A/N:Star2717 where are you when I needed you? I'm not sure if all my details are right in the Quick Updates so if you see anything wrong let me know and I'll fix it right away!!!

A/N: I love all sorts of reviews; if they are good, bad, happy, or sad, I don't care I love them all!!! Thanks for all of your reviews!!! Someday I hope to have at least a hundred for every one of my stories that I have written!!!

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, Sergeant Michaels, Ben, Patty-Mary, Mindy, Jeremy, Rod, Jimmy Moon, Kevin's Mom and anyone else I forgot (read the disclaimer on the first chapter)

A/N: I also want to apologize how long these last few chapters have been…I don't know how to stop writing and then post them LOL.

A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews…I just wanted to let you guys know that I finally figured out how to work ff.net and my chapters will be so much EASIER to read I swear!!!

 ~*~Quick 4 Year Update~*~

Time passed by very quickly for both of the families and before they knew it was already the year 2001...time for Lucy and Patty-Mary to graduate high school.

During those four years for the Kinkirks Karen became senior partner for her law firm and works at home so she can spend some quality mother-daughter time with Patty-Mary before she left for the University of California in San Francisco, CA in August.

Since Kevin came back from visiting the Camden's in 1998…he decided that something needed to be done with his life…because life was to short for him to waste it away at some job that wouldn't serve a purpose…he wanted a job where he got to serve and protect others…just like his dad…who had died saving others…he just didn't want to fight the same faceless enemy over and over again just like his father had done. So he choose to enroll at Buffalo Community College (one of the best police academy schools near his home) to become a police officer. Not only did he completely change his life around after what happened to Lucy's friend but he started to take responsibility for himself and grow up. In June of 2000 he graduated with full honors and started to look for a job that was close to home but would allow him the flexibility of working for the Buffalo PD as well.

Ben on the other hand still didn't have a clue what he wanted to do with his life. He was almost 21 years old and still did not have a clue. He watched as Kevin graduated from the police academy and still nothing connected with him. He wanted to do the same thing that Kevin talked about for a few years. He wanted to serve and protect others as well but becoming a police officer really didn't appeal to him. He wanted more of a challenge than to sit behind some boring desk doing paperwork everyday. That's when looking back at old pictures his career choice came racing to his head…he wanted to fight the same faceless enemy that had taken their father from them and wanted to finish what had been started. So during August of 2000 he enrolled at Buffalo Community College (also one of the best firefighting training camps known) and started to take some part time courses that would be work towards his degree. He still wasn't sure if being a firefighter would help him with closure but it was better than nothing.

For the Camden's four years took a lot of twists and turns with their relationships and their faith towards one another. Just when they thought after experiencing the death of Lucy's friend things would get a lot better they were wrong…

One of the many uplifting surprises the family never would have expected was the birth of Samuel and David on February 14th, 1999…Valentines Day to be exact.

All though Matt was 20 years older than his little brothers that didn't stop him from trying to help around the house. Finally after a few months he realized that his true calling was becoming a doctor. When he was younger his pediatrician told him that one day he would make a great doctor. Even though he had a pretty general idea what he wanted to major in he decided to stick with basic classes so they would be transferable to any college that he was accepted in. He has been dating on and off between Heather, Cheryl, and Shauna and still hasn't found the perfect women for him yet.

Ruthie was still the same old Ruthie…she was always scheming to get her way and knew how to do it. For a little while she had a bad streaking going on after Annie had the twins…she was upset and jealous because she was no longer the youngest but she now was a big sister…something she had always wanted to be.

Simon became like any normal teenage boy…he went through the hormones and even the girls. He had a long term girlfriend named Deena but they broke up once she moved to New York…and then got back together with her when she moved back to Glen Oak with her dad.

Eric and Annie both had some hard times with each other. Eric was shot by a boy who had threatened Simon after being dumped by his girlfriend…he wanted Deena back and Simon was already dating her. Both Annie and Eric were being chased by two people who wanted to see if they would stray from their marriage. A few months later after the twins were born another tragedy struck…Eric had a mild heart attack. He recovered but it did take a little longer than he had liked for it to have taken. Annie also decided to go back to school to get her degree in teaching.

Mary on the other hand was considered to be a bad seed during her senior year. She got ran over by an ex-boyfriend Michael Towner and started to date Wilson again…a few years later After being put on academic prohibition a few of her basketball teammates broke into the high school and toilet papered the gymnasium. She lost her scholarship and was put on academic prohibition. She decided that college wasn't for her and decided to support herself by getting a job which lead to getting a car which lead to wanting more than what she could afford to pay for…that's why she got a credit card which lead her more into a debt than she could afford to dig out of. She got fired from working at the pool hall and ended at Pete's Pizzeria and that is where she met Frankie and Johnny…two kids who were married and had a little girl…but they were involved with the wrong crowd and they tried to get Mary to join them. She refused but her life spiraled down after that and it was only then when she took the money from the twins that Annie and Eric had to finally step in and take control. The sent Mary off to live with The Colonel and Grandma Ruth in 2000. When she left she was dating Robbie Palmer who was homeless until Eric took him under his wing and let him move into the Camden home. Mary recently ran into Wilson and has begun dating him again.

Lucy finally entered her senior year at high school. She went though a lot of boyfriends since 1998. She dated Andrew, Rod, Jimmy Moon, Jordan and some other guys. Recently she met Mike and became really good friends with him…they tried the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing but it didn't work…so they decided to be friends instead. Since the moment that Kevin and she almost kissed has had a really big effect on her. She started to analyze each of her relationships when she was dating…she started to compare them to Kevin…the way they talked to her, treated her, how the acted around her and her family etc. Normally he never had an effect on her dating life but for some odd reason he was the only person that would pop into her mind while she was dating…and this is where the story continues from…Lucy's senior year.

~*~Quick 4 year Update Ends~*~

"MOM…how come I'm always the one with no date on a Friday night?" she whined to Annie. This would be the sixth consecutive Friday night she was dateless…again.

"I don't know Luce…why don't you call someone and see if they want to come over here for a change instead of you always wanting to go out on a date" Annie replied smiling at her daughter. She knew Lucy was bored on a Friday night but she couldn't help but tease her. "What happened to that Jeremy guy Mike set you up with?"

"I don't know…Mike gave me his phone number and I called him…we talked for a few minutes and then he had to go and do something…as usual" she muttered sighing.

"Well that doesn't mean he wasn't doing anything tonight…why don't you try calling him back later and see if he wants to meet you at the pool hall?" Annie suggested.

"I don't—"

"Stop being a chicken Lucy…he won't be another Jimmy Moon if that is what you are worried about"

"I'm not worried about him being another Jimmy Moon mom, I guess…well…I don't know what I'm worried about" she sighed frustrated. She was sick and tired of her parents always bringing up Jimmy Moon after she had broken off with one of her boyfriends. She knew that she made the mistake of going back out with him but she also made the mistake of going back out with him KNOWNING that he was doing drugs.

"Hello…earth to Lucy…the phone is for you" Annie replied waving the cordless phone back and forth in front of her. She snapped back to reality as she grabbed the phone unaware that person who was on was the one person really didn't want to hear from right now.

"Hello?" she spoke into the phone unsure of who might be at the other line.

"Lucy? Hi…it's Jeremy…"

"Oh…hi Jeremy…what are you doing?" she asked politely walking out of the kitchen…she didn't really want her mom to listen to her conversation so she decided to move it into the family room.

"Nothing…actually I wanted to ask you something…Mike mentioned it to me a few days ago"

"Ok…" she replied back sounding uncertain…what was he going to do? Dump her already? They had only been on two dates so it wasn't like they were officially boyfriend/girlfriend yet. She sighed mentally and physically preparing her for his rejection speech about how it wasn't her it was him.

"Would you want to go to prom with me? Mike told me he picked up two extra tickets…he is going to take Alana and he knew how much you wanted to go so he got two extra tickets and offered one to me…under one condition…that you come with me"

She sat there stunned…she opened her mouth the say something…but nothing came out she wanted to tell him yes but her voice wouldn't move an inch.

"Lucy? Are you still here?"

"Yes…I'm still not here…I mean I'm here" she replied back shaking her head trying to get everything to become un-fuzzy.

 "Can you repeat that again for me? I'm…I'm not quite sure I heard what you said" she asked again hoping she heard right the first time.

Jeremy just laughed and shook his head…only Lucy Camden would want him to repeat the same question twice. "I said…and I am only going to repeat myself once more…would you like to go to the prom with me?"

"Are you serious?" she choked out on the phone.

"Of course I'm serious…why wouldn't I be?" he laughed.

"Well…I…I don't know…I guess…well it's…" she couldn't even begin to end one of her sentences she was so excited but she wanted to remain cool and calm not crazy like she normally would be like.

"Come on Lucy…spit it out all ready I don't have all day"

"Neither do I" replied a voice on the telephone that belong to none other than Ruthie.

"MOM RUTHIE IS ON THE PHONE!!!" she yelled to her mom who was still in the kitchen.

"Look Lucy…I have to go but since you have told me yes in about ten different sentences I'll let Mike know…I call you later tonight" Jeremy told her hanging up the phone.

She sighed and hung up the phone and smiled…she was going to prom…something Mary and Matt had never experienced…now it was convincing her parents to let her go. She walked back into the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools by the island and waited until her mom noticed she was in the room.

"Oh good lord Lucy! You scared me"

"Sorry"

"What did Jeremy have to say?" Annie asked innocently.

"Nothing important…just the basic hi, how are you, will you go to prom with me, and I'll call you later type stuff" Lucy answered back trying very hard to hold her smile in.

"That's nice—"Annie started to say when she stopped. She shook her head for a minute and looked at Lucy who had the biggest grin on her face.

"He asked you to the prom Luce? That's great sweetie!" Annie replied walking around the island and giving Lucy a big hug. She was excited…Matt and Mary never went to their proms because Matt never could find a date and Mary was well practically banned from doing any sort of activity with the school.

"Can I go mom? Please?" Lucy asked releasing herself from her moms hug.

"I don't know Luce…going to prom is expensive…you have to get your hair, makeup, nails, a new dress, new shoes…I'm just not sure if we can afford that right now"

"MOM…please…Matt and Mary never went to theirs and I really wanted to go…Mike already bought the tickets for Jeremy and I to go and I just can't turn both of them down!"

"I'll think about it and talk to you dad about it and see what he says…and then if he says it's all right on Saturday you and I will go shopping for your dress"

"Really?" Lucy said looking surprised…she was so sure that her mom would have said no right off the bat that she was shocked…to shocked for words.

"Yes really…now if you will go check on David and Sam for me while I start dinner I just might talk to your father tonight" Annie replied with a smile, walking towards the refrigerator to grab the Lasagna that was already made and threw it into the oven and set the timer and left the kitchen.

Lucy was still sitting in the middle of the island still in shock…she might be going to prom and she was excited! She walked up the stairs just in time to see Ruthie exiting the twin's bedroom.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing" came the 11-year-olds reply

"I'm sure you were doing something…you hardly ever go into the twin's bedroom unless—"Lucy eyes got wide but before she could say anything the door bell rang and Ruthie shot out of the hallway as fast as she could.

"Saved by the bell" Lucy thought to herself as she walked into the twin's bedroom. She stopped in horror…both of her 2-year-old brothers were covered in her mom's make up and in hers. She left the boys in their cribs and walked to the top of the stairs.

"RUTHIE!!" she screamed from the top of the stairs. When she didn't get a response she walked back into the boy's bedroom almost running into Matt who was on the phone.

"Matt…what are you doing? I'm suppose to be cleaning them up for dinner"

"Shhhh…I'm on the phone" came his reply when he started to laugh.

"That was Lucy…yeah I know…all right man…I'll see you in two weeks…I'll let my mom know this time…all right bye" Matt told the person on the phone before hanging up and looking at Lucy.

"Who was that?" Lucy asked wanting to be nosey as usual. "Was it Mary?"

"No"

"Was it Ginger or grandpa?"

"No"

"Well who was it?" she asked frustrated and already sick of guessing. She grabbed David and started to walk out of the room before Matt stopped her.

"I'm not allowed to say Luce…I'm sorry they promised me not to tell anyone"

"Err…Matt that's not fair!! You tell Simon everything…and sometimes even Ruthie…never me!" she whined back walking into the bathroom and turning the tub on.

"Luce…trust me on this one…it's a surprise that no one but me knows about…besides they aren't coming for another two weeks…actually they are coming the weekend of your prom." He replied bringing in Sam and placing him in the tub, while watching Lucy start to scrub off David.

"By the way…who did this anyways?" he asked taking a washcloth from Lucy and starting to clean up Sam.

"Take a guess" she answered dryly.

"Ruthie?" he said with a smile.

"The one and the only" she replied back taking David out of the tub and handing him to Matt, who wrapped him up in a towel.

"Ruthie…what are we going to do with you?" he asked out loud laughing as Lucy joined in leaving Simon who had only heard part of the conversation in the dark shaking his head thinking about what nut cases his older sister and brother were.

Later that night after dinner was eaten, dishes put into the dishwasher, Sam and David tucked in for the night, Ruthie getting into trouble for "painting" their faces, Matt off to the library to finish writing a paper and Simon in his room studying for a history test. So that only left Annie one choice…to talk to Eric about letting Lucy go to the prom.

"Eric, can we talk for a few minutes before you go back into your office?" she asked wiping up the kitchen counter with a wet dish rag.

"Sure…anything in particular?" he probed wiping the placemats off before he placed them on top of one another.

"Lucy" was all she had to say for him to understand.

"What about Lucy?"

"Jeremy called today…it seems that Mike bought tickets for him, Alana, Lucy and Jeremy to go to prom together"

"Oh…what does that have to do with us then?" he asked sitting down on one of the bar stools near the island.

"Well…she really wants to go Eric and I know she doesn't have the money for the dress, the shoes, the purse, her hair and nails…but she would be the first Camden to go…" Annie replied sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.

Little did Annie and Eric know that Lucy was sitting on the second set of steps listening to their whole conversation.

"Can we afford to loan her the money?"

"Well I'll take her to the mall tomorrow after school and we can find out how much everything will cost…Lucy is one of the best bargain shoppers in this family and if she can find a dress that screams her and it's a great deal I think she should get it" Annie replied without looking at Eric.

For what seemed like forever to Lucy she finally heard her dad speak. The answer that she was waiting for never came…instead something else came that she wasn't expecting.

"Well if Lucy wants to go to prom I think we should let her…after all you only get to be a senior in high school once in your lifetime" Eric replied reaching for an apple out of the fruit bowl

She couldn't take it anymore she jumped up from the stairs and rushed down towards the kitchen and stopped where her dad was sitting.

"Are you serious?" she asked panting…trying to catch her breath.

"Am I serious about what?" he repeated back pretending to act dumb

"That I can go to prom?" she repeated again.

"If that's what you want Lucy…then it's ok with me" Eric told her with a smile.

Lucy squealed with excitement as she gave her dad a big hug and rushed over to her mom and hugged her as well. She was so excited to be going to the prom…she had to go and call Patty-Mary.

Even though they still don't get along that much, they still are friends and she knew that when it came to fashion sense and what to do for prom she would love to help.

She raced back up the stairs making tons of noise, not having a care in the world and thundered up the stairs…towards the attic where she and Ruthie shared a room. Ruthie was already asleep so she knew that her call to Patty-Mary would have to wait until the weekend. She was to excited to sleep but she had school tomorrow so slowly she managed to fall asleep thinking about what kind of a dress she wanted to buy.

It was late that night after Eric and Annie had walked through the house checking to make sure that the doors were locked and everyone was tucked in safe and sound they were both almost asleep when Annie sat up in bed and turned her lamp on.

"I'm worried about her Eric"

"Worried…about whom? Mary?" he repeated scrunching his forehead up and turning his lamp on as well.

"No…Lucy"

"Oh…why are you worried about her?

"She's growing up to fast Eric…I feel like we are losing our little girl" Annie started to sob, turning off her lamp.

"Annie—" he began to say

"Eric, don't just sit there and tell me that we are losing our little girl…she is only 17 almost 18 years old! She hasn't even graduated high school yet…I just want these next few months to go by slower than what they have been…I want her to stay my little girl forever" she whimpered into Eric's chest.

"Annie…she is always going to be our little girl…no matter how old she gets she will always be the little girl that use to watch your mom bake cookies, or the little girl that would call her brother Seamon because she couldn't pronounce Simon, she will always be the little girl that tested our parenting to the limit only to realize why god gave her parents…no matter hold old she gets sweetie…Luce is always going to be our little girl" he told her reaching over and turning off his lamp as well…he had a feeling the next few weeks out be like this.

Two weeks later it was Friday…the day before prom and Lucy was excited!

She had found the perfect prom dress at JcPenney…it was a pale lavender, spaghetti style dress that was on clearance. She managed to find shoes, a purse even a black shawl to match it. Annie was proud and so was Eric when he saw it on her when she came home later that evening to show it to him.

Later that night Lucy was the only one in the kitchen because it was the quietest place to study when the phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered

"Lucy? It's Jeremy"

"Oh hey…what you are doing?" she asked him smiling at the thought of her "new" boyfriend of a week and a half.

"Nothing…look I'm afraid I have bad news"

"What?" she asked suspiciously

"I don't think I am going to be able to take you to prom tomorrow night"

"WHAT?" she yelled into the phone catching the attention of both Annie and Eric who were in his office doing their checkbook, who rushed out to see what was wrong.

"I'm sorry…my grandma had a heart attack last night and the doctors don't know if she is going to make it or not"

"Oh…Jeremy I'm sorry…I hope everything is all right with her" she told him truthfully trying to hold her tears back while she was on the phone with him.

"I hope you understand Luce…I swear when I come back I'll make it up to you so you can wear your dress…but look I have to go…my dad is waiting for me out in the car…I'll talk to you when I get back" he told he hanging up the phone.

"Bye" she replied back to the sound of the dial tone. She hit the off button and turned around and ran smack into Annie when she started to cry.

"Luce…sweetie…what's wrong?" Annie asked holding a sobbing Lucy in her arms. She managed to get the phone out of her hand and gave it to Eric to put back into its cradle.

"It's…it's…Jeremy…he…he…can't go to…to…prom with me" she sobbed harder trying to get the words to come out of her mouth.

"What do you mean he can't go to prom with you?" Annie asked angrily…if this was Jeremy's idea of a sick joke and she found out she was going to kill him herself.

Lucy got out of her mother's grasped and wiped her eyes…great her makeup was all smudged now…just what she wanted.

"His grandma had a heart attack last night…the doctors don't know if she will make it through the night tonight"

"Oh Luce…" came Annie's reply.

Just as Eric opened his mouth ready to say something about how god must have had something different planned for Lucy instead the doorbell rang and he walked towards the front door to answer it.

Since curiosity runs in the family, both Annie and Lucy followed Eric to the front door when he opened it…and it just so happened it looked like god did have a different plan for Lucy after all.

There standing on the Camden's front porch stood Kevin Kinkirk…the one person that would turn Lucy's awful day into something much better.