A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews on the latest chapter! I'm glad that those who reviewed liked it. Things are getting crazier and closer to the climax with every chapter now… I hope you like this one too, and please review, even if it's just a few words… thanks!

4 Days Due

"Ooouch! Damn it!" Seth yelled as he tried to shave his face by hand. He had never been able to shave his face without his electrical razor, but now that Amy had dropped it into the bathtub a few days ago, he didn't have any other choice. Of course he could have gone and get the razor fixed, but there was just too much on his mind these days than caring for any of such trivial things.

He reached out for a Kleenex and pressed it on his cheek, trying to stop the tiny line of blood that was running down his face. He was so concentrated on cleaning the cut that he didn't notice Amy who came into the bathroom, smiling broadly.

Only as she hugged him from behind Seth jumped a little, surprised by her unusual good mood. Amy had never been a morning person, let alone a smiling person when she had just got up, but whatever it was that made her that happy must have been huge.

She placed a gentle kiss on his neck and started to massage his back, nibbling on his right earlap as she did so. "Ooooh, a little tense here," she said and grinned, "Let me make you relaxed."

Seth frowned and softly pushed Amy away. "Amy, I have a class in twenty minutes." He said as nice as he could at the moment. He was really not in the mood for any romantic games.

Amy pouted a little but didn't stop looking happy. She turned Seth around and placed sweet kisses on his cheeks. "Don't – be – such – a – geek." She said and stroked his neck with her fingers, a thing she knew that he couldn't resist.

The touch of Amy's warm fingers on his neck sent shivers down Seth's spine, and he couldn't help the goosebumps that were starting to appear on his arms. After all, he was just a man, and if a woman touched him at the "right" places he found it hard to resist.

As Amy proceeded from kissing his face to kissing his chest, he moaned a little and closed his eyes. He knew that he needed to stop this thing now, otherwise he would forget going to class.

"Mh... Amy..."

Amy stopped and looked up at him, giving him an innocent smile. "What?"

Seth grinned and cupped Amy's face in his hands. "I really need to go to class."

Amy shook her head, moving her hands from Seth's neck down his back until she let them rest on his butt, her touch almost driving him crazy.

"You really need to go?" she asked and before he could answer, her lips were already on his, her tongue exploring his mouth. And Seth knew that this was it. His brain told him to stop the kissing now, and to be pissed by Amy, just like he was used to. After all, he had just discovered that his love belonged to another woman.

But when Amy backed away a few inches and took her top off Seth knew that it was too late for him. Going to class was officially cancelled.

Summer sat in the auditorium, nervously drumming on the table in front of her with her fingers, glancing back to the entrance from time to time in the hope to finally see Seth coming through it.

She knew that if he missed their report today she would make sure that he wouldn't live to see his 24th birthday. The English grade was one of the most important grades that Summer needed, and she would never forgive Seth if he ruined her the A she was about to get.

Her glance went back to the huge clock that was on the wall opposite of her, and she shivered a little when she saw that class was about to begin in less than two minutes. Great. This was just great. The auditorium was full of students now, but the one she really needed was nowhere to be seen.

Summer opened the folder in front of her to get her mind off the time, which was rapidly running out, and went through her part of the report again, memorizing all of the important stuff she needed to know.

When she saw the notes Seth had scribbled down on the sheets, she turned around towards the entrance doors again and sighed angrily. This couldn't be true. He wouldn't dare missing their report today.

But as Professor Miller entered the room and closed the doors behind him, she was almost sure that Seth wouldn't come anymore. Summer shook her head and tried to suppress the fury that was slowly rising inside of her. Well, he still had some time, Professor Miller would talk a little at the beginning and introduce her and Seth's report topic until they needed to start.

Summer cleared her throat although she didn't know why and straightened her back, counting the seconds until she was ready to go and kill Seth Cohen – if he didn't show up, respectively. He still had some time and she hoped for him and his family that he took the possibility of staying alive instead of being murdered by her.

Professor Miller clapped his hands and watched as everyone took their seats, and Summer began to play with a strand of her hair nervously.

"Good morning, everyone." Professor Miller said and put his glasses on his nose, checking the report list that was laying in front of him.

"So today's the time for another report. It's an analysis of stylistic devices in Shakespeare's biggest dramas... um... Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and SOME TITLES." Professor Miller started to browse his folder and made some notes into it.

Now Summer started to knead her hands in her lap, turning around to face the entrance. Where the hell was Seth?

"The report is gonna be held by Summer Roberts and Seth Cohen." Professor Miller said and stepped aside to enable the two students to spread their stuff on the desk. Summer glanced around one more time, shook her head angrily and grabbed her stuff, walking towards the front of the auditoriumas graciously as anyone could be in a situation like that.

She shot Professor Miller an excusing look and cleared her throat, spreading her notes in front of her. "So... Seth..." Summer paused and glanced towards the door again. Now was his last chance to save his life. Because if he didn't show up now, Summer would kill him with her own hands. She slowly counted to three and closed her eyes. When she didn't spot Seth as she opened her eyes again, she went on.

"So Seth decided not to show up today, and that's why I can only give you my half of the report..." Summer glared over to Professor Miller whose gaze had darkened as she had finished the sentence. She nervously massaged her neck and sighed again, looking up towards the other students.

"Um, and unfortunately we didn't split the report in two halves, but we decided to divide it into paragraphs. So it's only pieces I can offer you... yeah, I guess I'll just start."

Summer did her best to hide her embarrassment and fury that took possession of her with every second that passed.

Seth would have to pay for this.

Women always smelled so good, like oranges or cherries or something. Amy smelled like strawberrys today. Or something similar. Seth couldn't define the smell, he just knew that he liked it very much. Especially now that his face was buried into Amy's dark blonde curls, and the exotic smell wandered up his nose.

One of Amy's hand was in Seth's hair, twisting some of his curls around her fingers, the other stroked his bare upper arm, and her head rested on his chest. Amy wore a content smile on her face and lifted her head to look Seth straight into the eyes. "I love you." She whispered and placed a gentle kiss on Seth's lips who replied what she had just said with a smile.

"I know." He said and closed his eyes.

Amy giggled a little and made a slight pout. "Don't you love me too?" she asked and winked at him.

Seth just smiled and sighed. That was the best reaction he could manage now, and she knew that. And his little "I love you" confession from a few weeks ago hadn't changed that.

Suddenly, Amy's gaze became more serious and she sat up, pulling the blanket over her upper body.

Seth noticed the sudden mood swing and tilted his head. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Amy bit her lip and she looked down at the blanket. After a few seconds, she looked up again and grinned broadly.

"I'm four days due." She squeaked and grinned broadly, showing Seth all of her perfectly white teeth.

At this news, Seth's jaw dropped and he felt his blood changing from hot to cold within seconds. "What... you...?" he stammered, pointing towards Amy with his forefinger.

All of a sudden, Amy's face darkened and she shook her head angrily. "Don't be too enthusiastic." She snapped and grabbed her shirt from the floor, pulling it over her head.

Seth blinked twice and sighed, shaking his head. "Did you take a test?" he asked as he watched Amy pulling her hair into a bun in front of the bedroom mirror.

Amy spun around and shot him a look that could kill. "Not yet." She said and turned around again, focusing her attention to her image in the mirror.

Seth swallowed and summarized his thoughts. "So that means that you're probably not pregnant, right?"

Amy's arms fell down next to her sides and she sighed. "Great that you're just as happy as I am. I thought you wanted to have a baby too." She said.

Now Seth rose from the bed and walked over to be closer to her, giving her a serious look. "I never said that." He stated and shook his head for emphasize.

Amy spun around again with her eyes widened twice their normal size. "You never said you didn't want a baby, either!" she yelled, the vein on her forehead pulsating.

"Well maybe that's because the conversation never came to an end. Remember my litte puking attack that interrupted us?" Seth was now angry as well, and he didn't make any effort to hide it.

Amy rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, so you drank too much on your birthday and threw up. Not the best reason to NOT have a baby." She scoffed.

"Let this freaking baby thing be." Seth replied through gritted teeth. He didn't have anything to say against a fight between Amy and him, but the way Amy tried to force on him a baby was just too much.

Amy laughed out loud and threw her head back, staring towards the ceiling. "Oh, come on. This "freaking" baby is what this is all about!" she shouted angrily.

Seth shook his head and turned around to head for the door. It didn't make any sense to try and have a serious discussion with Amy about that issue. All of a sudden, Amy's voice made him stop all the way again.

"Great, running away's always gonna solve everything. But you might have to get used to the fact we're going to have a baby." She said, almost triumphantly, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Seth turned around again and shook his head. "Take a test. I'm gonna get used to that issue when you prove it."

Just as Amy was about to reply, the shrill sound of Seth's cell phone interrupted her from saying any more mean things. She ran over to the nightstand where the cell phone was, tossed it open and yelled an angry "yeah" in it.

A few seconds later Amy's gaze darkened even more, if that was even possible, and she threw the phone over to Seth who just managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

"She always gets the worst moment." Amy snapped before heading for the bedroom door, slamming it behind her.

Seth closed his eyes for a short moment, trying to calm down a little. When his pulse had slowed down a little bit, he put the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Where the HELL have you been?" Summer's voice was ten times higher than usual, and Seth needed to hold the receiver away from his ear a little to not suffer from a serious tinnitus.

"Hello to you too, Summer." He replied, the sarcasm in his voice definitely hearable.

"Save the niceties, jackass." Summer gnarled. "You humiliated me in front of the whole English class."

It was only then that Seth remembered the report he and Summer had to do that day. When the realization of that hit him, he closed his eyes and leant back against the wall.

"God, Summer, I'm so-"

"Don't even try to apologize." Summer interrupted him. "If you want to throw away your good grades, go ahead, but I swear if I ever have to see you again you'll pay for it. And I mean like really pay for it, as in me hurting certain areas of your body you might need to produce children later."

An ironical laugh escaped Seth's lips. What a nice reference to the conversation Amy and he had just not finished.

"Oh, you think that's funny?" Summer asked in a shocked tone. "We'll see how funny this'll seem to you when your little friend down there has died."

"Summer-"

"Shut the hell up, Cohen. You and I are through, unless you don't think of a good apology. Like really good." Summer snapped and didn't give Seth any chance to defend himself.

She paused a little and went right on. "Oh, and just so you know, you ruined my average for English, like, completely. Thanks to your non-presence I dropped from a straight A to a C+. And if it hadn't been for me trying to tell the people your part of the report as well, Professor Miller would have given you an F. But thanks to me you got a D. I hope you're proud of yourself." And without any other comment, Summer hung up, leaving Seth feeling confused and incredibly sorry.

He knew very well how important Summer's English grade was to her, and just because he had been offered some sex in the morning he had completely forgotten about their report, which, by the way, was from a huge importance of his final grades as well.

Seth sunk down on the wall to the floor, pulled his legs to his chest and propped his head on his knees, wondering what he had done to deserve the hositility that had been directed towards him by the two women within the space of 5 minutes.

Summer threw the receiver of her phone on the living room couch and fell back into the pillows, her arms crossed and her gaze ready to kill. And as if the C+ and Seth's absence from English today hadn't been enough to kill her good mood, Craig had given her a voicemail that he needed to stay in Phoenix for two more days. And Summer knew that she couldn't call Jenny at that time of the day, because she was working at the college's Caribou Coffee in the afternoons. And Chris was probably making out with some random guy in his apartment. So she didn't have the possibility to share her fury with any other person, and that made her only angrier.

What was it about that stupid people that called themselves as her friends?

Summer's gaze lightened up a bit as she remembered that there was still one "friend" – if you could call her that – left she could talk to. So she ran over to the computer, switched it on and waited until she could start the Internet Explorer.

She started her chatting program and checked if her last ray of hope that was living in Honolulu at the moment was online. But she had been coming to the conclusion that this wasn't her lucky day a few moments before, and just as a confirmation of that, no one she could talk to was online. Marissa was at work, obviously, like anybody else she knew.

Summer was just about to switch the computer off when a very familiar name logged itself in. She raised an eyebrow as a new telegram appeared on her screen, and she silently cursed herself for not having reacted fast enough to log herself out of the chatting program.

Cpt. Oats: I'm an ass.

Summer sighed and couldn't help but smile. At least he knew the facts. And even if her brain told her to ignore him, her fingers wouldn't let her, and faster than she knew, her reply had been posted.

Princess Sparkle: Knowing your faults is the first step towards curing them.

Cpt. Oats: Summer?

Princess Sparkle: What?

Cpt. Oats: Can you forgive me?

Summer closed her eyes and shook her head. How did he do it that she couldn't be angry at him for more than fifteen minutes?

Princess Sparkle: I'm really mad at you, Cohen. You ruined my grade. And you know how important this was to me.

For a long time, Seth didn't write anything back and Summer was just about to close the telegram and start a new round of wanting to kill Seth Cohen when his answer appeared on her screen.

Cpt. Oats: I just talked to Professor Miller.

Summer raised an eyebrow, wondering what he wanted to tell her with that piece of information.

Princess Sparkle: So?

Cpt. Oats: He gives us another shot. And we don't have to change the topic of the report if I do some extra work. That means you just have to tell them your stuff again.

A sweet smile crossed Summer's lips and a comfortable warmth started to fill her heart.

Princess Sparkle: You're serious?

Cpt. Oats: Nod.

Even though Seth couldn't see it, Summer lowered her gaze and grinned to herself. He was just too sweet to be mad at. At least when he offered her such a good deal to keep her A.

Princess Sparkle: Thank you, Cohen.

Cpt. Oats: That was the least I could do.

Princess Sparkle: Well, that's true. Tell me something.

Cpt. Oats: Whatever you wanna know.

Princess Sparkle: Why did you miss class today?

Again, there was a really long pause before Seth's answer appeared, and the moment she had posted her question Summer knew she didn't want to know the answer to it.

Cpt. Oats: I was busy.

Summer laughed. Well, that was how you could call it, too.

Princess Sparkle: Tell Amy to keep you busy during her classes.

Cpt. Oats: I guess that problem solved itself today.

Summer frowned and tilted her head a little as she tried to understand what Seth was trying to tell her.

Princess Sparkle: Trouble in paradise?

Cpt. Oats: Kind of. Can we...

Summer tapped on the keys of her laptop nervously, without pressing one of them. Seth really knew how to create suspense during such a normal thing like a chat.

Princess Sparkle: Are you still alive?

Cpt. Oats: Yeah I am. Forget what I just said. It doesn't matter.

Summer frowned. That was a major mood swing on Seth's part.

Princess Sparkle: What's wrong, Cohen?

Cpt. Oats: Listen, I need to go to the library. Find some more stuff about stylistic devices in Shakespeare's dramas. See you round?

Cpt. Oats had logged off.

Before Summer could type an answer, Seth was already gone, leaving her wondering what was wrong with him this time. Maybe a thing about his parents? About Lilly? And what had been happening between him and Amy?

Even if Summer didn't want to admit it, but it almost killed her that she didn't know what was going on with Seth – part out of curiosity, part out of solicitude.

She bit her lip and stared at the last message Seth had sent her. He had told her he needed to go to the library. For the second time today, Summer cursed herself as she turned the computer off and grabbed her favorite pair of flip flops, her keys and her purse, and headed out for the library to find Seth.

He still meant too much to her to not go and check if he was ok. In fact, he meant way too much to her – but Summer wasn't ready yet to admit that to herself.

Next chapter: The Trouble With Love – Seth finally realizes he needs to make the first step.