Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I associated with 7th Heaven. The characters and settings in this story belong to Brenda Hampton, Aaron Spelling, Paramount, and The WB.
A/N: I kind of explain everything at the beginning, but just so you know, this is Season 6.
_
_
Life is Love_
As the year of 2001 began to come to a close in Buffalo, New York, it is the first week of November. Mary was on track with her firefighter's training, but was secretly having second thoughts about the whole thing. In all honesty, she didn't know what she wanted to do in life, but a stay-at-home mom was starting to look pretty good to her.
Wilson had asked her to marry him about a week and a half ago, and it took her completely off guard- despite the fact that she had been asking him to ask her. She hadn't given Wilson an answer yet, and she knew her indecision was breaking his heart. She also didn't know how long she could keep Wilson waiting. He's a good guy and all, but he never really was the type to sit around and wait for her either. After constant internal deliberation, Mary felt she had finally come to a consensus. She was going to accept his proposal- sort of.
"Wilson, I have been thinking," Mary said to him one night when they were alone in his apartment. "You still want to marry me, right?" she said, almost stalling.
"Of course I do. I love you with all my heart and I want you to be my wife."
"Good," Mary said smiling, "because I've decided that I want to be your wife, too."
Wilson didn't give Mary a chance to finish the rest of her speech. His mouth captured hers in a breathtaking kiss, releasing all of the anxiety that had built up inside of him in the past ten days. 'I knew you would," he said beaming as he pulled away from her.
"But," Mary said reluctantly.
"But?" Wilson asked, almost scared to continue to conversation.
"How would you feel about a long engagement?"
"How long?" he inquired.
"A year or two maybe…"
"Why so long?" He had always thought that Mary had really wanted to marry him. A year or two was a very long time.
Mary took Wilson's hand in her own. "Wilson, I love you, and I want to be married to you, but I don't think I'm ready yet. I was thinking we could sort of ease into it, you know? Get closer with the idea of marriage planted in our heads."
Wilson thought for a second. "OK, but are you sure you want to be engaged then? We could just stick to being boyfriend and girlfriend…not pressure."
"But I feel that I'm more than that," Mary confessed. "I don't want to be just your girlfriend anymore- and I don't want you as just my boyfriend. I really want for you to be my fiancé."
Wilson smiled at her. "All right, but only because you put it like that."
"You're OK with this? Really and truly?"
"Really and truly."
"Wow, we're engaged," Mary said as everything began to sink in. she leaned over and kissed Wilson gently before leaning against him. "I love you Wilson."
"And I love you Mary," he replied, running his fingers through her silky California-blonde hair.
***
Over the next two weeks, Wilson noticed that Mary's bubbly personality appeared to have popped. On a normal day, Mary would bounce around his apartment for hours, playing every game imaginable with Billy and sporadically making out with Wilson when she saw fit. Now, she's started to mope around all the time, clinging to Wilson more and more often for comfort. Occasionally, she'd appear happy, but those days didn't come around very often as the days of November passed by. Wilson wanted to ask Mary why she was so down, but didn't know how to approach her. Luckily, he didn't have to.
Billy was playing with Mary when Wilson went to walk into the room. "Mary, why are you so sad?" he asked innocently.
When Wilson heard this, he stopped at the door.
"I'm not sad Billy," Mary said with drooping eyes.
"Is it Daddy? I'll take care of him," Billy responded heroically.
"No, it's not your daddy. He's great."
"Is it me then?" Billy said with tears forming in his eyes. It really upset him that Mary wasn't happy with them anymore. He was afraid that she was going to leave them.
"No. What could you do to make me sad?"
Wilson walked into the room, determined to find out what was wrong with Mary. "Billy, could I talk to Mary alone for a second?"
"Sure Dad," Billy said getting up and walked out of the room.
Wilson walked over to Mary and wrapped his arms around her waist. "OK, talk to me. What's bothering you?"
"Nothing's bothering me," Mary said laying her head on his chest.
"Then why do you seem so upset all of the sudden?"
"I'm fine," she insisted.
"Is it me?" Wilson asked sincerely.
"Do you honestly think you did something?"
"No," Wilson said shaking his head. "Is it Billy?" he said playfully. "I'll take care of him."
Mary giggled, but quickly turned serious. "Look, you'd never upset me without me telling you about it, OK?"
"OK, but…" Wilson said.
"Look, there's nothing to drag out of me," Mary told him, "so please drop it."
"All right," Wilson replied smiling.
_
Four days late, Mary was once again over Wilson's apartment.
"So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?" Wilson casually approached to subject.
"Can we talk about something else please?" she said quickly.
Wilson looked at her strangely. "Why?"
"It's stupid and I don't want to discuss it."
"Is this possibly the same topic that's been bothering you for a while?"
"Maybe," she said looking at the floor.
"Look, I'll make you a deal," Wilson started. "You save us both the time and aggravation and tell me now what's going on with you, and I promise not to bug you about whatever it is."
"Do I have to?" she asked pouting.
"Yes, you have to," he replied pulling her close to him.
"It's nothing, really," Mary pleaded.
"I don't care, you're still telling me."
"Fine. It's just that," she began, "I've been talking with my family lately."
"Yeah?"
"And they're all happy and excited about Thanksgiving and everything. I want to be there. I want to go back to GlenOak."
"For good, or for the holiday?"
"Um, for good. But don't worry. They haven't said that I could go back yet- my grandparents or my parents. And besides, I wouldn't leave anyway- ever."
"Well, that's good to know, but if you really want to go home I'd hate to be the thing that stands in your way."
"It's not you," she told him with a sigh. "You know the circumstances I came to Buffalo on. I din' think it would be right to go home without any sort of invitation."
"But they're you family," he said sincerely. "I'm sure they want you home."
Mary smiled at Wilson's naïveté. She definitely could have used some of that right about then. As he sympathetically pulled her as close to him as humanly possible, all that was on her mind was how she ever could have even considered leaving the safety of his arms to go back to the resentment of her siblings had deep down for her back in the heart of GlenOak.
Wilson, on the other hand, wasn't quite thinking along the same lines as Mary…
_
_
_
A/N: Well, let's see. I wrote this entire chapter on 19 January 2003, so it is pretty old. I've always liked it, though, and I was bored not writing anything so here it is. This story was kind of what inspired me to write "His China Doll," so picture it kind of going in that direction. Other than that, I hate the title. It is from the The Juliana Theory song "Everything." I like the song, but as a title it needs some work. I might change it.
_
_
Reviews will let me know if you like this first chapter or not, duh!
_
