Episode Report Card Niki: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Aaron's Gettin' Better
By Niki | Season 2 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.20.2001
Once Grace has tromped off to bed, Lily smiles at Aaron and asks if he wants some tea. He smiles back, "Sounds like a plan." They sit in the kitchen, reminiscing about the things she and Judy talked about earlier. They laugh and then Lily sighs that she needs to get to bed. She asks whether Aaron took his medicine. "Yes, everything," he answers, perhaps a bit too eagerly. Lily asks whether he wants something to eat. They establish that they're both fine, and Lily stares at him fondly for a few seconds. Aaron returns the look, but looks away uncomfortably after the first second. Lily sits down again and leans forward, sharing the news of her engagement. She smiles broadly as she speaks of Rick, and starts to get choked up when she says that some of the things she'd always counted on -- their father, her marriage -- are just gone. "And you," she adds, "You'd been gone so long I didn't know how much I missed you." Aaron looks touched. "And now you're here, and I'm getting married!" Lily tearfully smiles, "And I want you to be there, because you're the man of the family now." She reaches out and touches his cheek. Aaron looks up at her, then puts his hand over hers, closing his eyes. Lily changes the subject to their old neighbors, grinning that Judy thought they were Russian spies. "They were!" Aaron exclaims, with no trace of humor. Uh oh. Lily doesn't notice this, though, and just smiles at him and says softly, "Of course they were." She gazes at him adoringly for a few moments and asks, "So you do remember that?" He looks at her earnestly and answers, "Lily, I remember everything." She nods wordlessly and he kisses her cheek and says goodnight. He pauses in the doorway to give her a tiny smile and a wave with his finger. "'Night, Aaron," Lily calls out through her tears.
We return from commercials to join Lily and Aaron as they arrive at the bookstore. Lily gives Judy a little tap and tells her the place looks great. They make a little small talk before Lily grabs Aaron's hand and pulls him over to a shelf to show him something. A woman and her daughter enter the store, and the rugrat's on one of those stupid scooter things. Judy tries to stop them in the doorway, saying that she doesn't think it's such a good idea to ride the scooter in the store, but the woman is one of those imperiously bitchy types who think their kids are perfect, and she assures Judy that her daughter is a "superb athlete. She'll be careful." Sure she will. Judy purses her lips and steps back with an "okay, whatever" eyebrow cock. Hi, Judy? You own the place, remember? The camera pans back to Aaron and Lily, who are busy scouring the books on a shelf that Lily "always called 'Aaron's shelf'" because she stocked it with the titles that were his favorites. She holds up some of the books and reads off their titles, while Aaron gasps with pleasure.