Disclaimer: I don't own 7th Heaven.

Ruthie's Fun

"Colonel, would you do the honors?" Annie asked her father-in-law as she handed him the carving knife for the turkey.

He readily accepted. "Of course, Dear, I'd love to." He set to work.

Eric glanced around the table. It was Christmas Eve. All of his children were there, happy and healthy. Over the past couple of days, since right before Annie had walked back into the house, actually, the kids had really started to get along. They didn't seem tired or angry anymore. Just happy, happy to be spending time with each other- a thing they rarely got to do anymore. Eric smiled. Life was good.

Matt grinned when he caught his father's smile. Things really were turning around this holiday season. Lucy had had a good idea when she invited them all there. It was great to spend time with his family again.

'I wonder what turkey's made of.' Mary thought to herself. It was some kind of animal, she knew that much. Now, what was it? Pig, maybe? Or cow? She saw Carlos giving her a look. He probably knew what she was thinking. So, why didn't he answer her question? Mary shrugged. 'Oh, well,' she thought. She might as well eat the turkey, whatever animal it came from.

Simon put another forkful of turkey into his mouth. He was now glad Ruthie had conned him into staying, especially since she'd decided to lay off the tricks since his mom had come home. And Kylie seemed to be sleeping more and more, so he wasn't as tired. He was free to enjoy being with his family again. Nothing to worry about right now. And, it felt good.

Ruthie didn't even try to hide the grin she was currently sporting. Everyone would just assume it was because she was happy about all their 'family-bonding'. Of course, she was. But, that wasn't the reason for her smile. No one would suspect that, though. She'd stopped torturing Simon since her mother had returned from her very short vacation. So, naturally, her relatives thought she'd stopped 'playing around', for this reunion, anyway. Oh, how little they knew about her. Her fun wasn't over yet. No, her fun was never over.

Sam and David smiled at each other across the table. It was so good to have everyone back in their home again. There were more people to play with; there were people to be older than; there was… a very scary looking teenage brunette sitting at the other side of the room. What was going on in Ruthie's head? It hurt Sam and David's heads just thinking about it. The girl had a strange mind.

Lucy happily looked around. She'd done it. She'd gotten her mom the perfect Christmas gift. All of her siblings were home, and recently-turned happy. It was perfect, just perfect.

"RUTHIE!"

Everyone's heads jerked up from their food at Simon's yell. They stared at him. And then they laughed. From head to foot, on his chair and in his food, Simon was covered with honey.

Even he had to smile a bit, after the initial shock. It was carefully planned and the execution had gone off flawlessly. He couldn't even figure out how she'd rigged it up. How had no one noticed? Ruthie was a genius. Simon had to give her that.

But, it didn't change the fact that he was sticky and his entire family was laughing at, not with, him. So, Simon smiled only a bit.

Ruthie grinned.

The End