Takes place right after the end of the Season 3 Finale: The Graduates
Seth kissed away splotchy tears on Summer's perfect face. Ryan and Marissa had ridden off into the proverbial sunset maybe an hour ago. In fact, Ryan was due back any minute and would ruin any more chances of alone time for the night. Seth moved a few stray mahogany strands of hair so he could see Summer's face better.
"There's no need to be sad. A year is gonna fly by while you're at Brown. And just think of all the cool stories Marissa will have. And a cool tan, all the feta too." Summer paused from crying to roll her eyes, batting playfully at her boyfriend.
"Ugh she's gonna have a bitching tan and I'm gonna be on the east coast! It's unfair, do you know how hot a suntan from Greece is gonna be for Marissa?" Seth planted another kiss on her forehead.
"Yeah, even when that girl looks bad she looks good. Her whole Volchek phase was basically a spread in Italian Vogue." Summer frowned, pulling away from Seth to eye him.
"Hey. Are you calling my best friend hot?"
"Oh come on, Summer. Marissa Cooper and hot are synonyms. She's almost as hot as..." he trailed off, planting passionate kisses in the crook of Summer's neck. She leaned into it with a half hearted smile but Seth stopped when he felt her body-language.
"I just can't believe it." She began. "A year ago I didn't really care about college, much less think I would end up enrolled in an Ivy League school. And it was a give in that Marissa would be going to some prestigious college, her family used to fund them through donations!" Seth nodded, placing a hand on his chin pensively.
"It is a little weird. Remember when Ryan was gonna work on a boat and it was Marissa who argued the value of academics. This is a cosmic force at work." Summer sat on Seth's comfortable bed, her face frozen in thought.
"That feels like such a long time ago. I guess we have been living, like, four lives in the span of one. With all the drama..." Seth snorted.
"Uh, Yeah. We have enough drama and angst to snag the 8pm FOX primetime teen soap slot. Everyone else is getting spray-tans and dating the coolest guy at their school and we've been trying to keep the fabric of our reality from tearing." Summer shrugged, picking up Seth's horse figure.
"I wonder what's taking them?" Seth wondered aloud, hitting his stereo remote and playing Deathcab quietly. Summer chuckled to herself.
"Ugh, didn't you see them today?"
"See what? What should I have seen, what did I miss seeing?"
"Um, the obvious? They're still in love. They're probably eloping!" Seth rolled his eyes.
"Oh. They always act like that. Marissa is still gonna go sail around the world and Ryan is still going to Berkeley. Although, for the sake of everyone else, I hope they are hashing it out and deciding if it is or if it isn't." Seth tossed a ball in the air.
"They're fate, Cohen. They're just an extremely angsty version of-"
"Us?" He filled in with a smirk. Summer nodded with a smile.
"Exactly. It's never if, for them. It's when. Just look how far we ended up from where we all thought? These are the perfect conditions for them to find themselves, and then find each other and get married! I'd bet on it." Summer explained matter-of-factory.
"Okay, President Of The Ryan and Marissa fan club."
"You don't think I'm right?" Seth saw the genuine anger flash in her eyes and proceeded cautiously.
"Of course I think you could be right. When it comes to them, though. I just want them to find a destination where they're happy. After everything... They both deserve it. Whether that means together, or if Marissa ends up moving permanently to Greece, or Ryan quits school and becomes a vigilante." Summer rolled her eyes again, shoving Seth with a pillow.
"Right."
"Hmm, do you think a spin off of Ryan post Atomic City days as a vigilante would sell? A La Batman..." he pulled Summer close with a smile.
"I'm thinking a prequel for The Ironist. About how he was a nerd and Little Miss Vixen wouldn't talk to him." Seth feigned sadness, clutching his chest.
"Ouch, Summer." She pounced on him, pinning him to his bed.
"It's been a crazy ride, but after the past three years. I believe, no- I know. Everything happens for a reason. And that means me with you," Summer pressed her pouty lips to Seth's. "And Ryan with Marissa."
Seth stared into Summer's eyes, lost for a moment. "God I love you." She bent down to continue kissing him when a staccato knock on the door interrupted them. She flew from Seth, fixing her lip gloss. Seth straightened his shirt out and turned in surprise when his father opened the door without confirmation.
"Dad-" Sandy was paler than he had ever seen his olive skinned, Jewish dad before. Seth sat up seriously, his brow furrowed in concern.
"Seth," Sandy started, his voice barely above a defeated whisper. "Hey Summer." He continued a bit like a stunned Eeyore.
"M-Mr. Cohen." Summer stuttered.
"Seth, can you come here please?" Sandy didn't wait for a response before doubling back into the house. Seth was standing immediately.
"Yeah Dad. Be right there..." he sent Summer a worried look.
"He didn't look so good, Seth." She began.
"You stay here I'm gonna go get my mom to look at him, she can probably identify what's wrong with a glance." He filed out of his room in a hurry, his father having silently filed downstairs already. He found him standing pensively in the kitchen.
"Dad, what's going on? Are you feeling okay?" He hadn't seen his father look so perturbed as when he realized his mother had terminal cancer, or that his wife was an alcoholic. He stared through Seth, clearly trying to find his words.
"Seth," his voice failed him and he tried again. "Seth. Something's happened-" Seth's heart rate rose. This was his father's death voice.
"Dad." He pleaded.
"Ryan and Marissa were in an accident. His Jeep was totaled."
"The car his mom saved up and bought him, Jesus Christ. Tell me he's okay. Did mom go to be with Marissa, I know she needs that right now. Uh, I'm gonna get Summer and we're gonna get right down there and be there for him." Seth began anxiously rambling, talking over what he feared might be the truth.
"Seth," Sandy blurted our like it was painful.
"Just be honest with me, I read medical books for fun you can't keep it from me. How bad off is Ryan, I can tell by how you're acting." He began, closing the distance between he and his father.
"Is it head trauma? Is he in a coma? A medically induced coma? Is he on any sort of assisted living machinery? Tell me! I can take it-"
"Seth, it's not-"
"Is Ryan dead? Is he already gone because that's what you're acting like. Even in a car wreck, with-with a totaled, exploded car I know there was no safer place for Marissa to be than with Ryan! So what is it! You have to tell me, he's my brother!"
"Seth!" Sandy choked on a sob. "It, it is not Ryan. He is still here, with us. But after what he's gone through... He may never be the same Ryan. The Ryan that we got to know, saw grow..." Seth thought for a few seconds of a fate so bad his father couldn't even speak it.
"Oh my god." Seth whispered. "Are... Are you telling me Marissa died, died while Ryan was there? After the accident?" Sandy opened his mouth to respond before he realized Summer was standing behind Seth. She dropped the bottle of water she had carried, prompting Seth to turn around.
"S-Summer..."
"I came to bring Mr. Cohen some water but you guys... Are... Um doing something so..." she turned and ran in the opposite direction.
"Summer, wait! Please, I didn't want you to find out like-"
"Oh my god you're telling me I'm right- Summer! Summer wait!"
He caught up to her standing outside the front door, her mind racing.
"Okay, clearly this is some crazy realistic dream, and I just need to-" She screamed as Seth embraced her, pushing away from his grasp.
"No way, nightmare Seth! This is all just a bad dream and-" Seth crushed his girlfriend to him, still in disbelief himself. Sandy stood behind them, unsure of what to do.
"Seth. Summer. I'm sorry. Kirsten said by the time help arrived she was already gone. There was nothing that anybody, not even Ryan could've done."
Summer looked up from Seth, in such shock tears hadn't even formed yet.
"Maybe it was just two people in a similar car who resemble Ryan and Marissa. Stranger things have happened and we shouldn't operate under a different assumption until there's proof!" Seth looked to his father helplessly.
"You tell Ryan that, not only is Marissa gone but whatever remained of his psyche. How did this happen, dad-"
"Your mother said someone deliberately tried to run the car off the road. Volchek... Was intoxicated. He, he rammed them into a ditch-"
"Oh my god, Summer. I can't even imagine what you're going through but if we don't get to the hospital we're gonna lose Ryan forever too." Seth began, tears flowing freely down his face.
"Dad he's gonna-"
"I know, Seth. Kirsten is with him but he's berely hanging on." Seth looked down at Summer, who wasn't really in any condition to go anywhere.
"Summer, take a deep breath and take my hand. And when you're ready we'll-"
"Maybe, uh. Maybe I should stay here. Don't want to overwhelm uh, Ryan and Marissa with the doctors poking at them. Maybe they'd feel better if I did." Seth nodded sympathetically.
"Seth, why don't I wait for them here with Summer and you go be there for Ryan. Summer, why don't you sit down in the pool house?"
Summer nodded dumbly and broke away from Seth, acting terrifyingly normal.
"D-Dad? She needs me. They both need me, I don't know what to do. I'm not even convinced Summer hasn't had a complete break from reality-"
"Grief wears many faces, Seth. Summer knows the crushing reality that Marissa is gone, but her way to cope... For now that's only acknowledging the possibility that Marissa IS fine. It's not as strange as it seems. You don't think about Summer Roberts without-"
"Marissa Cooper." Seth finished. "Dad what are we gonna do? How do we fix this? We can't..."
"The paralyzing reality is we can't do anything. Not a single thing." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "All we can do is be there. Go, help your mom with Ryan. I'll make sure Summer's okay. Don't be concerned that she can't really deal with going to the hospital. It's a natural and completely understandable reaction. Send Ryan my love for now."
He crushed his son to his chest, secretly terrified for him to go anywhere but his house. But his other son needed him. Now more than ever. He watched tearfully as Seth scrubbed his face and tried to think of what he would even do when he got there.
"I love you dad. Please, take care of Summer."
"I love you, my son. I'll see you soon. Get Ryan here ASAP." Seth nodded, knowing it was be like trying to drag a cat to the bath. He turned and forced himself to take footsteps toward his car.