July 5th 2021

Chapter 186
Our Space For the Road

"I still don't know if we should go," Maya called out as she looked to the piles of their things, and Marianne's things, all waiting to be packed. Lucas reappeared in the doorway to their room, after having gone to raid the bathroom for what they'd need from there. "I mean, we already had a trip, and it was great, wasn't it?"

They'd spent five days and four nights in Australia, with Tanner Clutterbucket's baby sister Georgie and her husband Toph, who had been thrilled not only to have them there but to finally meet little Marianne in the flesh. The last time they'd seen her, if they could call it that, was two years prior, at the very beginning of the tour with Ree Forster when she'd still been in her mother's belly. At their age, and with the distance, they didn't often make the journey out states' side, but they kept in touch in every other way they could. Marianne had loved Australia, and Aunt Georgie would insist that clearly the girl was meant to spend as much time there as possible… especially with family. They wouldn't deny that. She'd certainly warmed up to airplane trips since those first flights she'd taken.

"This is different," Lucas pointed out as he set down his bathroom loot and looked at her with those Huckleberry eyes of his, just fishing for whatever problem was weighing her down.

"It is different, we have a house full of dogs who are still adjusting to being here with us, and together. And now we're going to… leave them behind?" she signed the last part.

"Are we resorting to that around them, too, now?" Lucas tried not to smile and failed.

"Uh-huh," Maya nodded.

"Okay, fine," Lucas straightened up before setting his hands to motion. "Do they look uncomfortable to you?" He turned to look at the floor. Maya looked as well.

On the floor, in the corner where they had once kept the crib, they'd laid out a few things to welcome the dogs. They didn't always sleep up here, but sometimes they did, especially in the daytime. Otherwise, they all had their spots downstairs. Right now, though, it looked like dog naptime, with all six of their pups – permanent or temporary – cosily sleeping, right along with one little pumpkin, who was as good as pup number seven as far as the animals were concerned. She lay curled up between Artie and Darby, the former turned toward the girl as though to make sure when he opened his eyes that she would be there. Marianne was holding little Squeak in her arms and would sometimes run her hand down her back in her sleep. When she did, the tiny dog would give a feeble squeaky bark.

The dogs had been with them for almost two weeks already. Maya could be forgiven for worrying about leaving them, especially in recalling what the early days had been like. They wouldn't go so far as to call it chaos, but something like chaos adjacent wouldn't have been out of the question. It had less to do with the dogs themselves – who were all clearly thrilled to be in a home rather than the shelter. Sure, they had been treated very well out there, but it was still so many cages and them stuck behind a door for most of their days, alone unless someone passed by. And they were surrounded by caring humans who already did everything to make them feel at home, to let them understand that they were now family. As far as Ginger and Darby were concerned, even if they would only be with them for a few weeks, it was just the same. They were still waiting to hear on a definitive pick-up date, but until then the two setters were part of the family.

The part where things went a bit askew came from the fact that there were so many of them, which inevitably made them very excitable. Some of them had already been trained, Crowley of course, and then Jax, too. Ginger, Darby, and Squeak all clearly understood certain things but were still learning others, as Maya and Lucas had been told by Tanya Hillard. Then there was Artie, who they didn't believe had ever had a proper home, except for his brief and eventually failed adoption, which had not helped at all. Mateo had been working with him, down at the shelter, and he'd made some progress but not a whole lot. Once they brought him home, they could see him struggle to break out of his ways, which tended to be the thing that triggered the others, and then… chaos adjacent. It had likely contributed to his being brought back the first time, but this time around he had landed with people eternally more patient and understanding. He had issues. That was fine. They would help him.

But now they were leaving for the weekend, and even though the dogs would be very well looked after in their absence, it was hard not to worry for them. Still, they'd had this camping trip in the books since before they'd ever decided they were ready to bring more dogs into their home. They could have backed out, and it would have been understandable, but at the same time it felt like making that choice now would open the door to more of the same, and they'd be right back in the same place they'd been when they'd had to learn not to automatically rush over to Marianne when she would start crying at night, no matter how difficult it was for them to let her keep going on and on.

"You're catching them at a cute time, that's not fair. Do you want me to remind you about the shower incident?" Maya signed to Lucas, adding a squint for effect.

"That was a week ago, they've been much better since then, and I thought we agreed we would never mention it again," he replied with a pointed look of his own. Maya just smirked. She knew he was right, deep down, and she showed it with a sigh. They would be fine, yes. It was only two nights, and they had been looking forward to this trip.

They could all look back, most of them at least, to those summer days they'd spent at the camping site with Pappy Joe, or others of their families, too. Swimming in the lake, playing games, sitting by the campfire, sleeping in their tents… The memories were some of their most cherished. And now they were grown, and they had children, and they wanted to carry on and pass that tradition down to them, start them young so it would be with them from as long as they could remember. It would be like their group dinners, but in the woods, and doubled down with a sleepover. It would be its own brand of chaos adjacent, with fourteen adults – one of them weeks shy of having a baby and not looking to go in labor out there – and five children under the age of four, nay… five turtles. Whenever they'd be together now, sooner or later, someone would demand they have their masks.

So, the next morning, as planned, they got their bags in the minivan. Before they'd go and leave them to Granny Lizzie, Cara, and Mateo for the weekend, they took the dogs for their daily walk. No matter what happened at the house as they all adjusted to living together, when it was walking time there was peace in the land. They took off with Marianne in the carrier on Lucas back, and he would lead Crowley, Jax, and Squeak on the leashes, while Maya would do the same with Ginger, Darby, and Artie. They couldn't all go at the same pace, but the faster dogs had always managed to understand and slow down for the others. Lucas would suspect how that bit of cooperation was how they had progressed the way they'd done as far as finding their pace in their new living situation.

When they returned from their walk, the dogs were put in Cara and Mateo's care, and the three Friars took off for the weekend and their camping trip. The better to minimize the number of vehicles, they were picking up Rosa and Jenna, and then Morgan and her fiancé Paul. Sophie, Chiara, Asher, Ray, Giulia, and Connor were making up car number two, of course, and then Dylan and Riley with Nicky were car number three and would pick up Zay, Nadine, and Mia.

The whole trip would culminate in their heading into the Babineaux summer party, which would be their standard and long-awaited end to the summer. It was never the same, in recent years, since GiGi Babineaux had passed away, but that didn't mean they stopped having fun, oh, no. If anything, the old woman's absence only made them give even more of what they had, the better to party enough so she'd know they still thought about her and would never forget.

They reached the camping site in good time. The closer they got, it would be just like a lot of places in their lives, where every turn felt familiar, every landmark as they approached, whether it was a building, or a sign, or a tree… With this place, even if they only came once a year, and lately not every year or even two years, it was all the same. Sometimes the trees had grown, or they'd been cut down, but there was still plenty to take them back to those old times when they'd come out here for a couple of days. Then they would get out to their usual spot to raise their tents, and it would be like they'd never left, like all those old days were connected by a thread, and all they had to do was come back and they'd be holding that thread.

"We're going to have to keep a close eye on them," Nadine stated as they all walked along, having left their cars some way away and travelled with their bags on foot the rest of the path. It was the first time they considered the place with parents' eyes, and even if they weren't so new to it anymore that they would worry far more than they had to, it was difficult not to go to a place where every branch on the ground and the lake further along felt like a problem waiting to happen. They could handle themselves and their children and have a great weekend.

First things first, they had to get their tents up, and this became about spotting small tasks they could point out and let the kids do along the way. Eventually, they would have four tents, one for the Houston family, one for the Orlandos, one for the Friars and Babineaux, and one for the 'no minors' group, as they jokingly called it, which would be shared by Rosa and Jenna and Morgan and Paul.

"Woah!" Mia exclaimed as she got to go inside the Friar-Babineaux tent for the first time and looked up and around. Marianne, following right along and hand-in-hand with the bigger girl, looked around just as she'd done.

"Woah…" she repeated, then laughed, which made Mia laugh, too. She brought her to sit on the ground with her and both girls looked so very contented. By virtue of how the other's parents were called their aunt and uncle, it would stand to reason that they'd be like cousins to one another, but the way they'd act together, they might have been more on track to call one another sisters, same as with the other little kids on the trip this weekend. Watching them sit there together, none of their parents could remember doubts about leaving dogs at home or worries about potential injuries. What mattered here and now were those little girls, coming to discover what nature and camping would have to offer them.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners