A/N: Alright guys 15 is finally here!
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything!
Ruthie glared at the figure that now occupied the Camden's door way. Glaring sharply at her she waved her hand in front of her face angrily. Nothing came of it seeing as her entire face was still in shock. A few seconds later the shock slowly became a smirk.
"Well that's no way to greet a visitor now, is it?" she said much too sweetly for Ruthie's liking. The daggers in her eyes only sharpened as she brought her face close enough to take in the horrendous smell of perfume that was applied much too strongly.
"One, this is my house. I'll greet my guest however the hell I please. Or in your case intruders. I swear I should ask Mom and Dad to install an alarm system in here. We'd all sleep much more peacefully that way. Now I'll ask again. What the hell do you want Rose?" She opened her mouth in shock anger quickly covering her sharp features. Before she could so much as get a word out Ruthie's hand met her cheek with a resounding slap. "That was for walking my brother on a choke chain for the last ten months!" she growled. Rose only grimaced rubbing her cheek painfully with a scowl. Again her hand swiftly met flesh giving her a satisfied smile. "And that is for having the audacity to show up in my house again, uninvited!"
"Well excuse me if I just wanted to pay an old friend a visit!" Rose said angrily.
"We were never friends Rose," Simon said slowly. Rose looked over at him shocked. If that was true then what was the meaning of the loop that sat on her finger only months ago?
"If that's true Simon then why did a ring ever sit on my finger? Why did we go through all the motions of promising ourselves to each other and then give it all up at the last minute?" she asked.
"Gee I don't know maybe because you had you're heart set on that Umberto guy? You know the one who pledged his undying love for you the day we were supposed to walk down the isle. You know in some ways I have to thank him. If it weren't for his persistence I would have made the biggest mistake of my life," he said with a smile.
"You call the love we shared a mistake?" she asked incredulously.
"Of course. I should have noticed from the very beginning. You were never in it for me. You never even had the decency to respect my family!"
"Why would I need to do anything to please your family? You're the only one I needed to worry about and I thought we were doing just fine. It's not like your entire family was going to be living with us or something."
"You know what Rose I'll tell you why? These people in front of you are a part of me. Blood or not each one of them had a hand in making me who I am. If you hate every member standing here then there is no me. You hate me just as much. I am nothing without them. Absolutely nothing!" he yelled. No sooner had the volume in Simon's tone increased, did a sharp cry come from upstairs. Ruthie turned around but not before narrowing her eyes at Rose. Simon just as quickly stopped her. "I'll get him. I'm the one who woke him up. I can't even look at her right now," he said angrily. Ruthie nodded in understanding thanking him silently.
"How dare you! It's one thing to yell at us but to be so loud as to wake a little boy from sleep? Unbelievable," she said shaking her head.
"Hey I wasn't the one yelling! It was all your idiot of a brother!"
"Okay one if anyone's the idiot here it would be you. You're the one who started this whole thing so you're the perfect source of blame right now," Martin said wrapping his arms around a trembling Ruthie. Only seconds later the little boy's cries became sharper making Rose grimace angrily. The look on Ruthie's face was much more different. Hers held an aching pain for her little boy.
"Shh buddy I know," they heard Simon whisper. Everyone watching—minus that of their unwelcomed guest—held a sad smile.
"Ma-ma," he cried painfully. His body trembled violently, little desperate voice practically gasping for breath.
"I know little guy. She's right here," he whispered handing the little body to Ruthie who of course accepted without question.
"Shh sweetheart it's okay, I've got you," she crooned bouncing him gently. In the warmth of familiar arms he clung to her desperately crying heavily now, soaking her top quickly with streaming tears. "Shh baby I'm right here. You can calm down now, okay?" she said gently. This did very little in the calming department she noticed seeing as the waling only increased.
Rose looked on in disgust. "What kind of father are you Martin? Not even allowing Sandy to see her son?"
"It was her choice to make. I wasn't going to force her," Martin said.
"How do you know she didn't want it? You didn't even love her. What kind of man doesn't even give a mother to his son?" she asked.
"Actually I'm letting his Mom see him all she wants," he said slowly rubbing Aarons back calmly.
"No from what I can see she's been nowhere near him in months," she pointed out. "Do you not think about what he'll think of you when he finds out his mother hasn't been a part of his life? Do you not worry what he'll think of you when he's old enough to understand?" Martin and Ruthie both shared a knowing look.
"Actually Rose I love his mom a great deal. More than you could ever imagine. It's his mother I could care less about at this point," he said slowly. Rose's mouth dropped in shock completely at a loss for words.
"It's the same thing," she said.
"No my little naive friend. Wait scratch that we're not even friends. "A mother and a mom are two completely different people," Martin said.
"She's way too young to even be considered a mother on any standard! How do you know she's even doing it right?"
"Last time I checked, I'm 18 going on 19, not exactly father-age appropriate. But there is nothing I can do about that now. I can only take it as it is and do the best I can. Ruthie's doing perfectly fine if you ask me. As far as I'm concerned my opinion's the only real one that matters right now. I only want what's best for my son and Sandy didn't even stick around and try."
"His mother—if you could even call her that—could careless about the sweet little boy she gave birth to," Ruthie growled over Aaron's deep wails. "Shh honey," she whispered. "What's the matter?" she asked him. He only dug his little face further into her shoulder whimpering loudly. Laying a free hand on his matted hair she gently moved it from his forehead. In the few seconds her hand sat there she could feel a slight fever coming on as he shivered. "Aw sweetheart you've got a few teeth coming in huh?" Ruthie took his cry of discomfort as an answer. "Why don't we get you something to eat to see if it makes you feel better? Martin could you get him something while I go get him the ring and the gel?" Martin nodded already on his way back into the kitchen.
As much as it would pain her to do this she handed Aaron to a pretty much clueless Rose and smiled. "Would you mind holding him for a minute?" she asked. Rose shook her head desperately.
"There's a house full of people with experience here to take the kid. Why me?" she asked.
"It's only a few minutes. It's not like you're going to run away with him in a house full of witnesses. One of which I might remind you is a very experienced cop," she said averting her eyes to Kevin. He nodded with a hard stare in Rose's direction. "See what you can do to calm him down. Maybe for all we know you might have the magic touch," she smirked.
As Ruthie handed Aaron over gently, she kissed his dampened forehead quickly before making her exit. "If things get any worse then they are, which is doubtful, one of you take him please," she told the crowd in a silent whisper as she passed, taking the stairs through the kitchen. At Ruthie got further away from him Aaron's pleas only sharpened. Wanting to make the sirens stop before she lost her hearing Rose awkwardly patted his back wordlessly, which of course did nothing.
"Why don't one of you do it? You've all got kids," Rose practically begged bouncing him clumsily. They all shared a collective shake of their heads.
"Nope. Ruthie put you in charge. We're not taking your job," Matt said.
"Yeah. You're going to need the practice anyway. Chances are you're going to want kids of your own someday," Mary said. Rose could only shudder at the idea. Who said anything about kids? She wasn't going to be one of those women who suffered weight gain, swollen feet and back pain. For what? To give birth to something small and whiney that constantly cried at everything? Never. She would never subject herself to something like that.
She scowled now as she noticed the scruffy family dog make her entrance. Taking in Rose's face (which would probably give the poor dog nightmares for the rest of her life) she growled making a beeline for the purse that sat unattended on the floor at her perfectly dressed feet. Once she got there Happy made herself perfectly at home taking apart anything and everything that came out of it. Once the bag was ridded of its contents she shredded the perfect structure of the woman's very expensive Gucci accessory. Hearing the tearing sound that followed Rose whipped around to see her now perfectly dismantled bag lying in shambles at her feet. What came next could only be described as an apocalypse worthy scream. Quick footsteps were heard next as a very weary Annie made her first appearance of the night.
"What was that all about? It sounds like someone's taking their last breath," she grumbled.
"What now drama queen?" Simon sighed as he followed his mother down the stairs. Seeing Simon coming down she sighed gratefully shoving the little boy at him.
"Oh thank god! I don't know what's wrong with your sister. I don't even like kids," she told him. Simon took Aaron easily trying to calm him as best he could.
"Probably another reason we never made it down the isle," Simon said.
"What do you mean? We don't need little brats to make us happy. We would have been fine just the two of us!"
"Look around you Rose. What do you see?" he asked. Rose stared at him not quite understanding what he meant.
"Your entire family, that for some reason seems to hate me," she said.
"Well you're right about one thing. Sitting in front of you is a big family. The family that I come from. One that I one day hope to add to with one of my own."
"But what if I don't want kids?" she asked.
"Wow you're acting as if we're still together, which we're not," Simon laughed.
"It's not like some stupid rule or something that we have to follow. We can make rules of our own," she said.
"Actually that's part of the Camden code, being able to tolerate and love a big family," Lucy said.
"You don't have to tell him how to run his life! He's old enough to make his own decisions!" Rose yelled.
"See that's why it didn't work for you two Rose. You come in here and disrespect my parents. Not to mention undermined me and my siblings," Lucy added.
"That's one of the first things I told you. Family for me will always come first. Each one of them take priority over anything else. Before any girlfriend, before any friend, even before myself. You obviously couldn't handle that. That's why we broke it off. Now I think we're done here. You can show yourself out," he said.
"Who are you to kick me out? You don't even live here anymore," she said.
"Actually he moved back in about four hours ago," Carlos said.
"Yeah and we have the blood, sweat and tears to prove it," Matt added. The boys smiled when they saw a disgusted look cross her face.
"I really didn't need to know that," she grimaced. "That's probably why I never married you. I knew that it was just too much for little Simon to be so far away from his Mommy and Daddy. Honestly Simon you're just going to be a baby forever aren't you?" Rose said.
"Excoose me Mommy," Savannah said sliding down from her spot on the couch. "My Uncle Simon is not a baby. If anybody be the baby here, it be you, now weave!" she ordered.
"What kind of parents are you?" she scoffed directing her attention to a beaming Kevin and Lucy. At that very moment Ruthie walked in offering the ring and gel to Simon who took a seat on the bottom step applying the soothing medication to Aaron's swollen gum and offering the frozen toy to him. "You just let a three year old insult me," she said offended.
"Lucy and I raised our daughter to defend herself. We just happen to be lucky enough that it was against someone like you," Kevin said proudly.
"Last I checked a child's supposed to respect their elders," Rose said.
"Who's there to respect? If we knew you were even remotely decent we would tell her differently. She may be three but my daughter has good judgment," Kevin added.
"My little niece speaks her mind. If she says you're not welcome then I think that's your cue to leave," Ruthie said taking a much calmer Aaron from Simon.
"Why don't we ask your mother then? Annie you're the head of this household. You're just going to let every one of them talk to me like that and do nothing?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Every single one of them has been raised perfectly fine, thank you Rose. I think it's about time you leave now. You've more than overstayed your welcome," Annie said trying to keep calm. In truth she was steaming. She wasn't going to let someone like Rose stand there and disrespect her family.
"She was never really welcome in the first place, was she?" Kevin whispered not too softly.
"I can't remember," Carlos replied with a pensive look on his face.
"No, wait, no, hold on, nope I don't think so," Kevin said finally.
"You do realize I can hear you right?" Rose said rolling her eyes.
"Wow really?" Carlos gasped.
"I never knew you had supersonic hearing," Kevin said excitedly.
"Dude, maybe she's a robot," Carlos said jumping up and down in place.
"That would explain so much!" Martin and Ruthie exclaimed together. The entire family struggled keeping a straight face. Simon failed easily letting a giggle escape.
"How the heck do you do that?" Kevin asked curiously still wondering how in the world they managed to speak at the same time with no cues from one another.
"It's a gift," they smiled together.
"Hey are you amigos robots too?" he wondered.
"I still have the metal detector you gave me for Christmas in the attic," Matt mentioned.
"Good idea," Kevin said.
"Really you think we could use it?" Carlos asked.
"It hasn't been used in awhile. We can see if it still works," Matt told them.
"Then we can see what type it is," Carlos said.
"Yeah for all we know they could be here to rid the world of all its cookies. We must save the cookies and all their chocolatey goodness!" Kevin cried desperately.
"You know I don't think we have to worry too much. I think your cookies are safe," Martin said patting his shoulder in comfort.
"Well obviously it isn't the highly intelligent kind," Ruthie pointed out.
"I seriously wonder how she ever graduated high school," Simon said shaking his head.
"Dude I don't think robots go to high school," Matt said with a laugh.
"Wow this family is crazy," Rose groaned.
"Oh that's just a bonus," Ruthie said obviously pointing out that it could be much worse. Rose honestly didn't know how much worse it could get. Far be it from her to stick around and figure out how insane the Camdens truly were.
"Yeah we haven't even started yet," Martin added.
"I must have suffered temporary insanity to even think you were worthy of having me in your family," Rose said shaking her head.
"I don't think it's all that temporary," Kevin said.
"Yeah from what I see, she still suffers," Sarah said sadly.
"Okay guys I think we've had enough fun tormenting this machine for now," Mary said.
"There's gotta be a reason this robot showed up in the first place. I have a feeling it isn't to take any cookies," Martin said.
"Let's allow it to tell us shall we?" Ruthie finished.
"I had something important to share but obviously by your oh so welcoming behavior, it's completely a lost cause at this point," Rose said.
'Oh come on. Take us to your leader," Kevin said mechanically which this time made everyone burst out laughing. The idea of keeping a straight face completely lost on them.
"Well if you must know I'm pregnant Simon."
A/N: There we go. Let me know guys. How'd we do?