Baby

16

July 18, 1990

They hadn't had the kids for three weeks. And it was hard. So hard, every time Stevie would walk by the bathroom that the girls had shared, she'd cry. If she walked past the shut bedroom doors, she'd cry. She couldn't step foot in the nurseries and they were still intact to a point, though Lindsey took the cradle out of the master and threw it in Misty's room. Stevie wouldn't even look at her camera because of all of the pictures on it of the girls. But in her grief, Stevie had thrown herself into work which is where she was now. Lindsey was at home watching the live interview on VH1 when the Doorbell rang. He opened it and came face to face with Marge and two screaming children. 

"Ugh..." He looks at the three faces.

"Congratulations." Marge sighs.

"I'm confused?" Lindsey questions.

"Can we come in?" Marge inquires.

"Yeah, of course, come on." Lindsey opens the door wider wanting to reach out and take one of them into his arms but he didn't know if he was allowed to. 

"So...we were called by the police two days ago on July 16th...The neighbor had heard them screaming at the top of their lungs. Quickly, they made their way over and saw that the girls had been left alone. They hadn't eaten anything in a couple of days...we were able to find Peter and Eleanor and it turns out they were in Colorado...he had a last-minute business trip and they didn't bother arranging child care. It immediately forfeited their chance at adoption so emergently we got a meeting with the judge..." Marge pauses and pulls two frames out of her bag. Handing them to Lindsey. "Congratulations Mr. Buckingham." 

Certificate of Adoption, this is to certify that Cordelia June Buckingham has been adopted formally as the child of Lindsey and Stephanie Buckingham and is now a permanent, lifetime member of this family with all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities therein. This new family is recognized by the court on this day July 16, 1990, in the town of Santa Monica in the state of California

Certificate of Adoption, this is to certify that Misty May Buckingham has been adopted formally as the child of Lindsey and Stephanie Buckingham and is now a permanent, lifetime member of this family with all of the rights, privileges, and responsibilities therein. This new family is recognized by the court on this day July 16, 1990, in the town of Santa Monica in the state of California

"Marge are you..." Lindsey starts.

"Where's Stephanie. I'd like to give her the news." Marge states.

"There." he points to the TV as VH1 comes off of the commercial break. 

"Stevie Nicks was emerging as the prominent hitmaker of Fleetwood Mac. But she credits their success to the variety in their music." 

"There's something there for everyone. That there's songs for everybody's different tastes. I mean there are some songs that you really love and there are some songs you don't like all that much and then all of a sudden one of those songs come on and you understand it because maybe you just went through that experience." Stevie says a sad timber in her voice. 

"Mamas, Mamas, Mamas." Cordelia points through her tears climbing onto Lindsey's lap.

"She'll be home soon bug." Lindsey coos cradling her closely. 

"Well do you want me to help you soothe them or..." She trails off.

"Do you have their clothes and their stuff?" Lindsey asks.

"Of course, it's all in my car." She nods.

"Alright, I can...I can calm them if you want to go get the stuff." Lindsey suggests.

"Of Course." Marge smiles. 

"You two are probably starving...um, okay...Delia, sit right here and watch Mama alright." Lindsey looks at her.

"Daddy." She cries clinging to him. 

"Okay, um...Alright..." He looks around, Misty was still in her car seat so he didn't move her, he just scoped the room and saw the Diaper bag that Stevie had bought on the armchair where Marge had dropped it. 

With Cordelia wrapped around him like a sloth, he quickly went to the diaper bag and pulled out one of her bottles and he took the bottle and the formula over to the couch. He poured his glass of water into the bottle and then dumped the formula in it and shook it. He peeled Cordelia off of him, but she still stuck to him like glue and he got Misty out of the seat and started feeding her. 

"Mr. Buckingham?" He hears after a moment.

"Hmm..." Lindsey asks.

"All of the stuff is in the Rotunda...I'll, I'll leave you be...and I am so sorry about everything that happened. I wish you and Stephanie all the best, it's been great working with you." Marge smiles.

"You too Marge, thank you." Lindsey smiles. 

"No, thank you." She nods walking away. 

Once Lindsey had Misty happy and contented he turned to Cordelia who was still stuck to him but her crying had seized and she was just letting out hiccupy sniffles cuddling her owl and blanket to her chest.

"Mama and I still have dino nuggets and smiley fries in the freezer." Lindsey looks at her.

"Nuggies." She states.

"Yeah, come on...but you've gotta walk so Daddy can hold Misty." He looks at her. 

***

Lindsey serves Cordelia her dino nuggets and smiley fries and as she's eating she looks at Lindsey. "Daddy swim?" 

"No bug, we can't swim without mom here...but, what if after we get everything unpacked we go up into mom and dad's room and we can watch Snow White huh?" 

"Otay." She nods.

As Cordelia was eating he looked at the girls and he just started laughing because he wanted to scream and jump for joy. Those girls were his prized possession and there was a giant hole in their family after they had been taken but by the grace of God, or Destiny whoever was up there had granted them their babies back and Lindsey was so happy. And as he was unpacking their stuff, and Cordelia curled up in the reading chair just watching it he felt whole and complete like nothing could make that moment any better. Except for when they had put Snow White on and Cordelia curled up with him.