Thanks for continuing to read along with my story. Things are soon about to take a big turn but before then a little Sandy/Ryan time. I don't write this much so I hope you enjoy it.

The family concerns

After Marissa had left, Ryan answered a few emails and then walked around the house. He couldn't believe how empty it felt without Marissa. Hard to believe that only a few short weeks ago, she had never set foot inside this house and yet now it seemed completely empty without her there. If he had ever had any doubts, he knew right then and there, that he would do everything in his power to make sure that the distance problem didn't come between them.

He decided to head over to Sandy and Kirsten's early. Summer had dropped Seth there on her way to collect Marissa, so Ryan thought that he may as well pass the time catching up with his family. It would be a lot better than rattling around this enormous house on his own.

---

A short time later, Ryan walked into the Cohen's kitchen to find Sandy sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

Sandy looked up. "Hi. I wasn't expecting you here this early. To what do I owe the honour?"

Ryan smiled but shrugged. "I just thought I'd come and see what everyone's up to."

Sandy nodded. He understood exactly what Ryan wasn't saying. "I understand Summer has kidnapped Marissa to go shopping with her."

"Yeah."

"Bit quiet at home is it?" Sandy asked.

Ryan looked over at Sandy. He was amazed at how quickly Sandy could read him. Over the years Ryan had perfected the art of keeping most of what was going through his mind from people. But it always seemed like Sandy could read him like an open book. "Yeah. I guess." He shrugged, not wanting to make it too obvious just how much he missed her.

"Well, there's only me. Kirsten has dragged Seth down to the bakery to look at cake samples. Why? I don't know. As if he'd be game to make any decision without Summer. Why don't you grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair? We don't get a chance to chat together very often these days and there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

Ryan filled a mug with coffee and then took the chair opposite Sandy. "So what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Well, I guess it's one of those things where you might tell me to mind my own business but you know that's not the Cohen way." Sandy said smiling to soften his words.

Ryan said nothing just looked and waited. He knew that whatever it was, once Sandy had decided to talk about it then they would. Nothing that Ryan could do would change that, unless of course he actually walked back out of the house.

Sandy took in Ryan's silence and started. "I'm really just being the messenger here. So don't shoot me."

Ryan frowned wondering just what was coming up.

"It's only because we're all concerned for you." Sandy added.

Ryan was starting to get frustrated. "Sandy, what is it. Just tell me?"

"Okay, So when Kirsten and I took the Nana to brunch last Sunday …"

Ryan shook his head "What have I got to do with the Nana?"

"Well it's not exactly you. It seems that my mother had a talk with Marissa on Saturday evening at her birthday dinner and she's a little concerned about what's happening with you two. She asked me to reassure her and to keep an eye on you." Sandy watched as the frown on Ryan's face deepened, he knew that Ryan was about to tell him to mind his own business so he quickly added. "She's just worried about you. Apparently Marissa indicated that she was intending to return to Europe and we all have a pretty good idea of what that will do to you. I thought things were going to actually work out for you two this time but …"

"They will." Ryan stated before Sandy could finish.

This time is was Sandy that was surprised. "But how? If she's going back …"

"We're not really sure. Actually I was going to ask you for your help. Kate, that's Marissa's manager, is supposed to be sending us copies of all of her contracts. Supposedly she has looked through them but I just thought that I'd like you to have a look as well. We need to know if she can get out of any of them?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to have a look. But Ryan, I don't mean to state the obvious. But surely you're in a position, financially I mean, to just buy them out? If you want Marissa with you, you can make it happen."

"If only it were that simple." Ryan replied. "Marissa refuses to even entertain the idea of using my money. She wants to be financially independent. It seems that she is still haunted by the shades of Julie past. Any suggestions of her becoming a 'kept woman' trigger some fairly horrific reactions."

"Sounds like you speak from experience." Sandy suggested, a smile on his face.

Ryan nodded. "Oh yeah and it's not pretty. I still have the scars to prove it. Still I guess I can understand where she's coming from. I just wish it didn't make all of this even more difficult than it already is."

"So I take it that her returning to Europe doesn't mean that things are over between you?" Sandy asked.

Ryan smiled. "No, far from it. We need to sort out just what her commitments are and then I'm going to try to rearrange things so that I can go and spend some time over there with her. We're not sure how it will work but I'm not letting her go this time." He assured the older man.

Sandy smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I was starting to worry after what my mother had said."

"Well you can reassure the Nana. There are a lot of things that we don't know the answer to right now. But we do intend to get through this some how. We're going to make it work." Ryan said.

"You know that Kirsten and I will do anything we can to help." Sandy added.

"Be careful what you say. I might just put you in charge of Atwood Industries and then move to Paris."

"Not permanently?" Sandy asked stunned. He couldn't imagine life without Ryan around. It had been hard enough when he had been away at college.

"It wouldn't be my preference. I'd miss you guys too much. And of course it would make things difficult with the business. But I don't really know how we're going to work it all out at the moment. But if it comes to that, then I guess I would." He shrugged. "She's too important to me. I can't let her go." he explained.

"So you're both in this for the long haul?" Sandy asked. It was obvious to Sandy that Ryan was; he just wasn't sure whether Marissa was equally as committed to the relationship. "You've talked about the future?" The look in his eyes saying that he was actually asking an entirely different question, like do you intend to make this permanent?

"Uh huh." Ryan looked over and read Sandy's silent question. He knew he couldn't tell him about their plans but surely he could give him a small hint. He answered it with a smile and a nod. "One day."

Sandy's face broke into a huge grin. "I can't wait." and then added. "Let's have a glass of champagne?"

Ryan laughed. "I think it's a bit early for that."

"It's after noon." Sandy replied.

"I didn't mean early in the day. I meant early, early. They'll be plenty of time to celebrate when we get everything sorted out. And it's going to take a while. So I wouldn't want you jumping the gun."

"Forget about jumping guns? Kirsten is going to be over the moon when I tell her." Sandy said delighted with the news.

"Then don't tell her. Please. We've got enough on our plates to try to sort out at the moment. Marissa has a lot of tough decisions to make in the near future and I'd appreciate it if you kept this chat to yourself. I know that Kirsten wouldn't mean to add extra pressure but I think that she probably would unconsciously."

Sandy nodded. He could see exactly what Ryan was saying. "Okay. But can I at least tell her that you are trying to work things out?"

"Sure. There can't be any harm in that." Ryan said. "Can there?"

---

Marissa felt like she wanted to scream.

Summer had done nothing for three hours but change her mind. Her normally decisive friend had somehow transformed into some strange being with jello for brains that now couldn't even decide on what sort of coffee she wanted. Not only did she have no idea about what type of wedding dress she wanted, she had now 'decided' that she wasn't exactly sure what time of the year she wanted to get married and that until she could work that out, then it was pointless looking at dresses anyway. So the whole thing had been a useless waste of time.

"So, I guess we could just wait until we get to the Cohen's … or do you think we should have something now?" Summer asked as she studied the drinks menu. She couldn't even decide if she actually wanted a drink, let alone what type.

Marissa took a deep breath. She knew that if she had to endure too many more of these shopping trips then it would give her a reason to look forward to returning to Europe. At least then she would be able to escape them. She was starting to think that she would be happy to never get married because if this was what was entailed then it wasn't for her. She figured the way things were going she might develop an allergy to anything vaguely related to weddings. But then thinking about it, she realised that it was only Summer's wedding that she felt this way about. She knew if it was her own she was shopping for, then it would have been a whole different ball game. She looked at her friend still staring at the coffee menu. "Why don't we just get one to go? You can drink it on the way. We don't want to be too late for lunch. I figure they're probably all waiting for us already."

Summer looked at her watch. "Okay. But I've just got to go pee first, or I won't be able to drink a thing. But I can't make up my mind." She said glancing back at the menu again.

Marissa rolled her eyes thinking that it really wasn't surprising that she couldn't decide on what she wanted to drink. All she'd done all day was change her mind.

Taking the easy way out, Summer said "Can you order me one of whatever you're having? I'll be back in a minute." She said as she dashed off in the direction of the bathrooms.

Marissa followed her friend's movements with her eyes while she continued to wait patiently in the line, when all of a sudden she was startled by the ring of her phone. Figuring that it would be Ryan wondering how long they were going to be, she pulled her phone out of her bag to answer it but as she looked at the screen she was momentarily stunned. She froze. Holding the phone in her hand as it continued to ring she kept staring at it, hoping that somehow the letters on the screen would change to say Ryan. Looking at it again, hoping she was imaging it, she could feel her heart start to race. She knew that people were looking at her wondering why she wasn't answering but there was no way she was going to answer it. Eventually it stopped ringing; to be followed shortly after by a couple of beeps to register that a message had been left. The beeps were enough to startle her out of her seemingly trancelike state and she immediately deleted the message without even considering listening to it. Whatever they had to say she didn't want to know. All of a sudden she felt sick just thinking about what the call might have been about. She knew she needed to sit down before she fell down; she had so many things racing through her mind. Leaving the line she moved to an empty chair and sat down still clutching her phone in her hand.

Summer returned from the bathroom instantly noticing the ashen colour of Marissa's face. "Are you okay? You look terrible."

Marissa smiled gingerly. "Um … I just felt a bit off. Do you think we could just go, and give the coffee a miss?"

"Sure. Are you sure you wouldn't rather just sit a bit? You're really pale." Summer suggested concern etched into her face.

"No. I just want to get out of here." Marissa assured her.

"Okay. Is it that time of the month?" Summer asked.

"No. I'm just feeling a bit woozy." Marissa replied

"You're not pregnant are you?" Summer asked, eyes wide like huge saucers. "You and Ryan have been testing the effectiveness of the pill out pretty thoroughly. You can't expect it to keep working with the hammering you've been giving it." Summer suggested.

Marissa's feelings were so jumbled she didn't know what to answer. She had no reason to expect that she was pregnant, and yet the nausea and the light headedness she had just felt were real. She thought that it was all to do with the shock of the phone call but what if it wasn't. What if Summer was right? The sick feeling in her stomach that had just started to improve came flooding back worse than ever. She had so many decisions to make about her future already. Insert a pregnancy into the equation and she didn't know what she'd do. She knew that Ryan would be delighted, but for Marissa, with everything else that was going on, it would be about the worst news possible …

"How about I go and get the car and I'll pick you up at the door. That way you won't have to walk too far." Summer suggested.

"Okay. Thanks." Marissa replied thinking to herself, surely not.