Revelations
Summary- Theresa reveals why she's really at the Atwood's, and Marissa reveals something as well.
Disclaimer-Don't any of the OC characters...
A/N- I'm glad everyone is liking Emily's character so much, she's fun to write! lol. Twins gang up on her? hmm...we'll see. Thanks again so much for all the great reviews.
Continued from where last chapter left off...
Theresa finally spoke and looked at each child carefully; all sandy blondes with striking blue eyes, all replicas of their mother and father. "I'm Theresa," she introduced herself carefully, eyeing them each suspiciously, trying to get a reaction out of them.
"I'm Emily!" Emily yelled up at her.
"Emily, be nice," Marissa warned.
"I'm sorry lady," she apologized, her voice turning softer.
"It's ok."
"Now what are you doing here! You're not family! And only family is a 'posed to come on Daddy's birthday," she explained.
"Um...I'm a friend of your Dad's," Theresa told her as a matter of fact, and looked over at Ryan, one arm wrapped around Marissa's waist. "And your Mom's," she added quickly.
"Mommy!" Connor exclaimed. Marissa looked down at him. "What sweetie?"
"I have to go pee, bad!" he shifted from foot to foot, holding his hands on his zipper. "Excuse me lady," he said, walking past Theresa. Marissa picked him up and started to run with him through the house. He started crying and shouting "Pee!" throughout the whole house.
"Hi, I'm Jake," he introduced himself, shaking her hand, and went inside.
Riley gave her a warm smile. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Riley!" Theresa returned her smile and watched her walk in, but Emily still standing there. "You made Connor pee!" she yelled. "Connor only pees when he's scared! You a scared him you damn dumbass!" she yelled at her, her eyes almost teary as she stormed off into the house.
"Connor! Are you still a scared!? Connor! Where are you!?" Emily screamed throughout the whole house.
Ryan locked eyes with Theresa momentiarily, trying to figure out why she was here, he could usually figure people out, but this time, no. "She gets a little defensive sometimes," Ryan explained about Emily, giving her a weak smile.
"I understand. Happy birthday!" she said with entusiasm, and leaned into give him a hug. Ryan patted her back awkwardly and invited her in. "So? How does it feel to be 38?" she asked, walking inside the house and examining all the pictures and furniture.
"37," Ryan corrected.
"Right, 37," she said, embarassed.
"Um, not to be rude or anything like that, but..."
"What am I doing here?" she filled in. Ryan nodded.
She shrugged. "Just thought I'd wish an old friend happy birthday."
"Oh."
"What's wrong? You seem uncomfortable," she noted.
"Yeah, well, what do you expect me to feel?" he asked defensively.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe happy?" she suggested.
"Why should I be happy that you came to visit me?" he asked coldly.
It didn't sound very friendly so he decided to switch his words around. "I didn't mean it like that..."
"Yes you did, and it's fine." She still continued to look at everything in the house. It defintely wasn't a house designed like the Cohen's, everything was filled with pictures or artwork. "Marissa designed it," he explained.
Theresa turned around and looked at him. "I figured."
They were over to the couch, wrapping paper all over the place as Ryan started to pick it all up. "Uh, sorry," he apologized quickly, and stuffed all of the bags and such over to one of the chairs, and sat down. Theresa followed suit and looked him straight in the eye.
"I...I," she kept stumbling over her words.
"Emily and Connor are in bed and Riley and Jake are as well," Marissa announced as she walked into the living room. "Oh? Theresa, um..." She didn't think Ryan was going to let her stay long, or come in for that reason.
"Hey Marissa."
She looked for a place to sit, and walked over to Theresa, sitting right next to her. Marissa looked between Ryan and Theresa and decided to to speak first. "So um...what are you doing back in town?" she asked, crossing her legs and glancing at Ryan quickly, who seemed just as interested.
Theresa shrugged and let out a small laugh. "Just like I said; to wish an old friend happy birthday."
Ryan and Marissa looked at each other and than back at Theresa. "So...um, long time no see, what have you guys been up to?"
They both shrugged. "Kids, marriage...life."
Theresa nodded and started to get up, making her way up to the mantel, where more pictures were displayed. She started to finger the frames, as she stared at them longingly. She saw pictures of all the kids, probably when they were first born, all in a frame of 4, several others with all 6 of them. She noticed a picture which looked like the whole Newport Group and spotted all the familiar faces; Ryan and Marissa, obviously, with all their children, Sandy and Kirsten, Caleb and Julie, another old lady, which she thought was most likely the Nana, Jimmy and Hailey and Seth and Summer. "How are Seth and Summer doing?" she turned around and asked.
"Fine, fine," Ryan answered. "Engaged, baby on the way," he explained simply. No need to tell her the whole situation. Theresa nodded her head and came across the second to last picture, Marissa in a beautiful strapless gown, the bodice sparkling, a veil over her head which a tuxedo clad Ryan was flipping over, and one of Marissa's legs up in the air, her arms wrapped around Ryan's neck, leaning into kiss him.
It was a kodak moment.
She noticed how young they looked. "How old were you when you got married?" she asked.
Ryan looked at Marissa sweetly, "20," he answered.
"Wow, that's young," she commented.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw them both shrug. "That's ok," Marissa answered. "Once you're in love you can't fall out."
Theresa looked at them uncomfortably and they noticed. "Oh, um..."
"It's ok," she gritted her teeth.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Someone please come in here! Oh my god! There is a spider on my bed! Please! I'm going to die! Please!" Riley screamed all around her room, at the top of her lungs.
"Shut up you damn dumbass!" Emily yelled from her room.
Ryan laughed, but got up anyways. "I'll go talk to both of them." Marissa laughed as well and nodded and looked at Theresa. "Um...do you want me to show you the poolhouse?" Marissa asked.
Theresa looked confused. "Well, I mean, it's too late to drive, and the poolhouse is empty, so you can just stay there for the night," she explained.
"Thanks," Theresa said genuinely.
Marissa gave her a small smile, "No problem."
--
The lights to the poolhouse flickered dimly and Theresa eyed the room, noticing all the boxes of things stacked up against the walls, a treadmill, some weights, and a few other things. "Um, we use it more as a basement rather as a poolhouse," Marissa explained with a small laugh. "All the rooms in the house are all filled so...and we don't have a guest room..."
"It's fine," Theresa cut her off.
"Okay, I'll get some clean sheets and do you have anything to sleep in?"
Theresa nodded her head thankfully and went to the bathroom. After a few 'thanks' and some good nights, Theresa fell asleep on the poolhouse futon.
--
Marissa walked in her and Ryan's room and found him already asleep. She smiled and slid out of her clothes and put on her pajamas quickly and got into the bed slowly, careful not to wake him. She rolled over, facing Ryan, expecting to hug Ryan's back, but instead found her face from his only centimeters away. "Oh my...jeez! You scared me!" she said, taking in a quick breath.
"Sorry," he laughed, and kissed her forehead.
"It's ok. So how did it go with Riley and Emily?"
"I told Emily to stop calling everyone names, and I gave Riley a fly squatter in case of any more emergencies with spiders," he said while laughing.
"Mr. Fix it," she told him.
"Eh, I do the best I can," he said jokingly.
She smiled and leaned into kiss him. He kissed her back for a while and pulled back slowly, a smirk on his face. "Now this is they way I planned to spend my birthday, except for well, we were both supposed to be naked and no one was supposed to be in the house," he joked. She giggled and wrapped an arm around his neck, leaning on her elbow.
"So did she say anything to you?" he asked, referring to their unexpected visitor.
Marissa shook her head, "She seemed kind of lonely."
Ryan shrugged his shoulders and pulled her in by her waist tighter. "Do you want me to talk to her?" he asked.
"Sure, if you want, but I'll doubt you'll be able to get anything out of her."
"I'll use my charm." Marissa looked at him. "My friendly charms," he corrected.
Marissa nodded her head sarcastically. "What kind of charms do you use with your wife?" she asked.
"Mmm...these kind," he said, and kissed her tenderly.
"Well, than she is the luckiest woman on Earth," she said jokingly when they pulled back.
Ryan smiled smugly, "Yeah, she is isn't she?"
"And...?"
"And I'm the luckiest man on Earth," he said sweetly, giving her one last kiss.
"Yes, you are..."
"Happy birthday Ry."
He smiled at her, "Thank you," and kissed her forehead.
--
Marissa crept out of Ryan's arms in the morning, went downstairs, made a fresh cup of coffee, poured them into two mugs and headed out to the poolhouse. Theresa was already sitting on the bed, looking in some sort of book and looked up when Marissa came in. "Morning," she greeted.
"Morning." Marissa went to sit down and gave her one of the mugs. "I didn't know what you liked in it so..."
"Black is fine," and took a sip of it while Marissa just ran her finger across the rim of her mug. "What are you looking at?" she asked.
"Oh, um, I just found this on the floor and just started looking through it, sorry if I..."
Marissa interupted. "It's fine." She saw that she was looking at a photo album and big picture of them, a Christmas greeting card. She laughed when she saw the kids faces. "I was pregnant with Emily and Connor at that time," she explained.
Theresa nodded knowingly and continued to flip through the pages, Marissa making a comment or Theresa asking questions. She came across a picture of Marissa looking particularily young and pregnant and glaring at Ryan and Ryan laughing in the background. Marissa laughed. "That was with Jake, my water broke a few hours after," she explained.
"Wow," Theresa said surprised. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had anymore."
Marissa laughed nervously, "Than you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that I am."
Theresa's eyes widened and almost choked on her coffee, "Um, wow, congratulations!"
"Thanks," she said softly.
"So Ryan must be pretty happy."
"Actually, he doesn't know."
"What?"
"Yeah, he doesn't know. I just found out the day before yesterday, I was actually planning on telling him yesterday."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Theresa apologized.
Marissa shook her head, "It's fine."
"No, no it's not. I really don't know what I'm doing here."
"Neither do I," Marissa said truthfully. "But if you're here for Ryan..."
"No, I'm not!"
"Well, if you are, I just wanted to tell you that I didn't give up on him than and I won't give up on him now."
Theresa nodded and continued to look through the pictures.
