As if he was greatly perturbed by the cartoon, the first thing Oliver did when he walked into the house was turn off the TV, even though Luke, Ryan and Summer were still watching. Ryan had actually been enjoying himself, even laughing a little himself, felt a sort of grayness settle over the room. Unlike Luke and Summer, who had quickly run off, this group seemed less concerned with his comfort. Seth, in a gesture clearly meant to be one of goodwill, sat down next Ryan on the couch, but even the slightly jostling of the couch sent ricochets of pain up his leg, and where as he had finally gotten comfortable on the couch, now the weight was re- distributed and the pillows under his knee had gotten disturbed. He hated to be so whiny about the whole thing, but well, his knee really freakin' hurt.

"Seth, can you not sit there?" He asked grumpily.

"What?" Seth looked like a puppy dog who had just been smacked.

"Sorry, but your weight…" Ryan trailed off, he knew how ridiculous it sounded.

"Yeah, whatever man." Seth said, looking hurt and resentful and moved over to share a chair with Anna.

"Don't be such a grump Ryan," Oliver said, falling into a chair with an "oomph." This coming from the guy who had turned off the cartoons.

"Can I get you anything Ryan?" Anna offered, but it seemed insincere. Seth's new position was lying against her, and Seth glared at Ryan, clearly daring him to say yes, and Anna didn't look like she was particularly motivated, she kept glancing at Marissa, as if to send brain waves saying "take care of your boyfriend!"

"No thanks," he muttered. He really just wanted to go to sleep, but now his knee was starting to really hurt and he knew it wasn't going to let him get any shut eye.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep," Marissa announced.

"Yeah me too," Oliver stood and yawned, he started to stretch with his bad arm, then caught himself. Only Ryan seemed to notice, and he just shook his head.

"Ryan, will you be okay if we go?" Seth asked, Anna's eyes were practically closed.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Alright, see you buddy. Holler if you need anything…" Seth got up and nudged Anna awake, and then the two trundled off. As soon as they were gone, Ryan realized the remote was on another chair, where he couldn't reach it. He didn't want to holler for something as silly as that, and since he was uncomfortable anyway, he decided to get up.

It took him several minutes to struggle to his feet. Holding onto the couch, and balanced on one leg, he managed to hop to the other chair. He grabbed the remote and started to hop back to the couch when he took an over- zealous hop. The rug slid, and he lost his precarious balance, and he fell to floor. His leg exploded in pain. He hoped someone would have heard the crash and come running, but it seemed everyone was already sound asleep. He let a few tears slide down his cheeks, and after about five minutes of lying on the floor, perhaps longer, the pain subsided somewhat. Somehow he managed to pull himself back up onto the couch, slightly careless of his leg, he figured it couldn't hurt anymore than it already did. He lay on the couch, his knee flashing now flashing blinding white pain. He fumbled in his jacket, which he had never gotten off, and managed to find his pill bottle. Someone he managed to get the bottle open, sat up, popped too pills, and let himself fall back into the pile of pillows Summer had managed to gather.

Then he pulled out his phone and called Kirsten. "Kirsten?" He gasped when she answered.

"Ryan, sweetie? Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" He bit his lip to keep himself from breaking down completely into sobs. "I think I want to come home. I need to find a flight."

"Okay honey, I'm going to look some up for you okay? I'll call you back as soon as I find something."

"Thanks," he whispered, his mouth was dry.

"Are you alone?" She asked.

"No, everyone's around." That was sort of the truth.

"Alright, I'll call you right back, okay?"

"Okay," Ryan managed to hiccough back a sob.

"Hang in there okay?"

"Yeah," I'm trying- thought Ryan, clenching his jaw against another wave of pain. His phone rang again not five minutes later.

"Ryan?" Her voice told him instantly she did not have good news. "All the flights are still grounded, I'm sorry…"

"Yeah… it's okay…" Said Ryan, "We'll be leaving here soon, I'm sure." He voice was tight, and he felt a moment of despair as he caught a glimpse of the swirling whiteness outside his window.

"Alright, try and get some sleep, okay? I know you've had a long night."

"Yeah…" Ryan wished he had just stayed in the hospital, it would have been better than this. He hadn't told anyone that the doctor had offered, he knew Seth would tell Sandy and Kirsten and they would have forced him to stay, now he wished they had. He clicked on the television, a newscaster was announcing continued snow in the mountains, with rain down in the O.C. He let himself pretend for a moment that he was really in his pool house, he tried to conjure thoughts of rain on the roof, and his own comfortable bed. Finally the exhaustion and pain medication overtook him, and he fell into a restless sleep where he dreamt about something terrible, but somehow the thoughts refused to form a coherent message and he wasn't sure what exactly he was running from, except somehow it kept catching up to him and stabbing him in the leg. If anybody else had been awake, they probably would have heard him crying out in pain, even in his dreams.