Don't own any characters.

Chapter Four
The Truth Hurts, but so do Lies

"We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger."
-Tad Williams

The conversation Eric had just had with his youngest daughter terrified him. He thought he was safe from being found out. Thoughts raced through Eric's mind as he tried to decide what to do. Ruthie had dropped the subject but that doesn't mean she believed the lie Eric had told. He was sure she didn't. Ruthie is a smart girl and of course she knows what her father looks like. The look on her face when she threatened to kick her out killed him. It just kind of slipped out. He loved Ruthie; she was the only one who seemed to appreciate all Annie and he had done for her and her siblings. She was the only grateful one.

A sudden voice at the doorway of his church office made Eric jump. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Lucy walk in.

"You okay there, Dad?" Lucy chuckled.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just didn't notice you there," explained Eric.

Lucy smiled. Her father had been stressed about the new church for months.

"You shouldn't stress about the new congregation. You did it once, you can do it again," Lucy reassured.

"That was a very different time, though, Luce," Eric countered.

Lucy knew her father was right. She also knew that it was her father's fault, along with that of her mother's. It was her parents who made their family this way. Her father deserved to suffer.

"Excuse me?" Eric startled Lucy. "What did you say?"

Lucy stuttered, unable to utter a complete word. "What do you mean?" Lucy responded when she was finally able to speak.

"You said something about suffering. I think you said something about I deserve to suffer."

Lucy was, once again, speechless.

"You think I deserve all this because of my choices? I was trying to hold our family together, Lucy!"

"Then why did you separate us?" Lucy yelled, the anger from that day coming back to her.

"Because you needed to learn something! Simon and Ruthie needed to learn something! It worked, Lucy! You realized your mistake and came home!"

"I didn't come home because I thought I was wrong. I came home because-"Lucy trailed off. Why had she come home?

"Because why, Lucy?" Eric pushed Lucy to answer. He could not believe his daughter had lied to him.

"I guess I was just scared, Dad. I was only a kid; I wasn't ready to be on my own," Lucy said slowly, unsure of her answer. She had never said that out loud before, not even to Matt and Mary, although she was sure they knew. Lucy watched the multiple expressions flash across her father's face and immediately regretted her decision. His expression stopped on a mix between disbelief and anger before he said, "You are nothing more than a coworker. You are not my daughter."

Lucy quickly nodded her head. She already knew that this was the agreement.

Lucy grabbed her bags off the rotating belt and sighed. She had taken the first step and was back in Glen Oak. Unfortunately, the next part was the hardest and Lucy had no idea what to do. No one, except Matt and Mary, knew she was back home, so no one would be picking her up from the airport. She was also unsure whether she would have somewhere to sleep tonight.

"I should have made hotel reservations, just in case," Lucy quietly whispered to herself while rolling her bags towards the door. She called a taxi and impatiently waited for it to arrive.

When the taxi finally appeared, she silently gathered her bags and got in, telling the driver the address of her childhood home.

The ride was one of the longest Lucy had ever experienced. Her hands were shaking as she rolled her bags up the walk and rang the doorbell. Another eternity passed before the door opened revealing her little sister, who wasn't so little anymore. Ruthie's eyes widened at the sight before her. She had hoped for this day and couldn't believe it was actually happening.

"What are you doing here?" Ruthie asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"Are Mom and Dad home?" Lucy asked, purposefully avoiding Ruthie's question.

"Yes, but do you really think they want to talk to you?" Ruthie responded with a half-chuckle.

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes. She was hoping her parents would be mature and welcome their daughter in. They didn't have to be kind, just civil. Ruthie interrupted her thoughts when she stepped outside onto the porch and closed the door. She led her older sister to the stairs and sat down. Lucy followed and waited for the younger girl to speak.

"They're not over it, Luce. I've tried so many times but they just won't listen to me. They're not going to listen to you. I am barely willing to listen to you. In fact, you've got five minutes," Ruthie said before looking at her watch and continuing. "And go!"

"I'm sorry, Ruthie. I'm really, really, really sorry!" Lucy said, hoping an apology would suffice. She knew it was too late for an explanation.

"Is that all you've got? You left, Lucy! Simon and I had to fend for ourselves and then he left, too! Do you know what that's like?"

"I don't know what else to say, Ruthie! I know what I did was wrong!"

"Tell me why you're here," Ruthie responded sternly. Lucy looked at her baby sister and saw how much she had changed. In five years, it looked as if she had aged 20 years. Ruthie was no longer the cute, lovable little girl they had left behind. She was angry and hateful, and she deserved to be.

"I'm getting married."

Ruthie looked at her sister expectantly. Lucy shrugged, not knowing what Ruthie wanted. Ruthie rolled her eyes. "So?"

"So I want them there."

"Do you really think they don't know about it? They just don't care, Luce. Why are you really here?"

"I-I-I don't know," Lucy stuttered.

"Well, you better figure it out before you talk to Mom and Dad. They're not going to let you in just because of some wedding."

Ruthie stood up and turned to enter the house when Lucy stopped her.

"But do you forgive me, Ruthie?" Lucy asked in a small voice.

Ruthie made her way into the house and shut the door behind her, leaving Lucy in tears. A few minutes later, Ruthie returned.

"You can come in," Ruthie said.

Lucy looked at her little sister in disbelief. When she saw that Ruthie was not trying to play a trick on her, she stood up, gathered her belongings, and followed the younger girl into the house. Lucy was pleasantly surprised when she saw that nothing had changed. Her father's voice interrupted her when he said, "What are you doing here, Lucy."

She noticed the sparkle in his eyes was missing. They were no longer the loving blue orbs she had gotten used to as a child. Like Ruthie's, his face was now filled with bitterness, anger, and hate. Lucy took a step back before responding, "I want to come back home, Dad." She was terrified but tried not to show it.

Annie stood up from her place on the living room couch and walked toward her daughter. Lucy had not even noticed her; it was too dark. The entire house was not as bright as it had been years before which saddened Lucy.

"Why should we allow you back into our lives?"

"Because I-I-" Lucy lowered her head to the ground. She didn't have a reason. Lucy was about to cry when she noticed a brown curl peeking out from behind the kitchen cabinet. A second later, the face of her younger sister appeared, but this time, Ruthie looked younger than the 13 year-old girl that she was. Ruthie looked lost and Lucy knew she needed to help her. Lucy lifted her head up, looked her parents in the eyes and said, "Families forgive each other for their mistakes."

Her father stood up a little straighter so that he was his full height and said, "You are not a part of this family."

"Dad, please! Can't we work this out? I can work at the church and be Ruthie's sister, just like it was supposed to be!"

Eric thought a minute. Could he allow this girl back into this house? "You're not Ruthie's sister. The most you will ever be is a coworker, but you are not my daughter, nor will you ever be my daughter."

"I can handle that," Lucy said sadly.

Eric exited to his study to work on his sermon for the coming Sunday, leaving Annie and Lucy alone in the foyer. Neither knew what to say to the other. Annie noticed Lucy's luggage and said, "Do you need us to call a hotel or do you already have a place to stay?"

Lucy nodded and said, "I'm fine, thank you."

Annie walked away from the girl to start dinner. When she had disappeared completely, Lucy walked into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa in quiet sobs. When she heard footsteps enter the room, her sobs immediately ceased. The last thing she needed was her parents to walk in on her crying. When she looked up, however, she saw Ruthie staring back at her. The girls locked eyes for several minutes before Ruthie spoke, "I can't forgive you. You know that, right?"

Lucy nodded. She had been optimistic that Ruthie would forgive her but she knew it would never really happen. "Can you at least understand why I did it?"

"I do understand," Ruthie shrugged. "I just can't forgive you for it."

Lucy felt the tears welling up in her eyes again. "Then why can't you forgive me, Ruthie?"

Ruthie looked her sister right in the eyes and stood there for a minute. "Because I don't trust you anymore, Lucy. You hurt me. All of you did. I won't put myself in the position to be hurt again."

Lucy felt the tears welling up in her eyes again. It was ruined. She had no one on her side anymore and she realized that had been when Ruthie had gone through. "I can be there for you, now, Ruthie. We can be sisters again and go through this together!" Lucy hoped her sister would agree.

"It'll never be the way it was. Maybe one day we can be friends but I just don't trust you enough to let you in enough to be my sister. I've been hurt by too many brothers and sisters."

Lucy looked at her sister's eyes and saw the older girl, again. This scared Lucy. Ruthie had seen way too much for her young age. Lucy couldn't believe they had done this to Ruthie. It wasn't fair to her and Lucy was going to fix it, whether Ruthie was willing to accept her help or not. Two small boys entered the room and immediately noticed Lucy. "Who is that girl?" One of the boys asked Ruthie.

"That's just Lucy," Ruthie responded. "She just moved to Glen Oak."

The boys both nodded before running off to play.

Ruthie noticed the confused expression on her sister's face. "Congratulations, you have two new younger brothers," she said sarcastically before turning to find the young boys.

Lucy softly sighed and looked at the man before her. She missed the days when they were a family.

Ruthie was tired of her room. She had been grounded for a week when she left during dinner, which was really before but her mother didn't see it that way. Ruthie still didn't understand why she should starve because of her father. She had taken a joyride the other day, which resulted in her being grounded for an entire month. Based on what she had seen that day and the fact that Simon was in her house again, Ruthie felt that being grounded for an entire month was cruel and unusual punishment, especially since Winter Break was coming up.

Today was the perfect day to sneak out. Her mother was busy getting ready for Christmas in a few days. Ruthie could sneak down to Peter's house easily. She crept down the attic stairs and peeked into the hallway to make sure none of her brothers were there. She loved Sam and David, but they could be tattletales. Simon would just tell on her out of spite. When she saw the coast was clear, she quietly crept to the stairs and listened so she could tell which staircase was safer to go down. Ruthie heard her mother cooking in the kitchen so she crept out the front door and into freedom.

Ruthie sprinted to Peter's house. He was her lifeline and she hated being cut off from him. She pounded on his door until it finally opened, revealing her nervous boyfriend.

"What's wrong?" Ruthie asked.

"Your mom just called. She wants you home."

"How did she know I was here?"

"I don't know, but she called my mom and now I'm in trouble, too!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble, Peter!"

"I know you didn't. You better get home, though."

Ruthie walked to her house slowly. She was in no rush to get back to her prison. As soon as she opened the front door, Ruthie heard her mother yell, "Ruth Ann Camden, get in the kitchen! NOW!"

After rolling her eyes, Ruthie made her way to the kitchen, where she found her mother with her hands on her hips and wild, angry eyes.

"You want to explain this to me, Ruthie, because I just don't get it. Why do you think you are allowed to leave the house when you're grounded?"

"Because you ground me for stupid reasons!"

"Since when is leaving a family dinner a 'stupid' reason for being grounded?"

"Maybe since you kicked my older brothers and sisters out of the house and we stopped being a family."

"I don't need your smartass remarks right now. I want an honest explanation as to what the hell is going on with you that you feel the need to blatantly disrespect your father and me."

"I lost all respect for you ten years, four months, and two days ago."

"I am your mother, Ruthie, I know what is right for you!"

"Do you really think the life I have right now is better than what I had before? You think Sam and David have a better life when they don't even know all their brothers and sisters?"

"It was the right decision then and it is the right decision now."

Ruthie stormed past her mother and made her way up the stairs. When she reached the top, she found Simon with a smirk on his face.

"What's wrong with your face?" Ruthie sneered.

"Oh, I'm just really happy right now."

"Finally learn your ABCs? Aw, I'm so proud of you, Simon!"

"No. After almost two weeks of you making my life more difficult, I finally got to return the favor."

Simon turned to go in his room when Ruthie's voice stopped him.

"Wait a minute! You're the one who told mom I left?"

"You always were the smart one," Simon said with a smirk.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you're grounded, Ruthie, you're not supposed to leave."

"I'm aware of that, Sherlock, but now I'm in so much more trouble!"

"All I did was tell mom the truth. If you don't like what the truth is, maybe you should change it."

Ruthie scoffed as her brother entered his room and shut the door. She ran to her room and slammed the door shut, wishing for a new family.

Simon was proud of himself. Ruthie deserved all the punishment she received. She had been a brat since he arrived in Glen Oak. He was watching television when he felt a smack on the back of his head. Sure that it was Ruthie, he was very surprised when it was Lucy standing behind him.

"Why would you tell Ruthie that I called you?" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I figured you had told her."

"Well, I didn't, Doofus, and now she's mad at me, too!"

"Did you really just call me 'Doofus'? That's a comeback from like third grade."

That comment earned Simon a smack and an even angrier Lucy.

"I called you to help fix this mess, not make it worse!"

"I'm trying, Luce, but you know how stubborn Ruthie is! It's going to take a while, especially since she doesn't trust me anymore."

"Yea, she doesn't trust me either! I thought we were finally getting somewhere, but now, thanks to you, I'm back to the beginning!"

"I'm sorry, Lucy, it was an accident. I didn't do it to make things worse," Simon said calmly.

"You need to fix your relationship with Ruthie, Simon. You're the one she went to the most when she was younger."

"But that was when we were younger. Things have changed!"

"Simon…" Lucy started before she was interrupted.

"I'll try, Luce. I promise, I will try my best."

Lucy nodded and turned to leave the room when she suddenly stopped walking. Simon looked what had caused her to stop all movement and saw Sam and David with confused faces.

Lucy turned to Simon and said, "This is all you." She walked out of the living room, sliding the doors closed behind her.

"Who are you?" Sam broke the silence.

"I'm Simon, you know that."

"But Ruthie said you were someone from church that Daddy was trying to help," Sam replied.

"Yea, and you were talking about knowing Ruthie a long time ago. Lucy, too," David added.

"Well, you see, I'm sorta, kinda…your older brother," Simon stumbled out nervously.

"We don't have any other brothers," David informed Simon, "only a sister."

"You each have three sisters and three brothers," Simon corrected the young boys.

"Sam's my only brother and Ruthie's my only sister," David enforced.

"You don't even know that Lucy is your sister?" Simon was confused as to why Sam and David wouldn't know about their relation to Lucy.

"No, she just works with Dad so she comes over a lot. She's not related to us at all," Sam said.

Simon had to fight back the tears in his eyes. Sam and David only had two siblings, as far as they knew. He couldn't believe Ruthie had done that.

Simon didn't know if he should be excited or angry. His parents were pregnant again and he couldn't decide if they were trying to replace their three oldest children. Ruthie, who was sitting to his right, didn't know how to react either. She had always been the youngest and enjoyed the role.

"What's going to happen to us, Simon?" Ruthie whispered.

That question was what made Simon miss his older brother and sisters. Now that they were gone, he was the oldest and expected to know all the answers.

"We'll be fine, Ruthie. We have each other," Simon assured her.

"But, Simon, they won't even know…them."

Simon and Ruthie were afraid to speak their older siblings name in their house. They didn't know what would happen if Annie and Eric were to overhear them.

"Sure they will! They still have us to tell them stories. That's what makes people, people anyway. It a person's soul you remember, not his or her body."

"Alright, if you say so..."

"Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

"Yes," Ruthie answered honestly.

"Okay, thatmightbe true, but still. It'll all be okay as long as we both work hard to make sure that baby know he or she has five siblings, not two."

"I'm in!" Ruthie exclaimed.

"Great. Now all we have to do is find a way to tell Matt, Mary and Lucy."

"I think they'll know. They're good at their job. They have to know when they get a new sibling."

"That's true. Besides, they've been through it so many times!"

Ruthie and Simon both laughed, their moods lightened dramatically. Everything would be okay. They weren't going to mess up with this newest addition, though.

"So, so Ruthie never taught you anything?" Simon asked.

"She's taught us a lot of stuff."

"But nothing about me or Lucy or Matt or Mary?" Simon asked, starting to raise his voice, which scared Sam and David.

"Could you please not scream at my little brothers? That'd be great, thanks," Ruthie said as she walked down the last few steps and headed toward the kitchen.

Simon ran after her and grabbed her arm, turning her around/

"How could you not teach them about their family? We agreed that we would Ruthie! How could you just ignore that?"

"The same way you did."

"Ruthie, stop. Just give me an answer. Tell me how to fix this! I'm begging you!"

"Do you really think I wanted to talk about the four of you? Do you really think I was able to even think about you without bursting into tears? I'm the oldest, now. I have to be strong for them."

"Not even when they got older?"

"Sam plays basketball. He absolutely loves it and is one of the best players on his rec. team. He's also blonde with a knack for money. Did you know what David suggested as a nickname for Sam one day? 'The Bank of Sam.' How am I not supposed to cry after something like that. And David! He's so sneaky but loves helping others. He thinks he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. The older they get, the worse it is because the more they become like you and me. They play together the way all five of us used to."

"You could have at least told them that Lucy is their sister."

"I tried, but Mom and Dad were even trying to tell me that she wasn't my sister. And I told you, Simon, I'm going to protect them from any pain. You left them once. How do I know you won't leave them again?"

"It's not your choice, though, Ruthie."

"Do you really think Mom and Dad would have told them the truth?"

Simon didn't respond. He knew his sister had won as he watched her walk away from him.

Okay, so thanks for reading all of thisI started it a long time ago and had a bunch of chapters already finished but I deleted all of them so that I could start over. I didn't like where it was going before so yea! I'm going to TRY to finish it this time. I want to, but I make no promises. It's been a while since I've even watched 7thHeaven so I'm not as into it, but I want to write more. I want to be a journalist so I need as much practice as I can get! Haha.

I think it's dumb when people require a certain number of reviews before another update- people should write stories on here because they love to write or they love the show/movie/whatever. So I don't really care about reviews very much, but if you have any ideas or suggestions about what should happen next, please tell me! I have a basic idea of where this is going but I'm always open to suggestions! Also, if there's something you like, tell me and I'll add more. If you have constructive criticism for me, please let me know! I know I'm not perfect and I want to improve my writing skills, so if you have any suggestions that'd be awesome! If you have any questions, just ask. I know that sometimes what goes on in my head doesn't make sense to others.

I also don't know how regularly I'll be able to update. I'm in college now, so there are times where I'm just too busy. I'll write as much as I can, but school comes first! Especially now with finals and stuff. Gross.

Alright, well that's it. Thanks for reading!