(no subject)
Title: Consequences
"AU-ish" missing scene from Season One's The Outsider (AU-ish because these Cohens try to parent)
Part 1B (Because LJ has a fetish for short chapters and I have a thing for length)
Characters: Cohens+1
Author: ChaseII
Story Rating: PG-13 (language)
Disclaimer: The OC Universe, with all its assorted characters, belongs to Josh Schwartz, et. al. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended, nor is any money being made.
AN: Many thanks to Beachtree for her insightful and thought-provoking Beta services! However, as always, all mistakes are mine!
Ryan climbed onto the bar stool next to Seth, looking up when Kirsten rushed into the kitchen.
“Oh, thank God. I was so worried about you.”
Ryan ducked his head, not certain whether he was supposed to respond, or whether her words were intended solely for her son. He glanced surreptitiously at Seth, who was scrunching up his face like his mom was overreacting.
“We’re fine, Mom. We weren’t the ones who got shot.”
Kirsten’s eyebrows shot up, “But you could have been.” Her focus skittered across to Ryan, “You both could have been hurt tonight. Or gotten arrested. Or worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Ryan offered softly. “We didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
Kirsten turned unsettled eyes on him. “Well, regardless of what you meant, you did. You both did, and there are gonna’ be consequences. Real consequences.”
Ryan dropped his head, staring at his hands. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known.
“Kirsten’s right,” said Sandy, entering the kitchen. His jerked at his tie, loosening it, and started rolling up his shirt sleeves. “Tonight’s actions will definitely have consequences.”
“But Dad…” Seth began, only to be cut off by his father.
“Seth Ezekiel, I’m talking. You’re listening. Clear?”
Seth’s mouth dropped open, but he managed a sulky “Whatever.”
Sandy’s glare shut down anything else Seth might have been tempted to say, while Ryan suppressed a shudder. If he’d been anywhere nearly as insubordinate as Seth had been tonight to the adults in his life back in Chino, he would have been sent sprawling across the floor, with some more blows tacked on for good measure.
Kirsten placed a hand on Sandy’s shoulder, nodding toward the back of the kitchen, “I’m just over there.”
Sandy caught her hand, and something passed between them that Ryan couldn’t quite define. Honestly, who knew husbands and wives could communicate so effectively without saying anything at all?
Sandy squeezed her fingers for just an instant before releasing her and taking his own position directly across from Seth and Ryan. Kirsten settled against a cabinet, folding her arms across her chest, her expression impenetrable.
Sandy’s eyebrows knit together as he stared first at Seth, and then at Ryan. Ryan inched back in his chair, pretty sure his time with the Cohens was almost up.
His guardian shifted his attention to his sulking son.
“What were you thinking, Seth? Inviting that boy to Holly’s?” Sandy’s eyes flashed, and he pressed his lips into an angry line.
“It was Donnie, Dad,” Seth clarified. “The kid’s name is Donnie.”
“Doesn’t really matter,” Ryan quickly coached the boy beside him, Seth’s startled frown a stark reminder of how naïve the guy could be.
“You’d do well to listen to Ryan,” Sandy warned, his voice steely. “Now, answer my question - what on earth were you thinking?”
Seth looked wide-eyed at his father, his mouth moving but no words spilling out.
Ryan shifted on the bar stool. “It was my fault.”
He felt three pairs of eyes swing to stare at him.
Sandy shook his head, his tone firm but noticeably more restrained than he’d just been with Seth, “I’m not talking to you right now, Ryan. I want Seth to answer.”
“Sandy?” Kirsten sounded troubled. “Maybe Ryan has something to contribute.”
Sandy grimaced, his jaws tensing. “Not yet,” he gritted. “Not until I hear from Seth.” He turned back to face Ryan, his tone prickly, “I guarantee, kid, I’ll get to you.”
“Sorry.” Ryan ducked his head, dreading the moment when his turn would come.
“Seth?” Sandy prodded, his eyes glued to Seth’s face.
Seth gripped the countertop, “I thought it’d be fun, Dad. I didn’t think anything crazy was gonna’ happen. It was just supposed to be fun…”
“It didn’t occur to you that Donnie might not fit in with Holly’s guests?”
Ryan flicked his eyes up to his guardian’s face, but Sandy didn’t seem to notice. He felt his stomach twist again, as he anticipated Seth’s response.
True to form, Seth protested. “Why should it? I mean, he and Ryan are basically from the same kinda’ place, and Ryan fits in at Newport parties better than I do.”
Ryan swallowed. Alcohol, drugs, guns… Seth would think he fit in, even if that were the furthest thing from truth. Now, so would the Cohens.
But Sandy seemed to have his own agenda. “Listen to yourself, Seth. You already said Ryan warned you inviting that kid wasn’t a good idea, right?”
Seth shrugged.
“Seth!”
“Yeah.” Seth’s head bowed as he muttered the word.
Sandy’s lips tightened, turning down at the corners. He sighed, and then resumed his questioning. “When you saw Donnie was getting out of control, what went through your head?”
Seth rolled his eyes, “I’ve told you and the police already - I figured I should call Ryan.”
Sandy stepped toward his son, his eyebrows drawn together, “I know what you told the police. Now I want to know why you thought calling Ryan was a good idea.”
Seth frowned, hitching his shoulders, “Because he knew Donnie? Because Donnie had a gun? Because I figured Ryan had been around and that he’d know what to do?”
Ryan swallowed, sure every answer Seth offered only dug his own hole deeper.
Sandy frowned, “Think, Seth. Ryan’s known Donnie for what? Less than a week?”
Seth hesitated before he shrugged, “I guess.” He glanced quickly across at Ryan before adding in his own defense, “But they’re kinda’ from the same ‘hood, so I just thought --”
“Seth!” The boy withered under Sandy’s chastening glare.
“Okay, yeah, less than a week,” he agreed.
Sandy nodded, “And you understand the terms of Ryan’s probation, right? You understand if he gets into any trouble with the authorities, he could have that probation revoked? That he’d have to go back to the juvenile detention center and serve part or all of his original sentence? Did you stop for even a second to consider that before you called him? Or did it occur to you that there could be new charges? With additional detention?”
Seth squirmed in his chair, “I…I didn’t think he’d get into any trouble - I just thought he’d be able to talk to Donnie. Maybe get him to leave Holly’s before things got out of control.”
Ryan kept his head down, not quite believing the dialogue going on around him.
Sandy’s voice sharpened, “And you thought that why? Was that because Donnie was being so reasonable? He seemed rational?”
Seth dropped his eyes, “Uh, I don’t know. I mean maybe not ‘rational’. Well, not exactly either. No.”
Sandy splayed his fingers on the island counter top, leaning stiff-armed toward his son, “You said it yourself, son. You knew Donnie had a gun. And you’ve already admitted seeing him drinking pretty heavily. I know from the police report that there were drugs at the party - I’m guessing you must have seen them there. Honestly, Seth. Guns? Drugs? Alcohol? It’s bad enough that you were even there - and I’m really unhappy that you stayed there after you saw what was going on - but to then purposely drag Ryan into that mess, too? I’ve gotta’ ask - do you want him to go back to Juvie? Is that what you want?”
“God, no! Of course not,” Seth sputtered. He turned toward Ryan, “You know that’s the last thing I’d want, right buddy?”
Ryan glanced up at Sandy, wondering if he were allowed to answer Seth’s question.
Sandy gave him a tiny nod.
Relieved, he turned to Seth, “I know, man. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s definitely not okay,” Sandy countered sternly. “Do you hear me, Ryan? It’s not even the slightest bit okay.”
Ryan blinked, stunned at the exasperation evident in the man’s voice.
“Ryan?”
Ryan nodded, “Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir, what?”
“It’s not okay?” Ryan tried, surprised he’d stepped into shit with Sandy by letting Seth off the hook.
“Exactly. Okay, then,” his guardian nodded before leveling his gaze back toward his son.
“Seth? Don’t you have something you need to say to Ryan?”
Seth hung his head, his shoulders drooping, “I’m sorry, Ryan. I… I didn’t think about the trouble you could get into.”
Ryan bit his lip, looking up at Sandy uncertainly before he spoke.
“I know,” he said softly, adding a careful “I believe you, man.”
Sandy nodded an approval, and pushed himself back from the counter-top before he addressed Seth once more. “Next time you think about it. Next time anything even remotely like this comes up, you get the hell out of there and call for help. And that call comes to me, or to your mother, or to another responsible adult. Got that?”
“Got it,” Seth bobbed his head.
Sandy stared at his son for a long moment, before pursing his lips. “Good. Then you can go to your room while I speak to Ryan. We’ll talk about an appropriate punishment for your behavior in the morning.”
“But, Dad…” Seth started to protest, freezing when Sandy fixed him with a warning scowl.
“Yeah, alright,” he muttered, sliding down from the stool and slinking across the kitchen, getting a small frown from Kirsten as he passed her.
“No eavesdropping,” Kirsten warned five seconds later, poking her head around the corner, “Or we’ll double your punishment.”
“But Ryan got to hear what you said to me,” Seth whined from somewhere on the stairs.
“He needed to, don’t you think?” Kirsten countered.
Seth must have responded nonverbally, because the only thing Ryan heard was Kirsten’s “Fine. We’ll finish first thing in the morning.”
Ryan heard Seth’s footsteps clump heavily up the stairs, followed by his door closing a few decibels too loudly to play well with his parents. The look that passed between the pair didn’t bode well for Seth come morning.