May 17th 2021

Chapter 137
Our Arms Around Rest

Maya almost didn't go to school on Monday morning. Honestly, she hadn't given her job a thought until she'd gone back home on Saturday evening and found the sketchbooks still piled on the bed upstairs. By then, it felt like her quiet morning had been part of a whole other lifetime, not this one here, where she'd been at the hospital with her family all these hours. She'd seen the diaries and let out a defeated breath which felt like someone pulling the stopper from a tub and getting caught in the swirling rush of bathwater draining away. All day, she'd done her best to be strong for Gracie, for Nellie, for her parents faraway and her grandparents nearby, but that was all in the past, and being home again, the very real fear of what had happened and might have happened to her little sister… She felt tired, weak.

For all that, she still hadn't given any thought to the diaries or her work the next day either. She'd been on task, her and Lucas both. They went to the hospital, checked on Gracie. She hadn't slept well, from discomfort, from the environment of the hospital making her ill at ease, but on the whole she was faring about as well as they could hope under the circumstances. She was eager to go home as soon as possible, and for that to happen, she had to do what they told her to do, which was to rest.

After that first visit, Maya and Lucas had gone back to the Hunter house, for phase two. It was fortunate that the house was originally smaller, that they had those bedrooms on the ground floor. Gracie wouldn't be able to go around on her own for a while still, but if they could save her the trouble of having to be taken up or down those stairs… So, they undertook a project of setting up Maya's old room – previously the twins' nursery, currently Maya's guest room – to welcome the twins once more. There was no chance that Nellie would stay upstairs on her own when Gracie was downstairs. She'd need to look after her twin.

In the midst of moving things around, they had also gone and shopped for those things Gracie would need during her convalescence at home, whatever equipment they might need. They found themselves coordinating with Cecilia, who knew more than enough about what the next few months would be like for Gracie and for the family. Sam's ex-girlfriend had been twelve when she and her mother had gotten into that crash. Cecilia's mother had died, while the girl had been in such a state that she'd needed a number of surgeries to even get her to the point where she now walked permanently with a crutch.

The way the doctor would tell it, Gracie's level of recovery would greatly depend on the weeks and months to come. She might get on the other side and be completely healed, no more trouble, no more pain. She might be mostly okay, and only sometimes find that strain or a bad movement would cause a flare up, the way Maya sometimes suffered with her arm. Or she might end up with one or two crutches, or a cane, for a while or… The idea didn't sit well with anyone, because of how young Gracie was, admittedly. At the same time, the one person who didn't sound all that troubled at the prospect… was Gracie. She was ready to face what would come next, in a way that left the others feeling like they had no choice but to be as steady as she was.

"I'm not sure she's as ready as she thinks she is," Cecilia warned Maya and Lucas. "She's thinking about getting out of the hospital right now. Anything sounds better than being there. It's only been a day, and the longer it goes on, it will get harder before it gets easier."

Sophie was of a similar mind, when she and Chiara and the guys came over from Houston. She'd done her own share of coping with this sudden change in her life. Even now, nearly five years later, while she was all in all in peak condition, continuing her work, there would be days where some old scar, some old break, would make itself felt again, and not all of it physical. It had been such a relief to see them all, same with Zay and Nadine, and Riley and Dylan, and Rosa and Jenna… Maya knew that they would all be there, the moment any of them were needed in any way to help Gracie, and it meant more than she could say. Already, Zay had vowed to go and visit his former student in the evenings after he got out of school, so he might help her with her missed lessons and her homework.

"I have a feeling you might have a couple others sitting in on those sessions," Maya had told him, hugging him with all the friendship they had cultivated across the years. He made a noise like he was already aware of this, even without her naming them. Nellie, of course, and Desi Russell, too.

Gracie had insisted on calling her best friend herself, figuring that hearing it with her own voice would be reassuring. When Maya and Lucas returned to the hospital after doing all they needed to do, they got to hear all about this call. Nellie was sitting laid out on the bed next to her, and for as long as Gracie would be here and her twin would visit, they would rarely find her anywhere else. It was almost as though they were babies again, back when they would be comforted, strengthened, by their nearness. Gracie would nap, when she was told to do so, and she would do it with her head at Nellie's shoulder.

"Can you tell them to let me stay tonight?" Nellie went to Maya, as they were getting ready to leave. There was something in her eyes so much like fear, and though she was not a twin herself, she could understand it. Last night had been the first time in all their lives when they hadn't been in the same place when they went to bed. It used to be that they'd sleep curled up in one's bed or the other's, for years, before they got old enough to stay apart, and even so they were just a few steps away from one another. Last night, one had been here at the hospital, the other at home. Nellie hadn't slept well either. "Please?" she looked up to her big sister. She looked like she would cry.

"It's only for a few more days," Maya had to promise her as she crouched down to hug her. "Okay? Just a few days, and then you guys are staying in my old room, yeah? Everything's all set." Nellie still looked terrified. "You want to come and stay with us until then?" she asked, on impulse. Under the circumstances, it felt warranted, and if anyone needed convincing, the look of immediate relief in Nellie's eyes would be the only thing they'd need.

"With you?" she asked, and Maya smiled.

"Yes, with us," she held her little sister's face in her hands. "Like the old days." Nellie nodded and smiled back, then paused and looked back to Gracie. "Now, you," she told her, as she stood and approached, Nellie still holding to her. She took Gracie's hand, and Nellie reached to get the other, until they were all linked. "If you can't sleep tonight, you're able to reach that phone there?" Maya asked, turning her head to the table next to the bed. "I can bring it closer." Gracie nodded. "Good. If you need to, you call, okay. We'll sing you back to sleep."

"And when you come home," Nellie jumped in, liking this plan more and more, "We'll have a Sleepster!" She looked up to Maya. "Can we?"

"Well, maybe not a big one, Hart-Lanes and all, but we can come up with something," Maya smiled, to one sister and the other. "Maybe we need to make an exception this time and let the boys stick around, what do you think?" she asked Gracie. Her little Mouse-Mouse smiled.

"I'd like that."

Gracie hadn't called, though Maya and Nellie had checked in with her in the morning before leaving for school. She'd slept much better, and it was almost as though knowing that her sisters were one call away had been enough to help her through the night. By the time Maya made it into her classroom on Monday morning, she felt almost out of place, like she didn't recognize it as the same place she'd left on Friday afternoon. Lucas had tried to convince her to take the week off, Granny Lizzie, too, and the Clutterbuckets, and her parents… The school would likely have understood, but… No, she had to be here. And now she was, and… she wished…

"I was sure you wouldn't be here this morning." Maya lifted her head and found Cory Matthews standing just inside her class.

"Come on, not you, too," she sighed.

"Why didn't you stay home? Or go to the hospital?"

"What would I have done?" she asked as he came and sat on the chair by her desk. "I can't… do anything, out there, except turn around in circles and worry. But I have one girl who needs to be watched before she retreats back into her shell because she can't do the thing that makes her happiest right now, and I have a boy who's still trying to figure out how to navigate his grief back here, I have seniors getting closer and closer to their end run from here to college, a musical to help pull together… a mountain of diaries that still need to be looked at… If I get through all that, then at least the day isn't lost completely in… in helplessness," she finally breathed out. Cory said nothing. He didn't have to. "I hate that they're not here. I get it, but I still hate it. I can't even be mad at it, because I know they hate it worse than I do."

Katy and Shawn were still in Los Angeles. They wouldn't get to come home for a few more days. Had it been up to them, they would have rushed back to Austin the moment they hung up the phone on Saturday afternoon, but the reality of Katy's job and the fact that Gracie was in no immediate danger had led to the choice for her to stay in Los Angeles until she was able to go. And rather than to leave her to cope on her own, Shawn had been left to hang back as well. They were spending all the time they could on Skype with the kids, making the most of the situation.

When the seniors came around for first period, Maya knew better than to assume that they'd believe she was fine, so she came right out and told them about Gracie. She didn't have a choice anyway, as she would be returning them their diaries unchecked and giving them a generic assignment so that she'd check both over the upcoming weekend. They were very understanding, all of them. And being the absolutely brilliant bunch that they were, they would all want to hear about how she was doing in the days that followed, some of them sending drawings, and cards onward with their teacher. She didn't even have to tell the other groups, as the word had trickled down by the time they'd come along in subsequent periods. Maya suspected that the 'Born Curious Network' had seen to it that everyone was made aware, keeping her from having to repeat herself again and again.

"Did Desi tell you about the sleepover when Gracie's coming home?" Maya asked Khalil when he came along.

"She did, yeah," he nodded.

"I think you should come, too. It's special, this one, brothers and sisters both. I think she might like that," she suggested. It made Khalil smile. He thought so, too.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners