A/N: Sorry for the wait between chapters. I've been busy with my websites. Hope you like this one.          

Wilson followed Ruthie into her bedroom, curious as to why she wanted to be so secretive and why she had chosen him to converse with rather than her own flesh and blood. Ruthie sat down on her bed, nervously ringing her hands as Wilson took the spot next to her on the bed. As he sat down, Ruthie remembered how Lucy's bed used to squeak when someone would put their weight on it. She wouldn't have to hear that sound anymore, at least for a while anyways.

"So Ruthie, what's up?" Wilson asked as he grew impatient.

Ruthie sighed heavily and looked at Wilson with tears in her eyes. "Do my parents hate me?"

"Now where would you get a crazy idea like that?"

"Mary. I heard her talking to you this morning."

"You're parents don't hate you," he said earnestly, "they're just not that happy with Mary right now."

"Why? Because she took me to live with her?"

"No, no, no," he told her.

"Then why?" she asked.

"Honestly? I think it's just an amalgam of everything over the past 3 years. She's kind of disappointed them."

"I heard her say that they don't love her anymore, and I agree with her."

"Really?" Wilson asked intrigued. "Why?"

"Ever since the whole gym thing she hasn't been the same person as she was before that night. They love the old Mary, not this Mary. I can definitely see why she would say that."

Wilson thought about what Ruthie had said. She was right. The Mary he knew in his youth was not the Mary he had married. The Mary he knew in Buffalo was not even the Mary he had married. Sure, he loved all of the many "Marys", but she was indeed a very dynamic character in the ever-changing novel that is his life.

"Does Mary hate me?" Ruthie asked Wilson quietly.

"No," Wilson answered, the shock in his voice over Ruthie's comment apparent.

"She hasn't really talked to me since I got here. No, before that actually. I don't think she's said two words to me since we got to the airport."

"What about when she showed you around the house?"

"Well, besides that. Is she mad at me or something?"

"No, she's just having a hard time right now, that's all."

"With what?"

Wilson thought for a second before answering. He really shouldn't be talking about this with Ruthie. "Uh, could we talk about something else?"

"OK." Ruthie racked her brain. "When did you and Mary get back together?"

"About a week after your sister's wedding."

"Did you meet her in Florida?"

"No, I actually saw her when she was between flights in Seattle. That's where I was living before I moved down here."

"Wow. You really moved clear across the country. Was it worth it?" Ruthie asked intrigued.

Wilson looked at Ruthie and smiled. "Yes. But you know, I could ask you the same thing. Do you think it was worth it?"

Ruthie's smile quickly faded. "I don't know. I hope it was."

"Well, if it's any consolation, if I was in your position I would have done what you did."

"Wait a second, you were in my position, sort of."

"Yeah, I guess I was Ruthie." Wilson never thought of it that way. He had completely forgot about being a teen father.

"What did you do when you found out?" Ruthie asked.

"Well, we told her parents, then my parents. Then we made plans and got married."

"What was Billy's mother like?"

Wilson smiled without even realizing it. "She was a really great person. To tell you the truth, before I got her pregnant I really didn't think she was the best person in the world, but she changed. She changed for me and the baby inside of her." Wilson paused for a second, but then he decided to continue. "Sometimes I really miss her."

"But having Mary must help right?" Ruthie watched Wilson's face completely switch gears at the mention of Mary's name.

"Your sister is wonderful and I love her very much."

Ruthie smiled at Wilson, realizing his love for Mary was the purest thing she had ever watched blossom.

Just then, there was a knock on Ruthie's bedroom door. Following the rapping, Mary entered the room.

"How's everything going you guys?" Mary asked, specifically looking at Wilson.

"Excuse me for a second," Wilson said to Ruthie, and walked out of the room with Mary.

He took Mary into the living room, and, keeping his voice down, proceeded to tell Mary that Ruthie thought Mary hated her. Mary agreed she needed to do something about that. She certainly did not hate Ruthie. "Yet another apology," Mary thought as she approached the door. "Here we go again."

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