Buckingham Nicks A/U Series Part 4: The Dance

I'm So Afraid The Way I Feel

Santa Monica, California
Saturday, May 24, 1997
(10:30 am)
********************

"I think you're both out of your fucking minds!"

Aaron Morris Buckingham had been a difficult child from the very beginning. Unlike Julia, who'd been the most placid, peaceful baby on earth, Aaron had been keeping his parents up at night since birth. He'd had colic, he'd had acid reflux, he'd screamed through his teething, been resistant to the potty, and suffered through getting video games and various toys removed from his life as punishment for poor grades and hyperactivity in school for years until he'd been diagnosed with ADHD. He'd been the kid on the playground who'd broken other kids' toys, who'd pushed little girls off of swing sets, who'd used foul language whenever he felt he could. Stevie tried to ignore his outburst that morning, but Lindsey was visibly angry.

"Excuse me?" Lindsey said, glaring at his son and folding his arms in anger. "Who the hell taught you to be that disrespectful? Apologize to your mother for that remark! Right now!"

Stevie, sensing the potential for Aaron's comment and Lindsey's reaction to escalate into a fight, reached across the kitchen table and touched Lindsey's hand. "Lindsey, it's okay, he's..." But Lindsey stopped her there.

"It's not okay, Stevie!" he shouted, and turned back to his son. "You do not talk like that in this house. Got that? Now. Apologize to your mother for using the eff word and implying she's crazy for doing this...that we're crazy. Go on."

Aaron looked down at his untouched plate of pancakes and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Lindsey directed him.

"I'm sorry I cursed and implied you were crazy," said Aaron unconvincingly. His parents had just informed him and his sisters that they were having another baby, that it was due at Christmas, and he was the bad guy? My God, they're practically fifty! They're about to go on tour again! What the hell was the matter with them?

Julia sat at the table and watched the scene unfolding, too afraid to say anything on either side. She sat next to Sara, who was looking back and forth from her parents to her brother as if they were engaged in a tennis match, smiling despite her tense moment her brother had caused.

"Sara?" Stevie looked across the table at her youngest child. "What do you think about all of this?" She was hoping to diffuse the situation, noticing Sara's smile and obvious joy about the news.

"Well..." Sara looked at her mother curiously. "When the new baby gets here, does that mean I'm finally not going to be the youngest person in the family?"

Stevie couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Yup. You sure will, honey." She watched Sara's face break out into an enormous smile.

"That's awesome!" Sara was just about jumping up and down in her chair. "And I hope it's a girl so I could have a little sister and not just be a little sister...even the dog is older than me if you count it in dog years...so I'm happy."

Stevie smiled and said, "Good. We are too." She looked over at Lindsey and smiled, covering his hand with her own again.

Lindsey, who was trying not to be angry at his son, looked over at Julia, who still hadn't said a word. "What about you, Jules? You've been awfully quiet."

Julia looked up at her father, looked into his searching eyes. She thought of Jodie, asleep at his mother's house right now, thinking he had cornered the market on parental drama with his divorced parents getting back together. Oh, you have no idea, she thought. I love you with all my heart, Jodie McVie, but I'm about to beat the pants off of you!