As always, thanks for all the reviews. It's great.

Here's the next chapter. Finally, Kaitlin is back in the story even if just for part of one scene.

Chapter 17: Making up

"Wait, he was taking the money?"

"That's right," Summer told Shawn with a smile.

"And he was blaming you for it?"

"He had to blame someone." She shrugged. "I always thought it was weird that he never let me see the incoming budgets until after he'd spent a few days with them, but I guess if he was skimming off the top and making it look like everything was still there, it makes sense. Besides, I should have known there was something wrong when he kept talking about all the things he could buy his girlfriends. A GEORGE salary isn't enough to spoil a girl, and he talked badly about Newport kids too many times to be a trust-fund kid."

"The guy's a dick," Jessica interrupted. "He got you fired and almost made it so you wouldn't have a reference after all that time you put in. He deserves whatever he gets."

"Yeah, but guys like him never do get what they deserve."

"Don't worry about that," Che told them with a nod of the head. "Karma always comes around."

They looked at him sceptically.

"Plus I have a lawyer in the family who's looking at the case and says Matthew is going down, if that helps."

"It definitely does," Summer said with a laugh. "So when are you—"

"Excuse me."

All three turned at the sound of the new voice. Summer's eyes narrowed as she watched the woman who had just decided her future a few moments ago. The woman offered a smile as she tugged at the end of her black blazer and then pushed away strands of hair that weren't actually loose from her hairclip.

"Yes?" Summer asked.

"I just wanted to apologize once again for this catastrophe. We found it hard to believe when Matthew told us that one of our volunteers who had been working here for such a long time would have cheated us, but we aren't on the road with you and we'd never met you, Summer, so it was really hard to take your word over his."

"I understand," Summer nodded. "I'm just happy it all worked out."

"Well, it didn't exactly."

Summer's face fell. "What?"

"We can't keep Matthew on staff, and with him gone, we have another vacant position we'll need to fill."

"Right..."

"So we wanted to offer it to you."

"What?" Summer asked in surprise.

"We wanted to offer you the role of director. No one knows the job or the organisation like you do, and we already know you work well on the road… You are the perfect candidate."

"Oh my God," Jessica breathed.

"What do you say, Miss Roberts?"

Summer started back until she could find her words. "I'm… I'm flattered, really I am. But I'm not going back on the road again. I'm sorry, but I am tired of living out of a bus. I may not be the little princess I once was, but I want hot showers every day, and a pool, and a mall close by, and more clothes than fit into one suitcase." She shook her head with a shrug. "I can't accept. I'd be miserable."

"We have other positions..." The woman smiled.

"There is no position that would convince me to get back on that bus."

"No, I mean we have other positions in our organisation that do not require you to travel." The woman smiled. "We have people across the country who work in offices from 9 to 5 and help coordinate our efforts. They aren't volunteers. We're talking real jobs with real salaries, though not necessarily that high a salary."

"If I want money, I'll have my fiancé write another comic book," Summer laughed. "So, where do you have openings?"

"I'm pretty sure we could find an opening for someone like you anywhere in the country, Miss Roberts. Anywhere in particular you want to live?"

"Summer doesn't know where—"

Summer interrupted Che with a fist to his gut.

"Actually," she answered with a grin. "I know exactly where I want to be."

"Whoa."

"Yeah."

"Make-up sex that's more than a year overdue is insane."

"I'm surprised we survive," Ryan told her between pants. "Though, we did have sex just a few weeks ago."

"That was heat of the moment sex. This was make-up sex, and it was amazing. Better than Dean Hess, better than Su—"

"Okay, I don't think we need to go through the whole list. It was better; we've got it. I don't want to hear the names."

Taylor giggled as she tilted her head to kiss Ryan's chin. "What about if I just say it was the best?"

"That I can live with."

They lay next to each other a while longer as Taylor moved until her head was resting on Ryan's outstretched arms.

"So, we're just a couple again?"

"I guess. Unless you want to go through a lot of guesswork and hemming and hawing and being insecure and—"

"We're back together," Taylor told him, turning toward him again so she could plant a kiss against his neck. "Remind me to thank Seth for setting this up."

"Seth, damn. He must be freaking out right now about him and Summer."

"He and Summer are fine," Taylor argued.

"What are you talking about? She left the state because his proposal wasn't romantic enough. He's going crazy with worry that she's not going to marry him."

"Summer's not mad at him."

"But you told Seth she was."

"Well I had to tell him something. Summer didn't want him to know that she was being blackmailed by her ex-boss because she wouldn't sleep with him and so he ruined her name so she had to leave GEORGE early and wouldn't get a good recommendation, and therefore probably never finding a decent job."

"What? I'm gonna kick that guy's—"

"Yeah, wait a sec." Taylor held up a finger and reached for her ringing cell phone on the night table. Her eyes widened as she looked at the caller ID. "Speak of the devil. Hey, Summer."

Ryan leaned forward to get a better sense of her conversation.

"That's great. I'm so happy everything worked out… So what about… Fired? And sued? That's even more fantastic… But I thought you didn't want to work for GEORGE anymore… Really? Seth will be so happy... You're leaving tonight to tell him?" She looked at Ryan who suddenly shook his head and hands wildly. "What? Wait, Ryan, what are you doing?"

He grabbed the phone from her and brought it to his ear.

"Summer?"

"Ryan?"

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Fine. How much of that did you just hear?"

"More than you would like, but I already kneow all about the evil, lecherous boss. Listen, we were actually going to go over and see you tonight, because we promised Seth we would call him all together, and he's just going to get suspicious if we don't do that."

"What?"

"Where are you? We'll be over as soon as we can get there," Ryan told her, sitting up quickly as though he would rush out of the room despite being completely naked.

"I'm at the Hilton, but Ryan—"

"Have you bought your tickets home yet?"

"No, I was just going to—"

"Hold off on that too. I wouldn't want you to buy tickets and then miss your flight. Just stay there. We'll be right over."

He hung up before she could protest.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" Taylor asked as he handed her the phone.

"Seth's coming over to propose with the glow-in-the-dark ring. He's probably already on his way over."

"I thought he was watching Sophie."

"Kaitlin owed me a favour."

Taylor nodded slowly. "So, we have to get to Summer and stop her from leaving the state?"

"That's right."

"Do you think we might have a little time to ourselves before we have to get over there?"

"I told her we'd be there right away."

"Ryan," Taylor whispered as her fingers moved against his skin beneath the sheets. "Do you think we have a little time before she starts getting suspicious?"

"Well, we are trying to delay her, right? So the longer before we get there…"

"It might be a while before we get there," Taylor agreed as she pushed Ryan flat on the bed.

"Seth we're… Kaitlin?"

"Hey Cohens," Kaitlin greeted with a smile as she rounded the corner.

"What are you doing here, Kaitlin?"

"Seth had to go take care of things with Summer. I owed Ryan a favour, and apparently this is how he decided to use it."

"Is he still chasing after that girl?" Hailey asked as she dropped her bags on the floor.

"I think they take turns chasing each other," Sandy told Hailey. "It depends on who was the last to screw up."

Kirsten smiled. "Needless to say, Seth's usually the one screwing up."

"Serves him right for hooking up with a newpsie," Hailey said as she shook her head.

"Hey, that's my future daughter-in-law you're talking about there," Sandy scolded, moving toward the kitchen.

"Daughter-in-law?"

"Don't mind him," Kirsten said, waving Sandy away. "Ever since Summer became an activist, she's been Sandy's favourite. There's a good chance he would disown Seth and adopt Summer should the boy ever do anything bad enough to end this relationship."

"Lovely."

"So, Kaitlin," Kirsten said as she turned her attention to the girl standing before her, "where's our daughter?"

"She's playing hide and seek with Frank," Kaitlin told Kirsten.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking for them?"

"Eventually," Kaitlin shrugged. "But this keeps them quiet for a while, and they've been running around like little monsters all morning, so I figured I'd wait an hour or two before finding them."

"Kaitlin…"

"Fine," she said with a roll of her eyes as she headed toward the living room. "By the way, my mother and Frank will be here in two days for the graduation party. My mom said it might as well be an engagement party as well."

"He asked her?"

"And she said yes," Kaitlin shrugged. "Or at least I'm guessing she did. I think they were both preoccupied when I called. It was totally disturbing."

"Wait, wha—" Kirsten sighed as Kaitlin left the room.

"So, Julie Cooper-Nichol sunk her claws into another one?" Hailey asked, moving toward the kitchen.

"It would seem so."

"Who'd she bewitch this time?"

"Ryan's father actually." Kirsten shrugged when Hailey's eyes widened. "It's a long story."

"For later, I guess." Hailey sighed as she grabbed an apple from the counter. "Listen, seriously though, I really appreciate what you two are doing for me. I know I'm not the easiest person to live with, and I think it's great that you're opening your home to me and taking me in again. I promise that as soon as I find a job and land on my feet, you'll have your house back to yourself." She smiled at Kirsten and Sandy as she picked up her backpack. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Sandy waved as his sister-in-law left the room.

"Staying with us?" he asked Kirsten.

"She had nowhere else to go, Sandy."

"First Julie now this."

"You're the one who found her. You're as much to blame about this as I am."

"Good-bye coffee. Good-bye orange juice. Good-bye peace of mind."

"Maybe she'll baby-sit," Kirsten told him with a shrug.

"You keep that woman away from my child."

"Okay, Sandy…" Kirsten laughed, moving in to shut her husband up the surest way she knew how.

"It's about time. I'm starving and you guys are… Seth?"

Summer started back when she spotted Seth in front of the door, kneeling before her.

"Summer, I realise I've somehow screwed up yet again, and I know that my proposal was nowhere near as romantic as you wanted it to be, but please believe me when I tell you that I meant to ask you to marry me just as much as I would have if I had taken you to the Empire State Building and ridden all the way to the top and gotten on my knees with violins playing and fireworks in the air." He stuck his hand in his front pocket and pulled out the ring he'd finally found. "So, please forgive me and believe me when I ask again, will you marry me?"

Summer's eyes travelled the hallway in confusion before she let them settle on Seth. "I'm mad at you?"

"Taylor said you were mad at me."

"Oh." Summer nodded her head quickly. "Then I'm mad at you. Hey, it's my ring."

She reached out and grabbed it from him, placing it on her finger and pushing her hand away so she could get a better look.

"I was hoping to see this again some day."

"I also got you the one you really wanted," Seth told her as he held out the more expensive ring. "So, not to be un-romantic, but what do you say? Will you marry me?"

Summer took a deep breath and let her shoulders slump. "Under one condition."

"Anything."

She ducked into the room and came back out holding papers. "As long as you sign this contract and accept the job in Berkeley."

"Hey," Seth nodded slowly, finally rising to his feet. "Look what you found."

"Sorry. I thought I was going through your sketches."

"Because you usually go through my sketches?"

"Yes."

"All of them?" Seth asked slowly.

"Yes, I've seen the naughty ones, Seth. I was pretty much expecting it from you."

"Great." He blushed and reached for the papers to have something else to distract him. "But, what about you? I mean, what if I accept this job, and then you get a kick ass job offer in another town."

"I have a job," Summer shrugged.

"You do? Where?"

"Anywhere I want. Including," she told him as she pushed a pen in his direction, "Berkeley."

"Really? And you wouldn't mind leaving Newport?"

"I haven't lived in Newport for a long time, Seth. Plus, I want to be close to my family."

"Your dad lives in New York, Summer."

"And he's old and barely has time for me and lives with the stepmonster. But my second family—Sandy and Kirsten and Ryan and Sophie—they're all in Berkeley waiting for me."

"Really?"

"Yes, but listen," Summer said as she moved forward and grabbed Seth's shirt collar. "If we're going to be married, we have to be honest with each other, Seth. I can't be finding out about job offers from hoochies like Samantha."

"Sam—"

"Don't ask. She has your cell phone by the way."

"All right," Seth agreed, dropping a kiss on her forehead. "No more secrets."

"Great. So sign these papers and I'll tell you why I'm really in New York. Hopefully I'll have time to tell you before Ryan and Taylor show up."

"Ryan and Taylor are still making up. Don't worry. We've got plenty of time. In fact, if we wanted to make up…"

"Sign!" Summer sighed as she pulled him into the room. "We'll negotiate the terms after."