SATURDAY MORNING, 6:15AM

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Ryan's alarm was going off. He slammed the snooze button, and dozed off again.

10 minutes later…

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Again Ryan hit the snooze button, a little quicker to respond this time.

Another 10 minutes later…

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

This time he knew he couldn't sleep in anymore.

Very groggy, Ryan sat up in bed. He looked at the alarm clock radio that was the cause of him waking so early. 6:40 Am. He could hardly believe he was getting up this early on a Saturday.

Slowly he stood up and stretched. He then grabbed a towel from the cupboard and walked to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later he emerged from the bathroom vigorously drying his hair. He put on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a shirt over. He sat down at the end of the bed, pulled on a pair of socks which he had got from the draw, and put on his shoes.

Saturday morning was normally a time when Ryan could sleep in. He didn't work on weekends, and all the lost sleep from during the week he'd catch up on Saturday.

However, this morning was different.

Ryan made his way downstairs towards the kitchen to grab a quick bit to eat. He needed to be at the airport in under an hour, so he could only have something on the run. He poured himself a quick cup of coffee and made himself a cream-cheese bagel. He wolfed down his breakfast and raced out to the airport, looking at his watch every 5 minutes to make sure he'd be there on time.

40 minutes later Ryan pulled up at the parking lot of the OC Airport. He was 10 minutes late, so he went straight to the terminal gate.

"I thought you had forgotten." Marissa commented and gave Ryan a hug.

"No, how could I forget you?" Ryan replied convincingly.

Marissa smiled at him, as he grabbed her bags. They made their way out the airport.

"So how was New York?" Ryan asked.

"Good. A bit too busy for my liking, but it was a good time. I understand now why they call it the city that never sleeps! The show went off without TOO many glitches, so I'm happy about that." Marissa responded with a smile.

Marissa had only completed one year in college, where she hooked up with an entertainment manager for Rock-On Entertainment International, Mr. Phillip Green. He had offered her a once-in-a-life-time job as an Events Coordinator, in which she would be responsible for organizing and arranging various concerts, live shows and other proceedings for assorted charity organizations. It required her to travel quite extensively from one end of the country to the other. She had been in New York for the past three weeks working on a rock concert event that was organized to raise funds for homeless children.

Marissa had been dating Phillip for almost a year; until she found out he was actually married and broke it off with him about 4 months ago. Ryan had not been in any serious relationship since high school. He had had a few short-term hook-ups that lasted no longer than a few months, his most recent being the longest and that only being 5 months. Ryan and Marissa had not got back together at all after the whole Oliver story, however over the years, they had developed a pretty decent friendship.

"So, you want some breakfast?" Marissa said looking at her watch.

"Sure…" Ryan responded.

The two of them made their way over to a coffee shop located just outside the airport. They sat down and spoke for hours catching up on lost time.

ZACH & SUMMER'S PLACE

Summer had got herself a not-so-dreamy job as an executive secretary for a large investment company. It's wasn't exactly what she had in mind as a career preference, but it was fine for now, and she really saw it as just a stepping stone for greater things to come. In college she had studied to be a fashion consultant wanted to be an international buyer for Fashion Island. Realizing that this dream wasn't going to materialize any time soon, she applied for the first 'okay' job she found in the paper, and got it.

She and Zach had been dating seriously for the past 3 years, and 7 days ago Zach had proposed to her.

Zach came walking in to the room with a cup of coffee. He put the coffee down on the night stand, then sat down at the end of Summer's side of the bed, and gently shook her awake. She turned over very sleepily, lifted her head slightly, and opened one eye to look at the bed-side clock.

It read 8:29.

She dropped her head back down on the pillow.

"Zach… it's still early…" Summer grumbled.

Zach ran his hand through her hair. "Sweetie… you need to get up now, or else we'll be late for our appointment."

"What appointment?" Summer mumbled.

"The one I scheduled with a marriage counselor."

This got Summer's attention, and she turned over on her back and opened her eyes. "You scheduled us a session with a marriage counselor?" Summer was shocked.

"Actually, I scheduled five, and technically he's a pastor, but he is a qualified marriage consultant too."

"What? Zach! You can't just go doing that and not let me know…" Summer was a bit annoyed, and she now sat up in bed.

"But… I mentioned it to you the day before yesterday… remember?"

"No you didn't! Trust me, I'd remember something like that…"

"No… If I recall, I still mentioned it to you when you phoned me to say you'd be home late the other night."

"Oh… right…" Summer realized he was correct. It was a busy day, but she can vaguely recall something like that.

"Um, but is it really necessary… I mean… we're not even married yet, and we're already going for counseling… that can't be good…"

Zach laughed. "No, it's not like that. It's more like PREPARATION for marriage. I guess 'counseling is a bit misleading… it's not like… tips."

"Tips hey? Sounds… interesting." Summer said with her cute half-smile.

"Well, I'm going downstairs to finish cooking breakfast." And with that Zach got up and kissed Summer on the lips.

"Oh, Zach…" Summer called as he was leaving the room. He turned around. "The next four, could you schedule them a little later… say after lunch!"

Zach smiled, "Sure." He turned and left the room.

Summer sat up and slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed. For the first time she began to wonder about this engagement, but she just brushed it off as her first fear of the unknown.