Oh Chino-verse, my love, how I've missed you!

A few notes about the story, and this chapter in particular. The story starts out (as stated in about three paragraphs) about seven months after 'Saints'. And since I felt kinda bad just… jumping through time like that, I decided to do flashbacks! Cause everyone loves a good flashback… It's pretty obvious when it's a flashback, but if anyone is confused, just ask.

I'm not sure if people actually care about my musical inspiration, but here we go: the title is a song by Bitter:Sweet, off the album 'The Mating Game', but the story was written to the ablum 'Everything All the Time' by Band of Horses.

I hope you all enjoy this, because I do so love my Chino-verse! Oh, and review!


Taylor skipped up to the pool house door, entering without knocking like she always did. She figured if Seth got to do it, she should get to, too. And as his girlfriend, she could always placate him better than Seth ever could…

She heard the water in the bathroom running, and placed her bag on the bar. "Ryan!" she called, "what are you doing today? Please tell me it's not another videogame marathon with Seth. I know, I know, you have that whole 'Super Bowl' thing going on, but if you keep playing that much, your eyes are going to wither and die." The water shut off, and she sat on the stool to wait for him.

The bright sunshine outside reflected her mood. She hadn't been this content in a really long time - ten months, her smartass brain kicked in, souring her mood a little. Ten months since that day he had left her. Seven months since he had come back. Three months since she had taken him back. Two weeks since Summer forgave Seth. She forced herself to cheer up. Things were looking better; everyone was back with whom they belonged. A smile broke out across her face as she thought of Seth and Summer, and the way they couldn't keep their hands off each other since she came back from the airport, kissing him in the rain as he dangled from the roof.

She heard the door open. "Hey, I was thinking we could go to the…" she trailed off as a boy who was definitely not Ryan walked out of the bathroom.

"Trey?"


(Seven months earlier)

She wasn't sure if she should be proud of herself for walking away. Dr. James would surely praise her self-control, but her head wasn't so ok with it. She'd gone to Dr. James three weeks after he had left, needing something – someone – to make sense of everything. Sure, Summer was there to listen to her, as was Kirsten, but they were dealing with it all too. She needed an objective view; someone who would tell her what was what without any bias.

Dr. James listened to her. Dr. James counseled her. Dr. James told her she wasn't insane for missing him this much.

Dr. James helped her realize her emotional addiction.

She hadn't realized it until now. Her father moving away when she was so young and her emotionally distant, coked up mother had given her a desperate need for any affection, any support. She'd done it with Hunter – he was the one person at school who would talk to her in front of everyone else without being sarcastic and cruel. So she'd clung to him. At least she'd clung to him until they were caught going at it at a party, and the rumors started going around that she was a giant slut. He had become weird after that and suddenly he didn't seem like such a white knight anymore.

Then he had come along, during her - admittedly poorly-thought-out - escape plan from her mother. She'd wound up – under the most ridiculous circumstances – staying with him. And it was the same thing as with Hunter – he'd do little things, like make sure she got home safely, or make her breakfast, or listen to her ramble with a little smile on his face, and she'd fallen for him because he was nice to her. Then he'd said something about how she wasn't annoying, and she'd jumped him out of sheer gratitude.

Not exactly the healthiest thing ever.

But he was different from Hunter. When the rumors started, he'd stuck by her. He hadn't ignored her, because he loved her. And she loved him. So when he left it was the worst day of her life. Worse than when her father left. Worse than when her mother first told her she had been an 'unfortunate accident' that should have been 'taken care of'.

And then he came back, and told her he wasn't going anywhere. He told her he'd wait for her; for her to regain her trust in him. Her heart immediately wanted to take him back, but Dr. James's voice rang in her head – 'you can't be in a strong relationship without having a strong relationship with yourself first'. So she let him know – silently – that he could try to win her back. But she wouldn't take him back yet, because first she needed to be alright with herself.


Ryan entered the kitchen from a different direction than normal; he was used to coming in the back door, not the living room. He wasn't used to sleeping in the guest bedroom. Guilt washed over him as he wondered how long Trey would be here. He was a terrible brother for wanting Trey gone as soon as possible, but he was afraid that two Atwoods in one place would cause some sort of nuclear explosion of drama and bad luck.

"Morning," Sandy called, looking up from his perfect schmear. "We should probably go see how Trey fared, don't you think?"

"Yeah," he tried to smile, but he wasn't really into the idea. Yesterday had been incredibly awkward. Trey had spent nearly two years in jail,while he had gotten a new family and his own 'cabana mansion', as Trey put it. But Sandy was already walking out the back door, heading for the pool house, and he had no other option but to follow.

"Hey look," Sandy grinned, pointing, "Taylor's here."

Shit.


(Five months earlier)

Things were going well, he thought, readjusting the bags on his shoulder. She tried to protest – something about needing to be independent, or some other such bullshit – but he waved her off. He was happy to carry her schoolbag, even if it was freakishly heavy. She giggled at him, swatting his arm and telling him that she needed all those books. He grinned back, trying to resist the urge to drop the bags and kiss her. He hadn't kissed her in five months. That was way too long.

Ok, yes, it was his fault, but still. She was beautiful when she smiled, and it made it hard to do this 'let's just try being friends' thing. Like he could ever just be friends with her. But he went along with it, because he knew how hard it was to trust people, especially after they betrayed you. Like back in Chino,when his dad had been acting nice, he had always been waiting for the inevitable outburst of anger and the resulting physical pain. He knew how she must be feeling – like this was one of his 'nice' times, and she was just waiting for him to pick up and leave again.

He hated being that guy. He didn't want to be that guy. He wanted to be someone she could trust. So every time he got impatient, every time his control snapped and he tried too hard, all he had to do was see the uncertainty – the fear – flicker in her eyes and he'd back off.

It had been five months since he'd left Newport, two months since he'd come back. He wondered how many more it would be until she trusted him to never hurt her again.


She stood in stunned silence as the boy paused, forehead crinkling. Then a look of recognition took over his features. "Taylor?"

"Oh… my… God… what are you doing here?" she looked around the pool house, waiting for a guy with a camera to jump out and tell her this was all a joke.

"I just got out of… what are you doing here?" He looked equally as confused, cutting across the pool house to dig through a bag of stuff.

The door opened, andRyan and Sandy walked in, a huge grin taking over the older man's face. "Oh good, you two've met," Sandy spoke, looking between the stunned boy and girl. "Trey's gonna be staying with us for a while."

"Just until I can find my own place," Trey cut in, shooting a weird look at Ryan, which she didn't really feel like interpreting right now. When she looked at her boyfriend, he was frozen, and she could almost see his brain working.

"Wow, that's… great," she breathed finally, pasting a smile onto her face. "But I just came over to see what Ryan was doing today, and obviously you'll be busy," she grabbed her purse off the counter hastily, brushing past Ryan and Sandy and heading out the door, "so I'll see you later."

Oh my God… her brain was on overload. She hadn't seen Trey since Chino, and it was beyond weird. She still couldn't get over the fact that she had drunkenly kissed him… please don't let him remember that…

"Taylor," Ryan caught up to her halfway around the house. "Hey, look… I'm sorry I didn't tell you… it just happened so fast..." he shoved his hands into his pockets guiltily, and she sighed.

"Ryan, he's your brother. You did the right thing, letting him come here. I just… I kind of wish you'd warned me."

"Yeah. Sorry." He looked over his shoulder at the pool house, and Taylor saw that Sandy and Trey were watching them. "I… didn't tell him about you. I mean, we picked him up from jail, and then we drove him to Chino, but then we invited him back, and then he was getting settled in… there wasn't really a good time to say 'hey, remember that girl who came to stay with us back in Chino? Well, she's here and I'm dating her'. Kind of a long conversation I didn't want to have right away…"

"Ryan, you're rambling," she grinned at him, and his lips quirked into a smile. Usually that was his line: Taylor, you're rambling. "It's ok. But you might have to explain it to him now, cause he looks curious," she nodded towards the pool house. "See, if you had warned me…"

"I'm sorry," he whined, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him. She lifted an eyebrow as his hands slid around her waist.

"Now you'll really have to talk to him," she murmured as she leaned up to kiss him. He nodded into the kiss, tapping her nose with his finger when they broke apart. "Call me later."


(Three months earlier)

She watched the guilt, the panic, rise on his face, and sighed wearily. He started to ramble – something that was usually her problem – about how there was nothing going on between him and Lindsay. She was just a friend, and she was upset over the whole Caleb situation…

She let another sigh escape her, and he shut his mouth tight, visibly swallowing around the fear in his throat. He was adorable when he felt guilty, and she told him that. He looked confused, and she laughed lightly at him, shaking her head.

Couldn't he see that she didn't care about this Lindsay girl? Well, she cared because the poor girl was going through a really tough time -what with finding out that her mother lied to her, and that her father was Caleb Nichol, and that she might have to live with Julie Cooper. But she didn't care that she had just walked in on the redhead hugging Ryan, crying softly into his shoulder. Yes, it brought back painful images of Theresa crying, of Ryan putting a comforting arm around her, but for some reason it wasn't painful this time.

Because she trusted him.

It hit her like a Mack truck, taking her breath away for a few seconds. She knew nothing was going on, because he was just being Ryan, and comforting a helpless girl. And the way he was looking at her, almost like a wounded puppy, made her heart squeeze painfully in her chest. What had she been doing these past four months? Screw being independent; screw 'getting in touch' with herself. Screw therapy. Screw Dr. James.

What she wanted was to screw Ryan.

Well, maybe not right this second, because Lindsay was still here, wiping the tears off her cheeks and trying to join in Ryan's defense. Plus, it would be a little confusing for him if she just jumped him without warning – not that he hadn't been receptive to the technique back in Chino, but after everything they'd been through, she probably owed him some sort of explanation before she started ripping his clothes off.

She realized she had been silent for a while; Ryan was frozen to the spot, and Lindsay was grabbing her purse and making excuses to leave, apologies still tumbling from her lips. When they were alone, his mouth opened, and she could see the familiar lines forming in his brain: 'I'm sorry', 'I want to make this work', 'I understand if you want me to go away'.

She stepped forward, placing her hands on either side of his face and kissing him lightly. When she pulled away, his eyes were closed, eyebrows raised in an expression of disbelief. He opened his eyes, still unsure, and she rolled her eyes at him.

He began to smile as his arms wrapped around her for the first time in seven months.


Ryan watched her leave, thinking about what he was going to tell Trey. Thinking about what he was going to tell Trey, not staring at her ass… she got into her car, and he turned away, trance broken. Sandy was handing Trey money, but his brother was watching him, not the man shoving bills into his hand.

"I thought you could take Trey shopping," Sandy explained when he reentered the pool house.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, glancing up to finally meet his brother's eyes.

It was going to be a long day.


By the way, in case no one gets the reference, the Mack Truck company makes these really huge trucks, hence the phrasing. I'm not sure if it's a local thing, and if it is, sorry! I guess they wouldn't be using it in California then…

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! And you may have to wait a while, cause I have NO idea where this story is going… I'm pretty much just spit-balling here…

Review please! It may inspire me!