A/N -- Believe me, I feel SO guilty writing and posting this. I should be finishing the last chapter of Colors of the Forest, but I've been so wrapped up in this show (and Jesse McCartney lol) that I haven't been able to concentrate on that fic. I've also been writing the third part of the series that starts with 'Settling', so that may even be up before Colors of the Forest. Also, this fic is supposed to take place an indeterminate amount of weeks after the last episode, which aired 6/30 or 31, I don't remember.

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Summerland, it completely belongs to Stephen Tolkin, Lori Loughlin, the WB, anybody else who holds legal claim to it. Which, newsflash: not me.

Please Catch Me

Breakfast in the house was usually a chaotic affair. This Saturday morning, however, a strange hush pervaded the dining room. Bradin glanced at his younger sister, Nikki, silently inquiring as to what was going on. She shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Um . . . d'you guys remember my sister?" Jay was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Amanda?" asked Susannah, handing a plate of omelettes over to Ava.

"Mmm-hmm," Jay mumbled.

"She was just the sweetest little thing! Is she coming back for another visit?" Ava asked.

Jay hesitated a brief moment before answering, "Sorta. Only Amanda's not so little anymore, and with the bang she's gotten herself in, she could hardly be called sweet."

"What do you mean?" It was Johnny's turn to question Jay.

Jay glanced at Derrick before saying quite bluntly, "She's gone and got herself knocked up."

"Jay!" Ava reprimanded.

"What? It's the truth." His face took on an angry look. "I can't believe she's done this to herself. She's only sixteen!"

"Uh . . . how long is she staying for?" questioned Nikki in an attempt to mediate any rising squabbles.

Again, Jay did not answer immediately. Finally, he spoke. "She needs a place to live, actually."

His statement made the earlier silence feel like a trip to the zoo. The clatter of silverware on plates was heard no more, it even felt like nobody was breathing.

"Live here, Jay?" Ava cut in.

"Well, my parents have chucked her! I can't let her stay with the git who got her in this situation in the first place now, can I?" Jay defended himself.

Susannah, who had remained quiet through this exchange, suddenly spoke up. "Jay's right. I mean, if Ava can do it, it's only fair that his sister come live with us. Besides, she's a sixteen-year old girl who's about to be a mother. She's gonna need a hell of a lot of help dealing with this."

"Are you sure it's the best thing for her to come live with us? I mean I'm not sure this house is the best environment to raise a child . . . assuming that she's keeping the baby. Is she?" inquired Johnny.

"As far as I know, yeah. She wants to do this," said Jay.

"Well, I guess it's settled then," said Ava. "Are we all agreed on Amanda coming to stay with us? Anyone who opposes raise your hand now."

No hands were raised. "Good."

"Okay, now when is she getting here?" asked Susannah.

"Her plane lands tonight at around midnight, I think," Jay replied. "I'm going to pick her up myself. Hey, Bradin," he added, "You wanna come with me? Airports bore me to no end."

"Okay," Bradin agreed. "How come Erika's not going?"

"I'm guessing Amanda's going to react better to someone her own age. Maybe someone she can talk to?" Jay added hopefully.

"Yeah, uh . . . she can talk to me if she wants to," said Bradin, a nervous grin on his face.

"And she can talk to me, too," Nikki piped up from where she was seated between Johnny and Derrick.

"Thanks guys, I'm sure she's gonna love you all," Jay told them sincerely.

The day sped by pretty fast, with Ava and Susannah spending most of it trying to figure out a place for Amanda to stay. At one point, they were pretty firmly set on letting her sleep in Jay's poolhouse, and kicking him into the living room, but Jay argued until they gave up on it. Finally, it was decided that Derrick would be okay with his own little space in the alcove in the family room, and Amanda would take his half of the room he shared with Bradin. Jay even put up a small argument about her sharing a room with Bradin, but let it go once Bradin assured him that he wouldn't do anything 'unorthodox' as Jay had put it. Sharing a room with Nikki had been ultimately overlooked, because Ava had promised the attic space to Nikki to do with it what she wanted, and needless to say, nobody wanted to get on Nikki's bad side after what she'd been like when she first came to Playa Linda. The suggestion had been waved away almost as soon as it was put out there.

Eventually, everyone else in the house started drifting off once the sun set, and only Bradin and Jay were left in the kitchen, eating a late- night snack before heading off to the airport.

"So, how are things going with Sarah?" Jay asked in an attempt at small talk.

"Well, there aren't any 'things' to be going anymore," answered Bradin.

"Sorry, mate. You really liked her, didn't you?"

"I think I liked the idea of her more," Bradin said as he grabbed another cookie from the jar in front of him.

"Ah, that's happened to the lot of us," Jay reassured him. "But, time enough for that later. Now, we need to go get Amanda."

Bradin nodded and replaced the jar of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. Then, the two of them set off to bring Amanda . . . well, to bring her home.

The small airport located about an hour from Playa Linda was relatively quiet at this time of night. There were no red-eye passengers straggling through as there would have been in LAX, at least not yet. Jay had checked, and Amanda's flight was the only one arriving until 7:15 AM.

"Hey, Jay? What does this sister of yours look like?" Bradin was finding his nerve again.

Jay answered distractedly, "'Bout five-three, blonde hair . . . but knowing her, she'll probably have some other colors mixed in there. Kinda looks like me, but a mini-me."

Bradin snickered. "What?" asked Jay.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to imagine a pregnant, female you."

At this, even Jay allowed a small snort of laughter. Abruptly, he looked at his watch and then around nervously once again. "It's after midnight, she should be here by now."

"Chill, did the plane delay in Australia or something?" Bradin calmed him down.

"No, I checked the status until after it was supposed to leave. Do you think — "

Out of the blue, Jay's nervous ranting cut off and a bright smile flowed through his face, all the way into his clear blue eyes. "There she is." He pointed to a teenager wearing khaki cargo pants, a tight black spaghetti-strap tank top, and white flip-flops. A navy blue backpack was slung over her shoulder in a casual manner. Her shoulder length, strawberry blonde hair was swept up into a messy, but cute, ponytail. No other colors were mingled with the blonde, as Jay had thought they might be.

She shot Jay a small grin before heading over toward the two of them. "Manda!" he greeted her with a huge hug that pulled her off the floor.

Amanda laughed when he set her back down, then said, "Thought I wouldn't be seeing you for a long time." Her accent was noticeable, but not as strong as Jay's.

"Turns out you are. Lucky you. Amanda, this is Bradin. Bradin, Amanda," introduced Jay.

Bradin offered his hand and Amanda narrowed her startling green eyes. Jay laughed and said, "Tone down the hostility, Amanda. Remember Ava? This is her nephew. He's living with us now, too. So are his brother, Derrick, and sister, Nikki."

She shook his hand after receiving the explanation. "Hello."

"Um . . . hey?"

Amanda laughed at how uneasy Bradin's voice sounded. "I won't bite, you know."

This didn't serve to ease Bradin's nervousness, he just stood there until Jay mentioned something about getting Amanda's luggage.

"Actually, it's been shipped here because there's too much to load on the plane," explained Amanda.

"Okay, well then I guess we should go."

The cheeriness of Jay and Amanda's initial meeting seemed to evaporate before Bradin's eyes on the hour-long ride home. Of course, it all began with Jay bringing up the reason why Amanda needed a place to live in the first place.

The roads were quiet, seeing as it was how nearly two o' clock in the morning, allowing for Jay to concentrate well enough on lecturing Amanda while Bradin sat, for the most part, mute in the back seat. "Weren't you thinking about the consequences? You are sixteen years old, you shouldn't have even been thinking about having sex!"

"Okay, Mr. "I lost my virginity in the sixth grade"," Amanda grumbled.

Jay's face was tinted slightly red, but he went on. "That has nothing to do with this situation. And you're planning on keeping this child?"

"Yes," said Amanda defiantly. "I'm going to accept responsibility for what I've done, Dad."

"Don't you speak to me like that!" Jay warned.

Amanda remained staunchly silent for the rest of the ride home, not responding to anything Jay or Bradin said. By the time they reached the house, she had fallen asleep with her head lolling against the headrest.

Jay pulled into his parking spot in front of the house and looked back at Bradin. "You wake her up. I'm not in the mood for another confrontation." With that, he left for his poolhouse.

Bradin got out of the car and went around to the front passenger side door. He opened it, and Amanda started at the sound. For a second, Bradin could have sworn that he detected a slight hint of something like . . . fear in her eyes, but it flashed away before he had the chance to question it. "We're here."

Amanda nodded her head and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

With a quick glance at his watch, Bradin said, "Almost three."

"God, this lack of sleep cannot be good for the kid," mumbled Amanda. She stepped from the car with her bag, slamming the door behind her. "So, where am I staying?"

"My room," answered Bradin quickly, because he had been expecting the question.

"Your room? Where are you sleeping?"

"My room."

"Um . . . okay. And Jay didn't have any objections about this idea?" asked Amanda on their way to the house.

"Of course he did. But he'd rather not lose his poolhouse. He likes to spend . . . er, quality, time there with Erika if you know what I mean."

"Erika? So, he's still got it bad for Hot Stuff, huh?" asked Amanda.

Bradin held a finger to his lips while he let them into the house, then led her to the room they now shared. Derrick's bed had been transformed into one with a cream-colored comforter bearing swirling vines with tiny purple flowers interspersed among them. A set of pale lavender sheets was underneath. The closet that had previously held Derrick's clothes was empty except for about two dozen hangers, and the same went for the drawers on that half of the room.

He nodded toward the closet as a place to stow her backpack for now, then asked, "How do you know about those surfer nicknames? You were what, nine that summer of '97 they all talk about?"

"I was always hanging around Jay and his friends. They even gave me my own honorary nickname: Reeflet," Amanda explained.

"Makes sense. They called Jay Reefbreaker . . . you do look like him."

"So I've been told," Amanda admitted through a yawn.

"You should get some sleep," Bradin told her.

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like a plan to me." Amanda grabbed her bag from where she'd thrown it on the floor and asked, "Is there a bathroom where I can clean up?"

Bradin walked her to the bathroom, then left her there. Once back in his room, he changed into his standard pajamas, which consisted of a pair of boxers and nothing else. Half an hour later, Amanda re-entered the room wearing a white tee-shirt and green shorts that reached her knees. Her hair was damp and hung in loose waves to her shoulder blades.

She glanced at Bradin, and apparently came to the conclusion that he was asleep. She sat on top of the bed and rested both hands lightly across her stomach. "Well, I guess it's just you and me now, kid. Ah, you wouldn't have liked your dad much anyway. Bit of a moron, that one was," she whispered. Bradin could sense that she was holding back tears, and felt the sudden urge to go comfort her.

He repressed it, though, and just rolled over to face the window. He didn't want to see her pain, nor acknowledge the fact that it hurt him to see her like that. So, he just forced himself into a restless sleep.

Amanda woke very early the next morning, around 5:00. Seeing as how it was Sunday morning, nobody else was awake yet and she found the peace comforting, almost soothing. Nobody had asked about her hobbies, but if they had they would have found out that she was as much into surfing as Jay was. Which was why when she woke, she was disappointed to find that the rest of her things, including her surfboard, hadn't arrived.

Then she remembered that Jay slept in the poolhouse, with his surfboard on that shelf right next to him . . . he would never miss it if she just took it for an hour! She knew he'd go off the wall if he knew she was out surfing, whether it was his board or not, because of the baby. Oh well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

Amanda slid out of bed and ignored the prone form of Bradin a few feet over. She knew he'd try and stop her as well. She slipped into her orange bikini and looked down at her stomach. I won't be able to wear this in a few months' time, she realized with dismay.

She grabbed a towel that was hanging on the deck on her way out of the house. The sky was still relatively dark, but a faint tinge of paleness on the horizon let her know that the sun would be rising within a couple hours. These was her favorite kind of surfing conditions.

Amanda slunk into the backyard that led down to the beach and made a quick left to reach Jay's poolhouse. She experimentally pushed the door, and was glad to find that it opened at her touch. She entered, and found Jay and Erika curled up in his bed, sleeping soundly. As she grabbed the board from Jay's shelf he gave a particularly loud snore, causing Amanda to nearly drop it on her feet.

Nevertheless, she caught it and glared at Jay on her way out for almost getting her caught.

"Be careful out there," a quiet, muffled voice came from the bed. Amanda recognized it at once as Erika's.

"Thanks," Amanda whispered back, and slipped out the door. She headed straight down to the beach and laid her towel down on the rocks before heading straight into the water. It was surprisingly warm, considering the sun hadn't even grazed its surface yet. She paddled out into the oncoming wave, and launched herself upward when she felt she couldn't hold out any longer. The sensation of flying on that wave let her forget all her problems, it allowed her to live solely in that world for however long she wanted. She didn't have to worry about anything except the next wave.

Two hours later Amanda still hadn't returned from the beach, which was why Erika was trying her hardest to dissuade Jay from going to her room and waking her up.

"Come on, it's only seven in the morning. Let the poor girl sleep!"

"Is there some reason why you really don't want me to go into that room? Don't tell me . . . " Jay rolled over and sure enough, his board was missing from its usual perch on his top shelf. "Damn it! Did you know she was going out there?"

"Sort of. But I told her to be careful!" Erika protested.

"That doesn't matter, she could do serious damage to the baby, or to herself!" Jay shouted, obviously ignoring the fact that it was early enough for everyone to still be sleeping.

Just then, a sleep-tousled Ava opened Jay's door. "What's going on in here? Are you okay?"

"I am, but my bloody insane sister is not going to be," Jay warned as he stood from bed and threw his tee-shirt on over his shorts. He stalked down toward the water and stopped once he got there. He put a hand to his eyes to shade the glare of the rising sun and spotted Amanda, far out into the water about to catch yet another wave.

"Amanda Grace Robertson, don't you dare!" Jay shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth now to produce the effect of a megaphone.

Amanda seemed to have heard him, because she turned and looked back. Her face fell when she realized how dead she was. Might as well, she thought. She turned her back resolutely on Jay, Erika, and Ava standing on the beach and caught the wave coming at her. This time, though, she let it carry her all the way back to the shore.

"What were you thinking?! You could have done serious damage — " yelled Jay

"Just stop it, okay? I'm here, aren't I? I didn't cause any "serious damage", so just leave it alone!" Amanda shouted back.

Jay grabbed the board from her arms, and bellowed, "That's not the point! You could have!"

Amanda turned on her heel, fully intending to stalk back to her room and lock herself in for the rest of the day, but Jay grabbed her arm and whirled her back around. She flinched and turned her head away, as if expecting a blow that would never come. Right away, Jay let go of her arm and his expression softened. "What — "

Amanda didn't give him a chance to finish the question, she turned and ran back to the house. She pushed past a young girl, about thirteen or fourteen from the looks of her, with brown hair who was exiting the house as she ran in. Amanda assumed it must be Bradin's sister, Nikki, but didn't stop to chat. Instead, she found her room, slammed the door shut, and locked it behind her. Bradin jumped up and whacked his nose on the nightstand in between the two beds. He had still been sleeping when she got back.

"Ow . . . " he groaned.
"What the hell was that
about?"

Amanda ignored him once again and flopped onto her own, unmade bed. She grabbed a pillow and pulled it over her face. "Hey . . . are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Amanda's voice was muffled from behind the pillow.

"I don't know," Bradin answered truthfully.

Amanda heard him start to unlock the door and said, "Don't you dare. They'll all come rushing in here at once. I don't want to deal with this now."

She heard Bradin sigh, then felt the edge of her mattress tip slightly. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, no."

"Okay, well then am I allowed to leave the room?" he asked.

"No," Amanda told him.

"What am I supposed to do in here?" Bradin complained. "I want to surf before it gets too hot out there."

"Too bad. I know if you open that door, there'll be a tidal wave of concerned citizens," Amanda spat out the last two words.

"Can you at least tell me what happened?"

"Fine! I went surfing with Jay's board and got caught, okay? Happy now?" Amanda threw the pillow off her face and sat up.

"No, I'm not happy. Why a 'tidal wave' of concerned citizens? Is Jay just mad because you took the board?"

"He didn't want me out there because I'm pregnant," Amanda said.

It was the first time the subject had been broached directly with Bradin. "It is kind of dangerous."

"Look, I don't need you lecturing me too . . . "

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. Hey, want to play a game or something until you feel it's 'safe' again to leave the room?" Bradin suggested.

"I guess."

Bradin went to the closet and pulled down an array of board games and a deck of cards. "What do you say?"

"I say I can kick your sorry butt in Scrabble," Amanda challenged.

"It's on."

For the next two and a half hours, they played Scrabble. True to her word, Amanda beat the pants off Bradin with a final score of 515 to 247. The sun was already high in the sky by the time they finished. Amanda lay stretched out on her bed, Bradin on his. Finally, he looked over and saw that she had fallen asleep. He got up and let himself out, to be met with . . . an empty house. He had been expecting Jay at least to be sitting in the kitchen waiting for someone to come out. But, nobody was there or in the living room. Bradin walked outside and the mystery of no people was solved. Everyone was down by the beach, lounging on towels with the exception of Nikki and Derrick, who were in the water. Jay, Erika, Johnny, Susannah, and Ava all looked to be in deep conversation.

"Hey, guys."

They all looked up as Bradin approached. "What the devil were you doing in there?" Jay asked.

"Playing Scrabble," Bradin
answered innocently.

"Is Amanda okay? She kind of freaked out earlier," Erika told Bradin.

"Yeah, she's fine. Sleeping now."

"She better get all she can now," Susannah said with a snort of laughter. "She won't be getting much of that once the baby comes."

"You're sure she's okay? She didn't mention anything to you . . . "

"No, Aunt Ava, she didn't want to talk about it. And I'm sure she's okay," Bradin assured her.

"Fine. I'll go and check on her later," Ava said.

"She wouldn't let me leave, though. Said she didn't want to deal with you guys yet. What exactly happened out here?" asked Bradin.

"We're not really sure either. It seemed like she thought Jay was going to hit her or something," Erika clarified.

"You were pretty mad, you know. Maybe you scared her," suggested Ava.

"But why would she be afraid if she hasn't already been hit by someone else?" questioned Susannah.

"I swear to God if it's that bastard who calls himself her baby's father I will fly to Australia myself and — "

"Jay!" Ava reprimanded with an obscure nod to Nikki, who had joined the group now.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing you have to worry about," said Ava. "Why don't you just go back and swim a little longer?"

Nikki hesitated, but then shrugged and left. "Do you really think he would abuse her? Do you even know him?" Johnny asked Jay.

"I know Brenn, alright. And I wouldn't put it past the sleaze ball to do something like that," Jay said. Erika noticed he was rhythmically clenching and unclenching his fists.

"But do you think he would have gone to such extremes?" asked Erika, who had met Brenn many years ago when Jay had first come to America, and his family had been visiting. Amanda had, of course, accompanied them and brought Brenn along.

"You don't know him like I do. I've seen him beat the bejesus out of a kid for just talking to Amanda. He's a real jealous one," Jay reasoned.

"Somebody should talk to her and find out," suggested Susannah.

"I think Bradin should do it."

Bradin looked at Johnny as if he'd grown an extra head. "Sure, Johnny, I'll just walk right up to her and say, "Sorry to bother you, but have you ever been beaten by your ex-boyfriend? We'd really like to know"."

"You seem to be the one who's gotten the closest to her," Susannah added.

"Yeah, Bradin. She won't kill you if you talk to her. That's a good sign," said Jay with a smirk on his face.

"Whatever, I'll talk to her later. I'm not gonna bother her now. I'm going out into the water."

Ava and the others nodded, indicating they'd heard him. Bradin took the water at a run and winced when the icy freshness hit his chest. After a couple waves, he noticed the sky take on a nasty grey color with low, flat clouds that were even darker. His aunt motioned to him that they were going inside, but he just nodded and took the last wave.

After a few more minutes, rain started pelting his face and chest, so Bradin decided the best course of action would be to get out and dry off. Moments later, he came inside with a towel tied around his waist, hair plastered wet over his forehead. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Amanda sitting on the couch in the living room, next to her was Ava and Susannah. He assumed Jay, Johnny and Derrick were finding refuge in the poolhouse, and Nikki was sulking over the absence of Cameron in her room.

It looked to him as if they were talking about boring girl stuff, so he totally passed by them and went straight into his room. A muted growl from his stomach made him realize that he hadn't eaten that morning before heading out, so he went back into the kitchen and fixed himself a sandwich. He grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator before leaving. On his way back, he heard snippets of conversation from the living room. ". . . morning sickness . . . cravings . . . the actual birth . . . " It sounded to him as if Ava and Susannah were trying to warn Amanda of all that she'd be facing in the upcoming months. Bradin gave a mental shiver. Some things were better left unsaid.