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. Thanks Grace for proof reading another chapter for me.

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Chapter Twenty Five

Emily's cries were heard throughout the entire Atwood residence. Ryan rolled over on his side and sat up. Marissa put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him back down. "I've got this one covered." She said and then left the room.
Ryan glanced at his clock. It was already six in the morning. He had hardly gotten any sleep all night. Emily decided to keep the whole family up all night. Ryan got up and headed into the bathroom to take a long hot shower. When he got out, Marissa was back in bed with Emily in her hands.

Ryan patted his hair dry and then kissed his two favorite girls. "I've got to head early to the Newport Group, so I'll see you later, okay?" He asked.

"Okay." Marissa replied and kissed Ryan. Ryan then left the house.

With a crying baby in her hands, Marissa woke both boys up for school. "Come on, Ben…Get up!" Marissa yelled at her son. Ben was curled under his sheets, so Marissa threw the covers back. "Your bus comes in less than an hour. Get up."

"I'm sick." Ben grabbed his sheets and covered himself up.

"Let me feel your head then." Marissa replied, juggling Emily on her broken arm. She couldn't wait for the cast to come off soon.

Ben sat up and let his mom touch his forehead.

"Okay, you can stay home." Marissa confirmed. She had to admit his head was a little hot. "But, no horsing around today." Marissa left the room.

As soon as his mom left his room, Ben sighed. All morning he had been rubbing his damn forehead. But, in the end, it did pay off. He knew Colin would be doing the same thing this morning.

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As soon as his last patient left for this afternoon's scheduled appointments, Seth hopped on the examining table and lay down. He closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples.

He had just finished up with his last patient, David, who had decided to shove a peanut all the way up his nose. After trying, for several minutes, to take it out with a pair of tweezers, he decided to use the friendly vacuum tube. God, how he loved that device. The expression on poor little David's face made his day.

There was a knock on the door and a short woman peeked in. "There you are!" The receptionist said. "There's a phone call on line two for you. I think it's your father." She informed him.

Seth hopped off the examining table and picked up the phone in the lounge. "Hello?"

"Hey!" Sandy practically yelled into the receiver. "I just got home and I just heard your message. What's up?"

"Oh, well you know…" Seth trailed off. He had called his dad on his lunch break to see if he could help him out with the situation with Summer. "I was wondering if we could get together maybe."

"Oh? Is something wrong? How's the new job?" Sandy asked. He knew it had to be important if Seth wanted to get together and talk.

"Nothing's wrong." Seth assured him. "And the job is fine. How's dinner? Are you free for dinner?" Seth asked.

"Now I am. Are you bringing Summer by as well? I'm sure Kirsten would love to see her. How's the baby? Is she kicking yet?" Sandy asked.

"Uh, no, baby's not kicking yet and Summer won't be able to make it tonight. She…She has other plans." Seth replied. He knew he would never be able to talk to his dad with Summer around. He needed to talk one on one with his dad about Summer's father.

"Sounds like good stuff!" Sandy exclaimed.

Seth laughed. "Dad, are you on some kind of new medicine for your back? You seem a little…A little like a burned out hippie."

"Nope, you just caught me on a good day. You should have seen the waves this morning, Son, they were high as…as high as…Yeah. They were big…" Sandy laughed to himself.

"Okay, um, I'll be there in an hour or so." Seth hung up the phone. He tossed his white coat on a hook and headed into the waiting room. "Don't miss me too much, girls." He winked at the two receptionists.

"Have a good evening, Dr. Cohen." Martha, one of the receptionists, said.

As soon as Seth pulled the door to Summer's apartment open, he knew he was entering 'No Man's Land'. He could hear the vacuum cleaner and Summer cursing away in the kitchen. Seth took off his shoes and walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" Seth yelled over the noise of the vacuum cleaner.

Summer turned off the vacuum and wiped her sweaty forehead. "Oh, well, this morning I was getting a glass from the cupboard and there was a bug." She explained, in her high pitch voice. "Can you believe that? A bug!"

Seth picked up a plate from the stack of plates on the table. "So…You had to empty all the cupboards?" He asked.

"Uh huh." Summer nodded. "If there was a bug in this cupboard," she pointed to the cupboard where she got her glass, "Then there's been a bug in at least everyone of these cupboards. There's no way I'm eating on a plate that has bug guts on it. Maybe you…But not me, Cohen."

"Okay, whatever makes you happy." Seth said and then turned away from her.

"Where are you going?" Summer asked.

"I'm getting changed into something sensible and then I'm going over to my parents house for dinner."

"Oh…" Summer fidgeted with the vacuum.

"Yeah, uh, you wouldn't want to go." Seth quickly added. "My dad's probably just going to ramble on and on about something that really doesn't interest you…Or me. But, I have to go because, uh…He said I had to. Also, I think my mom is cooking, so that's bad too."

"Right, okay." Summer didn't believe him. "In that case, I guess I'll just go over to Coop's for dinner."

"Hey, yeah. That would be a good idea. Maybe you can pick up a few pointers on well…the baby and stuff. Trade a few recipes or something." Seth nodded his head. "Okay, well I'm just going to go get dressed now." Seth shut the bedroom door behind him and quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

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"I'm home!" Ryan yelled, walking into the house and dropping a large bag. No one was around. He put down his briefcase and walked throughout the house. He heard Emily crying, so he went to her room and picked her up from her crib. "Hey, don't cry…" Ryan rubbed her back. "Daddy got you something you'll like. Let's go check it out." Ryan carried Emily downstairs and brought the bag he dropped in the foyer into the living room. He laid Emily on the couch and took out what he had bought her. It was one of those fancy new baby bouncers with flashing lights and sounds. The only reason he picked it up was because they had little toys hanging above it, which meant maybe he just might make a soccer player out of her one day. He took it out of its box and placed her in it.

"Ryan, what did you buy?" Marissa asked, walking into the living room with her arms folded. "I hope you bought something for the boys too." She added.

Ryan pulled out a book about dinosaurs for Connor and a couple of comic books for Ben. "I came prepared."

Marissa laughed. "Emily's too young to bounce around in that thing."

"Give her time." Ryan replied. "So where's Connor and Ben?"

"Well, Conner's upstairs crying about…Uh, I haven't really figured out why he's crying just yet. He won't tell me why. And I let Ben go over to Colin's house a couple of minutes ago to pick up his school work."

"Isn't he sick? I could always go get it for him." Ryan said.

"He was a little hot this morning but by noon he was bouncing around everywhere…So, I gave up on his begging and let him go over to Colin's house to pick up his work."

"Oh. Well, I guess I should go see Connor." Ryan looked down at Emily. "Come on, Emily, bounce!"

Marissa frowned. "If you don't get up to Connor's room fast, he'll pull a superman stunt on you again."

"Right." Ryan fled up the stairs and walked into Connor's room. Connor was sitting in his closet with a flashlight and a blanket. Ryan knocked on the closet door. "Hey buddy, what are you doing in there?" He could hear Connor sniffling. Ryan opened the closet door and knelt down beside him. "What's the matter? Did Aunt Summer scare you again with her evil rage blackouts?" Ryan joked.

Connor managed a smile and shook his head.

"What's in your hand?" Ryan asked. Connor looked down at his hand, which was curled up into a fist.

"Nothing." Connor took his free hand and wiped his face.

"Can I see then?"

Connor shook his head. "It's mine."

"What is?"

"You said I could have it…If I found it and I found it." Connor said.

Ryan frowned at him and took his hand. "What the –." Ryan stared down at the salamander in Connor's small palm. "Why? How…Why do you have a salamander, Connor?" Ryan demanded.

"It's not a salamander. It's a newt and his name is Spotty." Connor looked down at Spotty and started crying. "When I got home from school to check up on him, he – he died, Dad. I didn't do anything to him! He just died!"

Ryan shook his head and wrapped his arm around Connor. He had no clue where he could have gotten a newt. California didn't have newts. "Where did you get Spotty?"

"At school." Connor choked on his tears. "Mrs. Kennedy said I could feed him and he escaped. So, I found him and I took him home in my pocket." He explained, looking down at his deceased newt.

"Here." Ryan held out his hand. "Give me Spotty."

Connor closed his fist and pulled it away from his Dad. "No, he's mine. I want to keep him."

"Connor, he died. We have to get rid of him. Newts can give humans' diseases. Give him to me and go wash your hands. I'll take care of him." Ryan stood up and held out his hand. "Hand over Spotty."

Connor shook his head and started crying. "God can't have him! He has Aden, so he's not taking Spotty from me. How come God has to take everything I like away from me?" Connor asked.

"It's not God, Connor. It's just life. Just like how Hammy died, remember? Stuff like this happens." Ryan explained. He thought he was done with explaining death to Connor, but he guessed wrong. "Why don't we go bury him in the backyard, okay?" Connor nodded his head and Ryan picked him up and carried him downstairs.

Marissa, sensing Ryan's worried look, grabbed Emily and followed Ryan and Connor outside. Connor dug a hole in the corner of the yard and put Spotty in it. "Bye Spotty." Connor whispered, as he filled the hole with dirt. The four of them stood there for a moment of silence and then went back inside and the phone rang. Ryan picked it up.

"Hello?" Ryan answered.

"Ryan, its Luke." Luke sounded worried.

"Hey, is everything okay? You sound a little…Off. What's up?" Ryan asked.

"I – I did something real bad, man." Luke whispered into the phone. "Shit, I wasn't thinking."

"What?" Ryan asked. "What happened? Where are you?"

"I'm at Claire's house."

"What happened there?" Ryan demanded. He knew Ben was there. "Is it Ben? Is he alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. He's fine, but he's not here. Shit." Luke cursed and Ryan could hear glass breaking in the background. "I did something stupid, man."

"Okay, I'll be right there. Stay there." Ryan said and then left the house.

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Seth picked at his food on his plate.

"You came here to eat, didn't you?" Sandy joked, biting into his chicken. "Or do you just love the company of your parents now?"

"Funny." Seth dropped his fork onto his plate. "I'm just not hungry, that's all."

Sandy finished up his plate and brought it into the kitchen. Seth followed him to the sink and handed his plate to his dad. Sandy rinsed the plate for him and eyed Seth. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Seth took sat down on a stool and sighed. "It's Summer's dad. I now understand how you felt with Grandpa."

Sandy laughed and sat down next to him. "Well, Caleb was always a cold hearted bastard by nature. I'm sure Summer's dad can't be any worse then he was."

"You'd be surprised." Seth replied. "He forbids me to marry Summer."

"Why is that?"

"Well, we've never really seen eye to eye from the get-go. He still thinks I'm not good enough for Summer. Oh, and there's one more thing." He added. "I'm Jewish. She's Catholic and to him…Well, that's like peanut butter and horseradish instead of jam."

"Huh." Sandy grunted. "Sounds like we have a Caleb Nichol on our hands."

"You're telling me…We told him that we were getting married and that Summer was pregnant and he went into a state of shock. And you know Summer, she'll listen to her father…I want this marriage to happen, Dad. It has to happen. I love her too much."

"So, tell her that." Sandy encouraged him.

"I tell her that everyday." Seth sighed. "When you and mom got married, did you - did grandpa try to stop it?" He asked.

"Your mother and I spent months travelling in a mail truck, Seth." He laughed, knowing that Seth had heard the stories countless times. "Of course Caleb tried to sabotage the wedding, but your mother and I loved each other and we still went on with it. Whether he liked it or not. Heck, he never even showed up for the wedding."

"Didn't Grandpa have some important meeting to go to or something?" Seth asked.

Sandy shook his head. "That's what he told your mother, but I knew he just couldn't stand me marrying his daughter."

"There's just one problem, Dad." Seth stated. "Summer isn't like Mom. Summer listens to her dad more than she listens to me."

Sandy put his hand on Seth's shoulder. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I see it is, if you two lovebird's are in fact in love…Then nothing, not even her father, can stop this wedding."

Seth nodded his head. "Yeah…I guess you're right."

"Of course I am." Sandy smiled.

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Okay, so I hope everyone is still reading this story. I know it's been a long one and I hope you guys like that. In the next few chapters I'm going to speed things up a bit to try and get everything to wrap perfectly together. I hope that by the time the actual OC season ends I can start writing another story. Also, thanks for all the reviews guys!