Okay so things are about to get interesting. The next few posts should hold a few surprises. LOL

Ryan confronts Marissa

After Ryan replaced the phone he sat thinking back over all that Dan had told him. Even after everything she did, he still felt bad for Julie. But what worried him the most was the fact that Marissa had been keeping Dan's calls a secret from him. Why would she do that?

He desperately needed to get back to work but he knew that concentration would be impossible. He was playing with his pen, twiddling it in his fingers and thinking about why Marissa would keep this from him when Annabel walked into his office. He looked up and she stared at him as if waiting for something. Finally Ryan asked. "Did you want something?"

Annabel was startled out of her reverie. "Sorry. I just need you to sign these." She said while continuing to study Ryan. She wondered if she would be able to get Ryan to tell her what the call was about. "I'm sorry for putting that call through to you. I know how busy you are. But the man was insistent." She said.

"It's fine." Ryan replied.

"I hope it wasn't anything bad concerning Marissa?" Annabel asked. She knew she was pushing her luck but she thought she'd give it a go anyhow.

"I said IT'S FINE!" Ryan replied making it quite clear that there would be no further conversation about what had been said between he and Dan.

Annabel looked surprised. "I was only trying to help." She replied as she walked back out of Ryan's office. A small smile began on her face and got slowly bigger as she neared her desk. Hmmm she thought to herself. Whatever it was, Ryan was very touchy about it. And she rather liked the idea of a touchy Ryan. Especially if he was touching her she thought. She would love to be a fly on the wall when he got home tonight. All of a sudden she couldn't wait for the weekend away. It could be very entertaining.

---

It was late by the time Ryan made his way back to the apartment. At first after Dan's call he had wanted to rush home and talk to Marissa about it straight away but he had to finish some things off at work. And by the time he had done that, he had changed his mind completely. He now almost dragged himself out of the lift, dreading the conversation that he knew was about to happen. He opened the door and made his way slowly into the lounge room where Marissa was sitting watching television. She looked up.

"Hey. I didn't hear you come in." she said turning to look at him and worried by what she saw. He had really worked himself to the bone trying to get everything under control so that he could come with her to Paris. And she knew that she would never be able to repay him.

Ryan just smiled meekly.

Marissa frowned. "You look exhausted. Dinner is ready; I just have to serve it. Why don't you go and wash up and I'll put it on the table."

Ryan nodded. He really didn't want to get in to this but he knew he had to. Maybe he could put it off until after they had eaten he thought. Moving into their bedroom he noticed his clothes laid out on the bed and a small smile found its way to his face. He knew that in her own way she was just trying to help. He thought that they had got passed all their problems and that things were finally looking good for them but now this. He pushed a few things from the edge of the bed and sat down running his hands wearily though his hair. He wasn't sure what he was most concerned about. Why she had kept Dan's calls a secret or how she was going to react when he tried to get her to call her mother. He knew that neither topic was going to be pleasant. Wishing that he could put it off further, he sighed but he knew that wasn't possible. If what Dan said was true then the sooner Marissa contacted Julie the better. He wondered how he could raise the issue of her mother with her without revealing exactly what was wrong with her.

---

Marissa wondered what had happened to Ryan. The dinner was going cold on the table. He had looked so tired and worn out when he came through the door that she wondered if he had fallen asleep and so rather than call out to him she went to check. When she got to the door of their room she was met by the sight of Ryan sitting on the end of the bed running his hands through his hair. A sure sign that he was worried about something. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Ryan? Are you okay?" she asked. Her question was met by a slight shrug from him. "Is everything all right?" she added.

Ryan took a deep breath. He couldn't put it off any longer. "I had an unusual call today ..." He started and then stopped and looked back down at his hands and realised he was clenching them. He tried to relax so that he could continue.

Marissa frowned wondering what it was all about. She could see how tense he was.

" … from Dan Forrest." Ryan finished and looked back up at Marissa.

Marissa felt sick as a million thoughts ran through her head. She tried desperately to pull herself together. "Why ... why did he call you?" she asked meekly.

"Apparently he has been calling you, but you either don't answer or you hang up on him." Ryan answered.

Marissa nodded and then dropped her head.

"Why?" Ryan asked and then added "No. Make that 2 why's. Why wouldn't you talk to him and if you have a problem with him calling you, then why didn't you tell me about it?"

Marissa sighed. She should have known that things had been going too well between them. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid. "I didn't think that he would bother you." Marissa replied hanging her head low. She didn't want to make eye contact with Ryan for fear of what he would read there.

Ryan could see the effect the news was having on her and the last thing he wanted was for them to get into a fight over this but he still needed to know why she had been behaving so strangely. "He's going to be your step-father, Marissa. Why won't you talk to him?" Ryan asked and then hung his head and added. "And why won't you talk to me?"

Marissa could tell that the second question was actually more important than the first but she wasn't ready to deal with that just yet even though the two were tightly connected. She moved towards Ryan and knelt between his legs so that she could look into his eyes. "Because … he's going to be my step-father." She replied simply.

Ryan frowned. He was more confused than when he started. "I don't understand. From what I remember when you mentioned him, you didn't have a problem with him."

"I don't. He's a nice guy." She replied.

"Then what's going on? Why won't you talk to him?"

Marissa sighed and looked at Ryan, the expression on her face making the words come out as a plea rather than a statement. "Don't you understand, it's because of who he lives with. The only reason he would call me would be to do with my mother. She can't make up her mind about her wedding dress. Or wondering what sort of flowers would look good on the table centres." Marissa suggested flippantly. "And I don't care. As I have told you before, as far as I'm concerned my mother is dead. I can't forgive her for what she did to us and I never want to see her again. And that includes having any contact with her. I'm sure Dan is just being a messenger for her to say she is sorry and can everything go back to normal. But it's not happening. And …" she took a deep breath thinking now comes the hard part. "… the reason I didn't tell you … was because I knew that you would try to get me to talk to her … or him as the case might be. She did actually call a couple of times at first but obviously when I wouldn't talk to her she got Dan to try. And now no doubt he has asked you to try. But it isn't going to happen. And I know what you think. And it is something that we will never agree on." She looked at Ryan watching for a sign of what he was thinking. "And that's why I didn't tell you. I don't want to fight with you over my mother. We've lost enough time together because of her. Don't you see? If we end up fighting because of her then she wins. Even from England she can cause problems for us. She'd be delighted to know that she could still have this effect on us."

Ryan tried to come to terms with everything that she had said. In truth, he had been about to try to talk her in to contacting her mother so he guessed that she was right on that one. But he still wished that she had not kept the calls a secret. He didn't like to think that she felt she needed to keep things from him. He looked at Marissa's hands holding on to his knees and he placed his hands on top of them and slowly started to move his thumb over them. "You're right about him asking me to try to get you to contact him. And I guess you are right that if you had told me about the calls then I would have encouraged you talk to him. But I want you to know that you should never feel that you need to keep something like that from me. We are in this for the long haul and that means that you don't need to deal with anything alone anymore. Even if we don't agree on something, it's better that we talk about it and respect our differences of opinion than pretend that it doesn't exist."

Marissa nodded. "So you won't try to get me to contact him?" she asked.

Ryan sighed. He desperately wanted to tell her about Julie but he knew that he had made a promise. "Couldn't you just call Dan? You don't have to talk to your mother." He asked.

Marissa shook her head. "No. Her evil … affects everyone around her. If you ever speak to him again you should tell him to run for his life." Marissa said a small smile softening her words.

Ryan didn't know what to say. He looked deeply into her eyes trying to read what was going on behind them.

"I'm sorry for not telling you." She said.

Ryan nodded. It still worried him that she had kept it all a secret. But he wasn't going to make an issue of it. He would just have to try to come to terms with it.

"Dinner's on the table getting cold." Marissa said.

"I'm not so hungry." He replied. "I think I might just go to bed."

"I'll come to bed with you. Just let me clean up first." Marissa replied.

Ryan shook his head. "There's no need for that. I haven't gotten much sleep lately and I think it's catching up with me." he rubbed his temple, he could feel a headache forming. "You go and enjoy your dinner. I'll talk to you in the morning."

Marissa stood up. She felt like she had just been dismissed. Turning to walk towards the door she stopped and said to him. "You don't understand what she is like. I know that if she had her chance she would break us up again and I can't risk that." She turned back to the door and walked out.