Author: Catgurl83

Title: Shocking News

Disclaimer: Not mine and never will be.

Feedback: Appreciated.

Rating: G

Author's notes: This chapter flips back and forth between two places, each happening at the same time.

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Eric stepped into his living room and looked around. Mary had insisted at he had to be here at exactly this time but hadn't been willing to say why. She had just kept insisting that it was important until he agreed to be here. Now, she wasn't even here. But all sorts of other people were.

Hank Hastings sat on the floor playing with his two small children and the twins. They were playing Candy Land. Eric knew that his sons both felt that they were now too old for the game but willingly played it with their younger cousins.

Simon stood to the side of the room and appeared to be deep in conversation with his ex girlfriend Deena.

The Colonel and Ruth sat on the sofa perusing the room. They were both obviously as surprised to see all of these people here as he was.

Chandler, Roxanne, and Paris were in a conversation of their own.

A table had been set up toward the side of the room. It was covered in a festive multi-colored tablecloth. A Crystal punch bowl held frothy pink punch that seemed to have some sort of ice cream floating in it. There were finger sandwiches shaped like hearts and stars, various kinds of cookies, chips, and other finger foods.

A small group of teenagers including Peter and Patricia, the girl who was with Ruthie when she blacked out while horseback riding, stood near the table.

With a confused sigh, Eric approached a group standing to the side talking quietly. "What's going on?" he asked as he joined them.

Annie, Julie, Sarah, and Matt turned to face him. Annie gave her husband a small smile. "That is what we were trying to figure out."

"Mary asked you all to meet her here?"

"Yep," Matt nodded. "She didn't give us any idea as to why."

"But we are guessing that it has something to do with Ruthie," Sarah put in. "Why else would her friends be here? Plus..." She gestured toward the coffee table.

Eric turned his head and noticed the table in question. The coffee table was beautifully, artistically arranged with cards, plants, and stuffed animals that had been sent to Ruthie.

"But where is Mary? She planned this, should she be here?" Julie asked.

"Good question," Lucy proclaimed as she stepped from the kitchen, Kevin right behind her. "And I have the answer." Lucy glanced around the packed living room and raised her voice a bit. "Can I have everyone's attention?"

Around the room, people broke off their conversations and turned toward Lucy.

"Thanks. I know that you're all wondering what is going on. I know that Mary and I were very cryptic when we contacted all of you and we're sorry but it couldn't be helped."

Lucy smiled out at the crowd. "Many of you know that Ruthie has been getting restless, bored, and lonely for a while now. Mary and I wanted to do something to cheer her up, which is where you all come in."

"Where is Mary?" Annie interrupted.

"She's at the hospital."

Annie and several others frowned in confusion at Lucy's answer.

No one noticed that Kevin had slipped from the room.

***********

"Thank you so much for helping us with this."

Allison smiled. "No problem. I think that it is wonderful that you and your sister wanted to do something like this for Ruthie. I wish that all of our patient's families would care this much about what their loved one is going through."

"I just hope that Ruthie likes it."

Allison laughed. "She is going to love it."

They reached Ruthie's room and Allison opened the door. "You have a visitor," she informed Ruthie.

Ruthie frowned. The nurses never announced her visitors. "It's someone from my family?" She had only been allowed visitors from her immediate family but Allison was acting weird.

"Yep," Allison answered cheerfully as she stepped out into the hall and allowed Mary to enter.

"How you doing Ruthie?" Mary asked.

"I'm doing okay," Ruthie answered hesitantly, still wondering what was happening.

"You're up to having some fun?"

Ruthie sighed," What game did you bring?"

"Game?" Mary asked innocently.

Ruthie just waited quietly.

Mary stepped out into the hall and retrieved a heavy tray. "I brought some snacks."

"Snacks?" Ruthie's eyes widened. "Can I have some?"

"I spoke to your doctor. It is perfectly fine for you to have some. You aren't on a restricted diet anymore."

As Mary lowered the tray and set it on the table, Ruthie studied it. Some of her favorite snack foods were on the tray along with cans of soda.

"Cool," Ruthie said a she took a chocolate chip cookie from the tray. "Why did you do this?"

Mary shrugged. "I just thought that you'd enjoy it."

"I do. Thank you." Ruthie wished that she could hug her sister but she still wasn't allowed physical contact because of germs. Her immune system still wasn't up to par.

"I brought something else too."

Ruthie's eyes widened as Allison brought something in.

Mary grinned.

*************

"With Ruthie?" Julie asked.

"Yes," Lucy answered.

"So you two planned this together?" Annie asked.

Lucy smiled brightly, "Yep."

"Hey," Kevin said as he reentered the room. He pushed a portable TV stand which had a blanket thrown over it.

"Kevin has helped too." Lucy smiled at her husband. "Although not much."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to set this up?"

"Yes, thank you."

"What is 'this'?" Eric inquired.

Kevin pulled the blanket away with a flourish to reveal several pieces of electronic equipment.

"What is it going to do?" Sam asked curiously.

"Kevin is going to set the lap top up so that it is kind of like a TV only interactive," Lucy explained to her little brother.

"Why?" Simon asked.

"Because, Mary is at the hospital with an identical one in Ruthie's room. We're going to set up a video feed so that Ruthie can see and hear what goes on here and we can all see and hear her."

"We can talk to her?" David asked in excitement.

"Yep."

"Cool!" He pumped his fist in the air and was immediately copied by Hank and Julie's four-year-old.

************

"What is it?" Ruthie asked, eyeing the equipment.

"A laptop that we are going to use so that you can talk to the family."

"How?"

"They are all at the house with Lucy and Kevin. Lucy has another laptop and is going to explain to them all what we are doing. You'll be able to see and hear them and they can see and hear you." Mary smiled. "We wanted to have a surprise party but couldn't because of visitor restrictions. When I spoke to your doctor and the nurses about this, they thought that it was a wonderful idea."

"It is," Ruthie said eagerly. Her eyes shinning more than they had in months. "Can you set it up?"

Mary laughed as she began setting it up.

*************

Lucy glanced up at the clock. It was time. "Okay guys," she called. She began arranging them all.

Sam, David, Erica, and Alexander formed the first row. Behind them were Peter, Patricia, and the two other teenagers in attendance. To one side of the teens stood Simon, to the other side was Deena who had Charlie in her arms. Sarah stood just behind Peter so that she could take her daughter from Deena if need be. Matt was next to his wife, with Kevin on his other side. Hank and Julie stood next to Kevin. Behind them stood Eric, Annie, the Colonel, and Ruth. The last row consisted of Roxanne, Chandler, and Paris.

Lucy, who stood several feet away, gave them all a last appraising look before flipping the computer on.

Ruthie's image filled the screen. A smile lit the young girl's face as she took in all of the familiar faces. "Hi everyone."

"Hey." "Hi." "How's it going?" Everyone called out.

"We've missed you," Sam told her softly but she heard him.

"I've missed you all too." Ruthie picked up a homemade card lying on her table. "But I got your cards and loved them." She held up Sam's card for everyone to see. "This is beautiful Sam, one of the prettiest that I've ever seen."

"Cool."

"How are you doing?" Lucy asked, knowing that everyone was wondering.

"Pretty well. The doctor says that I'm getting better slowly but surely. The nurse checked my sutures from the spleen removal a while ago; she says that those are healing nicely. They still look gross to me but hey, I'm not a professional right?"

"With your grades in biology, I hope not," Peter muttered under his breath.

"We've got these for several hours so you all have time to talk to Ruthie privately if you'd like," Mary offered through the screen.

The group slowly broke up.

As the twins spoke to their sister, Annie followed her daughter to the refreshment table. "You, Mary, and Kevin arranged all of this?"

Lucy shrugged. "It isn't such a big deal. We wanted to cheer her up."

"Did you guys make all of the food?"

"Mary and I spent all day yesterday at my house baking. Kevin did the shopping for the chips and stuff."

"Where did the laptops come from?"

"We rented them. This whole thing was Mary's idea."

"Wow. I've been thinking of ways to cheer Ruthie up for weeks and I never once thought of this."

Lucy grinned. "Totally different generation."

Annie sighed. "We didn't even have computers and look at everything that you guys can do with the machines. Technology is really progressing."

Across the room, Sam and David had wandered off to play hide and seek with the other kids. Peter had taken their place.

"Do you know when you'll be able to see people besides your parents and siblings?"

"No, I don't. But the doctor says that I'll probably be able to be released in a few weeks."

"I can't wait."

"I still won't be able to go to school though. I'll have tutor that sees me at home a few times a week for a while."

**************

Ruthie yawned as Mary undid the wires that had enabled her to carry on her conversations through the computer. She had spoken to everyone for nearly three hours until a nurse decided to call an end to it before she got too exhausted.

She had gotten to reassure her little brothers. She was pretty sure that both boys believed that she was going to be okay now that they'd seen her and talked to her.

She'd chatted and joked with her friends. They'd gossiped about others from school, which she'd missed.

She had fussed with Charlie through the computer. Charlie had seemed very confused by the whole thing, like she hadn't been able to figure out how she was talking to her aunt through that box. Charlie had touched the laptop several times, wondering what was going on. The baby was a year old as hard as it was to believe.

Hank and Julie's kids were growing too.

Deena had spent quite a while talking with her, assuring her that there was life after leukemia. Everyone else had told her that but it was easier to believe coming from Deena. Deena had been through the same things as she had after all. Of everyone whom she knew, Deena understood all of this the most.

All in all, she had had a lot of fun and knew that the others had too. This was the most fun that she had had since being admitted to the hospital. She still couldn't wait to be released but the feeling wasn't as urgent.

************

Author's notes: So, was that what you expected?