Author's Note: My second OC fic! Just a random idea I got yesterday while listening to 311. I kinda wanted to write something short and light, and this is what came about. ;-) Don't forget to watch for the next installment--Part 2 with Seth and Summer is coming soon. Anyway, hope you enjoy this and please please review! Feedback is always much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE O.C. IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM! I am only borrowing the characters for this fic.

Comfort wasn’t so hard to come by these days.

So many times in the past, the two of them had had their own personal demons to deal with, and in those days relaxing had been a difficult thing to do. In his youth, Ryan Atwood had pretty much been on the dark and uneasy path to becoming a criminal; Taylor Townsend, on the other hand, had been destined to be the infamous, heartless--and more importantly, friendless--bitch of Harbor High School. This, of course, was to say nothing of Taylor’s psychotic mother and Ryan’s delinquent biological family, which no doubt added to their stressors in those days. All in all, the pair made just about the strangest couple anyone with an overactive imagination could conjure up.

And yet here they were, walking hand-in-hand on the beach together and, though neither would admit it explicitly, crazy in love.

For his part, Ryan attributed their successful relationship to his newfound family, the Cohens. They had provided something for him that no one else in his life had ever bothered to before: a happy home. With the Cohens, Ryan had discovered two caring parents who loved him unconditionally, despite the fact that he wasn’t their son by blood. And perhaps even better, he’d also been blessed with the best brother any man could ask for; unlike Trey, Ryan’s biological older brother, Seth always had Ryan’s back no matter what…and Seth’s idea of fun didn’t involve trying to get Ryan to hotwire cars to steal. Whether they knew it or not, Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth Cohen had saved Ryan Atwood in many more ways than they could have ever dreamed of, thanks to their constant and unchanging love and support. With the kind of foundation the Cohen family had provided for Ryan, it was no wonder he was able to love Taylor so wholly, and not in such a protect-the-needy-girl way he’d once loved Marissa Cooper. He would always be grateful to the Cohens for that.

Taylor had to think a bit harder to find her reasons. She hadn’t exactly had the greatest family to look to for support, and no siblings to rely on. No, her model of love had come from her friends, the first true friends she’d ever had: Seth, Summer, and Ryan. When she thought back to the time she’d forced everyone into the high school gym just so she wouldn’t have to spend the night alone, she almost laughed at herself now. It was incredible how much a person could change in only a few years, and all it had taken were a few nice people to exorcise the aggressive alpha female out of her. While Taylor Townsend may have seemingly been conditioned since birth to be her mother’s evil sidekick, she’d certainly put an end to those awful times--and in doing so, proven that she really did have feelings after all. Following her confrontation with her mother, and through the help of her friends, she’d finally been able to channel those feelings to become a fully-functional human being.

Well, ok, maybe not entirely functional, Taylor conceded, but at least she’d moved much further into the normal range. She was pretty convinced that no one was completely normal, anyway. And besides, it was all a matter of opinion, wasn’t it? Yeah, that’s right, Taylor, she thought to herself. Deciding who was normal and who wasn’t was based on what one person saw in another, and who had been given special permission to be the sole definer of normality, anyhow?

“Uh, Taylor,” Ryan said, coming to a gradual halt as they strolled by the ocean. He held her hand a little tighter as she stopped, too, and Ryan gave her a small smile before trying to go on with what he was going to say.

Taylor, however, was already looking up at him with questioning eyes, immediately ready to take over the barely initiated conversation.

“What is it, Ryan?” she asked, smiling back nervously. She’d been let down by men so many times before in her life that she couldn’t even fathom why Ryan wanted to be with her; because of her insecurities, she was often expecting him to just dump her randomly, and her heart fluttered in panic at the thought.

Blissfully unaware of the turmoil going on within his girlfriend, Ryan simply continued to smile. “Nothing. It’s just that…well, I’m pretty sure you were thinking aloud again.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, more curious about his words than afraid of rejection now. “Ryan, honey, I know you’re not used to talking so much, and it probably has something to do with your getting slapped around as a kid, but most people need a little more than a sentence to go on.” Taylor paused to take in a quick breath. “So, basically, you’ll have to give me a little more detail if I’m supposed to figure out what you’re talking about.”

Ryan, now well-versed in the art and power of the enigmatic smile, decided to keep his expression neutral as he spoke. He sighed briefly, then said, “All right, Taylor. I’m not sure how or why you didn’t realize this, but you were just rambling about what it meant to be normal a second ago. And judging by the look on your face right now, that wasn’t something that was meant for others to hear.”

Even as Taylor felt her face burn with embarrassment, she couldn’t actually believe what she’d done. God, I talk so damn much that sometimes my brain can’t even keep up with my mouth! she thought in horror. I thought I was thinking everything through in my head, but in reality it was all coming out in speech. I need to do something about my diarrhea of the mouth, and fast. Ryan must think I’m a total chatterbox from hell, never shutting up for more than a few seconds at a time…

“Taylor?”

His voice startled her out of her thoughts, but she recovered quickly so as not to let it show. “Yeah?” she answered.

Ryan tried hard not to burst out laughing. “You’re doing it again.”

Crap! Ok, Taylor, just stop thinking! she thought to herself. When Ryan didn’t mention her latest words, she breathed a sigh of relief; this, at least, she hadn’t spoken aloud.

“Sorry, Ryan. I can understand if you want to go run off with some other woman now, maybe someone who doesn’t talk nearly as much as I do.”

He grinned at her, an expression that used to be a rarity in the past, coming from him. “It’s ok, Taylor. With a mute guy like me, I need a girl who knows how to fill up the silence.” As he spoke, he inched ever so closer to her. “But, you know, there are still times I’d prefer not to talk.”

“What do you mean, Ryan?” Taylor asked, trying but failing to sound nonchalant. Her brain was currently going a million miles an hour as she noticed Ryan’s proximity to her, and that made it harder to control the other aspects of social functioning. Although they were both young adults and had been dating for years now, she still found herself feeling all the emotions of a new adolescent love: the pounding heart, the butterflies in her stomach…

His grin widened. “I’m not going to tell you, Taylor. I’m going to show you.”

Suddenly closing the distance between them, Ryan held onto Taylor’s hand as he kissed her gently on the lips; it was a soft, innocent kiss, but Taylor could tell that it could be a prelude to something more.

They broke apart slightly when it was over and rested their foreheads against one another, both quiet as they listened to the waves crashing behind them. It was high tide at this point in the late afternoon, and so they occasionally felt the lapping water reach their sandy feet as they remained standing together. The red-orange sun was also beginning to slope downwards toward the horizon, casting everything in a pinkish light that made Taylor feel like…well, as girlish as it sounded, it made Taylor feel like a princess with her prince.

After a time, Ryan released her hand and wrapped her in his arms instead, holding her tightly as she rested her head against his chest. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of her hair mixed with the breezy ocean air, and that was it.

He knew that it was finally here, the right time. The right moment.

“Taylor…”

“Yeah, Ry?”

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

As they broke apart, Taylor panicked again inside. I knew this was too good to be true! she thought in growing alarm. Everything was way too perfect, with the beach and the kiss and the sunset and the rest…He’s probably going to tell me he’s in love with someone else now, or even worse, that some other girl is having their love child…

The sound of Ryan’s hearty laughter jarred her out of her musings. It was rare indeed to hear him laugh like that, and she wondered what could have possibly elicited such a response out of him.

“Oh, my God. Do I have some kind of weird stain on my shirt or something? Ryan? Ryan! Come on, tell me why you’re laughing!”

“You just did it again, Taylor. And before you ask, no, I’m not leaving you or having a love child with anyone, so we’re good.”

Taylor was so mortified that she felt her face go an even deeper color than red. “I really need to stop thinking,” she muttered. “But if that’s not what you wanted to tell me about, then what is it?”

“Well, if you’d let me do the talking for once, maybe you’d find out.” Ryan grinned for a moment longer before his face suddenly became serious, and he took a deep breath. Utterly perplexed, Taylor waited, watching his eyes for any sign of what he was about to do.

And that’s when she saw him go down on one knee in front of her.

Her hands went immediately to her mouth out of shock, and she was barely able to keep herself from ruining the moment with some retarded rant.

For once, Taylor Townsend simply listened while Ryan Atwood spoke.

Pulling out a ring box from his pocket and holding it up to her as he kneeled in the water, Ryan stared directly into Taylor’s eyes and said, “Look, I know I don’t say much and I’m not exactly the kind of guy you envisioned spending the rest of your life with. I don’t speak a word of French, I’m not interested in poetry or politics or anything big, but there is one thing I’m very interested in, Taylor. And that’s you.” He paused, glancing down at the box before resting his gaze on her once more. “Will you marry me?”

Taylor was so thoroughly astonished that when she opened her mouth to answer, nothing came out. For the first time in her life, Taylor Townsend was rendered speechless at the most inopportune moment ever.

Meanwhile, Ryan continued to kneel. As the seconds ticked by, he started to wonder if perhaps he’d misread the signs, that maybe she didn’t really feel the same way about him that he felt about her…

An instant later, Taylor finally regained control of her faculties. “Oh, my God, Ryan. Yes! Of course I’ll marry you!” she all but squealed.

That uncommonly wide grin of Ryan’s reappeared on his face. After her abnormally long pause, he couldn’t believe she’d actually said yes. He quickly opened the ring box, taking particular delight in Taylor’s excitement when she saw the small diamond ring inside, and took her hand in his. Placing the ring on her finger, Ryan rose to his feet and gave his bride-to-be a long and passionate kiss. The young couple stood there for a while, making out while half into the oncoming waves, until Taylor suddenly pulled back.

Grinning, she said, “You certainly know how to make a girl shut up, Ryan Atwood.”