Sorry it's taken so long, but things have been kind of crazy. Work, mid-terms (which I aced, thank you very much), and then the site decided to remove all of my formatting, so I had to go and redo all of my stories… still kinda pissed about that one.

Anyway, read, enjoy, and review!

"So… Taylor?"

Ryan had been tense since the minute Sandy left, through the car ride and the walk through the mall. They were in a clothing store, trying to find his brother new shirts. They hadn't mentioned the girl, but it seemed like curiosity had finally taken over. "Yeah," he looked up briefly, then back down at the pile of shirts. "She lives here," he explained lamely.

"What are the odds," Trey mused, picking up a shirt. "And you're dating her?"

"Yeah. We saw each other at a back to school party, and…" Trey grinned.

"Score," he laughed, throwing the shirt back, and turning to look at a rack of pants. Ryan folded up the discarded shirt before trailing after his brother. "It's a shame you got there first," he sighed, and Ryan felt the familiar rush of anger go through him.

"We were kind of together in Chino," he muttered. There was no way they were doing this again. This time, Trey was gonna know she was unavailable.

"What? Seriously?" He nodded, and Trey's eyebrows shot up in stunned disbelief. "How did I not know?"

"Mom would've freaked if she knew. I mean, we weren't exactly dating, we were just…" Why was he telling Trey this? He didn't need to know. But the look on his face gave Ryan a sick thrill of triumph. He remembered that feeling from back in Chino, when he, Trey, and Taylor would all be hanging out – he and Taylor shooting each other dirty looks while Trey took no notice.

"Dude, I can't believe you were screwing her, and you didn't tell me." Trey paused, looking off into the distance as if remembering. Then a smile broke over his face, and he laughed, "oh man! Remember how I used to talk about doing her all the time? You must've been dying not telling me."

Trey's smile was infectious, and Ryan relaxed, grinning back. He was glad Trey wasn't pissed - that he wasn't going to make a scene. "Yeah, kind of," he told his big brother, ducking his head. Trey was right, it had been hard not saying anything. Not gloating.

"So how is she?" his brother asked. Ryan stayed silent, still smiling at the floor. "I bet she's wild. I'm right, aren't I?" Trey pestered as they walked through the store. "I mean, she must be, for you to have stayed with her for… Jesus, a year and a half?" He shook his head in wonderment as Ryan nodded. "Man, you've sure changed. The closest thing you ever came to a 'relationship' back in Chino was Theresa, and even that was barely anything. And now you've been monogamous for a year and a half."

"Well, it hasn't technically been a year and a half." He wasn't sure why he was arguing. "We broke up for a month or so the fall of my first year here, and then again for seven months. The first time… other people got in the way," he really didn't want to explain the whole him-Taylor-Hunter-Marissa square debacle. "The second time was right after Eddie got Theresa pregnant, and I…" he trailed off, wincing at the memory.

"You went with Theresa," Trey's voice was monotone, unflinchingly condescending. "I knew you had this whole hero thing, but I didn't think you were an idiot." Ryan opened his mouth to protest, but Trey cut him off. "I mean, you get this huge house with your own private room. You get a family that – I'm assuming – doesn't beat the shit out of you. And you get a hot little rich girl who seems perfectly willing to fuck you for some reason…"

Ryan balled his hands into fists on a shirt, trying to control his rising anger and guilt. Taylor had pretty much said the same thing when he had come back from Chino. She'd understood his impulse to protect the girl, and also his desire to help her and the baby. But she hadn't understood why he abandoned his family – why he'd made Kirsten cry, and Sandy worry, and trigger Seth's own departure from Newport.

It had broken Seth and Summer up for a while, what with Summer trying to date again – some guy named Zach who was basically just a Seth-patch for her. And then there was the Alex thing – Seth had tried to wear a wifebeater. He felt so guilty over it all.

"Well, I came back," he explained. "No permanent damage." You hope, his mind whispered cruelly. Taylor said she trusted him again, and she never brought the incident up, never held it against him, never rubbed his face in it, but he was Ryan, and his guilt complex was still working overdrive. And yes, Seth and Summer were together again, and Sandy and Kirsten were happy… no permanent damage.

"So let me get this straight," Summer curled her legs under her, pointing her spoon at Taylor, "Atwood's brother is back and living at the Cohens?"

"In the pool house," Taylor nodded, digging her spoon into the tub of ice cream. They hadn't done this in a while – pig out on ice cream. Over the summer they'd had to move to the low calorie, non dairy crap. Then the boys had come back, and they'd broken out the good stuff again.

"Wow," Summer breathed, putting the spoon in her mouth and eating the ice cream slowly. "And Ryan didn't tell you?"

"No." She saw the lift of her friend's eyebrows, and rushed to his defense. "Which is totally understandable. I mean, his brother gets out of jail and moves in? That's gotta be tough."

"Yeah, I guess. Still, some warning would have been nice. I mean, didn't you say you kissed him?"

"In a totally drunken really-out-of-it kind of way." Truthfully she barely remembered it. She remembered the feeling of hands on her waist, lips pressing against hers, but what she really got from that night was Ryan.

"Well, let's just hope he keeps his hands off you this time around. I mean, I've seen Atwood go all Kid Chino…" Summer's eyes went wide, and she gasped, hitting Taylor on the arm. "Remember the homecoming dance last year when he and that Hunter guy…"

"Oh, don't remind me," Taylor groaned, trying not to think of that disastrous night. Then she sighed, "but Trey is his brother. He wouldn't hit his brother, right?" When she didn't get an answer, she looked up at her friend. "Right?"

"So then he pulls out a spoon, right?" Trey grips his own spoon in reverse, "but it's all sharpened on one end – took Mikey three months to do that." He flips his utensil around, grabbing the handle and digging into his ice cream, "so he runs at me, right? with this knife-spoon, screaming bloody fucking murder." He shoves his spoon into the bowl, leaning back from the table and lifting his shirt a little. "Got me right in the side, the fucker."

"Wow." Ryan muttered into his own – more sensible – slice of pizza. The food court was probably not the best place to be discussing the Chino State Penitentiary, especially because Trey could be quite loud when he got worked up. Trey nodded proudly at his scar, letting his shirt down again. He started eating his own lunch – ice cream – again, pausing for a second with the spoon in his mouth.

"Dude, don't look now, but there's a really hot chick comin this way…" he lowered his voice, and Ryan remembered that tone – it was Trey's 'I'm either gonna get us in a lot of trouble, or get us laid' voice.

"Ryan!"

Shit. Like this day couldn't get any more awkward…

"Marissa," he tried to infuse his voice with enthusiasm. He and Marissa were tentative 'friends' at best. They tried for Summer's sake.

Not that Summer and Marissa were that close anymore - Marissa's relationship with her yard guy DJ had put some awkward distance between the two. And Marissa getting together with Alex? Summer had been extremely frustrated with the girl's antics – he remembered one of Summer's rage-blackouts where she had ranted about Marissa doing things just to piss off her mom, swinging her fists as Seth tried to hold her down.

He was hoping they could just exchange pleasantries, and she'd go on her way, but she sat down at the table with them, dropping her oversized purse next to his plate of food. "Who's this?"

He sighed, resting his elbows on the tabletop. "Marissa, this is my brother Trey. Trey, Marissa."

She turned to his brother with a giant smile, extending her hand. "Hey, I'd almost forgotten Ryan had a brother. How are you?"

Trey shot him a look, before breaking into his patented grin, leaning forward slightly to take her hand in his, "well, I just got out of jail and I'm crashing in a pool house. I think I'm better than I've been in a while." Marissa giggled, eyes flicking down at the table then back up to his brother.

Shit.

"I feel bad," Taylor remarked as she and Summer strolled through fashion island. "You used to love going shopping with Marissa… now she won't even hang out with you if I'm within two miles of you."

Summer bit her lip, forehead crinkling in thought. "Marissa and I aren't on the best of terms right now… that whole Alex thing… I don't know. You wanna get some food?"

"Yeah, sure," they changed direction, "but you're acting like Marissa doing stuff to piss off her mom is something new. Why the sudden change?" There was a huge sigh from the brunette, who's shoulders fell as if the weight of the world were on them.

"Promise not to freak?"

"Summer, do I ever 'freak'?"

"Good point. Anyway, it wasn't that she was dating Alex, or doing it to piss off her mom. It's why she broke up with her. See, she kind of told me… it was because she still had a thing for Ryan."

Taylor's mouth opened, but no words came out. She closed it, thinking, before opening it again. "They broke up over a year ago. They only dated for a month!" Summer raised her eyebrow as Taylor's voice raised an octave. "Sorry, no freaking."

"Ok, but let me ask you something. You fell in love with Ryan before you two even started dating, right?" She nodded slowly, not liking where this was going. "And say you two hadn't gotten back together after that first time you broke up."

"Ok…"

"Would you have been over him a year from then?"

She wanted to say yes, that she would totally be over him, but she would have been lying. Get over Ryan Atwood? Was that even possible? "Was Marissa in love with him?" She didn't want to hear the answer.

"No, I don't think so. But I think she loved the idea of him. You know, the whole bad-boy-but-not-really thing? The danger and the security all in one?" Taylor sighed. She wished Marissa could get over trying to piss off her mother. It really wasn't healthy… Oh well, there was nothing she could do about Marissa Cooper; she just hoped the girl wouldn't try to break them up or something.

"You know, I'm not so hungry," she was snapped out of her thoughts as Summer grabbed her arm, tugging her away from the food court.

"But I am..." Taylor protested, looking longingly over at the vendors.

"You know, I hear a new Prada outlet just opened," the other girl insisted, and Taylor remembered how freakishly strong Summer could be when she was angry or desperate or afraid.

"Oh."

Summer stopped trying to haul her away, letting out a huge sigh. Taylor had noticed the three blondes sitting at the table in the middle of the food court.

"Hey, Catalina, is Taylor here?" the Spanish woman smiled, stepping aside and gesturing for him to come in. "Thanks," he ducked his head, still a little weirded out by the whole housekeeper thing. He didn't like having someone take his coat and fetch a drink for him.

"Oh joy, the little felon's here," Veronica Townsend breezed into the foyer with a sigh, grabbing her purse off the table and tucking it under her arm.

"Hello, Miss Townsend, how are you?" he asked politely. This was their normal routine. She called him 'the felon', and he spoke as if she was actually being civil.

"Feeling very secure, thank you very much. I guess I should let you know that I've had security camera's added, so don't go thinking you can get away with casing the house while my daughter's asleep."

Ten months. Ten freaking months he'd been dating Taylor, and the woman was still just as big of a bitch as ever. Ok, so it had been one month, then six months, and now three months, but altogether it was ten, and the woman should be used to him by now. He was so fed up with this, so he couldn't help the snarky comment that made its monosyllabic was out of his mouth.

"Well, good to know you have a voyeuristic streak." He was surprised when the woman actually let out a small laugh. Ok, so it was condescending and she was still looking at him with disdain, but it was a laugh. Maybe he'd been going about this all wrong.

"Please," she scoffed, "I didn't put one in Taylor's room. The last thing I need is video evidence that the girl can't keep her legs closed." He wanted to continue this sarcastic banter between them, because maybe she'd respect him more if he showed her he could give as good as he took. Plus, she'd just called her daughter a slut – again – so he was a little pissed off.

"Then you might want to take the cameras out of the kitchen, the living room, the game room…" he ticked off the rooms on his fingers, trying not to smile as Veronica's face twisted in disgust. "Oh, and your room."

"What?" the woman hissed at him in horror. Score one for team Atwood. "Catalina, please go scrub my room down with bleach."

He'd forgotten Catalina was here, and when he glanced at the housekeeper, she was shaking her head at him, forcing back a smile. He loved that woman. "Of course, Miss Townsend," she replied in her best Spanish housekeeper voice, throwing him a wink before heading up the stairs. He didn't realize he was grinning until he turned back to Veronica, who was glaring at him. The grin dropped from his face. Maybe it was time to switch back into polite mode?

"Ryan!" Taylor came down the stairs cautiously, looking between her mother and boyfriend. "Catalina just told me you were here…"

"I'm off to Yogalates," Veronica muttered in annoyance, stalking out the door.

"Hey," he slipped his arm around her waist when she reached the bottom of the stairs, pulling her close. He felt her tense up, even though she was smiling at him. But the smile was off, it wasn't her normal one – the one that lit up the room and made his heart flutter madly. It had too much Newport plastic in it for him to feel entirely comfortable.

"So what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be hanging with Trey?" He relaxed. Right, Trey. That's why she was weird and tense – she was nervous about Trey.

"Actually, I came over here cause I think we have a problem." The horror that crossed her face took him by surprise, as did the way her bottom lip started to tremble. What the hell?

"Problem?" she whispered, and her voice wavered a little. She must be really worried about Trey…

"Ok, Trey and I were eating in the food court today," he began, brow furrowing when she looked absolutely stricken, "and Marissa was there." He caught the barely audible 'oh my God' that escaped her. Did she already know the problem? Maybe she guessed – she was very perceptive. "I think Marissa has a thing for Trey," he concluded, just in case she hadn't figured it out.

"Oh my G-" she broke off her sentence, doing a double take and looking at him like he'd grown two heads. "Marissa and Trey?"

"Yeah," he laughed lightly at her disbelief, "what did you think I was gonna say?"

"Nothing. Nothing," she threw her arms around his neck standing on her toes to press her lips against his sloppily, pulling back and finally smiling her bright smile. Then her face clouded, "oh. Are you sure? I mean, they only talked over lunch…"

"They were kinda flirting," he shrugged, as if trying to remember. "It was creepy, and you know how Trey is. He thinks any girl that talks to him is into him."

"Yeah, that's bad. Ok, we'll just have to make sure. I'll talk to Summer."

"I was just going to suggest that," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her again. She was so smart; she always knew just what he was thinking. Or maybe, his stupid brain kicked in, maybe he was smart, too, and that's why they thought of the same things. No. She was just perceptive.

"Wanna go upstairs?" she breathed, breaking the kiss and raising an eyebrow at him. Screw the plan. He placed his hands on her hips and twirled her around, marching her up the stairs.

"Oh, just in case she says anything," he warned as he forced her to walk, "I might have told your mom we had sex on her bed."

"What?!"

Oooh. Drama!

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