She stared at herself in the mirror determinedly. Everything was going to be fine. Ryan called her name again, she knew eventually he would come up, and then they would really be late. She smoothed the fabric of her shirt over her stomach and smiled at her bump, their bump. Everything was going to be fine.
"Hey," he breathed, Ryan always made her feel beautiful.
"Hey," she pecked him on the cheek, grabbed her bag and her white wrap. "Let's go,"
They pulled up into the Cohen's driveway, she couldn't remember another time when their house appeared scary. She took a deep breath .Ryan put his hand over hers and squeezed, "everything's going to be fine," he whispered.
"I know," she nodded and stepped out of the car.
She rang the doorbell and Sandy answered, his eyebrows disappeared under his hair. "Marissa…" he breathed, "Marissa! Welcome home!" he said, giving her a tight squeeze. This really was home, she thought, while being ushered into the Cohen kitchen by Sandy. The Cohen house held the most of her memories and most of the people she loved.
"KIRSTEN?"
"I'm here, what's wrong?" she stopped, catching sight of Marissa.
"Oh, sweetie, we missed you," she exclaimed, rushing in to give her a hug. Marissa felt her stiffen against her after her body had pressed to hers.
She broke away, looking more serious, and definitely curious. Marissa blushed nervously. Sandy seemed oblivious to any of it, "How was Greece?"
"Really great…it was great to see my dad again…"
"That's… great." Sandy smiled.
"So what brings you back to the O.C.?"
"Well,-" Marissa started, "we thought we could explain over dinner," Ryan finished, putting his arm around her.
"Take out's on its way," Kirsten said quickly,
"So, err, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, no, I mean-" she stuttered.
"Everything's fine," Ryan said quickly.
"Good, well, the food should be here any minute…"
They stood in silence, "I'm just so happy to see you again," Kirsten commented. The doorbell rang, "I'll get that," Sandy said, pulling out his wallet.
"So, what's up?" Sandy asked through a mouthful of mu-shoo. Maybe dinner hadn't been the best idea, Marissa thought queasily, taking a sip of water. "Um, well, Ryan and I-"
"Are together now," Finished Ryan quickly, Marissa looked at him, curious.
"Yes, we figured that much out for ourselves…" Kirsten prompted, half puzzled, half amused. Marissa took another sip of water, oh god; a drink would be great right now…
"Well…" she said, it was now or never, "I'm pregnant!" The kitchen was silent for a full minute, "That's… good…" Kirsten broke it.
"Ryan, could I talk to you, outside." It was not a question and Sandy definitely did not sound happy. The men got up, Ryan giving Marissa one last glance before closing the door. The women sat in silence until the voices outside rose. Oh shit, she was going to be sick. "Excuse me," Marissa whispered, her eyes tearful, she rushed to the bathroom. It was official; she was no longer welcome in the Cohen home, her home.
"Marissa, Sweetie?" Kirsten knocked before letting herself into the bathroom to find Marissa still bending over the toilet. Kirsten held her hair and rubbed her back soothingly. Marissa stood up and burst into tears. Kirsten hugged her and continued rubbing her back, hushing her.
"I'm so sorry."
Kirsten pulled her back, "For what, Marissa? Everything will work itself out, don't worry. Sandy and I will be there for you one hundred percent," she paused as the sound of Sandy's voice filled the bathroom, "eventually…"
"I'm not so sure about that,"
She rolled her eyes, "Sandy will come around, he's just concerned…"
"About Ryan's future," finished Marissa glumly.
"And yours, you both are still so young, how are you ever going-" she sighed, "the point is, we care about you as much as we care about Ryan, you've always been part of the family, you know that."
"Thanks, Kirsten."
"Let's go upstairs and work out how we're going to tell your mother,"
Marissa allowed herself to smile and followed Kirsten upstairs. Kirsten stopped after hearing giggles from Seth's room. She knocked on his door, hard. Seth opened it reluctantly, only poking his head out, "Yes?"
"I thought you were at the movies," said Kirsten angrily.
Seth shrugged, "canceled,"
"Oh god, I am surrounded by horny teenagers, C'mon Marissa,"
"Oh, hey, you know! That's good, hey Marissa."
"Hey Seth, Hi Sum,"
"Where's Ryan?"
"Downstairs," Kirsten said, "having a talk with your father."
"I feel like talking," Seth said stepping out.
"You always feel like talking, Cohen," Summer came into view, face still flushed, "hey Coop. Mrs. Cohen," she said, looking down.
"Hi Summer," said Kirsten, rather warmer, "want to help us work on how we're going to tell Julie about…this," she gestured to Marissa's stomach.
"Sure," said Summer, sitting down at Seth's desk.
"I'm
guessing dinner isn't at the top of the list," Kirsten joked,
making herself comfortable on the edge of Seth's bed.
"No, nothing that involves eating," Marissa said, Kirsten could tell she was exhausted.
"Well, shouldn't Ryan be there?" asked Summer.
"I don't know, Sum, my mom may be small, but I'm sure she could do some permanent damage…"
"Okay, no dinner, no Ryan, what about a girls' night out?"
"Pedis, dinner, the movies; it'd be great," Summer agreed, nodding.
"Sure, girls' night out then," Marissa agreed, "as long as its cool with Ryan."
"Can you believe this is happening?" Summer asked.
"No," Kirsten answered before Marissa, "It seems just like yesterday when Sandy brought Ryan home, you kids were just sixteen,"
"Ryan always wore that hoodie and wife beater,"
"With his black leather jacket," Kirsten nodded and they both laughed.
Just then there was a knock at the door, it was Ryan. "Hey, you ready to go?"
"Yeah, bye Sum, bye Kirsten,"
"Goodnight,"
"Hey Coop, can I go with you guys, then Cohen won't have to drive,"
"Yeah, sure"
"Bye Mrs. C., tell Seth I said goodnight"
"Bye Summer,"
Once they were all in the car, Marissa started asking questions. "So what did Sandy do?"
"First he was pretty mad, said we'd been through this before with Theresa-which wasn't even my kid-"
"But it could've been," Summer interrupted from the back.
"That's true,"
"And then," Ryan continued, ignoring them, "he said I was irresponsible and that I had no idea the effect this would have on our lives and the kid's life, so I told him of course I did and I said I was in this for real, and then he started talking to me about commitment, you know, typical Sandy speech. And it ended with him telling me we would always be family…"
"That's great." Marissa exclaimed happily.
"Yeah…I still have to ask him about the internship though,"
"Don't worry about that now, the worst is over-"
"What about your mom," Summer reminded her from the back, "she'll be in Newport tomorrow night."
"I know," Marissa said, exasperated and exhausted.
Ryan pulled up to the Roberts' and Summer hopped out, "Thanks Atwood," she called. Marissa turned to him, "Well, goodnight," she leaned in for a kiss.
Ryan held her there and their kiss deepened, she giggled. He didn't want to go back home and deal with Seth right now, he just wanted to stay in this car, right there, in front of the Roberts' with Marissa.
"Goodnight," she broke away.
Ryan knew this was his moment, "I-I love you,"
Marissa looked shocked for a second, "I love you too."
That got Ryan another kiss, "Ryan, I'm so tired," she moaned.
"I should probably help you upstairs then,"
"Not tonight, I'm exhausted, for real Ryan," she said, pushing his hands away.
"I'm tired too, we'll just go to sleep,"
"No we will not just go to sleep, you never just want to sleep, and that is the opposite of sleeping," He was now nuzzling her neck, and Marissa knew he would win: her will power wasn't strong enough since she was so tired and she was feeling very hormonal.
She sighed, "fine."
"We have to be quiet because Kaitlin's in her ro-," Marissa whispered as Ryan grabbed her. She shrieked and giggled. Marissa wouldn't admit it, but she was still a little nervous with Ryan when it came to this. She fell softly onto a mess of pillows and Ryan climbed on top of her. He resumed kissing her neck, finding the spot that always made her squirm inside. She moaned and he broke away. "Shhh," he laughed and then kissed her, biting her top lip and then sucking on her bottom. He tugged at her shirt and rolled off her, pulling off clothing between kisses. They crawled under the blankets, Ryan still on top of her. She could hear her heart beating in her ears. Ryan's chest and arms were already shining with sweat as his lips grazed her collarbone. His hand, she realized vaguely, was right at the start of her thigh, but he moved it to the side of her stomach. "This is our baby, Riss. We made a baby." He whispered. She smiled at his words and tied her legs with his. She had to bury her head in Ryan's neck and dig her nails into his back to keep from making noise.
Ryan stroked her hair as she lay on his chest, he couldn't tell if she was sleeping or not. She wasn't, she rolled off him and sat up to grab his T shirt. She blushed when he watched her put it on and shoved him playfully.
"Ryan?"
"mm?"
"Have you…have you thought of any names?"
Names? Names for…oh. "Yeah…" he answered offhandedly and placed his hand protectively over Marissa's stomach.
"Like what?" She picked up his hand and traced the lines of his palms.
"Um…Harry?"
Marissa rolled her eyes and Ryan mentally kicked himself. They had just watched Harry Potter. "That's what I figured."
"Well, we have plenty of time. We don't even know what it is yet."
"I'll find out next Thursday, by the way, unless…"
"What?"
"Unless you want it to be a surprise," Marissa said hopefully.
"Ok, let's make it a surprise," he said, kissing her forehead, whatever she wanted.
Marissa woke up to Kaitlin's music, blasting in her room. Ryan had his arm around her and his head was nuzzled in her neck. The music didn't seem to bother him. He looked so sweet when he slept. Slowly, she lifted his arm off her and grabbed her robe. About to find Kaitlin, her cell phone rang. "Hello?"
"Marissa, hi, sweetie, how are you?"
"Ok, what's up?"
"I just wanted to let you and Kaitlin know I'm coming home tomorrow for dinner, Neil has some urgent appointment-"
"Wait, mom, how'd you know I'm home?"
"Kaitlin told me, something about a level five virus migrating around the coast of Greece, fill me in on the details later, I'm gonna be late for brunch. Love you!"
"K, bye," She closed her phone and made her way to her sister's room.
"Kaitlin, can you please turn the music down? Oh, um, hi Brad, Eric," Eric was currently shaving Brad's chest, presumably for water polo. "Hey," they said together while staring openly until Marissa realized her robe was hanging open and wrapped it tightly around her.
"K, well, Mom's coming home tonight and were all having dinner, so she wants you to be home by six."
"Ok, are you gonna tell her about-," she glanced pointedly at Marissa's stomach, while Brad and Eric looked confused.
"I dunno…" Marissa said, turning to leave.
"Well, is Ryan coming?" Kaitlin called after her.
"I dunno," she said, annoyed, the only reason Kaitlin cared was so she could watch their mom flip out. Suddenly she was reminded strongly of herself.
"How's Luke, he decided on USC?"
"Yeah, I think," said Brad, wiping a drop of shaving cream off his nipple.
"K, well, I'm gonna go…shower…bye guys,"