So I know this one isn't as long as usual but I sort of like it. Hope you do. Enjoy !

Fatherly advice.

Sunday lunch at the Cohen's had been very enjoyable. Emily played with Seth who was hell bent on becoming her favourite after Summer had been the chosen one on Wednesday night. He didn't want that to happen twice in a row. So he spent all his time playing with her and then trying to teach her how to play on the play station eventually declaring that she was 'a natural'; much to Emily's delight. After lunch, Summer and Seth left to go and visit Summer's Dad and Emily turned her attention to Kirsten; asking her to read to her. Obviously Kirsten agreed and since it was such a nice day they decided to sit on one of the sun lounges beside the pool.

Ryan had volunteered to clean up in the kitchen and Sandy convinced Marissa to go and sit in the sun as the boys did the work. She took his advice and went to sit beside Kirsten and Emily. Ryan washed up, as Sandy dried and Ryan couldn't help but keep glancing out the window at Marissa. She was watching Emily and the look on her face was heart breaking. He knew exactly what she was thinking about because it hadn't been far from his thoughts ever since Friday. Sandy watched the play of emotions on Ryan's face and then moved to look out the window to see what was causing the concern to be written all over it. What he looked at was Marissa and he noticed for the first time that the smile that she had been wearing was only skin deep. He wondered just what was going on with the two of them. He knew that Ryan found it difficult to ask for help so he would just have to try to offer it even if he didn't know what the problem was. But it was obvious that they were troubled about something.

"So how are things as a 'Dad'?" Sandy asked.

Ryan turned to look at Sandy a small smile making its way on to his face. "Truthfully ?… it's ... different. Good and bad."

"Well just think yourself lucky that you didn't have Seth. That was a real experience." Sandy stated trying to keep the conversation light knowing that it would be easier to get Ryan to open up if it didn't seem too serious.

"I can imagine." Ryan replied.

"I don't think you can. I'm sure he's truly unique." Sandy replied trying to get the conversation going.

"No arguments there." Ryan commented.

Sandy changed subjects and tried again "So how's Marissa adjusting to things?"

Ryan looked back out of the window and replied. "Yeah good. The incident the other day with the paparazzi upset her but I don't think we'll have any more problems like that. Keith should get here this afternoon and he'll keep an eye on things and make sure they don't get bothered again."

"So, is that all that's bothering her?" Sandy asked.

"Sorry?" Ryan asked as he looked at Sandy surprised.

"Come on. You two aren't exactly the same couple you were a week ago. I thought it was something to do with Emily but thinking back I realise that Marissa was fine on Thursday when we went to lunch and that was after the incident with the paparazzi. Something has happened since then to take the shine from her eyes." Sandy commented as he joined Ryan in front of the window.

Ryan looked back out and wondered whether to say anything … finally replying "It's nothing … really."

Sandy considered his answer and then added "You know that Kirsten and I are here for you both. You've both been through so much. If there is anything we can do to help you know we'd be more than happy. If having a child all of a sudden is too much, we could always …".

Ryan cut him off and gave a sad laugh. "No the complete opposite."

"Sorry?" Sandy was puzzled by Ryan's comment.

Ryan thought for a moment and wondered whether to reveal anymore or not. He looked at Sandy seeing only concern in his eyes. He decided to try to explain what had happened. He didn't want Sandy worried about them. They were going to have to rely on Sandy and Kirsten's help with Emily. It didn't seem right to expect them to do that, if they were thinking that Ryan and Marissa were regretting taking in Emily in the first place. He guessed they deserved to know exactly what was going on. "Just between you and me … we had a bit of a pregnancy scare last week. Marissa was late and we thought that just maybe we'd become the 1 in a thousand that had slipped past the effectiveness of the pill."

"So that's why she's so concerned. She might be pregnant." Sandy stated.

"No. She isn't pregnant. And the simple fact is that after the initial shock we'd both decided that we rather liked the idea. We found out on Friday that she isn't and I guess that we're both just trying to come to terms with it. It's a bit hard to do that when we have Emily bouncing around as she takes up all of our attention but right now when someone else is keeping her amused … well I suspect that Marissa is just thinking about what might have been." Ryan replied and from the tone of his voice Sandy realised that Ryan was having trouble dealing with it as well.

Sandy looked out the window at the beautiful young woman before him. "Your both young. You've got plenty of time."

"Yeah. We know that. But somehow it doesn't seem to help that much just right now." Ryan replied.

"Well for what it's worth. I've always thought that God works in mysterious ways … maybe it just wasn't the right time for you." Sandy commented.

Ryan looked doubtfully at him but said nothing.

"Hey don't be so sceptical ... somehow he brought you to us." Sandy commented.

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. He definitely got that one right."

"And Marissa is back where she belongs." Sandy added.

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. But still …"

"Look. You've only been back together a few weeks. Give yourselves a chance to get reacquainted." Sandy suggested.

Ryan blushed.

"And I don't just mean that way. Plus I still think that you should be married before you get serious about starting a family." Sandy said.

"It must run in the family." Ryan responded.

"What?" Sandy enquired.

"Apparently the Nana has already informed Marissa of the desired order of things." Ryan explained.

"Well for once I'd have to agree with her. So don't go throwing those contraceptive pills out just yet." Sandy suggested.

"With Emily around you have no fear. She's better than the pill anytime. She's 100 effective." Ryan looked at Sandy regretfully. "Since she's been with us we haven't managed to even ..." Ryan stopped realising that he had been about to divulge way too much information.

Sandy roared laughing and put his hand on Ryan's back to commiserate as Ryan's meaning sunk in. "Welcome to the world of fatherhood."

"Yeah – thanks for that." Ryan smiled as he replied dejectedly.