I thought give you all a early Christmas present and post the 8th chapter a little bit early. Merry Christmas!

Chapter 8: And Unto this Day a Child is Born

It was Christmas Eve and the Camden family that included Matt, Sarah and twins, Jacob and Joseph, were gathered in the living room. Mary, Carlos, Charlie and the twins, Carmen and Jenny, were in Puerto Rico with Carlos' family. Simon and Megan were still on their honeymoon. The Colonel and Ruth had gone back to New York to tie up some loose ends and spend the holiday with George, who had returned from Iraq on a short furlough. He didn't have the time to travel to California.

Ruthie sat on the floor next to the Christmas tree. Dressed in a red baby doll dress and black leggings she looked stylish yet festive. The Camdens were in the midst of their usual Christmas tradition where each member of the family gives a gift they made or gave up some of their own to get a gift for the person who's name they drew out of a hat.

"I love it." Ruthie exclaimed lifted a chunky, black beaded necklace out of the box in her lap. "Thank you, Sarah. Did you make it?"

"Yes. It's my new hobby. I find it relaxing." The curly, darked-haired young woman explained. Even though Sarah was Jewish, she celebrated Christmas with Matt since he grew up with the holiday.

"Well, it looks great with my outfit." Ruthie clasped the necklace around her neck.

"My turn!" David exclaimed practically climbing over Ruthie's lap to reach a poorly wrapped gift that lay near her knee. He then hurried over to Lucy, who was sitting in the arm chair, and dropped the gift in her lap.

Lucy carefully unwrapped the gift to reveal a wood box painted pink with the word 'Lucy' painted in white on the lid.

"I made it myself!" David declared.

"With a little help." Annie added from her place on the couch.

"Well, I love it." Lucy said generously leaning over to give her little brother a hug and a kiss. As she leaned back, her face suddenly paled.

Kevin noticed Lucy's strange reaction. "Are you okay, Luc?"

Lucy gulped. "My water just broke."

"What?" Kevin looked like he was going to faint.

Annie sprang up into action. "Kevin, you and Eric can take Lucy to the van. Matt, call the hospital and let them know we're coming. Sarah, you can watch the kids."

"We want to come." Sam and David shouted.

Annie hestitated a second. "Okay. You guys head out to car. Ruthie, can you get Lucy's suitcase."

"Sure." Ruthie said breathlessly.

"It's in our bedroom." Kevin said as he helped Lucy up from her chair.

Ruthie dashed out of the living room over to the kitchen and out the backdoor toward the Kinkirk house. Her heart was beating with adrenaline as she was sure the rest of the family's hearts were also. Lucy didn't have the best track record with pregnancy. During her first pregnancy, she almost lost Savannah and her second pregnancy ended tragically in a miscarriage. Ruthie would do anything for this baby to be born quickly and healthy.

Rushing into her sister's house, Ruthie ran up the stairs grab the suitcase that stood near the door of the bedroom and was out of the house as quick as a wink.

The hospital was cold as always. Ruthie hugged her arms trying to warm her body. The clanging of some food carts could be heard down the hall. Sam and David slept peacefully on the couch across from Ruthie. It was midnight. It was official Christmas. It had been three hours since they brought Lucy to the hospital. An hour since Ruthie last heard from Matt that there had been some complications.

Ruthie got up. Hoping if she moved around a little she would warm up. Pacing about the room, she felt herself going more and more crazy as she heard the ticking of the clock on the wall. Oh how she wished Sam and David has agreed to stay at home else she wouldn't be stuck a floor away from the maternity ward in the children's waiting room.

Impulsively, she grabbed the cell phone out of her purse and started dialing a number.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered.

"Martin!" Ruthie exclaimed.

"Ruthie? What are you doing calling at this hour? Are you okay?" His voice changed from confused to concerned.

"I'm fine. But Lucy's in labor and I'm here in this waiting room all alone and…" Ruthie felt like she was about to cry.

"Just hang on. I'll be right there." Martin said quickly before hanging up.

The voices of a some nurses passing by the waiting room traveled into Ruthie's ear causing her to stir from her sleep. Nestled deeper down into what she thought was a pillow, she tried to fall back into a deep slumber. That failed to happened when she realized her pillow was moving up down slightly as if breathing. Shooting her eyes open and seeing her brothers asleep across from her, she realized she was still in the waiting room at the hospital. What time is it? She thought forgetting a moment about her "pillow." Her watch read 1:30 in the morning.

She wondered how Lucy's was and was about to get up when she realized she had her head resting on Martin's chest and his arm was around her. When did he get here? She wondered finding herself blushing even though Martin was asleep. She gently lifted herself up and out of his arms. He stirred but she was able to get herself situated at the other of end of the couch before he fully awakened.

"Hey, sleepy." She teased. "When did you get here?"

Martin blinked a little and straightened his back. "Um." He looked at his watch. "About an hour ago. You were asleep when I arrived. I just figured it would be best to let you sleep than have you wake up and worry."

Ruthie smiled gently. "Thanks. And thanks for coming. I just needed a friend."

"Well, that's what I'm here for." Martin smiled back.

They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Annie came rushing into the room.

"It's a girl. And Lucy's doing great!" She announced enthusiastically causing Sam and David to wake up.

"We're uncles again!" They proclaimed immediately awake.

"Yes. And I'm a grandmother seven times over." Annie clasped her hands. It was at that moment she noticed Martin standing behind Ruthie. "Oh, Martin. Why are you here?"

Martin was about to answer but Ruthie's interrupted. "I called him. I felt a little lonely and worried down here by myself."

Annie obvious irked by the fact that Ruthie was finding dependence on Martin again coldly replied. "Well, I guess we should have kept you more informed on the labor. Of course, you can come see the baby too if you want."

"Thank you, Mrs. Camden." Martin responded politely. "I'd love to see the new member of the Kinkirk clan."

"We want to see it too." Sam jumped up.

"Yeah." David came after.

"You all can see the baby. She's in the nursery right now. Lucy's sleeping." Annie motioned for the young people to follow her.

There she was. Elizabeth Ruth Kinkirk wrapped in a pink quilt in the crib right in front of the window. She was so beautiful.

Sam and David stared at her in awe.

"It was nice of Lucy and Kevin to give her your name." Martin comment from his place right next to Ruthie.

Never leaving her eyes from the baby, Ruthie answered, "They didn't name it after me. They named it after my grandmother, Ruth Camden."

"Oh, I didn't know." Martin stated simply.

No more words were spoken from that point on. Everyone's minds were on the precious gift that lay before them and the precious gift that was given to them 2000 years ago. Ruthie only prayed that someday she would have her own precious gift. And deep down in her heart she knew it had to be with the man standing right next to her.

Next time on Far Away: Ruthie comes to face the truth about her feelings for Martin while on a date with Bryant. (January 5, 2008)