April 6th 2022

Chapter 96
Our Growth Into Seasons

"Maya! Look what they're doing," they heard Gracie call over with a laugh, so they turned to see what had her so amused.

They'd set down a blanket on the grass, a surface for the little girls – the triplets and Megan Orlando – to sit and play around on. Presently, the eldest of the quartet (by eight days) was up in her father's arms and enjoying the vantage point, while the Friar sisters enjoyed the freedom of the blanket, shaded from the sun by a parasol. They had been in many arms since the start of the Babineaux party, but they were being left to their own devices for now, rather than to risk them getting overwhelmed, Lucy especially. Every now and then they would crawl around, or point at something, laughing or babbling… In this one instant though, they were trying to get up, all at once. Specifically, each one of them was holding on to the other two's hand or arm in a wobbly, crooked sort of circle… or triangle… One or two would rise, and someone would dip down and squeak, then rise again with assistance, though this would sometimes end up causing one of the others to lose balance again. For a moment, it looked as though they would all tumble as one or end up bumping their heads together. But they pulled it off in the end. They all stood up together, triumphant, and their teenaged aunts cheered for them.

"You guys used to do that, too, you know?" Lucas told his sisters-in-law even as he just had to grin, watching his daughters. It was still enough of a new thing, to see them standing on their feet, especially all three at once, that it continued to astound him. It also reminded him of when Marianne had reached that milestone, not just the standing but the realization… They could take all the measurements they wanted, tracking their growth, but it always hit differently when they actually saw their height in this way. With the triplets, it couldn't help but be striking. They all remembered how small they'd been, right after they were born, but now… They were shorter than Marianne had been at twelve months, even at eleven months, and Lucy was still shorter than Kacey and Remy, just enough to be noticeable. They were almost certain by now that none of them would catch up to or surpass their big sister in size.

"I think Dad told us about that once," Nellie looked to Gracie, who pointed to her own face as a response, making her twin give a sort of sheepish smile. Just under her left eyebrow, Gracie had a very small scar, so close to the brown hairs that most people wouldn't ever notice it. This had come as a result of the one-year-old twins doing as the triplets were doing and colliding. Nellie's teeth had had an unfortunate collision with Gracie's face. Maya looked like she was remembering the incident now, and she passed a look to her sisters.

"We'll watch them, don't worry," Gracie smiled, turning back to her nieces.

"Yeah, we'll be good, Mrs. Friar," Nellie smirked, making her sister laugh before she joined in, too. This in turn got the triplets laughing, whether they knew why or not, enough so that they forgot their balance and thumped back on their butts, losing hold of their sisters' hands.

"Detention," Maya whispered over at them.

"Still can't believe they're going to be in our classes already," Dylan quietly reflected, looking over to his friends and colleagues. Morgan may not have known the Hunter twins since they were newborn babes, but she had known them for nearly half their lives, and that was enough to make the knowledge that they were going to be high school freshmen that fall feel impossible.

"You're telling me," Maya hummed as she watched her sisters, now on the blanket with her daughters, playing with them. The more they grew, the more they looked like younger, female versions of their father, mixed in with enough of their mother that anyone who'd look at them and Maya side by side, say up at the high school, would know at once that they were siblings. "I've had students who knew me outside of school before, but with them, it's different."

"Because they know all your deep, dark, most embarrassing secrets?" Sophie suggested with a grin.

"Hey, hey," Maya pointed at her with a 'don't you dare, Zvolensky' squint. "But… kinda, yeah."

"They're good girls," Chiara stated without looking up, her attention focused on her son. The nearly two-year-old Jae stood before his mother, both hands stuck at her growing belly, contemplating his unborn siblings' 'home' with deep concentration.

"But that's how they get you, if you don't suspect them," Maya smiled, watching them, before looking over to the blanket again. Between her sisters, and her daughters, and the as yet unidentified duo due in December, it was getting to feel like they were being taken over by multiples, but really only in the best way possible. They'd never get tired of seeing them all in one place. "Are you guys going to find out what you're having?" Maya asked, taking them away from the topic of her students/sisters. They had never really discussed this with their friends.

"We honestly haven't decided yet," Asher shrugged, looking to his husband and the mothers, all of them backing this claim with a nod.

"We don't have to decide, not until they're able to tell, and even then, we might choose not to know," Ray added. "If we change our minds, we'll ask, but we might not…"

"I keep thinking it would be fun not to know, especially seeing as we won't get another chance for a surprise after this," Sophie turned a smile to her wife and Chiara replied with a slow, satisfied nod, giving Jae's cheeks a light poke that made the boy squeal and giggle.

"Oh, look out, it's our gracious hosts," Rosa declared as Zay and Nadine wound their way over to join their friends sitting under the tree in their yard.

Zay carried a couple of loaded plates while Nadine followed, leading two and a half-year-old Isaiah by the hand. The boy was getting very good on his prosthetic legs and, oh, he'd just run around now, having no idea of how happy it would make his parents to see him go. Some days, he'd feel less like running and more like teetering along after his parents, and this was one of those, so there he was, even as he'd look around the yard. He'd always want to know where his sisters were, so he could go to them later. Right now, the nearly two-year-old Gigi was off in the arms of Isaiah Senior, Isaiah the first as they now called him, seeing as there were three generations of them among the Babineaux men. And as for Mia, herself coming on six years, she was splashing around with her aunt Olivia in the pool.

"I'll have you know, it's hungry work," Zay gave Rosa a very teacherly look as he sat down. Both Asher and Lucas had reached to free him of his plates, the better for him not to end up spilling everything.

"Yeah!" Isaiah nodded at his father, and Zay scooped him up, bringing him to sit in his lap.

"You tell 'em, Izzy. You hungry? What do you want?" Zay asked, pulling his own plate closer while Nadine sat and took her own. The boy pointed out his selection, and it was offered to him in pieces left within his reach. He served himself bit by bit, munching along while Zay ate from the rest and joined the conversation. With so many teachers among them and the new school year right around the corner, it was hard not to dip into that subject some more.

Maya was sure they had left behind the subject of her sisters starting high school, but now as Zay was with them, too, it came back around. It wasn't new anymore that Maya and Dylan would be teaching kids who had once upon a time been part of Mr. Zay's fourth grade class, no, but these were Maya's sisters… Just the year before, he'd taught the last of the little Hunters, after having had MJ a couple years before. Now, Haley was about to start the fifth grade, and while Zay liked the idea of 'completing the set,' he was big enough to admit he would miss having his friends' siblings in his class.

"Well, hey, it won't be long now, you'll have Mia in there," Riley offered with a smile, and Zay almost looked like he'd rather not consider his baby girl, his little pip, being old enough to be in the fourth grade already. She was in kindergarten this year, so she would be at his school, and that was already a huge step, not so big of one as to make her father get any more dramatic.

"Hey, don't worry, we're right there with you," Asher nodded over to his fellow turtle, even as Ray, Sophie, and Chiara all thought of their Giulia. She would be starting with the first grade this fall, though there was already talk that she might end up skipping some grades in years to come.

"I won't even get to teach her," Zay 'complained,' and both Maya and Dylan chuckled as they added their voices to this.

"If the commute won't do it, I think we might be a bit too far to enroll her in either of your schools," Sophie teased. Jae moved from Chiara over to her and she caught him in a shaky hug, the better to hear him burst with giggles again.

"Great, then they can just come and stay with us," Maya 'schemed.'

"Hey, she's my goddaughter," Dylan piped up.

"We'll swap weeks," Zay pointed with his fork.

"Hey, teachers, calm down," Asher told his friends with a laugh.

"You're going to tell me you would deprive your old high school the privilege of your legacy on the basketball team?" Maya sat up with a new volley, and Dylan made a noise like 'yes, good point, thank you.' "We've got some stellar coaches, and those kiddos have got three former star players between them as parents," she indicated Jae, then the pool, where Giulia and Connor were also splashing around.

"Oh, they're thinking about it now," Lucas grinned over to his wife, meeting Maya's fist with a quick bump.

"Look, hey, I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to be back in Austin, to not have to drive all this way and back every time we want to see you or our families," Asher pointed to himself and Sophie, even to Ray, who had managed to reconnect with some of his cousins in recent years. "But we've got something good out in Houston. Never mind all our jobs, we've got the houses, the routine…"

"We've got a long time to go before we have to consider any of the kids getting on teams…" Sophie started, getting some low rumblings like Giulia and her younger siblings could end up playing for an opposing team to their school's. "And hey, we can't go anywhere now, what with Lea, and Ella and Tori…"

Now both Maya and Lucas got those looks, thinking about the move… After the last few loaded days, that was coming up, too, in a couple of days. For now, their daughter and granddaughter were still around… They were weaving around the yard at the moment with Marianne, spending some 'quality sister and aunt/niece time,' as they'd explained, ahead of the separation. Ella had already promised daily calls, reminding her mother of calls between her and her little sisters when she'd been in college… little sisters who were now starting high school… Time was just weird.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners