February 14th 2022

Chapter 45
Our Inspiration For Growth

When Lucas had gotten around to filling her in on what happened with Nika at the mall, she had been upset… More than upset, really, but there was only so much she could do in her position if she was unable to keep it together, right? The Ronnie kid was not in her classes, thank goodness, but he was making enough of a name for himself as a… disruptive force in the school that she was plenty aware of who he was. Lucas hadn't been wrong in any part of his assessment of the situation, especially as far as there being nothing for them to do to stop the information from getting out. That evening, even as Nika and her brother were at the house for Ella's dinner, both Maya and Lucas received messages from Lara Sullivan-Reyes and Maggie Hillard, letting them know that they had been sent the picture by a classmate, who'd received it from another classmate…

They swore that they hadn't and wouldn't continue the chain, and on that at least they could be reassured, but it wouldn't erase the damage already done and still being done, should that picture land in the hands of anyone more likely to share it, whether out of malice or 'did you see this?' surprise. The only response Maya could give them was a request: Leave Ronnie to me, but please stand by Nika. It barely had to be said. They'd have her back. As for her, well… She was due to meet with the vice-principal anyway, the first day the kids would be going back. Now, on top of discussing her return, they'd have this other thing to deal with. Maya had a good feeling, the way things were going, that she'd already be aware of it by the time they met.

Many times, over the years, she'd seen how much her life and the lives of the people around her would have a way of… mirroring each other. Already, she'd seen so much of her own story and her parents' in knowing Ella and all that she'd been through, and now it was hard not to see it again with Ella and Nika. She remembered when the school had learned about Tori. There were similarities and there were differences. Ella had chosen to stop hiding the fact that she was raising her infant daughter. Nika had not chosen, but now everyone would know that she was about to have a baby. Neither would be spared the opinions of those who were in no place to dispense their view of a situation they knew nothing about. At least, if everything went as they hoped, Nika would get just the support Ella had gotten, ranks falling in around her and allowing her to carry her head held high. Where Maya saw the mirror most of all was in the realization that both of them would go with a Sullivan-Reyes girl at her side.

And she'll have Ella… and Lea, and Rosemary, and Ava… Born Curious is family.

Maya saw them when she arrived at school that morning. Lara and Maggie flanking Nika on either side as they walked down the hall, the three of them talking enough that they never even saw her there. All she could think was how much she hoped Michael and Keith knew to be proud of the girls they'd raised into the world.

Lucas' young cousins would look after Nika, just as Nika would look after herself. Now, Maya needed to look into the less savory side. Ronnie the jerk… Not that she would call him that… out loud… but she was really not looking forward to having to deal with his antics for another three and a half years. One could only hope that he had space in him for change.

She didn't have to be caught up with thoughts of this boy all the way. She could barely walk from the entrance to the administrative office without running into any number of her fellow teachers or her students, all of them happy to see her and wanting to say hello. They all saw her presence in the building today to mean one thing alone: she was coming back, and they all wanted to know when exactly that would happen. All she could tell them was that she was hoping to determine that today, and as soon as there was a date to share, they would hear of it.

"Mr. Foster…" Maya smiled when she turned a corner and nearly collided with the junior boy.

"Sorry," he smiled back, and it struck her again how much he'd grown. He practically towered over her. "Wait, are you back?"

"Not today, but next month sometime, hopefully," she nodded, and he looked glad to hear it.

Just then, down the hall, they heard a cluster of laughing voices go by. They both looked and saw them, several freshman boys all listening as one of them recounted something, making an exaggerated shape around his midsection, which made his friends laugh again.

"Ronnie…" Maya breathed, though for the way Cade blinked, it might have come out like a growl. She looked back up to him. "Sorry, just being made… very aware of my position right now…" The look on Cade's face now suggested he sympathized, that he knew about the boy's growing reign in their school.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Friar. I've got him," he told her.

"Cade…" she frowned, faced with the implication of his words.

"I'm not going to do anything to him, not like that," he quickly assured her. "Turns out I look sort of… imposing to freshmen? All I have to do is stand there and look at them and their whole attitude changes," he gave her a demonstration, his face becoming more as she'd first known it, only with several more inches in height and more muscle. It was hard not to see just how much he'd changed when he relaxed his face again. "Ronnie's already on my radar." Now she had to chuckle.

"Using your powers for good," she stated, and he nodded. "Just please be careful, alright?"

"I swear," he told her before checking the time on his phone. "I have to go."

They said their goodbyes and she watched him go. Here she'd been, so worried about how he would fare this year, after what he'd gone through in his freshman and sophomore years, but everything she'd seen of him, in person and in his diary… He'd undergone a transformation that transcended his growth spurt, though it had probably helped. He'd nearly been chased out of his school, away from the only true friends he'd ever had, because of how others would relentlessly bully him. He'd gotten a reprieve when his father had agreed to let him stay, and he was going to take that chance and use it well. He was a junior now, and as she got to hear of it from Vice-Principal Ríos when they met up in her office, he was looking out for his younger schoolmates. He hadn't been sent to detention all year and neither had Henry or Stevie.

They spent the first part of their meeting mostly catching up, talking about their respective families, which mostly involved the vice-principal wanting to see new photos of the triplets and Marianne, seeing how much they were all growing, wanting to know what milestones had or hadn't been reached, sharing stories of when her own kids had been babies… Angel Ríos was in the seventh grade this year, just another year and a half away from walking these halls, and Maya still couldn't help but see the ten-year-old boy that big sister Talia had brought along for her family day presentation. He was thirteen now, and the pictures in his mother's office showed he had grown, too.

Finally, they went ahead and discussed Maya's return. Was there still a part of her that made her think about pushing on and letting Barton finish out the year while she stayed home with her little daughters? There was, absolutely there was, and it was a lot bigger and harder to ignore than she cared to admit, but then she knew from having dealt with that same beast after having Marianne that she was going to have to get used to living with it no matter how long she waited to go back to work. She had a good, steady job, and she would be home at the end of the day. The thing she wondered about the most was saddling the grandparents with looking after the triplets. They were still so small, weren't they? Sure, no one was crawling or walking yet, so it was easy to keep them all in one place, watched, but then they'd all start to cry at once and…

Keep it together. They say they can handle it, and you should believe them. They were aware of her intent to return, they were all supportive about it, one hundred percent. The only one who was stressing here was her, thanks to the beast at her shoulder.

The date was fixed, still more than a month away, and Maya walked out of the office feeling good about it. She was going to make the most of the next few weeks at home with Kacey, Remy, and Lucy and their niece Tori. It was only natural, in the beginning, for her to feel uncertain about taking them out into the world. They'd been so small, and then with how much of a process it could be to even go from one place to another… That might have been just a bit about her and Lucas making more of it than it needed to be, especially after a while, but it was where they'd needed to be in looking after their girls, so there was no feeling bad about it. That being said… She wanted to go out with them, more than she'd done before. She wanted to take them on walks, go to the park, maybe take them to a museum, if she was feeling particularly in control of the situation… She might end up hindering herself, making it so that she'd feel even worse about leaving them to go back to work, but it wouldn't ever have been any other way, would it?

"Hello, ladies…" she beamed when she arrived home and went to find them, up in the nursery. Her parents had stepped in together to watch the girls while she went to school, and now here they were, looking as though they were just waking up again, side by side in Remy's crib. She loved to see them like this, to see how they would interact with one another. More than anything, they would often lay their little hands on the sister at their side if their position allowed it, or their faces would be pressed together, cheek to cheek…

They never looked so at peace as they did when they were like this, and she didn't disrupt them, not just yet. She just stood there, watched them… They were still so far away from being of an age where they would go to any school, especially high school, but just like with Marianne, she couldn't help thinking about it sometimes. Not just that they'd be there but… what kind of people they'd be, how they would be in the beginning and by the end… She'd seen so many examples of those journeys by now, and she would see plenty more by the time their turn would come around… She couldn't predict any of it, so she wouldn't try. She would only do what she'd been doing all along, what she and Lucas had been doing. They would raise their girls the best way they could, giving them what knowledge, support, and love they had to give. And they'd come out on the other side as their own people. Until then, they were here, just starting. They had so much to discover…

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners