He got into his car after a long day of work and sighed. He really didn't want to go home, not when things were going so badly for him. His wife, Taylor, had been really distant lately, and he'd confronted her about it. She just shrugged him off, and told him he was imagining things. And when he noticed the smell of another man's cologne on her a couple of weeks ago, she'd said it was only from being in a grocery store surrounded by men. He didn't say anything about it, not wanting to press the issue. Because he couldn't deal with the possibility that maybe she was having an affair, because his life would be over.

He started his long ride home and thought about his life. He was an architect, and had his own company. He'd been married to Taylor for five years now. He'd met her in his senior year of high school. She was the woman that everyone talked about, but never talked to. One day, a particularly sad day for him, she approached him and asked if he was okay. He'd just said goodbye to his first love, Marissa Cooper. His only love up until that point. He'd replied that he was in fact, not okay, and one thing led to another, and they started talking.

A couple of months later, he stopped seeing her as Taylor Townsend, the freak, to Taylor Townsend, his friend. And they had good times together. Taylor and Ryan, they were best friends. But one day, as he was driving her home after a day of studying, she turned to him and asked him what they were doing together. If there was one thing about Taylor that stood out, it was the fact that she could make you think. He'd told her what he told everyone else, that they were studying. But it was only once he looked at her, that he realized that she had developed feelings for him.

He was still getting over Marissa at the time, and the thought of jumping into a new relationship was hard for him. But as he thought about it, he figured, Marissa had left, and chances were, he'd never see her again. So he decided to give Taylor a try. So they started dating. And over the next year, he developed strong feelings for her too. So they decided to go to college together. They stayed together through college, and one day, he decided that he wanted to commit himself to her forever. So he proposed and they got married, inviting all their friends and family to join.

And for the first three years of their marriage, they were the perfect couple. Nothing or anyone could stand in the way of Ryan and Taylor. Until she became pregnant of course. They were both so thrilled to have a little baby growing inside of her. So they went through her pregnancy normally, Ryan being the overprotective father to be, and Taylor being the moody pregnant woman. It was her eighth month, and one night, she awoke to horrible pains in her abdomen. They immediately rushed to the hospital, ready for the baby. They were both so excited about the baby, that neither noticed that she was bleeding way too much. Something had gone horribly wrong, and she lost the baby.

But instead of grieving together, they just seemed to be torn apart. They stopped talking to each other, and rarely even saw each other anymore. He always buried himself in his work, and she always looked for the comfort from her friend, Summer Roberts. And as they stopped communicating, their happy life and perfect marriage seemed to go up in flames. Their relationship got destroyed, and their lives were forever changed.

As he arrived at his house, he was so lost in his life story, that he never noticed the cop sirens from afar. It was only when he got out of the car, did he notice the flashing red and blue lights, and the Do Not Cross tape around his house. He quickly approached a cop, his head spinning what felt like a million miles per hour. "Excuse me, can you tell me what happened?" he asked the cop.

The officer looked at him with troubled eyes at first, and then finally asked, "Are you a

Mr. Ryan Atwood?" He nodded slowly, afraid of what would come next. "It seems that your wife, Taylor Atwood, has been murdered."

And that's when everything went black.


As his eyes were closed, he let his mind wonder to another time, a time when he was happy. It was the night that Taylor went into labor. He had awoken to her soft cries filling their room, and a wet spot in the bed. He'd at first been scared for Taylor, and himself, but then he realized what was going on, and he immediatly jumped into action, knowing that his baby, their baby was coming. They were going to have a little girl, and they wanted to name her Elizabeth Atwood. They had set up the whole nursery and everything, and they were ready for their baby girl.

He drove them to the hospital, holding Taylor's hand the whole time. By the time he arrived, his hand was already going numb from her squeezing it so much, and she was beginning to get more pale. When they got out of the car, he noticed that she'd been bleeding and over leaked onto her pants. He quickly led her to the hospital entrance, trying not to attract any attention to the red spot on her clothes.

When they arrived, they were immediately given the proper care they needed. They were put into a room, and Taylor's doctor came in and started looking at her. She was only five centimeters up, so she still had a while to wait. About an hour into the visit, he went outside the room, and saw Taylor's doctor talking in hushed tones with one of the nurses. He caught only parts of the conversation, "lots of blood..." And "that's not normal..." He tried not to think about what it meant, and why worry when it could very well be someone else.

So he went back into the room, and saw Taylor as pale and weak as ever. He walked back to her side, and she whispered to him so softly, he could barely hear her. "There's something wrong..." And that's when he really became scared. Because Taylor and this baby was his life, his hope and inspiration to get up and go to work everyday. His inspiration to take another breath when everything seemed wrong.

But if one of them was taken away, then his whole life would be ruined. And as he stared down at his weak wife, he knew that she was right, something was wrong. So he called the doctor and nurse from the hall, and they shared their concerns with them. She'd lost too much blood, and the chances of their baby being okay was slim to none. Taylor took the news hard, but all he could think of at the time was if his wife was going to be okay. Because he wanted at least one of his girls to be okay.

The doctor told them what they needed to do, that they needed to get the baby out before Taylor lost anymore blood. So they did, and as they announced that his baby had died, and gave the time of death, he felt his whole world spin out of control. He had to sit down, and stare at the floor, willing it to be still. He had to remind himself to breathe, to even want to breathe anymore. And he'd never forget that pain that he felt that day, the pain of knowing that he'd never see his little girl, he'd never hold her or talk to her, or play with her. He'd never watch her go off to her first day of school, or walk her down the aisle.

And he recalled this memory as he lay there in front of his house, unconscious after he received the news of his wife's murder. Because just like then, he felt like his whole world had just come crashing down. Like his whole life, and everything he'd worked for had burst into flames. But this time, instead of it being an accident, it was intentional. And that little piece of information was enough to get him to open his eyes, and watch through blurry vision a woman running her hand over his face. And he felt something that he'd only felt with one person, a connection that he'd long forgotten. A spark that only came from one woman.

"Marissa?"