A/N- Thank you so so much; Rainygal, KC-Chick, Christy, PuRsE-FaNaTiC, EVCLGSB, OC Crazy78, danhyde girl, LoveLostLust, inu-kaglover45, newportbabe, J, kursk, and newportbeachbabe. The reviews I receive inspire me to keep writing, and it's awesome to get feedback on something that you put a lot of effort into. Thanks again!

He awoke at six to a timid sun shining through his translucent blinds. A week ago he would have pulled the blanket over his head and gone back to bed. But now, six o'clock was the new norm. Sandy would already be awake, with piles of paper strewn across the living room's coffee table. Besides the hardships of the case, he was having trouble sleeping without the presence of his wife. Even Seth rose early from worry of the impending events.

Ryan entered the kitchen, hearing barely audible voices wave through the living room. Stepping a little bit closer, he saw Sandy flipping through documents, and Marissa holding her forehead in her hand. Hesitantly, he walked into the room, making his appearance visible.

"Ryan, good morning."

Sandy's tone was solemn and concerning. On instinct, Marissa looked up at him, there eyes meeting briefly. He looked the other way, conflicted by the reflective sadness in her stare.

"Is everything okay?"

Sandy avoided the question.

"I'm glad you're up. The sooner we do this, the better."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked, taking a step forward.

"Well, since you and Marissa were the only people directly involved, I need to talk to both of you, without any secondary witnesses."

"Okay…"

"Here, take a seat."

Ryan walked over to a lone plush chair as far away from Marissa as possible. He wasn't sure whether he should be sitting next to her or completely avoiding her. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. But he could feel her pleading stare following his eyes, desperately trying to connect with him, and the conflicting pain tore at his insides.

"This is what I know," Sandy began.

"A couple of weeks ago, Trey and Marissa were taking a walk on the beach."

Marissa winced, tormented by the memory.

"Both of you were drunk, but Trey later admitted to Ryan that he was under the influence of drugs. Within minutes, he had you on the ground, trying to rape you."

It was so blatantly put that the words shocked Ryan and Marissa. They had both thought it, but hearing it created an undeniable reality. Ryan looked at her, pity surging through his tired bones. Ashamed, she kept her eyes focused on the carpet below her, as Sandy pressed on.

"Ryan. Three nights ago, you found out what Trey tried to do. You were angry and sped off to his apartment around nine o'clock. After shoving him, he held up a gun to you. You turned around to leave, but ran back into the apartment, violently beating him up. You both wrestled into the glass coffee table, and he pinned you to the floor, his arms cupped around you neck. Marissa ran in and saw him strangling you. She pushed Trey, pleading with him to stop. He shoved her off.

"Marissa. At a desperate loss, you picked up the gun that Trey had threatened Ryan with minutes before. Trey took a telephone off the nightstand, and after punching Ryan in the face twice, held it up over his head. That's when you shot him in the back. Seth and Summer arrived moments later, witnessing the scene. From there, Jess arrived, and called the police."

Every one paused, recounting the story in their minds, applying the wrenching emotion to the simple words Sandy had just spoken. A tear fell from Marissa's eye, threatening its home to release the upheaval of grief inside of her. A whispering breath broke into a sob, and before she had any control, her eyes were flooded with a haze of water.

"He was going to kill him…"

She choked through the words and rested her head into her hands, shaking violently. Sandy and Ryan sat in silence, neither knowing what to say. The doorbell rang, interrupting the tense climax of the interrogation.

"I'll get it."

Sandy excused himself from the room, leaving Ryan and Marissa alone. The silence stirred a vulnerable air around the two of them. He had to say something.

"I get why you did it."

Marissa looked at him in disbelief. There she was, sitting in complete hysteria, and his best response was that he "got why she did it?" She had hoped desperately that he would try to comfort her through everything that had been going on, and so far, it felt as if the distance between them was growing with every second.

Sandy stepped back into the living room, followed by a concerned looking Julie. Even though she never imagined it, Marissa was relieved to see her mom. She smiled through her tears and responded to her mother's sympathetic eyes with a hug.

Julie tapped her back lightly, still unused to the newfound affection she had been receiving from her daughter. Then suddenly, she pulled her in to a tight embrace.

"Sweetie," she said softly, looking into her daughter's drenched face.

Ryan stood in awe of what he was witnessing. Marissa despised her mother. She had been causing her pain since before he came to Newport. Julie, who had been the bane of Marissa's existence for two years, was being more supportive than he was. For the first moment since she shot the gun, Ryan felt only and completely for Marissa. None of his own emotions were tangling or conflicting his conscience. His brother had tried to rape her. She was living with the pain all by herself, because she didn't want Ryan to do something radical. And then she risked everything in her life for him, because she loved him more than anyone else ever had.

"I brought bagels."

Julie's voice interrupted Ryan's state of mind, bringing him back to the scene in the living room. A small laugh escaped from Marissa's mouth, and she wiped the tears from under her eye.

"Come on, let's teach your mom how to shmear."

The three of them walked into the kitchen, and Ryan followed behind. He made it over to the doorway, watching Marissa laugh gently at Sandy's jokes. Crossing through to where they were standing, he lingered a few feet away.

"Come on kid," Sandy started. "Pass me a bagel."

Ryan smiled faintly and stepped closer to the kitchen's island, next to a suddenly timid Marissa. He took a bagel out of the brown paper bag and passed it to Sandy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Marissa's hand resting on the marble finish, her fingers shaking slightly. Looking intently ahead of him, he placed his hand on top of hers, and felt them melt together like they had so many times before.

Marissa smiled as his touch provided the kind of solace she had been longing for. His thumb caressed the side of her hand, and he squeezed it tightly, still watching Sandy perfect his bagel techniques.

"Do me a favor, Ryan. Go wake up Seth. He's supposed to visit Kirsten today, and I'd hate for him to miss the fine art of bagel shmearing."

"Right."

Ryan released Marissa's hand and walked out towards the stairs. Reaching Seth's door, he opened it up to find his friend pulling a wife beater over his head.

"Woah, sorry."

Ryan diverted his eyes and waited for Seth to fully cloth himself.

"Why are you wearing that?"

"Good morning to you too, Ryan. Well, I thought maybe I should try something new. I mean Friendster never seemed to work, so I thought it might be a nice change…maybe…"

Seth read the disagreement in Ryan's eyes, and turned around, pulling the white tank top off.

"Yeah you're right, I don't know what I was thinking."

He leaned over, grabbing a black printed t-shirt that hung off the side of his chair, and threw it on.

"Indie-rock t-shirts are definitely more me."

Ryan shrugged.

"You got your style, I got mine. Listen, Julie and Marissa are in the kitchen. Your dad wants you to come down."

Seth walked over to his bed and sat on the edge, hunched over with his hands folded in his lap.

"Yeah, Marissa was here pretty late last night. Is everything going okay?"

"As well as it can be, I guess…"

"And, I mean, with you two. Like, is it weird or anything?"

Ryan hesitated, his arms tensing up by his sides.

"Kind of."

"Are you two still, together? Or…"

"I guess. I mean, I don't really know."

Seth tried to process some worldly advice in his head. He cared about what was going on, and he wanted to express that, but relationships weren't always his strong point.

"Well, listen man. I mean you know why she did it, right?"

Ryan suddenly felt the anxious need to talk to someone about it. He grabbed the round blue chair across from Seth's bed and turned it around, sitting down and leaning over its back.

"Yeah, I get that…so why is it so hard?"

"Dude, it's not easy dating the girl who killed you brother."

Ryan looked unappreciative at the blatant words.

"Or…at least I could imagine that it wouldn't-listen…"

He cut himself off before a tangent rolled from his well intending mouth.

"I wish I had some good advice on this, but honestly man, I couldn't even tell you what to get her for Valentine's Day. I guess, in the end, it comes down to whatever you decide is right."

Ryan nodded his head and stood up, placing the chair back where it belonged.

"Thanks man," he said, holding on to the side of the wall.

"Look, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. If you ever need help picking out a comic book I'm the go-to guy. But I really just…suck… at giving advice."

Ryan smiled.

"Tell my dad I'll be right down."

They exchanged silent acknowledgements, and Ryan walked out the door. Seth sighed, wishing he could be of more use. He knew he served his purpose as the comic relief when things tensed up. But sometimes, it was hard for him to show that he felt seriously about something. And when he tried to express it, he ended up stumbling over his words and providing virtually no help whatsoever. Disappointed with himself, Seth stood up and made his way over to his desk, picking up a small velvet box. He opened it up, checking to make sure the golden pendant was inside, and let it fall to the bottom of his pants pocket. If he couldn't help one Ryan, and least he could try to make someone else's day.

Ryan and Marissa stepped outside the front door of the large mansion. Her engine groaned in the background as she waited for them to say their goodbyes. A silence fell over them once more, circling the air into their lungs and suffocating the words that were choked down inside of them. They hadn't spoken since Ryan returned to the kitchen. He hadn't gone back and taken her hand again. Everything was more complicated than he could process.

He shifted his weight to one side, and rested his hand on her waist.

"You're mom's waiting, so…"

Marissa glanced below her, restraining the depression from surfacing over her face. Hastily, he leaned into her side and pressed his lips against her neck.

"See you later," he mumbled, and quickly turned back inside, leaving her on the doorstep. Marissa crossed her arms, and shook her head slightly to one side, doubting that her life would ever be what she wanted. She looked back at the door, wondering what would happen between her and Ryan. Thirty minutes ago, he took his hand in hers. Now he was awkwardly kissing her, avoiding her lips. She wiped a tear from her cheek and stumbled to her mother's car, forcing a peaceful smile to paint her face.