Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It means so much to me (it really does, I love getting reviews, as do most writers!) Okay, well as promised, here is the next chapter…I hope you guys like it, but, unfortunately, I don't think you will…I don't know what the exact, right words are to describe this, but it's not very good. It's sort of corny, but corny isn't the right word…I'd say cheesy but that's not really right either…well, it doesn't really matter, the point is, I don't think this is my best work. I tried to revise it, but it didn't really seem to work any other way either. HMPH! lol, don't mind me! Okay, so I would say I'll update after x-amount of reviews or x-amount of days, but, sadly, I'm going to my school's turnabout tomorrow night so I won't be home at all tomorrow and then I have to write a paper for school the next day. Hopefully it won't take me that long and I'll be able finish up Chapter Ten and revise it so you all can read it. (I'm pretty sure it'll be better than this crappy chapter so that's good for all you readers) One more side note, a lot of the drama that has been going on will seem like it's starting to be resolved in this chapter, but do not fret(haha), much more DRAMA is coming! Yay! Right?! Alrighty, so I'm going to stop rambling (much like my hero Seth) and leave you with this last message: PLEASE REVIEW, even if this chapter stinks (and don't be afraid to leave criticism for me because I do know that this isn't my "better" work). Okay thanks everybody! Have a good weekend! Love, Maddy

Chapter Nine

Seth sat in his kitchen the following morning with his cup of coffee. Summer had gotten up about three hours before. She had gotten dressed, had some breakfast, and made the bed without saying a word to Seth. She sort of waved before stomping out the door. Seth could hear her speeding away in her car from their house. Seth sighed as he took a sip of the coffee he had been drinking.

He had come up with his 'plan' of action where Summer was concerned. He was going to buy her flowers, cook her a romantic dinner, and get her a new diamond bracelet. Seth was sure she'd stop being so moody after that. Or, at least, he hoped and prayed she would be somewhat less moody after that. Things had only gotten worse over night; he was pretty sure she was angrier now because he didn't tell her about Ryan and his moving-to-New-York thing.

Seth got up from the table and dialed his work number. It rang twice and then someone picked up the phone. "Hello, Cohen Productions," Seth heard Bianca's voice answer. "How can I help you today?" Bianca asked in a cheerful tone.

"Bianca, it's Seth. I'm taking a day off work today. If you could cancel all my appointments for today and reschedule them, that would be wonderful," Seth told her.

"Okay, you're the boss!" Bianca replied happily. "Oh, I'm glad you called then. Alex called about five minutes ago and left a message with me. He wants you to call him or have Summer call Kellie…he said something about having dinner with you guys sometime soon or something."

"Okay, thanks, Bee," Seth replied as he made a mental note to call Alex later that day. "I'll see you tomorrow," he added.

"Your welcome. I'll see you tomorrow," she repeated.

Seth hung up with Bianca and then got out the phone book. He looked up the florist that they had used for their wedding and dialed the florist's number. He ordered two dozen red and dark pink roses. Next, he had to pick out the bracelet. He sighed and rolled his eyes as he rubbed his forehead. This was the part he always hated-like he was really supposed to know what kind of jewelry Summer would honestly love. Seth decided he needed a woman's help with this part, so he dialed Marissa and Ryan's number.

Marissa answered the phone after three rings. "Hello?" she said.

"Hey, Riss, it's Seth," Seth told her.

"Oh, hey," Marissa said. Seth couldn't tell if she was still mad at him or not.

"Okay, so I know last night didn't go well and I'm sorry I didn't handle the whole Ryan thing better, but I need you to do me a favor. If you don't feel up to it with everything that happened last night and the fact that you're, like, eight months pregnant and-" Seth started to babble.

"SETH! You're babbling!" Marissa interrupted.

"Sorry," Seth said sheepishly.

"You know what? Whatever the favor is, I'll do it because I'm bored and I really need to get out of this place anyway," Marissa informed Seth. "And, FYI, I'm not mad at you anymore because I realized last night, after I calmed down, that it's not your fault Ryan's such a dumb moron."

"Okay, well, great. I need you to go jewelry shopping with me and help me pick out a diamond bracelet for Summer," Seth told her.

"Sounds fun. What did you do that you need to give Summer a diamond bracelet?" Marissa asked curiously. "You aren't buying her a bracelet because of last night, are you?"

"No, I'm not, and I didn't do anything. Can't a husband buy his wife a nice bracelet?" Seth asked innocently.

"Well, maybe, but not usually. It's not her birthday…or a holiday…plus, I definitely saw all those death glares she kept shooting you last night," Marissa said honestly. "So I know you did something."

"Well, I will tell you as much as I know-which is nothing," Seth informed Marissa frankly.

"What do you mean? You don't know why she's so mad?" Marissa asked.

"Nope, not a clue," Seth replied. "Which is why I'm getting her the bracelet. I figure it may just make up for whatever I did. Which I don't know what I did. But that's okay."

"Seth, you're starting to babble again!" Marissa said as she laughed out loud.

"Sorry," Seth apologized again. "I'll come over and pick you up in about half an hour, how does that sound?" Seth asked.

"Sounds good. I'll see you then," Marissa replied.

Half an hour later, Marissa and Seth were headed to the jewelry store. "So…can I ask if you and Ryan worked things out last night?" Seth asked cautiously.

"Yes, you can ask…and, no, we did not," Marissa replied.

"And…?" Seth prompted Marissa.

"Well, we really didn't have a chance seeing how I stormed upstairs and slammed the bedroom door," Marissa admitted sighing. "He slept on the couch and when I finally got up this morning, he already left for work."

"Hmm, I was right…" Seth muttered. Marissa gave him a confused look. "Never mind…well, I know you probably don't want my opinion, but it's me, so you know you're going to get it," Seth told her honestly.

"That's fine, but don't be too mean," Marissa teased.

Seth smiled at Marissa, but then suddenly became very serious. "You know he loves you…I think you guys really just need to talk this thing out. I know everything's going to be fine," Seth said in a reassuring voice.

"I'm glad you think so," Marissa said softly.

"You will work it out, Riss," Seth repeated. Marissa shot him a small smile as they pulled in to the jeweler's parking lot.

* * * * *

Hours later, Seth was standing in the front hall of his home, waiting for Summer to come home from work. In one hand, he had the bracelet he and Marissa had picked out wrapped in a silver, glittery box with a bow on top. In the other hand, he had a bouquet with red and dark pink roses. It had a card that simply said 'I love you'. Seth was almost nervous as he stood there waiting for Summer to come home. Perhaps it was because he was worried she'd still be mad or just because he hadn't really done anything this romantic since he proposed to her. That, in itself, was probably another problem for them to deal with.

Seth sighed and started to head to the kitchen so he could sit down and wait when he heard a car pull up the driveway. A few minutes later, he heard a key in the lock. He watched the door swing open and saw Summer's face light up when she saw him standing in the hallway with the roses.

The hallway was lit with red candles and rose petals were scattered on the floor, from the door to the kitchen. Summer looked at Seth and felt like she was going to cry. She knew she had been so horrible to him for the past few weeks and she knew that the reason she was being so moody was not only side effects of the drugs, but also because she felt so terrible about lying to him. And now, he had gone out of his way to plan a romantic evening with her. As she crossed the room to hug him, she told herself that she didn't deserve this and that she should tell him right now about the drugs.

Seth handed her the flowers and said, "Read the card."

Summer did as she was told and opened the card. She gave in to herself and let a few tears fall down her face. "I love you, too," Summer whispered as she dropped the flowers on the table next to them and wrapped her arms tightly around Seth.

Seth ran his hand through Summer's hair and sighed happily. He was so grateful that she was in his arms, like he knew she should be. Although, there was one thing he was worried about. He gently pushed her back at little so he could see her face. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Seth asked as concern filled both his voice and his eyes.

Summer wiped her tears away from her eyes and smiled at him. "Nothing's wrong," Summer said. "You are just so sweet," Summer paused. "I love you so much," she whispered softly as she flung her arms around him again and held on to him tightly.

Seth had a surprised expression as he hugged Summer back. Something had definitely changed. One minute she was angry with him and the next minute, she was saying how much she loved him. All the sudden an idea popped into Seth's head. Maybe Summer was having this weird moody thing because she was pregnant. Didn't pregnant women have a lot of mood swings? Seth thought about this to himself and then, once again, he blurted out what he was thinking. "Are you pregnant?" he asked in a confused voice.

"No, no, I'm not," Summer said as she pulled away from him. "Why would you say that?" she asked in a surprised voice.

"Come here, let's sit down," Seth said as he led her over to the stairs. They sat down on the steps and Seth took her hands in his. "Listen, Sum, you know that I love you, but lately you've been…well, you haven't seemed to be very happy with me and now…you just seem…happy now…it seems like maybe you're having…mood-" Seth was having a hard time saying what he wanted to say when Summer interrupted.

"I know, I know…I know I've been acting like I've been having mood swings and I'm sorry, sweetie," Summer told him. "I'm not pregnant, just stressed out. I'm so sorry, baby, I truly am. I know I've been a nightmare lately and I am promising you that it's going to change."

Seth put one hand on the back on Summer's neck and pulled her closer. He leaned his face in towards hers and kissed her. Summer felt a shiver go down her back. They hadn't kissed like that in weeks, which was mostly her fault because she had been so grouchy and angry all the time. When their lips finally parted, Seth smiled at Summer and said to her, "I have something else for you." Seth stood up, picked up the silver wrapped box, and handed it to Summer.

"Seth, you've done enough already," Summer said sighing happily as Seth handed her the box.

"Does that mean you don't want it?" Seth teased. "Because I could take it back."

Summer smiled mischievously at him. "Um, nope. I still want it," Summer laughed.

"Alright, I expected that," Seth said as he sat down on the stair next to Summer and kissed her forehead. "Okay, we all know you want to open it, so go ahead!" Seth told Summer, whom smiled and opened the present. She pulled out the bracelet and slipped it onto her arm.

"Oh, my gosh, Seth, it's beautiful! Thank you, it's perfect! Just like you," Summer squealed happily as she turned to Seth and placed her lips on his. He placed his hands on her lower back and kissed her passionately. Soon enough, both were missing articles of clothing as they continued to kiss deeply and fiercely at the bottom of the stairs.

Seth pulled away from Summer for a barely a minute so he could say something to Summer. "Should we take this up to the bedroom?" he asked as he cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows suggestively at Summer.

Summer giggled as they raced each other up the stairs and down the hallway to their bedroom.

* * * * *

Marissa was sitting alone in her living room, channel surfing. Ryan had gotten home from work about an hour early, but he had gone straight to his at-home-office without saying a word to Marissa. Not that she had attempted to talk to him either. But that's how it was with them-when they fought, they pretty much just ignored each other until one of them gave in and talked first. They truly had a need to work on their communication skills.

Marissa sighed and decided enough was enough. She was going to go talk to Ryan and work this out. She hated arguing with someone who meant so much to her. Marissa pulled herself off the couch and went to Ryan's office. She knocked on the door and opened it. Ryan looked up and seemed surprised to see her standing there. Not happy or sad to see her standing there, just surprised.

"I want to talk about New York," she blurted out at bravely as she could.

Ryan sighed. "Okay, I guess we should," Ryan agreed.

"Well, Ryan, I don't really know where to begin. I guess I should just begin with how upset I am that you didn't tell me about New York. I don't understand why you don't trust me enough to tell me about things like this," Marissa said as she looked at Ryan.

"Riss, it's not that I don't trust you. I just didn't want to upset you and I know how upset and hurt you would be if we had to move to New York. I know you love it here, despite your mother and Caleb and everything else," Ryan told her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about New York sooner than this," Ryan said honestly. He got up from his desk, walked over to Marissa, and pulled her in for a hug.

Marissa wrapped her arms tightly around him and smiled to herself. Maybe they were getting a little bit better at their communication skills. "Okay, so do we have any choices in the matter of moving to New York?" Marissa asked as they pulled apart and sat down together on the green puffy couch in the room.

"Some what," Ryan said sighing as he rubbed his forehead. "First, of course, we can agree to go to New York and live there for a while. Second, I could turn down the offer and hope my boss doesn't fire me. Third, I could try talking to my boss some more about getting someone else to go, but I've already tried that twice and I didn't really get anywhere either time."

"What if…you say yes to the offer and move to New York and I come out and stay with you every weekend," Marissa suggested.

"Marissa, that's insane. We'll hardly see each other, it'll get expensive with all the flying, and to top it off, I'll hardly be around to see my daughter or son," Ryan argued. "We can't do that. It would be like abandoning you and our baby and I'm not doing that."

"Okay, but people have made it work before. Also, it's not like it would really be a problem money wise because we're pretty well off if you remember correctly," Marissa pointed out.

"Yes, but do we have to blow all our hard earned money on weekly round trip plane trips? I don't think so. I think there's a better solution," Ryan disagreed.

"Okay, okay, I know that's not the best choice, but none of these choices are the best. If we go to New York, we'll be away from everything we love and I will lose my job. If we don't go to New York, you'll probably lose your job. If you go and I visit you, then we'll see each other less until you either move back here or until I move out there. None of these choices are perfect, but you know what, Ry? Marriage isn't perfect, it can be hard, and it's not always fun. It's all about the choices you make and, whatever we do, we just have to stick together and make it work for us," Marissa told Ryan confidently.

"Okay, alright, I get it. Why don't we both think about all our choices for a few days and then we can decide exactly what we want to do then, okay?" Ryan suggested as he took Marissa's hands in his.

"Okay, Ry, that sounds good," Marissa agreed as she reached over and kissed Ryan's cheek. Marissa then stood up and looked at Ryan. "Alright, I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed. Are you coming?" she asked.

"Yep, I'm coming right now," Ryan said as he got up, switched the light off, and headed upstairs with Marissa to go to bed.