Safe With You || Seth Cohen

||4||

I watched as Seth and Ryan played a video game.

"Oh really? You think so?" Seth asked, while Ryan was beating him. Ryan won the game and Seth sighed dramatically as Ryan looked smug.

Sandy and Kirsten walked in then, dressed very nicely.

"Hey." Sandy said.

"Hey." Ryan and I remarked.

"Who died?" Seth asked.

"Seth, we need to talk to Ryan and Ally now." Kirsten told him.

Seth glanced at us before getting up. He left the room and Sandy sat down, while Kirsten stood beside him.

"So Kirsten and I went to Child Services and we told them that we wanted you two to stay with us. But there's a catch. Because you two are minors, the only way they'll allow that is if we assume all legal responsibilities for you two."

Ryan and I looked at each other.

"We can't ask you guys to do that." Ryan told them.

"Well, you don't have to. We're asking you." Sandy remarked.

"We've all talked about it. And we want to be your legal guardians. We want you two to be part of the family, if you want to be." Kirsten said.

"What if it doesn't work?" Ryan asked.

"What do you mean?" Kirsten asked.

"Well, what if something happens and you guys change your minds?" I asked them.

"Like what? You steal a car? Burn down a house? Beat up the captain of the water polo team? Those ships have sailed." Sandy said, causing Ryan and I to smile.

"You two just have to promise to stay out of trouble. From now on, no more fights." Kirsten said. Ryan and I nodded.

"No more trouble. We promise." Ryan said, looking as grateful as I felt.

Ryan, Sandy and I stood up. "Well, welcome to the family." Sandy said, holding out his hand for Ryan. I walked over and hugged Kirsten, which seemed to surprise her, but she grinned.

Ryan hugged her next and Sandy patted me on the shoulder.

"Okay, Seth. You can come out now." Kirsten called and I grinned. Seth came back in with a huge grin on his face.

"You knew about this all along, didn't you?" Ryan asked him.

"I didn't want to jinx it." Seth said.

Ryan and Seth did one of those cool handshakes.

He turned to me and I went to hug him, but then realized that might be weird. Especially since Kirsten and Sandy assumed responsibility for us. What if they didn't like Seth and I together? Even if we hadn't even discussed whether we were together or not, it seemed too soon.

So we just ended up doing an awkward handshake instead.

"Now all we have to do is stay out of trouble." Ryan remarked, breaking the awkward silence between Seth and I.

"Yeah, that could be difficult."

An hour later, I walked into the poolhouse with Seth and Ryan. Kirsten was already there, looking around the room.

"You're going to need bedding. Oh, and towels. Is the bed comfortable?" Kirsten asked. Seth went over and jumped up and down on the bed.

Kirsten glanced at me.

"And Ally, I assume you'll want your own room, so you can take the guest room. We'll fix it up." She said and I smoked gratefully.

"Thank you, Kirsten."