Chapter 94
To Walk Through These Halls

January 2025

"Excited, very excited," Maya replied, when Dr. Eisley asked her about how she felt at the prospect of going back to school the next day. She paused after a moment. "Nervous, too. It was so long ago now that it kind of feels like a whole other life. It kind of is, isn't it? The last time I was a student, I was about to have my first baby, wasn't a mother yet, not to one and definitely not to two. And it was before my father, before the illness took its course and he passed. It's all different now, I… I did that work, for the professors, and I'm so glad I did, or else I'd be in even more trouble than I already feel like I am." She paused. "That kind of makes it sound like I'm more worried than excited, but that's not the case," she promised with a shake of the head. "I think it's just… it's balanced, I guess. There'd be more reason to be concerned if I wasn't even a little aware of the then and now, you know? I have changed since I was in school, but I like who I am now, so it's not a problem, is it?"

"It's not," Dr. Eisley agreed, in that inflection Maya had come to know as her opening the door for her to go on and answer the question she'd half made. So, there is a problem, isn't there? Maya breathed out.

"What if I've lost it? I came to Texas, and I found this love for education, unexpected as it was. It's been almost two years though… I keep having this thought like I'll sit in my first class, on the first day, and… I'll feel the way I used to feel, back in New York."

With the semester fast approaching, she'd been forced to change her regular appointment schedule with Dr. Eisley. When she'd chosen her classes, she had genuinely tried not to take any that would fall in that window of time, but it couldn't be helped. She didn't personally mind going on a different day, at a different time, but… Ariel… Maya knew how she didn't handle disruptions to her routine so well, just as she knew how much it meant to the girl that they would run into each other when they had their sessions. Her personal reflex would be to move her appointments, too, but as close as their two families were getting to be, it did just feel like she would have been overstepping boundaries.

Her solution felt relatively simple, all things considered. She knew that Ariel responded very well to substitutions. When the doctor had gone on vacation, she and Ariel had hung out at the mall during their usual appointment times, and that had been that. If she could just keep that connection going…

"How do you feel about baking?" she asked her, earlier, when Ariel exited the office and came to find her and the boys.

"I used to do things with my mom, when I was little, but it's been a while," Ariel admitted, and realizing what might have been the cause of the gap, Maya felt briefly like she'd screwed up by bringing this up. But then Ariel just smiled. "I should try. It's all about measuring, the right ingredients, the right quantities… I like that. Why?"

"Well… I do cakes, sort of a small… very small business thing I started, being on maternity leave, and then pregnant again… and more leave… Anyway, you know how I'm starting school again soon?" The girl nodded. "Right, well, that means I'll have more to do. But I also want to keep the cake thing going. My sisters help me, you remember Cara." She did. "Right, so she helps me, and sometimes our little sister, Eliza, too. I was thinking… if I had more help, that would be a way to make sure I can keep the business going. Maybe you could help me? Daphne could do it, too, if she wants. I would pay you guys, don't know how much yet, but it'd be something, and then who knows where we'll go from there," she smiled, seeing the growing intrigue in Ariel's eyes. "Does that mean yes?"

"I think I need to ask my mom?"

"Might be a good idea, yeah," Maya agreed.

"I don't know if I'm any good."

"Neither was I, before. You can learn." The proud little flicker over her face here had Maya chuckling. "I did a lot of practicing. The good thing about that, unless it goes horribly wrong, the mistakes are edible…"

"Be right back," she bolted back toward the doctor's office and disappeared inside to find her mother. A minute later, she came back out, her answer carried on a smile. "She said I could. When do we start?"

"Check with Daphne, see if she wants to do it, too, then get back to me, and we'll figure something out?" Maya suggested, and they were settled. After a moment, Ariel seemed to understand something.

"You won't be here next week, will you?" she asked.

"No, I had to change my appointments," Maya admitted with a sigh. Ariel looked at her for a moment, considered everything. Finally, she gave a small shrug and smiled again.

"My Dad's birthday's in a few weeks. Can we make him a cake?"

They would still have to see about finding the right time for this, though between her, and Daphne, and Cara and Eliza, they were looking at some afternoon after school, or somewhere over the weekends. Either way, they had not yet come to some arrangement by the time the night came when Maya and Lucas both were looking forward to the first day of class the next morning.

Lucas had been watching his wife all day, watching her with the boys. He couldn't think of one moment when she didn't have one or the other or both with her, in her arms, in her lap… She would proclaim herself how her emotions were at their most impossible to keep private and contained when it came to their sons. And right now… Right now, she was going to be starting school, which would mean that she would be away from them for any regular amount of time since the day they were both born. The back-to-back pregnancies had made it so that she'd been with Elliott for all nineteen months of his life thus far. If not for Noah coming along, she would have gone back to school already, might be working somewhere, but instead she had been here, which left her worrying for their firstborn most of all. How would he take her absence?

"Why do they have to be cute like that right now?" she hummed after she saw him standing in the doorway to their room. She'd come up for some peace and quiet so she might feed Noah, though she made allowances for Elliott and his 'animal noises' while he sat on the floor with his set of animal toys (a parting gift from Granny Mel after they'd returned to the house). Noah was sleeping now, his little eight-month-old hand gripping at his mother's collar. Elliott was off in his own world, where evidently cows went 'ooo ooo!' over and over again as he picked up and turned the toy around in his hands.

"It's a trap," Lucas sighed, moving to sit on the floor with their eldest, which pleased him very much and compelled to present his father with the little sheep. "Thanks, El," Lucas smiled before proceeding to hide the little thing behind himself in a bit of distraction and sleight of hand. Elliott made a noise of confusion and moved to rise at once, moving until he had located the sheep again, which made him squeal and move to show his father. "Now how did that get there?" Lucas asked with some stellar exaggeration, making his son stare at him, perplexed.

On the bed, Maya chuckled, looking back to Noah, brushing at his curls. What about him… her sweet baby boy… He was growing up so fast, the first year of his life seeming to zoom by. And still they'd have these moments, where she got to hold him and feel him cling to her, and right then it was as though not a day had passed since they had first handed him to her. She'd always been protective of her boys in different ways, and even though his status as the youngest was unlikely to remain, she would never forget the time when he was the youngest, how he had come along and created that distinction, where Elliott had once been the one and only. Leaving him was no easier, even though she knew it had to happen.

He would be in good hands, she knew, and she never had to doubt it for a second, but was never going to ease these anxieties, not entirely. She was sure that what would achieve that would be little more than her actually starting to go to class. It was like anything, it was the unknown which brought on uncertainty and fear, nothing else. They just had to get past this part and then they would be fine… She hoped…

"Are you going to be able to sleep alright?" Lucas asked, later, as they climbed into bed and settled in as they would, generally every night, the big and little spoon together. Then again, if someone went and started talking, asked a question that would have to be answered with more than a couple of words, Maya would turn around again until she could face him, while Lucas took this opportunity to draw her nearer, a guarantee to make her smile.

"I want to say yes, but I have a feeling my brain will get in the way tonight. It gets impatient."

"I've seen that," he nodded, and the look she gave him suggested he'd come very close to receiving a light kick under the blankets. "If there is anything I can do to… alleviate some of that, I am right here, ready for anything. I can read to you, I can sing you a lullaby, I know a lot of those."

"Yeah, but see, I know all of those, too, that's no good. What else you got?" Maya casually asked. Possibly, she just really wanted to keep staring at his face, especially as he made that slightly exaggerated pondering face.

"Back massage?" he offered. She made an indecisive noise. "Run around the house?"

"No!" she protested quietly, receiving a grin from him.

"Okay, well, see, I've only got the one other idea, but I don't know, would it be a good idea?"

"Wouldn't it?" Maya's brow raised.

"Alright, so it would be a phenomenal idea," he amended.

"Thank you," she hummed, seeming to rise nearer to him still.

"The question is whether it will do the trick with the whole falling asleep part," he went on to explain, even as his hand went from delicately stroking her cheek to trailing along her neck, and her shoulder, and further along the path it chose.

"I guess there's only one way to find out," Maya whispered before their lips could meet.

"If we wake either one of them, it'll definitely throw this plan sideways," Lucas reminded her, his voice quivering under the drumming of his heart and a growing warmth. The smirk she gave him right then had a lot to do with it, that and a few other things, but the smirk in particular was very clear: they would just have to do their best to stay as quiet as possible.

They both slept soundly that night, and so did the boys.

Morning was another story. When Maya woke up, on any morning from the day Elliott was born, her first thoughts, as soon as she was in any way conscious and possibly before that, too, would be of the children. They were of them this morning, too, but then she opened her eyes, and she saw her school bag, the one Lucas had given her at Christmas, and she remembered… This was it, this was the day, long delayed, long awaited… long stressed over. The thought settled in her now like a fidgeting critter under her skin. It was enough to wake Lucas, too, though with the nervousness in him, he was so at ease, holding to her, and she took a breath, let it out. She wouldn't be out there on her own. In classes, yes, she would be, but Lucas would be out there somewhere, and it did work in calming her down some. Now all she had to do was hold on to that feeling all day.

"Morning," Lucas mumbled, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

"Would you look at that, it is," she smiled, closing her hand around his where it lay just around her midsection. She could practically read the mental to-do list he was working off of right about now: keep Maya happy and relaxed. "Should I say thank you?" she teased.

"Well, if you are, then so am I," he pointed out, his chin hooked over her shoulder now, until he could kiss her cheek, making her laugh.

"Funny how that works out, huh," she told him, weaseling her way over to face him. "Hi," she whispered before kissing him. "Would it be weird if we just left for the university right now?"

"Neither one of us has class for like three hours still," Lucas had to remind her once he'd gotten a look at the clock.

"Would make things go faster if we were already there though, wouldn't it? You could show me around, you're not new, and you don't want me to get lost, do you?"

"No, really wouldn't want that," he laughed lightly, even as his fingers grazed their way along her back at that same rhythm. "By the time we get up, and get dressed, and get the boys dressed, and fed, we'll still have to have our breakfast, and then we'll have to get out there…"

"There, see? No time to lose," Maya told him, after having nodded along to each item he listed. Lucas gave her a pensive look. "Five more minutes?" she offered, kissing him once more.

"I'll take it."

Noah was a real trooper when it was time for them to dress him, and today was no exception. Maya got him all set for his first day in 'Pappy Day Care' in quick order, so much so that she had to resist starting over a few times over. She could resist, if only for how she knew that Elliott would be a whole other story. He was very hard to keep standing still when it was time to dress him and they had to keep the door shut when they went to do it. He would go running off on his little legs, and they would have to go and bring him back, and one time he'd made it into the hallway, nearly headlong into the gate at the top of the stairs. So, they kept the door shut when it was Elliott dressing time.

"Alright, Sprout, I'm going to need you to work with me this time, please?" Maya told him as she got his PJs off him. That was pretty much like 3, 2, 1, go. With a squeal, he was a diapered dasher. "No, here, please?" she laughed, waving her arms at him. It was easy enough to manipulate his game in their favor. All they had to do was to make it interesting for him. "How are we doing over here, huh?" she smiled as he dived back into her arms and she was able to check his diaper. "Alright, you're good, yeah? Now, pants, Friar."

After a few more mad dashes, Elliott was all dressed up and ready to go, and Maya was able to get back up on her feet. Two boys, check. Now it was her turn. She had promised herself not to agonize over what to wear. Debating over fifteen choices would only aggravate things, and she really just wanted to get out of here, to go to the university, to start.

"Mama…"

"Yeah, El?" she looked down. He had one of his little shoes off and was now holding it out to her. "Sneaky," she gasped, making him laugh. "You're just going to keep pulling it off, aren't you?" Nevertheless, she put the shoe back on his foot, and she turned back to her outfit conundrum. She could have picked out her clothes the night before, but that just left the door open for her to change her mind now. She was better off choosing this morning. "Clothes… it's just clothes, it's no big deal. I like all of these or I wouldn't have bought them, right? Right."

"Mama…" She let out a breath.

The shoe came off another three times before she was finished getting dressed, and by then Lucas was coming around to do the same, too, so he was put on shoe duty while she went and fixed her hair and makeup.

"What do you think? Does this say 'new but sort of returning student?' Does it say 'mom of two?'" she asked upon returning to the room, there to find Lucas mid 're-shoeing' and fully dressed. Elliott squealed, while Lucas looked over and grinned.

"Says a lot of things," he told her. "Most importantly, it says that you're good to go."

"Great, let's get downstairs before I change my mind," she went and lifted Noah from the crib, where he had been sitting and watching his brother and parents all this time. One had to wonder what he thought about all of them and this game with the shoe. Was this a thing they did? Maya laughed, seeing the way he had been holding to his foot. "Don't get any ideas, okay, Bee?"

Pappy Joe volunteered himself to get the boys through breakfast, the better to prevent any spills and stains and forced wardrobe changes for the pair soon off to university. No amount of Elliott chasing and 'shoe-nanigans' would be near as difficult as the moment when Maya and Lucas were on the verge of leaving and had to say goodbye to their sons until the evening. Elliott and Noah were not shy to show their displeasure when both their parents showed clear signs of going away, but today it was going to hit harder, for Maya at least. She held them and kissed them three times each, and this because whenever one of them ended up getting an extra turn she felt the need to even things out rather than to leave the other hanging. In the end, Lucas almost had to lift Noah out of her arms and back in his grandfather's before leading her out by the shoulders. But they went. They got in the car, and they took off.

"I left enough bottles, right?" Maya asked, sitting in the passenger seat with a frown of deep thought.

"You did," Lucas diligently reminded her. "Pappy Joe has everything he needs for today. And he's going to send you updates."

"Yeah… Yeah, I know, it's fine," she breathed out.

"Hey… Going back to school," he reminded her, the better to pull her back on track.

"I am," she slowly nodded. She got the message, and she was good now, or she would be.

The last time she'd been a student, it was back in Houston, where they should both have been graduating with their friends, should have been living in their house still. It felt like so long ago, it did, felt like a whole other life. But there was something to be said about the university here in Austin and the one back in Houston. They weren't identical, no, but there was definitely a quality that united them, and for that… it didn't feel nearly as strange and new as it could have done. If anything, it helped to remind Maya of some things, big and small, things she had almost forgotten about, things she loved about being in college back then. And with those in her mind, it did feel just a bit like she was finding her footing.

You're not alone. Professor Patil is expecting you. She'd gotten to know Meera, first at that dinner party at Professor Robinson's house a lifetime ago, and then over the last several months, in the work she'd done to help both women's joint project. Now, she would be one of her professors, finally. She had her first class with her at the end of this day.

"Okay, so not as much time left now," Lucas reflected, looking at the time on his watch, even as he was unclipping it from his belt and clipping it to hers in the same motion. She just laughed as he slipped the closed watch in her pocket very matter-of-factly.

"If anyone watched you do that, it must have looked kind of funny, huh?" she teased him.

"You knew it had to happen," he smiled.

"Yes, and as usual I appreciate it very much." He was giving her those big Huckleberry eyes now, something he'd definitely passed on to their boys, even if they were still coming into those 'powers.' Right now, they were looking her over, ensuring that she was doing alright and that she would continue to do so. "I think the worst is behind us now," she nodded. "Got this whole bag of tricks right here that my hubby got me, now I get to take some very intricate and colorful notes out there."

"Wow, he sounds nice," Lucas nodded.

"You have no idea."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners