The New Addition

As Aaron pulled the car into the driveway, Carver studied the house before them. It was pure white with a pool on the side. It was by far the biggest place Carver had ever seen. The house seemed so perfect in its own way. The boy couldn't help but be stunned. Aaron's gaze landed on Carver, the boy's face full of excitement…or shock. Aaron couldn't exactly tell the two apart. Seeing the boy's face light up reminded him of the feelings he, himself, had once experienced when he came to Sherman Oaks for the first time so many years ago. He knew that expression all too well. And yet though the memory contented him, his mind was full of worry and his wife.

"Why don't you just head over to the pool house over there with your stuff? You can check it out, get settled. I just have to check on the glamour queen," he told Carver with a comforting smile. The boy nodded and opened the door of the BMW, picking up the bag that had been at his feet and looking back at Aaron. The two shared a smile before they separated, Carver heading towards the pool house while Aaron made his way to the main house to face what he only predicted was an insanely annoyed beautiful wife. The moment he opened the door, he got what was coming.

"I can not believe you."

Before him stood the angry wife, Kristina Needleman, the epydimey of all that was the perfect Sherman Oaks woman. Tall red headed and graceful, it had been love at first sight for Aaron when he had seen her at his first Sherman Oaks charity event. He had spotted her across the room in an elegant white cocktail dress and he knew at that moment she would be his wife. Though mismatched, the two had been together for what seemed like forever though their twentieth anniversary wasn't till next year.

"Honey, I'm home," he replied with a small smile as his wife stood by the doorway with what could only be described as an angry look on her face.

"Please tell me you didn't bring him home," Kristina replied as the door closed behind Aaron.

"I wish I could, but I did. I sent him over to the pool house."

Aaron walked past his smoldering wife towards the kitchen, in need of some good coffee. But not enough a nice cup of joe could protect him from the yelling he had coming. He knew, but the best thing to do was to stay calm around the cranky wife.

"I can not believe you did that. Jesus Christ, Aaron. We didn't even finish talking about it," Christina said, raising her voice as she followed her husband into their beautifully decorated kitchen. She had renovated it last year, in need of a good summer project. It had turned out beautiful, right out of Martha Stewart, but her family still preferred Sing's to her creations, though Christina thought she was a pretty good cook. Aaron stopped by the kitchen counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee and turning to face his wife.

"We weren't going to come to compromise, hun. I knew you and you knew it too. And this was something I had to do. I told you that right off the bat."

Aaron's words made Kristina even madder. As much as she loved the man who stood before her, he had a habit of getting into things without thinking about them. And this was definitely case number twenty one. "We can't take care of a sixteen year old boy, Aaron. We can't be his parents. We already have two sons to worry about and we can't take on another," she replied, shaking her head in frustration. She was all for helping kids in need but raising them was something else. She couldn't raise this boy. She couldn't raise a third son.

"But I need to. I promised Vanessa. I'm not going back on my promise. And until you accept that, we're right back where we started."

Aaron shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of his coffee, sending Kristina into a rage. "Just think about this. Raising your ex-girlfriend's teenage son? This is insane. This is beyond insane. I don't even know what to say to you. You are out of your mind," she yelled back at him. Surprisingly, it was these words which finally got through to Aaron. He looked her straight in the eye, nothing but seriousness in his eyes.

"I'm doing this. I'd love you support, but if I can't get it, I'm still doing it. It's not about raising him. It's a promise I made and it's one I'm not going back on." With that, Aaron left his wife standing in the kitchen, alone and unsure of what to say. Her gaze remained on the spot that Aaron had stood at for a moment. Nothing she could say would change the situation. Aaron was set on raising this boy, Carver Michaels, and Kristina knew how stubborn her husband was. And that was that. The boy would be their own and Kristina would have to learn to deal with it. The powerless feeling in her bones was not a new one but not frequent to say the least. This boy would be her responsibility and honestly, she didn't think she could handle it. From all that Aaron had told her, the boy had been through a lot, so much that Kristina didn't know how to handle him. Did he need a mother? A guardian? A friend? She was pulled out of her own thoughts and fears by a familiar voice.

"Mom…what's going on?"

Kristina turned to see her younger son, Jake, standing in the doorway where only minutes before his father had walked through. There her son stood, video camera in hand, looking down on her, concerned. She smiled up at her boy. I was going to be long road ahead.

"We're going to have a new addition to the family."

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