The following fan fiction is collaboration of the O.C. RPG website (3W's)avidgamers (dot com) schoolofrock/".

Story By:

Ryan – Coolcolin5

Marissa – Name Currently Unknown

Seth – Nattyhardy7

Summer – Name Currently Unknown

Edited By:

Ryan – Coolcolin5

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The O.C. Season 3 - Episode 1 – "The After Math" Scene 1 - Hospital

"Diagnosis!"

"Shot through the back, the bullet seems to have just missed the heart, but has punctured a lung. The patient is non-responsive, possibly comatose."

The doctor pulled opened Trey's eyes, examining them at first, and then pulled out a small flashlight.

"He's comatose, get him into surgery right away or were going to lose him."

The stale smell of the waiting room made Seth sick, which was sort of ironic because he was in a hospital or was it because people who are sick come here?.?.?

"Seth!"

Seth smiled faintly and looked up to see Summer.

"Were going to go get food, your dad already gave me some money."

Seth stood from the gray and metal seat and looked at Ryan, "You want to come?"

Ryan didn't move and as the seconds passed by Seth began to wonder if he had heard him. But then, Ryan looked up and answered, "I don't think so."

"He'll probably be fine, these are like the best doctors in the world."

This time Ryan spoke as soon as Seth stopped talking.

"I don't know if I want him to be."

Summer gave Ryan a reassuring smile and then dragged Seth towards the elevator, leaving Ryan staring across the room at a broken Marissa. She sat next to her mother and father, a police officer trying to ask her questions. Ryan wanted to go over there, comfort her like he always did, but he didn't know how he felt right now. He was grateful for what she did, but would Trey really have killed him? Or would he have just let him go and then kept fighting. There was no reason to shoot Trey…was there?

Summer held tightly onto Seth's hands as together they walked away from where Ryan was sitting.

"Nothing ever seems to go the way we want it to," Summer commented quietly. "What's going to happen now? With Marissa... Trey... Ryan." Summer's voice slowly faded off. Summer thought back to what had happened earlier that day. The vision of Trey, lying motionless on the floor. Marissa, on the floor, still, with tears running down her face. And Ryan, blood all over his face, hands and body. Without having to know the full story, Summer could piece together the incident.

"Everything's going to be okay, isn't it Seth?" Summer said looking up at Seth looking for some assurance. "I mean, it has to be..."

Marissa couldn't stop crying. She wanted to, her eyes were sore and red from the tears, but they just kept flowing, pouring out uncontrollably. She looked down at her hands, they had been shaking for hours. Everything seemed so out of control, like she had no say in anything. The policemen just kept shooting at her with questions, calmly, but all too quickly.

Marissa wasn't ready for this, any of it. She glanced up at Ryan, not meeting his eyes. She could tell he was looking at her, but she couldn't look him in the eyes without completely losing it. All she really wanted was for this all to go away, but of course it wouldn't.

Thoughts spun around her mind, tormenting her. How could she have been so stupid? Trey didn't deserve to be shot? What was wrong with her? Was he going to be okay? Marissa shuffled in her seat, unable to sit still. Her parents tried to comfort her, but she didn't care, that didn't matter to her. All she wanted right now was Ryan, nothing more.

The questions and the bright lights were becoming unbearable, she had to get out of there or she was going to scream. Unable to speak or excuse herself, Marissa stood up and ran out the door.

She could hear the policeman calling after her, but not getting up.

"Hey! Come back here!" he shouted.

"Marissa honey! They aren't done with the questioning yet." Julie called after her. She stood up to follow her but Jimmy firmly grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Please, Jules. Give her some space, okay?" He gave her a warning look and she sat back down sharing, a sympathetic smile with Ryan across the room.

In the corridor Marissa let herself fall against the wall, her head in her trembling hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was helpless, and felt like nothing would ever be the same in her life.

Seth and Summer walked along the corridors of the hospital looking for a suitable place to sit down and have something to eat, Seth looked straight ahead as Summer looked up at him helplessly.

"Hey..." Summer muttered, "So, do you think... Trey will be ok?" Seth rubbed the back of his neck with his spare hand and looked at Summer.

"...i don't know," Summer hung her head down and then looked up at Seth "I guess i hope so, Coop was doing so well this year...we where doing so well this year."

"And now it's all up in the air..." Seth held on to Summer's hand tighter. "Let's go get a coffee"

"What about the food?" Seth asked.

"Suddenly, I'm not so hungry."

Ryan glanced up as he saw Marissa get up from her chair quickly, leaving her parents and the officer behind. The officer stood quickly and began briskly walking in the direction Marissa had gone. Now that Ryan thought about it, the officer hadn't left Marissa's side since the ambulance had arrived to help Trey. The officer also insisted that he would give them a ride to the hospital. Then the realization hit him, they could charge Marissa, with manslaughter! Ryan had sat in his boring law class and heard the entire three-hour lecture on the subject.

He quickly stood and followed after the officer.

"Miss can you please come back into the waiting room, I still have more questions for you," the officer said calmly, seeing tears running down Marissa's eyes. "Miss it's time you told me the truth."

"What, I have been telling you the…" Marissa began to say before the officer interrupted her.

"Your friend told me about the incident on the beach."

"What incident," Marissa responded, knowing exactly what the officer was talking about.

"The attempted rape," he replied bluntly, "Now if you'll kindly accompany me back to the waiting room, I still have a lot of questions to ask."

"No more questions," Marissa said, as she stepped back away from the officer and wiped off her tears.

The officer took a few steps towards Marissa, about to grab her arm, when Ryan appeared from around the corner.

"Wait," Ryan said. "Let me talk to her."

Marissa glanced up at Ryan, then looked at the officer who nodded his head. He looked at her for a minute then turned to walk off, but first turned to Ryan.

"Not long okay?" the officer almost threatened.

Ryan nodded his head and the officer left.

Marissa looked up at him, wiping the rest of her tears from her face. Looking at him now just made her feel so guilty. She couldn't take it much longer, she just put her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"Thanks, I just... I don't know how much longer i could stand that officer." she said.

She let go of him and looked down at the ground.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked him quietly.

"Trey," Ryan answered.

Marissa's eyes instantly hit the ground and suddenly she was overwhelmed with grief. The silence between them lasted all two long and if Ryan had left another moment of silence occur, Marissa would have surely began to cry again.

"Thanks."

"Thanks," Marissa repeated, extremely confused.

"Marissa we've known each other for almost two years now and I've come to your rescue countless times and this time you came to mine. The only thing I remember with clarity is the sound of your voice...Stop, you're killing him."

Marissa allowed Ryan's words to wash over her and then spoke, "You're not mad?"

"Only about one thing," Ryan's face turned cold when he spoke, "Why couldn't you trust me. Why couldn't you tell me what happened, I just thought we were closer then that... alot closer?"

The same silence that had lingered before over came the two once more and when Ryan didn't speak, tears slowly made there way down her cheek.

The officer rounded the corner once more and stared for a moment at the crying girl and emotionless boy.

"Miss if I could ask you those questions now."

"Fine," Marissa spoke angrily, as she glared deep into Ryan's and pushed him aside. "Were done here anyways."

Marissa couldn't believe Ryan had expected her to tell him! How could she? He only would have judged her anyway. He would have said it was her fault. But she hadn't done anything wrong, like he said, she had saved him. So why was he upset that he didn't tell him? Oh well, she thought. She didn't care.

The officer led Marissa down a hall into a small room with glass windows. She could see the onlookers through the glass, probably watching to make sure she didn't do anything dangerous. No one here trusted her, none of them wanted to hear her side of the story. They didn't care about how it felt to watch the only person you ever loved being strangled by his brother, when the only thing you can do to stop him is to shoot him. They didn't care about the guilt this put over her.

She just sat there shaking, and answered the ongoing questions. It was all she could do.

Jimmy Cooper burst into the small room where Marissa was being held.

"Excuse me," He shouted protectively, "Why are you questioning my daughter, without me present!"

The officer stood from his seat and glared at Mr. Cooper. She is over the age of seventeen and therefore is not a minor. If we wish to question her, we will.

Jimmy's eyes narrowed with intensity and he attempted to deal with his rage.

"You can't do this without my permission, she's my daughter."

"Sir, you daughter almost killed a man! Please leave, we are allowed to question her!"

"No you're not," a calm Sandy Cohen said as he entered the room. "Officer is she under arrest?"

The officer looked away and replied, "Not at this time."

"Good, then she doesn't half to answer any questions."

The officer moved closer to Sandy. "You know Sandy, you did some good work when you represented street kids, but you're not doing anything by protecting this brat."

Before Jimmy could begin to yell the officer walked through the open door and slammed it behind him.

Seth and Summer sat down at a small table with their coffees. Summer could feel the bags under her eyes and she hoped that the caffeine would help keep her awake.

"Nothing ever seems to go the way we want it to," Summer commented as she fiddled with the coffee cup. "We're going to get through this though," Summer said as she leaned over the table and held onto Seth's hand.

Summer looked up at Seth. She had never seen him like this before. So sad and quiet.

"I know this has been really hard on you, but we're going to get through this together, okay," Summer said hoping that Seth would just say something.

Marissa ran to her fathers side as soon as the officer had left the room.

"I just want to go home." she cried helplessly.

Jimmy hugged her, "Hey its okay. We can go home soon i promise. We've just got to get this whole thing sorted out. Everything's going to be fine."

Marissa nodded her head, but through the glass window she could see Ryan. He was just walking slowly in the room, clearly drained from energy. He sat down and looked at his watch.

Marissa looked down. She wanted to believe her dad, but she didn't think that everything would just go back to normal. Especially when Ryan thought she didn't trust him.

Jimmy led Marissa out and she avoided eye contact with Ryan when she got to the waiting room.

Jimmy put his hand on Marissa's shoulder, "Everything will be fine, will work this out. You just need to be strong."

Marissa nodded her head then folded her arms and sat next to Ryan. She had to talk to him sooner or later. And if she didn't apologize then-well it just wouldn't work, and she wanted it to.

"I'm sorry." she said after a little while. It was hard to get the words out at first, but she had to.

"I wanted to tell you- I just didn't want you to think any less of me. And I know what things are like between you and Trey... I didn't want to be another reason for you guys to hate each other."

Ryan looked up at her. He didn't look very pleased with what he was hearing.

"Maybe i should hate him." he said angrily, "After what he did to you... and what he would have done to me."

Marissa was confused, "I didn't want you guys fighting again- things were just settling down. I just would've caused another problem."

She paused for a moment.

"I'm really sorry Ryan but... you can understand why I didn't want to tell you right?" she asked.

"No I can't," Ryan yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the waiting room. "I don't!"

Marissa was stunned, she couldn't be around Ryan right now… She had to get away. Without a word, Marissa got up and walked back across the room and sat by her father once again, baring her face in his shoulders, allowing the many tears she had been keeping inside, out.

"Seth, what's wrong?" Summer asked, no longer able to endure the silence.

"Don't you ever wish you could just leave this place behind?"

"How do you mean?"

"You know," Seth said with deep emotion, "Just leave, run away from all these problems."

Summer brought the coffee cup up to her lips, took a slight sip and then spoke.

"You all ready tried that, remember Portland."

"All to well," Seth sighed. "I miss it Summer, I miss not having any responsibilities, I miss the people and I miss the quiet. "

"Seth Cohen," Summer shouted, "If you leave me and go off to Portland I swear I will hunt you down and kick your Coheneny ass harder then its ever been kicked before."

Seth looked up at Summer, smiling for the first time, at the rage blackout he knew Summer was having.

"Summer, I left you behind once. I would never leave you to rot in this place."

"Excuse me, I like my shopping malls and espresso mocha lattés."

Seth's face turned emotionless and stared deep into Summer's eyes.

"I hate it here."

"He's flat lining! Doctor!"

"Ten see-sees of microglogan!"

"No response!"

"Continue with the respirator."

"It's not working."

"Dam!"

"Doctor."

The surgery room fell silent as the doctor seemingly spit out his words in slow motion.

"Time of death …"

"Marissa honey wake up."

"…Twelve thirty…"

"The doctor has news."

"…Pm."

Marissa's eyes snapped open and she raised her head from her father's lap, once again seeing Ryan across the room, but he wasn't staring at her like before, Ryan was gazing at a man dressed in white, the doctor from her dream. Next to Ryan sat Seth and then Summer, there hands intertwined.

The doctor looked lost, not knowing whom to look at, but still delivered his news.

"He made it through surgery, but unfortunately…"

Marissa's heart sank. She killed someone, not just someone, Ryan's brother.

"Unfortunately, as we predicted before, he has fallen into a coma."

The room gasped with both relief and horror.

Marissa looked at Ryan, Ryan looked blankly at the doctor. Sandy stared at an empty seat, wishing for his wife. While Seth and Summer's hand embrace grew tighter ad tighter. Julie began to cry, more for Marissa then Trey. And as Jimmy had to be strong for Marissa, Ryan had to be strong for himself. Like every other moment in his life.

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