May 5th 2021

Chapter 125
Our Surprises For the Unexpected

"I knew I'd seen you somewhere before."

Maya looked up. She was scrubbing at one of the easels, where a spill had occurred with the sophomores, when Miranda Ortiz showed up. She had a sort of fascinated smile on her.

"And that somewhere was…" Maya asked, getting back to her cleaning.

The new teacher revealed how she'd seen her on television, at the start of the year, when she'd won the awards with Ree. The way she went on about it, she had apparently been struck from day one with this feeling like she knew the art teacher from somewhere but was so far from placing her that she hadn't bothered to bring it up. For all she knew, she was mixing her up with someone else. She saw so many people… And then once she'd figured out that she was the instigator of the Stage Ready program at the Silvan Hughes Theater, she'd sort of considered herself satisfied, even though she had only ever heard Maya's voice, never met her in person, which would not explain the instant feeling like she knew her.

"Then Ree Forster was on one of the late shows last night, did you see?" Miranda asked. Maya nodded and smiled. Alright, she'd recorded it and watched it this morning while she got ready for work, because she had a job and a baby girl who required her to be up very early. "Remarkable woman, that one."

"She is," Maya could wholeheartedly agree. "And they showed a bit from the tour," she added, filling in the blanks of how she'd been recognized. It was still weird sometimes, to suddenly see herself on television for a minute.

"Yes, they did," Miranda replied with an awed tone, miming a belly in front of herself to indicate how impressed she was that Maya had done the tour in the middle of her pregnancy. "I had no idea you were also a song writer and…"

"Well, I do try and keep it quiet when I'm out here… mostly," Maya explained, and Miranda nodded, understanding. "But then you're one to talk, you have a Tony," she pointed out with a smirk, more so at the surprised laugh on her colleague's face. "You were familiar, too."

In her case, she hadn't been reminded by a convenient TV interview, no. Maya was sure she'd seen her before and heard her name, outside of Stage Ready conversations. Somehow, in those few chats they'd had, it had never come up that, before being Miranda Ortiz, before she'd married and taken her husband's name, she'd been a twenty-two-year-old Miranda Villanueva, who'd been the talk of the Broadway world nearly thirty years prior.

"Oh, I burned fast, I'm afraid," she nodded, moving into the classroom to see the damage on the easel. "After that, I lost the desire, the impulse for it, for a long time. Moved back to Texas, got married, raised a family. Not one regret, but I haven't forgotten either. That's why I liked your program so much. I wanted to help nurture more dreams. Also, how I ended up taking this job," she gestured around to indicate the school.

"Well, we're lucky to have you," Maya beamed.

"You don't know the half of it. Got just the thing to help with that," Miranda proudly pointed to the easel. "Be right back."

She left the room, and Maya breathed out, keeping up her scrubbing nonetheless. She was very intent on keeping her equipment in working shape, but also as clean as possible. With paint, yes, splashes could happen, but there were limits, weren't there?

"So, what's this thing you…" she started to ask when she heard footsteps pass the threshold to her class. She looked up to find not Miranda but rather… "Hey, Sammy, what are you doing here?" she smiled, abandoning her scrubbing now as she stood back and moved to hug her brother. It was only Tuesday, they weren't due to have comic day until Friday, but seeing as he was her brother, she wouldn't have put it past him to have some new idea he wanted to toss her way. Except… Well, that was definitely not the look of someone who'd come with an idea. This was more like the face of someone who'd been walloped upside the head with something heavy. "Hey, bud, you okay?" she slowly asked. Right about now, she could only think of one thing that might come and startle him like that, but she had to be sure.

"I, uh…" he paused, cleared his throat, took a moment. "Dora and I, we… We're having a baby," he finally said it, and to see the way his eyes shone with tears, the way his face settled into a stunned but so, so elated sort of expression, she knew it was the first time he'd said the words out loud. And while he had likely been going around with mostly just the stunned part since he'd found out, in this instant… He was breaking through, and the feeling was properly setting in for the first time. He was going to be a father, and he was so happy he could barely breathe.

"Yeah, you are," Maya could only grin and pull him into her arms. Sweet little Sammy… She kissed the side of his head as he hugged her back.

"You knew?" he asked, still holding her.

"Wasn't supposed to, sworn to secrecy, not important right now," she told him. She had no idea exactly what Dora had or hadn't told him at this point, and she didn't want to overstep. As they pulled back, she chuckled and reached up to sweep tears from her brother's face. "When did she tell you?"

"This morning, when I dropped her off at school," Sam breathed, and he launched into the story like he was still right there, like he could still see it so vividly. He might never forget.

They'd been living together now for nearly a year and a half, and whenever Dora would have class, seeing as he was for the most part free to roam, Sam would drive her there and pick her up if he could. Maya wouldn't have put it past him to just have this trait in him, just as she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd picked it up from one Lucas Friar over the four years he'd lived under their roof.

This morning, Dora had been sick. Looking back on it now, he understood what it was, but at the time he hadn't even considered it. All he'd seen was his girlfriend cutting off in the middle of her regular morning yoga – she'd tried and failed to get him to join in so many times – and running to the bathroom. Sam hadn't thought too much of it until he'd heard her hurling, and then he'd hurried to join her. He'd pulled back her hair and held it for her, waited until she'd stopped and sat back before moving into action. It was almost comical for him to realize now that he'd just jumped back to those mornings when his big sister was having morning sickness in helping her, and he still hadn't put two and two together.

He'd seen Dora through cleaning up, and getting her breakfast, what she could manage to get down. He'd suggested she might stay home at least through the morning, but she'd promised that she would be alright and that she needed to get to class. Accepting this as the plan of action, he'd been right there to get her ready and into the car. He'd done his best to make the ride a smooth one, not too fast, no bumps in the road, with air to breathe…

After they'd pulled up into the school lot, he'd still been so concerned, couldn't help it. For all he knew, this was so much more than they realized, and he was so busy going on and on that he almost missed the look on her face, this sort of… love, mixed with something like reflection. He had no idea what was going through her head, though his sister, in hearing the tale, could guess it went something like 'we will be okay, we've got each other.'

Then, she'd told him. She'd told him that she was pregnant, that they were having a baby. He wasn't sure how long he'd stared at her, and he had a vague recollection of saying the words back at her, seeing her nod, saying them again, getting another nod… The initial surprise had washed away, and he'd asked her to step out of the car, just as he moved to do the same. That was just too confined a space for this. He'd sprinted around to her side as she'd emerged, and he'd caught her up in his arms, held her close as she did with him.

"I could feel her, shaking," Sam recounted to Maya. "She had to go, had to get to class, we didn't get to talk much after that, so I've been sort of…"

"Driving aimlessly around the city?" Maya guessed, holding back a laugh.

"I need to go fill up the tank after this," he sheepishly confirmed. Now that he'd laid out the story, just like actually saying the words, he looked entirely more lucid. And he was thinking about all of it. For the first time, he looked like he remembered he was twenty years old, that by the time this baby was born he would have had another birthday, sure, but it wouldn't be much further. Dora would have just finished college, and then they'd have a newborn, and…

"Hey, hey, breathing now," Maya tapped his chest, and he took a breath. "You're going to be worst than Dylan with this, aren't you?" she joked, then realized quickly that it had been the wrong tactic. "The breathing thing, not the baby, hey, you are going to be a great dad, Sam," she smiled at him, squeezed his shoulders. "And I'm going to be flexing Auntie Maya on that kid the way you've been going Uncle of the Century with Marianne."

"I'll have to… I'll have to tell Mom, and James, and…"

"And they'll be surprised a bit at first, I'm sure, but they'll be thrilled, you know it."

Sometimes, he would feel like his whole timeline was a bit weird, hard to figure out, he'd told her that. He'd been in middle school at ten, started college at fifteen, and by the time he'd finished it, most kids his age were barely in their first or second year. He'd mostly put that feeling behind him by now, but suddenly he was faced with the most challenging version of it. What if he wasn't ready? Going into school as young as he did, that was different, it all fell back on him, on his smarts. If he got it wrong, the only one who'd be affected would be him, but now there would be a child, his child and Dora's.

"I'm kind of…"

"Scared?" Maya asked kindly. He slowly nodded. "But happy?" she guessed, and that tremulous smile returned, splashing a few new tears as he smiled. "Guess what, Sammy, that's called being a parent. Never goes away, no matter how old you are. And here's the thing: you're not alone, neither one of you. We're going to be with you, every step of the way."

"I know," he promised. Maya hugged him again.

"Whatever you need, day or night."

After he left, he still looked a bit dazed, which was normal, but also slightly more secured. He would be right at that school to pick up Dora when she finished class that day, Maya knew, and he would be her little brother, like she'd always known him. He would look after her, and he would show her that they would be alright, better than alright, him and her and their unborn child.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners