A/N: Yes! Yes! 3 chapters in a row with at least 10 reviews each! I love you guys!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

I have decided to, in addition to The Difference, start a new story. Don't worry: This will still be updated! I'm not done with it! I've decided to try my hand at horror, so to all my loyal fans (I love you guys!) out there, be on the lookout for One By One, coming soon to a website near you.

She looked worried. "The patient in room eighteen stopped breathing."

"Holy shit," Summer breathed.

"What?" Seth asked.

"That's Coop."

"Oh, my God," Seth said softly, finally dropping the article on broccoli and its effect on his colon. "Are you serious?"

"Cohen, why would I joke about something like that? Do you think I would find it funny to make that up? Do you think I would laugh at it?" She glared at him.

"Okay. Okay! Sorry! Let's go." He stood up, and pulled her to her feet, and they rushed off to room eighteen.

Yet again, no one noticed the two intruders sneaking in. It seemed like everyone with a medical degree within a mile radius was in Marissa's room, trying desperately to get her to inhale again. She had an oxygen mask, like the kind you would see on an airplane, covering her mouth, and a bunch of wires were running to different machines. Ryan was sitting in a chair, looking helpless, as the doctors franticly tried to revive her.

Dr. Fletcher sighed and turned to thee three of them.

"This," he began, "is quite an odd condition. Marissa's heart is beating, but she is not breathing. It seems that the reason for this, is the coma."

"So what does that mean?" Summer asked desperately.

"It means, if she doesn't wake up within-" he glanced at his watch "-I'd give it fifteen minutes, we'll lose her."

"And the baby?"

"That, too."

"We'll do it." Ryan spoke up.

"Pardon?" Dr. Fletcher looked unamused.

"We'll wake her up. Your machine's won't do it."

"I highly doubt-"

"Listen, buddy, if you don't take your doctors out of there right now, I'll-" Summer was fuming,

Fletcher backed off, and called the staff out of there.

They knelt by her bed.

"Marissa?" Ryan called.

"Coop?"

Seth had turned a magnificent shade of green the moment he had seen the extent of Marissa's injury's, nevertheless he called to her too.

Summer pulled something out of her purse, and began to brush her friend's hair. Ryan just held her hand,

Twelve minutes passed and the teenagers had tried everything they could think of to bring her back.

Ryan wasn't quitting yet, though. He leaned across the hospital bed and softly kissed Marissa on the lips.

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She was sitting on the grass, staring up at the sky. She was vaguely aware that Ryan was next to her, urgently tugging on her arm, but she didn't care. The sky was so blue. It was so nice out. She was free. She had no responsibilities. It was so warm! Pity there wasn't a lake around there, so she could dive in, and cool off.

After what seemed like forever, the sky didn't seem so blue, and it had gotten chilly out. Maybe she should find out what Ryan wanted.

She turned to him, and tried to hear what he was saying, but why was it so difficult? He was calling her name, over and over, sounding like he would die if she didn't respond.

She opened her mouth to answer, but no words could come out. What was wrong with her?

At once, the scene changed, and she was underwater. She supposed there was a lake after all. She stopped to enjoy the view- what lovely fish! - when she remembered.

She couldn't breathe.

There was no air.

She needed oxygen.

She began to swim, as fast as she could, to the surface. Ryan was up there, she could see, and so was Summer and Seth. Even more incentive to get to the shore!

But the more she swan, the farther down she sank. She needed air, she needed it, she couldn't last that much longer without it.

She attacked the water, pushing it away with such effort. Her arms hurt, and so did her legs, even an eye was in pain, but she didn't care. She had to get to the surface, she had to get to Ryan.

Yes! She was there at the shore! She had done it!

She felt something warm on her lips, and with one last effort, opened her eyes.

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Ryan stared at Marissa.

She stared back.

"Marissa?" he asked.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Oh, my God." Summer said. "Oh, my God."

She felt herself being wrapped in a massive hug, by three pairs of arms.

"Ow!" she said. "Guys, you're hurting me!"

Everyone let go at once, as if she was a china doll that might break.

"Coop! You're back!"

"Where have I been?" she asked, struggling to sit up. She rubbed her eyes. "Where the hell am I?"

"You're in the hospital." Seth informed her.

And it all came flooding back. The yarmuclauses, the dive on the free way- and the accident.

"Am I okay?" she asked, not caring or even realizing how dumb her question sounded.

"You're going to make it, Ms. Cooper," an unfamiliar voice assured her, and she painfully moved her head to see a doctor standing in the doorway.

"I'm Dr. Fletcher," he said, crossing the room to shake hands with her. "You've got a broken leg and fractured arm, and one black eye, but that's it. You are very, very lucky. Your breaks aren't even that bad. With a cast and physical therapy, you should be back on your feet by the end of February."

"What day is it?" she asked, not knowing how long she had been unconscious for.

As if on cue, the elder Cohen's walked in. "Happy Chrismukkah!" they chorused.

Marissa grinned. "Guess that answers that."

"Anyways," the doctor continued. "You'll be needing some very minor surgery for your leg, and we can probably have you out of here on New Year's Eve."

"Thanks."

The doctor nodded, and left.

"Since you're awake," Sandy told her, "we figured that you might like these." A nurse walked in, carrying a precarious pile of presents.

She smiled.

"Go ahead, open them." Kirsten told her.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

She felt like she was six again, trying to set the world record for fastest unwrapped presents.

All in all, she felt that she had done well. A beautiful silver and turquoise necklace from Ryan-she vaguely remembered gawking in awe at it on one of their many excursions to the mall for baby gear-, a hundred dollar gift certificate to the mall from Summer, and, last but certainly not least…

She ripped open the small box, with the tag "From Sandy, Seth, and Kirsten" on it.

"Oh, my God. Are you serious?"

They nodded, beaming.

She pulled out a pair of gleaming car keys, with the name "Cooper" on it.

She grinned. "How did you guys get me a car key with my name on it?"

Summer answered for them. "No, Coop, that's brand name. Of the car. Not you."

She blushed. "I knew that."

"What kind did you get her?" Summer asked the Cohen's.

"It's really cool." Seth put in.

"We figured, since the Range Rover that we had given Ryan and Marissa was… totaled, they'd need a new one. So, what more fitting then to get the mini Cooper, a mini Cooper?" Sandy grinned.

"No way. You're saying that you guys got me-" she glanced at her boyfriend "- and Ryan a car for the holidays?"

"Yup."

She motioned for them to come closer, and proceeded to hug the living daylights out of Kirsten and Sandy, thanking them a million times.

"How long have you known about this for?" she asked Ryan.

He smiled. "I helped them pick it out."

She kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

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Just as the doctor had predicted, Marissa went home New Year's Eve, where she stayed on the couch with the Cohen's, Ryan, and Summer all day.

After just a month and a half of therapy, on February eighteenth, 2006, Marissa was off her crutches, and finally able to walk again.

The only problem in her life now was the fact that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't identify the drunk driver who had almost taken her life. She tried to explain to everyone that all she had seen of the guy was his eyes- in fact, it might have even been a woman. People were slightly disappointed, and so was she, but there was nothing she could do about it.

February twenty-first was a day that made Marissa very, very, very glad that she had gotten off the crutches earlier. It would have majorly sucked if, on that Tuesday, she had not had full usage of her legs.

Because, on Tuesday, February 21st, just as Marissa sat down to lunch, something happened. Had she not been going to pregnancy classes for the last month, she would have thought it a side effect of breakfast, or perhaps just her stomach rumbling. But there was no mistaking it.

"Oh, my God, Ryan," she said, putting down her drink and facing her boyfriend. "It's time."

"For what?" Seth asked, munching on a chip.

"I think I'm going to have the baby."

"We know, you decided ages ago to keep it." Summer rolled her eyes,.

"No, I mean, I think I'm going to have the baby now."

A/N: Another cliffy. Smaller one, though. Look out for my new story!