"Coop?"

"Yes Sophia?" Marissa replied wearily from the spot she had collapsed onto the couch. She and Sophia had played Barbies, eaten pizza, played with more toys, Sophia had sung Chrismukkah songs, and they had just finished playing dress up. Not to mention Sophia's endless questions scattered throughout the evening. Marissa was exhausted. She didn't know how Kirsten managed to keep up with such a rambunctious child. Maybe that explained how she was so slim.

"Do I look like a princess?" Sophia asked, twirling her skirt and adjusting her crown.

"Yes you do. A very beautiful princess." Marissa smiled at her.

"Thanks! But I think you look more like one."

Marissa smirked. While Sophia looked cute in her dress, Marissa looked ridiculous. Sophia hadn't been able to find anything tall enough for Marissa in her dress up chest of Kirsten's old clothes, so she'd given her a blouse, two skirts to layer to make one longer one, a shawl, and many pieces of costume jewellery which she'd arranged sporadically. That outfit, combined with Marissa's jeans and sweater she'd been wearing, resulted in the craziest outfit Marissa had ever worn. And that was saying something.

"Hey Coop, you and Summer are making a clothes store, right?"

"Sort of. We're making a company to design clothes."

"Right, that. Can you make me a dress?" Sophia requested.

"Sure we can. What kind of dress do you want?" Marissa prepared to hear a description of a pink dress with a huge skirt, or some other princess style garment.

But Sophia's answer proved to be a surprise. "I want one just like what Tia was wearing to the Newport Group Annual Employee Gala."

"Really?"

"Yeah! It was so pretty, and I wanna look just like Tia did."

"Sweetie you might want to wait until you're a little older for dresses like that. You don't want to freak out your parents."

Sophia pouted. "But I want one like Tia."

"We'll talk to your mom, ok?"

"Ok Coop!" Sophia agreed. "Coop?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think everyone is having fun at the Newport Group Annual Employee Gala?"

"I'm sure they are."

"Even Mommy? B'cause she called a lot of times."

"She's just worried about you. I'm sure she's having fun though." Marissa assured her.

"Do you think Seth and Summer are dancing?"

"Probably."

"Do you think Ryan and Tia are having fun?"

Marissa paused, not wanting to consider the possibility. "I don't know."

"I think they are. They always have fun talking at work. I'm glad they went together."

"Are you?" Marissa couldn't help but be surprised at this, considering how much of a cheerleader Sophia had been to her relationship with Ryan.

"Yeah! Tia's my best friend you know."

"Really?"

"My best friend who isn't family." Sophia amended.

"So best after your parents and Seth and Ryan?"

"And you and Summer. Because you're family, and Mommy said Summer's as good as family, and she will be one day."

Marissa smiled. She knew it was incredibly juvenile, but she was glad she came before Tia in Sophia's affections.

"Hey Coop, did you know my birthday's coming up?" Sophia asked.

"On Christmas Eve, right?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna be four years old and it's gonna be so much fun!"

"Four years old, wow!" Marissa said, inwardly thinking how much older Sophia seemed.

"Uh huh. And Mommy said I could have a birthday party that day. And I'm gonna invite you. Do you wanna come?"

"I would love to."

"Awesome!" Sophia smiled happily. "I'm also gonna invite Mommy and Daddy and Seth and Ryan and Summer and Grandpa and Auntie Hailey and Uncle Jimmy and … do I have to invite your Mommy too?"

"Umm I'm not sure about that one."

"Oh." Sophia frowned for a moment. "Oh and I wanna invite Tia too!"

"Great." Marissa said with a forced smile. Just what she needed – to spend an evening watching Ryan and Tia together. He sure had moved on quickly. Just that morning they'd been flirting at the garbage cans, and now he was out with Tia.

"Coop?"

"Yes?"

"Can I sit on your lap?" Sophia requested.

"Sure, come here sweetie." Marissa lifted Sophia on to her lap.

Sophia snuggled against her, resting her head on Marissa's shoulder. "Coop?"

"Yes?" Marissa bit back a smile thinking how many times they'd gone through those two lines.

"You know how Seth and Summer go out together all the time?"

"Uh huh."

"How come you and Ryan don't do that?"

Marissa looked down at Sophia. "Sophia, Ryan and I aren't dating."

"Why?"

"We're just not." Marissa responded, a tinge of harshness in her voice. "Anyways, he's with Tia."

"So?"

"So you can't date more than one person at a time." Marissa said. Although people like Rick seemed to think random hook ups were ok.

"Yeah I know. But why aren't you and Ryan dating?"

Marissa squinted at Sophia. "It doesn't matter why we weren't, because he's with Tia now.

"So?" Sophia said once again, becoming exasperated now. "Why does that matter?"

Marissa's eyebrows wrinkled together as she tried to figure out what she was missing here. She decided to take it from the beginning. "Ok sweetie, you know how Ryan and I weren't dating before, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know how he took Tia to the gala, right?"

"Uh huh, because they're friends and they're going to have so much fun!" Sophia said brightly.

"Right, so – wait." Marissa suddenly realized what Sophia had said. "Ryan and Tia are friends?"

"Yeah. They're friends and they talk at work when he drops me off or comes to visit me or Mommy." Sophia replied. "Just like how Tia and Seth are friends because they talk when he comes to pick me up or visit Mommy or bother Ryan."

"They're just friends? Like her and Seth?" Marissa clarified.

"Yeah. And like her and Summer, and like me and Tia, and like …" Sophia continued on with a list of every possible combination of friends she could think of.

"Just friends?" Marissa said once again.

"Yes." Sophia said, giving Marissa a funny look.

"But they went to the gala together." Marissa murmured, mostly to herself.

"I know! It's because I told them to!" Sophia said proudly.

"You told them to go together?"

"Yes, because they're friends." Sophia said, her eyes wide as she emphasized the word 'friends'. "And now they can have fun because being all by yourself is so boring."

"So Ryan only asked Tia because you suggested it?"

"Yeah. Before that he was all sad that you weren't going, and I don't like when he's sad, so I told him to ask her. And then Seth made a big deal about the friends thing like you just did." Sophia informed her. "You adults are weird."

"They went together as friends. Just friends." Marissa whispered to herself.

Sophia raised her eyebrow in a motion eerily reminiscent of her father. "You need to listen better Coop. That's what Mommy tells Daddy when he asks her something that she already told him."

Marissa broke into a wide smile, suddenly feeling a lot happier.

Sophia saw Marissa smiling and started smiling herself, for no real reason. "But Coop, I still don't get it. Why aren't you and Ryan dating?"

"Because …" Marissa trailed off, wondering how to explain the situation to Sophia. How could she make a child understand all the complications of love? Or how much she'd needed some time alone to figure things out? "Because …" she said once again.

And suddenly it hit her. She could not think of an explanation for why she and Ryan were apart. There was absolutely no good reason she could think of that would prevent their being together. She'd needed time and space to rebuild her life after Rick – to create a new life. And Ryan had given it to her. He'd been totally supportive of her needs, despite their interference with his own. Now her life was going well – she'd settled in to Newport again, and had time to reflect over everything that had happened. Now she was ready to move on. For once in their lives, there were no obstacles standing between her and Ryan – no boyfriend or pregnant ex-girlfriend or bitterness or physical distance or fiancé or need for time. Nothing. Except for her own indecisiveness.

Marissa had the sudden urge to talk to Ryan. To go find him and tell him what she'd just realized. To apologize for the hell she had put him through over the past few months. To ask if he would take her back, and from once let him be the one with the deciding power in their relationship. But she wouldn't call him, not now. She wouldn't interrupt his well-deserved evening out; wouldn't expect him to drop everything and race to her side. Because she'd done that to him way too many times before; taken his unwavering love and steadfast nature for granted too many times before. It wasn't fair to him, and it wasn't right of her.

Marissa vowed to herself that when she and Ryan were together again she would be the girlfriend he deserved – she would treat him right, and never take him for granted again. But then she realized, she might never get the chance. Sure he'd gone to the gala with Tia as friends, but anything could happen at the gala. It was a Newport event – they were famous for making or breaking couples. So Marissa made another promise to herself: if Ryan and Tia weren't a couple by the end of the night, she would talk to Ryan and let him know about her revelation.

Sophia had waited patiently for a few minutes, as if she somehow knew that Marissa was thinking about something important. But her patience soon ran out, and she wasn't quite done with her yet. "Coop, you know that the prince and princess should always be together. That's just how it is."

"Oh is it?"

"Uh huh." Sophia nodded fervently.

"Really?" Marissa began tickling Sophia's sides.

"Yes!" Sophia giggled, squirming on Marissa's lap.

"Really?" Marissa asked, tickling her harder.

"Really Coop!" Sophia managed between her giggles. "Coop! Stop!"

"Ok." Marissa stopped suddenly, leaving Sophia gasped for breath between her remaining giggles.