A/N Thanks to those of you who are enjoying this enough to leave a review. It's great to get your feedback. I'm not sure what you'll think of this chapter because it may not be what you expect but I guess that you'll let me know. Enjoy!

News travels

Ryan felt sick. As if the problems with Marissa weren't enough. Now he had to work out how he could fix things with the Cohen's as well. Seth could wait. He would let him calm down a bit before he even attempted to talk to him again. He hailed a cab and as he sat back in the seat after telling the driver his destination, he debated whether to call Sandy or not. He knew that if Sandy was going to find out then he'd rather tell him in person than have him hear from someone else … especially Seth in the mood that he was currently in. He thought about waiting until after he'd spoken with Marissa but that would probably be too late. By then Seth would have probably already spoken to Sandy. Ryan figured that he probably had a few minutes up his sleeve because Seth would no doubt be tied up with telling Summer what he'd learnt so Ryan decided that he needed to act now. He flipped open his phone, noticed that he had 10 missed calls and 3 messages but decided to deal with them later and called Newport. While the phone was ringing all he could do was hope that it would be Sandy that answered. He figured that he would be the best bet at maybe giving him a chance to explain. He was scared that Kirsten would be too upset to even hear him out. Surely it was about time that something went in his favour. He was starting to think that the God's were all against him.

"Hello."

Ryan let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't even aware that he had been holding his breath until he'd heard Sandy answer. "Hi. Sandy."

"Ryan. How's things? We were just talking about you." Sandy replied pleased to hear from his 'other' son.

Ryan could just imagine what they were talking about. Now that he had Sandy on the phone Ryan had no idea where to start.

"Ryan? You still there?" Sandy enquired.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"So to what do I owe the honour of this call? Not that it isn't great to hear from you but you're not exactly known for ringing up for a chat." Sandy teased. Even after all these years Ryan was still a man of few words.

"I um … need to talk to you." Ryan stammered out.

"Okay so talk away. I'm all ears." Sandy said light heartedly. "Well except for the arms and legs and nose and ..."

"Um … Sandy ..." Ryan interrupted and then stopped. He had no idea where to start.

Sandy was surprised by Ryan's obvious reluctance to talk. Not that Ryan ever wanted to talk but if he'd taken the time to call then he obviously had something on his mind. "Ryan. Is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah. It's just …." Ryan replied and then stopped again.

"Is Marissa okay?" Sandy asked now getting worried that there was some sort of problem. Why else would Ryan call so unexpectedly?

"She's um … " Ryan didn't know what to reply. He had no idea really just how she was.

"Are the paparazzi getting to her? I know that they have now come up with some ridiculous idea that you're married." Sandy laughed. "Kirsten and I were just talking about it. Not that we aren't looking forward to the day but really … where do they come up with these things? It seems they can make up anything they like. If they have been annoying us then I can just imagine what you have been going through. I know how freaked Marissa was after that incident in the mall with Emily but surely as long as you're around to protect her she wouldn't panic too much?"

Sandy's words just made things even worse for Ryan. He hadn't even thought about how Marissa was handling the paparazzi. There had been too many other issues to deal with. Plus the fact was that he wasn't with her to help if they were annoying her. But Ryan decided to put that out of his mind for a minute and concentrate on the one bit of hope that Sandy had offered him. "So you and Kirsten would like to see us married?" Ryan asked attempting nonchalance.

Sandy was surprised by Ryan's sudden change of subject. "Of course. We know how you feel about Marissa. You're a different person when she's around. I don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you've been since she came back."

Ryan knew that Sandy was right. Whatever issues he had with Marissa he would have to work through because he needed her with him. "I'm glad to hear you say that because … " Ryan wasn't sure if he could actually do it.

"Because …" Sandy urged him to continue."

"Because … we are." Ryan finished.

"YOU'RE WHAT?" Sandy asked hoping that he'd misunderstood.

Kirsten came running from the bedroom when she heard Sandy raise his voice.

"Just let me explain. Please. Before you over react?" Ryan asked.

"OVER REACT?"

"Please …" Ryan pleaded.

Sandy took a deep breathe and tried to calm down. "This better be good." Sandy said.

"Okay. So you know when we talked that Sunday before we got Emily and I told you that Marissa and I had already talked about the future?"

"Yeah. But you said that I couldn't tell Kirsten because you still had a lot to work out."

"What couldn't you tell Kirsten?"

Ryan overheard Kirsten ask Sandy over the phone. Her being there was only going to make this more difficult. But he'd started now. He just had to try to get them to understand. "Well we had already decided then that we were going to get married but because of all the attention that we seem to attract with the paparazzi, we thought that we would wait until after Seth and Summer's wedding. We didn't want to take the gloss off things for them by suddenly becoming the centre of attention."

"Okay. That sounds like a plan. Plus it would give you sometime to work through things together. But they aren't getting married until next year. So what happened with the plan? I'm confused … are you or aren't you? …" Sandy started only to be cut off.

"That was the intention. However … a few things happened that were putting some pressure on our relationship. Not the least of all the fact that I wanted Marissa to see Julie while we were over here."

"You what?" Sandy said amazed. "Whatever made you …"

Ryan cut him off again. "It's a long story that I don't really have time for right now. But let's just say that Marissa was paranoid that her mother would manage to come between us again and then when we were in Las Vegas last weekend …" Ryan shrugged "I don't know. It just seemed like the answer. It figured that it would mean that Marissa would be reassured about Julie … and you know that I've always wanted her as my wife … and well we just sort of thought that we could make it legal but still keep it quiet until after Seth and Summer's wedding and that we'd have a renewal of vows then … with you all there." Ryan was starting to ramble hoping that something that he was saying would get through to Sandy.

Sandy meanwhile was having trouble processing the full implications of what Ryan had said.

Now it was Ryan's turn to ask. "Sandy? Are you still there?"

"Yeah. I'm here." He replied somewhat forlorn. "You don't think that you rushed it a bit? I mean I know that I said that it's what we wanted for you but … you've been apart for 7 years … don't you think that you may need a little more time to see if you still feel the same way? I mean what happens if you've changed? If she's changed? When you are missing someone it's easy to remember the good times but there were bad times too with you and Marissa. You can't just pretend that they didn't happen. Have you dealt with all of that?" Sandy asked only to be met by silence. "I guess it's all too late for me to even say these things to you now. I just hope that you haven't rushed into this and don't end up regretting it?"

Ryan didn't know what to say. He knew that what Sandy was saying was true. They probably should have dealt with everything before they got married and then maybe they wouldn't be in the position they were currently in. "Sandy we'll be fine." He replied with little conviction. In truth he had no idea where they were at.

Sandy rubbed his brow. It really was too late to start giving advice now. Ryan and Marissa were going to have to work their way through this one together. He just hoped that this time they would make it. "So I guess that I am supposed to say congratulations?"

"Thanks." Ryan replied. "And I'm sorry about not including you. We wanted you all there but it would have been too difficult with Seth and Summer. Marissa and I both wanted something small … and " Ryan couldn't help but start to wonder if maybe they had rushed in to things. Had he forced Marissa into doing something that she wasn't ready for? Looking back … he'd thought that the story of their wedding would make for an amusing tale later in life but maybe he should have seen the problems as a sign that it wasn't supposed to happen?

"Sounds like you got your wish." Sandy replied, the disappointment evident in his voice.

"Sandy … Please …" Ryan started.

"Please what?"

"Please try to understand. I've already had Seth hang up on me. I thought that perhaps you would understand. We were trying to not spoil things for Seth and Summer." Ryan pleaded.

Sandy sighed. "I know. I can see that you were in a terrible situation. I can't say that I'm not disappointed but I know you. You were just thinking of others … something that Seth would never even consider. Don't worry about him … I'll talk to him. We'll get through this."

"I hope that you're right." Ryan replied thinking about a lot more than just the problems with Seth. The car turned the corner into Marissa's street and slowed down. There was already a cab in front of the apartments and the paparazzi had trebled in number and were everywhere. He was about to ask the cab driver to drive on when he realised just why there was such a commotion going on as Marissa stepped from the other cab only to be swamped by the waiting crowd. "Sandy I have to go. I'll talk to you later." Ryan said as he threw some cash at the cab driver and jumped out.

---

Marissa was panic stricken. She knew that she had created this monster but she had never expected anything like this. She was being pushed and shoved. She heard her jacket rip as she tried to pull away with all her might, trying to progress towards the security door but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. There were flashes going off and people all around shouting at her and she was on the verge of tears when she felt a strong arm come around her. She tried to push it off only to hear the most beautiful words in the world.

"Ris. It's me."

She turned around and then collapsed into his arms the tears now flowing freely. Ryan pulled her tightly to him with one arm while using the other to pave a way through the crowd. His jaw was set in a steely expression and no one would have considered crossing him. It was obvious that he would have happily taken them apart if anyone impeded their progress. The crowd parted before them.

Once safely inside the apartment block he guided her to the waiting lift and led her inside. He contemplated dropping his arm from around her, still unsure of just where they stood but it felt right. She felt right … and so he left it where it was. After a few moments Marissa pulled back a little and simply said. "I'm sorry."

Ryan nodded and then looked back towards the lift doors breaking eye contact. "It's okay."

"No. It's not okay." She replied through her tears and yet she couldn't help but think that as long as she had his arm wrapped around her then everything was okay. She looked longingly into his eyes. They had so much to sort out between them but the one thing that she needed to make sure of was that he knew how she felt. "I love you." She whispered and looked to see if her words made any impact with him. "I love you more than life itself." She added.

Ryan got lost in her eyes. The tears were beginning to pool in them again and he couldn't help himself. He pulled her back towards him and kissed her gently … trying to reassure her that they would make it through this.

But Marissa needed to show him how she felt. She returned the kiss … but this time it was nothing gentle. This was a kiss that held all the love she had for him and Ryan couldn't help but return it. The passion between them igniting to fever pitch so that by the time they arrived at her floor it was all they could do to make it inside the apartment and to the bedroom. Their clothes were shed along the way. Neither would have been able to tell you who was responsible for what … the fevered haste to get rid of them all blurring into one as they fell naked on to the bed. Marissa was frantic to have Ryan inside her. She needed him to feel complete. Ryan knew on some level that this was wrong. They needed to talk but he didn't have the strength to resist her. She was all he had ever wanted. She lay naked upon the bed her hair strewn across the pillows and her legs wide and as she pulled him into her, his last coherent thought was that he should stop. But he was lost.

Lost within her.