Ironic Three

"Sandy? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing" Sandy replied as he stepped aside to allow her to enter.

"I'm here with Ruth; we've been dating for the past three years"

"Of course you would be dating her" Sandy said rolling her eyes slightly before saying "Is Annie and Eric here?"

"Yes, they are in the kitchen" as she turned towards there.

"Sandy, what a surprise! Martin is upstairs"

"Martin's here? I should have known. So where is Ruth? Upstairs as well?"

Eric looked at her and asked "Where's Aaron?"

"I left him with my dad. I need to find Simon"

"Why?" Annie asked suddenly frightened.

"Well I need to tell him about Aaron"

"What about Aaron?"

"Aaron is Simon's biological son" Sandy finally said as Greg, Eric and Annie looked at her.

"How long did you know?" a new voice stated. They all turned to see Martin walking down the stairs, Ruth behind him.

"When he turned one and by then Simon had left the country and was traveling with that annoying woman Cecilia"

"Who's his wife" Annie stated firmly as she stood up and said "Sandy I am very disappointed that you would keep something this big a secret"

Sandy shrugged slightly and said "What was I suppose to do?" as Martin walked up to her and said very coldly "How about letting me know that the boy I raised was not even mine! Did you think this was some game for me, that I was happy with everything going on? I can't even look at you right now" and with that walked out the door.

Ruth turned to follow as Greg grabbed her arm "Where are you going?"

"He needs a friend right now"

"A friend or a good lay?" Ruth looked at him in shock before slapping him across the cheek.

"I won't even dignify that with an answer. Grow up Greg. I'm with you and if that changes you will be the first one to know about it"

"Do you think I'm blind? You look a mess right now. What exactly were you doing upstairs anyway?"

"Talking" Ruth replied quickly and then shrugged and said "and maybe we made out, so what? We are not married to each other"

"You're right we are not married, so if you want to date other people than I'll date other people as well."

"You do realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?" Ruth asked a few minutes later as Greg sighed and said "You're right. I'm sorry. I am just jealous. I love you"

"I know" Ruth said hesitating slightly on the love part. If this was yesterday she would have been quick to respond, but after seeing Martin and kissing him there was no way she could stay with Greg.

Sandy sadly looked at her former lover and Ruth. How in the world did they end up with the same guys? Of course, she was sure virginal Ruth never did anything as physical as Greg and she did. Why didshe (Sandy)even break up with him? Right, it was because she made a mistake and slept with Martin.

It was surprising that Martin, the one guy who was so anal about screwing up his life,made the biggest mistake of his life, by sleeping with a stranger. She knew she had cost him his happiness with Ruth, but he never treated her badly. He just moved on, well apparently not moved on taking in the ruffled appearance of Ruth.

Martin and Ruth were both so clueless. Maybe this was her chance to make it up to them. All she would need to do was seduce Greg. That wouldn't be too hard; since she was sure he was pretty frustrated with his current situation.

Annie looked over at Ruth and Greg fighting. Were her eyes deceiving her or did her daughter have a hickey on the left side of her neck? Things were going a lot better than she hoped for Martin and Ruth. She hid the smile as she began to prepare the lecture she was going to give Ruth later.

Eric looked out towards the back yard where Martin seemed to be pacing up and down. He sighed before making his way towards the door. How in the world was he going to bring up the fact thatMartin shouldn't kiss another woman when they are with someone else. On top of that leaving hickey's on people was unacceptable.

Martin looked up a few minutes later to see Eric walking towards him.

"I'm sorry that Sandy did that to you" Eric began as Martin sighed deeply. "I am too but I probably could have been nicer about it. I shouldn't have spoken to her like that in front of everyone"

"Well you were upset, but I didn't come out to talk about Sandy"

"Oh" Martin asked politely as Eric said "I came to talk about Ruth"

"What about Ruth?"

"If you two are going to be sneaking around, making out, you need to make sure she is dating no one else and don't leave any more hickeys on her neck. I know you two are grown adults and whatever you decide to do in your own residence is fine with me" Eric stopped a moment and said "Within reason. I would hope you two are interested in waiting till marriage"

"Who?" Martin asked now confused.

"You and Ruth. Who else?"

"You think we are going to get married?" Martin asked him.

"Well yes, you can't think I am going to let you give my daughter hickeys and practically take off all her clothes on the kitchen counter and not have you in the family. Which by the way, when you do get married, would still be unacceptable in our kitchen"

"You think I still have a chance?" Martin asked hesitantly as Eric laughed out loud.

"Martin, my daughter told her boyfriend of three years not to kiss her in the privacy of their own car, and with you practically made us grandparents. Do the math. All we need to do is get rid of Greg"

"We? As in you are going to help me?"

"Yes I will, but you have to promise me you will wait till marriage to make us grandparents"

"I promise" Martin replied quickly as Eric smiled at the young man and said "Also Annie can not know"

"My lips are sealed" Martin replied as Eric clapped his hands and said "Well the first step will be to get you out alone. Do you think you can handle it from there?"

"Sure" Martin replied happily, smiling once more.

Meanwhile in the kitchen

"Ruth? Would you please join me in the living room?"

"Sure Mom" Ruth replied before looking at Greg and saying "I'm sorry about this morning"

"Don't be" Greg replied sadly as he realized she didn't say she loved him back.

"Ruth? I need you now" Annie demanded as Ruth sighed and walked towards the living room.

As she passed Sandy, she said "Sandy, nice to you. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello earlier"

"That's okay" Sandy said as she looked over the young woman who took everything she had ever wanted in life, a family, friends, and love. Was it her imagination or was that a hickey on Ruth's left side of her neck?

"So" Sandy began as she took a step closer to Greg, who blushed and smiled down at her. She was still beautiful he thought to himself.

"Isn't it ironic how we ended up here?" she said laughing slightly as Greg ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled slightly.

"How old is Aaron?" he finally asked her as she smiled before replying "9 years old. He's really smart. He loves art and enjoys drawing"

"I'm sure Martin was not too please with that" Greg sardonically said as Sandy laughed and agreed "He definitely was disappointed, but he is such a great father"

"Why let him know now?"

"Because I want to get married and have more kids and Martin is all about his firm and the team that he owns. He didn't want to marry me"

"Well he's not the father of your son. That's not fair to want him to take that responsibility. "

"I know, but I figured that Ruth had moved on so maybe he would as well"

Greg's blood turned cold when she said that "I thought they didn't date?"

"Oh, that's what they told everyone. I mean think about it, they were living in this house together for two years as brother and sister"

"So they were together?" Greg asked slowly as Sandy said a quick prayer of forgiveness for lying but she had to get rid of Greg.

"For ages, she even lost her virginity to him"

"What?" Greg roared out loud as he said "but she's been making me wait for three years, three damn years Sandy"

"You poor thing. Maybe we can go somewhere elese to discuss this?"

"Sure, my car is out front" he said fuming as Sandy smiled maliciously. Who said Ruth got to have all the fun?

In the Living room

"Ruthie Camden what are you doing?"

"What are you talking about?" Ruth asked in confusion.

"You can't make out with one guy and then another"

"I haven't made out with two guys, only Martin"

"Yes Martin who is not your boyfriend"

"Not yet" Ruth said stubbornly before blushing slightly and saying "So guess I better talk to Greg"

"Yes that would be wise" Annie said smiling before looking at her sternly "Also please refrain from allowing Martin to mark you as his property"

"What are you talking about?" Ruth asked in confusion as Annie drew her to the hallway mirror and pointed at it.

Ruth slowly blushed as she said "Oh. Do you think Greg saw?"

"I think he was too entranced by Sandy's presence to notice"

"You saw that too?"

"Yes I did"

At the pool hall

"How could she play me like that?" asked for the fourth time as he drank another beer. Sandy rolled her eyes. The last hour, she thought she was making a break through but for some reason, Greg couldn't get Ruth out of his head. He seemed to still want her. What was it about Ruth Camden and men? They all wanted her.

"Maybe we should go. So I can apologize to Ruth. I was rude, I love her, and I want lots of babies with her"

"What about me? Didn't you love me?"

"Yes, but then you broke my heart. You left me." And as Greg looked at her he seemed to make a revelation. "This is your entire fault. We could have been together."

"How? I cheated on you with Martin and Simon, remember?"

"How can I forget? Anywya what difference did that make in the end? It's not Martin's kid. Martin could have stayed with Ruth and I would have had you and a son and more kids"

Sandy looked at him in shock. When he said it like that she supposed he was right.

"Let's go" he stated as they got into the car and started driving, they never saw the car in front of them as they swerved and went into the guard rail.

Camden's

Martin and Eric walked back in the kitchen as Ruth andAnnie came from the living room. Martin and Ruth smiled at one another before the phone rang.

Annie picked it up and said "Hello?" then "Yes he's here" and handed the phone to Martin.

Once Martin hung up, he looked at Ruth and said "We need to get to the hospital"

"Why? What happened?"

"Sandy and Greg were in a car accident"

"Oh no were they okay?" Ruth asked as the tears streamed down her face. Martin looked at her closely, was she strong enough for this?

"Ruthie honey" he began softly as he walked over to her "They're dead".