Disclaimer: still don't own anything, although I do own Scott (yay!) Actually, he's an ass I'm going to disown him.

A/N: I just wanted to say before I start this chapter that, I think I may have stolen an idea from Josh, (sorry!). The thing is, I live in England and we have only just seen up to 'The Test' (Rainy Day Women next week, I so hope Summer doesn't go to Italy with Zach) anyway, I showed this chapter to a friend who reads lots of spoilers (I never do, I like the drama!) and she said that Marissa does actually go and stay with the Cohens in ep 17 or something. So, I just wanted to say sorry for poaching an idea from the show but I had no idea I was doing it (great minds eh!) Please forgive me!

Wow! You lot rock! I seriouslymean it, I had a really awful day today but all your reviews totally cheered me up!

XGoingunderx, I'm so glad you liked chapters 6-9! I know, Scott is such an ass. I hate him, but hey he's all my own work so I can't really complain!

smartiepantz, I think you'll like this chapter then, Falling Apart (great title by the way!) rocks, I really like it!

BrSoccerChic, glad you liked it, I have to admit i thought the hug thing was kinda cute too.

melvg12, Everybody seems to be dying for Ryan/Marissa action don't they? I'll see what I can do! Thanks for reviewing.

Sis2ACesarSalad, Ryan and Marissa are back together? Really? Thats awesome (I know I said I never read spoilers but I kinda couldn't help reading that one, lol!) thats really cool, cant wait.

Carebear Stare, glad you liked the chapter. I'll read your story as soon as I've uploaded this!

danzinmushrooms, hope you like it the rest of it!

Marissa Atwood, great pen name (lol!) Im really glad you like it, thanks for reviewing

On with the story.

Chapter 10

Ryan and Marissa spent the next few hours playing playstation and although Ryan had improved he was no match for Marissa who seemed to be invincible. She took every opportunity to remind him of this.

"I see someone's feeling better then?" He laughed as she threw a handful of popcorn at him.

"Yep" She giggled, throwing some more.

They were suddenly interrupted Marissa's cell phone ringing. "Coop?" Summer said worriedly"Are you with Ryan?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You two are in so much trouble, Dr Kim called Sandy and Kirsten, I just thought I'd warn you."

"Oh, crap." Marissa said.

"Anyway, sorry Coop, gotta go. I sneaked out of Bio to call you, love ya." She hung up.

"Bugger." Marissa said flopping down on the bed. "Did you hear that?" Ryan nodded.

"Bugger?" Ryan repeated unphased by the news that he was in heaps of trouble, it was nothing new. "Who says that?"

"I do."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. Now shut up or I'll be forced to kick your ass again."

"Bugger." Ryan said again.

"Ok, fine. you give me no choice." She said picking up the controls and throwing them at Ryan.

"So, what are we going to tell Sandy and Kirsten when they gets home?" Ryan asked as he tried, and failed to defeat Marissa at playstation a few minutes later.

"About what?"

"About why we skipped a whole day of school to play playstation."

"I'll think of something" Marissa said airily.

"It had better be good." Ryan said concentrating hard on the screen.

"Well, I was thinking the truth." Marissa said as she triumphantly threw down the controls.

"What?" Ryan turned to face her. "You're gonna tell them?" Marissa nodded.

"It's no big deal," She said "Besides, my Mom and Caleb have gone to L.A. for a couple of days and I was kinda hoping that she would maybe let me stay here. After allme and Kirstenare like step-sisters, I think."

"Your Mom and Caleb have gone away?" Ryan repeated, she nodded again. "They left you alone after everything that's just happened?"

"Well, that's cos they dunno." Marissa mumbled

"What?"

"I haven't told them." She said more loudly.

"You haven't told them?"

"What are you, a parrot?" Marissa said, only half annoyed. "My Mom doesn't need to know." Ryan started to protest otherwise but she raised her hand to stop him. "She doesn't, she only cares about herself."

"I'm sure she'd care if she knew. If you told her." Ryan said softly, he could tell she was getting upset again.

"You are?" Marissa asked tearfully. "I'm not." Ryan reached out to brush away a tear that had started to fall down her cheek. She made out that she didn't care about her mom's selfishness but he knew she did. He knew that she wanted a proper relationship with her Mom, especially now that her Dad had gone to Japan with Hailey. Marissa shook her head, as if pulling herself together. "What did I say?" She said wagging her finger at him. "Enough with the drama." She looked around and stood up. "We should clean up, this place is a mess." They worked silently for a few minutes until Kirsten stormed through the pool house doors.

"What's this I hear about you two skipping class?" She demanded

"Kirsten, I can explain" Marissa said taking a deep breath, she looked at Ryan "Can you give us a minute?"

"Sure." He left the poolhouse closing the door behind him and went to wait in the kitchen.

Sitting on the bed in the poolhouse Marissa told Kirsten everything. She knew that she wouldn't overreact or fuss like her own mother would. She would just listen then try to help as much as she could.

"Oh, sweetie, that's awful." Kirsten breathed when Marissa had finished. They were both crying. "I'm so sorry, that's...awful."

"It's ok...well I mean it's not but..." She laughed dryly, "but there's just one more thing. My Mom and Caleb went to L.A. this morning for a few days and usually I would never ask but I really don't want to be home alone-"

"Of course you can stay." Kirsten said putting her arm around her, "As long as you like."

The evening passed uneventfully, they had takeout for dinner, Indian, as chosen by Marissa, then Ryan and Marissa watched an extreme makeover marathon until she noticed that he was nearly asleep.

"I'm really tired." She lied. She knew Ryan wouldn't leave her until she went to bed but she also knew that she wasn't remotely tired.

"You are?" Ryan asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I think I might go to bed."

"Ok," Ryan said standing up and stretching and trying unsuccessfully to stifle another yawn. Secretly he was pleased, he'd been trying not to fall asleep for the last hour. She gave him a quick hug and then started to make her way upstairs to the guest room.

"If you need anything..." Ryan called after her.

"I know where you live." She finished blowing him a kiss. "I'll be fine. Go!"

Once in bed, however, Ryan couldn't get to sleep. He didn't know why. He wasn't worried about Marissa, well not as much as he had been yesterday. After a couple of hours tossing and turning he went into the house to get a drink. Marissa was sitting on the couch watching TV in her pjs. Her knees were pulled up to her chin and she had her arms wrapped around them. He got a bottle of water from the fridge and went to sit next to her.

"Did you even go to bed?" He asked quietly. She nodded staring at the TV, although she obviously wasn't paying any attention to it. "Did you get any sleep?" He asked, she nodded again, her eyes brimming with tears. "Nightmares?" She shook her head violently but her tearstained face told a different story. He reached out and pulled her in close to him, at first she resisted but she soon sank into his arms. They sat there quietly for a few minutes, while she cried. When she had finished she reached for the bottle of water he had placed on the floor. He passed it to her and she took a sip. Neither of them said anything for a while.

"Better?" Ryan asked eventually, she nodded.

"A bit."

"Well, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere." Ryan said moving himself into a more comfortable position. He grabbed a cushion and a blanket then put the cushion behind his head and stretched out his legs so he was half lying down. Marissa moved so that she was lying half on top of him, half on the couch, using his chest as pillow. He covered them both with the blanket. "Is that ok?"

"Yeah. Perfect." She said pulling his arm around her waist. "Now, tell me a story."

"A story?"

"Yep."

"About what?" He asked puzzled

"Anything."

"How 'bout the epic tale that is Ryan and Marissa?" She giggled.

"Ok, but make it good."

"We're in it," he reminded her, "How can it not be good."

"True." She agreed "Now get on with it."

"Ok, once upon a time in a land far away, lets call it 'Oldport' - see what I did there?"

"Yeah, very good."

"Yeah so two beautiful people lived in Oldport, there names were Ryan and Marissa."

"Marissa and Ryan." She interrupted.

"Ok, Marissa and Ryan. Anyway, they met over a cigarette."

"It was very romantic." She said.

"Shut up." He scolded. "I'm trying to tell the story."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, they met over a cigarette, and Ryan immediately fell for Marissa, cos she was lovely-"

"You're not too bad yourself."

"Thanks, but unfortunately for him she already had a boyfriend, Luke."

"He wasn't as handsome as you." She interjected sleepily

"Thanks," Ryan paused thinking of what to say next "now Ryan wanted to go out with Marissa but he knew she would never cheat on Luke, unfortunately for her,Luke didn't have the same set of morals. When Ryan and Marissa-"

"Marissa and Ryan" she said again.

"Yeah them. When they went on a road trip to Tijuana they found Luke cheating on Marissa with Holly." Marissa's body tensed at the memory. Ryan rubbed her back slowly.

"Wait a sec," Marissa said sitting up. "You missed a bit."

"I did?"

"Gabrielle?" She poked him in the stomach.

"Nah, the Ryan in this story never does anything wrong." He said grinning.

"Ha!" She scoffed lying down again. "Ok, carry on."

"Yeah, so where was I? You keep putting me off."

"Tijuana."

"Oh yeah thanks. Anyway, so after Marissa found out about Luke and Holly he was history. Some other bad stuff happened in Tijuana but we don't like to talk about that do we?"

"No."

"No, that's right we don't. When they got back from Tijuana Marissa and Ryan finally got it on, on a ferris wheel."

"Even though Ryan was afraid of heights." Marissa said almost asleep.

"No, he wasn't. He was just a bit nervous."

"You were terrified."

"No I wasn't. Anyway, they kissed on the ferris wheel which was very romantic. And they all lived happily ever after." He paused, Marissa didn't correct him, she must be asleep. He decided to carry on. "So, maybe that bit was a lie." He said out loud to no one in particular "They did not live happily ever after. Far from it. Marissa met Oliver who was horrid and scary, and even though Ryan tried to tell her he was bad she didn't listen, she thought he was jealous. So Ryan broke up with Marissa cos he couldn't trust her. But what Marissa doesn't know is that Ryan feels guilty that Marissa ever met Oliver in the first place. She would never have met Oliver if she hadn't gone to therapy and she would never have gone to therapy if she hadn't seen Luke and Holly in TJ, and she wouldn't have seen Luke and Holly in TJ if she had stayed home like she wanted to. Ryan feels bad that he had dragged her along to TJ, even though she didn't really want to go." He took a deep breath before continuing "Ryan also feels really bad that he broke up with Marissa after the Oliver thing, cos he still loves her. Lots. He never stopped. So he lied when he said he didn't do anything wrong because he did. He screwed it up with Marissa and now she doesn't love him anymore. The End."He said quickly before sighing heavily and closing his eyes.

"I should hope that's not the end." Marissa said in a small voice making Ryan jump. "That sounds like a good story. It needs a proper fairytale ending."

Ok, folks, there you go. I really hope you liked that chapter. Now I have a confession to make. For the first time since I started posting this story I haven't already written the next chapter in full, and I need help! I've half written it, but I would really, really like your opinions on how you think they should both react to that, please! (I've been working on chapter 11 for four days and I still can't nail it, so any ideas however small would be greatly appreciated) Thanks in anticipation, Claire xx