CAITLIN NEEDS HELP

Seth and Ryan were on their way to Summer's to pick her and Marissa up.

"Hey, I just wanted to say thank you... for helping me out. I know you would have rather done something else, like sleep, than–"

"Seth it's okay, really. Plus, proposals, they only happen once. At least, I hope they do. So better make it as special as possible. It was a pleasure to help."

Seth smiled. These rare occasions where Seth-Ryan time was not spent annoying Ryan, reminded him why he is so thankful to have Ryan.

"Man, I missed this: Seth-Ryan time. It gets lonely on the East Coast. Summer and I are great but, it'd be awesome to have someone I can just talk to–"

"Seth. You're getting a little..."

"Sensitive? Riiight. I forgot Ryan Atwood can only say so much before he runs out of words or actually feels something.." Ryan glares at him. "Okay, okay, shutting up."

They arrive at the Roberts' residence and made their way to the front door. The boys are both greeted by an excited Marissa. "RYAN!" she gives him a hug and quick peck on the cheek. "Oh, Summer's just finishing up getting ready. She's upstairs. It's nice to see you, Seth."

"You too, Marissa. Thank you for lending Ryan for the night, I needed some guy time with him. A lot of stuff to discuss, you know?"

"Like?" Marissa looked at Ryan.

He stared at her and looked at Seth who just shot him a look don't say a WORD. "Umm... Seth, don't you have a girlfriend upstairs or something?"

"Right, leaving you guys now." He made his way up the stairs. Once he was out of sight, Ryan wrapped his arms around Marissa's waist and gave her a kiss. She responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. Once they needed some air, Marissa pulled away, "I missed you. I love Summer, but it's not like I can make out with her whenever I want."

Ryan gave her another kiss. "Why not? If you guys do, make sure I'm there."

Marissa playfully smacked him on the arm. "Gross."

"I'm kidding. No one is allowed to kiss you other than me, alright?"

"Deal." And they began to kiss even more until Seth and Summer came.

Seth cleared his throat. "So are we going to just have a four-way or..."

Summer hit him in the head. "EW! Cohen!" She turned back to the couple, who was still wrapped up in each other's arms. "I was thinking maybe, the Pier? Then maybe the mall because I need some Christmas shopping done."

"Oh good idea!" Marissa said. The boys just rolled their eyes, shrugged. They both were whipped by their girlfriends so just went with it.

/

At the mall, Marissa and Summer went shopping together, while Ryan went with Seth. After 2 hours, they decided they would all meet in the food court. They were seated around the table, eating ice cream.

"Marissa and I have bags and bags of stuff. You guys have nothing. What do you plan on getting everyone... us... for Chrismukkah?" Summer said.

Seth looked at Ryan. He did buy something for Summer. A ring. What do I do he gave him a look. Ryan didn't help because he shot him back a look don't look at me.

Seth made up a dumb excuse. "Umm.. Summer, my present for you cannot be wrapped. It's my love."

She rolled her eyes and turned to the Ryan and Marissa. Marissa was feeding Ryan a scoop of her chocolate ice cream. "Mmm," Ryan ate the spoonful being fed to him. "Now, you should really try this."

Marissa turned away, "No, I don't like strawberry ice cream so much."

"Trust me, this is good!"

"Ryan, no!" He grabbed some with his finger and put it on her nose. "Ryan!" Marissa did the same with her chocolate ice cream. Now they were just playing with their ice cream.

"Ahhh, young love. I just wanna... BARF" Seth pretended to.

"Shut up Cohen, it's cute." Summer said.

The four began talking until Summer noticed something, "Hey, it's mini Coop!" she pointed out. They all turned to see Caitlin from afar. She was with a guy whom none of them have ever seen before. They looked like they were arguing.

"Uh oh, someone's in trouble." Seth muttered.

"Probably just another boyfriend. I think I've seen him before, goes to Harbor with her maybe." Marissa guessed. They continued to watch and the argument seemed like it was getting more heated.

"Maybe we should go see what's up." Summer suggested. They all got up and started to walk her way.

They kept arguing until the guy grabbed Caitlin's arm very hard and she winced in pain. Ryan was now picking up his pace. When he got there he grabbed the guy's arm that was gripping onto Caitlin. The guy immediately let go, so Ryan did as well. "Ryan? What are you doing here?"

"Caitlin, we were all just shopping for Chrismakkuh presents." Caitlin now saw the rest of them walking towards them. "How about you? Who's this guy?" He turned to the guy who now looked a little scared of Ryan.

"Don't forget what I told you." He said to Caitlin, and he rushed out of the mall.

Caitlin looked like she was about to cry so Marissa came and gave her a hug. "Hey... Who was that? What was he talking about?"

Caitlin cried into her sister's shoulder. "Nothing.. Can we get out of here? People are starting to stare."

"Yeah, I don't want to shop anymore either..." Seth said. So they all decided to go back to the Cohen's and hang out there.

/

The five of them were now in the family room. Seth and Ryan were playing some playstation while Marissa and Summer were trying to talk to Caitlin. She wasn't crying anymore, but still looked uncomfortable.

"Caitlin, c'mon, just tell me what happened."

"Yeah mini Coop. We've been through high school before, we know how many jerks you can encounter." Summer said.

Caitlin sighed, "His name's Adam. He's an ex and..." she saw the worried look on Marissa and Summer's face. "Forget it, you guys are just going to worry and get angry and...Marissa I'm not a little baby anymore. You don't have to do anything, I can handle this."

"You were handling it and he almost beat you up. Look, just tell us. I promise you no one is going to get angry or anything. I'm your big sister; it's my job to look out for you."

"Okay... he wants money that I may have not have returned to him yet."

Marissa bit her tongue. She looked at Ryan who now stopped playing playstation, turning his attention to Caitlin. "Why... What money?"

"I may have bought some pot from him...?"

"Caitlin!" Marissa shouted. She was starting to get angry.

"See! I told you. You're just going to worry and... Forget it." Caitlin got up and stormed off into the backyard.

Marissa stood up and was about to go after her, but Ryan butted in, "No, stay. I'll talk to her," He said.

"That's a good idea buddy. Last time I had a real conversation with Caitlin, she gave me pot." Seth commented. They all glared at him and shot them a look what?

Ryan kissed Marissa on the forehead then made his way to the backyard. There, he saw Caitlin on the ground with her legs tucked into her chest, in front of the pool. "Hi."

"Save it, Ryan." She sniffled then turned away, not facing him.

He guessed she was crying because of her sniffling. "You know I don't talk a lot, so you can do all the talking. I promise I won't punch anything or anyone, no matter how bad it is."

She turned to face him and he saw the tear stained face. "I just needed to escape."

Ryan thought back to Marissa and her need to escape, leaving her passed out in an alleyway in TJ. "There's never an escape route. We have to suck it up and face reality. You know that."

"I know! But it couldn't help to try? Look it's hard to come into Harbour with Marissa Cooper as your sister. The Perfect daughter who saves her boyfriend's life, messes things up but then fixes it, Miss Popular, social chair. And I'm just me. You were in high school, imagine all that pressure."

"So this is all Marissa's fault?"

"No, I'm not saying that. It's just, when she was in high school, she had you. You, Seth, Summer... no matter how lonely she felt at times, she knew she had all of you guys. No matter how bad things got, she didn't need to escape anymore because she had friends to help her get through that. I have no one. All my friends are fakes. And who am I trying to fool with dating? I always break up with them eventually. I guess it's partly my fault trying to date them. For the longest time I've tried to deal with it, but it all changed when this guy Brad dumped me because I wouldn't...you know...with him. Yes I have a reputation but the truth is I've never...done it. I break up with my boyfriends when things get serious. But this time, I wasn't the dumper... Brad dumped me. He wanted things to move faster and to... do it. So when we broke up, his whole crowd basically broke up with me too, leaving me with no friends."

"So how does this relate to the pot?"

"I've never smoked before, even when dating Adam who is the biggest dealer in school. When we were dating he was always telling me 'it's a great remedy from this hell we call life'. So I figured–"

"An escape." Ryan finished for her.

"Yeah. So I took some from him and started doing it. I kept taking more and more; but I promise you, I'm done. I stopped."

"Okay, well I'm relieved there but... Adam said to 'not forget what he told you'?"

"When I took some I told him I'd pay later. Now it's been months and he kind of is angry..."

Ryan shook his head, "How much?"

"2 grand."

"CAITLIN?! How much did you take?"

"I don't know okay? I was depressed, turned to weed, and now am in a $2000 debt with my ex boyfriend. Aren't you proud?" She spat out.

Ryan let go of his anger. "Look no, I'm not proud. But we're going to get you out of this."

"How... How can you save me this time?"

"I don't know, but I will. Me and Marissa... Even Seth and Summer if we need them. You have us Caitlin. You're not alone."

Caitlin looked deep into Ryan's eyes. "Thanks. Marissa's lucky to have you."

"Trust me, it's me who's lucky. And speaking of Marissa.."

"I'll apologize to her, don't worry. I understand she was just worried."

Ryan nodded. He got up and left Caitlin outside. Soon after he disappeared into the house, Marissa came out.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, Ryan talked to me. Look, I'm sorry, I–"

"Caitlin it's okay. I heard everything." Caitlin looked at Marissa. "Just forgive me for eavesdropping."

They both laughed. "Can we go back inside now? I'm kind of hungry."

"Well we are at the Cohen's. There's always some leftover take out or bagels available." The two sister's made their way back inside and joined the rest of them in the family room.