Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me. The song lyrics are from Tiny Vessels by Death Cab for Cutie.
A/N-Sorry for not updating this story in a while. I've been a little…stuck on what exactly to do. I think it might be because I don't think people like this story as much as they once did and I'm not really too into it anymore. I will finish this story though, it just might take a while. So anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and thanks to Meg for editing.
So when you ask "Is something wrong?"
I think "You're damn right there is."
Seth sat behind his desk in his small office, doodling on some paper. He should have been working on whatever had been placed on his desk an hour ago but he didn't feel like it. He was working on something that he felt was way more important and meant more than the work he had. He was pretty sure that his boss wasn't going to feel the same way but he would deal with it all later.
There was a knock on his door, taking him out of the drawing trance that he was in. He hurriedly shoved some papers over it and made it look like he was actually doing something that related to work. "Come in."
The door opened slowly and instead of revealing his boss or one of his fellow employees, Olivia was standing there. This was not what he had expected at all.
It had been two months since he had seen Olivia and he really didn't mind that at all. The last time he had seen her was the day that Madeleine was born. She had basically disappeared after that day, much to Summer's and his own excitement and happiness. Everything had been so much calmer and problems were disappearing, were being able to be pushed away to the back of their minds. It was a nice thing.
"Hi Seth," she greeted, walking inside.
"Um, Olivia. Hi." Seth shifted awkwardly in his seat. "What are you doing here?"
"I've had some stuff on my mind lately and I wanted to come talk to you about it."
"Okay, just make it brief. I have some work I have to get done."
Olivia took a seat in the chair opposite his desk and this was one of the times when Seth realized how small the office was. Even though there was a desk separating the two, he still couldn't help but feel as if there was not enough space between them. Perhaps it was the fact that she was leaning on his desk. He was pretty sure that contributed to that. He leaned back farther away just to get some more distance between them.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Seth asked. He was leaning pretty far back on his chair, so far he was afraid it might break.
"Do you remember that time in college? Right after Summer broke up with you. You slept with me and then told me that you loved me?"
"Olivia, is that all you've been thinking about for two whole months? Because I would just like to say that I was piss ass drunk that night and I don't even remember saying that, so you could very well be lying to me about that. Even if I did say that, I love Summer more than anything in the world and I mostly likely, in my drunken state, thought that you were her. It meant absolutely nothing."
"But it did. You don't say something like that unless you actually mean it. I thought about this for a while, ever since I went to see you and Summer the day that your daughter was born. I started to think that you were lying to one of us and I don't think that you were lying to me. So that's what I've been thinking about-how you're with the wrong woman at the moment. You should be with me and I think that you know it too."
Seth could not believe her. Okay, so maybe earlier in the year he had paid a lot of attention to Olivia, more than he should have and in the past more than he ever should have. It was over though, even if he didn't know how something that never started could be over. Olivia just didn't really realize that this never did start.
"Olivia, how many times do I have to tell you? There was nothing there and there will never be. Do you think that maybe you could leave now because as I said before, I have a lot of work to do."
"Before I go, I have something I have to tell you. It's important and I'm pretty sure that you're going to want to hear this."
"Fine, go ahead," Seth said with a wave of his hand.
"Phineas and Preston are your kids."
This piece of information ran through Seth's brain about ten times before he officially processed the whole thought. Even then, it didn't make all that much sense. "What?"
"They are. After you came back to California that next day to go back to your stupid girlfriend, I left. I bet you didn't notice though. I went back home to help with my mom who was sick and then I found out that I was pregnant."
"And you somehow just assumed that I'm their father? If I remember correctly, you did have a boyfriend at that time."
"Trust me Seth, they're definitely yours. I can tell everyday when I look at them and when I hear them. They are your kids. I want them to know their father. They deserve to have a dad just like all the other kids. That's why I think that you need to be there for them now. All the time because they definitely need you."
Seth sighed in frustration. This had taken a very interesting turn on him. "Olivia we need to seriously discuss this. Not that I'm doubting you or anything, but we should do a paternity test."
"Trust me Seth there's no way Phineas and Preston are anyone else's but yours. You were the only one I slept with. I can't believe that you would even doubt that fact." She paused in her steps towards the door. "You never told Summer about that night did you?"
Seth winced. He liked to seriously leave that little detail out of his mind as much as he possibly could. It was not one of his finer points, not telling Summer that, but he didn't want to hurt her. "No I never did."
"Well, maybe you should. I'm pretty sure that she's going to want to know about something like this. If you don't tell her, I will."
"Why the hell would you tell her something like that?" Seth stood up starting to get angry. "What I do or do not tell my wife isn't any of your business."
Seth never found out her answer to why as the door to his office opened once again. Once again, it was not his boss, but this time it was his wife and kids.
This day was just turning into a day full of unexpected surprises.
Summer stopped in her tracks when she saw the look on his face. He had forgotten that Summer was going to bring Emma and Madeleine by after she picked Emma from school as all of his coworkers desperately wanted to see Madeleine.
"Summer, it's not-" Seth immediately jumped to defend himself.
"I was coming to tell Seth that I'm leaving. I'm going back east in a week."
Seth was pretty sure that he hadn't seen a smile light up Summer's face that brightly in a while. He almost laughed at how she responded but decided it would be the best for him to hold it in.
"Really? That is the greatest news ever. And I mean that in a totally sincere way."
Olivia smiled at her, though not in a nice way. "I know you mean that. I guess I'll just be seeing you all later."
"Bye," Summer said, not bothering to hide her excitement.
Olivia left the small room, leaving Seth and Summer alone. She watched as his daughter ran to him giving him a hug and Summer gave him a kiss. She watched as he picked his baby daughter up and held her in his arms and she saw the look of pure joy on his face. She felt the jealously rise in her chest as she saw how happy they both were, especially how happy Summer looked. She wanted that more than anything else-and she wanted it with Seth.\
Seth paced back and forth, trying to clear his head of any other thoughts and trying to make up his mind of what his going to do next.
He realized that he had to tell Summer about what happened between him and Olivia all those years ago, especially considering he might end up having two more kids.
That was another thought that he couldn't wrap his head around. He hated to say it but he didn't want any other kids. He loved Emma and Madeleine, his two precious daughters. He didn't want these kids, mostly for the reason of they weren't his and Summer's. They were his and Olivia's.
Summer was going to kill him.
He realized that his death was going to be even more painful if he did not tell her himself. If he just let it be-because there was a chance that it was another crazy thing that Olivia was making up-then Olivia might tell her. And that would be really bad.
He made the decision to go upstairs and talk to her. He wasn't going to back down from this and he was pretty certain if he waited to tell her then he would just put it off. That was not what he wanted to do.
He found her in Emma's room, reading a bedtime story to her. He stood and watched as she finished the story, then went in the room.
"Good night Emma," he said, kissing her small cheek.
"'Night Daddy," she said giving him a sleepy smile.
He followed Sumer out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him. Summer smiled at him, then kissed him softly.
"What was that for?" he whispered.
"For you being you."
Seth tried to return her happy smile before following her to their room. It wasn't exactly an easy thing considering he was most likely going to break her heart into a million pieces.
This was turning out to be a fun night.
"Sum there's something-" he started to say but was quickly cut off by Summer kissing him once again. This time it was more fiercely than it had been outside of Emma's door.
Okay, well this was going to be a lot harder to tell her if there was this going on at the moment.
He let it go on for a few minutes before realizing that if he let this continue, most likely the whole thought of what he wanted to talk about would leave. That would not be good. So very reluctantly, he pulled away from Summer.
Her brown eyes stared at him, apparently confused. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just…there's something I need to talk to you about. And it's kind of important."
"Okay," Summer said. She started to walk over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a tank top.
Seth just stood there, unable to think of how exactly he wanted to began this conversation. Was he just supposed to go 'I may have two other kids that aren't yours because I slept with Olivia so many years ago?'
"I thought you said you wanted to talk," Summer said as she started to change her into her sweatpants.
Seth watched her, not saying a thing. He somehow was finding his mind drifting to the fact that Summer was undressing in front of him. He knew that she was doing it to torture him, he was pretty sure she didn't want to do any talking.
As she started to pull off her shirt, he rushed over to her, pulling it back down. "No, we really need to talk and I don't think that I can talk when you're changing. Please just stop."
Summer looked at him, finally realizing that he was going to talk about something serious. "Is something wrong? Like with your parents or something?" She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.
Seth felt oddly comforted by this, bringing his head down to rest it on her shoulder. He decided that it was best just to blurt it out. "IsleptwithOliviawhenwebrokeupsevenyearsagoandnowshetoldmethatherkidsmightbeummine."
Well that wasn't exactly what he wanted to do or how he wanted to say it but that's how it came out.
Summer pulled away from him, looking him in the eye again. He was pretty sure that she didn't understand him, considering the look of confusion that was reflecting in her eyes.
"What?"
Seth took a deep breath. "Do you remember that time, approximately seven years ago, when you," he cleared his throat, "broke up with me because you thought I was cheating on you? And then when we got back together, I told you that it was nothing more than a few kisses and some feelings?"
Summer narrowed her eyes, taking a step back. He could tell she didn't like where this was headed.
"Well, I lied. During those two weeks we were broken up, I got really really drunk and slept with Olivia."
Silence filled the room. Summer backed away from him, sitting on the bed. He could see the hurt and confusion in her eyes, the amount of questions that she had. He just wished he could end it at that.
"I was never going to tell you because I never thought that it really mattered. It didn't mean anything, I was drunk, I thought she was you. So that's why I never told you. I would still have not told you if-if Olivia hadn't come to my office today to tell me that she thinks Phineas and Preston are my kids. Though according to her, she pretty much knows."
"Get out," she said, her voice low.
"Summer, I think we have to talk or something-" Seth said, taking a step away towards her, but she stopped him.
"I am serious Seth. I do not want to see you at this moment or I swear to God, I will do something I will later regret."
"Summer," he said softly. He wanted her to know so many things, he had so much he wanted to tell her.
"Seth." She looked up at him, her eyes filled with hurt and tears spilling out of them. "Please. Just go."
Seth turned and left the room. He closed the door gently behind him, resting against it when he did so. He could hear her quietly crying in the room and he didn't blame her. He hated himself at that moment, for making that ridiculously idiotic mistake so many years ago. He wished he could take it all back.