A/N: Hey hey! I keep getting delayed on writing these deleted scenes because I am on a house cleaning kick, but I'm finally doing it as soon as this chapter is posted :D Whether it goes up tonight or tomorrow will depend on if I end up down a rabbit hole of looking up past chapters for continuity ;)
March 26th 2020
Chapter 86
Their Summer in Camp
Having the house to themselves turned out, on the whole, to be strange… at least in the beginning. And the fact that it felt strange might have been the strangest thing of all. They had been living away from home, living 'on their own' for five years now, except, well, they had never really been on their own like this, had they? In Houston they'd had roommates, and here they had… well, Sam. Sure, there'd been that small window after they'd moved in here and before Sam had come over from Tucson, but then they'd still been settling in, so they almost didn't have time to stop and think about it. And there had been some short visits out to see his family… Now, that missing energy in their home universe felt like it was telling them 'hey look, it's just you two now.'
It wasn't a 'bad' weird. It was mostly just him and her stopping for a moment and going 'huh…' All their lives there had always been other people around them and now… now it was properly just the two of them. Once the weirdness settled down, what they were left with was… Hey, this is kind of nice, too. Sure, it was only for a few weeks, and they would be so happy when Sam returned, but they were going to take what they could get. If things kept up on the trajectory they were holding, they probably wouldn't stay 'just the two of them' for very long with or without Sam, and they were more than okay with that.
The first morning where Stage Ready Summer Camp was to be held also happened to be a first day for another project as well. So while Maya had set out to get up early and get herself ready to go and welcome the campers, Lucas was just as early out of bed, to get ready to head out and meet his own 'campers' down at the animal shelter.
Much as he could have kept it easy for the summer, just picking up more hours at the bookstore – although he did that, too – Lucas had wanted to keep the ball rolling on his steps toward animal care. He had a bit more time for the Sanderson farm, yes, but then maybe seeing Maya going around with her ideas for her camp had gotten his own brain turning. He wanted to get more involved down at the shelter. He knew that, going off his and Maya's track record, it was practically an invitation to him bringing home more dogs, but it was just a risk he was willing to take. This was where he felt he needed to be.
"What do you think?" Maya asked, and when he looked around and saw her standing there in her camp t-shirt and a skirt, Lucas had to grin.
"I think I want to go to camp," he declared.
"Well, unfortunately, while Stage Ready does run on a 'no age limit' policy, I'm afraid the camp is another story," Maya pointed out with an innocent look. "And you do not look like a kid," she gave him a once over that felt very much like the words 'thank goodness for that' were in her mind somewhere.
"Right, well, I'm just going to carry this mental image with me today," he encircled her outline with his finger as though selecting her out of the air and cutting away the rest.
"Same here," she held up her hands with a laugh.
When Maya reached the theater, she really felt as though she would not be able to stand still for the wait. She'd grabbed coffee on the way and gone to sit in her office until the time came, but she ended up ducking into the back of the auditorium instead, pulling out her notebook and letting that energy in her produce what it would, lyrics, a melody, a drawing… Little by little she could hear the rising buzz of voices from out in the lobby, parents arriving to drop off their kids, waiting for someone to come along. It took everything in her for Maya not to get up and go out there yet. It was still early, and she was going to have to wait a little while longer, too.
Finally, she sprang out of her seat, putting her bag, her notebook, and her empty cup in a corner and out of the way before heading for the closed auditorium doors. Taking in a breath and letting her nerves flow out along with it, she opened the doors and welcomed the campers and their families to come inside and sit as they'd get checked in. She knew so many of these kids already, from the regular sessions. She knew some of the parents, too, for the same reason. All those familiar faces kept her on something like a sugar high, which put those families of parents and campers she didn't know in a similarly good mood.
"We match!" Lea Sullivan-Reyes declared as she came along, pointing to her yellow shirt and Maya's. Behind her, 'Papa' Keith Reyes of the deep voice, stood with youngest daughter Lydia perched in one arm. The four-year-old looked like she'd been crying, which Keith informed Maya was because Lea had her Stage Ready camp shirt, and middle sister Lara had her soccer camp shirt, while Lydia had no 'special' shirt like them.
"We're going to go and do something about that, aren't we, Hypnoteyes?" Keith asked the small one holding on to him and sniffling.
After all their campers had arrived, no one late or missing, and Maya's fellow counselor/mentors had also come along, the parents had said goodbye to their kids for the day, and they were set to begin. As much as Stage Ready felt very much like a 'we do what everyone needs to do on that particular day,' there had needed to be a bit more of a structure when it came to the camp, which would run Monday to Friday for seven weeks. Finding that structure had been easy enough: they were going to end their camp season with a show… So while every day was there for all of them to have fun and to learn along the way, they would also be working toward putting that production together and presenting it to their families on the last day.
"I don't want all of them to turn into stress balls by the end of the summer," Maya had told Lucas when the idea of the show had come along. "I know it's going to make some of them worry about getting it right, and that's normal, but maybe we can get them there a bit… I don't know, healthier? They're supposed to have fun, right?"
One of her goals would be to spot those kids, the ones who'd need someone there to tell them to breathe when they seemed to be so focused on the end result that it was like they were holding their breaths the whole time. She had spotted it in Lea long before today, and she was happy to say she seemed to be… maybe halfway there. She hoped to get her the rest of the way before summer's end.
Earlier that morning, she had dropped Lucas off at the shelter. She would be done for the day before he was, so she had the car. As he walked through the door of the familiar building, he thought about Maya's oft used decree to 'hug a puppy' on his first days and it made him smirk. There was definitely a reasonable chance of that happening around here today. If he needed proof, his morning soon kicked off with a sign of that.
He hadn't made it twenty steps that all of a sudden here was a call of 'hey!' followed by barking and scampering, and then there was a small dog, making a mad dash down the hallway. Lucas barely had a second to register it and he was already crouching to scoop the runaway into his arms. The dog barked on, moved about like he was trying to get back on the ground, but in no time he started to settle down, changing his tactic and sniffing the stranger that held him before deciding he liked him. Even as this was happening, a girl came dashing along, too, likely the one the dog had gotten away from. She saw that Lucas had the dog and she breathed.
"Hey, you're here… Good… I mean, morning."
"Morning, Jen," Lucas smiled as the dog went into kissing mode. He'd known Jen from previous visits to the shelter, including the day they had left with Archer and Max. She'd been working out here since she was thirteen, so five years now. "Who's this one?"
"Doesn't have a name yet. Right now I'm thinking Cujo."
"He doesn't seem that bad," Lucas frowned, looking back to the dog, who was practically curled up in his arms like a baby about to doze off.
"Well he must really like you, because he's been a nightmare since he came in a couple days ago," the girl reported.
"So no name for now then," Lucas noted, because there was no need to pin a name on this mutt that would brand him as trouble to anyone who got the reference.
Even as he'd set the so-called nightmare dog on the ground, he'd remained fairly docile, quietly trailing behind Lucas as he went on his way into the shelter proper with Jen. He trailed after him like a silent shadow, so much so that by the end of the day it would become his name. Shadow. Already by mid-morning Lucas was feeling those alarm bells go off in his head, telling him he was one good impulse away from bringing the animal home with him.
"Maybe this is just what we both need, huh?" he told Shadow as he sat on the ground and the dog stared back at him. "You need a good home, and I need to make sure you get one, even if it's not with me." Shadow gave a low whine, almost like asking 'why not?' and Lucas chuckled. "I better make sure Maya never sees that face of yours, because then she'll want to take you, too, and it really can't be a good sign if I take one of you guys home on the first day." Shadow took a step forward, nudging at Lucas' offered hand. "Or tomorrow either," he added, with an almost apologetic scratch.
With his Shadow on his trail, Lucas went through that first day, finding many more faces staring back at him. They all needed homes, too, and he was happy to say that by the end of that day a couple of them had left with who would hopefully be their people for a good long while.
Maya: On my way, be there in five. Dinner out tonight?
Lucas: Sounds good!
"Okay, bud, I have to go now," he crouched before Shadow, who looked like he already knew Lucas was about to go. He was coming on strong, and it was almost impossible to look away. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, I promise," he scratched at the dog. "Just don't go wild on them tonight, alright? Please?" Shadow went and lay down in his spot, turning his eyes back up to Lucas like 'see? I'm a good boy.' "Good night, Shadow," Lucas sighed, patting his head one more time before going on his way back out of the building. Stepping out into the early evening air, finding Camp Maya waiting for him at the curb, Lucas breathed out. They could really make this work.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
