Chapter Three: Home Sweet Home.

The following days after the Kelly's departure went by quickly, and soon the first week of school was coming to a close. It was Friday morning and Julie had just returned from dropping the girls off at school, retrieving the mail, she walked into the house, checking through them. As she flipped through bills, and flyers, her eyes stopped as a green envelope caught her attention.

Immediately she set the other mail down on a table, and opened the letter, unfurling the letter she began to read.

Sept 5th2008

It's been 5 minutes and I miss you already. We haven't even taken off yet, and already I feel like there's a thousand miles between us. As soon as I sat down I started to cry. I didn't want you to see me cry, because I know it would have made it all the harder to actually get on the plane.

We're taking off now, and all I want is to run off this plane and back to you. Why didn't I see it before? How perfect you are, how perfect we are. I asked mom once what it was like when she kissed dad for the first time, she said she couldn't explain it, and when I found it I would know.

Every time I blink I see you there, and I can't find words to describe it. I see your eyes in my mind, and all I see is the universe where massive oceans collide with unknown stars and galaxies, and create the place where time doesn't exist.

I can still feel your lips on mine, I can feel your eyelashes tickling my cheeks, I can still taste you in the air I breathe, I can still hear the music our lips made, and I want nothing more than to continue our simple dance.

Did you feel it to? Did you feel the world shift, did you hear the music, and did you feel our hearts making a rhythm solely for us?

Was this what my mother was talking about when she said it's like fireworks? She said her and dad were like magnets, always being pulled to the other, their lips creating stories.

We've just created a beginning Marissa, this isn't where it ends, this is where it begins. We've seen the world we can create, and I personally can't wait to see it again.

I'll write again when I get home. I'm going to try to sleep, because I'm hoping my dreams are filled with you. I love you Marissa, the address will be in the ps. don't keep me waiting!

Love Alex.

Finishing she placed the letter back in the envelope, her resolve was cracking, but she steeled herself. Her daughter wasn't gay, Alex was her oldest and best friend, and she was just confused with her feelings because her best friend moved across the world. This would pass, she told herself as she walked towards her room the letter still in hand.

Entering her room she walked into her ridiculously large closet and went to the very back where she put her out of style clothes. Moving them to the side, she revealed a secret door behind the garments, opening it she placed the letter inside, before shutting it, concealing it once more before leaving.

As the days continued to pass, Marissa would ask for mail everyday she got home from school. Julie would smile sadly and simply shake her head, watching as the weeks turned into a month her daughter slowly loosing hope.

As October came and as Julie dropped Marissa off one morning, her daughter held out an envelope to her mother.

"Can you mail this for me? Maybe she got the zip code wrong, or mussed up on the spelling." Handing the letter over, Julie smiled and nodded. "Thanks mom, can you send on like fast post or something? It's really important."

"Of course sweetie, I'll go to the post office right now." Julie lied, smiling at her daughter to reassure her. The smile she was rewarded with was huge, viridian eyes glittering with happiness, before she hugged her mom and jumped out of the car and into school.

Julie added Marissa's letter to the growing pile in her hidden cubby. There were over twenty letters from the month of September in there already. Julie didn't read any more of them, she merely hid them and went back to her business.

A week after she had 'mailed' the letter, when Marissa returned from school, she rushed the kitchen. Not bothering to acknowledge her mom she went straight to the mail, her eyes glittering as she looked for one addressed to her. When there was nothing the glitter green irises became dull.

"Maybe it will come tomorrow?" Julie smiled trying to cheerful her daughter. "Hey come on, let's go out, we can go spend dads pay check." She suggested. Marissa shook her head.

"No, I'm not in the mood. I'm just going to go do my homework." Her voice was defeated, and she dragged her feet up to her room, her door clicking shut behind her.

The next day Julie meticulously wrote a letter to Marissa copying Alex's writing perfectly, and added it to the mail on the kitchen island, and waited.

When Marissa returned from school, she greeted her mom and didn't check the mail. She continued through the kitchen towards her room.

"You're not going to check the mail?" Julie called, smiling as her daughter whipped around, her eyes wide, and a clear look of hope etched across her face. The older woman nodded and watched as Marissa tore through the mail, finding the forged letter and ripping it open, her eyes glittering, before slowly they became dull again, and them panicked. She turned on her heel and ran to her room.

Julie didn't see her for the rest of the night, and the next morning during breakfast, Marissa handed her and envelope address to London England. "Can you send this out on fast post again? It's very important." Julie only nodded.

After dropping her daughters off, Julie skipped the post office and put Marissa's letter with the collection, and wrote another letter, this one in Marissa's writing addressed it to Alex and sent it off.

Three days passed, and her collection was getting big, her letter didn't seem to deter the blonde girl. But the lack of response from Alex was wearing Marissa thin, and after five months in May, she stopped asking for letters, and began to move on.

Julie noticed how her daughter eyes didn't light up anymore, and how her smile was strained. It's for the best. She kept telling herself, life went on, Alex continued to send letters, and her collection continued to grow. Months turned to a year, Marissa was making new friends, and slowly her eyes began to glitter again, her smile not as strained.

On Marissa's thirteenth birthday a present came in the mail from Alex. She repackaged the iPod, and made it a gift from her, before adding the letter in with the hundreds of others.

Years passed, Julie and jimmy got a divorcewhen Marissa turned fifteen and Marissa's began to hate her mother. Drinking and drugs became a regular for the teen, but then Ryan Atwood rolled around and levelled her out. Julie had a scare when Marissa was sixteen when she dated a girl Roxy, to get back at her, which didn't last long because she got back with Ryan.

She married Caleb Nichols before Marissa's junior year, and sent Kaitlin off to boarding school while things got settled, which set Marissa right off, causing her to skip school and break up with Ryan for some drug dealing asshole, who almost got her killed, and was scented to twenty years in prison. She went back to Ryan. Throughout the summer leading up to her final school year, Julie noticed Marissa slowly losing the glittering eyes, she wouldn't fight back anymore, and her smile was often painted on.

Julie reminded herself that she was protecting her. Protecting her from the scum of the world who would hate her if she was gay. It's for the best she would remind herself.

All through that time, six years, and letters still arrived weekly. Julie wondered how she had gotten the new address, but figured that she could have gotten it from Kirsten. Kirsten mentioned that she had kept in touch with her niece, and even bought some of her artwork, so it was only plausible.

It was August thirty first, Kirsten and Julie were at the yacht club having lunch, chit chatting, when Kirsten said something that cause her to turn her head so fast her neck almost broke,

"Sorry pardon me?"

"I've been working on a side project, remember that beach house. The one Rob and Charlie lived in with that hidden beach? I'm remodeling it and renovating it. Robs told me that Alex is going to take a break from the art scene to focus on producing, and he offered to help her build a label. We're building a studio for them on the pier."

"Alex is coming back?" Julie nearly choked on her water as the information sunk in. Well this is an onion in the ointment.

"Yup she should be here tomorrow, I'm going to have a party at my house Saturday at my house, a welcoming party, I told dad, he's excited to see his granddaughters."

"Hey back up a second. Daughters? As in plural? I didn't know Robert and Charlie had a second child."

"The life of a rock star? It not Charlie's that's why they divorced, she found out, and was super pissed." Kirsten explained. "Her name is Jaeme, and she's Marissa's age, Robert already enrolled her at Harbour. Isn't it great?"

Julie shook the shock from her face and smiled, hoping the blonde did notice the fear in her eyes. All of her work, to keep them apart and now this.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me.

"Are you sure you're okay babe? You've been distant the past week." Ryan asked as he parked the car in the Cohen driveway turning the ignition off, blue eyes regarded her.

"I'm fine Ryan, the carnival was very tiring, and I just want to relax. So let's go, pretend to be interested, and sneak to the pool house first chance we get." Marissa felt like a broken record. All week Ryan had been asking what was wrong. She couldn't well tell him that she was in love with a woman she hadn't seen in six years. So she continued to find excuses to keep his questions at bay.

"You read my mind. Come on lets go." He got out of the range rover and ran to her door, opening it for her and helping her out. "It looks like the entire yacht club is here."

"Whose party is this anyways?" They reached the door, muffled chatter slipping into the dusk.

"Caleb granddaughters moved here, so Kirsten is throwing them a party." Marissa raised her eyebrows.

"That doesn't make any sense." the door opened and the muffled chatter became clear as they stepped into the foyer.

"Well turns out that Caleb had a son. He covered it up because it was bad for business, but now that there here," Ryan shrugged his shoulders as he hung their coats, before taking Marissa's hand in his.

His hand were too big and they were sweaty, but she held it anyways. As she looked around she recognized some faces, spotting Seth and Summer in the kitchen she pointed and allowed herself to be lead over.

"Hey guys, ready to kill yourself yet?" was Marissa's greeting which earned a laugh.

"No but if someone asks me once more how I feel I'm going to hang myself from this very chandelier." Seth said miserably, Summer cooed and kissed him sweetly.

"Better?" he only shrugged, she gave him a glare and immediately he brightened smiling. "That's what I thought."

"So where are these people? It's hard to have a welcome party if you don't know who to welcome." Ryan looped his arm around her waist.

"They aren't here yet, Kirsten said they got caught in traffic coming back from L.A, but they should be here soon." Summer explained. Marissa nodded as they continued to chat, not paying attention as her mind wandered.

"I'm going to go to the washroom, I'll be back." Marissa broke away from Ryan, weaving between people she headed to the upstairs bathroom.

As she washed her hands downstairs she could hear the welcome as the guests of honour arrived. She looked at her reflection. She looked fine, but if she looked deep enough she could see the sadness in her eyes that she had learned to hide so well. She smiled, the painted smile she saw cause a twist in her abdomen. Inhaling deeply she fixed her hair, before leaving the bathroom, heading back downstairs.

As she stepped off the steps, it hit her. Her lungs breathed deeply, inhaling the sweet salty air they had been deprived of for so long. The taste filled her, spreading through her limbs, warming her skin. She shook her head, moving back towards she had left Ryan.

Reaching where they had been she found they had moved. The only place they would go would be the pool house so she began to make her way there, slipping out into the backyard quietly, she closed the door softly, stepping backwards once before turning around and running straight into a hard body, her heart skipped, her lungs inhaled deeply, that ocean smell causing her head to become slightly foggy, she fell back catching herself on the door before she fell.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Marissa steadied herself, fixing her dress. A sweet familiar scent hit her nose, her heart began to speed, beating widely, and her lungs continued to inhale the salt enriched air. She felt like she was breathing again for the first time, like this was air worthy of her lungs. Realizing that there was no response to her apology, Marissa shook the feeling off, before looking up.

"I was right. You are absolutely beautiful." The voice was raspy, mature and had a slight accent, the words carried across the distance between them caressing her ears with its dulcet tones, her hair was longer now, flowing over her shoulders in golden waves. She was taller, a couple inches taller than she, her body lithe and wiry, compared to her slim and lean. Her lips were fuller, complete with a diamond pierced through the bottom left corner, her nose sloped like a wave, her cheeks had lost there childish look and her eyes were heavy lidded, and sultry.

It happened so fast, inhale, exhale, step forward, finally viridian and maelstrom meet, crashing together, the waves pulling her deeper, she was looking for treasure again, she was tempted by the gold flickering in her irises. They step again, their hearts beat, slowly syncing, the song returned. Hands reached out, unable to deny the magnetic field that they create, fingers meet skin, and nerves blaze, as fingers write notes.

Face to face, eyes reacquainting themselves, their breath mingling, their hearts beat in unison, the silent music drowns out the noise from inside the house, they both hear a clock tick once and stop. Their lips a hairs breath from there partners, a hand cups Marissa's cheek, thumb dragging along her bottom lip, her eyes dart down, then back to the stormy ocean eyes before her.

Viridian galaxies hidden by eyelids, waiting for the spark, the trigger that would bring them to forever again. Kiss me, take me there. I want forever, take me away from this reality, take me to our universe, please.

There was a loud crash, the clock ticked forward again, and the moment was broken. Jumping back from the woman before her, she quickly turned, trying to comps herself as the door opened and Ryan emerged.

"There you are, I was looking for you, Kirsten wants to introduce you…" he trailed off his eyes falling on the figure standing behind Marissa. "To bad you seemed to have doe the introduction part yourself." Still lightly lost in her thoughts Marissa furrowed her brow.

"I don't understand." Marissa said stupidly, Ryan smiled at her, before kissing her quickly. She heard the sharp intake of breath behind her, and cut it short. "You were explaining?"

"Marissa this is Alexandra Kelly, Caleb's eldest granddaughter. Jaime is here to, remember the girl who helped you with the carnival?"

Turning, their eyes locked again and Alex gave her a lopsided smile, like on the day they met at the beach all those years ago, with skinned knees and a backwards cap, eyes shining, with two missing teeth.

"Cooper, it's nice to see you again. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon, it would be nice to catch up." She said smoothly, so much more in control then her. How can she be so calm, doesn't she remember what she put me through? "Ryan was it? It's a pleasure, now if you'll excuse me I need to find my sister." She walked past Marissa slipping a note into her dresses pocket, her fingers tracing a quick note on her as she passed before disappearing into the house.

Ryan looked at his girlfriend, "You two know each other?" he questioned.

"It was a long time ago." Marissa replied, "I'm not feeling too well, I'm going to go lay down."

"Do you want some water or something?" she shook her head, he nodded and walked with her, making sure she was comfy. Informing her he was going to inform Kirsten where she was, he left promising to return as quickly. As the door shut behind him, Marissa immediately clutched the note and opened it.

Yes I knew you would be here, Kirsten told me that her adoptive son was dating Julie's daughter, I insisted she make it a welcoming party at the last minute so I would be able to see you.

I know it's been a long time, and we barely know each other anymore, but we do need to talk meet me at the lifeguard tower tonight after the party. If you don't come I'll leave you be. I'll be there at around midnight.

Alex.

I'll be there. She nodded with determination, her jaw set. It was time to move on. No more pining over a woman who literally told you she didn't want you. Placing her head on the pillow she closed her eyes.

As she did, the events that just happened flickered across her eyelids, hitting her like a wave, and instead of fighting it like she wanted, she drifted, allowing the wave to pull her under. The raspy voice echoing in her mind.

I was right. You are absolutely beautiful. The voice echoed and pulled her deeper, consuming her, before she drifted into a light sleep, the visions on her eyelids creating the universe she and Alex created.