"Oh, that was great," Veronica purrs as she rolls off of Jimmy. "Have I told you how much I love our little morning get-togethers?"

"Only every day. I'm sure that I love them just as much as you do. Actually I know I do. So what's on the agenda for today?" Jimmy sits up on his elbow.

"Immediate plans consist of you taking my car and going for breakfast. After that, I'm meeting Taylor for lunch. I made plans with her yesterday to go out to this new restaurant in town."

"Speaking of, are we ever going to mention that particular elephant that is sitting in the room. We're going to have to tell our daughters that we're seeing each other. I can't keep lying to Marissa and giving her some excuse about why we can't see each other."

"I'm not asking you to lie, Jimmy. You just need to start getting more creative."

"V…"

"I know, I know. It's just that we've both been getting along so well with them and I don't want it to all be for naught. I don't want Taylor to think that I was lying to her in Catalina when I told her that I wanted to reconnect with her."

"So when, or what, are we going to tell them?"

"For right now, we're not going to tell them anything. We'll bring it up after the holidays, when everything is a little less chaotic."

"That's a few weeks from now, V. You don't think that they'll figure out something is going on by then? Our daughters are pretty smart."

"You worry too much, Jimmy. Now," she shakes her keys at him, "I'm thinking pancakes. Wheat. With mountains of eggs. No yolks."

Jimmy grabs the keys and pulls on a pair of sweats. "Yeah, yeah," he mutters. "I've never seen someone insist on healthy after-sex food."

The driving range

"Nice shot, Julie. You're really taking to golfing well."

Julie places another ball on the tee. "I can't take all the credit, Neil. I do have an excellent teacher."

Neil blushes. "Focus on this one, Julie. Pick a flag out there and see if you can place your ball next to it.

Julie swings and solidly connects with the small, white ball. It travels through the air, stopping near a plain white flag. She hops a bit and throws her hands into the air. "I did it!"

"Great job. I'm proud of you." He pulls her into an embrace, which quickly turns into a kiss, which turns into a make-out session. Neil breaks the contact after a moment. "I don't mean to bring you down, Julie, but we need to talk." He motions to a nearby bench, where they both sit down. "I know that we've been trying to be coy about seeing each other, for our professional careers as well as our personal lives, but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep hiding this from Summer. She's starting to ask questions about where I'm always disappearing to. I'm not sure if my excuses about early morning procedures are working any more."

"I know, Neil. I think Marissa is starting to suspect as well. Not that we're together," she clarifies at Neil's horrified look, "just that I'm seeing someone. Our daughters are too smart to fool for too long. I'm surprised they haven't found anything out already. I just think that now isn't the best time, at least for Marissa. She'll be starting therapy soon, my divorce is just finalized, and our first holiday without Jimmy is coming up. Now may not be the greatest time to mention that I'm dating the father of one of her best friends."

"So do you want to wait until after Thanksgiving?"

"I think that would be best, yes."

"Okay, I'll defer to you on this one. Summer has seemed a bit distracted lately. She's got her own relationship to deal with and I think that might be keeping us off of her radar. She's very intuitive."

"Somebody sounds a little jealous," Julie says with a smile. "Are you getting along with Seth?"

"I'm not jealous. I happen to like Seth a lot. It's just that I remember a time in when I was the only man in Summer's life. Things have changed so much since then. She's growing up too fast."

"Well, does it help to know that you're the only man in my life," Julie asks as she leans in and kisses him passionately.

Jimmy Cooper's apartment

"So what exactly ARE we doing for Luke's birthday," Taylor asks as she gets out of Marissa's vehicle.

"If it's anything like previous years, we'll probably go hang out at his place for awhile so his parents can throw him his party. After that, I'm guessing we'll end up down at the beach so he and Ryan can get in a little night surfing. That's all that usually ends up getting planned."

"So what did you get him? I got him a carton of bars of board wax. Ryan said that he was running out and kept borrowing his."

"Carson told me that they got him a new surfboard so I got him a new wetsuit." Marissa unlocks the door to her father's apartment using the spare key he gave her and she and Taylor enter.

"Back so soon," a familiar voice asks from upstairs. "You had better have my food. I'm starving after being up all night long." Veronica Townsend comes bouncing down the stairs, wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a smile. The smile fades when she realizes who just walked in, and is replaced by a look of horror and a severe blush. She quickly crosses her arms over her chest.

"Mom?! What are you doing here?" Taylor covers her eyes and motions to the couch where one of Jimmy's shirts is laying.

Veronica grabs the shirt and pulls it over her head. "Taylor, this isn't what it looks like at all."

"You mean you weren't topless in my dad's room," Marissa asks sarcastically.

"Well, uh, Marissa…you see-" Veronica begins.

"And you don't have that after sex glow?" Taylor plugs her nose in disgust. "Ugh, or smell."

"Young lady, I don't know what you're talking about." Veronica crosses her arms over her chest and looks away. "There's no such thing as an after sex glow or smell."

"After Ryan is done with me, he always says I have the after sex glow," her daughter says with a smirk.

Veronica's face carries a more interesting expression; a cross between a fish face and what one's expression might be if one were startled by a ghost. Fear mixed with surprise.

"You know what? It's way to early to have this conversation." Marissa dismisses Taylor's mother with a wave of her hand. "When you and my father want to have this conversation and are more appropriately dressed, call us." The two teenagers walk out of the apartment leaving behind a very underdressed Veronica Townsend.

Back at the driving range

Seth pops the trunk to the Rover and pulls out the clubs belonging to one Sandy Cohen. He hands them to a waiting Summer, locks the vehicle, and they head to the clubhouse. "I'm not saying that you didn't kick ass on the miniature golf course," he says as he takes the club bag back from his girlfriend. "The part where you threw that kid's ball because he was taking forever was especially funny."

Summer narrows her eyes at the tall, skinny boy. "Hey! There was a ten stroke limit and I had to pee."

"I just think that putting may be a little premature, seeing as how you've never swung a golf club, prior to that putter, in your life."

"How hard can it be," Summer asks as Seth sets down the clubs. "I mean, if your uncoordinated, lanky ass can do it, then I'm sure I can too."

"Well at least I know that my sarcastic sense of humor is contagious."

"Hopefully that's the only thing about you that's contagious."

"Oh, hardy har har." Seth walks into the clubhouse, gets two buckets of balls, and they go back outside.

"Think of it this way. If you can teach me to play golf, we'll have so much more time to work on my humor. And you can teach me how to swing this huge thing," Summer says as she pulls out the driver from the bag.

"Trust me when I say that you're already an expert in handling huge shafts, Summer. Hey, what do you say we go back to your place and play a little 'Hide the One Wood'?

Summer slaps him on the shoulder. "Ewww! If you ever say that again, I'll show you exactly how good I am at hitting little white balls."

Seth mock-bows. "Sincerest apologies, milady. Now, let's go tee off. I'll show you a better use for that driver than hitting me in the crotch." He directs her to an empty golf mat.

"Is that my dad," Summer asks and points to an older, grey-haired gentleman sitting at a bench.

"It looks like it. Why?"

"He told me that he was going to the office this morning, and that he'd be there all day. I wonder what he's doing here?"

"Is that Julie Cooper with him?"

"Oh hell no!" Summer starts to storm off in her father's direction, but is stopped by Seth.

"Just hold on a second. Maybe he's just giving her golfing lessons. You know, tinkering with her swing?" He sees Julie kiss Dr. Roberts very passionately. "Or maybe your dad is banging your best friend's mom," he says, raising his arms in a what-can-you-do gesture.

"Shut up Seth," she whispers. She grabs her boyfriend and drags him away from the driving range area.

The Beach

Ryan looks at his watch. Realizing that it's almost time to meet Luke, he strips off his wet suit, grabs his board and heads for his Jeep. Wringing out his wet suit, he places it along with his surfboard in the back of the vehicle. He takes out his keys, but stops short of getting in his vehicle when he sees a very familiar redhead sitting at a lifeguard stand. He debates with himself for a while on whether he wants to bother and ends up heading in her direction. "Hey," he says. "Everything okay?"

"What do you care," Lindsey asks. "I thought you hated me."

"I don't like you, that's true enough, but I don't hate you. Family does mean something other than people you're related to."

Lindsey seems to consider this for a minute. "After everything I've done to you and your friends, you're still willing to sit here and listen to my problems?" In response Ryan sits down on the lifeguard stand next to his aunt. She looks at him in wonder. "You're too nice sometimes."

Ryan shrugs. "So what's up? Everything okay with Zach?"

It's Lindsey's turn to shrug. "Who knows? I haven't talked to him since the whole golfing thing. We never really connected anyway. I mean, the whole reason we hooked up in the first place was because I needed a date to Cotillion and he wanted to show up Summer Roberts. Look how well that worked out."

"So if it's not about Zach, what's going on? Is it Grandpa?" Lindsey doesn't answer, choosing instead to attempt to make herself smaller. "I had a feeling. He's not a nice person. What's up?"

"I don't want to talk about it. And you're wrong about him. He's a good person." She gets frustrated and stands up. "Why are you here anyway? Don't you have to get back to your little whore, Dorksend?"

Ryan stands up as well and blocks her path off of the stand. "I'm sorry if I brought up a touchy subject, but your little distraction techniques aren't going to piss me off. Sit back down." He points to the deck and Lindsey, however reluctantly, takes her seat.

"Does anyone ever tell you no?" Ryan just looks at her. "Right. So how long are you going to keep me here, bugging me?" She feigns annoyance, and looks at her watch.

"Until you tell me at least part of the reason why you're sitting here, looking like some suicidal naval widow." Ryan sits back down next to her, earning a glare of his own. He ignores it. "Does it have something to do with you and Mom?"

"Actually, that is part of it, and something I'm willing to talk about."

"Well, spit it out. I've been known, on occasion, to be a good listener."

"I don't know. Sometimes I just get the feeling that my sister hates me. We hardly ever talk, she loves those three bit-" Ryan shakes his head and she stops herself. "She loves those three girls and the boy she adopted more than she loves me."

"Do you remember when it first came out that you were Grandpa's daughter from an affair," Ryan asks, staring out at the water.

"Uh, yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Mom locked herself in her closet for two days straight. I had to bring meals in and slide them under the door. Dad thinks that she peed in a cup that was in there, but we don't know for sure. Bottom line, she didn't want to talk to anybody."

"Okay, that's just gross. Is there a point to this?"

"The point is, why do you think that she didn't want to talk to anybody? Do you think it had anything to do with Grandma dying not too long before that? Then she had to deal with the fact that her dad cheated on her mom right before she died. That was a really bad time for her. She would never blame Grandpa, just like you'll probably never tell me what's going on between you and him, so who do you think took all the blame? You did, fair or not. About Taylor, Marissa, and Summer, they've been hanging around my house since we were little. They're as good as daughters, as far as Mom is concerned. It's unfortunate, it really is, but you're going to have to reach out and connect with her if you want things to change between you two. She doesn't hate you, I promise. What," he asks when Lindsey just stares instead of responding.

"Nothing. It's just that I don't think I've ever heard you say so much at one time."

"Yeah, well, if Seth were here, he'd say something along the lines of me not talking for the next couple months to make up for it." Lindsey chuckles and Ryan grins. "Seriously though? Go talk to her. Tell her that you want things to be different. She'll love that." Ryan stands and begins to walk down the ramp.

"Wait, that's it?" Lindsey stands. "You're not going to try to get the story about Dad out of me?"

"If you were going to say something, you would have already. Besides," he throws over his shoulder, "you're a Nichol. You'll figure it out."

The Cohen residence

Sandy Cohen takes a sip of his coffee, enjoying the lazy Saturday and eternally grateful that Rachel wasn't insisting on meeting to discuss the Balboa Heights case. Again. After the disaster that was the settlement conference, he was fairly certain that he wanted to spend as little time in the office as possible and that his father-in-law, Caleb Nichol, was the devil. The man insisted that he was cheating on Kirsten with Rachel, go as far as describing the deed that occurred (in his mind) in graphic detail. How his beautiful and oh so understanding wife came from that monster, just blew his mind.

The bagel slices he is waiting on pop out of the toaster and he catches both, playing hot potato with them until he can place them on the waiting plate. Coating the warm circles with large amounts of cream cheese, he picks up the first slice and is just preparing to bite into it when the newest member to his family walks in, followed closely by his girlfriend, Summer Roberts. He places the slice back on the plate.

"Morning, kids! Bagel," he asks, holding out the plate containing the two slices of bagel, both of which are taken by the two teenagers. Sandy smiles and shakes his head. He grabs two more bagels, slices them, and puts them in the toaster. "So I know it's a beautiful weekend but you two are up awful early. What's up?"

Seth swallows the bite of bagel in his mouth. "Apparently Dr. Roberts' sex drive is what's up."

"Seth! I said no more jokes about my dad's sex drive or him having sex or anything. That's just…eww."

"So your dad has himself a new girlfriend Summer? Good for Neil. I'm glad he found somebody to spend some time with." Sandy removes the second bagel he has toasted from the machine and looks around for the plate, which is currently in the hands of his clueless son.

"He's doing the bone dance with Julie Cooper," Seth says, holding a mostly eaten bagel in one hand, an empty plate in the other. He begins to grind his hips against Summer, who starts laughing and pushes him off.

"Stop it! Seriously!"

Sandy is so stunned by this revelation that he forgets that he is holding two halves of an extremely hot bagel. They quickly heat up the palms of his hand and he yelps as he throws them on the counter.

"Are you okay," Kirsten asks, walking into the kitchen. "I thought I heard a yell." She turns to Seth. "What happened?"

"I don't know. All I said was that Julie Cooper is doing the horizontal tango with Dr. Roberts." He gives a squeal of his own as Summer kicks him in the shin.

Kirsten hands her husband some ice wrapped in a washcloth, puts another sliced bagel in the toaster and turns back to Seth. "Now tell me again what Julie Cooper is up to, because I know you didn't just say what I thought you did."

"Why, what did Corona just say about Marissa's mom?" Luke, Ryan, Marissa and Taylor walk into the kitchen, joining the others.

"She's doing the missionary mambo with Summer's dad."

"Right on!" Luke holds up his hand to high five Summer. She just shakes her head.

"Graphic Seth," Marissa says with a grimace. "Thanks for telling me that my mother is on the rebound, in so many words. That makes it two for two, I guess."

"What do you mean, Coop," Summer asks. "Who is your dad sharing a bed with?"

"My mom," Taylor says as the bagel slices pop up from the toaster. Nobody moves to remove them. "We found my mother topless in Jimmy Cooper's apartment this morning."

"So let me get this straight girls. My two best friends are sleeping with my husband's two best friends?" Kirsten looks at Taylor, Marissa, and Summer, who all nod. "Oh, I'm so not getting involved."

"Look at it like this, girls," Sandy says, schmearing the bagel slices and finally taking a bite, "After so many years of you and Summer and Taylor living at each other's houses, now you'll finally be real sisters."

The girls all get excited looks on their faces and begin to talk at the same time.

"Oh my God! We totally have to go plan the weddings!"

"I know! Who's house are we going to live in?"

"I don't know! Let's go over to each other's houses and we'll pick out our rooms!"

The three girls leave, completely forgetting the presence of their boyfriends in their excitement.

"Wait, so we're only," Seth counts on his fingers, "three long term commitments away from us guys being related, admittedly by marriage, but related nonetheless."

"Isn't it a little bit early to thinking about marriage, boys?" Kirsten takes the other half of the schmeared bagel from Sandy, who glares at his wife.

"Mom, you know Taylor. It's only a matter of time before she realizes what Seth already has. Thanks for getting them started on that line of thought Dad."

"Yeah Mr. C. Are you trying to torture us?"

Kirsten walks over to the phone. "I'm going to call those four and have them over for a little discourse on the proper way to have adult relations." She begins to dial.

"Please don't say 'relations'," Seth pleads.

The Next Day

Ryan knocks on the door to the Townsend house, and steps back from the door, waiting for it to be answered. The door is opened a moment later by his girlfriend's mother, Veronica Townsend.

"Mrs. Townsend." He looks around through the door. "Is Jimmy Cooper here," he says, pretending innocence.

"Ryan, always a pleasure. I take it my daughter spilled the beans on our relationship. You know, I think I liked you better when you were scared of me. You don't do 'smug' very well. Quiet and broody suits you better," she says, moving aside to allow him entry. "Although my daughter seems to prefer you as sweaty and exhausted." Ryan's face pales. "Apparently you seem to bring out the post-coital 'glow' in her. You have to share your technique with Jimmy." Her face carries a sly smile.

"I'm going to go up and see Taylor." Ryan begins to take the steps two at a time in his hurry to get away from Veronica.

Yep, I've still got it, Veronica thinks to herself as she watches the younger boy stumble up the steps in his hurry to get away from her.

Ryan knocks on the door to his girlfriend's room and, without waiting for an answer, he walks in. He doesn't see Taylor, but the light in her closet is on and he can hear music coming from that direction. He walks in and sees her in her underwear. She is looking through a selection of bras in a drawer. Ryan decides to scare her. "Hey," he says in a deep, sexually laced voice.

Taylor drops the prospective bra and covers her chest with her hands. Her frightened look changes to one of annoyance when she realizes who it is that just startled her. "Ryan Cohen! Didn't your mother ever tell you that you were supposed to knock before you entered someone's room?" She turns back to her bra selection.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that you shouldn't walk around topless? Oh, wait. I guess she didn't." His last comment earns him a glare. "I knocked and you never answered. Besides," he adds as he hugs her from behind, "I wouldn't have wanted to miss this sight." He places soft little kisses on her collarbone, something he knew from prior experience would drive her crazy.

"Ryan! My mom is right downstairs," she hisses.

"I'll be quiet, I promise." He moves up her neck to the spot behind her ear that would drive her over the edge.

Taylor whimpers in response, turns around and jumps into his arms. "I might not be though."

30 minutes later

Taylor strokes her hand up and down her boyfriend's chest, her head on his chest. She purrs as he kisses her hand he holds within his own.

"I hate to come down from this," Ryan begins, "but I came over here because I wanted to talk to you about something."

Taylor sits up and leans her head on her hand. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"No, everything is fine. It's about Lindsey."

Taylor huffs in annoyance. "Great. What did she do now?"

"Nothing, actually. I saw her at the beach yesterday when I was surfing and she looked like she was going through something, so I went over and talked to her."

"Well, is she okay?"

"I think so. She's got something going on with Grandpa right now and she wouldn't tell me about it. What she would tell me about is that she's worried about her relationship with my mom. I guess she has been since she was young. You know all about that, though."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ryan smiles. He absolutely loved this girl for her seeming inability to think only of herself and her constant selflessness. "Actually, there is. I was wondering if you could do something with her. Take her to the mall, have lunch, something. I'd ask Marissa or Summer to go with but, Marissa, well…"

"Marissa hates her for what she did to her dad."

"Pretty much. And Summer…"

"Summer hates her for what she did to Marissa."

"Yeah. If you could help her out and make her feel like she belongs a little, I would love you so much for it."

Taylor snuggles in closer to Ryan. "You know I'd do anything for you."

"Can we just lay here like this all day?"

Taylor sighs contentedly. "I wish. I've got to meet Marissa and Summer and their parents so we can have this big talk about what's going on with them. I was just getting my underwear when you got here and gave me such a fabulous distraction."

"What time are you and your mom meeting them?"

She looks over at the clock on her dresser. "An hour or so. I've got to shower again too." Taylor props her chin up on Ryan's chest. "Do you want to join me?"

Ryan smiles at her. Taylor squeals and runs in to the bathroom. Ryan searches through the bedside table where he knows that she keeps the condoms hidden. Not finding any he calls to his girlfriend. "Hey, I think we're out of condoms. Don't you have any more?"

"Don't worry about it," Taylor yells out. "It's only this one time and I'll pick some more up later."

Ryan jumps out of the bed, thoughts of condoms forgotten, and joins his giggling girlfriend in the shower.

Later, Lunch

Taylor sits down at the table, joining Summer and Marissa on one side of the table. Her mother sits down next to Jimmy, who is sitting on the other side of the table, next to his ex-wife and Neil Roberts.

"So, now that we're all here," Marissa says, glaring at Taylor, who shrugs, "we can begin."

"I'm sure that two of you know why you're here," Taylor continues, looking at her mother and Jimmy Cooper, who refuse to meet her eyes.

"While two of you don't," Summer finishes. Her father and Julie look a little lost. "Look, we know…"

"About everything," Marissa interrupts.

"…and we're not mad. Far from it. We're happy for all four of you."

"Summer, I don't know what you're talking about," Julie begins.

"Save it, Mom. Her and Seth saw you guys making out at the driving range."

"I'm sorry, Summer. We should have just trusted you."

"You're right, Dad. You should have trusted us. We're going to be adults soon, but you guys are the ones acting like kids. Calling in sick to work so you can get freaky at the driving range…"

"Walking around your boyfriend's apartment in nothing besides underwear," Taylor adds, shaking a finger at her mother.

"Hold on a second," Julie interrupts. "Let me get this straight. I'm seeing your father, Summer, and my ex-husband is dating one of my best friends, and your mother Taylor?" Summer and Taylor both nod. "Okay, well I just wanted to make sure it was as weird as it sounded."

"That's not important, Julie. The point is, is that Marissa, Summer and I are fine with what is going on between you four. We wish that you would have told us instead of letting us walk in on you, but we're glad that you are all moving on."

"Now," Summer says, standing, "you guys have the reservations already, so why don't you have lunch and talk about what's going on?"

"It's still a little too early to have an extended family dinner," Marissa says, joining Summer and Taylor in standing, "but we'll do this for real some day."

"Enjoy your lunch," Taylor says cheerily, and the three girls leave the restaurant.

The four adults look at each other, sharing confused looks until Veronica speaks up. "Did our teenage daughters just show us up?"

"Quite possibly," Neil says. "Regardless, I think we should take them up on their advice. It's been a few weeks since we ate together at The Yacht Club and that dinner turned out well."

Julie and Jimmy look at each other and shrug. Jimmy raises his hand. "Waiter?"

The Nichol Mansion

Taylor pulls her mother's car into the driveway of the Nichol's residence, noting with a sense of relief that Caleb Nichol's vehicle was not in the driveway. She walks up to the door, rings the doorbell and waits. Soon enough, the younger resident of the household, Lindsey Nichol, answers the door.

"Taylor Townsend. What are you doing at my house?"

Taylor walks past the girl, entering the large home. "I love this house! It's so big and spacious." She turns back to Lindsey. "So I thought we could hang out today. There's a Paul Frank sale at the mall."

Lindsey coughs out a laugh. "You want to hang out with me? Are you brain damaged? I thought you hated me?"

"Well, Ryan and I talked earlier in my bed," she ignores Lindsey's gagging motion, "and he told me that you were a little down in the dumps so I'm here to help you get out of it. I've been wanting to go raid the racks at the mall all day and it was tough putting off my assault so that I could come get you. Are you ready? Hurry and go shower and get dressed. I'll be here waiting."

"Dear God, I don't think anyone ever tells you or Ryan 'no'. Fine, I'll go," she says, relenting, "but if we see anyone I know…"

"I'll disappear." Taylor finishes for the other girl and holds up her hand in solemn promise.

A few minutes later

Lindsey steps out of the shower and wraps herself and her hair in a towel. Leaving the bathroom, she almost yells in surprise as she is greeted by the sight of Taylor going through her clothes.

"Taylor! What the hell are you doing in here? I thought you were going to wait downstairs?"

"Sorry, but I'm kind of a meddler. I wanted to see what you were going to wear." She picks at the outfit that Lindsey had laid out on the bed; a small piece of cloth that was supposed to be a skirt, and a skimpy pink shirt, cut low to show off her stomach. "This isn't going to work. Looking like a slut is occasionally appropriate at certain times. Going to the mall with a new friend is not one of them. If you want to wear a skirt, go with this." She hands Lindsey a longer khaki skirt. "It's a bit more conservative, as it goes to mid thigh, and it doesn't look like someone took two dishtowels and stapled them together at the corners. As for your shirt," she throws the belly shirt on the floor, "I think you'd be better served with something that contrasts you red hair and brings out the green in your eyes. I'm thinking this." She gives the other girl a green button up that she found buried in the back of the closet. "Now, go put these on, do your make-up, I'll do a final look over, and we'll go." Taylor pushes her into the bathroom.

Lindsey closes the door to Taylor giving the room a once over, her finger at the corner of her mouth, face screwed up in thought. Her last thought as she shuts the door is that she wouldn't be surprised if the room was completely rearranged when she came back out.

Later, at the mall

"So, I guess I owe you an apology," Lindsey begins. "I've been a pretty terrible person to you and your friends for awhile. I think I was just taking my shitty life out on you guys."

"Well, I can't say that I thought you were the greatest person ever, but I can't say that I hated you either. I didn't really know you, so I couldn't hate you." Taylor shifts her bags to her other hand.

"You know, you and Ryan have more in common than I think even you guys know. You're perfect for each other."

"Thanks! I think our strengths and faults as people compliment each other very well. He deals with my craziness and talkativeness and I deal with his broodiness and silence."

"Right. Well, thanks for today. I know Ryan told you that I've got some things going on in my life right now and I think it's cool that you would come hang out with someone that you don't like because your boyfriend asked you to."

"I'd do anything for Ryan, and he knows it. Trust me when I say this was actually rather pleasant and not even close to the worst thing I've done for him. You don't even want to know."

"You're right, I don't want to know. Are you ready to leave? These bags are getting heavy and I'm sure Dad will want to know how much damage I did to his card."

"Sure, let's go home."

The Cohen residence

Kirsten and Sandy are sitting on the couch, enjoying a little time alone, when they hear a knock at the door. They share a look, trying to decide whether to get up and answer it. Another knock answers the unspoken question and they both get up.

"With the way things have been going today, I'm half expecting this to be your dad," Sandy tells his wife.

"No it's not Dad. He'd just walk right in." Kirsten opens the door.

"Well, it's definitely not Cal," Sandy says, seeing the auburn haired Nichol on the stoop.

"Hailey?! What…what are you doing here," Kirsten stammers.

"Awww it's good to see you too, sis. Aren't you going to invite me in?" Hailey sidesteps her sister and brother-in-law and sets her bags down in the house. "Oh, Sandy. I'm out of cash and the cab driver needs his fare. Could you take care of that please?"

Sandy pulls out his wallet and mutters as he makes his way to the yellow vehicle.

"Now, Hailey, do you want to tell me what it is that you're doing here? I thought you were out of the country, doing God knows what?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm home and I'm here to stay."


A/N: Wow, so that one took a little while to get out. A little short, I know, but it's the logical place to stop it at. Sorry about it taking so long. I've been working on it off and on since early last week, but because of the move it has taken awhile to get it typed up. I hope you all enjoy. Random fact of the chapter: Some studies have demonstrated that the smell of androstadienone, a chemical component of male sweat, maintains higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in females. I figured it would be the other way around, you know, that females raise men's blood pressure and blood sugar. Hope you enjoy and please leave a review!

AZ