Disclaimer- If I owned the OC, this would probably be an actual storyline, but it's not, but hey, Josh, if you're looking, I have all the time in the world.
A/N- Wow, thanks so much for all the reviews, they really make me update faster, since you guys like it so much. And I know I have a bunch of other stories, but I just have so many ideas with this story, so...
This is probably a few days later, Marissa is obviously staying with Ryan and the thing with Marissa and Maddy is going to be an issue, just to tell you...and of course there's Eddie...and the wedding...
Let's just say this is the day of the wedding, and Theresa will be in Atlanta, and Maddy is going to stay with Ryan...and Marissa.
On with the story...
"Are you ready?!" Ryan asked, his voice bouncing off all the walls in the apartment. Marissa walked out in her dark pink bridesmaid dress, which fit her thin frame snugly. Her honey blonde hair was down and wavy, a matching barrette on the side of her curls.
"Wow!" Ryan whispered.
"You think?" Marissa asked. He walked over to her, "Um, I'm trying hard not to," he joked. She giggled and nudged him playfully.
"You do realize that there's gonna be three other women that are gonna look exactly like me?" she pointed out. Ryan tilted his head, pretending to analyze her last comment. "I guess, but you'll still be the best looking woman there."
"Aside from the bride?" she joked.
"To me, still better looking than the bride," he said sweetly. Marissa laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him softly; the kisses grew more frequent. They continued kissing, wanting it to go a little further, Ryan's hand going farther down her hips.
But instead, Ryan's cell went off. They quickly pulled away, like they were being caught, and he checked the call display. "Theresa," he informed. She nodded knowingly and took his hand, leading him out the door.
--
Theresa entered the ceremony hall, Maddy in tow. She saw Marissa out of the corner of her eye, Ryan not too far away from her. She noticed how they kept glancing at each other sneakily. She rolled her eyes.
Ryan finally saw Theresa and went over to her. He hugged Maddy and took some of her bags. "I'm staying an extra week in Atlanta,"Theresa spoke up bluntly.
Ryan was surprised at first, "Um, okay? Well, our first court date is the first of March, lawyers called, so you'll be back by than," he explained.
"Okay, well, I'm gonna go say bye to Summer, Maddy come here sweetie." She hugged Maddy tightly and whispered good byes in her ear and than walked off to Summer's dressing room in tears.
"Hey Mads, do you want to go put your stuff in my car?" Ryan asked. She nodded and they went to Ryan's car and put a duffle bag and her backpack inside the trunk. Marissa came out and saw the two of them. "Hey!" she greeted.
Maddy turned around, "Hi," she said back, confused.
"Maddy? This is my friend, Marissa." He looked down for her reaction. "She's gonna stay with us too, okay?" Ryan introduced them.
"What? Why?"
"Because..." Ryan trailed off.
"Don't you have a house?" she questioned, glaring at Marissa. She knew this woman was one of the reasons her Mom had been crying for the past few days. She knew this woman was the reason of her parents' divorce.
"She does, but it's in New York, so she'll staying with us," Ryan explained, butting in.
"Fine," the dark haired girl snapped.
"So I hear you're the flower girl," Marissa tried to make light of the situation.
"I am," she retorted.
"Come on, the wedding's starting soon," Ryan told them both, grabbing Maddy's hand and touching Marissa's waist lightly, ushering them both in the doors.
--
"Oh! Sum! You look gorgeous!" Marissa exclaimed as Summer looked at herself in the mirror. "Thanks," Summer smiled excitedly.
"Girls! Now!" Kirsten yelled excitedly as she tapped her watch. Marissa wiggled her eyebrows excitedly and gave Summer a hug than left her dressing room and met Ryan halfway. She smiled warmly at him and he returned the gesture. A slow song started playing, and Maddy started walking down the aisle, throwing flowers at people, instead of down the aisle. People thought this was funny and smiled at the little girl.
Finally after 2 or three couples had linked arms and walked down the aisle, it was Ryan and Marissa's turn. They smiled at each other, linked arms, and walked down, following the other couples. People continued to make their oohs-ahhs, until the wedding march started to play and they got up and waited for Summer and her father to come down.
Summer smiled at Seth once she locked eyes with him and Ryan locked eyes with Marissa and they didn't take their gaze off each other until Seth abruptly hugged him.
"I'm married!" Seth yelled at Ryan while hugging him.
"Congrats man." Seth turned around and took Summer's hand and they ran off. Marissa linked an arm through Ryan's again and they walked off, Maddy walking closely behind them.
--
"Do youwanna dance?" Ryan asked Marissa. She smiled brightly and took his hand and followed him to a nearby corner where they started slow dancing. She looked around and observed, "Good wedding." She rested the sides of their heads together.
"It is," he agreed.
"Maddy's beautiful..." she trailed off, thinking it wasn't the best choice of words. "Sorry..."
Ryan smiled weakly at her, "its okay."
"Have you...thought about...maybe telling Eddie?"
"I want to," Ryan sighed,"but Theresa doesn't, I told her she has to; don't want the same thing to happen to Eddie that happened to me."
Marissa nodded knowingly, "I don't think she likes me very much."
"Who? Maddy?" Ryan pulled his head from hers. Marissa nodded. "Of course she does, it'll just take a little while, besides, how can she not love you?" he asked jokingly. Marissa smiled and rested her head on the opposite side of where it was now and kissed his ear lightly. His ears shot up and she kept the tips of her lips on his ear, tickling and fully arousing him.
Maddy watched and searched for Ryan until she saw him in a nearby corner, dancing with Marissa. "Aunt Summer, who is that woman, Marissa?" she asked. Summer and Seth stopped their playful bickering and turned their attention to the little girl. They looked at each other, "Um, she's an old friend of your Dad's. Why sweetie?"
She shrugged, "She's staying with us."
"What?!" they practically screamed. "At your house?" they asked disbelievingly. But they were too late; Maddy was already halfway across the dance floor, racing over to Ryan and Marissa. They just decided to shrug it off and kept poking each other lovingly.
Maddy tugged on Ryan's pants until finally he pulled away from Marissa. He looked down at her and back at Marissa; they looked embarrassed. "Hey," he said softly to her picking her up, so they were all face to face. "I want to dance with my Daddy," she told Marissa in a snotty tone. Marissa looked surprised at the girl's sharp tongue; she looked at Ryan as he gave her a 'sorry' look. 'It's okay', she mouthed as she touched his arm lightly and gave Maddy a small smile. Once Marissa started walking away, Maddy hugged Ryan's neck tightly, as he caught on to her waist, letting her feet dangle against his knees. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling away from the death grip. He held her in a more comfortable position, one arm in the crease of her knees, and the other hand held hers, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, but not so tightly this time; "Yeah," she nodded her head.
"Do you miss Mommy?" he asked.
She nodded her head once again and let a few tears slip. He wiped them away, "Hey, hey, it's okay, we'll have lots of fun," he told her softly.
"With Marissa?"
Ryan looked skeptical, "Yeah. Remember? She is gonna stay with us."
"Are you gonna marry her?"
He was surprised by the question, "Why did you ask that?" he asked instead, ignoring her last comment. She shrugged and hugged him, still dancing.
"I love you Daddy," she said softly.
"I love you too princess," he said as he looked over and saw Marissa, giving her a sad smile.
"Maddy's a real sweet girl," Marissa commented, turning her attention to Seth and Summer. They looked at each other, than at Marissa. "Yeah, she is." Summer raised her eyebrows smugly, "so Coop? How long have you been in town?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
Marissa gave her a weird look, "Um, I don't know, why?"
"I thought you said that you were coming in Tuesday," Summer remembered.
"Yeah, I guess," she said with shrugged shoulders.
"So than you didn't come into town earlier?"
"I did," she told them truthfully.
"Than why didn't you come by?"
"Well, it was just for work, I couldn't stay long."
"Where did you stay?"
"Hotel." Marissa continued answering all of Summer's questions, to which she thought were pretty pointless.
Summer and Seth nodded their heads "hmm" and looked back at Marissa. "Okay.You guys, what's with the third degree?" she asked with a small, nervous laugh.
"Just wanna catch up with an old friend, that's all," Seth cut in.
"Okay, well, than stop acting like..."
"Hey guys," Ryan greeted, Maddy still in his arms. He sat down next to Marissa, Maddy in his lap. Marissa mentally sent him a 'thank you' for interrupting their conversation; Ryan noticed her grateful look. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"What gave you the idea that something's going on?"
Ryan sighed at their rambling and looked down at Maddy, whose feet were kicking Marissa's chair unnoticeably. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in a little closer, and Marissa moved her chair a little, but Maddy stretched herself and with the tips of her toes and kept kicking her chair.
Finally, Ryan grabbed her legs and put them over his knees, and kept them there with his hands. Marissa noticed this and moved her chair back; unnoticeably, a little closer than its normal position, and crossed her legs, her feet hovering right above Ryan's.
"Quite the flower girl you have there," Seth emphasized 'you' for some reason with a small laugh. Ryan tensed up and his face fell, she wasn't his, and he didn't want to be reminded. Marissa saw this, and tapped the bottom of her foot on Ryan's shoe a few times, trying to comfort him without it being obvious, or make the situation obvious either. Ryan felt her foot on his and smiled at her warmly, and she gladly returned it.
Maddy started playing with Ryan's hair and face, squeezing his cheeks and ruffling his hair. "You look nice Daddy," she told him with an exaggerated grin. "Doesn't he Marissa?" she added. Marissa looked up and met Ryan's eyes, "He does," she said dreamily.
Summer squealed and clapped her hands excitedly. "First husband and wife dance," Seth explained. Ryan and Marissa nodded their heads knowingly and watched as Seth and Summer danced.
After a few more songs had passed, Ryan asked Marissa to dance again, trying not to make anything obvious of it. Just as they went to their spot, (corner) Maddy followed and demanded to dance with Ryan. Ryan sighed but danced with her anyways. After about 3 dances, they finally sat down; Marissa had an amused look on her face. Maddy had run off and just as Ryan had gotten up for the millionth time to ask Marissa to dance with him, Maddy interrupted. She was dragging a dark, curly haired man by his tie. "Marissa, this is my friend Chip," she introduced.
"Hi Chip," Marissa said. Ryan lent his hand out, "Ryan."
"I'm Chip," he told them once again. Maddy flicked his knee and Chip came back to reality. "Oh, right. Mary...uh, Marissa, do you wanna dance...on the dance floor?" he asked. Obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Marissa looked around and saw Kirsten and Summer looking intently at her and Ryan. Ryan followed her stare and gave a small nod of his head, signaling it was fine. "Sure Chip," she said disappointedly as she followed him onto the dance floor.
"Did you set this up?" Ryan asked Maddy with a small, knowing smile on his face. Maddy sat down, and nodded. "So she can get married, and won't have to live with you anymore."
"How do you know her and Chip are going to get married?" he asked. She shrugged.
"What if I ever married Marissa?" Ryan asked casually. She narrowed her eyes, "Why would you ever marry Marissa?" This time, Ryan shrugged. He looked over his shoulder to see Marissa staring into space and Chip staring at someone's shoes.
"What if I said that Marissa might be in our lives a lot more often now, what would you say?"
"I don't know." She looked over to Marissa and Chip. "I think Chip and Marissa are going to get married," she stated victoriously. Ryan 'hmmed' the idea, not really paying attention to what she was saying and continued to bite his cracker.
--
The room was mostly quiet, people were either slurring, or shouting comments at each other, but it still had peacefulness to it. Maddy was asleep on the stage, where the band was playing. She had done the liberty of introducing every single woman to Ryan and making them dance together and had set Marissa up with every single guy in the room as well.
Ryan was holding half a drunken woman in his arms, Carla, or Caroline, something like that; he couldn't quite remember. She started mumbling a few things and started dozing off, so Ryan dragged her over to a chair where she just totally fell asleep.
"Final dance of the night," the band director announced softly into the microphone.
Ryan quickly walked over to Marissa, and tapped her shoulder lightly. "May I have this dance?"
She looked around and smiled brightly at him, "You may." Shetook his hand in hers and took a spot right in the middle of the dance floor and started moving back and forth, rythmitically to the soft playing music; Ryan's arms wrapped around her waist, Marissa's arms around his neck. After a few minutes, the song ended, and Ryan and Marissa had finished their first dance.
The wedding was pretty much over when Seth and Summer had left, but they just stuck around, hoping for that dance with each other. Ryan held a few bags in his hands as he and Marissa walked over to the stage. "Do you want me to...?" Marissa asked. He nodded gratefully and watched as Marissa picked Madison up carefully and cradled her in her arms, but not waking her up.
They walked past a tipsy Kirsten and Sandy; said their good byes to them. Marissa motioned to them that she had to help Ryan with Maddy, making an excuse to go along with Ryan. Even though they were too drunk to care. No one else knew that Marissa was staying with Ryan except for Maddy and the obvious two.
Marissa put Maddy in the back seat and offered to stay there with her, making sure nothing bad happened. Ryan drove, and checked his rearview mirror once in a while, catching her stroking Madison's hair or holding onto her tightly when they were on bumpy roads.
A little while later, they finally reached Ryan's apartment and walked through the door, Marissa still cradling Maddy in her amrs. But before Marissa could successfully make it,the little girl started to stir in her arms. "Shh..." Marissa cooed.
Maddy rubbed her eyes sleepily, "What? Where are we?" she questioned.
"Home, just go back to sleep okay sweetie?"
"'M'kay," she said still sleepily, "good night" and closed her eyes once again. Marissa breathed a sigh of relief and settled her down in 'her new room, at Ryan's.
He and Marissa had gone shopping the past week, for things around the house which included Maddy's room. She pulled the covers over her; she was still wearing her flower girl dress. Marissa went to the edge of the bed and slowly removed her shoes, and turned on the night light in her room.
She went into Ryan's room as he handed her a few plastic bags and motioned for them to move into the kitchen. "Thanks," he said, referring to Maddy.
"No problem, she doesn't hate me when she's sleeping," Marissa joked.
"She doesn't hate you," Ryan protested softly; and saw Marissa's look; "You'll grow on her. Just like you did on me," he added, walking over to her and placing his hands on her hips.
"Well, if I grew on you, than just about anything is possible," she joked as they leaned in for a kiss but were interrupted by a toilet flushing and a groggy Maddy scratching herself.
"I had to pee," she explained, "what are you doing?"
"Nothing," they said in unison.
"Marissa was just helping me get my tie off," Ryan recovered lamely, pointing to his loose tie, and walking over to the little girl.
"Silly Daddy, I'll do it," she said proudly and took the tie over his head,placing it on a nearby couch.
"Thank you," he said childishly. "Go get your pajamas on, and I'll tuck you in."
"Everything's packed," she countered.
"Right...I'll go find them," Ryan said and walked into her room, looking for her duffle bag.
Maddy hopped on a barstool, and joined Marissa. "Are you and Chip gonna get married?"
Marissa laughed, "No, what gave you that idea?"
"I don't know. What about Will?"
"Who's Will?" Marissa asked.
"That second guy you danced with." Maddy jogged her memory.
"Oh..." she made a thoughtful face, "No, what makes you think I want to marry someone?"
"Because, you're old."
"I'm not old, I'm the same age as your Dad," she said, trying to hold her laughter in.
"And my Daddy's married, and so are Uncle Seth and Aunt Summer," she pointed out.
"True, but I don't think you should marry someone unless you really love them."
"So no Chip?" she asked disappointedly, slumping her shoulders.
"No Chip," Marissa confirmed.
"What about my D..."
"Here ya go." Ryan came back in the room, holding a pair of pink and purple pajamas.
Maddy continued to linger in between the two adults. "I wanna stay up with you guys." She smiled brightly at them.
"We're not gonna stay up," Ryan cut in.
"Oh." She looked suspiciously at Marissa,"Marissa where are you sleeping?" she asked. Get the sleeping arrangements figured out.
"Couch," Marissa replied, almost on cue. Maddy seemed satisfied and walked off in her room. Marissa and Ryan walked in 'their' room, or where they had been sleeping for the past week, but now, Marissa's room was the couch. They quickly undressed into sweats and t-shirts as Maddy waited outside their room, hands on hips.
"I was...uh, uh, getting my stuff," countered Marissa nervously.
"Why do you keep it in there?"
Ryan came out of the room, and swept her off the ground. "Say good night to Marissa, okay?" he ignored the last comment.
"Good night," she told Marissa.
"Good night, nice to meet you Maddy," Marissa said back and watched as they walked into Maddy'sr oom together.
Ryan plopped her down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. "Daddy? Will you read me a story?" she asked.
"It's too late, it's...3 in the morning," he checked his watch, "tomorrow, okay?"
"3? Wow! I stayed up late!" she yelled happily.
"Yes you did, and so you need to go to sleep right away," he tickled her. She burst into giggles until Ryan was finally slapped and he stopped. "Okay, g' night Daddy."
"Night princess." He kissed the top of her head and closed her door slightly.
He went into the living room and saw Marissa watching TV uninterestingly. He took a seat next to her, but before he could do anything else, Maddy came out of the room. "I thought you were sleeping?" she questioned.
Ryan quickly got up, "I am, we are, we were just saying good night," he rambled. Maddy waited there, at her door. "Night Marissa," he said, almost in a bussiness like manner.
"Night Ryan," Marissa smiled.
Ryan walked back into his room, and Maddy stood outside hers until his shut. Feeling satisfied once again, she went into her room as well. Marissa smiled and went into the kitchen, grabbing an ice cream carton.
Ryan finally and slowly unlocked the door to his room and peeked his head out into the living room. He had been in that room for over an hour, not being able to sleep. Maddy had taken bathroom breaks every 10 minutes but had finally stopped about 20 minutes ago so Ryan felt he was safe.
He saw Marissa sitting on the couch, eating ice cream and watching TV. He looked around and finally sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and making her lean on him. "I was wondering when you were going to come out," she said with a small laugh.
"You knew?"
"Oh, I know you so well," she teased. Ryan made an 'oh, really' face before Marissa stuck a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in his mouth. She laughed and he laughed until finally their faces were only inches apart. Ryan took the spoon out of his mouth and set it back down in the ice cream box and kissed Marissa passionately. He slipped his hands under her shirt, on her sides as they started to lean back on the couch, Marissa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and they continually kissed, until...
the sound of a doorknob jiggling was heard and Maddy came out. They pulled back and tried to remain as calm as possible. "What are you guys doing; I thought you were going to sleep?"
"We were," Ryan explained, "but I couldn't sleep, so Marissa was helping me keep busy."
"Me too," Marissa chipped in.
"I can't sleep either!" she announced happily as she wedged herself between them.
"Joy," Ryan said dryly.
"Come on Daddy, it'll be fun!" She took the remote control from Marissa's hands and started flipping through the channels as Ryan and Marissa looked at each other longingly.
A/N- Now that was a long chapter! Phew! Maddy's a fun character to write, but we're still not done with the whole Eddie ordeal either, and of course there's the divorce, and no one knows about them, except them and Theresa, so everyone has to find out, which MIGHT happen next chapter. I'm really getting into this story, but I still haven't forgotten my other one's as well, just having a little trouble, or working on like 3 things at one time. Well, hope you liked it, and please review!