NOTE: I do not own any of 'The O.C' characters… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com

(Please read and review!)

*Thanks for all the reviews you guys. You're the ones who keep me writing. If you guys have any ideas on what I should write about in any up and coming chapters, please post them or e-mail me. *

Chapter Twenty

Amy stood in front of Summer, who was sleeping, with Marissa's makeup bag. She took out a hot red lipstick and looked back at Marissa, who was sitting up in the bed looking at her.

"It's okay, we do it all the time, sweetie." Marissa encouraged Amy.

Amy giggled and began applying lipstick to Summer's lip. After she was done smearing lipstick over Summer's lips, she took out blush and applied it to Summer's cheeks.

Summer started to stir in her sleep.

"Uh oh." Amy laughed and ran off downstairs to get cover from Kirsten, who had fallen asleep on the couch last night.

Summer rolled over towards Marissa. "'Morning." Summer said.

"Hey, sleepy-head." Marissa replied. "So much for a movie night last night. You and Kirsten fell asleep halfway through the movie. I ended up dragging you upstairs."

"Sorry." Summer apologized and got up to go the bathroom. Marissa heard a scream from the bathroom. Summer opened the door. "Who did this to my face?!" Summer demanded.

"Oh, a little girl about this high." Marissa raised her hand, laughing. "We couldn't help it, Sum. Just like old times, huh?"

"Yeah, except it was always you we put the make-up on." She replied, as she went back into the bathroom and washed off the makeup. "That girl seriously needs some tips on how to put on makeup." She commented

"Considering she's only four, I think she did pretty good putting on the makeup."

"Whatever." Summer said and then left the room. She went downstairs and into the kitchen where Kirsten and Amy were sitting at the table.

"Uh oh." Amy giggled.

Summer went up behind her and hugged her. "Next time you want to put makeup on me, tell me and I'll teach you how to."

"Okay." Amy replied as she tried to wiggle out of Summer's hug.

Summer then poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down next to Kirsten.

Kirsten grabbed the coffee from her. "Don't you know anything? You're pregnant. You shouldn't be drinking coffee. Here." Kirsten handed her some juice. "Have this."

Summer accepted it. "This sucks."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Connor was the first one awake in the morning. He got out of the tent and ran into the bushes to relieve himself. When he came back into the tent, Ben and Josh were both awake and talking to each other. They had hardly talked much since the football incident last week.

"So what are we going to do?" Josh asked.

Ben shrugged.

"What? What are you guys talking about? Can I come too?" Conner yelled.

Both Ben and Josh whispered for him to shut up.

"Don't wake up the adults." Ben demanded, as he slid out of the tent. Josh and Conner followed behind him. Ben went to the car and grabbed two bottles of water.

"What are those for?" Josh asked.

"You'll see." Ben replied, as he poured water on the ground at the entrance of the adult's tent. Once he was done, he went around the tent and started pulling the pegs out from the ground. "Come on guys, help me." Josh and Conner obeyed and started pulling the pegs out. The tent slowly caved in on the four sleeping adults inside. "Let's go!" Ben whispered. They all ran into their tent and peeked out of the flap.

"What the…!?" They heard Seth yelled out. Everyone woke up inside the tent and all the boys started laughing at the struggle. They could see hands and feet going everywhere.

"OW!" Trey screamed. "That was my foot."

"Sorry." Ryan apologized.

"Okay, no one move!" Sandy demanded. Everyone stood still as Sandy looked for the flap of the tent. He found it and stepped out into the mud. "Aw! Who put this here?" Sandy ran out of the mud and over to the side of the campsite, to where fresh grass laid.

"Good job." Josh whispered to Ben. Ben smiled back at him and then continued to watch from their tent flap in amusement.

Seth was the next one to step out of the tent. He howled as his feet sunk into the wet mud. Ryan and Trey both got out of the tent making sure they side-stepped the mud.

Sandy and Seth were both over by the fresh grass sliding their feet in the grass to get the mud off their feet. Ben, Conner and Josh came out of their tent and pretended like they didn't know what was going on.

"What happened to your tent?" Josh asked as he circled around the tent and looked at it. "I bet you it was a bear or something."

"A bear?" Seth repeated. "I'd say it was more like three little bears. Have you ever heard of that story before?" He asked.

"Yeah…What are you suggesting?" Josh asked.

Josh, Ben and Conner all had straight faces on.

"It was all Ben's idea!" Conner shouted, pointing to Ben.

Ben shoves Conner to the ground. "I told you not to say anything!"

Seth starting laughing like madman. "Just you kiddies wait for tonight." He told them. He started helping Trey and Ryan put up the tent.

"What's tonight?" Conner asked, following Seth.

"Nothing." Sandy said, picking up Conner. "Uncle Seth isn't going to do anything to you tonight."

Once the tent was put back together the seven of them ate their breakfast and started packing their backpacks for their canoe trip across the lake. They were going to go back to the lodge to rent three canoes and then canoe across the lake over to the island where they would swim and hike the rest of the day.

++

Sandy and Seth were the last one's to pull up on the beach in their canoe. With their experience in canoeing, you'd think they would be the first one to hit the beach.

Seth stepped out of the canoe and pulled it up to shore. "There's no way I'm going back in that canoe with you, Dad." He said

"Why? What's the matter?" Sandy laughed.

"Well, it would have helped if you paddled at least once during the whole canoe ride. I may look strong, but I'm still weak." He replied. "Don't tell Summer that." Seth added.

Ben and Josh were in the lake swimming. "Okay, so where are we going exactly?" Ryan asked Sandy.

"Where ever we want to. This beach doesn't really have pathways or anything like that. Seth and I just used to come here to swim and get lost in the forest."

"You mean we're lost?" Conner asked.

"No, but if you don't stick near us, you will get lost." Sandy told him.

Trey was lying down in the sand under some shade. "How about we just roast here for awhile? Let the kids swim." He said.

"Now that sounds like a great idea." Seth threw his backpack in the sand and accompanied Trey in the cool shade.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going for a swim." Ryan replied, taking off his shirt and shoes. He ran into the water and joined Ben and Josh. Conner ran in after Ryan. "Are you coming, Sandy?" Ryan yelled out. He had Conner on his shoulders.

Sandy took off his shirt and sandals and joined the four of them in the water.

"I thought you liked swimming?" Trey asked Seth.

"I do but, after all that paddling my arms are killing me. What about you? Don't you swim?" He asked.

"Water's not really my best friend." Trey explained. "You see, when I was five I almost drowned in one of those baby pools."

Seth nodded his head. "That could be life traumatizing."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Okay, my feet are killing me. I can't walk anymore." Marissa said, sitting down on a bench in the mall. "You guys go on ahead, I'll just rest here for awhile."

They had only been shopping for an hour at the mall.

"Are you sure, Marissa?" Kirsten asked. "We can always go home." But Summer and Amy were already heading into another store. "I'll sit with you." Kirsten sat down next to her on the bench.

"Thanks." Marissa smiled at Kirsten. "So, what do you think the guys are up to right now?" She asked.

"Well, knowing Seth, they're probably not doing anything productive out of their little camping trip. But then again they have kids to entertain, so who knows."

Marissa laughed. "Yeah, they're probably miserable." She saw Summer and Amy heading towards them and stood up, only to sit back down.

"Are you okay?" Kirsten asked, squeezing her shoulder. "Maybe you should eat something. You haven't eaten much today."

"No, I'm fine. I'm just a little dizzy. I think I might be coming down with something." She admitted.

"Okay, let's go home." Kirsten said and then helped Marissa up from the bench.

They went back into the car and drove back to Marissa's house.

Marissa was not feeling well at all. She felt as they she was coming down with the flu or something. But then again, it could be the pregnancy.

"I can fix you up some lunch." Kirsten said, walking into her kitchen.

Summer quickly beat Kirsten to the fridge. "Maybe I should prepare the food." Seth was always telling Summer how much of a terrible cook Kirsten was.

"Guys, it's okay." Marissa said. "I'm not really that hungry. I think I'm going to just go lay down for awhile."

"Oh, right…Okay." Kirsten replied.

"You guys can just hang around here if you want." Marissa told them.

"Well, who else is going to take care of Amy?" Summer joked. "Go on, get some rest. We'll take care of her." She said.

Marissa thanked them and started climbing the steps to upstairs. She was starting to feel really dizzy and nauseous. Just as she was about to reach the top step of the staircase, she fainted and fell down the stairs.

Both Summer and Kirsten stopped what they were doing and ran over to the stairs. Marissa was passed out at the bottom of the stairs. Her arm was noticeably broken.

"Coop." Summer tapped her cheek. "Come on, Coop…" She started crying, as she realized Marissa wasn't going to wake up. "Kirsten, call an ambulance!" She ordered.

Kirsten who was by Marissa side, got up and phoned for an ambulance.

Summer made sure not to move her, as she tried to get Marissa to respond to her. "Come on Coop, open your eyes…"

Amy, who had been quiet the whole time, went up to Marissa and sat down next to her. "Summer, what's wrong with her?" She asked.

"Nothing – nothing's wrong with her. Go see if Kirsten needs help." She replied.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The boys spent the rest of the day hiking around the island. To Seth and Sandy it was boring, but to everyone else, especially Conner, it was exciting. On the way back to the lodge Ben and Josh were in a canoe together. In another canoe it was Sandy, Ryan and Conner. Seth was glad to be sharing a canoe with Trey. He sat in the front of the canoe, while Trey did most of the work.

Josh was in the back of his canoe steering it, while Ben was sitting in the front paddling. Ben dipped his paddle into the water and then brought it up and turned around. "When Amy was born, did you like having her around?" He asked out of the blue.

"Sure." Josh replied. "Why?"

"I was just thinking…for when Emily is born."

"Don't you remember with Conner?" Josh asked.

"No, not really. I was only five and I didn't care all that much. But now it's different. You know what I mean?" Ben questioned. He wasn't quite sure how to explain it to Josh. He knew he wouldn't understand. Maybe Ben was just being jealous, he knew having another sibling was going to be hard, especially without Aden around.

"Not really." Josh mumbled.

"Are we cool?" Ben asked. He found it odd how Josh hasn't been calling him names or getting into any fights with him.

"Yeah…Sure…Whatever." He replied. "Quite talking and start paddling, will you. My arms are killing me here." Josh stammered at him.

Ben grinned at him and then turned around. He dipped his paddle into the water and started the rhythmic motion.

Ben and Josh were the last one's to pull up at the doc's at the lodge. Both Sandy and Ryan were in the lodge giving back the keys to the attendant.

"How's the water?" The receptionist asked. "I hear it's very warm."

"It's great." Sandy replied, handing over the keys to the lock on the canoes. "Very warm, indeed." Sandy said, and then him and Ryan turned around to leave the lodge.

"Oh, wait!" The receptionist caught them. "Is there a Ryan Atwood in the group?" He asked.

"I'm Ryan, why?" Ryan asked, walking back to the front desk.

"Someone had called for you about an hour ago. Here's the message." He handed him a scribbled piece of paper.

Ryan read it carefully and then turned to Sandy. "I-It's Marissa…. She's in the hospital." He stuttered. Ryan then asked to use their phone. The receptionist gladly let him and Ryan dialed Marissa's cell phone – no answer. He then tried Summer's – no answer. Kirsten's – no answer. "Sandy, I have to go see her. It might be the baby – heck it's probably the baby."

Sandy and Ryan walked out of the lodge and were greeted by everyone.

Ryan was going frantic. "What if she's in labor? Is that possible? She still has another month and a half, Sandy." Ryan didn't know what to think. He knew that it was possible for her to go into labor right now, but what if that wasn't it.

"Mommy's having the baby!" Conner yelled out, jumping up and down.

"Ryan, calm down." Sandy put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Sandy, she's in the hospital!" Ryan exclaimed. "I have to get to her – now!"

"Okay. Okay. I know." Sandy said, raising his hands. He knew he had to play it cool to keep Ryan from going crazy. He knew if Marissa had the baby now, at premature, anything can happen.

"You can take my car." Seth gave Ryan his keys.

Sandy grabbed the keys away from Ryan. "I'll drive. Seth, you and Trey stay here with the kids and pack up the campsite. Ryan and I will go now, okay?"

"Yeah." Seth nodded his head.

Ryan looked over at Ben and Conner. It's possible they could be big brothers – real soon. "Ben, Conner…You want to come?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah!" Conner replied.

Ben shrugged. "No, it's okay. I'll stay here and help Uncle Seth and Uncle Trey pack up things. It's okay." He assured him. The last thing he wanted right now was to be in a hospital. He dared not to think about the night Aden died.

"Okay." Ryan said and then got into the passenger of Seth's car. Sandy got into the driver's seat and Conner slid into the backseat.

"We'll be there soon!" Seth yelled out to them as they drove off.

Seth and Trey took Ben and Josh back to the campsite in Ryan's SUV and started packing up their belongings.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++