Hey guys, sorry it took so long for me to update, I realize there's not really a lot going on yet, but that will change! Tell me what you think…

Ryan called Seth for the third time before coming to the conclusion that he was smoking pot in his room, again. He sighed and headed upstairs. He yelled for Seth until he was able to push the door open over the towel to find him clad in boxers and giggling.

"Seth, I have to meet Marissa at the diner and you have to come with me," Ryan sighed over Seth's laughter.

"Okay, sure dude, cool down, something has crawled up your ass and made camp-" he rambled.

"We can't take you like this though," Ryan said to himself, over Seth's mumbles.

"I mean, not that you don't have a nice ass-" Ryan caught and froze.

Ryan shook his head, "Seth, if you ever talk about my ass again, I swear to god I will kick yours so hard…"he warned as he grabbed Seth by the collar and feeling more and more like a dad. He decided he should get used to it… His kid would never end up like Seth, he promised himself. He pulled him into the bathroom, turning on the shower and then rushing downstairs to put on some coffee, praying that Summer wouldn't suspect anything.

Though Ryan was starting to think it would be better if Summer did find out… it was really only a matter of time. She and Seth wouldn't break up-they never broke up, and she would probably kick some sense into him, since he couldn't. Seth needed to see what was at stake. But was there really that much, it's just pot, but it was Seth, and when Seth was in possession of anything remotely harmful, it will cause twice the harm, guaranteed. Plus Seth was annoying, more than usual, when he was high…well, at least he was witty when he was clean…

His phone rang.

"Hey, it's me,"

"Hey, so, um, can lunch be a little later?" He hoped he wouldn't hurt her feelings.

"Actually, Summer wanted to take me shopping, and I kinda wanted to go,"

Perfect. "No, that sounds great, be careful?"

"Yeah, so…see ya"

"Bye." He should have said he loved her, but he didn't want to scare her. He didn't want to force their relationship just because of this baby. Well, not just because of the baby, their baby.

……………………………….

"We haven't talked in forever,"

"I didn't realize how much I missed my best friend, god, I hope I'm not turning into Cohen. That is all I have to spend time with these days…"

"Not anymore, I'm gonna stay here to have the baby, with Ryan,"

"Really, well, I mean, you don't really have a lot of options, but what exactly did Ryan say?"

"He said he wanted to be there for me and he loved me and he wanted to do this." She said, assuring herself

"Coop! You have to make sure he's fully committed, you don't want him backing out whenever it gets rough, this is a kid we're talking about."

Marissa thought for a second, "you're probably right, but I don't want to force this on him, I mean its all so new," she sighed, "for him and for me," and bit her lip again.

"Hey, I'm sorry, don't be sad…I know, let's go shopping, south coast plaza!"

Marissa smiled at her best friend's enthusiasm, Summer could always make her feel better, but she had told Ryan…

"We can't, we're meeting the guys at the diner."

"Yes we can, you need this Coop, we need to log some girl time and besides, when was the last time you've been shopping," she paused dramatically, looking at Marissa's alarmed face, "exactly!"

"You're right, thanks Sum," Marissa agreed, pulling out her phone to call Ryan. Maybe she did need this, she definitely needed something.

"What I'm here for."

Ryan had told her to be careful, was he worried about her or about the baby, or both? Probably both…did that mean he really did want the baby? She shook her head; she was over analyzing everything. Ryan was so protective; it was somewhat annoying, but also kind of cute.

Six hours later an exhausted Marissa plopped her various bags down on Summer's bed. "Sum, I'm gonna go take a power nap I think, but thanks for this." She said flipping out her phone to call Ryan. It was already five thirty.

"No, I'll tell Ryan, I'm going to visit Cohen now anyway, he's been up to something…"

"Right, well, see ya."

"Buh bye" Summer said distractedly, hurrying back out the door.

……………………….

Summer waltzed into the pool house unannounced.

"Atwood," She greeted and he sat up from his book.

"Summer…what are you doing here?" Seth was upstairs, unsupervised and was probably not in the best state to see Summer.

"I came to talk to you,"

"You did…"

"Yep, about Marissa," She stated, pacing back and forth.

Ryan was not in the mood to talk to Summer, about this…"Summer, can't we talk about thi-"

"Look Atwood-Marissa is feeling really insecure and lost. You need to be there for her and make sure she's okay-"

"Summer, I know, I was just going to call her-"

"Listen to me, Atwood. She needs you. I don't want you half-assing this, ass."

Over the summer, Ryan and Summer's relationship had turned more into a brother sister type thing as opposed to the slightly awkward, polite relationship they'd maintained in high school.

"I know, I want to show her how I feel, but I mean, I'm not sure how I feel yet."

"Well, dig deep, Atwood, put it all on the table."

"This is really weird…"

"What?"

"Well, I mean, usually Seth comes in here to have these…talks with me."

"Seth has been MIA for the past few days, so I will have to do. Plus, I care about you Atwood. "

"Alright, so…" He started.

Summer gave him a look, but he couldn't come up with anything.

"It's just…usually Seth talks about his problems first, for, like, a half hour…"

Summer rolled her eyes, "My problem is that my best friend is a mess and Cohen is acting all Cohen-y."

What had he gotten himself into, both Seth and Summer had the annoying habit of talking incessantly about each other. Ryan couldn't deal with listening to her bitch about Seth right now or dodge the "what's up with Cohen?" question one more time.

"So, what's your deal, how're you feeling?" Summer prompted, interrupting his thoughts.

"I don't know, I mean, terrified? I guess I'm still in shock, I can't be a dad…"

"Why not?"

"Because, I don't know, It doesn't feel right, I still feel like a kid!"

"I think it'll be different when your holding the baby in your arms"

"Yeah… but I don't even know what Marissa wants, I mean, whatever she wants, I'll do-"

"And she knows that Atwood, but she's just as scared as you are and she wants to know what you want to do," Summer said, exasperated.

Ryan paused before he answered, "Does Marissa know you're over here?"

Summer shook her head,

"well, I'm not sure how to work out the details, but I want to be a part of this kid's life. And," he sighed, "I don't want to get married…right now, I mean, I love Marissa, but I don't want to rush into things…"

"I understand, but I think you should tell her that."

He smiled at Summer.

"What?" She smiled, and he realized how incredibly lucky Seth was to have her. Summer was…awesome.

"Nothing, it's just, you're a really good listener."

She rolled her eyes, "compared to Cohen,"

Summer was right-he needed to do something special for Marissa and…his kid, to show how much he cared. A grand gesture, something Seth had quite a lot of experience with, though Ryan didn't think declaring his love for her on a coffee cart in a public place would send the right message. He did need Seth though, for ideas.

"Where is Cohen anyway?" She asked, frowning.

"Um, he's…out." He said lamely.

"Okay, well then, I just remembered I left my jacket in his room from before, so I'm gonna go get it."

"Summer," he grabbed her arm.

She turned, alarmed, "Summer, I'll get it for you."

"I can get it myself," she said, looking confused, and wrenched her arm from his grip.

"You can't,"

"Yes I can, Atwood, stop being weird," she said, walking through the kitchen towards the stairs.

Ryan sighed, it was a lost cause, and waited for the night's events to unfold. He couldn't help but feel a little bad for Seth, even if he was being stupid.

"A few minutes later Summer was dragging a strung out Seth back down the stairs.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Summer, disgusted. Ryan sighed inwardly, with relief that Seth wasn't caught or frustration that this wasn't over, he didn't know.

"He hurt his hand, he didn't want you to worry, and then he took too many painkillers," Summer's expression softened and he tried not to think about what she would do to him after she found out the truth.

"Hey it's Summer, Ryan, Summer's here! This is great! We shoud-we should take our pants off."

"How many did he take?" Summer asked.

"Ryan, I'm tired, I'm going to bed, everything's rocking. You like rocking out to Journey, that's funny-quirky. Ryan's quirky, Summer!" He started to laugh.

Ryan pulled Seth upstairs and dumped him onto the bed, Summer followed.

Summer threw blankets over Seth and took off his shoes.

"Goodnight my sugarplum,"

"Goodnight Cohen," she said, half amused, half disgusted.

"I'll be picking you in the orchids of my dreams tonight," he kissed her nose and closed his eyes.

"Poor Cohen" she kissed his forehead, if only she knew…

………………………………………………………………………………….

IT was only seven o'clock, she couldn't go to bed, Summer would be back soon. She sighed, she wanted to call Ryan, but Summer was probably over there doing detective work for her right now. She grinned and decided to watch season one of the valley again, for old times sake. This baby was making her feel very nostalgic.

She pressed play and relaxed onto Summer's bed, slowly. Kaitlin walked in, eating a popsicle, suddenly Marissa wanted a popsicle, badly…

"Hey Sis, Hey Ryan's baby," she greeted, rubbing her sister's stomach.

"It's auntie Kaitlin, I'll make sure you grow up cool," she licked her popsicle slowly, Marissa's mouth watered.

"I'm not so sure I want you making sure," Marissa joked.

"And Ryan's very protective, he doesn't like you,"

"Yes he does, he's just annoyed with me for giving Seth-"

"Hey guys," Summer greeted, coming in, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," they responded simultaneously.

"Okay…well I picked up some Chunky Monkey and Bring it On, Coop. You guys up for a girls' night?"

"I think that's just what I need," said Marissa loyally, she knew Summer was trying to help her feel better. Truthfully, she was ready for bed.

"I can't, Brad and Eric got-" she sighed, "never mind,"

"Stay out of trouble," Marissa called from behind, knowing it was no use.

"So, what did Ryan say,"

Summer sighed, "he wants to talk to you about it, Ryan's a great guy, Coop, you're lucky."

"So that means I shouldn't be worried?"

"No, definitely not," Summer smiled, "let's watch bring it on!"

Marissa laughed.

………………………………………………………………………..

Ryan left the house to go see Marissa, he suddenly needed to tell her how he felt. He grabbed the keys and yelled to Sandy in his study that he was going out. They still hadn't told Sandy and Kirsten about the baby…

He met Kaitlin at the door.

"Marissa's in Summer's room," she told him, passing him and closing the door behind her.

He was about to knock on Summer's door, he paused, gathering his thoughts. Okay. He could hear them talking through the door and unmistakably the beginning cheer of Bring it On (Both Summer and Marissa knew it by heart). He took a breath and hoped Summer wasn't telling Marissa what he was about to-wait, was that his name he'd just heard…

"So what happened with you guys, you never told me how you really got back together?" Uh, oh…he did not want to hear this conversation, about to turn, he heard Marissa's voice….

"That day, at the model home, I thought about the first time I met him, and when he stayed at there, and our relationship started, and I thought maybe it was ending, maybe that's why were back there. And I couldn't deal with that. Ryan's been with me through everything, and even when he's not, well, he's always sort of…there. It felt just like old times, you know? No drama; just us four hanging out. And that day when I thought about what I'd miss, Ryan just kept coming back, and I realized that I was still in love with him, I always have been. And then…it was too hard to leave without knowing I wouldn't loose him. I thought I might still have had a chance, even with all the shit I've put him through, so I took it. And…I don't regret it, even after how things turned out, at least we're still together. I love him, more than anything."

Ryan swallowed thickly, he couldn't believe someone felt that way about him. His heart swelled. He wasn't that special. He smiled, leaning against the wall, he knew he should leave, but all he wanted to do was be with Marissa. Marissa had never been very open about her emotions, he always told himself she was shy, but he'd never felt like it was an equal relationship. It was a given that he loved her more than she loved him, wasn't it? He'd never felt loved, well there was Sandy and Kirsten and Seth, but this was different…He left reluctantly, closing the door softly on the way out.