It was seven-thirty in the morning that Monday. Sandy walked into his beach side office that day with a sense of relief. This was the first time since he had taken Marissa's case that he felt all right with life. He did not have an overload of work waiting for him, since he had taken some of it home with him over the weekend. "Like homework," Seth pointed out. He felt like Kirsten was doing well, and that he was doing an all right job holding the family together, even in her absence.

He put his briefcase down on his desk and sighed. He put the files back in their perspective cabinets, which he had taken home for the weekend, and straightened things out. Then, there was a knock on the door. Sandy looked at his watch. He thought it was strange for someone to be coming to the office so early in the morning. Sandy went over and answered it. It turned out to be the district attorney.

"Hi," Sandy said.

"Hi, Mr. Cohen, can we speak for a second?" Chris Caldwell asked. He appeared as if he were dressed to be heading into the office, as well. He motioned to come in and talk to Sandy. Sandy stepped aside, and let Mr. Caldwell into his humble abode of an office.

"What did you want to speak about?" Sandy asked. He sat down in his chair, at his desk. The district attorney sat across from him, in one of the chairs one of his clients might use.

"I want to speak off the record, about this case - with Trey Atwood, and Marissa Cooper," He explained.

Sandy looked at him for a second. He seemed intrigued as to what this man wanted to speak about privately. He asked, "All right, then, what did you want to say?"

"Marissa Cooperis beingcharged with manslaughter, as we all know," Mr. Caldwell began to explain. Sandy nodded his head at this. "She... doesn't have a good chance of staying out of prison, you must know that?"

Sandy again nodded his head. He did not yet see what the point was of this man's visit to his office.

"She seems to be a good kid, Mr. Cohen. With a good, strong family - " He said.

"Well, I don't know about that, but yeah, she's a good kid. I lived next door to her family for most of her life, and I never knew her to do anything... really illegal," Sandy told him. He failed to remember the times she had shoplifted, overdosed on drugs, been drunk, or smoked cigarettes. All of which were illegal, of course.

"I want her to stay out of prison. She doesn't belong there. I talked with your son, Seth, yesterday and Summer Roberts, the day before that. They both told me that she shot Trey to protect Ryan. Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper said the same thing. If I can find the right judge to try the case, will you let me?" The district attorney asked.

Sandy knew what he was trying to do, and he could not be more grateful, on Marissa's behalf. Even though he knew it was wrong, he did not want Marissa to go to prison. He agreed with Mr. Caldwell - she did not belong there. "Thank you. But if I may ask, what do I have to do for you? I mean, since you are doing this for my client?" Sandy asked.

He smiled at Sandy. Mr. Caldwell was green. He was somewhat fresh out of college. "Nothing. Let's just say, you owe me?" He told Sandy.

Sandy looked at him for a moment. He was skeptical to take the deal, but he knew that this would mean that Marissa would have a good chance of staying out of prison. "All right, but only if Marissa Cooper isn't prosecuted," Sandy replied, rather sternly. He did not want this to backfire; however, it appeared as if he did not have a choice. Not if he wanted Marissa to stay out of prison.

"You have my word," the district attorney replied. They shook hands, exchanged their goodbyes, and the district attorney went off to his office, while Sandy went to work in his.

Author's Note
I don't have a clue about legal stuff, so I'm just trying my best with this. I don't want Marissa to go to jail, and I don't want Ryan to go either, but I don't know how to get them out of it any other way. If anyone knows anything about this type of thing, let me know.