DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the 'The O.C.' or 'The Day After Tomorrow'. All rights belong to the Fox network and 20th Century Fox, respectively.

ARCHIVE: You are welcome to download this story for your own reading but please do not archive it on any website without my permission.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, readers, I know I'm stretching the bounds of believability here but I wanted to write a fun crossover fic and came up with this crazy, silly idea. If you like disaster movies and Seth/Summer, leave your logic at the door and just come along for the ride. I've eliminated certain characters from The Day After Tomorrow film and adjusted some plotlines to suit myself because hey, it's my crossover and I can do that.

We're going down, baby

Crashing, falling

"Cohen."

Burning and smokin'

Oh yeah...

"COHEN!"

Lurching forward in his seat, at least as far as his tightly strapped seatbelt would allow, Seth Cohen glared at the passenger next to him. "I'm sitting right here. You don't have to yell in my ear."

"Well, you were completely zoning out on me," Summer Roberts stated, her tone defensive. "What are you listening to?"

He grabbed the headphones and rested them around his neck, absently rubbing at his right ear where she had nearly deafened him. "It's nothing. Just lame airline music." How could he have forgotten his discman at home? He'd been forced to accept the headphones the flight attendant had handed out, skipping past the news and country music stations to finally settle on what was supposed to be pop/rock music. He'd desperately hoped it would take his mind off how unnatural it was for human beings to fly through the air at 600 miles per hour but as Summer had pointed out, he'd started staring off into space. In fact, the lyrics to whatever he'd been listening to had suddenly started droning on about crashing and burning, bodies falling from the sky.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Oh yeah. Just fine. Great. Uh huh."

She stared at him. "Stop bobbing your head. You're making me nervous." One raised eyebrow wiggled at him. "I didn't know you were afraid of flying."

"Ha! This isn't fear." But he couldn't seem to stop the bobbing motion, like one of those dolls with the spring in its neck. "It's just...uh...you know." He glanced sideways at her, catching her look. The 'you-can't-fool-me' look. "Okay, I hate flying. Happy now?"

Slumping back in his seat, he started to put the headphones back in place when she stopped him. "It's okay. You don't have to hide it." Curling one arm around his, she smiled up at him. "I think it's kind of cute."

"Oh really? Fear of death is cute?" Girls. He really couldn't understand their logic. Or maybe it was just Summer logic he couldn't wrap his mind around.

"At least if we die, we'll be together."

As he looked down to gauge her expression, one of his own eyebrows shot up. Now she was batting her eyelashes at him. He distinctly got the impression he was being mocked. "Ha ha, very funny".

Pulling away, she gave up the pretence and laughed. "Come on, Cohen, there's nothing to be afraid of. Thousands of people fly everyday and they all land safe and sound."

"All right, you've made your point." He tried not to sound huffy, but wasn't sure if he'd succeeded. If nothing else, their banter was taking his mind off of his nervousness. He supposed he should be grateful for that. At least Summer was here. It still surprised him, even now.

When he had announced he was going to sign up with the school's decathlon team, the last person he had expected to join him was Summer. He had always thought of her as more 'street smart' than academics smart. But in the preliminary tests they'd done before being accepted on the team, her scores had actually surpassed his. He'd been more than a little shocked. Dumfounded, actually, with the sting of some hurt pride, if he was really honest. But he'd gotten over it and was pleased that this was something they could do together. Of course, knowing this year's finals were going to be held in New York was an added bonus. It was a city he'd always wanted to visit but the opportunity had never come up.

"Oh my God, is that smoke from the engine?"

Whipping his head around, Seth followed the length of her outstretched arm, pointing to the wing beyond the tiny window. His eyes widened at the alarming sight of white plumes billowing past one of the engines. "That's definitely smoke. We're going to die." He began to scramble out of his seat and wondered why he wasn't making any progress before realizing the seatbelt was still securely fastened.

"What are you doing?"

Funny how she could manage to sound more annoyed than worried. "What do you think? I have to tell someone. I probably should go straight to the captain." Crap, why couldn't he get this stupid thing unbuckled? Seth Cohen. Burned to death in fiery crash because he couldn't escape from his seatbelt.

He heard her sigh. Heavily. "I was kidding. It's not smoke."

"Of course it is! I know smoke when I see it." There, finally. Free at last, he stood up and tried to ignore the tugging on his arm.

"Cohen, I mean it. Sit down. It was just a cloud."

"Yeah, right." But he looked down into her earnest face and paused. "Seriously?"

She pointed out the window again. "See? Blue sky. No cloud, ergo, no smoke."

Bending down to look outside, he could plainly see that all was well. They must have just flown through a cloud and the way it rushed over the wing, it had truly seemed like a smoking engine. With a grunt, he sat back down.

"Got ya, didn't I?"

"You did," he admitted grudgingly, feeling foolish and needing a comeback. "Ergo. Who talks like that?"

She shrugged. "Just practicing my vocabulary."

He almost didn't recognize her until she flashed a sly smile and flipped her hair. Shaking his head, he couldn't help but laugh.

TO BE CONTINUED