Disclaimer: I don't own any of the chara ters, but they own me! He he ….he …..i am so alone…

A/N: Tee hee, sorry about the delay! I'm always saying that aren't i? Well, I know this one is short, but I will write at least 1 chapter with in the next week too, so don't yell at me!

oO0 0Oo

Ba boom.

Ba boom.

Ba boom.

All Theresa could hear was her heartbeat. It filled her head with it's rapidly increasing constant thudding.

She kept folding laundry, not changing her behavior. She didn't want him to know she was afraid. If he knew that, he'd win. Guys like him like causing fear, and she didn't want him getting that satisfaction.

"Hello, Eddie, ," she said, steadying her voice, "What brings you hear?"

"What brings me here? Besides the fact that we're married and you've been gone for the last month? Oh, I don't know, the weather!" His footsteps were heavy on the wood floors as he bound over to her, grabbing her by the hair and forcing her head up.

She fought back the tears as she felt hair tugged from it's place. She bit her tongue, praying Ryan would come.

"Look at me bitch!" He said, spit flying from his mouth.

Slowly she looked up until her eyes met his. She didn't betray any emotion, except hatred. She wanted him to be afraid of her for once.

"You think you can do this to me?! After everything I've done for you? I married you and gave you a good home, when no one else would. I worked my ass off for you. I …. I loved you. But for what? To find out you've been playing around with a pompus goody goody?!"

The sting of his slap across her face caught her off guard and she let out a small gasp of air, but it was enough to confirm his doubts : she was still afraid.

He smirked.

"You did this to yourself you know. You deserve this. Naughty little girls who prance around thinking they're better than they are should be taught a lesson, you dirty bitch. Stop crying dammit! This is all your fault!"

oO0 0Oo

Huddled in the corner of her house she looked up with frightened eyes, not knowing what was going to happen. She didn't dare move, afraid that would make him even more hostile towards her. She could see him lumbering towards her, trying to focus.

Her eyes stayed focused on his right fist, and the bottle in his left, those were the weapons. If she could get past those, she could make it to the door, and then to the car. He was too drunk to coordinate running, or even talking, but not hitting.

"Hey! I s see you wench. I know you're hiding out there. Ha ha ha , come on, iss ok, I wont gonna hurt you, I juss wanna touch you. Come out bitch!" She knew he'd find her soon if she stayed where she was. She choked back her tears, took a couple of deep breaths, then got up and ran for the door as fast as she could.

She could hear him yelling after her, cursing her and breaking things, but she didn't care, she was free. She got in the car and sped out of the driveway with the windows open wide, letting the wind whip her hair around her face. When she got to the freeway, she screamed as loud as she could. She was finally free of him, of the monster.

Now all she needed to do was find him, her salvation.

oO0 0Oo

Theresa remembered every feeling she had had that day, when she got away. She didn't' think she'd ever have to deal with him again, she had half hoped that in his drunken stooper he had managed to kill himself. But here he was, once again opening old wounds in Thereasa's heart.

"Eddie, please, stop. Let's just talk about his! I know you're not like this! Please, let's just, talk," her lip was quivering, but she couldn't fight it, her energy was weakening.

"No! I don't want to hear your fucking voice tell me it's okay anymore! I don't want to listen to you lie to me! I – I don't want to live knowing that after everything I've done for you, after all I gave for you, you'd still rather be with someone like him. A traitor!"

Ryan stumbled up the stairs, holding his head. He could hardly focus, but he knew he had to do something. "Eddie, why are you doing this? You know it's not Theresa's fault. Come on, just calm down. Or don't calm down and take it out on me, I don't give a fuck, just leave her out of it."

"You know, you're right, it is your fault. If I had never trusted you, none of this would have never happened. Theresa would still love me, she'd be having my baby, and you would have disappeared into your preppy wanna-be life. Well it's a little late for apologies and 'if onlys' Ryan," Eddie, let go of Theresa's hair, and Ryan relaxed a little, a very little.

Eddie stumbled over to the couch and put his head in his hands, sobbing.

Ryan walked over to Theresa, "are you okay?" he whispered, she nodded, not meeting his eyes.

"Theresa," Eddie's voice was small and hoarse, "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for you."

"Eddie, what do you mean?" Theresa asked, fear laced in her words.

Slowly he pulled a gun from his jacket.

Ba boom.

Ba boom.

Ba –

Her heart stopped, and everything seemed in slow motion.

She could see him lifted the gun, and met her eyes, tears spilling from his, before he looked away.

She saw Ryan stiffed and move in front of here. She could almost hear his rapid heartbeat.

She heard Eddie cock the trigger and pull.

oO0 0Oo

Marisa couldn't see where she was going. It was too dark, that territory too unfamiliar, and there were too many tears clogging her vision.

She barley missed a turn in the road, and caught her breath as a passing car swerved to miss her, blaring it's horn.

She reached down for some Kleenexes, and when she looked up, she had time to see the tree before everything went black.

From a distance she could hear sirens. Lights flashed, waking her up. 'Where am I?' She thought.

In one moment it all came back to her. The fight with Ryan, the bottle of Vodka, the Kleenexes and the tree. Her eyes darted around, unable to focus on anything.

In spite of herself, she started to cry. 'Am I going to die? Is this how it feels?'

She felt something holding her hand, and realized it was the same paramedic that was shining the light in her eyes and asking her questions she couldn't hear.

She tried to focus on the hand holding hers, but she was drifting out again. She couldn't feel anything but cold.

She slipped into the darkness again, wishing she had told Ryan how she really felt, wishing she could see him one more time, just in case…

oO0 0Oo

She saw herself running. She was on her way home from school, and she was running to get home. Jon Bakerson, from one block over was running with her, and they were holding hands. She remembered how they played on her swing set all the time because he didn't have one.

"Jon, where's your mommy?" she remembered asking him unconsciously rudly one day.

He seemed suddenly downcast and got up to leave, saying he didn't feel good and should probably go home.

Marissa didn't know what she had said that upset him so much, she was ad t was wrong.

Jon, in his mature little boy way, turned at her gate and said, in a breaking voice, "Dad says mom went to a better place and that I won't see her for awhile. But someday, if I'm really good, I will. He also says that whenever you leave someone, you should tell them you love them, because sometimes things happen that you can't change and you don't want to live with that regret." And then he went through the gate and left.

At that time she didn't know what regret meant, she was more concerned with when Mrs. Bakersman would be back.

Now she understood Jon's words, too mature for a 2nd grader too have said.

Now she was living his words, mocked by every syllable.

oO0 0Oo

Ryan fell to the floor, gasping and holding his shoulder.

Theresa was at his side instantly. She tried to fight off the panic rising in her and recall what they had taught her in health 3 years ago.

She applied pressure to his gunshot wound and grabbed some nearby towels from the laundry basket to press on his shoulder. Ryan smiled reassuringly to her, letting her know he was okay. She relaxed a bit, but not much.

Through tear filled eyes Eddie watched this tender scene, jelousy rising in him. He raised the pistol to his forehead and pulled the trigger.

Theresa stiffened at the sound, before absentmindedly rushing to Eddie. He had shot himself in the head but the bullet had lodged itself in such a way that it hadn't killed him instantly. (it can be done) She held his hand and looked into his tormented eyes. The very eyes she had been lost in so many times, had said 'I do' to, and been afraid of.

In his last agonizing moments of life, she forgave him by kissing his forehead. The last words he heard from echoing through the blackness, "Eddie, it was your baby."

oO0 0Oo

Ryan was taken to the closest hospital by ambulance 20 miles away. He was treated for a gunshot wound and severe blood loss.

Theresa sat in a chair outside his room, clutching a Kleenex and holding back tears. She was exhausted from crying, fear, and stress.

But she couldn't rest, not until she answered all the police's questions.

After a half an hour of constant questions, accusations, and pity, the police left with their report, saying it was a hostile shot by a drunk, who later committed suicide.

Theresa was numb, but she also regained a part of her conciousness she hadn't know was gone. She realized she needed to stop her selfish charade and think about others. This "residential incident", as the police reports had called it, was too real of a wake up call for her. The person she loved the most had almost lost his life protecting her and a lie.

She knew what he did wasn't because he loved her, it was just a Ryan instinct, that's the type of person he is. That's what probably hurt her the most, knowing that no matter what she did, his heart would never belong to her.

So at 10:35 p.m. on a Thursday night in June, Theresa walked into room B208, told Ryan the truth about everything, gave his a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and left. In a span of 12 minutes, Theresa had given Ryan all she had, the truth and her love. Then she was gone from his life forever.

oO0 0Oo

Just down the hall, the ER was ablaze with surgeons and nurses desperately trying to save a 17 year old girl. She had leg and rib fractures, and severe head trauma and blood loss.

After 8 straight hours of surgery and blood bank emptying, Marissa was put under close watch, vitacin, and too many wires. She lay awake, able to feel the pain at last, and happy she could. Pain meant life, and Marissa was glad to have it. She looked around her room. A steady beeping came from the machine next to her, which she guessed monitored her heartbeat. She could hear the other sounds of the hospital.

As she drifted in and out of conciousness she watched the commotion outside her door. She saw a frustrated mother walk slowly by, holding her tiny baby, a man hugging a woman and crying with a smile on his face, a young pregnant girl walk slowly by, crying. She thought about all the things that happen in a hospital and how depressing they must be to work in.

oO0 0Oo

After a few days, Marissa was released from the hospital in a wheelchair that she was confined to for the next 6 weeks. She had her dad pick her up from the hospital, not wanting to face her mom.

As they drove out of the city she asked him to pull over. He helped her out of the car and into her chair and wheeled her over to a tree. She reached up, feeling the spot where they had collided. There was hardly a dent in the tree's bark, but she was practically paralyzed. Life isn't fair.

After telling her dad that she'd meet him in the car in 15 minutes, she wheeled herself over to a bench, occupied only by one other.

As she got closer, she could see it was a young man, and he was crying.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching an arm out to comfort his back.

Scared and embarrassed, he sat up quickly, whipping his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, turning to her.

Her eyes got wide and her breath stopped. They sat there staring at each other for a moment.

Before she knew what was happening, he had swept her into a passionate kiss, holding her tightly.

She grasped his shirt, not wanting to ever let go.

Finally they pulled away, and he put his forehead against hers. They both laughed as tears streamed down their cheeks.

"Before anything happens, I just want to tell you that I love you so much, Ryan, and I'm so sorry for everything." She could hardly believe this was happening.

"God, I love you too, and I should be sorry. It's my fault everything went wrong." He kissed her again.

They stared at each other for a bit before he realized she was in a wheelchair.

At the same time, she noticed his arm cast.

They looked at each other, but decided not to ruin the moment.

She reached up and pulled his mouth to hers again, keeping him in a kiss to last a lifetime. Deep down Marissa knew that things wouldn't be the same as they were before, but right now she didn't care. She had Ryan back in her arms again, and nothing could change that.

oO0 0Oo

A/N: so I lied and it was a really long chapter. I guess I just got going and kept going, and became the energizer bunny… But yeah, it know it got kinda…bad…at the end….but I'm not done yet, so get over it!

Shout out to all you reviewers! You guys ROCK! You keep me writing! Thanks!!!