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!)

WOW. Thank you so much for all the reviews you guys! There are so many people that have been reading this story from the beginning and I'd like to thank you for keeping up with the story. At time's it was slow…other time's I was writing like a mad man. This is my last chapter. It's hard to let go at something I've been working on for a few months. I'll probably throw in an epilogue. It's kind of hard not to! Also, a thanks goes out to Grace for correcting a few chapters and thanks to Vicki, my twin, for corrected as well.

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Now Luke, are you sure you're going to be okay with the kids?" Marissa asked. "Connor should be sleeping and Ben's probably reading a comic book in bed. Make sure he goes to bed by nine thirty, okay?" She handed Emily over to him. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Marissa, we'll be fine. If I need anything, or if anything happens, I know where to reach you." Luke assured her. Emily was slowly falling asleep in his hands.

"Okay, looks good." Ryan said quickly. "Now, can we please go out on our date?"

"Okay, but call us if you need anything!" Marissa told Luke and kissed Emily on the cheek. Ryan gave his baby girl a kiss on the cheek as well and left.

"Finally." Ryan sighed, as he started the car. "Nothing like a late-night dinner and a movie with my favorite girl."

"So, where are we going out for dinner?" She asked.

"There's this new place that opened up called Giovanna's Cuisine; it's Italian." Ryan replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

Marissa cell phone rang.

"Luke already?" Ryan moaned. "We're never going to have a quiet night alone until Emily's in College." He complained.

Marissa looked at her cell phone. "It's not Luke, it's Sandy." She flipped her phone on, "Hello?"

"Marissa? It's Sandy here. I tried reaching you at home, but Luke said that you and Ryan just left for the evening. What are you two lovebirds up to?" Sandy asked.

"Dinner and a movie." Marissa replied. "So," Marissa stopped herself. She didn't want to be rude or anything, but she knew that Sandy was calling for a reason. "So, exactly why are you calling me on my cell phone at eight o'clock at night?" She asked.

"Well, Seth told me to call you guys. He's a little occupied at the hosp-"

Marissa cut him off. "Summer's having her baby?!"

"Yeah and – "

"Oh my God! Ryan and I are on our way. We'll be there in less than five minutes." Marissa said and then closed her cellphone. "Ryan, make a U-turn. Summer's about to have her baby!"

"Yay." Ryan joked and made a U-turn.

Ryan and Marissa got to the hospital safely and found Sandy and Kirsten in the waiting area of the maternity ward.

"How is she?" Marissa asked.

"She's been in labor since Seth got home from work, which was at four." Sandy explained. "Seth didn't even call us until an hour ago. He was positive Summer was just going in and out of –"

"So, she didn't call me!" Marissa exclaimed. "I'm her best friend."

"Well, the baby's not born yet." Kirsten said.

"Can we see her?" Marissa asked.

Just then Seth ran out of the room that Summer was in. He crouched down to the ground and gasped for air.

"Seth?" Ryan walked up to him. "How is she? What are you doing out here?"

Seth stood up and regained composer. "Oh, Summer's fine. The baby's on its way and if I don't get back in there she's going to throw another rage blackout on me!" Seth wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "I've already had to go through three of them within the past hour!"

"Seth, how is she?" Marissa asked.

"Dandy." Seth replied. "The doctors don't want too many people in there, but I'll tell her you're here. I better get back in there before I miss anything." He said and then ran back into the room.

"Seth!" Summer yelled at him. "Get over here! Where did you go?" She demanded. "Here I am giving birth to your child and you're out there having social hour!"

"I was not having social hour. Marissa and Ryan are here. I was just simply telling them your status." Seth replied. "And, I was just letting you cool off from your last rage blackout."

"Cohen!" Summer yelled at him.

"Deep breaths," The nurse beside her said. The doctor looked up at the nurse and nodded. "Okay, on the count of three I want you to start pushing, okay?" Summer nodded her head. "Okay…one…two…three."

Summer pushed her hardest and started screaming. "COHEN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She screamed loudly. The nurse told her to push again and she did.

"Right here." Seth held her hand. Oh, what a mistake that was. Summer gripped onto his hand and wouldn't let go. "Summer, Summer…Summer! My hand. Ow, Ow…Summer!" Seth squealed like a girl.

The baby from Summer's womb popped out and Summer finally let go of Seth's hand. A nurse quickly took the baby and dried the baby off with a towel.

Summer started to cry. "What is it? A boy or a girl?"

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, you have a beautiful baby boy." The nurse said, placing their newborn into Summer's hands.

Summer smiled at her baby boy and started to cry even more. "Cohen, look! You're a daddy! This is our son. Our son." She repeated.

Seth took his thumb and wiped her tears off her cheek. "And you're a mommy." Seth replied.

"What to hold him?" Summer offered.

Seth took his son into his hands. "Hey, there buddy. I'm your daddy." Seth started to cry tears of joy. "Welcome to the life of insecurity and paralyzing
self-doubt, my son." Summer laughed and he turned to her. "We're a family now."

"You bet. Now I think you should go tell everyone before they ring your neck." Summer suggested. Seth agreed and gave his son over to the nurse.

Seth left Summer's room and went out into the waiting room. He sat down next to Ryan and smiled at him.

"What?" Ryan asked. "Has she…Did she have her baby yet?"

"You mean, my son?" Seth asked, with a smile still plastered on his face.

"Oh, sweetie!" Kirsten hugged him. "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations." Ryan and Marissa said in unison.

"What happened to your hand?" Sandy asked, looking down at Seth's' swelled hand.

"Oh, Summer wouldn't let go." Seth explained. "Don't worry, nothing's broken." He stood up. "Well, I better get back to the wife. Would you guys like to see our son?" Seth asked, proudly. He still couldn't believe that he now had a child.

Everyone followed Seth back to Summer's room. She had her baby boy wrapped up in a blanket lying on her chest. "Hey guys." Summer said.

"Sum." Marissa rushed over to her. "He's so beautiful."

Seth cleared his throat. "Must have been my genes."

"I doubt it." Ryan laughed. "Although, it looks like he will take after your messy hair." Ryan commented. Their baby boy already had a mass of dark drown hair that was in little tiny ringlets. "Poor kid."

"Ha, very funny. But I like the Jew-Fro." Seth replied.

"As do I." Summer threw in.

"So, have you guys decided on a name, yet?" Kirsten asked.

Summer and Seth both stared at each other.

"We've been so busy with moving into our new home that we haven't really thought about it just yet." Seth replied. Summer and Seth just moved in on the same street as Ryan and Marissa. "Do you have any in mind, Summer?" He asked.

Summer stared down at her baby boy. "Elijah?" She asked Seth.

"Elijah…Eli…" Seth stepped in closer to his son and took a good look at him. "Yeah, he does look like an Elijah. Elijah Caleb Cohen."

"Why Caleb?"

"Now, come on, Summer. Elijah Neil Cohen? That sounds terrible. At least 'Elijah Caleb Cohen' has somewhat of a tongue twister." Seth replied and the repeated his son's name over and over. "See, it's fun!"

Everyone laughed. "Are you sure you want your grandfather's name in your son's name, Seth?" Sandy asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, the guy did give me loads of cash when he passed away." Seth replied. "It's the least I could do."

Summer agreed. "Okay, Elijah Caleb Cohen is it." She kissed Elijah on the forehead and handed him over to his father.

Seth giggled. "He does look like me. See." Seth walked over to Ryan, Marissa and his parents and showed them his hair.

"Oh, he has Summer's nose." Marissa commented, pointing to his little nose.

The nurse came back into the room and took Elijah away. Apparently he was a sleepy baby, who would have thought?

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After a few days of resting in her hospital room with Elijah, Summer was finally home. It had been a long week, with the baby and the moving, but she was glad that things were finally rolling for her new family. She still couldn't believe Seth was her husband and they had a child together. Sometimes she had to stop and smile to herself to let it all sink in.

"Summer?" Seth shouted her name from the kitchen.

Summer stood up from the box that she was unpacking in the living room and went into the kitchen. "Yeah?"

"Elijah just did this cute little face! You should have seen it. It was like this." Seth tried to make the cute baby face, but failed miserably. "Well, it was something like that. Isn't that right, kid?" Seth pinched his cheek.

Elijah started to cry and Summer picked him up. "Careful, Seth. He's just a baby!"

"Really? I had no clue. I swear, I thought he was some Martian that was taking over the kitchen. Had me scared there for a minute." Seth replied, pretending to wipe the sweat off his forehead. The doorbell then rang. "Hey, look. I'll go get that." Seth jumped over some boxes and went to the door.

"Hey, Cohen. What's up?" Luke asked, walking in.

"Hey, yeah, come in." Seth opened the door wider. "We're good. How are you?"

"Good, good. So, where's the baby? Sorry I couldn't come visit Summer in the hospital. At the last minute I decided to go to Portland."

"No problem. How did that go?" Seth asked, as he walked into the kitchen.

"It went good. I took the girls out and we all had fun. I talked to my dad too…Things are still a little edgy between us, but we're working at it. So, this is Elijah." Luke said.

"Want to hold him?" Summer asked.

"Sure." Summer carefully handed Elijah over to Luke. "Wow, Cohen, he looks so much like you."

"Yeah, well, how can he not? With his father's good looks and all…" Seth replied. Summer slapped him. "Geesh, woman! Chill."

"Just giving you what you deserve, Cohen."

Luke gave the baby back to Summer. "Well, I just came by to say hi and bye."

"What? Bye?" Summer asked.

"Where are you going?" Seth questioned.

"Back to Portland. I can't keep living here with Ryan and Marissa. I need to be closer to my girls and maybe one day my wife and I can settle things between us. But that won't happen until I'm close to them."

"Wow, well, that's good for you, Luke." Seth replied. "We'll come visit you later. Once we get settled in and everything."

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Summer handed Elijah over to Seth and she hugged Luke tightly. "Don't disappear again, okay? Promise you'll call us and Marissa too!"

"I promise." Luke replied. "Well, thanks for everything, guys. You really mean a lot to me." Luke shook hands with Seth. "Send me some picture of the little guy too, okay?"

"You bet. With a face like his father's..." Seth said. "Thanks for being there at my wedding too."

"No problem. Well, I'll call you guys later. Bye." Luke said and then left.

"If you say one more comment about Elijah looking like you, I'm going to…" Summer grabbed the nearest thing. A box cutter. "I'll use this!"

"Okay, I believe you."

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"MOM! Emily's swallowing her toes again!" Connor yelled from the living room. Emily was lying down in one of the latest contraption that Ryan had bought her.

Marissa rushed into the living room. "Connor, she's just exploring." She explained to him. "When you were a baby you shoved everything in your mouth. Just make sure she doesn't take anything that she might be able to swallow, okay?" Connor nodded his head violently and continued to watch his sister. "Where's Ben?"

"Here." Ben said, walking into the house. "I took my bike to school, that's why I'm late coming home. I also went to Colin's house to say bye." He said and then started making his way up stairs.

"Wait…Ben, come back down here." Marissa called out to him. Ben walked back into the living room. "Exactly why did you have to say bye to Colin? Is he going somewhere?" She asked. Lately, Ben and Colin were inseparable. They did everything together. If Colin wasn't over at their place, Ben was over at his place.

"Yeah, he's leaving. He's moving in with his dad tomorrow morning." Ben explained. "I won't be able to see him anymore. His dad doesn't live in Newport.

"Oh." Marissa replied. "Well, we can always make a trip over to Colin's during summer vacation this year."

"Yeah, I guess so. Well, I have a lot of homework to do. I better get started on it." Ben said quickly and rushed off to his room.

"Mom, how come Grandpa and Grandma left to Florida when it's so hot here?" Connor asked.

Before Marissa could reply, the doorbell rang. "Hold on." Marissa answered the door. "Seth, Summer, come on in. Hey there, little guy," Marissa brushed Elijah's cheek. "How goes it with the unpacking?"

"Pretty fast. This little guy is helping us a lot." Seth replied, holding Elijah in his hands.

"Oh really?"

Summer laughed. "All he does is sleep."

Connor ran up to his uncle. "Can I see him?" Seth knelt down and showed him his son. "He's funny looking."

"Just like his father." Summer commented.

Seth glared at her. "I thought – "

Summer cut him off. "You're not allowed saying anything, I am."

"What are you two talking about?" Marissa asked.

"Nothing." They both replied.

"So, Coop, how's Emily?" Summer asked, walked into the living room.

"She's eating her feet." Connor replied. "She puts everything in her mouth."

"Just like you." Summer replied.

"Hey!" Connor shouted and Emily started to cry. "Oh, I got it!" Connor ran over to his sister and started to sooth her. "Super Connor's here, Emily. Don't worry…Aunt Summer's not all that bad like I said she was before." He whispered into the baby's ear. Emily stopped crying.

"Hey, I'm home." Ryan walked through the door and put down his briefcase. "Hey, there's my favorite little guy." Ryan said, walking towards Seth and Elijah.

"Aw, gee, thanks bro." Seth said.

Ryan faked a laugh. "Not you, my nephew." Ryan said.

"Ouch." Seth tried to look hurt. "So, what are you guys doing right now?" He asked.

"Well, I just got home." Ryan replied.

"Oh, right. Well, I meant after…Like when you get changed and stuff."

"Nothing." Ryan replied. "So, now that you're going to be living like three doors down, are you going to be over here all the time?" Ryan asked.

Seth laughed. "No." He shook his head. "Okay, maybe. Just to bug you guys, which I plan on doing right now. Let's say we all go out for some pizza."

"Yay, pizza!" Connor jumped up and down.

"Cohen, pizza?" Summer asked. "I'm trying to lose some weight!"

"Well, I'm sure they can scrounge up a lettuce head and cut it for you." Seth said, making faces at Elijah. "But, seriously, I don't think you need to lose weight at all Summer. You look great."

Summer blushed. "I know. Okay, let's go!"

"Okay, I'm just going to get changed and I'll go get Ben. I'll meet you guys outside." Ryan said and headed upstairs. He quickly got changed and then knocked on Ben's door. "Ben, we're all going to go out for pizza. Come on." There was no reply. Ryan walked in and found Ben lying on his bed with Captain Oats in his hands. For a second, Ryan saw Seth there lying on the bed talking to Captain Oats in his old bedroom, back at the Cohen's household. "Ben?"

Ben quickly put down Captain Oats and wiped his tears. "What?"

"We're all going out for pizza. Are you okay?" Ryan asked.

Ben nodded his head and Ryan didn't believe him.

"So, you can tell Captain Oats but you can't tell me?" Ryan asked, sitting down on his bed. Ben shrugged. "What's wrong?"

"Colin's leaving." Ben whispered. "He's the only friend I have and now he's leaving. No one at school will talk to me too."

Ryan wrapped his arm around Ben's shoulder. "Can I tell you something?" He asked. Ben nodded. "You know how I used to live in Chino until I was sixteen, right? And you know how I ended up with the Cohen's?"

"Yeah, Grandpa was your lawyer and he took care of you because you didn't have anywhere else to go." Ben replied.

"That's right." Ryan said. "But when I first came to Newport I felt lost. I didn't have anyone."

"What about Uncle Seth?" Ben asked. "You had him, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, I had your Uncle Seth, but at first I didn't know I had him. You see, I had to go back to Chino because I was in some trouble. Your Grandma wasn't too fond of me at that time, crazy huh?" Ben nodded his head. "Well, anyway, I never opened up to anyone, much like yourself, and I found it hard to make any friends. All of them saw me as the boy from Chino who burned down a house."

"Dad, you burned a house down?"

"No. Well, kind of…Long story. We don't have time for that one." Ryan explained. "So, these people never got to know me because I was reserved. I was afraid that if I opened up, people wouldn't like me for who I really was. Well, I was wrong. I met your mother and she was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Ben interrupted. "What does this have to do about Colin?"

"Well, Ben, the point is that you need to open up more. Not just to your mother and I, but to people at school. Don't be shy. You used to be so bold."

Ben shook his head. "It's not that easy, dad. It's harder now with Aden gone. I miss him and now with Colin leaving, I miss him too."

"Well, no one will ever replace Aden. The same thing goes for Colin too. He'll always be your friend. But trust me, kid," Ryan patted him on the back. "Open that mouth of yours and start driving me crazy like you did before." Ryan laughed. "I'll probably regret saying that later, you know?"

Ben stood up. "Yeah, probably."

"Okay, good. Now, let's go eat some pizza."

Ben grabbed his baseball hat and ran downstairs. Ryan was still sitting on Ben's bed. He smiled to himself and looked over Captain Oats, who was partially hidden under one of Ben's pillows. Ryan picked him up. "I never thought I'd say this but…You are one hell of a horse."

THE END

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