Hey everyone! I thought I'd post a quick note to all the readers here. First of all thank you to those of you who have replied/reviewed previous posts – it means a lot to me to read your comments. Also I wanted to explain something: the reason that these posts are always so long is because I have way more of the story already written since I post it on the official OC boards. Because I keep writing parts for that, I can post huge amounts at one time. But I've almost caught this website up to where the story is on the message board, so expect posts to become shorter in the future. And if anyone wants to read the full story (well everything I've written so far) you can go to the official OC message board – the story is called Serendipity there too. Otherwise I will keep posting here (I always forget to do it, which is why there's long waits in between posts). And to those who mentioned it in their reviews, at this point I plan on the story continuing for a LONG time, as I have tons of plans. So thanks to everyone for reading, and please continue to do so either hear or on the OC boards. And please do review/reply! Thanks!

RING! RING!

Marissa opened her eyes slightly and glared at the offensive object that had woken her up, willing it to stop.

RING!

Or not. Marissa considered her options – she could either throw the cell phone across the room like she wanted, or answer it. On one hand she really should see who it was, in case it was important wedding stuff. On the other hand it had interrupted her dream about Ryan. Ryan. Oh God. Their conversation from the night before came flooding into Marissa's mind. Ok that was it – anything was better then thinking about that. Marissa sighed and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she croaked.

"Coop? Are you ok?"

"Hey Summer." Marissa felt a wave of disappointment – deep down she'd been hoping it was Ryan, calling to say he'd reconsidered things. "I just woke up."

"Oh. Sorry." Summer paused for a second. "So how did it go?"

"How did what go?" Marissa asked in confusion.

"Coop." Marissa could practically hear Summer rolling her eyes. "How did your talk with Ryan go?"

Marissa laughed bitterly. "Just great. First he accused me of taking the easy way out and said he wouldn't make a decision for me, then he changed his mind and told me to marry Rick."

"Oh Coop." Summer said sympathetically. "Give me ten minutes – I'll be right there."

"No Sum it's –" Marissa stopped when she heard the dial tone. "Ok." she finished.

Seth was sleeping soundly, dreaming about him and Summer dancing. Suddenly the music switched, and the Star Wars theme began to play. That was weird, but he didn't mind – it was just putting two things he loved together. But the song just kept repeating one line over and over. And over. And –

"SETH!" Sophia burst into his room in annoyance, effectively waking him up.

Seth squinted his eyes at his sister sleepily. "What?" he groaned.

"Your PHONE is RINGING." Sophia announced, pointing to his cell phone, which was playing the Star Wars theme. "And the song is stupid."

"Sophie!" Seth gasped. "How can you say that? My own sister calling Star Wars stupid."

"It is." Sophia insisted. "So answer the phone and make it stop."

Seth reached for the phone as slowly as he good, enjoying the annoyed look Sophia sent him.

Finally she lost her patience and grabbed the phone. "Hello this is Miss Sophia Nicole Chrismukkah Cohen answering the phone for Mr. Seth Cohen who is too lazy and stupid to do it himself." Sophia said brightly.

"Sophie!" Seth scolded.

Sophia ignored him. "Yeah. Uh huh. I'm good. No he's just waking up. Yeah I guess you can talk to him. Are you coming over later? Ok love you, buhbye." She handed the phone to Seth and skipped out of the room.

"Hello?" Seth said into the phone. He knew it was probably Summer, but didn't want to take any chances, since Sophia had once set him up thinking Summer was on the phone when it was really Ryan.

"Am I the only person in this place who wakes up before noon?" Summer asked in exasperation.

"Good morning Summer darling." Seth said sweetly.

"Morning Cohen." Summer replied happily. "You know your sister is quite the character."

"Isn't she ever. I swear that girl –"

"Save it Cohen. We all know you were exactly like that, or worse, when you were little, so you can't comment on it." Summer joked. "But I have more important things to talk about than this."

"Aww." Seth said in fake sadness. "You don't want to talk about me?"

"You talk enough about yourself for both of us."

"I would argue that, but I can't." Seth gave in. "So what's up?"

"It's Coop and Chino." Summer announced. "Something happened between them."

"Yeah I figured something would – she was here last night. So what happened?"

"I don't know. If I did we wouldn't be having this conversation. All I know is Marissa seems upset, which means things didn't go well."

"What would we consider well?" Seth questioned.

Summer sighed in exasperation. "Them getting back together."

"Is Marissa dumping Rick?" Seth was thoroughly confused now. He needed coffee before he could deal with things like this.

"Yesterday Marissa and I had a talk, and I basically called her on her feelings for Ryan, and said that I think they should be together." Summer explained.

"Wow." Seth was shocked. "I knew I liked you for more than your looks."

"Ha ha." Summer said sarcastically. "So she decided to go talk to Ryan and see what would happen. Now this morning she told me it didn't go well, and he rejected her and said to marry Rick."

"What? Why would he do that? He clearly still loves her." Seth was even more confused now, and even more in need of coffee.

"I don't know why Cohen. That's what you need to find out."

"But we had a talk yesterday." Seth whined. "I told him it was do or die. He was totally ready to take Marissa back."

"Well something happened, and you have to find out what. So here's the plan – I'm going to talk to Marissa, you talk to Ryan, then we reconvene." Summer instructed. "Ok?"

"Yeah. Talk to you later."

"I love you Cohen."

"Love you too Summer." Seth closed his phone and got out of bed, grabbing his robe and wandering downstairs.

Seth entered the kitchen, still trying to process what Summer had told him, but his mind was too foggy with sleep.

"Hi Seth!" Sophia exclaimed, running over to hug him.

Seth raised his eyebrows. Hadn't she just been teasing him not even ten minutes ago? Oh well. She was prone to mood swings like this.

"I have something for you." Sophia announced, pointing to a mug of coffee on the counter.

"Coffee!" Seth grabbed the mug and took a long sip. "Mmmm. Thanks Sophie."

Sophia smiled at him. "Daddy helped me pour it," she confessed. "But it was my idea."

"You are definitely the best little sister ever." Seth informed her. It was true – although they fought all the time, Sophia did have moments like this when it was clear how much she adored Seth.

"You're one of the best big brothers ever." Sophia replied. "You and Ryan. Oh! I have coffee for him too, but I can't carry it to the pool house."

"Here, I'll take it. C'mon." Seth picked up Ryan's mug and carried it, along with his own, towards the pool house.

"Wake up!" Sophia yelled as they entered the pool house. "Oh. You're up."

Ryan was indeed awake, sitting on his bed deep in thought.

"Coffee." Seth offered Ryan the mug, which was gratefully accepted. "Sophie's doing."

"Thanks Munch." Ryan said quietly.

Sophia narrowed her eyes and studied Ryan carefully. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Ryan replied, obviously lying.

"You're sad." Sophia observed. She climbed up onto the bed beside Ryan and gave him a hug. "What happened with Marissa?"

Ryan and Seth looked at Sophia in shock. How did she know?

"I know more than you think." Sophia informed them. "So what happened?"

"Sophie maybe Ryan doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe we should leave him alone for a while." Seth suggested.

"I know that you're just saying that to make me leave so you and Ryan can talk about what happened. Don't make me take your coffee back." Sophia threatened.

Seth sighed. "Ok Ryan, what happened?"

"Nothing happened." Ryan said stubbornly. "She came over, we talked, and I told her to have a nice life with Rick."

"Ryan!" Seth and Sophia wailed.

"What?"

"She's your PRINCESS." Sophia insisted.

Seth gave Sophia an odd look, unsure what she meant. "Ryan what did we talk about? Do or die. And what did you do? You DIED."

Now Sophia gave Seth an odd look. What did he think her argument was weird when he was talking about dying?

"Ok I don't want to talk about this." Ryan announced.

Seth and Sophia looked at each other. They knew Ryan well enough to know that he wouldn't say anymore on the subject.

"Let's do something fun." Sophia suggested. "Like … play video games."

"You don't know how." Seth reminded her.

"Oh yeah. How about 'noply?" Sophia said, using her version of the word Monopoly.

"I'm game" Seth agreed. "Ha ha game. That was a good one. So how about you Ryan?"

"Sure." Ryan said, looking at Sophia's pleading eyes.

"Ok I'll get the game!" Sophia said as she ran towards the house.

"So what really happened?" Seth asked as soon as she was gone.

"Here's the basics – Marissa wanted me to help her choose between me and Rick, I realized that if she had to choose then I don't want to be with her anyway, I told her to marry Rick. The end."

"So you threw away your last chance to be with her?" Seth asked in disbelief.

"Seth she doesn't just want to be with me. She wants to be with me or Rick, and just wanted me to decide for her."

"Because she wants to be with you, but doesn't know how you feel."

"Still, she came into it knowing that if I said no she still has Rick. That's not a choice." Ryan said stonily.

"But I thought you wanted her to be happy." Seth tried as a final resort.

"I do. And she'll be happy with Rick – he can give her everything she wants."

Seth gave up, knowing that Ryan had made up his mind. And he did understand where Ryan was coming from, except that he knew Ryan and Marissa belonged together.

"Got it!" Sophia announced as she returned with the board game.

"Great." Ryan said with a small smile. He was glad for anything to take his mind of Marissa.

At Marissa's house Marissa had just related the story of the night before to Summer.

"I hate to say it Coop, but he had a good point."

"Sum! You're supposed to be on my side! And you're the one that told me to talk to him!"

"I am on your side! And I do think you belong with him. But think how he feels – two weeks before your wedding you're asking him what you should do. Coop he loves you, but he's also only human. And you've hurt him in the past. You have to decide on your own what to do – Rick or Ryan. And then tell them your decision without making it seem like you still have a backup."

"Well there is no decision now." Marissa said sadly. "Ryan hates me. I'm going to marry Rick."

"He doesn't hate you Coop. And don't marry Rick just because you can't have Ryan – that's the whole thing Ryan was upset about."

"It's not just because of that Sum. I love Rick. And I was planning on marrying him before this whole Ryan thing came up. It's not like I just decided to now. It's the right thing to do. For everyone." Marissa knew her argument was weak, as she was trying to convince herself as well as Summer.

"Ok Coop. Just … think about it. Don't do anything irrational." Summer advised sadly. She'd really thought Ryan and Marissa would get back together. She hadn't counted on Ryan's pride and Marissa's way of wording things.

A few days passed, and soon it was Friday.

Marissa decided to go ahead and marry Rick, since Ryan obviously didn't want her back. She threw herself into the remaining wedding preparations with so much enthusiasm that it made Julie look unexcited. Of course Julie didn't know that Marissa was doing it to get her mind off of Ryan.

Summer realized that Marissa was going to marry Rick, and decided that although she didn't think it was the right thing to do, Marissa had made her choice, and Summer would support it. So she had been helping Marissa out with wedding plans, as just overall supporting her.

Ryan had done his usual thing and hidden all of his hurt and pain behind a stoic expression. He went about his usual day to day business - working hard at the Newport Group during the day, hanging out with Seth, Sophia, or some of his few friends in Newport.

Ryan and Marissa hadn't met since their confrontation in the pool house, and Summer and Seth hadn't spent much time together between their respective jobs, and Summer helping Marissa.

"Coop!" Summer exclaimed as Marissa exited the dressing room wearing her wedding dress. "Ohmigod!"

Marissa was trying on her dress for the last time before the wedding, and had brought Summer, Julie, and Kaitlin along to see it and try on their own dresses.

"Maris! You look … perfect." Julie breathed, for once unable to find anything to criticize.

It was true - Marissa looked absolutely stunning in the elaborate dress.

"You look gorgeous." Kaitlin added.

"Thanks." Marissa said, blushing slightly.

"Oh Marissa, everything is coming together perfectly!" Julie said happily.

Marissa smiled weakly. "Yeah Mom. Perfectly."

Luckily she was saved from any further comments by the sound of chimes as the door opened. All four of them turned to look at the door, and saw Kirsten enter toting Sophia on her hip.

"Summer!" Sophia exclaimed, struggling so Kirsten would put her down, and then running to give Summer a hug.

"Hey Miss Sophia!" Summer said, returning the hug.

"Marissa you look beautiful." Kirsten said with a smile.

Sophia turned at the sound of Marissa's name. "Coop!" she exclaimed. "You look … like a princess."

"Thanks." Marissa said shyly, ignoring the little flutter her heart gave when Sophia said princess.

"Well now that our flower girl is here, you can all try on your dresses!" Julie announced.

Sophia froze as she realized that Julie was there. "Mommy!" she whined, holding her arms out to Kirsten.

"Sophia I need to talk to your mother for a few minutes. You're a big girl, you can try on the dress by yourself." Julie said briskly.

Sophia made more whining noises, still holding her arms out to Kirsten.

Summer bit her lip to keep from laughing. "C'mon sweetie, I'll help you." She took Sophia's hand and gently led her away from Julie.

As soon as Julie was out of her sight Sophia calmed down. "Summer wait til you see my dress! It's so pretty!" she chattered. "But not as pretty as Coop's, because she's the bride and no one can be prettier than her."

Summer quickly helped Sophia into her dress, and then changed into her own. The two of them, along with Kaitlin, went back into the main room to show Julie and Marissa.

"Oh you guys look so pretty!" Marissa said in the most genuine voice she'd used all day.

"Kaitlin! You look just like Marissa at that age!" Julie exclaimed.

Kaitlin smiled happily, as her goal in life was to be like Marissa. Or at least her image of Marissa.

"And Summer! You look gorgeous!" Julie continued.

"Too bad Seth's not here." Kirsten added with a smirk.

Summer giggled. "Thanks Kirsten, Mrs. Coop-Nic."

"And Sophia!" Julie added. "You look absolutely precious!" Julie walked over to Sophia and adjusted a few of her curls.

Sophia's eyes widened in fear as Julie touched her hair. She didn't understand why Julie was being so nice to her.

"Baby you look very pretty." Kirsten said quickly, hoping Sophia wouldn't insult Julie.

"Gorgeous." Summer added.

"Most beautiful flower girl ever." Marissa finished.

Sophia smiled and gave them all a little curtsey, her fears forgotten with their praise.

"So Marissa, Kaitlin, Kirsten just invited us over for dinner tonight." Julie informed Marissa.

"Of course you're invited too Summer." Kirsten added.

Sophia cleared her throat loudly.

"And Sophia, I would love for you to grace us with your presence." Kirsten smiled.

"I'll check my schedule." Sophia replied nonchalantly.

"So are you all coming?" Kirsten asked, hiding her grin from Sophia.

"Of course!" Summer answered.

"Me too!" Sophia added quickly, looking at Summer.

"Umm …" Marissa bit her lip nervously. Kirsten obviously didn't know what had happened between her and Ryan.

"Yes we'll all be there. With Caleb obviously." Julie said, obliviously to her daughter's discomfort.

"Great." Kirsten said with a smile.

"Ok now why don't you girls all change out of your dresses, and then we'll head out to finish our errands, and Kirsten can take Sophia home." Julie advised.

"Why don't we bring the munchkin with us?" Marissa suddenly suggested. "I mean if that's ok with Kirsten."

Julie plastered a fake smile on her face. "I don't know Marissa. It might be tiring for a little girl."

Sophia gasped. "I'm not little!" she objected, forgetting how scared she was of Julie. "Mommy can I go?"

"I don't know sweetie." Kirsten hedged.

"But Mommy you're just going to work anyway." Sophia whined.

"Kirsten I'll take care of her - if she gets tired I can bring her to your office." Summer offered.

Kirsten looked at Marissa. "Are you sure you want her?"

Sophia gasped. "What are you instinuting – insintinuing – in – in –"

"Insinuating." Kirsten filled in.

"Yeah! What are you … that."

Kirsten smiled at Sophia. "Baby I'm just saying that you can get really hard to manage when you're cranky, and I don't want you to get in Marissa's way. So are you sure you want her Marissa?" Kirsten turned to Marissa again.

"Yeah. It'll be fun. I want some time with my flower girl."

"Ok." Kirsten finally agreed.

Sophia cheered loudly. "Thanks Mommy!"

"But you better be good." Kirsten warned her.

"I will! I promise." Sophia held out her pinky to Kirsten so she could pinky swear.

A few minutes later Kirsten had left for work, and the others were setting off for their next stop. Julie and Kaitlin got into one car, while Marissa went with Summer and Sophia.

"Coop where are we going?" Summer asked, realizing she had no idea where she was driving to.

"Oh umm the chapel."

"Ahh the place where every single event happens." Summer said, referring to the place Julie and Caleb were married.

"Coop." Sophia suddenly said from the back seat, as if she was hit by a thought.

"Yeah?"

"I'm mad at you."

"What?" Marissa asked in confusion. First of all because Sophia hadn't seemed mad earlier, and second because she had no idea why she was mad.

"I said I'm mad at you." Sophia repeated more loudly.

"Sophia!" Summer scolded. "That's not a nice thing to say."

Sophia stuck out her bottom lip obstinately. "But it's true. I am mad at her."

"Why?" asked Marissa gently.

"You hurt my brother's feelings."

"What?" Marissa was just shocked now.

Sophia sighed loudly. "You. Hurt. My. Brother's. Feelings." Seriously, Marissa was either deaf or really slow.

"Sweetie I think she heard you." Summer informed Sophia lightly. "But maybe she's confused why you're saying that."

"Well maybe she should say that instead of just saying what." Sophia said in her meanest voice.

Summer shot Sophia a look, but after living with Kirsten and Ryan Sophia was used to much worse.

"Sophia can you explain what you mean please?" Marissa asked, obviously trying to keep her voice calm.

"The other night. You came over to talk to Ryan, and you were supposed to be nice to him and figure out you both love each other and live happily ever after." Sophia explained. "But you said something wrong or mean or bad, and then left, and he was sad. And now he's still sad."

Marissa sat in stunned silence for a moment, absorbing what Sophia had just told her.

"Sophia I don't think you know the full story of what happened." Summer said quietly.

"Well that's b'cause no one will tell me." Sophia whined. "So here's your chance Coop. Clear the air."

"Cheese sticks. I hate ding dongs." Marissa whispered.

Luckily Summer didn't hear that comment, as she was distracted momentarily. "Sophia where did you hear that expression?"

"Daddy always tells me and Seth to clear the air after we fight." Sophia lied smoothly, smiling to herself as she had heard Marissa's comment and knew exactly what it was referring to.

"Oh. You're quite the observant little one." Summer said.

"You have no idea." Sophia replied with a smirk. "But Coop," her expression turned serious again "I'm still mad at you."

"Sophia, Ryan and I just had an argument about something. I didn't want to hurt him." Marissa tried to explain. "Unlike how he purposefully hurt me." Of course she didn't say the last part out loud.

"Well you did. And he's my big brother so you hurt me too."

"Sophia." Marissa was getting a little annoyed now. "I don't know where you got it into your head that Ryan are I are meant to live happily ever after, but we're not. We dated a long time ago, and we're really different now, and I'm marrying Rick. And I hope he'll find someone and be happy with them."

Sophia took a moment to process this. "But you're his princess." she finally objected.

Marissa and Summer looked at her in confusion.

"His princess. Like Cinderella. And he's your Prince Charming." Sophia clarified.

Marissa laughed. "Sophia it's not like that." But she couldn't help thinking about Sophia's words. Ryan really was like a Prince Charming. At least he had been when they first dated, before the Theresa thing. And he had been in New York, before reality hit them.

"Well it should be." Sophia insisted stubbornly with a frown. Then her frown suddenly disappeared as a thought hit her – Coop might not be the villain here. Maybe she was the innocent little girl who had lost her faith. Like in movies where the kids lost their belief in magic, or in Christmas. Maybe Marissa had lost her belief in true love and fairy tales. And maybe Ryan had too. Sophia's mouth dropped open. If they had lost their beliefs, it was up to her to help them regain their faith.

"Are you ok Miss Sophia?" Summer asked in concern.

"I'm fine Summer, thanks." Sophia replied. "Coop?"

"Yes?" Marissa braced herself for more insults.

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry. For saying I was mad at you. And for being mean to you. I'm sorry." Sophia said in her sweetest voice. "I thought you hurt Ryan, and that made me mad, but now I realized that it wasn't your fault, so I'm not mad. But I'm really sorry. And I hope you can forgive me."

Summer and Marissa looked at each other, smiling at how adorable Sophia was.

"Of course I can." Marissa said softly. "And you can tell Ryan I'm sorry that he's sad."

"I can't do that. If he found out I was telling stories about him he'd flip out!" Sophia said, her eyes wide to emphasize her point. "But thank you for accepting my apology. I really am sorry." Sophia was honestly sorry, not that she had figured out exactly what was wrong. It wasn't Coop's fault, it was … well she didn't know. But not Coop or Ryan.

"That's very big of you to apologize Miss Sophia." Summer said with a smile.

"Well I am a big girl now." Sophia puffed up her chest proudly. "Wait – Coop?"

"Yes?"

"Am I still your flower girl? B'cause I could understand if you don't want me to be b'cause I was so mean, but I really want to be."

"Of course you are!" Marissa assured her.

Sophia breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't quite connected her being a flower girl with Marissa getting married and therefore ending her chance with Ryan.

"We're here!" Summer announced. "Coop you go up ahead, otherwise your mom will freak out at us for taking too long. I'll get Miss Sophia out of her car seat and come with you."

Marissa nodded and ran up to where her mother was waiting expectantly.

"Are you going to lecture me?" Sophia asked Summer as soon as Marissa was gone.

"Little bit." Summer said with a small smile. "Sophia you can't act like that."

"But Summer I was mad. She did something to Ryan."

"Sophia, you might not understand this, but it wasn't all her doing. They both said some things they shouldn't have. They have a long history, and it just …"

"Gets in their way?" Sophia finished.

"Yeah. So they both made some mistakes, but they made their decision and are going to stick with it." Summer said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"But you don't like their decision." Sophia said astutely.

"What! Yes I do. Sort of." Summer weakly defended.

"I may be little, but I'm not stupid."

"That is most definitely true." Summer agreed. "You're not like other kids your age, are you?"

"No I'm special. Which means I can tell that you don't like Coop's decision. Do you want her to be with Ryan happily ever after?"

Summer sighed. She knew she should lie and tell Sophia that Marissa was doing the right thing. But she couldn't. There was just something about the little girl with her brown curls and big blue eyes.

"You do!" Sophia crowed happily. "So why don't you do something about it?"

"Sophia here's the thing. Grown up relationships aren't simple. They're complicated. Really complicated."

"They shouldn't be." Sophia announced decidedly.

"I know. But they are. So the thing is …"

"What is it?"

"Sophia I don't think I should be telling you this." Summer worried.

"Tell me! I can keep a secret!"

Summer wrung her hands together, conflicted between following her gut and telling Sophia, or her mind and not trying to explain it to a little girl.

"Tell me!" Sophia insisted.

"Ok. So Ryan and Marissa have this long, complicated history. They dated in high school, but then some things happened and-"

"I know this part. He went away, she moved on, things didn't work out, time went by, they went to university, they met in New York and talked, they decided to be friends, blah blah blah."

Summer raised her eyebrow, but didn't push the subject. "So he still loves her, and she still loves him, right?"

"Yeah."

"But she's engaged to Rick. So he doesn't want to hurt her, and she doesn't know what to do or who to choose."

"Ryan!" Sophia interrupted. "Obviously."

"But when she went to talk to him they both said some things they shouldn't have."

"She wanted him to choose for her, he told her to marry Rick." Sophia filled in.

"How did you-"

"I have good listening skills."

Summer nodded her head, totally shocked how much Sophia knew.

"So here's the thing Summer." Sophia began. "We all want them to be together. So we have to do something about it."

"Soph-"

"Don't do that thing that Mommy does when Seth has an idea." Sophia warned. "Think about it – you, me and Seth can be like … those people that help the princess and prince. Like Timon and Pumba, or the clock and candle in Beauty and the Beast."

"Matchmakers." Summer said, her face lighting up slightly. "No – wait. Sophia that's wrong. We can't mess with Marissa and Ryan's lives like that."

"Why?" Sophia whined.

"Because … because … because we just can't."

Sophia rolled her eyes at Summer's explanation – or lack thereof.

"Because it'll end with everyone getting hurt. And we don't want Marissa hurt the week before her wedding."

"But I have a plan." Sophia offered.

As she'd expected Summer's eyes lit up. She obviously wanted to know what it was. "Fine. Tell me your plan, and I'll think about it."

"We just hafta keep making them spend time together to see they were wrong."

Summer's face fell. Sophia's plan was rather lacking.

"And we hafta help them out a little." Sophia added mischeviously.

"Like how?" Summer asked eagerly. She was powerless before a good scheme.

"Like-"

"SUMMER?" Marissa yelled. "Are you coming?"

Summer looked at Marissa. "Yeah just a second," she yelled back. "Tell me your idea." she whispered to Sophia.

"No. You'll just have to wait." Sophia said with a smug grin. "Coop's waiting for us." She grabbed Summer's hand and dragged her towards Marissa.

Summer sighed. She was under the command of a three year old. And sadly she didn't even mind.

"Coop are we done here?" Summer asked a few hours later, trying to hide the boredom in her voice.

Marissa opened her mouth, about to say yes, when Julie cut her off.

"No! We are nowhere near done!" Julie said, eyes wide in shock. Then she continued on, listing exactly what else they had to do

Marissa rolled her eyes and smiled at Summer, who was carrying an extremely tired Sophia on her hip. Julie had made the girls practice walking up and down the aisle for almost an hour, despite Marissa's argument that they still had an actual rehearsal after Rick arrived. Even Sophia, whose fear of Julie and desire to be a perfect flower girl had kept her going, had lost her patience and thrown her flower basket at Julie. Marissa smirked remembering what had happened.

Flashback

"Ok that's it Kaitlin. A little slower. Not quite that slow. Don't hunch. Ok almost there. Ok … there you go!" Julie breathed a sigh of relief as Kaitlin joined herself and Marissa at the altar. "Now Summer, it's your turn."

"Mom I think that's enough." Marissa whined.

The girls had been practicing walking up and down the aisle for over an hour, and that was only after Julie had spent another hour or so talking to the wedding planner and chapel managers.

"Ma-ris-sa." Julie scolded, drawing out the 's' sound. "Do you want this to be perfect or not?"

"I do, but we still have the actual rehearsal next week." Marissa argued.

"We will have WAY to many other things to deal with instead of working on walking."

"Mom we can all walk." Marissa snapped.

"It's ok Coop, the practice won't hurt us." Summer interrupted, knowing that Julie would win the argument eventually and wanting to save Marissa from getting more annoyed. "How's this Mrs. Coop Nic?" Summer walked slowly towards the altar.

Marissa gave Summer a grateful smile, glad she was there to mediate between herself and Julie.

"Hold your head up Summer. And don't hold the flowers right against your stomach." Julie instructed.

Marissa sighed and rolled her eyes. "God."

"Now Sophia, it's your turn." Julie announced.

Sophia grabbed the little basket she'd been given and ran to the end of the aisle. She was the only one still eager to practice, since she loved being a flower girl, and even her enthusiasm was running out.

"Start walking. Remember what I told you - every second step you drop a few petals. A FEW petals." Julie directed.

Sophia walked quickly down the aisle, throwing flowers to the sides.

"SOPHIA!" Julie yelled angrily.

"WHAT!" Sophia stopped, dropped the basket on the ground, then marched angrily up to Julie.

"There is absolutely no reason to throw a tantrum missy." Julie scolded.

"There is absolutely no reason for you to be so MEAN." Sophia retorted.

Julie gasped, dramatically putting her manicured hand over her mouth.

"Sophia." Summer warned quietly.

"What kind of parents teach their child such awful manners?" Julie questioned.

"Oh you are not one to talk about parenting." Marissa muttered.

"DON'T EVER SAY MEAN THINGS ABOUT MY MOMMY AND DADDY!" Sophia screamed. "I HATE YOU!" She picked up the basket she had dropped and threw it at Julie before storming out of the chapel.

Summer dropped her own bouquet and ran after Sophia

Julie gasped once more, rubbing her arm where the basket had hit her. "The nerve of that child!"

"Shut up Mom." Marissa said, covering her mouth with her hand so Julie wouldn't see her smile.

End Flashback

That had been about half an hour hour earlier, after which Summer had returned with a demure looking Sophia. No one had said anything about the fight, and Julie had moved on to make Marissa practice walking.

"Summer I think you two can leave now." Marissa offered, glaring and Julie and willing her to object.

Instead Julie nodded briskly. "That's a good idea. There's no need for them to stay here. In fact, Summer can you drop Kaitlin home too?"

"Sure." Summer agreed. "I'll see you later Coop?"

"I'm not sure I'm going to the Cohen's tonight." Marissa revealed.

"Coop!" Sophia objected tiredly.

"What? Don't be silly, of course you're going. Summer you can tell Kirsten we will ALL see her tonight." Julie said, ignoring Marissa's expression.

"Ok. Bye Mrs. Coop Nic. See you Coop. C'mon Kaity Coop." Summer hoisted Sophia up on her hip again and led Kaitlin to her car.

Summer put Sophia in the car seat Kirsten had leant her, then got into the driver's seat. "So am I taking you home?" she asked Kaitlin.

"Umm yeah."

They drove in silence for a few minutes, as Sophia had fallen asleep.

"So are you excited about the wedding?" Summer asked, hating the awkward quietness.

"Yeah! It's so cool! And Marissa seems to happy, and Rick is great, and my Mom is thrilled!" Kaitlin chattered.

Summer pursed her lips. Kaitlin didn't seem to know Marissa very well. Or maybe she was just too programmed by Julie to notice anything else.

After that the car fell silent again, until Summer reached the 'Haunted Mansion'. "Here you go."

"Thanks Summer! See you later!" Kaitlin waved as she exited the car and ran towards the house.

Summer let out a sigh of relief. Marissa was her best friend, but Kaitlin was so boring. She picked up her cell phone and dialled Kirsten's office number.

"Hello?" Kirsten answered after many rings, sounding out of breath.

"Hey Kirsten. Did I get you at a bad time?"

"Oh hi Summer. I'm sorry, I was just in another office." Kirsten said apologetically. "What's happening?"

"Well we just finished at the chapel and Sophia's asleep, so I wanted to see what you want me to do with her."

"Oh …" Kirsten mumbled. "Well Summer I know I said to bring her here, but there's just so much happening, and I have tons of work, and there's no one else to look after her."

Summer bit her lip, trying to think what to do. "I would keep her with me, but I have to go to work for a bit. My boss is angry enough about my taking the morning off."

"Could you drop her off at Sandy and Seth's office?" Kirsten asked.

"Sure. I'll see you tonight then." Summer hung up the phone and drove off towards Cohen & Cohen.

Once she arrived there she lifted Sophia out of her seat and carried her into the building.

"Summer! What a nice surprise!" Sandy said as Summer entered. "And you brought a gift, how thoughtful." he added, gesturing towards his sleeping daughter. "I can take her."

"Thanks Sandy." Summer said, handing Sophia to him. "Is Seth here? I want to say hi to him quickly."

"Yeah he's in his office. I'm sure you can find your way there."

Summer walked up to Seth's door and knocked lightly.

"C'min!" Seth yelled.

"What is this – not even opening the door for your girlfriend?" Summer teased as she walked in.

"Summer!" Seth jumped up from his seat and ran over to give her a kiss. "If I'd known it was you I would have rolled out a red carpet."

"Cohen I need you to do something."

"Aww and here I thought you just wanted to visit me." Seth pretended to be sad.

"Well actually I came to drop off Sophia. And since you work here too I figured I'd come see you." Summer explained.

"Wow I feel so loved." Seth said sarcastically.

"Shut up Cohen." Summer rolled her eyes.

"Make me."

Summer smiled mischievously before wrapping her arms around Seth's neck, pushing herself up onto her tiptoes, and leaning against him to give him a passionate kiss. "Did that work?" she asked sultrily.

"Like a charm. I'm chock full of quiet now."

"Ok so I was talking to Sophia about Ryan and Marissa," Summer began.

"You were talking to Sophia? Summer's she's three years old."

"Three and a half." Summer corrected. "And she acts like way older. Anyways, she's the one who brought it up."

Seth raised his eyebrow disbelievingly.

"She did! She figured out I'm not that happy about Marissa marrying Rick, then convinced me to tell her the whole thing about her being confused who to choose."

"Summer! She's a little kid!" Seth objected.

"Like you don't tell her adult stuff. And like I said, she figured most of it out on her on. Seriously, I don't know how, but she knows almost everything."

"She's observant, like me." Seth said proudly.

Summer snickered.

"What?"

"Cohen you are so like not observant. Seriously the only thing that you're worse at than being observant is being stealth."

"I'm hurt." Seth held his hand against his heart.

"Poor baby." Summer smiled. "Here, will this make it better?" she gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"That helps. But the hurt was way more than that."

"How about this?" Summer kissed him again, this time more passionately.

"Almost better now."

Summer smiled, got out of her chair, and sat herself on Seth's lap, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him again.

"Mmm I'm good now." Seth said with a grin.

"Good." Summer remained where she was, with his arms around her waist and her head on his shoulder. "So I was talking with Sophia, and she said she has a plan to get Ryan and Marissa back together."

"What is it?" Seth asked eagerly.

"She said we have to keep making them spend time together, and they'll see they belong together."

"That's it?"

"Well she didn't get a chance to tell me the rest. But she says it's good."

"Summer you realize you're depending on a little kid who swears by Disney movies?"

"What's wrong with Disney movies?"

"Nothing. I mean … it's just risky. They could get really hurt."

"Well we'll be careful. Are you in?" Summer asked.

"I don't know." Seth hedged. "I just don't want Ryan to get hurt by Marissa again. As tough as he appears, I don't think he could take it.

"Cohen I promise we will be super careful. I mean come on. You, me and Sophia. It's like the ultimate team. Since when are you against meddling?"

"I would never meddle in someone else's affairs." Seth proclaimed righteously.

"Cohen."

"Ok fine, I love meddling. I LIVE for meddling." Seth conceded.

"So you'll help out?"

"Yeah. I mean you're right. We are the ultimate team. We've got me, the brains, Sophia, the beauty, and you, the boobs."

"COHEN!" Summer objected, hitting him.

"Fine. I'm the brains, you're the beauty, and what's Sophia?"

"How about she's the brains plus the little cute kid who can pull anything off, I'm the best friend who can think things through, and you're the dork we recruited for help?"

"That doesn't quite have the same ring to it." Seth said. "Let's go with my version."

Summer laughed and pulled him in for another kiss. "Now Cohen, I have to go to work, otherwise Danielle will like breathe fire or something. Ohmigosh that reminds me, I have to tell you about what Sophia did to Julie!"

"What did she do?" Seth asked eagerly, ignoring the fact Summer had to leave.

"She threw her flower basket at Julie!" Summer giggled at the memory.

"She's awesome!" Seth exclaimed. "What made her do it?"

"Well Julie made us practice walking down the aisle for ages, and then provoked her by insulting your parents, so Sophia yelled at her and threw her basket at her."

"I have to remember to get her a present for this." Seth said thoughtfully.

"Anyways Cohen, I really should go. Danielle is like so controlling." Summer stood up and headed towards the door.

"You should quit." Seth suggested, as he always did when Summer complained about her evil boss.

"And do what? I need to job for experience before anyone else will hire me. I can deal with her b!tchiness. I'll see you later." Summer blew Seth a kiss.

"Later?" Seth asked, but Summer was already gone. He shrugged and returned to his work.

"Knock knock!" Sophia yelled, banging on the door to Seth's office.

Before Seth could invite her in she opened the door and ran to his desk.

"Sophie!" he scolded.

"What?"

"You can't just come in like that. I'm in the middle of very important business."

"No you're not. You're reading a comic book, I can see it on your desk." Sophia said, pointing to the badly hidden comic under a few sheets of paper.

"Ok fine. But I could have been doing important work, and that's what matters." Seth argued.

"Well I could be at home right now playing with my dolls, but I'm not whining about that." Sophia retorted.

"You're just on a mean streak today." Seth commented with wide eyes. "First Julie, now me."

Sophia gasped. "Who told you about that?" she demanded.

"That's not important."

"I can't believe Summer told you!"

"Ok why even ask if you know?" Seth questioned.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Are you mad at me?"

Seth laughed. Then he quickly stopped smiling. "Sophie that was a very wrong thing you did."

"Mommy's not here." Sophia reminded him

"Ok I actually think it's hilarious." Seth divulged. "But don't tell Mom I said that."

"I won't … if you don't tell her what I did." Sophia bargained.

"Ohh you evil evil clever little girl." Seth shook his head in disbelief. "Fine. But only because I don't want a lecture on how I'm teaching you the wrong values."

"And you think it's funny." Sophia added.

"Yes. And that."

"Thanks Seth." Sophia climbed onto his lap and gave him a hug. "You're awesome."

"That I am."

"Sophia?" Sandy's voice called from the front of the building.

"Gotta go – bye Seth!" Sophia jumped off hip lap and ran out the door. "Coming Daddy!"

Seth laughed to himself as he pulled his comic book out and began reading it again. Before he had even read a page Sophia returned.

"Seth Daddy says it's time to go home." she announced.

"What? We don't normally leave for another hour." Seth said in confusion.

Sophia sighed. "I don't make the rules, I just follow them."

Seth raised his eyebrow. "Since when do you follow the rules?"

"Since forever. Come on Seth, I wanna go home."

Seth shrugged and quickly grabbed his belongings before following Sophia to the front of the building.

"Dad what's happening?" he asked.

"Your mother wants us home early tonight, so we're going home early." Sandy informed him with a shrug.

"So apparently none of us make the rules." Seth said to Sophia.

Sophia ignored him and followed Sandy out to the car, telling him about her day. Of course she left out the little Julie incident, but maybe that was a mistake. Or maybe not.

They arrived home a few minutes later to find Kirsten in the kitchen directing various catering people where to place the food they were carrying. She was wearing a nice dress that was a bit much for the quiet family dinner they were imagining.

"Mom what's going on?" Seth asked.

"Oh hi Seth! I didn't hear you come in." Kirsten turned and gave him a hug. "And Sophia! I missed you today." She picked up Sophia, then turned to give Sandy a quick kiss.

"So Mom, again, what's going on?" Seth repeated.

"Oh this? We're just having a little dinner party. I'm sure I told you all about it a few days ago." Kirsten said in her most casual voice.

"No you didn't honey." Sandy said.

"Who's coming?" Seth asked suspiciously.

"You don't have to get all hostile!" Kirsten scolded, very obviously hiding something.

"Mommy don't worry, I'm on your side." Sophia assured Kirsten, burrowing her face in her mother's shoulder.

"Sophia there are no sides. But thank you." Kirsten smiled as she sat Sophia on the counter.

"And I knew about the dinner." Sophia gloated to Seth.

"Yeah? Well then who's coming?"

"Sophia …" Kirsten warned worriedly.

"Summer. And Coop. And Coop's family." Sophia responded, her chin in the air.

Seth and Sandy looked at each other in fright. "Uh oh."

"Why uh oh?" Sophia asked.

"Sophia do you know who Marissa's family is?" Seth questioned.

"Her, and her boring sister."

"And her mother JULIE." Seth added.

Sophia gasped. "Mommy! Why is SHE coming?"

"Exactly Mom, why is Julie coming to our house?"

Kirsten looked to Sandy for help.

"No way, I want to know too." Sandy said, holding up his hands.

Kirsten sighed. "This is why I didn't tell you my plan earlier. I wanted to invite Marissa over once before the wedding, and obviously that means that Julie and Kaitlin had to be invited too. Oh and of course my Dad."

"Grandpa!" Sophia exclaimed.

"And JULIE." Seth added, trying to signal to her with his eyes.

Sophia gasped again, remembering that Julie wasn't exactly happy with her today.

Kirsten, who hadn't heard the story, didn't understand what the problem was. Of course no one ever wanted Julie to come over, but still.

"Ok honey, I'm going to go change for dinner. Or escape out the window." Sandy said, heading towards the stairs.

"Sandy! You know when you talk like that it gives Sophia ideas." Kirsten yelled after him.

"Mommy don't worry, I would never climb out a window." Sophia said sweetly. "It's way easier to use the door," she added with a wicked grin.

"Mom, did you tell Ryan that they're coming over?" Seth suddenly asked.

"No I hadn't told any of you boys. Sophia only knows because she heard me inviting Marissa and Summer."

"Oh." Seth bit his lip in worry. This dinner was definitely not going to go well. Not that dinners with Julie ever went well, but this might be the worst yet. Worse than the time Sophia threw garlic powder at Julie because Seth told her it would get rid of vampires.

"Why does that matter?" Kirsten asked as she began to tidy up the counter. She didn't know what had happened between Ryan and Marissa. "I mean it might be a bit weird, but I'm sure Ryan will be fine. He said that they were friends."

"Right." Seth nodded. Of course Ryan had said that. Ryan would never tell anyone his true feelings. "Still Mom, I don't think this is the best idea."

"What's not the best idea?" Ryan asked, entering the kitchen still holding his briefcase.

"Hi Ryan!" Sophia exclaimed, holding out her arms for him to pick her up.

"Hey Munch. What's not a good idea Seth?" Ryan persisted.

"Uhh … the outfit that one of my clients was wearing today. Prints and stripes are always a bad combination." Seth improvised.

Ryan gave him a funny look, but figured it wasn't worth pushing the topic.

"So Ryan, guess who's coming over for dinner tonight." Kirsten announced.

Ryan looked at her expectantly.

"The Cooper-Nichols!" Kirsten said in her attempt at an excited voice.

"Featuring Scary Julie, Angry Grandpa, Boring Kaitlin, and your personal favourite, the Engaged to be married in a week Marissa!" Seth added in his attempt at a radio announcer's voice.

Ryan glared at Seth.

"Ok sorry. At least about the Marissa part."

"Ryan is Marissa coming over going to be a problem?" Kirsten asked in concern.

"No Mommy it's fine!" Sophia answered quickly. This was too good of a chance to give up.

"Sophia let Ryan answer." Kirsten said.

"It's fine Kirsten." Ryan muttered. "I'll be in the pool house." He put Sophia back on the counter, grabbed his briefcase, and exited the room.

"Is something going on that I don't know about?" Kirsten asked.

"Oh Mom, when will you learn? There is tons of stuff going on within your very house that you have no idea about." Seth said.

Kirsten glared at Seth.

"Wow nice Ryan impression. Now I'll be upstairs stuffing my pockets with garlic to ward off Julie."

"Me too!" Sophia yelled, grabbing Seth's arm so he would take her off the counter.

Kirsten watched her kids run upstairs and sighed. What was going on?

Before she had a chance to really think about it the door bell rang.

"DOOR BELL!" Sophia immediately yelled from upstairs.

Kirsten smiled to herself as she headed to the door and opened it gracefully.

"Kiki!" Caleb said jovially, kissing her cheek.

"Hello Dad." Kirsten replied. "Julie, Marissa, Kaitlin. I'm so glad you could all come."

Julie gave her a brief and obviously fake smile before pushing her way into the house.

"Come on in!" Sandy said as he came down the stairs, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Thanks for having us over Kirsten." Marissa said politely, handing her a bottle of wine.

"Oh it's my pleasure sweetie. And thanks for this." Kirsten held up the wine with a smile before giving Marissa a hug.

Julie was watching with disgust. She sneered and spun on her heel, heading towards the couch.

Caleb happily ignored his wife and looked around. "Where are my grandchildren?"

"Oh they're here somewhere. SETH! SOPHIA! Come on Dad, sit down." Kirsten led the rest of them to the couches where Julie was sitting primly already.

The doorbell rang again.

"DOOR BELL!" Sophia yelled, followed by a quiet "Oops." She had forgotten that she and Seth were pretending not to be there.

Kirsten heard the "oops" though and smirked. "SOPHIA COME DOWN! AND BRING SETH WITH YOU." She then opened to door to find Summer waiting. "Hi Summer! Come on in."

"Thanks Kirsten." Summer followed Kirsten in and promptly rushed to sit beside Marissa. "Hey Coop!" She looked around and saw the others. "Hello Mrs. Cooper-Nichol, Mr. Nichol."

Julie was silent.

"Ook." Summer muttered. "Kirsten are Seth and Sophia here?"

"They should be." Kirsten said. "Could you all excuse me for a minute?" She ran upstairs where she found her two darling children hiding under Seth's bed. "Seth. Sophia. Downstairs. Now." With that Kirsten left the room and walked back downstairs, pleased to hear the sound of their slow footsteps behind her.

Seth came down first, said hello to everyone (Julie still refused to speak), then squished himself beside Summer and took her hand in his.

Sophia crept down after him, her eyes peeking through the banister as she checked where Julie was.

"Hey Sophia!" Summer said.

"Summer!" Sophia ran down the rest of the stairs and was almost up to Summer when she saw Julie sitting and glaring at her. She froze and gulped audibly, her eyes searching wildly around the room for help. And then she found it. "Grandpa!" Sophia exclaimed, running to him and sitting on his lap. She was safe – Caleb was the one person Julie wouldn't dare to cross.

Julie figured this out too, and her expression became angrier. "So Kirsten, have you heard how our rehearsal went?" Julie asked in an eerily cheerful voice.

"No Sophia didn't tell me." Kirsten replied, confused at Julie's tone.

Julie laughed dryly. "Interesting."

"Kirsten do you need any help in the kitchen?" Summer asked suddenly.

"Oh no sweetie, I'm not cooking."

"But she's a good cook now, even though Seth says she wasn't before." Sophia informed everyone.

"Thanks." Kirsten said with a sarcastic nod. "Now what were you saying Julie?"

"What about some help getting drinks?" Summer persisted, nudging both Seth and Marissa with her elbows.

"Yeah Mom we can't be rude to our guests and not serve them drinks." Seth quickly added.

"Mom do you think that we chose the right bouquet for me to hold?" Marissa asked Julie, knowing her wedding was the one guaranteed way to distract her.

Kirsten stood to follow Seth and Summer into the kitchen, while Julie was preoccupied with wedding details.

"What's going on?" Kirsten asked suspiciously.

"Mom, nothing is going on. We just feel that everyone needs a drink to get through this evening." Seth said.

Kirsten squinted at him, trying to figure out the truth. "I know you're hiding something. But I do agree that we all need a drink."

"I knew you would."

A few minutes later Kirsten, Summer and Seth had served everyone their drinks, and sat down again.

"So Marissa, do you have any pictures of you and Rick?" Kirsten asked politely.

Marissa shook her head, but no one noticed as Julie quickly interrupted. "Right here!" Julie pulled out a stack of no less than twenty pictures from her purse and began to pass them around.

"Oh very nice." Kirsten commented.

Sophia looked over and wrinkled her nose. She didn't like Rick.

"Was he a water polo player? He has that … look about him." Seth whispered to Summer.

Summer elbowed him quickly, hoping no one else had heard. Luckily they hadn't.

While everyone was looking at the pictures Marissa was looking around the room. And as she did that she noticed that someone was absent. A very important someone.

"Is Ryan home?" she asked casually.

"What does it matter?" Julie spat out bitterly. She hated when Marissa thought about Ryan.

"Yes he's home, I think he's doing some work." Kirsten answered, ignoring Julie.

"You're working that poor boy too hard." Caleb joked.

Everyone turned at looked at him in shock. Not only had Caleb stood up for Ryan, he'd also made a joke.

"Dear God what's happened to the world?" Sandy muttered.

"What?" Caleb asked, in response to their stares.

"Dad I thought you … weren't too fond of Ryan." Kirsten said delicately.

"I wasn't." Caleb answered her with brutal honesty. "But he's been at the Newport Group a while, and he's a good worker. Better than most of the Newport born people we have."

"Cal have you grown … a heart?" Sandy asked in shock. "It's like the Grinch."

"Nonsense. I just appreciate a hard worker." Caleb said.

"Grandpa I can feel your new heart!" Sophia exclaimed, her head on his chest.

"Sophia dear my heart was always there."

"No it wasn't! I didn't feel it here before! Daddy's right – it grew!"

"Sophia enough of this nonsense." Caleb said sternly.

Sophia pouted at him, her blue eyes filling with tears. Caleb couldn't stand it – her eyes were exactly those of her grandmother. Eyes he could never say no to. The truth was ever since she was born she'd reminded him of his late wife. And somehow having Sophia around had softened his heart. Not that he would ever tell anyone that.

"I think it's because of Sophia." Sandy said, still in shock.

Sophia turned and smiled at him. "I'm magic Daddy!"

Before the conversation could continue any further they all heard a door bang shut in the kitchen.

"Kirsten what time are they com-" Ryan wandered into the room and stopped in the middle of his question. "Oh."

"Hey Ryan!" Seth said, trying to avoid any awkwardness. "It looks like they're already here."

"Come sit down sweetie." Kirsten said, pointing to the only available seat. Which happened to be the chair right beside where Marissa was sitting.

"You will never believe what Cal just said Ryan." Sandy announced.

Ryan raised his eyebrows, silently asking 'what?' as he sat down in the chair, purposefully avoiding looking at Marissa.

"Hey." Marissa said quietly.

"Hey." Ryan replied still not looking at her. "What did he say Sandy?"

"He just informed us that you're a good, hard worker. Not that it surprises me, except that it came from him."

"Wow. Thanks Mr. Nichol." Ryan said in awe. He had won over his toughest adversary.

Well almost the toughest.

"I think it's lovely that you put your life back together after that whole pregnancy incident. I mean it's charming – you've gone from the kid who beats up valued members of the society to … the one who builds their houses." Julie said snidely.

"Are you insulting my company?" Caleb asked in annoyance.

"No she's insulting Ryan." Kirsten filled in. "Julie we've had this conversation before, and I don't think you want to get into it in front of all the kids." Kirsten turned to look at the 'kids' who all seemed eager to hear her yell at Julie.

"Oh I'd love to give you a piece of my mind, but you might have a heart attack or something to get out of it." Julie retorted.

"Julie I was in labour." Kirsten said, eyes wide at how … impossible Julie was.

"Whatever. So now no excuses. I have some things I'd like to say." Julie stood up and looked down at Kirsten angrily.

"Hey who wants another drink?" Seth interrupted. "I sure do."

"Keep out of this!" Julie ordered.

Kirsten gasped in rage. "You have NO right to talk to my son like that!" she said. She wasn't yelling though – she was speaking in a deathly calm voice. A voice that her children recognized.

"Mommy's really mad." Sophia noted, not really speaking to anyone in particular.

"Sweetie," Kirsten began, turning to her daughter, "why don't you go play somewhere for a bit?"

"It's ok Mommy, I'm fine, thanks."

"Yes Sophia, get out of here so you don't have to hear all the bad things about your darling mother." Julie said with an evil smirk.

"HEY!" Sophia yelled.

"Ok Munch, why don't we go to the pool house?" Ryan suggested. He took Sophia's hand and led her towards the kitchen. "Seth you coming?"

"No I think I'll stay here," Seth replied, eager to see his mother tear down Julie Cooper-Nichol. Again.

"Seth. Pool house. Now." Sandy commanded. "You girls should go too," he added, gesturing at Summer, Marissa and Kaitlin.

Seth rolled his eyes, but followed his siblings to the pool house. Just as they closed the kitchen door they heard a string of unintelligible yelling coming from Julie.

"So …" Seth said awkwardly as they entered the pool house.

"Seth do you think she'll tell Mommy about what I did?" Sophia asked, wringing her little hands in worry.

"Sophie I think Julie has bigger things to yell about than that." Seth assured her. "Plus Mom will just ignore whatever nonsense she's saying. No offense." he added with a look at Marissa.

"None taken. My mother is crazy." Marissa said, looking apologetic.

"Marissa!" Kaitlin gasped in shock.

"Kaity she is. Seriously, it's about time you saw that." Marissa insisted. "And Sophia, don't worry about the basket thing. She deserved it."

"I can't be here right now." Kaitlin said, pulling out her cell phone and pushing a button. "Hey Matt, can you come pick me up? I'm at the Cohen's … it's next door to our old house. Ok see ya." Kaitlin hung up with a smile. "Riss can you tell Mom I went out with Matt?"

"Kaitlin you cannot just leave!" Marissa objected.

Kaitlin gave her an annoyed teenager look that the others found oddly reminiscent of Marissa a few years ago.

"Fine. But you have to deal with Mom later."

"Thanks Riss!" Kaitlin gave her a quick hug and ran out the door to wait for Matt at the end of the driveway.

"And then there were five." said Seth. "So umm … video games?"

Ryan shrugged. Marissa looked at her nails. Summer bit her lip.

Sophia however looked enthusiastic. "Ok! I'm gonna beat you SO bad!"

"Sophie how about you let someone else play?" Seth suggested.

Sophia glared at him, doing her best to imitate Ryan's glare.

"Miss Sophia!" Summer giggled. "Little girls shouldn't make faces like that."

Sophia switched her expression to a sad pout.

"Ok I'll be on your team sweetie. Let's beat Seth's … let's just beat him." Summer caught herself right before she swore in front of Sophia.

"You're on." Seth challenged, switching on the TV.

What Seth and Summer failed to realize was that they had left Ryan and Marissa out. Of course Sophia was well aware of that fact, but chose not to say anything.

"So how's it going?" Marissa asked shyly as Seth, Summer and Sophia yelled at the TV screen.

"Oh fine." Ryan replied, a hint of bitterness evident in his voice.

"Ryan what's wrong?" Marissa pleaded.

"Oh I don't know, let's see. Where should we start?"

"The beginning?" Marissa suggested.

"Well once I met this girl at the bottom of the driveway, and fell for her right away. We dated on and off, then I went away and came back to find her with a new boyfriend. Ok fine. A few years later we met in New York, had a great time, but knew it was the wrong time. That's cool too. Then a few more years pass, and I find out she's engaged. Fine. So she comes back to Newport, and suddenly asks me if she should marry the guy or come back to me. Suddenly not so fine. And then the kicker is, after coming back so many times, after giving me hope that I still have a chance, she still picks to marry the guy. So yeah, things aren't so great." Ryan finished, his face totally unreadable.

"Ryan!" Marissa protested. "Why didn't you tell me … how you feel? I gave you the chance."

"The chance to tell you to pick me, or leave you to your fiancé. Wow that was generous." Ryan now sounded incredibly sarcastic and bitter, yet he kept his voice quiet so the others wouldn't hear.

"Ryan …"

"Marissa if you really wanted to be with me, there would be no choice. So whatever, marry Rick. I don't care anymore."

Marissa's eyes filled with tears at his harsh words.

"Just … I can't do this. Keep seeing you. Keep being tested like this. I gotta go." With that Ryan stood up, grabbed his car keys off the side table, and strode out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Seth, Summer and Sophia looked up in shock at the sound.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

"Coop?" Summer added in concern.

Marissa shook her head, praying that her tears wouldn't fall. "He … had to go … out."

Sophia stood up without a word, handing the controller to Summer. She walked over, sat herself beside Marissa and gave her a hug. "It's ok Coop. Everything will end happily ever after."

Marissa shook her head silently. Things would never be happily ever after. Not for her.

A little while later Sandy came to call them in for dinner. Apparently Kirsten had listened to Julie rant for a while calmly. Once Julie was done she had refuted everything Julie said in her most calm and collected voice, which of course made Julie even more mad. As Sandy said, Julie really had nothing to be mad about, she just liked to create drama. After this Kirsten had gone to get everyone another drink, still totally calm. During this time Caleb informed Julie that if she said another word he'd divorce her, which had effectively shut her up. Now Sandy said they were all sitting inside totally silent.

"Hey where's Ryan?" Sandy asked as he mentally counted four people leaving the pool house. "And Kaitlin?"

"Kaitlin left to go out with her boyfriend, and Ryan ran away." Sophia informed him helpfully.

"Ran away?" Sandy gasped.

"He went out." Seth clarified, poking Sophia, who stuck her tongue out at him.

They all went inside, where they had a quiet and boring dinner. The only conversation was Kirsten's polite inquires to Marissa about the wedding plans, until she somehow sensed it upset Marissa. Even Sophia had little to say, which Seth later commented was a first.

Right after dessert Julie dragged Caleb out of the house, and Marissa left with Summer soon after.

"You have to go?" Seth asked Summer, giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry Cohen, but something's wrong with Coop. And by the way, take some lessons on sad eyes from your sister." Summer gave him a quick kiss before following Marissa out the door.

"So Seth, where's Ryan?" Kirsten asked curiously.

"I really don't know. He and Marissa were talking, and then he just left." Seth tried to explain.

"He's sad." Sophia added.

"Why?" Kirsten questioned. "Actually I want the whole story – what's going on between them?"

So Seth told them as much as he knew (with Sophia's help of course), but that wasn't too much.

"Poor kid. I hope he doesn't do anything stupid." Kirsten worried.

"No that's Seth's forte." Sandy joked.

Seth glared at his father.

"Son, if you're going to glare, take some lessons from Ryan. Or your mother. Or even Sophia." Sandy teased.

Sophia tittered at him. "Or Summer, or Daddy, or Coop, or Grandpa, or Julie, or …"

"I'm going to talk to Captain Oats. At least HE appreciates me." Seth said, turning to go upstairs.

"Love you Seth!" Sophia yelled after him.

Seth sighed. She was so hard to be mad at.

Ryan sat at a bar, staring into his mug of beer.

"Got a lot of things on your mind?"

Ryan started at the sound of a voice. He looked up to see the bartender looking at him curiously. "You could say that." Ryan replied.

The bartender was about to say more when another man sat down beside Ryan.

"Give me a beer." the man ordered.

"Sure." the bartender ducked down behind the bar and grabbed a beer, then poured it into a mug and handed it to the guy. Then he went off to the other side of the bar to serve some other customers.

"Hey." the guy said to Ryan, lifting up his mug towards him.

Ryan clinked his mug against the man's. "Hey." he replied.

"You look way more troubled than any guy should at a bar like this." the guy said to Ryan, gesturing around at the people everywhere. "This place is packed – and the ladies are smoking."

Ryan gave the guy a weak smile, hoping he would go talk to some of the other people.

"Let me guess – girl trouble?" the guy continued, not taking the hint.

"You could say that." Ryan replied, unwilling to divulge any more information.

"Yeah girls are good for that – causing trouble I mean. Makes you want to be single. Single guys have all the fun anyway." the guy continued.

Ryan shrugged. He didn't agree, but didn't feel like arguing with the man.

"So what's your name anyway?" the guy continued.

"Ryan."

"Not much of a talker, are you Ryan?" the guy said. "Well I'm Chris."

"Nice to meet you." Ryan said politely, not really meaning it.

"Why don't you tell me about your problems? Sometimes it's easier to tell someone you don't know." Chris suggested.

Ryan sighed. Obviously Chris wasn't going away. Might as well talk to him. "My ex, who I think I still have feelings for, is getting married soon. And her friends think he's the wrong guy for her. And I just blew up at her earlier tonight."

Chris pondered Ryan's words for a minute. "So?" he finally asked.

"So?" Ryan repeated. "I don't know whether I should tell her how I really feel or not."

"Why bother?" Chris asked. "She's your ex – just let the other guy have her. There are tons of girls out there. Plus, if you start dating her again, you'll probably just break up again. Things work that way. Why not just enjoy all the girls Newport has to offer? There are some pretty fine ones around here." he nodded his head towards a group of busty blondes clustered near the bar. "Get drunk and hook up with someone. Enjoy the bachelor life while you can."

Ryan raised his eyebrow. He wondered if Chris would give a different reply if he knew the whole story of him and Marissa. But he doubted it – Chris didn't seem the type who would care about something like that. "Is that what you do?" Ryan finally asked.

"What?"

"Enjoy the bachelor life?"

"Sadly not anymore." Chris said, clearly not happy about it.

"Why?" Ryan was confused. Why was this guy preaching about the joys of the single life if he didn't live it?

"I have a girlfriend." Chris replied. "But it's nothing too serious - I can still have fun once in a while. Like tonight, I'm planning on drinking a bit more, then asking one of those blondes to dance. After which we'll go back to my place, and see what happens from there."

"What about your girlfriend?" Ryan asked.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Chris said with a smug grin. "Anyways, I'm going to go get started on my plan." He tipped back his mug of beer and downed the rest. "Take care Ryan. And remember what I said – enjoy the single life instead of thinking about that girl." Chris gave Ryan a wave and headed towards the group of girls.

Ryan's gaze returned to his mug of beer as he thought about what Chris had said. Maybe Chris was right – if he got back together with Marissa they'd just break up again. Maybe he was so caught up with their past that he hadn't considered how things would be in the present. They hadn't even lasted that long in high school – things kept coming between them. How did he know that would happen now? Maybe her marrying Rick was the best thing. Ryan took a sip of beer and turned to see what Chris was doing. Chris and one of the blondes were all over each other on the dance floor.

The single life. Ryan hadn't really enjoyed that since he moved back to Newport. Even in Boston his life had been nothing like Chris' night seemed to be going. Maybe that was what he needed – not a steady relationship, but instead to get into the single life full swing. Kind of like he used to be years ago in Chino.

No. Ryan shook his head. He'd hated life back in Chino. Way back before the Cohen's took him in. There was no way he was going back to that lifestyle. He'd matured – he knew that he wanted a serious relationship.

But still. Ryan watched as Chris led the blonde out of the bar. That guy worked fast. Chris saw Ryan watching and gave him a little wave and a smug grin.

Ryan looked back into his drink, his mind swirling in confusion. Did he want a relationship, or did he want to be a bachelor? He definitely didn't want to be like Chris – he was clearly a jacka$$ cheating on his girlfriend with some girl at a bar. But if Ryan were to be more like Chris, without the girlfriend in the background, that wouldn't be so bad.

Finally Ryan left the bar, his mind made up. He would try the single life out again. Meeting Chris that night was more than a coincidence – it was a sign. That he had to move on with his life and forget Marissa and her upcoming wedding. So that was what he was going to do.