January 8th 2020

Chapter 8
Their Year to Grow

For near as long as they had known each other, Maya had told Sam about the party, every summer with the Babineaux family. The way she'd go on about it, this party must have been right up there with Halloween for the musts of the year, every year. And now, for the first time, he would get to see it for himself. Maya and Lucas both had known the family long enough that they didn't even concern themselves with calling anyone and asking if it would be alright for them to bring someone. Over the years, the guest list had seen more and more of Zay's friends get added to it, and some of those friends, like the two of them, had graduated far enough that they had this privilege as well. They were family.

And if anyone could sniff out 'new blood' on the premises, it was GiGi Babineaux. They couldn't have been through the door more than two minutes, after introducing Sam to Zay's aunt and uncle, before they heard the sound of a motor coming along. A moment later, there was the woman of a hundred and some years, Zay's great grandmother, in her chair. She had resisted it for about as long as could be expected, but finally there had been no way around it.

"A throne for a queen," Zay had declared, the first time she'd come along like this. She'd chastised him for it, but from that point on she seemed much more at ease in her new mode of mobility.

"Can't mistake that face," she declared upon seeing Sam. "You'll be Maya's little brother."

"He stopped being little a couple inches ago," Maya looked up – looked up – to meet her brother's eye. Stature only went so far, a lot of the time, but when he could set aside his quiet demeanor, he embodied that height to its fullest extent. "This is Sam," she made the introduction before turning to her brother once again. "And this is the woman, the myth, the legend, miss Geraldine Babineaux, or as you've heard her mentioned… GiGi." It made the old woman smile that bright smile she'd passed on down to her grandson as she held out her hand to Sam. He moved to shake it at once.

"It's very nice to meet you," Sam told her. "Maya made your cookies for me, after we moved into the house."

"She didn't show you the recipe, did she?" Gigi asked, they knew, without any real scrutiny. She didn't have to worry about her 'recipe keepers' breaking that trust.

"No," Sam shook his head, and there was a sort of unspoken weight to this statement which made GiGi squint at him a bit like he might have more to say. It took some of those inches off of him until he explained. "It's just my mom and I would do this thing when I was growing up, where she'd help me identify ingredients in whatever I ate," he revealed. "I got pretty good at it."

There was a beat of silence, after which GiGi excused herself and requested for Sam to follow her. He looked like he wasn't sure he'd ever be seen again as he turned to his sister. Maya just bit back a laugh and motioned for him to go.

"What do you want to do with his room?" Lucas asked, just loud enough that it made Sam spin around even as he still followed GiGi, and now Maya let that laugh out.

Once Lucas and Maya and Sam had properly moved into the house, the summer felt as though it started rolling faster. Suddenly, weeks had gone by, and the three of them – five when they counted the dogs, of course – had developed into a routine of life of their own. They were getting to know the neighbors more and more, which almost felt like a necessity, living out on their lane, the houses spread out as they were. They had 'their' stores, 'their' restaurants… Most importantly, always, they were no more than twenty or so minutes away from his parents' house or hers, which made visits much more of a thing.

The previous week, Abigail and James and the kids had come down from Tucson to visit, to see Sam and Maya and Lucas and to see the house for themselves. It was sort of striking – in a good way – how much James, and Teddy and Emma, had really just become part of the unit that was their family. The older of the kids especially had needed more time to adjust, starting off as only seeing James to be standing in the place that had once been their father's, or Abigail in the place of the late Mrs. Lane, too. But that time had passed, and the Lanes being part of the group visiting in Austin made perfect sense. Where else would they be?

It had felt good to have them all here, to Sam most of all, of course. Being away from the rest of his family was a lot for him to take. The rest of them had been eighteen at the least when they'd left home, and as hard as that had been, they couldn't imagine doing the same at fifteen. They'd all agreed they would see each other again over the winter break and the holidays.

"Look, look," Lucas tapped Maya's arm as the two of them made their way out into the yard. When she turned, she saw what he'd seen, or who he'd seen, helping to get the barbecue started. She gasped, taking off at a half run until she came at a stop behind the tall, dark-skinned girl, swiftly signing to her boyfriend, crouched but looking back at her. He saw Maya first, and his reaction made his girlfriend turn around.

"Maya!" Kayla's face was a ray of summer sunshine as she caught her friend and bandmate in a tight hug. When they finally pulled back, after Will had gotten up to get his own reunion in, Maya was the one to send her hands into motion.

"When did you guys get back? I didn't think you would make it today!"

"We got an early flight, and we wanted to surprise everyone!" Kayla explained with matching giddiness.

"Wait until Rosa gets here. She's going to be all over you about band practice," Maya laughed.

"Let her, I can't wait to start either!" When Lucas came to join them, the hugs and the greetings started all over again. "Is your brother here?" Kayla turned to Maya.

"GiGi got a hold of him, no idea where he is now or if we'll ever get him back," Maya informed her with a smirk.

When Kayla and Will were beckoned to the barbecue again, Lucas and Maya moved off along the yard, greeting various Babineaux family members and guests. Most of them they only ever saw here, but whenever they did so it was as though no time had passed from the previous year's party to the other, except that they'd be a year older, whether or not it showed. This year, of course, the news that the two of them were now back living in Austin and most importantly that they were engaged to be married was big news. They lost count of how many times Maya was asked to show her ring, or how many times the two of them had to recount the tale of the proposal. Then there was the last big question: when were they getting married, what was the date? Each time, all they could saw was that they hadn't decided yet.

"Would have been easier if we'd just gone on the stage to make a speech…" Maya huffed as they 'hid' under their favorite tree for a couple minutes. Lucas raised his arm in the international signal for 'rest your head right here,' which Maya was more than happy to do.

"When we're ready to figure out the when and the how and the what, we will tell them, and that'll be that," Lucas promised. "We don't need to rush into anything for their sake."

"I know, I do," she breathed, turning her head up to look at him with a smile. "For the record, my issue here is only with the quick succession of repeats. Take that away and I'm always happy to tell the story." This made him smile, and he leaned in to kiss her.

"You and me both."

They were still under the tree when Sam reappeared. He was scanning the yard, clearly looking for them. Lucas raised his free arm to signal him and he came dashing over.

"He lives!" Maya intoned, reaching out to him. He crouched and then sat on the grass with them. "Were you sworn to secrecy or can you say what happened in there?"

"No, well, she just sort of… quizzed me. She wanted to see if I could really say what was in her cookies."

"Could you?" Lucas asked. Maya raised a finger, and he caught it, bringing it back down. "I know he can't tell me what they are."

"Just making sure. Big secrets, you know?"

"I got most of them. I thought I had them all, but then I stopped and she had this look, I'm pretty sure I missed one," Sam told them. At this, Maya scooted forward and asked him to whisper them in her ear. Lucas gave a silent look of protest at this, mostly for effect. Maya listened with a smile as Sam listed off the ingredients once again. After he was done, she sat back on the ground, keeping a straight face as her brother stared expectantly at her.

"Oh, I'm not telling," she shook her head.

"Not even if I actually missed one or not?" Sam begged.

"What would be the fun in that?" she shrugged before turning to Lucas. "Want to go in the pool?" she nearly dragged him to his feet, leaving her little brother to sit and contemplate what he might or might not have missed.

"Are you going to go up there today?" Lucas asked, shortly thereafter, as he and Maya floated about. He was pointing over to the 'stage' in the corner of the yard, where previous years had often seen an appearance by TXNY, in the very spot which had seen the band's inception.

"No," Maya sighed. "We still need to figure out where we stand now, with Willow out and Nadine back in, still working on that new instrument situation… And Kayla just got back, so it's not like we all had something planned… And if we go up there, Rosa will want to talk about practice, and I really just want to enjoy today for today, with you and me, and Sam, and everyone, you know?"

"I do," he nodded. "I'm kind of glad we get to just be like this," he admitted.

"Right?" she smiled, lightly splashing him.

"Hey!" Lucas laughed. "Anyway, before we know it the fall semester's going to be starting, for me, and Sam, and Rosa, and Dylan…"

"Just take me with you?" she asked at once. "I'll take studying and assignments and all-nighters over The Nothing I have right now."

"You'll find something," Lucas promised. While his search for a job had eventually yielded a position at a local bookstore and a potential opening at a vet clinic, which left him in a similar position as he'd been back in Houston, Maya was still looking. "In the meantime, your mom did say…"

"I know, and if all else fails, I'll take it, I would just like to get a job on my own merits and not because my mother practically runs the theater now."

"You will," Lucas nodded. He just had that whole unwavering faith thing going, and it was impossible not to smile, and nod, and say that he was right. I really hope you are…

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners