Takes place during and after The O.C. Confidential, then jumps to The Showdown, and how it might have played out if Ryan had gotten to Marissa's house a few minutes earlier.

"He probably shouldn't see you here," Marissa said, pulling Ryan out of Kyle's view. There was a pounding beat and people dancing all around them. She could feel his breath on her cheek and it took more control than she could find to keep her thoughts on the drug bust. He was wearing just a hint of cologne, and he was looking at her with those smoldering eyes. She was beginning to feel a bit light-headed, but sometimes Ryan had that effect on her.

Jess broke the spell of the moment, dragging her away from Ryan, telling her that Kyle wanted an introduction. Marissa caught a glimpse of Ryan out of the corner of her eye, and knowing he was just a few steps behind her made her feel a little less freaked out about the whole thing. "Hey, look, I just wanted to thank you for hooking me up, but I kind of have a boyfriend." She wasn't entirely sure if that's what he was or not, but either way, it worked as a good reason not to get involved with Kyle. Besides, wasn't Kyle dating Jess?

"I kind of don't care."

She wasn't sure if Ryan was still within earshot, but she could imagine the angry glare on his face if he was. She got a little nervous when Kyle stepped towards her, but then Ryan seemed to come out of nowhere. "Hey! Back off man. She's with me."

"You need to get out of here, bitch, this is a private party."

They heard sirens approaching and Ryan smirked. "Hope you enjoyed it 'cause it's gonna be your last." He turned to Marissa with a look that was stern but gentle. "Go back inside."

She'd missed him looking at her like that. She was about to go when Kyle lunged at Ryan. "Narc!"

Ryan hit him back and tackled him in the sand. He was holding him on the ground as the cops came closer. It looked like they'd both gotten a few hits in. Luckily, Ryan didn't have to hold him down for long because the cops arrived.

Kyle tried to bolt, but Trey opened the car door at the perfect time and knocked him back to the ground. "You okay?" he asked Ryan.

Ryan touched his nose and saw that there was a little blood. "I'm getting used to it."

Marissa stood by his side feeling a sense of security just from his presence. "I don't think I've ever seen you win a fight before," she teased.

Ryan glanced over at Marissa. They were finally alone and now that he finally had the perfect opportunity, he didn't know how to approach it. "So...it's been awhile...since we were..."

"Alone?"

"Yeah without, you know, something-"

"Or someone."

"I guess we can do whatever we want." His hungry eyes met hers, saying far more than his words ever could.

"Well, what do you wanna do?"

Ryan felt his face flush slightly just at the thought of what that question brought to mind. When he got his mind a little bit out of the gutter, he looked back at her. He didn't say anything, but the look of desire on his face left no doubt in her mind.

Her eyes lured him in like a magnetic force and their lips met slowly. Before they could get into it, she pulled back. "Ryan, wait." He looked at her, slightly confused. "We've waited a long time for this."

"You wanna stop?" He was trying not to sound too disappointed, but after all this time, he didn't want to wait any longer to feel her lips kissing his, her hands in his hair, her body against him.

She offered him a shy smile and shook her head. "No, I just think we can do better than the front seat of Sandy's car."

Ryan was clearly relieved. "I know a guy who has a pool house all to himself."

"Do you think he'd let us borrow it?" She was loving the almost desperate desire clearly written on his face.

"Oh yeah," he replied in a husky voice.

Ryan parked the Range Rover in the driveway and he and Marissa hurried around back to the pool house. He pulled all the blinds down and she sat down on his bed, watching his every move carefully. It'd been a long time since she'd allowed herself to study his body.

He joined her on the bed, and moved towards her to kiss her, but she pushed his shoulders back a little. She smiled reassuringly, and slid his shirt off over his shoulders. He still had a T-shirt on, and she would guess he had a wifebeater on under that, but those could come off later.

Their lips met with a year of built up passion, and things were heating up very quickly. "Ryan?"

Still nibbling on her lips, he asked, "Hmm?"

"Maybe we should talk before we do this."

"Okay." He lay down on the bed, and she positioned herself so her head was resting on his chest. He fought the urge to groan when she shifted slightly. The friction added to his arousal and he wondered if she was torturing him on purpose.

"Are we ready for this?"

"Getting back together?" He was trying to make the situation as innocent as possible in his mind until he knew where she stood.

She giggled. "No, sex."

"Oh, uh..." He really didn't know what to say to that. He'd been thinking about it, but hadn't been sure that that was what she had in mind when they came back to the pool house.

"I mean, I know it feels like we've been waiting forever, and we have, but we just got back together."

"Yeah, no, I mean if you don't want to..."

How she was resisting pouncing on him that moment, she didn't know. "Of course I want to. I just want to make sure that we're not moving too fast. I don't want to do anything to mess this up."

"We could wait." He leaned to kiss her temple. "I don't want our first time to be our last time."

"Thanks." She smiled tenderly at him. "It won't be."

He smiled lazily. "Do you want to sleep here tonight?"

"Sandy and Kirsten are cool with that?"

"Well, they never did give me the talk."

She giggled. "Okay. And by the way, you do snore."

She was snuggled up against Ryan with her back to him. She wasn't sure if he was asleep or not, but judging by the way that she felt every bit of him against her, it was unlikely. "Ryan?" she whispered into the dark.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not tired. I don't want to sleep yet." She knew there was no way he was tired either.

His eyes widened in the dark and he tried to keep his voice even. "What do you want to do?"

She turned around to face him, and kissed him slowly and thoroughly. His hand that was resting on her waist ran up and down her side, causing tingling sensations coursing through her body. She reached for the drawstring on his pants and pulled it. "I think we should start making up for lost time."

That had been only a week ago. They hadn't actually had sex, but the way things were escalating, it didn't seem like it would be long before they were ready for that. But an hour or so ago, Marissa had run out on him, and he'd come to talk to her to find out what was going on. There couldn't possibly be anything going on between her and Trey, could there? He knocked on the front door and there was no answer, but he could hear distant voices inside. He went around to the back, which he knew they kept open. He hoped Caleb and Julie wouldn't be there, but glancing around downstairs, he saw no sign of them.

As he started to make his way up to Marissa's room, he heard yelling on the other side of the door. "I don't want to hear it!"

He heard a muffled voice that sounded like Trey and quickly moved closer to the door. "Look, I just want things to go back like they were. And I never meant to hurt you."

"Me? What about Ryan? I mean, he's your brother!" The force in Marissa's voice took Ryan by surprise, and his heart sank at the knowledge that he was in Marissa's bedroom. "He loves you! He would do anything for you!"

Ryan leaned closer to the door so he could hear as his mind raced with all kinds of scenarios. "I said...I said I was sorry." Trey's voice was a mix of sharp anger and pleading.

"And so what?" Ryan wondered what Trey could have done to make Marissa so angry. "You know, you don't even deserve him as a brother."

"You don't want to accept my apology? Fine. But I want you to promise me you won't say anything to him."

Ryan leaned away from the door in confusion. What was he making her promise not to tell him? Would she agree to it? Her reply was sharp, and the tone of her words was cutting. "Get out. Get out before I call the police."

Police? Whatever was happening was getting out of hand. He reached up and rapped his knuckles on the door. "Marissa?" When he was met with silence, fear took over and he pushed the door open. He found them standing there several feet apart, her face red from crying and Trey glaring at her. "What's going on?"

Marissa looked at Trey coldly, demanding that he answer Ryan. Trey looked Ryan straight in the eye. "Nothing."

Marissa looked like she was going to cry again. Ryan prodded, "Didn't sound like nothing." He looked between his girlfriend (ex-girlfriend?) and his brother, begging one of them to tell him that it wasn't what he was afraid of.

"I'm out of here," Trey said, giving Marissa a warning look on his way out. "Later little brother."

Once he was gone, Ryan looked to Marissa for an explanation, but she didn't say anything. She crossed the room to him and fell into his arms, sobbing.

He hesitantly held her, torn between wanting to console her and feeling utterly betrayed. "Marissa, please just tell me what happened with you guys."

There were several seconds of silence which stretched on like hours for Ryan. "When you went to Miami for the weekend, Trey got a job at the Bait Shop. And we were celebrating and..." she choked on a sob buried her face in Ryan's chest. "He thought...he tried..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. "I didn't want it to happen."

He pulled back and held her face between his hands, forcing himself to remain calm. "What happened? Did you guys kiss? You didn't..." Ryan hesitated and swallowed trying to keep his emotions in check. "You didn't sleep with him, did you?"

"No! Of course not Ryan, I could never do that to you. He tried to kiss me, and when I told him no...he didn't exactly take it very well." She couldn't bring herself to say rape.

Though he was starting to get the idea, he didn't want to believe it. "What did he do?"

Marissa took a deep breath and kept her eyes glued to the floor. "Promise me that if I tell you, you won't go after him."

"Marissa, what-"

"Just promise me."

Ryan didn't want to make that promise, but he didn't have much choice. "Okay."

Marissa pulled her top aside, revealing the bruise to Ryan.

His eyes widened and he leaned closer to examine it, raising his fingertips to her skin, but not letting them touch her. "Trey did this to you?"

She nodded weakly. "He was on coke, he didn't know what he was doing..."

"I'm gonna kill him."

"Ryan, no! Please, don't."

"I can't let him get away with this!" His anger was boiling and he mentally kicked himself for raising his voice.

"Please, I'm begging you, just let it go."

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "How can you say that after he did this to you?"

"Because even more than I want Trey to pay for what he did..." She looked up, finally meeting his eyes for the first time since she'd rushed out of the pool house. "I don't want to lose you."

"It's my fault you were with him. I have to make it right." He made a move to leave, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Then just stay here with me." He hesitated. "Summer's got a punching bag. We can put Trey's picture on it and you can have your way with it. Okay?"

He sort of half-smiled and pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead. "I'm so sorry. I never thought he would-"

"I know." She nuzzled his neck, finding the familiarity comforting. "We'll get through this." The held each other in silence for a few more moments. "It's a good thing you and Trey don't look too much alike," she laughed lightly trying to lift the somber mood.

He pulled back, and took her hand, leading her to the bed to sit down. "Look, I'm not going to pretend to know how difficult this is going to be for you. We can go as slow as you need to...but if you want to break up, I'll understand. I mean, I am his brother."

Looking at him at that moment, she wondered how that was even possible. "By blood maybe, but Seth is your brother. I find it hard to believe that you and Trey came from the same gene pool and had the same upbringing."

Ryan sighed. "As far as I know, we have the same father, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't."

Another silence hung in the air, and Marissa moved towards Ryan. He looked at her confused as she slowly brought her lips to his. She pushed him back so that he was lying on the bed and after a moment, he pulled back.

"We don't have to do this."

"No, I want to."

"You do?"

"Well, I'm not ready for us to take things to the next level." He nodded, knowing that that was a given. "But I've always loved kissing you, and I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me. Oh, and I need to be on top. At least for awhile."

Ryan nodded, not wanting to think of the implications of that statement. "You're sure?"

"If there's one thing in my life I've ever been sure of, it's you."

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