The story takes place immediately after the finale of the 2nd season. Will Ryan ever be able to love Marissa after what she has just done? Also, Julie Cooper refuses to have her child go to prison. Please R&R!

This is my first 'published' fanfic. I hope you like it. I've had this idea in my mind for a while now, and I had hoped to get started a long time ago. Unfortunately, reality checked in. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and hopefully no one has written a fanfic with the same storyline!

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C. or it's characters or any references made in this story.

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Marissa was speechless. She didn't know what to say or do.

From what she could remember she had just shot and killed Trey Atwood.

She couldn't believe it. Could Ryan ever love her after what had just happened?

Marissa had run into Trey's apartment, and had seen Trey and Ryan fighting. Trey had had his hands around Ryan's neck, and was strangling the life out of him. He had ignored Marissa's desperate attempts to get him off of Ryan.

"Trey stop! Stop, you're killing him!" Marissa screamed, but she didn't know what to do to stop him. She knew he was much stronger than her.

On the ground next to where she was standing she saw a gun and picked it up. She knew what she had to do. She had to save Ryan. Ryan had come to Marissa's rescue so many times in the past, and now she had to save him. So, just as Trey picked up the phone to smash over Ryan's head, Marissa shot him.

Trey felt the piercing of the bullet into his chest, and had felt the blood trickle down his shirt. He couldn't believe Marissa had shot him! After struggling around, gasping for breath, Trey finally collapsed.

Now, Marissa was in shock. She had tried to stand up but her entire body was frozen. Ryan crawled over to Marissa and held her, but she just couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"I...I-," Marissa was speechless.

"Oh my god. What happened?" Summer asked as she stumbled through the open door; but she didn't have to inquire, she could already piece together what had just happened.

"Hey are you guys ok-," Seth stopped as he came up behind Summer.

Marissa finally got the use of her legs and ran out the door.

"Marissa!" Ryan yelled, but she was already gone.

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Marissa ran as fast as her legs could take her. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she couldn't be here.

She turned into an empty alleyway, it was a dead-end but it didn't matter. She could hide out there for a little while, or at least until Ryan stopped looking for her.

Then she remembered that she had a bottle of vodka in her purse. Something always bad seemed to happen to her, so she just wanted to make sure that there was always something in her possession that would take away the pain. After emptying the contents, she destroyed the bottle. Then, after a long argument with herself, she finally decided she should go home.

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"Ryan, what are we going to do?" Summer asked, "Marissa has run off, and if we call the police then they'll lock her up."

Ryan was as speechless as Marissa was, but somehow he brought himself to say: "I really don't want that to happen. I should take the blame."

"No way, Ryan. You can't do tha-," Seth argued.

"-What choice do I have?" Ryan replied.

Seth, for once, didn't know what to say. He had no idea what to do; he just glanced at Trey's body once, then back to Ryan.

"Are you sure he's dead? I mean, there's a chance he cou-"

"-Seth, does he look like he's breathing to you?" Ryan was fighting back tears and trying not to yell. Even though Trey had pushed Ryan around his entire life, he still loved him. He had not meant for his brother to die, but the past couldn't be changed. It was time to face to present, which meant he had to get Marissa.

"I need to find her," Ryan said to himself. Ryan got up and left, with Summer and Seth following closely behind.

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I hope you enjoyed the story so far. I know not much has really happened yet; I was trying to set some sort of background.