"Let me see that I'm getting this right." Ryan shook his head in confusion. "You don't want to have anymore part in Newport Group?" He was shocked, honestly.

"Yes. I will still retain 50 assets but my involvement will be purely financial. As soon as you sign on that line, you are the head honcho around here. Henceforth it is all yours." He brushed his hand over his head and took a deep breath.

"It's crazy how life happens, ya know? Less than three years ago I signed a piece of paper like this entitling me to live in a group home with dozens of other abandoned children. That was supposed to be my fate. Who would have thought I'd be given the creative rights to a multi-million dollar company, just by signing on the dotted line." He paused for another moment just staring at it. Much had changed in that time. "Wow." He exclaimed as he placed his pen on the line and scrawled his signature. That was it. Ryan Atwood was now the official CEO of Newport Group. Wow.

"Well, you see Ms. Mayfield, I am afraid there isn't much chance of you winning this case. That is my personal and professional opinion." Sandy loomed across his oak desk. The woman nodded, a bit disappointed and exited the room. Sandy sighed and shuffled some papers, noticing some unsigned ones he took out a pen and started placing his John Hancock on them. A few minutes passed in this chore before he was once again interrupted.

"Mr. Cohen?" A female voice spoke and he looked up. She sounded familiar. This voice belonged to a girl who had lived next door to him for many years.

"Marissa Cooper! It has been ages. Where have you been? What have you been up to? Come, sit down." He welcomed her with a smile. They always got along that way. She did as she was instructed.

"So, what have you been up to?"

"Well, I've been around. Here and there, ya know?"

"What brings you here?" He asked straightening his jacket. "Is it purely a social call?" She looked uncomfortable.

"Mr. Cohen, I'm actually here because I need your help. Will you represent me?" She bit her lower lip, a nervous habit.

"What happened?" His demeanor changed suddenly from silly to serious, a quality he shared with his son.

"Well, last week---I---I was vio---violated by this guy. You're the only person I could think of who would help me----I'll understand if you have too big a caseload or so--" She sobbed between words, sniffling sharply.

"Of course not, Marissa; I can always make room for you. It's not even a question. Now if you wouldn't mind starting from the beginning, if it's not too painful?" She was silent a second and then nodded.

"Are you planning on coming to UCLA? It'd be some great fun, you and me." She could hear him smile on the other end.

"Yeah, I should probably make that decision soon, huh?" She held the receiver and scrunched down onto her bed. She picked up an oversized UCLA promotional document and paged through it. She sighed. It looked nice. "I don't know." She replied.

"Well, whatever you decide I'm sure you'll love it. You could hang at the dorms here with me and my friends this weekend. I know this girl who has a free bed you could use."

"Sounds fun," She smiled. "I'll be there."

"Great. I'll talk to her."

"You know, this is kind of a strange thing to ask, but I don't know anything about your family. What are they like?" They'd been chatting for a while now; she figured it was an acceptable question to ask. It turned out his family, consisting of parents, 2 sisters and a dog named wobbles was from Brooklyn originally but they moved to the Midwest and he lost his accent. Now he was here in Cali studying at UCLA. She gave him about half of her attention as he continued this biographical rampage she had sent him on. She thought about how sweet he seemed especially for a college guy, not the total typical party animal. She liked him.

Kiersten inhaled deeply and knocked on the hard oak door. A calm psychologist sat inside the room. She shut the door behind her and sat down.

"I haven't been able to tell anyone but my husband." The psychologist nodded, aware of her situation. "What do I do now?" She asked hopelessly.

Seth sat in his room, thinking. It was like a few summers ago---Summers, why did THAT word have to come up so often? Everything reminded him of that problem. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." He replied.

"Cohen? I had to talk to you." Summer popped around the corner. There was something different this day about the tone of her voice. Something he hadn't noticed before, something new.

"Yes, Miss Roberts. How may I help you?" His answer was flippant but expected. She sat down close to him on the bed.

"Cohen, I don't get what's going on with us. I mean we had this great chemistry at the supermarket and the other times we talked but now it's just gone."

"Look, Sum--"

"No, Cohen, this is Summer talk time." She placed her finger in front of his mouth. He nodded. "I made a huge mistake three years ago. You went away; I thought I'd never see you again. When we were together I was different and when you left I was just normal Summer again. I dated other guys but nothing was the same. You've changed so much and I've stagnated here. You're so crazy and wonderful. You do something to me, Cohen. I love it. I ---I love you. I don't want us to give up when we have this new chance." She blinked, having said her true feelings. He just sat there, processing.

"Summer, three summers ago you ripped my heart to pieces. But three summers ago I made the decision to go to NYU for photography oddly, because of you. Bet you didn't know that." He picked up a photo album. "Just before we broke up, I took this picture of you near a rose garden. I remember it was one of our last good memories together. You're brown hair just sparkled in the sunlight." He flipped the pages and pulled out a print. "Do you remember?" It was indeed a picture of her near the rose garden and she did remember. "I swore that day I saw the picture that I had to keep taking photographs. The power of photography to capture beauty like that amazed me. YOU amazed me."

"Wow, I had no idea."

"Summer, I missed you. I was so excited when you seemed like you missed me too. I'm back; I can't give up on you now. I never want to." He smiled and closed the album.

He leaned forward and touched her soft lips with his thumb, brushing carefully across them. He remembered these lips well. As he inched closer his hand found her hair, soft and dark. In that moment, the moment their lips touched it was like a fire rekindled. Memories flooded back of the reasons they had been a couple in the first place, memories of the way they had been. It was truly magical. They pulled apart, now feeling different somehow. Her eyes fluttered open to see his watching her every movement and expression.

"Welcome home." She smiled.

"Steak is a bit expensive, don't you think?" Anna asked quietly after the server had gone. The price of steak at the swanky, "75" was starting at forty dollars.

"Not for the new CEO of The Newport Group."

"Are you kidding?" She gasped and smiled. "Congratulations." He promised to tell her all about it later. They enjoyed their steak and headed home. Anna ran to the bedroom as soon as she entered the door and emerged soon after wearing a pink lacy thing. It was very UN-Anna but Ryan liked it. "Hey Mr. CEO, come show me how to run my company." She giggled and he gladly did just that as he followed her to the bedroom. That and more.

"How was work?" Kiersten placed a kiss on her husband's lips.

"It was good. Talked to Marissa Cooper, but that's not important. How are you?" He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same, resting her head on his shoulder. Tears fell down her face.

"I went today, really no progress. I just keep imagining it was my fault. I've taken on life already, this one I was excited about." She sniffled and squeezed him tighter.

"The doctor said there was just a risk at your age. It was never your fault. It is a completely different situation."

"I suppose we weren't really prepared to be parents again. We already added another one with Ryan, but I was excited to have someone who needed me again." He slowly let go of her embrace.

"I need you." He whispered and softly kissed her rouge lips.

Seth and Abby entered the room laughing. They had met up in the driveway and he was telling her a joke he'd heard a few days ago.

"What's going on mom?" Abby immediately noticed her mothers tear stained face. The pair who had just entered became solemn. The dynamic in the room changed. Kiersten had no choice but to tell them.