Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of 7th Heaven so don't sue me. I only own my plot and all the characters you don't recognize. Also the italics in the story are people's thoughts. TAR

Chapter 4

Thursday night

"Come on Martin, How long does this project have to be anyway?" Ruthie groaned as she sat next to Martin in the kitchen for the fourth night in a row. Not that she minded. She had been thinking of him more and more over the past few days. She still didn't know how she felt toward him though. She knew she had to make a decision soon thought because the thought of him being with another girl repulsed her. That had to mean something right?

"It's only two pages more. I should be finished tonight." Martin went back to typing and Ruthie reviewed the page and smiled. Martin was doing a really good job. His notes were immaculate and the examples and graphs were an excellent bonus.

"Ruthie! Can you come help me in the living room?" Annie yelled.

"Yeah I'll be right there." Ruthie got up and went to see what her mother wanted. "Yes?"

"Can you put the laundry away for me? I have to start supper and call Mary so I don't have time to put these away." She handed Ruthie the basket of clothes and headed into the kitchen. Ruthie sighed as she lugged the heavy basket upstairs.

"How's the project going?" Annie asked as she got the ingredients out for her lasagna.

"Really good. I'm so grateful for Ruthie's help. She really knows her stuff. Without her I would seriously have failed this report."

"Well I'm glad she could help you, but I'm curious to know what does she get out of this…I know my daughter. I know that she doesn't really do much without some kind of reward to her."

"She's a kind hearted person but I am doing something in return for her too." Annies' eyebrow rose. She didn't like how that sounded. Martin saw her reaction and decided to clarify himself. "I mean there's a party tomorrow night and she asked me to take her. She wants to go to her first 'official' high school party."

"I'm not sure if she's ready for that kind of thing Martin."

"Well she wanted to make sure that I was going because that way she will know someone and feel safe. I'll keep my eye on her and make sure nothing goes wrong. I'm sure everything will be fine because it's right up the street at the Cordon's house. I'm not sure if there will be adults there but Ruthie and I are both smart enough to make the right decisions. You know I would never do anything to jeopardize my stay here."

"I know and Eric and I trust you both. I just have to make a final discussion with Eric and I'll let you know by tomorrow afternoon." Martin nodded.

"What do you have to discuss?" Ruthie asked reentering the kitchen.

"Martin just told me of the party that's tomorrow night. Your father and I will have to discuss it but I think something can be arranged." Ruthies' eyes lit up.

"Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" Ruthie hugged her mother.

"Don't thank me yet. Martin do you think you can finish your report a little later. I need you guys to set the table for dinner."

"Yeah sure." Martin saved his work and closed up his laptop. As he brought all his research up to his room Ruthie started setting the table.

Later that night there was a knock on Ruthie's door. "Come in!"

Martin poked his head into the room. "I finally finished my project. Can you read it to make sure it all fits together?"

"Yeah sure." Ruthie put down her pencil and Martin came in and handed her the report and sat on her bed.

After skimming all seven pages she looked over at Martin. "This is really good. You'll get an 'A' for sure!" Martin got up and gave Ruthie a big hug.

"I really couldn't have done it without you." He let her go and stepped away. Ruthie looked away from him and started fidgeting with the papers on her desk to hide her blush.

"I'm sure you could have. I just kept an eye on your data and made sure you were headed in the right direction"

"I still couldn't have done it with out you."

"Okay, okay I guess you couldn't…cause everyone knows that I'm the best." Ruthie sighed over-dramatically. Martin burst out laughing and threw one of Ruthies' pillows at her. "Hey I just saved your butt you know!"

"Yeah what ever! It's getting late. I need to get some sleep…you know get my beauty rest." Ruthie rolled her eyes.

"Like sleep will help you with that!"

"Hey! That was uncalled for!"

"Yeah well you deserved it…now get out of my room!" Ruthie laughed as she kicked Martin out of her room and got ready for bed. As she drifted off to sleep she thought of how her night turned out and how grateful she truly was to have a guy like Martin in her life…even if he was only her best friend.

Martin's Room

As Martin lay in his bed that night he thought of how much he enjoyed Ruthie's company over the past few days and how much she meant to him. He knew that she was supposed to be like a little sister to him but he didn't want that. He wanted to be her friend, besides he knew that she already had two big brothers and knew she wanted friend more then another protective older 'brother.'

He would always be protective of her even after his dad comes back, of that he was sure. He would make sure that she would never get hurt…well if he could help it of course. He didn't want to admit it to himself but he had these weird feelings for Ruthie. They weren't bad just confusing. He didn't really know how to explain them and he wasn't sure if he was ready to explain them, even to himself…

A/N: So sorry for a long absence this once just taken me a little longer to write. Keep the reviews coming and thanks everyone for the comments.