Friend of Mine Chapter 11, a 7th heaven fanfic

Wilson got up on Sunday morning determined to go to church. Corey wasn't exactly the religious type, so he was pretty sure he would be able to go without her. He just had to tell her that he was going and make sure a giant fight didn't ensue, as usually happened in their house. Usually, he would be up to the challenge of trying to get Corey to come to church with him, but this morning he was going to the GlenOak Community Church- the one crawling with Camdens.

He was able to get away without much work, except to tell Corey that he would rather to go church without Billy when she asked if he wanted to take him. He told Corey that he just wanted to go alone, but really he had ulterior motives.

Wilson wanted to check on Mary. If she wasn't there, he was going to poke around her family to see what they knew. If she was there, he was unsure whether he was going to just observe or actually confront her; it depended on what he saw in front of him.

He arrived on time to church, if not a little early. Wilson always liked to be punctual. He was lucky that he was able to walk in with the masses that attended the church every Sunday, and was not seen by a single Camden. He sat about in the middle of the church, on the left side- not the right side, since Wilson figured it would be harder to see him if he were directly behind them than if he were on their side.

Wilson stared at the Camdens in front of him. He waited and waited to see if Mary would come in, but when the sermon started, he assumed she wasn't coming. He would be right. The whole time he was there, he thought about talking to the Camdens rather than listening to the sermon himself. He really felt like he needed to say something and, the more he thought it over, the more he was certain.

His next task was to pick the right Camden to share this information with. Wilson wasn't too keen on the idea of telling Mrs. Camden or Reverend Camden, but he had to tell someone old enough and wise enough to do something. As much as he didn't want to talk to Lucy, he felt she was his only option. He just hoped against hope that she wouldn't make a bigger deal out of this than it should be.

Finally, the sermon ended and Wilson stood. He went straight over to Lucy and immediately noticed that she was with child. Pregnant women always made him a little scared, ever since Billy was born. Wilson was honestly scared, after all these years, that Lucy would drop dead right in front of him- simply because she was pregnant.

Lucy was so excited to see him. "Wilson!" she gushed, and quickly wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey Luce." Wilson noticed Lucy's husband walk up behind her, quickly getting defensive and territorial. He slowly released Lucy.

Lucy turned around to Kevin. "Kevin, this is Wilson. Wilson, Wilson West. Mary's... from Buffalo." She struggled to accurately define Wilson.

"Oh, hi." Kevin reached out and shook Wilson's hand. "So, you're the guy from Buffalo? You must know Ben then."

It took Wilson a few seconds for it to click. "Oh, yeah, the firefighter. Sure."

"I'm his brother."

"Oh, um, OK." Great, Wilson thought, just great. "So, Lucy, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second."

"Sure," Lucy said with a smile. She was completely clueless.

Wilson waited for Kevin to leave before he started speaking. "If I tell you something, ask you something, could you keep it private?"

"I guess so, yeah. Is everything OK?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you."

Lucy took Wilson's arm and ushered him over to the side where things were quieter. "Well, I'll help you in any way I can."

"It's about Mary."

A worried expression quickly grew on Lucy's face. "You've seen Mary?"

"Yeah. I ran into her a few times, and then she ran into me a few times."

"And?"

"And, I wanted to know... I don't know, what's going on with her or something like that."

"Well, we don't really know. She just showed up about a month ago with a suitcase. Everyone's called Carlos, the husband, but he won't tell us much besides that she just up and left, which we all assumed anyway."

"I see."

"Where did you run into her? She leaves in the morning and doesn't come back until late at night. We have no idea where she goes or what she's doing."

"Well, first I saw her at The Promenade, then at the park, then in the parking lot of the drug store." He stopped, unsure if he should continue.

Lucy knew there was more that Wilson didn't want to say. "If you wanted to know if we're keeping an eye on her, we are. But Mary's... Mary. She doesn't want any help and we don't know what's going on, so we wouldn't know how to help even if we wanted to." Wilson didn't speak. "Do you know? Did Mary tell you what happened, why she left?"

"Yeah, kind of," Wilson said. Mary told him as much as she knew anyway.

"And you're not going to tell us, are you?"

Wilson shook his head. "I can't. She'd- I can't. I'm sorry." He sighed. "This probably was a bad idea. I can't help you any and I don't know how much I can get you to help me."

"No, no," Lucy said reassuringly. She didn't want Wilson to get the wrong impression. "You're just concerned about her. It's natural. Don't feel bad."

"OK." He smiled at Lucy. "But I am sorry that I dumped this on you. I just don't know what else to do."

"Do you think she needs help this bad?"

"I don't know. I'll keep an eye on her... if I see her again."

"I bet you will. Every few years you two seem to find each other again."

"Yeah, I guess so." Again, he smiled. "Thanks for your help Lucy."

She smiled her patented Lucy smile. "You're welcome."

"How was church?" Corey asked Wilson when he came back into the house.

"Fine."

"And Mary?" Corey was no fool. She knew when Wilson said he was going to church that it had something to do with Mary. Church had always been synonymous with the Camden family in GlenOak.

"Uh..." Wilson stammered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I know you went to church. You never go to church."

"Not never," Wilson replied, trying to divert her attention.

"Rarely ever then. So how is she?"

Wilson turned away from Corey. He wasn't strong enough to look in her face. "She wasn't there."

"Then who did you talk to? One of her crazy siblings?"

"Her family's not crazy."

"Ooh, did you talk to her sister? She's the craziest out of all of them."

"Lucy's not crazy."

Corey walked over, right in front of Wilson, and turned his chin with her hand. "So you talked to Lucy?"

"Yes." Wilson sighed and removed her fingers from his face. "Corey, I don't want to be involved. I don't. That's why I went to Lucy. But I'm not one to just sit by and watch Mary go crazy."

Corey looked more than a little annoyed. "I know, and that's sweet of you to say, but it's not your problem. She's not your problem. She has her own family and you have yours. You've got your own wife and your own kids to take care of."

"I know."

"But, if you swear nothing is going on-"

"Corey, I swear to you. There is nothing romantic going on with Mary. I don't have any feelings like that toward her. But something is wrong and all I'm trying to do is make sure that she's OK."

"Well, if you truly believe that," Corey squirmed in her seat, "then you should invite her over for dinner one night."

Wilson raised his eyebrow at her. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing. I want to see what I think is wrong with her. We used to be friends, kind of. Mary was never one to let people in. And I get that, because I never let people in, because of Bernadette."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. Ask her to come over on Wednesday. My mother doesn't work that night and I can take the kids over to her house."

Wilson hated the last part of the plan, but agreed to it anyway. He didn't see any other choice.

"Speaking of the kids," Corey continued, "Billy's fighting with Bernadette again. I tried to get him to stop but he wouldn't listen to me." Wilson nodded and began to walk away from her and to Billy and Bernadette's bedroom. "We need to do something about them, something about us. We need to blend as a family."

"Uh huh," Wilson yelled back as he walked away. "I'm on it!" He walked to the kids' bedroom and knocked gently on the door.

Bernadette came walking out. "Are you here to talk to Billy?"

He smiled. "Yes, I am."

"Can you tell him to stop being so mean? All he does is yell at me."

"I'll see what I can do, OK?"

Billy walked to from behind the curtain that separated the room and went over to his father. "Yes Dad?"

"I want to talk to you for a second."

"Can we go outside? I don't want anyone listening to us."

"We're all family here son," Wilson said, proud that he was able to start accomplishing the task that Corey had set out for him so early.

"Still."

"Fine." Wilson and Billy walked out of the room and outside to the front stoop. "Now, what's going on with you? Corey told me you and Bernadette are fighting."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't stand girls."

Wilson laughed heartily. "Oh, well, you say that now. Things will change."

"I don't think so. They whine too much. How do you stand it?"

"I don't have to stand it," Wilson tried to explain. "I love Corey."

"But doesn't she get on your nerves?"

"No."

Billy pointed his finger at his father. "Don't lie to me."

Wilson decided to level with his son. "Living with other people is tough. Even you get on my nerves sometimes."

"I do?"

He laughed. "Yes, you do."

"What about Mary?"

Wilson was kind of taken aback. "What about her?"

"Did she get on your nerves?"

Wilson tried to hide the smile that grew on his face from remembering old times. "Mary would get on my nerves all the time."

"Is that why you didn't get married?"

"No. We didn't get married because we weren't meant to get married. I was meant to be with Corey."

Billy shook his head. "I don't understand."

"All right, but we're getting off topic. I'm supposed to be finding out why you're so angry."

Billy sighed. "I don't want to tell you."

"Why?"

"I don't like Corey or Bernadette."

Wilson again had to hide his smile. This wasn't a smiling occasion. "I know. But you're going to have to deal with it. They're not going anywhere."

Billy stood up. "I don't know..." He laughed a little. "Mary's back."

"Speaking of Mary," Wilson said, stealing the 'speaking of' phrase that Corey had used a little while before.

Billy perked up. "Yes?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"A real secret?"

"Kind of."

Billy looked excited. "OK. Tell me."

"Mary's coming to dinner."

"Here? Really?"

"Yup."

Now Billy was confused. "So, if you love Corey, why are you going on a date with Mary?"

"It's not a date. Corey suggested that I invite Mary over for dinner. Corey used to be friends with Mary back when the two of them were in high school, you know."

"Yes, I know." He sighed heavily. "So, it's not a date?"

"No just dinner. But I don't know if Corey wanted you to know that Mary is going to come over, so pretend like you don't know."

Billy smiled proudly, happy that his father would entrust him with such knowledge. "All right Dad. You can count on me."

"I knew I could, Bud. Now, be nicer to your stepsister and go play, OK?"

"OK."

A/N: Billy is my festering subconscious. But what about Mary? Don't you love her? Billy is everything that is right and good with the world. I wish I could take complete credit for him.

Anyway, this whole part about the dinner and I think maybe the entire next chapter of the dinner was an afterthought. Somewhere toward the end I realized I was going to run out of story before I reached 50,000 words, so I added this in. Besides, it served a dual purpose. It makes Corey seem humanlike instead of a slave to the anger inside of her.

I want my mullet back, Bud. Review.