February 6th 2020

Chapter 37
Their Holidays With Life

Once he'd dropped off Robbie and Ramona at their place, all Lucas was looking forward to was a quiet evening at home, now that he was on holiday. After having been forced to play the reasonable one earlier that day, while Maya and Sam had been running through the snow in what could only feel like an invitation to frostbite, he wanted very much to get his chance at a frozen bit of mischief.

Lucas: Be there soon, unless you need me to pick up anything on the way…

Maya: Can you get cupcakes?

Maya: Couple dozen should do.

Maya: Any flavor will do, too.

Maya: As long as one of those is chocolate.

Lucas: Aiming for a sugar rush?

Maya: Always.

Maya: It's for everyone.

Lucas: Who's everyone? Where are you?

Maya: Chuckles'.

That had become their nickname for the apartment shared by Riley, Dylan, and Rosa, after Zay had mentioned that to be a mouthful, after which Asher had come up with the name, due to the fact that the residents' initials spelled 'RDR,' and it just sounded to him like 'hardy har har.'

So, he'd made the detour for the bakery before heading in the direction of the apartment building. He wasn't sure exactly how many of them were there or why it suddenly warranted a pit stop for treats, but he had done as asked, and he carried the stack of boxes through the door and up the stairs. The closer he got to the apartment, he could hear music and knew it had to be from his friends' place. Was this just all of them celebrating the end of the semester? They did have a few among them finishing up this first semester in Austin, whether it was their first one of college ever or in a new program. There was him, of course, and also Sam, and Rosa, and Dylan…

He, like Maya, had a key to the place, but with his arms loaded, a knock felt safer, so he knocked and waited. It took several seconds, enough that he had raised his fist and was about to knock again, until the door swung open and there was Rosa.

"Please tell them the whole blue or pink thing doesn't actually mean anything," she demanded, even as she took the boxes from him.

"The what?" he asked, feeling like he'd just been thrown in the middle of a story without the benefit of leafing through the start.

Looking around, he began to regret the additional, third dozen he'd gotten, when he saw the guests came down to a very 'one dozen might have bordered on fine' kind of group. Beyond the trio who made up the Chuckles roster, he found Maya and Sam, Zay and Nadine, and Rebecca and her boyfriend, Jax. Put in the four back in Houston and it could have felt very much like a night with the old gang.

"You know, pink for girls, blue for boys," Rosa rolled her eyes, heading into the kitchen. Left behind, left blinking, Lucas looked around the room, needing very much for someone to tell him what was going on.

"You look lost," Maya appeared like a miracle. Her face was all aglow, and upon catching his wide-eyed 'what's up?' look, she pulled him back into the hall and away from the noise. "Farkle called a little while ago. Baby Minkus is coming," she revealed, just a couple handful of words to make everything go from confusion to clarity and right on to excitement.

They might all have been in New York or on their way out there right about now, if not that the parents-to-be had insisted that it wouldn't be necessary. Much as they would have loved to have their friends around them at any time, especially this one, they had both chosen to experience it the way they would feel most comfortable experiencing it. They had been hearing from Farkle and Isadora both across the months, and especially as they drew nearer to the big day, they could understand the growth in nerves.

Farkle had been telling his oldest friends how he worried that it would all get to be too much for his wife, as she prepared to give birth to their child. She had made such strides over the years, but this would be something so massively life-changing… For that, they could understand their not wanting to be too crowded over, back in New York. That didn't mean they couldn't do their part, from back here in Texas, and celebrate whenever the dearly awaited one arrived.

"Haven't heard much from them since that first call, but that's to be expected, I guess," Maya went on. Standing out here, away from the noise of the small party happening back in the apartment, he could see how the anticipation was wearing in. That was to expected, wasn't it, when it was the two of them back there, about to become parents. Farkle and Isadora were some of the most important people in her life, and those words weren't given over lightly.

"Sure they'll call or write as soon as they can," Lucas told her, scooping her up in a hug that sent her teetering to keep her feet on the ground.

"Hey…" she laughed, arms around his neck. "I didn't get to say, congrats on finishing today," she smiled, which had him smiling in return.

"Thanks," he told her, possibly fighting the urge to carry her all the way back on to the street to give at least some semblance of following through on his challenge that morning. "Hey, it's still MJ's birthday," he realized aloud.

"I know!" Maya nodded. "When I told him about how the baby and he could have the same birthday, he asked if he could share his cake… Love that kid…" she beamed. "Sam and I went with Dad to get him from pre-school earlier. He fell and ended up with a nosebleed right before we got there."

"Is he okay?" Lucas asked at once.

"Oh, yeah, all good now, but he was holding on real tight all the way back home. All he wanted was to make a whole bunch of snowmen, so we did that, we did one of Dad, and Mom, and the twins, and him, and Haley, and me, and you…"

"There's a snow Maya and snow Lucas out there?" he asked, curiously grinning.

"Oh yeah, very cute, very lumpy," she nodded, pulling out her phone to show him.

"Well, at least they look happy together," Lucas smirked, seeing the two figures planted side by side on the Hunter Hart front lawn.

"The whole thing really made me want to explore sculpture in the new year," Maya told him. "I have the perfect model…"

"Keeping my pants on, thanks," he gave her a look, receiving a pout in return.

Going back into the apartment, he asked what Rosa was going on about earlier, or at least what had caused her to jump in like this. Maya revealed that they had started something of a pool, about whether the baby would be a boy or a girl.

"Right… What's everyone saying?"

"Well, it's a secret vote," Maya informed him. "Except there's ten of us, now that you're here, so for all we know it'll be an even split."

"You totally know what they all voted for, don't you?" Lucas guessed, going off the focused look on her face.

"Maybe, a little…" she shrugged. "Not like it'll make any difference whoever gets the most…"

She stopped as her phone rang and she saw that it was Farkle.

"Hey…" she blinked. "Hey!" she called over the room, who quieted down right quick as they looked over and saw she had her phone up. In the next moment, they were all rushing to huddle behind her as she answered the call. "Hey," she smiled as her old friend's face appeared on her screen. Farkle Minkus looked positively blindsided. The mad rush of a few hours ago had given way to relief, and just so much amazement. Maya couldn't help noting – and looking to Riley, who had her chin planted at her shoulder, peering along, she was sure she thought the same – just how their little Farkle friend had never appeared to them so grown up as he did now.

"Is it over, is the baby…" Riley asked him. Farkle breathed in, nodding, and their cluster of waiting friends were a single chorused cheer. If the new father had wanted them to fall quiet again, he couldn't have done it any better than in the way he did it, intentionally or not. He only pulled his phone a little further back and tilted it, so that they could discover the bundle held in his other arm. The sight of the small face, with tufts of dark hair showing on its head, had left all ten of them speechless.

"Her name is Ada… Ada Marie Minkus," he announced, and it got the two former New York girls blubbering with smiles. Maya remembered that day, at Zay and Nadine's wedding. In my heart, I think I hope for a girl… One look at his face now and they just knew he already loved her more than anything in the world.

"Lovelace and Curie?" Nadine asked, a knowing guess.

"We both picked one," Farkle nodded. "It didn't matter to us which one was first or second, it just sounded right this way. Ada was mine."

"How's Isadora doing?" Rebecca asked, as they all got a closer look at the newborn girl's face, more than one of them cooing and making faces like she could possibly see them and understand what was happening, when it was looking like she was asleep.

"She did so good," Farkle replied, his voice showing he'd had no doubt this would be the case. "It was all pretty quick, all things considered. Turns out she'd been in labor a while before she even said anything."

"Hence the panic?" Maya guessed, recalling how he'd sounded when he'd first called her.

"Yeah," he breathed, his attention falling back to his brand new daughter. "I should go back in there…"

"Send pictures, okay?" Lucas requested.

"Loads of them," Zay nodded.

"I will," Farkle promised. "Oh, Maya, will you tell your brother happy birthday from us?" he asked, remembering at the last moment.

"I will," Maya beamed, tipping her head to the baby in his arms. Happy birthday to her, too…

After the call had ended, the party had come unpaused, bigger and better than ever, as they shifted from the wait and into the proper celebration, for the birth of little Ada Minkus.

"Wait until MJ finds out he's got his birthday buddy," Maya grinned, as she, Sam, and Lucas all headed home later on. They would be headed back to her parents' house the next day, for the boy's birthday party. Ada's birth had been unpredictable, hence the cupcakes bought at the last minute, but for MJ, as the days had gone by, bringing them closer to his 'big day,' the trio had been working together to conjure up the best birthday cake they could muster. It was shaping up pretty well, if Maya had anything to say about it. The finishing touches would be going on the following morning, before they packed it up and headed to the Hunter Hart house.

"The party might end up with us at the post office, trying to send cake to an infant," Lucas suggested, making her giggle.

When they arrived back at the house, Sam told the two of them to wait for him to get the camera and turn the Christmas lights on, so he and Maya might get those shots they'd wanted to take. As they waited, Lucas noticed she was keeping a bit of distance between them.

"What…"

"Hey, I'm not taking any chances," she shook her head, gesturing around them at the snow.

"Is that so?" he smirked.

"Hey," she pointed at him, warning. "Don't even think about it."

"No?" he asked, advancing on her.

"I said no!" she squealed, taking off at a run. The chase was on. It was swift, and it was short, and it ended in the snow, with giggles like bells.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners