Chapter Nine

The bedside clock read 8:05 am, which meant that Ryan had been lying awake for almost four hours now. It was a natural instinct that had woken him from sleep as he became aware of his surrounding he remembered what had happened the night before. They had gone to the Cohens, then to the beach, then back to her apartment under the pretense of making love, but things had come to a quick halt and she had told him a secret that broke his heart. Now hours later Ryan laid awake and merely watched her sleep. She was still in the exact position she'd fallen asleep in, her arms clinging around him, her head nuzzled against his chest. For hours all he'd been doing was watching her sleep, listening to her breathing and wondering how on Earth could anyone ever want to hurt someone so breath takingly beautiful.

Ryan smiled to himself as he felt Marissa finally begin to stir. Marissa raised her head a bit and reached over to the alarm clock, turning it in towards her.

"It's too early, I'm going back to sleep," she flopped her head back onto his chest as if she was used to waking up with him. But it was then that she paused and looked up, realizing that it wasn't all a dream that he actually was in bed with her. "Oh no," she reached up to her hair. "Don't look at me I have bed head."

"Too late," he gave a soft chuckle after which he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

Marissa buried her head back into Ryan's chest, "Thank you," she whispered so softly he could barely make it out.

"For what?"

The question made Marissa lift her head to study his face. That simple question sent her mind spinning. How could he not realize what he'd done for her the night before? How could he not see what a huge step she'd just taken, only because he was there to hold her hand? "What you did for me last night. I never thought I'd feel safe again, I never thought…," she paused and sighed. Her eyes were bluer than usual as she looked up to him trying to find the words to tell him what she was feeling; "I can't verbalize it, Ryan. It was just really special, ok?"

Ryan reached up and ran his hand down her face resting it on her cheek he traced the outline of her lips with his thumb, "Marissa I…" He caught his words in his throat before they could come out. He didn't know where they had come from, but they weren't what he had meant to start. "I didn't do anything special, I just did what was right." He immediately shut his eyes after he finished. He knew that didn't sound right, but he had caught himself off guard.

"You're amazing," she gave him a soft smile. "I just want to stay like this all day." She snuggled herself back against him.

"Too bad we can't." He gave her a soft squeeze.

"Why not, it's Saturday you don't have to work?"

"No, but I do have to be at the gym for noon."

"You can't be late? Or better yet not show up?" She playfully poked her lip out at him.

"I have a big fight in three weeks, once in Reno which my girlfriend will be attending."

"You bet and if the guy in the ring doesn't rough you up enough I'll finish it off for him," Marissa sat up and made fists at Ryan.

"You're cute when you try to be a boxer, you know that." Sitting up her snaked an arm around her and pulled her into a deep kiss. "You know I've usually already ran a few miles by this time in the morning."

"Good God Ryan it's like eight thirty, what time do you run?"

"I get up at four thirty, go for my run, I've already been up that long."

"You been up since four thirty in the morning?" There was a hint of shock in her voice.

"Yep."

"And you didn't wake me?"

He shook his head at her, "I just kinda watched you sleep, tried to figure out what you might be dreaming about. Admired how beautiful you are," he reached up and brushed a stray hair behind her ear.

"That's sweet," she playfully cocked her head back. "A little creepy but still sweet." She leaned in and kissed him again. "I could get used to this, having you here with me in the mornings, you're not grumpy like Summer."

"Well that might have something to do with the fact that I've been up for a while, because I promise you at four am I am not this pleasant."

"Like anyone's pleasant at four am." She joked back with him, as they fell back onto the bed.

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Summer jumped from the kitchen when she heard movement coming down the stairs, "Coop, thank God you're awake. I almost came and woke you up like an hour ago, I've been dying to hear how things when with you're mom and Chino last night."

"It could have been better," Ryan answered Summer's question as he made his way down the last few steps.

A bright shade of red crossed Summer's face, "Oh Chino…," she tried to mask the utter shock in her face. "What did you do with Coop?"

For a moment he thought about making a joke about stuffing her in the closet or saying she was still tied to the bed, but he thought better and simply answered her question, "She's in the bathroom, she'll be down in a minute."

"Oh, well… ahh… have a good day," she answered him and quickly returned back to the kitchen.

"Marissa, I'm leaving." Ryan called back upstairs, as he inched his way to the front door.

Marissa bounded down the stair and almost knocked him over as she jumped into his arms, plastering his face with kisses. "If you must, but you'll call right?"

He nodded in response, "As soon as I get done, maybe you could come over tonight?"

Summer pressed her ear against the kitchen wall trying to eavesdrop, and picked up bits and piece of the conversation. In her opinion Chino needed to leave, Coop had some serious explaining to do. As soon as she heard the front door close she flew from the kitchen, and grabbed Marissa. "He stayed the night? Oh my God Coop, Chino spent the night!"

Marissa shrugged and gave her a sly grin, "Yea so?"

"Umm hello this is huge, I mean hello did I mention he stayed the night?" She watched as Marissa shrugged again. "Ok why are you not talking, I want details, I mean like serious serious details, Coop did I mention this is huge?"

"Nothing happened, he just stayed the night."

"Nothing! The man braves Julie Cooper and then stays the night and you're going to tell me nothing happened? You're not getting off that easy, I want the whole story from beginning to now."

"Well we went to dinner with at the Cohen's, and it was weird at first because my dad the sports fanatic, he seemed to already know everything about Ryan. So things were going good, then my mother showed up and totally berated him, she and I got into a fight, and we left before dinner even started."

Summer waved her hand in a circular motion, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what get to the sex, I mean that's what's so huge."

"There was no sex Summer, like I said nothing happened." She watched as Summer cocked her head back in a motion that implied she didn't believe her. "Ok, so it's not exactly like nothing happened. We left the Cohen's and went to the beach and… We were kissing on the beach and I wanted to, so we came back here, and… We were about too, but… I freaked out and started crying. Which made him freak out, and so I told him about Oliver, I told him everything. And honestly I kinda expected him to just get up and leave, but he stayed. We just spent the night together… sleeping… I stayed pressed to him all night, and he held me, and…" Marissa paused at what she thought was a sniffle. "Are you crying?"

"No," Summer brushed away a tear from her eyes. "Coop that is so sweet, I thought guys like that only existed in movie and on The Valley… After you stopped him he really just held you like that?"

Marissa shook her head, "Summer," her voice dropped to just above a whisper, "I'm falling in love with him."

"Aww Coop," Summer reached out and gave her best friend a hug. "I know I'm kinda mean to Chino sometimes…" Marissa pulled back and gave Summer a look. "Ok I'm mean to him all the time, but I really really happy for you. I mean you've been through so much and I've never seen you so happy, if anyone deserves it, its you."

"Thanks Sum." Marissa smiled still a bit shocked at her own confession.

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"Excuse me, I'm looking for Ryan Atwood."

Joey looked over the man who stood in front of him, expensive suit, nice hair cut, he wondered if this might be the father of Ryan's girlfriend, but at the same time he didn't think someone like that would come the gym. "You a cop?"

"No Sandy Cohen," Sandy held his hand out to the man. "I'm a family friend of Marissa Cooper, I'd like to talk to Ryan if that's possible."

Joey gave Sandy a disappointing glare, and called out to the guys in the boxing ring, "Alright boys that's enough for now."

Ryan and his sparing partner stopped, "What's wrong Joey, do I need to fix something?"

"No kid, take off your gear you got someone here to talk to you."

Ryan looked over to Joey and saw Sandy standing next to him, "I'll be out in a sec." Ryan quickly removed his headgear and gloves. As he made his way out of the ring he began unwrapping his hands, and addressed Sandy, "Mr. Cohen… I'm a bit surprised to see you here. Is everything alright, I mean is something wrong with Marissa? Or Seth?"

"No, no. Actually neither one of them knows I'm here, and I'd like to keep it that way. Is there some place we could talk?"

"Sure," Ryan led Sandy out behind the gym, the same place he'd taken Marissa the day of their first kiss. Only this time he stopped at the benches, "Is this ok?"

"It's just fine," Sandy laid the file in his hand on the table and looked at Ryan.

"Is that why you're here?" Ryan pointed to the file.

"I've known Marissa since… well practically since the day she was born, and Jimmy Cooper's probably one of the best friends I've ever had."

"Ok, so what's that got to do with me?" Ryan was beginning to get defensive with Sandy

"I ran a background on you. It's nothing anyone asked me to do, it's just Marissa hasn't always had the best choices in boyfriends and I just wanted to…"

"Make sure she was safe? So what did you find Mr. Cohen?"

"Please call me Sandy."

"Ok Sandy, what did you find out about me. That on paper I don't look so good."

"Well you've got quite a wrap sheet here, a year and a half in juvie for stealing a car and fighting, mother's whereabouts unknown, father in jail, only brother in jail…"

"You know the records you have are juvenile records, they were sealed when I turned eighteen, how did you get them."

"I'm a lawyer Ryan, spend eighteen years working as a public defender, trust me I know people at the DAs office. Anyway more than anything I found that you and I we're not so different."

"Really?" Ryan cocked his head back; he had a conversation like this once before, only that one had been with Joey. "I've heard this all before, so if you're going to judge me on where I'm from and stupid things I did as a kid well then, I guess I was wrong because I was under the impression that you and your wife were nothing like Julie Cooper."

"Hey hey alright now, don't go comparing me to Julie Cooper. That's just low. You and me Ryan, we're not so different. I was raised in the Bronx, my dad took off, and my mother was constantly working. The streets raised me too, and they were tough streets just like yours. I got out and made something of myself. That's exactly what you're trying to do now, make something of yourself." Sandy gave Ryan a slight smile.

"Look Sandy I know I may not look that great on paper, but just give me chance and I promise I won't let her down."