The Runaways
[AN: So, basically this is about how Summer, Seth, Ryan and Marissa actually run away to Catalina during The Aftermath in season three. I'm sure this has been done before, but I don't see the fic, and I just watched the episode again today, so it inspired me. I do not own the OC FYI. The Italics are actual dialogue from the episode. All else was written by me. Please review, this took a long time to write
The door bell rings, and the door is opened to reveal Marissa on the other side.
"Where is he?" Marissa asked Seth, getting right to the point.
"Um, he's not really seeing visitors right now." Seth replied.
"We're kinda giving him his space." Summer added, wringing her hands.
Marissa scoffed, and headed in the direction of the pool house.
"This should go well." Seth said to Summer sarcastically.
"Right behind you Coop." Summer called as she and Seth followed her.
"Hey," Marissa greeted Ryan as she entered the pool house, with Seth and Summer hot on her heels.
"Hey." Ryan responded, not bothering to look up from packing his duffel bag.
"Hoody, wife beater, leather jacket, that's the Ryan Atwood escapist ensemble." Seth remarked, observing his friend packing.
"That's right, doesn't matter what I say, no one's gonna believe me anymore." Ryan said, sounding adamant about his decision to leave.
"Dude, you're not running away," Said Seth to his brother, not sure this was the best idea.
"Yeah, yeah I am." Replied an unyielding Ryan as he continued to pack his things.
"No, no you're not," Said Marissa, seemingly not deterred by Ryan's previous statements. "You're sailing, and we're coming with you." Marissa confidently added. Summer thought this over.
"Yes, since apparently there's boats involved, which is my forte." Seth said, gesturing toward himself.
"Totally, we all go down together." Summer agreed, earning an appraising eye brow raise from Ryan. She'd basically summed up everyone's feelings. Ryan glanced at Marissa, as if to say 'You guys sure about this, and Marissa's own glance and shrug said 'Hell yeah, so get used to it.'
Never a man to waste too much energy through speaking, Ryan's responses to his friends' pledge was a "Thanks." He zipped up his duffel.
Marissa and Summer couldn't possibly risk going back to their respective homes to pack. Instead, they looked through the drawers they kept spare clothes in at the Cohen home, which was enough for a department store between the two of them. The boys gathered as much cash as they could, and they were finally packed.
"We should bike or skate board there, because we don't need our parents immediately tipped off that we're gone." Seth suggested. So they gathered the two bikes the Cohen's had, and Summer used one bike and strapped her bag to it, while Ryan did the same on another. Seth used his skate board for the first time in a while. Much like a day a few years ago, Marissa rode on the back of Ryan's bike, too bad the circumstances were not as happy this time.
Mere minutes after the core four left the Cohen home, Sandy pulled up. He walked to the pool house and knocked. "Hello, I'm back, " He called as he entered the pool house. He looked around and noticed its emptiness. On his way there, he'd observed that the main house was empty too. He heard the door bell ring, so he went to the door. He found himself face to face with police officers.
"We're looking for Ryan Atwood," an officer told Sandy in a stern tone. He handed Sandy a paper, or attempted to.
"You're a little late I'm afraid." Sandy replied to the man.
Sandy must've phoned Julie, because she spoke with him as she entered Marissa's room in search of the girls.
"No, she's not here either, and she left for your house hours ago Sandy." Julie reported after a quick look around Marissa's room. "You don't think they'd try anything, do you?" Julie inquired. Jimmy opened the door to find Julie getting off the phone with Sandy.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking apprehensive of Julie's reply.
"The cops are at Sandy's house, the kids are gone, we don't know where they went." Julie hurriedly summed up as she walked past him and out the door.
Summer, Seth, Ryan, and Marissa were at the dock. "You don't think your dad will miss the boat?" Summer asked Marissa pointedly.
"Oh, he of all people will understand," Marissa said, and added, "But we gotta hurry."
"Let's go." Seth called, trying to get his friends to hurry up with the loading.
"Hey man, how long is it to Catalina?" Ryan asked Seth.
"About four hours, from there we can go wherever you want, Mexico, Hawaii..." Seth trailed off, to convey that the options were many.
"Hey, you guys, I gotta say, you can get in a lot of trouble for this, so if you wanna back out..." Ryan offered, because this was pretty serious stuff, aiding and abetting and what not.
"Are you kidding," Seth asked in disbelief, "This is a great excuse to skip school."
"It's not forever, it's just until we can get Trey to change his story." Marissa told Ryan, assuring him that this wouldn't have as big of an impact on them as he thought, even though they all knew it would.
[AN: This is the part in the episode where the police show up, this is what would have happened if the police hadn't figured out their location
The four of friends went out into the deep, deep ocean. Summer, Ryan, and Marissa huddled in a circle near the steering wheel, where Seth was sailing the boat. Once it was on the right track, Seth sat down and joined his friends.
"I want to say that I'm really glad you guys came with me. It's a lot better than being alone. I'll always be grateful for this." Ryan told his friends, smiling because they were there, but sad that they'd jeopardized their futures over him.
"Look, Atwood, don't think we're doing you any favors, because what are best friends for? I'll tell you what they're for. They're for running away with you when you're about to be convicted for attempted murder, that's what." Summer said, leaning over to hug Ryan, and thus initiating a group hug.
"Yeah," Marissa began when she pulled back, "I think I speak for everyone when I say that, in these circumstances, there's no where else we'd rather be."
"Completely. I mean, who knows, maybe being on the run will be fun." Seth added, trying to lighten the mood. He got glares from everyone, but Summer seemed to have a change of heart.
"You know what, this is going to be ok. I mean, come on, we should make the best of it. If we were in Newport, we'd be miserable no matter what." Summer stated truthfully. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"There won't be any water polo players to beat me up, no annoying teachers..." Seth trailed off.
"No people you've shot." Marissa said glumly. Summer bit her lip at the mentioning of the real reason they were running away.
"I guess it's good to be honest with ourselves about why we're doing this. No euphemisms, and stuff. We should just put it all out there, right now." Summer put in. As much as they all wanted to just run away from everything, they also knew they had to deal with the elephants in the room.
"Ok. So, in the spirit of forthcoming-ness, about my parents, now dad probably already knows we're gone, and it's only a matter of time before Julie realizes how long you've been gone, Riss. And then they'll realize Summer isn't at Marissa's, or at our place, and they'll know we've run." Seth said in a melancholy monotone.
"And soon, people will realize that the Cooper's boat is gone, put two and two together..." Summer trailed off in horror.
"It's okay, though, for two reasons. First, yes they'll try to track down the boat, which is why we turned the GPS off before we left. Second, my dad will know what happened, and he will try to cover us." Marissa explained. Summer, Seth, and Ryan all looked doubtful.
"No offense, Riss, but your dad isn't exactly the type to do the right thing. I am having flash backs to the fight at cotillion right now." Seth skeptically stated.
"I have to agree with Cohen on this one, Coop. I really wish he would do that, though." Summer sighed.
"I dunno, we just have to hope Jimmy will do the right thing. I just wish there was some way we could contact him, so he could give us a sign." Ryan muttered.
"Yeah, that's another thing. We can't contact anyone until we are out of the country. But hopefully, it won't have to come to that." Seth told his friends, who nodded solemnly.
"So, we need to be ready to go in the morning for Catalina. I'm gonna go make sure every thing is in order." Ryan mumbled as he got up from where they were sitting.
"I'll come too." Marissa told Ryan. They walked around the room, quietly gathering everything they needed, occasionally muttering something to each other. Seth and Summer walked outside into the now cool night air.
"Cohen. This is serious. Very, very serious. I know we said this wouldn't be permanent, but we could be on the run for a long time." Said Summer in a quiet voice.
"I know Sum. I know. But it's going to be alright. I know you're going to miss your dad and stuff, the thing is Ryan..." Seth began, before Summer cut him off.
"Look, Ryan is your brother. He's your best friend. He's Marissa boy friend. I want to help Ryan, because he's also my good friend. I'm not here because I feel obligated to, I'm here because I care about all of you. Especially you, Cohen." Summer whispered.
They were within inches of each other, fingers entwined. "I just wanted to make sure that you were ok with being here, and..." Seth began, once again getting cut off.
"I love you, Cohen, I love you this much. That's why I'm here." Summer mumbled, her mouth about an inch from his.
Inside, Ryan and Marissa collected their things and also looked sadly at their two best friends.
"I know we're all in this together, but..." Ryan said, leaving Marissa to finish his sentence.
"You still feel bad for dragging them into this. I understand, but they said they wanted to come, and honestly Ryan, I don't think we'd be able to do this without them, and not just because Seth is the one that knows how to use the boat. They're our friends, and we need them, and I don't think they would've been able to handle it if we'd left them behind." Marissa filled in the gaping hole in Ryan's sentence.
Seth and Summer walked in, and Seth made sure the boat was going the right direction. "Three hours til we're in Catalina. We should sleep in shifts. One person for every hour." Seth suggested.
"That means one person won't have a shift, though," Summer pointed out.
"Well, Summer, you shouldn't have to do a shift." Seth chivalrously offered.
"As if, Cohen, I am the person who needs the least sleep of all of you. I have no purpose of even being here, I'm practically dead weight. Cohen mans the ship, Ryan is the one on the run, and Marissa, well, she and Ryan are attached at the hip, they can't exactly be separated." Summer explained.
"You are not dead weight, Sum. We need you here." Marissa stated, at which point Seth and Ryan nodded in complete agreement. "But since you and Seth are going to argue all night about this, why don't we all stay up instead. We have a lot to talk about." Marissa suggested.
"That is a fine, fine idea Marissa. The best you've ever had." Seth stated truthfully.
"So, Seth, right about now, you should be thanking yours truly." Marissa cockily told her friend.
"And why is this Marissa?" Seth asked as he pulled Summer into his lap.
"Because, Summer never would've kissed you that time on the boat if it weren't for me telling her you liked her." Marissa grinned.
"Oh, that time Summer said she'd kill Seth if he told anyone? Oh yeah, I remember that." Ryan added, raising his eyebrows.
"Ha, yeah...wait...Cohen, you told Ryan? After I made you promise not to?" Summer shook her head in mock anger.
"I can make it up to you!" Seth declared kissing her sweetly.
"Bleh, you two, no making out." Said Ryan, sticking his tongue out at Summer and Seth.
"Yeah," Marissa said giggling. Seth and Summer smiled widely at their two friends. They looked happier than they had in days. They spent hours like that, laughing and talking. Around dusk, things got a little dark in their conversation. But the sun started to come up, shedding some light on their dark situation.