None of The O.C. belongs to me. I've kind of been on a writing spree, so after a few dozen failed attempts, this came out quickly.

"Good morning, sunshine." Seth set down a coffee cup on Summer's bedside table and brushed her hair out of her face.

Summer pushed herself up onto her palms, squinting. "Shit, what time is it?"

"11."

"Is Chris at school?"

"Ryan drove him."

"Really?"

Seth nodded, slipping off the side of the bed, and lowering his head in front of hers on the sheets. "How's your head?"

"Heavy."

"What were you drinking last night?"

Summer rolled over onto her butt, falling back down onto her back, and shrugged. "A lot of cheap wine."

"How's Luke?"

"He drank as much as I did, so I'd guess the same."

"No, I mean how was he?"

"Oh. Good."

"Something wrong?"

"He was just lonely."

"Oh. You should've told me; I would've gone with you."

Summer shrugged. "You were asleep, and Luke just needed to chill out. He's too into his work."

"Then it's good you went over."

"Yeah, I think he's better. He talked...a lot."

"That's good. You guys catch up?"

Summer shrugged, bending her knees. Seth turned his head sideways to look at her straight.

"Are you okay?" Summer turned to her side and moved closer in.

Seth nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason. Me and Luke are just friends."

"I know."

"We talked about, like, people that work for him and Chris and how fantastic I am."

"That's all?"

"And you."

"Me?"

"He's just nervous. Thinks I'm in love with you."

"Thinks?"

"Well, he's right. But he's scared for Chris. He wants to make sure he'll get a good one."

Seth nodded. "I'm scared for him too."

"I'm not." Summer grinned, falling slightly forward to press a tiny kiss against Seth's turned lips.

He smiled faintly at her, moving forward to return the kiss. Gently, he opened her mouth with his and slowly turned her cheek to give him better access to her slightly chapped lips.

It wasn't that he was nervous about her hanging out with Luke, because he knew who she was. And when he was kissing her, he knew that she would never do anything that he had to be worried about. But when her hands came out to cup his cheeks, he knew that Luke might want to do something that would make him very worried. She was so beautiful, and she was so attentive, and she was so sweet, that no guy could really resist her. She was so...perfect. The way she tasted, and the way she smelled, and the way she smiled against his mouth was irresistible. It was that simple.

And Seth had never really trusted Luke even when he was with Marissa when she was all...sixteen-year-old Marissa.

Her fingers were tracing patterns on his neck, and he knew she was frustrated with how slow he was going. He brought his hands around her back, pulling her in farther and farther until she fell off the bed on top of him.

He marveled for a minute at how well she fit like a puzzle piece. She was still dressed in the tee shirt she had refused to change out of the night before and panties without the jeans that he had convinced her to take off or the boxer shorts he hadn't been able to convince her to put on. She moaned quietly when his hands glided up the backs of her legs, over her ass, and underneath the back of the tee shirt. She followed his hands' path of her shirt, slipping quickly over his hands and unfastening her bra, throwing it back up onto the bed.

Summer was always so careful, but anxious. Seth was content with feeling her against him until he lost control, but Summer always seemed to want him to move quickly in the beginning and hold her longer after. Ever since he had first seen her like this, Summer had never been a fan of the slow movements of his hands, and usually helped him go at a pace she liked. Not that he didn't like it too, but it always felt a little more like an innocent game to just let her lie on top of him and take charge.

After a few seconds of a lack of movement from her fingers on the backs of his hands, Seth opened his eyes to see Summer staring at him. She smiled, her eyes reflecting his face, and leaned down to kiss his collarbone. Her tongue was so warm, and the gentle weight of her body was so comforting, that Seth wondered how he could get anything done knowing he had someone like Summer to satisfy every fantasy he could think of.

Summer pushed against his chest until she was supported above him. She then slipped open the buttons of his button down, and Seth somehow forgot that he needed to wear a shirt if he was planning on getting into any of his afternoon classes. But his mind was currently empty except for the pressure on his stomach from Summer's midriff. Her leg slipped when she lowered herself back down, causing him to gasp rather loudly. Summer covered his mouth quickly, either because she was worried about someone overhearing breaths that could easily escalate into moans, or she wanted to keep the hot tingles shooting through Seth's skin.

Summer was way too focused on the rhythm of her tongue to pay much attention to the fumblings of her hands. Somehow, though, she was able to unfasten his belt and jeans, plunging the hand on his chest farther down, brushing for a second on his belly-button and immersing into his boxers.

And soon as she barely touched him, Seth put his hand on Summer's wrist, tugging quickly on her hand. She looked at him confused, but he just closed his eyes and kissed her. Honestly, he knew that if she was determined to touch him first, he wouldn't last long at all.

Seth was hot. It was November, but he was sweating tiny beads over his entire upper body. Summer giggled at his murmuring of how amazing she was, although that was possibly due to the fact that his breath was as hot in her ear as his chest was against hers.

Seth was in fact so focused on how amazing she really was, that he didn't hear the door open.

"Dude, wow. Flashback. Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, but Kirsten just...you know what? When you guys are dressed would be a...a better time. So…later." Ryan dropped the hand from his eyes and closed the door to the pool house.

Seth looked for a second at Summer, pausing to see what she wanted to do. Summer looked from his face to the closed door and burst out laughing, abruptly stopping.

"Dammit, my head still hurts."

Chris sat on the bleachers, a book in his hand. It was getting colder by the minute, and he had to wear the sweatshirt that Uncle Ryan made him bring.

"Hey Chris! What are you doing?" Mike Murphy climbed to the top of the bleachers without using his hands once.

"Nothing. Just reading."

"What are you reading?"

Chris held up the cover of Goblins in the Castle, and brought it back down to his eyes.

Chris's homeroom teacher came over to the two of them, her hands on her hips. "Mr. Murphy? Mr. Roberts? Why aren't you playing kickball with the other boys?"

"Chris is reading."

"And what are you doing, Mr. Murphy?"

"Just watching him is all. No rule against that, right, Ms. Kristen?"

Her eyes narrowed, her lips spewing out, "It's Ms. McNaught to you, Mr. Murphy," and she walked away, Mike bursting into laughter. "She's so dumb. Hey, Chris? Is it true that you don't have a dad?"

Chris looked up again, shrugging, and obviously covering his face with his book.

"Did you ever have a dad? Or were you just born a bastard?"

Chris shot his eyes back up, trying to keep them from stinging. "I have a dad."

"But my mom says he doesn't live with you. Probably because he doesn't like you."

"What do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you talking to me again?"

Mike just grinned, shrugging himself. "I feel bad for boys whose daddy's don't love them."

"My dad loves me just fine."

"Not enough to live with you. My mom says it's tragic. Your mom got pegnant when she didn't want to have a baby. And your dad didn't want it either. It's a sad story."

"My mom wants me."

"She didn't."

"She does now."

"But no one loves your mom but you."

"My dad loves my mom."

"No he doesn't. They're not married."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"Shut up."

"Ooh, little Chrissy shouldn't say that."

"Shut up anyways."

"Dumb Chrissy who no one loves and his ugly mother that no one loves either."

"Shut your mouth, asshole."

"What did you call me?" Mike's second grade smirk taunted Chris's eyes. Chris tried to darken them like Uncle Ryan did when he got mad at someone.

"I called you an asshole."

"Bastard!"

"Bitch!"

"Shitface!"

"Motherfucker!"

"Boys!" Ms. McNaught came back out. "What do you think you're doing? This is recess, and not a time to use words like that! Get down from there right this moment!"

Chris glared at Mike, stomping down the bleachers two at a time, tripping when he was two from the end. His lip split and Chris's teeth started trembling.

"Come with me, Mr. Roberts. Mr. Murphy! You stay still until Mr. Thompson comes out to get you."

Ms. McNaught roughly grabbed Chris's hand, pulling him into the school.

"I'm going to have to call your parents, Mr. Roberts. Mr. Murphy's too."

"You can't."

"And why not?"

"Because my dad's on his way to France, and Mom's bent over."

"Bent over?"

"She was really drunk yesterday, and she's got to sleep, because she has a headache."

Ms. McNaught's eyes narrowed into slits. "You mean hung over. And your grandparents will have to get you."

She dialed the Cohens' number, listening to two rings until Seth picked up the phone.

"H'lo?"

"Hello, this is Ms. McNaught, Seth Christopher's teacher, is Ms. Roberts available?"

"Uh, she's not feeling well right now. Is something wrong?"

"Are you Mr. Ward?"

"Uh, no. I'm...uh...the boyfriend. Is Chris okay?"

"He got in a fight with another one of the boys. You're going to have to..."

"Chris got into a fight? You gotta be joking."

"No, I'm not. You are going to have to get Ms. Roberts or Mr. Ward down here to bring him home."

"Um, yeah. Okay. I'll be right down."

"You'll have to..." But Ms. McNaught was met by a dial tone.

Chris looked up at her with his arms crossed and his eyes stubborn.

He sat perfectly still for ten minutes by the time Seth came bursting through the doors.

"Where's Chris?" His eyebrows furrowed, his vision settling on Chris and going straight to his split lip, his feet not moving fast enough.

"Excuse me, sir, I've met Mr. Ward and you're certainly not Miss Roberts."

"They weren't available. Chris, are you okay?"

"Are you a relative?"

Seth stood up slightly, shifting his weight. "Seth Cohen. I'm Summer's boyfriend."

"But you're not a relative. I cannot release him to you."

Seth sighed, letting half his mouth curl. "Ma'am, as you can see, Chris got hurt under your watch, and you agree with me that he has to be taken home. I'm here; I have a car and a license; I know where he lives, because it used to be where I live. So we'll be going."

"If you're not a guardian, I cannot allow him to leave the premises with you without approval from one of his parents."

Chris groaned, lisping through his swollen lip. "I know him. My mom would let me go with him, so can we just go?"

"I would have to call Miss Roberts."

Seth shook his head. "I'm not going to let you wake her up for something this goddamn ridiculous. Come on, Chris." Seth took Chris's hand and started to leave the room.

"Mr. Cohen! If you leave this room, I'm going to have to call the police."

Seth spun around, a confused look on his face. "Why?"

"Because you would have to be reprimanded for abducting that child."

"I'm not abducting him; I'm bringing him to his mother."

"If you are not his guardian, I cannot be sure of that without his mother's permission."

Seth groaned almost congruently to Chris's groan, waving his hand. "Shit. Fine. Call her."

Summer sat on the staircase, still in her tee shirt but with a pair of sweatpants, her head in her hands. As soon as the front door opened, she sprang up, ignoring the jolts of pain in her forehead.

"What did you do?" She held Chris's cheeks in her hands, wiping off a smudge of gravel from his face.

Chris shrugged, but his lip came free a second later. He grabbed Summer's shoulders, burying his face in her chest.

Summer looked up to Seth's eyes, but he just shrugged. She felt the warmth of Chris's tears through her tee shirt.

"Chris? What happened?"

"I didn't even do anything!" His words came out in spurts, spat against Summer's neck.

"Baby, what happened?"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid. I didn't do anything."

"Ms. McNaught said you were cursing at Mikey Murphy. You boys were friends."

"He wanted me to!"

"She said you two were having a fight."

"I didn't do anything."

"Did you curse at him?"

"Yeah, but he did it too."

"Chris..."

"He was making fun of you," Chris mumbled, pulling out of her arms, and choosing to sit against the doorframe next to Seth instead.

"And what happened to your lip?" Summer stood up to her full height crossing her arms.

"I just tripped."

"What did Mikey say to make you mad?"

"He was laughing too much."

"What did he say?"

"He said you didn't want me when you got pregnant. He's so dumb; he doesn't even know how to talk."

"You still shouldn't be using those words with anyone."

"You sound like Ms. McNaught." Chris turned his face.

Summer exhaled, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, she shifted towards Seth. "And what did you do? Mrs. McNaught says you were 'giving her lip.'"

Seth shook his head, rolling his eyes. "She wouldn't let me take him home? I was just going to take him home."

"It's procedure. If you're not a guardian..."

"Yeah, I heard it." Seth closed the door and sat down against it.

Summer shook her head, sighing. "I'll have to call Mrs. McNaught if neither of you are going to tell me anything."

When neither started to say anything, Summer groaned. "Fine." She picked up the phone and walked into the kitchen.

Ryan walked down the staircase, raising an eyebrow at Seth and Chris sitting against the wall. "Whatever you guys did, you better apologize."

The door behind Seth opened, Jenn seeing Ryan and replacing her facial expression with a glare and sat next to Seth on his other side. Seth looked from Jenn to Ryan and shook his head. "Hey, Ryan, whatever you did, you better apologize."

"Leave it alone, Seth. Jenn's just being stubborn."

"Someone has to care, Daddy."

"Doesn't mean you can't talk to her, JenniferDawn."

"She doesn't deserve it."

Seth opened his mouth, but Ryan just stomped off. He turned to Jenn instead. "What's up with you guys? Who's 'she'?"

"Theresa."

"The Theresa? Like your mother Theresa?"

Jenn snorted at Seth's grin, but shook her head. "She isn't my mother."

"You might not think she acts like your mother, but you're still bound by blood."

"Blood doesn't matter."

"She's right." Chris piped up on Seth's other side. Seth turned his head to him.

"So what did happen, little man?"

"Mike just said I didn't have a dad that loved me. And he called me a bastard again."

"I thought you guys were friends."

Chris shrugged. "He's stupid."

"And you know he isn't right about your dad. He loves you a lot."

Chris nodded. "I know. He was kind of right too, though. My dad loves me, and he loves my mom, but he doesn't care enough to live with us. Like Jenn said, he's not a real dad."

"You know you have me, Chris."

Chris gave a half hearted smile but shrugged. "But you're not even allowed to take me home."

Marissa sat on the kitchen counter alone, sipping a glass of water. She was staring at the wine bottles and having one of her first cravings in five years. She didn't like drinking much anymore, but waiting for her husband to come home to see his reaction to her pregnancy did weird things to a person.

Brendan came in a few minutes later, kissing her quickly on the cheek. "I'm so sorry I'm late, hon. The meeting bled over."

"It's okay."

"You look nice." He smiled at her dark skirt and white wifebeater, taking off his shoes.

"Thanks. Um, can we talk?"

"About what?" Brendan took off his jacket and walked over to hall closet to hang it up.

"Me?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Well, I don't think so."

"Marissa, do you have something to say?"

"Yes."

"Then say it." He smiled and walked back over to her, settling himself in between her two legs.

"I..." Marissa started, but was cut short by Brendan pouring a glass of wine.

"Yes?"

"Can you put that away?" Marissa nodded toward the wine bottle, her voice almost desperate.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"What's wrong is that that bottle is still open."

Brendan furrowed his brow. "Since when you do you have a problem with wine? I mean, I know you never had a real taste for it, but..."

"I did have a taste for it."

"Well, not when you were with me."

"I had such a taste for it that I used to black out on driveways."

"Marissa..."

"You never knew. You probably forgot about the time I told you I almost killed myself in Mexico. Do you care?"

"Of course I care, Marissa. But what brought this on?"

"We've been married for years, I'm having your baby, and you don't even know me."

"You're...you're having what?"

"I'm pregnant. Just thought you might want to know." Marissa hopped off the counter and ran towards the stairs.

Summer fell backwards onto her bed, clicking the phone off. Her baby wasn't supposed to get into fights with curse words. He wasn't even supposed to know words like that. It was mostly her fault anyways. She shouldn't curse around him, but he'd always just laughed when she got mad. And usually she didn't get worse than 'goddamn.' Sometimes.

Seth walked slowly into the pool house, sitting on the floor next to her bed.

"You shouldn't have gotten mad at his teacher."

"I know."

"You shouldn't have cursed at her too. Didn't exactly help Chris's situation."

"I know. I just...didn't like what she was saying."

"It makes sense though. At least it means some random dude can't just take Chris out of school."

"I'm not a random dude, though."

"I know, but now you know that some guy who is a random dude won't take him out."

"I shouldn't be a random dude."

"Seth, you know I'm not saying..."

"I don't want to be a random dude."

"You're not. It's just…"

"No, I am. But I shouldn't be."

"Seth…"

"Not anymore. Look, Summer, I love you. I love you and I love Chris. And I'm not just…you know, in this for fun. I mean, you two mean everything to me and…and I should do something to prove it."

"Seth? What do you mean?" Summer sat up to look at the back of his head.

"I mean we should get married."

"What?"

"We should get married."

"Oh my god, did you just…"

"Summer." Seth turned around, raising one of his knees off the ground. "Will you marry me?"

"I…are you sure? I mean, you don't have…"

"I want to. Will you marry me?"

"I…well, yeah, I mean. Of course. Yes. Yes."

Seth smiled, his knee falling back down. He opened his arms and Summer fell down off the bed into them.

"Oh my god!" Summer giggled, Seth's arms tightening around her back. "Seth!"

Seth buried his face into her neck, and his back started to hurt from being pressed against the floor.

Summer sat up, her legs straddling his waist, and she giggled again. "But you're seriously serious? Like, you're not kidding? You really want to get married? To me."

"More than anything."

"I love you. So, so, so, so, so much. Oh my god, Seth."

"I love you too. So, so, so, so, so, so much." He smiled, and Summer giggled one more time. They lay still for a while, but Summer couldn't help herself.

"Oh my god, I have to call Marissa."

Summer climbed off of Seth's legs and grabbed the abandoned phone on the bed. She fell back onto her back, crossing her legs in the air.

"Hey, Mariss? Oh, hi, Brendan, it's Summer. Is Marissa there? Yeah. All right, bye…Riss? Oh my god, this is what you should do when you have good news. You should call me. Oh I have more than good news, this is great news…"