By: MaroonAgain

The Alternate Universe

Chapter Three: The Document

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The OC, or the characters.

"We've got to stop meeting like this, kiddo." said Sandy Cohen in a stern voice.

He took a seat at one of the many tables reserved for visiting legal representatives and family. He set down his attache case and pulled out a folder containing the newest charges against his client who was sitting directly across from him.

"What, you mean to tell me the blue jumpsuit isn't a good look for me? And here I thought I was getting adjusted to it. How unfortunate." said Seth Schnaittacher.

"Some good news, though." began Sandy who chose to ignore Seth's wise crack.

"Let's hear it, Sandman."

"Kirsten's company has dropped all arson charges, which means, pending your probation hearing, I can have you out of here, no problem." said Sandy.

"Well, when is the hearing?" asked Seth sounding hopeful.

Sandy let out a sigh.

"Thirty to sixty days."

Seth's face seemed to deflate.

"I could have you out sooner, if I could release you into the care of a parent or guardian. Look it's going to be okay, I promise." said Sandy at the miserable look on Seth's pale face.

Seth let out a hollow laugh.

"Going to be alright? My mother ditched me, I burned down your wife's house, how is this going to be okay?" asked Seth.

"If you had just come to me sooner, instead of running away we might not be in this situation." explained Sandy.

Seth did his best to turn is snort into a cough.

"Yeah, so I could end up in foster care or some group home?"

"You could have been killed in that fire. Did you ever stop to think about that?" asked Sandy sternly.

Seth did not immediately reply. There was a buzzing noise and Seth looked through one of the windows to see Luke embracing his mother.

"He gets to leave?" asked Seth tunelessly.

Sandy turned to see Luke who at that moment had glanced over his shoulder to look at Seth.

"Well according to both of you, the fire was an accident. And while you made it clear that Luke had not been acting alone, there is no evidence to back up your story that Zach Stevens had been there. Police checked in with his alibi. There were multiple people, including his parents who said that he had been at Holly Fischer's house around the time that the fire occurred." said Sandy.

"Must be nice to be able to get away with going to jail." said Seth morosely.

"Luke's record is clean and, he has no priors."

"And someone to go home to." said Seth sourly.

"Seth, you know that if I could —" began Sandy.

Sandy changed tack.

"Look, we are going to find your mother, okay."

"You won't find her so don't bother wasting your time. Besides, I don't want to find her anyway. Look, you and your family have already done more than I could have ever asked for. I appreciate everything, really, I do." said Seth getting up from the table.

"Tell your wife I said thank you for dropping the charges. And tell Ryan —" Seth paused for a moment, thinking hard.

"Tell him I said thanks, for everything." said Seth as he walked back towards the cell block.

As he made his way in the direction of his cell Seth accidentally bumped into a fellow inmate.

"My bad, bro. I totally dig the prison tattoos. You'll have to tell me where I can sign up to get a few." said Seth, jokingly.

"What the hell did you just say me to?" replied the other inmate aggressively.

"Sorry man, it was just a little joke." said Seth nervously.

The other inmate shoved Seth hard against the bars.

"You're not sorry now, but you will be soon enough." said the inmate before being pushed along by a passing guard.

Seth locked eyes with Sandy for a brief moment before he too was pushed along by a security guard.

"I'm coming, will you just hold on a minute!" yelled Summer Roberts as she marched down stairs wearing sweat pants and a bright pink tank top.

Knock, Knock, Knock

"I said I am coming. It's, like, nine o'clock in the freaking morning so you better have a damn good — Zach?" she stammered as she opened the front door.

"Look, I know it's early but, I just wanted to come see you. I thought maybe we could go out for some lunch or something. You know, just the two of us." exclaimed Zach, as he flashed a bright white toothy smile in her direction before bending down and kissing her on the forehead. Summer, who was still slightly shocked to see Zach standing on her doorstep did not protest to the kiss.

"Right, and what all did you have in mind?" she asked in a skeptical voice.

"Look, I get it. You're still upset with me for what happened between me and that Seth kid at Holly's beach house after the fashion show."

Summer crossed her arms.

"It was stupid and childish of me to behave in such a way. Look, Marissa forgave Luke and gave him a second chance. I'm here to ask for mine — if you feel that I deserve one." said Zach, reaching out to take hold of Summer's hands.

"Yeah, and look what Luke did anyway. He went and got himself locked up. And you're here telling me you had nothing to do with that house fire?" Summer asked shrewdly.

"I've already told you when you left I stayed behind at the beach house with Holly. If you do not believe me why don't you just give her a call. If you want the details about whatever altercation took place up in that house you're going to have to ask Luke, or Norland." said Zach.

Summer looked up into Zach's face.

"Alright, you can come in. I just need to get ready. So, where is it that you will be taking me?" she asked as she ascended the stairs to her bedroom.

"Well my mother left me her car and the family credit card. I was thinking possibly hitting up The Yacht Club. After that I could take you to the mall or something." said Zach with a wicked grin that only he could see.

He knew that he had said the right words. Summer Robert's loved shopping. It was almost too easy to manipulate her like this.

"I'll just wait down here, shall I?" asked Zach, as he milled around the first floor.

"Yeah, just give me like, ten minutes." yelled Summer from her bedroom.

Zach walked down the empty hallway and a door off to his right caught his eye. Neil Robert's study. His heart began to pound in his chest as he wondered what lay inside. Turning his head to see if Summer was coming back downstairs he wiggled the door handle with his right hand.

"Bingo!" he whispered to himself as the door clicked open.

The lights were off but there was ample amount of sunlight pouring through the bay window behind the large oak desk that dominated the room. It looked as though Mr. Roberts had been in the study recently. Zach noticed an empty glass sitting on the desk and a few documents spread out across the desk.

"I wonder what we have here?" he said to himself.

Zach hurried around the side of the desk and picked up one of the documents. He read through it at top speed, his eyes growing wider and wider as he read down the legal document. He could not believe what he was reading.

"Zach?" came Summer's voice from far off.

"Crap." said Zach to himself.

He quickly pulled out his cellphone and took a picture of the documents.

"Yeah, one second!" yelled Zach.

He hastily threw the documents back onto the desk and ran out of the study, making sure to close the door behind him.

"Where did you run off to?" asked Summer, who had spotted Zach walking back into the living room from the hallway.

"Huh, oh sorry, I had to use the bathroom. You know what they say, right. When you gotta go, you gotta go." he said with a chuckle.

"Um, ew." said Summer.

"Sorry. Are you ready to go?" asked Zach, reaching out an arm to interlock with Summer's.

The ceiling fan had been spinning for the past hour and, yet, still Ryan lay in bed staring up at it as though he had never seen anything like it before. He had woken up early specifically to see if he could tag along with his father to visit Seth in jail but the only response he had received from his business clad father was that he should be lucky to only consider himself grounded to the house and that he, Sandy, was doing everything he could for Seth. Ryan could see the lie in his fathers eyes as he walked out the front door; briefcase in toe. Seth could no more handle himself in jail than he, Ryan, had a shot at becoming a motivational speaker. Some people were just born with survival instincts and Seth was not one of them.

It had been a very rough day dealing with paperwork and talking to Seth about keeping things cool and in check but Sandy had finally made his way back home. He made his way into the kitchen to find his wife, Kirsten fussing over last night things for her get together with the other ladies of Newport.

"All we need right now are the Bellinis. Can you please make mine a double?" she asked to Rosa, one of the help.

Rosa flashed a warm smile and nodded to Kirsten.

"Well, it looks like you are all set for your Newpsie convention. Hey, when do the vultures land on casa he Cohen?" asked Sandy with a dry chuckle.

Kirsten was not amused.

"Soon." she said without even so much as a smirk at Sandy's joke.

"I am sure there is something out of place in this house." said Kirsten in a worried voice.

"Good for you darling, gives those women something to talk about while they are here. To be honest I cannot see why you want to have them over in the first place seeing as you hate the lot of them." said Sandy as he poured himself a large cup of coffee.

"Do we have any beagles left?"

Kirsten pointed to the pantry.

Kirsten frowned at him.

"I don't, don't like them, Sandy. I grew up with these woman. They are some of my oldest friends. Besides, it's for charity." explained Kirsten as though this alone settled the matter entirely.

"Sweetie, you have had so many different events over this past summer that I have already lost track of what we are up to now. What is it that you will be dragging me long too?" asked Sandy who was now spreading cream cheese across his beagle.

"It's Vegas Night." said Kirsten.

"Well, as always, i simply cannot wait!" said Sandy as their only son made his way into the kitchen.

"Hey, whatcha doing?' asked Sandy, raising his glass of coffee as though to toast his son.

"I am not doing anything, seeing as I am grounded." said Ryan broodily.

"Well, you're handling it well." said Sandy as Ryan beginning to eat his cereal right from the box.

"Can I at least go see him?" asked Ryan.

"Seth? No, there is nothing I can do for him right now." said Sandy.

Ryan paused with the box full of corn flakes halfway to his mouth.

"Do you think that he is okay?" asked Ryan.

"Well, there is a reason I like to keep kids out of there, you know!" said Sandy, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, well, if anything happens to him while he is in there I guess it can fall on you so i just hope you can live with it." said Ryan coldly to his parents.

"What I would not be able to live with is if something happened to you because of him." retorted Kirsten.

"Like what?" asked Ryan.

"Ryan, we are not his parents! I am not his mother!" yelled Kirsten.

Ryan looked at his mother then set down the box of corn flakes.

"Good thing." he said, getting to his feet and walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey!" yelled is father as the doorbell rang.

"Get back here! Apologize!" yelled Sandy as Ryan turned his back on his mother and father and left the kitchen.

Sandy had followed his son all the way to the foot of the stairs when the doorbell rang, catching him slightly off guard. He paused for a moment before decided to deal with Ryan later on in the day. Sandy walked up to the front door and opened it to see a large group of woman. They all smiled and waved to him as they walked across the threshold. Last to walk in was Julie who stopped to give Sandy a hug.

"Hello, Stanford. How are you holding up? That poor boy. He's locked up right." she asked, kissing him on the cheek.

"Yeah, for now." said Sandy.

"Well, nobody blames you for bring him into the community, you're so trusting, Sandy." said Julie with a smile before walking down to meet up with the rest of the girls.

"Well ladies I am off to find the next kid to terrorize the community. Maybe a muslim kid, or a black kid." said Sandy with a chuckle as he looked down at the shocked faces of the women. From the back he could see his wife giving him a don't-joke-about-stuff-like-that kind of look and he quickly closed the front door behind him.

Ryan lay fully clothed on his bed, looking up at the ceiling fan. He had tried to talk to his father first thing in the morning into letting him tag along to see Seth. The response he had received was that he was lucky only to have been grounded and that he, Sandy, was doing everything he could for the boy. Ryan could see the lie in his fathers eyes. He knew that Seth was not cut out to survive places like that. He felt so helpless sitting around in his room pretending to be a good boy while the grownups settled everything.

Ryan scowled.

It was then that he decided to act.

Ryan quickly got to his feet and walked over to his desk, scooping up his keys and jacket and hurrying out of his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He could hear the voices of Julie and the rest of the women in the living room. He made his way through the kitchen, intending to use the patio as his exit when a voice ran out behind him making him jump.

"Where do you think you are going?"

It was his mother. She was sitting at the patio table smoking a cigarette.

"Since when do you smoke?" asked Ryan.

"Do not change the subject. Where do you think you are going?" his mother asked more forcefully.

"Nowhere."

"Ryan." she said in a warning voice.

Ryan sighed.

"I'm going to juvie to visit Seth."

"No, no you're not. No way!" yelled Kirsten.

Ryan stood rooted to the spot for a brief moment before waving to his mother and making his way around the side of the house.

"Ryan, stop this right now!" said Kirsten getting to her feet and following her son.

"Ryan, I know I am not the perfect Carol Brady mother but, I love you and, I am trying to protect. I have dropped all charges against Seth and, I have hired someone to try and find his mother. What else would you like me to do?"

"Come with me?" asked Ryan.

"Kirsten?" came a voice from the back door.

Both Ryan and his mother turn around to see Julie Cooper.

"Oh, there you are. We were talking about the bunting, is acetate okay?"

"Sounds great." said Kirsten turning to her son. "Give me fifteen minutes to lose the ladies."

Ryan nodded and took a seat at one of the empty patio tables as Kirsten got to her feet and talked inside. He watched as his mother walked into the living room and quickly got everyone's attention.

"Here is an idea for our theme. How about a formal Vegas Night? It's not a black tie affair so we will not be going 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 everyone?" she asked to the group at large. There was much nodding of heads and smiles throughout the room.

"Let's just make this quick, okay." said Kirsten who looked uncomfortable as she signed both herself and Ryan in.

Ryan nodded in agreement. He did not want to be in this depressing place any longer than she did. He could only imagine how Seth felt being stuck here. Ryan walked into the visiting area and sat down at one of the free available tables. He heard the buzzer that signaled the opening of the cell block gate and saw a mop of dark hair heading his way.

"Hey, how's it going?" asked Seth as both he and Ryan shook hands.

"I'm alright — wait, what the hell happened to you're neck?" asked Ryan, noticing the four small puncture marks on Seth's neck.

"What — oh, it's nothing. I was attacked by a mutant vampire." said Seth, raising both arms in a what-can-you-do sort of way.

"Don't worry, we both worked it out. Seriously, I'm fine." he said at Ryan's look.

Kirsten walked up behind her son and put her arms on his shoulder.

Seth looked up at her and did his best to give her a cheerful wave which she returned with a small smile.

"So, look. I am sorry that the plan did not work out quite like we had hoped. I thought we had everything figured out." said Ryan with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't sweat it, man. And try not to be too harsh on Marissa. I know she did not mean to spill the beans to Summer." said Seth.

"Hey, what's the matter, huh? Give me a smile."

Seth turned around to see the same guy that had shoved him earlier that morning.

"Yeah, I know. I know. To be honest I have not had a single chance to talk to her or Summer since. I heard from my dad that Luke was released. I can't believe Zach somehow weaseled his way out of this mess. Making Luke take the fall for the whole thing was pretty messed up." said Ryan.

Seth nodded.

"You've got a nice swerve on you, lady. You fine." said the inmate from across the room.

Kirsten tightened her grip on her son's shoulders and looked away.

"Hey, buddy," said Seth, trying to distract the inmate from talking to Kirsten any further, "stop proving to us that our tax dollars really are not going towards bettering public education, like the state promises. You're acting like the poster child for The March of Dimes." said Seth.

"Are you kidding me? You got a death wish or something, little man?' asked the other inmate getting to his feet and walking towards their table.

"Guards!" shouted Kirsten who was looking around hurriedly for help.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Ryan getting to his feet.

"Oh so this little honey is yours?" asked the inmate turning his attention to Ryan.

As the inmate made a motion as though he was trying to get up in Ryan's face, Seth acted. He leapt up from the table and up onto the inmates back, dragging his away from both Ryan and Kirsten. Feeling Seth's hands around his neck the inmate quickly leaned forward causing Seth to slide forward off of him and onto the floor.

"You're dead you hear me!" yelled the inmate as he began to punch Seth in the chest and face.

Ryan made a fruitless attempt to jump in and help Seth but was pushed aside by two guards who quickly broke up the fight. Kirsten looked down horrified to see Seth mopping up a bloody lip and nose.

It had been a very rough day at the office for Sandy. He had made numerous telephone calls inquiring information about the whereabouts of Seth's mother. He had to admit it to himself that Seth had been right. It was as if she had just faded into nothingness. It had been till late afternoon when he had finally received some information about Seth's mother. It had not been the good news he had been hoping for. Sandy, in his BMW, sat in the drive way thinking his entire afternoon over in his head. How was he suppose to explain to his wife, let alone Seth that the latter's .mother had been found dead. The police were still completing their investigation but from the looks of it, she had died of a drug overdose.

Sandy sighed heavily.

What was he going to do for the kid now?

Sandy pushed open the car door and climbed out, grabbing his briefcase as he did so. He didn't think he could bring himself to tell Seth that his mother had died the way she did. He knew he was going to have to tell Kirsten. He couldn't keep something like this from her. He pushed open the large front doors and the sounds of bullets, and car crashes greeted his ears. He could not believe that Ryan would have the audacity to disobey him. He thought they had made it quite clear when they had grounded him.

"What did we say, Ryan? No television!" yelled Sandy as he stormed into the living room.

Both Seth and Ryan looked up over the couch at Sandy who looked as though he had been struck dumb.

"Oh." he said, eyebrows raised.

There was an awkward silence then, Sandy exited the living room and walked into the kitchen where he found his wife leaning up against the kitchen island and sipping from a wine glass. Kirsten looked up from her glass of cabernet, her eyes on her husband.

"I never knew you to be an impulse shopper." said Sandy, feeling as though this would lighten the mood of the room.

"I did not know what else to do. They were going to kill him in there Sandy!" she said heatedly.

Now was not the time for jokes.

Sandy took a different approach.

"Well, did you tell him that it was permanent?"

"No, of course not." said Kirsten, her voice full of emotion, searching for answers.

"We cannot keep jerking this kid around, pulling him out of juvie, sending him to foster care, giving him hope, and taking it away from him."

"Look, I already told you. I couldn't just leave him in there. He cannot stay here though. We need to find his mother, Sandy!" demanded Kirsten.

Sandy bit his lip.

Kirsten noticed.

"What is it Sandy? Did you find something?" she asked.

Sandy sighed.

"No. Nothing, yet. The search continues. To be honest though, Seth doesn't even want to find his mother. When — when we find out what has happened to her, who's to say he won't go back to her?" asked Sandy.

"He's a kid Sandy, he doesn't know what he wants." exclaimed Kirsten, a little louder than was necessary.

"I will just have to think of it as staying in a hotel, won't I?" came a voice from behind them.

Both Kirsten and Sandy spun around to see Seth leaning against the doorway.

"Check out's at eleven, right?" he asked.

Both Kirsten and Sandy were taken a back, unable to think of what to say. Seth turned and left the kitchen. Kirsten turned to look at her husband then took a guilty sip of wine.

Seth awoke the next day, got dressed, and made his way out of the pool house and into the kitchen where he was not surprised to find Ryan sitting at the kitchen island eating dry cereal straight from the box.

"Dude, do you have something against the dairy industry?" asked Seth.

"Huh?"

"I never see you eating cereal from a bowl. You always eat is plain."

"I'm not much for spoons." said Ryan who pointed to the spot where Seth knew he would find a fresh beagle.

"More importantly though," began Ryan as Seth spread liberal amounts of cream cheese on his beagle, "What happened with you and Summer at the model home?"

"You mean before or after Luke and Zach kicked my ass?" joked Seth.

Ryan gave him a look.

"She came by to see me." said Seth, nibbling at his beagle to give himself some extra time to think things through. After a few silent seconds though Ryan spoke.

"And?"

"Well, I asked her to leave."

"You mean to tell me you had her up there in that model home with you, alone, and you asked her to leave?" said Ryan, bewildered.

"Dude, I thought I was going to be leaving the next day. It would have been really messed up to try something with her." said Seth is a defensive tone of voice.

"But you didn't leave. Not yet, anyway. Why don't you just go over and talk to her?" asked Ryan.

"I don't think I have ever heard to talk this much. It's kinda freaking me out." said Seth with a smirk.

Ryan ignored the change of subject.

"Well, you haven't left yet." said Ryan.

"Yeah, and after the whole model home thing I doubt your parents would be totally cool with me roaming the streets trying to find Summer's house. I'm sure those Newports would just love having me out there too come to think about it." said Seth.

"Newports?"

Seth gave him a look.

"Just go with it. Sounds a hell of a lot better that Newpsie."

"Well, I think you need to think of something to say to Summer when you see her. Set up for Vegas Night is later today, which means you will be seeing her tomorrow night." explained Ryan.

"Well, maybe I can win her over with some lucky dice rolls on the craps table." said Seth, finishing his beagle and leaving the kitchen to return to the pool house to get dressed for the day.

"So are you ever going to tell me what exactly happened between the two of you at the model home?" asked Marissa.

Summer looked at Marissa over her shoulder through the mirror she standing in front of. Both girls had spent the afternoon shopping once Summer had returned home from her date with Zach.

"Look, Coop, you're my best friend. When I say drop it, please just drop it. Absolutely nothing happened between us. It was stupid of me to go in the first place." explained Summer, soundingly slightly annoyed.

Marissa rolled her eyes.

"I went there and he told me to leave." said Summer.

"You mean to tell me that the two of you were all alone and that is how he chose to handle the situation." said Marissa in a skeptical voice.

"Petty much. I was there for all of five minutes, then I left and your boyfriend showed up and beat his-"

Marissa glared at Summer.

"You believe all that?" she asked.

"Look I don't know what to believe, okay. Luke's out of the slammer and I've tied things up with Zach. Not to mention Seth is gone now. I won't ever see him again so we can just move on from this and pretend it never happened." said Summer in a firm voice.

"I though you were going to be in the office all day?" asked Kirsten as her husband came speeding past, briefcase in hand.

"Sweetie, I'm going to be in the office, out of the office, all over the place today. We've got an early court date coming up that I need to prep for." said Sandy.

Kirsten frowned.

"I though you would be home at some point today. I have to go set up for Vegas Night. What am I suppose to do with Seth?" she asked.

Sandy paused.

"Look, honey I am sorry. I've got a few calls from the private investigator I have to attend to. I just stopped home to grab a few case files from the home office. Why don't the two of you spend some time together? Take him with you and Ryan." said Sandy.

Kirsten looked flabbergasted.

"With all those women? It's not like he going to be doing any leave lifting." she laughed.

"Sure, they'll love him! Make him blow up balloons. Lord knows we need them!" said Sandy as he dashed off to pick up the case files in his home office.

An hour later found the Cohen family, minus Sandy, and, with the addition of Seth pulling into a parking spot and hopping out of the Range Rover.

"I feel like we were just here." said Seth, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun.

"We were." said Ryan.

Seth looked confused.

"The country club is where we usually host our events. We held the fashion show here the other day and in a few days time we will be hosting Cotillion." explained Kirsten with a smile.

"What's that? It sounds like an illness." said Seth, pulling a face to which Ryan smirked.

Kirsten ignored them.

They all walked up the steps and in through the front door to see many people busy at work.

"No, do not put the card table that close to the door! It needs to be over there, closer to the craps table!" ordered Julie Cooper, who seemed to be in command of the operation.

She turned around to see Kirsten.

"Kirsten, good to see you, finally." she said, her voice overjoyed.

"Hello, Julie. You remember my son Ryan."

Ryan gave a small wave.

"And this is Seth. He's been staying with us for a little bit while Sandy sorts things out." said Kirsten.

Seth reached out to shake hands but Julie merely looked him over and he withdrew it quickly.

"Well, we already have a few strong, strapping young men helping with the heavy lifting but, I'm sure we can find some work for these boys." said Julie motioning over her shoulder to Luke and Zach who were both busy carrying stack of chairs across the room.

Zach paused for a moment, taken aback at the sight of Seth. Luke stopped just short of walking into him from behind and looked over at Ryan.

"Well, this should be interesting." said Seth sarcastically.

"You're telling me." mimicked Ryan.

"What is that little punk still doing here?" asked Zach quietly to Luke.

"Beats me, man." said Luke who was following Ryan with his eyes as the other boy walked over to start moving boxes.

"They're both bad news if you ask me." began Luke.

"Yeah well after the other night, I thought we had finally gotten rid of him!" said Zach.

"Yeah, and speaking of the other night. You're still a total asshole for having me take the heat for you!" yelled Luke in a whisper.

"Don't start this crap with me again, man!" retorted Zach.

"I spent the night in lock up! You know how pissed off my parents were!"

"You're mom got a little teary eyed, big deal. You're dad wasn't even home! Besides, that is behind us. I've already got a plan to run that little dweeb out of Newport. Once his sidekick is out of the picture, I doubt we will have to worry about Ryan anymore. Things will be back to the way they were before summer began." said Zach.

"I take it this means you've patched things up with Summer?" asked Luke as he set down the large, heavy stack of hairs he had been carrying.

"Yep. All it took was lunch at The Yacht Club and my father's credit card." said Zach with a hearty laugh.

"Only thing that might derail that is both of those losers showing up to Vegas Night." said Luke, sounding annoyed.

"I'm not too worried about it, to be honest with you. Like I said, I've got something to put into action, should that kid try anything. Right now it's all about just keeping things calm and cool." said Zach as he too set down the large stack of chairs he had been carrying.

Luke nodded.

It was late in the evening when Sandy finally arrived home from the office. It had been another rough day. He still had no idea how to bring up the conversation that he knew needed to be held with both his wife and Seth. It was just too much to think about at the moment. He had spent so much time trying to lift Seth's spirits that he did not want all that to come crashing down. Sandy walked into the kitchen to see the remains of what had been that evens dinner. Ryan had insisted that they order take out after overruling his mother's want to hook for the evening. It appeared as though the two boys were off in the pool house. Sandy could only assume that his wife was in their bedroom. He set down his briefcase and an assortment of files and picked up one of the to-go boxes and popped it in the microwave.

A few minutes later and Sandy was easing himself into one of the lounge chair out by the pool. He could see both Seth and Ryan in the pool house. Seth seemed to be telling Ryan a story about God knows what.

The day would come when he would have to tell Seth the truth. But, right now did not seem like the moment. All of a sudden the stack of papers he had left on the counter fell into his lap and a very angry Kirsten stood behind him, one hand gripping his shoulder.

"When in the hell were you going to share this with me?" she asked softly.

Sandy's heart fell. It would have been better had she bellowed the words at him. He turned to face his wife.

"I was going to tell you."

"Oh, you were. All this talk about giving that boy hope and everything and you're keeping this from him? From me?" she asked angrily.

"You and I both know it will crush him when he finds out. I just wasn't ready to take that happiness away from him. He says he doesn't miss his mother or care about where she has run off to but I know deep down inside it's going to kill him when he finds out." said Sandy, picking up the case files and his food and getting to his feet. This conversation would be better felt with back inside.

"When did you find out?" asked Kirsten as Sandy closed the door behind him.

Sandy sighed.

"A few days ago. I wanted to tell you, honey, I really did." he said in a defeated voice.

"What are we suppose to do now? He doesn't have a family to go back to and putting him into foster care, well—" she broke off and poured herself a glass of wine.

"I think he's starting to grow on you." said Sandy.

"Look, we need to tell him. We might be getting in way over our heads here. We can figure this whole mess out after Vegas Night." said Kirsten, ignoring her husbands previous comment but smiling slightly.

"I still have no idea what I am suppose to say to her, Ryan." said Seth sounding anxious.

"Well, just be honest with her. You're here for another night."

"Yeah well what about you and Marissa? She has to still be harboring feelings for you, or something. She offered to drive us all the way out to the model home. Nobody just does that." said Seth.

Ryan quelled him with a look.

"Doesn't matter, she's with Luke now anyway."

"Yeah, and speaking of those two. What are we going to do if they try and start something with me tonight?"

It was mid afternoon now the following day as both Seth, and Ryan sat at the kitchen island. Seth was eating a beagle while Ryan had a late cup of coffee. Both boys had been up late the night before.

"I think it will be rather difficult to have a conversation with both Zach, and Luke there." said Seth.

"With all the parents there? They wouldn't try anything." said Ryan, taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"Alright, so I just need to get her away from Zach for a minute to explain things. I think I can do that!" said Seth as Kirsten walked into the kitchen.

"Good afternoon." she said to the two boys.

"Same to you." replied Ryan.

"I will want the both of you dressed and ready to leave by six, alright?" said Kirsten.

"You got it, boss. Though I have no idea what I am suppose to wear." joked Seth.

"I am sure we can find you something nice." said Kirsten with a smile.

"Well it beats the jumpsuit for sure." said Seth, as he and the Cohen's climbed out of the Ranger Rover; Kirsten passing off the keys to the valet.

"You do clean up rather nice." said Sandy as they walked up the steps and into the country club.

"Wow." said Seth as he looked out over the room.

"I've never been to Vegas before but, I gotta say this is amazing! Are all of your parties like this?" he asked, looking over at Kirsten.

She smiled back at him.

"You two have fun. And stay out of trouble." she said.

"Kirsten!"

Kirsten turned to see Julie Cooper walking up to her.

"Another perfect event."

"Jimmy, how are you doing?" asked Sandy.

Both men shook hands.

"I'm doing good." said Jimmy, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Business doing well?" asked Sandy.

"It's good. It's good." he said sounding a little uncomfortable.

Sandy opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by his wife, who had chosen that moment to lead in and give her old friend a hug.

"Good to see you again Jimmy!" she said jovially.

"Sandy, would you like a drink?" asked Kirsten.

Sandy came to his senses.

"Why, yes, I would love one." he said, waving to both Julie and Jimmy and then escorting his wife to the bar.

"Betting kinda big aren't you there?" asked Ryan.

"Dude, it's for charity. Besides the count is way positive." said Seth with a wink.

Both boys had chosen to sit down at one of the open blackjack tables. Seth had tried to look around for Summer but it appeared as though she had not yet arrived, nor it seemed, had Zach.

"You're counting? You do realize that is not a single deck, right?" asked Ryan.

"Dude, trust me. If they teach you anything in this world, the count goes way higher with multiple decks." said Seth.

"Blackjack!" said the dealer, smiling.

"Bingo!" said Seth, passing his winning over to Ryan.

"Since when do you gamble?" asked Ryan taking the chips and adding them to his smaller stack.

"My mother may have been a junkie but, if there was one thing she was good at, it was gambling. How else do you think she managed to pay the rent?" said Seth with a hallow laugh.

After another ten minutes at the tables, both boy's stacks of chips had increased substantially, so they decided to move on to a different table. Seth filled Ryan in on a few of the other tables since Ryan had never gambled a day in his life. They spent most of their time at the craps table. Seth explained that it was one of the easiest ways to rack in chips.

"When I'm old enough, I'll take you to Las Vegas and show you how its done." chuckled Seth.

"Can I get the six and the eight, please?" he asked, passing a few chips over to the dealer.

"Why don't you throw?" asked Ryan, when Seth had opted out of throwing for the second time.

"I let other people make my money for me." explained Seth.

"Well that's goo to know." said Ryan, though it seemed as though Seth had not heard him.

"Seth?"

Seth it seemed had been struck dumb. He was staring off into the distance at the front door and it didn't take very long for Ryan to figure out why. Standing in the doorway of to the Country Club stood Summer and Marissa. Both were dressed in simple, yet stunning cocktail dresses, Marissa in a soft cream color, while Summer wore bright red.

"Wow." cooed Seth.

Ryan looked over at Marissa. He too seemed to be lost for words.

Luke and Zach then walked in behind not girls, bringing the two boys back to their senses.

"So, what's this I am hearing about you having a cousin from Boston visiting?" asked Jimmy, walking up to the bar to stand next to Kirsten.

"Huh? Oh, no Seth is one of Sandy's clients. He has been staying with us for a few days while Sandy sorts things out." said Kirsten, taking a sip of her drink.

"Ah."

"How about you? Are you okay, Jimmy?" asked Kirsten, looking some what concerned.

"Me? Oh, I am alright. The market has been all over the place this past year but, it's nothing I cannot handle." he said.

"You know if you need anything you can always come to me Jimmy." said Kirsten, patting him on the shoulder and leaving to find her husband.

"Hey."

Summer turned around and received a shock.

"What in the world are you still doing here?" she demanded, looking around frantically.

Seth knew she was looking for Zach. He had to be quick. He did not want to cause a scene in front of all of these people.

"I guess you could say I haven't quiet punched my ticket out of Newport, yet. I was wondering if we could talk for a minute?"

"Look, Zach just went to use the restroom. Now is not the best time for us to be talking. Besides, after everything that you said at the model home—" began Summer.

"Look, I thought I was going to be leaving for good that day. You and I both know I wanted you to stay, but to do that and then just leave for good in the morning? It would not have felt right." said Seth.

"Well you're right anyway. We're both from two very different worlds. It's not like you're moving in with the Cohen's, anyway." said Summer.

"So, you're saying if I was—" began Seth.

"Look, Zach and I, we've worked out our issues. He really can be a sweet guy." started Summer, looking up into Seth's face.

Seth's face fell.

"I need you to go, okay. I don't want to cause a scene and you and I really have nothing more to say to each other." said Summer with a sniff.

Was she starting to cry?

"Please, just go before he gets back. You'll be gone soon enough and we wont have to worry about this problem anymore. I'll be out of your life and you will be out of mine, alright!" said Summer.

Seth stood rooted to the spot for a few more seconds before he turned tail and left.

He was ready to leave. All the happiness he had felt earlier seemed to have been sucked out of the place, leaving nothing but cold, and sad thoughts. Seth walked through the crowd of people, searching for Sandy and Kirsten. He found them one he had managed to squeeze through a large crowd of people at one of the craps tables. It looked as though they were arguing about something. Seth saw them slip away into one of the empty side rooms and followed. He would just talk to Ryan in the morning.

"Look, I know we need to tell him Kirsten. Believe me, it's been on my mind since I got the news. I just don't want to break the poor kids heart. Last thing we need is for him to try and run away again." said Sandy.

"His mother is dead, Sandy. He has every right in the world to know that! Keeping this from him will only make it that much harder to tell him when we see — him—"

Both adults turned to see Seth standing in the doorway.

"What?" he asked looking horrified.

"Seth —" began Sandy.

Kirsten was at a loss for words.

"My mother is dead? How — when?"

"Look, we wanted to tell you." said Sandy, walking forward.

Kristen's eyes had started to well up.

Sandy reached out a hand to grasp Seth's shoulder but Seth pushed it away.

"You lied to me. You call this helping me? My mother is dead and you think that's something that you can just keep from me?" yelled Seth.

"No, that's not true." said Kirsten.

"I have to go." said Seth turning on his heels and within seconds collided with a passing waiter. Empty drink glasses crashed to the floor sending shards of glass in all directions. A few people screamed as heads turned in Seth's direction. He quickly got to his feet and pushed his way through the crowd, leaving behind a shocked Sandy and a crying Kristen.

:END:

Author's Notes:

Well, that took a lot longer than I thought it would. I know that, while lengthy, the chapter ends abruptly. Nothing wrong with a good cliff hanger to keep you readers wondering when the next chapter will arrive. I've got a good idea of what you all can expect in the next few chapters, though I need to brush up on season two to see if there is anything, or any characters apart from Zach that I want to bring in early. I've got the ground work laid for both Neil's and Jimmy's fall from grace. It also seems like Kirsten is finally starting to enjoy having Seth around the house. Expect lots of drama in the next chapter. Cotillion is coming. As always, please leave a review and tell me what you think!