Thought I'd give you a bonus post today to make up for being away for a few days. Enjoy !

The Re-Adjustment

Ryan and Marissa decided to spend every minute they could of the next three days with Emily. Ryan called Annabel first thing on Friday morning and got her to reschedule all of his appointments for the day and they all went to Disneyland. Sandy and Kirsten joined them and it was magical to look at it all through the eyes of a 4 year old. Keith had his work cut out for him a few times to try to keep some of the over interested bystanders at a distance but nothing could spoil the day for them all. They let Emily chose where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do because she had never been there before and at the start she was a little over whelmed by it all. But she very quickly got in to the swing of things and had them all traipsing around after her. The smile plastered on her face evidence enough of how she enjoyed the day. When they tucked the exhausted but happy little girl in to her bed on Friday evening her last words to Marissa were "I love Mickey Mouse."

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Saturday they spent a quiet day at the Newport house. Sandy and Kirsten came for lunch and so did Seth and Summer. A sad cloud seemed to hang over the table as they ate and yet Emily seemed to be totally oblivious to it all. As far as she was concerned she was going to see her grandparents on Sunday who she obviously adored. The realisation of leaving Ryan and Marissa had not really sunk in for her but it was obvious from the looks on their faces that they were well aware of what it meant to them.

---

During the week after Emily returned to San Francisco, Ryan started to worry about Marissa. They were back living in the apartment in LA so that Ryan didn't have to commute for so long each day. Keith was staying in one of the spare bedrooms with them but Marissa seemed so out of sorts that everything that Keith did seemed to annoy her. She didn't think that she needed him around anymore and complained about it constantly to Ryan. So, just to keep the peace, Ryan arranged an apartment for Keith on the 1st floor of their building. At least that way he was close by, if and when Marissa needed him but he wasn't under her feet. Ryan suspected that Marissa was just missing Emily and that none of it was really Keith's fault. But he would do anything to try to put a smile on Marissa's face.

Then, of course, Keith started to have reservations about just whether he was actually needed or not but Ryan assured him that he was and arranged for him to spend time at Atwood Industries when Marissa was sure she didn't need him for the day. Unfortunately that seemed to be everyday, because Marissa didn't want to go out at all. She had lost interest in everything. When Ryan got home in the evenings she would usually be sitting in the lounge room pretending to read a book. But he'd noticed that she had read about 5 pages in 3 days. He had been hoping that she would pull herself out of this depression that she seemed to have sunk into but it didn't seem to be working so he knew he was going to have to do something about it.

---

Ryan stopped off on the way home from work and picked up some roses for Marissa. He knew the time had come to try to get her out of this sort of limbo that she was in. She wasn't hurting anybody but at the same time he knew that she wasn't happy and that was what was bothering him. He was missing Emily too but he had work everyday that kept him busy so he didn't have too much time to think about it. Because Marissa was spending each and every day closed up in the penthouse, she was doing nothing but dwelling on how different her life was without Emily. He knew she needed to find a new interest but he was scared that if he pushed it, she would want to leave LA and return to Europe. And that was the last thing that he wanted.

---

He walked in to the penthouse to find Marissa curled up with her book again.

"Hey." He said as he bent down to give her a kiss and hand over the roses.

She smiled up at him. "What did I do to deserve these?" she asked.

"I just thought I'd bring home some beautiful flowers for my beautiful fiancé and see if she would like to go out to dinner with me?" Ryan asked hoping that she would be prepared to get changed and join him. He knew if he gave her a choice then she would say no ... so he just wasn't going to give her the opportunity to decline.

"Not tonight." She said looking at him, the sadness evident in her eyes. "I'll order in." she suggested.

"Nope. No take out tonight." Ryan stated. "I feel like showing you off. I'll just go and have a quick shower while you change in to your glad rags." He said and then added. "Maybe we could even go dancing afterwards if you play your cards right." He teased as he made his way to their bedroom pulling his clothes off as he went.

Marissa watched him as he left the room. She knew exactly what he was trying to do. And part of her even acknowledged that it was the right thing. But she just didn't feel up to it. Her life seemed so …. pointless. Only a short time ago she had so much on her plate and the one thing she had been sure of was, that she wouldn't be a kept woman and yet here she was every day sitting here doing nothing. But it seemed that the only alternative was to pick up and return to Europe and she found that even more unpalatable.

She knew that she had no good reason for not going out but even so, the fact was, that she didn't feel up to facing the outside world. She sat there trying to think about how she could convince Ryan to stay in and she came up with an idea. She knew it was stooping pretty low but since she couldn't come up with a good reason, it was all she had. She stood up and walked towards their room.

---

Ryan had his head under the shower trying to wash out the last of the shampoo when he felt Marissa's arms snake around him as she moved to rub her naked body against his back. Momentarily closing his eyes trying to get his body under control he turned to her and said "Did you need to freshen up too?" he asked.

Marissa said nothing but started her assault on him with her lips. Beginning at his ears and slowly moving down his neck and over his shoulders, turning him around as she kissed across the back of his shoulders as her hands moved lower on his body.

"Ris." Ryan gasped. "What are you doing?" he was trying to retain some control. "We're supposed to be getting ready to go out to dinner."

She turned him back to his front again and moved lower on his body. The effects of her ministrations already obvious as his body responded to her every touch. She smiled. He may try to block out what she was doing with his mind but his body was hers for the taking. She stood back up again, this time sliding her now wet body over his. Her breasts moving over his chest as she watched him unable to break the spell she had him under.

Even though Ryan had an idea of what she was trying to do, he couldn't fight it. His body was like putty in her hands. He wanted to make her stop but there was no way that he could do it. "Don't you want to go out?" he asked, his breathing laboured as he hung on desperately to his last vestige of control.

"No. I want you in." she replied.

Ryan was puzzled. He new that his brain was foggy and not making much sense so he asked. "In what?"

"Me." she replied as she raised her leg to hook around his hip causing his hardness to meet her heat.

Ryan knew he was lost as he lifted her slightly and plunged in to her. She was a drug that he was completely addicted to. The talk would have to come later.

Much later.