"The Plan"

Note: Still don't own The O.C. or any of its characters...And still sorry about the dots...
Summary: Theresa learns the reason for Evan's strange behavior and Marissa learns the reasons for Seth and Summer stranger behavior.
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Ryan and Theresa were talking and playing with Samantha when someone knocked on the door of the poolhouse. They looked at each other, puzzled.

"Can I talk to you?" Evan asked as Theresa opened the door.

She turned around to Ryan. "Ryan," she started, but he knew what she wanted.

"I'll watch her," Ryan offered, holding Samantha on his chest and patting her back.

"Thanks," Theresa said and stepped out of the poolhouse and pulled the door behind her. "What is it?" she asked Evan.

"My dad tried really hard to get a job here," he said as if he was making sense.

"But, you said you moved here…because he got a job here."

"I lied."

Theresa laughed in disbelief. "Okay, so…why did you move here?"

"Because of me," Evan said looking at his feet, hoping Theresa wouldn't notice his eyes filled with tears.
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Marissa walked out onto the back patio of the Cohens' house and saw Theresa and Evan together. She immediately went back into the house, not wanting to interrupt. Ryan must be upstairs, she thought, and made her way toward his room.
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Seth finished writing a note, and folded it up.

"You really like writing notes, don't you Cohen?" Summer said sarcastically.

"Ha ha, Summer," Seth said, sneering at her, as he picked up the note that read 'Mom and Dad and Summer's Dad' on it.

"Wow, are we really doing this?" Summer asked Seth as well as herself.

"I can't lose you again, Summer. If you don't feel the same way, let me know-"

She stopped his words by putting her hand over his mouth. "Let's do this," she said.

They started to walk out of the bathroom covertly, looking both ways to make sure no one would see them. They were in the hallway when they realized Summer was still wearing only a towel.

"Cohen, what were you thinking?" she whispered as loudly as she could whisper, trying to show her irritation.

"It's not my fault, where's your bag?" he whispered back, also hissing the words.

They were too caught up in their argument to notice the visitor walking toward them.
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Marissa rounded the corner and saw her best friend in a towel, quietly arguing with Seth. To them, she thought, arguing was like foreplay. Why couldn't it be like that for Ryan and her. But then she noticed they were up to something. Seth had a note and Summer was in a towel.

"What are you guys doing?" Marissa asked cautiously as she approached them.

Seth was so startled by this that he jumped and the note flew from his hand.

Marissa stopped short of where it fell and picked it up.

She looked from the names on the note, to Summer, to Seth and back to the note. What on earth were they doing?

"Uh," Seth Stuttered, looking back and forth from Summer to Marissa. Marissa had caught them, and he didn't know what to say.

"Uh, no, nothing," Summer stammered. "We, uh…"

"We were just – well, we…" Seth made excessive hand gestures, but was still at a loss for an explanation. Neither of them knew how to explain what it looked like they were doing.

"Oh my God, you guys are leaving," Marissa accused, wide-eyed.

"No!" Summer said loudly, laughing nervously. "Why would you think that? No…"

Marissa looked at Seth.

"No, we're not….leaving," he lied, but his phony laugh told the truth.

"Uh!" she pouted. "Where are you going?" she asked, not believing either of them.

Summer looked to Seth for a reply.

"Summer's dad is coming in the morning, he's coming back to get her and we can't let that happen. You have to help us by not telling anyone."

Marissa looked uncomfortable with this and persisted. "Where? Where are you going?"

"Look," Summer finally piped up, "We don't know yet, but I can't go back to Baltimore. Did you know that some people still wear tapered-leg jeans there?" Summer realized this wasn't the time for fashion commentary. "We were thinking The Mermaid Inn, just for a little while, until we figure out what to do," she said calmly, looking down from time to time.

"Marissa, please don't tell anyone…" Seth begged.

"So let me get this straight – You," she said looking at Seth, "are going to run away – again? And you," she directed her glance to Summer, "are going with him - the guy who dropped his compass in the water the day after he left last time?"

Summer and Seth looked at each other with uncertainty and said in harmony, "Yeah, so?"

Marissa laughed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever. I won't say a word."
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Evan looked deep into Theresa's eyes as he held back his own tears. "I could really fall for you, you know that?"

She chuckled. "Is that a bad thing?"

He leaned down and kissed her lightly, then pulled her body toward him and they kissed eagerly.

When they finally stopped kissing, Evan looked at Theresa seriously. "There's something I have to tell you."

"Did I mention I'm from Chino?" she smiled. "I think I can handle whatever you have to say."

Just then, Ryan was on his way out of the poolhouse but stopped at the door when he heard that a secret was about to be revealed. He started to turn and go back to playing with the baby, but something made him stop and listen.

"The reason we left…."

Theresa listened intently. And from behind the door that she had failed to close all the way, so did Ryan

"I have a son."

Theresa's mouth dropped open. So did Ryan's.

"He's two months old, and his mother and I were only together for a few months, but I wanted to stay and raise him. My parents were ashamed of the whole thing, so they decided to rip all of us away from the lives we knew, just so they wouldn't have to be parents of a teenage father." Evan waited for a response from Theresa, but she didn't know what to say.

"I guess…" she started, "I guess we have…more in common than I thought," she said, a bewildered look on her face.

Evan smiled back, but got serious again. "Don't tell anyone, please. My parents would probably move again if people here found out."

"I won't say anything." Theresa took Evan's hand and started to lead him back into the poolhouse. "Let's go relieve Ryan of babysitting duty."

Hearing this, Ryan rushed back to the bed and sat down with Samantha.