January 8th 2022

Chapter 8
Our Leap Into Beginnings

"Hey, wake up… Lucas… Up and at 'em, Dockleberry…"

With a few blinks, his eyes finally opened in earnest to find Maya looking down at him. It seemed she'd been in the middle of getting ready before coming across the hall into the nursery to gently wake him. He needed a moment more, taking in his surroundings, to remember. Oh, yeah… He'd come in to get started with the babies, and Lucy had started to fuss, so he'd sat down in the rocking chair with her and then… he must have dozed off. For her part, the little blonde was awake and at peace, snug in her father's arms.

"Sorry," Lucas yawned, rubbing his free hand across his face in hopes of waking himself up further. Against all hopes, they'd had a long and nearly sleepless night. On most any other day, they might have tried and made up for that now, but it was impossible, not today.

"Emma doesn't start class until later, I'll see if she can drive, alright?" Maya told him as she went over and got a look into the crib where Kacey and Remy waited, already dressed. "Hey…" she beamed, reaching down to brush at their little hands.

It was mesmerizing to realize they were nearly a month old already. They'd grown, all three of them, their features growing with them. When they'd been born, the biggest distinction they could find was that Lucy was smaller, in height and weight, while Kacey and Remy had less hair. Now, weeks later, this was… well, it was still true, on all accounts, but where they could all have been said to look about the same otherwise, today it had changed.

They could really see how the twins were identical, so much so that finding the small mark on Kacey's shoulder, and the one on Remy's foot, had been extremely fortunate to their parents, who had been working extra hard not to get them mixed up from day one. As those first weeks had gone by though, they'd been seeing more and more how Lucy was definitely not identical to them. Oh, there was absolutely no doubt that the three of them were sisters, the family resemblance was very strong, but she would never be mistaken for either of her older sisters, not unless she came across someone who simply didn't know which of them was the fraternal triplet.

For as much as Marianne had always been seen as being practically fifty-fifty split, some perfectly balanced mix of her mother and father, the more they grew and developed, the triplets seemed to lean more one way or the other. Again, there was still enough of one and the other, marking them as family, but held up against their parents' baby pictures, anyone could see that Kacey and Remy had much more of Lucas in them, while Lucy, for having been named after her father, had a whole lot of Maya.

"Yeah, probably a good idea," Lucas agreed. He would not have put himself behind the wheel with his wife and daughters just now, not for a second.

"Hey, she's ready," Eliza appeared in the doorway.

"Oh!" Maya smiled, motioning for her sister to come take Remy while she picked up Kacey. Lucas stood and brought Lucy along as they left the nursery and stood in the hall, where Emma waited outside her niece's room like she was supposed to announce her.

Marianne Friar stepped out, all set for her first day of preschool. She had the outfit they'd selected, and her hair had been done in a pair of braids, one dangling over her shoulder, the other behind, the better not to obscure her star, proudly displayed on the front of her dress, which was green, of course, patterned with turtles. It was one of several items made for her by Angela Clutterbucket, Grangie always at the ready to provide for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren whatever special piece they might not have found ready-made otherwise. And if her little Sheriff Annie was going to make her big entrance in the world, she would boldly go, showing who she was. On her feet, she had her favorite color-splashed shoes. Even as her feet had grown, they'd done their best to find the favored shoes in increasing sizes so she wouldn't try and squeeze her little toes in outgrown pairs.

"Can we go now?" Marianne asked, dashing up to her mother and father and looking up to their faces brimmed with proud smiles. Sure, it was still just preschool, but to see her like this, she felt so grown up all of a sudden. The realization was one that came to them again and again, and it would likely never stop, especially these days, when they would look to the triplets and recall days when their firstborn had fit in their arms just so.

"They're coming with you?" Lucas asked, pointing to the Peabuddies, tucked under Marianne's arm. She nodded. Of course, they were coming. "Alright, then let's…" he paused as Maya cleared her throat. When he looked at her, she indicated herself, reminding him that she wasn't ready. "Let's bring the babies downstairs so Mommy can finish up, yeah?"

Emma would take Kacey, freeing Maya to go back into her room. By the time she'd make it downstairs, she'd find that they'd taken this opportunity to take pictures of Marianne, all ready for her first day. Her aunts were miming pose suggestions behind Lucas as he handled the camera, and it made her laugh as she imitated them. The pictures would be some of their new favorites.

At long last – going by Marianne's giddy squeak – they were able to get everyone into the minivan and take off. Eliza wished her niece a good day with a big hug, as she made her way to her own school, while Emma took the wheel. As they went, though the music was kept lower so not to startle the triplets, Marianne spent some of that giddy energy dancing around in her seat. She'd picked up a few 'lip sync tendencies' from her parents, and her aunts, and they were on full display here. Her biggest wish had been for her parents and her sisters to be there with her when she went for the first time. She would have liked Ella to be there, too, and though she understood why she couldn't be, having Emma there was pretty good, too.

The babies were asleep by the time they arrived, taken from their seats and into the triple stroller, though they were fully expected to wake up as they made their way into the building, alive with so many voices, with children and parents all around. Lucas pushed the stroller along, Emma to one side, while Marianne kept up with him, one hand to the side of the stroller where she could see her sisters. Maya went at her side, smirking at the way her pumpkin would split her awe between discovery and sharing. She would see something and make sure to point it out to the babies, who were just now starting to wake again.

Was there a part of them that wished she'd been at least a little uncertain about going out there while they left? They would have been lying if they'd said no. Yes, it was very reassuring to see that she was not afraid in the slightest, that she was eager to be here, but at the same time… She wasn't just growing physically anymore, and while this wasn't a signal that she would no longer need them, not by a long shot, this was like the first stone, set to create a path where Marianne Friar would someday be her own person, independent of her mother and father. It was a new feeling, and it hit… well, like a stone.

For some time, they went around, started to meet some of the other kids, and their parents… Marianne would happily present everyone to her baby sisters, even as she'd make sure that no one touched them and upset them. Maya and Lucas now had to consider how some of these families could be in their lives for years to come. Their children could end up going to the same elementary school, and on through middle school, high school… A few of those parents had been in school with them, either in their own class or above or below.

"Realizing now how I might need to talk to your parents about what it was like for them, when you were starting school," Maya told Lucas, when they were home again. Emma had left for school already, once they'd gotten the babies back up into the nursery.

"Yeah?" Lucas asked, unsure why that would be.

"It's just that… Well, my mother didn't exactly have the best relationship with other school parents when I was starting. All I remember was her complaining about the way they'd treat her. She would try not to do it in front of me, but I'd hear her, you know?"

"Right…" he slowly nodded. Katy Hart had done so much to give her daughter the best life, even as she had been trying to navigate single, young parenthood, with little to no support. It wasn't until she'd crossed paths with Cory and Topanga Matthews that she'd had anyone to really lean on, and even then… "But that's changed now, hasn't it? With Shawn, and the little Hunters…"

"Yes," Maya agreed. "But it's not the same, it wasn't…" she trailed off, seeking the words.

"The first one," Lucas offered. Maya sighed. That was it. "Well, you know they'll be glad to tell you anything you want to know. Especially when you show them the pictures." She laughed, letting out a breath as he pulled her into his arms.

"They're all just going to keep getting bigger, aren't they?" she mumbled into his chest.

"That's what I hear," he nodded. By the way she closed her arms around him now, he guessed she'd understood that this embrace was as much for his comfort as it was for hers.

"You should take a nap before you head out to the ranch," she suggested. "I'll take watch." He wanted to say he'd stay home today, but he knew she'd talk him out of it.

"Yeah, okay," he kissed the top of her head.

"And you know what else you need to do today?"

"What?" he asked. She pulled away from him and walked over to the closet. A moment later, she turned around, holding a box that made him smile.

The boots, his boots, the ones she'd had made for him, to be the… heirs to Marianne Sullivan's famous boots, now sitting encased in the Simon Sullivan Archive. For as long as he'd had them now, it had been decided from the start that he wouldn't wear them out to the ranch until he'd taken up his post, as their doctor.

"Now, I know you're still doing the part time for a while, but I think it's time, don't you?" Maya asked, smiling eagerly back at him. Lucas stepped up and took the box from her. He pulled the top open, peeled back the paper folded over.

"They look like they've been out of here recently," he pointed out.

"Well, I had to make sure they'd be ready, didn't I?" she pointed right back, and he nodded. Good point. "So… what do you think?"

"I think… you're going to want to take pictures of me wearing them, aren't you?"

"Big day for the camera," she grinned. "I'll have my dad develop them all, don't worry."

"So, am I napping or modeling?" They may have been exhausted, and just a bit emotionally all over the place after dropping off their daughter at preschool, but then all it would take would be a small moment together this way, and they'd feel lifted.

"I'd say do both at the same time, but these aren't that kind of pictures. Nap now, boots later."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners