things were just calming down after the Oliver thing, you know? And now this..." Ryan sighed and went back to sipping his coffee.

Kirsten nodded. She knew, also thanks to Seth, that Ryan had had some problems with the other students recently, after they had watched him attack Oliver in the student lounge in January. It seemed as though some of the students had become afraid of him after that and had taken to avoiding him. Others had taken to whispering behind his back about how he was just a thug and didn't belong there with the civilized folks.

Kirsten was glad to hear that those sorts of things had finally started letting up. The current problems would, too. Eventually.

She leaned forward and tried to reassure her foster son. "Everything's going to be okay, Ryan. Once you're cleared, this will all blow over. Everything will get back to normal."

Kirsten tried to sound more confident of that than she really was. But Ryan saw right through her. He scowled, responded with just "Mmm..." and went back to drinking his coffee.

Kirsten decided it was time to change the subject to something more positive. She sat back and sipped her coffee for a few moments, then she smiled at Ryan and intentionally lightened her voice.

"So. Your birthday is coming up. What do you want to do? I was thinking –"

Ryan interrupted, "No party." He quickly looked apologetic. "Sorry. I just mean, I'd rather not have a party, if that's okay."

Kirsten frowned at Ryan in confusion. If anything, mentioning his birthday had darkened his mood even further. A thought made her suddenly catch her breath. She remembered what he had said at Chrismukkah about his holiday memories, that they consisted of his mom being drunk and him getting beaten up. Hearing him say that had made her shudder. And if that was anything to go by, as far as his childhood was concerned, she didn't even want to know about his birthdays.

Kirsten plastered the smile back on her face. "Sure, whatever you want, Sweetie. It's your birthday. How about a nice family dinner? Maybe a barbecue? Sandy could make steak, swordfish, whatever you want."

Ryan brightened a little. He gave her a half-smile. "Sure. Sounds good."

Kirsten nodded. "Great."

After a moment, Kirsten took a deep breath and stood up. "Well, I'll let you finish your coffee. Please have some breakfast, too. You really should eat something."

Ryan gave her a little half-smile. It seemed he appreciated her effort, at least. "Yeah, thanks, I will."

Kirsten smiled back briefly and then headed out of the pool house. She hoped her little visit had done some good, and hadn't made things worse. She'd have to remember to talk to Sandy about Ryan's birthday.

Ryan levered himself up off the bed and went up the pool house steps to go take a shower and get dressed. He didn't really even want to get out of bed, but Seth had arranged this whole breakfast thing at the diner with all their friends – all for him – and he didn't want to let them down.

Ryan sighed as he grabbed his clothes for the day. That was nice of Kirsten to bring him coffee and try to make him feel better. Although she had kind of blindsided him by asking about his birthday. He hadn't even been thinking about his birthday, what with all the drama lately. He really hoped that she and Sandy – and especially Seth – wouldn't try to give him a party. He really hated birthday parties. Ryan shook off unwelcome thoughts and headed for the shower.

Thirty minutes later, Ryan walked into the diner with Seth. He spotted Luke, Anna, Marissa, and Summer sitting in the corner and headed over there. They all greeted each other, and Seth and Ryan joined their friends in the booth. After they had all ordered, an uncomfortable silence descended on them all, as if nobody wanted to start talking about the elephant in the room, the fire.

Finally, Marissa put her hand gently on Ryan's arm. "Have you heard anything?"

"No, not really. Well, you know, Sandy's been keeping up with the investigation. They talked to my P.O., and he says that went fine."

Marissa smiled. "Oh, good."

"Yeah, and some of the suspects have been cleared I guess." Ryan looked over at Luke. "Like Luke."

Luke grinned. "Yeah. I was with my dad. It's a good thing I wasn't..." At that, Luke faltered and seemed to stop himself from saying something he didn't want to. He finished, lamely, "Um... somewhere else."

Ryan looked at Luke in confusion, wondering what he was going to say, but Luke was looking down and fiddling with his silverware, so Ryan just shrugged it off.

Marissa picked up the conversation. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't home when you came by on Friday. If I was, none of this would be happening."

Ryan quickly reassured her. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

Summer spoke up. "Yeah, hey, Coop, where were you again?"

"My mom." Marissa sighed. "God, she's so crazy these days. I won't see her for weeks, then suddenly she wants uninterrupted mother-daughter time." She rolled her eyes. "Last weekend she wanted to spend the entire weekend with me and Kaitlin, shopping and stuff. She's so lame."

Ryan nodded in agreement. Parents. Luke looked like he wanted to say something, then stopped. He was acting kind of strange these days. At that point, their food came and they all spent a few minutes silently eating. Once they had all settled in, the conversation picked up again.

Anna spoke up. "Ryan, I'm so sorry about what you're going through. Is there anything I can do?"

Ryan smiled at Anna. She was always so nice. "No, not really."

Anna nodded, then shook her head. "I can't believe that someone would actually set a fire at our school." She shuddered.

Seth asked her, "Have you met Mr. Schmidt?"

Seth had Mr. Schmidt freshman year. Ryan knew that he didn't get along with Mr. S. either.

Anna responded, "Yeah, but Seth, arson? Who would do that? Do you think it is somebody at school? Like, one of our classmates?"

The friends all looked at each other, like they hadn't thought of that possibility or what that might mean. An arsonist at their school? That was kind of scary.

Marissa asked them all, "Who do you think it could be?"

Luke suggested, "What about Saunders, Nordlund, those guys? They're all jerks. They could have done it for kicks."

Seth muttered under his breath, "You mean your old friends?" Luke shot Seth a brief glare.

Next, Summer spoke up. "What about Holly? I mean, if she'd sleep with her best friend's boyfriend... Oh. Sorry, Luke." But he just shrugged.

Then Seth threw in, "What about Leon and those guys? It's always the geeky ones who get picked on all the time, right?"

Luke laughed and punched Seth on the arm. "That could be you, Cohen."

Seth rubbed his arm. "Thanks, Luke."

Luke looked at Ryan, all excited. "Hey, Chino! We should like figure it out ourselves. You know, start our own investigation. Like, go undercover and stuff. Who knows the school better than us? Come on. We make a good team."

Ryan chuckled. "I don't think that's a good idea..."

Luke proceeded to outline his undercover idea, about how they'd all be like all Mission: Impossible. Ryan laughed along with everyone else, throwing in his own outlandish ideas.

Somewhere along the way, Ryan started having a good time. He looked over at Seth and nodded his thanks. Seth nodded back, glad he could help.

To Be Continued