Disclaimer: I do not own the 7th Heaven characters. They belong to their creator Brenda Hampton.

Chapter 7

Ruthie Camden sat on her porch just thinking about Martin and that dream she'd had. She had no idea why she was still thinking about it. She knew she shouldn't, but it made her smile, and she would never tell anyone about that dream. She'd been logging her Martin dreams into a journal so that she wouldn't have the urge to tell anyone about it. At the moment she was thinking about wanting to see Martin today, she saw him crossing the street to her.

"Hey Martin what's up?"

"Well, I had a question for you."

"Really, what is it?"

"Well, I wanted to know if you'd go to prom with me."

Ruthie thought, 'Oh my damn! Am I dreaming again?' But then Martin said,

"It's just that I want to go with someone I'm comfortable with, a really good friend, and not some random girl I barely know. So what do you say?"

He didn't know want her to know the real reason just yet. It'll be easier to make her think I'm just asking as a friend first.

"Sure, but I've gotta ask my parents. Hold on, I'll be right back."

Ruthie walked inside to find her parents, she was really nervous and wondered if they'd say no. 'Calm down Ruthie. Give them a chance, they might surprise you and say yes. They trust Martin.' Knowing he was asking her as just a friend was a little disappointing, but that outweighed the fact that she'd get to sharing a special night with Martin.

Martin waited outside, and hoped that the Rev. and Annie said she could go. He knew they probably didn't see him as a threat, but they were wrong. He wanted to do things to Ruthie that they would never approve of.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Yes Ruthie?" Eric asked his youngest daughter.

"Can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure sweetheart, what is it?" Annie asked

"Well, Martin wanted to know if he could take me to prom. He just wanted to go with a friend he was comfortable with instead of some random girl."

'Well, well. I always knew something would happen. I was wondering when he'd get a clue.' Annie had a sneaking suspicion that Martin didn't just ask her daughter for that reason. She'd noticed lately that Martin looked at Ruthie in a different way. Very different than when he'd lived with them. She knew they both cared for each other, and knew that even though they were teenagers and it was prom night, they could trust Martin to be a gentleman.

"Sure you can sweetie. We'll go shopping for a dress today. Go tell him you can go and then we'll get going."

"Thanks mom."

It didn't escape her attention that Ruthie was more grateful to her mother than she ever be in her entire life. And she was glad she could make her daughter truly happy at least once.

Ruthie ran back out to Martin, and when he saw her his heart was beating so loudly that he swore she could hear it.

"They said I could go, but I've gotta get going mom's taking me shopping for a dress."

Martin was acting cool on the outside, but inside he was beaming, and felt like the happiest and luckiest man in the world.

"Ok, I'll pick you up at 6:00 to go to dinner. The dance will start at 8:00 so that'll give us plenty of time to eat."

"Alright, I'll see ya later."

"Bye."

Martin walked away thinking about the night that would change his life, at the same time that Ruthie was walking away thinking the same thing.

And they were right. It would change their lives. But how? Would it be for the good, or the bad? Neither of them knew exactly what the night would be like, but neither of them dreamed that it would end up the way it did.