Thanks again for all the reviews. Everyone's so nice!

Here's the next chapter with a few more characters clueing in.

Chapter 14: Doubts in me

It was always that empty spot that got her. It was always that empty spot that annoyed her and that she knew, even before submitting any of her applications, would be the real problem. She had no references.

Summer had been trying to find a job for what felt like forever. She had been trying everything she could think of, everything she'd read, and everything Taylor suggested. Nothing was working.

There was no way anyone was going to hire her as a permanent employee if she didn't have a single reference, and there was no way she was going to get a reference until her name was cleared with GEORGE. She might get hired for retail or culinary work, but she wasn't looking to start her professional life in either of those professions, and neither presented the option of bridging into the world she was looking to make her future.

And so she remained without work. Seth didn't mind. Seth didn't even know she was looking for a job. She'd told him that she was taking time to relax after the stress of GEORGE, and she'd planned on telling him that she was relaxing until she found a job and didn't have to pretend everything was fine anymore.

"Sarah! I didn't know you'd be here today."

Summer hid the application she'd been filling out in her purse as she smiled over at Samantha.

"I've been here every day to go to lunch with Seth. You'd think this would stop being a surprise for you. Or at least, that you would start to get my name right."

"I'm sorry; did I get your name wrong again?"

"Yeah, you did, skank."

"What did you just—"

"Ladies," Seth called with a smile as he moved around the room. He walked over to Summer and let a kiss drop on her head. "Sorry I'm late. Rough meeting. But I'm here now and I'm all yours. What's your poison?"

Summer shrugged. "I figured we'd just do burgers and fries. A quick meal so that you can get back here before you get in trouble."

"That's a good idea. I do have another meeting this afternoon."

"There you— Oh, excuse me." Summer lifted her finger and moved away from Seth as she grabbed her ringing cell phone. "Hello?"

Seth smiled as he watched her walk to the end of the room. He picked up a few sketches from his desk and moved them around, sighing at what he saw.

"So, how was the meeting?" Samantha asked him.

"It was great."

"And the job?"

"Mine if I want it." Seth shrugged.

"If you want it?" Samantha laughed. "Seth, this has been your dream job since you joined this team. You've been drooling over the entertainment account since your first day and you almost cried you were so happy when you heard it was in Berkeley. What's this shrug?"

Seth sighed. She was right. The entertainment account was all he'd dreamed of since he'd joined the company. He'd simply never told Summer because he didn't want it to be another obstacle in their relationship. God knew, he'd caused enough of those already.

When she'd left for her last year with GEORGE, they had agreed that they wouldn't make any permanent decisions until they were together and could discuss what they both wanted. Seth would be lying if he said that he didn't want Berkeley and the opportunity to design posters and graphics for some of the hottest movies coming out of Hollywood, but it wasn't the most important thing at the moment.

"I just…" He shrugged again, shaking his thoughts away. "I'm not sure it's what I want anymore."

"You're not sure it's what you want anymore, or you're not sure it's what Summer wants."

"I didn't—"

"And what Summer wants, Summer gets."

"Hey, knock it off. It's not like that. I've waited my whole life to ask Summer to marry me. That's the big dream. And I did it and she said yes. Everything else was a secondary dream to that. I don't care what happens as long as we walk down that aisle."

"Seth, stop being ridiculous. You have to go to work every day whether or not you marry Summer, and you're going to need a place to work after she divorces your ass, so you might as well be going somewhere you want to be, don't you think?"

"All I want is Summer."

"Listen." Samantha moved toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You were faithful to her when she left you and went around the country, not caring what that would do to you. And then she didn't just do it for one year, she stayed away year and year again. Don't you think you should get to do what you want for once instead of staying behind and waiting for her to come back and tell you what you should be doing?"

"I think that Summer has as much a right as I do to find a career that will make her happy, and if that career isn't in Berkeley, I'm not going to force her to relocate somewhere where she's going to be miserable."

"But it's fine if you're miserable?"

"I'm with Summer." Seth's smile widened. "How could I possibly be miserable?"

"Cohen?" Summer called from across the room. She waved her closed phone at him and watched as he patted Samantha on the arm and jogged across the room to grab her hand and head out to the restaurant.

"Everything okay?" he asked, nodding his head toward her phone.

"Everything's fine." Summer smiled.

"Everything is not fine."

"Don't panic. This doesn't mean anything. So I'm staying at the Cohen's. So what? It's not like I'm still in love with Ryan. It's not like I think he's still in love with me. It's not like I'm being delusional about this or anything. Why, did Ryan talk to you about this?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Taylor?"

Taylor paused as she looked under the kitchen table. "What do you think I'm talking about, Summer?"

"I don't care. I called you about my problem, Taylor, not yours."

"What's your problem?"

Summer growled on her end of the telephone line. "My problem is that I have to get all the way to New York to talk about my involvement with GEORGE and prove that I haven't done anything wrong, without Seth knowing and without encouraging that stupid tall skank he works with who wants to break us up."

"You don't know that she's trying to break you up. You always think people are after Seth."

"I'm sorry; was I wrong about you?"

Taylor sighed. "It was a phase."

"Until I smacked you out of it. What is it with girls? He's Cohen. He was nothing before I met him. No one knew he existed, except maybe Chino, and then all of a sudden he's God's gift."

"Is your problem about Seth?"

"The problem is that I have to prove that I didn't do anything wrong and I have no way of doing that."

"You don't have to prove you didn't do anything wrong," Taylor scoffed. "That's not how it works. Innocent until proven guilty, Summer. La responsabilité de la preuve est dans les mains de l'accuseur."

"Huh?"

"They have to prove that you're guilty. You don't have to prove anything. Unless of course you want to prove they're guilty of something."

Summer's eyes widened as she let Taylor's words sink in. "Wait, you're right."

"I know."

"I just have to prove Matthew's guilty of lying."

"No, Summer, you don't have to prove anything. Remember? La responsabilité de—"

"Oh, I am going to kick his ass."

Summer hung up before Taylor could interrupt her again.

"Oh no," Taylor said as she stared at her phone. She sat there watching it until it suddenly rung again. "Summer? I didn't mean—"

"Save it Townsend, my mind's made up. I just wanted to tell you not to tell Seth. He doesn't know anything about the GEORGE trouble, and he really doesn't need to. GEORGE kept us apart for long enough, I'm not letting it rain down on Seth's engagement parade as well."

"Summer, I really think you should— Ow."

"What ow?"

"I just bumped my head on the kitchen table when I was getting out from under it," Taylor whined.

"Why are you under the kitchen table?"

"Apparently Sophie wasn't kidding when she said she was good at hide and seek. I've been looking for her over an hour."

"The Cohens are very stealth."

"Please don't make me listen to a story about Camp Takahoe."

"I can't. I have a plane to catch. I'll talk to you later."

"Be careful, Summer."

"Thanks, and good luck. Check on the top shelf of the workbench in the garage."

"On the…"

Summer hung up before Taylor could ask anything more.

"Why would they even have a workbench?" she asked herself as she moved out of the room. Taylor sighed as she made her way toward the garage. "Maybe New York isn't such a bad idea."

"This chick is nasty."

Ryan scrunched his eyebrows at his roommate and walked further into the room to see what he was reading. He sighed when he saw Taylor's blog on his computer monitor.

"Why are you reading that? Why are you even here? You miss half the school year but hang around when finals are done?"

"I'm waiting for a ride out of here tonight. Going to Mexico. Anyway, I was looking for interesting links in your favourites and I thought I had finally found something good like porn or whatever on your computer, but then I find out it's this girl's blog. It has its dirty parts, though."

"I don't know. I've never read it."

"Then why is it in your favourites?"

Ryan moved around the room and gathered his clothes for a trip to the gym. "I don't know. Kaitlin must have put it there when she was messing around with my computer last week."

"The hot girl?"

"One of them."

"Nice."

"Sure."

"Anyway," Charlie shrugged. "You should read this. This is girl is trippy. She is into some weird stuff. I mean, ignore the part about the miscarriage and all that, because it's kind of boring, but—"

Ryan froze. "What did you just say?"

"It's totally boring when she goes on and on about her miscarriage and how it's not her ex's fault if they broke up but hers, and all this crap, but there are some really good parts. I mean, if you read about how the ex got her pregnant, it's totally—"

"Okay, enough, off the computer," Ryan pushed Thomas away from his computer and let his eyes travel the screen.

"She really miscarried…" he whispered to himself, letting his head drop down to the desk.

He stayed with his head down against his desk until the ringing of his cell phone was more than he could bear. He pulled the phone to his ear without raising his head.

"Hello?"

"Ryan!"

"Kaitlin?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if I could talk to Taylor for a second."

"Then why did you call me? Taylor has her own cell phone, and you know that."

"She's always on it. I keep getting sent straight to voice mail and I kind of have to talk to her."

"What about?"

"It's a girl thing, Ryan. I really need to talk to her and I figured you guys would still be together since I hear she's staying at the Cohen's and obviously you wouldn't just abandon her when she travelled across the country just because you asked her to, right? I mean, it's not just any girl who would—"

Ryan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How's the baby, Kaitlin?"

"What?"

"You lied to me and you lied to Taylor."

"Ryan, I'm not—"

"Don't play innocent. I haven't bought that act since you showed up at the Cohen's front door looking like an extra for the junior edition of Girls Gone Wild." He rose from his chair and started to pace until he realised there wasn't enough room for pacing. He sat on his bed.

"Jeez, Ryan, tell me how you really feel."

"Listen, I made a mistake breaking up with Taylor and the last thing I need is you getting mixed up in it and confusing me even more."

Kaitlin sighed. "I got bored, started reading Taylor's blog and realised just how much she really missed you. I was trying to do a little good, Ryan. God, give me a break."

"How could none of us have known? How could none of us have read this?" Ryan asked dropping his head against his hand.

"Taylor warned all of you about her blog. I think the threat of what she could possibly be writing in there was too much for you guys. I mean, even Seth doesn't want to know as much about you as Taylor has the potential of writing. Plus, I think you were all scared that she was going to reveal something about that weird Dean guy who hated you and Marissa."

"She still put it out there."

Kaitlin sighed and Ryan could imagine her rolling her eyes impatiently on the other end of the line. "She obviously wanted to get caught, Ryan. It's Taylor; she has a completely different way from yours at not being good with the words, but it's still there. She didn't know how to say it and she didn't want to make you feel bad when making her feel bad was getting her by. I guess part of her still wanted you guys to know, though."

Ryan took a deep breath as his eyes travelled the room. He let himself drop back until he lay flat on his bed.

"Are you done your finals?"

"Yeah. I finished yesterday. Piece of cake."

"Does your mother know you're not married or pregnant?" Ryan asked as he moved toward his suitcase again.

"She's known since about a day after she found out I was."

He sighed. "You were trying to help?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's great, since now, you're going to help whether you want to or not."

"Is it a surprise vacation?" Kirsten asked from the doorway as she watched her husband pack. He looked up at her, guilty and sad.

"I'm afraid not. I have to leave for a few days."

"And you weren't going to tell me."

"It was very sudden. I was going to leave—"

"Don't say a note," Kirsten interrupted, raising her hand. "You'll do more damage than good if you tell me that you were going to leave me a note."

"I'm sorry."

"Sandy…"

He reached out for her, pulling her against his body. "I know. I know what this looks like and I know how you must feel, but trust me when I say that I'm only trying to do what's best."

"What's best is for you to tell me, Sandy. I trust you, but you have to start trusting me."

"I do trus—"

"No. Ever since Sophie—maybe ever since I came home from rehab—you have been treating me like the least bit of bad news will be enough to make me topple. I'm not about to topple, Sandy. Tell me what's wrong."

His eyes met hers, and he watched her, knowing she was right but fearing a relapse all the same. "I think I found Hailey."

"My sister Hailey?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"Montana."

"Montana? What is she doing in Montana?"

"Not too good from what I understand."

Kirsten felt her body tighten at the confession. "Sandy…"

"I'm going to go find her. I'm going to make sure she's fine, and if she's not, I'm going to bring her right back here where we can take care of her."

"I'm coming."

"No, you're not," Sandy told her, reaching for her arm to stop her from grabbing her own clothes and adding them to his suitcase.

"She's my little sister."

"I need you to stay here and take care of our daughter."

"I need you to tell me what's going on."

Sandy sighed and shook his head. He shrugged. "Hailey fell in with the wrong guy. He's not exactly treating her well."

"He's hurting her?" Kirsten asked, tears already welling in her eyes.

"That's what I understand."

"She's been with him long?"

Sandy shrugged. "Longer than she should. Since pretty soon after she left, from what I gather."

"Why didn't she call sooner?" Kirsten moved toward the dresser in their bedroom and started pulling out clothes before Sandy could tell her not to.

"She was afraid, I guess. He told her he didn't want her to have any contact with her family at all."

"But she should have known—"

"She was scared, Kirsten." Sandy reached out and grabbed her by the forearms, pulling her to him and stopping her frantic movements. "We both know that people don't do the smartest things when they are scared."

"But it's been years, Sandy. Why would she call us now?"

"Because she's pregnant. And we both know what it's like to be scared and pregnant."

"She's pregnant," Kirsten repeated, tasting the words in her mouth.

"She is."

"When do we leave?"

"What do you mean you're going to New York?"

"What do you think I mean, Cohen?" Summer asked from the closet where she was pulling out clothes and throwing them on the bed.

"I think you're kidding because we've been apart for so long and we're finally going to be together for more than a few weeks and you wouldn't change that for the world?"

"No. I mean that I have to go to New York for a few days, because I have things to take care of. But then, I'll be back and you'll have my real ring, and everything is going to be perfect. So stop worrying."

"Who's worrying?" Seth asked as he dropped the sketches he'd been drawing and dove for Summer, tackling her awkwardly until he could turn them both and drop her to the bed. "I'm whining. There's a big difference. Do you want Ryan to explain it to you? He's pretty good at understanding what it is I'm doing."

"I don't need Ryan. I'm pretty good at telling you what you're doing too, so I feel I've got it covered."

"But you're abandoning me right aft—" Seth paused as he heard his cell phone from his front pocket. He reached for it and furrowed his brow at the number on the screen. "Hold up."

He dropped his grip from Summer and let her bounce down to the mattress that had been only a few inches beneath her. She watched him as he moved across the room with the phone to his ear.

"Hello? Mom? Tell Summer that she can't— Wait, hold up… What's going on?"

Summer's head sprung up at the concern in Seth's voice, and she moved forward until she could rest her hand against his back. She nodded her head in his direction, but he quickly shook her question away.

"Where are you going?... Why?" Seth reached out and grabbed Summer's hand when she went to move away from him. "Is she going to be all right? ... Okay, I'll get a flight tonight and be there as quickly as I can."

"Seth?" Summer asked when he broke the connection.

"I have to go home. My parents have to leave town because Hailey's in trouble and they can't reach Ryan."

"They can't reach Ryan?"

"Yeah, give me a second. There was a note on my desk at work that I picked up when I was heading out. Maybe it's a message from Ryan."

Summer watched him leave and then huffed as she took a look at the mess she'd created on their bed. She smiled as she picked up Seth's sketches of her. And he'd said he'd been working…

She rifled through his papers and paused when she found writing instead of drawings. She scanned the words quickly, pausing on the words Berkeley, offer and entertainment.

"Hey," Seth called as he approached the room.

Summer quickly threw the papers in her suitcase, turning to face him with a wide smile on her face.

"So the note was about Ryan. He called and said that he was going to New York to chase after Taylor."

"Why's Taylor in New York? I thought she was at your parents' house."

"I don't know. But that's where Ryan's going. Maybe you'll see him there."

Summer shrugged. "Unlikely, but maybe."

"You're sure you don't want to blow off New York and come to Berkeley to watch Sophie with me and worry about Aunt Hailey?"

"Don't use your little daughter to sway me," Summer admonished as she moved to avoid Seth's arms, reaching out for her.

"You know how much she loves her almost-sister Summer."

"Stop it, Seth."

"And she'll be so sad when I tell her that you chose to go to New York rather than spend time with her."

"You are not telling her that."

"But what will I do when she asks me where you are? I can't lie to my sister."

Summer's hands fell to her hips and she leaned her body to the left. "You lie to everyone else."

"I'm getting better with the truth, you know that."

"I'll tell you what." She moved forward until she could wrap her arms around Seth's neck and swayed them gently. "I'll go to New York and do what I have to do, and then, I will fly directly to Berkeley to meet with you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I suppose that's worth something."

"It is. And…" Summer said as she started moving Seth backwards until he stumbled onto the mattress. "In the meantime, we can do that thing we're really good at."

"What thing?"

"Having one last night," Summer told him, as she let herself drop on top of him and press her lips against his.

"How could you?"

Frank ducked as the spatula sailed over his head and crashed into the cupboard behind him.

"What did I do?" he asked Julie, watching her with wide eyes.

"What did you do? You took the poor girl's ring. You don't know where she got that. She might have stolen it from someone and wanted to return it and now she can't because you took it from her because she stole a bit of your money. Frank!"

"What are you talking about?" Frank asked as he dodged a fork.

"Kaitlin's ring. I saw it in your drawer when I was putting away the laundry. You took it from her."

"She gave it to me."

"Oh, I know my daughter," Julie challenged, "and she wouldn't just give a ring like that. She probably wouldn't even pawn it. It's gorgeous. She'd keep it for herself."

"Trust me. It's not what you think."

"Trust you?" Julie asked, steadying the frying pan in her hand and letting the combination of eggs, onions, cheese, peanut butter and green olives slide to the floor. "You've been in prison, Frank. The first words out of your mouth when we met were a lie. Do you really expect me just to trust you now?"

He shrugged. "I was hoping…"

"Well, you're just going to have to keep hoping. I thought you were making progress with Kaitlin and now I see this. What am I supposed to think? You're always gone; you're nervous around me; you pretend that you're working late when I know you're not… Something is going on, Frank, and if it's not you about to leave me, I don't know what it could be."

"I'm not leaving you, Julie."

"Then what is it?"

"It's… it's…" he shrugged and sighed. "It's a surprise. Can't you leave it at that? You're about to graduate and we've got the party at the Cohen's coming up, and it's a surprise. I'm not leaving you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

"Good, because I don't want you to go," Julie told him as she started to sob.

"Sweetie, are you all right?" Frank asked as he neared her. "You seem a little… emotional."

"I'm allowed to be emotional," she yelled, throwing the frying pan in his direction. "And if I am, it's all your fault."

She stormed out before he had a chance to reach her. Frank watched her leave with a confused look on his face. He stared down at the floor and scrunched his nose at Julie's meal. His eyes widened suddenly at the sight.

"Hey, mom, I have to go help—" Kaitlin paused as she took in the mess in the kitchen. "Wow, Frank, you really know how to have a good time while cooking."

"Kaitlin, you said you needed the ring to convince Ryan you were married. How did you convince him you were pregnant?"

"I stole my mom's pregnancy test."

"Which was positive…" Frank ended for her.

"Yeah. You missed it the first time because she was kind of with the Bullit. You should probably ask him for tips, because my mother pregnant, is like no other woman." She waved as she moved around him. "I'm going out with Colin. Let me know if Ryan calls. I'm kind of on stand-by to help him win Taylor back."

"Great," Frank mumbled to himself as he looked around at the mess in the room. "I might want to think about moving up that proposal."