Author's Note: Hopefully, if I've done my job right anyone who has a good memory of the Oliver Saga, you should be able to slot these events into Episode 17 fairly easily. If not I apologise.

A lot changes across the course of the episode but I've tried to highlight where they are, so even if you haven't seen it in a while (due to Oliver based PTSD) you can still keep up.

The fallout from the initial meeting is growing larger, and so our scenes cover more people, including a Luke POV and a scene with just Oliver and Marissa. As if we needed more of those. We are nearly at the end of the Oliver Saga though, Episode 18 is the big reveal, and we will be dealing with that in the next chapter or two.

As ever, thank you for all the feedback regarding the last two chapters. I'm honoured you'd be willing to sit through more Oliver to see where I'm going with this.


It was the day after the disaster at Palm Springs. Ryan felt his relationship was ebbing to new lows. Seth had been dismissive about it yet again and Ryan was feeling more isolated and anxious by the minute.

'Embrace the Friend', Seth had said.

And he had genuinely tried. Tried for the three minutes between Seth imparting the mantra to him and the reveal that Oliver now went to Harbour.

Now, as he, Oliver and Marissa walked towards Seth and Anna, he was struggling to keep his composure. He looked to Seth, to Marissa. Did they honestly not see what was going on here?

He barely believed himself as he uttered the words.

"Oliver goes here now".

Seth enthusiastically greeted Oliver, laughing as Oliver made the joke about having more friends at Harbour than his old school and Ryan's isolation was complete.

After the conversation with Marissa, with everything that was going on, Ryan tried to keep his gaze away from Anna. Ryan had guessed as they approached, from tone and body language that Seth was trying to sow discord in his relationship with Anna with this 'female me' crap.

His suspicion was confirmed as Anna tried to connect with Seth, playfully remembering the food he liked and trying to hug him. His anger quietly rose as he lightly grabbed her hands and shut her down. She put on a brave face, but Ryan knew each of these tiny rejections would sting her. He quietly seethed at the death by a thousand cuts Seth was putting this girl through.

Finally, she left the group and Ryan took his chance. He glanced, as if his eyes had only been attracted to the movement rather than the person. Anna in turn had made no secret of looking at him as she walked by. The two pained gazes locked. Made a slight facial gesture. She gave a small, weak smile, closing her eyes and possibly nodded, Ryan couldn't tell.

Anna brushed his shoulder ever so slightly as she passed as Seth and Oliver had already started talking. Her voice was so small he could've imagined it and she didn't stop, but he heard her whisper.

"Hope you are okay".


Luke could tell from Ryan's body posture that Oliver was winning whatever his latest mind game. He thought Chino looked tense and ready to explode as they stood by Marissa's locker.

Time for the cavalry to arrive, Luke thought, I got your back Atwood.

"Yo", Luke said, punching Ryan on the arm and derailing whatever weird ploy Oliver was enacting. "Last class of the day, so tough to get through", Luke sighed, looking at the floor and feigning ignorance at all of this. If there was one role Luke Ward knew how to play, it was the oblivious Jock.

"Hey, sup", Luke said to Oliver, offering him a fist bump.

"Sup", Oliver said, mimicking the gesture and the fist bump.

"Hey, Marissa and I were talking about getting together a camping trip. Santa Monica mountains, you and the whole gang?"

"Sure yeah", Ryan said, sounding defeated.

"Sounds awesome man", Luke said, again, acting.

"Alright", Oliver said, over-exaggerating. "I'll tell her you are in".

Right, you'll tell his girlfriend that he is in, Luke said, suppressing a grimace.

"Well, long bathroom break. I should go". Oliver said jovially, "See you". And with a wry smile he walked away triumphantly. Luke didn't know what situation he had nuked, but he was glad to have done it.

Luke and Ryan both looked over their shoulders in unison to make sure Oliver Trask was out of earshot. Once he had rounded the corner, Luke spoke.

"I do not like that kid at all", he said firmly.

"Yeah...Don't you think that, um…" Ryan trailed off and Luke realised that this was all getting the better of him.

"He is here for Marissa. He has been messing with you for too long. You were bummed out at the concert, and at palm spring. I couldn't even get you to talk to Anna. Who, by the way, still needs someone". Ryan sighed, taking his gaze from up off the floor.

"I can't even save my own relationship right now man, what can I say to Anna?"

"I don't know, because I don't know what is happening between you two. Neither of you will tell me. Come with me, talk to her".

Ryan looked down the hallway.

"I can't man. I'm sorry".

"Okay, then I will, I guess. But she won't listen to me. She is hurting Chino. She can't talk to Seth, she can't talk to Summer". Ryan gave him a pained look and nodded. Luke continued, empowered by even the slight concession.

"And she could help, with whatever is going on here, with you and Gatsby. She knows something is up as well. She faced down Marissa over it". Ryan's recently reformed poker face broke again in surprise.

"She did what?" Ryan asked.

"Marissa didn't tell you? She nearly took her head off at the Rooney concert. I dashed over thinking I was going to have to stop a fight".

Ryan took a moment to process the comment.

"She didn't mention, just said that Anna had been staring at us a lot". Ryan said slowly, unsure if he should be telling Luke this.

"You look at each other a lot, Chino", Luke said, raising both eyebrows.

"Yeah…" Ryan's mind was racing. Anna believed him?

"Right, I know you've got to deal with this…" Luke trailed off, taking a moment before deciding to show his full hand. "Listen, you gotta let that guy know. Back off. I'll do it for you if you want". Ryan gave something approaching a smirk. As close as he ever got these days.

"I'll keep it in mind", he said, quickly. Luke decided to go big.

"Give me the word, and I'll drop the Great Gatsby", he said, before walking away, quite proud of his literary reference.

Ryan was left to wonder what the hell Luke was talking about, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Seth didn't believe him, Marissa didn't believe him, the Cohen's didn't believe him after breaking into the school records.

As unlikely as it would've seemed a few months ago, Luke was his closest ally in this, followed closely by Anna, someone he couldn't afford to talk to, who made this situation even more confusing.

Knowing that she believed him made him feel even more isolated, even more alone. His mind went back to what he had said to Seth last night. 'Maybe if I had someone to talk to'.

Maybe he could reason this out, maybe the anxiety would cease. Maybe he'd stop feeling like a conspiracy theorist. He closed his eyes, there in the hallway. He imagined approaching Anna. Hearing someone who didn't think he was jealous or paranoid or crazy. Someone who might appreciate his history of being lied to and abused. He shook his head. It was impossible. Marissa, Seth, grounded by the Cohens.

He gripped the letter, the letter he'd stolen from Marissa. He had been about to return it when Oliver had caught him off guard. What he had with Marissa wasn't a relationship anymore. It was a hollowed out husk. Full of lies, arguments, drinking, gaslighting. He squeezed the letter reflexively.

His mind drifted, drifted to Anna. Remembering Seth's favourite food, being excited. Just to share lunch with him. His eyes felt heavy, but he knew if he broke now it might take him hours to recover. He needed to know if he was right about Oliver. He needed to save Marissa. Talking to Anna, burdening her with this, was a luxury he couldn't afford.

Taking courage from the fact she believed him, he put one set in front of the other, try to remain in control of his breathing as he went.


Marissa sat quietly in Oliver's penthouse as he finished up showering. A million thoughts flowing through her head. They had already discussed the break-up, Ryan taking the letter meant for Natalie, breaking into the record office to find out Oliver's history. Oliver had been very understanding, given that it was his privacy that had been violated twice. Oliver walked in, drying his hair.

"I'm sorry, again...I don't know why Ryan is being like this", she said. Oliver smiled.

"You don't have to apologise Marissa. I know what it is like to be in a dark place. He comes from a rough background. Maybe it is the trauma, making him see ghosts where there aren't any". Oliver smiled.

"But he has always had that, and normally it just makes him guarded, not aggressive. Something is different. He just seems out of control…" She shook her head. "Not that it matters now…"

"No, no, Marissa. He is important to you. And he got me out of a jam at the concert. I still owe him. If he is in a dark place, maybe we can work out what is causing it. Can you think of anything?" Oliver sat down beside her, putting on a collection of Jazz music from the Banlieues Bleues Festival, a Jazz festival Oliver had been to on the outskirts of Paris last year.

"What I wouldn't trade to be in Paris right now", she sighed, thinking through Oliver's question.

Her mind could only float to Anna. The look Ryan had given her in the hallway today. All the looks at Palms Spring, and the Concert, and before that. Her mum still lived next door to the Cohen's for now, maybe she should ask her Mum if she'd seen anything.

"So, I mean, there is Anna, I guess" Marissa didn't sound convinced, barely getting the words out of her mouth.

"Anna, Seth's Anna?" Oliver said, with clear interest.

"Yeah, it is going to sound stupid but...Well, she has been looking at Ryan a lot, and he has been looking at her, I guess. And...Well, she said something weird to me at the concert, about him and you". Oliver nodded slowly, Marissa thought he looked concerned for a moment but she supposed that was understandable, given everything that had happened.

"And what, you think maybe she is, umm, fuelling his paranoia?" Oliver said, a scared glimmer in his eyes.

"No, I mean yeah, no. It sounds ridiculous out loud. You know her anyway right? She said her parents knew your parents? So she must be fine. I'm sure it is just Ryan". Oliver's face changed and he remained silent.

"Oliver?" she asked.

"I knew I should've said something", Oliver said, shaking his head.

"Said something? Oliver? She said she knew your parents, at the New Years party? Was she lying?"

"No, no…" Oliver turned to face her. "Marissa, I didn't say this before and I'm sorry, if I had thought it might be true". He clenched one hand in the other and took a deep shuddering breath.

"No Oliver, it is okay. Whatever it is, I'm sure you had a good reason. Tell me, we are friends. You can trust me. I trust you".

Oliver inhaled a few more times.

"Okay, so yes. My parents do know Mr and Mrs Stern. And well, there was a rumour that my mother told. About Cameron Stern's daughter. That she'd been expelled and whatever she did was bad enough that they decided to uproot their life and move to minimise the scandal. My mom is in the same circles as Patricia Stern, so it was possible, but not confirmed, I'm so sorry I didn't mention it".

Marissa listened intently.

"It is okay, you couldn't have known. You gave her the benefit of the doubt, like you hoped people would give you", she touched his arm and smiled. "Do you know any details? Did she go to therapy? Did it go public?"

"No no, I think Mr Stern paid for it to be hushed up. Get out of town. My mom didn't know but she said that the girl sounded like a psychopath if the rumours were true. Manipulation, faking her whole personality to get closer to people and then tearing their lives apart. She said that by the time she got caught, the school couldn't let her stay". Oliver paused "But again, I don't know, none of it is confirmed".

Marissa nodded solemnly. "I mean, if she was feeding these stories to Ryan, it would explain a lot. And it makes sense she'd pick you right? An outsider, who might know. But we should find out first, benefit of the doubt. And besides, she likes Seth so much. Why would she want Ryan?" Oliver grimaced.

"Well, she seems to like Seth...But who does she spend her time looking at while Seth is with Summer?" he said, slowly.

"I think she whispered something, to him, in the hallway today. Right before he stole the letter". Marissa said, blurting out the words.

"I'll see what I can find out from my friends on the East Coast, you should ask Summer and your mother if they've noticed anything. This could all just be crazy talk, after all" Oliver said half-heartedly, incredibly pleased with his performance and the look of concern plastered across Marissa's face.

"Ahh, Anna. Have you got a second?" Luke asked the next day. He had been unable to find her after talking to Ryan. She wore a tight black jumper, a red and blue scarf clutched sadly in her hands. He instantly recognised the look he had seen on Ryan's face.

"Sure Luke'', she said, turning her gaze from down the corridor. Luke saw Seth and Summer at the end by their lockers talking.

"Ahh, another day, another love triangle", he said with a sigh. "Listen, this is getting ridiculous. You and Chino need to talk. I spoke to him yesterday and I think him and Marissa are on the brink".

"I think we are too late for that...Seth told me when I picked him up this morning. He thinks they broke up last night. Something about a letter".

"Shit. You need to talk to him, and he needs to talk to you. You should've talked at Palm Springs". Anna looked down at the floor.

"Luke, I can't…" She said, looking back down the corridor towards Seth and Summer. "Ryan isn't the only one fighting for their partner right now…I'm not exactly holding it together. You saw how it went with Marissa. I'd only make things worse".

"They can't get much worse Anna. Chino is going to snap. You look on the verge of tears. I don't know what you two had, or have, or don't have, but please help me. If something bad happens to Ryan..." Luke looked at her, almost pleadingly.

Anna looked at her scarf, held tightly in one hand. Seth was supposed to have been perfect for her. So why was she here, and why was he down the hall, talking to Summer. And why was Ryan scared and alone? She realised she was scared as well, of Seth, and Marissa.

"You are right Luke. I'll talk to him. Soon, really soon. You can tell him as we-".

She hadn't finished the sentence before they heard an explosion of noise down the hall, from their on campus coffee shop. Luke dashed down the corridor and Anna gave chase, they both turned the corner just in time to see four students pulling Ryan off of the prone and bloodied figure of Oliver Trask.