A key turned in the lock of the Cohen's house. It was mostly dark, but she could hear noise coming from the living room. Seth and Ryan must be playing Playstation, she thought. As eager as she was to see them, she was too tired to deal with Seth's rambling and questions. She hauled her bag up the stairs as quietly as she could manage, walked down the hall and into the familiar bedroom. I've really missed this place.

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she put on pajamas and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, despite the boys' shouts coming from the living room.

"You're going down Chino!" Luke challenged.

"I think Grand Theft Auto is more my speed than yours," Ryan retorted, thinking back to night that had changed his life.

Luke laughed heartily. "You know, when you first came to town, I hated your guts."

That's stating the obvious. "I know. And the feeling was mutual."

They both laughed. "You know what I like about Chino kids?" Luke punched a pillow. "Nothing!"

Ryan laughed, "Welcome to The O.C. bitch! This is how it's done in Orange County!"

"I was such an ass," Luke replied, still laughing, but with a hint of regret.

"Yeah."

"The idea of losing Marissa just…I couldn't take it. You know? But then I screwed it up all on my own." Ryan didn't know what to say, so he just sat quietly, listening. "I kept thinking of ways to try and get her back, but then one day I saw you guys together, and as much as I hated to admit it, I thought you guys were meant to be together."

Ryan thought back on his relationship with Marissa. "I loved her. A lot. I still do, kind of. It's just that we've both changed so much. Last year I was always brooding and she was crying, it was a match made in heaven. This year I'm happy and she's…I'm not sure exactly. Let's just say that you leaving didn't fix things."

Luke nodded, thoughtfully.

"Do you ever think about moving back?"

"All the time. I miss my mom and my brothers, and of course you, Seth, and Marissa, but in Portland, I have a clean slate."

"Sometimes that's for the best."

The doorbell rang, and Ryan and Luke both looked at the door. Ryan got up to answer it and Luke stayed in the living room, but moved so that he could see the front door.

When Ryan recognized the face on the other side of the door, he cringed.

"Is she here?" DJ demanded.

Ryan waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "You mean Marissa?"

"So she is here! And don't tell me there's nothing going on, I've seen the way you look at her!"

"She isn't here. What do you mean, the way I look at her?"

DJ glared daggers at Ryan. "Nevermind. Where is she?" His tone was urgent, and Ryan got a bad feeling about the situation.

"She's not here, what going on? Is she okay?"

DJ appeared to be near tears. "I hope so. I haven't been able to get ahold of her."

Ryan tried to be calm and not think the worst. "When did you last talk to her?"

"This afternoon," DJ said as if it were weeks ago.

Ryan waited for him to say he was kidding, but he didn't. "Maybe she just has her phone off."

DJ considered this briefly. Maybe she turned it off because she's out with another guy. "Yeah. Probably. Thanks Ryan." With that, DJ turned and left Ryan standing there confused.

"Dude, what was that?" Luke asked.

"Marissa's new boyfriend. DJ. The yard guy." Ryan spoke every word flatly.

"He's kind of weird."

Ryan nodded and tried to shrug off the worry that was brewing in him.

Summer and Anna walked down to the kitchen to get some ice cream. Summer figured Anna was going to grill her about Seth, and she was right. "So since you're with Zack, you're obviously totally over Seth."

"Right," Summer replied with a smirk.

"I was being sarcastic," Anna stated, frustrated.

"So was I, but I guess I'm not very good at that yet."

"So if you still love him and he still loves you, why aren't you back together?"

Summer's face fell and when she spoke it was much softer. "Remember when Cohen and I got together, how I told you that I didn't want my reputation ruined by being dumped by him?" Anna nodded. "He left. After standing on a coffee cart telling me how much he cared about me, he left. After I forgave him for kissing another girl, he left. After I told him that even though Ryan was leaving, he'd still have me, he left." A single tear streamed down her cheek. "I'm not going to let him leave me twice."

Anna took Summer in her arms, and she cried into her shoulder, letting her first tears fall since Seth had returned to Newport. "I'm sorry Summer." They stood silently for several minutes, before Summer stood up, wiping her eyes.

"It's okay. I've got Zack now, and he's really a great guy."

"Yeah, but do you want to go through life wondering why it is that no matter how great a guy is, if he isn't Seth, he's not good enough?"

The girls had talked for hours. Lindsay had tried to convince Marissa to start eating and stop throwing up, and while Marissa had refused, Lindsay's words kept running through her head and they were starting to make a lot of sense. Lindsay had promised not to tell anyone if Marissa would promise to stop making herself throw up. Not seeing any choice, she had agreed. She'd just have to not eat anything.

When Anna and Summer had come back upstairs, Summer was uncharacteristically quiet. Anna and Lindsay chatted animatedly, and Marissa soon joined in. As Summer watched her friends, she felt a sense of contentment. She was as lost as ever on the whole Seth issue, but Marissa was smiling, Lindsay had come out of her shell, and Anna was still Anna.

By four o'clock that morning, everyone but Marissa was asleep. She tossed and turned for a couple more hours, but finally gave up. Hoping to get a few hours of rest in her own bed, she left a note for Summer and headed back to her house.

So much was going through her mind and she couldn't make sense of it all. She just knew that she didn't want to go home and have her mom try and have another 'mother-daughter' talk with her. To stall, she stopped by her dad's boat to eat breakfast with him.

As she walked down the pier, she heard two voices coming from the boat. As she got closer, she recognized both of her parents' voices. "I have to get back before Marissa gets home." Marissa saw her mother standing with her father in a very friendly embrace.

"It's six o'clock in the morning. She won't even be awake for several more hours. Besides, she's going to find out eventually."

"No she's not. I've decided not to leave Caleb."

"But Jules, what we have…"

"Is history. No future. Good-bye Jimmy." She gave him one last good-bye kiss. As Julie got off the boat, Marissa hid. Now she really didn't want to talk to her dad or anyone, she just...wanted to see Ryan. The realization was painful. After much deliberating, she turned and headed in the direction of the Cohen's house.

She approached the poolhouse and lightly knocked on the door. When she got no answer, she walked in. It was pretty dark with all the blinds closed, but she could see his muscular body and his blonde hair resting on the pillow. She walked to him and kneeled down beside the bed. "Ryan," she said, softly shaking his shoulder.

They locked eyes. "Marissa?" he asked, feeling a bit disoriented.

"Luke!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around him. "What are you doing here?"

Luke had never expected such a warm welcome, especially from Marissa, and he couldn't help but grin widely. He hadn't seen her smile in a long time and he'd forgotten how beautiful her smile was.

After exchanging pleasantries, and another hug, Luke led Marissa into the family room, where Ryan was asleep on the couch. She ran her fingers through his hair and looked at him adoringly. "I think I'll let him sleep," she whispered to Luke before quietly going out the back door.

The sun rose and brightly shined into the Cohen's guestroom the next morning. Hailey got up to close the blinds. Her body was completely out of synch with her surroundings. Unable to get back to sleep, she went downstairs to get some breakfast.

The smell of pancakes soon filled the house and she set five places at the table. Sandy came down the stairs and stared at her groggily. "Such delectable redundancy, it could only be my favorite sister-in-law." Lindsay popped into his mind, but how to handle that situation would be up to Kirsten.

"I couldn't make it for Christmas, but I thought I'd come out and visit anyway."

"Hailey!" Kirsten appeared in the doorway, and she ran to Hailey, hugging her. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to be home," she smiled, hugging her sister tightly.

"How are things going with your job in Japan?"

"Good. Okay. I really miss you guys and Jimmy, but eventually I might be able to move back."

Kirsten's face lit up even more. "When?"

"As soon as I make enough money to start a branch of the business here in the states."

"That's great!" Kirsten hugged her sister again, so glad to have her home. Since finding out about her father's affair, and the fact that he'd abandoned his youngest daughter for the first sixteen years of her life, she'd missed her mother and Hailey even more than usual. "Does Dad know you're here?"

"No, not yet. I thought I'd surprise him. Are you guys having a party or something for New Years?"

Kirsten looked at Sandy, who just shrugged. "Sure, we could. We'll invite Dad, and Jimmy, and the kids can invite their friends…" Sandy cleared his throat. "Or not, it could just be a family thing."

"No, I'd love to spend some QT with my nephew, or nephews or whatever. And Marissa's our step-sister, so she's family anyway."

Kirsten gritted her teeth but nodded. "Family, right." Well maybe Hailey would have better aim with the vase when she found out about Lindsay.

Ryan lied still on the couch in next room. Kirsten's voice had awoken him, but when the subject changed to Caleb, Ryan decided to stay put and pretend he was asleep. He was thankful when they moved the discussion out to the patio by the pool. Almost a week after the Chrismukkah fiasco, he still hadn't come to grips with the whole thing, and he still hadn't talked to Lindsay. He didn't know if he would ever get to kiss her again, but he didn't let his mind dwell on that thought. Instead, he imagined she was in his arms as he drifted back to sleep.