Disclaimer: don't own it...warnings read first chapter

Chapter 7 A woman's world

After all their tears had been shed and everyone had been caught up on the day's events, the women decided to take the opportunity to bond. All six women had dragged beach chairs, a large beach umbrella, and a cooler full of water and sodas down to the beach, setting up a little picnic area amongst the palm trees. After they had set up Alex, Jodie, Lena, and Eden had grabbed surfboards and headed straight for the water while Theresa and Marissa sat on the beach playing with Baby J, as Eden and Lena called him, stopping every once in a while to applaud a well executed maneuver.

The two women on the beach had just stopped laughing at a particularly goofy move Jodie had pulled off, "So Marissa, how long will you be staying on the island?"

Marissa just shrugged "My work has been crap since- well you know. Kirsten sent me here to clear my head."

"What's she like?" Theresa asked suddenly, looking intently at Marissa.

"What's who like?"

"Ryan's mom, Kirsten. I mean, is she nice?"

Marissa smiled at the girl, she now understood. "Yes, she is. When that whole mess went down Kirsten was the first person to give Ryan a piece of her mind. She told me that even though she loved him she would not condone his behavior. Why do you ask?"

Theresa looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Alex thinks I should tell Ryan's parents about Javier. But I'm scared that they might take him away from me. I know I can't give him all the things that they could, but I couldn't live without him." The girl gently ruffled her son's head as he sat between them playing with a teddy bear holding a surf board.

Marissa smiled down at the gurgling baby. "Theresa, I have known Sandy and Kirsten for a very long time. They are the kindest, most loving people I know. That was proven when they took in Ryan and Trey." Taking her eyes off the baby she took Theresa's hand and looked in her eyes. "I can promise you two things one, if you told them they had a grandson you would make them very happy. And two, they would never ever take him or let anyone, not even Ryan, take this baby from you."

Theresa smiled at the lanky brunette. "Thanks Marissa, I'll think about it."

"It's your decision and I'll respect what ever you decide, I just know that it would mean a lot to them and given a chance they would probably spoil him rotten."

The moment the two women were sharing ended when four very soggy surfers came trotting up to them. "Hey guys, you should come into the water. It's perfect out there." Alex said looking at Marissa. Theresa glanced at her watch. "I would love to but I have to get going. My shift starts in an hour and I still have to drop J-man here off at Nana's."

Alex turned to Jodie "How is it, Theresa has a kid and manages to get to work on time, yet you only have you to worry about and still manage to be late everyday?" Jodie just smirked and said "It's a natural talent."

Jodie helped Theresa get all her stuff and Javier back up to the house saying she had to get to work as well, which left the other four women relaxing on the beach. Alex and Marissa were sitting on the beach chairs while Lena was sprawled out on the beach blanket with Eden's head resting on her lap. "So Marissa, what is it you do exactly?" Eden asked.

Marissa looked down at the girl and smiled. "You see everything Alex is wearing?" Marissa said motioning towards Alex's board shorts and bikini top.

"Yeah." Eden said both her and Lena looking at Alex, who had begun to blush at all the attention.

"I designed that. The entire collection actually." Marissa laughed as Eden's eyes went wide.

"No shit!" Eden looked to Alex for confirmation; the blonde nodded her head and took another sip from her soda. "I love AlleyKat, for obvious reasons but even if Al" Eden was cut off when Alex shot her a death glare. Instead of finishing her original sentence she said "Your designs are nice."

Alex looked at her watch; it was almost 5:00 in the afternoon, to the two girls on the blanket. "You guys work tonight?" Both girls nodded.

"Jeez Al, you made the schedule. Me and Eden are bartending; our shift starts at 7:00." Lena said rolling her eyes.

"Hey, you guys are the ones that forced me to go on vacation." Alex said defending herself.

"Yeah, that's cuz you were turning into a major bitch Al." Eden said getting up; she offered her hand to Lena, pulling the girl to her feet. "Come on; let's get this stuff back up to the house. We gotta get ready for work."

Alex and Marissa helped the other two girls carry all the stuff back to the house. When the final item was set on the deck Alex turned to Lena and Eden, "So we're out, I promised Nana I would go to the luau and besides, Louie promised to show Marissa the differences between two and three finger poi."

"I personally prefer three fingers." Eden said with a devilish grin. Lena elbowed the girl in the stomach.

"Marissa, it was nice to meet you, you should come by the Pit sometime. I bet you would have a blast." Lena said shaking the girl's hand. Marissa smiled and promised she would.

"Seriously, your designs rock." Eden said taking Marissa's hand next. Marissa laughed "Thanks, although lately the suck." Everyone joined her in laughter.

"I'm sure once you've had a chance to take in the island it will come back to you." Alex said sincerely, Marissa thought she saw something in the other girl's eyes but dismissed it as her imagination.

"Thanks, I hope you're right." Marissa said smiling at the blonde.

The two girls climbed into Alex's jeep and waved to the other women as they pulled away from the house. Eden looked at Lena "So what do you think? Jo says a week, Dom says less than and Louie has two weeks." Lena seemed to contemplate this for a minute. "I say ten days tops, there is definitely something there but Al's to stubborn for the good of her sex life but Marissa, well let's just say I think someone has a crush on Ms. Kelly." Eden laughed and wrapped her arms around the other girl's waist.

"You saw her staring too huh?"

"Hell yeah, that girl has it bad." Lena said planting a small kiss on Eden's lips. The two girls smiled at each other. "Race you to the shower." Lena said taking off into the house.

Back at the house…

Alex and Marissa were laughing as they climbed out of the jeep once they had parked. They had actually been laughing on and off the whole ride home, the two women trading little anecdotes about their friends the whole way. Marissa had just finished telling Alex about the time that her and Summer had tried to throw a surprise party for Seth only to have him fall out of a tree while spying on them because he thought that Sum was cheating on him. He had been so hopelessly tangled in the string of lights that had decorated the tree that they had ended up having to call the fire department to get him the rest of the way down.

"Oh my God! Seth is such a geek." Alex said leaning on the front bumper of the jeep gasping for air between peels of laughter. Marissa was bent over, head leaning on the blondes shoulder as she tried to get her own laughter under control. As their laughter died the two women found themselves staring into one another's eyes, the smiles fading off their faces as they slowly moved towards each other.

Alex watched Marissa's eyes dart back and forth between her eyes and her lips. Just before their lips met Alex suddenly pulled away, running a hand through her silken tresses. "Uh we should really start getting ready. I promised Louie's grandma that we would be there by 8:30 and it's already 6:45 and I still have to get a shower." The blonde said as she backed away in the direction of the guest house.

Marissa watched as Alex fled to the safety of her home. "What the hell was that?" she said as she shook her head and went into the main house. The brunette was still trying to figure out what had almost happened as she wandered into her room pulling her clothes from her body as she went and dumping them in the hamper sitting outside the bathroom door. Down to just her bikini Marissa was staring at the closet trying to figure out what to wear to the luau, when she heard her cell phone ringing from the bedside table.

Grabbing the device she looked at the caller id, it was Summer. "Hey Sum, what's up?"

"Coop! Oh my God, I thought that they had sacrificed you to the volcano or something! Where have you been!" Marissa laughed at her friends out burst.

"Whoa Sum, slow down. I'm sorry I never called you back yesterday, but it was late and I know how you are about your beauty sleep."

"Yeah well, anyways, why were you so upset yesterday anyways Coop?" Summer asked concern in her voice.

"Ryan called, he wants us to get back together."

"Over my dead body, that midget can go screw one of his cameras for all I care."

Marissa smiled at her friend's protectiveness. "It's okay Sum, after what I found out today, there is no chance in hell I would take him back. Not after Alex introduced me to Theresa."

There was a moment of silence before Summer's voice came over the line again. "Okay, you kind of lost me Coop, who's Theresa? And while we are on the subject, who's Alex?"

"Apparently Theresa was Ryan's summer fling last year, and Alex is a family friend of Kirsten's, she is staying here in the guest house." Marissa had to hold the phone away from her ear as Summer went off. There was a lot of cursing with Ryan's name thrown in here and there, along with multiple references to a midget and a tree.

"Sum, Summer! I gotta go, Alex is taking me to a luau and I still have to find something to where and take a shower." Marissa said during a lull in Summer's rant.

"Ok Coop, but you have to call me tomorrow, I don't care what time it is." Summer said. The two girls made smooching noises and said good-bye.

Marissa tossed the phone onto the bed, staring at her closet for another minute she grabbed a gauzy, white sun dress, laying it out on the bed. Fifteen minutes later she was out of the shower and applying a minimum amount of make up when she heard Alex calling for her down stairs. "I'll be there in five minutes!" She yelled in the direction of the stairs.

The brunette was just slipping on her hemp sandals when there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. "Come in." She said taking one last look at her self in the full length mirror. Smiling Marissa turned to face Alex, the smile quickly faded when she saw what the other girl was wearing. "I'm over dressed. I'm sorry. I'll just change real quick."

Alex shook her head, finding her voice. "No!" she said quickly reaching for and grabbing Marissa's hand. "I mean, you don't have to. I never dress up for these things; Nana is always giving me a hard time for it." Alex hoped she had reassured the brunette, it was true, she usually didn't dress up for these types of things. Suddenly she felt like kicking herself for dressing so laidback.

"Are you sure? It wouldn't take me long to change." Marissa asked still unsure about her clothing choice.

"You look, I mean, you look amazing." Alex said with a shy smile. "Besides we are gonna be late as it is, come on, let's go drive Louie's cousins crazy. Alex offered her arm to Marissa, who took it gratefully. The two girls made their way out into the warm night, talking about nothing in particular.