DISCLAIMER – I don't own nuffin'!!

A/N – Hehe, thanks for all the awesome reviews on the last chapter!! Hey Jas, looking forward for you to post the one shot and on "The Third Voice", which, by the way is awesome, read it if you like Moulin Rouge! Wooooo. I'm a bit hyper tonight ;) Enjoy everybody!

--------------------

Ryan hadn't gone back to sleep since he had woken up from the dream. He had wiped the cold sweat of his face, until he realised that they were actually tears. He had been crying in his sleep. He sighed. After that, he didn't let his head hit the pillow and lead him back to his nightmares...So he lay awake, thinking thoughts that could have actually been worse then nightmares, but he didn't want to take the chance and compare them.

He lay awake until the early hours of the morning. As the slits of moonlight were replaced by gleams of sunshine, Ryan sighed in relief. He opened the blinds fully, letting the tepid morning sun spread it's warmth over his body. He lay down and took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes, so he could finally sleep. He could sleep better now that it was light. Ryan Atwood had never been afraid of the dark. Last night was the first time in his life he didn't want to sleep...He was most scared that he might dream about Marissa.

As he was just about to drift off to a finally comfortable sleep, the phone beside him started ringing.

"Ugh," he groaned, and turned around, hoping that if the phone could see his back it would realise he didn't want to answer.

Unfortunately for him, phones don't have eyes.

"Ugh!" he exclaimed again, sitting up as the phone showed no intention of giving up. "Why now? Why not at 2.00 in the morning, when I was actually awake?" he grumbled as he answered the phone, because, after all, it was probably Theresa.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hi Ryan."

It was Theresa. And she sounded very nervous. Serve her right, thought Ryan.

"Oh. Hi." He said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, trying to wake himself up a bit more.

"Chrissie told me you called last night..."

Ryan's eyes jerked open as he remembered the conversation with Chrissie last night. "Where were you Theresa?!"

"I..." started Theresa.

"I called at eleven o'clock at night, and my seven-year-old daughter answers!"

"I..."

"I asked her where he mum was, and you know what she told me?" Ryan continued angrily.

"I..." Theresa kept saying, but Ryan was flying into too much of a fit to listen.

"You know what she tells me Theresa??" Ryan asked again. "She tells me that her mum's out, she left her at home, all alone. Where is she? Oh, she's probably just off drinking!"

On the other end of the phone, Theresa started to cry.

"She's probably out drinking. Like it's no big deal. It's a big deal Theresa!" Ryan yelled, as Theresa's sobs got louder.

"How could you leave her by herself? Theresa...This is just too much. It's gone to far..."

"Ryan!" Theresa finally screamed as clearly as she could with tears clogging her voice. "Stop. Please don't yell at me. I have a headache..."

"That's no ones fault but your own Theresa. But I called you for a reason."

"What Ryan?" asked Theresa, her voice weary and tired.

"I got offered a job." He said, waiting for her reaction.

"OK." She said simply.

"In Newport." He said.

"OK." she said again.

He sighed, she wasn't getting his point. "I'm going to take it." He told her.

The other line went silent for a minute, and Ryan could hear Theresa's breathing in his ear.

"No." she finally said. "Ryan! You can't move to Newport. WE can't move to Newport! Think about Chrissie! She's grown up in Chino, it's her home..."

"Chino isn't her home, Theresa." Said Ryan in a tired voice. He didn't want to explain the obvious. "She deserves a better life. She deserves somewhere like..."

"Oh, somewhere like NEWPORT?!" Yelled Theresa, all pain of her hangover forgotten. "In case you don't remember, Ryan, Chino is your home too..."

"Chino isn't my home." Said Ryan aggressively. "Newport is my home. Chino is my temporary hell. And I want to leave. I want Chrissie to leave. She can finally have a good life. Everything I didn't when I was her age..."

"Well..." said Theresa desperately. "I won't."

"What?" asked Ryan.

"I won't. I won't leave Chino. I won't." She finished triumphantly, hoping she had trapped him again.

"Fine," Ryan said, as if he really didn't care anymore. Because he didn't. "Don't. I won't make you."

"W-what?" asked Theresa.

"I'm not going to make you leave. You can stay in Chino. But I'm taking Chrissie to Newport."

Theresa said nothing, as she gaped openly at his words.

"Theresa?" Ryan said.

Theresa made a strangled sound.

Ryan took a deep breath, and uttered those words that he knew would break Chrissie's little heart. But if he wanted to keep his promise to her, he had to...

"I want a divorce."

Theresa made no sound for a moment, but seconds later, she started crying again. "Ryann..." she moaned.

"Don't worry Theresa. You don't want me anymore. I'm no fun, remember?" he smiled slightly. "And anyway..." he paused as he listened to her sobs. "You have Sean."

Theresa's moans stopped. "Ho-How do you k-know about S-Sean?" she stammered, sniffing.

Ryan smiled. "You can try and lie to Chrissie, but it doesn't fool me Theresa. "Talk" is an old excuse. I seem to remember we used to use it. I know your tricks Theresa."

She cursed as she realised she had been caught out.

"I'm taking Chrissie, OK Theresa? There's no way you'll be able to get custody of her, not after how you've acted. If you want to be her mother again, you should start acting like it."

"No!" Theresa yelled.

"What?" Ryan blinked in shock.

"You...You can't have her. You can't have her!"

"I can take care of her more than you can Theresa."

"But..." the words she said next instantly led to regret, but she was emotional and upset, Ryan was leaving her…she finally told him the secret she had been hiding...

"She's not even yours!"