Disclaimer: I am not the owner of these characters, if I was the series final would have been different. Please enjoy.

Chapter 8- Ruthie

Annie and Ruthie pulled up to the mall with Eric's credit card nestled safely in Annie's wallet. They were armed and ready to go.

"Where do you wanna go first Ruthie?"

"I think we should start at Bella. If that's ok and it's not too expensive."

"Ruthie Bella is fine. Don't worry about the cost. I just want you to be happy and wear a dress you feel beautiful in."

Bella was an expensive store that carried on of a kind dresses. Ruthie couldn't believe that her mother said yes. She hoped her father wouldn't be too upset when he saw the bill.

They entered the store and what Ruthie saw amazed her. She saw some of the most beautiful dresses in the world.

"Where should we start Ruthie?"

Ruthie an orange form fitting halter dress with the back cut out so she grabbed it. She also saw a pink off the shoulder dress with a skirt that puffed out just a little, and the bodice was covered in clear diamantes. Then she saw a green dress that was a knee length a-line dress. It had rusching on the bodice and had a little brooch in the middle along with the spaghetti straps. She was carrying all three dresses when a sales assistant saw her and said,

"Here let me get take those and get you a dressing room."

Annie followed and took a seat on the couch in the dressing room area so she could see Ruthie model them for her. She came out in the first dress and it was just too mature for Ruthie and Annie was glad she didn't have to say anything to her daughter because just as she was about to say something Ruthie said,

"No this one won't work, it's just too old for me. I'm gonna try on the second one."

It was a shock at how more mature her youngest daughter was than her other two daughters were at that age. Lucy would have tried to fight tooth and nail for a dress like that. She heard her daughter open the door and looked up. She almost laughed at the sight. The dress was all wrong for Ruthie. It was more of something Lucy would have worn.

"Ugh, I don't think so mom. This is a total Lucy dress. I do not look good in pink."

"It's alright Ruthie. Go try on the green one."

When she came out in the green one Annie thought that it looked nice on her daughter, but she had a strange feeling that it wasn't the one for her daughter, but it was Ruthie's choice.

"What do you think Ruthie?"

"Well, I like it, but I'd still like to look at the other dresses in the store."

So she continued to look through the store, putting the green dress aside in case she didn't find anything else. She kept trying on dress after dress after dress and still had found "the one." She was about to give up and walk out of the store to go to another one, when she saw a dress that she loved immediately and wondered how she didn't see it before. So she grabbed it up and took it back to the dressing room.

Annie was at her wits end, they'd been in the store for almost 2 hours, but despite the fact that she was about to go crazy, she was having fun with Ruthie. She saw Ruthie come rushing back with a dress, but didn't even see it because Ruthie was going so fast.

It took a few minutes to get the dress on because it had a big skirt, but when it was on, she felt more beautiful than she'd ever felt. She walked out the dressing room door to her mother.

Annie's breath caught in her throat and she knew this was the dress. So she said,

"That's it Ruthie, that's the one you're meant to wear. Change back into your clothes and we'll take it to the register."

Ruthie changed and carried it to the counter and never in her whole life had she felt so special. This dress was going to make Martin weak in the knees. She was sure of it. Before they left the mall they stopped into a jewelry store and bought some earrings, a necklace and a little tiara. They also picked up a pair of shoes and a handbag.

When they finally got back to the house it was almost dinner time, and so instead of making dinner Annie said they could order pizza from Pete's.

As she fell into bed that night Annie started to cry. Eric asked her what was wrong and she told him that she was crying because Ruthie was growing up so fast and before they knew it Ruthie was going to be graduating, then off to college, then graduating college, getting married, having kids. It was going by too fast for Annie, but she was willing to accept the fact that Ruthie was no longer the little girl that loved to watch Xena: Warrior Princess and the girl that wanted to wear a tuxedo to Eric and Annie's vow renewals.