Chapter 103
Our Home and Yours

Summer was going by so fast. In just a few weeks, they would be headed back to school, starting a brand new year, their last year before they'd both graduate, at long last. It was August now, just barely, and with this rapid summer falling away from them, a choice was made. This idea of cats had been worked into their minds over the first half of the year, since Maya had become friends with Diana and Farah, and by now both she and Lucas were in agreement that they could see themselves bringing home one of their own, to join them, and the boys, and Pappy Joe, and the dogs. The only thing they didn't know was when, so until then this cat remained an idea, not a concrete plan. And then the night after Maya's classmates returned from Toronto, thereby ending the cat sitting 'contract,' Lucas was the one to bring it up.

"I think maybe we should see about the cat," he told Maya. She was pacing the room with Noah in her arms, their son just barely asleep. Now she looked up at him, stopped walking a moment before moving to put Noah down in his crib and approaching him where he stood.

"You mean…"

"Well, it's just that I figure if we're going to do this any time soon, it's probably a good idea that we get a few weeks to help get everyone settled with this new addition. Instead, we'll be dealing with school and work and who's going to have to help with this new cat, you know?"

"That's… Yeah, I know what you mean," Maya nodded. She considered it all over again now, and she smiled. "So, we're doing this?"

"I think we are, yeah," Lucas smiled back. "It'll be the first time we bring a new living being in this house because we planned to do it," he added after a moment, clearly just to get a laugh out of her. It was worth it.

"Let's make a habit of that, yeah?" she poked at his chest. The look on his face looked a lot like the prelude to 'seven tall sons,' and the poking turned into pointing. "Don't you dare," she whispered, even though she couldn't stop smiling.

"No?" he asked, sidling up closer to her.

"Cats!" she reminded him. Oh, if she didn't, things would definitely… take a turn. Instead, he got the message and he held up his hands in surrender.

"We'll look into it tomorrow, yeah?" he suggested, and she happily nodded.

"While we're talking changes to the household that we want to get handled before school starts, we might want to talk about tackling one more thing, too," she added.

"Yeah? What's that?" Lucas asked. Maya nodded to the crib behind her, then out the door toward the nursery. He almost looked sad as he understood what she meant. Or not sad, but more… nostalgic.

It kind of was time though, wasn't it? They'd been talking about it a while, not just moving Noah into the nursery with his brother but also moving Elliott from his crib to the small bed. He was just over two years old now, and he was just… he was ready. The last few days, they'd put him to nap in the bed, and he was happy there. It was a new thing, and he had his knitted blanket, he had his bunny… He could probably make the full transition very easily. Meanwhile, they were genuinely curious about how Noah would deal with the relocation. Would it be easy for him? Would it be easier for having his older brother in the room? Or worse? It had to happen sooner or later, so they'd just have to go for it and deal with it however it went.

"Should we deal with the nursery thing before or after the cat?" Maya asked Lucas the next morning, about as soon as she knew that he was awake, too. She had been awake for over an hour. Possibly she had spent most of it looking at pictures of different types of cats, making a list of things they would need if and when they would bring a cat home…

Lucas blinked, still waking up. He mumbled and just pulled her closer. It made her chuckle, but she got the message, and she left the question alone until he was slightly more awake and aware of the world around him. Finally, he spoke.

"Nursery, then cat," he gave as his answer.

"That was my thought, too," Maya told him before turning to face him. This caused them both to smile and exist in this beat where they were just happy to see each other at the start of a new day. "So, do we just put Noah in the other crib from now on or do we put his crib here across the hall and store the other one? Maybe he can tell the difference, you know?"

"We'll just go and test that tonight, I guess. And if there's an issue, we'll swap the cribs and see what happens."

"It's a good plan," Maya agreed. "Let's do it."

It was fairly easy, as plans went. They didn't need to move any furniture. They only had to put Elliott's things on the little bed and Noah's in the crib, and then add the boys. Easy. At the end of the day, they had bath time, which had been turned into a team effort the moment they started putting the two brothers in the tub at once. Suddenly, it wasn't just a bath, it was play time, and Elliott and Noah already loved splashing around in the water, and touching the soap bubbles, and playing with the toys floating within their reach, so when they got to experience this side by side with their brother, oh…

As chaotic as it could be, both Maya and Lucas felt up to the task, and they had to work hard not to let things get carried away just because they found the whole thing so funny. They already knew the moment Noah was able to walk and run they'd end up having to keep watch of him or he'd slip away from them and run around butt naked, towel be damned. Whenever it'd be time to get him out of the water he would wriggle around and try to be left alone to splash some more. Only once he found himself snug in that hooded towel, warmed up in either his mother or his father's arms, would he relent and accept the end of bath time.

"Here you are, gents, nice and clean, PJs on, hair handled… You know what that means?" Maya whispered at Noah, who was already halfway asleep now that she had him in her arms again.

"Book!" Elliott gave the answer even as he moved across the room to the shelves.

"Just one, okay, sprout?" Lucas followed behind him.

"One," Elliott nodded. He gave great toddler concentration and consideration as he stood there, and his parents could only watch and try not to laugh. Half the time he would locate a tried and true favorite, but the rest of the time, like tonight, something in his mind would veer toward the unknown and he would turn back to them with a look like 'you decide.'

"Right, let's see, maybe there's one we haven't read yet that you might… Oh, look at that," Lucas smirked as he sat crouched next to the boy and pulled out a thin book. He showed Elliott the cover, and Maya could see from where she stood that it featured a trio of frolicking little cats. She hid her smile by pressing a kiss to her younger son's forehead.

"Would you look at that," she echoed Lucas' comment. He laughed and got up, scooping Elliott along.

The very timely cat story was read to the two-year-old by his father while his mother held his sleeping younger brother. By the end of it, Elliott was very nearly asleep, leaning against Lucas. The parents exchanged a look. Here goes. Maya went ahead and settled Noah in the crib while Lucas placed Elliott in the bed. He draped the blanket over him, ensured that Opie Bunny was right there with him.

"All good, bud?" he quietly asked as he lightly brushed the hair from his brow. The sleepy boy gave a small nod even as he reached for his bunny. "Alright. See you in the morning. Good night. Love you," Lucas leaned and kissed his son's head before stepping back. He and Maya crossed each other as he went to the crib and she headed to the bed. It would become a familiar move they jokingly referred to as the 'two-kid shuffle.'

"Well, that went well, right?" Maya whispered after they retreated, carefully shutting the nursery door. "Now for the other part…"

Putting the boys to bed was one thing. It was almost easy for them by now. It wasn't uncommon for one or both of the boys to wake up in the middle of the night for some reason, but it wasn't a common thing either. Sleeping through the night was a reasonable expectation at this point. So, they headed back downstairs, spent a quiet evening with Pappy Joe where he treated them with stories of a young Thomas Friar's bed transition, and then Lucas, too. He even shared stories of his little Annabeth, something he had been unable to do for so long without feeling weighed down from that grief and loss of so long ago. He had gotten to a point now where he had reclaimed those brief years with her. It used to be that he would guard them so close to his heart, but now… now he could share her with those who mattered, and it brought him unexpected relief.

The night had ended with talks of this cat they would be bringing along before long. Pappy Joe had already declared himself as 'not really a cat person.' He wasn't allergic, didn't hate them, he was just sort of… indifferent. He didn't mind the addition, nor would he oppose it. If they wanted a cat, they should get a cat.

"What do you think? Is he going to stick to that stance or is he going to come around become The Biggest Cat Person in this house?" Maya wondered as they got ready for bed.

"Excuse me, if anyone's going to have that title, shouldn't it be me?" Lucas teased, which made her laugh.

"Sorry there, Doc, what was I thinking? But come on… That man has all the makings of a guy who says he doesn't like a thing and then before you know it he's shopping for a cat castle and looking up all the best toys and what foods are best, and don't you let anyone mess with his Whiskey."

"Whiskey?" Lucas asked with a laugh.

"I don't know, sounds like the kind of name he'd choose for a cat," Maya shrugged. Lucas considered this for a moment.

"It's actually not bad…" he admitted.

"Did we just name our cat before we even found it? What if it already has a name?" Maya shook her head.

"We are not there yet," Lucas reminded her. "We'll give this bed switch thing a week or two and then the cat, right?"

"Right," Maya confirmed. The mention of the beds made her want to go and check on the boys, but they had the monitor, and everything was fine, so she resisted the urge. They all went to bed, and they slept. The clock on the nightstand told them it was just after three in the morning when they were awakened by a summons off the monitor.

"Mama… Mama… Dadaaa…"

They could be forgiven for not understanding what they had heard right away, as they had been sound asleep. They'd become familiar with Elliott's little voice flooding in at night, so they guessed this had been him and he was awake.

"I'll go make sure he's good," Lucas mumbled as he moved to stand. Maya was already sitting, and while she wasn't thinking about getting up and heading across the hall, the words played back through her head. She frowned to herself, looked at the monitor.

"Noah…" she blinked. She looked to Lucas, who wasn't following. "That was Noah," Maya pointed to the closed door. Now that he thought about it, Elliott had long evolved to calling them Mommy and Daddy, and the voice…

Soon, they were both stepping into the nursery, there to find Elliott still slept, while Noah was sitting up in his crib. He didn't look overly distressed, no more than he would for waking back in their room. This was just like any other night to him, relocated or not, but to his parents… To them, it was the night he'd said his first words, or maybe the night they had actually heard him speak. For all they knew, he could have said something before, with no one to hear him. It didn't matter. They'd heard him now, and they were so very happy to have done so.

They got him back to sleep, and that was all. He slept on through morning, just as Elliott did. When they woke again, Maya and Lucas both went back to the nursery, curious as to what they would find. What they did find was Noah, lying on his stomach, propped up on his arms so he could look to his brother. Elliott had climbed out of his bed and now stood in front of the crib. He appeared to be putting himself in the role of his parents or grandparents, greeting his baby brother in the way he'd seen them do in the morning, or after a nap.

They could have taken this as a sign right then and there that the transition would go exactly in this way, that they didn't need to worry about either of the boys having trouble with the move and they could go right ahead and see to the cat. In the end, they decided to wait a week anyway. In those days that followed, they busied themselves with the other elements of the move. They would have a few things to rearrange in the nursery, to bring over from the other room. And there was the matter of the crib, too.

There was a brief discussion about just leaving it there. They were planning to try for baby three in all of two or three months, so it could have been easier to keep things where they were, but then it would be months of an empty crib sitting there, and much as they didn't put stock in superstition, it didn't feel right. Anyway, when they would become pregnant again, they would want to prepare for this arrival, wouldn't they? This child deserved to be considered and hoped for as much as his or her brothers. So, the crib was taken apart, the pieces brought down to the basement for storage until such a time as the stork demanded its return.

"I might do some touch ups on the tree while the path is clear," Maya stated, the morning they were due to go see about the cat. She reached up, tracing her fingers along some of the leaves, the names of family and friends…

"Can I help?" Lucas asked.

"You can always help," Maya confirmed with a smile.

If the boys had been older, they might have considered bringing them along to go and see the cats, but the idea of bringing a pair of toddlers under the age of three out there felt like inviting trouble. So they left them in the valiant care of their great grandfather and the visiting Patty Robinson while they headed out, just the two of them.

Oh, they were excited about this. Bringing home a new pet always made for a great day, like even if they had been in the deepest of cold winters it would have felt as though they stepped into a breezy summer day and everything was perfect. They were starting something new, and here they would be bringing home the first new animals in their home since before either one of the boys were born. That was even more exciting.

They'd been looking forward to this day since they'd decided it would be the day and they'd started to prepare themselves. The perk of their sons being as young as they were, in this case, was that they didn't understand what was about to happen. It would be a complete surprise. Better yet was the realization that, being as small as they were now, they would grow with this cat and remember it being there with them for as long as they had been alive.

"I almost had a cat once," Maya stated as they walked from the car toward the building.

"Almost? Was it imaginary?" Lucas wondered with a smirk.

"Yes and no, actually," Maya admitted. "I was four, and I found this cat behind our building one day."

"What were you doing on your own back there at four?" Lucas started to ask before she gave him a 'please, it was me' look. "Right, so you found a cat."

"Yes, and the little… I don't know if it was male or female, but anyway, the little thing looked scared and hungry. I tried to get it to come back with me, but it wouldn't go, and I couldn't lift it up. So, I went back upstairs and I asked my mother if I could get food 'for my cat.' Didn't exactly elaborate, so my mother figured I was just sort of… making it up, because I wanted a snack or something. She tried to give me cookies, because, well, I was cute and she couldn't say no."

"I get that," Lucas nodded.

"Ha," she squinted at him, turned to a smile. "Anyway, I asked her if that was what cats really ate, and I guess even if it was imaginary she didn't want to give me bad information, so she actually went and asked our neighbor. For like… a month after that, I would go out there every day, and I would give some food and water to the cat. It'd always be there, waiting. I'd sit next to it, watch it eat and drink. My parents would ask me how my cat was doing that day, and I'd tell them, again, never specifying that this was a real cat and that it was just downstairs, so they kept up with this idea that I had made it up."

"Until they found out?" Lucas guessed. Maya chuckled.

"Well, one day, I actually managed to coax the cat from its spot, got it to follow me into the building, and up to our place. When they saw it, my parents were just startled, like 'where'd you get this cat?' and I was confused. It was my cat, I'd told them about it over and over, didn't they remember?"

"Oh, no…" Lucas laughed.

"Anyway, it turned out that she was lost, and her people had been looking for her for ages. When they came to get her, they were so happy, thankful, but I was just upset. It was my cat, you know? We couldn't have pets in our apartment, or else I'm pretty sure my parents would have considered getting me one. And that's my whole cat story."

"Not the whole story. What did you call it?" Lucas asked with a smile. There had to be a name. Maya looked briefly embarrassed.

"Banana," she finally told him. Of course, of course, he laughed. "It was the first thing I fed her, and she liked it, okay? I was four." She paused. "We're going to need to name this cat before we get home if it doesn't have one already…"

Finding a cat that they loved was not a problem, as they soon discovered. It took them back to the day they'd gone and found Trix and Lou, back when they lived in Houston. At some point, they got split up in their exploration, and they would look at the cats, always with this mindset in them that when they would find the one that belonged in their home, as part of their family, they would know. To say that they felt several tugs at their hearts as they went was a mild truth. If they complied each time, they would be returning home with a good dozen cats or more.

"Oh, hello…" Maya beamed as she found herself near eye level to a small… well, a cotton ball with eyes would have been an accurate description on the first peek. She was so close that Maya could easily reach out to her, looking back at her with what could only be called a hypnotic intensity. The other impression it gave her was that here was a cat who'd need to be coaxed into opening up. Maya couldn't help but to respond to that. She knew what this was like.

"Who's this?" Lucas' voice made her turn around a moment and she smiled.

"Would it be too presumptuous to say that this was Whiskey?" she asked. He came up next to her and got a look at the cat. According to the information card posted here, the white cat was six months old. She'd been here about as long as she'd been alive.

"She looks pretty calm. That could be good with the boys, yeah?" Lucas slowly nodded. She was looking at him now, and like with Maya there was something, more than a tug.

"How about it? Want to come with us?" she asked the cat, smiling on.

The cat could have been said to observe them, to consider them. She stood up, gave a meow, turned about, meowed again. Maya and Lucas both found this amusing, not realizing that maybe it wasn't for their benefit until they heard another cat, in the next compartment over. There were so many others in this room, so it wasn't as though the place was quiet, but this was really like a response. When they moved over and looked, they discovered they had completely missed the occupant. The black cat could have been camouflaged, lying there. Her eyes had been closed, but now they were open, two rings of yellow staring at them.

"This your friend?" Maya asked the first cat, pointing to the second. The intense eyes, soft green as they were, continued to stare back. "That's her friend," Maya looked back to Lucas with a question in her gaze. Now what do we do? Lucas considered this.

"Well…" his eyes moved from one feline to another. "I guess it might be a good thing for them to have each other, right? Trix and Lou have each other…"

"And Elliott and Noah," Maya added with a smile.

"And you and me," Lucas smiled back at her.

"And if he plays his cards right, your grandfather, my old professor…" Maya grinned.

"So, basically…" he laughed.

"We don't have a choice," she finished for him. He let out a breath, looked at the cats again. Those two were staking their claim. They were a packaged deal.

By the time they would be back in the car, they would find themselves escorting home not one cat as they had planned but two. It hadn't even been that much of a debate, or any at all. Like with the first, they had found her buddy and the instinct had been alive. She belonged with them, too. She was a year old, and according to the woman who helped Maya and Lucas, she'd only been with them a few weeks, but as soon as she'd arrived, as soon as she'd been set next to the white cat, they changed, both of them. The black cat had been sick when she'd been brought in. She was all better now, and as far as anyone was concerned a lot of that recovery was accomplished through companionship.

"Well, if I wasn't convinced before…" Maya smiled, watching the pair of them as they sat near her in the backseat. They were practically curled up together, and short of being able to read their cat minds, the impression she got was… release. When she'd brush her hand at their backs, they would look at her, and she'd know that they felt secure with her.

One trip to the pet store later, they were homebound. Maya had stayed in the car with the cats while Lucas went inside. By the time he came back out, she was kind of glad he'd been the one to go. He had more self-control than her, and even he had ended up buying more than intended.

It wasn't so simple as just coming through the door and presenting the boys with these new furry friends. They'd have to give the cats time to adjust before introducing Elliott and Noah into the equation, so for the time being they got them settled in their room, while Pappy Joe had the boys in the kitchen. The dogs were down in the basement.

"What do you think? Not bad for your new digs, huh?" Lucas quietly asked the pair as they looked around. "Wait until you see the rest." As much as they couldn't wait to introduce the boys to the cats, Maya and Lucas couldn't ignore the fact that they already felt a bond to their new friends. Their home would be made better for the arrival of Whiskey and Shadow.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners