The crisp autumn air brings goosebumps to Maya's skin as she heads out of her apartment complex. She rubs up and down her arms, trying to warm herself up as she quickly slips into the frenzy that is Manhattan's streets. She's rushing to school, short on time.
Her time crunch is due to the fact that she overslept. Again. For the fourth time in the past two weeks. It's becoming a habit that she can't quite kick–no matter how hard she tries. She's been sleeping so deeply that she doesn't hear her alarm. Most mornings Katy or Shawn has to wake her, and even then it's a feat.
Her first block starts in precisely eighteen minutes, but it'll take her at least twenty-two to get to the building and another three to make it to her third floor English class. There's no possible way she'll be on time.
Any other day she wouldn't care to take a tardy (she has, like, seven so far, and it's only November.), but of fucking course there's a test today. It's over stupid Dracula–which she doesn't understand in the first place–and Mrs. Allen made it very clear that the test was this morning. And that it's going to be a difficult test. She struggled to even get through Dracula. Maya gets Mina and Lucy flipped sometimes, and she didn't know who Renfield was until she read the Sparknotes over the novel, and the end didn't make any sense–in other words, she's fucked.
Maya hurries down the stairwell to the subway, holding a hand to her stomach. Her little Ruby is especially active this morning. After a ridiculously sharp jab to the ribs, she looks down and hisses, "Ouch! That wasn't necessary, Little Miss!"
The baby kicks again in response. It seems that Ruby is going to inherit her mother's sass. Which could be a terrible thing. The world isn't ready to have a miniature Maya Hart running around.
Ruby continues to move around as Maya steps onto the crowded subway car. She grabs hold of the bar, but someone offers up their seat. She happily takes it. Her balance is off due to the cantaloupe sized child growing inside her, so it's difficult to stay standing when the car lurches.
Her phone vibrates with a text.
From lucas:
Where are you? Class starts soon.
Maya rolls her eyes, typing out a reply.
To lucas:
overslept. gonna be late.
Then she adds:
To lucas:
also, i'm gonna fail this dracula test.
Once she hits her stop, Maya hurries off the subway and back into the streets. Class started two minutes ago, and it's still another block to Abigail Adams High. She moves as fast as her feet can carry her, pushing through the people on the sidewalk.
As she approaches the building she checks the time. Seven minutes late. She'd expected to be in class by then, so picks up the pace. She slips into the school. If she takes the back staircase instead of waiting for the elevator, she can save thirty seconds.
"Come on, come on, come on," Maya says to herself, heading up the stairs. She's on the second floor and halfway to the third when it happens.
It's all so fast–Maya barely realizes what's going on until it's already over. The slip of her left foot as she picks up her right sends her tumbling. It's too late when she tries to catch her fall with her hands. She jams her wrist and lands on her stomach, nearly slamming her chin into the concrete.
The blonde slowly moves to a sitting position, one hand against the wall, the other on her stomach. The ache immediately begins to set in. Maya takes deep breaths, trying not to panic.
Inhale, exhale. Just breathe, she tells herself. She slides her hand across her stomach, trying to feel for movement from her daughter. This is it, she's gone, I've killed my daughter because a stupid English test, Maya thinks when the baby doesn't move, hot tears welling in her eyes. "Please," she whispers to herself, "Please move for me, Peanut."
As she sits there on the stairs, it feels like an eternity passes before she finally feels a slight kick. Ruby is moving, and thank God, she's so relieved. Her daughter is fine. She's moving, she's not hurt.
"I'm so sorry, baby," she tells her stomach, crying. She's so engrossed in making sure her baby's okay that she barely notices when someone approaches her.
"Maya? Are you alright?" Cory asks, kneeling down to check on her.
Jumping slightly, she wipes her tears away and tries to put on a smile. "I'm fine," she lies, pushing him away to stand up. The rail doesn't leave her grip as she walks up the stairs.
The man obviously doesn't believe her. "What happened?" he quizzes, following her.
She doesn't have it in her to lie to him. "I fell." A look of panic from Cory causes her to add, "But, I'm fine."
"Maya!" Cory responds, "You're eight months pregnant–you need to get checked out. The baby could be hurt."
Waving it off, she says, "She's kicking up a storm in there. We're both fine." Maya continues towards her classroom. "I'm twelve minutes late. Mrs. Allen is going to kill me if I don't get in there soon."
He puts his hand on her shoulder, "Are you sure you're both okay?"
She nods, "I promise. She kicking me in the rib right now. Probably payback for scaring
her."
Cory sighs, "Okay. If you start to feel weird, please call your doctor."
"I will. Now, can I please go to class so I can fail this test?" she asks, finally making it to the classroom.
"Yes." He heads in the opposite direction, but then says, "Hey Maya, one more thing..."
"Yeah?"
"Take the elevator from now on."
Oh, she'll definitely be taking the elevator.
"Thanks for the advice," Maya responds, waving bye and opening the door.
The classroom is silent, but all eyes are on her when she enters. Her classmates' gazes follow her as approaches the teacher's desk.
"Um, hello," Maya greets, "Sorry I'm late."
Mrs. Allen's face doesn't change. She picks up the test (Oh god, it's four pages! The blonde thinks.) and hands it to Maya. "You have until the end of class. Use complete sentences and textual evidence."
So she has thirteen minutes less than everyone else. Great. She thought she was going to fail before, but she's sure she is now.
"Thanks."
She sits down at her own desk, catching Lucas' eyes from the other side of the room.
One look at her frazzled appearance and his face falls. "Are you okay?" he mouths.
A fake smile plastered on her face says I'm fine, but she's still shook up from her fall. Maya lies and mouths back, "Yeah."
She'll tell him about her morning later. Much later. Because right now, she has a test to bomb.
Lunchtime is Maya's favorite part of the school day. Not only does she get food, it's one of the only times that all of their friends–meaning Maya, Lucas, Riley, Farkle, Zay, and Smackle–are together. Sure, they also have Government together, but lunch is when they actually get to talk and hang out.
"How are you all today?" Riley asks. No one really responds; they're too busy eating. "Well, I'm great so far. I think I aced that Dracula test! How did you all do?"
Maya just rolls her eyes and takes another bite of her apple. "I definitely failed it."
Lucas shrugs, "I think I did alright. Passed, at least."
"I know that I aced it," Farkle responds, smug.
"That makes number 127," Zay says, wagging a finger at him.
The boy looks confused, "What?"
"I said, 'That makes number 127,'" he reiterates. "As in, number 127 on the list of Annoying Things Farkle Minkus Does."
Farkle crosses his arms, "There's no way there are that many annoying things that I do. Impossible."
This, of course, causes the group to start listing things.
"You ruin every single movie," says Maya.
"You never let me pay for our dates," Riley admits.
Smackle states, "You got a 35 on the ACT on the first try, and still took it again."
And finally, Lucas says, "And you keep assuming that I'll make you godfather."
"Well, I may be annoying," Farkle starts, looking at the Texan boy, "but at least I'm more than a face."
"Oh," he replies, feigning hurt and holding a hand to his heart, "I can't believe you'd stoop so low."
"You best believe it, freakface."
This is how their conversations usually go: They make fun of Farkle until he turns it back to making fun of Lucas. It's an endless cycle.
"Anyways," Zay begins, "y'all know I'm gonna be Ruby's godfather."
"No way," the genius retorts. "It'll be me."
"Nope, me."
"Me."
"Me."
After the two bicker back and forth, Lucas says, "Keep it up, and I'll make it Billy."
Gasping, Zay says, "You better not!"
"He'd be a terrible godfather!" Farkle agrees.
"Then stop fighting about who it'll be!"
At this point, Maya thinks that he's purposely waiting until their daughter's born to pick one. Or, he's at least waiting to tell them.
After she finishes eating her food, she stands up. "I'm going to the bathroom, do you all want to go with me?" she asks the girls.
"I will," Riley responds while Smackle politely declines.
The two girls head out of the cafeteria. Maya heads into a stall while the brunette checks her makeup. While she's peeing, she hears her friend ask, "Is everything alright? You seem kinda off today…"
Maya should've known that Riley would figure it out pretty fast. She fixes her skirt and joins her friend by the sinks. While her friend reapplies her lipstick, she says, "I kinda fell down some stairs during first period."
After receiving this news, Riley's hand slips, leaving a pink smear across her face. "What the hell? Are you okay? What about Ruby? You need to go to a doctor!"
"I'm fine," she tells her, digging her makeup wipes out of her bag. She gives one to her friend.
Riley takes it, quickly fixing her face. "Maya, you need to get checked out. You two could be hurt," she says, taking the blonde's hands into her.
The tug on her wrists makes her wince. "I don't need to go to the doctor," Maya grimaces.
She gives her a pointed look, "I barely touched your hands and you look like you're going to cry."
"I just hurt my wrist, and I might have a few bruises. It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. You're pregnant, Peaches. The baby might be hurt."
"She's not hurt, Ruby's been moving all–" Maya cuts herself off, holding her hand to her stomach. That's when it dawns on her:
Ruby hasn't been moving all day. Her baby hasn't moved since right after the fall. It's been almost four hours without a single kick or flip. And she's been so stressed that she just now realized it.
"Maya? Maya, what is it?"
The pregnant girl takes a deep breath. "Riley, can you go get Lucas?"
"Yeah, what's going–"
"Get Lucas, and tell him to meet me at the front office," she calmly tells her, exiting the bathroom. Her friend nods, going to the cafeteria. While she does this, Maya slips her phone out of her bag and calls her doctor's office. "Hi, this is Maya Hart. Can you let Dr. James know that I am on my way?" She shakily continues, walking to the office, "I, uh, I took a fall and need to be checked out. Okay? Thank you."
She goes into the front office. As if on autopilot, she tells the receptionist that she has to go, and so does Lucas.
"Miss Hart, you all can't just leave without a parent's permission. You must have a note, or have a parent call."
"You see," she says, leaning against the counter to talk to woman, "I think there's something wrong with our baby. So, I need you to let us leave. You can call both of our moms for all I care. We have to go to the doctor."
"Oh, dear," the lady says, "You all can go."
"Thank you."
When Maya leaves the front office, Lucas is just arriving. With frantic look on his face, he asks, "What's going on? Riley told me to meet you up here. Are you okay? Is something wrong?"
"We're going to the doctor," she tells him, grabbing his hand and leading him outside. "I already talked to the office. I really hope you don't have any tests today, because I don't think we'll be back today…"
He stops them, staring her in the eyes, "Maya, what the hell happened? Why are we going to the doctor?"
At this very moment, the floodgates open and tears start to flow. She cries, "I fell down the stairs this morning, and Ruby hasn't moved since right after it happened. I felt fine, and she kicked me like she was fine, so I didn't tell anyone. But I just realized that she hasn't moved in hours, Lucas."
He wraps his arms around her as she cries, rubbing her back soothingly. "I'm sure everything's fine," he coaches, "I'm sure Ruby's fine."
"But what if she's not?" Maya asks, crying into his chest, wetting his shirt with her tears. "What if she's–"
"Don't say it," he tells her, holding her at arm's length. "Don't think the worst."
"I always think the worst," she states, wiping some snot from her nose.
"Well, I don't. So, come on. Let's go to the doctor."
Lucas Friar doesn't consider himself to be a praying man–at least, not lately. Yes, he believes in God, and goes to church on the major holidays, but he can't say the last time he prayed for something. He
Until right now.
Right now, Lucas Friar is praying harder than he's ever prayed before. Harder than the time Pappy Joe had surgery, harder than when his dad died, harder than when he left Texas and moved to New York.
Right now, he's praying for his daughter. Lucas is seated next to Maya, gripping her hands in his while they wait for the doctor to return. It's quiet–all he hears is their breathing and he focuses on the sound. He closes his eyes and prays.
Lord, I pray for protection over my daughter. There's been an accident. Her mom and I are really worried for her safety. We haven't even met our Ruby Grace yet, we can't lose her.
He takes a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Keep going. God, I don't know what we'd do if something happens to her. She and Maya are my world. They're my priority. I love my girls. I haven't told Maya that I love her, but I really, really love her. That's not the point right now.
Maya and I need our daughter to be healthy. She's innocent.
Lord, all I ask is that you protect and take care of our little girl. Amen.
Lucas finishes his prayer, pressing his lips to the back of Maya's hand. When he opens his eyes, she's looking at him blankly. "Were you praying?" she asks, sounding hoarse from crying the entire ride here. It's only been a few minutes since she stopped.
"Yeah," he says, rubbing her thumb.
"What if she's dead?" Maya asks.
"Maya–"
"What if Ruby is dead?" she restates.
Lucas says, "She's not dead. I'm sure the doctor is going to come in here, check you out, and we'll be on our way home."
Ignoring him, the blonde says, "This is all my fault. I should've told you as soon as I fell, but I was more concerned with that stupid damn test."
"Maya."
"What if I killed her?"
When those words leave her mouth, a single tear falls down her cheek. And it breaks Lucas' heart.
He joins her side, wrapping her in a tight embrace. Maya leans into him, gripping his bicep as sobs wrack her small body. For a few minutes, he just holds her. He presses kisses into her hair, whispering "It'll be okay," and "Just wait for the doctor," to her. But, he knows she isn't listening. It's hard to listen when something this important is on the line.
Eventually, the door opens, causing them both to look up. Dr. James enters, rolling in an ultrasound machine behind her.
"I heard you took a fall," she says by way of greeting. "And, Miss Ruby hasn't been as active since then?"
Maya shakes her head, making no move to stop her tears. "I haven't felt her move in over four hours," she tells her.
"That doesn't mean the worst," Dr. James says, setting up the machine. "During the third trimester, babies have quite a lot of cushioning for protection. It would take quite the trauma to really hurt her."
"But, why wouldn't she be moving?" Maya asks. "She'd been kicking me all morning. I was getting mad–now I wish she was still kicking me in the ribs."
The doctor responds, "Sometimes babies just want to rest. Has she moved since the fall?"
Nodding, the blonde says, "She was moving right after."
"That's a good sign. Now, let's check her out. Please move your blouse for me," she asks, ready to do the ultrasound.
As she squirts the gel onto Maya's swollen stomach, Lucas never lets go of the girl's hand. He squeezes it tight, she does the same right back.
While the doctor moves the tool around trying to find the heartbeat, he thinks about how this wasn't his plan. Not as in his plan for the day, but his plan for his life.
When Lucas moved to New York in seventh grade, his plan was simple: clean up his act, get an education, go to college, become a vet. He planned to keep to himself.
However, he did not plan to meet two pretty girls on the subway. He didn't think they would introduce him to not one, but two geniuses. He didn't think Zay would move here. He didn't plan to have five amazing best friends. He didn't plan on that.
He didn't plan on falling in love with one of those best friends. He didn't plan on ever having his chance with Maya (though he longed for it). He didn't think he'd ever get drunk at a party and have sex with Maya. He didn't plan for that to lead to becoming a father at the age of eighteen. He didn't plan on getting the girl after she got pregnant.
Lucas especially did not plan on standing in this exam room while they waited to find out the fate of their daughter. This is not part of the plan.
He stops thinking about his unplanned life when Dr. James breaks the silence, "Listen."
The very first time he heard his daughter's heartbeat, he cried. He'd only known he was becoming a father for about a week, and Lucas couldn't believe that there was a tiny life growing inside of Maya– half him, half her. The sound was like music to his ears. God, he could've listen to it all day.
This time it is the most relieving sound he's ever heard. All of his fears are diminished as the sound–like a bunch of galloping horses– reaches his ears.
Maya lets out a watery gasp, asking, "She's okay? Does everything sound right?"
"Sounds perfectly fine," she answers with a sweet smile. "I still need to examine you to make sure both of you are fine."
"But, she's alive?" Lucas says, tightening his grip on her hand. When the doctor nods, he starts crying again, but he doesn't care.
Ruby is fine. She's not hurt, she's not dead, she's perfectly fine.
"Oh, thank God," Maya praises. She looks down at her stomach, "Don't scare me like that, Ruby! Never again!"
Lucas smiles, wipes his tears away, and presses a kiss to her temple. He tells her, "I knew it would all be alright."
She rolls her eyes, kissing him back on the cheek. "I'm glad you were right."
After they left the doctor's office–with a clean bill of health for both mother and child–Lucas took Maya home. They really should've gone back to school, but they had a stressful day, so no one will mind if they miss the rest of the day.
Now the couple is cozied up in Maya's bed. They're a mess of tangle limbs, and they both have their hands on her bump, feeling their daughter kick.
Lucas watches Maya's face, taking in the look of pure happiness she's wearing. Now that she knows the baby is alright, she's in a state of elation. He never wants her to lose the look.
"Look!" she coos to Lucas, "Watch her move." Ruby's putting on quite the show now that she scared her parents half to death. They can see Maya's stomach move as she kicks.
"I love when she does that," he says. Maya cuddles up next to him, humming contently. Lucas moves her blonde strands out of her face, kissing her lips. "Just like I love you."
"I lo–" she quickly pauses, "Wait, did you just say that?"