When Ryan woke up, he looked around, something seemed wrong. The room seemed sorta dark, and cast in a strange yellow light. The couch seemed harder somehow than he remembered, and he could have sworn he had gone to sleep facing the other direction and had somehow gotten very turned around. Everything seemed very familiar but something wasn't right…

"Oh good, you're awake." A voice said, followed by a harsh sounding cough. He turned around, and found himself staring at his mother.

"Mom?" He asked, utterly confused.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

"Uhmm…" How was he feeling? Well, his knee felt about the same, but how did he get here?

"When did I get… home?" He asked, hesitating over the word "home."

"Don't you remember? Sheesh, what drugs do they have you on? I picked you up at the hospital after your damned brother crashed that car he stole." Car crash? The one that happened what seemed like a lifetime ago?

"Don't I- Didn't I end up in jail?"

"Nah, you're just a kid, they decided the broken leg was punishment enough."

"But I… But you…" He stuttered. "What about Sandy?"

"Sandy? Who's Sandy?"

"He's the social services lawyer who…"

"You're brother's lawyer? His name's Bob or something."

"No… my lawyer…"

"You're lawyer? Why would you need a lawyer?"

"Because you left me… You left me here! All alone and just disappeared! And Sandy took me in… And Kirsten… And their son Seth…"

"Ryan, what are you talking about? You want some more of the pills they gave me at the hospital?"

"Mom! You left me! You left me here all by myself and then Sandy came and saved me… And then I met this girl Marissa and then I burnt down this house…" Tears of frustrating were starting to sting his eyes, and he pushed himself further upright, despite his knee's protests.

"Sounds like you were having quite the dream…" His mother patted him on the shoulder. "What mother would ever leave her son?"

"It wasn't a dream- I swear it was real!"

"Look, Ryan, it wasn't, okay? It was just a dream. You've been pretty out of it since we got you home. They said you must have bumped your head pretty good. Look, I gotta get to work, okay? But here's the phone. Theresa and her mom are around if you need anything. I'm sure Theresa will be stopping by later to check on you. Feel better, okay?" She gave him a quick peck on the forehead and he could smell the booze on her breath.

"Yeah… Okay…" Ryan decided to go back to sleep, and hope when he woke up that everything went back to the way it was supposed to be. Although, he wasn't sure which was better. At his mom's or trapped in the ski lodge with the evil Oliver…

His eyes were just starting to slide shut when a familiar voice called out to him. "Ryan?"

"Marissa?" He asked hopefully.

"Marissa? Who's Marissa?" Theresa had appeared in front of him, holding a foil- wrapped container.

"My uh… girlfriend? In Orange County…"

"Wow Ryan, your mom warned me you were out of it, but seriously? When did you ever even go to Orange County?"

"Well, I've been living there,"

Theresa started to laugh, "And I'm the Queen of California, come on Ryan." Still laughing she went into the kitchen. "I brought you some soup- are you hungry?"

"Not really…" His crutches were lying next to him on the couch, and he picked them up and struggled to his feet and followed her into the kitchen.

"Ryan! Go lie down!" Theresa said when she saw him following after her, and swatted him with a dish towel.

"Theresa… Something wrong, I don't belong here." He looked around at the familiar kitchen, but somehow he felt like a stranger. Everything was exactly how he remembered it, but how many months had it been?

"Ryan, you're just on a lot of pills, okay? Everything's fine, go lie down, and I'll bring you some soup."

"Theresa, I'm telling you! I don't belong here! I didn't break my leg in that car accident! I was skiing with Marissa and Oliver and Seth and Luke and Summer, and I fell or Oliver pushed me- I don't know which and then we went to the ER because Oliver and Marissa got into a car accident…"

"Isn't Marissa your girlfriend?" Theresa asked, humoring him.

"Yes!"

"So what was she doing in the car with another guy?"

"She… I dunno, she and this guy Oliver have all this stuff in common I guess, unlike me and her so she's been kind of spending a lot of time with him."

"Wow Ryan, sounds like you were having a pretty intense dream. You really should be lying down…"

"No! This is the dream! That was real! This isn't real!"

"Ryan, calm down, please?" Theresa asked him gently. "Just sit down… The soup will be ready in a minute okay? I'm sure your stomach being empty isn't helping."

"Yeah…" Ryan let himself be guided into a kitchen chair, and Theresa helped him lift his broken leg onto a chair with a slight gasp of pain. Once settled, he let his head fall onto the table, and instantly he was asleep.

*****

"Theresa?" Ryan woke with a start and looked around. He was back in the lodge. It had been a dream, but it had felt so real… He felt a moment of sadness when he realized his mother really had left him and Theresa wasn't here with him. God, he wanted to go home, wherever home might be.

A/N: Sorry for this kind of side- bar chapter, this idea came to me and I just couldn't resist!