A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!


May 13th 2022

Chapter 133
Our Power to Unite

"So… What's the plan for this new year?" Lucas asked quietly as they sat in wait of those final seconds that would take them into the first day of January 2035. Here they were, the two of them huddled together on a bench, with their four little ones sleeping soundly. Marianne had nearly made it to midnight, sitting in her father's lap, but in time she'd finally dozed off, and they didn't have the heart to wake her, especially as she had little sister Remy asleep in her arms. Lucas kept them both cozy and warm, doing his utmost best not to wake them. Meanwhile, Maya was doing the same for Kacey and Lucy as she held the pair. The two of them had their heads against her chest, foreheads almost pressed together, and one hand joined with the other's. How they were going to get them back to the Olsens' was a matter for later… next year…

"Well…" Maya whispered, contemplating with a light sigh. "I'm going to finish growing this human…" she tipped her head to smile at him and he smiled back.

"Good plan," he agreed.

"Yeah…" she replied, her smile renewed for the way the sleeping Remy clung just so to her big sister, and the way Marianne, even in sleep, made it clear to any and all that they shouldn't even think of disturbing her little sister. "So, I guess that means two, three months still at school before I go on leave…" There was as of yet no proper scenario in place for who would lead her classes for the rest of the year, with Barton Day still on a different assignment. She had a thought, but there was still no guarantee it would pan out… "And then… April should be pretty booked once Tiny checks out of Hotel Mom and becomes our new roommate…"

"We're going to need to get that crib soon…" Lucas thought aloud, and Maya nodded. They were still debating whether they'd be able to get the triplets out of their cribs and into beds by the time the new baby came around. The girls would be just about eighteen months old by then, and they were already showing themselves able and eager to climb from their cribs, all three of them, so it might have been fine, but then what if it wasn't? At this point, it just felt more reasonable to get a fourth crib for the baby and leave the triplets be.

"After that, well… I don't know. It's kind of hard to make any substantial plans right now except for the sure bets. The school year will end, whether I'm there or not, so that'll mean basketball, the musical, prom, graduation… summer… back to school… Everything else, right now, I'm not too worried about it. Two of us, all of them…" Maya looked to Lucas, to their sleeping girls, and tipped her head to where they could see Ella and her sleeping girl. "I just want to keep seeing where this story goes."

Off on another bench, their eldest daughter was waiting out the turn of the year with her own group which, along with Tori, counted the Petrelis siblings. It hadn't been the plan at first for Theo and Nika to join them in Arkansas, but then as soon as she'd realized that she and her mother were going and her father and aunt were not, Tori had quickly petitioned for this to change. She wanted them all together, so they could count down to midnight. This was clearly not panning out, as she was asleep in her mother's arms at present time, but up until she'd dozed off, they'd all been together, so maybe that was all that really mattered.

Equally along for the countdown and sitting with them were Lea and Taylor. This hadn't exactly been planned either, but it had been worked out on that day when Taylor had surprised Ella at the mall. The two of them and Lea were all just so glad to be in the same place again for the first time since August and, knowing that they could be parted again for several months – until spring break or summer, depending on whether or not they were able to get together – they wanted to make the most of this time. They would have those days leading up to Christmas – and they'd definitely seen as much of each other in that time as they could – but then Ella and Tori would be heading out of Texas the very next day and would be gone until the second day of year. What were such tight-knit friends to do? Naturally, they had to come up with an alternative. Ella might have considered backing out of the Arkansas trip except, as much as she'd been away from her friends, she'd been away from her family, too, and she wanted to make up for that… And if Lea and Taylor were to follow her, well, they had been away from their families, too, Taylor especially, so it would have made sense if they preferred to stay close to them instead.

In the end, they had decided on Arkansas, if only because Ella had been telling her friends about it since she'd started to go, and it felt like something they'd want to experience. Lea and Taylor had joined them only two days ago, a compromise so that they'd get a bit of everything. And once they'd arrived, they'd certainly been going around with this mindset of making the most of the time they had. None of them regretted the choices they'd made, whether they were their own choices or their friends'. They were all where they needed to be, and they were happy for one another despite the fact that these choices meant being apart from some of the people they cared for the most.

"What about you? Plans? Resolutions?" Maya asked her husband, and he considered the question, looking off to the big clock, showing that the new year was all of two minutes away.

"If you'd asked me a few months back, I would have said that I wanted to start talking about another baby, but…" he slowly explained, and Maya smiled.

"Beat you to it?" she teased, and he made a face that said: 'little bit.' "Well, hey, now you're ahead of things on your year."

"So, I was being efficient when I got you pregnant last summer?" he asked, which made her snort.

"I could say more on that, but present company and all…" she told him before bowing her head to kiss the top of Kacey's and Lucy's heads in turn.

"Now I'm curious…"

"I'll tell you later…"

As much as the stroke of midnight got everyone gathered around them to cheer among themselves, the Friar sisters remained soundly asleep. The only one who stirred at all was Marianne, but Lucas hushed her back down in seconds.

"Happy New Year," he told Maya when he looked back at her.

"Happy New Year," she smiled in return and, as they both kept a good hold of their armloads, they leaned to meet one another in a kiss.

Going back to the house demanded some assistance. Theo had taken up Tori, the better for Ella to go over and help her mother with Kacey. For her part, Lea came and carefully extricated Remy from Marianne's arms. The five-year-old fussed in her sleep, but again Lucas intervened and, now that it was just the two of them, she could rest in her father's hold proper.

"Hey, I didn't get to wish you a happy new year yet, did I?" Maya asked Ella after they'd gotten the girls into bed and stepped out of the room.

"Oh… No, you didn't, but it's fine," Ella assured her. "Happy New Year, Mom," she smiled, and Maya beamed back at her, pulling her into a hug.

"You know, ever since two years ago, this day's become pretty special," she reflected before she could pull back and look into her daughter's face. It still gave her such a good jolt to look upon her and know that they were family. It would never matter that she hadn't been born of her body, that she hadn't even been in their lives until she was practically grown. She was part of them now… And there was trouble somewhere in her eyes. "Hey…" Maya gave her hand a squeeze and Ella looked back at her. "What's up?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really," Ella assured her. "I'm just being weird."

"I know 'weird,' I mean…" Maya gestured at her face, gladly claiming her own rampant weirdness. "This doesn't feel like that." It was getting to be impossible to hide her concerns, especially when it had to do with her daughters, and Ella looked as though she finally relented only out of a desire not to leave her mother with some undefined worry in her head when it was a silliness of her own making.

"I was just thinking about how, right after we land back in Austin, Taylor's going to see his family and then fly back to Indiana, and… I don't know, it feels like he just got here."

"Ah…" Maya gave a short nod.

"Mom…" Ella frowned, growing awkward.

"I didn't say anything," Maya held up her hands. "I said nothing, and I will say nothing, not unless you want me to. Do you want me to?"

"You already know what you're going to say, don't you?" Ella guessed. Maya shrugged. Maybe I do, maybe I don't… "I should go and make sure Tori's good. You know how she gets sometimes."

"Yeah," Maya smiled. If she wasn't home, she would wake up at least once, early on in the night. "You kiss her for me if she wakes up, okay?"

"I will," Ella agreed before hugging her mother. As they held to one another, she breathed out. "I really miss him…"

"I know you do," Maya gave her a light squeeze. They wished each other good night after this and headed to their respective rooms.

As much as they hated to make their farewells so early in the day, the visiting Hunters, Clutterbuckets, Friars, and guests were booked to fly home early enough on January 2nd that they had to be up and getting everyone set to depart even as the sun was still looking to rise. Maya was seeing to the girls – with Marianne's valued assistance – so Lucas went ahead and collected what bags were ready to be brought down to their rental.

In the quiet and receding darkness of early morning, alertness seemed to come without much need to even think about it, so as he stepped out of the Olsen house and moved toward the minivan, Lucas soon became aware that he wasn't alone. He paused, frowning as he looked around in search of the source of the feeling. It could have been anything, neighbors out for whatever reason, but instead he spotted two figures out by the trio of rented vehicles. There were bags at their feet, as they had likely been here to do the same thing he was doing. However now this had been set aside, and instead… Instead, as she stood with her back to one of the minivans and he held fast to her, the pair was locked in a kiss charged with the energy of a long delay. Even in this low light, it didn't take Lucas long to recognize them. It was Lea… and Theo.

He wasn't sure why he went to the trouble, but Lucas moved back to the door and allowed it to make enough of a noise that the pair below would hear it and maybe spring apart before they could be seen. That's just what happened, and as he continued down, Lucas saw that they were moving to put their bags where they belonged, ahead of the trip home.

"Good morning," Theo breathed, nodding without looking right at him as he walked past and returned to the house.

"Hey, Lucas…" Lea greeted her cousin, struggling a bit more with containing her flustered state. Now that Theo was gone, Lucas dropped the 'I saw nothing' act and held her gaze. Lea sighed, caught. "It's not what it looks like… I mean… We're not… That never happened before, we…"

"Whatever it is, just… don't let it hurt Ella," Lucas shook his head. His daughter may not have felt for her daughter's father that way anymore, but he knew as well as Lea was bound to know, and Theo, too, that Ella's ex and Ella's best friend, together… "If she'd been the one to come out here just now…"

"I know, I know…" Lea pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, I…" she searched for words for a moment. "These last few months, with us in Houston and him back in Austin, and Tori, the shared custody… Sometimes Ella's the one there for the drop off or pick up, and sometimes I'm the one who does it if she can't because she's got class or she's working, so…" So, she and Theo had been getting to see more of each other, independently of the one who connected them. "These last few weeks, it just got to feel like I was… looking forward to seeing him, talking to him. But I kept telling myself I shouldn't, I mean it's Theo, Ella's… He's been in that same place on his end, I guess, and then this morning… I'll talk to her, I promise, just… once we're back in Houston. It was one kiss, Lucas. It might be the only time, but I still won't keep it from her, I wouldn't do that."

"I know," Lucas assured his cousin. It was not an ideal place for him to find himself between his daughter and his cousin, but here he was.

The incident remained unspoken of as the morning went on and the departing group set off, leaving Arkansas behind in favor of Texas. It wasn't until they were back at the house, with the little girls catching up with their aunts and the dogs that Lucas pulled Maya aside and told her what had happened. Even without seeing it herself, she was plainly shocked over what she heard, though if she was honest with herself, she would say that she'd been feeling some sort of vibe between those two over the course of the holiday break.

"It's not going to be 'the only time,' is it?" she plainly asked, and Lucas shook his head, seeing it as she did. "You know, it's not Valentine's Day for another couple of months, but suddenly it's like everyone's got romance on the brain…" Eliza and Ben, Ella and Taylor, Lea and Theo… The casual, the clueless, and the covert… Whatever came of all this, they'd have to wait and see what the new year had in store.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners