January 11th 2022

Chapter 11
Our Leap Into Introductions

If she could count on one person to fall right in line with quiet existence, the better not to wake three sleeping infants, it would be Stella Buckley. Her little shy bird may have spread her wings some, over the past two years, but somewhere underneath all that growing confidence, there would always be that part of her that was her true and most cherished self. Just now, she was quiet but evidently giddy at the thought of meeting the new Friar sisters. Maya didn't keep her waiting. She silently led her over to the bassinet, where she could lean in and have a look at the trio of sleepers.

"I wasn't sure if I should ring the bell, I didn't want to wake anyone if they… or you… were sleeping. I didn't, did I?" Stella asked.

"No, no…" Maya assured her, leaving aside the tale of her maneuver in getting the girls down the stairs. "If they do wake up, feel free to lend a hand," she smirked, which made Stella laugh quietly.

They moved out into the kitchen, where Maya could treat her guest to something to drink and a couple of cookies, before returning to the living room and the couch. Crowley appeared here, with the haste of someone who had caught a familiar but long absent scent. He knew Stella Buckley very well, he liked Stella Buckley a whole lot, and he was soon resting in her lap, where he ate the bits of cookie that she'd broken off for him. Maya and Lucas always made sure to have some on hand which they knew would be safe for their canine friends, ever since they'd had little girls living in the house, little girls who loved nothing more than to share their food with them.

"So, you guys are staying, huh?" Maya finally asked.

"Yeah," Stella smiled. "François wants to take a break from touring and performing. He wants to sort of… regroup, figure out what he wants to do next with his music, you know?"

"Oh, I get that, I do," Maya nodded.

"And… well, he knew how I'd been missing home, my family, and Phoebe, and you…" Stella went on to admit, showing that smile Maya had known and loved for years. "So, we decided to come back out here, get a place. After that, we'll see how things go."

"Sounds like a good plan," Maya smiled back at her. "It's going well with you two then," she allowed herself to ask. She'd been hearing about the young couple before and after Stella left college and started traveling with her boyfriend, and they were clearly very much in love, François "The Young Frank" Lejeune and her shy bird. This step they were taking together felt very much in line with what she'd seen and heard, and she was so very happy for the both of them.

"Yeah," Stella genuinely blushed around her smile, the very thought of her young man filling her with happiness. Maya knew that feeling very well. More than fifteen years and she still felt it all the time. She thought of Lucas now, of how long they had been together in that way, and the feeling raised up in her. "We're staying with my parents right now, until we figure out just what we want to do. We've been talking about finding a house, a kind of a… a fixer-upper, you know? I've always liked the idea of getting to do something like that…" Yes, Maya could see her wanting to do that. She herself had gotten to do some of that when they'd moved in here, even if Lucas had done most of the work already, ahead of his marriage proposal.

"Let us know if you need any help there, yeah?"

"I will, I promise," Stella nodded.

Kacey was the first to wake again, and soon her sisters followed her lead. It was getting around that time, and as Stella was more than happy to assist, Maya took up the firstborn triplet and sat aside with her. In the meantime, Stella held Remy and Lucy together, smiling her gentle smile all the while. Eventually, they swapped out, Kacey going to their guest's arms while Remy went to her mother's, and finally she went back so that Lucy could close out the ball.

"You're very good with them, you know?" Maya complimented her former student, her tone showing how little surprise she felt at that fact. She wasn't overwhelmed in the slightest, as some of their people had been at handling one or two of the triplets at once. Proving her point, she passed Lucy into Stella's hold as well, and everyone looked very satisfied with this arrangement. To date, only Lucas had managed to pull this off without looking concerned that one or more of the babies would slip or start to cry. Stella just held them all, watching each small face with care.

"I'm going to the school after I leave here," she revealed after a few minutes of quiet contemplation.

"You are?" Maya asked.

"I thought I could go and meet Ava in person, set up times for me and her to get together for her lessons."

Now she had to smile. With the last few weeks… last few months… she'd nearly forgotten about the arrangement they'd all made, to allow Ava Nash to carry on her French lessons without having to be caught up in Mademoiselle Rousseau's sights. Maya wasn't even sure that the two of them had done much of anything just yet, but evidently, they had been working together remotely since before the new school year had even begun. As Stella told it now, the sophomore girl didn't know that she was back in Austin yet and she would soon be surprised. Maya didn't know how Ava would deal with surprises, but Stella was optimistic that it would go well. They'd been in contact for a while now, and she seemed to have gotten to like the girl very much. Maya wouldn't go and ask too many questions, feeling like they'd boil down to 'how did you manage a thing like that?' If she stopped to consider things, she couldn't be surprised that Stella Buckley would be the type to break through and form a connection with the… temperamental teen.

"Who's going to be the new freshman for the team?" Stella asked. "Did you pick someone yet? Or maybe…" she frowned to herself like she'd just realized how complicated that would be, with her being at home and not out there in the classroom.

"Not yet," Maya confirmed this suspicion with a sigh. "I have my… eyes and ears on the ground, letting me know what they think, and I'm getting to know everyone in my class with their diaries. I could use your expertise, Captain Buckley," she pointed out, smirking at the passing thought.

Stella liked this idea very much. At Maya's request, she relinquished her hold on the sleeping babies, who were one by one returned to the bassinet, before going upstairs and bringing back the freshman box, which had only just been returned to the house. She only had the covers to go on for the time being, but she'd always found them to be particularly telling. They were the first thing her students would produce, and it would be meant to represent them, making it as much of an introduction as the words they had spoken on the first day, when she'd been on video call with them. One by one, Maya and Stella went through the diaries, with the teacher relaying what she knew and what she perceived while her former student listened on, nodding, and shared her thoughts when she had them.

They looked at Cody Marshall's cover. The back of it had a fairly reproduced picture of his favored basketball team's logo, while on the front he had drawn one of his favorite players, in the middle of a jump, ball in mid-flight on its way to the hoop. Maya had been aware of the boy's loving the sport and being a player himself, through talks with his father the mailman. He would definitely be going out for the team, with every indication being that he would make it. Between that and the contact they'd so far had, Maya didn't feel it likely that he would be interested or have the time to dedicate to being on the quiz team. So, he was out. By that line, she was certain she would have to count out Lara Sullivan-Reyes, too. She always did her best with her studies, but it was an uphill battle the entire time, enough so that she'd have to give everything she had just to ensure she'd get to be on the team and stay on it without being set aside for academic failings.

There was Maggie Hillard, but… well, she had some concerns. She had the grades to make her an interesting candidate, no doubt, but then school was not something she could set aside for lack of interest, like so many hobbies of the past. If she was recruited on to the team, she could very likely show herself to be skilled and help secure some competition wins. But what if she lost interest? Maya had known the girl most of her life, and she couldn't recall her having kept up with anything for more than two to three years, not four, as she would have to do here. Was it fair to assume that she would flake out on them when they hadn't even asked if she wanted to do it? She would mark her as candidate for the time being.

"Oh, wow…" Stella smiled as she got hold of the next diary. The front and back covers had been drawn over like a single spread, a landscape so detailed as to make it appear real, inviting. The standard gold pen had been joined with a selection of metallic colors, which only made it even more stunning. "This must have taken hours. Looks like Greece…"

"Yeah," Maya confirmed. Inside the cover, a post-it had been stuck in the 'communication page,' letting her know that it was her favorite view, that she'd spent hours and hours there with her brother when they'd gone to visit their family over the years. Stella turned the sketchbook to the side to read the name.

"Nika Petrelis…"

"Tori's aunt," Maya revealed, and Stella blinked as she looked over at her. Briefly, she explained the whole Ella/Theo/Tori/Nika situation. Ella may not have been her teammate, or her classmate, but for the connection she had with the family, she knew her very well.

"Is she okay?"

"She's been dodging Nika since the school year started. She's not ready to talk to her. From what she says, Nika's keeping her distance, waiting for her to be ready to talk, but she'll catch her looking at her like she really hopes she'll finally be able to go up to her. Ella says she's trying not to catch those looks, and it makes her feel bad. They got along very well, when Ella and Theo were together, but then after everything that happened…"

"Yeah…" Stella understood. "Well, do you think she'd be good for the quiz team? Or… would it be too awkward to have her there, because of Ella?"

"I mentioned it to her, to Ella. She says I should take her if she wants to join, that she's always been top of her class, far as she's known, and then there's… the big rule," Maya hummed. Stella knew the rule. Everyone she'd recruited to Born Curious… it wasn't just about what they could bring to the team. It was also about what the team could bring to them. Ella didn't care about her own discomforts. She'd cared enough for Nika back in the day that, even seeing her from a distance now, she felt that she could get a lot out of being recruited on to the quiz team.

"So, are you going to do it?" Stella asked. Maya looked on to her sleeping babes, let out a sigh as she thought over her visitor's question.

"I'm thinking about it… You think I should?" she looked back to Stella. That look on her face was as easy to read as anything. "Yeah… I guess I might."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners