"A girl who'd wait for the third time around, head in the clouds feet on the ground,
She's a girl he's glad he's found, she's his Shipoopi."
---Shipoopi, The Music Man
Summer sat backstage in the costume room in her pajama's waiting for someone to get a call from Jackson and Wasman saying that they're almost to the school.
"Summer!" Sarah called walking backstage, "Seth and his family are here."
"They are?" Summer asked jumping out of her seat
"Mmmhhmm
"You'll let me know when..."
"You'll be the first to know."
"And where's Luke and Sam?"
"They're with Becca in the Cabinet room. And yes, I will send them to you."
"Thanks!"
Summer quickly hurried out into the audience
"Sum!" Marissa hollered, waving her arms to get Summer's attention
"Hey you guys." She exclaimed hurrying over, wrapping her arms around Seth, "Hey baby Cohen."
"It's good to see you Summer" Julie said trying to be as sincere as possible.
"It's good to see you too."
"Where's my girl?" Seth asked
"She's in the back. Don't worry, she's coming though."
"So how are you Summer?" Sandy asked
"I'm good Mr. Cohen."
"Please Summer you're almost my daughter, call me Sandy. Okay?"
"Okay, Sandy."
"Summer I have news for you!" Luke called walking up with Sam
"There's my girl!" Seth exclaimed taking a very happy Sam into his arms
"Luke." Julie said surprised
"Ju--Mrs. Nichols."
"I didn't know that you would be here."
"Yeah. I've been here for a few days now."
"Luke?" Summer said interrupting, "You said that you had some news for me?"
"Oh yeah. That one girl wanted me to tell you that those guys called and they're going to be here any minute now."
"Okay." Summer turned back to everyone else, "So I've got to get ready. Meet me out here after the show?"
"Will do." Seth said rubbing Sam's back
"Cool." Summer said and then whispered into Seth's ear, "Tell me what I miss between those two."
"Will do."
Summer quickly gave Seth and Sam kisses and then hurried backstage
"Where's my dress?" She asked rushing into the costume room
"Right here." Anne Marie said pulling a short pink dress out of the closet
"Thanks." Summer said grabbing it.
She quickly started pulling off her pajamas and slipping the dress over her head.
"Ahh, naked girls. The one thing I'll miss about Centrals drama department." Hauri said checking Summer out
"You better watch out Hauri. Sum's fiancé is out there and if he finds out that you're hitting on his woman he'll kick your..." Kristi started
"Kristi think about what you're saying, okay? This is Seth you're talking about." Anne interrupted
"You're right. Sum's fiancé is out there and if he finds out that you're hitting on his woman he'll get two of his friends to kick your..."
"Are they here yet?" Ms. Casey asked hurrying into the room
"Not yet." Becca told her jumping up on the counter
"They're going to be here soon. Take deep breaths, it'll be okay." Summer assured her
"They're here!" Sarah exclaimed sliding into the room with the guys close behind
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Summer, Kristi you help with the clothes. Becca, Anne you guys are on make up. Hauri get Jackson's mic set up. I'm going to go make sure everything is alright with the lights and then I'll be right back." Casey instructed
"Here take this." Jackson said handing Sarah a glossy picture as the girls began pulling clothing pieces out of the closet
"What is this?"
"It's Matt's birthday present." Jackson mumbled as he pulled a sweater over his head
"I though I just heard my voice." Matt said wandering into the room
"Getting into character are we?" Summer asked as she handed Wasman a belt.
"Yep. So, what's going on?"
"Here you go. It's from Jackson." Sarah said handing him the picture.
"'Happy Birthday Matt. Sincerely' Oh my god! You got the Beastmaster to sign this?"
"The Beastmaster?" Anne Marie asked as she applied foundation to Jackson's face, "You mean that guy from that stupid show?"
"No, not the guy from the television version. The Beastmaster from the movie. The actual Beastmaster."
"Are you ready?" Ms. Casey asked coming back into the room
"Almost." Anne said as she handed Summer some dark red lipstick.
"Everyone out in the hall." Hauri instructed, "Pep talk time."
Everyone assembled out into the hall and quickly formed a large circle
"Okay, so this is the first time we've all been back together since the matinee." Hauri began, "It's like Noises Off part dos. And you know, let's be honest sequels kinda suck."
"Hey now!" Jackson interrupted, "What about Empire Strikes Back??"
"And Godfather part two?" Wasman said
"And how about Kill Bill volume two?" Summer asked
"Oh my god. Sequel, sequel, half way decent. All I'm saying is that we need to make this incredible. You know 'cause my moms are out there and so is Summer's fiancé and we need to..."
"Wait did you just say your moms are out there?" Ms. Casey asked interrupting
"Yes. And as I was saying we need to..."
"How is it possible for you to have two moms?"
"Okay, let's make this quick. You see my mom never really had many friends until she finally got a job at Home Depot where she met LaDawn. She started hanging out with her a lot and sometimes she would stay the night at LaDawn's house. Now they both sleep on the pull out sofa in the living room."
"Wait, why don't they sleep in a bedroom?" Kristi asked
"'Cause my dad sleeps in the bedroom."
"Wait one minute! Your dad lives in the house too?" Summer asked, "And I thought it was weird for Luke's dad to be married to a woman and having an affair with a man behind his wife's back. This takes the cake."
"Dude, Wasman and I totally have to go to your house and make a documentary." Jackson said patting Hauri on the back
----------
Summer stood on the second floor of the set looking out at the audience feeling, for the first time, naked in the tank top and boy cut shorts she was wearing. Her heart started beating faster and faster as the curtain closed and she scurried down the stairs to grab a robe that was waiting for her on a chair before running out into the audience to see everyone.
"Hi." She said breathless as she ran up beside Ryan.
"Summer!" Everyone exclaimed before giving her an endless amount of compliments
"You were great and all, "Seth started, "but I'm a little upset that Wasman and Jackson have seen you in your underwear more times than I have."
"Well, Seth Ezekiel Cohen, maybe if you weren't such a tool after Valentines day and you would have waited a while to get back together with Anna you would have seen me in my underwear more than three times." Summer said as she tickled Sam's feet
"Well, I think that you were wonderful." Caleb told her
"I agree." Kirsten said smiling, "And I am so surprised that you would even dare to be on stage in your underwear."
"What Kirsten, you're telling me that nine months after having Seth you wouldn't have done something like this?"
"God no. I was still to timid to wear a swim suit, in my own back yard, a year after I had Seth."
"Hey there Cohen's." Anne Marie said walking up to the group
"Anne!" Sandy exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to be here. How are you?"
"I'm good. And how about you guys?"
"We're good too."
"So Summer, you going to the cast party?" Anne asked
"I don't know. I was planning on just hanging with Seth and catching up with everyone."
"You can do that any time. Come on, it'll be so much fun!"
"I don't know..."Summer said hesitantly, "Seth, what do you think?"
"I'm okay with what ever you want."
"Well," Summer said taking a minute to decide and before she had a chance was started by Sarah running up and wrapping her arms around Summer's waist.
"You did so great!" Sarah whispered into her ear
"Thanks you Sarah."
"I can't believe its over, can you?"
"No I can't."
"Well, I've got to go track down Dan. I'll talk to you later?"
"You bet."
"Bye Anne Marie." Sarah said as she began to walk off and as she took a few steps forward she turned around and said, "Hey Summer you know I love you in a totally sexual way, right?"
"Get out of her Sarah." Summer said shaking her head
"Good seeing you again Seth!"
"Bye Sarah." Seth said before turning to Summer, "Is she going to the after party?"
-------
"You guys caught Julie and Luke kissing during the intermission?" Summer asked surprised later at the after party, "Wait, was this the intermission before or after she found out that she's a great grandmother?"
"After. And you should have seen her face after that revelation. It was like someone had just told her that the old man lost all of his money and she'd have to start doing manual labor for a living."
"God forbid." Summer said with fake sympathy
"Oh Matt, I would marry you if our state hadn't banned it." Jackson laughed as he and Matt walked up to the table with a few other Noises Off cast and crew members, "How are you guys doing?"
"Good." Summer said
"So, is this what every cast party is like?" Seth asked as he took a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans from the middle of the table
"Yeah. Pretty much. But the after parties however..." Gwen started
"The after parties rock!" Jackson interrupted, "At the Seusical after party we went to Ariel's house and it was right after his mom moved to Florida so it was just him and his older brother and we just went crazy. We had DDR set up in the living room and we ended up knocking pictures off the walls. Yeah, that was a good night."
-------
A few hours later, Seth sat on Summer's bed while Summer bounced Sam on her hip trying to get her to stop crying and fall back asleep.
"Want me to give it a try?" Seth asked standing up.
"It's worth a shot." Summer said handing Sam over
"Hey there Princess. Hi." he cooed, "You wanna go to sleep don't you? Yes you do."
Sam's cries started to slow down and Seth smiled.
"That's my girl. And you know if you go to sleep I will buy you what ever you want. Yes I will."
Sam stopped crying and laid her head down on Seth's shoulder
"How'd you do that?" Summer whispered
"It works on Cohen so I figured that there was a chance that it would work on Sam too. Plus..."
"Plus like mother like daughter, so the chances are even higher right?"
"Yeah."
