DISCLAIMER: I don't own 7th Heaven or anything related to it. Suing me would be very, very dumb. But if you are dumb, then go on and sue. I just found some lint in my pocket that you can have.
Teagan was crying so hard Kennedy could barely make out what she was saying but she managed to hear, "Daddy," a couple times. She picked the toddler up and sat Indian style on the floor, with Teagan resting on her lap. She was hugging and rocking her, trying to make her feel better.
Hearing her as well, Dakota and Marina appeared at the doorway and stopped. Seeing their sister like that made their emotions go crazy and they too started crying. Kennedy saw her sisters and motioned them to go to her. They ran over and hugged her on either side, three drowning girls holding onto a rock to save them.
That was the thought that kept Kennedy numb. She needed to be strong for her sisters. She needed to be the steady thing in their lives. But what's steadying me?
Chapter 3: Us And Them
At 6 that night, the doorbell rang at the Camden house. Since Lucy was still getting Savannah ready, Annie and Ruthie were finishing up dinner, Kevin and the boys were setting the table and Eric was on the phone, Martin was the one to get it.
He was dressed in the same pants that he'd worn when they visited the Colgrove's but he put on a dark blue button up shirt instead. After a moment spent getting to the front door, he opened it, revealing their new neighbors.
"Hey," he said to the four girls. In front of him Kennedy stood with little Teagan in her arms. Marina was on her left and Dakota on her right. They were all fairly dressed up, proving to him that they weren't poor. But then again, the house that they moved in to was pretty nice and had probably cost a decent amount of money.
Kennedy smiled. She had told all the girls to dress nicely but not too nice. She wore a grey fitted sweater and white pants; Marina wore a maroon blouse with a denim skirt; Dakota wore a tank-top flowered dress; and Teagan was dressed in a matching purple pant and shirt set. All the girls, except Kennedy, had their hair up. They looked like the image they were trying to display. Normal.
"Hello," Teagan said before her sister could respond.
"Come in, please, dinner's almost ready." He opened the door even wider and they entered.
The place was nice, even though their house might have been bigger. "Wow, this is nice." Kennedy said.
"Your house will be just as nice when you finish unpacking," Annie said, appearing from around a corner. She had a dishtowel in her hands that she was fidgeting with. "Martin, why don't you get them settled in the dining room and Ruthie and I will serve?"
"Sure, come with me." Martin led them to the corner and then through a door. There, he had them sit. "Here, Kennedy, you and Teagan can sit here," he said pointing to a two chairs, one with a booster seat on it and one without. When they were settling in, he told the other sisters they could pick their seats.
"Wow, I didn't think there could be this many people at the table," Kevin mused from his seat. Next to him was an empty chair and a high chair, presumably for Savannah. Soon, Martin took his seat on the other side of Kennedy. To his left, Eric joined in at the head of the table. Dakota and Marina took their seats in between Eric and Kevin.
"All done," Ruthie said, appearing with a salad bowl in one hand and a bowl of bread in the other. Behind her, Annie carried in a roast. When they set the food down, Ruthie went to the kitchen and grabbed the mashed potatoes and carrots and took her seat next to Teagan.
With everyone at the table, Eric said, "Let us join hands and say Grace." When everyone had linked together, Eric started. "Thank You Lord for the food that we have. Thank You for letting us share with our new neighbors, the Colgrove's. Amen."
"Amen," the room repeated and soon they were passing the dishes around the table. It reminded Marina of Thanksgiving last year, when Jim had come home to spend it with them. She felt warm tears coming to her eyes but she held them back when her eyes met Kennedy's.
Kennedy knew what her sister was thinking and feeling, but she'd be damned if she was going to let anyone know their secrets. They were in a new place. The rest of the world had to mind their business.
Dinner was a little longer than a half an hour, but it left everyone full. Teagan hadn't even finished her roast. Once it was through, Annie started clearing the dishes.
"Here, Mrs. Camden. I'll help you," Kennedy said and reaffirmed her offer when Annie said she didn't have to. "My mother always told me that the cook shouldn't have to clean up."
"Well, your mother seems like a smart woman and please, call me Annie," Annie replied and let her new neighbor take the dishes that she was carrying. She led Kennedy to the kitchen and showed her what to do. "I'll get Martin to come help you."
Kennedy stood there, admiring the woman's kitchen when she heard someone throat clear behind her. Startled, she whipped her body around and saw Martin standing at the doorway with an armful of dishes.
"A little help," he said, giving her a face that meant he would drop them if she didn't grab the carrots that was balancing on the plates.
She rushed over and grabbed the contents of his right arm and put them on the counter. Once they were set, she looked over her shoulder at him and said, "How 'bout you start and I'll get the rest. I don't know how to work Annie's faucet."
"It's easy," he said, smiling. "Just turn the handle away from you. The right is cold and the left is hot."
Kennedy flushed. She was a bit embarrassed about not knowing how to work a simple faucet but all the others she had used had knobs instead of handles. She knew righty-tighty, lefty-losey; not forward-on, backward-off. She gave a nervous laugh, "Yeah, I guess." She started backing towards the door, "I'll just get the rest."
When she was in the dining room, she saw Lucy cleaning the highchair. "Hi, Kennedy."
"Hey, you have a really cute daughter." She said, trying to make conversation while she collected some more dishes. The one thing that she hated most was uncomfortable silence.
"Oh, thank you. Your sisters are adorable, too." Lucy said, standing up. She made her way to the booster seat, signaling that she was done cleaning the highchair.
When Kennedy had her dishes piled up, she carried them carefully to the kitchen, where Martin was already washing plates from his trip. "This is the rest," she said, placing them down on the counter, gently. She looked around. "Umm… is there anything to dry these off with?"
"Yeah," Martin said, moving from his spot at the sink. "You wash, I'll dry," he said.
"Okay," Kennedy said and took his place. After a few minutes of silence (that was slowly turning uncomfortable) she spoke up. "So, what's the high school like?"
"It's pretty cool, but you are coming in at the last semester. You're graduating this year, right?"
"Yes, and I'm so glad that I am," she said, scrubbing mashed potatoes off a plate.
"I'm not, but then again I've known my classmates for quite some time and you don't even know them yet. Hey, what was it like leaving San Francisco?"
"Weird, you know? Like, I lived there for a long time. Some good things happened there, so really bad things happened there but it's really all I knew. I mean, we lived in Los Angeles for a while but I was younger then and I don't really remember that," she said, never taking her gaze from the soapy water her hands were emerged in.
"You've only lived in big cities?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was born there and I want to die there… when I'm much older, I mean," she said.
"Yeah, I get what you mean. I thought that I wouldn't like it here that much but it turns out that this is the greatest place that I've ever been. The people are really nice and there are some cool things to do here. Besides, the Camden's are like my second family." Martin said, looking at her and trying to judge her by the way her face looked when he said certain things, such as family.
"I don't know," she said and stopped. She turned to him and looked up into his eyes. "I might like it here but I don't know. And I really hate not knowing."
"I think that sometimes not knowing is pretty cool. It makes life interesting." Martin said and Kennedy re-focused on the dishes.
Trust me, my life is way too interesting as it is.
Okay, I know this chapter sucked so don' be like "Omg, this chapter sucked." I was tired when I started and I can't really go back. This is just filler, something to start the drama and give it some background. The action will start next chapter at the girls first day of school. Review! PS every chapter but the first one is going to have a title that is also a title of a Pink Floyd song.