Review make me happy. I'm glad you liked the last chapter. This one isn't as long though.

A/N: I'm sure that a few of you guys are going to hate me after this chapter. Not only is there no real Malex interaction, but…well, you'll see.

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Chapter Twelve- Visitor

After a good night at work resulting in Alex practically floating home on memories of her kiss with Marissa, the blonde is rudely awakened by a loud banging sound on the door to her apartment. She glances at her clock before releasing an irritated groan. In an attempt to go back to sleep, she pulls a pillow firmly over her head to drown out the sound.

"Alex! Wake your ass up!" A man's voice shouts through the door.

Pulling the pillow off of her head, the blonde slumps out of her bed and makes her way to the living room. Opening the door a crack, she sticks her head out to glare at the man on her doorstep

"You better have a damn good reason to be waking me up at 9:00 in the fucking morning," she grumbles sleepily.

"Don't be such a lazy ass," he rolls his eyes.

"It's not being lazy if I didn't get in the door until quarter to three this morning. I've gotten less than six hours of sleep because you are too much of a bastard to come down here to help manage your own goddamn club," Alex growls.

"Ally, come on. You know how it is in L.A. So much to do and I have my other club to run," he shrugs, paying no mind to her caustic tone. "You going to let me in or not?"

"I'm thinking 'not' at this point," Alex tries to sound menacing, but falling short as she yawns halfway through her sentence. "Look Uncle Scott, as much fun as it is talking to you, I'd really like to get back to sleep," she sighs, feeling bad for having snapped at him like she did.

"Don't you want to know why I stopped by?" Scott questions slyly.

Alex actually pauses to think about this. He never drops by my place. Never. Scott always drops by the Bait Shop to handle business.

"Why?" She relents as she moves out of the way so that he can enter.

"Well, when I was in L.A.," the older man begins as he takes a seat on her couch, quickly making himself comfortable, "I spoke to your parents and-"

"I don't want to hear it," Alex cuts him off as she defiantly folds her arms across her chest and strikes a defensive stance.

"I think you do," he argues. "Trust me, you want to hear this. It's good news, I promise."

"Did one of them finally keel over?…Because, you know, it's medically impossible for a human to survive without a functioning heart. I'm surprised they've lived as long as they have," the blonde sneers.

"That's not fair Alex!" Scott barks back.

"How can you even say that with a straight face?!" An incredulous Alex shouts. "They kept kicking me, their own daughter, out of the house. They didn't even want me to be part of their family anymore."

"Tracy and Steven wanted to try and make it work, but even you have to admit that you were out of control," Scott attempts to reason.

"Yeah, but a parent is not supposed to give up on their kid. They just let me go without a fight," Alex sighs sadly, her anger beginning to give way to sadness.

"You were the one that petitioned the court to get emancipated."

"If they didn't sign, then it never would've happened. They were all to happy to get rid of me," the blonde girl scoffs.

"What were they supposed to do Ally? Keep you there against their will?"

"Yes! That is exactly what they should've done. They never should've let me walk out on them like that," Alex explains obviously.

"If you didn't want to leave, why did you try and get emancipated in the first place?" Scott wonders, growing increasingly frustrated.

"I didn't want to stay if they didn't want me there. I figured that, if they loved me, they wouldn't let me go. I guess I got my answer," she sighs miserably as she drops down onto her couch next to her uncle.

The older man pulls her into a loose hug. "Why would you think that they didn't love you?" He questions softly.

"Aside from them repeatedly kicking me out and telling me how much of a screw-up I am?" She asks him sarcastically.

"Yeah, aside from that," Scott replies with a soft smile.

At this, Alex stands back up and takes in a shaky breath as she runs her fingers through her hair and starts to pace. "They blamed me for Ashley," she explains, not able to look her uncle in the eyes as she does so.

"What the hell would make you even think that Alexis?!" Scott exclaims sharply.

"I could just…see it in their eyes whenever they looked at me. They didn't have to say anything because I could just read it. Every time they looked at me, it was like they were accusing me," she informs him stoically.

"That's bullshit, they-"

"No, after I started to get into trouble and pull away from her, she started to get depressed. Everyone saw it but me. I was too self-absorbed to see how much I was hurting my little sister. If anyone could have helped her, it was me…and I totally failed her," Alex expresses herself, tears pooling around the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment.

"Ashley killing herself is not your fault. Nobody blames you, but you. Not your parents, not me, and, if given the chance, Ashley herself would tell you that it wasn't your fault," he says in a soothing voice, trying to calm his niece.

"Right, well, after she died and the worse I got, Tracy and Steven all but stopped talking to me. Every time we would even start arguing, they would just shut down and walk away. It was like they couldn't even stand the sight of me. Like they were afraid I'd drive them to suicide too if given the chance," Alex continues, the last sentence spoken mostly to herself.

"That isn't it at all Ally! Has it ever occurred to you that they were blaming themselves and not you?!"

"What?" Alex asks, clearly bewildered by the question.

"They blamed themselves and every time they kicked you out, it was because they didn't know what else to do. That's why they would keep begging you to come home."

"But why didn't they ever try to talk to me or, even argue back?" Alex wonders, just barely above a whisper.

"Because they were afraid that you'd kill yourself next," Scott blurts out.

"Oh," is all that Alex can manage at the moment.

--

Across town, Marissa is laying out by the pool wearing a bikini and her sunglasses. She let her mind fill with thoughts of a certain blonde boss of hers. Alex's lips are so soft and smooth. She tasted like watermelon lip gloss and…something else, I don't know. Her body fit perfectly against mine and her hands on my skin and tangled in my hair was just so-

"Coop!" Summer shouts, standing directly in front of her best friend.

"Uh…huh? What is it?" Marissa asks as she comes crashing back to reality.

"I've been calling your name for the last five minutes. What's your damage?" The small brunette asks her friend with concern.

"Nothing Sum," Marissa replies, a blissful grin tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Why are you suddenly so happy?" Summer questions suspiciously before her eyes light up. "Did something happen with you and Hot Boss Lady last night?" She asks, fishing for info.

At this, Marissa can't hold back the grin that has been threatening to escape since her mind started to wander towards the blonde. "Yeah," she answers, giddy with excitement.

"Well, what happened?" Summer prompts before pulling a face. "I just don't want any details if they involve the two of you getting all naked and sweaty in her office. Keep those to yourself," she adds.

Marissa simply rolls her eyes, still not able to wipe the grin off of her face. "We kissed," she dreamily replies.

"You kissed huh?" Summer smiles knowingly at her friend's expression. "How did that happen?"

"We were just talking one minute and the next minute…we had a moment that was just…charged, you know?" Marissa asks rhetorically, glancing at her friend long enough to receive a nod. "I stepped closer to her and I could see that it was making her a little nervous. She was so cute," she stops to reflect on the thought for a moment. "Then, we kissed and it was…wow. If we hadn't have pulled apart when we did, then we wouldn't have been able to just stop at the kissing."

"Ew Coop! I told you that I didn't want to know about you and Alex getting all naked and sweaty," Summer answers, scrunching up her nose.

"We didn't have sex, Sum…I promise not to tell you when we do if you're going to be all like this," the taller girl grumbles.

"No way! I'll want you to tell me…just not with any details," Summer replies, earning her small laugh from her friend. Suddenly, the shorter girl's expression turns to one of amusement.

"What?"

"You said that Alex was cute," Summer chuckles.

"So, how is that funny?" Marissa ask in confusion.

"I'm trying to picture bitchy, bad ass Alex being cute…I just can't do it. All I keep seeing is her yelling at Cohen and making him almost pee himself," the small brunette begins to laugh.

"I know…If I hadn't seen it for myself…" she trails off, a smile firmly planted on her face.

"So, what are you guys going to do next? Are you going to date or what?" Summer finds herself asking as soon as her giggles die down.

"I don't know. I'm kind of hoping to talk to her after work tonight," Marissa answers back, glad that her love life seems to be looking up.

--

"You know, I still haven't had the chance to tell you the good news," Scott tells his niece after they are silent for several moments. She looks at him expectantly. "You have a new baby sister," he tells her.

"What? Since when?" Alex asks, completely dumbstruck.

"Yesterday. That's why I couldn't come down here to help you hire new people. I was in L.A. while my sister-in-law was in labor," he explains.

"Wow. So, what's her name?" Alex croaks out, her mouth completely run dry.

"Andrea Elizabeth Kelly," Scott smiles fondly. "They wanted to tell you themselves, but they knew you wouldn't talk to them if they called."

"They'd have been right," Alex replies honestly as she sits heavily into a chair. "So, wow…I just…Wow," she babbles, completely at a loss.

"They…" Scott hesitates, not sure how well his next statement is going to be received. "They sent me to tell you about Andrea and tell you that they never stopped loving you, no matter what you may think. They want you to come up to L.A. and meet your baby sister," he informs her, never meeting eye contact.

The blonde mulls this over for several moments before coming to a decision. "When do they want me to come up?"

"Today. That's why I stopped by so early," Scott answers, his mood lightening up as he hears this.

Alex nods before grabbing her cell phone off of an end table and dialing an all-too-familiar number. "Jodie?" She asks into the line.

"This 'ad better be fuckin' 'mportant," the groggy brunette growls into her phone.

"I have to go to L.A. today and I probably won't be back until late tonight," Alex explains.

"So?" Jodie grunts.

"I'm not coming in," Alex informs her friend.

"Bullshit!" The other woman yells.

"I have to go Jodie…it's really important."

"Please, you're not going to L.A. You'd never go back there. You're just getting out of going to work so that you can spend the day fucking some chick!"

"Jodie, seriously. I have to go see my parents. I'll try and be back by midnight to help close, but I can't make any promises," Alex states.

"Fine, whatever. But you owe me," the irritable brunette grumbles.

"Thanks Jo. I'll see you later," Alex says before clicking her phone closed.

"All settled?" Scott asks as she hangs up.

"Yeah," the blonde replies distractedly before turning to her uncle. "Would you mind staying and helping Jodie at the Bait Shop?"

"Why? I thought you hired a bunch of new people," he wonders, perplexed at the request.'

"It isn't fair to leave her in charge of four people on her own like that. Besides, this is something that I think I have to do on my own," Alex sighs.

"Okay, I'll stay. But you drive careful and, please, just hear your parents out," he pleads.

"I will," Alex promises before going to get into the shower and get ready for a long day.

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I know, I know…but I did take that poll a few chapters back and the votes have spoken. I figured that it was for the best because Alex probably is going to need some closure in order to move on from her past. I plan on doing that a bit and, well, it may throw a bit of a kink in Marissa and Alex's lives…but only I'm the one that knows how it will turn out (insert evil laughter here).

Also, I usually post new chapters by midnight…which was about 11 hours ago, but I got caught up in writing a new fic for The O.C. and finish chapter six of Taking A Chance, which is now posted.

The new fic I'm working on is kind of…different. I don't think I've ever seen another one with the same plot, but I could be wrong. You can check the plot outline out on my profile. Don't be afraid to tell me if it sounds like a good idea or not. Either way, I won't actually start posting the fic until this one is done…or at least close to it (in about a month or so).