Well, this is the fourth chapter, and yeh… I think it's the longest one yet!
Disclaimer : I don't own anything OCish, cept maybe a poster, that took forever to find!
Chapter 4
Pirate Games
Seth sniffed. Bacon. He liked bacon. He opened his eyes and saw Sandy's back, slowly moving with every breath. He turned around and came face to face with Ryan, whose blue eyes were also open. He grinned. Ryan grinned back; the events yesterday vanished from his mind. Behind Ryan was Kirsten, hugging Ryan, eyes still closed in sleep. Ryan and Seth silently got up, as they usually did back in their house in the Bronx. The headed down the big stairs, both wide awake. When they came to the kitchen, they saw Hailey cooking,
"Bacon!" Seth shouted, far too loud for so early in the morning.
Hailey turned around, surprised that the kids were up. "Hey you two, sleep good?"
"Yeh, except daddy snores to loud!" Ryan said, quieter then Seth, rubbing his eyes and overcoming a yawn.
Hailey laughed. She loved these kids, though she wouldn't want any of her own. "So, what are you guys planning to do today?" She took out three plates and piled on bacon and started cutting a bagel up for them.
"I dunno… What are you doing Aunty Hailey?"
"Oh, nothing much. Would you two like to come to the beach with me today?" she asked. The plan was for her to take the boys to the beach, while Kirsten and her parents 'caught up' with each other.
"Is grandpa going with us?" Ryan asked worried.
"No, he isn't. Why do you ask?"
"Cause he scares me…"
Hailey laughed again. These kids really gave her a kick. "So you two are in for the beach?"
"Yeh!" "Yuppers!"
She placed the plates on the table, and gave each kid half a bagel. Ryan and Seth dug into their meals, only stopping to complain that the food was too hot. They were mid-way through their meal when Sandy and Kirsten walked in, yawning and all.
"What did you make Hailey?" Kirsten asked.
"Bacon. Help your self."
"Mmmm, I love bagels. You know who else loves bagels?" Sandy asked.
"NANA DOES!" screamed Seth. Sandy asked this question almost every morning, the answer always the same.
Kirsten and Sandy started piling food onto their plates, while Seth described the 'Nana' to Hailey in an echoing voice.
"She's big, and she has curly hair, and she's wrinkly, and she wears suits and stuff, and she works with kids, and she find homes for them and stuff, and sometimes she gets grumpy, like when she finds out daddy eats bagels during that time when he's not supposed to eat, and then Uncle Mattie looks like daddy, and he has spiky hair, and he has a mustache, and he…" Seth continued rambling as Hailey pretended to be interested.
A couple minutes later, Caleb walked in with Alice.
"Who was screaming in the morning? Doesn't anyone sleep around here?" He asked, grumpy as usual.
"Oh, give the kids a break Cal, their only toddlers!"
"Grandma! Grandpa!" Screamed Seth, stopping in the middle of his explanation, jumping down from chair. He ran into Alice's arms, hugging with all his might.
Ryan too got out of his chair, but more slowly, deliberately taking his time getting to Caleb. "Hello Grandpa…" he said quietly.
"Hello Ryan, how're you doing?" Caleb asked politely squatting down to Ryan's level. Something about this kid wasn't right.
"All right I guess."
"How was your trip? Did you do anything fun?"
"No." Looking around, seeing that Alice had let go of Seth, he ran into her arms as well.
"Grandma!" he said happily. He squeezed her as hard as Seth had. Seth, meanwhile, ran over to Caleb.
"Guess what Grandpa?"
"What?" Caleb asked, playing along with Seth.
"Aunty Hailey's taking us to the beach!"
"Oh, is she?"
"Yeh! Can we go daddy?" Ryan interrupted.
"Of course you can Ryan. Let me go find your guys' swim trunks, and your noodles. Do you want to take anything else with you?" Sandy said, knowing that the beach stuff was already laid out.
"Can we have a bucket and shovels? We can make a pirate ship!" Seth said excitedly, bouncing around the kitchen.
"Hm… I don't think we have any Seth." Sandy said thoughtfully.
Seth stopped in mid bounce and ran into the table, and fell on the floor. For a second he looked like he was going to cry, either from pain or from disappointment.
"Nonsense Sandy," Alice interrupted, while Hailey went to help Seth, "we have some in the back, don't we Caleb?"
"Oh yes, those old things. Sure, why not, you can take those."
Sandy went off the collect the items, while Caleb innocently started conversation.
"So, Kirsten how've you been. Living in that…" Caleb couldn't find the word.
"Living in Bronx you mean? It's been terrific!"
"What kind of house do you live in now?"
"Oh, you know the same old one. We don't get that much, because Sandy's in the PD's office, and I don't work because I have to take care of the kids, but you know, we manage." She hoped her father would start steering away from financial matters. She knew how he disapproved, living the way they had been in the Bronx.
Luckily, she was interrupted with Sandy coming back with a duffle bag.
"I put some sun-screen in their, and theirs a couple of snacks, and a pack of bottled water, so you should be fine for a little while. If the kids get hungry, just bring them back here, and we'll all eat together," Sandy was confidant that Ryan and Seth wouldn't admit they were hungry before at least 3 hours.
"How about if their hungry, Hailey takes them somewhere to eat. Here's some money," Caleb placed 7 twenty dollar bills in Hailey's hand. Sandy glared at Caleb, who only pretended he didn't notice.
It took 20 minutes to get them in the car and rolling. With a lot of 'Bye bye!'s' Hailey pulled the car out of the driveway, and started to the beach.
The beach was full of people, and Hailey had difficulty finding a spot. Just as she saw a empty spot, someone would sweep in and place their towel where she wanted to go.
"Hailey!" Hailey looked around wildly for the person who was calling her name. When she could see no one, she dismissed it as someone else who had the same name as her. "Hailey!" the voice shouted again. "Hailey Nichol." 'Ok,' she thought to herself, 'now I'm really losing it.' Then she saw someone jumping up and down, waving his hands.
Hailey smiled. It could only be Jimmy. Leading Ryan and Seth over, she placed the three towels in the empty space beside him.
"Well well, Jimmy Copper. I'll be." Hailey embraced Jimmy, who hugged back. "How ya been Jimmy? Long time no see!"
"Yeh, well, you know, life is life. Are these yours?" He asked, in reference to Ryan and Seth who were helping each other take their t-shirts off.
Before Hailey could answer, Seth said, "Aunty Hailey, Ryan's head is stuck."
Hailey laughed and helped Seth pull Ryan's head from the hole.
"Can we go play now Aunty?" Ryan asked, looking around for someone their age.
"Alright, put sun-screen on first, and tell me where your gonna be, ok?" But the kids were already squeezing sun-screen on each other, too busy making designs to answer.
Hailey returned her attention to Jimmy. She looked behind him, and saw a red-haired lady on a stretcher, supervising a baby playing in the sand. "Oh, that's Kaitlin; she's a year old. And that's my wife, Julie Copper, remember?" Jimmy said, noticing that Hailey was looking.
"Aww, how cute! Where's…" Hailey struggled to pull the name out of her memory.
"Marissa? She's out playing in the water with Summer." Jimmy grinned. "So, were those Kirsten's kids?"
"Yeh, Ryan and Seth. Ryan's the one with blue eyes, and Seth's the one with curly hair. And from what I hear, their a handful!"
Ryan walked up to her and tugged on her sleeve. "We're gonna go play in the sand, alright Aunty Hailey?" While he was talking, Seth grabbed all the shovels and buckets he could carry.
"All right," Hailey said, ruffling Ryan's dirty blonde hair, "Just tell me if you wanna go somewhere else ok?"
Ryan nodded and went to help Seth with the toys. "And don't move anywhere!" Hailey shouted to their retreating backs.
"So, how you've been Hailey? Last time I saw you, you were going to Mexico. What brings you back to Newport?" Jimmy asked, as they both sat down by Julie's legs.
"So, I was thinking we should make 2 pillars right here, and here," Ryan said, marking the spots with his foot. "And then, we can make the walls, and it'll look like a ship!" Ryan had been interested in making things since he was 2. Whenever Seth was playing a one-player game on the playstation, Ryan would take out the Lego blocks, and make amazing structures. Amazing that is, for a 4 and ½ year old.
Him and Seth started stuffing the buckets with damp sand, and piling them on top each other to make tall pillars. When they reached about the height of their stomachs, they stopped. Looking at their handy-work, they pilled sand in curves from and to the pillars, to make a boat shape. Running back to where Hailey was still chatting with Jimmy, they grabbed their noodles, and decided to start up a game of pirates.
"Seth, if we're the pirates, who are our prisoners?"
Ryan was stumped. He looked around, and spotted two girls playing at the water's edge. "Look Seth," he said, pointing them out. "They would be perfect!" They started walking down the sand, when Seth stopped.
"Ryan," he whispered. "Look, see the girl on the right? Isn't she pretty?"
Ryan looked, but didn't see anything special. "Seth, it's just a girl! Girls are icky!" He continued on his way.
When he reached the girls, they both looked up, peering at the new-comers. Ryan decided to start the conversation. "Hi, I'm Ryan, and this is Seth. We were playing pirates, and we were wondering if you wanted to be our prisoners."
Neither Summer nor Marissa looked thrilled at the idea. "What do you mean? Like, go play in the sand, and get all dirty? Ew!" Summer said.
"What's your name?" Seth asked, staring at Summer.
"Summer, and this is Marissa, and if you think we're going to go play with you, think again, because boys have cooties!"
Marissa considered. "Common Sum' it might be fun." She then turned to Ryan, while Seth continued to gaze at Summer. "If you're going to be pirates, where's your ship?"
"Come and see!" Ryan said. He turned and once again led the way back to their ship. Pretty soon, they had a game of Pirates going on, the pirates (Seth and Ryan) chasing the convicts (Summer and Marissa) around the beach. Seth got so into the game, that he tackled Marissa, and started whacking her with his noodle.
Hailey's discussion with Jimmy was cut short, a scream filling the air. Screams around Newport Beach were considered normal, but this one Jimmy recognized as Marissa's.
"Marissa!" he yelled, looking around to locate his kid.
"Jimmy, look!" Hailey grabbed his sleeve, and turned him around to a very comical scene for any passer-Byers.
There was screaming, crying Marissa, covered in sand lying on the ground, while above her, wielding a dry, neon pink noodle, was Seth.
"I've got you this time!" Seth yelled, continuing to whack defenseless Marissa until Hailey pulled him off her. She caught Ryan by the shoulder as he ran by, pursuing Summer.
"What do you two think your doing? Especially you Seth. You don't just go and whack people with noodles, no matter what you're playing!"
"But we were playing pirates," protested Ryan. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"Yeh," Seth said, "besides, Ryan was the first one to whack Summer with a noodle, so I thought it was ok… It's not my fault I got the one that screams the most."
Hailey continued to hold tight to both of them. "Is she alright?" She asked Jimmy who was questioning Marissa a little ways off.
"Yeh, she's fine. She said they were playing pirates, and she was trying to make it 'believable'."
Hailey sighed. This was why she didn't want kids. "All right you two go get the buckets, and we're going home."
"Aww, but Aunty Hailey, we just got here!"
Hailey looked at her watch. Just got here, yeh right! They'd been here for 3 hours. "I said, go-get-your-stuff." She gave them a look that she hoped meant that she meant business, and they rushed off.
"Sorry Jimmy. I've gotta take them home," she said, walking back with Jimmy to where they're blankets were. "I know they were just playing," she said, off the look he gave her, "but Seth was whacking Marissa with a noodle."
Jimmy nodded, chuckling silently, making Hailey grin as well.
Ryan and Seth came back from their 'ship' and Hailey put everything back into the bag. "Into the car you two," she said sternly.
"Now, I'll make you a deal. When we get home, you go to your room, and you stay there until you're called for lunch ok?"
Ryan and Seth nodded from the back seat, clearly upset with what they'd done.
The ride home was uneventful, unless you count Seth getting the whole car dirty with sand, from his feet and hands. When they got home, Seth and Ryan went immediately up to the room they were staying in, just as Hailey had asked.
"What's with them?" Kirsten asked, looking worriedly after them. Kirsten, Hailey, and Sandy who had just joined them, moved to the kitchen, which was filled with the smell of a freshly baked cake.
"Oh, nothing. I told them to go to the room because they were smacking Summer and Marissa with noodles," Hailey answered. "Ohhh, these look good…" She hesitated before taking a bit of the cake. "Who made this?"
"Mom did. They did what?" Kirsten asked shocked.
"Mmmm, it's so good," she noticed Kirsten looking at her. "They were smacking Marissa and Summer with their noodles." She repeated casually.
Kirsten just stood their, hand on the table, mouth open. "With 'noodles'?" she managed.
Hailey nodded her head, grabbing more cake.
"I think we better go talk to them Kirsten…" Sandy said, starting toward the stairs. Kirsten followed.
When they got to the room, they found the door was shut. They knocked and opened the door, finding Seth and Ryan, shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the ceiling.
"Mommy," Seth said as he sat up.
"Did Aunty Hailey tell you?" Ryan asked, also sitting up.
"Yes, she did." Kirsten replied while she went with Sandy to sit down with them.
"She did tell us, and we want to know why you did it." Sandy said.
"Well, it was just a game, and we didn't want to hurt anyone…" Ryan said, leaning his back against Seth's, facing Kirsten.
"Well, hitting people isn't the answer for anything. Would you like to tell us what happened?"
"Well," Seth started, "Ryan made this really cool pirate ship, and we needed someone to play the prisoners, so we went up to that pretty girl and Marissa, and we asked them to play."
"They agreed," Ryan continued, "and we went off to play. They were really good prisoners! They ran away and let us chase them and stuff. I couldn't catch Summer, so I hit her with the noodle,"
Seth interrupted Ryan at this point, "and then I tried it on Marissa, but she screamed… loud!"
"We're sorry," they ended together.
Kirsten and Sandy looked at each other. Sandy nodded.
"We get that you were only playing, and that you were just having fun, but you never, ever, ever, hit people. With anything. Got that?" Kirsten said. Before Ryan and Seth could reply, the doorbell rang.
"Oh yeh!" they heard Hailey shout, "Jimmy coming over for lunch with his family!"
"Now, when you see Marissa, I want you both to apologize, and say you're sorry. All right?" Sandy said.
"All right," they told them meekly.
They all got up, and with Ryan and Seth in front, ruffling their hair along the way, they walked down to the kitchen to meet the Coopers.
Well, there's Marissa and Summer. And all the Coopers. Please R&R, and thanks for all the reviews last time!