Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, just my hopeful situation!

A/N: This is how I'd like to see the Martin/Ruthie thing play out. Please review and let me know what you all think. First piece of fanfic...be gentle!

Martin sat down heavily on the brown, suede couch. He sighed, ran his hands through his hair and looked up at the ceiling. A slow smile crept over his face.

"Thank you, God!" he yelled to the ceiling.

The doorbell suddenly rang, rousing Martin from his prayers. He pulled himself up off of the couch and, smile still in place, walked toward the door. Opening the heavy oak door, he saw Ruthie standing on the porch.

"Hey," he said easily. "What's going on?"

Ruthie's face tightened. Martin noticed her shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"You wanna come in or something?" Martin asked, brow raised slightly.

Ruthie pursed her lips tightly before pushing past Martin and entering the house. She walked all the way into the living room before finally turning around to face Martin. Her face was red as if she'd been holding her breath the entire time.

Martin gave Ruthie a quizzical look. "Is something wrong?"

"You tell me."

Martin's brow creased in confusion. "I don't know. But something must be wrong by the way you look right now."

Ruthie glared at Martin. "You're such a...such a...you're such a liar!" she yelled.

Martin stepped back. During the time Martin had lived with the Camdens, he had seen Ruthie go through a wide range of emotions, but he couldn't ever remember a time when he'd seen her this angry.

"What did I lie about?" he asked.

"Sandy," Ruthie spit out, as if the word itself tasted horribly on her tongue.

Martin swallowed the ever-growing lump in his throat. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So she knew.

"Well say something!" Ruthie demanded, hands firmly planted on her hips.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked. "Nothing I say will make this go away."

"You told me that you had no idea why she was always hanging around these last few weeks. You told me you didn't know why she was calling you. You said that you hardly knew her at all!" Ruthie said, heatedly.

"Well that part is true," Martin admitted. "I don't really know her at all. As for the rest..."

"What?"

Martin shook his head. "It's all fine now."

"Because it turned out she wasn't pregnant, after all?"

"Exactly."

Martin looked down at the tips of his new sneakers. He didn't have the courage to look at Ruthie. Her disappointment in him was clearly written all over her face; the pain was more than evident in her eyes. But Martin knew that Ruthie was waiting and he wanted to explain things to her. He wanted things between them to go back to normal.

"I messed up, Ruthie. That's all I can say. No words can ever excuse what I did. But people do mess up. It does happen," he explained.

A lone tear escaped from Ruthie's pain-filled eyes, catching Martin completely off guard. "I know that people mess up, but you weren't supposed to be one of them."

Martin bridged the gap between them slowly, taking small and steady strides toward Ruthie, but she still jumped away when he tried to hug her. He winced. "You aren't going to make this easy on me, are you?"

"You had sex with some random girl, Martin!" Ruthie pointed out. "And then you lied about it. Friends aren't supposed to lie to each other."

"Yeah, well, friends aren't supposed to be so judgmental either. Friends are supposed to be supportive and understanding. Friends are supposed to forgive."

Ruthie sat down on an open chair. She felt exhausted and deflated. She didn't know what to say to Martin or why any of this was so hard.

"I guess I expected more from you," she whispered finally.

"Well maybe I expected more from you, Ruthie!" Martin shot back, surprising Ruthie.

"Pardon?"

"That's right," Martin began, starting to pace the room, never once looking at her. "Maybe I expected you to react a little differently. Your whole family goes around preaching about being kind to your fellow man and forgiving the sins of others, but it really feels like the whole Camden family is ready to condemn me for one little mistake that I don't ever intend on making again!"

"No one is ready to condemn you, but feelings have been hurt here, Martin," Ruthie tried to explain.

Martin stopped his frantic movement around the room. He stared at Ruthie. "Why are you so upset about this?"

"Excuse me?" Ruthie asked. "You have to ask?"

"I get being disappointed in me for what I did. I even get being a little miffed that I lied to you. What I don't get is why you'd cry over me sleeping with another girl."

"Another girl?" Ruthie asked, confused.

"I mean…a...a girl. I don't get why you'd be upset enough to shed tears over my sleeping with someone. Be angry! Throw stuff! Tell me you hate me!"

Ruthie paused just long enough for Martin to notice that something had changed in her demeanor. A horrified look ran across his face and Ruthie worked to cover up her slip. "I'm just upset that you lied. It hurts to think that you don't trust me. That's all."

Martin shook his head. "No. Now you're the one who's lying!"

"I am not. Whatever you say, Martin. I'm leaving." Ruthie began to head out of the room.

She tried to walk quickly past Martin, but not quick enough. He gently grabbed hold of her hand. Ruthie stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at Martin's hand holding hers.

"Please let me go," she whispered.

"Not until..." Martin let his voice trail off, not sure where he was going with this.

Ruthie couldn't find the courage to look at Martin. Instead she kept her eyes focused on her hand in Martin's. In all the time they'd known each other, through all the tender moments they had ever shared, Ruthie couldn't remember her heart ever beating this fast.

"Not until what?" she asked.

Martin swallowed hard and bent forward. He gently placed a hand under Ruthie's chin, lifting it until their eyes met.

"What is this?" Martin asked quietly.

Ruthie shook her head slowly. Time felt like it was moving in slow motion. Sounds felt elevated. Martin could swear he could hear Ruthie's heart beating in quick time to his own.

"Ruthie?" Martin whispered.

Ruthie took a deep breath and lifted her eyes to Martin's.