January 5th 2022

Chapter 5
Our Life With Nighttime

"Hey, pumpkin, what do you have there?" Lucas asked when he spotted her standing just outside the nursery with an object tucked under her arm.

She was in her PJs, all set to go to bed, so he had already figured that this would be the book she'd selected for them to start. They'd just finished their previous one the night before. While he and Maya had been spending so much of their time at the hospital with the babies, he had made it a point to keep on his nightly readings with Marianne, whether that meant going out to whoever's house she was staying at that night… or reading to her before she left for the night… or doing it over a video call. They had been venturing further and further into lengthier stories, ones that required several nights to get through, which also helped when it came to carrying the book with him. Last night, knowing it would be their last before coming home, he'd given her an extra long read, to finish the book and start fresh on their first night at home.

When she stepped into the room proper, he realized she was carrying not one book but two, one bigger one and one thinner. He understood at once what it was about. It made him smile.

"That's for them?" he asked, indicating the thin book. Marianne nodded. "Never too early to start," he agreed before holding out his hand for the book. Marianne shook her head at once.

"I can do it, Daddy," she informed him. She put the bigger book down on the rocking chair before approaching the crib with the orange disc, Remy's crib. She loved those discs, and she'd told her parents as much. Even if the girls were all in one place, it told her whose crib it was. She came up where she could see her sisters and they could – as far as she knew – see her, too.

"Need me to hold you up?" Lucas asked her, setting his hand on top of her head.

"No, I'm tall," she informed him as she opened up the book and flipped to the first page.

"Yeah, you are," he chuckled.

Soon, she had the book up in the air, so that the babies could look at the pictures. She couldn't read yet, no, but clearly, she'd heard the story enough times herself that she could recite it. This wasn't done word for word so much as by her recollection. Whatever she couldn't remember exactly, she would fill in, to the best of her abilities. If they ever needed proof that their daughter had creativity bubbling up inside her, this bit of story time – this night the first of many – was just one such sample. Lucas looked on, and he imagined one of these nights when Lucy, Kacey, and Remy would be able to look on to their big sister with rapt excitement.

"Okay, now your turn?" Lucas asked Marianne, retrieving her book from the chair before leading her out of the nursery and down the hall to her room.

"Mommy, too?" Marianne requested, with big blue eyes turned up to him. She'd missed nighttime with her parents. Now she had them back, and she wanted her story from both of them.

"I think she's already out there waiting for you," Lucas whispered. Marianne responded by taking off at a dash. Was she really?

She was. Maya waited, sitting on the little bed. She looked about this close to tipping over and commandeering the spot for herself, but she perked back up at the sight of the little blonde as she hurried toward her. Marianne climbed up and settled by her side. Lucas joined them, invited as he was by the small beckoning hand tapping the spot by her side. All settled in, they went about sharing the task of narrating the first chapter of their new book. Marianne would want to hold it herself, carefully turning the pages when she'd be instructed to. If she was already drifting off to sleep before the chapter ended, they'd try and take the book away, saving the rest of the chapter for another day, but that would usually bring her back around.

"You know, if we just waited until she was really asleep, we could take the book, no problem," Maya pointed out as they left her room and moved back down the hall some time later.

"Yeah, we probably could," Lucas agreed. The fact that neither of them expanded on this point went to show the simple truth. They wanted to nurture these moments with their girl, so giving her an extra two or three minutes felt like too good of a trade off to pass.

It was still early, by their own standards, but by now they were both tired enough that an early bedtime didn't seem like such a bad idea at all. Going from experience, they could see that it would only be a matter of time before they'd have to get up again anyway. So, they did their thing, changing into PJs, brushing their teeth, letting the older girls know they were turning in… They got into bed, and spoon or no spoon, being back here together again… Oh, it felt good.

"What do you think, one hour?" Lucas asked. Maya hummed, considering.

"If we're lucky," she finally nodded. "Enjoy this…" she whispered. "The calm before the storm…" He let out a quiet laugh, leaned and kissed her shoulder. He'd barely made it when a small cry started, out across the hall. Before either of them really had much time to react, the rebound was achieved. One became two, then three. "And the calm is over."

"I'll go, try and close your eyes, please?" Lucas told her before rising.

"Yeah, 'try' is about all I have," Maya sighed, propping herself up on her elbows so she might try and see what was going on.

When Marianne had been a baby, they'd had their learning period, figuring out how to resist intervening all the time, as difficult as that could be. They'd gotten a handle on that in time, and they'd all been better off for it. But with the triplets… It was easier said than done to get them all to settle back down. They were not quite two weeks old, still so small, and letting them calm themselves was asking a lot, especially when there were those other voices echoing around them. So, he scooped them up, one by one, hoping to get everyone to be of a single mind. He'd already checked as he picked each one up, this wasn't a diaper situation, and there was no fever. Were they hungry already? Or was this just a matter of 'everyone is crying, and it makes everyone want to cry, too?'

"Give her here," he heard, and he turned to find Maya there. He didn't question it, passing her the first baby on the end, which in this moment was Kacey. "Hey, little cub, what's got you all out of sorts?"

They got away with about two minutes of uninterrupted crying before they turned and spotted Marianne, just outside the room, staring at them, the Peabuddies held tight in her arms. Maya let out a breath, turning to Lucas. He knew what she was thinking. Here they'd been thinking that they'd get an hour of peace, all their little ones sleeping and now the two of them about to do the same. Instead, they were now awake, all of them, with three crying babies and one distressed toddler. Lucas suggested a course of action with a few nods of the head, and Maya agreed.

"It's okay, come here," she guided Marianne back down the hall, Kacey still in her arms and crying. As hoped, the distance from the other two appeared to have an effect almost right away. She didn't suddenly stop crying altogether, but it did feel just a bit less insistent by the time they stepped into the green room.

"Does she have to get a new diaper?" Marianne asked, looking up to her mother and her baby sister.

"No, she's good," Maya promised. "She's calming down already, see?" Marianne climbed on to her bed, under her blankets, and Maya slowly sat down with her, allowing her to reach up and touch her sister's back. "This is going to happen a lot, probably, most nights for a while… more than once a night." Marianne nodded. She knew, they'd told her, but clearly, she'd had no idea it would be just like this. They'd had Tori in this house as a baby, for what she may or may not have remembered of it, but this was different. "Do you think you'll be able to get back to sleep if it wakes you up? Do you want us to put your music on?"

"Uh huh," Marianne nodded.

So, the music was turned on, not so loud, just enough that if she did wake again, she would know she was here, and she was okay, and she could go back to sleep.

"If you need us anyway, you come and find us, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy."

"Can I get a kiss?" Maya smiled. Marianne climbed back up on her knees at once, coming around to press a kiss to her mother's cheek. She took a moment and pressed another kiss on Kacey's arm, where it lay against Maya. "Thanks, pumpkin. Under the blankets now, that's it."

By the time their first night at home with the girls would be over, they would all be able to say that, on the whole, it had gone very well. Were they exhausted? Absolutely, deeply so. After they'd gotten them back to sleep the first time, they'd had to get up again, one or the other or both, a few more times, for feedings, for diapers, for general wakefulness sometimes brought on by hearing the others… It was just going to be that way, wasn't it? They did not expect many occasions where one or two of the babies would wake and start to cry and the other one or two would go on sleeping like nothing was wrong.

As much as it all felt sort of non-stop and as though time no longer had any meaning, they got through it. Were they going to keep on feeling this optimistic after several nights like this, one after the other? They had no idea, not now, not yet, but they would face each one as it came. For one, they didn't have much choice, but more than anything… they just saw no cause or reason to complain. They would take all those nights if it meant that they got to see their daughters through to one more morning, and another, and another… They were here, they were healthy, thriving… The girls would grow up, and this time would end, and they would actually look back on it all with nostalgia.

"Get some sleep," Lucas yawned. "I'll see about breakfast and…"

"No, hey, you're staying here, come on," Maya gripped on to his hand before he could get away. He tried to protest, but then she had gotten him to lie back down, and the exhaustion won out. "That's what I thought," she mumbled.

"Five minutes…" he tried.

"Try again."

"Six."

"Look who's still got jokes."

"Are they…"

"Ella and my sisters got them, it's fine. Sleep, now."

"Yeah, okay," he came closer, making her smile.

"Hope you're not getting any ideas right now, Friar."

"Wouldn't have the energy… Friar," he retorted, and now she laughed, a very shaky, out of proportion, tired laugh, which got one out of him in return. "I'll owe you one."

"That's fair. I'll cash that in right when I can actually… you know…"

"Sleep," he repeated, and she pointed in his general direction.

"Right, that… Really need to…" And they slept.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners