A/N - In my opinion, the way Season 2 started was the series major pitfall, hence why I have decided to start writing my own version of events. The fanfiction will start from the end of season one, where Ryan had left Newport to be with Theresa (actually his unborn son), and Seth had left Newport to be, well, with himself. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to read and review!

Disclaimer - I don't own any part of the show, its plots or its characters and I never claim to do so.

Chapter 1: The Not So Distant

The "Seven Oaks Motel" was exactly as Seth had pictured the inside of a Mermaid Inn room to be. It smelt like a C-grade amateur porn film, the television reception could only pick up static, and the bed was hard and lumpy. The pube under the pillow, which Seth was both disgusted by and impressed at how it got there, brought back memories of his eventful trip to TJ. It had been two months since he had to sell his boat for scrap metal after the rudder broke off in a fierce wind not 120 miles from Newport Beach, and still he sat in that dirty motel room. It's not like he had a better option though, it was either the motel or Newport, and he sure as hell wasn't going to live there.

Shortly after having to sell the Summer Breeze for next to nothing, his first instinct was to panic and ask his parents for help. He had seriously considered returning home, but he knew that once he returned he couldn't escape the clutches of Sandy Cohen again, and he feared that Summer would kill him in his sleep. Besides, he'd only been gone for a few weeks; what kind of runaway job would that be? As much as Newport seemed like the logical choice, he just couldn't live there anymore, at least not without Ryan there.

Luke had contacted him after Sandy had called Carson Ward; Luke had offered him a safe place to stay after Sandy sounded worried over the phone. A comfortable bed and home cooked meals sounded oh so attractive to Seth, but then his father would know where he was and would try and drag Seth back to Newport.

The closest thing to Newport that wasn't Newport in Seth's eyes was Santa Ana. There was something that was attractive about Santa Ana; it was like Newport but with actual hard-working people. It was a bustling city; there was always something to do in Santa Ana. Not that Seth has enough money to fully enjoy what Santa Ana had to offer. He had quickly spent the money that the Nana had sent Seth as a child, and after several unsuccessful attempts at trying to busk, Seth conceded to getting a job at the nearest Burger King. The pay was barely enough to cover his food for a week, let alone purchase the latest edition of X-Men or Justice League. The withdrawal from comic books was so great and unbearable that Seth had resided to drawing up his own comic, which he had named Atomic County. It was a bit juvenile, but at least it gave Seth something to occupy his mind.

He hadn't to spoken to anyone since running away from Newport, he'd tried Ryan a few times on his cell after Seth sold his boat, but he didn't pick up (he'd assumed Ryan must have been busy with baby stuff). He still hadn't mustered the courage to talk to Summer, not that she would want to talk to him anyway. And the last thing he would do was call home, he had a theory that Sandy may have resorted to tracing calls. The only human interaction was that call from Luke, but that was only Sandy's bidding anyway.

As he sat in his lumpy motel bed, which cost him $50 a night, trying to interpret whether or not the static was Ricki Lake re-runs or ESPN classics, he wondered what the others were doing. Whether they were still hurt, whether they were angry or whether or not they even remember him.

"Damn, where is that black eye liner?" Summer said as she frantically scrambled through her makeup drawer looking for that little black tube. Tonight was the night of the big Corona beach party, and Summer wanted to look her best as she heard that the Corona boys were 'pretty hot'. This was the third night in a row she was going out with Marissa, and although her father had started to make comments on that fact, Summer needed to party. The more time she spent making out with random guys, the less time she had to think about Seth Cohen. He was probably in a different state for all she cared; she was done with that point of her life. Relationships were extremely overrated in here books, and nothing made her more happy at the moment that hot strangers checking out her cleavage. At least they appreciated her enough to not run away.

All of a sudden, the sound of Phantom Planet's 'California' started blaring in her room, frightening the crap out of Summer who had once again been off with her thoughts. After four rings, Summer had found her phone strangely underneath the bed, and looked at the screen to see Marissa calling. She probably wanted to ask Summer what she wanted at the liquor store.

"Hey Coop, what's up?

"Oh Summmm", Marissa sounded under the weather already but Summer had come to expect that. "I got us some Vodka from the store, but I couldn't help myself so I started without you. Since now I can't drive I called us a cab, and we're on the way to yours now."

"What are we meant to do for a ride home now?" said Summer, slightly frustrated at her best friend's obvious drinking problem.

"Are you mad at me Sum? Because I'm really sorry…"

Summer could sense Marissa getting emotional, and that was something she really didn't want to deal with tonight. "No Coop, it's cool, we'll work something out later."

"Ok, cool. See you in five"

Marissa hung up, leaving Summer standing in the middle of her room gob smacked at what she just heard. Five minutes? Marissa couldn't give her more notice; she still hadn't finished doing her make-up. Summer even more frantically started searching her room for that elusive eye-liner. Where did she leave it? She tried to remember the last time she had it….

It had most likely been the night before when she went to Jess Sather's rager. Summer had never really like Jess, but Marissa had become friendly with her after Ryan left, so Summer just tagged along hoping to meet some local hotties. Deep down Summer knew Jess was trouble, she had heard stories about her overdosing on heroin and dealing cocaine down at the pier, but Summer was just happy to see Marissa happy. It had been a tough couple of months on both of them, and they deserved to let loose.

Summer had met a water polo named Dean at the party; Summer had seen Dean around Harbor but never really spoke to him. He was pretty hot; he was ripped, tanned, and most of all knew how to please a women, something Seth Cohen was pretty terrible at. Summer and Dean eventually slipped out of the party, not that Marissa would've noticed, being so drunk that she began falling over nearly everything in Jess' house.

As Dean was driving towards her house (luckily for her Neil Roberts was currently performing surgery), Summer knew that they were going to have sex. It was a formality really; he was a testosterone filled male who had a slightly intoxicated girl in his pick-up truck. He was a fool not to make a move. And it wasn't like she hadn't done it in a while; in fact Dean would soon become her eight "lover" in the past three weeks. That classified Summer has a slut, but it wasn't the pleasure that drove her to become one. It was the void that Seth had left in her life, the need to be appreciated, and that was what these guys gave her, if only for a brief period of time.

And that's when Summer remembered where the eye liner must have been. Dean for some reason was in quite a rush, maybe he was on speed or maybe he had a curfew, but all she remembered was that Dean was really "sudden" in his movements. He ripped off all his clothes in a matter of seconds, like a lion ripping apart a zebra, and before she knew it he had throw her handbag off her shoulder into the corner of the room, and threw her on the bed. It was amazing sex, even if it lacked the emotional connection. But that was besides the point now, as Summer had now made her way across the room, and found the black eye liner and top of some clothes in the corner.

She frantically applied her eye liner knowing that Marissa would be there any minute. And sure enough, Summer heard a taxi cab arrive at the front of her driveway and quite rudely and impatiently honk three times. As Summer left her room, she reached into her bed side table drawer and pulled out a condom. If she had learned anything in the past year, it was that pregnancy changes everything.

Someday love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched
And went our separate ways
If he ever hurts you
True love won't desert you
You know I still love you
Though we touched
And went our separate ways

"Hmm, Journey", Ryan thought to himself as he leant over the pool table to sink the black ball. "How do they always seem to sum up how I am feeling?"

It was safe to say that Ryan wasn't a happy person at the moment; he had to abandon those he loved, the Cohen's, Marissa and return home to look after an unborn child who may not even be his. It wasn't an easy choice to make, to leave his new life and return to his old one. But at the time it was the right thing to do, he didn't want to abandon his kids like his parents had done to him during his childhood. He didn't want it to grow up living the same life Ryan already had to endure. But of late, he had started to question his decision.

Things with Theresa were just……awkward. Deep down they both knew that it wasn't going to last, but none of them were willing to admit it. Ryan's head may have been in Chino, but his heart never left Newport. But being the honourable person, Ryan went with Theresa, no matter how much his heart tried to fight it.

Ryan had picked up a job at a nearby construction project; someone had to make money as Theresa couldn't risk losing the child by working, and she had too much pride to ask her mother for hand-outs. Ryan had often been frustrated of late, a mix between the stress of long work hours and a conflict of emotions, but instead of beating Theresa like his father did to his mother, he had taken to frequenting a local Chino bar. I mean, if it worked for Marissa then it must work for him. Oh how he missed Newport, but this was his life now, now matter how hard he tried to fight it. He was a father, and Theresa was a mother. They were a family now; he couldn't leave them.

CRACK. Ryan sent the white ball flying towards to black ball, which sent the black ball flying towards to pocket. Unfortunately, his shot lacked finesse and the black ball ricocheted down to the other end of the table. Ryan was never one for finesse.

"That was definitely a Ryan Atwood shot if I ever saw one, hitting before thinking", Theresa joked as she stood up from her stool to finish off the game. Ryan could only muster a wry smile, despite the fact that what she said was incredibly accurate.

"And that is game", said Theresa as she sank to black ball in the far top left corner. "3-0 to me, you sure are off your game tonight Ryan. Can't say I don't know why though"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean Ryan you haven't been happy ever since we left Newport. We come to this same bar almost every night, you get drunk, then we take you home. You weren't cut out for this Ryan, and neither am I"

Ryan took offence to this, how dare she was he's not up to all this. After all, he left Newport to help her out, to be a father to her child. "What are you saying Theresa, you saying I'm not cut out to be a dad?"

"Right now Ryan, your not. To be a dad, you have to be 100% committed, your heart has to be in it from Day One. And we both know that isn't the case. You didn't want this."

"It wasn't about what I wanted, it was about what I had to do." Ryan and Theresa stood there for a few seconds, lost in there thoughts. Finally, someone revealed how they truly felt.

People inside the bar had all stopped to listen to Ryan and Theresa 's argument. They were used to conflict, but this was unlike anything they had heard before; it had real emotion.

"It's getting late, and I got work early in the morning, he should really be getting back", Ryan continued, a little bit of anger still evident in his tone. Theresa, not wanting to create more of a scene, just agreed with Ryan and headed out of the bar towards the car park.

The car ride back to their apartment was awkward to say the least. It was ten minutes from the bar back to Theresa's apartment, not enough time to finish a conversation and not enough time to start one, not that Ryan or Theresa were in a talking mood. So they just sat in silence for the whole car trip, eager just to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow, and hopefully forget the night's proceedings. All Ryan could think about the ride home were those Journey lyrics he heard before their argument….

True love won't desert you
You know I still love you
Though we touched
And went our separate ways

Ryan was unhappy, Marissa was unhappy, Theresa was unhappy. All this pregnancy seemed to achieve was to make everyone unhappy. But Ryan couldn't possibly just pack up his things and go back to Newport, could he?

"No Ryan, you're tired, a bit tipsy, and starting to think irrationally. That would be the easy way out". Ryan was incredibly relieved when he arrived home, because all he wanted to do was sleep and escape all of this drama in his life at the moment. Things were just so damn complicated.

Neither Theresa nor Ryan spoke when they got home; they had aired all their grievances earlier in the night and it were too late to start all of that shit up again. Ryan quickly got undressed in a hurry, just incase Theresa wanted to continue their 'talk' from the bar. The quicker he went to sleep, the quicker tomorrow would come and the quicker he could consume himself in his work, Ryan thought. It didn't take Ryan long to fall asleep; Budweiser had the strange ability to put Ryan to asleep as soon as he hit the pillow. Theresa on the other hand was still awake; to be honest she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep at all of late. How could she? She was carrying a baby she didn't plan, and in a loveless relationship, if you couldn't even call it that.

She rolled over to look at Ryan. He had a smile on his face, the first time she had seen in smile in weeks. He was dreaming, and by the look of it, it was an enjoyable dream.

Ryan was dreaming about Newport; about the first time he met Marissa outside the Cohen's house, his first ever Chrismukkah, heck even about getting beaten up by Luke. For the first time in a long time he was truly happy, even if it was only a dream. His future was in Newport, deep down he'd known that for a long time.

And so did Theresa.

Chapter 2 Teaser: Sandy finds himself in trouble after he chooses to represent Caleb, while Seth decides to make contact with Summer.