"The Revelation"

Note: I don't own The O.C. but this chapter introduces some new characters that I DO own! I think...
Someone is moving into the house next door, Marissa's old house and Marissa learns the reason for her mother's behavior of late. Please R&R, thanks!

Ryan and Marissa determined it had been Caleb who left in such a hurry and not her mother. When they went downstairs to check on Julie, she was drinking a scotch and sitting on the sofa crying softly.

"Mom?" Marissa asked in a small injured-child voice. She was genuinely worried for her mother.

Julie looked up. "I'm fine, honey. I'd rather not talk about this… I'd like to be alone right now. Why don't you two leave, go have some fun, okay?"

"But-" Marissa knew her mother was not fine.

"Go!" Julie interrupted, "Just... go..." she cried.

Marissa swung around and ran out of the house. Again, Ryan followed.

The next day, Sandy and Kirsten got home from work at almost the exact same time, but neither could get into the driveway because of four huge moving trucks blocking the entire area. They parked on the street, got out of their cars, exchanged looks of confusion, and walked up to the trucks to see if they could find out what was going on.

A tall, handsome dark-haired man in his early forties greeted them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen?" he asked looking at a form he held in his hand.

"Yes, that's us," Sandy replied, still thoroughly confused. Kirsten glanced around, but couldn't figure out why all the trucks were there.

The man smiled. "Hi," he said as he reached out to shake Sandy's hand. "I'm Andrew Leeks, your new neighbor." He saw the uncertainty on both their faces and added, "I just yelled at these drivers, they're moving the trucks right away."

Sandy shook his hand and smiled, finally understanding what the mob of strangers was about. "It's nice to meet you, Andrew. I'm Sandy and this is Kirsten." The new neighbor shook Kirsten's hand as well.

"You should meet my wife, Clara," Andrew said to Kirsten. "And our kids, Evan and Lauren – well, they're around here somewhere."

They chatted for a while until the huge trucks were moved, then Sandy and Kirsten pulled their cars into the driveway.

"So someone finally bought the Coopers' house?" Seth asked his parents as they walked in.

"Looks that way," Sandy said setting down his briefcase.

"They seem like really nice people," Kirsten said.

"They do? You only met Andrew," Sandy teased. "Your mother has a crush on the new neighbor."

"I do not!" she laughed. "He's a nice,-"

"Handsome guy," Sandy finished, still teasing with his wife.

"Oh stop it," she said then turned to Seth. "So did you ever get a hold of Summer?"

"No," Seth said unhappily, "No one will answer the phone at the house, and Summer's new cell phone hasn't been turned on yet, so…"

"She'll call," Kirsten said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Seth agreed, but he wasn't sure she would. He couldn't stop picturing her in the arms of some rich, handsome jock from her new school, someone he thought she had been waiting to run to until Seth screwed up. And now, he'd screwed up.

Sandy, Kirsten and Seth were just sitting down for dinner when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get that," Kirsten said setting her napkin on the table.

She answered the door to a pretty woman holding a plate of cookies.

"I'm Clara," the woman said. She had shoulder length brown hair and beautiful brown eyes. "I know it kind of cheesy – greeting the new neighbors with cookies, but I bake, that's what I do, so…" she handed the plate to Kirsten.

"Oh, no that's – that's very nice. Thank you," Kirsten looked at the cookies. "These look great, thank you. Would you like to, uh, come in? Meet the rest of my family?"

The woman followed Kirsten into the dining room and Sandy and Seth put their forks down.

"This is Clara," Kirsten announced, "She's our new neighbor. And this," she held her hand out toward her family sitting at the table, "is my husband Sandy….and my son Seth."

"Hello," the woman said to the men. "I have two kids, Evan and Lauren. They're about your age. Well, Evan is 17 and Lauren is 16. We just moved here from Seattle, they spent their whole lives there and to be honest, aren't that happy about moving here. But Andrew was promoted to a position here in Newport, so here we are." She smiled and turned to Kirsten. "Your home is beautiful."

"Thank you," Kirsten was flattered.

"I'll let you get back to dinner – it looks amazing," Clara said.

"Oh," Kirsten blushed, "It's takeout. I don't, uh, cook."

"Well, I don't do much of anything but cook, so if you'd ever like a lesson or two, you know where I live," she said, and laughed along with Kirsten.

Ryan was having dinner with Marissa at her house. Julie had told her she had something important to discuss with her, and asked her to be home for dinner. Caleb was not home.

"So what is this all about?" Marissa asked her mother suspiciously.

"Well, I wanted this to be a private conversation, Maris," she called her daughter by her nickname.

"Anything you tell me is going to make it's way back to Ryan anyway, so I thought I'd just save myself the breath and have you tell both of us."

"Alright," she replied slowly. "It's about Caleb and me-"

"I knew it," Marissa interrupted angrily. "I knew this was going to happen, I should have never agreed to move in here!"

"What do you mean 'agreed'?" Julie asked, genuinely baffled.

"Never mind," she said looking down. "So what, you're getting a divorce? Again?" She emphasized the word 'again.'

"No!" Julie sounded offended. "Of course not! Cal, it turns out, has a lot less money than he led us to believe, so-"

"Than he led you to believe, not me. I don't care about his money," Marissa said defiantly.

Julie rolled her eyes with impatience. "My point, Marissa, is that we will be moving. We can't afford to live in our home anymore, so we will be selling the house, and moving somewhere a little more….modest," she said, cringing a little.

Marissa didn't say anything, she just glared at her mother. Ryan was watching Marissa, unsure of what kind of outburst she might have. Finally, she just looked down and shook her head. "Whatever, Mom. You can do what you want, but if I move again, it's going to back in with Dad. I'm not going through this with you again."

"Marissa," He mother said in a pleading tone, "I need you. I need you to stick by me. I want us to be friends again. Like when we lived with Dad."

"How can we be friends?" Marissa was almost yelling. "After everything you've done! I never even wanted to be here in the first place!" She got up and ran upstairs.

This time, Ryan didn't follow her. He sat at the table and glared at Julie.

"What?" Julie asked, noticing his expression. Then she realized Ryan be helpful in understanding why Marissa was so upset. "Why did she move here if she hates me so much?"

Ryan thought for a moment, then decided Julie should know the truth about her husband. "She was bribed," he said flatly. "Caleb threatened to take back the money he gave to Mr. Cooper for the restaurant. She did it for him, not you," Ryan said then went upstairs.