A/n: Yay! I got reviews! Sorry I'm so excited, but this is my first fanfic and the fact that people actually read and liked it enough to review it makes me happy, LOL.

If you liked it and want me to update, don't worry I will, but it'll be a while after this chapter because I'm going on vacation to Florida for a week.

KC-Chick: It would probably awkward, but I'd could see Marissa being so upset and out of whack that she didn't really think about it… and also I'm guessing it reassured her that Ryan DOESN'T hate her for killing his brother… Ryan knows the one thing she needs (and has probably never had) in her life is security.

IluvDanBen33- Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it… and I will continue it. Defiantly.

Ryan looked up, startled. He had forgotten where he was, what was going on. It slowly came back to him: it was the morning after, and he was sitting in a very comfortable chair in his room, on the other side of the bed where Marissa lay, asleep.

Marissa. He couldn't even begin to think how she could possibly feel, hell, he could barely feel anything himself. He was numb. He was still having trouble comprehending all that had happened since Seth told him what really happened with Marissa and Trey over spring break. Deep breaths… okay… he had gone to Trey's, gotten strangled, Marissa had saved his life by shooting Trey, the police came and tried to force a confession out of Marissa, Sandy got Riss out of jail, and she had come back here, and then… well, from then on it was so simple, yet so confusing. Why of all nights, did they pick that one? It made no sense. You'd think they'd stay away from each other after what Marissa did.

But nothing in their relationship had ever made sense; why should this? He looked at her sleeping form, and felt connected to her. It was like a strong bond had evolved when she saved his life, and nothing could change that. Ryan didn't know the word for it, and as many times as he and Marissa would try to figure it out, they never would.

Fate likes to be mysterious.

He noticed that Marissa was moving, she was thrashing wildly about in her sleep.

She screamed, and her legs kicked the air. He rushed over to her side, and woke her up.

"No! Don't shoot!" she yelled, and punched him in the nose.

Marissa blinked, and rubbed her eyes. Ryan had a little bit of blood running down the side of his nose. She gasped.

"Oh my God, Ryan, are you okay? Did I do that?" she exclaimed, jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom. Ryan could hear her rummaging around in his medicine cabinet.

A triumphant "Ah-HA!" came from somewhere near the sink, and Marissa hurried back to Ryan, holding about ten Band-Aids and some gauze. "Don't move," she instructed him. He held his head as she tried in vain to get the bandage over the ten pieces of gauze.

"It's okay," he said, "I'm fine."

"You sure?" She looked concerned.

"See, it stopped bleeding," he said. He honestly had no idea whether it was true or not, since he couldn't exactly see his nose, but it must have been because Marissa stopping trying to plaster him with the band-aids.

"Alright," she relented, and returned them to his cabinet in his bathroom.

"What were you dreaming about?" he asked, when she returned.

Her face turned cold. "Nothing. What are you talking about?"

"You were having a nightmare or something. You kept kicking and punching the air and screaming."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Marissa said haughtily.

They both knew it was a lie.

"Come on," she said, changing the subject, "Let's go see what Sandy has for breakfast. Bet it's bagels!"

She took his hand and they strolled out of the pool house and into the main house, where the aroma of toasted bagels was extremely conspicuous in the kitchen.

"Morning," Sandy said as they walked into the kitchen. "Bagel, anyone?"

"I'd love one," Marissa said, pulling a poppy-seed out of the bag.

"No thanks," Ryan said, sitting down at the table. "Morning, Seth."

Seth eyed the couple suspiciously. "Something looks different about you two," he said. "Ryan… what's with the dried blood on your face?"

Marissa and Ryan exhaled mutual breaths of relief: Seth hadn't notice what really was different.

"I banged my head on the headboard," Ryan lied.

"No, wait… that's not it…" Seth said, unintentionally crossing his eyes as he concentrated.

Sandy rolled his eyes and kept spreading his bagel with cream cheese.

"I've got it!" Seth exclaimed. "Marissa, weren't you going to take the guest room last night?"

"I did." Marissa crossed her fingers behind her back.

"Then why did you come in from the pool house with Ryan?" Seth noticed the guilty look on their faces. "Mm-hmm, somebody got a little busy last night, huh, Ryan? Wanna give some details, you two?"

"Do I ask you what happens every time Summer comes over?" Ryan sighed, exasperated.

"Never said you couldn't, bro."

"You guys, shut up and eat. The bagels are really good!" Marissa interrupted, shoving hers at Ryan. "Try it!"

Ryan took a bite: it was good. "Great, Riss," he commented.

She smiled. Everything seemed to be back to normal.

Not for long.