Title: Downfall
Type: 7th Heaven Fan Fiction
Rating: PG-13 (Sex, Alcohol, possible drug content)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of 7th Heaven. I do own all my original characters and this story, though. Don't take.
Summary: Tragedy strikes Lucy and Kevin, who then must decide what to do with their lives.

Notes:

Lelia- I'd written the beginnings of this story before the name of Lucy's baby was announced, so I made it up. I didn't want to edit it to say Savannah because it might cause confusion.

pokethepenguin01- Nichol's name is pronounced Nick - Oll, like the coin.

Downfall

Chapter Twelve: The Ice Storm

It began to ice the next day, which was March 31, 2005. Lucy found herself home before it began to ice, but hadn't spoke to anyone. The house was deadly silent. Amelia sat in her room, staring out the window, and secretly plotting something horrible against Lucy and Nichol. She wasn't sure why; maybe it was just the idea that the tables had kind of turned on Amelia and Kevin. Now all of the power didn't lay in their hands. Maybe it was because they'd seemed so hurt by Amelia and Kevin's affair, then went and had one of their own. The best reasoning, however, was that they'd walked in on Amelia and Kevin in the first place.

"You ok?" Kevin's voice broke the silence. Amelia's head snapped to him, an undeterminable expression on her face.

"They had sex," She stated, simply. Kevin looked confused.

"Who did?" He wanted to know. Amelia rolled her eyes, as if it were obvious. The ice fell on the roof, making short crashing sounds.

"Your wife and my husband," Amelia replied, "Doesn't it make you want to do something terrible?" Kevin's eyes filled with fury. Acting on impulse, he marched into the living room where Nichol sat, reading. He grabbed and threw Nichol to the ground. It was easy for him, as he was easily twice Nichol's size.

"What are you doing?" Nichol yelled, then scooted away.

"You slept with my wife, you illiterate stool pigeon!" Kevin exclaimed.

"You slept with mine first!" Nichol spat.

"That sounds like something you'd say," Kevin retorted, "You're childish, Nichol. If someone steals something of yours, you have to steal something of theirs. It's like war when we were kids. Well, let me inform you of something: she's not yours to sleep with."

"I could say something to that same effect, but I think Amelia was past being mine a long time ago," Nichol replied.

Lucy, hearing the commotion, hurried to see what was going on. When she realized, her eyes became fire on Kevin. She wasn't glaring for long as she was quickly knocked off of her feet and thrown. Kevin held her arms down while he basically spat in her face. She struggled, but couldn't get past his grip.

"And you, you little whore! What got into you? I thought you were Godly? What happened to that? I guess when you get far enough from your parents, you reveal your true self!" Kevin yelled. Nichol had gotten up by now, and jumped on Kevin's back, bravely. This knocked his arms down. Now both the men's weight was on Lucy, but she managed to scramble away.

"She's not a whore any more than Amelia is," Nichol explained. Blood began to pour from his nose. He lifted his hand to his nose, but didn't really care if it stained the carpet.

"Nichol, I think I've had enough of your shit!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Kevin, you're not making any sense! You're not being fair! You had an affair with Amelia. You shouldn't be angry that me and Nichol slept together once. It was a mistake anyway. I'm married, he's married, and we talked it out. We decided it was wrong!" Lucy shouted.

"You decided," Nichol reminded her, his voice calm.

"Whatever," She replied.

"How did you find out about us anyway?" Nichol asked Kevin, then noticed Amelia grinning in the door way. "Oh. Now it makes perfect sense."

"What does?" Amelia asked, entering the room. She walked to Nichol and placed her arm on his shoulder. He knocked it off as quickly as it had come.

"You overheard our conversation," Nichol answered, "Don't play dumb, Amelia. You're a bitch. What's sad is I think that you know it." Amelia smiled wickedly.

"I may have had an affair," She began, "But you should have saw it coming."

"What are you talking about?" Nichol wanted to know. Now Lucy was curious.

"You may have loved me in the beginning," Amelia told him, "But you sure as hell stopped loving me soon after the excitement wore off."

"What excitement?" Nichol asked. He cast a glance at Lucy, then at Kevin.

"The excitement of stealing me from your brother," Amelia explained. Lucy suddenly understood.

"She's the girl," She whispered.

"My older brother Jake was having all these problems. He had these pedophilic tendencies and my parents were really worried about him being around my little niece. Jake had this girlfriend and she was kind of afraid of him, so she came to me. We talked and talked and realized we liked each other. Jake caught us in the act in his room and went crazy. He broke up with her and hit me. There was a lot of tension and the family eventually had to ask him to leave."

Nichol's head was suddenly heavy. He felt like passing out, but he stood as still as humanly possible. The only thing that moved were his eyes and the blood that continued dripping from his nose.

"Have anything to say about that?" Amelia wanted to know, "Maybe that it's true? You never had any intention of marrying me, hon. You're sweet, Nic, but admit it. At the time, all you wanted was to get laid. Because back then, you couldn't."

"I always loved you," Nichol whispered.

"Maybe so, but you're no better than I am. At that time, you wanted something: sex. This time, it's my turn. It's not my fault that the excitement wore off after a few years of marriage and you didn't want to do it anymore--"

"That's not what it was," Nichol cut her off. Amelia feigned shock.

"I was getting to it. Why don't you tell us why you really won't sleep with me anymore," Amelia suggested. Nichol put his head down, ashamed.

"Because," He began, quietly, "I'm insanely in love with Lucy." Amelia's smirking attitude faded away when she heard him say it. She knew that would be his answer, but the fact that it was now proven hurt her even more. Lucy fell to the ground in a mess of tears. She knew Kevin's reaction was going to be harsh, but she couldn't do much more. At that, Kevin punched Nichol's face, knocked him to the door, and pushed him outside. The ice beat down on them quickly. Blood flowed heavier from Nichol's nose. His size impaired him from having a chance of fighting back against Kevin. Lucy and Amelia ran outside quickly. Amelia just watched Nichol being beaten, while Lucy cried and screamed at Kevin to stop.

"Kevin! You're being so childish! Stop it!" Lucy yelled. Nichol winced in pain each time he was struck. When Kevin had finally knocked him into the ice, he stopped to rest. Nichol's back throbbed in pain. He hadn't been to the chiropractor since they'd moved and his back was bad enough without enduring the beating he just had. He laid motionless, except for his heavy breathing, in the ice. Lucy ran to Kevin and began slapping him with her fists and crying.

"Why did you have to do that? Why couldn't you have just let it go? What has gotten into you?" Lucy yelled at her husband, who grabbed her fists, but completely ignored her almost incoherent comments.

"Here we are," Kevin stated, "Standing in the ice storm, fighting. This is ridiculous. To answer your question, Luce, I don't know what's gotten into me. The idea of you and that speck of dirt together really gets at me."

"The idea of you and Amelia together really gets at me," Lucy shot back.

"I can understand that, Lucy, but don't make me look like the monster here," He warned her. Lucy glared at him.

"You are the monster here, Kevin. Whether you want to be or not, you really have some issues that you need to get worked out," Lucy replied. She watched Nichol spit up blood, then lay his face in it, unable to move.

"Lucy, I still love you. I will always love you. It's just that, since Gabriella died, I've been so out of sorts. I'm not sure why I started an affair with Amelia, Luce, but I assure you that it wasn't meant to hurt you. I would never do that," Kevin explained. Lucy and Amelia exchanged a glance.

"You're lying," Lucy commented, sniffling, "I know you. You couldn't look me in the eye when you said that and you said that it had been a few months. Gabriella died a few weeks ago."

"I'm sorry, Lucy!" Kevin apologized, "I really want to make things right. We can move back to Glen Oak and live with your parents again! I really want to reconcile! This thing with Amelia was nothing. We had no real feelings for each other, Luce. It was more of a fling, really." Amelia became disgusted, but remained silent.

"You say that right after you beat Nichol to a bloody pulp?" Lucy yelled, extending her arm to Nichol for emphasis. She began to walk away in anger, but looked back and added, "And don't give me that crap about not hurting me because it's too late. You already did." She walked away, tears flowing from her eyes. Amelia waited until she was out of hearing distance before she walked up to Kevin and shook her head.

"A fling?" Amelia asked, hatred in her words, "You said you loved me. Look, I knew you still loved her, but I thought you loved me too. I'm sorry if I was wrong in pursuing this and thinking we had something. I've been acting like a mad woman for the past few months because I thought that maybe you were the one for me, but I guess I was wrong. You're no better than any one of us. In fact, you're worse. I wasn't pursuing this completely out of lust."

Amelia ended her words with a smirk, then passed Kevin and helped Nichol, who was already more sore than he'd been in months, to get up. He eagerly accepted her hand and her arms stayed around him as she led him into the house.

That night, Kevin found himself sleeping on the floor of the kitchen. Lucy slept on the living room carpet, allowing Nichol to have the bed since he'd been hurt. Amelia slept in her bed, which had become an enemy of hers. None of them slept well, but the important thing was that they slept silently and very far from each other. It iced all night and into the morning.

Lucy stirred from her position on the floor when she heard the strange sound of the doorbell. Curious, she stood up, smoothed her hair, and opened the door. Her eyes went wide.

"Hey Lucy!" Ruthie greeted, perkily, "It's April."