After Alex dropped Summer and Seth off, she slowly drove to the Cooper estate. She parked in the driveway next to a Porsche and Marissa's Mustang. She cut off the engine and slowly walked up the stairs to the front door. She rang the doorbell and uncomfortably waited by the front door.

She realized that Marissa was dead on when she said that she was going to be too tired to drive back safely. Alex was about to pass out on the front porch.

The front door swung open to reveal Julie Cooper in a lacy black nightgown and a purple silk robe. Alex tried desperately to keep her mouth closed. She had never seen Julie Cooper in so little clothes.

"Hello Alex," Julie opened the door wider, "I'm sure you remember where Marissa's room is."

"Yes," Alex nodded and stepped inside with her hands in her pocket, "Thank you, Ms. Cooper."

Julie nodded and closed the door behind Alex, "Uh, I wanted to thank you for what you're doing for Marissa. I know I can't be there all the time, but it's good to know someone else can."

Alex bashfully smiled, "It's really no problem."

Julie locked the door and starting walking off. "If you need anything…the maid will be here in the morning."

"Thanks," Alex watched her walk off before slowly walking up the stairs to Marissa's bedroom.

The room looked exactly like it did the last time she saw it, except the bed was made. She was so exhausted she didn't hesitate to shed her board shorts and turn off the light on the way to her bed.

As she sank into Marissa's bed, she inhaled deeply. The whole room smelled like Marissa, but the bed especially. It was like Marissa was right there laying with her.

When she woke up the next morning, light was pouring through the slits in the curtains. Alex rolled onto her back and took a deep breath. This bed was probably the most comfortable bed she'd ever been in, which made it hard to want to leave.

She finally got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. After looking at herself in the mirror she pulled her hair back and rinsed her face. Then she went to Marissa's room and found some of her old jeans in Marissa's closet.

When she was finally presentable, Alex walked downstairs and as she was about to walked out the front door. "Alex?"

The blonde turned around and saw Julie Cooper looking like she stepped out of a magazine as usual.

"Are you leaving already?" Julie asked, "I was hoping that you would stay for breakfast and tell me a little about how Marissa is doing. She didn't talk much while I was there."

Alex closed the door and nodded, figuring she owed it to Julie for letting her stay. She wasn't going to reveal anything Marissa wouldn't want her mother to know.

Julie lead the way to the kitchen. She motioned for Alex to sit on one of the stools at the counter. The blonde complied and watched Julie move around the kitchen, getting some orange juice and setting it in front of her.

"Thanks," Alex resisted raising her eyebrow and smelling the orange juice to make sure orange juice was the only thing in it.

"Do you want something for breakfast?" Julie asked. Her voice wasn't polite like most people's would be when offering a guest breakfast. It seemed far off an distracted. After studying the older woman for a few seconds Julie did look like she had been losing sleep.

"No thanks," Alex shook her head. She took a sip of her orange juice. At least it tasted normal.

Julie leaned on the counter, opposite Alex. "Who do you two do when you visit her?"

For a moment Alex panicked, but she realized Julie's tone wasn't accusatory. "Um, we mostly just sit in the courtyard and talk," Alex offered, "There's not really much to do there."

"Is she mad at me?" Julie asked as she looked at her hands on the counter.

"She was at first," Alex replied, "But I think she understands why you put her there now."

"Good," Julie nodded weakly, "Does she need anything? Clothes or anything?"

The blonde shook her head, "I don't think so. I took her some clothes a couple weeks ago. You might want to ask her though."

The eldest Cooper nodded, "I will." She looked at Alex, "How is she doing? Withdrawal-wise?"

"She's…" Alex paused and ran a hand through her hair, "She had a seizure a few days ago. "

Julie nodded, "I know about that. David called me to be sure it was okay that you spent the night in Marissa's room."

Alex's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. That was definitely not one of the things she was going to include in her report.

"He said that you fell asleep on the foot of the bed with books everywhere?" Julie questioned.

The young bartender nodded, "I had midterms that week."

"You go to school?"

"UCLA," Alex took a sip of her orange juice.

"Wow," Julie looked genuinely impressed, "Good for you. I guess I probably shouldn't keep you anymore. I'm sure you have class."

Alex glanced at the clock on the oven behind Julie. She had plenty of time to get to her next class if she left right then, "Yeah. It's always hell finding somewhere to park."

Julie walked to her purse that was on the kitchen table and pulled out a card, "Will you please call me sometime? Just to let me know how Marissa's doing. She won't really talk to me. David tried to keep my up to date, but I think you're the closest person to Marissa now. And can you tell her that I'll be up there to visit her tomorrw?"

Alex took the card and nodded. She knew how worried she was about Marissa and Julie was her mother. It must be ripping her apart.

"Thank you," Julie told her.

They walked to the front door together and said goodbye. Alex was happy to be in the sanctuary of her Jeep. Being around Julie when she's being nice was very uncomfortable. At least when Julie was being conniving, Alex knew how to deal with her.

Traffic was light compared to what it usually was and Alex was able to get to class right as the professor walked in.

Marissa sat on her usual bench listening to the iPod Alex had given her. The sun was shining and it was a fairly nice day. She was looking up at the sky, watching the clouds change shapes while she was deep in thought.

When she finally looked away from the clouds, someone else on the bench next to her made her jump. Alex laughed as the sudden movement and Marissa removed her headphones. "You scared me. How long have you been sitting here?"

"About a minute," Alex grinned, "What were you thinking so hard about?"

"You actually," Marissa replied with a coy smile.

The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Me?"

"Yeah," Marissa nodded, "See, there's this party thing that the rehab center is throwing Friday night. It's something about showing us that we can have fun and be sober at the same time. Anyway, we can invite one person and I was wondering if you'd want to come? It'll be totally lame, but we get to dress up and drink punch that hasn't been spiked and listen to crappy music all night."

"I was sold at totally lame," Alex smirked.

Marissa laughed, "Really? I'm not like, cutting into your social life?"

"Before I started to come see you everyday, my life was work and school," Alex explained. "I was working, studying or sleeping all the time."

"Which one of those are you missing to be here?" Marissa bit her lip.

Alex shrugged, "A little of all three. But like I said, being her makes me calm. When I step outside, I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown."

Marissa saw the twinkle in Alex's blue eyes to let her know that the last part was a little exaggerated. "All the time huh?"

"Yup," Alex nodded with a smirk, "Every second of everyday."

"Maybe you should be committed," the younger girl subtly scooted closer to Alex, "And studied."

"I'll keep that in mind," Alex leaned back on the bench, "Oh yeah. You mom told me to tell you that she's going to visit tomorrow."

Marissa was conflicted, but let out a smile. She sort of did want to see her mom, but she didn't want to miss her Alex time. "Okay. Was she nice to you?"

"So much so, that it was extremely uncomfortable," Alex answered.

Marissa laughed again. The rest of the visit went on like it usually did. Alex did notice how much more Marisa was touching her and how close she was sitting. She also noticed that she liked it. Marissa's presence was just as intoxicating as it was the last time she was with Marissa.

The visitation time came and went as it usually did. Marissa talked a lot about getting out of there and how much she was going to come visit Alex.

Alex hoped that all this talk was true. She hoped that Marissa really did want to stay in contact when she got out of here. They had become so close so fast and it seemed like their previous relationship. It burned so hot and so fast that it burned out.