Disclaimer: Own nothing 7th Heaven, Related or otherwise. (Oh Pun there! If you watch Related at least.)
Chapter 2 of We Didn't Start the Fire-We Just Helped It Burn
Okay well being home was great, that's for sure. I mean I loved being able to see my family all the time. Mom and Dad, Matt and Sarah, Mary and Carlos (who did of course reconcile), Charlie who wasn't that much of a baby anymore (he was going on six), Lucy and Kevin, Savannah and the newest edition BJ.
Oh and did I mention Simon? Yeah he was there. He wasn't with a significant other though. See him and Rose broke up. They ended on solid terms and it really was okay for both of them. With the oncoming threat of marriage, Simon got cold feet. Rose-well you know Rose-she wasn't excited about this in the least. She told Simon that he had to make up his mind-about them, I mean. He chose to tell her the truth, that he wasn't ready. She chose not to take it as it was (a confession) but more as a personal attack. She broke up with him, Simon though promised to always be her friend. And when Rose got married, Simon was in the audience.
I can't tell you how happy my parents were that Simon and Rose split. The words gleeful and hyper enthusiastic come to my mind. I can't say I was too displeased easier. Out of Rose and Sandy, I always liked Sandy better. Well, except when I hated her for having taken Martin away from me. Which I know she really didn't do, that was his fault as much as hers.
So back to the real picture, my family was all there. Lucy was ready to really celebrate the birth of her baby with everyone she cared about. So within a few hours more people arrived-inconsequentially Martin wasn't here yet.
Not that I noticed of course, I mean I could care a less where he was. But it was kind of exciting you know, I mean it was cool. To see how Laurie must have grown, I mean I was there the day she was born after all.
When there was a knock on the door about an hour later, I had every idea of who it was. Or whom really. My mother answered to the knock with a "when does Martin Brewer ever knock?" which let's face it used to be true.
I heard a chorus, of "look how big she's gotten" and a lot of "hi, how are you guys?" I didn't exactly feel the need to go into that room, I'd say hello to Sandy later.
But when Savannah entered the kitchen with a little girl, of who looked to be about four, I knew right away who she was. First of all, she had beautiful dark hair and second of all her eyes were the most gorgeous shade of blue imaginable. But the other reason, I knew who she was, was the baseball jersey and cap she had worn to the festivities.
She was so Martin's daughter. "Hi, Aunt Ruthie," Savannah said in a superior tone. She was about a year and a half older than Laurie after all. "Well, hello Savannah, and who may I ask is this?" I asked knowing full well who this was.
"My name's Laurie," she said in a loud whisper. "Well, hello Laurie, my name's Ruthie," I told her back. "Oh, I know who you are, Mommy and Daddy talked about you last night," she said eagerly. "Mommy told Daddy that he has to come and he has to see Ruthie whether he likes it or not, and guess what he listened, because see, he told me I could play with Savannah and look I am!" she said excitedly.
She was so cute. I knew she'd be adorable, the second Sandy had her. Seeing as she was such a quiet baby. For the most part anyway.
"So your Ruthie and I'm Laurie and she's Savannah and look there's Mommy!" she said happily. "Hi Mommy! Look it's Ruthie, member you told Daddy about her!" she said joyfully. "That's right, angel I did," Sandy said smiling. "Hi, Ruthie," she said turning to look at me. "Hi Sandy, how have you been?" I asked coming in for a quick hug.
We broke apart, "Oh you know busy with this little monster," she said grabbing Laurie by the waist and tugging her up into a hug.
Laurie squealed and pulled away and went to run back into the living room with Savannah following close behind.
"Hey Daddy!" Laurie yelled jumping onto Martin's lap. "Hey baby, did you have fun with Savannah?" Martin asked his daughter. "Uh huh and guess who I met?" she squealed. "Who?" he asked her. She was now smiling mischievously. "You have to guess," she said laughing. "Did you meet the cookie monster?" he asked her. "No, Daddy don't be silly, he only hangs out on Sesame Street," she laughed. "Okay then who?" he asked her.
"Alright, I'll tell you...Ruthie!" she yelled the last part. The whole room fell silent, to look at Martin's face. "Did you baby? Well that's great," the whole room let out a sigh of what was probably relief.
In the kitchen, the only thing me and Sandy heard was my name being screamed out. Sandy grabbed my hand and told me that we should see what all the ruckus was about.
We entered the living room to see everyone laughing. "See Daddy! I told you it was Ruthie!" Laurie said obviously excited. The whole room fell silent as, Sandy grabbed my hand and brought me closer to my family. "Um, hi everyone. What's the big deal. That a girl Laurie, you showed your old daddy didn't you?" I told her laughing (even if it was nervously). "Yeah, I did. Ha, Daddy I told you it was Ruthie. Mommy believed me," she pouted.
The whole room burst out in laughter again. "Come on Savannah, lets go see what Sam and David are doing, they must be more cool then these old guys," Laurie said taking Savannah's hand and leading her upstairs.
I sat down next to Lucy and Kevin and tried to absorb myself into their conversation. I couldn't help but notice though, that well Martin kept staring at me. It was sort of unnerving. I finally decided I'd be the bigger person and trick Martin into coming into the kitchen with me. Or not so much as trick him as tell him to come with me.
So I stood up, purposely kicked his shin a bit, and flicked my head towards the kitchen. I told him in my own form of sign language and told him to wait 30 seconds before he left.
I got into the kitchen and waited until he excused himself as well. About 30 seconds later he was sitting on the chair across from me. "Hi," he said quietly. "Hi," I said quietly back.
"So you um wanted to see me?" he asked looking paler than usual. (Not that I knew what was usual anymore). "Um yeah, why do you keep staring at me?" I asked as fast as I could. "Um I don't know, I haven't seen you this close in a really long time Ruthie," he said "it's just weird is all."
"Yeah well for me too," I told him. "I mean I was the one who sort of stopped talking to you," I said. "Well, I could have tried to get you to talk to me a little harder," he rebutted. "Yeah, it wouldn't have mattered, I was so mad at you," I said. "Yeah but if I never kissed you none of this would have ever happened, I'm sorry for that by the way, it was stupid," he said solemnly.
And here we were about three and a half years later and he still acted the same way as he did when I left. Well if that's how he was going to act, I was going to do the same thing I did then too.
So I reached up and slapped him.
Yeah sure, I know what you're thinking, that was childish Ruthie, get a hold of yourself Ruthie. But see I'm not going to, because all those things that he once said that hurt me, he was saying them again!
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" he asked bringing a hand to his red cheek. "That was for being stupid. You know what I thought we could be friends but you know what I was wrong, we can't be," I told him. I wasn't going to cry, this wasn't important to me anymore, he's just going to be another faceless person to me.
"Ruthie what are you talking about?" he asked me, confused. When is the idiot not confused, I think I might have to be a bit lenient, this one last time.
"What am I talking about? Martin, three or four years ago you kissed me and then you said it was stupid. Okay I might have been naive at that point in time, but I was never naive enough to not know how rude it was to say that. Oh and mean, I thought I was your friend," I felt like crying. "You were my friend," Martin told me
"If I was your friend, you would have known how much saying that was going to hurt me," I told him still trying to control my tears. "But Ruthie, I told you that, so I wouldn't end up hurting you. I just became a dad, did you really want to get in to a relationship with a father? What would have your parent's thought? You were sixteen and I couldn't put that much pressure on you," he told me solemnly.
Put that much pressure on me. Does he not realize where I went to school? Pressure is my middle name. "Okay Martin, you put more pressure on me, by stopping it. Don't you get it, I really liked you. I mean sure, it might have been because you were "hott" like Katie used to say, but I think it was more because I liked who you were. Until you know you ruined it for me," I told him. It kind of felt good to get that out after all those years.
"How did I ruin it for you?" he asked me. God what an idiot, I thought to myself. "You did the stupidest thing ever, and you don't think you ruined it? Guess again. I thought you were like a god, seriously I think I put you up that high in my life. But not anymore, I don't care anymore. That's it, I'm done," I told him.
"You can't be done, Ruthie I didn't mean to hurt you. Don't you get it, I just didn't want you to be upset. I mean I had a baby then, I had to be a dad. I couldn't be a dad and a boyfriend and that wouldn't have been fair to you," he said.
"Cut the crap, Martin," I told him fiercely. He looked taken aback, I didn't care anymore. "It's bad enough that you couldn't realize how much you hurt me. But now you want to say this whole thing happened because of Laurie? Well listen, think of it this way it never did happen and you know what not because of Laurie. It was because you didn't want it, and that's it. Really, there's nothing more to it than that. I just wish that at that time, you had the guts to tell me. But I guess wishes don't ever really come true," I left then to go back into the living room with my family.
I decided to leave this conversation and him, behind me.
"But don't you get it, Ruthie? I did want it, and I still do," Martin said to the empty room before he also departed.
A/N: Um okay this is the second chapter, I have to say it's not as good as the first, sorry! And it's a lot shorter but adding any more would take away from the third chapter if you catch my drift, so even if you don't like it that much, can you review? Um the next chapter might not be up till Sunday. Sorry again! (Busy weekend planned.)Well anyways, review? Pretty please, with sugar and ice cream and the little chocolate covered sprinkles (or rainbow)on top? Oh and by the way I think I messed up the time line because Laurie would be more like 6 or 7 rather than 4 but I modeled Laurie after my four year old cousin (you know what her name is? Laurie!) lol So Sorry for that too.
Wow This Is A Long Author's Note!
So review review review!