When You Least Expect It Chapter Nine
A/N: This is probably the fluffiest chapter I've ever written, since the next couple will be angsty. Marissa's present originated from a joke that Josh should write something of Mischa's into the show, just so you know.
Marissa awoke slowly to the feel of something soft and silky lightly running along her face and neckline. It felt so good at first she thought she might still be dreaming.
"Marissa? Wake up."
Slowly, the gentle sound of her boyfriend's voice along with the heavenly smell of coffee also penetrated her awareness. She burrowed into her pillow a little more for a second, then slowly opened her eyes to see Ryan's blue eyes shining into hers. "Mmmm, good morning," she murmured.
"Good morning," he grinned. "Happy Valentine's Day."
Marissa opened her eyes wider and sat up in bed a little, taking in her surroundings in the pool house. She realized he'd had a rose in his hand; that's what he woke her up with. And there was a tray on the bed where the coffee was coming from. "Ryan!" she exclaimed, surprised and touched. He was steadily becoming more and more overtly romantic, but he still surprised her sometimes with little moments like this. "You didn't have to do this."
"Before you get too excited, it's just scrambled eggs, Lucky Charms, and a blueberry bagel," he laughed. "I'm not exactly skilled at making anything else and I can't drive to get anything else just yet." He appreciated having a walking cast, but he was still irritated he couldn't really drive anywhere.
"Oooh, Lucky Charms," she said excitedly, sitting up more fully and reaching for the tray.
Ryan raised his brows. "How old are you again?" he teased.
Marissa shot him a Look. "And you were doing so well."
He laughed again. "Okay, okay," he said, holding up his hands. "So, I have a plan for today, if that's okay."
He'd even remembered how she liked her coffee, Marissa noted, and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I feel so lame," she admitted. "I got you a few presents, but that's it." A smile crept over her face. "Still, I want to know what you planned." She eagerly motioned him on.
"If you don't mind being chauffeur, I thought we could drive up the coast to that crab place you like for an early lunch," he began. Marissa hid a smile at him in 'serious planning' mode.
"I don't mind driving anywhere," she responded out loud. "That sounds great."
"Okay…so then it's back to Newport Beach for your present…and then we can get take out from whatever restaurant we want and take it back to your place for dinner."
"Wait a minute, what's my present?" Marissa protested curiously. "And why my place? We never spend any time at my house."
"So impatient," Ryan teased her. "You'll see what your present is closer to when you get it, and then being at your house will make sense."
Marissa narrowed her eyes in interest, but then relented. He seemed so excited about whatever he'd planned; that was almost a better present than anything so if it would keep that smile on his face, she was happy to go with the flow. "That sounds perfect," she agreed. "I can't believe you planned all this. Again, I'm a slacker."
Ryan shrugged. "I wanted to do something nice for you," he said, rubbing her leg. "You've been so great these past couple months, and I feel like it's taking its toll on you. Every time I see you at school, you look totally overwhelmed."
"How is it your fault I procrastinate my school work?" Marissa laughingly protested.
Ryan knew it probably had everything to do with him. She'd been completely focused on him ever since the car accident. She spent most of her spare time with him, she'd been more focused for awhile on doing his homework than hers, and she hadn't slept any more regularly than he had between the early days of him having nightmares and getting sick in the middle of the night, and the later days of him being unable to sleep out of discomfort. He didn't want to bring that up though; he wanted this day to be fun. "Well, whatever the reason. It'll be nice to have a day with nothing to worry about," he said out loud. "Plus, for all the time we've been together we've never had a good Valentine's Day. So really, this is like three in one."
Seriously, she had no idea when he'd gotten so romantic, but she wasn't about to complain. "Hey, when do you want your present?" she questioned suddenly. "One of them is at my house so you'll get that tonight, but the other stuff is here."
"It's here?" Ryan said, confused. "And there are really more than one?" She'd gotten him a set of books about architecture and put together a collection of Segal movies for him for Christmas, along with some music she thought he might like. He wasn't exactly sure what else there WAS to get him.
Marissa had hopped off the bed and was kneeling by his dresser; he stared at her blankly as she dragged a fairly large, flat box out from under it. "You hid something from me in my own room. That's sad. And I mean on my part," he said wryly.
Marissa giggled. "It hasn't been there for very long, if that makes you feel better. Besides, you haven't exactly been crawling around on the floor lately."
"True," Ryan conceded, holding out his hand for the box as she came back to the bed.
"It's not clothing, don't worry," Marissa said hastily and he chuckled. "Just a couple things in one box."
"I'm sure I'll love it," Ryan assured her, tearing open the simple red paper and opening the box. The first thing he pulled out was a book.
"It's a first edition copy of The Grapes of Wrath," Marissa explained, a little nervously. She never knew how he was going to like any of his presents. "I mean, I know you already have the book, but it's like your favorite so I thought you might want to look through that."
"I do," Ryan said slowly, surprised at her perceptiveness. He liked history as much as he liked books, so this was a cool, thoughtful idea. It was something he would have gotten himself. "This is really cool; thank you." He leaned in to give her a quick kiss.
"Might want to open the rest before you thank me," Marissa said lightly, relieved he at least seemed to like the first one.
Ryan went for another smaller box. "Hey!" he exclaimed in surprise. "It's that watch I wanted!"
"I only noticed you eyeing it every single time we go by that store when we're on the pier," Marissa teased, ruffling his hair a little. "I admit I actually bought around Christmas time, but I can never be sure when I'm going to find something I think you'll actually like so I have to space these things out."
"I like this better, anyway," he smiled. Christmas had been not long after he'd gotten out of the hospital and he hadn't been in the best mood, nor was he in the mood to look at any clocks or watches and watch the time go by as he was forced to basically sit around and do nothing. "Now I'm getting a little nervous about your present; these are great."
"I'm sure yours is better," Marissa laughed. "Okay, the last one is a litle…"
Ryan opened a long slim box and burst out laughing. "You didn't," he said, pulling two strips of paper out of the box. "A Journey concert?"
Marissa dissolved into giggles. "I know you love them," she said playfully. "I wasn't sure about that, but it's in L.A in a couple of months, and I think your knee will be okay enough to stand a little bit then and I got seats high enough to where we can probably still see them if we sit a lot of the time, but close enough so we can see them at all. You're always getting dragged to parties and concerts I want to go to; I thought it was time you got something for you."
She'd put so much thought into this, right down to the seating arrangements. They weren't overwhelmingly extravagant gifts, but they were really thoughtful and showed she paid attention to him even when he didn't notice she was doing it. He'd rather have that than anything flashy, anyway. "Marissa, seriously, these are all really great," he said sincerely, leaning in to give her a more full kiss, cupping her face with one of his hands. "I'd love to go to the concert with you. As long as it remains a secret from Seth," he joked.
Marissa laughed. "Secrecy from Seth is part of the contract," she agreed playfully. "I'm glad you like them; I was worried they were stupid."
"Are you kidding? You really went above and beyond to make sure they'd be things I'd like. This is really sweet," Ryan kissed her again. "See, this day is already starting out better than the last two."
Marissa smiled against his lips. "You know…we have awhile until we have to start heading out to lunch. It could…start out even better," she suggested coyly, playing with the hem of his shirt.
"Have I ever told you I love the way your mind thinks?" he grinned, flopping back on the bed and pulling her on top of him.
Marissa stared blankly out her windshield. "My present is at the animal shelter?"
After a long, slow morning in bed, they'd had a gorgeous drive up the coast and a long romantic lunch together, then Ryan had given her careful instructions about where to drive to next. She had to say, she hadn't been expecting this.
Ryan bit his lip a little nervously; this was either going to be a great present or a disastrous one since it WAS a lot of responsibility. "Yeah, well…I remember how upset you were when your mom gave your dad's dog away back around the time we first started dating. And I've seen you watch those animal shelter rescue things. So I cleared it with your mom and if you want…we can go in and pick one out. Or if you don't-" he started to clarify hastily, but she didn't even give him a chance.
"I get a dog!" she squealed excitedly, more like a child than he thought he'd ever seen her. "Oh my God, I LOVE you! How did you talk my mom into it? She wouldn't even let me get one when she was trying to bribe me out of hating her!"
"Whoa, whoa," Ryan laughed, taken aback, delighted, and amused by her overenthusiastic reaction all at once. "Calm down. I think I guilted Julie into it a little, but I got her there." It hadn't been easy; he was pretty sure he'd somehow ended up agreeing he owed Julie at the end of it despite everything that had gone down between them. But he'd gotten what he wanted, so he didn't care. "She doesn't want one that would be TOO big, and I've already come in here and I saw one that I think you might like. We don't have to get one from the animal shelter," he quickly explained. "If you want one from somewhere else, we can do that. I thought you might like this because of those shows you watch."
"No, I do want one from here," she assured him. "This is where I would have come. I can't BELIEVE you did this!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed halfway into his seat to smother his face with kisses.
"Marissa- hey- mmmm," Ryan moaned, powerless against her lips. Forgetting where they were for a minute, he tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer, opening his mouth to hers. They kissed for several long minutes, until Marissa accidentally bumped into the car horn and reminded them both they were in a car in a very public parking lot.
"Trust me, there's going to be a LOT more of that later," Marissa grinned, kissing him quickly once more before returning to her own seat and hopping out of the car. Ryan had never seen her like this; she was practically bouncing all over him as he got out of the car and dragging him into the shelter.
To his surprise, she went straight for a somewhat shaggy, medium sized mixed breed puppy who wasn't going to be a puppy for very much longer- exactly the dog he'd had in mind for her. "I guess I know you even better than I thought," he said wryly. She looked at him in confusion and he clarified. "That was the one I had in mind."
"Really?" she said, surprised and pleased. "That settles it. This is the one, then."
Within an hour, they were back at Marissa's house- Ryan had hidden his own set of surprises in there, dog supplies and such, but in a room she never went in- with the dog, a boy Marissa had promptly named Macbeth.
"You were right," a voice startled Ryan as he stood in the doorway to the patio, laughing as he watched Marissa and the dog play in the yard. He turned to see Julie standing beside him. "It seems like such a little thing, but I haven't seen her smile like that in a long time."
Ryan lifted his shoulder and turned back to watch Marissa. "Sometimes it just takes a little thing, you know? Everything in her life is so complicated; I thought she could use something simple."
"Mmmm, you really do like that dog."
The words were murmured between long, involved kisses as Ryan and Marissa lay together on Marissa's bed. Macbeth had eventually worn himself out- it wasn't that surprising; Ryan hadn't even known Marissa could be that active and playful- and curled up asleep in his doggie room, and Ryan and Marissa had shared a meal from their favorite Thai restaurant, but it hadn't taken them long to abandon food for more…baser needs.
Marissa giggled. "I really really really do," she breathed, nibbling slightly on his lower lip in a way she knew made him crazy. "Wanna know how much?"
"Oh, I think I'm getting the picture," Ryan laughed breathlessly.
"Mmmm, don't get too far ahead of yourself," she lightly warned him. "I still haven't given you your last present." Without warning, she suddenly got up off of him.
Ryan blinked, his brain a fog. "Marissa, I can open another present later," he weakly protested.
"Oh, I can open it for you, Right now." Ryan stared at her blankly for a second, then he realized she was slowly unbuttoning her black shirt.
"You didn't," he said in disbelief.
Marissa gave him that smile that had always instantly set his blood on fire, from the first time she'd sent it his way at the first party they'd been at together. "I did." With maddening slowness, she slowly undid her shirt and slid off her jeans to reveal a full-on, barely there black lacy lingerie set, complete with a garter belt.
"Oh my God," was all Ryan was able to get out, fully convinced he was about to pass out.
Marissa crawled back on top of him, making sure she only brushed up against places she knew would make him lose control, and leaned in so their lips were just barely touching.
"Dontcha want to unwrap the rest?"
Still convinced he may well faint even lying down, Ryan was only able to get out one sentence.
"Valentine's Day is the best holiday there's ever been."
Marissa started to laugh, but it turned into a gasp as Ryan grasped the back of her head and took her mouth in an instantly, forcefully passionate kiss. All of the sudden his hands were everywhere, making her lose control faster than she had him. She practically ripped at his clothes to come off, only somewhat careful in pulling his shorts- he'd taken to rarely wearing boxers at this point- off his injured leg. He turned the tables by taking his maddening time sliding off the lingerie inch by inch, kissing each inch that was revealed to him until Marissa couldn't even breathe. "Ryan-" she gasped out, the tone of her voice practically making the word a plea.
"Oh, now you're impatient," he teased huskily. He chuckled at the expression on her face and cut off anything else she was going to say by grasping her by the hips and pulling her down.
One wouldn't have thought it considering Ryan's leg was still in a cast, but putting everything else aside, Marissa could honestly say it was simply the best sex she'd ever had, she mused dreamily much later as she lay limp in Ryan's arms.. He had always been the best sex she'd ever had by a long shot- nothing else was in the same league- but she couldn't ever remember feeling quite like she did right now.
"Have I ever told you…" Ryan murmured sleepily, breaking her from her thoughts. "How much I love these freckles all over your nose?"
"Really?" she giggled and crinkled her nose as he ran a finger down it. "I hated them SO much when I was a kid. My heritage is like totally Irish and English so I didn't have a prayer of not having them, but I felt so awkward. I wanted crystal clear skin."
"I love them. I think they add character." Ryan leaned forward and kissed her nose and she giggled again.
"Well, my opinion of them just shot up then," she smiled, running her hand lazily across his chest.
Ryan cupped the side of her face in his hands, the look in his eyes suddenly taking her breath away. It wasn't the overwhelming desire of earlier, it was just pure, unmasked, complete love. "Best present I ever got," he said softly, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.
Marissa found she had absolutely NOTHING adequate to say to that, even if she hadn't suddenly needed to fight back emotional tears. "I love you," was all she was able to get out.
Ryan smiled a little. "I love you, too." He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Happy Valentine's Day."