DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I own nothing but the children in the story. (Please read and review!)

A/N: A late update…I know, I know but I have a perfectly good explanation! Aliens stole my brain. No, just kidding - although I'm sure it's a possibility. But, no…I decided to take the long weekend off and go up to my cottage. I wrote most of this chapter under my sleeping bag, while swatting away all those damn mosquitoes. Note to self: Buy some bug repellent. Oh-Again, the reviews were amazing. I hope I don't disappoint anyone with this chapter! Sorry for any mistakes too…I wrote it waaaaaay too fast. (It's what I call a filler')

CHAPTER FOUR

Instead of reviewing over the plans for the new mall that was being built next spring, Ryan focused his attention to the laptop in front of him. He'd gone through some extensive researching on Seth's disease. Inclusion body myositis was no joke at all. He realized that all of what Seth enjoyed doing now, he would no longer be able to enjoy. Simple everyday tasks will soon turn into painful tasks. Upon his research, Ryan also discovered that a small percentage of patients lose some of their speech, as well as most of them have trouble swallowing.

Ryan closed the laptop down in front of him and leaned back in his chair, lifting his feet up to his desk.

A knock came at the door and before Ryan had a chance to welcome the visitor inside his office, the visitor barged in.

"Ben – " Ryan rose to his feet and greeted his eldest son.

"Hey, dad." Ben sat down in a chair. Ryan noticed that Ben was wearing a baggy sweater and jogging pants. Something must be up, Ryan thought to himself. Ben was the type of teenage to wear a polo shirt and khakis. "You got a minute?" He asked.

"Of course." Ryan sat down on top of his desk. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's great. Fine. Great." Ben quickly replied. "I, uh…took the week off from work at the Crab Shack. I've been spending a lot of time with Fiona. She actually just moved in with me yesterday." Ben said.

Ryan knew that sooner or later the two lovebirds would move in with each other, but Ryan wasn't sure if this was the best time for both of them. "What about your school work, Ben? You'll be starting College this September. You need to focus on your studies."

"Dad, please…We've been together since freshmen year." Ben replied, lowing his head to his chest. "But…That's not really why she moved in." He admitted.

Ryan looked down at his son. "What?" Ryan asked.

"I said…That's not really why she moved with me." Ben repeated.

Ryan sighed. "Yeah, I heard that, but I meant why? What's the reason for her moving in with you? I mean, wasn't she planning on going to New York this fall?"

Ben looked up at his dad with glazed eyes. "No, not anymore." He replied. "Shit, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, Dad." He mumbled, tears flowing down his cheeks. "I don't know what to do. I mean, I haven't even started college yet." He shouted, and then lowered his voice. "I'm only nineteen."

"Ben, what's wrong? What are you talking about?" Ryan questioned.

"She's pregnant." Ben blurted out.

Ryan's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Fiona's pregnant? Do you know for sure that the baby's yours?" Ryan asked.

Ben nodded. "I've been with her for over four years, dad." Ben started choking on his sobs. He couldn't control himself any longer. All week he had held himself together in front of Fiona, but now he couldn't help himself.

"It's okay." Ryan squeezed his shoulder. "We'll figure this out." Ryan assured him, even though he was furious at Ben right now.

Ben studied his father. "I don't want to figure this out, dad. I'm nineteen…I'm about to go to College. I can't have a baby." He cried out.

Ryan knew how he felt. He remembered how he felt when Theresa had given him the news that she was pregnant, right before his senior year. Throughout the summer he had helped her, but in the end the baby turned out not to be his and he was off the hook. Ben wasn't off the hook. Fiona was pregnant with his child.

Ben wiped his tears. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean for any of this." He whispered.

"It's okay, I know you didn't." Ryan's fatherly instincts kicked into gear and he embraced his son, rubbing his back. "We'll get through this." Ryan assured Ben, while he listened to his light sobs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Connor grabbed the remote control from his younger sister's grip and changed the channel. There was only so much of the teenybopper crap he could take in one day.

"Hey!" Emily pounced on top of Connor. "Give it back!"

Connor shoved the remote down his pants and grinned at her.

"Give it back!" Emily pulled at Connor's ears. He did the same to her ears and Emily shrieked in pain. "Ow!"

Ryan sighed, walking into the house and dropping his briefcase to the ground. He was in no mood to take care of screaming children right now. "Both of you, cut it out!" Ryan yelled at them. They each dropped each other's ears and turned to face the television. "Both of you go to your rooms…You're both grounded." Ryan said.

"What the hell?" Connor jumped off the couch. "We didn't do anything but innocent ear pulling. What kind of crime is that?" He asked.

Ryan rubbed his temples. "Just go to your rooms…I have no time to explain my actions right now." He replied.

Connor glared at Ryan and walked past him, taking the flight of stairs two at a time. Emily followed her brother upstairs without an argument.

"Hey, I heard yelling…" Marissa walked into the house through the patio doors and saw Ryan. "Hey, where are the kids?" She asked, noticing their absence from the living room.

"Grounded." Ryan replied. He walked into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker.

"Okay?" Marissa laughed and hugged him from behind. Ryan tensed up in her embraced and she frowned. "Is everything okay, Ryan?" She asked.

Ryan turned around and kissed her, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. "I love you." He whispered into her ear.

Marissa giggled. "Thank you. I love you too…Now what are you hiding?" She asked. Ryan glared at her. "Come on, it's usually…I love you but, Emily's soccer comes first before her ballet. Or it's, I love you but, Ben should really move out on his own if he wants to. Or, I love you, but – "

Ryan let go of her waist. "Okay, you got me." He gave her a small smile. "But I still love you." He pecked her on the cheek and returned to his coffee making abilities. He poured two cups of coffee and set the down on the kitchen table.

Marissa sat down across from him and sipped the coffee from her mug. "So, what's wrong?" She asked.

From the minute Ryan left the Newport Group he'd been trying to find the right words to tell Marissa about Ben. All along, Marissa wasn't up with the idea of Ben moving out of the house. She wanted him to stay home, but Ryan had insisted that Ben make his own decisions. He remembered telling her that if she kept him on a short leash too long, he will never learn from his own mistakes.

There wasn't an easy way to put it. Fiona was pregnant and Ben was the father. Ryan swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's Ben, Marissa." Ryan explained. "Fiona's pregnant." Marissa didn't say anything. "Fiona's pregnant with Ben's child."

"I heard you." Marissa said, sternly. "I knew something like this would happen." She ran her fingers along the rim of the coffee mug. "I knew it." She repeated.

"Marissa, this has nothing to do with him moving out." Ryan replied.

Marissa shook her head. "I never knew they were having sex." She whispered and Ryan almost laughed. Of course they were having sex. "I want him home. He needs to come home." Marissa said, frantically. "He shouldn't be alone."

"He's not alone. Fiona's living with him…She just moved in with him the other day." Ryan replied.

"I don't care. I want him back home."

"Marissa, he's nineteen. He's not going to listen to what his mother wants. When you were his age, you never listened to what your mother wanted." He added, changing the subject.

"My mother's a different story." Marissa shouted at him and then lowered her voice. "I'm not like my mother and you know that. I just think that he needs his mother right now. He needs me."

"Okay, well…You can talk to him, but – " Ryan stopped, as he heard Seth walk into his house. "Seth." Ryan said, walking into the foyer. He noticed that Seth's face was white as a ghost.

"Hey, man…Can we, uh, talk about stuff?" He asked.

"Sure."

Marissa walked into foyer. Her face showing no signs of the conversation that she had just had with Ryan. "Hey, Seth." She, too, noticed his paleness.

"Hey." Seth smiled. "I was just on my way home…Thought I'd drop by and say hi. So, hi." He waved at her.

"Hi." Marissa waved back at him.

"Okay, so I'm going to go now." Seth said, opening the front door.

"I'll walk you." Ryan followed him outside. Once they were down the lane way Ryan broke the silence. "Okay, this has got to stop. I can't do this anymore. You need to tell Summer because I can't lie to Marissa any longer."

Seth nodded.

"I know it's hard, I get it…I just think that you need Summer by your side on this. She needs to know what's wrong with you." Ryan explained.

"I know."

"So you'll tell her?" He asked.

Seth nodded again. "Well, if I'm going to be quitting my job soon, then I'll have to give her a good explanation now, wouldn't I?

"What are you talking about? Why are you quitting your job?"

"Dude, don't you get it? I'm at risk to my patients." Seth replied. Today he was giving a baby a needle in the arm and his hand gave out on him. Pain surged throughout his hand and he ended up scaring not only the baby but also the mother. "I can't screw up…If I screw up then I lose my license. So, why not quit ahead of the game, right?"

"Are you sure you want to quit though? Your job means everything to you." Ryan stopped as they reached Seth's front door.

"I wish I didn't have to." Seth shook his head. "I just don't know what else to do." Seth gripped the door handle. "I guess now's the time to tell Summer, huh?" Ryan nodded. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck, man. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Sure." Seth replied and walked inside.

Elijah and Summer were in the kitchen baking cooking when Seth walked into the house. Elijah looked up at his mom, as he rolled the cookie dough into a tiny ball. "Are you still mad at dad?" He asked, placing the ball of dough on the greasy pan.

"Of course not!" Summer smiled down at him. "We're just not talking to each other right now."

Seth walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Eli."

"Hey, dad." Elijah jumped off the stool he was standing on and rushed over to him. "Want to see the new game that mom bought me today? It's so cool!" He bounced cheerfully.

"Not right now, buddy. Later though, I promise." He replied. "Summer, can we talk?" He motioned over to the patio doors.

Summer placed the pan inside the oven and set the timer. "We have twenty minutes." She said, taking off her apron and throwing it on the counter. She went outside and sat down on a patio chair. Seth followed her and sat down next to her. "What is it, Cohen?" She asked, impatiently. She wasn't in the mood for another one of their fights. She was tired of fighting with him lately.

"I'm sorry about the other day." He apologized. "I understand where you're coming from. If it were you, lying to me…I would assume the same thing." Seth held up his hands in his defense. Summer had every right to assume that he was cheating on her.

"So, you were lying to me?" Summer asked, anger evident in her voice.

"Yes, I was." Seth replied and then quickly added, "But it was for your own good."

"Cohen, I really don't have time for your mind games. Just tell me what's going on, okay?" She asked.

"You know how I went to San Diego to visit Chris?" Summer nodded. "Well, I didn't just go there to see him exactly. I needed his advice – his opinion." Seth explained, watching Summer's facial expressions. "When I took the day off, the other day, I went to San Diego to have some tests done."

"What kind of tests?" Summer began to worry.

"Summer, I didn't want to scare you or Eli. I wasn't going to tell you until I knew for sure." Seth quickly explained to her. "I have a muscle disease. It's nothing serious, at least not now."

Summer's eyes watered. "Muscle disease?" She repeated. "What kind of muscle disease?"

"Inclusion Body Myositis. Don't worry though, I'm fine, Summer. The doctor prescribed me some medication that should help me with the pain."

Summer nodded her head in agreement, even though she wasn't sure what was going on anymore. Just a few minutes ago she was furious at him and wanted to kill him, but now all she wanted to do was to hug him and never let go.

"So – So, you're okay? I mean, you're not in pain?"

"Please, Summer…It's nothing. Sometimes I'm in pain, but it's nothing, really…I'm not dying." Seth laughed.

Summer slapped his arm and started to cry. "Don't scare me, Seth. If you scare me, I'll hurt you so bad that you'll forget what pain feels like."

"Well, right now that doesn't sound too bad." He smirked.

Summer leaned in and hugged him. "I'm serious when I say I'll hurt you." She said and then kissed him.

"I believe you." Seth kissed her back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Someone asked why I called it 'Emotion Is Dead'. Well, you see…I noticed that in the season finale Seth mentioned that he wasn't 'emotionally equipped…' (Remember when Summer and Seth were talking about Marissa and Ryan while they were drinking coffee outside? It was at the starting of the eppy.) Anywho, 'Emotion Is Dead' refers to Seth's emotions and how he has to battle with them. It'll all play its role sooner or later. I promise. – I hope that explains everything. =)

-Also, I realize that I kind of sped through the last scene a bit…I'll make up for it in the next chapter.