A/N: I love reviews…heck I love reviews more than I love George Stults (well ok that's a lie right there) seriously I love reviews because I need to know if you like my writing and want me to continue
A/N: Although I wished I owned 7th Heaven sadly I don't but I do own everyone else except for the following—Annie, Eric, Mary, Sarah, Matt, Kevin, Lucy, Carlos, Simon, Ruthie, David & Sam, Captain Michaels, Ben, Patty-Mary, Kevin's Mom and anyone else I forgot.
A/N: Sorry for such a long time of me updating my story…when I usually write a story some how I manage to make it into such a long chapter that I don't have anything after this to write…but don't worry this story still has at least 6-10 chapters to go!
A/N: Thanks for those who have read my other stories…I appreciate it very much and I'll be sure to check yours out when I get the chance!!!
Kevin woke up startled…he had that terrible dream again. It was about his dad again…this time it was different…his dad had lived and they were still living across the street from the Camden's.
He shook his head trying to that fuzzy feeling out of his head. He looked around the cabin of the airplane and saw others still dozing off because it was now almost 2:30 am New York time and almost 11:30 California time.
He looked at his watch and noticed that he hadn't set it to the correct time zone.
He sighed and leaned back in his airplane seat hoping to catch some more sleep before they landed in Glenoak.
Just as he was about to drift off to sleep again the Captain's voice came over the P.A system to announce that they would be arriving in Glenoak, California in the next ten minutes.
He re-buckled his seat belt since the light had come on and moved his airline seat up straight so when they landed he wasn't tipped back to far.
A worried thought came across him when he suddenly reached for his wallet…he forgot to get the phone number for the Camden's and since it had been 4 years since they have seen each other he actually forgot their home phone number.
He started to concentrate on trying to remember the number so when he arrived in Glenoak he could give them a call to see if they would let him crash at their home.
He still hadn't pulled his wallet out of his pocket when he decided that he would just wait till he had landed and looked up their number…it wasn't like they had changed their name or anything and with Eric being a reverend it shouldn't be that hard to find them especially if Eric was still working for Glenoak Community Church.
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Meanwhile back at Glenoak International Airport Rev. Eric and his family were standing by gate A28 waiting for yet the third flight from Buffalo, New York to Glenoak California..
They had been at the airport for more than three hours and so far there hasn't been any sign of Kevin arriving anywhere.
Annie had taken Ruthie and Simon to a different gate where no one was currently at and was watching them sleep for a while.
The older children started to get bored waiting for their childhood friend and started to check out the gift shops that had already started to close. Eric sighed in frustration…he wanted to see Kevin but if it was going to take all night there was no way he could do that.
His youngest children were already sleeping heavily by the time he went to check on Annie. She smiled sleepily at him as if to understand why he was over there.
"Hey sweetie…are they still sleeping?" Eric asked Annie sitting in the empty seat next to her.
"Yes…of course…they are tired…they shouldn't be here Eric…they should be sleeping in their own beds…at home" Annie told him point blank caresses Ruthie's dark curly hair.
"I know…I know Annie…but they insisted and well I couldn't just tell them no" he argued back at her knowing that he was completely wrong but for now he didn't want to admit that.
For a while Annie and him sat at the empty gate and watched the entire passengers walk off the second to last flight from Buffalo with no sign of Kevin.
Eric knew that they couldn't give up now but he was ready to…Kevin was like another son to him but at this moment he was ready to say forget it.
"Dad…the next flight from Buffalo should be here in like 5 minutes" replied a tired Lucy who had gotten bored of watching the employees of the gift shop clean up their store.
"Dad…can we go home? I need to get to bed I have school tomorrow" said a cranky Mary who had come up from behind Lucy.
"If Kevin isn't on this next flight we will go home…we can't just not be here…besides your mom promised Karen that we would be here waiting for him to show up" Eric said looking at Annie who looked away sheepishly.
"But Dad…" Mary said starting to whine.
"No buts Mary…a promise is a promise and I'm not going to start to break them now just because you are tired…I'm a minister Mare…we can't just break our promises…especially to one of our oldest friends…besides weren't you the one who wanted to come?" Eric asked her giving her a look that told her to leave it alone.
"Yes…but" she replied back but before she could say something a loud squeal from Lucy told her that their time of waiting was finally over.
Lucy had just looked over at gate A16 watching the passengers come off when she spotted him. She jumped off from the chair that she had just sat down in when she spotted him.
She ran towards him yelling "Kevin…Kevin…" she was already in tears…she had missed him…missed the one person that could actually help her with all of the pain that she had built up inside of her.
Kevin had just walked off the gate when he thought he heard someone calling his name. He looked up just in time to see Lucy nearly plow him over.
"Kevin" she squealed again giving him such a tight embrace he hardly could breathe.
He hugged her back as he sighed with happiness knowing that he didn't have to worry about finding the Camden's anymore.
He smiled down at Lucy who was still hugging him when he realized that she had changed a lot in 4 years…she wasn't the same awkwardly child that she use to be…now she looked more like an adult to him…which was odd because Patty-Mary was the same age as Lucy and she didn't look as nearly old as Lucy did.
He just shook his head and continued to hug Lucy as she walked with him towards the rest of her family.
Matt was the first to get up from his seat and exchanged "manly" hugs with Kevin and then followed Mary, Eric, and Annie
Then after Lucy woke up Ruthie and Simon they also gave Kevin hugs. When all the excitement wore off they started to walk towards the car since Kevin did not check any bags in and just brought a carry on with him.
15 minutes later after getting everyone squashed and settled into the family station wagon the Camden's and Kevin arrived back at their house at around midnight.
"Kevin…you will be staying with Matt tonight in Simon and Ruthie's room because they have two beds" Annie explained to him as she carried a sleeping Ruthie into the house.
"I'm fine Mrs. Camden…I can sleep in the living room…I'm the one who decided to drop by without calling first" Kevin replied giving Annie a sheepish look.
"Nonsense…if Matt was to just "drop by" your house your mother would do the same thing…besides you're like another son to me" Annie replied giving him a smile as Kevin followed her up the stairs.
While outside Mary and Lucy were taking their sweet old time trying hard to make sure that they would be able to con their way out of going to school and stay at home and catch up on all the gossip that was happening back at the Kinkirk Home.
"Girls…" said a deep familiar male voice.
"Don't you two think that you should be moving a little bit faster? Or did you forget that both of you have to wake up in about seven hours to be getting ready for school?" their dad asked them knowing that they were up to something.
"Dad…do we really have to go to school tomorrow? Even with Kevin here?" whined Lucy.
Mary kept on walking as she rolled her eyes…her sister was obsessed with Kevin…that was all she ever talked about…but hey Lucy was obsessed with every guy that would talk to her.
Eric just shook his head but kept on walking "Lucy…tomorrow is Friday…that means you have the entire weekend to hang out with Kevin…you will have Saturday and Sunday to talk to him…besides it's your own fault for coming with us…you asked and I gave permission…if your mom knew that you wanted to stay home because you are to tired she would have my neck!" he exclaimed walking up the back porch steps.
"But dad…"Lucy started to protest when Eric put his hand up in the air cutting her off.
"I said no Lucy…and if you try and convince your mom to do the same thing and I find out…"he started to say when Lucy swung open the back door and stomped through the kitchen and ran up the stairs.
"Teenagers" he mumbled to himself as he held the door open long enough for Mary to walk inside and going up the stairs as well.
He peeked his head outside the back door for a moment to make sure that everyone was in and closed it shut and locked the door before he turned off the kitchen light and left to go upstairs.
All Eric wanted to do was hit the bed and sleep for the next few hours that he had left when his thoughts were stopped by a traffic jam in front of the stairs.
He pushed his way through and went to discover what the problem was…at first he thought it was Lucy having a temper tantrum but instead he discovered it was Ruthie who was on the ground crying.
Eric looked upward towards his wife when she just shook her head and mouthed the words "she doesn't want to sleep in Matt's room" he understand what was wrong.
Kevin just stood at the end of the hallway completely embarrassed that he had just dropped by their doorstep sort of and intruded on their lives.
He knew he should have called but he really didn't have the time to. Finally after about a half an hour later Annie finally managed to convince Ruthie that she would only have to have Matt's bedroom for tonight and that the next day everything would all be straightened out and she could have her own room back.
Finally it was after 1:30 before Annie and Eric where able to go to bed. They finally were able to drift off to sleep when Annie suddenly jumped out of bed and exclaimed.
"We forgot to call Karen!" hitting herself on the head.
"Annie…we can call her tomorrow…it's almost 2am and I have to go back to the church tomorrow and counsel the Barton's and you have 5 school lunches to pack and not including trying to find out why Kevin came to visit us with such short notice" Eric replied sleepily as he yawned and stretched out on the bed.
"You know what? Your right…I will call Karen in the morning or I'll have Kevin do it…there is no use worrying her at this time" Annie told her husband as she sunk back down into their king size bed and turned the light off and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was instantly fell asleep.
Except in the next room was Kevin…he wasn't able to go to bed right away…he was to worried…worried if he should call his mom…worried if she will start to freak out if she hasn't heard from him. Finally when he thought that he would die of exhaustion sleep finally came to him…but at a price he didn't know he would pay.
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Meanwhile back in Buffalo, Karen was practically freaking out inside…she hadn't heard from Kevin since 10:30 the day before and she was scared inside and out. He was her oldest son and the one son that was exactly like his dad.
She didn't know what scared her the most…that he was old enough to take care of himself or that he was exactly like his dad…stubborn.
"Mom?" came the sleepy question of 13 year old Patty-Mary.
"What is it PM?" Karen replied back sinking into her leather loveseat that was in her office.
"Is Kevin ok? Or did I do something really bad happen that made him leave?" she started to say but ended up starting to cry and was almost unable to finish the rest of the sentence.
"Oh PM…come here" Karen motioned as she patted the side of the leather chair. Patty-Mary walked over to her mom's big leather couch sat down right next to her and started to cry even harder.
"Oh PM…you had nothing to do with Kevin leaving…it was no ones fault" Karen reassured her as she stroked the top of her head.
"Then…why…why…did he leave without…without saying goodbye?" she asked as she hiccupped a few times.
"Oh PM…your still to young to understand…Kevin needed to get away for a while…everything that happened between him and Mindy finally caught up with him and it was going to destroy him…mentally wise sweetheart…so he figured that if he left it all behind him he could get everything back under control" Karen told her reassuring both Patty-Mary and herself.
"Now…let's go back to bed…I'm sure Kevin will call us in the morning when he is up to tell us that he arrived at the Camden's" she told Patty-Mary honestly as they walked out of her office together.
"What happens if they don't find him?" Patty-Mary thought to herself as both she and Karen walked upstairs to their bedrooms…that were three doors apart from each other.
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It was early…around 7 o'clock when Kevin woke up to both Mary and Lucy arguing with each other about who got to take a shower first and who had to wait.
He chuckled softly to himself when it reminded him of Ben and Patty- Mary…he suddenly shot up out of bed…he completely forgot to call his mom and tell her that he had gotten to Glenoak last night and not to worry…because he was with the Camden's.
His eyes and finally got adjusted to the bright sunlight that was shining through the blinds that Matt had forgotten to close this morning when he woke up and left for school.
Kevin moved his feet over to the side of the bed prepared to get up with someone barged right into the room where he was staying at.
It was at that moment 6-year-old Ruthie was headed straight for him.
"Who are you?" she asked cocking her head to the right to look at the stranger that had slept in her room last night…especially in her bed surrounded by all the Hello Kitty one 18-year- old boy could ask for.
"Ruthie…can't you remember me? I'm Kevin…I'm Matt's best friend…I'm the one who bought this" Kevin told the little girl holding up an old ratted looking; use to be white, cat.
Ruthie just glared at him while he was holding the one thing that was precious to her…and she placed her hands on her hips and said
"I still don't know who you are but if you lay another hand on that cat mister you are gonna be in trouble" she exclaimed climbing up next to him and grabbing the cat away from him and jumped all the bed and ran out of the room with Kevin laughing as hard as he had…it had been a while since he had laughed like that. It was at that moment Annie stuck her head and grinned at him.
"I'm glad to see that you are up…did my loud family cause that or did you wake up on your own?" she chuckled as she walked into the room to fix the blinds.
"No…I woke up on my own…only because it's 10 o'clock back at home" he replied standing up to stretch.
"Well if you want breakfast will be on the table before the girls get ready to go to school…I'm sorry Matt didn't stay…he wanted to skip today but I told him that you would be here when he got back home" she laughed shaking her head .
"He is just like a little kid in a candy shop" she told him walking out of the room giving him at least a few minutes of peace before he could change his clothes.
He walked into the hallway that hadn't changed since the day they left for Buffalo. He got to the top of the stairs and jogged down them quickly and almost ended up tripping on the last few stairs.
He composed himself and walked into the kitchen where Annie standing patiently behind Ruthie who was trying her hardest to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her Kindergarten class this afternoon.
Annie heard the floorboards squeak and looked up and smiled at Kevin.
"Mrs. Camden…may I use the phone to call my mom?" Kevin asked politely and he grabbed a banana that was sitting in a wooden bowl next to the cordless phone.
"Sure Kevin…you can either use the cordless or go into Eric's office and use his phone in there if you need any privacy" she replied putting Ruthie's sandwich in a plastic baggy and placing it in the brown paper bag that Ruthie was holding.
"Thanks Mrs. Camden" he replied taking the cordless phone out of its cradle and walked towards the family room.
He grabbed the calling card that he had in his left hand and started to dial the 800 number on the back and punched in its code.
After about a minute of prompts he finally was able to punch in his home phone number and waiting until the call connected to hear it ring.
He let the phone ring and ring and ring until he was about ready to hang up when he heard someone answer the phone.
"Hi, you have reached Karen, Kevin, Ben and Patty-Mary Kinkirk…we are unavailable at this time so leave your message and at least one of us will return your call!" went the answering machine.
"Hi Mom, Ben and Patty-Mary it's Kevin…don't worry I arrived at the Camden's late last night and figured that you guys didn't want me to call at 4 am in the morning…I'm only going to stay for a few days so I can sort this whole thing out with Mindy…I might even be back home sooner depending on how long Rev. Camden and Mrs. Camden want me to stay and then I'm coming home…if you guys want to call you know the number…at least I hope you do…I'll call later tonight bye" Kevin told the answering machine before he hung up the phone.
He turned around to see that Eric had been listening to his conversation…he just didn't know how much of it.
"Uhh…hi Rev. Camden" he said nervously looking back and forth from Rev. Camden to the phone.
"Kevin…I think we need to talk" Eric told him giving him a friendly smile.
"Here? Out in the open? Kevin questioned as his face sunk down to frustration.
"No, not here…my family is to nosey and I think you would like the privacy of my office" Eric simply stated as he walked towards his office.
An hour later after Kevin had spilled out his entire story about Mindy, the divorce, why he left and why he was here.
Eric just listened and gave advice as a family friend and as the father figure that Kevin had lost.
An hour later Matt came home early from high school and just sat around with Kevin and talked like brothers, best friends and as guys.
Kevin warned Matt that it was better to be married to the one person that they loved the most then it was to be married at all…especially to a stranger.
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During the entire weekend which seemed to fly by Kevin was able to talk to Mary, Simon and even Ruthie who still didn't have a clue who Kevin was.
On Monday night…one day before he was suppose to leave for Buffalo Lucy came up to him and they talked…for hours and hours.
They talked about important stuff like her dating at 13-years-old, about why no one wants to talk about her Grandma Jenny.
Kevin just sat and listened like a good big brother/ best friend would and offered his advice to her. She smiled time and time again when he told her that she was going in the right direction and that she should be happy where her life is going and where her life is at for the moment.
She gave him a quick hug and bounded up the stairs to tell Mary about something that had happened at school earlier that day.
Tuesday morning was filled with tears and sadness when the Camden's watch one of their friends leave their home and be driven to the airport accompanied by two of Kevin's favorite people…Matt and Lucy. They pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car and walked with Kevin up towards the Glenoak International Airport.
Lucy had taken Matt's hand and feeling like a little kid again she took Kevin's free hand and gave him a big grin.
When she was younger whenever she was sad she use to take Kevin's hand and intertwined their fingers together so they were locked hand and hand until their fingers hurt.
Kevin squeezed her hand as they entered the airport and walked over towards the ticket booth where he purchased another one way ticket back to Buffalo, New York.
He turned and gave Matt one of those "Manly Hugs" and told him that when he got out of school to come and visit him in Buffalo and that he will defiantly be back sometime in the near future for Matt's graduation party.
Lucy who had scooted back to the sidelines to watch them had started to cry. Kevin was leaving her and for some strange reason she didn't want him to go…even though she hadn't seen him in almost 5 years she still missed him and her heart always ached every time she thought about him.
She thought to herself for a moment.
Maybe it's just puppy love…like brother puppy love or something" she tried to convince herself as Kevin gathered her up in his arms and kissed the top of her blonde head.
He was going to miss her but he had told her that if she ever needed anything to make sure to either call him first or write a letter…which ever she needed to do.
"I'll call your mom and dad when I get home" Kevin told Matt who has handing Lucy a tissue.
"That's cool…make sure you don't forget or else mom will start to freak out" Matt replied laughing at the thought of his mother running around the house with her cut off like a chicken because Kevin didn't call.
"Trust me…I won't…you should have heard my mom when she called back…she was crying hysterically because I choose not to wake her at 4 am in the morning…geeze…the one time I respect her sleep she yells at me" Kevin laughed shaking his head.
"Miss Lucy Goosey…I except to have a letter waiting for me by the time I come home…you got that?" Kevin kidded with Lucy who nodded while having tears dripping down her face.
"Well I have to take Lucy back to school since mom said that she could miss the first three hours and I have to get back and take that stupid English test again…since I failed it the last time" Matt told him with a look of disgust on his face when he was talking about English…his least favorite subject.
Lucy gave him another hug before he started to walk towards the Security check point and was nudged by her brother to signal that they had to get going.
Kevin turned around to watch his best friend and his best friends little sister walk away…he knew that someday…some random guy would be very fortunate to be married to Lucy Camden…and he hoped that one guy knew that he was the luckiest guy in the world and that he was getting the best thing in world…her love.