April 4th 2021

Chapter 94
Our Turn to Returns

"I know you're giving me that goofy little face because I'm giving you a lot of goofy face of my own right now, but I'm just going to pretend like you're excited to see them as much as I am. Yeah? You're excited to see Uncle Sam… and Aunt Cara… and Granny Lizzie…" Each of these names was punctuated by Maya's leaning in to kiss her daughter's hands as she held them in her own, and each of these kisses was met with laughter from the baby girl. "They're going to be so happy to see you, too, I know they missed you a whole lot while they were out in Tucson. But now they're coming back! Yeah!" she leaned in to plant a new kiss at her cheek, and Marianne laughed wholeheartedly, more so as her mother continued to press kisses to her squishy cheek. She reached out her hands, tried to take hold of her, and it made Maya lift her head back to look at her… How she made her smile…

She could have stayed here all day like this. Was there a part of her trying to load up on as much sweetness with Marianne before she was back at work in a couple of weeks? Probably, definitely… The closer they got to the big day, everything felt that much more present to her, more real. And the idea of not spending most of her days with her baby girl… It almost… scared her? It was a silly notion, and she knew it, but she couldn't help it. In time, it wouldn't be so bad, she was sure. She would adapt; she had to. Not today… Today, she was lying on her bed, with her daughter at her side, and she was getting some very good baby laughs out of her. She didn't need to be anywhere else. Except she had to be, and for a very good cause: they were coming home. Sam, Cara, their grandmother… They were coming home.

"You're recording this, aren't you?" Maya asked, without turning, or so much as giving sign that she'd noticed Lucas' presence.

"You would, too, if you were seeing it from this angle," Lucas told her, and she laughed, tilting her head back to see him.

"Show me this angle?" she challenged. He came up and sat with her, showed her his previous point of view. It made her smile. "Alright, fair enough. Time to go?"

"Just about, yeah," Lucas confirmed. Maya sighed, looked back to Marianne, who just fixed both her parents with a very easy smile.

"Goof," Maya snorted, reaching to brush at Marianne's hair. "You are so goofy," Maya whispered as she picked her up. "Time to go to the airport now."

"By the way, we have an extra passenger," Lucas informed his wife as they moved to head down the stairs. Maya frowned and opened her mouth to ask what he meant, only to remain quiet and abort this plan as she spotted the young man sitting on their couch, scratching at Trix and Lou while the former sat next to him and the latter in his lap. Lucas turned back to Maya in time to catch her silent response.

"Morning, Mateo," she greeted the boy, who now looked back and carefully stood and settled Lou on the couch with Trix before moving toward her.

"Morning," he nodded at her, with a smile that was not quite awkward or nervous but wasn't entirely open and at ease either. That was mostly the way he was, but then he'd been unsure how to behave any other way around Cara's older sister since that night before the show, when Maya had walked in on what could only be described as the prelude to an uncertain conclusion. After having dealt with some similar situations with Sam before, it left Maya and Lucas both to wonder if this was just par for the course.

"Coming with us then?" Maya asked, and Mateo nodded. "Alright, then let's go," she told him before turning to Lucas, who now had Marianne in his arms. "Dora?"

"Meeting us there," Lucas nodded.

"Then we're all set."

They packed into the minivan, and they took off. Whether or not Mateo had expected this to be a long, silent, and awkward car ride, that wasn't what he got. Lucas got him started talking about working at the shelter, told him about getting Trix, and Lou, and others they'd come upon along the way. The impression Maya got, as she listened and sometimes participated in all this, well… For one thing, Lucas was sounding like he was starting to get puppy envy, and personally she was open to the possibility, one hundred percent. And for the other thing… Mateo Arroyo was falling in love with her little sister. It was all over him, like a song you can't get out of your head. She'd been away for weeks, and today, the prospect of getting her back… It inhabited him in such a way that there wasn't enough space left to keep his feelings guarded. They were getting pushed up against the windows, and there were no curtains to hide behind.

The good thing about all this – especially for Mateo's sake – was that for as much as she could sense all these things emanating from the boy, she'd been catching some very hard to miss signals from Cara in return. Even with her miles and miles away, calling to check in every day or two, she would say things which, even without so much as saying his name, called up thoughts of the boy from the animal shelter. Maya was not above finding a way to bring him up outright, just to see how Cara would respond.

It wasn't as though they were playing a game of 'boy likes girl, girl likes boy, boy and girl are utterly unaware.' They were dating, they were… rounding a couple bases… But what might have started out with the two of them just seeing where things were going was now swiftly and relentlessly shifting into this next phase where they had seen everything around them, and they had no interest in being anywhere else than exactly where they were, with each other.

If they needed any more proof, their reunion set it right out for them to find. The returning trio was barely out of the gate when Cara took off like a targeted arrow. She just about leapt into Mateo's arms and he caught her, held her close, and they stayed this way for a solid minute before either one of them pulled back. It felt just on the edge of intruding for anyone to be looking at them, faces not so much whispering as shouting how much they'd missed one another.

Between this display, and then Sam and Dora making a beeline of their own toward one another, Maya ended up greeting her grandmother with just a bit of a smirk.

"Just hugs here," she told her, and Elizabeth Hart laughed before embracing her granddaughter.

"Sounds good," she insisted. When they pulled back, she got to hug Lucas as well, before bending over to the stroller, where a just awakening Marianne reached out her hands toward her great grandmother. "Growing again?" Elizabeth breathed, taking her in. The weeks had not gone by unnoticed in the near ten-month-old girl.

"You guys came back just at the right time," Lucas informed the woman. "She's looking like she'll crawl… any day now," he shook his head in sweet disbelief, looking to Marianne.

"Is that right?" Elizabeth asked, her happiness growing.

"Oh, yeah," Maya nodded in equal anticipation. "We've been going around with our phones almost stuck to our hands, to make sure we don't miss anything." They had all this family out there, out of Austin, out of Texas, and they were eager to see that moment happen for the little Friar.

"Maybe she was waiting for them to get back," Lucas joked. By the end of the day, he would be gifted with a claim to his clairvoyance by his wife. Maybe it was actually just coincidence, maybe it wasn't, but either way this was going to be the day when Marianne first started to crawl.

They really didn't have to wait all that long. After they'd gone and gathered the luggage for all three of the returnees, they packed into the minivan and Dora's car and made for the house on the lane. Sam, who had missed his little niece as they would have expected him to miss her, was right there to get her from the minivan and bring her into the house. When they got in there, they were quickly accosted by Crowley, who came and welcomed Sam back with great energy… or more than likely came to see Marianne.

Sam set her down on the ground in front of the dog, while the others were bringing in Cara and Elizabeth's bags.

"You're such a big help, big brother," Cara teased Sam as she went by.

"Hey, you've got Helpful Boyfriend there," Sam teased back, nodding to Mateo. The two of them got on pretty well, all things considered, and so long as they skated around any awkward topics, it would go on that way. Mateo definitely chuckled as he heard Sam. "Anyway, this is important, too," he nodded down to Marianne, even as he took out his phone. This whole thing with her and the dog, that was pretty cute and video-worthy, wasn't it?

"Very important," Lucas encouraged his brother with a smile as he came through with Elizabeth's things. Maya trailed with him, carrying those bags falling under the category of gifts and other offerings from the Hart-Lanes and the Chens.

"Hey, hey, look!" Sam called them back at once, his whisper carrying something like urgency, like he didn't want to speak so long as to disturb…

Had they been holding Marianne in their arms at this point, she would have been restless. But she was on the floor, so when Crowley got giddy enough, surrounded by the returning family, and trotted his way around from one person to the other, it left her just about one choice alone. She had to go after him, obviously. She'd worked up to it, and now here it was, her first brief voyage. After a few scoots, the dog turned back and made his way to her again, where he was happily received.

Those two on the ground had no idea of what this small moment did for those who stood over them and watched, particularly to the girl's parents. It was just as well that Sam was recording the whole thing because they were just so… well, 'floored' really felt like the appropriate word here, didn't it? They couldn't even wallow in this 'she's growing up so fast' space, not when they had just seen their baby girl crawl. Every new thing she did felt big in its own respect, but this… Maya turned a smile back to Lucas and figured out quickly that if he was getting teary-eyed – which he was – then she must not have been so far off herself.

"You did that, huh? You did that!" she laughed, crouching to get to look at her. She might have picked her up, but then if she left her where she was, she might go at it again… "Good little pumpkin," Maya whispered, even as Lucas crouched and then sat on the floor next to her, possibly hoping for something, too, and getting more proactive at it.

Marianne saw him there, and almost right away she moved up on her hands and knees again, and she brought herself right up to where her father sat. When she reached him, Maya pressed her hands together, bursting with giddy pride while Lucas had to pull their girl into his lap. They couldn't have asked for a better tag on this day, one of those moments to make summer's end feel unforgettable.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners