Thanks for the awesome response on the last chapter! Keep it coming, here's the first pasrt of a double chapter where we flashback and find out more about what happened in that 5 year gap...

And Pause the Tragic Ending for just a Moment More

PART 1

Summer's request for the 'baby step' pace of Seth and Summer's new found friendship was in full force. A couple of days after Seth and Summer had their talk, Summer left for New York so Spencer and herself could spend the impending holidays with their families. Seth was in a bright Christmukkah mood as usual around this time of year and both settled down to enjoy a relaxing holiday. It was a nice change, for Seth and Summer to both experience a normal holiday with their families and friends.

In New York, Summer shopped in Macy's with Spencer's little sister Amber for last minute gifts and went ice skating with Spencer at the Rockefeller centre like they did every year. She went for morning walks in Central Park amongst the snow that fell overnight. Even though Summer loved the California sun, she loved snow at Christmas.

Seth, however, spent his holidays shopping for trees with Shelley, Ryan and Marissa. They attended the annual Newport Christmas Party. It was swarming with Newpsies but it was a sort of tradition to go there. Luckily, Shelley shared Seth's interest in mocking the plastic Newpsies quietly. Seth also spent one long afternoon trying to write the Christmukkah theme but, as in previous years, didn't get past the 'beards' part. The holidays were something that Seth and Summer loved equally, Summer just didn't broadcast it as much as Seth chose to.

Sadly, the day after boxing day, Summer and Spencer had to fly back to LA. She miserably boarded the plane, saying a silent goodbye to the snow and the high-rise buildings of the urban jungle she loved so much. Her life was back in California and it wasn't very often she liked that thought. The couple had decided beforehand that they'd be back in LA for New Years Eve.

Seth and Shelley were throwing a massive party at their penthouse for the cast of Seth's movie so Spencer had been invited. It was very rare for him to turn down an invitation so Summer was being dragged along to this party when she would much rather stay at home and watch the ball drop on TV. Summer hated New Years Eve. It conjured up nothing but bad memories for her, things which never should have happened, but did. And she was going to a party thrown by the one person she tried to forget about on this night.

"What do you think of this shirt?" Spencer walked out of the walk-in-wardrobe sporting a deep blue shirt. Summer looked up from petting Vixen and wrinkled her nose.

"Ew, no way, its much too dark," she said as Spencer rolled his eyes and walked back into the wardrobe, "Where did you get that?" she called.

"My Mom bought it for me."

"Ooh, um, well then its great!" Summer smiled uncomfortably. Spencer's Mom wasn't the most stylish woman and Summer always seemed to be the one to accidentally point out her faux pois. Spencer emerged wearing a green T-Shirt and sat on the bed beside Summer, kissing her head softly.

"I love you," he grinned.

"I love you too sweetie," Summer smiled, planting a quick kiss on Spencer's lips.

"But I love Vixen more," she joked, ruffling her fingers through her soft fur.

"Oh really? Well maybe you should marry Vixen huh?" Spencer laughed. Summer picked up Vixen, looking in her eyes.

"I take thee Vixen Roberts Greene to be my lawfully wedded kitty," Summer smiled. Spencer threw a pillow at her.

"So, when are you gonna start getting ready?" he hinted.

"Soon…"

"You don't look too enthusiastic, usually I can't drag you outta that bathroom."

"I'd just rather go somewhere else instead of Cohen's party…" Summer said, wrinkling her nose.

"Do you not want to come?" Spencer asked, with a slight tone of hurt in his voice.

"I wanna be where you are, there's no one else I'd rather bring in the New Year with, you know that," Summer grinned. She jumped up and ran through to the bathroom, turning on the shower. Spencer watched her and sighed, he glanced back to Vixen.

"Maybe you should marry her, you might be able to work her out better than me," he sighed, stroking Vixen's head as she purred.

Shelley collapsed onto the couch, flustered from checking every little detail about the party which began in less than an hour. She had been chasing around the caterers and Seth had been chasing her, trying to get her to calm down. Shelley was a perfectionist, even more so when she was the hostess. Their penthouse apartment was sparkling after the intense clean it had undergone and was decorated with white sparkling lights and lots of champagne on hand. This party wasn't going to be a cheesy blow out New Year Party, oh no, Shelley wanted an elegant, classy event with all their close friends in attendance. Seth just sat back and watched it all unfold before his eyes, trying to come off all relaxed, but deep inside, there was something which worried him about the night immensely.

He knew Shelley had wanted him to invite Spencer and she had, right before she knew who his fiancée was. She would do anything to uninvited them but to be the perfect hostess, she would have to put up with Seth's ex girlfriend. Seth took a glass of champagne and drained it in one gulp. If he was going to have to face Summer tonight, he'd rather do it drunk and not have to remember it tomorrow. He knew that tonight was going to be beyond awkward for the two and no-one could find out why.

Seth hated to bring up the past, and this particular secret that he hadn't told a soul, not even Ryan, was painful to bring back up. He placed down the empty glass, taking another and drained that one too.

"Seth!" Shelley grabbed the glass from his hand, "Those are for the guests!"

"Sorry…" he replied as she hurried over to get them washed and refilled. Plus, if Shelley found out what the two were hiding, she'd go mad. She knew the truth about Seth and Summer's relationship and that had upset her enough, this little fact may push her over the edge. And Seth would do all he could to prevent it from happening…

"Hi! Its so good to see you, thanks for coming!" Shelley hugged another random person Seth had never even seen before, he smiled politely and sighed. He'd been greeting guests for nearly half an hour, many of which he didn't know. Then Ryan and Marissa turned up at the door and Seth sighed in relief, now he had an excuse to escape.

"Shelley! Oh my god your apartment looks amazing!" Marissa gushed, hugging her friend.

"Oh thank you sweetie, it took a lot of work! Hi Ryan, how are you?"

"I'm good thanks," he replied politely, hugging her. Seth hugged Marissa and pulled Ryan over to walk away with him.

"Seth, where are you going?" Shelley called.

"I just need to talk to Ryan, be right back!" he called, leading Ryan away from the girls.

"Thank god man, I thought you were never going to come," Seth sighed as they walked out onto the large outer balcony.

"Listen, I have something to tell you and you're going to have to help me," Seth said seriously. Ryan raised his eyebrows, he knew that whenever Seth was hiding something, it would come out in an explosive fashion.

"Okay, I'll try my best, what is it?"

"I need you to help me avoid Summer."

"Summer? Why, I thought you two were like friends now?" Ryan frowned. Seth looked out at the streets below and into the dark distance, sighing heavily.

"You know when I said that I haven't seen Summer since she left at the end of senior year?"

"Yeah..?" Ryan didn't like where this was headed.

"Well… I haven't been completely honest…"

Summer did not want to be here. And she had tried so much to delay their arrival at Seth and Shelley's penthouse party. Losing her purse, forgetting her cell phone, every trick she knew. And all of them had failed. So here she was, walking into the lobby of the apartment block, with Spencer leading her to the elevator. Her plan was to avoid Cohen at all costs, she did not want to dredge up the past, when she had been stupid enough to let him back into her life momentarily, it was like rubbing salt into her wounds. She hadn't minded being invited to Spencer's boss' New Years Party but when she'd realised that it was Seth, it was too late to get out of it. She let out a deep sigh and stepped into the elevator, Spencer close by her side. She leaned her head onto his shoulder as they began to rise up, being with him was so comforting and almost made Summer forget all her troubles and just want to focus on how perfect her fiancée was.

Shortly, there was a ping and they stepped out onto the first floor. They headed over to the large mahogany doors and opened them where Shelley was stood laughing and joking with some of her other friends. She saw Spencer and Summer, gulped, and walked over.

"Hi Spencer, glad you could make it!" she smiled, hugging him. He smiled back. Shelley then turned to Summer. Immediately, and awkward silence started as they just smiled at one and other uncomfortably.

"Hi Summer, Happy New Year," Shelley smiled, trying to mask her discomfort.

"Happy New Year to you too," Summer replied politely, "I'll go get drinks," She said to Spencer, the only means of getting away from Shelley, who clearly had a large dislike for her already. Tonight would be interesting.

She got drinks from the bartender and went back to find Spencer. He was stood with a group of guys and was laughing and joking. Summer smiled, she didn't want to interrupt so she placed his drink down and wandered around, trying to find somewhere to sit and hide. So pre-occupied with her quest, she didn't see a tall blonde girl walking towards her and consequently, they bumped into each other. Summer looked up to apologise and saw the blonde girl was none other than Marissa Cooper.

"Coop!" Summer cried, jumping forward and hugging her tightly.

"Sum! Oh my god, it so good to see you!" she beamed.

"You look great Coop, how are you doing?" Summer grinned.

"Oh I'm good actually, better than ever, how are you?"

"I'm okay, you know, considering…"

"The whole Seth/engagement thing, that figures… So you wanna find somewhere to sit, I wanna hear all about the last five years!"

"Sure, come on."

The girls disappeared into the crowd of people and eventually found a seat.

"So, can I see your ring?" Marissa asked. Summer beamed and thrust her hand forward. Marissa grabbed it and looked at the intricate piece of jewellery placed on her finger.

"Oh Summer, its gorgeous!" she gushed, the envy in her voice apparent.

"Thanks, anyway, I'm surprised you haven't got one yet, are you and Ryan still together?"

"Yeah we are, and we've never been happier, but we just got settled and are leading a normal kinda life so I guess we don't want to spoil it.." Marissa said.

"Oh, well that makes sense, I'm just happy you two are still together, if there were ever two people meant to be together, it you two!" Summer smiled, sipping her drink.

"Thanks, that's sweet. Spencer seems really nice, no scratch that, he seems perfect."

"I know, he's like America's Prince William," Summer sighed dreamily.

"When's the wedding?"

"We haven't set a date yet, it probably going to be a while, we're waiting for him to finish his movie," Summer nodded.

Marissa smiled happily and raised her glass of champagne.

"Well Sum, you seem like you're doing better than ever, here's to you," Marissa beamed.

"And you too!" Summer and Marissa clinked their glasses together and Summer had completely forgotten her situation. She glanced over towards the balcony doors and saw Seth wander inside, Ryan by his side. She gulped as her heart began to beat.

"Coop, I need your help," she said bluntly.

"Huh? Why, what's wrong?"

"I need you to help me avoid Cohen."

"Why? Ryan said you were trying to be friends."

"Yeah, well tonight is a very unfortunate night for us to be in the same room. I heavent been completely honest with you about our, um, separation…"

"I don't like where this is going…"

"Just listen, and please, do not tell a soul…"

"Ryan, where have you been? Don't you remember the GP?" Seth said testily to his friend. He had gone to get drinks and hadn't returned for half an hour.

"GP?"

"Game Plan! Jeez man, we've had this conversation before," Seth sighed.

"GP," Ryan smiled.

"Game Plan?"

"Good Point," Ryan replied with a smile on his face, recalling their previous conversation.

"Life was better when you didn't have a sense of humour,"

"I've heard that before too."

"Okay, enough reminiscing, what were you doing?"

"I was looking for Marissa, you know, my girlfriend."

"Yeah, Kid Chino cannot be without his beloved Cosmo Girl," Seth sighed. Ryan tried not to laugh at his friend who was even more neurotic than usual.

"You know, you haven't hardly spoken to Shelley all night, maybe you should go stand with her?"

"Na, she's with her girly fashion friends who always criticise my outfit if I go near them. Stripes are not 'so out'." He said, looking at his shirt.

"Come on then, lets go back out onto the balcony, maybe Marissa's out there."

"Hey Ryan, have you seen the time?" Seth said, looking at the large clock on the wall. 11.50pm. Only 10 minutes until New Year.

"Why do you think I'm looking for Marissa?" Ryan said, rolling his eyes. Seth nodded.

"Well I better look for Shelley," Seth called and wandered through the apartment, searching for his girlfriend.

"Coop! Where have you been! Remember our plan?" Summer said, frowning at her friend.

"Sorry, Sum, I was looking for Ryan. Have you seen the time?" Marissa pointed towards the clock and Summer gasped.

"Oh my god! I need to find Spencer! Bye Coop." Summer headed back off into the crowd, calling for her fiancée.

The time continued to tick away and neither Seth or Summer had found their partners. Summer was getting madder as she pushed her way through the crowd and stumbled out onto the balcony. She gulped in the fresh air and took her cell phone out of her purse and began to write a text message.

Where r u? Out on balcony find me before 12! Sum x

She sent it to Spencer's number and patiently waited, leaning against the railing.

Seth glanced at his watch. 30 seconds. He swore under his breath. His own apartment and he couldn't find his girlfriend. He sighed and pushed his way out onto the balcony. He welcomed the fresh crisp air and began to walk over to the railing. 15 seconds.

Summer felt someone behind her and whirled around, thinking it was Spencer. She was wrong.

"Summer." Seth breathed.

"Cohen," Summer said quietly. 10 seconds. The countdown began, people around them chanted the numbers, but Seth and Summer remained silent. Both of them were stuck in a private time-warp, a time-warp in which they were transported back 4 years, to a cold New York New Years Eve…

4 Years Earlier

Seth Cohen shoved his hands into his pockets hastily as he fought against the bitter winter New York wind. He'd never been to this city before but he refused to get lost. He was here for a purpose. His eyes watered with the cold but he battled on down the cold, icy street. It was New Years Eve and after 4 long, lonely months in California, Seth had somehow ended up here, 2000 miles from home. He had sat on the plane here in total silence, contemplating what he was about to do. He took out a screwed up piece of paper from his pocket and his eyes took in the information scrawled on it in smudged black ink. It hadn't been his idea, it had been Taylor's. Taylor Townsend was once again helping him with his love-life after returning to Newport and attending Berkeley following her mothers illness.

He thought back 24 hours, when he was sat alone in his dorm room that he shared with Ryan, his head was in his hands and he just felt lost. Ryan couldn't stand seeing his friend/brother in this state any longer so he called up Taylor, knowing she would know what to do.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked.

"Over 4 hours now, you have to do something Taylor," he replied, the concern in his tone evident.

"Ill be right there."

And she came, she came over and sat beside him, on the floor of his room and offered him a shoulder to lean on. They talked, for a whole hour, about her. About how his life had fallen apart because of her. About how he couldn't go on without her. And she offered him two options.

"Its New Years tomorrow," she told him, "You have this unique opportunity. You can either force yourself to get over her, or you go and tell her you can be without her." He looked into her unfaltering gaze and almost instantly knew what he must do. So he got out his travel bag and laptop. Booked a seat on the next flight out and tracked her down. It seemed so easy. She went with him to the airport, hugged him and wished him luck. He'd need it. He boarded the plane and looked out at the California soil he was leaving behind. Everything hung in the balance. The balance of an answer he'd receive.

--

She picked up the remote, angrily prodding the buttons. She was angry, angry that there was nothing on the TV, angry that she was spending New Years alone, angry that she hadn't made any friends since arriving here, angry that even her father had gone to a party tonight with some whore who was only interested in his title. She was just angry in general. A tear slid down her cheek as she rested on one channel. It was all her fault that she felt this way. It was her fault for agreeing to move to this awful city where she didn't fit in. She was the California bimbo who no one understood. She was the rich little princess who the girls hated. She was the hot brunette who guys just wanted for one thing. No one understood her, not like back in Newport, where people knew her for who she was, not what she looked like. She'd give anything to be back underneath that California sun, laying on a beach with Marissa and meeting the guys at the diner that evening for chilli fries and a kung-fu movie as chosen by Cohen. Had she gotten over him, no. How could she? There wasn't a day that went by when she didn't wake up after dreaming of him and go to sleep longing for him to be near her once again. She looked out at the dark night, flecks of pure white snow falling onto the ground. She got up and leaned against the cold glass pane, more tears sliding effortlessly down her face. The countdown on the TV began, 10, 9, 8. She looked at the inky sky. 7, 6, 5, 4. She picked out the brightest star, making a silent wish. 3, 2, 1.

The doorbell rang.

--

TO BE CONTINUED…