Sorry it's been so long since the last update, but I've been recovering from some sort of flu-like illness and I've been busy with school work. Hopefully it won't take this long to get the next chapters up, thanks for the reviews!

Chapter Four

Darkness Before Dawn

Seth jerked awake with a start, confused at first about where he was; the hospital waiting room was nearly empty, aside from himself and his parents, who had dozed off as well. He had been dreaming about Oliver, and Summer, about what had happened that afternoon; sometimes, he saw things the way they had really happened, but he had just woken from a dream that was nothing like reality.

With a sigh, Seth shifted his weight, rolling his neck and trying to work out the tightness in his muscles. Judging by how dark it was outside, he decided it was hours after minute, at the time before dawn, when night was the darkest. Ryan was no where in sight, no doubt visiting Marissa again, her parents gone as well and he found himself slightly antsy, the way he often got when something was bothering him and there was no one to talk to. It was even worst since he couldn't put his finger on just what was bothering him, but he knew it had something to do with Summer, though not in relation to the fictional nightmare he had just suffered.

Seth stood, stretching his arms above his shoulders and yawning, though he was no longer tired. He needed to get up, to be in motion, to do something other then watch his parents snore with their heads on each others shoulders. He decided to see if he could find a vending machine, or perhaps something interesting to take up his time with before Ryan returned from visiting Marissa. Or maybe he would visit her himself, he hadn't seen the girl since she had been shot, though the only problem with that thought was that he didn't know exactly where her room was.

Regardless of this fact, Seth decided that wandering the quiet hospital hallways was the best way to past some time and get some thinking done.

* * *

Marissa stared at the doctor, eyes wide, uncomprehending as she let his words sink it; they were the sort of words that were said on a cheesy day time soap, with no business being in her life. Yet, they had been said, and she could sense some truth behind them; a part of her had known all along that her lack of feeling in her legs had been more then just the job of the pain killers.

Ryan's grip on her hand tightened and both their knuckles turned white; he seemed unable to move, to breathe, to think of anything past what the doctor had said. The room was silent, with Jimmy looking lost and confused and Julie turning paler by the second, her fingers pressed against her thin lips, clearing trying to suppress a shock reaction.

"You're sure?" Ryan finally forced himself to act, surprised that his vocal cords had remembered how to work. He felt like no other part of his body was working, including his heart, which seemed frozen in his chest.

Marissa almost looked hopeful as she waited for the doctor's answer; the older man looked slightly uncomfortable and dropped his gaze to the folder in his hand. "Until we can run some more tests, there's no way to be hundred percent certain. However, the tests we've already taken do indicate extensive nerve damage."

Now, Julie let out a semi-strangled scream and buried her face in her hands, her skin turning deathly white; Jimmy balled his hands into fists, pressing her nails into his palms until they left crescent shaped marks. He didn't seem to know what else to do. Marissa squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as possible, uncaring that hot tears trickled down her cheeks; Ryan was holding her hand so tightly that it ached but she made no move to stop him. That was at least one thing she could feel.

Finally Ryan willed himself to speak. "And there's nothing you can do?" He questioned, looking at the doctor, hoping for the answer that he would hear wouldn't be the one he was dreading.

"Well, not nothing exactly." The doctor answered patiently, though he never liked giving the patients and their family false hope. "There are a few operations that might be able to repair the nerves and restore their ability to function."

Marissa's eyes snapped open at his words and she looked at the man, her heart beginning to beat faster; she exhaled sharply, unaware that had been holding her breath until that moment. She was going to speak but her father beat her to it. "And these operations have helped other patients walk in the past?" He questioned, not looking over at his daughter.

The doctor hesitated slightly. "In the past, the operations have been about fifty percent successful. And, of course, physical therapy after the operation is also very important." He paused again. "But if you want your daughter to walk again the operation is the only thing that will guarantee that that might happen."

Marissa had always been very figuring out percentages and statistics in her various mathematical classes, so it didn't take her very long to figure out that fifty percent wasn't enough to even begin to get her hopes up. However, that was all the doctor's words seem to do, to allow her to see the light glimmering at the end of the dark tunnel she had suddenly been cast into. "I want to have this operation." Marissa was telling the doctor, not her parents, knowing that this was her decision to make, despite the fact that it would be their signatures on the consent forms.

Julie looked over at her daughter, a torrent of emotions running through her body; she could see that Marissa's hopes had skyrocketed, despite the knowledge that there was only a fifty percent success rate. She wanted to point out that the operation might not work but she couldn't bring herself to do so; she needed the operation to work just as much as her daughter did.

"Of course." The doctor said, as though he had expecting this all along, which he had. He had never met a patient that didn't want to regain the ability to walk again but he had met plenty that simply couldn't despite his best efforts. "It might take a while to schedule you in, for there are only a few doctors at this hospital that can perform this operation." He explained.

Marissa nodded, her breathing returning to normal again; she was going to walk again, that she had already forced her mind to understand. She didn't have any alternative but to believe those words, didn't want to think about what would happen if they proved to be false. She was going to walk again. Believing anything else would drive her insane.

After explaining how he was going to place her name upon a list of patients that needed similar or the same operation, the doctor ushered Marissa's parents out of the room so he could discuss further matters with them in private. As soon as they had gone, she shut her eyes tightly again and sighed deeply, leaning her head against the sea of pillows that she was propped upon, suddenly exhausted.

Ryan simply sat silently for a moment, holding tightly to Marissa's hand and staring down at the floor, trying to collect himself and assure his mind that everything would be alright, that things would return to normal after Marissa underwent the operation. Finally, he said, "It's going to be all right, after the operation." He sounded more like he was assuring himself then his girlfriend.

Marissa ran the fingers of her other hand through Ryan's hair, grateful that he was there. "I know." She said, though she didn't sound any more certain then he had. "I know."

Ryan looked up finally, locking eyes with Marissa and managed to force a slight smile. "I love you." He told her, his voice so low that it was almost difficult for her to understand what he had said. He kissed her hand before leaning forward to kiss her lips, threading his fingers through her hair.

Marissa wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tears filling her eyes as she hugged him, taking strength from his presence. She had to remind herself that it was going to be all right, that everything would be fine despite the way things looked right now. It was always darkest before dawn.

* * *

Seth felt like he had lived through the longest day of his life, felt as though just when it appeared to be almost over there will still more hours to fill, more hours to push through before a new day could begin. As he wandered around the hospital, he felt like dawn would never come, that Newport would be awash in darkness for the remainder of his life. The hours seemed to pass as slowly as the year did, and Seth felt like being in the hospital was like being in a place where time ticking along differently, where it didn't seem to pass at all.

But, finally, after he had finishing making his hundredth (it seemed) lap of the entire building, Seth could begin to see the first rays of the sun peeking through the gray clouds that hung near the horizon. He wished that he could take some comfort in seeing the sun begin to rise, he wished he could think that everything would turn out all right and brand new like the day but that wasn't true. Things were still the same, Marissa was still recovering from being shot, Oliver was still dead and he was still single; those things had simply carried on the next morning.

Seth returned to the waiting room, not surprised to see that Ryan still hadn't emerged from Marissa's room; his friend had undoubtedly fallen asleep next to Marissa, an image of perfect romance that almost made him sick. Sometimes being in love was just too much.

Not that he would know anything about being in love at the moment, though he was beginning to believe that he was falling in love with Summer (just as he had done so many times before) since she was the only thing he could think about. Well, Summer and an assortment of things that had to do with Summer that couldn't be mentioned in the presence of churchgoers or small children. But he was still thinking about Summer just the same.

As he had been traveling the hospital hallways, Seth had been counting off the minutes and hours until they had reached a decent hour so that he actually call Summer and see if she was all right and if she wanted to come down to the hospital and visit Marissa. And, of course, himself. Though the sun was rising, Seth somehow managed to keep himself from rushing to a pay phone and dialing the raven-haired girl's number right that very second because she was no doubt still asleep, seeing as how it was only six-o-five.

Seth could wait a little while longer before calming heading over to a pay phone and calling Summer. After all, it wasn't more then five minutes until six-o-ten.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Seth, Summer had never drifted off to sleep that night, and was still awake a six-o-five, watching the sun rise from the window in her bedroom, where she been since Ana had dropped her off hours ago. She had tried to sleep, tried to do anything but pace around her room and think about Marissa and Oliver. Though Marissa was her best friend, her thoughts had been mainly occupied by the boy, more specifically the way he had killed himself.

Every time she shut her eyes, Summer could see the bullet shattering Oliver's skull, could see his corpse and the blood that had pooled on the carpet around the gore that the bullet had left behind. She saw these images even when she didn't have her eyes closed and found no way to stop them. They were like home movies from Hell with no pause or stop button.

And so, Summer had sat on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs, just as she had when she was a little kid, afraid of the dark, and stared at the blank wall in front of her, wishing that she could see white paint instead of the mental images of Oliver and of the blood on the back of her best friend's tee-shirt.

After a while, she had moved off her bed to stand by her window, watching the dead night outside, which had finally been chased away by the rising sun. That was where Summer stood when her phone began to ran, startling her so much that she jumped and her heart had begun to beat like a bass drum. She turned away from the window to study the ringing telephone, certain that it would be Seth or someone of the like calling to check on her, to talk to her.

Summer wasn't in the mood to talk, to anyone, not even Marissa so turned away and listened to the phone continue to ring, going unanswered. To her, dawn had yet to arrive.