Title: Leave It To Fate

Summary: Based on the movie 'Serendipity', starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Two people meet unexpectedly one night where love is unmistakeably in the air. But whether they ever meet each other again... is left to fate.

Author's Note: So I thank those people who reviewed on the last chapter - you really made me smile! I hope I make the rest of the story as awesome as I know you all want it to be. I also feel like I have to say this again, because after reading this chapter you may be all WTF? But it will be a SethSummer. Eventually. They just have to realise it for themselves. And again, I'm trying to distance it from the movie, but it's proving hard. I have a few aspects planned that will hopefully make it different. Oh! And I have to pimp out the story of another awesome writer - So Long Sweet Summer by BeMySpiderman. She's my proof-reader for this story, and she basically rocks, so go. Now. (Well... read and review this first. Then go.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well... not nothing, because I own most of the stuff in my room. And some of the stuff that isn't in my room. But where the O.C. and Serendipity are concerned, I own only the DVDs.

Music: Goodnight Goodnight by Maroon 5

Five Years Later

"I wake up every morning wishing one more time to face her"

"Come on Seth!" She called, turning to look at me with a gleeful expression painted on her face. "I want to show you the bridesmaids dresses that I've picked out!"

I attempted to look interested at this escapade, though truth be told, I didn't care what the bridesmaids were wearing. "Isn't it like, the wedding law that the groom isn't allowed to see any dresses before the marriage?"

She looked at me, one eyebrow raised. "That's only the bride, Seth. Plus, I want your opinion. It will be your little sister walking down the aisle in it."

Okay, being totally honest here: I don't care what dress Sophie is wearing when she's bridesmaid. And Sophie won't either. As long as it's a dress that she can act like a princess in, she really won't care what the colour is. But mentioning this would probably earn me a punch in the arm, and I don't really want a dead arm right now. Or ever, really. But that might be wishful thinking on my part.

"It's in here," she said, pushing open the door to a small shop that I probably wouldn't have noticed, had she not been pulling me through the door.

Running up to the counter to speak to the woman behind it, she left me looking around the shop, which was decorated with a vast array of dresses in all styles and colours. Most of them looked totally hideous. God, I hope she didn't pick that one, I thought, spotting an awful pink thing. Sophie would look like a raspberry. I've never really liked raspberries.

"Here!" She cried, taking a dress that the woman had just brought out from underneath the counter. It wasn't the pink one, to my relief. In fact, it was an okay-looking dress. But, looking at her, did I expect her to pick out anything less?

"Don't you think that Sophie would look adorable in this? I thought the cream would be traditional, but the blue sash would bring out her eyes... oh my god, you don't like it do you? I knew that cream would be the wrong way to go..."

I shook my head, walking over to her and taking hold of the hand that wasn't wrapped around the hanger of the dress. "What? No. I think it's great. And I think that Sophie will love it."

"That's good," she smiled, looking up at me thankfully. "I wasn't sure. I didn't want to show her it, and have her hate me."

Laughing, I hugged her, ignoring the disapproving looks from the woman behind the counter. "She could never hate you. Ever. She's not a hateful sort of person. And this dress will make her look like a princess, so you're basically making all of her dreams come true."

The relief on her face was evident, and it was almost hard to believe that she had been worrying so much about keeping my little sister happy.

"Anyway! Speaking of dreams coming true, my dream is to still be alive when I'm twenty-eight, and if we're late for dinner, then that dream will not turn into a reality for me," I said, gently pulling my hand away from her grasp.

She laughed and turned back to the woman, handing over the dress - which I'm sure she thoroughly examined for creases as soon as our backs were turned - and then we left the shop. The inky black sky hung above us, and it had the atmosphere of just being about to snow. I've been living in New York for six years now, so I know all about snow. And to think, when I first came here, I had no idea what the fluffy white stuff was.

The restaurant wasn't too far away, and so we reached the entrance to it within a few minutes of leaving the shop. "We're not late," she announced, unnecessarily. I could tell we weren't late. The absence of missed calls on my cell phone, plus the fact that the building was still intact, was a sign that we weren't late.

I mean, my almost mother-in-law is lovely and all... but seriously, you don't want to get on the wrong side of her.

"Tell me you love me Seth." She stopped just outside the door, and looked up into my eyes. It was a random question to ask, but I was used to being asked random things by now.

I looked down at her, entwining my fingers in hers, while smiling. "I love you Anna."

---

"It isn't too late to back out now Anna," Ryan said, in a joking tone as we left the restaurant. At least I hope he was joking... you can never tell with Ryan. He isn't a big joker, but he can surprise you.

Anna laughed, linking arms with me. "Oh I know. I have about a week to change my mind... right Seth?"

Don't even rise to it... don't even rise to it... "Of course you do. In fact, I'm bargaining on it."

"Oh really?" The absence of a smile on her face was pretty pointless, especially as she was making it blatantly obvious that my comment amused her.

"Really." I nodded, prising my arm gently out of her grip and going to hug my mom, who had just followed us out of the building. "Mom! You're staying in the city until the big day, right?"

She nodded, before shooting a look over to dad. "I'm sure we said that at some point during the dinner Seth."

"Yeah, well Sophie was making highly interesting faces with her food mom; I honestly wasn't listening." I admitted, as usual feeling no shame about what I was saying.

Mom rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep the smile from her face. She never can where I'm concerned.

"Yes son, we'll be staying in New York. And seeing as both you and Ryan have no room in your apartments, we've booked a room at the Astoria. Unless you've magically found a room for us...?" Dad said, with a knowing look. Oh, how I hate the Sandy Cohen knowing look. There's really no need for it.

I shook my head. "Nope. The Astoria it is. I'll make a note."

Mom laughed as she took Sophie's hand, and I could tell that they were getting ready to turn in. "Well Seth, we'll call you in the morning."

"I was hoping that you'd be up to some shopping Kirsten," Anna chipped in. "And Sophie too, obviously. Being me... I've left it way late, but I just want to make sure her dress fits."

Sophie looked up at the word dress, the excitement evident in her eight-year-old voice. "Dress? We're going shopping, right mom?"

"Sure Anna, that sounds great. Anyway, we'd better be getting back Sandy. Sophie has to go to bed..."

My little sister looked up at me, a pout on her face. Looks like she's as much of a fan of bedtimes as I was. "See you later Seth."

"Bye Soph," I said, waving at her as Dad flagged a taxi, and opened the door for them all to get in.

Ryan said his goodbyes, and managed to find himself another taxi to take him back to his apartment, leaving just me and Anna standing in the street.

"Are you going straight home?" I asked, knowing that she'd been talking about some Christmukkah shopping that she still needed to finish.

She shook her head, confirming my thoughts. "I still need to buy some very special people some very special presents."

"Very special people, huh?" I muttered, leaning forward to kiss her.

Pulling away, she laughed. "Yes. But don't think you'll manage to get me to even hint about what I'm buying you. Because I won't tell you."

I shrugged, nonchalantly. "Worth a shot."

"Yes it was," she laughed, and then kissed me goodbye quickly. "I'll be back soon. It shouldn't take me too long to whiz around the shops."

Grinning at her as she gave me a wave and rushed off down the street, I turned away only after she'd been swallowed up by the crowd of last-minute shoppers.

I'd met Anna about five years ago. She was a friend of a friend, and we immediately clicked. How could we not? She liked comic books, obscure indie films and Death Cab. Three years later, I proposed. And two years later, we were finally getting our acts together and getting married. I love her. I do.

I sauntered up the street, my hands in my pockets to shield them away from the cold air. Passing Bloomingdales, I took a slight glance into the display windows that were lined with tinsel and sale signs. I'd only ever been in that huge department store once. After that night, I'd never gone in again. I'm not sure why. I just didn't feel like it, I guess.

I still go into every second-hand book store, searching for the book (a copy of The Grapes of Wrath). And I still check every ten dollar note, even though that one wasn't meant for me. Because if I get that note back, it might mean that it was never meant to be. Fate just brought my number back to me. Didn't FedEx it to the right person.

But I love Anna. I do. And you can't spend your whole life chasing a dream that was based on fate. Fate and destiny. As if there are such things. We make our decisions - not some weird superior force.

I stopped in the middle of the street, beside a table that was groaning under the weight of about forty hardback books and scanned the titles. The homeless guy who was aiming to make some profit eyed me hopefully as I looked for the right one. Maybe... just maybe...

There it was. John Steinbeck. Hardly daring to breathe, I flipped open the front cover, taking what I hoped to be a casual glance inside...

Nothing.

No name. No phone number. Nothing.

I sighed and closed the book again, shoving my hand back in my pocket and continuing my walk down the street. The disappointed look on the guys face faded away into the night.

You might not be able to spend your whole life chasing a dream based on fate. But I wasn't quite ready to give it up. Not just yet.