Disclaimer: still don't own anything

drown-in-fate, thanks, glad you liked it! Don't worry, he'll get what he deserves!

smartiepantz,Thanks for reviewing!And, coincidentally your review(the bit about the Ryan/Marissa) leads nicely into this chapter, hope it doesn't disappoint.

Anyway, here we go folks!

Chapter 7

Two days later Ryan was starting to get seriously worried. Marissa had barely spoken to him since Monday morning and when he had tried to speak to her at school Summer had dragged her away from him. She didn't seem upset anymore, just angry. She wasn't answering her cell and Ryan knew better than to call the Cooper-Nichol house phone. There was only one thing for it, he decided. He would have to go over there. He vacated the poolhouse and walked into the kitchen, empty. There was a note from Sandy and Kirsten on the counter "Gone out to dinner, be back around 10." As Seth was nowhere to be found, Ryan scrawled another note next to the one from their parents telling him that he was going to Marissa's. He grabbed the keys to the Range Rover and left the house.

Marissa sat on her bed wondering whether or not to call Ryan. He had called her cell about twenty times today and left numerous messages, but she hadn't got back to him. It wasn't that she didn't want to speak to him, she did, more than anything. She just wanted him to give her a hug and tell her it was all gonna be ok. It was just that Ryan was always rescuing her from some crisis or another, at Christmas when she had gotten drunk, the whole Oliver thing, when she got locked in the bathroom, Tijuana, the hopstital after Tijuana, the list went on and on. He must be sick of it by now. She didn't want to be a burden, on anyone, but especially him now that things were so good between them. That's why she had seemed so angry, she wanted to drive him away. Her thoughts were interrupted by her Mother calling up the stairs to her.

"Marissa, honey, visitor." This was followed by a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" She called shakily, Scott hadn't contacted her or tried to talk to her at school since Sunday night but she wouldn't put it past him to waltz in and pretend nothing had happened.

"It's me." Ryan said quietly. She didn't move from her position on the bed. "Can I come in?" he asked. Nothing "Please, Marissa?" He opened the door a fraction.

"Ok," she sighed, trying desperately not to cry. He came in and shut the door behind him.

"I'm sorry." He said getting striaght to the point. She jerked her head up to look at him.

"Why, what have you done?" She asked.

"I was hoping you could help me out with that one." He half smiled, making his way over to sit on her bed. She moved immediately away from him and looked at the floor.

"Huh?" She was confused, what was he on about?

"You've barely spoken to me all week, Summer won't let you near me and I'm well...at a loss as to what I might have done." Marissa looked at him tearfully. "Hey, don't cry," he said moving towards her, she backed away more violently this time jumping off the bed. It wasn't just him. She wouldn't let anyone except Summer touch her, when Caleb had passed her her car keys this morning she had nearly jumped out of her skin. Her Mom just thought she was 'tired' and hadn't noticed that there was anything wrong with her daughter.

"What's the matter?" Ryan asked again.

"It's not you..." She said finally "I...no one...only Summer."

"What?" She took a deep breath.

"If I tell you, will you promise not to try and touch me again?" She asked, sitting back down on the bed, as far away from him as was possible. Whenever someone touched her it bought back horrible memories, she knew she was overreacting, it wasn't as if Scott had actually raped her but she couldn't help it,

"Yeah ok." Ryan was confused. She sat back down on the bed and told him everything bit by bit. She watched his hands clench into fists as he finally realised what had happened. She managed not to cry until she had finished, then she couldn't help it. She sat and looked at Ryan. Silent tears poured down her cheeks for what seemed like the tenth time that day. He didn't know what to say, or do. All he wanted to do was to reach over and hold her, tell it was going to be ok, that he would help her, but he couldn't. He had promised. Minutes passed, they just sat there in silence, Marissa cried quietly. Part of her was relieved that she had finally told him, the other part was angry with herself for doing so when she had vowed not to.

Finally, when she had finished crying, "So, you see, it's not anything you did" she tried to joke.

Ryan looked at her, smiling sadly. "I'm so sorry, I've been so selfish." She shook her head.

"No that's what I wanted to do."

"What?"

"It sounds stupid now, but I wanted to push you away so that you wouldn't want to know what was wrong."

"But why-" she cut him off.

"It doesn't matter." Ryan looked over to the window, then asked carefully.

"Scott, have you...talked...?"

"No. I never want to see him again." She said firmly. Ryan nodded, he understood. His mind was racing. He had honestly believed that Scott was a good guy, he seemed to really like Marissa. Ryan wasn't stupid, he could usually see through untrustworthy people but Scott had fooled him. Completely. He wanted to kill him.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"What have you done now!" Marissa said trying to laugh. Ryan half smiled again, just for a second, before saying.

"I dunno, I should have known." Marissa shook her head.

"No, no. We all should have guessed but we didn't." Then she surprised herself and him by moving closer to Ryan and taking his hand. He looked at her. "It's ok, I want to." She said reasurring him. She squeezed his hand tightly. "You wanna play playstation?" She asked for lack of anything else to say. She didn't want to but she thought he might.

"No," Ryan said, not looking her directly in the eyes. She squeezed his hand again.

"Listen, you know now. Lets forget about it."

"How can you...he tried..." Ryan trailed off.

"I know, but I'll get over it, I'll be ok." She said softly, and truly believed it. Now that she had told him she felt much better already. "And you know what?" Ryan shook his head. "You haven't threatened to kill him yet, I'm impressed" she smiled.

"Oh, I do want to." Ryan said "But you need me now, he can wait." Marissa smiled, she knew he meant it. He wasn't going anywhere and she was glad. "What?" he asked gently.

"You were right, we are grown up." She said. Ryan half smiled back, stroking her fingers with his thumb.

"No, we're not." He said sadly. "If we were I'd know what to say to you."

"I know, kind of a conversation stopper." She whispered. He could tell she was about to cry again. Before he could say anything else his cell rang.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Ryan?" Sandy said anxiously.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Ryan looked at his watch, it read 23:45. How long had they been sitting there? It had only felt like a few minutes

"I'm so sorry," Ryan said. "I had no idea, I'll be home in ten."

"Glad to hear it. Drive safely" Sandy said before hanging up.

Ryan turned to Marissa "I've gotta go, sorry."

"It's ok" She said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"It's gonna be ok," He said looking her straight in the eyes. "I promise."

"I know."

Ryan kissed his forefinger and held it up in front of Marissa, she did the same to hers and pressed it to his. Then she giggled, she had made this stupid thing up when they were dating, they used to do it in class underneath tables when they couldn't make out for real. Ryan had always thought it was a dumb idea.

"You hate that." She said quietly.

"I know, but it seems kinda appropriate." He said halfsmiling. "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and started to walk towards the door.

"Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"When I'm ready for a hug..."

"Make sure you come to me first" He finished.

"Promise." She said smiling.

K, so there you go! I hope the ending wasn't too cheesy for anyone, will post next chapter on tuesday at the latest! R&R please! Thanks