A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!
October 28th 2022
Chapter 301
Our Spookies in Peace
He hadn't told her what they would be doing for their anniversary, their nineteenth as a couple. That wasn't so different as most years, as the two of them had long prided themselves in 'the mischief of mystery' when it came to things like this, but this one definitely felt like it had demanded more secrecy than usual… and planning. Maybe she was imagining it; she did so love to mess with him and try to find out what he was up to ahead of time, even if she didn't actually want to have the surprises spoiled. The fun was all in seeing him smile, seeing him think of ways to tease without revealing said surprise. This year, he'd been more… tight lipped than she'd seen him be in a while.
They had closed out the night as they had done last year, their preferred way, quietly picking things up while everyone was gone. It could have felt like a strange goal for them to be aiming for, but then it had a way of just… bringing back memories, of recalling the night where everything changed, the night that had been followed by the day where they'd become a couple. It wasn't just about cleaning for the two of them. When it was all said and done, after a bit of dancing (because there couldn't not be dancing), they went upstairs and checked on their daughters before heading to bed. They always tried and made a point to stay up past midnight, to see the turn of the clock bring them to November 1st, to their anniversary, and they tried that here, too, but… they fell asleep with minutes to spare, both of them too exhausted to wait it out. It was an added blessing then that not one of their six girls, from eldest to youngest, woke them up in the night. They slept right through to morning.
When they did wake up, they were treated to the surprise of a few small bodies having found their way in among them while they slept. The triplets were all there, like a column from head to foot between their parents. When Maya saw this and looked over to an equally awakened Lucas, they both had to bite back the urge to laugh, not wanting to wake any of them. Lucy was the only one of them with her head on a proper pillow – a corner of Maya's – while Kacey sort of had her triplet's feet as a head rest, same as Remy had hers for it. If either of the top two started kicking their legs about… On that thought, Lucas and Maya carefully went about separating the column, bringing the twins up closer. This worked fine for all of them, as they became huddled in their sleep, their preferred way, like a distant memory of when they'd shared a belly.
"You know, every once in a while, it still hits me, when I look at them and how big they're getting, like… they were in me," Maya motioned as she whispered with a smile. Lucas knew just what she meant, though of course he couldn't have had the same experience of it as she did. "So… how long before you finally tell me what you've got planned out for today?" she asked, looking up from the girls even as her fingers continued to trace light lines along Remy's brow, furthest away from her as she was.
"Oh, not very long at all," Lucas smirked.
"Like now?" Maya guessed, and he chuckled.
"More or less. You're going to be okay not doing any of the diary boxes today, yeah?" he prefaced.
"I did the seniors and most of the sophomores yesterday in between classes, I can finish those, do the freshmen, maybe some of the juniors tomorrow, and if I don't finish then I can do it on Monday in time to hand them back… Now that I think about it, I should try and do that from now on, instead of doing them on weekends, I don't know why I haven't… Anyway," she shook her head, getting back to the point. "I'm all clear," she beamed.
"Good," he smiled. "Then I need you to pack an overnight bag, dress style casual to semi-formal," he requested, and her eyebrow raised curiously. "That's all you're getting for now," he added, and she hummed, her tracing fingers moving to Kacey.
"I can work with that."
As she discovered, Lucas had recruited the birthday girl in his scheming. Marianne didn't give a thing away, she was good about that, but she couldn't hide the pleased little smile that kept crawling at her face, locking on to every bit of her expression like it couldn't help itself. She was very helpful looking after the little sisters that morning, more so than usual, and she'd look over to her mother every once in a while, like she'd just remembered about what today was again.
They had breakfast. The triplets wanted to wear their costumes again, and they were told to appeal to Ella when she'd arrive. She'd be looking after them today, so if they wanted to have Halloween part two, she'd be the one to decide… which was as good as saying that they'd get what they wanted in the end. It was to wonder how long they'd want to saunter around the house like the little witches they'd been the night before. Would they be having Halloween until Christmas?
Maya packed a bag, as requested. Lucas already had his at the ready, so once she was done, all that remained was saying goodbye to the girls until the next morning. That in itself could take an eternity if they let it, with the littler ones being prone to hang on a lot longer, and the baby being hardest of all to leave behind, but finally they were out the door and driving off just the two of them. She had a good enough idea of where they were going after a while, and when he knew that she did, he explained his reasoning. He would have liked to take her somewhere further, maybe fly off somewhere for the weekend, but then with the girls, it just seemed like they weren't ready to be that far away from all of them. So, they were checking into a local hotel, not for the first time in all their years.
This time around, she had to wonder if it didn't have anything to do with Aubrey's birth. They would definitely have to do something special next year, for their twentieth, but this was their nineteenth, so she'd figured they'd do something smaller. She didn't mind it being this instead, not by far. She just figured maybe this was Lucas, carrying those days in his heart and mind like spoiled luggage he could never quite get away from. So now, here, when the two of them were to celebrate the time that they had first gotten together, this was his response, and it both warmed her heart and made her want to spend the rest of this day just sitting in their room and holding on to him, nothing more, nothing less.
"So… What's the plan?" she asked. After they'd arrived in the room, she'd granted herself the 'obligatory' tip back on to the bed, to feel the mattress, before sitting up again.
"Well, at first, I was thinking about getting us tickets for something, but then I was thinking… Work, home, non-stop… Maybe we'd be better off getting here, seeing how we feel and then go from there. We've got options…"
"I could go for a swim…" Maya pondered aloud, raised an eyebrow to ask if he wanted to go.
So, they got changed and headed down to the hotel pool. They were so used by now to having the girls with them, to being on constant vigilance, that it almost felt too strange to be here on their own at first. They got over it in the end, spending the rest of their morning in the water or lounging nearby. They returned to their room to change for lunch. They couldn't help themselves, so they checked in with Ella to see that all was well at home, which it was, so they went out to eat. They reminisced about the day before, at school and the ranch, then at home for Hallowannie… It had been a really good one, for both of them and for the girls.
"So… What would you like to do now?" Lucas asked as they walked back into the hotel, hand in hand. It was the kind of small laugh they liked to share, to go and play tourist in their own city, which had been another point in favor of coming here today.
"Well, I did pack a very nice dress – semi-formal, as you asked – so I would definitely like an opportunity to wear it, say, tonight," Maya stated.
"I would like that for you, too," Lucas slowly nodded. She snorted.
"I bet you do," she agreed, matching him grin for grin. "I will leave the reason for it up to you, Mr. Planning Guy." He tipped his head in thanks. "Until then, well… We've got this room, no kids around… It'd be a shame to waste it."
They napped for nearly three hours.
When he woke up, Lucas opened his eyes and enjoyed the moment in silence. They hadn't bothered to turn down the bed, just took off their shoes and lay down together, not big spoon and little spoon but turned to one another, nearly forehead to forehead, arms around one another. In the time they had been asleep though, he had turned on to his back, while she'd remained with her head burrowed at his neck. She was awake now, he knew, from the way he could feel her fingers, just grazing at his stomach, under the bottom of his shirt. He could also feel the nearby brush of her eyelashes when she'd blink, and the very light touch of her breath…
"How deep in are we, that we're here right now and I can't stop wondering about how everyone's doing back home?" she quietly asked, and he smiled. She looked up at him, stretched up just enough that she might kiss him. He responded in kind, enfolding her in his arms and rolling over to reverse their positions as he went on kissing her, let his hands act in tandem. They gave her attention as his lips already were. Her response to this was to repurpose her hand, already near, to tug and remove his shirt. "We should definitely take more naps like this," she breathed as both her hands and his now worked at helping one another with superfluous clothing.
"You know me, I'm always on board if you are," Lucas smiled, nipped at her lip before the kiss resumed and their bodies became entangled.
The rest of their afternoon could be summarized as the very opposite of what the preceding hours had been. By the time they lay quiet again, there was a question whether Maya would finally get to wear that semi-formal dress of hers or if they'd prefer to stay in, and they would have to address it… later. Just now, their heads were still swimming, heartbeats and breathing still working their way back to normal, and there was not a trace of complaint in them, little to no awareness of the world beyond the two of them and this very comfortable bed. Maya snickered.
"What are you thinking about?" Lucas had to ask, looking at her. She might have been made of gold for all he knew.
"You, nineteen years ago. Would young Lucas Friar have any idea he'd be here, all these years later?" she pondered, making him laugh. "I bet he wished he would be at least," she whispered, pressing a kiss to his chest.
"Did he ever…" Lucas easily admitted, now making her laugh.
He still looked at her with that dark time tacked on to his expression, sometimes such a minimal addition that it'd be easy to miss but she could never miss it, could never not see it. By now, it might have been more life affirming than dooming a lot of the time, so she wasn't about to argue. He was so happy that she was alive, every day, alive and there with him, with their daughters… It wasn't as though she didn't think about it anymore, didn't think about what might have been if she hadn't pulled through, if she'd… if she'd died. She tried not to think about how close she'd come, but it was impossible, and so all she could do was do her best and not let that chance be for nothing. She was here, with him, they had their girls, she was back at work at school, and she'd started to write music again. Then she'd think about all of that, and what had come of it, and…
"Do you think…" she slowly started, unsure how to approach the question in her mind or even if she should approach it at all, but now that she'd said something, even three inconsequential words…
"Do I think what?" Lucas asked. She sighed, shifted her position until she lay halfway over him, looking into his eyes as he cradled her head in his hand.
"Us… and our children… and how we stopped, and you went in for…" she gestured.
She didn't have to go on for him to fill in the blanks. He'd made his choice and she'd supported it, saw him through the procedure and everything. But even back then, when they'd first discussed it, there had been this notion of maybe, someday, reversing it, if they changed their minds. Back then, everything was still so fresh that there was little else to say or do except go through with it, but now, with the distance of months, she had to wonder where his head was at.
"I don't know," he admitted, after a few moments to think. "Part of me thinks that it was the right call, and we're more than fine how we are, with the seven of them." Maya quietly nodded, having thought the same. "Then there's the other part, the one who knows that, if things hadn't gone the way they went, I… I would still have had it in my heart for us to have more, if we could, if you wanted to…" he explained, and again she nodded before resting her ear over his heart. He drew his arms around her, breathed… "So, what does it mean?" he asked. She considered it, the question, and his words, and her own thoughts, which had been swirling free for a while already before today.
"It means… Maybe we let things stand as they are for now, but at some point, you'd get things put back the way they were and then… then we just see what happens. Whether we end up having another child or not will be up to chance." He met this suggestion with a smile, and it made her laugh. They knew very well how… lucky… they could be.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
