Anniversary

By Carla

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Fox does.

Chapter I

"Dad!!!" Seth Cohen moaned as he felt the blankets been pulled form his body, trying to retain some of the heat.

"Get up, Seth! And get out!" Sandy said as he started pulling his son from the bed.

"But it's a big mansion!"

"Not big enough, kiddo… come on, you know you don't want to stay… there's going to be kissing and cuddling and innuendo that will be involving your mother, by the way, not to mention…"

"Okay! Okay! I'm up!" Seth said jumping to his feet, "If this is what I can look forward to all day, I'm going to Summer's for the day."

"That's a boy… say hello to Summer for me."

"Yeah, yeah… just… please, stay away from mom while I take breakfast."

"Oh, you know I can't promise you that! I mean, your mom…"

"Shut up! Shut up! Please shut up!" Seth screamed as he ran down the stairs. Sandy was left smiling in his son's room.

"I love this day." He commented to himself.

"Hi there baby boy." Kirsten cooed as she approached the cradle next to her bed, "Are you up already, Seth?" she smiled as she picked up the baby, who was about to start crying, "It's okay honey, please don't cry… you already gave mommy a headache last night… I'll get your diaper now but please, please, don't cry."

"You do realize he probably didn't understand a single word you just said and is going to cry sooner or later." Sandy laughed from the doorframe.

"Worth a shot… and don't give him ideas." Seth was starting to squirm in her arms.

"Want some help?"

"Always. Here, change your son's diaper." Kirsten said as she handed unceremoniously the baby to Sandy and threw herself in the bed "I can't keep up with him anymore…" she said, closing her eyes as Sandy put the baby in their bed to proceed to change him.

"He sure is a handful." Sandy commented, making a face as he retrieved Seth's dirty diaper and replaced it with a clean one, "Still worth it, though." He smiled as Kirsten opened her eyes and reached to caress Seth's cheek.

"Of course he is." She said heartily, "He looks so much like you." She commented.

"But a whole lot cuter… that he's got to take from you." He smiled as she gave him a small laugh.

"I love him… and I love you… but I'm spent… and right now I'm just taking care of him, when I go back to college I don't think I'm going to have the energy, Sandy."

"Hey, hey…" Sandy laid by Kirsten's side, cradling her with one arm while he laid Seth between them, "You'll take it slow, I'll be around more to share in the joy of parenthood, he'll be older and need less attention, we'll get by."

"I know we will." She smiled at him. Seth was reaching his hand and Kirsten placed her finger in his small hand.

"You know, honey…" Sandy said, pulling a golden lock of hair behind her ear, "this isn't how I imagined our first anniversary…" that got her attention, as she looked him in the eye, "I figured it would involve champagne, dancing somewhere fancy after a candlelight dinner… all that romantic stuff. Babysitting our two-month-old son somehow never crossed my mind." Kirsten laughed.

"Mine neither… but I kinda like it…" she looked back at Seth, "I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Neither would I." Sandy leaned forward and kissed his wife's lips gently, making sure neither of them was putting their weight on the baby. Still, Seth started to whimper between them. They broke the kiss, grinning, "I don't think he likes it when we kiss." He commented.

"He'll grow out of it." She answered, kissing Sandy again.

"Happy anniversary, gorgeous." He smiled.

"Happy anniversary."

"Why… why, oh, why… every single teenager complains about their parents been, like, fighting all the time… or having affairs or something, ignoring each other, that would be good… but me? Not such luck! I tell you Ryan, all my life, these two are going at it like teenagers… ow… ew… anyway, there's a reason I learned to always knock before entering a room at age four, man."

Ryan just listened to Seth's rant, that was just the way Seth was. He couldn't say he didn't understand his brother, in his short time with the Cohens, he had too learned to always, and that was ALWAYS, knock on any closed door whenever Sandy and Kirsten were in the house. Although he didn't particularly enjoyed the show, he knew from experience, unlike Seth, what it was like to have your parents fighting all the time, even sometimes physically. Ryan would rather be disgusted at the notion of opening a door to find Sandy taking off Kirsten's blouse than opening a door to find his dad hitting his mom. But Seth couldn't see that, because his dad hitting his mom was never a part of his universe. He was a lucky kid, and now so was Ryan.

Still, today, Ryan was more inclined to see things Seth's way, considering Kirsten had entered the pool house, called his name quite loudly and dragged him to the kitchen to have breakfast.

"Come on, Seth, that's not true!" Kirsten laughed at Seth's words. Ryan noticed she was already dressed and so was Sandy.

They were also particularly happy.

Grinning like idiots, actually.

"Come on mom, you know it is! It was a really smaller house in Berkeley and a whole lot younger pair of over hormonal parents… you do the math."

"We did our best, kiddo." Sandy laughed. Kirsten was trying to safe face, but he knew Seth was right. He could remember crystal clear the incident his son was making reference to. The poor kid had woken up past his bedtime and came down to the kitchen to have a glass of water only to find them on the table… as Seth said, they were a lot younger and irresponsible then. What Seth seemed to have blocked out of the story is the fact that he indeed asked what they were doing and Sandy had told him some bizarre story about their clothes been dirty, so they were washing them. Luckily, Seth hadn't asked them why they didn't got more clothes from their room or what was doing daddy on top of mommy and only said "Okay.", took a glass of water and went back to his room after wishing his parents a good night. Sandy was embarrassed, yet found the situation kind of humorous, but Kirsten was mortified and forbade any sex out of their room when Seth was in the house.

"Yeah, well, not good enough, father."

"Okay, we're sorry for the deep scars to your psyche, Seth, now have breakfast, get dressed and get out."

"I love you too, mom." Seth answered jokingly.

"Why do we have to leave?" Ryan asked, since no one was really offering him an explanation.

"Oh, don't you know man? This is THE day, D-Day, so trust me, we WANT to leave this house."

"Still not getting it." Ryan answered to Seth's rambling.

"Sweetie," he heard Kirsten calling him. He turned to her. Usually, he found her presence soothing; today she was the mean lady that awoke him on a Saturday morning "what Seth is trying to say is that today is our wedding anniversary." She took Sandy's hand as she spoke, and he was gazing adoringly upon her.

"Yeah, eighteen years ago a made a decent woman out of her."

"Ha ha. Anyway, that's what's going on Ryan."

"Oh… I didn't know… um… congratulations, you guys." Ryan stuttered, not quite sure what to say on these situations.

"Thanks, son." Sandy answered, "And considering it's our special day and we go out so much, we like to spend the day here, at home, just hanging out… together."

"Riiiight…" Ryan was all of the sudden understanding why Seth was in such a hurry to leave, he had quite an idea of what that 'hanging out' implied. It seemed like a good day to spend with Marissa.

"So, they feel the utmost need to kick their sons out of their own home and throw them into the cold, cold world." Seth interrupted.

"Right, thanks for understanding boys." Sandy took Kirsten's hand and guided her to the living room "You have an hour before we start making out." The last thing Sandy and Kirsten heard were their boys struggling to finish off their breakfast before running to their rooms to get dressed.

"… and it's with great pride that now we take our first steps into the world. It's been an honor to study with the most amazing students, the greatest friends, the best professors and the most wonderful college, Berkeley." Immediate clapping followed as Sandy Cohen made his way back to his chair. He had been the class valedictorian; he had the best grades in Berkeley law school and already had an internship in the DA's office. Not bad for a Jew guy from the Bronx.

His whole family was there to see him graduate: his mother, although she highly disliked Berkeley, California in general, actually. Along came his brother Michael, with his wife Sarah and their kids, and his sister Maggie and her kids. And as happy as he was too have his family there, it was another person who was foremost in his mind.

His girlfriend, Kirsten Nichol, was clapping excitedly and beaming with pride over him. Sandy searched for her eyes in the room and when they met he couldn't help the smile that crept to his face.

This was the most important day of his life, this was the day he had worked for all of his life. He was someone, he was a lawyer, no one thought he could do it, but he did it, he proved them wrong. It was a big day. And something in his gut told him it wouldn't mean a thing if the beautiful blonde-haired art history student who currently lived with him in the back of a mail truck wasn't by his side.

This was the most important day of his life, and the reason was in his pocket.

He saw her smile and knew he was doing the right thing, that this was what he had dreamed of all of his life. He was no longer listening to the Dean making his speech; he was no longer concerned with his mother's disapproval. Nothing mattered anymore, except for the engagement ring in his pocket.

He was scared, terrified. He had the scenario played out on his mind. It had to be today. Today, he was starting the rest of his life. Today, he was building a career, becoming an actual grown-up, meeting his future. And he didn't want to do it alone. Today, the first day of the rest of his life, he would ask Kirsten Nichol to marry him, and he knew she would say yes. Because she cared for him, she supported him; she was there when he needed her, even if he was too proud to ask. Because she put up with his long hours at work, with his inability to give her the things she was used to, and she accepted her father disapproval over their relationship, although he knew it hurt her. Because when he held her in his arms he felt everything in the world was right and when she told him she loved him, he believed her. She was hardened, been raised by Caleb Nichol would do that to you, she didn't trust a lot of people, she didn't open her heart that often, but she was open with him, she was almost fragile with him and shared her soul. They were in love, and he didn't want to start a new life without her.

"Sandy, baby…" he heard a soft voice and felt a gentle squeeze on his arm. He hadn't notice the ceremony had ended. He turned to see Kirsten's smiling face.

"Hey, honey." He embraced her and kissed her fully on the lips.

"Congratulations." She said when they parted, "Your speech was great! I'm so proud of you, lawyer-man…! I knew you'll do it, I just knew it! I love you so much!" she threw herself in his arms again. Sandy had to smile, Kirsten was never this expressive or overexcited; she had to be deliriously happy to act this way.

"I love you too… so much." He caressed her cheek while she looked at him adoringly.

"You know, I could stay like this forever."

"Me too."

"Sadly, that's not an option. Your mother wants you back at home so we can have an overly large dinner on your honor…"

"Oh…" he moaned. He really would rather it be him and Kirsten alone for a while.

"Come on, Sandy… you don't want her to miss on criticizing the way we live, in a truck mind you, the fact that this is California and what IS with the sun, anyway? And of course, what were you thinking with that Barbie-doll of a girlfriend who can't even make you soup for her life! Would you deprive your poor mother of that?" Sandy had to laugh at Kirsten's quite accurate rendition of his mother.

"Oh, honey… come on, let's go. But after dinner, you are all mine."

"Count on it, lawyer."