Disclaimer: I own no part of the O.C. Just borrowing for a few pages.


Forgotten treasures in dusty boxes

"What is this?" Summer asked as she took a DVD out of the box. She blew on it and crinkled her nose when the thick layer of dust on top flew toward her rather than away. She was sitting much too close to an open window to be unpacking all these dusty boxes.

"What's what?" Seth asked as he walked into the room, carrying a few pillows.

Ryan grunted as he pushed him out of the way, and proceeded up the stairs, carrying two heavy boxes. Taylor, who was holding a small lamp, clamped a finger around one of Ryan's belt loops and followed him up the stairs.

"This DVD. It says A day in the life." She turned it around to see if anything on the back of the case would help her identify the contents, but there was only the blank paper of any recordable DVD case.

"Let me see," Seth requested as he let the pillows drop and held out his hand. Summer protested one of the pillows hitting her shoulder and the side of her head, but handed the case over all the same. Once Seth had a hold of it, she picked up one of his discarded pillows and smacked him in the legs.

Seth laughed and let himself drop next to her. "Do you know what this is?"

"No," Summer told him with wide, annoyed eyes. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked you what it was. Duh."

"This," Seth told her as though she had never spoken, "is the movie I made about Ryan when you got mad at me because I didn't like those environment movies you made me go see. Remember? We watched it after Taylor's birthday. Just a little while before the earthquake."

"The earthquake," Summer whispered, her eyes growing even bigger.

"Yeah. God. Why did I even make this thing?"

"For me," Summer told him as she grabbed the DVD from him. "I told you to make it because you weren't passionate about anything and I got mad when you just taped your pool for six hours."

"Ah yes, my homage to Jaws."

"I thought it was a comment on the idiocy of environment movies."

"I like the homage thing better."

Summer looked over at him and shook her head. "I was so mad at you."

Seth laughed as he pulled her against him. "Which was ridiculous, really. Because I was passionate about something. I was pass—"

"Hey," Ryan called as he walked through the living room and toward the front door. "We're not the ones moving into this castle, you know. You could help us fit all your crap in here."

"Right, bro. I'll be right there to help you."

"And I'm coming to help carry the heavy stuff," Summer offered. "Just give us a sec."

Ryan sighed and moved back toward the front door, Taylor still at his heels and whispering something to him about ruining a moment to which Ryan quickly and more loudly answered that he really didn't care.

"What were you saying?" Summer asked with a chuckle as she listened to them leave.

"I was… You know what. It doesn't matter. We can talk about it later. Let's go now before Ryan kills us."

Summer shrugged but let Seth pull her up to her feet. "He'll kill you first, you know."

"But who'll live with you in this great big mansion of yours if your fiancé is killed by his brother."

Summer sighed and grabbed Seth's hand to drag him out of the house. "I suppose I would get a little lonely living here with Pancakes."

"And there's no way you'll ever find someone who talks as much as I do to fill in the void…" Seth continued as they moved toward their truck of possessions.


"I miss my special pillow," Seth whined that night as he moved his head around, trying to find a comfortable spot.

"Seth…"

"I know. I know. It didn't match, and it wasn't as fluffy and there are a thousand other reasons why you decided we had to get rid of it. Still, I miss my favourite pillow, and I don't think you should have the right to hold that against me."

"I will hold that against you."

"You can't," he whined again.

"Yes, I can," Summer told him as she made her way onto the bed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I can because you're lying on your comfy pillow."

"No I'm not."

"Yes. It's just in a clean pillowcase. It's still your special pillow no matter what colour is covering it."

"I thought you threw this out."

"And have you hate me for the rest of our lives together? I don't think so. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to handle all the whining that would have come if you ever lost that thing."

"I love you," Seth told her with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Summer told him as she pushed him away from her. "Save it for the honeymoon, buddy."

"We don't even have a wedding date. I can't wait that long."

"Then save it until I don't feel this tired. I've never actually had to move before. I thought I didn't own that much stuff after having been with GEORGE for years, but my dad didn't throw out any of my stuff."

"Which is good. Because this is a big house and we needed something to fill it up."

"Well," Summer told him as she snuggled into his body. "All that crap your parents saved from the old house did help."

"Yeah, I guess. Speaking of which, look what I found…" Seth reached over the side of the bed and brought up a video camera. He aimed the lens at Summer and watched her make a face at him through the viewer in the back. When he didn't move the camera away from her, she buried her head in his shirt and swatted it away.

"Stop."

"What?"

"Stop filming me. I'm an exhausted mess."

"You're gorgeous."

"You're being creepy, Seth."

He laughed at her and fiddled with the zoom. "I'm not. I'm following your advice."

"My advice?"

"Yeah. You told me to film something I was passionate about. I can't think of anything I'm more passionate about then you."

Summer stuck her tongue out at the camera and peeled herself off her boyfriend. She ducked into the closet to change without having Seth film her. "Nice of you to say so considering your first reaction was to film Chino."

"I was young, stupid, and afraid of your father. I wasn't about to follow you around with a camera. Besides, believe it or not, I was more afraid of you giving me a black eye than Ryan."

"I'd be insulted if that hadn't proven to be a justified fear in the past." She emerged from the closet and rolled her eyes when she saw the camera still pointed at her. "Seth!"

"What?"

"Knock it off."

"Fine," he whined as he dropped the camera on a nearby chair. "But don't get mad at me the next time you think I'm without passion."

"I know you're full of passion," Summer told him as she walked up to him.

"I am pretty spectacular in that department," Seth agreed as he grabbed the hem of Summer's shirt and pulled it over her head. His hands found their way to her waist, and his lips pressed against her neck.

"Cohen?"

"Hmm?"

"You did turn the camera off, right?"

He stopped and leaned back to look her in the face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Se—" Summer's scream was cut short as Seth reached around her, grabbed her by the thighs and threw her on the bed.

"We'll check later," he told her, his lips pressing against hers before she could say anything more.