"We've got to stop meeting like this."
Sandy Cohen sits down at the table reserved for visiting legal representatives and family. He sets his attaché case down and the table and removes the folder containing the newest charges against his client, Seth Siefman.
"What, you mean the blue jumpsuit isn't a good look for me? I think I'm getting adjusted to it. Unfortunately."
"Some good news. Kirsten's company has dropped all arson charges, which means, pending your probation hearing, you'll be out, no problem."
"When is this probation hearing?"
"30 to 60 days." Seth drops his head into his hands and Sandy continues. "I could have you out sooner, if I could release you into the care of a parent or a guardian."
"Yeah, I don't see that happening. My mom doesn't want to be found and, no offense, you're not going to be the one to find her."
Sandy looks up at this last statement. "Is there something you want to tell me about your mom?"
Seth turns his head at the sound of the gate being opened, only to see Zach Stevens being buzzed out of the cell block and welcomed into the open arms of his parents. "He gets to leave," Seth asks Sandy.
"Who? Zach? Well, according to both of you, the fire was an accident and he's got no priors. His record's clean."
Seth watches as Zach smiles, throws him a wave, and walks away with his family. "And he has someone to take him home."
"Seth, you know if I could…" Sandy trails off, leaving the statement unfinished. He knows that doing so would only unnecessarily hurt the boy. "It's going to be ok."
"My mom ditched me. I burned your wife's house down. How is this going to be okay?"
"We're going to find your mother."
Seth laughs at him. "No you won't."
"We will do whatever it takes."
"It doesn't matter. I don't want you to find her anyway."
"If only you'd come to me...instead of running away..." Sandy begins, before being interrupted by Seth.
"Why? So you could leave me with Child Services? So I could go into foster care? I'd rather take a sharp object to the eye."
"Forget sharp object! You could have died in that fire!"
Seth holds his head in his hands. "Look…you and your family have done more than enough. I appreciate everything, I really do." Seth stands up to leave the table. "Tell you wife I said thank you for dropping the charges. And tell Ryan…" Seth looks up, thinking. "Tell Ryan thanks. For everything."
"I will."
Seth walks back into the cell block. As he is making his way in the direction of his cell, he gets pushed into another inmate.
"My bad, man. Love the 'stache."
The other inmate, a tattooed Latino that looks more like he belongs in a men's penitentiary than juvie pushes him back into the bars. "Shut the fuck up. Apologize. Now."
"Jeez, I'm sorry. Where are we, San Quentin?"
"Oh, you ain't sorry yet. But you will be." The inmate shoves him once more and is pushed off by a nearby guard. Seth locks eyes with Sandy as he too is pushed forward by the guard.
Ryan sits in bed, staring at the wall. He tried to talk his dad into letting him visit Seth earlier, but the only response he got was that he was lucky he was only grounded and that he was doing everything he could for the kid. Buncha bullshit, he thought to himself. He could see the lie in his father's eyes. That kid could no more handle himself in jail than a golden retriever could handle a pistol. Some people were just born with survival instincts and Ryan got the feeling that Seth just wasn't one of them. Ryan was tired of waiting around. He was going to go see his new friend, grounded or not.
Ryan grabs his keys off of the dresser and heads downstairs. Hearing the voices of the Newpsies in the living room, he sneaks through the kitchen, intending on using the patio door to make it outside. What he didn't count on was that his mother would be outside, sipping on a Bellini.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Taylor's." Ryan turns to leave.
"You're grounded. Try again."
Ryan sighs and turns back to his mother. "I'm worried about Seth. I'm going to see him."
"No, no you are not. No way."
Ryan waves at her and begins to walk away again.
"Ryan! I know that I am not the perfect Carol Brady mom, but I love you and I am trying to protect you. I have dropped all the charges on him. I have hired somebody to find his mother. What more do you want?"
"I want you to come with me."
Kirsten opens her mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by Julie poking her head out of the patio door.
"Kirsten? Oh, there you are. We're talking about the bunting. Is acetate okay?"
"Sounds great." Kirsten turns back to Ryan. "Give me fifteen minutes to lose the ladies."
Ryan takes a seat on the patio furniture as Kirsten heads back inside.
"Excuse me, ladies?" All of the Newpsies look up from the studying of notes and sipping of drinks. "I just thought of a great idea for the theme. How about a formal Vegas Night? It's not a black tie affair so we don't go against our amendment and it still allows us to raise money by allowing gambling without having the generic title of 'Casino Night'. Does that work for everybody?" All of the women begin to nod simultaneously. Kirsten begins to divvy up the responsibilities for the evening to the different women. They agree to finalize everything at setup the next day and, at exactly the fifteen minute mark, Kirsten meets her son outside.
Ryan heads toward his Jeep, only to be stopped by his mother.
"Uh uh. I'm driving. You're still grounded."
Summer picks up her ringing cell phone and looks at the caller ID: Ryan Cohen.
"Aloha."
"Roberts. What's up?"
"I'm grounded to my room. What do you think is up?"
"Yeah, I know the feeling. My mom grounded me too. I'm actually outside your house right now though? You think you can get away for a couple hours? My mom and I are going to juvie to see Seth."
Summer looks out her window and waves at Ryan. "I wish I could, but my dad is currently pretty pissed off at me. I don't think asking if I can go see who he refers to as 'that felon' would be the best way to get in his good graces. Especially not if I want to go to the fundraiser thing tomorrow. Can you tell him I said that I hope he's doing good, though? I feel like what happened is my fault."
"It's nobody's fault besides Zach's." He looks back at his mother, who is sitting in the Rover, looking impatient. "He's the one that started the whole thing and I promise you, he'll pay for it."
"Don't do anything stupid Cohen, and don't forget to tell Seth I said 'hi'."
"Let's just make this quick, okay?"
Ryan nods his agreement, not wanting to be in this depressing place any longer than he absolutely has to. He walks into the visiting area as his mother signs their names into the visitor's log. Hearing the buzzer that signals the opening of the cell block gate, he looks up and sees the brown mop of hair that belongs to his friend, Seth.
"Hey, what's up," Ryan begins. He stops when he sees the four puncture wounds on the boy's neck. "What happened to your neck?"
"Got bit by a mutant vampire," Seth explains, spreading his hands in a 'what can you do' gesture.
Kirsten walks up and stands next to the table. Seth gives her a slight wave, which she returns.
"Sorry about the model home thing. I didn't think Zach would find out about it."
"Hey, what's the matter, huh? Give me a smile."
Seth looks over and sees the Latino gang-banger from earlier. "Yeah, well, who could have foreseen anyone finding out where I was," he asks Ryan, ignoring the other inmate. "I mean, it's not like we had any foot traffic going into the house."
Ryan ducks his head over a smile.
"You got a nice swerve on you, lady. You fine," Gang-banger says, giving Kirsten another approving look.
"Hey, buddy," Seth says, trying to distract the idiot from talking to Kirsten, "quit proving to us that our tax dollars really aren't going towards bettering public education, like the state promises. You're acting like the poster child for The March of Dimes."
"Are you kidding me? You have a death wish you little fuck?" Gang-banger gets up and starts walking in their direction.
"Guards," Kirsten yells.
"Leave her alone," Ryan says as he stands up in front of Gang-banger.
"This your little honey," he asks Ryan. He turns back to Kirsten. "Come on bitch, I only need, like, two minutes." Ryan shoves Gang-banger into the wall. Gang-banger pushes Ryan away, reaches into his jumpsuit, and pulls out a metal spoon, sharpened into a shiv. Seth sees this and jumps in front of Ryan just as Gang-banger lunges forward. A guard finally arrives and pulls Gang-banger off of Seth and Ryan. A second guard arrives and calls for medical attention as Seth lies on the floor, bleeding profusely.
Sandy pulls his BMW into the driveway and sits in the car for awhile. He doesn't know if he can handle working at the Public Defender's office much longer. Everything that he has gone through in the past week with Seth has certainly placed added strain on an already stressful job, not to mention what has been happening in his relationship with Ryan. He knew his son had been keeping something from him, but hiding Seth? He thought he had made it clear that he wanted to help Seth just as much as Ryan did. Sometimes he thought that, no matter how much he tried to help the innocent, he was only putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. He finally gets out of the car and heads into the house. The sound of cars crashing and bullets flying greets his ears. He can't believe Ryan would have the audacity to directly disobey him. He was always so trustworthy.
"Ryan…what did we say? No television," Sandy yells as he comes into the family room. He sees Seth sitting on the couch next to his son. "Oh."
He sets down his attaché case and heads in the direction of the kitchen, where he sees his wife sipping from a glass of wine.
"I never knew you to be an impulse shopper," he says, following her into the living room.
"I didn't know what else to do."
"Well, did you tell him it was permanent?"
"No, of course not."
"'Cause we can't keep jerking this kid around, pulling him out of juvie, sending him to foster care, giving him hope, and-and taking it away."
Kirsten takes the wine glass from her mouth. "They were going to kill him, Sandy! He stepped in front of a shank meant for Ryan. Our son owes him his life!"
"It was a shiv," Sandy clarifies. "Shank is a verb."
Kirsten glares at him. "Regardless, he couldn't stay there. But he can't stay here, either. We've got to find his mother."
"He doesn't seem to think we can. And even if we could, I don't think he wants to find her."
"He's a kid, Sandy. He doesn't know what he wants," she says, a little louder than necessary.
"I'll just think of it as staying at a hotel then," says a voice from behind them.
Kirsten turns to see Seth leaning against the doorway. He walks back to the family room and Kirsten takes a guilty sip from her wine.
Seth walks in from the pool house and sees Ryan already sitting at the counter, eating dry cereal straight from the box.
"Do you have something against the dairy industry," Seth asks, handing him a bowl and spoon.
"Huh?"
"I never see you eating cereal from a bowl. You always eat it plain."
"I'm not much for spoons. Or forks. Sorry," he says, as Seth rubs his neck and ribs. "So I really owe you big time. You saved my life man. I can't even begin to think how I can pay you back."
"It's cool. Really. Although, I think I may start using chopsticks if I'm here for more take-out. I've kind of lost my passion for those so-called innocent serving utensils as well."
Ryan laughs and takes another handful of cereal. "So how was your late night get together with Summer on her birthday," he asks as he throws the cereal in his mouth.
"You mean before her ex-boyfriend arrived and tried to burn down the model home with me in it? Awesome."
"That's it? Seriously man, I can't shut you up sometimes, and all you give me is 'awesome?'"
"There may have been a kiss," Seth confesses. "Although, there was also some mocking of my scrawny body and an ass kicking of said scrawny body. Overall, I think the night went well."
"So what are you going to say when you see her?"
"What do you mean? You heard your folks. When they find my mom, I'm back with her and then we're off again."
"Today is set-up for Vegas Night, which is tomorrow. As good as my dad is, I don't think he's going to find your mom today or tomorrow. Which means…"
"…I'm going to see her," Seth finishes for Ryan. "I have to say, I didn't really foresee this outcome."
"Well, you better come up with something. I'm sure she'll have something to say to you."
"Guys, I have no idea what I'm going to say to him," Summer says to her friends as she sits down in a huff on her bed.
"What are you talking about Sum," Marissa asks her friend.
"Ryan sent me a text last night, telling me that Seth is out of juvie and spending at least today with them at their place."
"Has anything changed between what you felt at the model home and how you feel now," Taylor asks, holding a top up to her upper body and checking the look in the mirror.
"No, but how do I apologize for what happened?"
"Summer, what did happen at the model home?" Taylor turns to look at her with her hands on her hips, top forgotten.
"Zach showed up and beat the crap out of him and left him for dead."
"Exactly," Taylor says. "Zach did all of those things. Do you think Seth will blame you?"
Marissa picks up on Taylor's line of thought. "Yeah, Sum. He's probably been thinking of how he's going to follow up on that kiss, not how much he hates you for what happened."
Summer smiles. "Thanks you guys. Now you just have to help me figure out a plan to get my dad to let me go to Vegas Night."
"What do you mean Summer?"
"My dad grounded me for being involved in the whole model home thing so I don't know if he's going to let me out of the house." Summer sits back on her bed, again looking dejected.
"Ooh, ooh! Idea coming in. Aaaand here it is!" Taylor moves over to the bed and begins explaining the plan to her friends.
Ryan is on the phone, talking to Taylor, while Kirsten drives him and Seth to help set up for Vegas Night.
"So you will already know most of the ladies there," Kirsten explains to Seth. "You met a lot of them at the fashion show."
"Great, so these vultures are going to be circling around, waiting for the wounded animal to bite the dust so they can go in for the kill?"
Kirsten hides a smile with her hand. "It's not like that. Most of them know the truth behind what happened, and not the version the Stevens have spun and are passing through Newport. You'll have Julie Cooper and Veronica Townsend on your side, and those are two women that not even Elaine Stevens would mess with."
"Right. Thanks for the heads up, babe. I'll see you tomorrow." Ryan flips his phone closed and turns to Kirsten. "Mom, we need to go by the Roberts' place."
"What for?"
"I need you to convince Dr. Roberts to let Summer go to Vegas Night. He grounded her and won't let her out of the house."
"Well, sweetie, if Neil has grounded Summer, then I'm sure that there's a perfectly good reason for it. I'm not sure if I could convince him to unground her anyway."
"Don't kid yourself, Mom. The only reason you didn't put yourself in that group with Veronica and Julie is because you were being modest. Trust me when I say that, some days, you are just as scary, if not more so, than those two."
Kirsten glares at her son. "I'll see what I can do. I'm not making any promises."
15 Minutes Later
"I told you, Mom," Ryan is saying as he and his mother walk back to the Rover. "All you had to do was work a little of that Newpsie magic and he was putty in your hands."
"All I said was that, if it wasn't for Summer calling for help, Seth may have died in that model home and that I thought it would be a more than fitting punishment for her to attend Vegas Night and donate her winnings to charity."
"I just hope I got some of that famous Nichol slyness from you," Ryan says as he gets back into the car.
"So, what's the deal? Is she going to be at Vegas Night," Seth asks.
"You over there! I told you, that table doesn't belong that close to the door. Put it near the craps table," Julie yells as she gestures in the direction she wants the card table placed. "Kirsten, Ryan! How are you?" She greets Kirsten with a hug and Ryan with a wave. Turning, she sees Seth.
Seth gives a slight wave. "Hi, I'm Seth."
"Julie Cooper, nice to meet you. How are you doing after the fire and everything? Terrible business that was. Marissa told me everything." She envelops Seth in a hug, causing a confused glance to be shared between Kirsten and Ryan.
"Uhm, Julie? I thought maybe the boys would be able to help with some of the heavy lifting," Kirsten says, looking at some of the larger card tables.
"That's perfect. Luke is already here helping." Julie points in the direction of the craps table, where the larger blonde boy is attempting to set up the table by himself.
"I'll go help him," Ryan says, and heads in Luke's direction.
"I'm not really good for heavy lifting," Seth points out, "but whatever I can do to help make up for the fire…"
"That seems to be a pretty popular sentiment," Julie says, and points toward the entrance, where Zach is standing with his mother. "I'll take care of this." She makes her way towards the two with purpose in her stride.
"I wouldn't want to be either one of them right now. Come on, you can help me set up cards and chips." Kirsten motions Seth to follow her to one of the already assembled card tables.
"Elaine! How are you? I'm so glad to see that Zach isn't in that terrible jail anymore." Julie greets the woman with a kiss to each cheek.
"Well, of course we couldn't let him stay in there. As soon as his father heard what happened, he made a call to the governor. Zach was out in a matter of hours. We thought it would be very appropriate for Zach to help set up for Kirsten's event to make up for what happened. Not that we're admitting fault," she clarifies.
"Yeah, you know, anything I can do to help make amends for what happened, Mrs. Cooper," Zach adds.
"Well, as you can see, we've already got plenty of help. Luke Ward is here, along with Ryan Cohen and the boy the Cohens took in, Seth." Julie points to the two boys assembling the craps table and the skinnier boy currently entertaining Kirsten at a poker table.
"What is he still doing here," Elaine asks, a grimace covering her face. "I thought that he would still be in jail after everything he did. Wasn't he in violation of his parole?"
"I wouldn't know Elaine. What I do know is that, since Kirsten's company dropped all charges, everyone involved was released. Not just those with political connections. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have many more things to do to get this place ready for tomorrow night. We'll see you there," Julie says as she walks back to finish setting up.
"I can't believe they let that juvenile delinquent out of jail," a seething Elaine Stevens says once Julie Cooper is out of earshot. She walks out of the country club, closely followed by her son. She removes her phone from her purse and dials her husband's office number. "Dear? I want to know what the story is with this boy the Cohens have brought into our neighborhood."
Sandy Cohen is sitting at his desk, packing up after a long day in and out of court when his intercom buzzes.
"Sandy, I have a call for you on line one," his secretary, Joyce, says.
"Put him through." Sandy picks up the phone. "Sandy Cohen speaking. Jim, how are you? Did you find her? You did? No, her name's not Ackerman, its Siefman. Are you sure? Well, where is she? Right, laundromat in Chino. Thanks, Jim. I appreciate it."
Sandy hangs up the phone, grabs his bag, and heads out of the office. Chino, he thinks to himself. Who would have guessed that one?
Chino
Sandy walks into the dingy looking self-service laundromat and looks around for the woman his private investigator described. He spotted her wearing the ugliest looking smock that must be what was considered a uniform at this place. She turned around and Sandy's jaw hit the floor.
"Rebecca? Rebecca Bloom?"
Sandy could see the look of recognition register in Rebecca's eyes and knew that it was, indeed, his old college girlfriend. She didn't look like the same Rebecca he knew all those years ago; she looked worn down and tired. Apparently all that running from the law wasn't good for stress levels. All the wheels started to click into place for Sandy right then. The conversations where Seth couldn't say why he didn't have a stable home growing up, why he thought Sandy wouldn't be able to locate his mother, all started to make sense.
"Sandy Cohen. What are the odds of running into you here?"
"Pretty good, considering the private investigator I hired to find you told me that you worked here."
Rebecca looks confused. "Why would you hire a PI to find me?"
"It's your son, Seth. He's been staying with us for awhile and we needed to find you." Sandy looks around and sees all the people in the building. "Why don't we go somewhere a little more private? You have a place around here?"
Rebecca hangs her head. "Just some dingy motel. I wasn't planning on staying for long. I needed a couple weeks of pay before I could take off again." She looks back up at Sandy. "How is he?"
"I'll tell you on the way."
The Mermaid Inn
"You should be good here for a few days until we can figure out a more permanent solution," Sandy says as he walks Rebecca to his car.
"There is no permanent solution, Sandy. I'm wanted by the FBI for arson and manslaughter. I can't stay. I shouldn't even be here now. I don't know how you talked me into coming."
"You need to explain to Seth what happened. You're his mother Rebecca. You have a responsibility towards him. And I can help you out with the charges against you. We can work out some kind of plea agreement to lower your jail time."
"I don't know Sandy. I just don't know."
The House
"So maybe sometime we can a trip down to the harbor. I'm sure Dad wouldn't mind you taking his sailboat out, as long as an adult is present of course." Kirsten sets down the bags she is carrying in the foyer.
"Yeah, it sounds like fun," Seth says, setting his bags down as well.
"Hey, sweetie." Rebecca stands up from the couch, where she has been talking with Sandy.
"Mom?"
"Rebecca?"
"Dad?"
Later, Dinner
"So, Rebecca, how long have you been working at the laundromat," Kirsten asks.
"Just about a week. I needed some travel money and it was the only place that was willing to pay cash and would hire me without a background check."
"So you're just going to take off again? You really were just going to leave me here, weren't you?" Seth stands up from the table and walks toward the pool house.
"I'm really sorry," Rebecca apologizes and follows her son out of the house.
"What do you want from me mom," Seth asks when Rebecca enters the pool house. "What are you doing here? You abandoned me and left a note. A note!"
"I know and I'm sorry about that. I didn't know what else to do. Things are going to be different now, though. Sandy is going to talk to his contacts in the FBI and see what he can do about getting me some kind of amnesty. We might be able to put all this running behind us."
"So now that your old flame is offering to help, you're all about being a mom again?" Seth walks over to the bed and sits down.
"I know I've never been the greatest mother. Between being wanted by the feds and moving you all over the country, I've probably been more like the worst. But I'm asking you for another chance. Please, Seth." She steps towards her son, who gets up off of the bed and backs away from her. "Are you ever going to forgive me?"
Seth crosses his arms over his chest and studies his feet. "Let's just take go slow, ok?"
"Whatever you want. I'm not going to run away again."
Kirsten wakes up early the next morning, intending on checking on Seth. Entering the kitchen, she sees that she's already been beaten to punch by his mother. Rebecca is currently standing at the counter, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. She looks up and sees Kirsten standing in the doorway.
"Thanks so much for letting me stay here last night. I'll probably stay at the motel from now on. I don't want to risk you or your family's safety by staying here." The coffee finishes brewing and Rebecca pours out two cups.
"So…Rebecca. How long do you plan on staying?"
"I'm not here for your husband, Kirsten. That was a long time ago and he's got his own family now, just like I have mine." She looks out at the pool house. "No matter how broken it is."
"It's not that. He and Ryan have become really good friends over the past week and I don't want them to lose that. And he's so smart. He's got a real chance at college if he stays in one spot."
"Well, hopefully with Sandy's help I'll be able to arrange that."
An awkward silence fills the room for a few minutes.
"So what do you have planned for today?"
"I was hoping to spend some time with my son. At the motel obviously. Sandy said that the earliest he would be able to get in touch with anyone at the FBI would be Monday, so it's just a waiting game until then."
"Well if you guys want to go anywhere, Seth knows where the keys are. Just let me know if you're taking off." She looks embarrassed. "Well, not taking off. Just going…anywhere. Yeah, I'm going to go back upstairs."
Ryan is upstairs changing into his suit and tying his neck tie, Sandy standing behind him, tying his own tie.
"So is Seth coming back to change?"
"He was spending the day with Rebecca. He's got the Rover and he said he'd meet us there."
"So, aren't you worried about her taking off again? I mean, she did it once already, what's to keep her from doing it again?" Ryan tightens up the knot on his tie and steps back from the mirror to admire his work.
"Well, I think that she really wants to put all of this behind her. She's willing to do whatever it takes to make things right with her and Seth, and that is what's important." He claps his son on the shoulder. "He's still going to be around, Ryan. You're not going to lose him as a friend. That I promise. Now are you ready to go throw some dice for charity?"
Vegas Night
The Cohens walk in the door to the country club and see Seth dressed in his suit. Sandy walks over and shakes his hand.
"Looking good, kid. That whole look really 'suits' you," he says with a smile.
Seth snorts out a laugh. "Do the other members of your family appreciate your unique sense of humor?"
"I don't think those Gentiles get it. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and son more than life itself. They just don't have a sense of humor."
"I heard that, Sandy." Kirsten walks over and puts her arm through her husband's. "I do too have as sense of humor."
Sandy kisses her on the forehead and walks her into the makeshift casino.
"So, how's your mom," Ryan asks as they walk in themselves. "Everything working out between you two?"
"Yeah, I think so. She's actually going to give your dad a chance to work everything out. She doesn't think she's going to have to do any jail time, which would be nice. Maybe we can end up getting a place out here? In the numbered streets of course." Seth smiles. "This could really work out, man."
"Well, I'm happy for you. Now, I think you've got a date." Ryan points over to Summer, who is currently trying her hand at the craps table. "Go get her."
Seth tells Ryan he'll see him later and heads in the direction of the craps table. "Hey Summer."
Summer turns around at the sound of Seth's voice and gives him a hug. "Hey! Ryan told me about what happened in juvie. Are you okay?" She looks for any obvious signs of injury on his body.
"Yeah, I'm fine. He didn't hit any organs or any major blood vessels. I only lost a little blood so, once the doctors stitched me back up, they said I would be ok. Although, Ryan and I are blood brothers now. Apparently, we're both O negative, which was extremely convenient."
"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Summer passes the dice off and they head towards a quieter area of the club to talk. They find a couple of chairs in the corner and sit down to talk.
Rebecca hears a knocking at the door of the motel room and gets up off of the bed to get it. "Seth, I thought you were at that casino thing. What are you doing back already?" She opens the door to see an unfamiliar face. "Who are you?"
"Oh, my name is Zach. I'm a friend of your son's. I came over because I thought you might be interested in some information I have. Information concerning you. And your son."
"I don't know what you're talking about, young man, but you don't seem like someone that my son would be friends with. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Rebecca attempts to shut the door, only to have it stopped by Zach.
"Look, lady, I really don't have the time to grow through all this crap. You've got until tomorrow morning to take your son and get the fuck out of here before I call the feds and tell them where you're staying." He let's go of the door and starts to walk away. He turns back and delivers a parting remark. "I hope you enjoyed Newport."
Rebecca shuts the door, sits down on her bed and begins to cry.
Next morning
"Morning, boys," Kirsten says as she enters the kitchen. Seth and Ryan are sitting at the counter, enjoying cereal. "Did you guys have fun last night?"
"Yeah, I had a pretty good talk with Summer last night. I told her about my mom being back and that she wanted to stay in the area. I think she's pretty cool with me hanging around."
"Seth, you know that she could be considered an accomplice, right?"
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her that she was wanted by the feds. Speaking of, can I borrow the car? I was going to go have breakfast with my mom. I figured I'd pick up some pancakes from the diner and take them over to her."
"Why don't I just go get her and bring her over for breakfast? Don't worry, I won't cook," she says at Ryan's wide eyed look.
"Yeah, sure. Ryan and I can take care of the flapjacks, right?" He points at Ryan. Ryan smiles. Seth turns back to Kirsten. "Thanks, by the way."
"Not a problem. I'll be back in a bit."
"Hey, Rebecca! Are you decent? I thought maybe you could come over for breakfast." Kirsten opens the door and sees Rebecca packing up her suitcase.
"So, you caught me." Rebecca sits down on the bed.
"You can't do this. You're his mother."
Rebecca laughs sarcastically. "I'm a fugitive, not a mother."
"You have a responsibility!"
"I am being responsible. Someone came by last night. The feds know where I am."
"Sandy can help you; you just have to give him a chance."
"I can't keep taking him with me. I have to give him a chance at a normal life, a normal family. That's not something I can give him. You can. I've seen the way Sandy looks at you, your son looks at you, even Seth; like no matter what, you're going to make everything ok. You hold your family together; I tear mine apart."
"You can't run away again."
"Why not? This'll be the first good thing I've ever done for him. This way he ends up with a real mother." Rebecca stands up and grabs her suitcase. She wipes away a tear and walks out the door. Kirsten follows her to the waiting taxi in front of the motel. Rebecca puts her bag in the trunk and turns back to Kirsten. "Take care of him, ok? He deserves it." She gets in the taxi and it drives away.
At the Cohens'
Kirsten walks back in to the house and sits down on the couch in the living room, trying to decide how to break the news to Seth.
"Hey, where's my mom," Seth asks, walking in from the kitchen. He sees the look on Kirsten's face. "She's gone, isn't she?"
Kirsten walks over and holds the boy in a hug. "Someone found out she was here and she knew that she couldn't stay. She still loves you and she thought that this would be best for you." She pulls him into the kitchen, where Sandy and Ryan are preparing breakfast.
"Hey, where's-", Ryan begins, but stops at a glare from his mother.
"Seth's going to stay with us now," Kirsten announces to the other members of their suddenly larger family.
"Yeah, juvie has this exchange-only policy after the product is opened. Seeing as how my model has been discontinued…"
"Alright. Come on, man. Let's go call Luke, see what he's up to," Ryan says.
Seth starts to follow Ryan upstairs, but stops and turns back to Sandy and Kirsten. "So, I guess the hotel analogy doesn't really apply anymore, does it?" He turns back around and follows Ryan up to his room.
"He's right, you know," Sandy says to his wife. "The no return policy is now in effect."
Kirsten kisses Sandy. "Well, it's a good thing I got the warranty then."
A/N: Wow that was a pretty long one. Sorry about the lack of interaction between the couples, but I thought it was more important that you get a good feel for Seth and Rebecca's relationship. I know Zach's family's connections were a little bit over the top, but I had to embellish a little bit. Sorry for that. All mistakes are mine, no intellectual infringement intended to Josh Schwartz or any of the other writers, blah blah blah. Random fact of the chapter: A Bellini (the drink Kirsten serves at her Newpsie luncheon) is a cocktail that originated in Italy. It is a mixture of sparkling wine and peach purée often served at celebrations. Please Review! AZ
