The responses for this story hasn't really been so good but a huge thanks to Mrs Cohen and kursk for reviewing.

It's been a while since I last updated but my inspiration for this story has been less than none, so...

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Chapter twelve

The next day the Christmas decoration was spread all over the living room. Summer had kept her word and once they took Isabelle home they had only been doing fun stuff. They had been eating ice cream, seen cartoon and now invited the whole family over to Christmas decorate together. Isabelle had always loved that time of the year, along with the rest of the Cohens. They had kept Seth's Chrismukkah tradition throughout the years.

"Do you think you could help me here Cohen? I'm too short." Summer called from where she was standing, holding a green decoration with red things here and there. Seth, letting go of what he was doing, came over in a swing and helped her hang it up over a vault.

"There you go." Seth happily said and had a big grin on his face. Chrismukkah always made him seem like a little excited boy.

"You're so cute baby." Summer made a face and placed one tiny hand on his chin to bring him down to her length.

"Well, aren't you cute? My little Christmas Angel." He poked her nose and leaned down even more to give her a kiss. It didn't last long but it was all they needed at the moment. As they pulled away, their smiles were as bright if not even brighter.

"I can't wait to decorate the tree. It's so pretty this year." Summer turned her gaze to the giant tree in the space where the living room and the foyer met.

"It is." Seth agreed and wrapped his arm round Summer and began to lead her to the kitchen, where Kirsten was preparing something for them to eat while they decorated.

"Coffee break, just what I needed!" Seth said merrily.

"Cohen! Help your mother and then you might get some coffee. I'm gonna see what everybody else is doing." Summer said and made her way out of the kitchen, seeing Casey and Ryan decorating the banister.

"Hi guys! How's it going?"

"It's going great mom. Look what we've done already!" Casey pointed at the stairs, which was filled with decorations in red and green. He was so proud over himself.

"It's beautiful Case." Summer bent down to kiss her son's forehead. "And Ryan." she continued, turned to Ryan. "Kirsten's making some coffee so you'll be able to take a break soon."

"Thanks Sum. I could use that."

"Hey!" Casey said and crossed his arms over his chest. Instead of saying anything Ryan started to tickle Casey. Summer shook her head and went to the living room.

"Mom! Come and help us." Isabelle waved with the hand that wasn't hurt. She was so excited and everything about her was glowing; the way she smiled and laughed and the way her hair moved as she waved. This moment was just one of those Summer would never forget.

Her daughter was just so amazing. A child was so special and when you thought that you would lose you child, you could just not take it for granted any more. Not that you ever should.

"This looks really nice, Belle." Summer said but didn't actually mean it. Isabelle and Paige were placing far too many decorations on the same places. "Where's your grandfather?"

"He went to get some more decorations."

"More? Is there more?" Summer asked in surprise. They already had tons.

"Yeah, he bought some new. He said that you can never have too much Christmas decorations."

"Okay." Summer said and sighed. The Cohens could sometimes overreact just a bit when it came to the holidays. "We will take a break now and I'm sure that your grandmother has something for you two in the kitchen."

Both Isabelle and Paige started to jump on the place, screaming "Yay!" and rushing to the kitchen. Summer sighed again and sat down on the sofa, picking up a decoration Ava had made when she was a little girl.

Flashback

"Mommy, look!" Ava exclaimed happily, holding up a paper angel. It was very pretty actually, made of white silk paper and it had lots of glitter and other pretty things on it.

Ava had made it, with help from Summer and Marissa. She was five years old and so proud of what she'd made. "Honey, that is so pretty. You did a great job!" Summer said and lifted her daughter into her lap while Marissa was occupied with collecting all the glitter that had fell on the floor.

"Coop, don't you think it's pretty?" Ava asked excitedly as she held her angel carefully, trying not to ruin it.

Marissa sat up on her knees and gave Ava a warm smile. "I think that that angel is the most perfect angel I've ever seen." she said and made Ava giggle.

"Where's daddy? I wanna show him." the little girl said and jumped off her mother's lap, almost dropping the angel. Summer helped her regain her balance and made sure that she had the angel in her small hands. "He's upstairs with Casey, remember?"

That was really all that she needed to say because Ava sprinted towards the stairs and disappeared from their sight.

"She's excited." Marissa confirmed and laughed, cleaning up from the table with help from Summer.

"She really is." Summer agreed and smiled.

"You have raised her well Sum. She's adorable." Summer sat up immediately, a little surprised by Marissa's sudden words.

Marissa sat up as well and laid the silk paper on the table, focusing on her best friend. "You are a great mother."

"Um….Thanks Coop."

"You seem surprised."

"Yeah. I guess I'm just a little taken back for some reason." Summer confessed.

"Why? You know it's true."

"I don't know. It just…it means a lot you saying it."

"I mean it." Marissa said sincerely and put her hand on Summer's knee to show her that she was serious. "It's kind of funny how things worked out." Marissa continued with a slight laugh in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Summer asked, puzzled.

"You and Seth, still together and married with two children. You're a wife and a mother Summer."

"I guess I am."

"I have just always thought that I would be that person, but I'm definitely not."

"Are you happy about that?" Summer carefully asked, knowing that this might be a sensitive area.

"No, I mean I don't know. Of course I want that. Everybody wants that. But I still have time."

"Yeah. You do."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I'm jealous of you sometimes."

"You are?"

"Yeah. You just seem to have it all."

"You'll have it some day too Marissa."

"I hope so."

"You'd make a great mom."

"I hope so." Marissa said again, hoping that someday that would actually happen.

End of Flashback

Everything in this house reminded her of Marissa because everything in this house reminded Summer of her life and Marissa was a big part of it, she had been at least. How could it be that Marissa returning to her life was such a big deal? Summer had been fine without her for four whole years. Of course she had missed her and thought about her, wondering where she was and if she was happy but Summer had been just fine. She had been busy with her family and work. The kids had all grown and it wasn't long ago that Isabelle was just a baby. She had been busy. Busy enough to ignore that her friend wasn't there.

A hand on her shoulder ripped Summer from her thoughts. Seth sat down next to her. "You okay?" he gently asked and caressed her chin. Summer nodded and put her head on his shoulder, sighing deeply.

"Thinking of Marissa?" Seth asked again and stroked her hair lovingly. He always knew what she was thinking and Summer loved that about him; he always knew how she was feeling and he always helped her deal with whatever it was.

"Yes." Sumer answered him, not knowing what else to say. She really had no clue what to do or what she wanted to do.

"You miss her." It wasn't a question but a statement. Summer nodded again and snuggled closer to her husband, knowing that the comfort she was seeking was him. "We can go to the hospital later, if you want to. I'll come."

Summer uncertainly whispered a 'yes' and placed her hands on each of his shoulder. "We don't have to tell the others." Seth whispered into her hair. "It'll just be you and me."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Can we stay here for a while? I don't feel like facing the others yet." Summer asked and met his eyes. Seth nodded and pulled her close to him again, leaning against the couch and taking her with him. "I love you, Seth." Summer said wrapping her arms round his waist and kissing his shoulder before lying down.

"I love you," he told her in reply.

ooooooooooooooooo

After a few minutes Seth and Summer walked into the kitchen, meeting their family sitting around the table. Everybody was there, although someone was missing. Marissa.

Seth seems to feel Summer's emotions because he took her hand and led her to a chair. He sat down on it and pulled her into his lap, giving her cheek a kiss. She smiled gratefully and placed his arms so that they were around her.

"Mommy, why are you and daddy sharing the chair?" Isabelle asked, frowning.

"Because we want to, sweetie." Summer replied and smiled.

"Aren't you too old to sit in his lap?"

"Do you think I am?"

"Yes, because daddy sometimes tells me that I'm too old for that." Isabelle said and glared at her father, who sat quietly with his arms round Summer.

"Well, I'm daddy's wife so I'm allowed to sit in his lap no matter how old I get." Summer explained and Isabelle seemed to accept the answer because she returned to chat with Paige about Paige's new puppy.

Summer shrugged and got herself and Seth some coffee.

"Summer, what are we gonna do about this Friday?" Kirsten suddenly asked as she sipped some coffee. Summer rapidly turned her head towards Seth and looked at him; she hadn't even thought about that.

"Um…well…um," Summer really had no idea what to do. She had totally forgotten about it and they had invited so many people to surprise Marissa. "Should we cancel?"

"I don't know. Every thing's already paid for and all the invitations are out." Kirsten said.

"Marissa won't be out from the hospital by Friday. It's her party but since we already have paid…we can't tell everybody that they can't come." Sandy added.

"But the whole point of this party was for Marissa to meet everybody; it was her welcome home party."

"Let's ask Marissa." Summer said, interrupting the Kirsten and Sandy's anxious talking.

"Is she awake?"

"She doesn't know about the party."

"I know, but there is no reason for us not to tell her now. Who knows, maybe she'll get happy."

"Are you gonna go and see her then?" Kirsten asked in surprise. Ryan had told her about Summer's weird behaviour.

"Yes. Seth and I are going there later."

"Oh, good then. Hopefully she'll be awake."

"Yeah."

"Why don't you just go now? You could use a break from all the decorations and I'm sure that there will be lots left for you when you get back." Kirsten suggested, sensing that Summer was very eager in seeing her friend. "We'll save the tree for later."

"Well, if it's okay. Maybe it's just best to get it over with." Summer said, turning to Seth.

"Sure, we'll go right now." he said and took Summer's hand.

Once again, she smiled gratefully at him.

To be continued...

Hopeully you'll review and I will get some inspiration to write more.

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