Birthdays are always full of surprises.
(I don't own The OC.)
"Hi, Daddy!" Sandy looked up from the revised syllabus of his law class he taught at Berkeley to look at his daughter, Sophie. With her blond hair and bright blue eyes, she could easily be his wife growing up. But those were where the similarities ended. Sophie had an affinity for musicals and she always defended her friends against the bullies of her elementary school, often explaining rationally - maybe too rationally - why they shouldn't be picked on. She was also, as Kirsten and Sandy realized early, a little like Seth: talkative to no end.
"Hey, birthday girl!" Sandy said, giving his youngest, and only daughter, a hug. "What's up?"
Sophie shrugged her shoulders innocently. "Um, Mom wanted to know if you knew when Seth was coming," she said. She looked around the office carefully. Her big brother Seth had once told her that her parents were known to hide birthday, and furthermore, Chrismukkah, presents anywhere in the house that was unsuspecting. Sophie had disregarded this until she realized Seth might actually be right. Both parents had been incredibly suspicious in the handling of whatever Sophie was going to get for her seventh birthday.
"He should be here soon," Sandy answered, noticing Sophie's look under Sandy's desk. "What can I help you with, Sophie Rose?"
Sophie stopped her gaze and looked at Sandy. Seth had, also, made sure Sophie perfected the I'm-not-doing-anything-wrong look. While Sophie's other brother, Ryan, had told Sophie to just be herself, Sophie knew that Seth's teachings were pretty much the way to go. She had even implemented these towards her best friends, telling them of Chrismukkah and Captain Oats. Seth was a legend among first graders.
"You're not looking for presents, are you?" Sandy asked, reaching into a drawer.
"Nooo," Sophie said, shaking her head.
"You're just like your brother," Sandy laughed, handing Sophie a wrapped box.
"Thanks, Daddy!" Sophie shrieked, ready to tell Seth about her accomplishment. She opened the box and looked at what was inside. "You got me the book I wanted!" Sophie loved a book series about girls and their horses, something Kaitlin Cooper had introduced to her, saying they were her favorites when she was Sophie's age. Kaitlin was her "aunt" Julie's daughter, and Kaitlin's halfbrother was just a couple months younger than Sophie. Kaitlin, to Sophie, was one of the coolest. She was twenty-two and had just graduated from college, something so far off in Sophie's mind. She hugged Sandy again and then rushed out to find her mother.
"Mom!" she called. "Daddy got me the new book in the horse series!"
Kirsten poked her head in from where she was making a birthday cake for Sophie. "She got this ahead of time?" she asked Sandy, her voice more surprised than angry.
"Well," Sandy said, smiling as he got up from his chair and joined her in the kitchen. "Birthdays are always full of surprises. Remember telling Seth that? Right before Ryan came?"
Kirsten smiled. "It'll be good to see the boys again."
"Don't be so nervous," Seth held Summer's outstretched hand as the taxi continued to pass from the airport towards Berkeley. Summer sat there, obviously nervous, staring at her stomach as if any second it would continue to grow. She was already six months pregnant and she was sick of the maternity clothes available. "My parents love you. And Sophie's pretty much obsessed with you."
"Of course they love me, Cohen," Summer said, reverting back to the nickname she'd only so often called Seth in the past two years they'd been married. "They've known me for a while now. It's just.."
"It's weird not being with GEORGE, right?" Seth filled in.
Summer sighed. She knew how much GEORGE meant to her, being able to save the enviornment and get praise for it at the same time. Summer was third in command now, just a couple steps away for the top position, and she'd have to be on maternity leave for the next few months. It was Seth now, who worked extra hours at the comic book store he'd started from the ground up, just to provide some extra money. Seth held her hand and looked out the window. "Sophie's seven. Can you believe that? It feels like yesterday my mom told Ryan and I she was having a baby."
"Speaking of Ryan," Summer interrupted. "When's he showing up? And is he currently seeing anyone?"
Seth shook his head. "I don't think so. He and Taylor have been playing phone tag ever since she came back from France, and he said he'd finally gotten in touch with her, but the phone call was incredibly awkward." Taylor had moved back to France to do an internship teaching English to school-age children. She'd promised Ryan she would return back soon, but had evidently fallen in love with more than just the small town she lived in. But now she was back, living in Newport presumably near Seth and Summer.
"Well, when is a phone call with Taylor not awkward?" Summer mused. "She told me she'd start up a baby registry for me if I wanted her to. It's something like 'Summer and Seth's darling bundle of joy is registered at..' I don't even know where."
"A baby registry?" Seth repeated. "That's intense."
"Just slightly," Summer said, patting her stomach.
The taxi pulled up to the Cohens' house, and Seth glanced out the window as Sophie came running towards them. In her hand was some kind of book with a horse on the cover and a girl looking at with incredible longing. Seth opened the door as Summer paid the bus driver and called out, "Sophie Rose, you've grown so much!" Sophie ran into his arms, shrieking something about presents and Sandy's early present. Summer smiled, yet hoped her child had half as much energy as Sophie did.
"So Mom's making the cake and Daddy's doing the barbecue and Ryan just called and he's on his way and oh, yeah, he said something about bringing someone and.." Sophie panted, out of breath already.
"Mom's baking the cake?" Seth asked.
"Ryan's bringing someone?" Summer asked.
"Yeahhh," Sophie said, as if it wasn't obvious from what she'd said. "Mom likes cooking."
Seth smiled and held Sophie's hand, his other hand holding Summer's. Sophie looked at Summer. "Ohmigosh!" she shrieked again as Summer nearly jumped. "You're having a baby!"
"Yeahhh," Seth mimicked her, nudging her. "We told you and Mom and Dad this about two months ago. Where are your manners?"
"Sorry, Summer. That's just soooo cool that it's so soon!" Sophie looked at Summer's stomach again. "I can be an aunt!"
"You will be an aunt," Summer corrected her. "In three months."
"Ohmigosh, I have to tell everyone!" Sophie said. "All my friends are going to be so jealous! I'm going to be an aunt!"
Seth laughed, and joined them inside.
Sophie bounded into the kitchen, followed by Seth and Summer. "Summer's really pregnant," she informed a frosting-applying Kirsten.
"Sophie," Kirsten said, in the same tone. "I am sure you don't have to say it like that."
"Hi Mom," Seth said, coming in. Sure enough, Kirsten was making a cake. Her lack of cooking skills had been a joke ever since Seth could remember, but she'd taken more time to cook ever since Sophie went to school. Sandy had assured Seth that most of the food was still coming in from the supermarket, but Kirsten was getting better. "Ryan's on his way, I heard."
"Yes, and he's bringing someone?" Summer included.
"That's what I've heard," Kirsten answered. "I'm not so sure who, but it sounded somewhat like.."
"Taylorrrrr!" Sophie hollered, rushing past Seth and Summer to where Ryan and Taylor were. Sophie liked to tell her friends about Ryan: how he'd just arrived one day because her daddy thought he belonged somewhere nice and with a good family. And the rest, Sophie always concluded her stories with, was history. And Taylor was Ryan's..friend? Girlfriend? She wasn't as earthy as Summer and wasn't always so ready to hang out with her like Kaitlin, but Taylor was, well, Taylor. And she'd promised to teach Sophie some French, provided - as brought by Kirsten and Sandy's request - she kept it clean.
"Hi, Sophie!" Taylor said, embracing Sophie's hug. "How does it feel to be seven?"
Sophie shrugged. "It's not that different yet! But I think when I blow out the candles I'll really know." She turned to Ryan. "Ry-Ry!" When Sophie began to talk, she'd instantly hyphenated both Seth's and Ryan's names. Ryan's made sense; Seth was more "Sety" than anything else. But it was still a form of affection for Sophie to call him the same name she'd started saying at two.
"Hey, Soph," Ryan said, hugging her. "Wait until you see what I got you."
"You did?" Sophie asked. "What? What?"
"You'll see," Ryan told her. "Hey, Kirsten, what time do you think we're going to eat?"
"Sandy should be done in about a minute," Kirsten told him. "How about you guys go outside and get comfortable?"
Sophie nodded. "Come on, come on!" she said, grabbing Ryan's hand now. "The sooner we eat.."
"Sophie!" Kirsten reminded her.
"I knoow," Sophie said, sighing. "I know, I know."
"The sooner what?" Seth asked. "P-r-e-s-e-n-t-s?"
"I can spell," Sophie said, slightly pouting.
"And you'll get them," Ryan said. "Trust me, Soph, you'll get them soon enough."
Sandy walked in as the rest left. He looked at Taylor and then at Kirsten. "Taylor back in the picture?"
"Birthdays are full of surprises," Kirsten told him.
"..Happy birthday to you!" Sophie blew out the candles on her cake and immediately picked up her fork to begin eating it. Kirsten had carefully frosted a horse on the cake, and it was this part that was Sophie's favorite. She reached towards the plate as Sandy quickly took the other end. "I'll cut," he instructed. "You get everyone's plates."
"Oh, chocolate," Summer laughed and eyed the cake with as much excitement as Sophie. "I completely need chocolate."
"So," Kirsten asked, as she handed Sandy the cutting knife. "Do you know what you're having?"
"Actually," Summer said, looking more at Seth now, "I just found out."
"Really," Seth said, eyebrow raised. "You didn't say that to me."
"Well," Summer said, half to Seth, half to everyone else. "It was going to be a surprise."
"I like surprises," Sophie said. "Like when you said I could be your flowergirl in the wedding."
"Well," Summer said again. "It turns out we're going to have a boy."
"A boy?" Seth asked, genuinely touched.
"You mean, another Cohen?" Ryan asked, pointing his fork at Seth.
"In more ways than one," Seth said, gleefully as if it was Chrismukkah. "We've got to think of a name."
"Seth, we've got time." Summer held his hand as he ate his cake, looking so excited. "In the meantime, Sophie, here are your presents. And Seth would like to tell you, if he wasn't eating at the moment, you have to open his delicately."
Sophie nodded. She reached for the first present, which was clearly in enviormentally-friendly wrapping paper. Summer always got her the coolest stuff. She opened it to find a GEORGE t-shirt. It was pink, Sophie's favorite color, and she immediately squealed with excitement. She hugged Summer and moved onto Seth's.
"Careful," Seth reminded her. "Just in case."
Sophie opened it carefully, observing the book inside. "I don't read comic books," she said.
"Sophie," Sandy warned.
"Look through it," Seth told his little sister.
"The Adventures of Sophie," Sophie read aloud. She leafed through the pages: there was Sophie, very little Sophie, possibly the day she was born. Then Sophie at Berkeley as Sandy taught a class, Sophie in the baby carrier. Sophie on her first birthday, Sophie's Chrismukkah. All completely drawn out by Seth.
"This is so cool!" Sophie said. She turned the page. It was blank. "You forgot to do something."
"Oh, no," Seth corrected her. "That is for later. You can fill in what happens to you more in life. You and your art skills can do that."
Sophie nodded quietly. It'd been the quietest she'd been all day.
"Here," Ryan said, handing her his gift. Sophie opened it up, clearly subdued. A pink Eiffel Tower t-shirt from Taylor, another horse book from Ryan.
"Thanks, Ry-Ry," she said, very quietly.
"Anytime, Sophers," Ryan said.
Sophie ate her cake then, noticing only so much the adults exchanging looks. Seth's gift had meant a lot, but Sophie's excitement was starting to wear down even before Kirsten and Sandy gave her their other gift of giving her horseback riding lessons. And nobody noticed Sophie's enthusaism lowering as much as Seth.
After Ryan and Taylor had left, saying they'd be back soon and wishing Sophie happy birthday again, Sophie left her book in the kitchen and walked outside to her swingset. The sun was setting and she sat on her swing, looking at the sunset and barely noticing someone sitting next to her. Until Seth winced, the swing obviously too low for him.
"Sophie," he said, looking at her. "Is everything okay?"
Sophie nodded. "It's just a really, really nice gift you got me, Seth."
"I know. You deserve it."
Sophie sighed, her sighs sounding more and more like Kirsten's. "Am I going to see you anymore now that Summer's going to have a baby?"
"Is that what's bothering you, Soph?" Seth asked.
"I mean, babies are really cute and everything, but you have to do so much. Plus you get another Cohen." Seth laughed at that. He still couldn't believe that was true.
"Well, when you were born, I knew you'd have Mom and Dad's full attention, but it's not like that stopped me from coming home every so often," Seth said, stroking Sophie's hair. "I came home and Ryan came home and sure, Mom was busy feeding you or Dad was, but it's not like they didn't pay attention to us. If you come visit us in Newport, I'm sure that we'll both have time for you. You're my sister, Sophie. You're my only sister. And that makes you very, very special." He tried to swing along with Sophie.
"Is that why you made that book for me?" Sophie asked.
"Of course. And you know nothing can change that."
Sophie smiled and looked at the stars that were beginning to shine. "I love you, Sety."
Seth smiled. "I love you too. You wanna go get some cake?"
Sophie jumped up. "Do you think Daddy hid any more gifts?"
"I think you got all your gifts," Seth said.
"You sure?" she asked, with a grin. "I know where he hides some from Mom before their anniversary."
"Really," Seth said, following his sister, his only little sister, growing up so fast, back into their house.