Never Again Separate
By Cypher
Chapter Six
Matt was still feeling apprehensive when he reached his father's old church on Tuesday. He had used America Online's services to find IcyCruelAngel's profile, only to learn that she was some girl who lived near Seattle. Why would a Seattle person know of Lucy or Simon? Or maybe they know of Ruthie or Mary, which, knowing my luck, might be the case.
He had already found his eldest and youngest sister. Mary was happily married to a man named Wilson, and was eager to have him back in her life. Ruthie, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. She was taking it slow, having never known she was a Camden. She was trying to learn of her family, though, and that was a good sign in Matt's opinion.
He looked around the church. They had remodeled it a bit from what he remembered, and it was unsettling to be in a building he had vowed to never step foot in again. He could still remember sitting in the front pew trying to keep Simon still while their father gave the sermon. He could still smell his mom's perfume as she held her hands on her eternally pregnant belly, while his two sisters had their hands on it too, trying to feel the baby kick.
He shook his head and tried to shoo the memory away as tears began burning behind his eyes. Look at me, twenty-one and I still cry over a stupid memory. Except he knew it wasn't a stupid memory, and that his reactions weren't completely unsurprising considering the emotional ties he had to that particular time of his life. He rubbed his eyes, and sat on the edge of a pew, determined to look strong before whoever it was that had asked him here.
"Excuse me."
Matt blinked a couple times, making sure the tears were gone, before he raised his head to look at who had addressed him. Oh my God...
She could've passed for an extremely young Annie Camden. Her blond hair was loose and stopped just between her shoulders. Her eyes were a piercing blue, the same color that his mother had often looked upon him with. What was most remarkable, though, was the facial structure. It was so close to Annie's that Matt knew this had to be her daughter.
And there was only one daughter left for him to find. Lucy.
She, on the other hand, failed to recognize him. "Hey, um," she ran a hand through her hair, her other hand clutching a shoulder bag, "My meeting with the minister went over, and I told this guy to meet me here like, ten minutes ago. Has anyone by the name of Matt come by?"
Matt nodded slowly, still stunned at how similar Lucy was to their mother. "Lucy...it's me."
Lucy blinked. "Matt?"
Matt nodded. "Yeah."
She smiled and hugged him.
He responded immediately, hugging her tightly. "It's so good to find you!"
"I'm just glad my brother came across that site." She pulled away and looked Matt over. "You've changed so much."
Matt ran a hand through Lucy's hair. "So have you. You look so much like mom."
Lucy shrugged her shoulders slightly. "To be honest, I don't remember her that well."
"It has been a while, and you were pretty young." Matt hugged her again. "I'm just so glad to have found you."
Lucy pushed him away slightly and smiled. "So why don't you remind me what they were like. And tell me what you've been doing. Over lunch?"
Matt nodded eagerly and stood, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Come on. The Pool Hall is still around, and it's the perfect place to catch up on old times."
~*()*~
"Wow, so you're a movie star? My friends aren't going to believe that."
Matt sipped his milkshake. "And you're going to be a senior in high school. It seems like only yesterday you were worried about starting middle school. ."
"In your memories I was." She looked around the establishment. "So you've lived here. It must've been hard."
"Yes and no. To be honest, today was the first day I had been in dad's church since I came back." He closed his eyes. "I just, couldn't go to it. It wasn't his church anymore. And it felt...wrong to go without him there."
"I know. Going there myself wasn't exactly easy. But this is where I want to move to for college."
Matt leaned forward and rested his head on his hands. "Why is that, exactly? What does church have to do with college?"
Lucy blushed and hunched forward slightly. "Well, you see, I've decided what I want to be."
Matt waited. "Yeah?"
"A minister."
"Like dad?"
Lucy shook her head. "No, not like dad. He had nothing to do with the reason I chose that profession. I just...feel a calling, that's all."
"So why were you at dad's church?"
Lucy sighed. "It's a church near the college and it's looking for an associate pastor. I figured I could sort of intern there until I become a minister."
I'm sure. I bet you have a lot more choices open to you where you live. Matt didn't voice his opinion, just finished his milkshake. "So what does your family think?"
Lucy sighed. "They're not too happy about it."
"Why not?"
"They're Catholic."
Matt's eyebrows raised. "So they really don't like you becoming a minister, then."
"But it's what I feel I am." She sat back and crossed her arms. "I never really fit in with the others at church, never felt I belonged there. When I began experimenting with religions they were supportive, but when I told them I was changing denominations..." She shook her head.
"Must've been some explosion."
"Dad was furious. His entire family is Catholic. I'm the first to ever break family tradition."
"How'd your mother and brother take it?"
"Pretty well, actually. Mom eventually talked down dad and he accepted that this was who I was. I think the fact that I was adopted helped." She eyed the cold fries on her plate. "Kyle was rather proud of me. He's just turning fifteen and basically the rebel of the family. He thought it was great I had ticked dad off so badly." She rubbed her forehead. "Once he realized I was serious, he considered changing himself. He never really liked our religion." She sighed. "Actually, I think he's turning into an atheist. I'm going to talk to dad about that. Just because I'm not Catholic doesn't mean I want him dropping religion all together."
Matt nodded absently. Well, she certainly got over her silent depression.
Lucy suddenly looked at Matt. "I'm sorry. I just started rambling, didn't I."
Matt chuckled. "It's okay. It's nice to hear your voice after all this time. I remember when you wouldn't stop talking, even at dinner."
"I was a little chatter box, wasn't I."
"Yeah."
Lucy watched as the waiter cleared the table of their food and left a check.
Matt picked it up and took out his wallet.
"Who else have you found?"
Matt paused, caught off guard for a moment. "Oh. Well, both our sisters. Mary's in New York, happily married to a guy named Wilson West. He has a son from another relationship, and, well, they seem to be a great family. Ruthie's in a suburb of Denver with another minister's family. Their last name is Hahne, and there's about five siblings in addition to her. She's pretty smart, but a bit wary about spending time with me or any other Camden sibling. I can't say I blame her. It was a big shock to learn she was adopted."
Lucy nodded. "So how about Simon?"
Matt's shoulders drooped. "Nothing, yet. I'll tell Sean to take down your description, but so far he's having trouble finding him. I was taken out of the system before him." Matt's eyes went hollow as he remembered watching the light go out of Simon's eyes when he left.
Lucy placed a hand on his arm. "Hey, you'll find him, and then we'll all be back together again."
Matt snapped out of his memory and nodded, offering her a weak smile. I'm just afraid of what's happened to him. He was crushed when I left.
"Well, I've got to head to the airport. I was only given a day to check out what I needed. I have to get back to finish up high school."
"Oh, right. How about I drive you?"
Lucy smiled and hopped off her chair. "That'd be great."
Matt stood as well and glanced out the window. Please let Simon be found soon. I want to explain to him what happened. How I didn't want to leave him to fend for himself.
~*()*~
After he had dropped off Lucy, he decided to stop by the Hamilton's, say hi and maybe stay for dinner. When he had arrived, though, rather than the smiling, joyful faces he was expecting, he was received with frowns and worry.
Patricia, his adopted mother, guided Matt towards the living room. "Matt, you need to sit down."
Matt stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I think I'd rather stand. What's going on? Was there a death?"
Patricia and Morgan, the father of the family, exchanged glances.
"Alright, what's going on you two."
"Matt, we got a call from John today. He said you were here, and to try and find you."
"Why? What's going on?"
Patricia sat on the couch. "Matt, you should sit."
"Patricia, Morgan, just tell me. Is John or Priscilla hurt?" Matt tensed. "The baby...she didn't lose the baby did she?"
"No, no, nothing like that." Morgan walked over and looked Matt in the eye. "John got an e-mail from that detective you've been using."
"Sean Brown?" Hope soared within Matt. Perhaps he found Simon. His hope drowned out the fact that if Sean had found Simon, the Hamilton's wouldn't be so upset.
"Matt, the detective wrote in the e-mail that he couldn't contact you, so he contacted John. You see..." Morgan glanced back at his wife.
"He can't find Simon, Matt. He's been in the system too long."
Matt could feel the blood drain from his face. The hope that had built up within him crashed like an anvil into his gut, and he found it difficult to breathe.
Morgan guided Matt down onto the couch. "Now, he did say he hadn't given up. He was going to try looking again, with some different contacts. But it doesn't look hopeful."
Simon. No...oh God, no! Please don't do this to us! Matt's breathing started becoming erratic.
Patricia stood and went into the kitchen to get Matt some water.
Morgan just held Matt's hand. "Breathe, Matt. Just calm down. There's still hope. It's slim, but you have to have faith."
Faith. Matt's stomach churned, and he felt that even faith wouldn't be enough to find his lost little brother. I've got to find him. I've just got to.
~*()*~
~*()*~
~*()*~
Author's Prattle: Ohh...another cliffhanger. Insert dramatic music and fade out, here. Chuckles aside, sorry it took so long just to crank out these two chapters. But there's only a few more chapters to go until this is complete. Unfortunately, I don't have all the time in the world to work on this fic (mainly because I do it to avoid writing the two dozen lab reports I have for Bio) and I have two midterms in the next week. In addition, I want to get started on the next chapter in "God's in 7th Heaven, All's Right in the World" and I still have two or three chapters left in my Ronin fic. But, with luck, I'll have it all out by the end of this semester. Heck, the way I'm going, I may finish it by spring break. As always, thank you for reading, and if you enjoyed, please review.