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!)

Summer's father, Neil Roberts, is in this chapter. I believe he's in an upcoming episode, but I'm not sure how he feels about Seth. So, I hope I portray Neil Roberts' character the way I think Josh Schwartz would have created him. Thanks you so much Grace for proofreading this chapter!

*Some of you guessed right about the 'man'. Good job! *

Chapter Twenty Three

Ben looked back at the man that was staring at him, as Colin dragged him up the stairs.

"Claire, do you know who that kid is?" The man asked Colin's mom.

Claire shrugged. "That's Ben, he's one of Colin's friends. Why? Do you know him?" She asked.

The man took his eyes away from where Ben and Colin had disappeared. He went over to Claire and started kissing her neck. "Come on, let's go back into the den and finish off where we started."

Colin brought Ben to his bedroom and turned on the Playsation. "My dad bought me this game before he left on his business trip." Colin handed Ben the game. "It's got a lot of blood in it, you'll like it. It's so cool." He exclaimed.

Ben took the game case from him and looked at the backing. It was a fighting game. They sat down on their beanbag chairs and played Playstation for two hours straight.

Colin threw his controller to the ground. "This is boring." He got up and circled his room, looking for something else to do. He had so many small gadgets lying around his room. You could tell that he was the only child.

Ben looked at his watch. It was close to eight-thirty. "I have to call my Dad to come and pick me up." Ben said. He was lying on his stomach on the bean bag chair.

Colin ignored him. "Want to see something sick?" He asked.

Ben shrugged. "Sure."

Colin left the room and Ben followed him. They tip - toed there way downstairs and stopped in the foyer. "Shhh." Colin warned Ben and then pointed into the den. The man that said he knew Ben from somewhere was on top of Colin's mom.

"Sick." Ben mumbled.

"Every time he comes over he's always all over my mom. And all they ever do is get drunk." Colin whispered. "He's been staying here for awhile and yesterday morning I walked in on him and my mom making out in my parents bedroom."

"Gross. So, is your dad ever home?" Ben asked, keeping his voice low.

Colin shook his head and looked away from the two adults making out. He walked into the kitchen and handed Ben a cordless phone. "Here, call your dad."

Ben dialed his home phone number and waited for someone to pick up. His dad finally picked up. "You can come now." Ben told him. Ryan told him that he would be there in less than five minutes and scowled him for disobeying Marissa's wishes on him not going out tonight.

Colin walking into the den and cleared his throat.

Claire got off of the man and turned to Colin. "Oh, hey honey. What are you two boys up to now?" She asked.

"We're just waiting for Ben's dad to pick him up." Colin replied. "What are you doing?" He asked, coldly.

The man cut in. "Your mother and I…We were just talking about…You." He replied and then took a sip of his beer.

"Me?" Colin asked, suspiciously. "What about me?"

"I was just asking her if you liked to surf. I was thinking about going down to the beach tomorrow morning. You and your friend could come along too." He said. "How about that? I could teach you both how to surf."

"I already know how to surf. My dad taught me." Colin spat at him. The doorbell rang and he went to go get it.

"Hey." Ben waved to his dad. "Dad, this is Colin." He pointed to him as he tied up his shoelaces.

"Hi." Colin waved at him.

"Great. Nice to meet you Colin." Ryan said. "Are your parents home? I'd like to meet them."

"Oh, hi! You must be Ben's father. I'm Claire, Colin's mother." Claire offered her hand. Ryan accepted it and noticed that Claire was like Julie Cooper in so many ways – it scared him.

The man walked into the foyer and froze once he saw Ryan. Claire turned around and introduced him. "Oh, this is a friend of mine, Luke Ward."

"Luke Ward?" Ryan questioned. He hasn't seen Luke since he went off to Portland to go live with his Dad. He had promised to keep in touch, but they never did.

"Dad, can we go now?" Ben asked.

Ryan and Luke looked at each other.

"Ryan Atwood." Luke said, walking up to Ryan. "So nice to see you man." He embraced Ryan, then stepped back and looked at him. "Shit, how long has it been? You look great, man."

Ben and Colin both exchanged panic stares.

"You two know each other?" Claire asked.

"Yeah." Luke replied, running his fingers through his hair. "Damn, your kid looks exactly like you." He exclaimed. "As soon as I saw him I thought of you, and I'll be damned…"

"How have you been? Where have you been?" Ryan asked.

Ben and Colin gave each other a bored look.

"I've been around here and there, it's a long story. We should catch up sometime. Heck, I just invited your son surfing with Colin and I tomorrow morning, you could come too if you like."

"Yeah, sure, that would –"

Ben spoke up; "I don't surf."

"No worries." Luke said. "I'll teach you."

Ben glared at him.

"Crap, you two are so much alike."

"Uh, dad, can we go now?" Ben asked, dragging him out of the doorway.

"Yeah, okay." Ryan said, taking a piece of paper and pen out from his coat pocket. He wrote down his number. "Here, call me in the morning, we'll get together."

"Great."

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Marissa sat upright in her bed with Emily laying on her. Luke had just called and both Ben and Seth were waiting downstairs for Ryan. Once Seth found out Luke was back in Newport, he just had to go and flaunt him about his pregnant fiancée.

"So, he's Colin's mom's boyfriend? Is that it?" Marissa asked.

Ryan slid on a wife beater. After all these years of living in Newport, he still loved his classic wife beater. "Uh, I don't know. I mean, he was there and it was obvious they were together…But I'm not sure." He checked his watched. "Are you sure you're going to be okay with the baby and Connor this morning? I could call him back and say I can't go."

"We'll be fine, Ryan. Summer's here with me. So, don't worry, okay?" She replied.

"Alright." Ryan mumbled and then pecked Marissa on the lips. "And I don't want you hassling your mother too much with those cries of yours." He told Emily, while he smoothed her light blonde hair back. He kissed her on the top of the head, smelling her soft hair. "Damn, I miss the way babies smell."

Marissa laughed. "Then you can change her diaper when you get back."

Ryan glared at her and then left the bedroom.

"Finally, I thought we'd never leave!" Seth exclaimed, as soon as he saw Ryan.

Ryan punched him childishly in the arm.

"OW!" Seth yelped and Ben laughed at him.

"That was nothing. You're such a baby…" Ryan joked.

"Yeah, delicate and fragile." Seth replied.

"And cranky." Ben added.

"Hey, I thought we were a team." Seth said. "Where's the team work?" He asked.

Ben and Ryan ignored him and left the house. They drove in Ryan SUV and parked at the beach. Luke and Colin were already in the water, both sitting on their boards. Neither Ryan nor Ben knew how to surf, but Seth knew a little bit. Sandy had taught him when he was a kid. Seth was never a big surfer, but he had a board and went on the odd day.

Luke and Colin paddled up to shore and walked over to them.

"Whoa, Seth." Luke was thrown back. "You look…"

"Great, I assume?" Seth said.

"Different." Luke replied. "Well, the same, but different. Looks like you've been working out." Seth touched his stomach and shrugged. He was holding up a few muscles.

"If you mean by sitting on his butt all day and flexing his thumb on the remote, then yeah." Ryan said, and then took off his wife beater. "Okay, so exactly how does one 'surf'?"

"Hey, for your information, I have a job now. I'm not longer sitting in front of your T.V."

Everyone ignored him and followed Luke into the water. They spend the next half-hour listening to Luke, and Seth's occasional comments on how to surf. After that, Luke took Colin and Ben out, while Seth went with Ryan and tried to catch a good wave. By the end of the morning they were all wiped out. Ryan invited everyone over for lunch.

As the five adults sat around the kitchen table, Ben, Connor and Colin went outside to play. Emily was sound asleep in the living room.

"Wow, you guys haven't changed." Luke commented on Seth and Summer's bickering.

"So, where have you been? What have you been up to? We've been talking about us the whole hour. Tell us what you've been up to." Marissa asked. She still couldn't believe that Luke Ward was sitting at her kitchen table. The last time she saw him was at the hospital when he was in a car accident. She wished he would have at least called her once, but he never did. He told Ryan that they would keep in touch, but that never happened.

Luke shifted in his chair. "Well, I've been here and there." He explained, keeping it simple.



"Are you back in Newport?" Seth asked.

Luke shook his head. "Nah, I'm still living in Portland. I just come to Newport to get away from some stuff. Just taking a little vacation." He pulled out his wallet and took out a photo. "Those are my two girls." He handed the photo over to Marissa.

"Their beautiful, what are their names?" She asked, passing the photo over to Summer.

"Hannah and Ashley. Hannah's four and Ashley's seven." He replied, taking the photo from Summer and putting it back in his wallet.

"So, you're married?" Marissa asked.

Luke shrugged. "We're just taking a break right now." He explained. "I've been staying at Colin's mom's place. We're just friends. We met a couple of months ago at a bar in LA. She's married, so yeah, no, we're, uh…Not together or anything." Luke swallowed hard. "So, Summer when are you due?" He asked quickly, changing the subject.

"Five months." Summer replied. She looked at her watch and gasped. "Oh my God, we have to go Seth! We're supposed to be at my father's in less than an hour!"

"What? No! Your father's? Your father hates me, Summer. Do we really have to go?"

"Not if you don't plan on marrying me!" Summer retorted.

"Hey, who say's he has to come to the wedding, anyway?" Seth questioned. "We could always not tell him, then show up married…that way there's nothing he can do about it."

Summer stood up. "Well, Luke it's been great catching up but I really have to go." She went over and hugged him. "We should get together another time. Oh, and you better come to our wedding. I'll mail you an invitation." Summer said and then turned to Seth. "If you're not outside in less than one minute, the wedding is off." She left.

Seth threw his hands in the air. "Women!" He got up and left.

"Those two are quite the couple." Luke commented. "How long have they been going out?"

"Couple months now." Ryan replied. "They were together before that but Seth moved away and well, you know, long distance…Those things don't really work out, right?" Ryan questioned.

"Look, I know, I'm sorry I never called or wrote to you guys." Luke said. "I get it, okay. I just thought that you both didn't want to hear from me ever again. After all that happened between…" Luke trailed off. He couldn't say Julie Cooper's name out loud. "I can see you guys survived without me, though. I mean, look at you two. You have a beautiful family, beautiful house, heck…I'd trade for this any day."

Marissa laughed. "Well, we have our off days." The phone rang and Ryan went to answer it.

"Sorry." Luke apologized. "About everything. With your mom and not checking in with you guys after I moved to Portland with my Dad."

Marissa reached over and touched Luke's hand. "It's okay. That's the past."

Luke looked over into the living room and looked at the picture hanging on the wall. It was the whole Atwood family, without Emily but with another boy. He decided to ask Marissa. Luke pointed over to the picture, "Is that the whole gang?" He asked.

Marissa stood up and walked into the living room, taking the picture off the wall. She sat back down at the table and looked at the photograph. It was done a year ago when the twins were only nine. Marissa cleared her throat and fought back the tears. "This was the gang a year ago. That's Aden." He pointed to him in the photo. He was standing next to Ryan. "He died in an accident this year." The tears that she fought so hard to keep in, rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh God." Luke rushed over to her side. "I'm so sorry, Marissa. I didn't know." He rubbed her back. "Here." He took the photograph from her and put it back on the wall. "Are you okay?" He asked, sitting back down.

Marissa nodded her head and wiped her tears. "It's okay, you didn't know."

Ryan walked back into the kitchen and sat down.

"Who was that?" Marissa asked, regaining composure.

"Trey. He's still in Chino visiting his friend. Josh ran off on him with a few of his buddy's and he's just waiting for him to get back and then they'll come home." Ryan explained.

"Who's Trey?" Luke asked.

"My brother. He's been living here this past week. Long story."



Luke nodded. "Well, I should really take Colin back home, before Claire thinks I kidnapped him." He laughed. He stood up and extended his hand to Ryan. "I'm glad we bumped into each other." They shook hands. "I'm not sure how long I'll be in Newport but I'd like to get together again." He said.

"Yeah, of course. Let's just not do anymore surfing." Ryan laughed. "I don't know how Sandy does it practically everyday, my back is killing me."

Luke and Colin left and Ryan and Marissa were sitting in the living room with Emily.

"Something's up with Luke." Marissa cut Ryan off. Ryan was rambling on and on about his new project. He was working on a new mall plan; like Newport needed another mall.

"What?" Ryan asked, waking up Emily. She started to cry in his arms. "Shhh…It's okay, Emily." He stood up and rocked her back and forth. "What makes you think that?" He asked.

"Well, I don't know, it's just that…Did you see how quickly he changed subjects on his wife."

"So?" Ryan asked. "That doesn't mean anything. Every guy just needs a break from his family once in a while, I suppose."

Marissa snorted. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I didn't mean it like that." Ryan quickly replied. "Like he said, he's just taking a break."

"I want you to get together with him and see what's up." Marissa demanded. "I know Luke, and what we saw today was not Luke. He doesn't seem like himself. So, can you at least, I don't know, get together with him over a few drinks?"

Ryan stopped rocking Emily and turned to her. "You want gossip?" He laughed at her.

"Ryan!" Marissa laughed. "Gossip? Me? No. I'm just concerned for an old friend and you should be too."

"Marissa, we all have our problems. This is his, he can sort his problems out with his wife…If that's the case."

"What happened to the Ryan Atwood that was involved with everyone's problem's?" She laughed and then added. "You we're always the one everyone could turn to when they needed help. Let Luke know that he can turn to you." She picked at her cast nervously. "It's just a gut feeling I have, Ryan. Something's wrong with Luke."

Ryan sighed. She wasn't going to give up on him. "Fine, it makes you feel better, I'll get together with him later this weekend."

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"Tuck in your shirt." Summer ordered, as she rang her father's doorbell.

Seth obeyed and tucked in his shirt. He knew from past experience not to disobey Summer when it came to visiting her father.

"Summer, darling, please come in." Neil Roberts greeted them. "I see you brought, what's his face…" He trailed off. "Vince is it?"

"Seth." Summer corrected.

"Right, of course, Seth Cohen is it? Who could forget? Please, come in." Neil Roberts led them into his living room. "Have a seat, I'll have Nina get us something to drink." He said and then walked away. Nina was their maid - slave, who was inching retirement. She had been with the family for over thirty years – still making minimum wage.

Seth smiled at Summer. "Vince?"

"Don't start." She mumbled, as her father walked back into the living room with his wife. "Frieda, you look good." She told her stepmother.

"Like a million dollars, I hope." Frieda laughed and sat down next to Neil.

Great, we're going to talk about plastic surgery now, Seth thought to himself. Seth couldn't stand Neil Roberts, nor could he stand Frieda. Frieda was Neil's age, but looked as though she was still in her late twenties, early thirties. Both Seth and Summer had lost count years ago on how many surgeries that woman went through.

"Vince, what are you up to these days?" Neil asked. "I haven't seen you since you were reading comic books."

Just breathe, Seth told himself. In and out. Don't make a fool out of yourself. "It's Dr. Seth Cohen now, actually." He swallowed hard and then added. "And I still read comic books."

"Doctor?" Neil laughed. "I never once took you for the type of person to become one." Neil replied.

"Yeah, well I guess you don't really know me." Seth pointed out.

"So, dad…" Summer broke in. She had to stop Seth from talking any further. She couldn't risk Seth saying something stupid. She had to tell her dad about her and Seth, without Seth's wit involved. "How's retirement treating you?"

Seth chuckled to himself. Summer always had a way with her words.

"Fantastic. Your stepmother and I just came back from a cruise out in the Caribbean." Neil replied, sipping his wine.

"Caribbean. Wow." She turned to Seth. "Sounds like fun, doesn't it Seth?"

Seth gulped his wine down. "Loads." He was going to need more wine than this to get him through tonight's dinner.

"So, Summer, darling, how come I never see you anymore? I take it you still live in Newport, right?" Neil asked.

Summer nodded. "I'm still living in my apartment, but with Seth now."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Summer held her hand in Seth's. "We have some good news, actually." She told her father.

"What's that, Summer?" Neil asked, pouring himself some more wine.

Just go in for the kill, Summer told herself. The sooner you tell him, the sooner it will all be over. "Seth and I are getting married and I'm pregnant." She smiled at him.

Frieda gasped, taking her hands to her mouth and shaking her head. "Summer, dear, congratulations." Frieda said, after a few dying seconds.

"Daddy?" Summer waved her hand in the air in front of her father's face. "Are you okay?"

Frieda shook Neil. He was staring straight at Seth. Seth fidgeted on the couch, ignoring his soon to be father in-law and his child's grandfather. He knew something like this would happen. Neil Roberts' hated him and now he was going to marry his daughter, who was pregnant with his child. Although, Seth was surprised with Neil's harsh silent treatment he was giving him. He thought for sure that the man was going to cut his head off - he was always a mid-evil's fan.

"Daddy?" Summer repeated; hand still waving in the air in front of her father's face. "Seth, do something! You're a doctor! What's wrong with him?"

Seth grabbed the bottle of wine that was sitting on the table next to him and poured himself another glass. "He's in shock." Seth said. "There's really nothing I can do about it. He's just going to have to accept the fact that I'm marrying his daughter."

Neil muttered something to Summer, stood up and then walked upstairs. Frieda followed right behind him in suit.

"Oh God." Summer buried her face in her hands and started crying.

"It's okay, Summer." He rubbed her back. "Give him a little more wine and he'll soon except the facts."

Summer glared at him. "Getting my father drunk will not change the way he feels about us."

"It's a try, isn't it? You love a game of chance. Heck, you're still with me aren't you?" Seth replied.

Summer stood up and grabbed her purse. "Come on, let's go."

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