DISCLAIMER: I own April.  All others are owned by the makers, producers, creators, etc. or THE OC.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Inspired by the fic "Shells" by the Phoenix Kiyoshi, in which Ryan and Marissa have a little girl named Chloe.  I just had to give Summer and Seth a little one and torture Ryan and Marissa with babysitting.

I'm pretty new at OC fics, so please review and let me know what you think.

Adventures of a Pint-Sized Fashionista Super Hero by Gidgetgirl

            As Uncle Ryan glared at her from underneath the blue eye shadow she'd liberally applied all over his face, April Diana Cohen knew three things for certain.

            She knew that playing dress-up was almost as much fun as surfing with Grandpa and chasing boys around the playground at preschool.

            She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when she grew up, she was going to be a super hero, because that's what she wanted to be, and everyone knew that April was very, very good at getting what she wanted.

            And, April Diana Cohen, so named first after her mother (because 'Spring' so didn't qualify as a high quality name) and next after Wonder Woman, knew that Uncle Ryan looked very fetching in blue.

            "Now for the lipstick," April said, absolutely delighted.

            "Lipstick?" Ryan repeated dully, his eyebrows rising and his expression changing almost imperceptibly.

            April nodded.  "Lipstick," she confirmed.  "Think of it like candy for your face."

            April had definitely inherited the Cohen sense of logic.  Only Seth and April were able to twist the most absurd of situations into words that seemed, if random, perfectly reasonable.

            With her little tongue jetting out in between her pink baby lips, the four year old April concentrated on putting the lipstick onto her Uncle's lips.  Then, for good measure, she added just a little bit of bright red lipstick to each of his cheeks.

            "Beautiful," she said, sighing happily.  "Look in the mirror, Uncle Ryan.  Aren't you pretty?"

            Ryan, not amused and ready to kill Seth for sic-ing the little fashion tornado in training on him when he knew that Marissa and Summer were out shopping, looked at himself in the mirror.  April had done a thorough job of it, and between the eye shadow and the lipstick, he looked oddly like some kind of brooding drag queen clown.

            "Are you ready for your manicure, Uncle Ryan?" April asked. 

            "No," Ryan said evenly. 

            April looked up at him.  Her long dark hair, thick and unruly like Seth's, was pulled into pigtails at the side of her head, and her face, a little pixie version of Summer's, was, unlike his, fresh and clean.  Her blue eyes opened wide, April smiled sweetly at him.  "Please, Uncle Ryan?"

            "No," Ryan said, steeling himself against the power of April Cuteness.

            "It would be a learning experience," April wheedled, her tone and inflections Seth's exactly.

            Ryan glanced at himself in the mirror again.  "Don't you want to play something else?" he asked her.

            April shook her head solemnly.  "Oh no, Uncle Ryan," she said.  "I want to make you bea-u-ti-ful."  Sensing that Ryan was still going to say no, April let her bottom lip jut out just a bit.  After a moment, the lip trembled.

            At the ripe old age of four, April knew how to manipulate the men in her life, especially Uncle Ryan.

            "Fine," Ryan said.  April threw herself at him and hugged his leg. 

            "You're the best Chino ever," she said earnestly.  No one was quite sure where the child had picked up the expression, but April only used it as a compliment.  "That's why you're my favorite Uncle Ryan."

            "I'm your only Uncle Ryan," Ryan pointed out, biting back a smile.  Sometimes, she reminded him of Seth so much.

            "Details, details," April replied with a wave of her hand.  "Now, would the passion purple or rocket red go better with your complexion?"  April considered the nail polishes.

            And sometimes, Ryan thought, she reminded him so much of Summer.

**

            "Ryan?  April?"  Marissa called the names as she walked into their beachfront home. 

            "In here, Aunt Coop," April called back.  "I just finished Uncle Ryan's makeover.  Wanna see?"

            Marissa bit back a giggle.  Ryan?  A makeover?

            The moment she saw her husband, absolutely covered in blue eye shadow and red lipstick, Marissa lost it and dissolved into giggles.

            "Not a word," Ryan said, his mouth in a firm line.  "Not a word."

            Marissa covered her mouth and burst into a fresh batch of giggles.

            "I think he looks quite the thing," April pronounced.  "Very It."  She paused and turned to Marissa.  "Don't you think so, Aunt Coop?"

            They'd tried for years to get her to call Marissa 'Aunt Marissa,' but so far, it hadn't stuck.

            Marissa, her eyes on Ryan, nodded.  "Quite the thing," she said, restraining herself from breaking into more peals of laughter.

            "Now that you're here we can play super heroes," April said.

            "Sure," Ryan said under his breath.  "Now we get to play super heroes."  April looked up at him innocently, and the second Marissa wasn't looking, she winked.

            Ryan stared at her, and April giggled.  Uncle Ryan was so silly.  Who would have thought he'd let her put all that makeup on his face?  Daddy had bet her three whole dollars that he wouldn't.  Silly Daddy.

Ryan made a mental note to kill Seth for bringing the little makeup monster into the world, and in the next instant, he reached down and tousled the little girl's hair, swooping her up into his arms and hanging her upside down.  As he tickled her, April screamed with laughter.

"Torturing my child again?" Seth asked, coming into the room.  "Ryan, how many times have I told you, standard anti-torture strictures apply?"  The moment he saw Ryan's face, Seth's mouth dropped open and he stopped his quipping.

"Holy Toledo, Batman," Seth said.  "Just…wow, Ryan."

"I told you he'd play makeup with me!" April said happily.  "I told you so, Daddy.  I asked him to play, and he did.  Next, we were going to play dress up, but the tutu didn't fit him very well."

Ryan sent Seth a steely glare.  "If you say a word, I will kill you."

"Duly noted," Seth replied.  April wiggled her way out of Ryan's arms and ran to Seth. 

"You owe me three dollars," she told him loftily.  "Pay up, Cohen." Mommy always called Daddy Cohen when she said stuff like that, so April did, too.  April loved talking just like Mommy.

As comprehension dawned on Ryan's face, Marissa burst into another round of giggles, and April immediately insisted they all join her in a rousing game of Ultimate Death Battle Extreme and Stuff, a game she'd made up when she was really little that involved a lot of running around and a whole lot of super heroes.

April was always Wonder Woman, just like her middle name, Diana, which was Wonder Woman's real name.  Wonder woman had a golden lasso and silver bracelets and she was very, very strong.  April loved being Wonder Woman.

"Wooooondeeeeeeer Wooooomaaaaaan!" she yelled out, launching herself at Marissa in mock battle.

"That's my girl," Seth said, looking down at the child and then back at Ryan's made over face.  "That's my girl."

WELL, that's it for now.  I'm not sure whether to make this a standalone or the first part of a series, so be sure to let me know what you think!  In other words,

PLEASE REVIEW!