Author's Note: This fanfiction is set when Seth and Summer are about 32 years old. They have been married for 12 years and have six kids. That's really about all you need to know...I hope you like it, but I wouldn't expect too much...this is my first fanfiction that I've decided to put online. Reviews are always appreciated, whether you have something good or bad to tell me. Also, this chapter is kind of just leading into the story, so hopefully even though this chapter's kind of bland, the next few with be more entertaining. Okay, that's it. Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully review!

Disclaimer:I own nothing but new characters and places...so for the first chapter that includes basically just the six kids, Stephanie, and the two family dogs.

Chapter One

"Uh…Mom?" a voice called from the bottom of the stairs. Silence followed for a few moments until the voice called up the stairs again. "Oh, no…MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM, come here!"

Summer Cohen, lying peacefully in her bed, finally heard the voice calling her. She sat up so quickly that she accidentally kicked one of the family dogs, a golden retriever named Chessie. Chessie jumped off the bed and shot Summer a dirty look, if that was possible.

Summer jumped out of the bed and rushed past the annoyed dog. "What? What's wrong?" she called back worriedly as she headed down the hall and to the staircase. As she hurried down the stairs, she could see three of her six kids waiting for her at the bottom.

As Summer reached the last step of the staircase, her 8-year-old daughter, Courtney Cohen finally answered her. "Riley's eating potato chips out of the bag again," Courtney said worriedly. Summer sighed. Riley, another one of the family's dogs, had been known to have an enormous stomach. Another thing about Riley's stomach? It was infamously known for how delicate of a stomach it was as well as enormous.

"Okay," Summer said, launching into what she called the 'I-Can-Handle-Anything-And-Everything-Because-I'm-A-Mom' mode, "which one of you was eating potato chips for breakfast?" Summer asked this as she headed into the kitchen, where she found her border collie, Riley, with his paws up on the counter and his whole head in a bag of potato chips. She grabbed his collar with one hand and the bag of potato chips with the other. She pulled the dog gently, but firmly down to the ground. "Bad, Riley, very bad," Summer said scolding the dog while she secretly prayed that he wouldn't barf all that greasy food up today. Summer threw the chips out and turned to the sink to wash her hands. As she shoved her hands under the running water, she repeated herself, "Which one of you was eating potato chips for breakfast?"

Summer waited patiently for a reply, but only heard a guilty silence in the kitchen. "Should I take that to mean all of you?" she asked.

"Well," 7-year-old Kaylie Cohen started, "it was all Jake's idea."

"Was not!" 5-year-old Jake Cohen yelled at his sister.

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was NOT!"

"OK!" Summer said throwing her hands up into the air. "Stop that, right now. You all know better than to eat potato chips for breakfast, so do me a favor and don't do it anymore." Summer looked each of the three guilty brunette kids in the eye. "Now, since you've all had your breakfast, go wake up Shannon and Emily while I get Ben. Then, while I'm feeding them, I want all of you to go get dressed. I laid clothes out for you on your beds."

"Okay, Mommy," Kaylie replied. Her siblings nodded to show they were planning on being obedient and then the three left the kitchen together. As they thundered up the staircase, Summer put on a pot of coffee and headed upstairs to wake up her husband.

Summer opened the door to her bedroom and shut it quietly behind her. Seth was still sound asleep—he could sleep through any noise—and while Summer hated to wake him, she knew if she didn't soon Seth would definitely miss his flight. He was going on yet another business trip. While Summer hated him being away all the time, she knew it was necessary to keep their family and house running. She also knew that he loved his job and wouldn't love another job the way he loved this one.

Summer crawled into the bed and curled up beside Seth. She kissed his nose, then his cheek, and then moved to his lips. Finally, she heard him murmur, "Goooood morning, Sum."

"Good morning to you, too, sleepyhead," Summer whispered.

Seth rolled closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. Summer sighed; she hated the mornings when he left. They always made her feel so alone and abandoned. At her age, she felt that she was too old to be feeling like this, but she couldn't help it. It was how she felt when Seth left her. Even if it was just for a business trip.

Summer heard Seth chuckle. "Oh, Summer," he said to her.

Summer felt herself getting defensive. "'Oh, Summer,' what?" she asked, pulling away from him.

"It's only three nights, babe," Seth reminded her softly. "I've been gone a lot longer than that before."

"I know," Summer relented even though she was still feeling a need to be stubborn and difficult. "It just never gets any easier, I guess…I just like having you home, with us, that's all."

"Well, I love being home with you all," Seth answered sincerely. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "You'll be fine…I bet you won't even miss me," Seth joked.

"I'll take that bet," Summer said softly.

"Come on," Seth said as he nudged Summer, "let's go see what all our rascals are up to." Summer laughed at the word 'rascals' and followed him out of their bedroom.

They found their 11-year-old daughter Shannon kneeling by a hallway closet, rummaging through a bunch of shoes. "Mom," Shannon said, sighing in relief, "where are my dance shoes? I can't find my tap or ballet shoes…and I can't be late for my first day of dance camp!"

"Your dance shoes? Um, try under your bed…I don't think they are in the closet…" Summer said mulling this over in her head. Dance shoes. Shannon's dance shoes. Shannon's black tap shoes and pink ballet shoes. Nothing was coming to mind. "Check your room and I'll look in the downstairs closet."

"Okay," Shannon said sighing. She turned and continued down the hall to her room.

Summer turned and smiled at Seth. "Can you please get Ben out of his crib? Steph should be here any moment, so she can feed him and dress him and change him and everything, but can you just wake him up and bring him downstairs?" Summer asked. The 'Steph' she referred to was their part-time nanny, Stephanie Rowns. She was in her early fifties and didn't have any children of her own. She had always wanted kids and adored the fact that the Cohens had such a large family.

"Of course, sweetie," Seth said kissing Summer's forehead before he walked away to Ben's room.

Summer went half way down the staircase before she remembered where Shannon's shoes were. Summer had just thrown out Shannon's old dance shoes the other day because they getting a little worn and old. Then Summer had gone out and bought Shannon new dance shoes. Summer had hidden the shoes under her bed in their boxes because they were supposed to be a surprise for Shannon for getting such great grades this past school year.

Summer hurried up to her bedroom and pulled the shoes out from under the bed. She carried the two boxes downstairs and put them on the table by Shannon's place mat. Summer then walked back to the staircase. "Kids, come down for breakfast!" she shouted up the stairs. Five seconds later, five brunette kids came thundering down the stairs and into the kitchen.

As the five kids sat down at their places, swapping cereals, pouring each other different juices, and sharing chopped fruits, Seth came into the kitchen with their youngest child, 2-year-old Ben, in his arms. Seth placed Ben in his high chair and announced to the kids, "Okay, it's time for Daddy to leave for his business trip." As their tradition went, Seth said good-bye to the kids first, from youngest to oldest, and then Summer. He bent down and kissed Ben's cheek. "Bye, Benny. Be good for your mother, and don't spit up too much on Steph."

"Don't jinx it, Daddy," 4-year-old Emily warned in her grown-up voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare, Em," he said coming over to her and offering his arms to her. She jumped in them and threw her arms around her neck. She squeezed her arms tight and said, "I love you, Daddy."

"Oh, I love you, too, Em," Seth told her as he put her down and moved over to Jake. "Okay, Jay, be good, okay? Help your mommy out whenever you can because the six of you are a handful, okay?" Seth smiled at Jake.

"Okay, I can do that," Jake said thoughtfully.

"My turn!" Kaylie yelled excitedly as Jake and Seth ended their good-bye hug.

"Yes, sweet pea, it's your turn," Seth said to Kaylie. He had barely offered out his arms to her when she jumped into them. "I love you, Daddy!" Kaylie said, sounding just as loving and happy as Emily had moments ago.

"Ditto, kiddo," Seth said as Kaylie sat down back at the table. He turned to Courtney. "Court," he said as he bent to kiss her cheek. "Let's see…same old stuff…I'll miss you, be good, you know the drill…" he said teasingly.

"Yup," Courtney replied as Seth leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"And last but not least of the kids…Shannon," Seth said smiling at her. "OK, Shan," he whispered as he kneeled down by her side, "you take care of your mom and make sure she's not working too hard, okay? Make sure the girls do everything they're supposed to and that the boys behave, alright?"

Shannon rolled her eyes. "You know everything's gonna be fine," Shannon whispered back at him. Seth gave her a pleading look and Shannon finally gave in. "Okay, Dad, I'll watch everyone," she promised, still whispering.

"That's my girl," Seth told her. He hugged and kissed her good-bye and then went over to Summer. "Walk me to the car?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

"Oh, you know, if I have to," she said pretending to be irritated. "Kids, keep eating, I'll be right back and then we'll do all the camp drop offs." When the kids all nodded or replied with a 'yes', Summer followed Seth out to the garage. "Okay," Summer said trying to gather all her thoughts, "good luck with the new show." That was the first thing to say—good luck with the job. Seth was a producer and writer at a major television network. He did a lot of traveling because of production launches and searches for perfect 'on location' sets.

"Thanks. I'll be back in three days, okay?" Seth told her.

"Yeah, I know," Summer said. She smiled sadly at him.

Seth leaned over and put his arms around her waist. He kissed her, and ran his hands through her hair repeatedly. "I'll miss you," he murmured huskily to her.

"Yeah, I'll miss you, too," Summer replied heavily.

Seth pulled away slowly, placed his lips on her forehead, and kissed her. "I'll be back before you know it," Seth told her watching her face. "I love you," he told her.

"I love you, too," Summer replied. They hugged quickly before Seth opened the car door and climbed in. As he pulled away, he waved and blew one last kiss at Summer before he left her sight.

Summer walked back into the house and gathered up the kids. As they all piled into the car, Summer couldn't help but think about how busy their lives had become. Like at that precise moment, she was driving five of their six kids to their activities for the day. Shannon at dance camp, Courtney at horseback riding camp, Kaylie and Emily at the theater camp, and Jake at a sports camp. Ben was at home with Stephanie and, after Summer finished dropping off all the kids, she would be on her way to work. Summer was an actress, mostly known for her soap opera characters than anything else.

Shannon was the last to be dropped off. "Have a good day, honey," Summer said as Shannon gathered up her belongings. "Call Steph if you get out early and need a ride home," Summer told her.

"Okay," Shannon nodded. She put one hand on the door as if she were going to open the door, but paused suddenly. "Thanks for the shoes, Mom," Shannon said as she threw her arms around Summer and squeezed tightly for a moment.

"You're welcome, Shan," Summer said to her oldest daughter. She hugged her back until she caught a glimpse of the clock. "Ooh, I'm going to be late…okay, if I don't hear from Steph that she picked you up early, I'll be back here at five thirty to get you, alright?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, okay," Shannon answered as she climbed out of the car. "Bye, Mom," she yelled over her shoulder as she quickly headed into the large dance studio. Summer watched her go into the building and pulled away as the glass door shut behind Shannon.