A/N: Sorry for the wait! This one is titled "Back to Where I Was" after the Eric Hutchinson song. Enjoy and please review!

Back to Where I Was

"Is Noo-port going to be nice, Mommy?" Audrey asked cheerily as Seth pushed Summer's wheelchair down the hospital corridor.

"Yes, baby," Summer nodded, smiling tiredly. She had been having a hard time finding a position to sleep in because her back ached so badly, so she hadn't been sleeping much at all.

"You hanging in there?" Seth asked quietly, acknowledging the exhaustion in her voice and attempting not to let Audrey sense her mother's frailty.

"Trying," Summer smiled weakly. Seth nodded. Finally they were outside the hospital, and Seth had handily pulled his car up to the curb. "How am I—"

"Relax," Seth told her. First he locked the wheels of her wheelchair so it wouldn't roll away, then he buckled Audrey into the car seat he'd picked up from Summer's along with two or three boxes of hers and Audrey's stuff. Once Audrey was situated, he gently lifted Summer from the wheelchair and placed her in the front seat. "Comfortable?"

"Great," she nodded. "Thanks."

He nodded dutifully and folded up the wheelchair into the back. And then they were on their way.

…

As they drove, the memories she'd worked hard to flush out began flooding back into Summer's mind. Audrey and Seth chattered vibrantly and she was glad he was there to help with her daughter; he had been right. She knew she couldn't do everything on her own, at least not anymore.

As they worked their way up the highway, Summer remembered trips to LA boutiques with Marissa. In her five or so years of living in Los Angeles, Summer hadn't ever even thought about shopping on Robertson, but in her Newport years, she had done so all the time. She remembered the trip to Tijuana with Seth and Marissa and Ryan, when everything for them had changed—when Marissa had shifted from her Luke years to her Ryan years, and when she herself had realized that Seth was probably the first boy who had the capacity to enter her heart for real.

Finally the pristine beaches and lawns came into view, and the houses grew larger as they entered the town she'd never forgotten. They passed all the establishments of her childhood—Fashion Island, with its overpriced stores; the famed pier, with the Crab Shack and the Bait Shop and the diner; Harbor School, with its glossy buildings and perfect students. It was a world she'd been part of for so long and yet not in such a long time. It was surreal to see her baby daughter gazing at the soothing ocean and the enormous mansions. Summer thought Audrey wouldn't see any of this, any of her old world, until she was far older. Maybe even never.

"You ready for this, Sum?" Seth asked, turning his head to see her astounded face as she took in the sights of Newport Beach.

"I think I am," she agreed, and he took the car up a winding road towards his home. Finally it came into sight—Summer knew it was his immediately when she realized she was driving up the road they had driven on time and time again throughout their high school years. It was the road Summer drove up when she was sad or upset and needed a dose of Cohen, the road Seth drove down to pick her up for a date. The end of that road was where Ryan and Marissa had met for the first time. All three in the car were silent.

"Here we are," Seth said softly when he pulled up into the driveway. He got out of the car and unbuckled Audrey and then moved to help Summer back into her chair.

"Bring her in first?" Summer asked, looking up at him with warm, watery eyes. "I—I need a minute." Seth nodded in understanding and took Audrey's hand and her little suitcase and walked her up into the house.

"Cohen?" Audrey asked, having taken to using the nickname her mother had awarded Seth with years ago and still used. "I like your house."

Seth smiled brightly at the four-year-old. "Thanks, Aud. I'm glad you do."

"Mommy said we were going to stay with you," she whispered nervously. "Are we going to stay here?"

"Yep," Seth nodded.

"I think it's too big."

Seth laughed. She was clever and mature and all the things he would expect in any daughter of Summer's. "That means there is lots of room for you to play," he explained.

Audrey considered this. "Can I play now?"

Seth unzipped her suitcase, which was, because she had been allowed to pack it herself, filled mainly with the worn toys and dolls she'd always had. Seth thought sadly back to his own childhood toys: excessive amounts of electronic games, a collection of pricey vintage comic books, armies upon armies of plastic animals, and anything else he asked for. But Audrey seemed content with her wilted toys and used-looking plastic dolls, and if Audrey was content, so was Seth. "Stay here, okay? I'm going to go help your mom."

He walked back towards the car and watched Summer admiringly. She really was incredibly brave. He examined her face and its emotions; she looked awed and ashamed, happy and sad, incredulous and guilty, all at the same time.

"Sum?"

"This is it," she said abruptly, turning her head to face him. He had opened her car door and was standing right next to her. "You still—"

"Yep," he nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I always thought—"

"You would have what they had." Seth looked at her and realized her words were exactly true. He nodded. She was referring to his parents, of course. Kirsten and Sandy, moral center of the universe. Or at least Newport Beach.

"They didn't want the house anymore. I think it was hard for them to realize that that time in their life was over. I mean, it's a house for a family."

"So where are they now?"

"This little house on the beach. They love it. It's easier to maintain, my dad can walk right up to the shore with his surf board…"

"That sounds amazing."

"It is. It's good for them. Sometimes you just need to end a chapter in your life, you know?"

"Yeah," Summer said, knowing that his words meant more than what they seemed to mean. Sometimes you just had to move on, forget the past, and start your life again.

"Ready?" She nodded and waited for Seth to lift her up to transport her into her chair. She hated the thing but knew it was necessary for a few more weeks. It was still hard to stand and nearly impossible to walk.

Seth gently wrapped one arm around her shoulders and slid one beneath her knees and lifted her up and towards his chest, to which she clung as he walked. "Seth, the chair," she reminded him.

"I can carry you in," he grinned, and she nestled her face into his shoulder, enjoying the feel and scent of the Seth Cohen she'd always known. He wore an ancient and extremely soft blue t-shirt—probably something he'd owned and wore during high school—and comfortable looking jeans, and Summer loved how her own shirt would ride up slightly as she shifted in his arms and her bare hip would slightly graze the softness of his shirt. Every time Seth felt her skin—and he felt it strongly, he knew it was so close, knew the skin belonged to the woman probably would always love—he felt a vague tingle.

"It's perfect," Summer sighed peacefully as he deposited Summer on the couch in the family room, where so many video games had been played, make out sessions had been had, and deep conversations had occurred.

"Audrey's upstairs," Seth told her, circling around to prop a pillow up behind her head so she could lie down comfortably. He sat down by her feet. "I renovated a little, so she's playing in the recently created comic book storage room."

Summer's eyes widened, slightly horrified. "Seth? Comic book storage room?"

"Let me explain," he grinned. He picked up one of her weathered feet and began to massage it, and she moaned slightly and smiled. "I was too freaked out to move into my parents' room, even though it's bigger, because obviously that's sketchy."

She smiled broadly. He was still her Cohen. "Obviously."

"So I decided my own bedroom needed some expanding, but after I did that, I realized that I was cramming all my comics and stuff into my room, but meanwhile, my parents' room was sitting there, empty."

"I think I know where this is going."

He laughed. "So I converted their bedroom into my official comic book storage room. It even has glass cases on the walls for some of my limited editions. I'm a bona fide collector now."

"Kirsten must be horrified to know what happened to her bedroom! But I suppose I should congratulate you?" Summer asked, a bemused smile dazzling her face.

"I suppose so," he smiled back. "But I keep other stuff in there, too."

"I'm not interested in hearing about or seeing your glass-encased porno collection, Cohen," Summer retorted, and her slightly biting words reminded him of the old her, and he loved that.

"No, no pornos in there," he promised. "I keep those in my bedroom."

"Cohen!" She squealed. He tickled her feet and she squirmed out of his grasp.

"No, seriously. I keep so much old stuff in there. Stuff from high school, I guess, and some of my parents' stuff, too. A ton of photos. It's nice to go back in there and you know, think."

"I miss it," Summer said quietly. "High school? When we were all together?"

"What would we have done if Ryan hadn't come?" Seth asked speculatively.

"Well, Marissa would be married to some cheating asshole, your typical blond Newport god," Summer began. She paused. "I probably would never have talked to you."

"Good to know."

"C'mon, Seth. You know I wish it had been different, before everything. Where would I be now without you?"

They were both silent as they considered this. They remembered the ups and downs, the messy breakups, the pain each of them had gone through during the last one, when Summer had left Rhode Island for L.A. and they'd both suffered miserably.

But Summer wondered where she would be right now, right in that moment. During the long years of weathering Marcus's abuse and trying to raise Audrey and working two jobs, her brief phone calls with Cohen had kept her smiling. And she didn't like to think what would have happened if Seth hadn't happened to come by that day, if she had laid on that bathroom floor, cold and alone and broken, until Marcus had returned. She realized that having Seth in her life was, after Audrey, the most important thing to her. And she realized she had to make sure he knew that.

…

After putting Audrey to sleep and watching a few too many DVDs, Summer yawned and Seth offered to carry her upstairs. He lifted her easily and she rested his head into his arm.

Seth bit his lip when he realized that there were two bedrooms now—Audrey's and his. "Do you want—"

Summer knew what he was asking and figured she'd save him the grief. At least for the night. "My stuff is in Audrey's room."

Seth nodded, and they entered the dim room—a nightlight spared it from complete darkness—and they both grinned at Audrey's curled-up body in the corner of the queen-sized bed. He deposited Summer tenderly on the other side.

"Do you need help getting pajamas or something?" Seth asked awkwardly, his hands fidgeting.

"I'm comfy enough," Summer sighed. "And too lazy."

Seth laughed lightly and helped her lie down in bed. He carefully stretched the comforter over her body, tucking her in gently.

"Cohen?" She asked, her voice almost like a little girl's.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to have to go back sometime. I just want you to remember that."

Seth nodded dismissively. "When the time comes, we'll deal with it. But right now, you need to just focus on getting better again. Okay?"

"Okay." She shifted slightly in bed. "You know... I can't think of anyone I'd rather have rescue me."

Seth's heart swelled. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather rescue." They both grinned. "Night, Sum."

"Night, Cohen."

Summer gazed at her little girl as she tried to fall asleep, but her mind was focused on the boy she would always love, sleeping across the hall. Little did she know, Seth was nowhere near asleep. He tossed and turned for hours, thinking of Summer, the girl he could not imagine his life without.