Someone To Watch Over Me
by Purple Lacey
 

Part 18

To say that Buck was less than happy was a masterpiece of understatement.  That the man let him keep his head, Vin put down to Christmas spirit, some fast talking on JD’s part and the necessity of dealing with Ezra’s tearful apologies for wandering away when he wasn’t supposed to and causing trouble for everybody.  He couldn’t very well beat Vin to a pulp when his arms were full of upset little boy, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know he wanted to.  The fulminating glares he threw at Vin were proof enough.

Even the newfound accord between Ezra and JD was not enough to distract Buck from his protective fury.  JD had managed to escape most of the man’s wrath because he had not been the one Buck had left in charge of the boy and he had managed to redeem himself for his momentary lapse in attention by protecting Ezra from Sawyer.  Vin was another story.

“One thing!  I only asked you to do one thing: stay and look after with Ezra while I was gone.  What about that simple request didn’t you get?”  A furious Wilmington clasped Ezra to him protectively while he sent burning glares at this longtime friend.  “What was so all fired difficult in that?  You watch a little TV, play a few video games, eat me out of house and home... and everybody stays safe.  But could you do that?  Noooooo, not you. You had to take him out and lose him.  You had to leave him at the mercy of that son of a bitch.  Do you have any idea what could have happened!”

Vin took the tongue lashing in silence knowing he deserved every word. He had no defense. For whatever good reason he had at the time, he HAD taken Ezra out without asking Buck first.  He HAD let his attention wander away from the boy in the busy mall and let him get lost.  He HAD left him vulnerable.  If Ezra had been seriously hurt it would have been his fault entirely.

Vin had apologized more than once, not needing Buck’s angry glares to feel guilty. The big man hadn’t been very receptive.  Vin had no doubt he would be forgiven...eventually.   Buck was too kind and soft-hearted not to, but until he cooled off he was like a mama grizzly bear with one cub; a cub that Vin regretfully knew he would not be trusted to look after again for quite awhile.

The only consolation the long haired detective had was that Chris seemed to collect his share of glares from the foster father who hadn’t let Ezra out of his arms for the hour that the threesome had been back home.   Vin had no doubt that the part the Angel had played in the day’s drama, or lack of same from Buck’s point of view, would be the very intense topic of conversation between Buck and the ex-gunslinger after the child had been put to bed for the night.  Chris hadn’t seemed in the least bit worried about the prospect, but then again why would he? Vin thought to himself with black humor, Buck couldn’t kill HIM!

Buck was so upset that he had almost decided to cancel the night’s festivities and it took the combined pleadings of JD and Ezra to convince him to let the plans stand.  It was Nettie’s no nonsense lecture on how if Ezra could let it go then Buck could too, and not letting what might-have-beens taint what is that had eventually gotten the man to calm down.  Although she had come to his defense, Vin could see the faint shade of disappointment in his foster mother’s eyes when she looked at him that somehow was worse that anything Buck might have said or done to him.

Buck had quickly realized that he was ruining the holiday celebration for Ezra, the very person he had been determined would have a perfect Christmas.  The man had exercised immense self control to rein in his emotions and stuff them down deep inside himself for the time being.  There would be a time to deal with Tanner later, but it would not be when the boy was around.

The trip to the Christmas tree lot was delayed another half hour after the others arrived to allow Nathan time to check Ezra over for injuries.  It was with some relief that Nathan had assured them that, other than a few newly acquired bruises on his shoulder, Ezra was unharmed.  Buck seemed to relax a little bit more after hearing that reassuring news.  Then Buck, Ezra, JD, and Casey had climbed into Buck’s red Chevy crew cab truck while Vin had acted with the better part of valor and volunteered to drive Nettie, Josiah, Nathan and Raine in his Grand Cherokee.

Although the evening had begun on a down note, the whole group managed to push the unpleasantness aside enough to enjoy their outing to the Christmas tree lot.  The only sign that Buck gave to indicate he was still troubled was keeping Ezra’s little hand firmly grasped in his own from the moment they left the truck until they returned to it.  Ezra’s wide-eyed wonder played a big part in restoring the man’s holiday mood. The child was so excited that his little body could hardly contain it all.  Buck couldn’t help but smile at the effervescent ball of jubilance by his side.

The group wandered over the large tree lot, Ezra ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the light displays around the area.  Everyone had their own opinion of the perfect tree and, of course, no two picked the same tree.  Ezra had studied each tree with the attention to detail of an appraiser going over a priceless masterpiece, going from one tree to the next then backtracking several times to compare the few he liked, dragging an indulgent Buck along all the way. 

Everyone enjoyed the time spent laughing and playfully arguing the merits of their own picks, but no one was surprised when they eventually went home with the one Ezra had decided he liked the best.  It was the boy’s first real Christmas, after all, and everyone wanted to make it as perfect for him as possible.

The thing was immense - at least ten feet of bushy Blue Spruce.  Vin estimated they would just be able to get the star on top of the thing without brushing the ceiling of Buck’s living room.  Buck eyed the policeman vengefully after paying for the thing as Vin grabbed one end of the giant tree to carry it to Buck’s waiting truck since Buck’s hands were tied up keeping a hold on the boy vibrating with excitement by his side.  Vin figured having to help JD carry the huge and heavy tree was well deserved punishment for their lapse in attention that afternoon.

The group had piled into their cars once again and headed back to the guest house, Ezra chattering with delight and bubbling over with anticipation the whole way.  Buck shifted his eyes toward the rearview mirror to watch JD smiling down at the boy indulgently as he listened and couldn’t help but remember how it had once been JD acting just like that.  Where had the years gone? He wondered to himself sentimentally as he recalled those past Christmases.

But Christmas Past could not compete with Christmas Present, not with Ezra there.  The child was excitement personified.   The men had barely gotten the tree in the house before the little one was asking eagerly, “Now we get to put stuff on it, right?”

“That’s right, Short Stack,” Buck said with a teasing grin.  “You want to help JD and me bring in the decorations?”

“Yes, please!” the boy said, doing his best not to shout the words out in his excitement.

“Well, come on then,” Buck said then turned to their guests and told them, “Y’all go on in the living room and make yourselves comfortable.  We’ll be right back with the decorations and then we’ll get this party started.”

“Why don’t Nathan and I start putting the tree in its stand?” Josiah suggested with a glance thrown at the doctor to get his agreement.  Buck smiled and nodded his thanks.

“I’ll bring in the refreshments,” Nettie told him with a smile.  “Casey and I made plenty of goodies for this evening.”

“I wish you would have let me have someone cater it, Nettie,” Buck said, “I wanted this to be a celebration for everyone.  I didn’t want you to have to do extra work because of it.”

“Pshaw!” Nettie scoffed, “It’s not work to make something special for your family for the Holidays.  It’s a joy.”

“We’ll all appreciate whatever you made for us, that’s for sure,” Buck assured her with a quick hug then he turned to his two waiting helpers and instructed with a grin, “Alright, troops, let’s march.  Hup, two, three, four.  That tree is waiting for us to dress it up and turn it from an ordinary tree to something magical.”

“Will it really be magic?” Ezra asked in surprise.

“Sure,” Buck told him as he led the boy and his cousin from the room to the closet in the storage room that was right off kitchen.   “All Christmas trees are magic.”

“Can you make wishes on them like stars?” he asked curiously.

“I’m pretty sure you could,” Buck told him with a shrug as he hauled box after box of the decorations down from the cabinets where they had been stored from the previous year.

“Did you ever wish on a Christmas tree, JD?” Ezra asked as Buck handed him a small clear plastic box that held an assortment of colored bells.

“Nope,” JD answered, grabbing a box under each arm.

The subject of wishes sparked a new train of thought for Ezra and he said, “Buck, and Vin, and me made wishes to get Chris as our Guardian Angel. Did you make a wish for him too?”

JD looked down at him with a sad smile as the memory of that time came back to him and he answered, “Yeah, I made a wish.  My Mom had just gotten sick and was having to spend a lot of time in the hospital.  I had to stay with a neighbor a lot.  She wasn’t a bad lady but she was old and kind of set in her ways.  She had never had children and didn’t really know what to do with one.  She had a lot of  her little old lady friends over and  then I would have to stay in my room and when it was just the two of us  I usually had to sit quietly and be real polite.  I didn’t get to play or watch TV or do any of the things I liked to do.  I made a wish for somebody to talk to.  That’s when Chris came.   When my Mom died, Chris made sure that Child Services found out that Buck was my relative so I could come stay with him.”

“Did you wish on a star, like me?”  Ezra asked curiously.

The young man blushed a bit and mumbled, “Uh, no.”

“Did you wish on your birthday candles like Buck, or a wishbone like Vin?” Ezra asked with youthful persistence.

“Umm, nope, not those either,” JD said looking away evasively.

Ezra continued to look at him questioningly until JD finally mumbled something that was almost inaudible.

“What?” Ezra asked him, “I didn’t hear what you said.”

JD sighed and answered, “I said I rubbed a lamp.”

Ezra looked at him in delight and said, “And you got a Genie?  You got to make three wishes just like in the Aladdin story?”

“No,” he admitted reluctantly.  “It wasn’t that kind of lamp.”

“So what kind of lamp was it?” Ezra asked with his little head tilted to one side and a little frown of confusion on his face as he listened.

A snickering Buck answered for him, “It was just a lamp, like on the end table in the living room.  He rubbed it and made a wish.”

JD threw him an irritated glare and said defensively, “Hey, I had never seen Aladdin, okay?  I’d only heard the story.  It just said lamp, it didn’t say what kind of lamp. I was only eight.  How was I supposed to know?  Besides it worked, didn’t it?”

Buck laughed out loud again then pulled the indignant college student in for a quick hug.

“You gonna stand there jawing all night or are we going to decorate this tree before all its needles fall off and all that’s left is bare branches?” Buck asked impishly.

Part 19

Part 17

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