My exams are officially done, and Chapter six is up! What could be better? ...Hmm, wait, I know; reviews! :) Enjoy! ... and review!!

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When she woke up, it took Marissa a moment to remember why there was a knot of nerves lodged uncomfortably in her stomach. And then she recalled yesterday, when she had confirmed her plans to go into LA with Alex. She lay in there for a moment, her sheets sticky with the July heat. Then she rolled out of bed, yawning but not really feeling very tired. She dressed slowly and attentively, changing repeatedly when she was dissatisfied with her outfit. She had always done this when she was nervous. In the seventh grade, before a particularly important class presentation, she remembered changing her outfit twenty seven times.

When she finally decided on a blue and white tank top with her new skirt, she sauntered down the stairs, and found her mom in the kitchen, reading a magazine and holding a styrofoam cup. Wondering when her mother would finally learn to brew her own coffee, Marissa opened the fridge, and took out some milk.

"Good morning, Marissa," said Julie cheerily. "That's a cute outfit."

It'd better be, thought Marissa vaguely. I changed it about a million times. Aloud, she simply said "Thanks," and drank a gulp of milk right out of the carton.

"Don't drink from the carton, honey."

"Right." Marissa wiped her mouth absentmindedly and replaced the milk back in the fridge. Then she turned to her mother. "Um, I'm going to LA today," she said, trying to sound offhand. "So if anyone calls, just tell them I'm out."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "I usually do," she said, a hint of a smile playing about her lips. "Seeing as you're never home. What are you doing in LA?"

"Oh, nothing." Marissa cursed herself almost as soon as she said this. 'Nothing'? That just screams of suspicion.

Julie seemed to be somewhere on the same wavelength. "Nothing," she repeated amusedly. "Right. Are you going with Ryan?"

A sharp stab of guilt twisted in her stomach like a hot poker. "No," she said quietly.

Now frowning, Julie put down her coffee cup. "Are you going with a boy other than Ryan?"

"No," answered Marissa again, truthfully. She grabbed an apple, and made for the door, so as not to give anything else away. "Bye," she said over her shoulder, "I'll probably be back late."

She slipped into her shoes, grabbed her purse, stepped outside, and shut the door behind her. Letting out a deep breath, she stood on the doorstep for a moment. Then she took her phone out of her purse, and dialled. Sandy picked up almost immediately.

"Hi, Marissa. Ready?"

Marissa walked down her driveway. "Yeah," she answered. "I'm in my driveway."

Sandy chuckled. "So am I." Sure enough, as Marissa looked up, she saw the Cohen's car pull into her driveway. Sandy was holding a phone to his ear and grinning. With a slight pang, Marissa saw Alex was sitting in the passenger seat. She gave a small wave.

Stuffing her phone into her purse, Marissa made her way to the car, and let herself into the back seat. "Hey," she greeted them. "Good timing."

Sandy laughed again. "We were going to come earlier, but Alex said there was no way you'd be up yet. Late sleeper, huh?"

Marissa laughed too, feeling supremely glad that Sandy didn't comment on how exactly Alex was so familiar with her sleeping habits.

They exited Orange County, and got onto the highway, the sun shining over the water, bathing them all in light. Sandy was flipping through radio stations, and Alex was fiddling around with her window controls, obviously lost in thought. Marissa closed her eyes and smiled, allowing the air getting in through the window to hit her face, her hair moving around with the wind.

After about forty minutes, they got off the highway. Marissa saw a sign on the side of the road; "You are now entering Los Angeles, California." Alex closed her window, and Sandy turned the radio down.

"Okay," he said, glancing sideways at his passenger. "We're going to drive by the place first, and see if anything jogs your memory at bit more. Then, if it doesn't, I'll go up to the door and ask a few questions. It would probably be best if whoever lives there doesn't see you immediately, so you and Marissa will stay out of it at first. Sound good?"

Marissa could see Alex nod through the passenger side mirror. Then she looked toward Sandy. "When you say 'at first'," she said inquisitively. "Do you mean Alex is going to be talking to whoever it is eventually?" This could potentially be a kidnapper, and Alex had already been through too much, in her opinion. She could hear the worry in her voice.

Evidently, Sandy could as well. "She might," he admitted. "But if she does, I'll be there as well, and you will be too, if you want to."

"I want to," said Marissa immediately. She saw Alex smile through the mirror.

Quietly, they pulled onto a tiny residential street. It wasn't a rough looking neighbourhood, exactly, but it wasn't exactly very nice either. As they drove down it, Marissa thought it had a distinctly gloomy feeling. Peering at the row of silent houses, she noticed almost all the curtains were drawn.

Then she heard Alex's quiet voice from the front seat. "That's it," she said, almost whispering. "The one with the green trimming."

Sandy peered over to check the house number with the one he had written down on a piece of paper. "That's it, all right," he confirmed. Then he pulled over to side of the road, and turned the car off.

Alex was still staring at the house. "You're going in there now?"

Sandy nodded. "Yes. You should probably get in the back seat," he said, undoing his seat belt. "You're too visible from up here. You two wait in the car, I should be back in about fifteen minutes."

Alex nodded and got out of the car. She slid into the back with Marissa. Then Sandy got out as well, and straightening his tie, he started walking up to the house with the green trimming.

It was very quiet. Both girls kept watching Sandy until he was out of sight, obscured by a cluster of trees on the front lawn. Then Alex sighed and leaned back in her seat. She smiled sheepishly at Marissa. "I didn't think this would make me this nervous."

Marissa smiled back. "I did."

Alex laughed a little. "I guess you know me better than I know myself."

"Sometimes," said Marissa, considering. "But then again," she added with a smile, "Sometimes I have no idea what's going on in your head."

Alex was silent for a moment. Her expression had turned strangely unreadable. Then she looked at Marissa, meeting her right in the eye. Marissa suddenly felt as though her insides had floated away. "What is it?" she asked breathlessly, surprising herself with the fact that she was capable of speech.

"I've been thinking a lot," said Alex, her voice very, very quiet. "About you."

Marissa was not quite sure how to respond to that. Her heart fluttered. "Oh."

Alex gave a small smile. "Yeah." She bit her lip, and Marissa suddenly found it much more difficult to concentrate on the actual things Alex was saying. Her heart was beating very fast. Trying to pull herself together, she listened as Alex spoke again. "We're making things very difficult for both of us," she was saying.

A laugh slipped from Marissa's lips.

Alex looked at her curiously, still smiling slightly. "What?"

Marissa let out a shallow breath. "You have no idea," she said simply.

Alex stared searchingly into her eyes, and leaned forward a bit. "Give me one."

Marissa's heart was thudding in her chest, and her palms were sweating. She felt distinctly lightheaded. How does she do this to me? she wondered vaguely. "I-" she stuttered faintly. "I-"

Marissa felt a warmth on her hand as Alex slipped it into hers. "Breathe," said the blonde quietly. A smile tugged at her lips.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Marissa tried to steady herself. When she opened them, she found herself lost in the blue of Alex's. And suddenly she found her tongue. "I can't even function around you," she said in a sudden burst of resolve. "When you look at me- I can feel my heart pounding." She saw Alex's eyes widen a bit, but kept talking anyway. "When you smile at me... I forget everything around me. I don't know how I can be around you if you affect me like this, but I can't not be around you, and I just don't know what to d-"

But Marissa Cooper never finished that particular sentence, because Alex Kelly kissed her.

It was... bliss. Everything Marissa had been worrying about, every stress, every trouble, just melted away. For a split second, she was so stunned she felt like she had received an electric shock. Alex's warm lips were pressed against hers, a hand in hers, another in her hair. She let out a slight moan, closed her eyes and pressed herself as close to Alex as she could possibly manage. Sparks of exhilaration flooded through her system as she surrendered to the longing she had been trying to suppress for what felt like forever. Every place Alex was touching her tingled with a warm euphoria. She tasted rich coffee and something like dark chocolate. She never wanted to stop, never wanted to leave the back seat of this car, never wanted to feel anything else but this, ever again...

But all too soon, it was over. Alex had pulled back, breathing a little heavily, biting her lip. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have done that."

Marissa felt distinctly confused. "Why are you sorry? What's wrong?"

Alex closed her eyes briefly. "I'm just making things more difficult. I told myself I was going to keep myself in control."

"What? Hey, look," said Marissa, placing a hand on Alex's leg and looking her in the eye. "You aren't making anything more difficult, okay? If you hadn't done that, I probably would have."

Alex gave a rueful smile. "I was afraid of that." She took a deep breath. "What about Ryan?"

Marissa could almost feel herself deflate. "Oh, crap," she said quietly.

"Yeah," agreed Alex. She leaned her head back on the seat. "What are we going to do?"

Marissa slumped back in her own seat. "God, I don't know. I don't want to hurt him, I just..." she trailed off.

She felt Alex sit up next to her. "I know," said the blonde, smiling a bit. Glancing somewhere out Marissa's window, her expression changed. "Sandy," she said quickly.

"What?"

"Sandy's coming back, here, sit up..."

They managed to make themselves presentable before Sandy reached the car. Marissa unrolled her window. "What happened?" she asked anxiously.

Sandy ran a hand through his hair. "Well, it's not what we expected," he said. He motioned toward the house. "The woman who lives here is eighty three years old. Two days ago, her car was stolen."

Alex caught on first. Marissa could feel her slump in the seat a bit. "False alarm," she said.

Sandy nodded. "Yeah." He looked sincerely sympathetic. "I'm sorry, kid. The police will keep looking. They'll catch this guy." He walked over the driver's seat and got in.

Alex nodded, and stared quietly out the window. If Sandy wondered why Alex didn't return back to the front seat for the ride back to Orange County, he didn't let on, but merely drove in silence, allowing her to sit quietly in the back with Marissa, and think things over.

When they reached the O.C, Sandy dropped both girls off at Summer's house, and they walked slowly up the driveway to the front door. Before they entered, however, Marissa turned to Alex, and caught her arm. "Wait."

Alex took her hand off the doorknob and looked searchingly at Marissa. "What is it?"

Marissa sighed. "You're right. We're making things very difficult."

Alex's shoulders slumped slightly. "Yeah."

Seeing Alex upset like this, more than anything, gave Marissa the resolve to speak her mind. She took a deep breath. "But," she said firmly, "I have no intention of walking away. Not this time."

Looking a bit startled, Alex blinked. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"I don't want to ruin what I have with Ryan," Marissa said. "But that doesn't mean that I'm just going to ignore what I feel for you." She fixed Alex with a determined look. "I don't know how yet, but we're going to figure this out."

Something like exhilaration flashed across Alex's features. Her deep blue eyes sparkled, and Marissa felt herself beginning to feel lightheaded. And Alex smiled. "Wow," she said.

Marissa returned the smile. "So we're going to do this? Figure it out on our own?"

Alex nodded, still smiling, and turned the knob on the front door. "We'll think of something."

Feeling relieved, like finally she had succeeded in restoring some order to her life, Marissa followed Alex into the house. Hearing voices from the kitchen the two girls headed in there, to find Summer and Seth sitting at the table, eating take out Thai food. As he saw them enter, Seth looked up in surprise. "Hey," he said bemusedly. "You two are back early. We expected you out all day."

Alex shook her head, and sat sluggishly in a chair next to Summer. "False alarm," she said despondedly. "The lady who lived at that house had her car stolen the day I was kidnapped. It makes sense, actually." She half heartedly stole some of Summer's pad Thai.

"Why do you people have such a problem with me eating my own food?" Summer grumbled, possibly recalling Seth stealing her ice cream the day before. She pushed some extra food toward both Alex and Marissa. "Here, there's extra."

But Marissa was still hung up on something Alex had said. "What do you mean 'it makes sense'?" she asked, looking inquisitively at her. "What makes sense about the fact it was a false alarm?"

Alex shook her head, and swallowed a mouthful of food. "No, I mean it makes sense that a car on that street would be stolen. I told you before that me and Adam always used to drive by there on the way to his place. It would make sense that he would steal a car from somewhere in his comfort zone. He's kind of a wimp, really."

Seth's eyes were wide now. "Well that's something like evidence, right?" he asked urgently. "Shouldn't you tell the police that?"

But Alex shook her head again. "Not enough to go on," she said simply. "Little things like that would never hold up in court. The police were telling me all about those type of things at the station yesterday, while you were fooling around with the office supplies."

Seth ignored this jibe, and kept talking as though he had not heard it. "Well that's crap," he said heatedly. "There's enough 'little things' to have a solid case against this Adam guy, and they've got no idea what they're doing." He sighed. "It sucks that they're pretty much all we've got to rely on."

Summer and Alex nodded along miserably, but Marissa didn't. Seth (and possibly the aftermath of her conversation with Alex) had given her something of an idea. "Wait," she said slowly, putting down her fork and leaning forward toward the table. "What if they weren't all we had to rely on?"

The others looked confused. Seth cocked his head. "What do you mean, like, the FBI?"

Marissa rolled her eyes. "No, not the FBI, us!"

Something sparked in Alex's eyes as she caught on. "You mean, figure it out ourselves?" she said, a small smile making its way onto her face.

Marissa nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, why not? I mean, you figured out that little thing with why Adam would steal the car. Plus, we know more about him than the police do."

Seth was nodding as well. "Yeah," he said slowly, but with building excitement. "I mean, we've got everything to gain, right? As long as Adam and his people don't notice us sneaking around, what can go wrong?"

"Never say 'what can go wrong,'" warned Summer sharply, ever the superstitious one. But she turned to Marissa and admitted, "It's a good idea."

Now smiling very widely, Alex looked at Marissa. "So, we're going to do this? Figure it out on our own?"

Marissa smiled back, and picked up her fork again. "We'll think of something."

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