Ryan sat in the interview room at the police station, trying to avoid the piercing gaze of the younger officer, the one who seemed personally pissed off with Ryan's presence.
Ryan kept his gaze down and tried not to look guilty. Why did he now need to convince himself that he wasn't guilty? He knew it, didn't he….

The other cop walked in, the nice one and muttered something to his partner who snorted and left the room.
He looked at him, smiling as he sat down,
"Everything ok kid? I'm sorry we have to keep you waiting but you're only 16, which means you get to have a lawyer or guardian present."

"I know," whispered Ryan, "It's ok…"

Officer Craft sensed the kid had something else to say and was fighting the urge to stay quiet, he waited until Ryan nervously lifted his gaze to meet his,
"Has...has someone called Sandy. Cohen. He's my guardian."
"Yeah, I saw your file and I called him, his secretary said he is in a meeting but she'll pass on the message and he'll be here as soon as possible. She actually wasn't that helpful…"said Craft, smiling.
Ryan didn't return the smile. He felt sick. He couldn't do this alone.
Craft watched Ryan's evident discomfort and felt bad at the next news he had to deliver him.
"Actually Ryan, this presents us with a bit more of a problem. See regarding the terms of your probation you are not allowed to consume drugs or alcohol. I know you say the drugs aren't yours and we'll deal with that later but first we need to determine if you in have taken anything illegal."
Ryan looked up, confused at what the officer was getting at.
"We are going to take you down to the hospital for a blood and urine test. Then we'll come back here, hopefully by then Mr Cohen will have arrived."
"You mean, I have to go by myself?" Ryan asked, trying to sound angry and not scared,
"We need to do this now Ryan. I am the stations Juvenile Liaison Officer, I'll accompany you with Officer Perry."

As if one cue, Officer Perry entered the room again boldly stating,
"Captain says the car is ready, we should go now, they have someone waiting for us to do the tests."
Ryan watched Officer Craft nod and start to stand, Ryan remained seated, unsure of himself.
Jones walked over to Ryan, a smirk on his face. This kid was just another Newport brat, his dad's money, sorry his "guardian's" money would buy him out of this mess.
"Get up." Perry barked at him. Ryan looked up at him confused, his mind in a daze. Perry didn't appreciate the obvious defiance of the kid, so he grabbed his upper arm and lifted him up, spinning him around in one motion. He took the handcuffs from his belt and yanked the boys arms together, harder than necessary, snapping the cuffs into place.
Craft watched on silently as the boy's head dropped, ashamed. He didn't know what it was about this kid, he just didn't think he was guilty.

A few blocks before the hospital, both officers noticed Ryan's face had turned pale.
"He's nervous," thought Perry, "He knows he's got something in his system."
Ryan however was ashamed that he felt fear approaching the hospital. He knew he was clean, but hospitals had bad memories for him and it was his worst nightmare to enter one handcuffed.
Pulling up in front of the hospital, both officers exited the car and made their way over to Ryan. Jones went to open the door, but Craft put a hand on his chest, stopping him before doing it himself.
Crouching down to meet Ryan's eye he asked him,
"You alright?"

Ryan nodded and twisted uncomfortably with his hand still behind his back. Craft recognised his embarrassment and spoke again,
"I'll make you a deal, I'll take off the cuffs and we'll walk you into the hospital and into the room. If it'll help you relax a little, but try anything and I promise you, you'll regret it."

Ryan nodded and allowed Craft to help him out of the car, turning himself around in a gesture of obedience so the cuffs could be removed.
Ryan kept his head down, not wanting to see or make eye contact with any patients, allowed himself to be lead through the front doors and into a private room, where a nurse ushered him onto a bed.
"Someone will be here to draw blood shortly." She said briskly.
Ryan sat still, risking the odd glance at the door, hoping Sandy would burst in, demanding and explanation, saving the say. Like he always did. His heart gave a leap when he heard the door open, but dropped again as he saw a young doctor with a weak beard and eyebrow piercing walk in.
"I'm Dr. Ramone," he said, in a friendly tone, "I know you guys are anxious to get out of here so I have come to do the tests and approve them so you can on your way."
Dr Ramone looked from cop to cop to kid. The kid looked nervous.
"Look, I can't be certain, but if he is anxious, it's going to take about 10 times longer to get him to take a leak, especially with 3 guys in the rooms watching him. One of you wait outside, one of you get coffee or something."
Ryan almost smiled at the doctor's friendly tone and relaxed slightly as he watched both cops leave.
Waiting until the door was shut, Dr. Ramone said,
"You need to piss yet?"
"Not really" replied Ryan,
"Fine, drink some water and I'll do the blood test first. Is there anything we should be looking for in particular?" He questioned, though a laugh slightly present in his voice,
"No," Ryan almost whispered, "I'm clean"

Back at the police office Ryan sat in the same room, this time his hands still cuffed behind his back. Officer Perry sat watching him again, waiting for him to ask to remove them. But Ryan wouldn't fold. He was stronger than that.
The door opened but this time Ryan didn't raise his head, not expecting to see Officer Craft followed by Sandy entering the room.
"Why are his hands cuffed?" Sandy half yelled, "Remove them. Now. And I want to talk to him alone."
Sandy was pissed. He knew the tone from the "you're grounded" speeches. He just hoped he wasn't too pissed at him.
Sandy sat opposite the boy he had come to consider his son and watched as he regained the use of his arms, not once raising his eyes to meet Sandy's.
When both officers were out of the room Sandy started to speak,
"I'm sorry I didn't get here soon. Gabriela didn't give me the message until after the meeting. I was furious and came right away. Did they try and talk to you? Do anything besides the tests?"
Ryan shook his head, still looking at the table, he asked,
"Was it ok that I went to the hospital without you? I mean I didn't think I had a choice…"
"You didn't, you did the right thing, but the tests don't matter. Do you have any idea whose pot that was? Was there any time today when your bag was with someone else's and it could have gotten mixed up?"
Ryan looked up, confused. He had expected to have to defend himself. To tell Sandy over and over again that it wasn't his.
"You didn't ask if it was mine." Ryan stated, and Sandy's heart tugged at the child who had no idea the trust that Sandy had invested into him.
"I don't have to. I know that it's not."
Ryan smiled, only slightly, but the first smile in over 8 hours. Sandy was here. He could make it ok.

After allowing the pair a short talk, both officer's entered the room again to start the interview and Ryan quickly realised he would have to work a lot harder to convince them than he did with Sandy.
It wasn't until Officer Perry replied sarcastically to one of Ryan's many denials that the drugs belonged to him, that Ryan burst out with what he had been wanting to say in the first place,
"IT'S NOT MINE. I bet Oliver put it there to set me up to get to Marissa."
This opened a whole new field of questioning, mostly filled in by Sandy, who looked cautious at this statement. Ryan had been so adamant about this boy, Oliver, that he was trying to steal Marissa. But no one saw it but him.

The rest of the interview washed over him like a dream. A nightmare really. Ryan's thoughts drifted away from the room to home. If it was still his home. Would Kirsten let him home again? Would she believe him as readily as Sandy? Ryan's thoughts were interrupted as Officer Craft spoke to him once more.
"We have the results from your urine test. It's clean. They are still doing the blood test. Until that comes back as clean or until some other evidence arises for Ryan, we need to hold him. At very least for violation of his probation."
Ryan dropped his head, why hadn't he been preparing himself for another trip to Juvie?
"Is that necessary? Release him into my custody, place him under house arrest. You have my word and his that he will not leave my property without permission from you."
Craft pondered this idea as if it hadn't occurred to him. They didn't really need to hold Ryan, Steven's at least didn't fear the kid was going anywhere, they had trusted him twice already. Once to leave the school uncuffed, the other to enter the hospital.

"Go and get the Captain, Perry."
Ryan felt Sandy's warm hand on his shoulder and he exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. He raised his eyes to meet Officer Craft. They were friendly as always but carried the same warning as at the hospital.
"Don't worry," thought Ryan, "I'm not going anywhere."