Disclaimer still stands.
A/N: I know most of you were probably surprised to get an alert for another chapter for this fic, and I would be too, but you got one because I'm doing an alternate ending. Most of the reviews I got basically said I had a crappy ending and to be truthful, I did. It didn't live up to the rest of the fic and I want to do it justice, but as you probably noticed, I'm not too good at endings, but after I re read the final chapter, I thought, I may not be the best at endings but I can do better than this. Some of you reviewers probably felt that I rushed the ending, and I did, but that's not fair. You guys and this fic deserve a better ending than I gave so here is my alternate one, I hope you guys enjoy this one more than the other one. Oh, and think of this as replacing the final chapter, this isn't happening after it, its replacing it, but I didn't want to actually do that because all you people who did review on the final chapter couldn't review because it already counted as a review, so if your reading this, ignore the final chapter and think of this as happening after chapter 26.
Lindsay sat aside her mother on the Delta flight to Chicago. As she did she thought back to the goodbye she and Ryan had had just a few hours before. It was a simple goodbye, nothing special really, but she couldn't have just left without telling him, that would have been wrong. He had seemed disappointed, but also relieved and she couldn't blame him for that. She had probably put his emotions in a rollercoaster and she wasn't proud of that, but in her mind, he was still worth fighting over and that's why she had. Something had told her to keep going, that eventually he would be hers, but how wrong she was. In a sense though, she wasn't. Maybe if she hadn't fought at all, she wouldn't have gotten any time with him, and maybe that's what was suppose to happen, she was suppose to fight for him and then realize, there are good people out there, I should give more people a chance than to just stereotype and brush them off. Because that's exactly what she had done when she first met Ryan. But then getting to know him, she realized that she could fall for a guy like him. And she had. As she gazed out the window and into the blue sky she realized that that was what Ryan had taught her. He had taught her to give people a chance, that maybe in the end, you'll be wrong about them and you can experience something wonderful. As she kept looking out she was disappointed that she hadn't realized this before and that now it was too late to thank him. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'he probably knows anyway.'
Ryan Atwood sat on his bed in the pool house owned by the Cohen family. Seth was upstairs talking to Summer on the phone and Sandy and Kirsten were in the kitchen or living room discussing something or other. He sat gazing at the plain white walls and he remembered saying goodbye to Lindsay. Then he thought to Marissa. She was probably sitting on her bed thinking about Lindsay leaving too. It was a big relief to both of them. They knew now that no one could make them question their relationship although it shouldn't have been that way even when Lindsay was here. Having Lindsay in his life was both good and bad for Ryan. Good because now he knew that even if someone got in the way, Marissa was still the one he loved most; bad because they had almost separated because the questioning was putting too much of a strain on the relationship. Ryan smiled, knowing that everything he had been put through the past few months was for the best, because now he knew that Marissa was the one he wanted to be with, and no one else. He decided to go tell her before he lost the courage to. Right as he was getting up, his door opened and revealed Marissa. She stood there a second, half smiling and admiring him before greeting him.
"Hey, am I interrupting anything?"
"No, I was actually about to go to your house, I needed to tell you something."
"Well, I'm here." She walked over to his bed and sat down.
"Look, I've been thinking about this whole Lindsay thing."
"Me too, I can't believe she actually left."
"I know. And I was thinking everything we've been put through these past few months, what with you and her bickering and me questioning my feelings and you questioning them too and I thought even though it was hard, I think that its good we've been put through this, at least for me it is." He paused before going on to recollect his thoughts and when he began talking again his voice was a bit shakey. "Because now I know that you're the one I want to be with, forever. Lindsay is gone and I'm fine with that. I'm disappointed she left so quickly but I'm fine with it. But if you were the one on that plane, I wouldn't be fine with it. I'd be on it with you, because you have to be in my life. Even in the future, if we aren't together, I still want to know you, to be friends with you, because you're too precious to me to lose. I'll settle for being the guy down the street who you borrow sugar from, just as long as I'm in it somehow." He took a breath and waited for her reply. She slowly smiled at him.
"Ryan, I want to be with you too. I've known this for a while now, but I knew you still had some figuring out to do. I know how closed up you are and I knew it would take some time, and I was willing to wait. I'm glad this happened too, and thanks for telling me, because I really needed to know." She kissed him softly, to say thank you and he turned it into something more passionate. They were together, and that's the way they wanted it, even if it took some time.
Alright, that's it. I must say that I like this ending better. This is an RM fic and even though I did bring them together in the other ending, I think this was a better way to do it, and I didn't throw in the Summer pregnancy thing in there either because I think it kinda threw off the entire story and I didn't want to do that. Did you guys like it? remember, this is happening after chapter 26, not after the final chapter, so its sort of to replace but I'm not going to delete the final chapter, it's a way for me to see how I improved I guess. Alright, so please review on this new ending, I need to know if I did a better job, because I feel that I did and I hope you guys did too. Ok, I need reviews here people so please go review. Hope ya liked it. Bubiez!!!