A/N: Ok, I'm sorry for such a short, crappy beginning chapter. But it will get better. And a lot darker. So don't read if you can't read dark stuff. Read and Review please!
Summary: No one knew how she had a beautiful baby girl with eyes bluer than her own with golden hair. Or why the baby's name was Verity Ryan Cohen. No one in New York even knew her real last name was Cooper.
Disclaimer: I do not own The OC
Marissa Cohen sat rocking her baby's stroller in Central Park. As she watched her daughter sleep she remembered.
The foursome of friends sat together at Summer's 22nd birthday dinner. She'd married Zach two years earlier and was a shadow of her former self, living in regret. He'd gone to Brazil the week before for work and he wasn't going to be back for another three months.
Seth only there for Summer's birthday. He only ever saw her on her birthday. He sailed endlessly around the world, searching for that part of him. The part Summer had.
Summer was sad. She hated the path she had chosen. The one her father approved of. Zach was good to her, he loved her, took care of her. But she didn't love him. No matter what she told herself.
Marissa and Ryan were happy. Happier than they'd ever been before. They'd been married six months and Marissa was expecting. She hadn't told anyone yet, not even Ryan. She planned on telling everyone at dinner.
Ryan had changed his last name to Cohen when he turned eighteen. Kirsten and Sandy were his parents, by law, by name and practically by blood. He'd been glad to change his name, and leave the scars of the Atwood name behind.
"I have some news," Summer said softly
"I'm dying and I'm leaving Newport. Tomorrow. I just wanted to see you all one last time. And say…I'm sorry…and I'll love you forever. I just won't be around to show it." she pushed back her chair and ran out of the restaurant. Marissa ran after her and Seth ran to the bathroom. But it was too late. Summer was gone.
Ryan put his arms around Marissa and together they walked to the bathroom to check on Seth. But all they found was a locked door with a pool of blood seeping slowly from the other side.
Marissa picked up her baby and studied her face. She looked Verity's eyes and felt herself falling into the sapphire depths. Just as she used to fall into Ryan's.
"I'm going to call the Cohen's, ok?" Marissa told Ryan, angrily brushing tears from her eyes. He slid down the bathroom wall and pulled his legs up to his chest.
"Why did he leave me?" Ryan whispered, suddenly looking like the abandoned ten year-old his father had left.
Marissa had never seen him look so vulnerable, so lost, so broken. She never wanted to.
Verity snuggled towards her mother and Marissa pulled her closer. She was all he had left behind. And he didn't know she existed. The baby closed her eyes and stretched in her cocoon of pink blanket. Summer had sent it. She had never forgiven herself for what Seth did. Marissa was sure her guilt was what conquered Summer's illness. And determination to live for him. And she was glad that she fought so hard. Summer, Sandy and Kirsten were the only ones she had now. And Verity of course.
Verity was beautiful. Her hair was a dusty blonde, blonder than Marissa's. And her eyes. Her eyes always received a compliment from strangers when they walked in the park. They were amazing, big like her mother's and shrouded with her father's secrecy. Marissa and Ryan both had dusty, blue eyes. But Verity's were indigo, sparkling and gaining sapphire and cornflower flecks when she laughed or smiled.
Her uncle Seth would've joked to Ryan that he'd need to take up baseball, so he could hit away all the boys who were after his baby. And I'll teach her to fight, he'd say. Ryan would probably laugh and say he'd have to hire Verity a body guard if Seth was her self defense teacher. They'd both agree that she wasn't to be allowed near a mall or tanning studio. But they weren't there to stop Summer and Kirsten buying baby Gucci, Ryan wasn't there to hold his daughter when she cried. Seth had gone, not believing life was worth it with the love of his life. And Ryan, Ryan had gone. After the funeral, he had gone for a walk and never returned.
So Marissa sat in New York City, three months after her daughter had been born. The one year anniversary of Seth's death, remembering the night they lost him, and Summer found the will to live. But in New York no one knew why she couldn't look at puddles. Why her bathroom door didn't have a lock. Why her baby's middle name was Ryan. No one in New York knew who she was. And that was the best way to forget.