October 6th 2022

Chapter 279
Our Flight Through Supplies

"So, is this going to become a thing? What do you think?" Maya looked to Marianne as she watched the trio sat on the ground before them.

The triplets were working to put on their shoes, and Maya could see her first born wanted to go and help them when they had difficulty, but she'd been told to wait and let them work through it on their own. If they still couldn't manage it, then their sister would help. But they got through it fine in the end, and for that she sort of had to credit the girls themselves. The freshly three-year-old sisters all had some level of difficulty in places, but then they'd watch each other work, and it would be something like they were motivating each other, or they were making each other not want to get it wrong. Either way, when all was said and done, there were six shoes on six feet, all set and ready to go. Oh, how proud they were of their success.

"What thing?" Marianne asked.

"School supplies on Tori's birthday," Maya clarified, and Marianne now remembered… They had gone to buy her things for kindergarten on this day last year, too. She remembered that she wanted to hurry so they'd be back by the time Tori came around with Ella.

They weren't the only ones to be making this day into a repeat of the previous year. Like the day when Victoria Friar had turned four, the birthday girl had spent the night at her father's place, along with her mother. The difference this time around was that along with Theo and Nika, and Lea, there would be Taylor, too. He was going back to Indiana in two days, had stretched his time back in Texas about as far as it could go, to not only make sure that he would still be around for Tori's birthday but also the Babineaux party, as she had asked. He wasn't about to say no, not if the power was in him to say yes.

This summer had really been good for that whole group. Remembering how awkward things had been at first when Theo and Lea had started to date, even as things had gotten more or less to a good, normal place, to Maya and Lucas it felt as though things had only really gotten better once Taylor had entered the mix as Ella's boyfriend. Suddenly it was the four of them and Tori, and everything was perfect. Oh, how much Tori had been looking forward to this 'sleepover' at her father's apartment, almost more than her fifth birthday party.

They would hear all about how that had gone later that day, when they all came over to the house. For now, Maya and the girls had a mission and, yes, it was happening on this day, as it had done last year. The big difference this time around was that it wasn't just about a couple of things for Marianne. This year she had her list, everything she'd need to head into the first grade. She'd need a few new things, clothing wise, and so would the triplets… as they were about to start pre-school. It felt as though, even though they'd all known it was happening, the closer they were coming to it, it still didn't feel possible.

But it was very possible, and the girls were looking forward to it. Kacey and Remy had definitely been looking forward to it the most, and the earliest. To no one's surprise, Lucy had seemed unsure when they'd first told her about it. No, that was putting it mildly. She'd run off and gone to hide in her room like she was under the impression that they were going to send her away or something. It had taken a lot of coaxing and reassuring, from the twins, from Marianne, and from their parents, before she'd come around. Then, they'd taken her to the pre-school, and shown her around. She'd met Miss Alma, who would be her teacher as she had been Marianne's, and she was so happy at the prospect of the Friar sisters coming along that there was nothing for Lucy to do but become enamored with the promise of spending time there. Now she was looking forward to it just like her sisters were, so when she knew that they were going to get what they'd need to head back in there, she was ready.

They were all going this time, Maya, Lucas, and their six little ones. It just made sense, with fall coming around, that they see to their smallest two as well, where their big sisters' outgrown things just wouldn't do. They were going to divide and conquer though, so Lucas would see to Mackenzie and Aubrey, while Maya would have 'the schoolgirls,' otherwise they really wouldn't be back in time for Tori's birthday. They dealt with the clothing first, as Maya rightly guessed that if they had to wait until after the school supplies, they would be restless by the time they got there. Instead, they got their new outfits – some matching, some not – and so did Marianne, who also needed new shoes as she was outgrowing her old school pair, and once they made it to the last stop, they were ready to tackle the list. This turned into something like a scavenger hunt, as they'd go around, picking up what they'd need. As before, too, as they could, Maya allowed Marianne to lead the way in picking out some extra things, for the donations box, and like her twin aunts before her, she was up to the task.

"We have to write my name on everything?" she asked, when the family had pooled back together and, before heading home, stopped to have lunch at the mall's food court.

"Everything, down to the last pencil," Maya confirmed, and Marianne continued to be amazed. Would her mother tell her how strangely eager she was to go through this process? Probably not, but then somehow… she just might pick up on it.

More to the point, maybe she'd become just as eager for it. When they got home with everything and started to put the clothes away, Marianne kept looking at the bag of school supplies sitting there, in her room, and they knew she wanted to go through all of it again, and definitely to watch as her mother put her name on everything. But then she'd be reminded that there was no time, that Tori and the others would soon be on their way… This would have to wait.

It was a lot easier not to think about the pretty folder, or the cute pencil case, when her big sister and the rest of them arrived along with her niece… the birthday girl. She was not even two years older than Tori, but then in her mind, she was the aunt, so there was a difference. Then again, Aubrey was Tori's aunt, too, and she was not quite three months old, so…

They would ask her sometimes how much she remembered of when Ella and Tori had first come into their lives. Did she remember how she would look upon that dark haired babe and call her 'baby sissy' all the time? She claimed that she did, sort of, but possibly that might have been influenced by the videos they had shown her, recorded in those early days of the Levesque girls living in what was now the triplets' room. Other times, she would say she did not remember when she had no sisters at all, and that was easier to believe.

"Hey, hey, Sneaky," Lucas laughed when the girl came speeding toward him. He barely managed to reach out in time as she leapt for him. He would joke sometimes that he didn't need to go to a gym when he had all these small daughters and one granddaughter, all constantly jumping on him or at him. Tori may have been a lot bigger now than she'd been as a six-week-old first sat in his arms, but he was more than able to lift her and carry her like she weighed nothing. "Did you have a good time at your dad's?"

To hear her talk about it, they could have felt bad for taking her away from the day she'd been having, though of course they knew that she was also very happy to visit her grandparents and her young aunts. When she heard about how they'd gone for their school things, she shared how they had gone for those, too, the day before. She was starting kindergarten, over in Houston, and she was very excited. Hearing her here, the feelings were similar to those of bringing her away from her day with her parents and their significant others, but on a different scale. She'd get to go and have kindergarten and first grade back there, but then she'd be coming back here to Austin after that. She wouldn't be the first kid to change schools, even that early, but Ella still felt bad at the idea of her making some great friends out there, only to be torn from them. It was enough that on that day, while the kids were playing around outside, with most everyone else, she confided a thought in her parents.

"Is everything alright?" Lucas asked her, and Ella hesitated only as long as it took to have both his eyes and her mother's on her, waiting for her to reply.

"I'm wondering if it might be too late to change Tori's school," she started, slow, hesitant, like she'd be committing to something if she carried on, and she wasn't sure she wanted to.

"Is something wrong with it?" Maya asked.

"No, no, it's fine, it is. Giulia goes there, and Connor will be there, too, but I… I was thinking maybe instead of having her start at Marianne's school in two years, she could start now, when the year starts." As surprising as this was to hear, it was only the tipping point, because if she was serious about this, then there had to be something else to it. Ella and Tori lived in Houston, and she would not be able to send her to school in Austin unless… "I haven't discussed it with him yet, wanted to really think it through first, but if I went through with it, then I'd see if he would take her, to live with him throughout the week, and then I'd… I'd see her on weekends."

Just to hear her speak about it, they knew there was a big part of her that wanted to back away from this idea, because it would mean being away from her baby girl for days on end. But if it was the best thing for her… If they did this, she would start kindergarten in Austin, wouldn't have to switch over in two years' time when they moved back.

"He's been doing so well with her, I know he could do it, and he'd probably want to, but if he can't…"

"If he can't, then she can stay with us," Maya cut in, one quick look confirming she and Lucas were on the same page. What was one more girl when it was their granddaughter, right? It would be easy. "And don't worry about the school, I can take care of that. I'll talk to Zay."

This safety would allow Ella the confidence to float the idea by Theo. To his credit, he gave it some genuine thought rather than just jump in and say yes. When it came down to it though, yes, he absolutely wanted to and would take Tori in to live with him and Nika. It would be his honor and his pleasure. He also knew that this was a great sacrifice that Ella was making, and that Tori would likely struggle at first with the sudden relocation. The best they could hope for in that moment was that the gains would balance out the losses.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners