"Hey, Dude, what can you do? I mean, if it's your kid, you need to take care of it, right?" Seth asked, as they played the new Star Wars game for Playstation 2, in the pool house. They were waiting for Sandy to come home from work. Ryan had already called him twice, and he was afraid that if he called a third time, he might get mad. He had not said why, though. This was urgent though. He needed to tell Sandy and Marissa before Theresa came over. Ryan had just called Marissa a few minutes earlier, and asked if she could come over. She agreed, naturally, and said that she would be right over.

"I guess, Man, but I wanna talk to your dad and Marissa about it first before anything is done," Ryan told Seth. He was still staring at the television screen, playing the game.

At four o' clock on the dot, Sandy Cohen walked in the door. He set his briefcase down near the door, and walked into the kitchen and family room. Seth and Ryan were not there, so he figured they were in the pool house. Sandy walked in. He found the two of them sitting down playing video games. They appeared to be glued to the tube, until Ryan saw Sandy. He jumped up immediately.

"Hey, what was so important to talk to me about?" Sandy asked Ryan.

"Well, I want to wait for Marissa to get here, but can we go into a private place, like your office or something?" Ryan replied.

"Okay," Sandy said. They began to walk into the house, leaving Seth to himself and the Playstation in the pool house. "You and Marissa aren't thinking about getting married right?"

Ryan chuckled for moment, and replied, "Uh, no. Not exactly. We should wait until she gets here."

The door bell rang then. Ryan ran over to answer it. Marissa was standing there. She smiled at him, and said, "Hey!" She kissed him, and then stepped inside. "What was so urgent?"

Sandy looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment. Clearly, Marissa did not know what was going on either. For a moment, he was beginning to suspect that she was pregnant now, or something like that. They walked into Sandy's office and sat down.

"So Ryan, what's so pressing?" Sandy asked. He was a little concerned.

"Remember when Seth and I came back last summer. Remember why I came back?" Ryan began to explain.

"Yeah, it was because Theresa lost the baby, and you weren't happy there anyways," Marissa said, filing in the blank.

"Well, today at school, she comes up to me at lunch, and wanted to talk to me. It turns out that she lied. Theresa had the baby, and she said it was mine. She lied so I would come back here, and be happy, which I am," Ryan continued.

"Oh, my god..." Marissa muttered. She knew that this meant.

"And now... she wants child support," Ryan explained. Marissa and Sandy looked at him with shock. They could not believe what was happening.

"Well, legally, she is entitled to it, but how could she do this to you? I always thought she was a good kid," Sandy replied.

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry. I don't want to have to ask for this, but I mean, I didn't even know... she is coming over here in about an hour... with the baby. She wanted me to meet him first," Ryan told them. Marissa still had not said anything. She was still in shock.

"It'll be okay, Kid. We'll get you through it," Sandy told him. He patted him on the back as he was about to exit the room. "I guess we'd better not go out then. I'll go start supper."

Marissa looked at Ryan. She had tears in her eyes. She could not believe this was happening again. She looked at him and asked, "So what does this mean for us?"

"This doesn't mean anything for us. I meant what I said. I want to make this work, no matter what, and nothing could change that," Ryan told her. He touched her face, and smiled at her.

"I hope so," Marissa said, trying to smile through the tears.

"Wanna go out to the pool house?" I know Seth is out there," Ryan asked her. She nodded her head, and the two of them headed out to the pool house to watch some video games. They sat there for about an hour, watching Seth battle his level 1 arch nemesis. Marissa was beginning to enjoy herself, finally. She decided that she would not let this bother her. She tried to believe what Ryan said, that they would make it through this.

Then Sandy came out to see them. He told them that dinner was ready, and Theresa had arrived. Seth walked out of the pool house, and into the kitchen first. For starters, he really enjoyed what they were having for dinner that night - sloppy joes. He waved to Theresa, and sat down at the table, where his father had directed him to, which was on the end. The baby was sitting next to Theresa. Next, came Ryan and Marissa, they were holding hands, being a united front. They sat down next to each other, across from Theresa. Sandy was the last person to sit down for dinner.

"Gee, Mr. Cohen, the food looks great!" Theresa exclaimed. "Where is Mrs. Cohen?"

The table got silent for a moment.

"Kirsten... Kirsten doesn't live here right now," Sandy told her.

"Sorry for asking, I didn't mean to impose or anything," she replied.

"So how are things... in Chino?" Seth asked Theresa, trying to make conversation.

"Okay, I guess," she told him. "So how's school here for you guys?"

"Fine," Ryan replied. "What does it matter to you?"

"Ryan, I was just trying to make conversation, that's all," Theresa retorted. She was getting angry, and so was he.

"School's fine, really," Marissa said, stepping in. "I don't go to Harbor anymore, though."

"Why not?" Theresa asked between bites.

"It just wasn't the right fit for me anymore," Marissa told her, partially lying, and partially telling the truth. She really did not want to drudge up the past. "I go to Newport Union now. I like it there. The people are more..."

"Real," Theresa and Marissa said at the same time. The rest of the dinner was eaten of almost complete silence. When they were done, Sandy cleared the table. Seth excused himself and went to his room. This left Ryan, Marissa, and Theresa at the table. Nothing was said for a minute or so. Everything was very awkward among them.

"Wanna go into the living room?" Ryan suggested. Everyone nodded. Marissa followed Ryan into the living with Theresa and the baby not far behind. Once again, they sat there for a minute, not knowing what to do.

Finally, Theresa said, "This is Matthew." She sat him down on the floor. He was about six months old by now. He could sit there and suck on his hand by himself. He was cute. Matthew was dressed in little blue overalls with little white socks.

"Well, he's cute," Ryan stated. Marissa glared at him. "What?"

"All babies are cute," Marissa reminded him.

"All right, let's cut to the chase, how much do you want?" Ryan asked Theresa.

"Ryan, I'm not going to ask for a lot. I've known you way too long, and we've been through way too much for me to screw you over," Theresa explained to him.

"How much, Theresa?" he asked, again, getting slightly angry.

"Three-hundred and sixty-two dollars a month," she told him. He looked a little shocked, but he let it sink in.

"All right... then do I get to see him?" Ryan asked her.

"What do you mean?" Theresa asked, not sure of what he meant.

"I mean, I'm paying you all this money, but do I get visitations? I mean, you claim I'm the kid's father," Ryan restated.

"Ryan, I don't want you to get involved. You're happy right now. I just really needed the money right now, or otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you," Theresa told him.

"Clearly you did want me to get involved, otherwise, you wouldn't have asked," Ryan retorted.

She sighed and said, "Fine, how about every other weekend, he comes here. I'll drive one way, and you drive one way, how 'bout that? We'll start this weekend. I'll drive him here, you can drive him home."

"Fine, and when you bring him, I'll have your money for you," Ryan told her.

"Fine," Theresa replied. She looked at her watch. "I think I'm going to get going now. I'll see you Friday night, how 'bout that?"

"Fine, I'll see you then," he said. Ryan and Marissa walked Theresa and the baby to the door. He just hoped this was all she would ask for.