Chapter eight

Seth slowly opened his eyes, feeling very much awake and rested. He checked the alarm on Summer's bedside table and saw to his surprise that it was five thirty. Seth Cohen was awake at five thirty andbefore his wife. That was a first.

Summer slept heavily next to him. She had her head close to his arm and had probably fallen of his shoulder during the night. They were both still naked and the sheets only covered their legs. He could feel her breathing against his upper arm and the parts of their body's that were touching felt warmer than the other parts. He shifted a little and lay on his side, holding his head up with an arm.

Summer lay on her stomach and had a pretty funny position actually. Her hair lay all over her face and her arms were tightly pressed against her body. Seth stroked some hair away so that he could se her face and then began to caress her bare back. She stirred a little and as Seth took his hands away she moved to lie on her back. Her perfect breasts were exposed along with her flat stomach. Summer's body was beautiful; no sign of age and she didn't have marks from her pregnancies.

Seth continued to caress her and just admiring her beauty. He had no idea for how long he'd been watching her as the alarm went on. Summer began to wake up but before she opened her eyes Seth turned the alarm off; he hated that sound. For Chrismukkah he would buy a new one.

"Monday…" Summer mumbled as she still hadn't opened her eyes. She stretched and rubbed her eyes before she finally sat up, her eyes open. She yawned and looked around, probably expecting Seth to be asleep. Though as she turned her gaze to his side of the bed and saw him looking back at her, she smiled.

"You're awake."

"Yes, I'm actually awake before you. Good morning by the way; you are beautiful." She noticed him staring at her and blushed. Not because she was embarrassed but because she wasn't.

"Good morning." Summer bent down and gave him a kiss which he deepened. "Exactly how long have you been awake?" she pulled away and sat up, pulling her legs in front of her so that her toes were touching Seth's ankles.

"Five thirty, not that long."

"What have you been doing since five thirty? Staring at my boobs?" she said and crossed her arms over her chest; she hadn't bothered to cover it.

"Well, yeah, along with the rest of you. Is that forbidden? I mean I couldn't really help but look at you, my gorgeous wife." He gave her a smile and sat up as well. Summer just shook her head and started to get up.

"I'm gonna take a shower. Can you get the kids up and start with the breakfast?"

"Can't I come?" Seth said and gave her a pleading look.

"Nope." She just said and giggled leaving the bed, naked on purpose.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

Seth went down the hallway to wake the kids. He first went to Ava; her room was in the end of the hallway and he knew she wanted to wake up early. He knocked at her door and went inside without waiting for an answer. That he shouldn't have done.

"Dad!" Ava quickly grabbed a pillow to cover her naked chest though too late; Seth had already seen. "Learn to knock!" She was just in her panties and had the pillow in front of her.

"I'm so sorry Ava. I'll leave, since you're already awake. Sorry." Seth walked out of her room, quickly closing the door. This was embarrassing. He'd just seen his teenaged daughter naked, or almost anyway. Which was the same, and as embarrassing.

"This is so typical me; I should learn to knock." He said to himself.

"What have you done now daddy?" Casey appeared, still dressed in his pyjamas and his hair a mess.

"Uh…nothing. I was just on my way to wake you but I see you're already up. And I who thought that your mother had a hard job in the mornings."

"You know dad, mom usually wakes us up but since you made us go to bed at seven yesterday we woke up early."

"Yeah, which is good. Maybe you should start going to sleep at that hour."

"No! We're not hard to get up in the morning; I promise. At least I'm not."

"Just kidding Case, but you better keep on being a good boy."

"I will."

"So start with getting dressed. And comb your hair. I'm gonna go help your sister."

"Ava?"

"No! Belle. See you downstairs for breakfast." He said and went to wake Isabelle up; if she weren't awake she too.

"Isabelle?" Seth walked into the little girl's room. Toys were all over the room though it was very neat. Summer was very determined to teach them all to be tidy and take care of their things. Isabelle had more things than any other child it seemed; you could think she was an only child.

Seth walked closer to her bed; it was pretty big for a small girl but she wanted a very comfortable bed. They'd been looking for beds for days until she found one she wanted. It was very expensive but at least she slept in it; usually. Her room wasn't all pink as Ava's room had been when she was younger. Isabelle's room was yellow but in a very light shade.

"Kiddo, time to wake up." He sat down on the bed and gently touched her cheek, waking her up. She began to move and quickly opened her eyes.

"Morning daddy!" she sat up and gave his cheek a kiss. She wasn't tired at all.

"Morning Belle!"

"Which clothes shall I wear?" she asked and went for her closet. She had a lot of clothes too; too much. But they all had; Summer loved to shop and not only for herself. She loved to drag them all around the mall for hours.

"Well, why don't you pick something and I'll see if it's okay?" Seth stood up and fallowed her to the wardrobe. She pointed at a green skirt and he handed it to her. It was an excellent choice for the day. It was dark green and a little Christmas-y.

"Which shirt do you want then?"

"That one." Isabelle this time pointed at a black top.

"Well, you can wear that if you have something over; you'll get a cold if you don't."

"But daddy, it's California; it's not cold, at least not inside."

"Remember that you easily get a cold and it's a lot colder outside today than it was yesterday. And, you were swimming yesterday so you have to be warm today sweetie. What about this one?" he held a green jacket up; it had bottoms but was otherwise quite simple.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

Down in the kitchen Marissa was making breakfast, or she tried to anyway. She'd never been a good cook and as she'd been living on her own the past years she'd not developed her qualities since she'd mostly lived at hotels and eaten out. Or if she did eat in she'd do something easy like macaroon and cheese.

"Morning Marissa!" Ava walked inside the kitchen and understood by the smell that Marissa had a tiny problem. She checked the stove and saw the pancakes getting burned.

"Well, the coffee seems okay and the bagels." She said and tried to be positive; she knew what it could be like to feel like you weren't good at anything. She figured that she could help Marissa, the family needed breakfast.

"I was just making the table. Sorry if I ruined the breakfast; I just wanted to help."

"It's okay; we'll just make something else. We've got lots of food." The girls started to clean up and save what were left of the pancakes.

"Look, Seth's coming down. At least the kitchen's not a mess any more." Marissa said and laughed. She was trying to make some juice but she'd probably forget to count the things she had in it; she really was a bad cook.

"I…I have to go outside." Ava hurried out of the kitchen and left a puzzled Marissa with the unfinished breakfast. Why such a hurry? She thought.

"Good morning Marissa!" Seth seemed to be in an excellent mood as he walked into the room with the morning paper in his hand. He was dressed in what looked like working clothes; shirt and black trousers; even a tie. He looked very respectable and successful.

"Morning Seth! You look handsome, still working at the Newport Group?" Marissa didn't really have a clue about anything anymore; she'd been gone too long and even when she was with Anton she'd been too busy to keep up with everyone back home. She didn't want to be that person; the one to ditch her friends for a new man or a new career.

"Yeah, still the same thing; Ryan too. And Summer's still doing her thing and speaking of Summer, she's in a fashion show or something soon. I don't really know the name of it; I'm not that interested." Seth still rambled most of the time, like he always had. Marissa had always thought that he'd been weird; he'd been the weird neighbour no one knew the name of.

"Summer's doing a fashion show!" Marissa cried, immediately giving up the juice.

"Yeah, well, not Summer; her dresses. It should be really good. But you should probably talk to her about it; I don't really know that much about it just thought you'd want to know. You're still into fashion right?"

"Sure I am. That's why I'm gonna help your daughter to shop today."

"You're shopping with Ava? That's great."

"Not Ava; Isabelle. She needed a new dress and Summer couldn't take her so I will. If you're okay with it of course." Marissa suddenly got insecure; did they trust her?

"Sure, I'm just glad I won't have to. I hate shopping."

"You do? Does Summer still buy your clothes?"

"Yes, but that's because I'm not allowed to buy them myself. I have to wear special clothes. Believe me; being married to Summer isn't easy."

"Oh, I believe you but don't tell Summer that."

"Tell me what?" Summer walked into the kitchen and gave both of them questionably looks. "Cohen?"

"Why do you always assume that it's something I did? I'm totally innocent." Summer gave him a look and he knew that she had the control; she always had.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." Seth replied stubbornly.

"I still don't believe you but never mind. How's it going with the breakfast?" She looked around and saw the food all over the kitchen, everything half finished.

"I'm not finished. Actually it's not going so well. Ava was going to help me. I just wanted to do something nice but apparently it didn't work." Marissa had an apologetic look on her face and felt a little ashamed; everything she did always ended up in a disaster.

"It's okay Coop, we'll just finish this up. I appreciate you trying but let's see what's obvious; you're not much of a chef really. You never were." Summer smiled as she tasted a pancake but immediately spit it out. Marissa and Seth started to laugh as Summer filled her mouth with water to take the taste away.

"What did you do?"

"I don't know, I just did a pancake." Marissa giggled; she knew that she wasn't good with the stove.

"So where did Ava go? Wasn't she supposed to help you?"

"She did, or started but she went outside I think just before you came in here Seth." Seth took his head down to his hands and sighed; he'd really embarrassed her. He never meant to open her door; he usually waited for an answer, usually.

"What? Is something wrong?" Summer asked worriedly as she noticed Seth's behaviour. "Cohen?"

"I kind of did something this morning, something I shouldn't have." He carefully started.

"Go on." Summer motioned for him to keep talking.

"I went to wake her up as you told me, and then I went into her room and she was…"

"Was what, Seth?"

"She was…um…kind of…"

"Oh come on; just say it. She was?"

"…naked."

Slap

"You went into her room without knocking? That is so typical you Cohen. And she was naked? I can't even imagine how embarrassed she must feel. Cohen!" she slapped him again.

"Ouch! Don't do that. I didn't mean to walk into her room like that. I thought she was sleeping. Do you really think I did it on purpose?" Seth argued; she must understand that he never meant to see their teenaged daughter naked.

"You guys, I'm just gonna leave. I'll see what the other kids are up to. You work this out." Marissa excused herself and left Seth and Summer glaring at each other. She could ask Summer about the fashion show later.

"Why can't you learn to knock?"

"I did knock…just didn't wait for a response." He quietly added the last part and looked down. Summer softened a bit; he was so Cohen-y. "I didn't mean to and it was really awkward and I want to have it undone but it just…happened. I'm sorry."

"Cohen…"Summer sighed and he looked up at her. "I know you didn't do it on purpose. If you did I would send you away and never let you see the kids again. But you need to talk to her about it; you can't ignore each other."

"I know and I will. Will you take care of the breakfast while I talk to her? Or try to talk to her." Seth sounded kind of sad and almost as if he was afraid to talk to Ava about it; he felt bad about what had happened.

"Sure." Summer touched his arm gently and he went out of the room to search for his daughter who probably was hiding somewhere, but Seth figured where she was.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ava had always liked a special place in their garden. It was much protected from sight and was hard to find but once you got there you could stay there forever. It was in the bounding of their garden, behind a few bushes. No one had planned for that place to be something special; no one had even thought about it. No one but Ava; she'd found that place when she was a kid and every time she wanted to get away; that was where she went. It was surrounded by flowers and had a view of the ocean. They had a piece of furniture with a fantastic view but this was something special. It was an own place.

Seth saw Ava sitting behind the jasmine bush; she had her knees tightly pressed to her stomach; looking out at the ocean. The sun rays couldn't find their way into her nest though light slipped through the bushes so the place was warm. He sat down next to her, fallowing her gaze. It fell on a cloud near the sun.

"It looks just like a bird." She said and broke the silence. Seth hadn't expected her to be the one to speak first but he was glad she did.

"Yeah, the wings and even the beak too." Seth pointed at the parts he recognised and Ava smiled; this was very nice. She knew that her father hadn't walked in on her on purpose and she knew that he probably felt as bad as she did, if not worse. It was embarrassing but it was already done and so what? He'd seen her naked before. But that had been when she was younger. It mattered that he'd seen her, it did. But she wasn't going to ignore him for it.

"Daddy…" she placed her head on top of his shoulder but kept her eyes on the cloud. She took a deep breath and felt her father place his arm round her and stroke her arm.

"I'm so sorry for earlier, honey." He knew that she didn't want an explanation but he hoped that she knew how sorry he was. He knew that women were complicated, they were sensitive. He tried his hardest to please the women he knew but sometimes it jut went wrong. But that was to be expected, right? He was Seth Cohen; the master of making mistakes.

"I know." She just replied and they kept their positions for a while, knowing it was going to be weird for a while but also that they would put this behind them.

"You want some breakfast?" Seth finally said after a few minutes.

"Only it it's not Marissa's. She's no good cook dad; never let her try that area again." They both laughed and raised, Seth helping Ava by offering her his hand.

"I think your mom took over; she's a great chef, isn't she?" They made their way out of the bushes and went through the garden in to the kitchen where they found the whole family, including Marissa.

"So, I see breakfast is served. Is there any coffee?" Seth asked as he sat down in an empty chair while Ava did the same. Summer quickly stood up and served them a little of everything. Marissa watched them all.

Isabelle sat slurping her cereal and milk and almost dipped her long, wavy hair in it. Casey ate the corners of his sandwich and tried not to touch the vegetable Summer had put on it. Ava, who had just started to eat, drank her juice very careful not to make her glass dirty. She had everything around her very neat, touching every piece just to make sure they were in its right place. She didn't have to worry about it too much since everything on the table was as neat as it could.

Seth sipped his coffee which Summer just had given him. He looked quite pleased with everything and took a bagel. And then it was Summer; she actually looked straight back at Marissa with a huge smile on her face. Marissa smiled back; for once she felt welcomed, like really welcomed. She knew that Summer would always be there for her. This Cohen family was just like the Cohen family used to be when they were young. Then there were Sandy, Kirsten, Seth and Ryan; always welcoming new people into their warm home.

To be continued...

A long chapter, hope you liked.Please review!