The reunion ended some hours later, so Ryan and Alison decided to make the trek back to their home Things got pretty quiet once Marissa left. Suddenly, there was nothing new to discuss. The girl who was the life of the party ten years ago, was still that today.The couplewere silent for most of the car ride. Neither one of them could believe what they had heard at the reunion. Ryan did not know what to think. Who was this mysterious child, and what transformed Marissa after they finished dating? It was obvious to Alison, who was sitting right next to him that he was thinking about this long lost girlfriend, whom he had just seen.

"So are you just going to stay silent, or do you want to tell me about this history you have with that girl at your reunion? That Marissa Cooper," Alison wondered. She looked over at him, hoping to illicit a response, other than a shrug.

"It's complicated," Ryan said. He had spend some many years trying to put his past behind him, the last thing he wanted to do was bring it back. "You probably wouldn't understand."

Alison took some slight offense to that statement and replied, "What wouldn't I understand?"

Ryan glanced at her and sighed. Clearly, there was no way to keep her from wanting to know. "When was fifteen, my brother, Trey, stole a car. He smashed the window in, got in, and wanted to take off. I was there. I wasn't sure what to do, but I got in anyway."

"You stole a car?" Alison asked shocked. Her eyes were huge with amazement.

Ryan nodded slowly and continued, "They put me in Juvie, and they put Trey in prison, since he was nineteen. When I was released, my mom told me she was kicking me out of the house. I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I had to get out because her boyfriend-of-the-moment could kick my ass. I tried calling people to see if I could crash with them, but they either weren't home, or didn't want me to. Finally, I gave in and called Sandy Cohen, who was my court appointed lawyer then. When I was released from Juvie, he said I could call anytime, and gave me his number. Once I ran out of people to call... I called him. I lived with him, Kirsten, and their son, Seth for the rest of my teenage years. They became my legal guardians, and paid for private school, and my college education."

"So how did you meet Marissa?" Alison asked again.

"That first night that Sandy and Kirsten took me in, I went down to the end of the driveway to have a cigarette - " Ryan began.

"You smoked!" Alison interjected.

Ryan smiled, slightly embarrassed, and replied, "Yeah, I did, and when I went down there to have the cigarette, there she was. I had never seen anyone quite like her before. There was something... something alluring about her, which I had never seen in anyone before. There was more to her than what met the eye."

"Did you guys start dating then?" Alison asked.

"No. She had a boyfriend, Luke, who wanted to kick my ass every chance he got. But she and Luke eventually broke up - Marissa caught him cheating with one of her friends when we all took a trip down to Tijuana, and that was the end of their relationship. When we were down there, she overdosed on pain killers because she was so depressed. She caught Luke cheating on her, and the day before, her dad called her to tell her that her parents were getting divorced."

"Oh, God..." Alison said. "She sounds messed up."

Ryan nodded, "I know. We started dating fairly soon after that, but things were never good with us. Within the first three months of us dating, Marissa was caught shoplifting, drunk, and had a gun held to her head. After that, we broke up for awhile. Things were weird, for many reasons, for about another year."

"What reasons? This will probably be the only chance to hear this story, knowing you. I don't want you skimping on the details," Alison pressed.

Ryan sighed again. He really did not want to go into his whole history with Theresa or Lindsay, and said, "When Marissa and I broke up the first time, I dated a girl from Chino whom I had known and dated before I came to Newport. Her name was Theresa. She isn't part of this story, though. She has a whole separate one devoted to her."

"Oh, I see," Alison smiled. "So what happened the next year?"

"Marissa and I tried to at least maintain being friends that year, but it was hard. She kinda rebelled against everything, and I was trying not to get dragged into that, but we started dating again at the end of my junior year in high school. Things started out good. Great, in fact, until my brother, Trey, came along. He was released from prison that year."

"How come you two are so different?" Alison wondered. "Sounds like he's a totally different person.

"He is. When he first got there, things were okay, but Trey equals trouble, and he found some. I had to go to Miami that year with Sandy and Seth, and when I did... Trey attacked Marissa. He tried to rape her," Ryan said. He looked at Alison again, and then back toward the road. It was really the only way he could tell it. "When I found out, I freaked, and went over to Trey's apartment, just wanting him to feel the same pain she felt."

"You were going to kill him, weren't you?" Alison wondered.

Ryan nodded, "But people intervened. Trey had my head to the carpet, and was about to bash it in with a telephone, when Marissa shot him - with a gun that Trey had in the apartment. It had actually been used at a shooting the night before."

"Oh wow..." Alison said, really beginning to understand everything. "So did you stay together through it?"

"Yeah, we did. Harbor even kicked her out, and she had to attend Newport Union for awhile, but she was able to come back for graduation .In fact, Newport Union is where she met Johnny Harper, a mutual friend who died. Marissa, Kaitlin - her sister, and I were all there that night. He fell off a cliff - drunk. After that, we really drifted apart, and called it quits soon after. She dated this jerk, Kevin Volchok, for awhile, but I'm not sure what happened after they broke up. All I know is that she is a waitress, and has a ten-year-old daughter," Ryan sighed.

Alison looked at him. She felt sympathetic towards Ryan's situation, but at the same time, she did not know how to console him, because she had never gone through anything like that. Ryan looked back at her, and smiled, "But all that's behind me now. You must think that's pretty unbelievable, huh?"

"It's a little out there," Alison admitted.