A/N This is a crossover between Early Edition and 7th Heaven. Unfortunately none of the main characters belong to me; they belong to a bunch of suits and corporate types that would be on me like white on rice if I tried to make a buck off of this. I do apologize to those who are expecting a lot of action and cool saves, that will come later in the story (at least that's the plan right now). The first few chapters will focus on the people and relationships. I don't think you'll find it boring, just different from the usual Early Edition fics. If you are wondering about the incident that sparked this story, you will find it in chapter 9 of my previous story 'Answers and Questions'. This is my first crossover story ever, so criticism is appreciated. As always, thanks to Cathode, Banadar and Mooselodge for their help and superior Beta reading, I couldn't do it without them. Nor could I do it without you, dear reader, so thank you for giving me a bit of your time. Now, without further adieu, on with the show……

THE LEGACY – PROLOGUE

Ruthie Camden hated summers. Not because of the weather, it was always beautiful in Northern California, but because she was in Northern California. She was getting ready to start her final year of college, and just couldn't seem to escape home. Sure her parents were OK as parents went, and the twins were great, but she just couldn't seem to either find or hold a job that would allow her to live on her own. That was the cruel irony of the whole situation, 'Little Miss Independent' having to spend all of her time away from school with mommy and daddy because she could not afford to be independent. It just galled her. Of course she couldn't say anything, certainly not gripe about it, then whoever she was talking to would tell her what a great family she had and how lucky she was. Fine she was lucky, she just wanted to be lucky and on her own. She smiled to herself, in so many ways she was lucky, it was certainly luck that had led to her choice of colleges. Her Art teacher had entered some of Ruthie's sketches and paintings in an art show in San Francisco, a show for students from Northern California. Ruthie had OK'd it just for laughs; she certainly hadn't planned on having two of her works judged in the top three. Nor had she imagined that these would be sent on to a national competition. There, one of her pieces had made the top ten, but that was all; then the calls started coming; Memphis Institute of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Cincinnati, NYU, Syracuse and then one fateful day, The Chicago Art Institute. She had literally dropped all the other mail when she saw the envelope, and after she had opened it, she just stood there screaming. It was so loud that both her mother and Lucy had come running to see what was the matter. The matter was that this insanely good school wanted to offer her a full scholarship for as long as she stayed there. Her whole family, with the exception of Simon, was unanimous in telling her 'No Way'. There was no way that sheltered little Ruthie would be able to handle the brawling hive that was Chicago, not to mention the cut-throat attitude of every wanna-be Picasso at that place. That was how her family always referred to her ideal school 'that place'. Well everyone except Simon, he just kept his mouth shut. Maybe it was because he kept his mouth shut that she actually wanted his opinion. Simon told her he thought it would be tough, and that she would have to get tougher but if she wanted it enough, he believed that she would do great. Simon was just finishing up his MBA her senior year, and when he landed a job in a brokerage house that was based in Chicago and catered to the commodities brokers there, her family caved. She would have gone to Chicago anyway, but it was good to have their support, even if they did irritate her so. At first she thought it was everything her family was afraid of, it was sprawling and gritty and competitive and she hated it. She was doing well in class, but she just wasn't happy. She had formed the opinion that everyone in this city was just a self absorbed jerk, with no more regard for anyone else than the 'man in the moon'. It was a rotten attitude and it had started to color both her thinking and her artwork, at least until April of her freshman year. She had been sketching some statues, mostly just to get away from her creepy classmates, when she was almost killed by a falling statue. She would have been if some guy hadn't come out of nowhere and knocked her out of the way. He had stayed long enough to make sure she was gonna be OK, then just headed on, like it was just another day. It took a while for the realization that she would be dead if it wasn't for this man to sink in, but when it did it forced her to realize just how many people like him there were in the world. What's more, she decided that night, to use him as an example and try being there for other people. From that day, her work flourished, and she made a lot of friends, but she just couldn't find a job; or when she did find one, she couldn't keep it. There was the place that hired her as a waitress, then decided she should wear a uniform that would make a Hooters waitress blush. Places that insisted she work during the day, or until three in the morning, or every day for a month; she had stopped counting the jobs she had lost or quit. So here she was spending her summer in Glen Oak working at the pool hall, paying her parents rent, and wishing she was back in the city she loved.