Nothing really to add but thanks for the reviews/comments, and enjoy this chapter. Though this chapter doesn't really help, I promise Seth and Summer will see each other soon, and Kaitlin's ploy will only become clearer.

Chapter 6: Time stands still

"Are you okay?" Kaitlin asked as she watched Ryan from his dorm room doorway.

"Sure. Why do you ask?"

"Because you kind of look like you're going to puke," Kaitlin told him as she moved to sit on his bed.

"Sorry. I was just reading Taylor's blog. It's…"

Kaitlin laughed and let herself fall back. "Yeah, I've read it. You know, I don't think she's done most of the recent things she's put on there. I think she just puts them there in the hopes that you'll read them and you'll get jealous and you'll go punch someone and then she'll know that you still love her."

"I doubt it. She's in the country. Taylor doesn't really do subtle. If she'd wanted to see me, she would have called me."

"Because you're so approachable?"

He rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"But she doesn't really have a choice, right?"

"Taylor always has a choice. She always finds a choice. And I'm fine with that. I'm fine with us being apart. I'm completely over Taylor. Seriously, I don't care. I was just… I don't need to read about—"

"Ryan," Kaitlin interrupted, moving her hand toward him to shut him up. "I meant she doesn't have a choice because she's the person who can help me the most in this situation."

"Oh, that. Yeah, that too." He watched her as she moved around on his bed to make herself comfortable. "So is that really why you came here? You remembered I helped Taylor with her divorce?

"Kinda." Kaitlin shrugged. "And because of Theresa's pregnancy. But I did mean all the big brother crap, too. I mean, I have Taylor's number, I could have called her, but I wanted you around. This marriage thing, it kind of makes me feel like I'm twelve or something, you know? I just want someone to—"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Ryan told her, shaking his head. "I didn't mean it that way. I just thought it would make sense if you had come to me because you remembered that I helped Taylor. Mind you, there will be no kissing or anything else to help you get out or over this marriage, got it?"

"Got it," Kaitlin agreed with a laugh.

"Do you want to talk about it, though? Colin's out picking up Taylor and I mean, Seth has me trained as a pretty good listener."

Kaitlin shrugged.

"I thought you were doing well with school and all that stuff. I thought you'd stopped being the wild child that came home from boarding school."

"I did, and I was. I know it was a mistake, Ryan, but you have to believe me that that's all it was."

Ryan nodded. "I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes, Kaitlin. That's why you came here, isn't it? Because you knew I would believe you?"

"I guess that is one of the main reasons I came to you." Kaitlin nodded.

"And I'm going to help you out as well. Besides, it's been a while since I've felt the need to save someone, might be a nice throwback to my high school days."

Kaitlin laughed. "I promise I won't cause you nearly as much trouble as you had in high school."

"Good." Ryan leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead before getting off the bed. "All right. I'm going to go see if I can round us up a bit of food in case we get hungry later. Do you think you can behave while I'm gone or did you want to tag along?"

"I'll be good, and I'll stay here."

"Okay. Just…" He shuddered as he looked over at his computer. "Have that thing on a different Web site by the time I get back."

"Yes, sir." Kaitlin saluted with a laugh as she watched him leave the room.

Ryan smiled until he'd closed the door behind him. He leaned back against the wall and let his body slide to the floor.

He had only read three of Taylor's latest blog entries, and it was enough to depress him. Unfortunately, it had also made him curious and while Ryan had never been one to dwell on the past or to dig into people's personal lives, he couldn't help but scroll back to the archives and find a time when they had been together.

He only needed to spot the word baby once before he'd decided it had been a bad idea and quickly closed the browser window. He didn't want to remember another child that was almost his. He didn't want to remember the real reason Taylor had left and they had grown apart. He remembered why it was that he had never read Taylor's blog.

He wasn't ready. And suddenly, Kaitlin was making sure he had no choice.

Sandy winced when his shoe fell to the floor with a loud bang. He looked up quickly at the bed, and felt his eyes widen in surprise when he found Kirsten sitting there, her legs crossed under her body, her arms crossed over her chest and her bottom lip sticking out.

"Busted?" he asked carefully.

"Not you."

"Well, that's good." He tugged at his tie until he could slip it over his head, and unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt. "Who are you mad at?"

"Julie," Kirsten huffed as she reached for her husband.

Sandy slid on the bed and moved toward her, smiling when Kirsten's hands were finally able to make contact, and she started undressing him.

"What has she done this time?"

"I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

Kirsten sighed loudly as she pushed Sandy's shirt away from his body. "It means that she's hiding something from me, and I have no idea how to find out what it is. And it means that she's been hearing from Frank more than I've been hearing from you since she's gotten here. And it means that—"

"Are you pouting?" Sandy asked with a chuckle.

"No," Kirsten answered, her bottom lip sticking out further with the word.

"I don't think I've ever seen you pout."

She narrowed her eyes.

"All right, I don't think I've seen you pout since I got the rich girl out of you and got you to live in the back of a mail truck with me."

"I'm not pouting."

Sandy smiled and crawled closer to her, pushing her down on the bed so he could hover over her body.

"I'm sorry if I've been away a lot lately, but I swear that it's only because of this side thing I'm working on and that it will all be over soon."

"And you're sure that you can't tell me what this side thing is?"

"Not yet," he told her with a shake of the head. "I really wish I could, sweetie, but until all this is settled, I can't talk about it with anyone. Client confidentiality and all."

"And you promise it's not something that I'm going to get mad about?"

"Do I every do anything that you get mad about?"

"Well, there was Rebecca and that girl who got you to work for that firm and—"

"That's Newport Sandy," he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. "Berkeley Sandy is very different from Newport Sandy. Berkeley Sandy can do no wrong."

"Oh, I beg to—"

He cut her off with his lips firmly pressed against hers before she could say anything more. His hands lingered under her silky nightgown and rested against her thighs as he pressed his body over hers.

"I suppose Berkeley Sandy isn't that bad," Kirsten conceded when they finally separated for air.

"I'm glad you think so, because I have something to tell you."

"Sandy…" she warned as she heard the doubt in his voice.

"I have to leave town for a few days."

"What? No. I—"

He interrupted her again with his lips, pressing his forehead against hers once he'd gotten her to stop talking.

"I'm sorry, but I do. Trust me. This is something you would want me to do."

"Sandy, I already feel like you're never here, and now you really aren't going to be here."

"You've got Julie," he told her with a shrug.

"I don't want Julie; I want you."

"I know," he whispered as he shifted onto his side, pulling her along with him. "And I want to be there for you, but you just have to trust me a little longer. Just trust me with this one trip, and then I promise you that everything will be fine and revealed and you'll want to thank me and make love to me forever."

"Promise?" she asked, unable to keep a small smile from playing on her lips.

"Promise," he told her with a determined nod.

"Well. Julie and Sophie are at the movies—"

"It's like, past ten, Kirsten."

"And," she said, pushing him lightly until he moved to lie on his back, "that means that it's just the two of us."

"You're letting our daughter go out with— Oh!" Sandy suddenly said, his eyes wide as he felt his wife's hands reach for the waist of his pants. "You think they'll be gone for a while?"

"A long while," Kirsten told him with a raised eyebrow as she moved down to press her lips against his.

"Where's your boyfriend?"

Summer raised her head from where she'd been searching her papers, and looked around the room as though there was a chance she would find Seth there. Of course he wasn't. Who knew where Seth was.

She shrugged. "I think he's in New York or something."

"No he's not."

"What?"

"I saw him earlier?"

Again, Summer's eyes traveled around the room. "Who exactly do you think my boyfriend is?"

"See, that's a tricky question," Shawn answered as he sat next to her on the couch she'd taken over. "Because at first I thought it was Matthew because you guys looked like you were macking yesterday when Jess and I fell on you in the lobby. But then some other guy showed up and said he was your boyfriend despite the fact that I was trying to explain this make-out session. So, I'm really not sure."

"I'm not dating Matthew. I was definitely not making out with him."

"Oh. Well, what about the guy I told you'd been making out with Matthew?"

"What… Tall, gangly, curly hair, mumbles incessantly?"

Shawn smiled. "Yeah."

"Seth? You told Seth that I had been making out with Matthew?" Summer rose from her seat quickly, dropping papers all over the ground in the movement.

"I guess." Shawn shrugged.

"You don't say something like that to Seth! He's going to believe you. He's going to panic. He's going to call Ryan and chew his ear off. Ryan is going to kill you."

"Are you dating Ryan?"

"Seth, I'm dating… Where did he go?"

"I'm not sure…"

"I'm… Just… You…" Summer's face scrunched and she balled her fists as she tried to figure out what exactly it was she was trying to say. "You're lucky I have to go find Seth and don't have time for a rage blackout."

"A what?"

"Eh," she finally grunted before spinning on her heels and hurrying off to find Seth wherever he could possibly be. Summer rolled her eyes when the first person she ran into was Matthew.

"I blame you," she told him, pointing a finger in his face as she passed by him, rushing toward the elevators.

"What have I done now?"

"You just… eh… I don't have time for words." She pushed at the down button continuously, knowing that it was useless, but needing something to do with her hands.

"If you're angry that you missed your chance with me, it's too late, Summer. You were a bitch about it, and now you aren't getting another shot. I've already got another date lined up for the most expensive restaurant in this town."

"The only shot I want is one at your head with a bullet. Nothing else would make me as happy as that would."

Matthew shook his head with a content smirk on his face, though Summer did notice that he took a step back with the movement. "Shouldn't you be working on something right now? You do have something to work on, don't you?"

"I'll get to it later."

"Later isn't—"

"Understand this," Summer yelled, ignorant to the fact that there were dozens of heads turning in their direction to listen to the fight and be ready with the latest gossip. "I don't want you. I don't want to date you. I don't want to sleep with you. I don't want our bodies to contact in any way whatsoever. Stay away from me."

She offered one last huff and entered the elevator that had finally arrived. She shot Matthew another glare before the doors closed and she was finally lowered a floor to find herself that much closer to her destination.

"Summer?" Taylor asked as she answered her cell phone. "What is this? The day of random phone calls?" She muttered as she slouched down in her seat.

"Where's Seth?" Summer asked, her voice rushed and high.

"Why would I know where Seth is? Why don't you just call his cell phone?"

"He forgot it in New York," Summer answered. "Dumbass Che has it and now Seth's here and some idiot told him that I was dating someone here, which I'm not and now I don't know where he is."

"Maybe he's just walking to clear his head, and he'll show up at any moment."

"Don't patronize me, Taylor."

"I'm not trying to patronize you, I'm serious. Maybe that's what Seth's doing."

Taylor sighed as she let her eyes wander around her. She should have known better than to expect Kaitlin to be punctual. Damn her for not lying and saying her plane would arrive a few hours earlier than it actually did.

Taylor shook her head as she realised Summer was still babbling on her end of the line.

"I don't know, Summer. I don't know anything. All I know is that Kaitlin called me needing help, and now I'm in Berkeley waiting for her so we can go to her friend's house."

"Berkeley?" Summer asked, suddenly forgetting her own problem. "Kaitlin doesn't know anyone in Berkeley except the Cohens and…"

"And?" Taylor asked in a high, panicked voice.

"She wouldn't."

"It's Kaitlin," Taylor growled.

"Yeah, you're probably on your way to see Ryan. How do you feel about that?"

"I'm going to kill her and this guy that's looking at me all creepy… Hello? Can I help you?"

"Taylor?" the man asked as he approached her.

"Sure?" she replied.

"I'm Colin. I'm Kaitlin's… husband?"

"Aw, the joy of newlyweds." She shook her head as she turned her attention back to her cellphone. "Summer, my ride is here. Is there anything I can actually help you with before I'm off to a fate worse than death?"

"I guess not. Just let me know if you hear from Seth."

"Will do, good luck."

"You too."

Taylor bit her lip as she closed her phone.

"Are we going to see Ryan?"

Colin smiled. "You know Kaitlin's friend?"

She sighed as she moved passed him. "I may need some alcohol. Lots of it."

It wasn't the most romantic place in the world, Seth thought to himself as he moved along the hallway. In fact, it might give a lot of towns a run for the least romantic.

He couldn't, Seth decided, propose to Summer in such an unromantic town. He tried desperately to quiet the Ryan voice inside his head that was telling him he was simply finding yet another way to procrastinate.

"You came back."

"Yeah," Seth answered with barely a glance in the man's direction.

"I'm really sorry about earlier. I talked to Summer and she explained about how you are her boyfriend and that she and Matthew were not making out and how I told you I thought they were and—"

"You told Summer I was here?" Seth asked, his voice high and squeaking.

"Yeah."

"How did she seem?"

"She was angry," Shawn answered with wide eyes and determined nods of his head. "Yeah. She was really angry. She almost killed Matthew."

"And she's where now?"

"Looking for you, I think." Shawn shrugged and looked over at Jessica who had been standing beside him without saying a word. "She's walking around the city."

"Good," Seth said, pointing a finger in their direction. "Good. She's walking it off. Maybe kick a few strangers that whistle at her… This is good. She's not kicking me."

"It's like foreplay?" Shawn asked.

"No, Summer doesn't—" Seth shook his head before he revealed too much about his girlfriend. "Listen, is there anywhere I can wait for her?"

"Why don't you just call her?" Jessica asked, finally joining the conversation.

"Call Summer when she's mad at me? I'd like to live please. I'll just wait until she comes back, thank you very much."

"Well, luckily, I'm in charge of accommodations. Come on, let me get you an extra key to her room."

Seth sighed as he and Shawn fell behind Jessica.

"I know this town isn't big on the romance, but how is it with forgiveness?"