Disclaimer: Disclaimers from past chapters still ring true for this one.

A/N: I'm moving out my apartment in DC within the next couple of days so don't expect an update for a little while. That's all I really have to say. Oh – and thank you to all the reviewers! It means a lot to me, so thanks.

Read, enjoy!, and review!!!

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Seth fell onto his bed backwards, staring blankly up at the ceiling. "What the fuck happened to you, man?" Seth asked himself angrily.

He didn't know if what he had said to Summer was the right move or the wrong, but he definitely felt regretful about it. He didn't hate her. He didn't have hateful feelings toward her at all. And he hated seeing her cry when he told her these lies.

Seth thought that making Summer hurt the way he had been since he left would be rewarding and boost up his confidence, enabling him to finally move forward with his life.

Nothing in their conversation had given him any such feelings. Instead it just made him rehash everything he had tried so hard to ignore for the past five months.

Suddenly a knock came to Seth's door, making Seth jolt in vertical position. "Yeah?"

"It's Sam," a firm voice came. "Can I come in?"

Seth got up and walked to the door worriedly, opening it. "Only if you promise not to bash my head in or anything of that sort for bringing you to this retro-Newport Beach party."

Sam gave him a half-hearted smile as she walked into Seth's room. "Nice room."

"I haven't changed it since my parents moved up here."

"Ah…," Sam scanned the room in recognition, noticing all the pictures and drawings of a girl whose face couldn't be forgotten from the party's ending events. "Is this Summer?" Sam pointed at Seth's bulletin board.

Seth meekly nodded his head, shoving his hands into his pants' pockets.

"She's beautiful," Sam stared at the pictures and drawings. "In both these pictures and real-life."

"Yeah…" Seth trailed.

"How long were you with her?"

Seth shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. A long time, I guess."

"I see…" Sam answered. "And you still love her?"

"No," Seth answered sharply, and then changed the subject immediately. "So, I'm really sorry about everything today. I didn't mean to drag you into all of the drama. I just thought it would be a fun thing for you to do while you were out here."

"No, you didn't," Sam replied.

"What?"

"You knew your ex-girlfriend was going to be here and you wanted to make her jealous. You still love her."

Seth paused, as if trying to figure out a way to reply. He didn't want to give anyone the satisfaction of making him admit his still ardent feelings for Summer. He didn't even want to admit them himself. After a few silent moments, he wearily opened his mouth. "Actually, she's my ex-wife."

Sam seemed stunned at first, almost speechless, but then gathered her voice. "Well… then… I can see why you're so jilted over this break-up."

Seth snorted, picking up a few loose items from around his room and shoving them into a random blue and yellow bag he found on the floor by his dresser. "I'm not jilted."

"Okay," Sam smiled, crossing her arms over her chest, "As much fun as this was today, I think I should probably be going back to Eastport. I called a taxi about fifteen minutes ago so I should probably go look out for it. Thanks for the Newport Beach party, Seth. I'm glad I finally got a chance to see a fight at a fancy party like that."

Seth laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that too. When I mentioned that back at the airport, I thought I was just joking."

"It's all right. It lived up to my expectations. Although," Sam threw in, "I wish I could see you when that nice shiner comes in tomorrow morning."

Seth rubbed the right side of his face, almost apprehensively. "I almost forgot about the pain of this thing for a second there."

"Don't you wish all pain would be as forgetful as that?" Sam asked Seth rhetorically, as Seth looked over at her with a pained expression. Sam waved as she began walking out the door, "Bye, Seth. See you back in Providence, I'm sure."

Seth merely lifted his right hand, swaggering it barely back and forth, before he plopped back down onto his bed, sitting next to the bag he had been packing and fading back into his old memories.

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"You sure you're all right with this, man?" Nick slapped Seth's back as they walked into Seth and Summer's apartment while Summer was at the abortion clinic.

"No, I'm not all right," Seth replied, "But I'm not gonna stay here and play Mr. Cool while Summer kills our baby."

"Mr. Cool?" Nick tried to joke. "When were you ever Mr. Cool?" Seth glared at Nick as he searched for the suitcase. "Right, probably too early to joke. I get that."

"Who would have thought a trip to Vegas would have fucked up my relationship?"

"It was Vegas, Cali-boy. Probably should have gone to Hawaii or LA or at least some place that didn't have wedding chapels and alcohol every five walking steps."

Seth cracked a smile for the first time that day at Nick's statement. "Point taken."

"So," Nick clasped his hands together as Seth rummaged throughout the apartment throwing items aimlessly into the suitcase and random box, "Need some help?"

Seth shook his head, sighing. "You know, I never thought I'd have to do this. Like, move out. But I can't stay with Summer. I mean, she's having an abortion. With my child. Like, where was my say in all this? Did my opinion not matter at all? Yeah, so, okay – I only donated the sperm and her body would have to cater to it for the next nine months, but this decision affects my life too. And I wanted to be a father to this child… so badly… I'm not being insensitive, am I?"

"No, Seth, you really aren't. It's Summer who's being insensitive."

"Right," Seth nodded, "Right… Remind me of that when she calls and asks why all my stuff is gone and then cries and asks me to come back. Remind me that that's not what I want. Because, when it comes to Summer, I usually always forget what I want. And instead I give her what she wants. But I don't want to do that now. I can't do that. Not after this. So, just, you know… don't let me go back to her."

Nick noticed a few tears glazing over Seth's eyes. "Sure, man… Summer's not what you want. I'll remind you."

Seth nodded, smiling slightly, and then racing off to the bedroom to get some other necessities and to rid his tears that were welling up in his eyes and beginning to fall over the brim at a steady pace.

As Seth returned, having cleaned up his face as much as possible, he dumped his personal items into the now-full box and spoke up again. "All right. I'm done."

"That's it? No furniture or food or anything?"

"That's it."

Nick sighed, lifting the box as Seth followed behind with the suitcase, "All right. Let's get going."

Nick walked out of the door and Seth stopped for a moment before leaving, taking off his ring band that was on his left hand's ring finger and placing it on the counter in the kitchen.

Seth left without looking back.

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"Seth!" Sandy shouted as he walked briskly to the bottom of the stairs, where Seth had just appeared.

Seth looked up solemnly, clasping onto his small bag tightly, seeing his dad with a stern look upon his face. "Dad, not now."

"Where are you going?" Sandy pointed to Seth's bag. "You told your mother you were going to stay here while you were visiting."

Seth sighed, taking a look behind his father's shoulder to see his mother, Lana, Ryan, and Summer standing in the living room, acting as if they weren't listening to the conversation that was going on between Sandy and Seth. "Yeah, well, change in plans."

"Seth Ezekiel, do not walk out that door," Sandy grabbed Seth's arm.

"Dad," Seth pleaded, looking drained of all emotion, "Please."

Kirsten quickly appeared behind Sandy, followed by Ryan, trying to speak to Seth. "Seth, you just got here. I haven't seen you in months. Please just stay here."

"I don't think I should right now."

Ryan cleared his throat and then looked over to Seth. "Look, if this is because of me, I'm sorry. I was just afraid of anything going wrong today that I was stressed and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have."

"Thanks, man," Seth gave Ryan a half-hearted smile, "And I'm sorry too. I should have asked about inviting Sam – since it was your party. But it's not about you. Or anyone else for that matter. I just have some things I need to take care of since I'm out here."

"But you look drained, sweetie," Kirsten rubbed her son's arm. "Can't your things wait until tomorrow? After you've had a good night sleep?"

Seth shook his head firmly, indicating that there was no changing his mind. "I'm sorry. I'll be back sometime tomorrow."

"Seth…" a quiet, soft voice called out to him as he held onto the door handle. Seth didn't turn around and the voice continued on. "I'm not staying here. Or at Ryan and Lana's. So don't leave on account of me."

"This isn't about you, Summer," Seth replied, still not turning around, and continuing out the door.

The whole family – including Summer and Lana – watched as Seth walked out of the door and into his rented Lexus, driving out of the driveway and out of sight.

Summer stood, watching the car disappear long after the exhausts did and felt a few tears slip down her cheeks. Both Lana and Kirsten stood at the girl's side, rubbing her back and arm respectively.

"Come on, Summer," Kirsten tried. "How about we go back inside and I'll make us some cups of coffee?"

"Yeah," Lana offered, "And how about just a girl's night tonight? Julie and Kaitlin are gonna be here any minute now so we can have a chick flick night."

"We'll kick the boys out," Kirsten added in.

Summer nodded mutely, turning around to face Kirsten and Lana. "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"Any time," Lana smiled, walking back into the house.

Summer began to follow, as Kirsten tugged at her arm, whispering in her ear, "Just for the record, I'll always consider you my daughter whether or not you and Seth get back together."

Summer smiled, hugging Kirsten, as they continued back into the house.

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It took six hours and eight minutes for Seth to finally arrive at his destination.

Newport Beach, California.

He parked his car near the pier, walking down to the beach still clutching his small gym bag. It was nearly ten at night and while the beach was almost desolate with only random passer-bys, Seth couldn't have felt safer.

It was boggling that out of all the different places he'd found himself since January, that Newport Beach, California was the one that made all his problems seem erased from his memory.

Seth sat down Indian style in the sand, watching as the tide continually rode in towards the land and then further out to sea, placing his bag in front of him. He hesitated at first, not wanting to open it but at the same time feeling like he couldn't wait a second longer to reveal its contents.

After a few minutes of peacefully observing the ocean and sand surrounding him, he leaned forward, reaching for the bag. Seth unzipped it slowly, taking each memento out, piece by piece, memory by memory.

While he had been in his room after Sam had left, Seth had gathered any and all mementos that he saw that reminded him of Summer. Granted, some bigger ones couldn't fit into a small bag, so instead he shoved those into his closet, rearing them into the far back. The smaller ones – like pictures, drawings, and scribbled notes – had been thrown haphazardly into this bag, waiting for the moment when they could come out again.

Seth reached into the bag, grasping onto a slightly bent picture he had drawn of Summer back in high school. She was lying on the edge of a bed – as Seth examined it further it looked like his own – while holding her head up with the palms of her hands and her legs bending upwards, touching her toes together, intently watching something. (Seth guessed her old favorite TV show, "The Valley.") Summer looked so content; so peaceful.

Seth felt so broken; so dead.

He ripped the drawing up as tears escaped his eyes, throwing the small pieces of paper into the approaching tide.

Seth continued doing this with each new material that came from the bag, waiting until the tide had completely engulfed the sand surrounding him. He got up without grabbing the bag, watching as the tide washed it back and forth, eventually bringing it further out to sea; further out of his sight.

Seth stood there wet, crying in heaves, watching the blackness take over.

He felt like he could die. Like nothing in the world mattered and that nothing in his future would ever matter and that he could simply be swallowed up by the increasing waves and never return.

"Hey," a male voice shouted in the distance. "Hey there! Young man!"

Seth turned around slowly, not sure if the voice was yelling towards him. Sure enough, the older man with a beard and a receding hairline stopped wailing his arms and slowed down his pace. "Jeez, kid. I thought you were gonna throw yourself into the water and kill yourself!" The man laughed full-heartedly. "Why don't you just get going? The tide rises fast in these areas and you're already looking pretty wet."

"Sure thing," Seth replied, pulling his hands out of his pockets and turning to walk towards the older man. Seth waded through the increasing inches of water, looking back a few times to see if he could still spot the small blue and yellow bag.

He couldn't.