Thanks so much for all the feedback and reviews. Here, finally, are Seth and Summer in the same room together, as well as moving everyone else's story forward.

Chapter 7: Lovely encounters

"Hey." Summer all but dropped her phone when she walked through the door to her room and found Seth sitting on her bed. "I'm not cheating on you."

Seth smiled. "I know. But it's always nice to hear."

Summer nodded, but didn't move from her spot in front of the door. Finally, Seth held out his arms to her and she let out a sigh of relief as she rushed to him.

"Don't freak out."

"I'm not freaked out."

"Why not?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.

"Because I never believed that kid when he said you were making out with someone else. It never even crossed my mind that he might be right." He kissed her nose as he pushed some hair behind her ear. "I think we actually might be in, like, a mature relationship now."

"Wow. That's big."

"Scary?"

She smiled up at him with a wide grin. "No."

"I didn't think so either. When it didn't look like your meeting was going to end anytime soon, I went around looking for whoever I figured had been macking on you so I could defend your honour, but I couldn't find anyone who seemed to have taken a recent beating. Fast runner?"

"Just not worth it. With all the stuff I have to get done before I'm out of here, I don't have time to beat people up. I just swatted him away like the fly he is and kept doing my work."

"Do you want me to take the time to bring in a beating?"

Summer smiled and shifted so she was sitting in his lap. "You don't have time for that either. You disappeared and had me worried, and now you're dealing with a very stressed and frantic girlfriend. You're going to spend every second you're here making it up to me."

"So you're telling me my magic hands are needed?"

"Um… among other magic body parts." She moved into him so their lips could meet. They held on to each other as they kissed, unable to find any way to get close enough though their bodies were flush together. Eventually, Summer pulled away and looked up at him with wide, tearful eyes.

"Where were you?"

"New York."

"For work?" she asked, letting her head drop onto his shoulder.

"No. I went out there to see your dad."

Just as quickly as she'd let herself rest against him, she sprung up in surprise. "My father?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"I wanted to ask him for his blessing before I asked you to marry me."

"Oh." Summer answered with a quiet nod. Suddenly, she realised what he said. "What?"

Seth grinned. "I know, I'm the big gesture guy and this is about as small as you can get for an event that's as big as they get, but, well… first of all I haven't done anything wrong this time, and well I just want you to say yes. I don't care where we are, or what we're doing, or whether you're surprised or not. I just want to marry you, Summer." He reached into his pocket and took out a small velvet box which he opened for her.

Summer gasped at the sight. Her mouth opened and closed a few times. She took a few deep breaths. Finally, her eyes moved up to meet Seth's and it was only after a few moments of seeing the fear in his eyes that she realised she hadn't given him an answer yet.

"Yes. Yes. God, yes. Of course I'll marry you."

"Thank Moses and Jesus," Seth whispered as he took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. He smiled as she leaned in for their lips to meet once again.

Summer looked down at her hand once they finally broke apart.

"This is a really nice ring."

Seth laughed. "We can exchange it and get you what you really want."

"I love you so much."

"It's a door, Ryan," Kailtin finally told him.

"Huh?"

"It's a door."

"What?" he asked, looking over at her.

"That thing you've been staring at for the past hour is called a door. Mystery solved. You can move on with your life now."

"I'm sorry Kaitlin, it's just that…"

"It's Taylor," Kaitlin agreed with a nod. "And you never got over her and she never got over you, and so there will be nothing but tense, unspoken drama when the two of you meet again. I understand Ryan, and believe me, I really appreciate everything you're doing for me."

"It's nothing, Kaitlin. Taylor and I are over. We've both dealt with that."

"Of course you have," she answered with a roll of her eyes. "That's why you aren't sitting here dreading the moment she's going to knock on that door."

"I'm not—" He froze as the sound came. He had said it a long time ago, and he would say it again: the girl had timing.

Kaitlin smiled as she watched him.

"Answer the door," she finally whispered.

"Right," Ryan said as he rose from his seat on the bed.

He swung open the door, and there she was. His heart stopped. She hadn't changed at all. She was still the girl who had visited him in his dreams so many night.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hey."

They stared at each other, eyes batting away every time their gazes met.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Oh, right." Ryan hurried to move out of her way, holding his arm out as though she wouldn't be able to find his room without his direction. "Come on in."

"Kaitlin," Taylor called as she ran toward the girl. "What kind of trouble have you landed yourself into now?"

"Nothing you can't handle, right?" the girl asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure. Explain to me what exactly it is you've gotten yourself into."

Kaitlin's eyes wandered up to Ryan, looking for help. He shrugged his shoulders, too busy watching Taylor to have any advice to offer.

"Fine, but not here, okay? I'm totally craving dumplings right now. We can talk over supper."

She hurried past Taylor and out of the room, grabbing Colin's hand as she sped along. Taylor and Ryan watched her leave.

"I didn't think cravings would start this early," Taylor said as she grabbed her purse.

"Are you kidding me? Remember—"

"No, I don't, Ryan," Taylor answered quickly. "I'm working on living in the present, so the past is something that I don't really discuss anymore."

She threw her hair behind her shoulder and rushed after Kaitlin.

"Wonderful," Ryan muttered to himself before grabbing his wallet and keys and rushing after them.

"Where is she?" Frank asked with a tired sigh.

Sandy's eyes widened at the sight, and he threw the front door open so the man could come in to his house.

"Julie? I think she went shopping with Kirsten and Sophie. I thought you were camping with Kevin this week."

"What? No, not Julie. Julie's still here? She said she'd left to visit her sister."

"Huh," Sandy said. "Coffee?"

Frank nodded and followed the man further in the house, dropping his duffle bag along the way.

"So you're looking for Kaitlin."

"Yeah. I don't know what she's up to, but she's disappeared with the engagement ring I bought for Julie."

"Whoa. I could see how that would worry you."

"Yeah," Frank sighed. "I don't know what she's up to. I thought the kid was warming up to me. I asked her if she would help me ask her mother to marry me, and then next thing I know I'm down an engagement ring and a potential step-daughter."

Sandy couldn't help but chuckle. "She didn't say anything to you that would make you think she didn't like the idea of a wedding?"

"No. She seemed happy that I was going to ask her mother to marry me. She's definitely accepted at this point that the Bullit is a friend of the family but won't ever date her mother again. She said something about how I'd almost earned the right to ask her mother for her hand, but I thought she was kidding."

"It's Kaitlin." Sandy shrugged as he handed Frank a mug of coffee. "Apparently she decided you had to pass one last test before you could have her mother."

Frank sighed again. "I have a feeling I'm failing."

"Well why did you think she was here?"

"Um, she said she wanted to spend the break with family. There's no way she meant Julie's because she hates Julie's family, and Jimmy's in Hawaii with some big deal this week. Kaitlin's going to see him in three weeks."

Sandy's brow furrowed as he thought about it. He'd heard Kaitlin's name lately, he swore he had. And it hadn't just been because Julie was around…

"Ryan!" he finally called out.

"What?" Frank asked.

"Ryan. She's with Ryan. Kirsten said something about Ryan and Kaitlin fixing something."

"My own son," Frank said, shaking his head. "Great. They better not pawn that ring."

"Nah, they wouldn't do that. Kaitlin could have pawned that ring in Newport if that's what she really wanted."

Frank narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Sandy looked down at his coffee and frowned.

"You know what? I have been surrounded by women and womanly things for almost a week now. What do you say to a beer, the grill and a game?"

"Now?"

"You can call Ryan while I set up."

Frank looked around the room, then finally sighed and shrugged. "Why not?"

"Are you ever going to tell me what's on your mind, Julie?"

"What do you mean, Kirsten?" Julie asked her friend, trying to keep the fake smile on her face despite the effort it requires on her part.

"You show up out of the blue, you pretend to show interest in our lives, you barely eat in the morning, you're picky about anything on your plate, you haven't had a drop to drink, you're distracted… There's obviously something on your mind. Why can't you just tell me what the problem is?"

"It's not what's on my mind that's stopping me. It's what's on something else."

"Julie, you're not…" Kirsten's face froze as she manoeuvred the car around a bend. "You're not eating in the morning, you're picky about the food you do eat, you haven't touched a drop of alcohol… Julie, are you pregnant?"

"Now, when you say pregnant, do you mean—"

"You're pregnant."

"I'm pregnant and I had a pregnancy test in my purse to show you and it's missing and Kaitlin must have taken it because she disappeared along with it and Frank's not acting cagey enough for a baby to be the problem and he's going to leave me!" Julie yelled suddenly in one breath.

"Frank left you?"

"Is leaving," Julie corrected. "I can feel it coming. He's becoming distant. He's hiding things from me. He's nervous when I walk into a room."

Kirsten rolled her eyes as the car came to a stop. She opened the door on her side before Julie could get any more of her insecurities out. The women grabbed their bags from their morning of shopping and headed toward the house.

"He's not talking to me. He's decided we shouldn't go on a vacation in a couple of weeks," Julie continued as she walked around the living room. "He's making good money now. He's bored that I'm paying more attention to my schoolwork. He's—"

"Here," Kirsten interrupted before Julie could enter the kitchen and be heard by the men who were barbecuing on the back porch.

"What is he doing here?"

"Well," Kirsten said with a shrug. "I don't think he's breaking up with you."