Chapter 5

Elijah snatched a piece of bacon off the tray of food that was sitting on the counter.

"Elijah Ezekiel, don't steal your fathers bacon!" Summer yelled at him, as he ran off into the living room. She scooped up the last of the eggs and put them on a plate. "There, perfect." She said to herself, grabbing the tray of food and heading upstairs.

It was nine o'clock in the morning and Seth was still sleeping in bed.

"Wakey, wakey!" Summer set the tray down on the night table next to Seth and crawled into bed next to him. "I cooked you some breakfast." She said, twirling her fingers in his hair.

"What time is it?" Seth mumbled.

"Nine."

"Oh shit." Seth sat up slowly in his bed and saw the food. "You cooked me breakfast?" He asked bewilderedly. Summer rarely cooked, especially breakfast. Her idea of the perfect breakfast would be a glass of orange juice and an energy bar.

"Yup. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, toast and those hashbrown that you love." Summer picked up the tray and set it on top of Seth's lap. "Eat up." She kissed him on the cheek.

Seth looked at her puzzled. "Summer, you never cook breakfast. Especially breakfast in bed." He stated. "If this is about you wanting to go off shopping today, I don't mind. You can go."

"Cohen, that's not it at all! But if you really do want me to go shopping today, I will. No problem there."

"Then what is this all about?" Seth picked up a bacon and pointed it at her.

"Well, I thought you might like it. I was only trying to help." She responded, as she got up off the bed. "If you don't want it, I'm sure I can just wrap it up and send it to a third world country…"

"Summer, of course I want it. I'm just, well…You don't have to do this."

"Do what?"

"This." He pointed to the breakfast. "Ever since I told you about my disease you've been acting strange and wanting to do everything possible for me." Seth explained.

Summer folded her arms and sat down on the edge of the bed with her head down.

"I'm fine, Summer. Really. I just need things to go back to normal. It can take years for anything drastic to happen." Seth assured her.

"I know." Summer let out a soft cry. "I just…I don't know what to think. I mean, now that you're out of work because of this disease, things are different, you know? I can't ignore what is really happening with you."

Seth nodded. "I know, me too."

Summer stood up and wiped her eyes. "Well, I guess that's the last time I serve you breakfast in bed." She let out a soft laugh.

"Anytime, Summer…Anytime. I love bacon." He crunched into his bacon and smiled. "Thanks." He said in between chews.

"DAD!" Elijah came running into the room and hopped on the bed next to Seth.

"ELI!" Summer screamed at him.

Elijah froze.

"Summer, it's okay." Seth laughed.

Summer ran her hands threw her hair and sighed. "Okay, I'll just go downstairs…you know, do what mothers do…whatever that is." She said and then left.

"Can I have a piece of bacon? Mom wouldn't let me have any downstairs." Elijah lied.

"As many as you want, Eli." Seth put the tray down on the bed and got off the bed. He wasn't really hungry after all. In fact, he was more sick to his stomach with the chaos of thoughts that were haunting his head these days.

"Dad, is it true that you're going to be away from work for awhile?" Elijah asked

"Probably for awhile." For a long while. Possibly for the rest of his life, that is, in medicine. He knew that he could no longer work in the field that he loved. It was too risky for him and his patients.

"Why?" Elijah asked. He was already done with the bacon and was now eating the hashbrowns.

"To be with you and you're mom, Silly." Seth messed up Elijah's small fro.

Elijah dropped his fork and covered his hair with his hands. "Dad, please! It took me forever to style it this morning."

Seth frowned. "You're eight. Who are you styling it for?"

Elijah blushed. "No one." He replied rather quickly.

"No one, huh?" Seth laughed.

Elijah bobbed his head up and down then bounced off the bed and ran out of the bedroom.

"I was hoping to save 'the talk' for another ten years." Seth mumbled to himself as he walked to the bathroom.

Ben got out of his car and walked up to his – parent's house. He knew that by now his mom would have already heard the news from his dad and he was terrified of what she was going to say or do.

Ben walked inside and looked around the first floor, only to find Connor lounging on the couch in the living room watching a marathon of the simpsons on television.

"I love this show." Ben said, startling Connor.

"Crap, don't scare me like that." Connor held his chest. "I'm too young for a heart attack."

"Whatever. Is mom home?" He asked, sitting down in a chair across from Connor.

Connor shook his dead

"Dad's at work, I assume?"

"He's working from home today." Connor replied with his eyes glued to the television.

Ben stood up and walked away. "Nice to see you too, bro." He mumbled to himself. Passing the kitchen Ben made his way to his dad's study and knocked on the door.

"Open." Ryan called out.

"Hey, dad." Ben walked in and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Everything okay?" Ryan closed the binder shut in front of him and stood up.

Ben shrugged. "Did you tell mom about…about the baby?" He asked.

"I did. She's over at your Grandpa Coop's place. Want some coffee? I was just about to pour myself a cup." He offered.

"Sure." Ben followed his dad into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table. "Dad…" Ben stopped and shook his head. "I don't know what to do."

Ryan put down a cup of coffee in front of Ben and sat down at the kitchen table with his coffee.

"I knew I've always wanted kids, but I didn't expect to have kids without a college degree." Ben explained.

"Things happened." Ryan knew that things didn't just happen. Mistakes happen, but he wasn't going to tell his son that. "When I was your age I was caught in the same situation."

"Dad, I know, but the kid wasn't even yours."

"For nine months it was mine. And for those nine months I was scared to death." He replied, honestly. "I did what you and Fiona are doing. I moved in with the girl and I gave her everything that there was to give her. You can't change anything, Ben, all you can do right now is help Fiona through this pregnancy."

"I know." Ben mumbled. "It's just…I don't think I can. I don't think I can raise a child right now. I'm nineteen. I want to go to school and have fun. Party. Anything but raising a child right now." Ben stopped and took a sip of the steaming hot coffee. "Now that Fiona's moved in…Things are different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know, we get into fights more often now and it's only been two days. You'd swear she's hitting menopause by the way that she is acting."

"She's pregnant what do you expect?"

Ben shrugged.

"Look Ben, I'm going to warn you. Fiona is going to be up and down. Your mother was like that and I'm sure she will be too. But once this baby arrives things'll get better, you'll see."

"Yeah, I'll be in debt and I won't have a life."

"Well then, I guess you can say that you've a lesson?" Ryan asked.

"You have no idea."

Ryan laughed. "Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"No more unprotective sex – or at least until you have a real job and you're done college."

"Dad, don't say sex. It's kind of freaky and besides, we never had unprotective sex. The condom broke and she never took the morning after pill." Ben explained. He couldn't believe that he was talking about this to his dad.

"There's another lesson. 'Always make sure the girl gets the morning after pill.'" Ryan said, "Oh, I just remembered. I must warn you that your mom is rather…Not happy of being a grandmother right now. You know your mother, she'll do anything to make you come back home."

Ben looked down at his coffee and shrugged. "Maybe I should."

"What?" Ryan was shocked.

"I don't know, maybe it's good to come back home to save more money for the baby. That's kind of the reason why I came to see you today."

"Just because you moved out doesn't mean that you're not allowed back in. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know. It's Fiona though. The main reason why she came to live with me is because when she told her parents and they immediately kicked her out of the house. She's catholic and her parents are really hardcore on the 'no sex before marriage' thing." He explained. "I wanted to talk to you and mom and ask if maybe we both could stay here for awhile…Until we have enough money to move out."

"Of course, I mean, if that's what you really want." Ryan was rather pleased with Ben's decision in returning home. He knew how tough it was for him and Theresa when they were teenagers. "Though, I can't speak for your mom, but I'm sure she won't mind Fiona living here if that means that you're coming back home."

"When is she coming home?"

"Not until the afternoon sometime. I'll run if over her, okay?"

"No, that's okay. Don't say anything. I kind of want to talk to her about it if that okay with you?"

"I understand." Ryan finished his coffee and poured himself another. "Want another round?"

"Nah, I've got work at noon, so I should be heading out now. I'll come by after dinner tonight and talk to mom about everything." Ben said and left.

Seth Cohen put down Elijah's comic book and frowned. "You know Eli, I haven't read comic books in ages and I forgot how much I loved them."

"Well, now you know what you've been missing." Elijah stood up from the couch and fixed his hair. "I'm going to go over to Uncle Ryan's now, okay?"

"You going off to play with Emily?" Seth asked. He was suspicious to what his son was up to. The kid never fixed his hair. Today he had already gelled it four times in only a two hour span.

"Yeah, kinda." Elijah replied. "We're going over to Sarah's house."

"Oh, Sarah's house…I see. Who's Sarah?" Seth questioned.

Elijah looked down at the ground and shrugged. "No one. Just a friend."

"Okay. I won't ask." Seth laughed and patted his son on the back. "I think I'm going to go over to your Uncle Ryan's house as well. Why don't we walk together?"

"Okay."

As soon as Elijah and Emily left Ryan's house, Seth and Ryan went and sat at the kitchen table.

"So, first day of not going into work, how does it feel?" Ryan asked.

"Well, it's great to be home and spending more time with Eli, but at the same time I miss working, you know?"

Ryan laughed, "Uh, kinda. I wouldn't mind a vacation right now. I'm just glad that I have the opportunity to work at home when I want to." He sipped his coffee and then asked, "How is everything with you?"

Seth sighed, "Please, I'm fine and when I'm not I'll be sure to tell you and everybody else, okay." He replied.

Ryan nodded. "You want more coffee?"

"Do you think maybe I can have something a little harder? It's been a weird morning."

"Seth, it's not even noon hour. You never drink, anyway." Ryan replied.

"I do so drink. Just not a lot like my parents, or perhaps, no more than my mom drinks. Hemingway was a big drinker and you know how far he got."

"Is there a point to arguing this?" Ryan asked.

"No, not really."

"Okay, fine. Let's go downstairs to the bar. I wouldn't mind a few drinks myself."

Sorry for the HUGE stoppage of this story. I'm trying my best to finish this story. And sorry for any mistakes. If fans of this fanfic are still out there, please review. Thank You