Disclaimer: Don't own any of it. Not the O.C, not Groundhog day (the holiday or the film) or the quote at the beginning.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Much appreciated. Oh, and Beachtree - The whole Ryanasking Seth: "You wanna..." and then muttering "F#" was completely unintentional (didn't realise what I'd written until I read your review)but I'm glad you liked it. It seems the Ho!Yay justwrites itself!
On to Chapter three.

Chapter 3.

"We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone." – Fallen, Sarah Mclachlan.

Ryan rapped lightly on Lindsay's window. His clothes were soaked through from the rain. But this time he was prepared. This time he had a spare set of clothes in his backpack. Spending all day in damp clothes was starting to drive him crazy. That, and the ring of the cell phone that kept waking him up. After going through the ever-repetitive conversation with Seth that morning he had laid in bed a while going over the events of the day. He had been contemplating just staying there all day brooding when inspiration struck. Once again he'd gotten on his bike and cycled over to Lindsay's house. But this time he wasn't going to wait around to talk to Renee. He knew now that going through Lindsay's mom wasn't going to get Lindsay to stay. Maybe stopping Lindsay talking to her mom would.

No answer. He rapped louder. Hearing movement behind the blinds he knocked again. The blinds raised and Lindsay peered out through the raindrop-covered glass. She pulled up the window.

"Ryan? What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" She moved out of his way as he climbed through the window.

Once again he took in her bed attire of a blue vest and shorts. Took in the way her golden red hair fell about her shoulders. Once again he pulled her into his arms, brushing aside the memories of holding her as she explained that she was leaving. That hadn't happened yet. Today was a new day.

Lindsay pulled away as he went to kiss her. "What are you doing here?" she asked again.

Ryan tilted his head to one side looking sheepish. "I thought we could spend the day together," he explained. "Get some thin crust pizza?"

Lindsay pushed him lightly. "Pizza? It's not even 8am!" But her eyes were laughing, for once not showing the fear and sadness that had clouded them for too long.

Ryan shrugged, the corners of his mouth curling into a half-smile. "Whatever you want then. It'll help take your mind off the DNA test."

She couldn't resist the sparking blue eyes, the trademark Ryan Atwood almost smile. "Okay, yeah. I'd like that."

Lindsay crawled the car along the road, keeping a safe distance between them and the Benz in front. Ryan had suggested going to see a movie over breakfast at the diner. But all the roads were jammed with the rain and they'd barely made it out of the diner parking lot. Breakfast had been great. Laughing, joking, acting just like they had before the bombshell announcement by Caleb at Chrismukkah. During all the versions of the day Ryan had gone through so far he'd been so caught up in trying to get Lindsay to stay that he'd almost forgotten why he was trying to. He looked over at the girl sitting in the driver's seat, tapping the steering wheel rhythmically as she sang quietly along to the radio. The smart, beautiful girl he'd fallen for in AP Physics, with the quick wit, who babbled when she was nervous.

Lindsay caught him staring at her and turned to look at him as she put on the handbrake. "What?" she smiled at him.

Where did he start? "Nothing."

She punched him playfully. "What?"

"Nothing," Ryan replied, grinning back at her.

Lindsay gestured at the traffic around them. "We're gonna miss the previews."

"So lets forget the movie." Truth be told, watching a movie wasn't Ryan's first choice of things to do in a darkened room with Lindsay. His first choice involved listening to some Journey and a lot less clothes. But he couldn't risk going back to hers or the Cohen's. There was too much of a chance that they'd bump into Renee or Kirsten or Seth and something would happen that would lead to Lindsay deciding to leave Newport. Ryan wasn't taking any chances today. Especially not when she was right here next to him. "We could take a walk on the beach," he suggested.

"In the rain?"

The rain. The rain was starting to drive him crazy. But the idea of seeing Lindsay with wet clothes clinging to her curves? That was a good idea. "Yeah, in the rain."

"Ryan?" Seth bounded into the pool house but Ryan was nowhere to be seen. Seth was sure Ryan had said he'd be around when he got back with the Summer Breeze. Or the Gimme Sex as she was now christened. Okay, so it wasn't exactly as he'd planned but Seth was still confident it would work. He just needed Ryan to help him get the boat from the car to the pool and then he could phone Summer. Summer plus the boat in the pool and Walah! Seth would get Summer back. He just needed to get the boat in the pool. And lifting and carrying? Not his thing. Where was Ryan?

Ryan leant over and brushed a damp piece of hair behind Lindsay's ear as she reached forward for another French frie. They'd wandered along the shoreline for a while and then settled under the shelter of a lifeguard tower to watch the lightning flash over the ocean. When the cold began to get to them they'd run back to the car and made out for a while in the back seat. Not quite the darkened room Ryan would have liked but curling up in the back seat kissing Lindsay was good enough for him. Kissing Lindsay anywhere was good enough for him. When the grumbling of both their stomachs started to out-compete the sound of rolling thunder they had headed back to the diner. This day -this version of this day- Ryan would be quite happy to repeat over and over.

The high-pitched ring of a cell phone interrupted Ryan's thoughts. Lindsay reached across the table for her purse. "I should get that."

Ryan pulled her hands back towards the table. Ringing phones were bad. They reminded him of waking up and starting this day over again. "Leave it," he suggested gently.

Lindsay pulled her hands back to her purse. "It's probably my mom about the test results."

Fear crossed Ryan's face. As the day had worn on he'd managed to push the DNA test results out of his mind. "Can't it wait? We're having fun." Ryan just about managed to control his urge to grab the phone from her and hurl it as far as he could.

Lindsay shook her head and flipped the phone open. "Hi Mom."

Ryan listened, hearing Renee on the other end of the line saying the results were ready and Lindsay replying that she would be there in half an hour. His fists clenched in frustration. It had all been going so well.

She hung up the phone. "Guess it's time to find out if Caleb is my dad." She looked apprehensive and Ryan saw his chance.

"You could leave it until tomorrow. One more day without knowing isn't going to hurt." He reached over and took her hands in his. "Let's not let Caleb spoil today."

"Today has been great," Lindsay smiled, explaining, "It's really helped take my mind off everything. But you said it yourself: It's not going to stop until I know the truth."

"Maybe its better you don't know," he tried, clutching at straws. Why had he been so insistent yesterday on her needing to know who her father was? Why couldn't he play that day over and over? Then he could have agreed with her when she said she didn't want to know.

"You want to protect me, I get that. But I need to know Ryan. I need to know if Caleb's my dad." She tried to remove her hands from his but he wouldn't let go.

Lindsay couldn't leave that diner. Everything had been going so well. If she went and found out she was Caleb's daughter there was too big a chance the day would end with her deciding to move to Chicago. Again.

"Ryan!" she exclaimed trying again the pull away from him. A number of the other customers looked over, hearing the raised voice.

Ryan saw them but didn't care. She could not leave. Fear clouded his blue eyes. "Don't go. Don't get those results."

"Ryan! You're hurting me!" She looked angry. But she also looked scared.

"I think you should let the lady go." A tall man stood at the edge of their booth, dressed in a dark suit and tie. He was probably around Sandy's age. He was one of the customers who'd looked over when Lindsay had raised her voice.

Ryan looked up at him, his blue eyes clouded with an anger that had been building in him with every repeat of that rainy day. "Stay out of it," he muttered under his breath.

"You need to let the lady go," the man repeated and starting moving in to physically remove Lindsay's hands from Ryan's.

Ryan snapped. This guy, this random stranger, was not going to wreck everything he'd done today. He let go of Lindsay's hands, stood up and swung a right hook all in one fluid motion. Ryan looked down at his fist and then across at the man leaning against the booth. He was holding his jaw with a look of shock and pain on his face. The rest of the world faded into the background as he heard the chime of the bell above the door. He spun around as the door swung shut and the bell chimed again. Lindsay. He raced towards the door, pushing away the counter staff trying to hold him back. He reached the parking lot only to see Lindsay's battered car pulling out of the parking space.

"Lindsay!" He chased after the car as it turned out into the road. The road that by some evil twist of fate was clear for the first time that day. He chased it until he could no longer see the outline of the rear-end car through the sheets of rain. Exhausted, Ryan fell to his knees on the road verge. "Lindsay."

He'd knelt on the verge for a long time. After the tenth car had honked its horn at the strange figure by the side of the road, Ryan had lifted his head. He'd taken another walk along the beach, trying unsuccessfully to block out the images of him and Lindsay from earlier that day. By the time he reached the Cohen household the night sky was clear and full of stars. He was absolutely exhausted and all he wanted was to curl up in a ball and forget the day had ever happened. He'd failed again. He didn't know how many more times he could go through this. Ryan made his way round the back of the house so as not to hear the giggles and snippets of conversation coming from Seth's room. After the day he'd just had he really didn't need to hear Seth and Summer making up. That would be too much and he had no energy left. He reached for the pool house door handle when he heard someone call his name.

When he heard Seth call his name. "Ryan? Mom? Dad?"

Ryan looked over at the main house. Seth was hanging upside down by a rope wearing his Spider Man mask. "Seth?"

"Ryan!" Seth exclaimed at the sound of his friend's voice, tilting his head in the direction of Ryan in a very Spider Man-like way. "For the love of Jesus and Moses get me down!"

Ryan just stared at him. Seth and Summer should be up in Seth's room getting back together. Where was Summer? "Where's Summer?"

"Probably joining the mile high club with Zach. Way to make a guy who's been hanging upside down for the last two hours –who's circulation no longer reaches his feet by the way- feel better." Seth gestured with his hands while he talked. Hanging upside down with his hands waving about made him look like some giant, Spider Man bat.

Ryan stood rooted to the spot. Summer hadn't come back for Seth. There had been no Spider Man kiss in the rain. What had happened? What had he done?

Seth hung there, looking in confusion at his best friend's lack of movement. "Ryan! Seriously! Get me down!"

TBC