AN: Just as a small warning: It's a tad AU and crack – ish, I suppose. Now for the bigger warning: There's a couple of smacks (from parents to kids and from brother to brother) in this story. This is by no means a discipline fic but if Sandy smacking Seth upside the head or Ryan punching Seth in the arm on the show bothered you, you might not want to read this one. Flames will be ignored.

This fic does not have a beta so all the mistakes are mine :)

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C, The O.C owns me, yada, yada, yada

Enjoy.

Heights

The time where this takes place is kinda iffy. I'm leaving it open to interpretation though I'm partial to season 2 pre Power of Love.

Absolute Quiet.

It made Kirsten squirm. Even as she poured over the schematics for New Port's new housing development the ability to hear her own thoughts wouldn't allow her to concentrate.

She kept expecting to hear mock explosions and the blood curdling screams of fictional characters meeting imminent doom. The indignant squawks of the losing party and the gleeful crows of the new video game champion. She would even settle for the crash bang of playful tussling gone too far.

Agitated, she closed her suitcase reveling for once in the loud clicking noise it made.

Nope. Quiet definitely was not fun. Then again, she had to remind herself, groundings weren't supposed to be fun.

The boys had really stepped into it this time, and to Kirsten's surprise Sandy had really put his foot down. Hard. He'd even considered grounding the boys from each other but Kirsten had to veto that idea. Keeping them from the outside world and electronics was punishment, but keeping Seth and Ryan from talking to one another would just be torture.

That's why after an uncomfortable dinner reminiscent of the meals before her foster son's arrival, Sandy approved the boy's request to go finish their homework together up in Seth's room.

That's where they'd been for the past 3 hours.

And in those past few hours, there'd been no trips down to the kitchen for a 'study snack'. No shuffling over to their stools to sulk about the unfair treatment. No shy questions about what she was working on in an attempt to alleviate boredom and now that Sandy had decided to hit the hay early there wasn't a noise to be heard.

It unsettled Kirsten. The quiet just wasn't right.

Kirsten's phone buzzed but she ignored it. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling as if it would somehow allow her to see what was going on in the room above.

She hoped they were doing their homework. Although, Kirsten rationalized, with their cell phones, laptops and play station under lock and key for the weekend there wasn't much they could do.

Still, something wasn't right.

She was making her way upstairs to check on the boys when she heard a loud noise followed by some muffled shouting outside.

Butterflies in her stomach working overtime, she quickly walked out the front door following the voices around the side of the house to the garage.

"… Just slowly make your way… yes, I'm sure... now…stop being a baby- Okay, okay. Alright! Take it easy"

Kirsten stared at her son who was standing alone in front of her dormant flower bushes whispering into the darkness.

"Seth, what are you doing?"

"Mom!"

Her son's exclamation was quickly followed by what sounded like a surprised squeak. Slightly startled, Kirsten looked around but couldn't find the source of the noise.

"Seth, what are you doing out here?"

"Nothing, Mom. Just, hanging out"

Kirsten's hands went to her hips.

"Did you forget you were grounded?"

Seth looked up as if he was contemplating her last question and then grinned at her

"I know. I'm not supposed to be outside, but it was so beautiful out tonight I just had to get a closer look"

He grabbed her gently by the shoulders and turned her in the opposite direction "I mean, turn around for a couple of minutes. Look at the view! Isn't it something?"

"Seth, it's the middle of the night. There is no view" Kirsten replied as she gently shook off her son's grasp

Seth spluttered for a second before replying

"Yeah, but, just look at those stars!"

She raised her eyebrows "Seth-"

Any further questions from Kirsten were halted by a loud rattling noise from behind them.

She turned around and looked up. In the dim light she could just make out a dark figure crouched on top of the garage roof. Her stomach dropped for a second before she recognized something familiar.

"…Ryan?"

What the heck are they doing?! Any guesses? I already have this fic finished so you can tune in tomorrow and find out. :)