This chapter is about Seth and his journey to California for his sister's birthday. It's only about Seth and the Cohen family, so no Summer in it, it's more about Seth getting suspicious of what's going on betweenhis parents and Caleb. Plus, there are some cute Seth/Lilly scenes.I hope you're gonna read it never the less, even if there's no SS in this chapter. My three betas really liked it really much and I really think you should read it and see yourselves ;)
More Bounce… In California"Say hi to the munchkin from me. And tell her happy birthday."
While Seth waited for the flight hours to pass by he thought about the last words Summer had told him over the phone that morning, and he started to wonder why everyone among his family and friends felt like they needed to give his sister all kinds of stupid nicknames the English language had to offer.
Okay, he called her pumpkin-head. But that nickname went back to the day Lilly had been born. The first time Seth had ever seen his little sister her head had been all red from crying and there was only a teeny tiny fluff of dark hair on top of it… and all those things made Lilly look like a pumpkin, and that's how his special nickname for his sister had been invented.
Ryan wasn't so cool of course. From day one, he had only called their little sister Lilly, Lil sometimes when he felt like it. He hadn't even lived a whole year with the Cohens when Lilly had been born – just a few days after Sandy and Kirsten had decided to be Ryan's surrogate parents Kirsten had found out about her pregnancy – and Seth figured that Ryan didn't want to seem like an idiot or something by calling Lilly with anything than her real name. Or maybe that was kind of a Chino thing… everything was sad and serious in Chino so nobody had funny and nice nicknames… or something like that.
Seth grinned to himself when he noticed that his rambling problem had taken over his thoughts now too and he looked out of the window to see that the plane started to descend. That was a good thing though – he really needed to stretch his leg, since a narrow airplane seat wasn't the best for a just healing cruciate ligament rupture.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're beginning to descend on Newport Beach Airport. Please return your seats in an upright position. The temperature in Newport Beach is 64 degrees fahrenheit, the weather is sunny and cloudless. We hope you had a comfortable flight and would like to wish you a nice stay in California."
Seth smiled some more. California. Wheeee. How exciting. Some place he had never been before. Dreams came true.
He shook his head when he caught himself being sarcastic and started to straighten the back of his seat. He wondered if Lilly really liked the pink Barbie rollerblades his mother had suggested him to buy as much as he had been told. He hoped for his little sister's sake that she did because he had spent the insane amount of almost 500 dollars for one pair of rollerblades… rollerblades out of which, by the way, Lilly would have grown out of in less than a year from now.
Seth sighed and closed his eyes and prepared himself for the weekend that was about to follow as he watched how the Californian soil came closer and closer with every second. When he felt a vibration of the plane cabin he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
He was home.
"Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeth!"
This had been loud and clearly, for nobody to miss. Seth looked up from the luggage carousel he was waiting at to see his little sister running towards him, her arms stretched out and her long brown curls flying behind her.
He smiled and opened his arms as well, bending down a little – as far as his cast allowed him to – to have Lilly's height, and hugged her tightly when she had arrived in his arms.
"That was loud. Happy Birthday, sis." He said and kissed Lilly's cheek.
Lilly nodded proudly and grinned, showing off her front tooth-spaces.
"Whoa what happened to your face?" Seth asked and stood up again, wincing a little. His knee was definitely not ready to take little sisters. "Looks like there's something missing." He said and pointed out to Lilly's tooth-spaces.
Lilly giggled and grinned only broader. "I got a hundred dollars for those!" she said and nodded for emphasize.
Seth put on a pained expression and nodded. "I've heard about that." He replied. "Where's Dad?"
"He's right behind ya." Sandy answered the question himself and hugged his son tightly, examining him. "You look good. Your knee's getting better, huh?"
"Geez, Dad, I wouldn't have noticed that, thanks." Seth replied and stuck out his tongue a little.
Sandy gave his son a clout and grabbed Seth's suitcase that was just passing them by on the luggage carousel. "You better control yourself these days... your sister has become very perceptive of bad manners and especially swearwords... so try to keep them down."
Seth raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Whatever you say, father. So where's the rest of the clan?"
"At work and in school!" Lilly sung and smiled innocently up to her father and brother.
Seth shook his head and pointed out to her. "Shouldn't you be like in school too?" he asked and Lilly shook her head. "Duuuh. Not on a Saturday."
Seth narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah? And Ryan can be in school on a Saturday, huh?"
"Yeah he can." Lilly replied and stuck out her tongue. "He's in college, he's in school every day. For studying with Kim."
Seth raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Studying with Kim. He had to talk about THAT excuse with his brother later.
Sandy laughed when he saw how his two children drove each other almost crazy and patted Seth on the shoulder.
"Let's go now, you two. I bet Seth's tired from the flight."
"Oh yeah Dad, a two hours flight from Chicago to Newport can be really exhausting."
Sandy shook his head and sighed. "Has your sarcasm increased since the last time we saw you? Or have you always been like that and we just didn't notice?" he asked and Seth grinned.
"Maybe both." He replied and took his crutches, pointing to the exit doors. "Let's go now. I wanna go home."
"My boy! How are you, honey?" Kirsten Cohen exclaimed and looked down on Seth's knee when he had entered the house.
Seth smiled and hugged his mother as best as his crutches allowed him and shrugged. "Okay, I guess. The cast can be removed in a few weeks though."
"Aww, that's some good news." Kirsten replied and shoved Seth into the family room where she sat him on the couch, putting his leg high and fluffing the pillows in his back. "The flight must've been horrible with that cast and crutches."
Seth shrugged again and shook his head. "It was okay. Seriously mom, I've not come here to be mothered."
Kirsten put her hands in her hips and gave Seth one of her famous mother glares. "No you haven't. But Lilly's party starts only in a few hours and until then I want you to get some rest."
Seth sighed, well aware of the fact that his mother didn't allow any protest and nodded. "If you say so."
Kirsten smiled contently and placed the remote control next to Seth. "I do say so. I'll be right back with some soda and sandwiches."
Seth rolled his eyes. "Ooookay."
As soon as Kirsten had disappeared around the corner of the family room she leant against the refrigerator and sighed, closing her eyes. He looked so hurt with his crutches and his cast... she just couldn't tell him.
Just as if he had read her mind, Sandy entered the kitchen and shot Kirsten a serious look. "What's wrong?" he asked and went over to his wife, taking her in his arms.
Kirsten shook her head. "It's just... Sandy, I don't know. I mean he really needs to know what's going on with his grandfather... but he looks so miserable, I just can't tell him yet."
"Honey, I thought we agreed on not telling him anyway this weekend."
Kirsten lowered her gaze and nodded. "You're right. Although I'm not sure if I can keep up the happy façade knowing that my father has less than two months to live." She whispered and was relieved when she heard Lilly's voice in the family room. At least that meant that neither Seth nor her would hear anything of this conversation.
"So where's the birthday girl?" Ryan's voice interrupted their conversation, and Kirsten looked up to see Ryan and his girlfriend Kim entering the kitchen, a huge present wrapped in pink paper, a big yellow bow on top of it, carrying with them.
Kirsten put on a happy smile and pointed to the family room. "Over there. Go and say hi. We'll be there soon!" she said and shoved Ryan and Kim out of the room to finish her conversation with Sandy.
With a bewildered look on his face the young couple left the kitchen, and Kirsten lurked after them to make sure they didn't hear what she was saying to her husband. She felt how Sandy took her hands and she focused her attention on him again. "If you're uncomfortable with that tell him."
Kirsten smiled a little but shook her head firmly. "No, Sandy. Not today. Not on Lilly's birthday." She replied and Sandy sighed. "Maybe tomorrow." Kirsten added and placed a quick kiss on Sandy's lips, opening the refrigerator to check on the cake that was stored in there for Lilly.
Sandy raised his eyebrows but shrugged and went over to one of the shleves to get some glasses for his guests out of it. "Maybe tomorrow." He whispered and shook his head.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Seth grinned broadly when he spotted his brother and his future sister-in-law. "Hey guys." He said and stretched out his hand for Ryan to shake it. "I would get up…" he added and looked around to make sure that Kirsten wasn't there. "But Mom forbids it." He whispered and shrugged, reaching out his hand for Kim as well who was sitting down opposite of him after the greetings.
Ryan laughed and shook his head. "You're almost twenty-three and your Mom has you all whipped."
"What is whipped?" Lilly's tiny voice asked and she stared at Ryan with her big brown eyes.
The three young adults stared at each other and broke into a laugh, leaving Lilly angry.
"You're not supposed to laugh about me!" she yelled and stomped her foot. "It's my birthday!"
Seth grinned and tried to suppress his giggles, pointing for Lilly to sit down next to him. With her arms still crossed, Lilly went over to her brother and sat at the edge of the couch pouting. "Don't be such a girl." Seth said and smiled.
Lilly looked up and tried to put on the best angry look she could manage.
"I AM a girl." She replied and continued pouting, and Seth stroked her hair. "You're a birthday girl." He said and smiled. "Still mad?" He looked at her with the same puppy dog eyes that she just gave him, and Lilly smiled a little. "Not if I get a cool present."
"Cool present, huh? You're gonna love this then." Ryan said and sat down next to Lilly so that the little girl was in between her two brothers.
Faster than Ryan could react, Lilly's little hands had grabbed the huge present he was holding and started to open it, and she might have gotten away with her little present stealing if it wasn't for Kirsten to interrupt her.
"Young Lady, what did we say about the presents?" Kirsten asked in her typical mother voice, and Seth rolled his eyes.
"Geez Mom let her have a little fun. It's her birthday." He tried to defense his little sister.
"Yeah Mom it's my birthday, geez." Lilly repeated and grinned at Kirsten with her toothless mouth.
Kirsten rolled her eyes but couldn't help but to laugh about her children. She put a tablet of drinks down in front of Seth on the table. When Seth tried to move and reach out for a glass she shoved him back on the couch.
"What did I say about moving around, young man?" she said in the same voice with that she had just ranted Lilly, and Ryan and Kim grinned broadly when she saw that scene.
Seth winced a little and held out his hand for his mother to place a drink in it.
Right now his mother had achieved that he felt even younger than his little sister. It was definitely great to be home.
A few hours later, just a few minutes before Caleb should arrive at the Cohen house, Seth had managed to sneak out of his mother's permanent control and had gone up to his old room. It had taken him ages to get up the stairs with his crutches – he had never realized how lucky he was that his Chicago apartment building had an elevator – and he was really glad that he could just fall down on his bed when he had reached his room. As he lay there his gaze wandered around on the walls and he noticed that his parents hadn't changed a thing since he had last visited, and he smiled contently.
Being in his old room was always like having a flashback to High School, and he enjoyed that. Seeing all the old photos reminded him of how his real life had begun – how Summer had finally started to talk to him and how Ryan came in his life and had helped him to get some friends.
As his gaze wandered up and down the room Seth realized for the first time ever that he had never taken away the photos that had been taken from Summer and him when they had still been a couple, and he smiled. Well, that was part of his old life, and his room was his old life, so the photos had a right to be there. His gaze stopped at a drawing he had made from Summer when he and Zach had started to work on "Atomic County". It was just Summer's face with her wavy hair framing her head, and he remembered that scene vividly. Summer had never looked more beautiful than that day, except for the day of their graduation.
Just when Seth was about to drift off into his deep world of thoughts, Ryan knocked on the door and walked in, sitting down on Seth's desk chair. "High School flashback?" he asked.
Seth sat up a bit and nodded. "Yup. Makes me think of some good times." He replied and sighed. "I hate it when I become melancholic."
"So you gotta stop living in the past hen." Ryan answered and yawned.
Seth rolled his eyes and stretched. "I'm not living in the past, buddy. I'm living right here. Right now. So what did you two get Lilly for her birthday?" He proudly held up his forefinger. "See? That was a presence question. Not living in the past."
Ryan shook his head and sighed. "Kim insisted on buying that doll house Kirsten suggested. I was more for the playstation."
Seth laid a hand on his heart and nodded. "Hearing you say this makes me feel so proud. I really taught you how to love a good playstation game over the years, haven't I?"
Ryan raised an eyebrow and just stared at Seth with his typical Ryan Atwood glare, and Seth tilted his head. "Okay then. YOU are the better player. The student has become the master." He admitted and shrugged. "But I showed you how to handle a playstation. I know you don't have such happy things in Chino."
"Right. Cuz everything's sad and unmodern in Chino."
Seth smiled broadly and nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed, stretching his leg.
"So, why isn't Amy with you?" Ryan asked and Seth looked up, shrugging. "Studying or something I guess. Flying all the way to California for one night is a little too stressy."
Ryan raised his eyebrows and Seth held up his hands as if he wanted to apologize for something. "Women, buddy. Women."
The two boys stared at the different corners of the room in silence for a few minutes. Of course it was Seth who found his speech first. "And what's new with the small Atwood family? Any engagement parties or other hot love details I need to know about?"
Ryan just shot Seth a blank look and Seth sat straight, folding his hands in his lap. "Is there something you wanna tell me?" he asked and grinned, and Ryan shrugged.
"Kim and I… have actually thought about…" Ryan paused and sighed. "Having a baby, you know."
After Ryan had finished his last sentence, Seth's jaw dropped and he blinked a few times to make sure that he had gotten this information right. "Sounds… interesting." He said and blinked again. "You're joking, right?"
Ryan shook his head. "Why would I?"
Seth nodded. "Right, why would you? You're Ryan Atwood, you never make jokes."
"What's so shocking about that?" Ryan asked.
Seth shrugged. "I don't know, man. A baby is so… adult." Seth stressed the word "adult" as if it was some disease or strange thing you better not talk about, and Ryan laughed.
"I'm pretty positive you wouldn't be wanting a baby right now." He said, and Seth nodded enthusiastically.
"So right. I mean two Amys? No thanks."
"Seth? Ryan? Your grandfather's here, let's have something to eat!"
Kirsten's voice, coming from downstairs, interrupted the two boys and Ryan went over to the bed to help Seth get up. "Hey Ryan. Have you told Mom and Dad yet?" Seth asked while taking his crutches and heading for the door.
Ryan shook his head. "Nah, not yet. This weekend's Lilly's birthday. I don't wanna take the attention away from her."
Seth turned around and tilted his head. "Aww, how cuuuute." He said sarcastically before he made his way to the stairs, followed by Ryan who grinned.
"Where are yoouuuuuuu? I wanna have my caaaaaake!" Now it was Lilly's voice that came up the stairs and Seth imitated her while taking step by step downstairs.
"I bet you're reconsidering the baby idea when you hear this little devil, do you?" he asked and Ryan grinned.
Something never changed when Seth visited from Chicago, and that was Seth himself.
This was weird.
Extremely weird.
Even a blind man couldn't deny the strange glances his parents and his grandfather exchanged throughout the whole dinner. And whenever one of the "adults" seemed to having been "caught" by Seth while they were staring at each other they would redden all of a sudden and concentrate on their food instead of sharing those mysterious glances any further.
The good thing was that he didn't need to talk – and neither did his parents, his grandfather or Ryan and Kim, since Lilly was rambling about the differences of being in kindergarten and being in school ever since the dinner had started. Everyone pretended to listen to her but none of them really did – they were just too busy exchanging weird glances to listen to what the youngest member of the Cohen family was saying.
So when Seth caught his mother during one of those glances, he dropped his fork so everyone looked up from their plates and Lilly stopped talking. He nodded to his mother and raised an eyebrow, pointing from her to his father to his grandfather and back.
"So what's this supposed to be?" he asked and saw how all the color drained from Kirsten's face.
"What do you mean, sweetie?" she asked and forced a smile that was so unnatural that Seth felt like vomiting right on his plate.
"This thing between the three of you – the weird glances and all that stuff."
Kirsten blinked twice and continued smiling. "Oh, nothing. This is just about..." she paused and looked over to Lilly who was totally unaware of what was going on around her as she played with one her favorite Barbie dolls that always joined dinner in the Cohen house. "About somebody's birthday presents." She said and smiled.
Seth pressed his lips together and nodded. Sure. "Yeah, since when do I look completely stupid?" he asked, and the weirdness that was hanging over the table definitely reached its high.
Caleb jumped in, putting an abrupt end to the conversation. "So what about if Lilly's getting her presents now? What do you think about that?" he asked and focused on Lilly who had dropped the Barbie and smiled broadly at the word "presents".
She grinned only broader now and nodded enthusiastically. "I wanna see my presents!" she chimed and clapped her tiny hands, and Seth sighed and rolled his eyes. No matter what was going on here, his parents definitely didn't want the children to know about it. And that was what bothered him the most. He wasn't a child anymore, and he had the right to know what was going on – no matter if it was good or bad news.
But for now the discussion was over – whether he liked it or not.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Mooooommy look!" Lilly squeaked and held up the pink pair of rollerblades Seth had bought her, smiling from one ear to the other and showing off her tooth-spaces.
Kirsten smiled proudly at Seth and nodded. "Wow, those are super sweetie. Shouldn't you say thank you to your brother for those?"
Lilly blinked twice and jumped over to Seth who was sitting on the couch and smiled broadly. The little girl threw her arms around Seth's neck and giggled. "Thaaaaank you, they're sooo cooool!" she yelled and before Seth could hug her back she was already back on the floor with her new rollerblades.
"I'm glad you like them." Seth said and looked over to his parents. "They cost a fortune." He added. Kirsten raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Poor boy." She said. "We pay you everything, your rent, your food, your clothes… and now you need to buy a little present for your sister and you're poor and live on the streets."
Seth made a face and focused his attention back to his sister who was just unwrapping Ryan's and Kim's over-dimensional doll house, smiling broadly. When Caleb cleared his throat and Seth noticed that he shot one of those special glares to his mother he shook his head. "I'll be back in a few minutes." His grandfather said and left the room, Kirsten's gaze never leaving her father on his way out.
Did his parents really think that he was THAT dumb? Seth really wasn't perceptive of many many things, but even a Seth Cohen could see that THOSE glances were strange. He could understand if his grandfather was in some financial problems (which wouldn't be a surprise) his parents didn't want to tell him in front of Lilly. A little girl certainly didn't have to know about problems with the Newport Group or whatever.
But why in all world did his parents think that they couldn't tell him? Seth shot a glare over to Ryan who watched Kirsten with the same intensity than he did, and Seth sighed. Before he could sink even further into his thoughts, another squee of his little sister made him focus on the unwrapped dollhouse, and he smiled when Lilly clapped her hands and opened all the little doors and windows that were in the house. At least one person in this room was happy.
A few hours later, when Ryan, Kim and Caleb had left again, Seth had the honor to bring his little sister to bed, and he decided to go to sleep too after Lilly was stored. It had been a long day for him, and the combination of his pain medication, a little, permanent squeaking sister and three adults who obviously tried to hide something from him had made him extremely exhausted.
Lilly had always been easy to bring to bed, unlike other children, and Seth was completely grateful about that at the moment. His little sister was laying in front of him, staring at him with her big brown eyes and a happy smile on her face.
"Today was fun." She said, and Seth smiled, brushing a strand of hair away from her forehead.
"That makes me happy." He said sincerely and Lilly frowned. "Why?"
Seth tilted his head and started to stroke his sister's long brown curls. "When you're happy I'm happy too." He replied, and he meant it. Nothing in the world could beat the wonderful feeling of seeing Lilly laughing and happy.
Lilly giggled and nodded. "I see. I'm happy when you're here." She said and Seth frowned.
"What, you aren't happy when I'm in Chicago?" he asked.
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Duh. I'm always happy. But you make me happy. You're funny."
Seth grinned. "I am." He said proudly and kissed Lilly on the cheek. "Alright. Time for you to sleep, birthday girl."
Lilly sighed and nodded. "Oookay. Seth?"
"Hm?"
"Why isn't Summer with you?"
Seth, who was just stuffing the blanket around Lilly's tiny body, stopped in his tracks and frowned. "Why should she be, pumpkin? You know that Amy is my girlfriend, right?"
Lilly slapped a hand on her forehead. "Riiight." She said and shook her head. "I forget that. But you need to be with Summer."
Seth blinked and frowned. It wasn't enough that Chris and everyone reminded him of that little fact all the time, now his little sister was starting, too. "Why?"
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Because you are happy when you're with Summer."
Seth smiled and shook his head. "Time. For. Bed." He said and pulled the blanket up to Lilly's chin, placing a kiss on her forehead. "And you stop worrying about me and my women."
Lilly grinned and nodded. "Okay. Night Seth."
"Night Lilly." He stroked her hair one last time, took his crutches and left the room as quiet as he could.
After a few more steps Seth had finally arrived in his room, and he slumped down on the bed, only managing to take off his shirt before he crawled under the blue covers. He closed his eyes and just waited to drift off into sleep within the next few minutes, but his brain was working too hard for that.
He recalled everything that had happened that day, from the flight from Chicago to Newport over everything that had happened at the Casa de Cohen, and despite his exhaustion he found himself wide awake.
He sighed and pulled the blankets over his head. The song was right. They really had more bounce in California.
Next Chapter: Sweet Home Chicago – a funny SS reunion.