Thanks to newportgirl22, Juzzy88, Girlz-Rule, LongHardRoadOuttaHell, Brook-Lucas-Fan-23, kursk, Movies are our business, saxamofone, and snoopygal16 for all the reviews. Since there were so many reviews I wanted to get this up right away so here you are and let me know what you think.

Without warning, without any clues to be prepared, the Chrismakkuh season had ended and spring was in the air. Sitting back in his chair, frustrated at the plans that were lying out across his desk, Ryan finally noticed this as he stared out the window. Time was something that a person could not control, either it came too fast or went too slow and as he watched the scenery unfold outside in the world around him, he realized that for him, time seemed to rush by him like the traffic on the freeway while he stood off on the side watching.

His thoughts went back to Marissa as they frequently did, wondering what she was up to as they remained states apart. They hadn't seen each other in over a month, trying to keep the promise that two weeks was far too long but life was struggling to keep them apart. If it wasn't business for him it was Mya and if it wasn't work for her than it was family. She had been out only once to see him in California, spending a whole two days before having to fly back home. Since their Chrismakkuh trip, he had been back to Iowa three times but never for long enough. Somehow things kept popping up in their schedules that kept them apart, not allowing them more than a day to be with each other and after the airplane trip to and from, it left little time to actually be together.

They did manage to keep a few of their promises though, calling each other daily and both struggling to make it work between them. Ryan now knew that he was completely in love with her; there was no denying that facts if there ever had been a chance, but he knew that it wasn't suppose to be like this. He didn't think that love had to be such a challenge, trying to make it constantly work. He wanted to come home in the evenings to see her face, wrap his arms around her while they slept each night after making love, her face the first thing that he saw each morning when he arose. That was what he wanted, not a long distance relationship that now seemed to be only a few minutes on the phone each night before they had to continue on with their separate lives.

The frustration for him was starting to build, the worrying now occupying more and more of his time. He looked back down at the designs, hoping to throw himself into his work both to get it done and to forget about his troubles if only for a little while but it was hopeless. He knew that he wasn't going to get anything done today sitting in his office with only his thoughts for company, his mind having become his worst enemy lately, so he slipped back on the sports coat he wore to the office, told his secretary that he would be gone for the rest of the afternoon, and drove towards home.

The weather was warming up, even though the ocean would still be cold to play in, but he decided that he would go pick up Mya and spend the rest of the day at the beach. She was growing up way too fast for him, the one thing that time actually was trying to speed up in his life was the one thing that he wanted to pause. She would be turning three soon and he knew that it was only a few blinks of the eye before she would be turning eighteen. Eighteen he might be able to handle, she would be an adult, able to make her own decisions as she entered the world but it was the few years before then that really had him concerned, specifically dating years. He tried to tell himself that she was only three, they still had years before it came to that, but for some unknown logic his brain couldn't wrap around that. He was terrified that if he turned around her curiosity in boys would begin and that was something that as a dad he was not yet ready to face. He wasn't sure if he would ever be ready for the talks, the boys coming over to pick her up, worrying about her if for some unknown reason he ever allowed her to go out on a date. For now though, he was going to spend some time with his TWO year old, at the beach during the time when her favorite guy to hang out with was her dad.

"Hey Munchkin, I'm home early!" he yelled as he entered his house, "How does the beach sound today?"

He listened for a reply, for any sound as the house was eerily quiet. Between Seth and Mya, there was hardly ever a moment of silence and as much as he prayed for just that at times, today it just felt uncomfortable. Today was the day he needed noise, needed for his daughter to come racing around the corner squealing in her high pitched voice as she ran into his legs, needed the television turned up loudly as Mya and Seth fought over the remote even louder, needed something to distract him from missing Marissa so much.

He carried his briefcase into the kitchen, setting it down on the table as he looked around hoping to find some explanation on why nobody was home. Summer was always good about leaving a note when she left with Mya, Seth well, he was just Seth and Ryan couldn't remember who was going to be home with her this afternoon. He knew that he shouldn't be getting worried; his two friends very mature and protective of his daughter, but still his heartbeat began racing just a little. Something didn't feel right today, something was off and just as he reached for his cell phone to call Seth and Summer, he heard a little giggle escape from up the steps.

Turning around quickly in hopes of catching the person who had just let onto their game, he saw the steps were empty and he raced up them, not wanting to have to check every room of their upstairs. He could hear the little pitter patter of feet as they raced quickly down the hall but as he reached the top of the stairs, the hallway was empty. He immediately went down to Mya's room, opening the door to find out where she was hiding and stopped.

"Hey Daddy, how was youw day?" Mya asked, sitting innocently on her bed with her hands folded down in her lap.

"My day was just great," he smiled, scanning the room for the adult that was suppose to be with her, "What are you doing just sitting in your room and more importantly, who's home with you?"

"Seth and Sum had to go out," the little girl explained, a large smile emerging on her face.

"I'm going to kill them," Ryan mumbled, replacing his glare with a smile for his daughter's benefit as he went to pick her up, "Why don't you get ready for the beach while I give your uncle and aunt a call quick?"

The little girl shrieked her approval, going to the beach one of her favorite things to do, right up there with shopping with Summer, as she raced into her closet to grab her things. Ryan's anger flared up at the thought of his friends leaving his daughter alone when they had both agreed to watch her this week, turning around to go downstairs and grab his phone so that he could give them a piece of his mind. He made it two steps before noticing a presence, lifting his head up and his heart stopped for a moment after seeing who stood in the doorway.

"Miss me?" she asked, trying to conceal the smile that was threatening to spread across her face as she saw the anger in his quickly evaporate into shock.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice in a whisper as the surprise of seeing her standing mere feet in front of him still having control of his body.

"Lets just say that this last month hasn't been very productive," she said, the smile breaking across her face as she walked over to him, "I missed you and decided that a vacation was long overdue."

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into her as their lips joined. All of his frustration, tension, worries melted away as her lips pressed into his. He knew that he had missed her, that was obvious from the last few weeks, but he hadn't realized how badly as their bodies pressed against each other, craving the contact they had been without for so long.

"Do you like youw suwpwise Daddy?" Mya asked, emerging from the closet as she saw the two adults kissing.

"Very much so," he responded, lifting her up into his arms as he wrapped his two favorite girls into a tight embrace.

"Ryan, you awake?" a voice floated softly into the bedroom, stirring Ryan out of the best sleep he had experienced in awhile, "Ryan…RYAN!"

"Seth, it's six-thirty in the morning," Ryan mumbled, wanting to go back to sleep as he lifted his weary head up off of the comfortable pillow, noticing Marissa still wrapped tightly in his arms.

"Don't have time for sleep today my friend, we've got a stealth mission to prepare for," Seth said, tip-toeing farther into the room, "Quickly and quietly get dressed and meet me outside in oh-one hundred or oh-three… just meet me in ten minutes downstairs."

The last thing in the world that Ryan wanted to do was get dressed and head downstairs for a stealth mission meeting with Seth when Marissa was curled into his arms for the first night in what felt like years. He wanted to lie like he was for hours, days, weeks just as long as he didn't have to let go but Seth pulling the covers off of him and Marissa stirring in his arms got him up. Just because his brother was a pain in the ass and was forcing him to wake up at this ridiculous time didn't mean that she should have to be bothered while on her vacation.

He slipped on some sweats and a wife beater, made his way down to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee before heading outside to sit on the patio where Seth was waiting, impatiently tapping his foot as he glanced around to make sure they were alone. Ryan loved his brother but it was times like these that he was happy Sandy and Kirsten didn't have anymore sons.

"Seth, I swear that if you don't have an explanation that warrants getting me out of bed this early you will suffer consequences worse than Summer's black-out rages," Ryan mumbled, sucking down the hot, steamy liquid in an attempt to wake up.

"Ryan, my friend, brother, of course I've got an explanation," Seth rambled, his eyes darting everywhere but on Ryan.

"I didn't say an explanation, I said one that's good enough," Ryan warned, glaring at his brother.

"Ryan, I've come to love these Seth/Ryan times we share and I just thought that this morning would be a good time to have one, we haven't bonded in such a long time and now that Marissa is here we'll have even less time and I've got a deadline coming up in a few days that wow, only a few days now and-"

"Seth, what do you want?" Ryan said forcefully, bringing Seth's rant to an immediate halt.

Seth opened his mouth and then clamped it shut again just as quickly. Instead of speaking, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black jewelry box and handed it over to Ryan. With a questioning look, Ryan opened it up and saw that inside was a huge brilliant diamond ring that sparkled in the early morning sun. Suddenly Ryan knew why Seth was rambling worse than normal and he quickly shut the box before anyone else could see.

"Sorry Seth but I'm with Marissa and well, you're really not my type at all but I'm flattered," Ryan said, enjoying seeing Seth squirm in his seat.

"Ryan, I've told you this a million times already, I'm the funny one not you," Seth said, stuffing the box back into his pocket.

"So you're going to pop the question," Ryan said, trying to lead Seth to open up a little more, "How long have you been hiding this?"

"About a week now and it's killing me," Seth confessed, surprising Ryan that he had gone this long, "I was going to wait until the deadline but I can't anymore, it's got to be tonight and I don't know what to do."

"Getting down on one knee always seems to work," Ryan offered, proposing defiantly not an area of expertise for him.

"Ryan, this has to be huge, spectacular, enormous," Seth said, "This is going to be something Summer remembers for the rest of her life and if I don't do something completely amazing, she might not even say yes. Oh god, what if she doesn't say yes, I hadn't thought about that. Do you think she'll say yes? What if I get down on my knee and she laughs at me? Is this too soon? Oh god."

"Seth, shut up," Ryan remarked, not for the first time wondering what went on in his brother's head, "She'll say yes, you guys have been together forever. Just leave the house this morning before you blow it and Summer finds out. I'll ask Marissa for some suggestions and then give you a call."

"I knew you'd come through," Seth replied, his breathing having returned to normal, "You always come through in a pinch,"

"GO!" Ryan nearly yelled, not wanting to sit through another ramble as he pointed out the door, the only thing he wanted yet was to slide back into bed so he could have Marissa in his arms again.

"Good point," Seth said, giving him a thumbs-up as he tried to sneak his way back inside, using stealth moves like he was in hostile territory which Ryan could see being the case if he didn't hurry.

Ryan propped himself up on his elbows, the sun's rays hitting his body as he watched out of the sunglasses at his daughter building a sand castle. The moment was perfect, spending the day at the beach with the two girls he loved most in the world, a smile appearing on his face as he looked over to watch Marissa laying out on her towel. Just being able to look over and see her beautiful face whenever he wanted was enough to make him content after having been away from her for the last month. This was what he wanted right here, the three of them able to share their time together and do things instead of describing what went on in their lives over the phone.

He watched a smile break out on her face as she flipped her sunglasses up, noticing that he was starring at her. She leaned over, joining their lips together as they melted into a world of their own where it was only them on the beach, expressing their feelings with deep, passionate kisses. He wanted the moment to last a lifetime, knowing that he could never have enough of her and that triggered in his mind the morning conversation with Seth that had been forgotten until now.

"What would make a good proposal?" Ryan asked as he reluctantly pulled away, knowing that by now Seth was probably having a nervous breakdown somewhere.

"Are you thinking of popping the question?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise as her heart sped up.

"NO, no I mean," Ryan said quickly, realizing what she was thinking, "Seth woke me up this morning and wants to propose to Summer tonight. I told him that I would talk to you about some suggestions and call him back but I forgot until now and"

"And you're rambling just like Seth," Marissa cut in, finding his blushing cheeks adorable even though she realized that she was a little disappointed that it would be Summer and not her.

"I am, aren't I?" he agreed, wondering what she would have said if he really had been asking for her hand in marriage.

"Ry, it's okay really," she said, taking his hand into hers, "When our time comes you won't have to be nervous about what I'll answer but first I think we need to work out the living in separate states issue."

"You think our time will come?" he asked nervously, never considering marriage too seriously before even though many of his thoughts had been about the three of them.

"I didn't take my first vacation in years to fly down here and waste it on some guy that I'm not in love with," she teased, "If two people are in love and they can make things work between them, then marriage only strengthens that bond they have formed. So what do you think for Summer?"

Ryan listened to her talk about a few ideas, the words getting to his ears even though he couldn't hear them. Instead he was thinking about what she had just said and the feelings that had come alive in him from her words. Now that he focused his attention on marriage, he knew that he wanted her in his life permanently but could that work with everything that was separating them?