Okay so the caller is revealed this post and it creates some issues for Ryan and Marissa. Hope you are not disappointed. (And thanks for the reviews. I love to know what you think.)

The Caller Revealed

Thursday morning, Marissa was busily working around the apartment. She had laundry to do and then she intended to pack for their few days in Las Vegas. She thought that when she had finished with her own packing, she might lie some of Ryan's things out on the bed for him. She didn't really feel confident enough to pack for him but she had a pretty good idea of what he would want. And since he had been working so hard lately, she would do anything she could to make his life easier.

She knew Las Vegas would be fun although she was hoping that she wouldn't have to spend too much time with Annabel. She knew that if she was totally honest with herself, she would admit that she still had her reservations about Ryan's secretary. But she had no real reason to feel like that. Since Annabel had gotten together with Skip, there had been no more 'incidents' with Ryan, at least as far as she knew of. And she trusted Ryan ... completely. Didn't she? Even if they had been working 15 hour days together. Marissa tried to reassure herself by concentrating on more pleasant thoughts. In truth all she could really think about was the trip to Paris. They were flying to Las Vegas on Friday morning and then returning on Sunday afternoon. And then Monday they were off to Paris … for three whole weeks. If only she didn't have to work. But still … she could hardly wait.

She busied herself selecting outfits for the weekend. She travelled so much with work that she was pretty good at this, so she knew it shouldn't take too long. But she wanted to look her best. There was a conference dinner on the Saturday night that they were attending and Ryan would be the guest of honour and guest speaker. It would be their first official appearance as a 'couple' and she wanted him to be proud of her. She agonised for quite some time over what to wear, even contemplating calling Keith to go out shopping with her but she decided that she had so many clothes in Paris that she would be bringing back with her, that it was silly to go and buy something new. She decided to try on a couple of different dresses to see which she liked best and was just pulling one on over her head when her phone rang. Struggling to pull it down so that she could free her hand to pick up her phone off the dresser she grabbed it quickly before it went to voicemail.

Holding it to her ear she was about to say hello when she heard "Marissa?" come from the phone. Her heart started to race and she quickly hung up. Why wouldn't they just stop calling!

---

Ryan was starting to panic. He still had a lot to get done and this was his last day before they left for Las Vegas. He had told Annabel that he didn't want to be disturbed so he was startled when the phone rang on his desk.

"What?" he said crossly into the speaker phone.

Annabel was taken back. "Ryan. I'm sorry to disturb you but I have someone on the line who says he needs to speak with you personally. I tried to tell him that you weren't taking calls but he insisted."

Ryan sighed. Why was it that everyone wanted to speak to him personally? Why wouldn't one of his underlings do? "Who is it?" he asked.

"He said his name is Dan Forrest." Annabel replied.

"Who?" Ryan asked again. The name meant nothing to him.

"Dan Forrest. He's from Success, an English PR company." She replied.

"If this is just some gossip columnist trying to get information about …" he started. He was fed up with journalists trying anything to get information on the status of his relationship with Marissa. And now he was angry with Annabel for interrupting him when she knew he was busy. "Just take a message."

Annabel had known that Ryan would be angry. He rarely asked her to hold all his calls and when he did, he meant it. But the fact was, that this man was insistent and when she had pushed him he had said it concerned Marissa. At that point Annabel was intrigued. She really hoped that whatever it was that he wanted to talk about would cause some problems between Ryan and Marissa. Perhaps Marissa had some dark secret hidden. A secret love child perhaps? Her mind ran amok thinking of the possibilities. And so Annabel decided that she was prepared to risk Ryan's wrath to see what it was all about. She figured that she and Skip had almost run their course, the sex was great, the man was gifted in the sack, but that's all she was interested in, they really had nothing in common, but if Ryan was back on the market … well she would be more than happy to comfort him in his hour of need. She just had to get him to actually take the call. Then she could see where it led.

"No. I checked him out before I interrupted you. I got his number and called him back. He is the managing director of the company and they have over 100 staff, so it's not small." She said. "Plus …"

"Plus what?" Ryan asked impatiently. He didn't really care who the guy was. He didn't have time for any of this. Not today of all days.

"He said it was about Marissa." Annabel added.

Ryan suddenly became interested. Why would some English guy be calling him about Marissa? "What about Marissa?" he asked.

"He wouldn't say. Just that he needs to get in touch with her urgently." Annabel said.

Ryan ran his free hand through his hair, wondering what the caller could possibly want. "Okay. You'd better put him through." Ryan said.

Annabel smiled. At least he was taking the call. She wished that she could listen in. But she would just wait until the call was finished and then she would take some documents in for Ryan to sign. She should be able to tell from his manner whether the news was good or bad.

---

Ryan answered the call. "Mr Forrest what is this about?" Ryan asked. He wasn't in the mood to go through the pleasantries.

"Please call me Dan." Dan tried to be polite.

"Fine. Dan … what is this about?" Ryan asked again. He really didn't have time for any of this.

Dan was surprised by Ryan's manner but persisted anyhow. "I need to get in touch with Marissa Cooper and I thought you may be able to assist me." Dan replied.

"I don't know how … or even if, you know Marissa. But if you do then you would have her number. I'm afraid that I can't give it out. And if you don't know her then you should make your approaches through her manager in New York." Ryan informed the stranger.

"I have her number and I have tried calling a number of times over the last few weeks but she won't take my calls or return my messages. She actually answered just a short time ago when I rang but then hung up straight away before I had even spoken to her. I don't understand what is going on?" Dan stated.

Ryan was stunned. He couldn't imagine why Marissa would do that, unless she really didn't want to talk to him. And if that was the case then she obviously wouldn't want Ryan talking to him either. "Well I'm afraid that if she doesn't want to talk to you then there is nothing that I can do to help you." Ryan stated trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible so that he could get back to what he was doing.

"Please." Dan pleaded and Ryan could sense the desperation in his voice.

Ryan sighed. "What is it about?"

"Her mother." Dan stated simply.

"Julie? You know Julie?" Ryan asked.

"I'm engaged to her." Dan replied.

Ryan frowned. From what he could remember Marissa saying about Julie's fiancé, he was supposed to be a really nice guy. But if that was the case then why would Marissa not talk to him? Ryan was completely confused. He needed to talk to her. It didn't make sense.

---

"Look. I don't know if you can help but …" Dan hesitated trying to find the right words. He knew that Ryan was his last hope, so he couldn't afford to anger him. And no doubt he was very protective of his privacy, but he had to get his assistance. "I assume if the gossip columns have any truth in them that you and Marissa are close?" Dan asked.

Ryan contemplated whether to answer or not. He had no idea why this guy wanted to talk to Marissa or more importantly why Marissa wouldn't speak to him and deal with it herself. And if he really had been calling over the last few weeks then why hadn't she mentioned it to Ryan. He thought that the days of them having secrets were over. But he was obviously wrong.

Dan realised that he wasn't going to get an answer. "Look. I'm sorry to bother you and I understand that you are probably being pestered by the paparazzi all the time, and I have to admit to having employed some of them from time to time but I can assure you that my need to reach Marissa is on a completely private matter." Dan stressed.

"I'm sorry too. But I can't help you unless you tell me what this is all about?" Ryan asked.

Dan hesitated for a moment. Now he was the one who was concerned about revealing too much to the wrong person. He really just wanted to talk to Marissa. He had no idea how much Ryan knew about Marissa and Julie. "First, I need to know just how close you are to Marissa?"

"Why?" Ryan asked. They had been working too hard to keep their romance a secret to just reveal it all to a complete stranger.

Dan realised that if the two of them continued to remain defensive then they were going to get no where fast. "Because I need some information. And if I can't get it from her then perhaps I can get it from you."

"What sort of information?" Ryan asked.

"About Julie's visit to LA." Dan replied.

Ryan didn't even want to think back to it. It had been a revelation to find out that Julie was to blame for Ryan and Marissa's break up. But the ensuing melt down by Marissa at the Cohen's had worried him more than he would have ever imagined. "What about it?" Ryan asked.

"Did you see Julie while she was here?" Dan asked.

Ryan didn't know what to say. Should he tell this man that his fiancé offered herself to him in a sleazy motel? Thinking back to that day actually made Ryan feel sorry for the Englishman. "Briefly." Ryan replied thinking to himself that even the time he had spent with her was more than enough.

"Did something happen between Julie and Marissa?" Dan asked.

Ryan didn't know how to answer. "What makes you think that?" he answered guardedly.

"Because since Julie's returned …" Dan stopped short. "What I am about to tell you has to be kept completely confidential. Can I trust you to do that for me?" he asked.

"Certainly." Ryan replied, by now just wanting to get to the bottom of all this.

"Well … ever since Julie returned she has been depressed ... Severely depressed. She won't eat … doesn't sleep …barely talks. She just sits with a photo of Marissa … occasionally she will weep softly but she isn't responding to anything. She is getting so bad and it has been going on so long that the doctor wants to put her into a clinic to try to get her some serious help." Dan explained. "I know that Julie will be devastated if that happens to her. But I just don't know what else to do?"

"What has Julie said?" Ryan asked.

"That's just it. She hasn't said anything about the trip. She came home and refuses to talk about it at all. But since Marissa hasn't called, I gather that they must have parted on bad terms." Dan stated.

"You could say that." Ryan said.

"Do you know what it's all about?" Dan asked.

Ryan didn't feel right about revealing anything to Dan. He thought that he should leave it up to Marissa. "I do. But it's between Marissa and Julie. I'm afraid I can't tell you."

"Well can you at least get Marissa to call her mother?" Dan asked.

Ryan had to laugh. Dan made it sound so simple. But in truth he thought it more likely that Marissa would jump over the moon. "I don't think that is likely to happen." Ryan replied.

"What exactly happened between them?" Dan asked again.

"I'm sorry. I don't believe it is my place to tell you. You should ask Julie." Ryan said.

"Don't you think I have? Over and over until I'm blue in the face. But she won't tell me anything." Dan informed him.

"That doesn't surprise me." Ryan stated. But he felt bad for Dan. He sounded like a nice guy who was obviously just trying to help his fiancé. "But truthfully, I don't think that there is much that I can do to help. If Marissa doesn't want to talk to you, then …"

"Could you please at least ask her to get in touch with me?" Dan stressed.

Ryan knew that he would have to at least try to get Marissa to do that. "I can try. But I'm not promising anything." He replied. "They parted on very bad terms. But maybe if I tell her about what effect it has had on Julie then…"

"NO !!!" Dan said emphatically.

"Sorry?" Ryan asked.

"You can't tell Marissa about Julie. If the only reason that Marissa gets in touch with her mother is out of pity, then Julie would never forgive me. If you know Julie at all, you would know how proud a woman she is. I think that's why she is taking all this so badly. But having said that … it really is imperative that we try to break through whatever it is that is holding Julie in this state of limbo." Dan said.

Ryan felt nauseous as he realised that that was the exact word that he had come up with for Marissa when she was depressed after Emily returned to San Francisco. Perhaps there was a genetic tendency in the Copper women to take things badly and get depressed. Knowing how much he had wanted to crack through Marissa's lethargy, he started to feel for Dan. "I'll see what I can do." Ryan said resignedly.

"I guess that's all I can ask for." Dan replied. Somewhere along the line he realised that he and Ryan had connected. He could tell that Ryan would do anything for Marissa. "I just need to try something." Dan said the desperation evident in his voice.

"I don't like your chances but I'll see. I'll let you know how it goes." Ryan said.

"Thanks. And strange as it may sound, it's been nice talking to you. I hope we get the chance to meet one day." Dan replied.

"You never know." Ryan replied. He did think that he and Dan would get along but at the same time, unless Marissa had a major change of heart he couldn't imagine her wanting to catch up with Dan and her mother anytime in the near future, if ever.

"Just remember. You mustn't tell Marissa about her mother's depression. But if we don't do something then she is headed for a nervous breakdown. I'm hoping that Marissa will get in touch with Julie, maybe even come to visit but it has to be for the right reasons not because she feels sorry for her." Dan emphasised.

"Let's just take it one step at a time." Ryan remarked.