A/N: I don't own 7th Heaven but believe me if I did have the people that were in episodes we didn't really care for never would of happened.

A/N: I'm afraid to admit this but I haven't looked at this story for almost 4 months now, but since my co-writer Betsy finally came back from the Dead. She and I were finally able to write another chapter and surprise you all! WoW can all of you believe that you are getting a treat? TWO chapters in TWO different stories out! What more could you ask for?

A/N: I love reviews seriously I do...but sadly to say I do love George Stults (and Betsy loves Geoff Stults) more than I love reviews!

A/N: pokethepenguin01 – thanks for the heads up I quickly went back to the story and changed things that I had caught but somehow didn't register on !


Even though the ambulance was racing through the streets of Glen Oak, Kevin was sure that the trip was taking hours.

Ben sat across from him, covered in ash and soot, not saying anything. Kevin kept staring at the floor, feeling strangely detached from the situation.

He had just seen Lucy a few hours ago... how was this possibly happening? It was completely unreal.

A few minutes later, the ambulance arrived at the hospital, and Kevin and Ben jumped out, dashing through the sliding doors to the Emergency Room.

Kevin nearly knocked over an elderly couple as he hurried over to the reception desk.

"My wife, she was just brought in here! Lucy Kinkirk, where is she?" Kevin could feel his hands shaking.

The woman behind the desk glanced at her computer screen. "Trauma 2. It's down the hall on your left."

"Thank you!" Kevin yelled over his shoulder, running down the hall as Ben followed. Arriving at the door of the trauma room, though, he was promptly pushed back by a large male nurse.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't allow you to go in there."

"But that's my wife!" Kevin yelled, getting angry. He felt Ben place a hand on his shoulder and start to pull him back.

"Come on, Kevin. Let's give the doctors some space." Kevin glared at the nurse.

The nurse sighed. "Sir, the doctors need to work on your wife. You can wait in the lounge right over there, and you'll be immediately notified when they've stabilized her, alright?"

Kevin shrugged his brother's hand off of his shoulder and stormed over to the plastic chairs.

Ben smiled apologetically at the nurse before joining his brother.

"Hey, man, you know she's gonna be ok." Kevin didn't respond.

Ben studied him for a moment, and then tried again. "You want a cup of coffee or something?"

Kevin shook his head. "No. I just..." Kevin trailed off, and then finally met Ben's eyes.

"Could you call Eric and Annie for me? Tell them to keep the kids at their place and I'll call when I have news?"

"Of course," said Ben. He hesitated for a moment, patted Kevin awkwardly on the shoulder, and then went off to find a phone.

Ben felt like he felt after any fire, as if he had just been run over with a large truck, and then hit a few times with a shovel just for good measure.

His back hurt, his limbs were sore, and every time he breathed he could feel soot shifting around in his lungs. He wanted badly to go back to the station and take a shower, but he didn't want to leave the hospital until he was sure Lucy was ok. That and he needed to make sure Kevin didn't punch anyone on his quest to see his wife.

Reaching the reception desk, Ben smiled politely at the nurse sitting behind it. "Hi. Could I use your phone?"

"Sure," replied the woman, returning his smile and handing over the receiver.

"Thanks," Ben said, thankful as he dialed that he still knew the Camden's phone number by heart. The phone rang twice before someone picked up.

"Hello, Camden residence." Eric's voice filled the line, and Ben took a deep breath.

"Hi Mr. Camden, its Ben Kinkirk."

"Ben!" Eric sounded slightly surprised. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually, Mr. Camden, I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Ben, what's going on?"

Ben could hear the worry in Eric's voice. He hated having to be the one to break bad news. "I'm here in Gleanoak training with the fire department. We got called out to a fire, and it was Kevin and Lucy's house."

"Oh God," Eric gasped. "Are they...?"

"They're both alive. Kevin wasn't home at the time of the fire, and I got Lucy out before the house collapsed. Unfortunately, she was unconscious and had suffered second degrees and smoke inhalation before we arrived. She's in intensive care right now."

"Tell Kevin that Annie and I will be right there." Eric's voice sounded panicky.

"No, wait! Mr. Camden, Kevin requested that you keep the kids at your house and stay there. He'll call as soon as there's news."

"I -- All right. Ben, tell Kevin that we'll keep the kids for now, and we won't tell them anything. But if we haven't heard anything in a few hours, we're coming to the hospital."

Ben sighed. "Okay. I'll tell him. And Mr. Camden, I know it sounds bad, but your daughter's gonna be ok."

"Thanks for calling us, Ben." Ben hung up the phone, and started to walk back to where Kevin was sitting. Changing his mind, he headed to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee first. It was going to be a long night.

Eric hung up the phone still in complete shock.

"Eric? Did you answer the phone?" Annie asked wiping her hands on a dishrag, bring him back down to reality

"What? Oh sorry I...I wasn't paying attention" Eric replied still dazzled as he walked through the kitchen towards the hallway.

"Where are the kids?" Eric asked suddenly stopping in the middle of the hallway.

Annie frowned "Ruthie went to Andrea's house for the day, Simon left us a note saying that he was meeting Amy for dinner in LA and wouldn't be back til tomorrow sometime and I dropped Sam and David off at Mike and Kyle's house just before you got home from church after we had seen Finding Nemo"

Eric gave her an odd look "How did Abby and Luke do?"

Annie frowned again "Fine, they slept most of the day except for when we took them to see Finding Nemo. What's with the 20 questions all of a sudden?" she asked, taking him by surprise.

He shook his head "Nothing...um I'm going to go back to the church to catch up on some church business and uhh...do some digging around to see if we have enough money" he muttered quickly.

"Enough money for what?"

Eric jumped up looking startled. He had only meant to tell part of that statement and not all of it.

"Umm we need money to get new robes for the choir and for the children's choir" He said quickly racing out of the hallway into the door way, grabbed the car keys and his wallet and raced out the front door without bothering to shut it behind him.

Annie scratched the side of her face "What was that all about?" she wondered out loud when she heard a cry coming from upstairs.

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted Kevin's thoughts. He glanced up to see Ben standing in front of the row of plastic chairs, clutching onto what looked to be the entire stock of the hospital cafeteria.

Ben handed Kevin a sandwich and sat down in the chair next to him. Kevin stared at the sandwich for a moment, and then, realizing he was hungry, unwrapped it and started to eat.

After the two ate in silence for a moment, Ben leaned over and handed Kevin a can of pop. Kevin drank half of it in one sip, and then stared at his brother. "In times of crisis, turn to food?"

Ben shrugged. "It's what I do."

Kevin nodded, and then set down the remaining part of his sandwich. "Ben, what happened? How did the fire start?"

Ben shrugged as he swallowed a mouthful of chips. "Too soon to tell. The neighbor said that there was smoke coming from the kitchen, so it could have been the oven, but we'll need to wait for the fire investigators. Of course, the fact that the rain will destroy most of the evidence won't help matters."

Kevin shook his head. "Lucy would never let something burn in the oven. She's too careful."

Ben sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to blame this on Lucy. It happens to tons of people. They put something in the oven or on the stove, and then the phone rings, or they get caught up watching TV, and next thing you know, there's a fire. I know you don't want to believe she could have done this, Kevin, but 95 of the time that explains what happened."

Kevin was too tired to argue, so he just nodded and took another bite of his sandwich. He wanted to believe his brother. But he had been a cop long enough to know that his instincts rarely ever lead him wrong. And his instincts were telling him that someone else had started that fire.

Driving towards Stoney Creek was a daunting task for Eric at the moment. First he got a phone call from his son-in-laws brother saying that one of his children was in the hospital because of a fire and not to worry.

How could he not worry? Even though Lucy was married, she was 23 years old and had two wonderful children he still worried about her because he was her father and that's what dads do.

Turning onto Scott Lake Road he watched as a few of the fire trucks roared passed him going the opposite direction he was going.

Where they going to rescue someone else's daughter? Or were they going to make sure a small fire started by a careless child who was playing with matches would be kept under control?

All he knew was that he had something to be thankful that day. That Ben Kinkirk was in Glenoak and managed to rescue one of his daughters.

He crept along the road, determined not to let his mind wander about his daughter lying helplessly in a hospital bed while he couldn't do anything to help her.

Flipping his right hand turn signal on, he pulled into Baybrooke Drive and started towards the end of the street.

He gasped out loud. He would have driven past their house if it had not been for the fact that yellow tape surrounding their entire property. Lucy's Trailblazer still parked where she had left it...except for the fact that it was covered in debris, dirt, muck, and had water still dripping off the bottom.

He pulled his car to the side of the street and put the van into park and got out. He wanted to see what happened to his little girl's dream and see what he could do to fix it.

Checking to make sure that no other cars were coming Eric crossed the street and started to walk up and down the sidewalk hoping to find something of theirs that he could save for them...something that hadn't been damaged.

"Excuse me sir" a women's voice spoke up

"Oh excuse me" Eric replied stepping onto the grass to let a women and her daughter through"

"Isn't that just a tragedy?" the women asked.

Eric nodded his head but wasn't able to say anything.

"And to think" the women continued on "If only that man that had been leaving their house just before it went up in flames would have stayed longer...he might of help Lucy"

It had only been 20 minutes since Ben had arrived with food, but to Kevin, it felt like hours. When he saw a doctor approaching them, Kevin practically jumped out of his seat.

"Mr. Kinkirk?" the doctor asked.

"Yes," Kevin and Ben responded in unison.

Kevin turned to glare at Ben. "I think he means me."

Ben nodded. "Gotcha."

Kevin turned back towards the doctor. "I'm Kevin Kinkirk, Lucy Kinkirk's husband. Is she ok?"

Annie climbed up the stairs towards Matt's old room where Abby and Luke were taking a nap.

After Mary had baby Charles and Lucy had announced she was pregnant, both her and Eric had decided to turn Matt's old room into the grandchildren's room so they'd have some place to stay when they came over.

Opening the door softly enough just in case one of the twins was still sleeping Annie peeked her head through the door and saw that both of them were awake.

"Hey Lukey, Abby" she cooed to them softly.

"Gamma" Abby squealed with delicate her arms already open so Annie could pluck her from the crib.

"Gamma" Luke echoed stretching his arms out as well.

Annie smiled at both of them and got them out of their cribs and started to walk back into the hallway when she heard the back door slam shut.

She frowned at both of the twins who frowned back at her "Now, who could that be?" she asked them walking towards the stairs.

"MOM? MOM?" she heard someone yell.

"I'm upstairs with the twins" she yelled back walking down the steps carefully since she had both twins in her arms.

"Mom" Ruthie said panting out of breath at the bottom of the stairs.

Annie looked at Ruthie and she could tell by the redness of her face and how she was gasping for air something definitely was wrong.

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly reaching the bottom of the stairs.

"Haven't you heard?" Ruthie questioned taking Luke out of her mother's arms.

Annie looked confused "Heard what?"

"About the fire!"

"What fire?"

"Here I'll show you" Ruthie replied practically forcing her mother into the family room and flipping on the T.V to the news station.

"Today, only hours ago this house was standing but now it's nothing but ashes and some of the neighbors wonder why" The news anchor women announced as they showed the debris from the burned down house.

"Neighbors say that this family is one of the well liked neighbors around here. What happened today could have been a tragedy but thanks to the Glenoak Fire Department they were able to save someone's life. This is Sarah Leyla reporting for Channel 7 Action News. Back to you Julia and Niles"

Ruthie flipped the T.V off and shifted Luke to her other side and sat down in the chair next to her.

Annie sat on the couch, placing Abby on the floor and staring blankly at the T.V screen.

"Mom?" Ruthie whispered looking a little scared.

Annie gave her head a little shake and looked at Ruthie with a strange expression that kind of scared the younger I need to make a phone call" was all Annie could say before she rushed out of the family room and into the kitchen to grab the cordless phone.

She had a lot of phone calls to make.

Brad had always been a Shakespeare lover. The comedies, the tragedies... he had read them all. He had even memorized some of the sonnets. But he had never wanted to be reminded of his favorite playwright in the way he was right now.

As the hot water poured furiously from the tap, Brad once again began to rub the soap across his hands. He rubbed, harder and harder and harder, until he could begin to feel his skin peel from the effort.

He closed his eyes, hoping to banish from his mind the image of Lady Macbeth and the blood dripping from her hands. There was no blood on his hands, he told himself.

Just some stupid ash that was refusing to come off. Opening his eyes, he let out a short breath when he caught sight of himself reflected in the mirror hanging above his sink.

His skin was deathly white, flushed only by two red patches on each cheek. His eyes were open far wider than normal, and his pupils were so large that his eyes appeared almost black. He gulped. He had to calm down.

"Brad," he spoke, tasting his own name as he spoke it, and hearing the strange, harsh voice reverberate off the tile.

"Brad," he tried again, and this time his voice was a little closer to normal.

"Brad. Get it together, man. You didn't do anything wrong." Brad leaned a little closer to the mirror, staring into his eyes for extra emphasis.

"You didn't, man. You followed the plan. Quick in, quick out." Without even realizing he was doing it, Brad let the soap drop from his hands, and clutched the edge of the sink.

"You know whose fault this whole thing is?" His eyes darted rapidly from side to side. "It's her fault." He paused. "And you know it."

He was finding his rhythm now. Letting go of the sink, he began to pace the small bathroom. "She was taunting you, man. Letting that cross hang there, all soft, and delicate. Teasing you. Drawing you in. And when you just want to take what's rightfully yours, what does she do?" Brad stopped in front of the mirror, and slowly locked eyes with himself.

"I'll tell you what she does. She puts up a fight. She acts like you're the one doing something wrong! What the hell is wrong with that?" His heart began to pound again, and he squeezed his hands into fists.

"Maybe the real question is what the hell is wrong with her? Can't a guy even use a phone any more without being hit by a damn teakettle? And you know what women like her are like. She won't let this go. Oh, no. She's gonna talk to that husband of hers, to that cop. She's gonna play the poor little victim here, and turn this entire town into a witch hunt against you. Well, listen up, lady. If you try anything funny, you are over. Got it? Got it?? GOT IT?? YOU ARE OVER!"

As Brad screamed out the final words, he drove his fist through the mirror. Glass shattered all over the bathroom floor, stunning Brad into silence. A few moments later, Brad cautiously raised his fist to examine it.

Humming quietly, he turned the taps back on and began to rise the blood off of his hand.