Disclaimer: If I owned the O.C., Ryan and Marissa wouldn't have ended up in this horrible state!
A/N: Ahhh! The spoilers were indeed right. The four of them have four new love interests! Okay, yes I know, I'll get on with it.
It's been five days since Ryan left for Chino to share the responsibility of the baby with Theresa.
Seth was not prepared for the trip and more importantly, he could not leave Summer. So, he returned to Newport just a day after he left, much to everyone's relief. Sandy and Kirsten were about to lodge a police report and upon Seth's arrival back, grounded him for half a year.
Summer was delighted that Seth had come back although initially, she ignored him. Nevertheless, Seth's perseverance to win Summer back paid off and now, they were back together again.
Marissa was relieved to hear that Seth had came back. She was afraid that Summer would blame her for Seth's impromptu trip. Summer was definitely not furious with her. On the contrary, Summer was worried about Marissa. Marissa had started drinking again and when Summer found out, she made Marissa promise that she would not drink. However, Summer was almost certain of the odd occasional bottle that Marissa had.
So, being the good friend that Summer has always been...
At the Cohens.
"Cohen, we've got to do something!" Summer cried when Seth opened the door for her.
"Well, hello to you too." Seth replied, ushering her in.
"Cohen, I'm not kidding. This is serious. Coop's suffering. It's all that bitch's fault!" Summer flopped down on the couch.
"Is there by many chance, the bitch being Theresa?"
"Cohen! How slow can you get. Obviously it's her. We've got to do something."
"Whoa, what do you mean we've got to do something?"
Summer turned to glare at Seth, "Are you Coop's friend or not?"
"Yeah I am, but – "
Summer cut him off with another glare.
"Okay. Fine." Seth raised both his hands up, showing that he surrendered. "What do you have in mind?"
"You know..." Summer was visibly getting excited.
"Uh no. I don't. Could you like please elaborate?"
"We get back at Theresa!"
"Yeah, how?"
"That's where you come in. You're going to help me plan this thing!"
"Perfect, Summer, just perfect. Except for one thing. Have you forgotten I'm grounded?"
"Well, then, we bring Theresa here." Summer said simply.
"Here? As in Newport, or as in here, meaning this house?"
Summer gave him an exasperated look.
"How am I suppose to get her here?"
"That's for you to figure out. I've got other details to work out. Be sure to get it done!" Planting a kiss on Seth's cheek, she headed out again.
"Yeah, that's right. Leave it to good old Seth to solve this complicated mess." Seth said to no one in particular and sighed.
----
Later, at dinner.
"Mom! You know, this dinner you cooked looks absolutely delicious."
Sandy gave Seth a what-on-earth-are-you-talking-about look but Seth pretended not to notice and continued on.
"The fish looks perfect. Just like how they do it in restaurants. Well, it's a bit off-shaded but it still looks really good. Oh and look at the-"
"Seth, just get to the point." Kirsten interrupted, knowing that Seth would never eat her cooking, much less, compliment her on it.
"Well, you see... I thought it would be nice to invite Theresa to stay here. I mean like till the baby's born. That way Ryan still gets to stay here." Seth said hopefully.
"We did offer her to stay but she didn't want to." Sandy pointed out, trying to get across the kitchen to order take-out without Kirsten noticing.
"Yeah, but shouldn't we ask her again? Maybe she's got a change of heart. A real change of heart. So what do you say?"
"It's fine with me..." Kirsten said, turning to look at Sandy for confirmation.
"Uh yeah, I'm sure uh... we'll all be glad to have Ryan back." Sandy said in a rush, trying to punch in the take-out number on the phone, which he was holding behind his back. "I'll be right back." Immediately, he zoomed out of the kitchen to order his Chinese food.
"The more the merrier eh?" Seth muttered. Now all he had to do was convince Ryan and Theresa.
----
"Oh come on!" Seth said into the phone. He was trying to convince Ryan to get Theresa to move back to the Cohens. All on the request of Summer.
"I'd loved to but..."
"But what? What's there to lose? Sum-"Seth hastily cut off, feigning a cough.
"Sum what?" Ryan asked warily.
"Sum... Oh some, someone would be glad to see you." Seth quickly covered up, then mumbled "So would another." No doubt he was thinking of Summer being satisfied that he had actually accomplished the given mission.
"Yeah I miss Marissa too... I'll check with Theresa."
Seth held muffled voices in the background for a while and soon, Ryan was back on.
"Yeah, we'll be there in a day or two." Seth could hear a smile in Ryan's voice.
"Ryan Atwood? Is that a smile I detect?" Seth could not help but tease him.
"Bye Seth." Ryan said loudly and hung up on a very elated Seth.
Summer would be proud that he managed to get Ryan and Theresa back, Marissa would be thankful and best of all, his brother was coming back!
A/N: The real fun is going to start in the next chapter! By the way, check out my other story, 'Imperfection'! Thanks!