February 8th 2022

Chapter 39
Our Sparks For the Eve

They had Marianne between them this morning as they woke. It had been the plan already, though in the end it hadn't happened exactly as they would have imagined. It had been the case that, because Ella and Tori were coming over today and staying through the next week or so, and she had it in mind to share her little bed with her niece on the night leading into Christmas morning, she'd asked to wake with them on the eve. All of the 23rd had been spent in a flurry of preparation for the big days to come. In a potentially foolish and overreaching move, as they felt it would be a lot simpler, they had set themselves up to host the families at the house rather than travel with the babies and all their things. There may have been a covert attempt in this for them to freshen up the house after spending the last few months with baby brain, and as to that effort, Lucas had gone above and beyond, with the offered assistance of his two in-house sisters-in-law, while Maya took to the kitchen with assistance from Missy Sanderson, her father, and her grandmother, along with Marianne, as they prepared what food needed preparing ahead of time.

In all the frenzy, they eventually learned, they might have kept a better eye of just how many bites of this and samples of that Marianne had eaten. Everything came to a head that evening, not long after their guests had left, when the four-year-old went and got sick. Oh, she was a miserable little pumpkin by the time it was all over, and even if she had not been slated to spend the night sandwiched between her parents, that is just where she would have ended up. The Peabuddies had nothing on Mommy that night. Marianne spent the better part of the night gripped to her mother, and Maya did not do a single thing to pry her away unless she had to. She just held on to her and did whatever she could to make sure she had a good and peaceful night's sleep. At her side, Lucas kept a hand on their daughter, too, and looking at her as she slept, it was possible to think that she felt him there, and she was comforted for it.

For once, she was still sound asleep when both her parents woke up, and for a little time, Maya and Lucas lay there in silence, as though they were allowing the strength of their own bodies to pass into hers. When she did finally wake up, blue eyes blinking up at her mother, it made Maya smile.

"Hi there, good morning," she whispered, and Marianne squeezed in closer to her. "Hey…" Maya laughed. She leaned in and kissed the top of her head, the side of her face… "I'm really happy to see you, too. Feeling better?" Marianne didn't speak, but she nodded. So, she was feeling better, but not so much that she would let go just yet. That was fine.

"Morning, pumpkin," Lucas moved in closer where she could see him, and as much as she did not want to move away from her mother, her face was as good as the personification of two little hands reaching out, so he just lay his head next to hers and put his arm around her. Maya did not mind acting as pillow to them both, not in the slightest. "What is your feeling on breakfast? You want to wait a while or are you hungry?" Lucas asked. Marianne looked unsure. "Why don't you stay here with your mom for a bit, I'll go see how your little sisters are doing." Oh, now, the mention of her sisters was the real motivator toward motion, and she hesitated. "Want me to bring them here?" he asked, and she nodded. "Done."

The triplets had awakened by then, though all three were looking perfectly contented with their condition, lying in their respective cribs. For a while, the family had been joking/theorizing on the fact that, as much as one baby crying would tend to domino into all three crying, there would be these instances where one baby's peace could echo out on to the others, keeping them from getting upset in any way. They weren't even in the same crib, physically close to one another, but looking at them that morning… it did really feel like they were all of one mind: the morning was quiet, and all was well.

"Good morning…" Lucas smiled, scooping up Kacey. The more they grew, they could see how their daughters knew them now, recognized those closest to them and were attached to them. They might not have been able to speak yet, but then they would see him, and their whole behavior would be as good as a solid call of 'Daddy!' And he would hold them, and there his response would be.

He scooped them up, one by one. They were bigger than they'd been in the beginning, but not so much that his scoop game had weakened. Soon, his arms were loaded with three little blondes in red and white striped PJs, and he walked back across the hall with them. When he arrived and sat on the bed, Maya sat up, pulling Marianne with her. Now, she could sit up and be close to her, all the while getting to do what she loved to do: holding one of her sisters.

"Yesterday was kind of a lot, huh?" Maya asked her, carefully threading her finger under a bit of her hair, and tucking it behind one ear, repeating on the other side. Even just having her back rested against her, she could feel how the simple touch seemed to flood her daughter with reassurance and love, whether she was in need of it in this instant or not.

"Uh huh," Marianne nodded, all the while looking down at Remy, tipping her head this way and that, making noises to suggest she was doing funny faces in her direction. Maya could see the baby's face and, oh, was she ever enthralled by her big sister.

"Well, today is gonna be a lot more relaxed. It'll just be the six of us, and your aunts, and then Ella and Tori on top of that…" The promise of seeing her sister and niece sounded very good just now. "Then, tomorrow, we'll have loads of people here. Grandparents, and great grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins… It'll be Christmas day."

"Yeah," Marianne hummed with a smile in her voice. "Christmas, Remy," she informed her sister. Whether she did so because she understood what she was being told or because she was feeling happy and cozy in her sister's arms, Remy replied with a merry sound and waved her arm about, and that got a giggle out of Marianne. Now, now she was set to start her day, abandoning all memories of the disaster of the previous evening.

Breakfast followed, with everyone seemingly adopting an attitude of moderation. They had not forgotten about last night, and they were thinking ahead, too. If nothing else, it left them all looking forward to the rest of the day after the meal was done. Eliza and Emma took Marianne outside to play, along with the dogs, while their sister and brother-in-law picked up around the kitchen and tended to the babies. Once they were done, they joined them and found that the trio had invented themselves a bit of a winter/holiday game involving the decorations around the front of the house. With the triplets kept warm and in view, Maya and Lucas joined in at their daughter's request, and the rest of the morning slipped away as such.

Back inside they went and prepared for lunch, which would be consumed – on this special occasion – in the living room, along with the first of a few holiday movies they had been eager to show the four-year-old at long last. That was their afternoon, and there was absolutely a sort of feeling like one's happiness would rebound on to the others, not unlike the triplets up in their cribs that morning. No doubt, Marianne was their biggest source here, and by the time Ella and Tori came along, she was so giddy that she inadvertently erased all her big sister's concerns, having heard of last night's issues.

"Hey, how did it go?" Lucas asked Ella, while Maya had busied herself with helping Tori out of her winter things.

In the spirit of taking steps forward, Ella and Tori had been due at another gathering, which had been the reason for her late arrival. They had been out at Theo and Nika's apartment since mid morning, so that Tori may have a bit of holiday cheer with her mother, father, and aunt. The Petrelis siblings had been invited to the house the next day in that same spirit, but Maya and Lucas both understood why they had felt forced to decline. It wouldn't have been out of Ella not wanting them there, on the contrary. But seeing as their guest list was bound to include several teachers and students from the school, people who didn't know about Nika's baby and weren't supposed to find out… It just hadn't been possible. So, Christmas Eve, just the four of them, that had been good enough.

"Good, it was good," Ella nodded. Lucas didn't need to be her father to hear this and know that it wasn't the whole truth, but he wouldn't push. If she wanted to explain further, she would, and soon she did. "They had all these presents for her, I dropped them off at the apartment before Phoebe drove us here on her way to Khalil's grandparents' place. I kind of didn't know how to react, I mean… Obviously, Tori was curious, and she was as happy about what was inside the wrapping paper as the paper itself…" she chuckled, making Lucas smile. "But I know that they don't exactly have a lot of money to go on, and they didn't have to get her that much, but… it made them happy to treat her, I could see it, so I mostly went along with it."

The more she'd gotten to see of her father and aunt, the more Tori had been growing close to them. She would have to be older before she really grasped her family's history, but it didn't stop her from getting more and more at ease with the basics: Nika was her auntie, and Theo was her papa, and her affection for them only grew with each visit. Today, as Ella told it, she'd zoomed off running for Theo when she'd seen him, calling 'Papa! Papa!' and the look on Theo's face as he'd watched her come and finally caught her up into his arms… Ella didn't know that she'd ever seen him so genuinely happy in all the years she'd known him.

"He… He asked if I'd ever be okay letting him take her around sometime, just him and her, or leaving her with him and Nika at the apartment sometime, maybe overnight, too, if I felt okay with it," Ella went on, and that would have to be the thing that had been most on her mind. The look on her face here said that she was definitely not ready to accept, and Lucas would assume that this had nothing to do with Theo or Nika themselves, not exactly. There would just be this fear in her like what if she never got Tori back? What if this all led down a path where she could lose her? Tori may have been comfortable by now, seeing the Petrelis as her family, but Ella wasn't at that level, not yet, and she might not be for a long time. What if they didn't wait until she was ready?

"Whatever you guys decide, it doesn't have to be just now, right?" Lucas reasoned. "You've got time… and we're right here." Ella let out a breath, her relief growing. When Marianne appeared at her side, she smiled at once.

"Ready for tonight?" she asked as she crouched and embraced her. Marianne nodded.

"Santa's coming."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners