When she opened the door, there stood Luke. What in the hell was going on? She turned around just as her mother rushed up. "Come in, Luke." Julie rushed to close the door behind him before Marissa understood what was going on.

"Hi, Marissa, your mom invited me over so we could talk about us." She looked mad. This isn't going to be as easy, he thought.

Julie Cooper walked up behind her daughter. "Marissa, honey, I know things have been rough with you and Luke, but you should talk things out; come sit down and have dinner together." Julie started pushing Luke and Marissa towards the dining room. At least she'd gotten Luke into the house before Marissa flipped out, that was the first hurdle.

"What?!? No, mother, I do NOT want to sit and have dinner with Luke, are you crazy? Where's Caitlin, what in the hell's going on?"

Julie pulled out a dining room chair and practically pushed Marissa into it. Taking the hint, Luke took the place opposite Marissa. "Well, Caitlin's going to a friend's house for dinner. I know that you're mad right now, but this was the only way I knew that I could get you to come over, and to fix things with you and Luke. You're mad now, but you'll want to thank me later." Julie turned to go into the kitchen to bring out the lasagna she'd made earlier.

"Marissa, wait, I know that you're really mad right now, but can't we just talk? So many things are unresolved between us. We've been together too long to leave things hanging like this."

Almost on cue, Julie came back with lasagna in a casserole dish and set it down on the table, departing to the living room. While she couldn't force Marissa to stay at the table and eat with Luke, she could keep her daughter from leaving the house.

"Look Luke, I don't know what you and my mother have been scheming up, but there is no 'us;' not anymore. Not only did you cheat on me with countless girls in the '949', but I'm with Ryan now. 'We' are over." Marissa began to get up from the table. She was going to Ryan's. She was never coming to her mother's house again, not alone.

This was not going according to plan. Luke knew she'd be pissed, but once he looked into her eyes, he thought he'd have her again. She'd always belonged to him; and she always would. He got up and grabbed her by the arm, she was not going to leave him again; he just needed to get her to listen.

"Luke, you're hurting me, let go of me! Mother, help me!" Marissa screamed. She tried to hit Luke, but he anticipated her move and held her other hand as well. He twisted her arms behind her back. He was going to take her upstairs, and they were going to work this out. No one ever told him "no," and certainly not Marissa Cooper.

Hearing her daughter scream "help me," Julie ran in to see Luke strong-arming Marissa in the corner of the dining room. He looked up at Julie, and the look on his face was full of rage. This was not part of the plan. Julie knew that she was no match for Luke; she did the only thing she could think to do, she picked up the phone to call Sandy Cohen.

*

"Julie, calm down, I can't understand you; what's going on?" Sandy waived at Kirsten to get her attention, he had a feeling something was really wrong next door. "Luke's there and he's hurting Marissa?!" Sandy couldn't believe it, he knew that Luke was a jock, but never thought he'd ever harm Marissa, not physically at least.

Hearing the last part, Seth, Kirsten, and Ryan turned to look at Sandy. Ryan ran to the balcony to see what he could see. Luke's truck wasn't there, but there was a strange Lexus that he'd never seen before. Marissa was supposed to be having dinner with Caitlin and her mom right now, how in the hell did Luke get over there?

The three of them ran for the front door at the same time that Sandy was hanging up the receiver. "Wait guys, this is something that Kirsten and I can handle, Ryan you're on probation and do not need to get into yet another fist fight." Sandy was rushing for the door with Kirsten in tow, but the boys beat him to it.

*

Ryan and Seth ran to the Cooper's front door. Julie had already opened it and was alternating between screaming at Luke and screaming for help.

"They're up there," Julie said, pointing to Marissa's old room. She felt so stupid, how could this have turned so ugly?

Upstairs, Luke had locked the two of them in Marissa's room. They were going to talk. Well, he was, anyway, she was going to listen. They were supposed to be together, and that was all there was to it. She was crying right now, but she would stop, she would realize it was for the best; he loved her.

"Luke, please let me go. I'm sorry, but you're hurting me." Marissa was pleading with Luke, who still had her arms pinned as he straddled on top of her stomach. He looked crazy.

"Shut up and listen, Marissa. Holly and those girls, they didn't mean anything to me. You'd been holding out for so long, what's a guy like me supposed to do? I have needs, you know. It was all your fault, if you'd just started putting out a long time ago, I wouldn't have needed to be with those other girls. But now things can be different. We'll be together, and everything will be just fine. You just have to stop hanging out with Chino next door." Luke started to fumble with her blouse.

Sandy got to the front door as Seth and Ryan were charging up the stairs. Marissa's bedroom door was shut and most likely locked. "Open up, Luke, and let Marissa go!" Ryan yelled as he landed on the top stair.

Shit, why was Chino here? Wasn't Julie supposed to be helping him? "Suck it, Chino, this is a party for two and you're not invited!" Luke yelled.

"Ryan, help me please!" Marissa screamed just before Luke slapped her across the face to shut her up.

Seth stood back, and Ryan began kicking the door. He looked like he'd done this before. Seth tried not to think about that and was just glad that Ryan was here to do things like kick doors down and challenge the biggest jock in school.

On the fourth kick, the door splintered and opened. Luke was on top of Marissa, her blouse was unbuttoned, and he was grabbing at the rest of her clothes. Ryan charged in the room and took a swing at Luke. Luke was ready for the blow, but it still rocked him off of Marissa just enough for her roll out from underneath him.

Luke jumped up to finish what he'd started at the carnival. Julie Cooper wasn't going to be of much help, and he could kick Cohen's ass with his arms tied behind his back.

Seth grabbed Marissa and pulled her out of the room, she was trying to pull her shirt back on as Sandy was coming up the top of the stairs, followed by Julie and Kirsten.

Ryan turned to Luke. He was so sick of this shit, and Luke attacking Marissa was over the edge. He was going to kick his ass here and now, le the chips fall where they may.

The two boys started beating on each other, knocking over furniture and breaking things. Sandy entered the room while Kirsten was trying to figure out whether or not to call 911, and Julie was going after Marissa, who'd fled to Caitlin's room to put her clothes back on.

Sandy was able to get between the boys, and together, he and Ryan were able to pin Luke to the floor. Sandy started yelling at Luke to quit fighting them.

Seeing that he was not going to get up, Luke spit in Ryan's face and stopped struggling with Sandy. He would finish this another day. Friggin' Julie Cooper, she was supposed to be helping, why did she let these assholes into the house?

*

Kirsten sat down on Caitlin's bed and faced Marissa. It was just the two of them. Marissa had started screaming at Julie, so Kirsten told her to wait while she talked to Marissa. She also asked Seth to call Jimmy Cooper and tell him to come over.

"Marissa, honey, what happened?" As Marissa started to cry, she told Kirsten everything about her mother's twisted scheme and what Luke had tried to do. "Marissa, it's your decision, do you want us to call the police and file a report or not?"

Marissa looked at Kirsten. Why couldn't her own mother be like this? She was talking to her like an adult and letting her make decisions. She was sure there were going to be issues, but she looked up at Kirsten and quietly said, "Yes."

*

That night, after everyone had been down to the police station and had gone through what happened, Sandy, Kirsten, Seth, Marissa, Ryan, and Jimmy went back to the Cohens' house around 9:00. Charges were being pressed against Luke, and to a smaller extent, against Julie, at least where it would help with Jimmy's custody case. Ryan was off the hook, and Marissa seemed okay despite what had almost happened to her.

"Once again, here I am, at the Cohens', in need of an ice pack." Marissa smiled at Ryan. Neither Sandy nor Kirsten understood the joke, but let it go as Kirsten rummaged through the freezer for one.

Jimmy hugged his daughter with one arm, and turned to Ryan. "Ryan, I know that you've had a rocky road with my soon-to-be ex-wife, but I want you to know how thankful I am for what you did tonight. You're welcome in my home any time."

Ryan looked up at Jimmy, he was glad that no one was yelling at him for ignoring Sandy and running out the door and fighting with Luke again. "Thanks, Mr. Cooper."

*

"So Ry, how'd you learn to kick down doors like that?" Seth had settled himself down into a chair in the pool house after Jimmy and Marissa went home, and Sandy and Kirsten had gone to bed.

Ryan gave him a sideways glance. "You don't want to know."

"Sure I do, I've been dying to know what kind of stuff you got into in Chino, and didn't get caught for. Think you could give me a lesson or two?"

"I plead the fifth." Ryan said with a laugh. He sure as hell wasn't sharing that part of his life with Seth Cohen. No one in Newport needed to know what he used to do before he and Trey got busted.

Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere, Seth changed the subject. "So, now that you're in good with the Coopers, how about getting around to setting up a double date for us?"

"Sounds good to me, I think Marissa could use a fun night out right now."