Hey you guys! Thanks for your reviews!

RubyRoseTuesday: I know that he is annoying, but it's a sequel, I just had to write him in ;)

fighterdreamer: You're right, frequent reviews show the writer that one likes the story, so don't stop reviewing :)

To all of you: prepare yourself for some drama coming up, I promise it's gonna be suspenful in the next chapters… and please keep on reviwing, I appreciate that so much!

Steffi :)

Missing You

Kirsten just put another can of coffee in the machine and watched how the brown liquid was brewed. On one arm, she held her little grandson and rocked him comfortingly. With a heavy heart, she watched the little face sleeping peacefully, not being aware of the tragedy that surrounded him.

Baby Cohen didn't have a name yet. Since the day of his son's birth, Seth had insisted on naming the child after Summer would regain her memory again. He wanted the baby to have a name both of the parents liked equally – and that could only work if Summer remembered what she liked and what she didn't. So until today, the baby's name was just "Baby Cohen".

It had taken Kirsten hours to get this little human being to sleep. All the panic, fear and angst that Seth went through seemed to have laid itself on the baby. He had been crying almost all day, but now finally, he had found some sleep. Kirsten carefully stroked the little one's head and took out the coffee can.

She went into the living room of Seth and Summer's apartment, where Seth was sitting on the couch, staring into distance.
Kirsten handed her son a cup of coffee and sat down next to him. "Here, sweetie" she said in a warm voice.

Seth looked on the floor and took the cup. "Thanks." He whispered. "What takes Dad so long?"
Kirsten laid a hand on her son's shoulder. "I'm sure your Dad'll do the best he can to accelerate the investigations. We need to trust him on this. He'll handle it."

Just after Seth had spent almost the whole afternoon on searching for Summer, he had called his parents for help. After millions of years from being a public defender, Sandy had the best contacts to the officers at the police station. Just after Seth had browsed his parents the news about Summer's missing, Sandy had left for the police station to accelerate the search for Summer.

Seth just nodded and kept on staring to the ground.
Kirsten sighed. She had never seen her son like this. So desperate, helpless and confused at the same time. Ever since his son was born, Seth seemed to have changed so much. But given everything that had been coming crushing down on him, she couldn't blame him. "They'll find Summer sooner than you think." She reassured her son.

Again Kirsten earned just a nod.
The baby in her arms started to whimper. Seth looked up and stroked the baby's face with his finger. "I know you're upset" he whispered. "I am, too."

Just when Kirsten was about to give Seth the baby, the telephone rang.
Seth jumped up immediately and got it. "Hello?…. Dad?… what's going on?…"
Very anxious, Kirsten watched Seth's expression to read anything from it. But Seth's face remained blank.
"How can I help?… but Dad, I want to! You can't make me sitting here doing nothing!… Yeah… yeah, sure. Bye."
Seth hung up and sighed.

Kirsten looked at him expectingly. "What did he say?" she asked.
Seth sighed again and sat down next to his mother. "They are searching for her in the whole town. They're putting up missing pictures and ask for help on the radio. He said that all we can do now is wait."

Now it was Kirsten's turn to sigh. "That's good." She said and stroked her son's arm. "She'll be back home in no time."
"Yeah." Seth whispered and slumped against the pillows of the couch. "You know, Mom, I'm really exhausted, so maybe…"
"I get it." Kirsten answered and smiled warmly. She handed Seth the baby and gave both of them a kiss on the forehead. "Try and get some sleep. I'll be stopping by in the morning."

"Thanks, Mom." Seth said, the desperate look on his face almost breaking Kirsten's heart. Even if she knew that he wouldn't get any sleep tonight, she knew her son well enough to see that he needed to be alone right now.
"That's what I'm here for." She replied.

Giving her two boys a warm smile, she closed the door behind her, leaving Seth and his son alone.

"And I used to live here?" Summer asked sceptically as she stepped into a dirty and smoky little living room that had only one window. You couldn't see out of it. Half of the window was covered with wood, half of it was so dirty the setting sun had problems to shine in.

The guy from the diner smiled dirtily. "Sure." He answered. "We don't have much money, but we love each other, and that's what's important."
Never in a million years he would have thought that it would be so easy to get Summer back.

Good thing that she liked to talk, most of the time about herself. After he had discovered that Summer didn't have much to talk about, since the only thing she remembered was the she didn't remember anything, not even her friends, relatives or, most of all, her husband, it had been so damn easy to convince her that she was married with him, and that she loved him.

Eric Foster threw his shoes into one corner of the tiny room and motioned Summer to sit down on the half torn, bad smelling couch.
Summer frowned. "You know, I can't believe that I would like it at a place like this." She said, still sceptical. "I mean, everything in here is so... ew!"

Eric laughed. "But you do. Join me here, darlin'." He patted on the seat next to him with his hand.
Summer hesitated, but sat next to Eric. She looked around. "And… what are we doing for a living? I mean, this place doesn't look like Buckingham Palace or something…"

Eric stroked Summer's face with his finger. How soft her skin felt, even after those two years. He considered himself the luckiest man on earth right now. Not only it had worked out for him to break out of jail two years before his duty ran out, he had also won his Summer back. And she didn't even fight it.

Summer felt a strange shiver running up and down her spine as Eric touched her. His hands were cold and smelled like cigarette smoke. When he smiled, his teeth shone in a bright yellow. But still, the sparkle in his eye, his charming manners and everything he knew about her had made Summer trust him - once again.

"I'm glad you're back after all this time." Eric whispered.
Summer nodded. "Have I been away for long?" she asked.
"It felt like two years." Eric answered and smiled at her, his eyes sparkling.
Summer smiled too. "Well, then it's good to be home, I guess."

If only she knew how much danger she was in.

He looked so much like Summer.
Seth stroked his son's head, sitting at his crib and watching him. It was way after midnight, but Seth found it impossible to get some sleep. He was too upset to rest.

Seth propped his head on the edge of the crib and sighed. "You know," he said, talking to the sleeping baby, "I wonder where your mommy is now."
A sad smile crossed his face. "I guess you want to be with her, too."

Seth's gaze wandered over to a picture that stood on the baby's changing table. It was illuminated by the moonlight and showed Summer, seven months pregnant, and him, laughing and laying their arms around each other.

Seth remembered the day as if it had been yesterday. They had a picknick by the beach to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. They always did that at their anniversaries.
Marissa and Ryan had put up a huge woollen blanket and decorated it with candles and roses. It was the most romantic scenery anyone could have imagined.

The memory of that day was interrupted by a soft whimper from the baby. Seth sighed and stroked his son's head again. "Bad dreams?" he softly asked.

Even if the baby was with him, and everybody wanted to help, Seth had never felt so alone in his whole life.

He took the baby out of his crib and carried him over to the window, staring out at the ocean and how its waves kept rolling in and out steadily. He watched Baby Cohen's cute little face turning into a sweet smile that made him smile too.
"I need you so much, do you know that?" he whispered, fighting tears.
"With you, at least a part of your mommy is with me."

Seth softly kissed Baby Cohen's head. "I love you so much." He said, almost unhearable.
He carefully laid the baby in his crib again and left the room.

He needed to get some rest.

It was the least he could do for his son.

Next chapter: If Only