Disclaimer: I still do not own anything.

Chapter 14

Mike's POV

"Why aren't you freaking out?" Lucy asked me as she paced back in forth in front of the kitchen counter.

"Why should I be? It's just your grandfather." I asked. How bad could one old man possibly be? If her parents understood and supported us, then surely her grandfather would without a problem.

"Wrong. It's not just my grandfather. It's the Colonel. He is not going to like the situation we're in and he will be plenty angry about it. He's a former marine and he demands respect. You don't want to be anywhere near the Colonel when he is angry." Lucy ranted.

I was still suspicious. I love Lucy, but sometimes she has a tendency to over exaggerate. "How bad could he possibly be?"

"Bad," Mary conformed from the kitchen table. "Very bad. The Colonel has already scared off most of our ex boyfriends. He'll probably do the same to you."

"I'm not scared of your grandfather," I told them confidently. "He's not going to run me off. We'll sit down and explain everything and he'll understand like most everyone else."

"You really are delusional." Mary shook her head at me.

"Yeah, you really should be afraid," Lucy added, looking me in the eyes.

"Very afraid," Mary agreed. "You my friend are fresh meat. When the Colonel smells fresh meat, he goes straight in for the kill."

"Great," Ruthie snarled, passing through the kitchen. "I hope he tears you both to shreds."

"I doubt it will be that bad," I turned back to Lucy, ignoring Ruthie's comment. How long was she going to stay mad anyway?

Lucy shrieked as the doorbell rang. "That's him." She grabbed my hand and the three of us made our way to the Camden's front door, where the rest of the Camden's were already greeting their relative.

I watched silently as Lucy hugged him and brought his attention to me. "This is my boyfriend, Mike."

I extended my hand as the old man stared down at me with threatening eyes. "Boyfriend huh, we'll have to see about that."

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Camden."

He took my hand and shook it firmly. "That's Colonel John Camden of the United States Marine Core. I will be referred to as Colonel, son and don't you forget it." He pushed past me and into the living room with the other members of the Camden family.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong. "That's the scariest grandfather I've ever met." I whispered to Lucy as we followed him into the living room.

"I told you," Lucy kissed me softly. "Let's just get this over with."

Lucy and I sat down on the sofa across from her grandfa-, I mean the Colonel. I held Lucy's hand and the Colonel stared down at the spot where our hands connected.

"So, Mike is it?" Colonel asked, sternly.

"Yes Sir," I answered, my voice cracking as I did so.

"Don't yes Sir me, Son." I looked away trying not to make eye contact. "Where did you meet my lovely granddaughter?"

"Well I…" I began, but he interrupted me once more.

"Look at me when you speak Son." He barked at me.

"Mike and I met at the guidance councilor's office," Lucy explained, taking the heat off of me.

"The guidance office you say? What were you doing there?" The Colonel's eyes stayed on me and I really wished this conversation was over.

"I was discussing college options with my councilor." I answered, nervously. Are all grandfathers this protective?

"And what are those choices?"

"I'm going to stay in town and go to Crawford. I'm thinking of majoring in psychology." I answered.

"That is a very interesting choice of study. Why Psychology?"

"My father committed suicide three years ago. I tried it a couple of months after that. My doctors made me realize how precious life is and I want to dedicate my life to helping youth deal with depression before they try something as stupid as I did." I answered honestly. There was no use in lying about my past. I have a feeling he would have found out anyhow.

"I like that. You realized the difference that was made in your life and you want to give back." Colonel approved and I breathed a sigh of relief. "How long have you been in a relationship with my daughter?" Well, so much for relief.

"A couple of weeks officially." I answered.

"Officially?"

"We've been dancing around each other for some time," I told him. "I wanted a relationship, but Lucy wasn't ready. So I waited until she was and we've been dating for two weeks now."

"Patience is an excellent quality," Colonel commended me. "I trust that you are using patience in ALL aspects of your relationship."

I swallowed hard at the connotation and looked away. I guess now was the time.

"You know what," Matt interrupted. "I have a lot of studying to do. I'll see you later Colonel." Matt hurried out of the room and was soon followed by Mary, Robbie, Simon, and Ruthie.

"What in heaven is going on here?" Colonel asked. "Why did everyone just scurry off so quickly?"

"Mike and I need to tell you something," Lucy told him. She squeezed my hand tight and let our secret out of the bag. "I'm pregnant…….With twins."

"You've been dating my granddaughter two weeks and you've already knocked her up?" Colonel boomed at me, before turning to Lucy. "How could you possibly know already?"

"I'm three and a half months pregnant," Lucy admitted, showing him the rounded belly she had been hiding under a large t-shirt.

"WHAT?" Colonel sprung from his seat and stood over us threatenly. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I was upset about my Dad. She was upset about her friend's death. Everything just kind of snowballed from there." I answered, doing my best to keep eye contact. "I'm going to take care of my responsibilities."

"Damn right you are," Colonel screamed at me. "Or else I could also make you disappear in the blink of an eye."

"Dad, why don't you calm down," Lucy's father pulled the Colonel away from where Lucy and I were sitting.

"Don't tell me you're okay with this," Colonel shouted at his son.

"Of course we're not happy with the situation, but we're dealing with it. Lucy and Mike made a mistake and they are both willing to take care of the responsibilities." Mr. Camden explained. "And he won't be disappearing anywhere. With the recent events at the high school, we owe Mike a lot of gratitude."

"You had something to do with the shooting?" Colonel boomed at me once more.

"No, Dad, the shooters killed themselves." Mr. Camden explained. "Mike saved Lucy and Simon's lives."

I breathed a sigh of relief when the Colonel sat back in his seat and calmed. "Is this true son? You saved their lives?"

"Yes Sir." I answered.

"I want to hear all about it," he crossed his arms and waited for me to begin.

I looked at Lucy curiously, raising my eyebrow. "The Colonel loves stories like this," Lucy whispered.

"Well, we were in the hall before class," I started. "Lucy was trying to explain to me that she was pregnant. She asked me to look away so she could get the words out. When I turned my head away from her I saw the shooters enter. I noticed the glimmer of the gun under their coats, so I grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her down the hallway running as the shots began firing. When we turned the corner I saw Simon coming towards us so I grabbed him too. I locked us in a supply closet until the police came."

"Well it sounds like you are a handy guy to have around." Colonel commented doing a complete 180. "I'm sure you will be a fine father to my great grandchildren."

"Wow," Lucy commented. "I can't believe you are taking this better than Ruthie."

"What's wrong with Ruthie?" Colonel asked, now concerned.

"Nothing. She's just angry about everything and won't talk to me," Lucy explained.

"So go talk to her. Make her listen." Colonel commanded Lucy. "Go on now, that's an order. It will give Mike and me a chance to get to know each other better." I didn't know whether to be scared or not. I kissed Lucy softly and watched her head upstairs. "Now that she is gone, I want to get a few things straight." Colonel suddenly changed back into the scary guy from before. "You are going to take care of your responsibility. It is important for a father to be in his child's life and I am going to make sure that happens for my great grandchildren."

"Believe me; I know how important it is for a father to be there. I have every intention on being there for my children. I don't run away from my responsibilities. That is a coward thing to do and I'm not a coward." I explained. I decided I would go ahead and take the plunge. "I'm glad that we've all had this time to talk. There's something I wanted to ask you all."

"We're listening," Mrs. Camden spoke for the first time. She had been so quiet; I had barely noticed her in the room.

I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts. "I wanted to ask for your blessing in asking Lucy to marry me... I love her and I love our children. I want to spend the rest of my life with the three of them."

"And you know this from the two weeks that you have been dating?" Colonel eyed me.

"No Sir," I swallowed hard. "I know it from the eight months that we have been friends. I knew it from the moment I met her. Now I want to make it official."

Lucy's parents looked at each other and nodded. "You have our blessing," Mrs. Camden hugged me.

"Sir," I looked hopefully at the Colonel.

"You have my blessing son."

Lucy's POV

I walked into my bedroom to find Ruthie lying on her bed with her arms crossed. Mary was sitting across the room at the vanity mirror, brushing her hair. I took a deep breath and stood in front of Ruthie.

"I'm still not talking to you," Ruthie growled, turning on her side away from me.

I sighed and sat down on her bed. "I know you're angry with me, but at least let me explain."

"Why should I? You let me down. You were supposed to be a role model for me." Ruthie yelled.

"Because I'm still your sister," I told her.

"Come on Ruthie, at least hear her out." Mary told her as she headed down the stairs, giving us our privacy.

"Fine, I'll listen, but you've only got two minutes." Ruthie told me, looking at her watch.

"It was a mistake," I began.

"No kidding. No one would get pregnant at seventeen on purpose," Ruthie snarled.

"Mike and I were both upset and we let our emotions get the better of us. We didn't even realize what we were doing until it was over," I explained.

"How could you not know that you were having sex and that it could lead to a baby?" Ruthie asked, turning to face me.

"It's complicated," I told her. "The whole day was making me feel numb to the whole world around me. I can't even remember much about that day. I remember going to Mike's and him being just as upset as I was. I don't remember how it turned into sex, all I remember is freaking out afterwards."

"What were you so upset about? What was he?" Ruthie asked.

"Sara. I was upset about Sara. Mike was upset about his father. Emotions can make us do stupid things sometimes," I explained. "This wasn't what I had planned for my life, but I'll deal with it. I know I haven't set a great example for you and I'm sorry for that. I don't know what I can do to make this better for you, aside from hoping that you understand how this happened and that I really didn't mean for it to."

"I think I understand," Ruthie told me. "You were to emotional to think straight and when it came time for you to stop before you went to far, your brain didn't process it and you made a mistake."

I was surprised. I had hoped that she would understand, but I wasn't counting on it. It shocked me that, not only did she understand, but she had managed to explain it in better terms than I had. "That's a good way to put it," I smiled at her. "I love you Ruthie."

"I love you too, and I forgive you," she smiled back. "I guess this isn't so bad. "You can still be a positive influence on me by not running away from your mistake. Besides, I like Mike. He's so much better than all of the other losers you've gone out with. Who knows, maybe one day the two of you will end up married."

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