Ryan came out of the Poolhouse the next morning, practically skipping. He met Seth in the kitchen. "Morning," he said, and fixed himself a bagel. Seth eyed him suspiciously. "You're very cheerful this morning," he said. "I take it everything went well at the hospital yesterday?" Ryan grinned.

"Marissa and I are giving it another shot." Seth groaned. "I know, we don't exactly have the best track record. But it's going to be different this time. Almost loosing her… I guess it just made me realize how much I love her," he said. Seth looked at him.

"Well, I wish you luck with that buddy. I really hope it works out for you this time. You guys deserve a bit of normality for once." He poured himself some coffee. "So what are your plans for the day?" Ryan thought for a second.

"Well, I was going to spend most of the day with Marissa. I know she'll be nervous about her test results coming back and I want to be there to help her get through it," Seth looked alarmed. "They come back today?" he asked.

"No, they won't come back until tomorrow at the earliest, but still." He said. Seth grinned. "Y'know, you could have just said you wanted to see her." Ryan opened his mouth to reply, and then stopped. "I could have…" he said, almost wondering why he hadn't. Seth laughed at him. "Well, guess I'm sitting home reading comics by myself today." Ryan looked puzzled.

"You're not going to see Summer?"

"Not until tonight," he said, grabbing a bagel. "Why time you going to the Hospital?"

"Not till ten," Ryan said.

"Cool. Wanna play some playstation?" Ryan nodded and they headed out to the Poolhouse. Finally, it seemed things were going back to normal.

Kirsten and Sandy were still in bed. They never slept this late, even on weekends, and Kirsten was surprised when she was awoken at 9:30am by the phone ringing. She ignored it for a while, then realizing Ryan and Seth weren't going to answer it, she picked it up.

"Hello?" she said, still half asleep.

"Marissa's test results are back." It was Julie.

"What, already?" It had only been one day.

"Yeah. The lab hasn't had much work to do lately, or something. Anyway. I wondered if you'd come with me when they told us what…" She trailed off. "I need you there, Kiki," she said softly. Kirsten rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. "Of course I'll come," she said. "What time do you want us there?" There was a pause.

"Ten?"

"I'll see you soon." She hung up.

"Who was that?" Sandy asked. Kirsten was getting up and dressing.

"Julie. Marissa's test results are back."

"Already?" He sounded surprised.

"That's what I said." She replied, and hurried downstairs to get Ryan. He would want to be there for this. He wasn't in the lounge or kitchen, so she assumed he must be in the Poolhouse. She rushed over and pulled the door open, not bothering to knock. Seth and Ryan were sitting on the floor playing playstation. "Hey mom, what's up?" Seth asked.

"Marissa's test results are back," she said, wasting no time.

"Already?" Ryan asked, getting up to follow Kirsten out to the car. Seth shook his head and followed closely behind them, leaving his ninja to be massacred.

"There seems to be no permanent damage done to Miss Cooper," the doctor was saying. Everyone in the room broke out into a smile. "That's great!" Julie said. "See honey, I told you everything would be okay." She beamed at Marissa. The doctor looked awkward.

"However," he said. Everyone stopped smiling and turned to look at him. "There was extensive damage to Miss Cooper's spinal cord, and we were worried that she may not be able to walk again. We see now this isn't the case," everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "But," he said, "She will have to relearn how to walk." This last comment was met with total silence. The silence was broken by Marissa's shaky voice. "How long will that take?" She asked.

"A few months, probably. Don't worry, Miss Cooper. Many people have done it before and you're a fighter. We have the best facilities here and will attempt to aid you in any way possible." This didn't appear to make Marissa feel any better though.

"I have to learn to walk again," she said to herself in disbelief.

"We can get started on that as soon as you're ready. Since you've been awake for a few days now your body is back into the swing of things so you should be able to focus on that." But they were barely listening to him anymore. All were lost in thought.

"I want to be alone now," Marissa said. All looked at her in surprise.

"Honey…" Julie began.

"Please." She said. Julie sighed and made her way to the door. Everyone got up to follow her, but Ryan paused. "We'll get through this," he said, kissing her on the forehead before leaving.

"So, college soon huh?" Seth and Summer were sitting on her couch, talking. It was 9pm, almost 11 hours since they had left they had left the hospital and yet she couldn't get the memory out of her mind. She registered what Seth had said and almost laughed. "Don't be stupid, Seth. I'm not going to College." He looked taken aback.

"What? Why not?"

"I can't believe that you're even asking me that. How could I go to college now? With Coop like this? She needs me. I need to be here for her."

"So what, you're going to go to Brown next year instead?"

"I'm not going to Brown Seth. Ever."

"What?" Seth was thoroughly confused now.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now. Since the crash. I'm transferring to Berkeley."

"What? Why? Summer, Brown is one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Why would you give that up?"

"I'm not leaving Coop again. I need to be with her. I… That night, I felt like I had lost a part of me. I couldn't bear it if she had died… It just made me realize I'm not ready to leave this place. My whole life is here. You of all people understand that," she said. It was a low blow, brining Seth's bout of cold feet back up, but she wanted him to understand. Needed him to understand.

"But Marissa will recover. You heard the doctor. There's no need to transfer." Summer felt like she was going to cry. He didn't understand.

"You don't understand, Seth," she said.

"Explain it to me then." He said. He could see she was upset, wanted to fix things, wanted to understand.

"I can't do this right now," she said, tears dripping down her cheeks. She ran out the door to her car, leaving Seth sitting on the couch, utterly bewildered. He felt like he was loosing her, and he didn't know what to do about it.

Summer hopped in her car, not knowing where she was going, yet at the same time, knowing exactly where she was going. To Ryan. The only person who understood her.

I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
Everytime I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside
I don't wanna hurt him anymore
I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be...
a murderer…