Summary: Marissa accepts her fate, resting alone in her room with nothing but Shear Bear and a letter!. Seth makes a visit to the Cooper house to leave Marissa the note!

Story Notes: Continues right after the last act. First ever use of flashbacks. Oh and I hate flashbacks, but it's really effective the way I use them. You'll see.

I was browsing the sonnets and I came across this finale verse of A Seaside Walk. How perfect it would have been to preface the first act in this series. But I never noticed then. It does still work rather well for this act. This is where the title comes from.

Last stanza of "A Seaside Walk" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

"For though we never spoke

Of the gray water and the shaded rock,

Dark wave and stone unconsciously were fused

Into the plaintive speaking that we used

Of absent friends and memories unforsook;

And had we seen each other's face, we had

Seen haply, each was sad." - A Seaside Walk, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Disclaimer: Frick, Frack, Fic. Last season the O.C. writer was a tic, but not really a prick so I won't steal his characters. I'll only borrow them, put them on loan.

Random Notes: This series is shaping nicely. It's taking me places I never thought I'd go and clearly is going longer than I had originally intended, but that's ok.

Feedback Notes: Where has all the feedback gone? I do miss it so.

-----

Her afternoon went exactly as she envisioned it would. She drove home after visiting the Cohen's. She slithered her way past her mother when she came through the kitchen. And then she went directly up stairs to her bedroom, collapsed herself into her comfy bed and curled up into the arms of Shear Bear.

She laid there, her eyes opened wide, and pondered about nothing and then all the sudden about everything. Her mind was racing. Her thoughts were jumbled in her head giving her no moment of peace and rest. And then she felt the graze of a foreign object itching against her back. She resifted, but still she felt the irritation. She brought her hand back and tried to itch her back, but her fingers felt something. It was paper. A envelope.

"What the," Marissa said clearly confused.

She reached for it and brought it into her view. There was only one person it could be from. But she still questioned how it got there.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Flashback

"Mrs. Cooper. You're looking lovely today."

"Can it. Why the hell are you here? Marissa's not even home."

Seth mentally gave a sigh of relief.

"Just, just, a note, for your daughter. I'll leave it in her room."

Julie gave Seth an evil eye. But she knew he was ultimately harmless even if he was a son of the Cohen's.

"You can see yourself up I hope."

Seth said nothing and nodded. He stood frozen.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Run along now. There's no use for you to be in this house any longer than you have to," Julie said in her typical snippy tone.

Seth turned away from Julie's sight and then went up the stairs towards Marissa's bedroom.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Marissa's fingers hesitated on the envelope and she sighed. Her eyes glanced over the room and saw that it looked untouched, like no one ever entered but Marissa. If only she had noticed what was missing, what was making Shear Bear just as sad as she was.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Flashback

He was very cautious when he entered Marissa's room. His eyes first went over to her desk where he saw a CD-R titled "A House is not a Home - Songs for Seth". He picked it up in his hands and turned it over to see what songs she had chosen for him. He thought for a second how great of a memento this would be, something to have with him on his two weeks away. But he didn't want her to know he had been eyeing her bedroom and stealing her stuff.

But there was one thing he couldn't leave without.

His eyes shifted to her bedside table and paused. They wandered again taking in everything that defined who Marissa was and what shaped her personality. Sure it was pink and girlie, but it had its distinctive charms. There were little concert flyers, books scattered around about the history of punk music. He smiled as he took note of each item.

But them he moved his eyes back to the bed side table. There, standing tall and proud, was Captain Oats. Seth remembered how he had allowed Captain Oats to say with Shear Bear. He hadn't imagined at the time he did that the dynamics between him and Marissa would have changed this much. He just assumed they'd still be laughing and hanging out, that he'd be over at any time and with ease; he could still see Captain Oats as he pleased.

Seth walked over to the bedside table and picked him up. He paused, making sure to have him fully in his hands and stroked him gently.

"Well, hope you said your goodbyes. You're coming on a little journey with me."

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Marissa clenched Shear Bear as hard as she could and held the note in her other hand.

"Looks like it's just you and me for a little while."

She stopped herself short and looked over to her bedside table. She noticed Captain Oats was missing. She had almost forgot he was becoming a fixed part of her room till she thought of Shear Bear.

She brought the not so lively bear up to her face and held it with both hands.

"You poor thing. Loosing your best friend. At lease we have each other right? That's enough."

Her voice was shaken with uncertainty.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Flashback

Seth motioned his face down to her bed and saw Shear Bear, sad, but content, as she rested against Marissa's fluffy pillow. He then looked back down at Captain Oats convinced the two were matching each other with a stare.

"It's ok buddy. We've got each other. Just us two stallions. It's all we really need right?"

Before Seth could drown out completely in his and Captain Oat's sorrows he reached into his pocket and pulled out the note. All else that rested by him was his skateboard and duffel bag filled with his belongings and a two-way bus ticket to escapism.

When his hand moved, trying to place the note down on the bed, his fingers started to lock. He was lost and unsure of himself, unsure of whether or not to even leave the note. While he hadn't listed all his feelings and emotions in the letter he wasn't very vague either.

He thought, for a moment, he could stay here in her room till she came back. Then in a sudden burst of confidence rush to his bag, tear up the ticket, and run into her arms kissing her endlessly. But he knew it would never play out so conveniently. For one thing he wouldn't even think of ripping the ticket because he'd want to get his full refund back. And then he knew that she would likely tense up and turn away before his lips could even get a few inches away. 'Hey, that's how it went before' Seth thought to himself. He also remembered her uttering of the name Ryan. This brought him back to reality and he dropped the note on her bed.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Marissa's eyes were glazed over as though she was tired and equally depressed. She shifted the note in her hand while she kept Shear Bear close to her. Shear Bear rested just under Marissa's under arm.

Marissa was still hesitant to open the letter but she knew she had to deal with what ever it said eventually. She wasn't sure how though. Fooling herself into thinking Shear Bear would be enough to pull her through was very irrational of her and she knew it.

She squeezed Shear Bear harder trying to release her pain. If this bear were alive it wouldn't be breathing too well.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

Flashback

Seth grabbed his things and headed for the door only turning back once. His eyes caught the other side of her bed where a picture of her from one of her early charity fashion shows lied. 'How'd we get from point a to point z' Seth thought in his head.

Point a was where they were at the time this picture had been taken. They exchanged words for the first time in years when Ryan arrived in town and was stowed away in the Cohen's pool house. She wasn't exactly friendly. Neither was he. They were full of vim, vigor and wit. And they didn't really know who the other one was. A few discovered common grounds, but they still couldn't muster more than a hello, or some words about Ryan.

Then there was point z, the place where they were now. It was the final point, the end of everything that had gotten them this far and so fast. At least Seth believed it was the end.

The thought alone weighed heavy on him. He needed a moment to rest, to reflect on his choices. But neither going back home or waiting at the bus station would offer him any comfort. He silently hoped Marissa wasn't returning anytime soon.

He turned out from the room and looked over to the balcony that was beside her doorway. He could feel the breeze coming through and it gently hit his face. He paused and knew this was as good as any place to catch his thoughts and rest his mind, his heart.

He went over, put down his skateboard, and stared out into the scenery before him: A bright sky, beautiful hills, and Marissa. The last he didn't notice. And she never noticed him either. She slid through her back door just as Seth had walked onto the balcony. They had missed each other by seconds.

- --- -- ---- --- -----

To Be Continued…