51The Brothers ā 7
This chapter was somewhat inspired by a few other stories on where Ryan's concern for Dawn continues to surface. While he is very happy being a Cohen, his character and concern for others are his strong points; and possibly one of his weaknesses. š I hope that I can adequately portray this, but Ryan does consider himself a Cohen through and through, and Kirsten and Sandy are his parents.
I also want to emphasize, if there are still any readers out there following this story, and I hope I have made this abundantly clear, that this Trey is very much different from the one we saw on screen. Whereas that Trey was rough and had a problem with authority and such, this Trey has definitely changed. He is a brother worthy, not only of Ryan, but also of Seth.
So, here's another installment of The Brothers. There will be references to chapters 3 & 4 here, and the whole mall incident. Let me know what you guys think!
It was morning when Ryan started to rouse from his sleep. Or rather, something was rousing him from sleep. As he finally opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on his bedside table, he saw that it was about half past 8am. He was a little surprised. While he always looked for opportunities where he could sleep in, especially during the week instead of having to get up for school, one of his brothers always managed to get him up much sooner than he was ready.
Today, however, he found that he was able to sleep much later then he thought he would. As he continued to lay in bed, he continued to hear the noise that brought him from his slumber. He realized that it was Seth as he was getting ready for his day.
It was a Friday, and they had the day off for a faculty planning day. So, he was able to sleep in, while his older brother and mother were at work. Their father was at the office. His curly-haired brother was spending the day with Summer, who had everything planned out. While he loved his brother and loved spending time with him, he did have his limits. And those limits consisted of Summer's plans to spend the morning at the spa and the afternoon at South Coast Plaza. While Summer was kind enough to invite him, as Seth had told her his brother had no plans, again his love for his brother had limits.
He smiled while laying contentedly in his bed listening to Seth's side of his phone call with an apparently irate Summer that Seth was still at home and hadn't even left. He could barely get a word in edgewise and his voice continued to get louder and higher pitched. Finally, after promising to leave "right this instant", he was able to hang up.
Ryan threw the covers off himself and got out of bed, stretching as he made his way to the hallway. He and Seth made it there at the same time. When Seth saw him, his eyes and smile grew to comic proportions. "It lives!" he teased. Pointing to Ryan's head, his brother continued, "Dude, bed head much?!"
Ryan was in a pretty good mood, after being able to sleep in a little bit, not to mention surrounded by this great family. Sometimes he still had to pinch himself to make sure that he had great parents and a couple of awesome brothers; he couldn't at times believe that his older brother was back in his life, was doing well, and was legally a Cohen like him. He could take a little teasing from Seth, because he could give it back just as good!
Ryan just smiled back, "Well, at least I'm not going to spend the whole day wrapped in a salad!"
Seth just made a face, which almost looked like a wince at that thought, but replied, "Not the whole day, bro." After a beat, and making another face, "Just for the morning."
"Ahh, ok. Well, have fun carrying all of Summer's bags and packages this afternoon," Ryan chuckled with a smirk.
"Crap, I forgot all about that! Well, most of the stores at South Coast Plaza will take them to Summer's car, so I don't have to worry about that. Say, you can still come with us, if you want?" Seth asked. But after a beat, continued, "Oh, but you can't yet, can you? Security won't let you back in, yet. Will they?" He copied Ryan's smirk.
Ryan never really understood the fascination some people had with the mall. He only really went with other people. When he had to go shopping, he normally just wanted to buy what he needed and get out. But he found that Summer, Marissa, nor his mother were like that. Ryan just confidently leaned against the door frame, crossed his arms, and smiled back at Seth. "Nah, I don't need anything at the mall. I guess I'll have to enjoy a day at home all by myself. With exclusive use of the PlayStation all day!"
He laughed at his brothers face when Seth realized what Ryan's plans were. Nothing; he planned to do nothing all day! Seth's smirk faded and was replaced by jealousy. He would have loved to stay home and do nothing, as well.
Ryan just sort of waved at him, "Ok. Bye bye. I know that Summer is waiting for you. You don't want her to have one of her rage blackouts on you, do you?" Ryan laughed even harder at the look on Seth's face. He felt a little guilty teasing Seth like that, but just a little, a very little.
Seth just slowly turned around and sulked down the stairs. He was torn: jealousy towards Ryan and his plans for the day, and fear at Summer's possible rage blackout. His fear of Summer finally won out as he walked out the front door to spend the day with his girlfriend.
Ryan continued chuckling lightly as Seth made his way down the stairs. Shaking his head at his brother's antics, he made his way back into his room and changed into a pair of gym shorts and t-shirt. He then made his way downstairs and through the kitchen. He stopped and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then through the French doors towards the pool house. Since both Ryan and Trey had moved into the main house for good, Sandy and Kirsten decided to convert the pool house into a mini gym.
Several months earlier during one of the family dinners, Sandy and Kirsten had mentioned their desire to want to do something else with the pool house, since they weren't using it as a living space anymore. Seth had immediately wanted to convert it into a theatre of sorts, with couches and a massive video screen. He insisted they needed a much better place to hold Cohen Movie Night, and it would be an awesome place to play video games.
Sandy and Kirsten were pretty sure that Seth was going to suggest that idea, and they weren't exactly opposed to the idea. Ryan then suggested turning it into a small gym, with maybe a treadmill and free weights. The Cohen adults noticed that, while Trey didn't say anything, he seemed to really perk up at the idea.
The family spent the rest of the night debating the merits of both ideas. Both parents were pleased when Trey actually participated and threw out a few points in favor of the mini gym. Finally, after the kitchen was cleaned up and the food was put away, Sandy told his boys that they would discuss it further and announce their decision the next day at breakfast.
Seth was nearly speechless and sputtering his protestations when their father announced the next morning that they would be converting the pool house into a gym. He tried to calm Seth down by explaining that they would also be installing multiple large screen TV's so that Seth could still hang out there with his video games. He wasn't exactly thrilled but realized there was little he could do to change their parent's minds.
While the former Atwood brothers were doing much better with their tempers and anger issues, their parents still thought it was a good idea to provide an outlet for when their stress and frustration levels started to rise.
There were many weekend mornings, and some evenings that Trey and Ryan could be found in the new pool house helping each other work out. Sandy and Kirsten even found themselves using the equipment from time to time. Seth absolutely refused to use any of the equipment. The only time he would venture inside was after Seth pestered Ryan, or even Trey, to put some brotherly time on the books, but they were insistent on working out while he played video games. It wasn't exactly his ideal bonding session, but it was still Seth/Ryan or Seth/Trey time.
Ryan walked into his former room, still practically not recognizing it. He also was still amazed at what his family could do sometimes. Sandy and Kirsten made sure to install the latest equipment: a treadmill, stationary bike, stair climber, a huge selection of free weights, and various models of training machines. That didn't include the entertainment system that had been installed. Nearly any type of video, TV, and music was available.
Ryan spent an hour or so working out on some of the various pieces of equipment. When he was finished, he thought about jumping into the pool to cool off and relax a little bit floating around. However, since it was still early March, the temperature was still only in the 60s. Despite the pool being ready to be used, when he tried to get in a couple of weeks ago, Kirsten nearly read him the riot act. She was not about to watch him get a cold because he decided to jump in the pool to cool off. She even threatened him that if he did it again, she would ground him from the pool house for a while. With that threat still in the air, despite her not being home, he didn't want to risk it.
Instead, he just went up to his room to shower and dress for a nice, relaxing day at home. He didn't have much homework and didn't feel like working on it at the moment. He did have some reading that he needed to get done, so he laid on his bed and read for a little while. Pretty soon, his stomach told him that he needed to get something to eat.
He ventured downstairs to the kitchen and looked through the fridge. After not finding anything that looked very appetizing, he decided to place an order for pizza. After he ate, he decided to play some video games. While he was playing, his cell phone rang. When he fished it out of his pocket, he saw that Dawn was calling, and instantly his day got worse. He did not want to talk with her, so he just stared at the ringing phone in one hand and the paused game controller in the other.
After a few rings, the phone finally silenced itself. A few moments later, it chirped to alert him of a voice mail. He continued to stare at the phone for some time. Eventually, it rang again; this time pulling Ryan out of his daze. He saw that it was Seth calling, and answered it.
"Hello?", Ryan greeted in a much more muted tone then earlier that morning.
"Hey, Ryan. Summer let me duck into the comic bookstore for a minute. I wanted to see if there was anything you wanted me to pick you up?"
"No," was Ryan's one-word reply.
Seth noticed that his brother's attitude was a lot different than when he saw him earlier. It was rare nowadays for Ryan's disposition to be so low, but Seth couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly was wrong.
"Ryan, is everything ok?" Seth asked.
"Yeah, fine," Ryan nearly whispered. Ryan was barely following the conversation; his mind couldn't really focus on anything, even the conversation currently taking place. However, he did realize that his brother's voice was warming a cold knot in his stomach that he didn't even realize was frozen. He tried to shake some of the haze from his brain a little. "I mean, everything's good. Thanks, Seth for calling."
Seth couldn't tell for sure, but it sounded like Ryan was almost trying to get off the phone. An awkward silence descended over the two brothers, and finally Seth said, "Ok. Well, I'll let you go. I'll see you later, bro."
"Ok. See ya," was Ryan's quiet response. However, there was a hint of a smile on his face. Man, was he glad for his family!
After Seth hung up, he just glanced at his phone for a moment or two. He couldn't shake this feeling in his stomach that something was up with Ryan. Yeah, he could be moody at times, but this was really weird, he thought to himself. He made his way outside the comic bookstore on one of the benches, and just sat there in thought. He didn't notice Summer when she came out of the store next door.
Summer looked around quickly and when she noticed he was just sitting on the bench; she rolled her eyes and strode over to him. She was going to give it to him for not meeting up with her, but as she got closer, she noticed he was upset about something. She noticed he was biting his thumbnail and his leg was bouncing up and down. She sat down next to him, put a hand on his bouncing leg, and asked, "Cohen, what's wrong?"
He was so lost in thought that he jumped a bit when Summer sat down. "Oh, nothing."
Summer rolled her eye, punched Seth in the arm, and told him, rather tersely, "Cohen! We've been through this before. Lying to me is the quickest way to a rage blackout!"
Rubbing his arm, Seth's eyes got large with fear. "Ok. Ok. Calm down, woman!"
He sighed before continuing, "I just talked with Ryan in the comic bookstore. I called him to see if he wanted me to pick him up something, and he seemedā¦, I don't know, off."
Summer calmed down with Seth's explanation that he seemed somewhat worried about his brother. "Off? What do you mean?"
Seth couldn't help but smile at the cute way her forehead crinkled and her brows knit together at times like this. "I don't know. I mean, before I left this morning, he was joking and laughing, but now, he seems to be brooding big time. And I don't know why. He said nothing was wrong, but you know how Ryan gets sometimes. And, when he gets all broody like this..." he paused for a moment, and looked down, very self-conscious before continuing, "I never know what to say or do. I usually start talking just to make noise, and usually say something to make things worse."
Summer couldn't really explain it, but she found it adorable how he could get so worried abut his brothers. He had initially expressed his fears and concerns about Trey joining the family, and how it would change the dynamic of the Cohen family. But recently he had started rambling about both of his brothers and the different things they'd done together or talked about. She knew how important both of his brothers were to him.
She rested a hand on his leg, to try and put his bouncing leg to rest and comfort him. She softened her voice a bit, "Have you tried calling your dad? Does he have any ideas?"
Seth thought, not for the first time, about this girl sitting next to him, and how wise she was. He gave her a quick kiss, "That's actually a really good idea, Sum! Dad always seems to know the right thing to do and say for Ryan." He picked his phone up and dialed his father, while giving his girlfriend a loving smile.
He always manages to do that, somehow, she thought as his smile sent shivers up and down her spine. She couldn't help but smile back and take hold of his hand while he greeted his father.
"Hey, Dad," was all Seth said in greeting to his father.
Sandy could already tell something was up. First, Seth almost never called him at work, and second, his dark-haired son was never this quiet. "Hey, son. What's up? Are you enjoying your day with Summer?"
Seth glanced at the girl sitting next to him and smiled again. "Yeah, it's great."
The phone descended into silence, and Sandy stopped what he was doing. He gave his son a couple of seconds, and knew something was not right. He gave it a couple of more seconds and then asked, "Seth, what's going on?"
At the same time, Summer practically shouted, "Cohen, tell him about Chino!"
His eyes got large again, "Ok. Did you guys practice that?" The glare he was getting from Summer told him that, no, they did not.
"And you know, Summer, Chino may not be the best nickname for Ryan anymore, because I now have two brothers that are from Chino." He smiled to himself, a little too proud of himself.
"Cohen, you're stalling!" she nearly growled at him.
Sandy had to smile at the bickering he heard over the phone. "Seth, as much as I would like to listen to Summer verbally smack you around some more," he paused to chuckle at the stammering coming from the other end of the phone, but then he got serious again, "but I am still at work, son. What's up with Ryan?"
Seth thought it would be best for his health if he were to get to the point. Summer's glare was scarier than Ryan's at this point. "Ok. Here's the deal. When I left the house this morning, Ryan was laughing and joking. He was actually giving me a hard time that he got to stay at home playing video games. Can you believe that?!"
Sandy smiled again at the thought of his boys teasing each other. "Ok. So, what's wrong?" he asked.
He was starting to get self-conscious again. "Well, I just talked to him on the phone. I called him to see if he wanted me to get him anything at the comic bookstore."
After another pause, Sandy had to avoid rolling his eyes, "And?"
"Well, he soundedā¦ I don't know, off. He's been in a really good mood lately, but he was back to brooding. And I'm never really sure what to say or do, but Summer suggested I call you to see if you had any ideas."
Sandy could hear the worry through the phone. He thought for a moment about how much Ryan's concern for others had rubbed off on Seth. And how close they were. He was proud of his son. And his son's girlfriend. "So, Ryan's brooding again, huh? And he didn't say why?"
"No, he just said everything was fine. But we both know what a crap liar he is, and boy did it stink even through the phone."
Sandy thought for another moment. "Ok. I've got just a few more things I have to finish up here at the office, and then I can head home and check on him. I think I should be able to get out of here in about 15 minutes, OK?"
Seth couldn't help but smile in relief, knowing his father would be making sure everything was copacetic. "Ok. Sounds good, Dad."
"All right." He thought for a moment, "Hey, son. Why don't you give me a little bit of time to figure out what's going on before coming home? Your mother and Trey should still be at work for a little bit longer. I'll shoot you a text when it's safe to come home. When your done at the mall, just head over to Summer's house. Ok?"
He nodded in agreement. "Ok. I think I can do that," he grinned at his girlfriend.
"Oh, hey, son. One more thing: I'm proud of you, Seth for calling me. And tell Summer I'm especially proud of her, since it was her idea you call me!" he smiled.
Seth chuckled. "Sure thing, Dad! I'll see you later. Oh, and by the way, Dadā¦ Thanks!" he said before hanging up.
As Seth pushed his phone back into his pocket, he smiled again at Summer. "Dad's going to check in on Ryan. He'll text me when the coast is clear."
Summer took his hand. "Good. I'm glad. You're a great brother, Cohen!" She laughed when his face tinted red a little at the compliment. She pulled him to his feet. "Now, hurry up! I have to figure out where that smell is coming from! It's a cookie or something, and I must have it!"
Seth laughed as he allowed himself to be pulled along.
Trey and Kirsten walked in the front door. It had been a long week, but a good week. Now, they both were looking forward to relaxing over the weekend with their family. Trey walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Then, hearing muffled talking from the TV room, he went to see the rest of his family. As he got closer, though, he could hear it was Sandy and Ryan talking on the couch. Their back was to him, and they were so engrossed in their conversation that they had not heard them come in. There was something about the way they were talking and facing each other just slightly, that told him he should take a page from his curly-haired brother and eavesdrop for just a moment longer.
When he heard Dawn's name a couple of times, he was glad he stopped to listen. However, by the time he could do or say anything, Kirsten came up behind him and asked, "Trey, what are you doing just standing here? Why don't you go all the way in and say, 'Hi'?" She gave him a funny look as she passed him and went up to Sandy and gave him a kiss on the lips.
"Hi, Ryan. Did you enjoy your day at home all alone?" she greeted her middle son. She noticed, however, that Ryan couldn't make eye contact with anyone, but kept watching Trey out of the corner of his eye. And she noticed that Trey was currently boring a hole through Ryan's head.
"Yeah, Ry. How was your day?" Trey asked with false calm, but Kirsten also noticed a hint of worry in his voice.
Sandy had stood up to stand next to his wife, to watch his sons interact. He also noticed the immediate change in Trey's voice and body language. He wasn't quite sure when he needed to intervene but watched them closely.
Ryan tried to play it off casually, chuckling nervously, he said, "Oh, you know. Did a bit of homework. Played video games." He then tried to get the attention off himself. Pointing in the direction of the fridge, he said, "Hey, I got some pizza for lunch. There's some leftover. It's your favorite: pepperoni and mushroom."
Trey nodded slowly and took a couple of more steps closer to the couch. Both Sandy and Kirsten noticed that Ryan took a small step or two back. They looked at each other in concern. Before they could say anything, Trey said, "Well, thanks for that." He rubbed his chin, as if in thought, all the while pinning his brother to the wall with his stare. "What about Dawn?" he asked point blank.
Ryan closed his eyes and muttered something that his parents could have sworn was an expletive but couldn't quite make it out. He really wished his brothers would stop eavesdropping so much! Looking at no one in particular, but watching everyone, specifically, Kirsten and Trey, out of the corners of his eyes, he said quickly, "She called my cell phone a couple of hours ago. I didn't answer it, but she left a message."
He swore he heard Kirsten gasp in surprise, but his attention was trying to figure out Trey's reaction without actually looking at him. When Ryan did glance at him, he had a mixture of anger and concern on his face. "What did she want?" was Trey's simple, quiet response.
"Nothing, really," Ryan tried again to play it off as no big deal.
"Ryan." This time it was Sandy with a quiet rebuke. "They should know the truth."
Trey jumped on that, "Truth?! What truth?!" He was quickly looking between Sandy and Ryan.
Finally, Ryan's shoulder's slumped, and picked up his cell phone from the coffee table and went to play the voice mail from earlier.
"Hey, Babā¦ Ryan," she corrected herself on the recording. "I just wanted to call and make sure you had this number and knew it was mine. I had to change my phone number, so this is it. So, now you can text me on this number. I'll talk to you later. Bye, honey."
When the message stopped, the silence in the room was almost overwhelming. When Ryan glanced at his mother, her hand was over her mouth, and surprise was written all over her face. Trey had turned away from them and took a few steps towards the French doors leading onto the back patio. Ryan could tell that his brother was counting to ten multiple times to keep whatever he was feeling under control.
Sandy just held onto Kirsten's hand and watched Trey's reaction and Ryan's reaction to his brother's. Finally, Trey turned around, and not looking at anyone, asked Ryan, "So, you're texting her? Why? I don't get it Ry, after everything she's done, why would you still talk to her?" His frustration was mounting, as was the volume with nearly every word.
Kirsten tried to diffuse the situation by coming closer to Trey and putting a comforting hand on his arm. She was somewhat surprised that he didn't pull away. While keeping her eyes on Ryan, she told Trey, "Well, honey, she is still your mother."
She was not ready for Trey's impassioned response. "No, she's not! You are! Dawn hasn't been our mother for a long time!"
Kirsten knew it probably wasn't exactly the moment for it, but she couldn't resist pulling Trey into a fierce hug, "Oh, thank you, honey! You have no idea what that means to me!"
Trey had just a moment to wrap his arms around the woman that had become his mother before she pulled back, wiping tears from her eyes. He turned his attention back to his brother. "Ry, this is our mother. I just don't understand how you can still talk to her."
He was thrilled, too, at his brother's revelation of his feelings towards their "new" mother. But now that the focus was back on him again, his own frustration was starting to grow, "I know she is, man. And I don't know, I guess I do still care for Dawn in a way. I don't want anything bad to happen to her. I guess, by her texting me, it lets me know she's at least somewhat ok."
Trey sighed, as some of his frustration evaporated. It did make a certain amount of sense. Twisted sense, though. And it sounded just like his little brother, to still care for someone like that that completely screwed them over so badly! "Ok," he conceded. "How often do you guys talk?"
Ryan could tell his brother was more in control of himself and the conversation was taking an upswing but was afraid of what would happen with his answer. "She texts me probably about once a week, and I respond maybe once or twice a month." Again, Ryan wasn't making eye contact with anyone.
Trey's frustration started to rise again. "Once a week!" He then turned to their parents, and with exasperation, asked, "And you guys are OK with this?"
Sandy tried to reign things back in, again. "That's what we were talking about when you came in. Your mother and I talked about stuff like this after Dawn came by the last time and we talked about the adoption." Kirsten had made her way back to stand next to Sandy and they intertwined their hands to represent a united front. He tried to continue as delicately as he could, "Trey, you have to understand that just because you're ready to move forward without Dawn, Ryan may not be. Whether you're ready to move on or not, Dawn will always be a part of you. Your mother and I will support you in whatever you want to do with regard to Dawn, but we also will do the same thing for your brother. Dawn is still a somewhat important part of his life."
He could tell Trey was going to try to interrupt him, so he put his hand up to forestall him. "Let me finish, son. While we will support Ryan in what he wants to do with Dawn, it will also be on our terms. Ryan has agreed that when he get's a message from Dawn, he will tell us about it and show it to us as soon as he can. Before he responds, he will talk with us about it." And looking at his younger son, "And he knows that the phone bill includes the numbers of received and sent messages. So, we will know if we aren't told about any." His raised eyebrows sent the message loud and clear.
Trey had to admit that those guidelines did sound a little bit reasonable, but he wasn't quite ready to give in just yet. He couldn't help but feel just a little betrayed that Ryan never told him about any of this. He would get over it, but he wasn't ready to quite yet.
He threw his arms and shoulders up in resignation, "OK. I guess that's that, then." He then turned to leave the room.
Ryan called after him, "Man, come on. Don't leave like this."
Trey waved his hands. "Not right now, Ry. I justā¦ I can't right now. I'll be in my room." And walked off with slumped shoulders.
Kirsten could see a bit of despondency from her son's distraught look following his brother's retreat from the room. She went over to him and wrapped him in her arms. He returned the embrace and buried his face in her neck. Again, tears pricked at her eyes as one of her sons demonstrated their love for her. After a few moments, she pulled apart but kept her hand on his shoulders.
Ryan looked at his parents, and told them, "You guys are my parents, you know that, right? And Trey was telling you the truth. You're his parents, too."
She patted his cheek affectionately, "We know. And it was really nice to hear Trey say that." She paused a moment, "Do you think maybe I should go talk to him?" she asked, looking down the hall where Trey had just left the room.
Ryan shook his head, "No, he'll be fine."
This time, Sandy looked at him with uncertainty. "Are you sure, kid? He seemed pretty upset."
Ryan nodded, "Yeah. He'll probably be fine by dinner."
Sandy still was a bit unsure. "Really? How can you tell?"
Ryan cocked his head to the side a bit, and with a small smile, said, "I know it's going to sound silly, but I can tell because he kept calling me Ry. When he's really pissed, it's never Ry." And then as somewhat an after thought, he added, "And if he's not fine by dinner, Seth letting him beat him a couple of times on the PlayStation will do the trick."
Both Sandy and Kirsten chuckled and how their sons interacted for a moment. Then Kirsten asked, seriously, "Do you guys often play one brother against the other?"
They were heading back into the kitchen and Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. That caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting them to catch on so quickly. He kicked himself for saying too much, and wished, again, that Seth was around to save them.
As Sandy looked at Ryan, he knew his son knew that they knew how they would handle each other. He chuckled slightly, and shook his head a bit, and warned, "Just be careful. You guys could hurt each other's feelings pretty bad if you aren't careful!"
And his mother added, "And you better never try it on us!"
Ryan's face was now one of panic. One look from both Sandy and Kirsten and they looked at each other with concern, their own wheels turning.
Kirsten was the first to catch on. "Wait a minute! Don't tell me that's what you guys did with the pool house and turning it into a gym, right?!" she asked sternly.
The way Ryan swallowed nervously, nearly bouncing from one foot to the other, they both knew what had happened. Sandy finally started laughing. Ryan started to feel a little better if his dad was laughing like that.
Kirsten lightly smacked him on the arm, "Sandy! You can't actually think it's a good idea for them to be playing us against each other?!"
"Yeah, Dad. I thought you'd be pissed at us. Thanks!" was Ryan's reply.
Kirsten wheeled on Ryan, and pointed a finger at him, "Ok. That is the second time you've said 'pissed' in as many minutes. Stop!"
Sandy stopped laughing and looked at him, "No. It's just we needed to do something with the pool house anyway, and it was so long ago, that there's no real point in bringing all that back up. Just know, and tell your partner's in crime, that if any of you do play one of us against the other again, all three of you boys will become intimately familiar with the term 'discipline', capiche?"
His father's seriousness nearly stunned him. "C-Capiche," he stammered, with fear back on his face. He figured the best thing he could do right now, was retreat. He pointed towards the stairs, "Um, I think I'm going to head up to my room, too. See ya." He nearly ran out of the kitchen.
Kirsten called after him, to let him know he wasn't in any real trouble, "Ok. We'll call you boys when supper's here."
Sandy snapped his fingers, "That reminds me. I need to give Seth the 'all clear', that he can come home now. Maybe he can pick up dinner."
Kirsten looked at him a little strangely, "All clear?"
Sandy explained, "Yeah. Seth called me earlier and told me something was up with Ryan. He was 'off', as Seth described it. I'm glad he called, and I could come home and talk to him." He went over and pulled his wife into a hug and kissed her hard on the lips. "We've got some great kids, you know that?"
She kissed him back, "And you are one great father!"
"Right back at you, Mom!"
And they stayed like that for a few moments, enjoying the quiet and holding each other.
I was contemplating including Sandy and Ryan's conversation, but I wanted to get this done and up. I think it would have taken much too long to get it up if I had.
I'm not too sure how I feel about the ending, but it is what it is.
