"Previously on The O.C.:" "I cannot believe this." "The cops wanna talk to me about a letter I wrote Johnny the night he died." " Johnny and I used to be friends." " Yeah, well, what happened?" "No, thanks." " This is hard." " You don't have to say it." " It's just..." " Not working." "You ever play strip poker?" "Baby, you did it again." " Another amazing meal." " Oh, my pleasure." "Ryan, I forgot to ask." "Do you have any requests for your birthday on Sunday?" " Sunday's your birthday?" " Thanks, buddy." " Not just any birthday." "Ryan's turning 18." "Becoming a fully enfranchised citizen of this great democratic experiment we call America." "We know you went to law school." "The important thing is we need to have a party." " Oh, no, no, no." "No party." " You're turning 18." "It's huge." " It's just another year." "Oh, I disagree." "When I turned 18, I couldn't wait to vote in my first election." "My little Eagle Scout." "Yeah, and if you cross Johnny Law, no more of that daycare juvie." "It's gonna be hard time in the big house for you." " Reason to celebrate." " What do you have against parties?" "Nothing." "Last birthday party I had, I was nine years old." "My mom took me to the San Diego Zoo." "Awesome." "Since then you're too cool for parties?" "Then she started having her all-day drinking-on-the-couch parties." "You wanna tag in here?" "Look, this is one of life's milestones." "It'd be a mistake to blow past it." "Doesn't have to be a big to-do." "Doesn't have to be a big to-do." "All right." "All right, fine." "As long as it's small." "It would have to be." "You only know like us, and Summer, and..." "Marissa and I are broken up." " I'm gonna do some homework." " Okay." "I was totally gonna say Marissa." " Marissa." "Wait up." " Hey." " Hey." "How you doing?" " Fine." "I called you last night." "Oh, yeah." "I was out, sorry." "I went for a walk to do some thinking." "Thinking." "About anything in particular?" "Summer, don't ask if I'm getting back with Ryan." "I'm just worried." "You haven't been sleeping." "You've eaten, like, four peanuts and a banana in the past three days." "You spend all your time on that stand staring out like a Naval widow." "We should get back together to have a good sleep?" "Or you can move on." "Just do something." "Just so you know, I did sleep better last night." "This morning I had pancakes for breakfast." " Seriously?" " Would I lie about pancakes?" "No." "There's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about." "I was waiting for you to be a little less patient zero." "It's kind of about your mom." "Marissa?" "Hey, can we just talk about this later?" "All right?" "Call me." "Unbelievable!" "Thinking of joining the Lesbian Alliance?" " No." " She's gone." "When are you gonna talk?" "You can't keep avoiding each other." "I gotta get to class." "Okay, I'm off." "Sandy, there was an idea that I wanted to run by you." "Shoot." "It's just, Ryan's birthday is a big deal." "And I feel that one of his family should be here." "His actual family." "Since his father is a guest of the state and Trey's a persona non grata for the next two centuries..." " That leaves his mom." "Now, I know the last time Dawn was here it was a little bumpy." "You mean when she got drunk and knocked the craps table over?" "I'm not condemning her, but I wouldn't want to embarrass Ryan." "Neither do I. I think having her would mean a lot to him." "If we kept an eye out at the party..." "Well, there's also the little matter of finding her." "She's been missing for over a year." "But I imagine a person who's worked in a P.D.'s office for 15 years knows how to find someone." "Don't hold your breath." "I'll make some phone calls." "Just in case, keep it a surprise." "I don't wanna get Ryan's hopes up." "We have a problem." "Yeah." "Today's the day you tell Marissa about your parents doing the bone dance." "Don't say that again." "I'm talking about Ryan and Marissa." "We've gotten them back together before." "What thanks did we get?" "They broke up again." "They need to make a decision." "Either get back together, or move on." "Right now, they are frozen in that post-breakup, "What did I do?" moment." "The longer it goes on for, the worse it is." " So you need to do something." " Me?" " Yeah." " I'm in charge of Ryan's birthday." "Wait, Ryan's birthday is now?" "What is he thinking?" "He didn't plan it." "If you care so much, why can't you handle this?" "I have to worry about Julie giving my dad VD and taking all of his money." "My plate is full." "Fine." "Dr. R. and Julie Cooper are doing the bone dance." " Oh, my God." "It's almost 1:30." " Oh, boy." "My staff's wondering where I disappear to during lunch." "When else can we see each other except when the girls are at school?" "Did you see what I did with my cell phone?" "I know I put it down when we..." "What are we doing?" " I thought we were gonna tell them." " We were." "Then we didn't." "Well, I think it's time." "I totally agree." "Okay." "We'll tell them we're dating." "And then when they ask how serious it is..." "Just, it would be good to know." "Yes, of course." "After all, they wanna know how invested they should be." " lf they should start making plans." " Yes." "Because it's a big step." "For them." "Okay, Neil." "I'm just gonna come right out and say it." "There you are." "It's my nurse." "I think we should wait a little while until we can be clear with them." " That's just what I was gonna say." " I'm gonna take this." "Yes, Elaine." "Is my 1:30 there?" " Ryan." "Hey." " Hey." " Come in." " Yeah, I just thought I'd stop by and..." "Okay, wait, wait." "Let me just..." "Let me just say this is not the stage at which to make judgments." "Sure." "Sure." "Look, I'm gonna make a cute little bar here you can sit at, with a window." "All right?" "It's gonna be great." " When's Gwen get back?" " She decided to stay in Ashland." "She's putting the house on the market." " Want some help?" " No, no, no." " Yes, yes." " You've done too much already." "It'll be good for me to be occupied." "Believe me." "So how is the whole Marissa breakup-thing going?" "We're broken up." "We don't call each other." "Avoid each other at school." "It's hard." "So maybe you guys should talk." "Just so it's not weird." "Whether we give it another shot, or decide this is it, either way I need to know how I feel before we talk." "Otherwise, things have a way of happening." "So you just have to decide what you want." "Well, pretty much." "Well, while you're deciding can I recommend property destruction?" "Yes, you can." "Hey!" " Hey, man." "You busy?" " Would it matter?" "Not really." "Now, in my capacity as birthday captain I went ahead and reserved The Bait Shop for Sunday." " You don't remember me saying small." " I chose to ignore it." "Wanna see the invitations?" "The store made me print a hundred." "I told them you only knew four people, but it was some kind of policy." " Give me one for Sadie." " Sadie, huh?" "Interesting." " She's a friend." " Okay." "What do you wanna do with this?" " You're the birthday general." " I'm the birthday captain." "The decision to invite Marissa or not is way beyond my pay grade." "I get it." "Invite her, it looks like you're trying to get together." "You don't invite her, you're saying, " It's over I'm gonna hook up with random women."" "That's a tough call." "So you got till Sunday." "Turning 18's all about the future, right?" "So maybe I do a future theme." "We could have food from the future, and drinks from the future." " Sounds great." " Yeah." "What did Ryan say about Marissa's invitation?" "Nothing." "Just got this sort of confused, wounded look." "How am I not to tell Marissa about the party?" " I can't keep a secret." " You managed to not tell her about your dad and her mom making sweet, beautiful, beautiful love." "Hi." "She's dealing with Ryan stuff now." "She's not ready, okay?" "And besides, I've decided that I'm okay with it." " You are?" " My dad was whistling this morning." "Julie Cooper makes my dad whistle." "I can't tell him he can't have that." "So as long as they take it really slow, I'm cool with it." "Door." "Hey, why don't I get it." "Hey." "Delivery guy just dropped this off for your dad." "It's actually addressed to..." "Well, okay." " Oh, my God." " What is it?" ""Lovers' cruise to Cabo." "Five days, six nights." "You, the ocean, and the one you love."" " Got a good buffet." " I cannot believe this." " What?" "He's taking Julie on a cruise?" " He's gonna propose." "What are you talking about?" "It's what the man does." "My mom, my stepmonster." "He proposed to both of them on cruises." "This is awful." "You're overreacting." "They just started dating." "My dad only dated my mom a week." "He met my stepmonster on the cruise then proposed with a ring from the gift shop." " The man's got a disease." " Well, after dating Julie Cooper..." "Marissa's gonna have to put her stuff on hold." "We gotta stop this." "I do respect a man who knows how to use power tools." "Yeah." "Well, you can thank my blue-collar DNA." "Actually, before I forget..." "Here we go." " What this?" " So tomorrow's kind of my birthday Seth's throwing a party, and it's no big deal, but..." "Wow, I can hardly process so much enthusiasm." "But unfortunately, I don't think I can make it." "I mean, I'd like to." "Especially after you did such a great job selling it." "But a friend of mine's gonna be in L.A. tomorrow and I promised." " That's fine." "I understand." "It's no big deal." "Hey, you dropped something." " Marissa?" " Yeah, I've been trying to decide whether or not to invite her." " Oh, right." "Because if you invite her..." " Yes." " And if you don't..." " Exactly." "Right." "Seth thinks I'm in some sort of breakup limbo and I gotta make a choice one way or the other." "And that's his way of forcing the issue." "Can't say I disagree." "I was seeing this guy once." "And we loved each other but couldn't seem to make it work." "We also couldn't seem to break up." " So it just went on and on." " So how'd it finally end?" "Gwen called and she said Johnny died and I left." "We should probably get to work." "I'm just gonna drill." "Yeah, come in." " Hey, Sum." "What's up?" " Hi." "We need to talk." " Okay." " What are you doing?" "Remember when Ryan first came, spent the night in the model home?" " The house that he burned down?" " Accidentally, yes." "I've made him a CD which got lost in the fire." "He said he wished he had another copy." "So you're making him one for his birthday?" " That's so romantic." " No, just thoughtful." "Coop, you're tapping into core relationship mythology." " It's romantic." " Anything I give him will just be read as, "Hey, let's get back together."" "And if I don't give him anything, it'll be:" ""Forget it." "I'm over you, moving on."" "Well, maybe that's what you both need right now." "You know?" " A clear sign one way or the other." " Yeah, I just..." "I don't wanna make the wrong decision." "What did you wanna talk about?" "Well..." "It's just that..." "Seth is throwing Ryan a birthday party tomorrow night at The Bait Shop." "I wanted to invite you." " Does Ryan know you're inviting me?" " Not exactly." "Summer, you know I can't go unless Ryan invites me himself." "I know." "This sucks." "Yup." "Tell me about it." "The day has finally come." "Sandy Cohen is leaving me." "Sorry." "No such luck." "I found Ryan's mom." " She's in Albuquerque." " New Mexico?" "Can't you just call her?" "Oh, it's not quite that simple." "I think she might be in some trouble." "What kind of trouble?" "Give me a ride to the airport, I'll tell you on the way." "Neil, hi, it's me." "I thought we were meeting." "I guess not." "Well, call me when you get this, okay?" " Summer, hi." " Julie." "What a surprise." "Is my dad here?" "No, I don't think he is." "But you are probably wondering how I let myself in here." "You know, it's really a funny story." "Kind of..." "It's absurd, actually." " I know." " Excuse me?" "I know about you and my dad." "Your private hanky-panky your driving-range smooching." "I know." " Summer, we were gonna tell you." " Before or after you went on the cruise?" "What cruise?" ""A lovers' cruise to Cabo"?" "And it leaves tomorrow night." "What...?" "I didn't know anything about this, Summer." "I guess Neil wanted to surprise me." "And it's first class." "Oh, my gosh." "What a gentleman." "Well, he was gonna surprise you, all right." "Did you know that he proposed to his past two wives on cruises?" " What?" " I got nothing against you, in theory but my dad just got out of a marriage and I don't want him rushing back into another." "Oh, Summer, I totally understand." "We are nowhere near close to getting engaged." "Trust me." " You serious?" " Yes, of course." " Does Marissa know about this?" " Not yet." "Well, I guess I'd better tell her then." "And buy me a new bikini." "Awkward." "I'm here to see Dawn Atwood." " Third one down." " Thank you." "Hello, Dawn." "Sandy." "What are you doing here?" "Well, tomorrow is Ryan's 18th birthday." "I'm here to invite you to the party." "But..." " Does Ryan know I'm in here?" " No." "And as far as I'm concerned, he never has to." "So, what happened?" "The old story." "I hooked up with this guy, and lots of drinking and the money ran out." "And then he did." "And then you started writing bad checks." "Oh, Dawn, you could have called us." "Yeah, I'm sorry." "Well, I'm gonna take a look at your file." " Maybe there's something I can do." " How is he?" "He's good." "You can be very proud." "So, what's up?" "Well, Detective Warner stopped by the office." "He's done with his investigation into Johnny's death." "I thought you might want this." "I'd have had Sandy do it, but he's out of town, so..." "The letter I wrote to Johnny." "Sorry." "This is a client." "I have to take this." " Okay." " Hi, this is Matt." " So, what, are you stalking me now?" " What are you talking about?" "Well, tonight?" "Yesterday?" " What do you want?" " Nothing." " Okay." "Then leave me alone." " Wait." " Let go of me." " Relax." "Harper dying and all you're going through stuff..." " Marissa." " What's going on?" "Guy bothering you?" " Who's this?" "New protector?" " You need to walk away." " Or what?" " You gonna hit me with your phone?" " What's going on?" "Is there a problem?" "Officer, this guy was bothering her, I just stepped in." " Yes, officer." "Would you save us...?" " Oh, just shut it." " Come on, man, are you seriously...?" " I said shut it!" "Tell you what." "You two?" "Take a walk." " You, I wanna see some ID." " Come on." "Now!" "I wanna see some ID." "Ryan Atwood, legal adult, happy birthday, man." " Yeah, thanks." " So you feeling more mature like you wanna go out vote up a storm?" "Fighting the urge." "Yeah, you've been getting phone calls all morning?" "Yep." "Sandy called from Albuquerque." "Says he's gonna make it back, finish his business before the party." "Anyone else?" "Marissa has not called, and I'm not expecting her to." " I didn't invite her to the party." " The wisdom of years." "I'm glad you made your decision." "At least it won't be awkward with Sadie there." " Yeah, she can't come." " Did you tell her Marissa's not going?" "She probably wanted to give you space." "She said she wasn't coming before I mentioned I might invite Marissa." "She knew you hadn't made up your mind." "Tell her where you stand now, see if that changes her answer." "And you might want to mention though I don't wanna overhype there's gonna be a surprise at this party that may make her head explode." "You know, the short stack really is the perfect amount." "Look, Mom, this is great and everything..." "Okay." "I'm sorry." "I'll stop stalling." "The truth is, I asked you to breakfast for a reason." "For the past few months I've been seeing Neil Roberts." " Dr. Roberts?" "Wait, what have you had done?" "Not seeing that way." "I mean, "seeing" seeing." "Although, he probably would give a couple of freebies." "Oh, my God, you've been dating Summer's dad?" "I was going to tell you." "We thought we'd wait until we knew if it was, you know, serious." " And?" "Is it?" " He's taking me on a cruise to Cabo." "In fact, we leave tonight." "So yes, it feels serious." " Please, tell me you're okay with this." " I mean, it's a little weird but, yeah, I guess." "Oh, honey, thank you for being supportive." "Yeah, just, Summer's, like, my best friend." "So don't do anything." "Okay." "Whatever that means." "So you go, and I'll pay la cuenta." "That's Spanish." "I bought these tapes to impress Neil." " That's great, Mom." "I'm happy for you." " Okay." "Go." "Fling." "Bye." "Sandy, I still don't understand how you did this." "I made some calls." "The charges are dropped." "In exchange, you will enroll in a substance-abuse program and make restitution to the people you defrauded." " Well, I don't have the money for that." " I took care of it." "And you don't owe me anything." "All you have to do is go to your son's birthday party." "The plane leaves at 5." "Sandy I don't know." "Sure you do." "You're his mother." "And he is gonna want to see you." "Come on." "Okay, I gotta take a shower, I gotta change my clothes." "All right, well, my hotel is nearby." "I think you have time." "So I got you something." "Oh, you didn't have to do that." "I wanted to commemorate the time we spent together." "Yeah, I can see that." "I engraved the handle myself." ""For Ryan, happy 18th." "I'm so grateful for your friendship." "Think of me every time you pound something." "Sadie."" " Too mushy?" " No, it's just the right amount of mush." "It's great." "Thank you." "Okay." "Well, I'm gonna, I should probably get going and take a shower." "I have a..." "I have a long drive to L.A." "Just so you know, I didn't invite Marissa to the party." "Yeah, I decided it wasn't what I wanted." "Okay." "Ryan the reason I can't come to your party the friend I was meeting in L. A that's the guy I was seeing." "He just wants to talk things over." " So, what does that mean?" " I don't know." "I guess it means I finally have to make a decision." "Okay." "Well, see you later." "And thanks again." "Sure." "Hey happy birthday." "Hi." "Excuse me?" "Those guys said that you're friends with Volchok?" " I need to find him." " Why?" "You two hooked up a few times now he won't return your calls?" " Take my advice, forget it." " It's not like that." "I was friends with Johnny Harper." "And..." "It's complicated." "Well, I haven't seen him in a while." "Since Harper died, he's been weird." "But you could try this guy he used to work for." " Hi." " Hi." "I'm glad I got your message, but isn't this a little..." "Public?" "I know." "But I'm afraid the cat's out of the bag." " The girls know." " What?" "How?" "I don't know." "Summer confronted me, and then I had to tell Marissa." " How did they take it?" " They were great." "Everything is, is..." "Oh, Neil, I'm so sorry." "I know you wanted this to be a surprise, but I'm too excited." " I would love to go to Cabo with you." " Cabo?" "Summer found the tickets and told me." "I hope I didn't ruin it by saying anything." "Well, that'll teach me to try and be clever." "It's so romantic, waiting till the day we leave to tell me." "Yeah, that's right." "We leave tonight?" "That's pretty romantic." "This is just what we need." "If you hadn't planned it, I'd swear it was fate." "Maybe it is." "Look at me." "I'm gonna go check my makeup." "After all, I wanna be perfect for our first time in public." " Hey." " Hey." " How'd it go at your friend's house?" " We stopped early." " She had to get to L.A." " Sorry I'm not gonna meet her." "Seth said that you decided not to invite Marissa." " Yeah." " Well, that must've been tough." "Was she okay when you told her?" "Oh, please tell me that you talked to her." " I thought..." " You thought she'd figure it out when she didn't get the invitation?" "She's been in your life for two years." "Hey." "There you are." "We're gonna head down to The Bait Shop." " Okay, let me take a shower." " No, no, it's your birthday you're not lifting a finger." " You don't wanna spoil Seth's surprise." "That's right." "Take a good look at your head because in a few hours..." "Don't you be late." "Think about what I said." "You're 18." "It's time to be an adult." "Hey, Dawn." "It's me." "Hey, come on, we gotta go if we're gonna make the plane." "Oh, Dawn..." "Marissa?" " Need some help?" " Yeah, I'm looking for Kevin Volchok." "Inside." "Back there." "You okay?" "The house just looks familiar." "McMansions." "They all look the same to me." "Who's stalking who now?" "I wanted to talk to you." "My boss is outside if you came to get me fired." "I just wanted to say sorry." "Okay?" "Matt was being overprotective." "Matt." "New boyfriend?" " Yeah, he was a real badass, that one." " He's not my boyfriend." "Look, I just came to say sorry." "And you did." "So now what?" "You know, for once I actually thought you were gonna be nice." "That's pretty stupid." " Obviously." " Volchok." "What did I tell you about smoking?" "Place already burned down once." "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "So do you want him to stay here?" "This is supposed to be the model home." " Look, I haven't told anybody that." " I can keep a secret." "I don't know if it's a good idea for me to stick around." "You should stay." "Maybe I could spend the night." "You all right?" "Yeah." "I'm fine." "We're from different worlds." "That's not true." "I'm not like you." "You okay?" "Get some help!" "So, what exactly was the thinking here?" "Well, turning 18 is all about assuming your adult identity, right?" "So I thought I would show you the different avenues available to you." " Because I might want to be a cowboy." " Or my personal favorite but no less gay." "Fireman Ryan." "Yep, yep, yep." "And the best part, this isn't even the real surprise." "Can't wait for that." "So who are all these people anyway?" "At a certain point, I just needed to fill the room with bodies." "You know what I mean?" "You invited, like, one person." "Who did not come." "Two guys got in a fight over the crudités and knocked down scientist Ryan." "I met them outside Ralph's." "They seemed cool." "Where are your keys?" "It's not locked, you just have to..." "Give me your ice pack." "You don't have to do this, you know." "The doctor said I was fine." "It was nice of you to take me to the hospital." "Yeah, you..." "You wanna tell me what happened out there?" "Doubt you'd be interested." "Well, you know how that house burned down?" "I was there that night, with Ryan, and it just sort of came back to me at once." "Yeah, you're right." "I'm not interested." "You know, if you've got something to say, now would be the time." "All right, look..." "It's just..." "You know, when your mom will say, like "Why can't you be more like Timmy?" Well, that was Harper." "And it pissed me off, but I got it." "You know, things were..." "Things were supposed to work out for him." "But he died, and it doesn't make sense." "So..." "What're you doing?" "Giving you my number." "Just in case something happens, or..." "I gotta go." " Dad." " Hey, Summer, there you are, hi." " Hey." " Julie said she talked to you." "Yeah, after I confronted her." "Those tickets for the cruise were a shock." "Yeah." "To me too." "Between us, I wasn't planning on taking Julie." "What, how many girlfriends do you have?" "Hey, I bought those tickets months ago to salvage things with your stepmother." "I was gonna propose to her all over again." "I even had a ring." " Oh, my God." " Well, maybe it's a sign." "I mean, I really do care for Julie." "Well, I'm not gonna say that it isn't weird, but as long as she makes you happy, I guess that's all that matters." "Thank you." "I gotta run." "The ship sails at midnight." " You and Marissa are gonna be okay?" " Yeah, of course." "Hey, Dad, if you really do like her maybe don't wear the bathing suit you bought in Rome." "Just a thought." "This looks like it has the hand of Seth over it." " Yeah, I kind of like this one." " Happy birthday." " Hey." " Sorry, I'm late." "It's all right." "How'd things go in Albuquerque?" " I'm gonna come clean with you." " Yeah?" "I went to see your mother." "She wanted to make it here, but she couldn't." "She's glad you're doing well." "And I told her she could be very, very proud of you." "Is she all right?" "She's having a bit of a hard time." "But I know where she is so I'll be able to check up on her." " That's not your responsibility." "Well, as of today, we may no longer be your legal guardians but you will always be part of this family." "And she sent you this." "We're from different worlds." "Go." "Hey." " I thought you were in L.A." " I told him I couldn't make it." "It felt like time to make a choice." "Glad you came." "Hey." "Guys, there's somebody I'd like you to meet:" "Sadie." "This is Sandy and Kirsten." "Any friend of Ryan's, and it is nice to know he has at least one here." " That's funny." "I like that." " It's nice to meet you." "You too." " So this is your family?" " Yeah." "This is them." " Hey, what'd you forget?" " Passport." "They'd never let me off the boat without it." "Go to the car wait for me." "I'll turn out the lights." " Okay." "Neil I just can't tell you how excited I am about the trip and us." " I feel the same way." " Okay." "Okay." "I'll be right there." "So you called." "Well, will you sit with me, at least?" "Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention?" "As we all know, or as a few of us know today is Ryan Atwood's 18th birthday." "Thank you." "That was really touching." "So to help celebrate, we have a tribute to his favorite band." "Please take it away." "Awesome surprise or what, man?" "I figured, I couldn't get the real Journey but a Journey tribute band:" "next best thing." " It's amazing." "Thank you." " Let's do it like this." " All right." "Thanks." " For you, anything." " All right." "If you'll excuse me." " Okay." "You do know this is a Foreigner song, right?" " Yeah." " Okay." "I didn't know Journey sang this song." "They don't." "I got a Foreigner cover band instead." "They're about 10 times cooler than Journey." "Sync by vNaru"