Disclaimer: I still don't own 7th Heaven.

Chapter 13

It had been a beautiful morning when Ruthie went out for her everyday run. While she was out running she could have sworn she'd seen Martin, but she shook her head and laughed. Martin's not in Glen Oak. He's off playing baseball, probably even dating one of those sports money groupies. The kind of girl who only like the guy cause of the money. I'll bet she's pretty.

When she got home she saw that she had one new message on her answering machine. She pressed play to listen to it.

1 new message received on Saturday July 25.

"Hey Ruthie it's mom. Just wondering if you were coming over for dinner today. Call me back. Love you sweetie."

Ruthie picked up the phone to call her mother to tell her she still planned on coming to dinner. The phone rang twice before her mom picked up.

"Hey mom it's Ruthie. I'm still coming, just like I come every Saturday. I don't know why even call anymore."

"Ruthie I'm glad you're coming, but I call because I never know if you have a date. You could soon, you never know." Annie said thinking of Martin. She wasn't going to bother her daughter by telling her that Martin and Beau were coming over. So she'd keep a secret from her youngest daughter, it's not like Ruthie hadn't kept plenty from her and Eric. She admired her daughter for that though, the fact that Ruthie could keep secrets and that it allowed people to trust her.

"Alright mom, I'll see you later. I'm going to finish my novel and maybe do some shopping. I've decided that I'm sick of my wardrobe. It's so boring and makes me look older than I am.

"Ok, goodbye sweetie. I'll see you later. I love you."

"Love you too mom. Bye."

As soon as Annie hung up with Ruthie, she called Beau to invite him and Martin to dinner, and to inform him of her plan to reunite Ruthie and Martin without their knowledge. She and Beau talked for twenty minutes, to Annie's surprise Beau agreed. Annie knew that Beau loved Ruthie like a daughter, but she never thought that he thought the exact same as her.

Earlier in the morning Martin had walked to Mac's apartment to see his long time best friend. He hadn't talked to him in forever and wanted to catch up. He got there and Mac greeted him at the door. If this had been 5 years ago Mac would have told him to fuck off for being here this early.

"Martin! What's up man?"

"Well, I'm coming back to live in Glen Oak."

"You're shittin' me!"

"No man. I'm going to be the gym teacher and new baseball coach."

"Wait, so the injury was for real?"

"Yeah, I'm probably not going to play professional anymore."

"That sucks man!"

"So what have you been doing?"

"Well, I actually opened a teen club here."

"You're kidding me?"

"No, I opened it right after college. I just remember there not being much to do here in high school, so I decided to open a 16-20 club. It's making good money, and teens come from other towns to listen to the bands and other things. It's only open 5 to 10 on Sundays through Thursdays during the school year. On Fridays and Saturdays it's open 5-12. There's different things on different nights, we serve food and non-alcoholic drinks of course but you can get a mock cocktail and they're at affordable prices for teens. I remember taking a girl out on a date and going out with friends and not having enough money to pay for stuff. Don't you?"

"Yeah, it was kinda hard sometimes. So it sounds like you're doing really good for yourself Mac. You dating anybody to go along with your perfect career?"

"Actually I am dating someone. I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight. It's our 2 year anniversary."

"Wow, congratulations man. Who is it?"

"You remember Shelby?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Well I didn't have the courage to ask her out after graduation and I never saw her again. Well, anyway 2 years ago I started the opening of the club and I called a company to help me decorate the place and Shelby showed up. We got to talking and we've been dating ever since."

"That's great Mac. I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks. You talked to Ruthie since you've been back?"

"I haven't talked to her since the night of prom."

"I'll tell ya man. She's even more gorgeous than she was back then."

Martin gave Mac a glare that told him something.

"Sorry, I just thought you'd like to know. I've been hanging out with her a lot lately since she and Shelby are still friends. She's doing great herself. You should see her."

"Well, I've been thinking about it, but I'm still not quite sure. Can I tell you something Mac?"

"Sure, you can tell me anything."

"You gotta promise not to say anything to anyone including Shelby."

"Ok, no problem man."

Martin told Mac the entire story from last night, about what Annie gave him up 'til the last word he read. Mac sat there in shock. Ruthie never seemed like that kind of girl, but it was always the quiet ones.

"I'm gonna give you the best advice I will probably ever give you. Go to her and tell her everything, well not everything. Don't tell her you got that stuff, but tell her everything else. Don't waste the opportunity again Martin, it may not come again, and then you'll be kicking yourself in the ass because you couldn't tell her how you felt about her."

"I can't argue with that. I'll figure something out and do it tonight. I'm actually going to tell her tonight. I'm going to say, 'Ruthie Camden, I'm in love with you.'"