March 12th 2021

Chapter 71
Our Wait For Reunion

Right on that exhausted morning of Marianne's fever, when she'd called her parents in Los Angeles, Maya had brought up the idea of the weekend visit to see them, her and the others. She hadn't mentioned it until after she'd brought them both up to speed on the night she and Lucas had spent looking after their daughter and assured them that they had every reason to be optimistic. Shawn had been the one to pick up the call at first, and as soon as she'd mentioned the fever, he'd called her mother over and put the call on speaker so she could talk to them both at once. Even without seeing their faces, she would hear so clearly in their voice the worry for their granddaughter. They were no strangers to middle of the night panics brought on by small children, but every new occurrence brought them right back to feeling it like the first time.

Even without the fever, they would have been very eager at the prospect of this trip, but now with it, Maya felt like they wanted this even more. They needed to see and hold Marianne, even if they would get to see her on a screen and know she was alright a number of times in the two weeks it took for them to finally fly out.

In every way, Marianne had been at her very best since those stressful nights. It remained staggering sometimes to see how she went on growing, developing… She was still their baby girl, but she was becoming her own person, too, inch by inch, day by day. She probably didn't understand the excitement happening around her as the trip drew nearer, but it was definitely there. When they told the little Hunters that they were going to California to see their parents over the weekend, they were as good as a pack of rockets, flitting around and sparking the whole way.

It wasn't the first time they'd gone out there, but every occasion felt like The Biggest Thing Ever. And now it was going to be all of them again! The four of them, and their grandparents, and their big sister and Lucas and Marianne! Every day between when they found out they were going and the day they actually left, at least once, Maya would get a call or a text from one of her siblings with a question or a request. It was also very important, even though their grandparents could have done it with them, that Maya be there to help them pack their bags. She was the authority on this, in their eyes at least. Maya happily complied, visiting her siblings and playing the old game of 'this one or that one?' as they chose what clothes to bring, what shoes, what toys… Pointing out that they had one thing or another already out there would be pointless. Sometimes they just wanted this one more than the other.

"I'm finally going to get my hat back," MJ proclaimed as Maya was helping him with his bag. She stared at him for a moment.

"Which hat is this?" she asked.

"The green one," her brother indicated his head, traced the shape of the ball cap. "I forgot it there last time," he explained further.

"You could have asked them to ship it to you," Maya chuckled. "Or Dad could have brought it last time he came over." MJ shook his head. "No?"

"I want to get it myself," he insisted, making his sister smile. She suspected maybe he had some hiding place in the other apartment, and he didn't want to run the risk of their parents finding his treasures.

Finally, the day came for all of them to fly out to visit Katy and Shawn. For Maya and Lucas, flying with the baby wasn't new anymore, but it didn't mean that, just because they'd had a relatively smooth experience last time, they would have an easy flight today, or in a couple of days when they came back. If the flight would be in any way troubling to Marianne, she did not have to fear. Her young aunts and uncle were each one of them very concerned over seeing to her well-being and her not being afraid as they got on the plane.

The Friars had the window seats, with the Hunter kids just across the aisle from them, their grandparents on the other side, and as they prepared for take-off, the quartet would all be looking over to Marianne, sitting in Lucas' lap, and they would talk to her, or make faces, or hold up their trusted plush bunny, essential to their own feelings of security when they'd have to sit through a flight. Marianne would look back at them, with no understanding of what they were doing. They were curious though, and that was good enough to hold her attention.

It did work, to a point, as the plane took off, though not so much that Marianne remained a hundred percent quiet. The way Maya would tell it though, they had absolutely helped in getting her to calm back down in record time. They were as proud now as they were determined to repeat this accomplishment at the time of landing.

This was all getting to be familiar to them. Los Angeles… They would never have believed it, all those years ago, but now here they were, and there was a feeling like 'ah, we are back' as they walked out into the airport. Making it all even better, there was their welcoming committee. They had learned, from previous experiences, that it was probably ideal to not let the kids see Katy and Shawn until they were clear of the gate or any other place where the running kids would be an issue. The kids didn't mind, almost saw it like a game of hide and seek with their mom and dad.

Today, Gracie won, in true Sherlock Hunter fashion. She barely managed to point them out before Haley bolted for them, naturally, but Gracie didn't mind. Their smallest sister craved this reunion maybe the most. She was scooped up by her father like the most precious thing in the world, the feeling only grown stronger as the other kids came along and piled on. They all missed their parents so very much, but then their parents missed them in equal amounts, always. Katy was crying now, and she did not worry herself over showing it for a second. This continued as Maya came forward, Lucas just behind her with the baby in his arms.

"Oh, come here…" she breathed, embracing her firstborn. Maya hugged her back, and it felt like part of that hold was performed by the Maya of two weeks prior, riddled with worry and missing her mother beyond the telling of it. The way she was held, she had a feeling that Katy knew exactly what was going through her head and now reciprocated it. "I'm so happy that you're here," Katy spoke with that emotion in her, and Maya could only nod. She felt the same way.

"The landing was a bit rough," Lucas reported when his mother-in-law came to embrace him next before looking to her granddaughter. He was already shifting to hand her over, and Katy took her at once.

"I understand. I never liked planes either," she spoke in soothing tones, pressed kisses to Marianne's forehead, smiled at her… She was trying very hard not to go and cry again, a feat soon helped by the way the girl looked at her with recognition and eyes that seemed to say 'I know you and I love you.' "You remind me so much of your mother," she informed Marianne with a smiling nod. "Yes, you do, yes," she laughed.

Watching them, Maya thought about how Shawn had told her once, weeks ago when he'd last visited Austin, how much Katy missed being in Texas with all of them. This wasn't anything unexpected, but it was more than that. It might have sounded so bad, like she didn't want to be back for her own children specifically, when that was far from the case. There was more to it though, there was… Marianne. It pained Katy to be away from her, to be missing so much of this time in her life. She'd never get it back, this time in her first granddaughter's life, and it was so strong an idea as to exist in her like a desire to give it all up and go home. She wouldn't, not really, but… part of her really wanted it. Now she was seeing them together, and it might have been said that this visit would only serve to strengthen that feeling in her.

"I'm going to hug you a lot now," Maya 'warned' her father as she turned to him.

He received this announcement with a look like 'alright, do your worst, I am ready,' and she laughed, melting into that hold like she really wouldn't let him go so soon. Shawn reciprocated this in kind, and to feel his love for her so strong, just from the way he held her… It reminded her of what Lucas had told her, that night two weeks prior, about how it would be fifteen years this fall since she'd come to Texas and met him. If that was the case, then it would also mean that it would be fifteen years since she'd met Shawn Hunter, at Christmas time. Fifteen years of him being in her life and her mother's… She wished sometimes that she could tell those three people they'd been back then, tell them how rich their lives would become, just for having one another. They would build so many things together that they had never dreamed of. Just like with Lucas now, he had been in her life longer than he had been a stranger to her, and that meant a great deal to her, too, too great to count.

"Is that all you got?" he teased her as she pulled back.

"I just wanted to check if you were crying," she shot back, which made him laugh.

"On the inside, bawling like a baby," he promised.

"Should that make me feel good or bad?" she 'wondered.'

"Just take the win, kid," Shawn shook his head at her. "So, how'd the grandkid do on the plane?" he asked now, looking to his wife with Marianne. He would wait his turn, patient as always. Maya considered for a moment how his still calling her 'kid' made her happy, about as much as knowing he'd bestowed the same honor on to Marianne, prefixing the 'grand' to it. She was a piece of her after all.

"Well, she had help," Maya reported, tipping her head toward her siblings, who all looked eager to go and get their bags. "They were very helpful."

"That's good to hear," Shawn nodded. He got to see them more often than Katy did, as he'd make the trip out to Austin when she couldn't because of her work. It was so difficult on both of them to be away from Nellie, Gracie, MJ, and Haley, from Maya and Marianne, but at least he had this opportunity. Maya sometimes felt like he might have regretted it at times, like it wasn't fair that he got to quell some of that desire to see them and Katy didn't. But then in a way he just carried her with him, didn't he? When they got to see each other, as they did today and would all through this weekend, it would always be a good thing, always. That would be the most important thing. Not the part where they were separated, not the part where they said goodbye again. All that mattered was this reunion and making the absolute most of it for the time that it lasted.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners