"Ryan." Jimmy Cooper stood in the doorway. His face was strained with exhaustion, his eyes filled with worry. He had stayed close to the porch, waiting for Ryan to knock. He knew that his daughter's boyfriend would be showing up sometime tonight, and had been watching him from the window since he had stepped up to the door. He had watched the emotions swim over the young man's face. He couldn't imagine what Ryan was going through. What his daughter was going through. No matter how much he or Julie tried to console Marissa, he knew that the only person that would help her through this would be Ryan. He knew that they would have to pull through this together. He just hoped that Ryan wouldn't desert his daughter now, when she needed him the most. Thankfully, Ryan erased those fears for him.

Jimmy immediately pulled Ryan into a hug. He hadn't had the chance to see him and talk about what happened yet. But he knew that now wasn't the time; they could get to that later. "I'm so sorry" was all he said. He felt Ryan nod his head in his shoulder, then pull back to look at him.

"Mr. Cooper, I…" Ryan began.

Jimmy held up his hand. He knew Ryan well enough to know that he was blaming himself for what happened. It made his heart ache. "Hey, we can talk about all this in the morning. Right now, there's someone else who needs you."

Ryan once again just nodded his head. He could see the sincerity in Jimmy's eyes. He had known it before, but again he thought that this was who made Marissa the amazing person she is. "This is where she got her heart," he thought.

"She's in her room," Jimmy said, stepping to the side to let Ryan in. "And I doubt that she's sleeping."

"Thanks." Ryan's voice was barely a whisper.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he took one last long breath and looked up towards her room before he started his way up. He sensed that his legs were shaking as he climbed, in fact, his whole body was shaking slightly. He was scared. Would he be able to handle the pain and confusion in her eyes? Would he be able to handle his own pain and confusion if she told him she never wanted to see him again?

Her bedroom door was slightly ajar. It was dark and quiet. He decided against knocking; a part of him didn't want to risk giving her the change to refuse his entry. As Ryan stepped inside, he noticed that there was a dim light coming from the bathroom. "Marissa?" Silence. After what seemed to Ryan like hours, he finally heard her small, shaky voice from the bathroom.

"Ryan?" He could hear so many things in that one word; sorrow, confusion, and hope. But not anger, not resentment. The hope in her voice is what gave him the courage to walk towards it.

Tears threatened to fall when he saw her crouched in the corner of the bathroom. He wouldn't let them; he had to be strong for her now. They got even more difficult to hold back as he continued to look at her. Somehow the paleness of her face made her eyes look even bigger and bluer. Her bare arms and shoulders made her look so vulnerable, so fragile. "Oh, Marissa," he whispered. He looked behind him to find something to cover her in. After picking up a quilt off her bed, he walked back in the bathroom and bent down to wrap it around her. He looked at her again and held her face in his hands. He had no words, he couldn't find the right ones. Apparently she had the same problem because she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. They didn't need words. Everything they both needed to know expressed themselves through their gazes. What happened tonight hadn't changed what was in either of their hearts; if anything, the love that was there was stronger.

Suddenly she just wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. She started to sob uncontrollably. As he picked her up in his arms, the bloody shirt in the bathtub caught his eyes. He couldn't be strong anymore. He matched her sob for sob, tear for tear as he carried her to the bed.

Ryan sat on the edge of the bed, Marissa in his lap. They just held on to each other, neither one daring to let go, even after the crying subsided. Finally Marissa lifted her face to his. "I'm so sorry Ryan." She studied the bruises and scratches on his face and she had to swallow the lump in her throat to prevent another flow of tears. She lifted a hand to carefully touch his swollen jaw. He closed his eyes, and nodded. Her one simple touch helped ease some the pain he was feeling. Then he spoke.

"Sorry for what?" Ryan's voice was gentle; he needed her to know that he didn't blame her. "For saving my life? Marissa, if it wasn't for what you did, I would be the one…" He couldn't finish that sentence; he caught the look in her eyes, she didn't need that visual. "I'm the one who's sorry. I got you into this situation; I practically put the gun in your hands." He looked down in shame.

"What, no, Ryan." Marissa lifted his face again so he would meet her eyes. "You can't take the blame for this. If I had only told you myself what really happened between Trey and me, or reported him like I should have, I wouldn't have needed to…" This time it was Marissa who couldn't complete her words. But she knew that they would never move on from this if they couldn't face reality. "Shoot Trey."

They both feel silent again, as if letting those two words sink into their soul. Ryan softly brushed the hair off of Marissa's face. "You were only trying to protect me. I can't say that things would have turned out very differently if I had found out another way; I would have still wanted to hurt him for what he did." Ryan paused and took Marissa's hands in his own. "I'm so sorry for what he did to you." He looked away and clenched his jaw. "If only I had been there, he wouldn't have hurt you."

Marissa felt his body tense up. "Ryan, how could you know? How could anyone? You are not responsible for Trey's actions." She didn't want to go any further with this conversation. She was exhausted. She looked into Ryan's eyes pleadingly. She had to make him realize that she did not blame him for any of this.

He seemed to understand because he softly kissed her on the lips before pulling her into a tight hug. "Okay. We can't blame ourselves, that's not going to help us through this. There's only one person who's responsible, and he's never going to hurt us again." Marissa nodded into his shoulder. Ryan pulled back and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. "No one is ever going to hurt you again, I promise you that."

Marissa placed her hand on his cheek and looked him in the eyes. "I love you," she whispered.

Ryan turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm. "I love you too, so much."

Their lips met and developed into a slow kiss; not hard or urgent, but soft and gentle. They seemed to gain strength from their intertwined bodies; nothing else existed, just the two of them. They shifted their bodies so that they were lying down on the bed. They couldn't get close enough, they had to enclose every space between them. Finally, both breathless, their lips separated, but the rest of their bodies remained connected.

"Stay with me," Marissa breathed.

"I'm not going anywhere," Ryan responded. He let his hand rub up and down her back They maneuvered themselves under the covers, and for several minutes they just lay there in silence, both enjoying the other's breath on their face, the sound of their heartbeats. Ryan could feel his eyes start to drift close when Marissa's voice made them open.

"Ryan?" Her voice was shaky, and Ryan's heart dropped when he heard the fear in it.

"Yeah?"

"What happens now?" She was holding her breath.

"I'm not sure. But whatever happens, we'll get through this together.