A/N: So sorry for the long wait you guys!

Disclaimer: I own no part of 7th Heaven. Nor do I own any part of the movie mentioned inn this chapter.

Only minutes later Eric Camden had emerged through the kitchen door. Letting out a heavy sigh he took a seat in the closest chair available. Ruthie looked over at him with a smile.

"Morning Dad."

"Good morning Ruthie," he said as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Long night Mr. Camden?" Martin asked. It took Eric a minute to notice that he was being addressed and by who.

"Oh Martin so nice to see you," he said. "Yes it was. Who knew writing a sermon could take so much out of someone," he chuckled.

"Coffee Eric?" Annie offered.

"Please," he said turning his attention to Martin. "So how are things?"

"Okay I guess."

"Just okay?"

"So things could be better but…" Martin didn't exactly want to tell the tale again. Not that he didn't trust Rev. Camden. The boy thought of him as a father figure. Even more than his actual dad. He just didn't feel up to explaining himself all over again.

"What do you mean?" Eric asked. Martin didn't say anything. Ruthie looked over at him with a nod of reassurance.

"Life with S-sandy…" Martin noticed how much a struggle it was just to get her name out of his mouth. He didn't even know why it was so hard. It wasn't like he was head over heels for the girl. It was never even really that deep of love. They only tolerated one another for the sake of the son they shared. And even that she didn't even want anymore. From the corner of his eye Martin saw the look of concern on Eric's face at the way his sentence trailed off.

"What about life with Sandy?" he pushed gently.

"It's complicated," was all he said. Eric chose not to push it any further than he already had.

"Martin and Aaron will be staying with us for a while," Annie said bringing out the finished coffee.

"Stay as long as you see fit son," Eric said giving him a pat on the shoulder. He just nodded his thank you. Taking his share of the coffee Rev. Camden started his trek back to his office.

"I think I'm gonna go get this guy to bed," Martin said making his way back upstairs.

"I'll take that as my cue to get this house in order," Annie said making her way out of the room. Once everyone had gone, leaving Ruthie alone she started in the direction of her own room. Considering the long night she had just had she crawled back into bed hopping to get a little bit more sleep. Every time she tried however, her body just wouldn't let her. For the longest time she just lay there starring up at the ceiling. Maybe she could call T-Bone. He hadn't been around the house lately. He's just been really busy. He'll show up eventually. Maybe she should try getting some homework done. Seeing as she had nothing better to do anyway. Might as well use the active brain for something. After all the homework wasn't going to get itself done.

About half way through her history homework she could feel someone's eyes on her. Looking up she noticed Martin standing in her door way.

"Hey, did you need something?" she asked. She noticed how nervous he looked by the way he didn't give her an instant reply. "Martin is something wrong?" she asked worriedly. Still he said nothing. He just continued to look at her. Martin still couldn't understand how amazing this girl really was. She still accepted him after everything he'd done to her. Awful things that he still hated himself for to this day.

The idea that she could accept his son (of course not without a struggle) made him realize how strong the little brunette really was. She had every right to hate him and erase him from her life completely. Yet she found it in herself to forgive him and allow the framework to be laid down in rebuilding a friendship he had destroyed. "Martin?" she asked again bringing him out of his own little world.

"What?" he asked not even remembering why he was here to begin with.

"Did you need something?" she asked again. "You've been standing at my door for the past five minutes," she reminded him.

"Oh. Ummm…could you do me a favor?"

"Sure," she smiled.

"Would you watch Aaron for a few minutes while I go take a quick shower?" Why was it all of a sudden so hard to talk to her without getting flustered? It was a simple question after all. Suddenly, he had lost all ability to think clearly.

"Of course," Ruthie replied.

"Thanks."

"No problem," she said getting up off the bed.

"He should be okay until I'm done but if for some reason he does wake up-"

"I think we'll be okay," she said. With that Martin made his way toward the bathroom. Gathering her unfinished homework she walked over to Martin's room. Quietly, she set herself up and started again. In the quiet room all that could be heard was Aaron's calm, even sighs as he slept. So calm in fact that she felt herself begin to doze. Giving up on any attempt go get anything done she set her books aside and lay up against the head board. The hard, wooden surface would most defiantly prevent her from falling asleep. She would just rest her eyes for a few seconds.

Suddenly the shattering of glass made Ruthie jolt up in surprise, resulting in her head making contact with the head board. She grimaced as she massaged her head carefully. About two seconds later a loud cry alerted Ruthie to the reason she was here. Jumping off the bed quickly she picked up the frightened baby.

"Shhhhh its okay," she cooed calmly, running her fingers through his hair. This seemed to quiet him down some. "That was a little bit scary, wasn't it?' The child's only reply was a small whimper. Humming quietly she made her way back over to the bed. Lying herself down Ruthie carefully placed him on her chest. This always helped her relax when she was small; falling asleep to the sound of her mother's gentle heartbeat after she woke from a nightmare. Slowly, she could feel the tension in his small body decrease as his breathing became even again. After a while she could feel her eyes begin to droop again. This time she gave in.

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Turning the shower off Martin stepped out wrapping a towel around himself. Collecting his things he made his way back to his bedroom. Taking in what (or in this case who) lay on his bed he stopped in the door way. There looking so peaceful were the two most important people in his life. He smiled at the sight. Her soft curls lay spilled out on his pillow, her small figure barely taking up any room on the large bed. Being as quiet as he possibly could he tiptoed over to his duffle bag carefully unzipping it to remove a fresh set of clothes. While in the process of re-zipping his cell phone rang.

"Shoot!" he said as he dug around in his bag clumsily in an attempt to find it. Looking at the caller ID the name "Mac" flashed across the screen. Quickly he snapped it open, carefully closing the door behind him. "What?" he snapped.

"Well hello to you too Brewer," Mac replied.

"Sorry. Hi Mac. What's up?" he whispered.

"Nothin' too big. Just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Mac you saw me two days ago," he reminded him.

"So? Is it a crime to call you or something? If so the cops would have arrested me a long time ago," he said.

"No but you could have picked a better time."

"What do you mean? It's almost noon."

"It's just been a long night," he sighed. "We didn't get much sleep night."

"Little guy been keeping you up?"

"Not exactly…" he sighed.

"Martin?" He heard his name being called. "Mac I gotta go. I'll call you later,"

"Wait is that Ruthie I hear in the background?" he asked.

"Kind of a long story. I'll explain later."

"Oh come on Mar-" Mac's sentence was cut off as Martin hung up. With a sigh he walked into the room again dropping the phone on the bed. Ruthie's eyes widened in shock as she took in the sight. There Martin stood in nothing but towel, water still dripping from his newly washed hair. Ruthie could feel her heartbeat picking up as her eyes almost popped out of her head. All she could do was just stare.

"Ruthie, are you okay?" Now it was her turn to be speechless. Seeing the look on her face Martin followed her line of vision. Instantly he blushed running out of the room. That was awkward!

A few minutes later Martin walked back into the room. Thankfully this time he was fully clothed.

"So...did everything go okay?" he asked sitting himself down on the bed, both of them moving a safe distance apart.

"Yeah. He woke up for a bit when Mom broke something downstairs but other than that it was fine," she said.

"Amazing how something so small can have so much power."

"Isn't that the truth," Ruthie agreed. This little person had changed everything for Ruthie. He had closed all doors of possibility with Martin by simply becoming a part of the planet they lived on. Martin didn't miss the hint of disappointment in her tone as she said that. He couldn't help feeling guilty. Aaron hadn't just changed his life forever. He also had an enormous change on the relationship he had with Ruthie. The look of anger he had seen a few months ago flashed across his mind. He hadn't meant to hurt her. Yet in his loss of control he had hurt her in the worst possible way.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"This," he said hoping she would catch on so he wouldn't be forced to say it out loud.

"What do you mean 'this'? Do you mean moving in again? Because like I've said before you don't have to apologize for that."

"No I mean us." Ruthie wanted to say that there never was an 'us'. At least not in the way she really wanted a few months ago but held her tongue.

"I haven't gone anywhere Martin. I've been right here all this time," she said.

"I know and that's what surprises me. I put you through so much and yet you're still here."

"That's what friends are for Martin. They're supposed to be there for each other no matter what," she said putting her hand on his arm. "Plus I don't think my parents would let me move out yet so I was stuck here anyway," she chuckled. He gave her a small smile. "Everything happens for a reason," she said matter of factly.

"He's changed my life Ruthie," he whispered. "And as crazy as it sounds I wouldn't change a thing," he said looking lovingly at the sleeping boy. "The love I feel for him is something I can't even really describe."

"You don't have to. I can see it in your eyes," she said honestly.

"I don't understand how she can do it. Just walk out without any guilt whatsoever."

"She's going to regret it Martin. There's no doubt in my mind."

"I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday. Things just got really hectic."

"It's okay I understand," she said.

"No. The least I could do was call you on your birthday and I couldn't even do that!" he said mentally kicking himself for being so thoughtless.

"Hey, hey it's okay. You're forgiven. You don't have to beat yourself up about it," she said as if she could read his mind.

"What do you say to pizza and a movie, my treat?" he offered hoping to make it up to her.

"Sure," she said. Martin could feel butterflies at the pit of his stomach as he noticed the smile that spread across her face.

"Great! Be ready around seven."

"Okay."

"Here I'll take him," he offered. Carefully removing his tiny hands from her shirt, on which he had a very strong grip for being asleep she handed him over to Martin. The three of them just sat there in a comfortable silence for the next half hour just enjoying the moment.

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After leaving Aaron with Ruthie's parents they made their way down to the Promenade.

"What'll it be," Mac asked not really looking up.

"Tickets for two to the eight o'clock showing of National Treasure 2," Martin said. Finally Mac looked up.

"Finally!" Mac said exasperated.

"Finally what?" they both asked together.

"Never mind," he said shaking his head as he handed them their tickets. It was sad how clueless his two friends were. "Enjoy the show."

"Thanks," Ruthie said.

Taking their seats the two settled down for the show.

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Two hours later they were settling down for pizza. While waiting the two discussed their opinions on the movie they had just finished seeing.

"I think it was way better than the first one," Ruthie said.

"Really? I didn't really notice how it would make it better or worse," Martin admitted. He was too busy thinking about other things.

"Maybe if you would have stayed awake…" she laughed.

"Hey! I was awake," he defended.

"Okay, then explain why your eyes were closed during the car chase."

"They were not closed!"

Suuure they weren't," she laughed. "The car chase is supposed to be one of the best parts. It's supposed to be action filled. It's supposed to keep you engaged."

"It did I was just resting my eyes for all of five minutes," he said.

"Try the whole movie."

"What can I get for you two today?" the waiter asked finally making it to their table.

"We'll have a large pizza half pepperoni half cheese," Martin said.

"And to drink?"

"Large coke," Ruthie replied.

"And for you sir?"

"I'll just stick with water thanks," he said.

"I'll be right back." And with that the waiter walked off.

"Okay fine maybe I did," he admitted. She didn't need to know that he hadn't been watching for a completely different reason. If she wanted to believe he had fallen asleep then he would let her. Ruthie didn't need to know that she herself was the reason for his distraction. When had he gone from loving her like a sister to caring for her this way? The girl in front of him wasn't supposed to be attracting him physically. Yet that's exactly what she was doing. And she didn't even know she was doing it. Martin felt a comfort around her that he had never in his life felt around any other person. With her he could just be himself. He didn't need to try and put on an act. He didn't need to pretend to be something he wasn't. This little realization scared him a little.

"Ha I knew it!" she said.

"Okay so you win. Next time remind to bring toothpicks," he joked. Ruthie smiled at her small victory. At this time the waiter had come back with the pizza.

"Enjoy." And with that he left again. The two now sat enjoying dinner in silence. Ruthie soon looked up to see the corner of Martin's mouth was covered in pizza sauce which caused her to start giggling nonstop causing her to almost choke on the pizza in her moth.

"What?" he asked innocently as she took a sip of her coke. All he got in response was more laughing. "Ruthie what the heck are you laughing at?" Quieting down a little she pointed at his face. "Do I have something on my face?" he asked. All she could do was nod. Quickly, Martin whipped away the food on his face. "Come on Ruthie it wasn't that funny." Yet he couldn't help smiling as he said it. He loved being able to make her laugh. Even if it was something as small as pizza sauce on his face.

"Yeah it was," she said finally finding the breath to talk.

"Just for that I get some of your coke. I think that's a little bit too much caffeine for you to handle," he said taking it from her. As he did his hand brushed against hers softly seeing as she still had a hold on it. She felt that same shock go through her body as he did so. She finally handed it to him taking her hand away quickly trying to hide the blush that had crept up onto her cheeks.

"What do you think your doing?" Both heads shot up.

"I can explain."

A/N: Okay guys there is chapter 4! Hopefully it's long length (7 ½ pages) will make up for me taking forever to update. I promise the next one will be out much faster. Please tell me what you think!