SUMMARY: A/U We all know Ryan's a fighter, but what if things had been different and he used his fists the smart way? Maybe his quick fists could actually take him somewhere…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok Ryan hasn't been in a fight for so long I'm going through withdrawals. So between seeing Million Dollar Baby, being obsessed with The Contender, and mastering the art of Fight Night Round 2 for PS2, I had an idea… And I haven't seen any other stories like it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm kinda just starting the story without any back story or a lot of explanations, but just bear with me all that will come later… And for those of you who haven't read my other story, I'll just let you know straight up I'm a hardcore Ryan and Marissa fan so this is a Ryan and Marissa story.

Chapter One

Every fighter knows the difference between the sound of a bell that's starting the round and the sound of a bell that's ending the round. It's all the same bell, but to a fighter the ring is completely different. When the bell rang signaling the end of the sixth round Ryan Atwood out of training and not instinct pulled his last punch and took a step towards his corner. It took a lot of work and training for him to get the point where he could just quit fighting and expect the other guy not to hit him when his guard was down, but he had managed to learn. On this night his opponent apparently didn't have the same amount of willpower. A sharp hook caught Ryan square in the left temple, his vision when hazy and his equilibrium throw into a tailspin. It all seemed to move in slow motion for Ryan but in actuality there was only a second between the illegal punch and Ryan hitting the cold canvas of the boxing ring, render unconscious.

Bright florescent lights greeted Ryan as he slowly began to awake, his head throbbed and he could feel that something was obstructing him from moving. Things around him were still a bit hazy but he could hear someone softly humming, if he had been a religious man he might have thought it was the sounds of an angel, maybe it was his angel he just didn't know it yet. Either way the sound was sweet and certainly an eased way to come back into reality. Being able to tell that almost all his movement was obstruct in some way, he cleared his throat to signal that he was aware of his surrounds.

Again he cleared his throat and started to speak, "Ummm," he watched as a young woman moved into his line of vision, things had began to clear up and he could see she was stunningly beautiful and dressed in all white, he assumed she was a nurse.

"Hey you're awake, let me go get the doctor."

"No, no doctor." He said harshly. "Just tell me where I am and why the hell I'm tied to a damn bed please," his voice seeped aggravation, as he tried in vain to sit up only to be held down.

"You're in Newport Beach Regional Hospital, do you know you're name?"

"Ryan Atwood, I hope."

"Yeah that's you're name, you have any idea what happened?"

"I had a fight in Newport, a scrappy kid probably bout my age, but poorly trained… He hit me right? So that's where I am, doesn't explain why I'm tied down its not like I hit myself or anything."

"They wanted to minimize the chance of injury since you where knocked unconscious, plus they didn't know if there was any spinal injury and didn't want to risk anything."

"Well lady I can feel my legs and my arms and everything else to be able to tell you that I really don't like being tied down so ummm you want to do something about that please."

She sensed aggravation in his voice, "I understand your frustration but I really should go find the doctor."

"Look aren't you a nurse, just untie me and tell him that he was busy and I was irate or something."

"I can't I'm only a volunteer, I'm going to go get the doctor."

"Do what you have to do." Ryan sighed in frustration.

It was another full hour before the doctor finished examining him and gave him his wish to have the restraints and neck brace removed. By that point post fight exhaustion had set in.

"Ok Mr. Atwood you seem to be alert and aware and just fine, however I do want to keep you overnight for observation. If everything goes well which I expect it should, you'll be released first thing in the morning. You're lucky that blow didn't do more damage."

"Yeah well my boy's a tough kid." Ryan's trainer spoke up.

"Well tough only goes so far," the doctor quickly responded.

"Believe me doc, I've been in the boxing game for long enough to know that tough only gets you so far." The trainer met the doctor with a hard stare down.

"Well I'll leave you two be." With that he hastily made an exit, not wanting to start an argument over how many broken bodies and wrecked guys he'd seen due to contact sports, knowing that with him being a Newport doctor the chances of either or the two men believing him were slim to none.

"Newport Hospital, too bad I'm not far enough a long to need a nose job, this would be the perfect place huh coach?" Ryan gave a short laugh, and watched as his trainer smiled back with a bit of concern in his eyes. He was about to get a lecture, something he'd done wrong, or something he could have done to prevent his injury, Ryan knew it was coming and relived when he heard the door to his room open again.

"Ryan?" the young woman from earlier knocked briefly and peeked her head around the door "Oh you have company I'm sorry."

"No it's alright I was just leaving. I'll be back in the morning to pick you up kid, see ya then." a lecture could wait until Chino in the gym where he could give the kid a bit of a lesson too, a pretty girl at the gym was a lot less likely.

"See you then Joey."

The girl stood in the doorway until the older man had exited. Then tried to speak, her mouth opened but no sound came out. To be honest she really didn't even know why she was in his room. Her time for the day was up, and usually she didn't make a habit of stopping by to see patients on her way out.

"I just wanted to come by and see how you were doing."

Ryan stared at the girl for several seconds before answering. His vision might have been hazy when he first saw her, but it was crystal clear now and she was still stunning. All of her features soft, not like what he was used to, she was possibly the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life.

"Same as earlier, just fine." He briefly answered.

"Good… well then…." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Anything else?"

He gave her a half smile that sent her a back for a moment. "You know for someone who gets the shit kicked out of him for fun you look pretty good, I mean you still have all your teeth."

"I don't do it for fun, it's a living, it's my passion it's how I survive," his eyes filled with passion as he spoke.

"Sorry I didn't mean to insult you."

"You didn't, some people just don't get it though." He slightly nodded his head.

"I get it… I mean… sorry I sound like a dope…" she watched as he gave a slightly shrug. "Well I actually guess I came by to apologize for earlier you know insisting about the doctor and all it's just…"

"What you had to do, I get it. It's cool. You didn't have to apologize for that. I mean it's partially my fault I assumed you were a nurse."

"Well I wanted to."

"Ok…" He gave another slight nodded. "Mind if I ask you something?" He looked on as she shrugged. "You said you were a volunteer, how old are you?"

"Twenty, how old are you?" She playful retorted back, starting to realize that the hospitalized boxer could possibly be hitting on her.

"I'll be twenty-one next week. Guess that puts us in the same age bracket."

"What does that mean?"

"Whatever you want it to mean."

It took her a moment to catch the board smile that lit up her face, and then it hit her that at least for the time being this was a patient. "I should go," she told him still smiling.

"But I don't know you're name. And you know mine so… that's not very fair."

"Well… My dad always told me boxers were some of the smartest athletes on the planet despite it all, so prove my dad right and figure it out." With those words she quickly left leaving Ryan to figure out what exactly had just taken place within that exchange within his hospital room.

The next morning as he was preparing to leave he declined being wheeled out to meet Joey, insisting that both his legs worked just fine. On his way out he stopped by the nurses station.

"Excuse me Miss, I was wondering if you could tell me something. There was a volunteer here last night she was in my room when I woke up I was wondering here name."

"I'm sorry Mr. Atwood I wasn't on shift last night,"

"Well is there some kind of log you could check?"

"We're not allowed to give that information out sir."

"Well then maybe there's someone who would know, I just wanted to send her card or flowers or something for being so nice."

"Hold on a sec…" The nurse sensed his sincerity and called back to another nurse, "Tiff, you're coming off of night shift right, you know which of the transporters was here last night? A patient wants to know who was there when he woke up."

The other nurse craned her neck and looked at Ryan, "You the boxer?" He gave her a nodded, and she continued, "Cooper, her name's Marissa Cooper."

"Thanks." Ryan flashed both the women a smile and repeated the name to himself as he walked towards the elevator, "Marissa Cooper." He whispered again and smiled to himself.