A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
July 29th 2022
Chapter 210
Our Haunting of Love
With five little blondes down for the count and sleeping, all guests departed, and Eliza and Emma still not back from their Halloween party, Lucas and Maya set themselves to pick up as much as they could of the post games and party mess in and out of their house before they turned in as well. Several of their guests had offered to help them with this, but they had graciously refused, if for the only reason that… well, they enjoyed doing this together. It was the best way they knew how to relax at the end of the whirlwind that was Hallowannie.
"So, what's your feeling on telling everyone else?" Lucas asked as they worked through clearing off the important items from their front lawn and driveway. Maya paused, in the midst of collecting dropped candy and wrappers that hadn't gone flying in the wind. No matter how many trashcans they made available to their visitors, there were always some who ignored them.
"If we can manage not to give ourselves away by then, what about Thanksgiving?" she suggested. "Going by things we're thankful for…" she trailed off with a smile that was soon echoed on to his face.
"This is definitely a big one," Lucas agreed.
"Yeah…" Maya swayed merrily before getting back to her search, flashlight in hand. "Ooh, chocolate… that got squished under someone's shoe… poor little chocolate," she sighed before picking it up and tossing it in the trash. "I do want us to tell Ella before that," she went on, and Lucas agreed. "And probably a safe bet that telling my sisters will be necessary," she waved up toward the house to indicate Eliza and Emma. This also sounded reasonable. "Lift your foot," Maya asked now, and the random request was met with a curious look though Lucas did as told. "Other one," Maya went on, and he switched feet. "Alright, you're clear… Had to check," she smirked, and now he laughed.
That was how it had started with them. Discarded wrappers, one stuck under his shoe, and a near kiss that led to questions, and finally a choice the following morning… Before this day had ever been Hallowannie, it had been their Spookversary, and this year was their eighteenth of those. Eighteen years together. No matter how they stacked it, it was never going to stop astounding them, these milestones, or at least they hoped it would never stop. For the remainder of their time on outdoor cleanup, Maya and Lucas made each other laugh, stating all the things their relationship could and couldn't do now that it was eighteen.
Once they were inside, it was easier to get things done fast… but it was also easy to get distracted, so it cancelled out their other advantage. They put on music, not so loud that it would get upstairs and wake the girls, but enough for the two of them down here to enjoy it. Of the two of them, Lucas ended up being the one to stall the most, without realizing it, as he would look over and there would be his wife, cleaning but also swaying along to the music, and it would just captivate him, make him smile… Then she would catch him looking and he would get back to work, still smiling. What can you do? Eventually, as they were just about done, he didn't just stare at her anymore. Instead, he went and slipped his way along until he could get her in a slow dance hold, which she joined at once with a hum.
"You know, I love everything about today, the costumes, the candy, the games… seeing our girls out there… But this right here, I think it might be my favorite part," she told him, and Lucas easily agreed, leaning to kiss the top of her head. He could have stayed right here with her, just like this, all night long, and they might have done so if not for the fact that they had work in the morning… and their girls to look after… Oh, but they could stand to make this last a little while longer, couldn't they?
"The Afterparty," Lucas called it, and Maya made a sound of approval. She could get on board with that. "Playing all the best hits for tired parents with a bit of juice left in them at the end of the night," he intoned.
"Nice," she snorted. "Hey, DJ, can I put a request in?"
"You're on the air," he nodded.
"Just bring out the best of the best until midnight?"
"Will do, just hang tight."
So, they went on dancing, one song after another. They didn't have so far to go until midnight, and 'DJ Huckleberry' knew what he was doing, pulling up the songs he knew would be appropriate to the moment. By the end of it, they were more than ready for bed, but they got to watch the clock tick over to midnight, turning October 31st into November 1st, the day they'd become a couple. It made her smile, and she was so loopy and ready for bed that he had to go ahead and kiss her. They couldn't just stop in the middle of a song, could they?
Finally, the music stopped, and they went upstairs and climbed into bed, big spoon, and little spoon, one hand rested over their Lucky number seven. The nights where they had not slept side by side over the past decade were few and blessedly far in between. Nights apart never translated to a rested morning on the other side. They just didn't sleep well without one another, and for having felt that way for as long as they'd felt it, they knew it wasn't a matter of having fallen into the habit. The best way either of them had ever known to explain it was that, when they were together, it was as though their two dreaming spaces had combined, expanded. They'd brought peace of mind to one another so that, even in sleep, they'd know the other was there, and all was well. On a night like this, a special night like their dating anniversary, it really felt like they were aware more than ever of each other and how much…
"Daddy, gotta go!"
Lucas was awakened by a small hand patting urgently at his back and he blinked as he turned to find Lucy standing there. Barely awake as he was, it actually took him a couple seconds to identify her, but then his vision cleared, and it was Maya's eyes staring back at him out of that little face.
"You gotta go?" he asked her, and Lucy nodded several times. If that didn't answer his question, the way she couldn't stand still said it all. "Okay, come on," he climbed out of bed, and she ran off ahead of him. He had no notion of what time it was except that it was potty o'clock for Lucy and the numbers were red and flashing. "Are you going to be good there or are you going to fall asleep on me again?" he smirked once she was sat down and able to do her thing. She shrugged. "Alright, well, you do your best."
"Yeah," she nodded, and Lucas reined in his smile, seeing her sat there, looking at the colorful things they'd stuck opposite the bowl, so the girls would have something to look at. She was really the only one who'd always do it. Kacey would look around the room, most times, and Remy would need to have someone there to talk to. At least right now it should help keep Lucy awake.
He was so focused, waiting on her, that he startled again when he felt something latch on to his leg and he looked down to find Remy there, holding on like she'd decided to hug a tree.
"Gotta go, too?" he asked her, and she looked up at him, shook her head. "Looking for her?" he guessed, and she nodded, even as he spotted Kacey wandering out of their room and across the hall. And she's going to climb up there… he guessed to himself, letting out a breath before looking back to Lucy, elbows on her knees, chin in her hands, looking at the images but clearly nodding off after all. Meanwhile, Remy was falling asleep while holding on to his leg, so he went ahead and picked her up before moving over to Lucy, talking to her. She jolted back awake, barely, noticed her sister and reached out for her. "Be right back, okay?" he told Lucy, shuffled over to their room and plopped Remy down by her twin, already under Maya's arm as she'd turned to face the other way.
Once the little kit was laid there, mother and daughters soon huddled in their sleep, Lucas returned to the bathroom. And… she's asleep. He moved to attend to her… and the sound of Mackenzie's cries stalled him and forced him to make a quick choice again. He didn't know what the odds were that at least one of the girls would make it through the night without waking up once, but right now it was down to Marianne, so he went into the room and collected the six-month-old, brought her out into the bathroom and shut the door.
"Yeah, nice going, now what?" Lucas mumbled to himself as he worked to help Mackenzie to stop crying. At least she didn't need changing or feeding at the moment, so it was only a matter of calming her down, and this he could do in his sleep… sometimes almost literally. At least it woke Lucy up again, momentarily disoriented, and Lucas reminded her where she was and why. "Okay…" he breathed, laying down a towel on the floor and Mackenzie on top of it, so that he could help Lucy up and get her set to go back to bed. Then it was one girl in one arm and one in the other. "Hey, bun, think you can pull the door for me?" he asked, and Lucy reached out, pulling at the door which he'd left nearly closed. When she did, they found themselves one threshold across from…
"Annie!" Lucy perked up at the sight of her big sister. Well, so much for that…
"Do you need to go, too, or were you looking for this one?" Lucas asked, looking to Mackenzie, asleep in his arm. Marianne pointed to her baby sister. "I am bringing her right back, alright?" he told her. "Go on." Marianne went back to her bed, sitting up there while he brought Mackenzie and placed her back in her crib.
"Night-night," Lucy mumbled and waved down. Lucas turned back around to see Marianne now lying herself back down in earnest, blankets, and all. He went over and kissed her goodnight again, but as he went to stand up again Lucy complained, reached out her arm. "No… Annie…"
"Want to say goodnight, too?" Lucas asked, as though to say, 'might as well.' Marianne was more than willing, scooting over so he could lay down the two-year-old next to her. Lucy settled in with her, and Marianne kissed the top of her head, like their parents always did.
"Can she stay here tonight?" she looked up to Lucas, then back to Lucy. "You want to stay with me?" she asked, and her little sister nodded.
"Won't see me argue," Lucas 'surrendered.' So long as they slept and they were happy and secure, that was all that mattered, right?
So, he wished them both a good night, checked on the baby once again, and went back to the master bedroom, there to find that Maya was awake and humming a lullaby for the twins, who had at some point woken up again, possibly when the baby had cried. He didn't foresee the two of them going anywhere now, so he just got into bed next to Remy, who looked at him like 'oh, hello again.' Once she and Kacey had gone back to sleep, thanks to their mother's voice, Lucas caught Maya up on his adventures with Lucy, and Remy, and Mackenzie, and Marianne…
"What does it say about us that this was what we wanted all along? Big family, big chaos…" Maya whispered.
"And only getting more chaotic by the year," he added, making her nod. "One day they're all going to be teenagers," he pronounced this in a very seasonal sense of spookiness.
"We're going to need more bathrooms…" she hummed back, trying not to think of all that several teenage daughters would entail when they were all still so little.
"What time is it?" he asked, only now remembering that he had no idea.
"Just after two," Maya told him, putting her head back down. He did the same. They hadn't even been asleep for two hours. They needed to do as they'd been telling their girls to do and get back to sleep.
Thankfully, they had no more wake-ups until it was morning, and the alarm was the thing to get them up. It got Remy first, startling her enough that she swung her arm and knocked Lucas in the ear, making him yelp and in turn wake Kacey even as Maya was already waking.
"You okay?" Maya laughed sympathetically.
"Yeah, I'm good," Lucas winced as he touched his ear. Remy was looking at him with big 'oh no' eyes. "I'm good, I'm good," he promised her. "Hey, it's calendar day, remember?" he went on, knowing this to be a sure fire way to flip her smile back around, and he was correct. Whether or not she remembered was of no matter. She knew what calendar day was, and it was a grand old small tradition in their house. Both Remy and Kacey went scrambling to get out of bed and find their sisters so fast that Lucas reached out to make sure they wouldn't trip and fall off the bed. They made it safely down and went running. It was time to turn the page and see what the new month's picture looked like!
Maya was up in haste, too, though in her case for a much less exciting reason. She had to cut through the 'traffic' of little girls in the hall to make it to the bathroom in time. It was easily the first time that any of the triplets saw her go enough to have to wonder what was going on with her, though it didn't look like they'd gotten to the point where they could put two and two together yet, so all that was needed was Marianne leading them toward the stairs while Lucas went to get Mackenzie and they were all good. Lucas gave his firstborn a nod. She understood, the new baby was a secret, and she could help keep it that way, because she was six whole years old now. Once he'd placed the baby in the bassinet in the living room, he turned on the television for a brief distraction while he dashed back upstairs to check on Maya.
"Good morning," he gave her a small smile as he saw she was up again, cleaning up.
"Mm, not yet, but it'll get there," she appraised with a sigh. "Come here," she motioned with both hands, and he stepped up. She cupped his face and peered at the side of his head with a returned smile. "Let me get a look at that ear, Doc."
"Look alright?"
"Well, it won't fall off," she teased, pulling him down until she could kiss it. "That should do it."
"Magic…" he agreed. "Happy anniversary."
"Happy anniversary."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
