A/N: Sob. Sniff. This is it. The final chapter of The Difference. I am insanely happy to announce that I got over a hundred reviews! I never, ever, ever thought that I would get there. I want to thank everyone that reviewed: IluvDanBen33, KC-Chick, kursk, I-Believe-In-The-Butterflies, froggiezaz, Carebear Stare, danhyde girl, emzylou, GalootMaster, absolut beauty, Ryan and Marissa 4Ever, dogsbody, MaDdY-SpArKlEs, kitotterkat, Lobs-StAceY-Ters, MalibuBarbie253, Mike Rules 2003, Sea4Shoes, Rainygal, Frida Vaccari, iluvryan, slimkay, atomiccounty, Marissa Atwood, rejectedang3l, and Lil Miss Vixen. I love you guys so much, and I thank you from deep inside my heart for getting me to 105 reviews. Also, I have another new story out, for anyone who likes Harry Potter comedy; it's called Making Friendship Bracelets For The Death Eaters.

I am going to miss this story so much, but the sequel, although with angst, will be good, I hope.

This epilogue is basically partially setting the scene for the sequel.

This takes place about four months after Madison's birth, making it the end of June 2006.

Marissa was jealous.

This was not the first time that she had been feeling that way recently. Everyone around her was busy planning out the rest of their lives, and her she was, stuck with nothing to do for the next fifty years but watch her daughter.

Seth and Summer, she felt, had gotten the most out of everything: They were going to the same college, UCLA, in a few months. Seth could have gone basically anywhere else in the world, but he decided to stick with Summer. In fact, he had really decided to stick with Summer: They were engaged.

And as happy as Marissa was for her best friend, she was angry, too. In a couple months, Summer would be heading off to college with her fiancé. Marissa wasn't going to college, or getting married. She had decided to not to attend a university, because of Madison. Ryan hadn't really decided yet. He had applied, and gotten in, to some architectural school in New York, and as much as she wanted Ryan to have a successful future, she couldn't help the fact that she was desperate for him to stay. New York wasn't an option for her, and if Ryan went… that was it. They both knew that Ryan had a choice: Marissa, or New York.

And it bothered the hell out of her that he hadn't chosen yet. It hurt that he could be thinking about giving her up, just to go across the country to study. He could go to UCLA with Seth and Summer, and that way everything would work out. But it was his dream to go to that stupid school in New York, and as much as she hated it, she wouldn't stop Ryan from leaving.

But she hoped that even if he didn't stay for her, he'd stay for Madison. Like it or not, their daughter was staying right here, in Newport Beach, and she didn't know if she'd be able to stand it if Ryan missed the first four years of their child's life. He was her father. Didn't he have responsibility?

She knew Ryan loved her, and she knew she loved him, so why was everything so damn complicated?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the object of them: Ryan had just walked into the pool house.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to her on the couch.

"Hey," she said, and by the look on his face, she knew: He had decided.

"I've been thinking," he said. "And it came down to two choices: either go to New York, and follow one of my dreams, or stay here with you."

This did not sound good.

"And what did you pick?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"What do you think?"

"You're gonna go follow your dream, aren't you?" she said, and a tear spilled down her cheek.

He wiped away her tear, and kissed her.

"Yeah," he said softly. "But I have to tell you something. Marissa, I said going to New York was one of my dreams. This is the other."

He pulled a small blue box out of his pocket, and got down on one knee.

Was this what she thought it was?

"Marissa, I've loved you since the day I met you, and I love you even more, if that's possible, now. I'm going to ask you a question, and if you say yes, that would make my dream come true."

He opened the box, revealing a stunning diamond ring.

"Will you marry me?"

Marissa gasped, she hadn't been prepared for it in the least. She was about to respond, when something stopped her. Yes, she loved Ryan, and yes, she wanted to be with him, but was this the right thing? How were they going to live? Marissa didn't want to spend the rest of her life in the pool house. Ryan would have to support them, and she didn't want him to give up college for her.

Ryan saw the look of uncertainty on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Ryan, I love you, but... I can't marry you. We're too young! We'll have no money, you couldn't go to college, we'll have nowhere to li-"

Ryan stopped her. "I've already got it planned out. I'll take some courses at a community college, work some jobs-

It was Marissa's turn to interrupt. "But it's your dream to go out East."

"I told you already, this is a better drea, and I don't care if I have to work all day at Dominicks and go to college at night. We'll make it work."

"Have you considered the fact that we need some where to live?"

"Yeah."

"And..."

"And Sandy said that he and Kirsten would be more than happy to help us out."

"I don't think they realize how much they'd have to help us."

"Trust me, they do. Sandy said if he had to, he'd pay rent or mortgage or whatever for the next ten years."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Then..." Marissa looked up at Ryan. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

The tear that had fallen, it seemed, ages ago, was replaced by many, more, but this time out of pure joy. Ryan slipped the ring on her finger. He stood up, and pulled her to her feet. They kissed, and they knew that their love was real, and it was forever, and nothing could change that. Not fights, not more kids, not even Julie Cooper-Nichol could change the fact that Marissa Cooper and Ryan Atwood were destined to spend the rest of their lives together.

A/N: I know that was short, probably the shortest thing I've ever written, andI'm sorry, but it did what it needed to do. You'll see what happens along the way in the sequel, which will take place about seven years in the future, when Ryan and Marissa are twenty-five. I hope to start writing it in the first or second week of August (in about a week or two) but until then I will concentrate on my story about random Death Eater antics, Making Friendship Bracelets With The Death Eaters.

THE END