Thanks for the interest and the feedback from all. Sorry it took so long to update. It shouldn't always take this long.

On to Chapter 2...

Chapter 2:

Stirring up the past

"How do you feel about France?"

Ryan looked over at his alarm clock, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was really seeing that it was only three in the morning. He sighed loudly into the phone almost knocking the receiver off his night table as he tried to get comfortable. "What?"

"France? What do you think about it?"

"I hate France."

"All right." Seth nodded a few times on his end of the conversation from the other side of the country. He was almost as tired as his brother despite the fact that he was six hours ahead. "How would you feel about France if it weren't for the fact that that's where your ex-girlfriend met her first husband and where she ran off to when she finally left you once you'd decided you were going to Berkeley and then you had that weird fight thing that I still don't understand?"

Another sigh from Ryan. "I don't know. I've never been, Seth."

"Right, well, neither have I, but it sounds romantic, doesn't it?"

"What?"

"Proposing to Summer in Paris. Sounds romantic, right?"

"It sounds great, buddy."

Seth shook his head as he leafed through a few comic books on the shelf before him. His room hadn't been ready when he'd tried to check in to the hotel he'd called fifteen minutes before boarding his plane, and so he'd been wandering the streets with no one to annoy. Experience had told him that if he wanted to find a quiet corner from where he could call Ryan for a little chat, a comic book store was a good place to start. He was right.

"Then again," Seth continued, "it won't be as much of a surprise. If I tell her we're flying all the way to Paris, and then we actually go, she'll have to think something is up, won't she?"

"Stop procrastinating and just ask her already."

"Figuring out where and how to propose isn't procrastinating." Seth shook his head. "Procrastinating is me here in New York asking her father's permission before I ask Summer if she wants to marry me. That's procrastinating."

"You're in New York?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you have a job, or something?" Ryan asked as he sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes to try and wake himself up a little more.

"I do graphic design work and think up slogans for an advertising company and write comic books on the side. If I can find a fax machine, I'm at work."

"So you're asking Dr. Roberts if you can marry Summer, and then she's next on the list?"

"Sure." Ryan could picture Seth's awkward nod turn into a shake of the head simply through his voice. "Most likely."

"You know Summer is going to kick your ass if you tell everyone before you tell her. She may kick your ass for having gone to her father before going to her in the first place."

"I don't think so, man. Consulting the best friend is always part of the proposal. If Marissa was still around, I'd ask her. If Taylor didn't have such a big mouth, I'd ask her. But neither can help me, and so who's Summer's next best friend? Dr. R. Telling one person before her is completely excusable."

"You told me."

Seth shrugged on the other end of the line. "Telling my brother so I can ask for his advice is also acceptable."

"And Sandy."

"I didn't tell Sandy."

"What?"

"I didn't tell my dad." Seth voice faltered over the line. "I didn't tell him. Why would you think I would have told him?"

"I don't know. It's a big step. I would have thought you'd have talked to your dad about it before going ahead with it."

"You think I should have talked to him about it?"

"Seth," Ryan warned.

"Maybe I do New York, then Berkeley to check with the Sandman, and then Summer. Maybe. Anyone else you think I should tell?" Seth turned his back to the comics and let his body slide down to the floor.

"Just ask Summer. You know, the more people you tell, the more people will know if she refuses."

"You think she'll say no?"

Ryan groaned and threw his head back on his pillow. "No."

"She'll say no?"

"No, I don't think she'll say no. Listen. Just ask Summer. Just find out wherever she is, go surprise her and ask her to marry you."

"What? Ryan, that's so lame."

"Excuse me?"

"It's just so… conventional. Where's the oomph? Where's the bang? Where's the splat? Where—"

"Have you been reading Batman again?"

"It was the only thing I could find." Seth glanced quickly at his watch. "Now I have to go meet Dr. Roberts, but I want you to put a little effort into this, Ryan. I'm only getting married once, for God's sake."

"Lord knows Summer wouldn't let you marry anyone else."

"And that's why I love her. I'm going to call you later. Don't turn your phone off."

Already, Ryan had been reaching for his cell phone to turn it off. "I've got classes until five, but I'll be nothing but ears after that, buddy."

"I might have to call you before that. I'll let you know how it goes."

"There was never a doubt in my mind that you would."

"Good." Seth nodded to himself quickly as he moved out of the comic book store. "Hey, you've got a break next week, right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Even better, I'll be able to call you whenever. I won't have to worry about classes…"

"Seth, I'm going to be studying. It's a study break."

"What?"

"These are my last exams ever, Seth. I need to get this right because I'm not coming back for one stupid class should I fail anything."

"Ryan, you haven't gotten a bad grade since you went off to school, much less failed anything. I bet you know the material like the back of your hand."

"I have to study," Ryan simply answered.

"No, you are just avoiding people once again like you have been ever since you and Taylor broke up. Man, that girl changed you. She didn't hypnotize you or anything like that, did she?"

"Taylor didn't do anything wrong," Ryan answered in his stony voice.

"Listen, I know we've never talked about it, because that's just not the Atwood way, but don't you think it's time you told me why you and Taylor suddenly broke it off."

"We couldn't do long distance."

"That's bullshit and you know it. What happened, Ryan?"

Ryan took a deep breath as he looked around his dorm room. If only his roommate was there, he could yell at him and make him hang up on Seth. The guy was AWOL as usual, however.

"Aren't you going to be late for your lunch with Summer's dad?"

Seth sighed and growled in the same breath. "One of these days I'm going to be selfless enough that you won't be able to get out of these conversations by changing the subject to me."

"I'm sure you will, pal," Ryan answered with a chuckle.

"All right, I'm off. But listen, I'm serious about you keeping your phone on. Don't turn that thing off."

"You got it, buddy."

"And I will be listening the minute you're ready to talk about Taylor."

"There's noth—" Ryan shook his head at his lie. "I'll keep that in mind."

He yawned as he heard Seth hang up, then reached over and flipped off his cell phone. He let himself sink back into his pillow and quickly fell asleep once more, hoping that his conversation with Seth wouldn't bring back the dreams of Taylor it had taken him so long to chase away.

"Where are you?" Summer asked, taking the phone away from her mouth and closing it.

"You know, the only way to know the answer to your question is to keep listening to what the person on the other line is going to say. I know, it's a fairly complicated process, but if you stick with it, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

Summer rolled her eyes and squeezed her phone a little tighter, reminding herself that none of this was Matthew's fault and that there was absolutely no reason for her to take her anger out on him. Finally, she shrugged. "He wasn't answering."

"Well, that's an odd message to leave. You didn't even say your name."

"I wasn't leaving a message. I was just wondering out loud. Is there a reason you're hovering over me?"

He smiled down at her, pulling himself up a little straighter to emphasize her "over." He was at least a whole foot taller than her. Summer rolled her eyes again as she moved her gaze back to the papers in her lap. She'd been staring at them most of the morning, and hadn't been able to make sense out of a single sheet.

"Want me to distract you? I can take you out to Chez Marcel for supper."

"That's way too expensive for what you make, Matthew."

"I have some money stored away," he told her with a shrug.

Summer shook her head, wishing he wasn't so quick to contradict every one of her refusals. "Sorry, but I'll have to pass."

"It's probably for the best. You have a visitor," Matthew told her.

"I do?" Summer's back straightened and her fists tightened against the sheets of paper she was holding. "Seth?"

"I've never met Seth, but I seriously doubt this is him." Matthew smiled again, nodding toward the door of the long hotel boardroom where the group had set itself up for the day. Summer followed his gaze and couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips when she found the person standing at the door, waiting for her.

"Taylor! What are you doing here? I thought you were still in France."

"Chow, bella," Taylor offered with a dramatic wave. "I was, but it was time to come home. My cousin is having a baby, and even though I haven't seen her in over a year, I promised I would come to the shower."

"Aw," Summer answered, her arms wrapped around the girl. She backed up quickly as Taylor's layered black blouse crinkled under her touch. "Wait? Chow, bella? I'm not so good with the languages, but even I know that isn't French."

"It's Italian."

"I thought you were in France."

"Well, I was, but I found this nice Italian boy who wanted to teach me his native tongue, and who was I to protest? Who was I to protest any of the ways he wanted to use his native—"

"All right, got it. Not very subtle."

"Never was a strong suite."

Summer smiled, grabbing Taylor's hand and pulling down to the couch. "So, is your cousin here in Kansas?"

"No. I was just stopping by to see how you were doing."

Summer's eyes narrowed as she watched her friend. She shook her head. "Taylor, you know that there's nothing I love more than one of your visits, but seriously, what are you doing here?"

"Summer, I am shocked—"

"Taylor."

"All right." Taylor sighed as she reached out to grab Summer's phone and have something to distract her fingers as she talked. "I just wanted to see someone. Someone I knew. Someone American... I just wanted a friend."

Summer tilted her head and offered a small smile. "Are you okay, Taylor?"

"Yeah." Taylor shrugged. "Sure. I was just missing people, and I think we all know that my mother isn't the one who's going to be doing anything to soothe that loneliness for me, if you know what I mean."

"I do."

"And I wanted to see how you were doing. So," Taylor took a look around the room where they found themselves, her eyes widening slightly, "how are you doing, Summer?"

"I'm good." Summer laughed. "I'm great really. I'm on the tail end of my stay with GEORGE. I'm ready to settle down and find a real job. I can't wait to see Seth more than just a few days in a row and to lose this nightly phone conversation thing, which—while fantastic—is definitely not the best way to assuage my Cohen needs."

"Really? I would have thought Seth would be good at phone sex."

"Ew. Besides, he rambles. Can you imagine how long it would take him to just undo the first button on my shirt or something?"

"It's Seth; I would have actually thought that if there was a problem, it would be getting him to slow down and make things last."

Summer's eyes narrowed and it took her a moment to remind herself that she no longer hated Taylor and that the woman wasn't after her man. "That's enough about that."

"So, how's everyone else?"

"Good." Summer shrugged. "Everyone's doing good."

"Everyone?"

"Well, Kirsten and Sandy are loving their new jobs. Sophie's just a tiny happy person. My father and the step-monster are actually getting along, which is a little hard for me, but we're working on it. And hey, did you hear that Julie's graduating from university? She took a marketing class. She was top of her class most of the time."

"Great. That's great. So everyone is great. Everyone." Taylor nodded quickly a few times.

"Then there's Ryan."

"Ryan? Oh, I forgot. Ryan, of course. How is Ryan?"

"Taylor."

"You brought him up."

Summer's face softened as she watched Taylor try to remain impassive. Taylor was a lot of things: smart, scheming, fluent in more languages than Summer probably knew existed… Being good with men—or simply being good with the subject of men—however, was definitely not one of those things.

"I don't understand how you guys didn't keep in touch."

Taylor shrugged. "It was just too hard, I guess. He was at Berkeley and everything was new. I was in Europe and everything was French. It would have been too easy for him to get hurt after the whole Ma…" Taylor stopped herself and raised her eyes to meet Summer's.

Summer nodded. "Marissa. You can say her name."

"After everything he and Marissa had been through. And Lord knows we had our own drama. I didn't want to have to put him through anything more difficult than your typical first-year university romance. Besides, the college years are a time to experiment and have fun. It isn't time to be calling the same person every night and worrying about who they're meeting on the other side of the ocean. We were fighting before we were even apart. It was just easier to let go of each other."

"Was it?"

"Well, one can never really tell what might have been." Taylor's voice rose and she straightened her back as she always did when she was trying to convince someone of something she didn't even remotely believe herself. "But I have to believe I made the right decision, because that's the decision I made."

"That's… very reasonable of you, Taylor."

"Thanks." She sighed as she picked at her nails. "So how is he?"

"Good from what I see. A few months away from graduating. Top of his class. Loving this internship he got to do and already got a job lined up for once he graduates. Single." Summer reached for her phone at the word to help her pretend she didn't see the gleam that appeared in Taylor's eyes. "And I would be able to give you a much better update if Seth would just call me already, but he seems to be completely unreachable today."

"Slipping away from you? Straying a bit?"

Summer held her hand up at Taylor's words. "Don't even. Seth and I are way past the phase where you or anyone else can put doubts in our minds about our relationship. We're good despite the fact that we're never together. We got past all the little things that used to worry us, and now we're doing what's best, and that's being Seth and Summer together."

"Well Summer Roberts," Taylor praised in her high voice, "I am both pleased and impressed with this turn of events. If I had to guess someone would have made it past the whole high school phase I would have guessed it would be you and Seth, but that you have so much trust in your relationship and are in such a mature place, well that's fantastic for you guys."

"Yeah. Plus Princess Sparkles is with him to make sure he stays in line."

Taylor nodded slowly. "All right, I might have to take back that mature part."

Summer laughed. "So, are you staying for a while? I don't think there's a spare bed in any room, but I've got a double bed if you promise not to kick in your sleep."

"Tempting, but no. I really have to be on my way. I don't even want to think about what my mother's going to say if I'm late for this shower or if I'm not around to help plan."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Well, are you going back to France right after the shower?"

"I don't know." Taylor shrugged. "I haven't really decided yet. I might be heading back to France like I might be heading back to Newport. I've decided to let the wind set my sails where it may."

"Don't do that. I went sailing with Cohen once. It's just… don't do that."

"I was speaking metaphorically."

"I know. I just… don't do it."

"Summer." Both girls looked up at the sound of the new voice as a boy squatted down between the girls' chairs to be closer to Summer's height. "Matthew says they can't find the contact name of the person responsible for this rally, and he's freaking out."

"It's on the agenda."

"We can't find the agenda."

"It's on the computer."

The man sighed. "We can't seem to start the computer."

"Have you—"

"I'm not going to keep you," Taylor said already rising from her seat. "I was really just passing through on my way to this shower. It was really nice to see you again, though Summer, and not have you just be a voice on the phone."

"You too, Taylor." Summer reached out for a hug as she pulled herself up as well. "Let me know if you're sticking around for a while. We'll get together and talk about all your adventures."

"Really?"

"All your PG adventures."

"Deal," Taylor offered with a laugh. With a wave, she was walking out of the room.

"All right," Summer smiled at the guy in front of her. "Let's go find that name."

"Are you all right?"

Seth looked up from the napkin he'd been playing with since he'd sat down for the meal. He nodded slowly as he tried to think of something to say. More importantly, he tried to think of some way of talking without letting the nervousness that was swirling around his stomach explode all over Dr. Roberts.

"Just hungry," he finally mumbled.

Neil laughed. "I've never known hunger to make you quiet, Seth."

"Jet lagged," Seth offered with a few slow nods.

"When did you get in?"

"This morning."

"Oh," Neil nodded to the waiter who brought then their drinks and quickly scurried away before anything could be asked of him. "When are you heading back?"

"Tonight."

"You're only in New York for a few hours?"

"Yeah."

Neil paused as he brought his glass of wine to his mouth. "On business?"

"No."

"Pleasure?"

Seth's eyes widened at the question. "Definitely not."

They were silent. Seth took the time to look around.

It was like he had never left Newport. Sunny day; outside table at an overpriced restaurant where the portions would barely hold him over until he could find some food vendor on the street; plenty of rich people ready to waste their money… You could take Neil Roberts out of Newport, but apparently Newport was as inherent in him as in most of the other Newpsies.

Neil sighed as he let his glass settle on the table once more. "Why don't you just tell me why it is you're here, Seth?"

"Well, sir, the thing is, if you remember correctly, you're daughter and I have been seeing each other for a while now. We've seen each other through a lot of things, like Trey and Marissa and Brown and GEORGE and prom and really a lot of things that you probably should never find out about."

"I'm sure Summer would appreciate that," Neil agreed with a small smirk.

"But trust me when I say that your daughter and I have been through a lot together, and through that a lot, we've come out stronger than we ever have been, and I like to think that we've been moving forward and—"

Neil raised his hand with a laugh. "Seth, I'm going to have to be back at the hospital in less than an hour, so if you could just ask me for my daughter's hand in marriage so I can answer you, that would be very helpful in this conversation."

"I…" Seth froze. "What?"

"Summer. You want to ask my permission to marry Summer, correct?"

"Yeah, but how did you…"

"Oh, I figured it would just be a matter of time before you showed up here again and asked me about it. And if you have no other reason to be in town, I'm not going to flatter myself into thinking that you were coming around just to see me."

"Well, it's not—"

"I'm kidding, Seth. You have work and responsibilities now. You aren't expected to come visit your future father-in-law just for the heck of it at any moment."

"Future…" Seth wheezed, forgetting how to breathe for a moment.

Neil laughed as he shook his head. "Let's face it. I don't have that much of a say in this. If you want to marry Summer, she's going to be the one deciding whether or not you get that privilege. What I have to say in the matter is only secondary."

"I wouldn't…"

"But you would. You love Summer enough that you would marry her even if I said no. And I have to respect that, Seth. Besides," he picked up his glass of wine and brought it up to his lips, "you did much better this time than you did the last time you were asking me for my daughter's hand."

"I did? Are you kidding me? I'm a nervous wreck. Last time I was completely fine and I wasn't sweating in the least bit."

"Exactly. I know you well enough to know that if you're rambling, it means something to you. Last time, you wanted me to say no."

Seth shook his head. "I—"

"And my daughter wanted me to say no, because for whatever reason you two decided to get engaged, it wasn't the right one and you both knew it." Neil waited for a moment to see if Seth would have anything to say, but when his lunch partner remained quiet, he continued. "I suppose I may never find out what it was exactly that put the idea of marriage into your heads so young, but I'm happy you didn't go through with it then. I'm happy you let my daughter go off and you helped her find out who she really is and that you made her the woman I am so proud of today. So, to summarize, I would be very happy if you were to ask Summer to marry you, Seth."

Seth nodded slowly. "I'm really impressed that I stayed quiet through that entire thing."

"So am I. Now, now that that's out of the way, do you think we can have a normal conversation during this lunch?"

Seth let out a small chuckle as he ducked his head. "Yeah. I think we can do that."

"Kirsten, I swear that I did not have anything to do with it."

"Sandy, are you telling me that my cookbook just magically disappeared from the kitchen?" Kirsten asked as her hand made its way down to her hip. "Did it just get up and walk out of the house so that I wouldn't be able to use it?"

Sandy hurried around Kirsten and into the living room so she wouldn't be able to see the smile on his face. "Of course not. But you forget, my dear, that we have a young child in the house again. Who knows what she can get into? It's a bright, shiny, cookbook. Maybe she was attracted to the colours."

"Don't even think of blaming this on my child, Sandy. She is not nearly tall enough to reach the counter, and she knows better than to play with—"

Sandy sighed happily when the doorbell interrupted his wife's argument. He may have been a public defender for years, but he still couldn't win half the fights he somehow managed to fall into with his wife. Besides, now that he wasn't practicing law anymore, he was getting rusty and she was gaining ground on him.

"You should thank your lucky stars for that doorbell," Kirsten yelled over her shoulder.

"What?" Sandy asked, spreading his arms out though she couldn't see him. "I'm innocent. If I took that cookbook from you, that's Satan at the door."

Kirsten smirked at her husband and turned to see who was actually paying them a visit.

"Julie!" Kirsten turned once again to face Sandy.

Sandy's face dropped at the sight. "I'll go get your cookbook from my office."

"Am I interrupting?" Julie smiled, sweeping into the room before Kirsten had a chance to answer. "Of course I'm not. It's Saturday. Sandy's not teaching and you're obviously at home from this wonderful job you keep telling me about. I'm just in time."

"Of course you're not interrupting, Julie," Kirsten said cautiously as she followed her friend around the room. "What are you doing here, though?"

"Visiting."

"You just decided to drop by?"

"Well, Kaitlin had an emergency trip she had to make with some super secret mission apparently, and Kevin is off with Frank on an equally mysterious father-son trip. So, I figured I'd come see you since it's the first time I have a week to myself in so long."

"Julie…" Kirsten said with raised eyebrow.

"This is really lovely. Have you changed the colour of the walls since the last time I was here?" Julie walked from one room to the other, picking things up for closer inspection and setting them back down, careless of Kirsten always two steps behind her.

"Julie."

"Yes, Kirsten?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Visi—"

"Julie?" Kirsten's voice rose slightly and Julie froze at the sound. Kirsten never got mad.

"It's study week and I know all my material."

Kirsten said nothing, opting to simply glare at Julie from across the kitchen island where they finally found themselves.

"Frank's going to dump me," Julie finally told her.

"You guys don't have any dirty movies that may be revealed, do you?" Sandy asked as he turned the corner with Kirsten's cookbook, letting it drop on the counter.

"That's funny, Sandy. But I'm not kidding. I'm a few weeks from having my life truly in order, and now this bomb's about to drop on me and you're making jokes," Julie whined.

"You know that no matter how many bom—" Sandy stopped as he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He brought the gadget closer to his face, and his eyes widened at the number he found on the caller ID. "Excuse me ladies. I have to take this. Hello?" Sandy covered the mouthpiece and looked over at his wife. "I'll probably have to head out to the office, honey. I don't know how late I'll be."

Kirsten's eyes narrowed as she watched her husband leave the room. She licked her lips and turned to face Julie whose eyes sparkled with interest. Julie smirked.

"Should we start with your problems or mine?"

"Business or pleasure?" the man next to her asked, crossing his legs so he would have an excuse to inch closer to her.

"Pleasure," Kaitlin answered. "Just not mine."

"Do you specialise in other people's pleasure?"

"Okay, creep, that's gross."

"I'm sorry," he smiled a leer that didn't make Kaitlin feel any better. "That came out wrong. How long will you be on vacation?"

"As long as it takes," she sighed.

"You sound very selfless."

"And you sound like—"

"Excuse me."

They both looked up at the sound of the new voice, and Kaitlin took the opportunity to move away from the man as far as her small seat in the airport would allow.

"Can we help you?" the man asked.

"Yeah, you're sitting next to my fiancé. So move."

Kaitlin felt her body tense as she waited for a reaction. Mumbling something of an excuse the creepy guy left as the new man sat next to her.

"Thanks," Kaitlin said. "Unless you're also a weird creepy guy, in which case please get away."

"Nah. I'm all right. I have five sisters. I'm used to running interference."

"Well I had it under control, but thanks anyway."

"No problem," he shrugged. "I'm Colin."

Kaitlin smiled as she reached out for his hand. She took the time to look him over. He was hot; she wasn't going to lie about that. Short dark hair, deep brown eyes, built like a water polo player, and able to string a few sentences together. It was better than a lot she had encountered recently.

"Where are you headed?" she asked.

"Berkeley. You?"

"The same. You go to school there?"

"No, one of my sisters does, and she needs some help packing up and leaving since it's her last year. Because I wasn't doing anything but deciding what I'm going to be doing next year, my parents volunteered me to help."

Kaitlin laughed. "How nice of them."

"Yeah, I don't think they realise how boring it's going to be while Charlie is out studying all the time, and I'm left to find something to do in a town where everyone is distracted by their finals."

"Well, I'll be in Berkeley if that's any help."

"And you'll find the time to hang out with me?"

Kaitlin let her head tilt in a move that she'd recently noticed she'd picked up from her mother. She straightened her head and smiled. "Actually, if you wanted, you could really help me out while we were in Berkeley."

"It doesn't require heavy lifting, does it? Because I've got a lot of that schedule already."

"No heavy lifting," Kaitlin smiled. "But someone might try to punch you."

"I can duck. Besides, I was a peer counsellor for a year. I was all about the anger management."

"Very helpful."

"What exactly is it I'll be doing though?" Colin asked, leaning back as though that would prepare him for whatever Kaitlin had to say.

"Actually, you've already kind of got the idea."