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

April 21st 2020

Chapter 112
Their Road to Halloween

With Saturday morning came a new weekend, and Lucas felt as though the week had gone for so long. So much had happened, on top of his classes, that it felt as though he had to compartmentalize it all, day by day, and drive to drive. His parents, his grandparents, the flat tire, his uncle, the stables, Maeve, Sophie and Chiara, Asher and Ray's house, Ramona, Josie… And through all that, Sam's general… Sam qualities… and then Maya passing the Halloween duties on to him while she took over the anniversary… On the whole, he only vaguely recalled his classes when compared to the rest.

"When do you have to leave for work?" Maya asked, and Lucas realized then that she'd been awake and he hadn't noticed. She was still spooned in his arms, though halfway turned to look back at him. She was also giving him those eyes that felt a lot like 'do you have to go, you'll have a lot more fun if you stay here with me' and he had to take a breath not to get pulled in.

"The books won't sell themselves," he smiled, looking at her like he was trying to calculate some kind of compromise.

"I'm sure your customers are smart enough to handle it…" she shifted over, a little closer, and he could just feel his resolve slip away. Before he knew it, he was kissing her, and she was kissing him, and he was pressing her closer…

There was a crash and a thump from above, followed by the yelping barks of Archer the pup.

"Sam…" Maya bolted out of bed, all thoughts of anything else pushed aside for the both of them. Lucas followed, and they made it into the hall, one behind the other, only to stall briefly at the sight of what they realized had to be paint, dripping out from the open attic trap, falling along the stairs and down to the hallway floor underneath. "Sam!" Maya called up as they both moved toward the stairs. Archer was planted at the bottom of the steps, and Lucas scooped him up before he could go traipsing in the paint.

"I'll go see where the others are," he told Maya, taking the fretful dog with him, sidestepping the paint.

"I'm okay!" Sam finally called out, as his sister still came up and found the mess over the attic floor and him, at the heart of it, looking like a big of paint splash art, covered in various patches of color even as he tried to pick himself up without making more of a mess.

"What are you doing, it's like seven…" Maya sidestepped the puddle of paint which continued to dribble down. As far as she could see, there had been many cups of the very liquid colors involved in this project of his, whatever it was supposed to be, though she had no concept of what it was now, with how the colors were now all running along, mixing together.

"I tripped one of the cups, it spilled, then I slipped and…" he gestured to the various cups tipped over or crushed, likely by the weight of him falling on top, which thus sent the paint splashing everywhere. The bean bag was soaking in it, the telescope… "It'll wash off, right?" Sam asked, like he was finally getting to take in the spread of his blunder. He touched the side of his hip which had taken the brunt of the fall – and the cups and its contents – and winced.

"One thing at a time, yeah?" Maya soon abandoned any attempts in not getting paint on herself, helping Sam step away from the mess and down the stairs. Lucas was just coming back up from getting the dogs to the basement and he stalled at the sight of the Hart siblings covered in paint. It was possibly appropriate with those two, but more than anything it left him wondering what had happened. "Help him?" Maya asked. "I'll take care of the attic and… all this," she pointed to the drips.

Lucas had helped to get Sam to the bathroom and into the shower, where he could peel off – almost literally, thanks to the paint – his clothes behind the curtain and start to wash the rest of it off. It was in his hair, over his hands, and feet… Lucas did his best to keep the clothes from touching anything but the towel sacrificed to the cause. There was no saying for sure if they'd try to wash these or simply throw them out.

"I'll wash everything after," Sam was heard from behind the curtain. He sounded so upset, at himself, for sure.

"What were you doing up there?" Lucas asked, imagining what all that running paint would do in there, the floor, the faucets… There was a pause, where he imagined Sam was debating what to say before deciding he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"I was just… I had to find a way, to make it all… make sense."

"What do you mean?" Lucas frowned as he tried to follow. Another beat of silence.

"I guess I thought that, after all this time, I wouldn't still have feelings for her."

Oh… Oh…

"You didn't…" Lucas stared at the closed curtain.

"No, no!" Sam promised at once. "I would never," he insisted, and Lucas was inclined to believe him, although there was always that human variable, wasn't there? He and Maya had been trying so hard to tell themselves this wouldn't be an issue, after how it had been the year before, but now here they were. "I would never do that to Cecilia, I…" I love her… "The other day, I ran into Dora on my way back from school, and we were talking, and I don't know, there was just this moment where I looked at her and… and I could tell she was more upset about her and Adam than she was letting on. He already has a new girlfriend. I was just there, as her friend, and it was like it all came back."

He poked his head out from around the curtain appearing much less painted. Lucas offered him a clean towel so he might emerge. When he did, his skin and hair still showing a bit of color but overall clean, he looked momentarily less open, like the cover of the curtain had allowed him to speak openly.

"I don't know what's right… Is it possible to have those feelings for two different people? I tell myself that it's not, that there could only be one, but… what about my mom and James? Or Maya's mom and her stepdad? That was real both times, wasn't it, except not at the same time and… I'm never going to do anything about it, but it's there, I feel it, and it just feels like… like I'm not being honest. But if I tell Cecilia about any of this…" he shook his head. The flare of panic was clear; he didn't want to lose her. "Is it going to be better than if I don't tell her, and she finds out anyway?"

Lucas had never been in that kind of situation, nor did he ever foresee himself being in that kind of situation. Even without that, he could see how this would be very confusing for Sam. He wanted to help his brother, he did, but there just didn't seem to be any solution that wouldn't come without hurt, for more than one person.

"You know Cecilia better than I do. All I can say is… whatever solution is best, you're going to have to make the choice. Think it through, just… if you're going to go with the first option, don't wait too long, yeah?"

"Right…"

"Now, go get dressed, and go help Maya with the paint?"

This was not how any of them had intended for their day to start, he knew, and yet now here they were. Sam went off to get dressed, while Lucas took a brief look at the inside of the shower and let out a sigh. He might have felt bad about making Sam clean it all up as punishment for his own actions, but he knew that, even without being told, he would have gone and done it anyway. Meanwhile, in the time while the two of them had been in the bathroom, Maya had already sorted out the stains on the floor and the steps. Climbing up to get a look inside the attic, Lucas got his first look of the disaster zone, which was presently being seen to by Maya. She was just now gathering the paint cups and what was to be Sam's canvas, while the pool of colors continued to exist and threatened to become a permanent staple.

"I can call in and take the morning off or…"

"No, you won't," Maya let out a breath, dumping another cup in the trash. Her hands were getting to look like a mixed up rainbow. "Where's Sam?"

"Getting dressed. I already told him to get up here to help you after that."

"Oh, the second he gets up here, my cleaning is done." She was upset, and she didn't want to be, not by the time Sam came up. He probably deserved it, but she couldn't make herself do it, could she?

"I think he'd agree on that," Lucas replied, and she let out a breath, looking at him.

"What did he tell you?" Rather than speak where Sam might overhear, he gave her the rundown with signs. The look on her face now was probably not too far off from the one he'd had earlier. They had expected something like this, and now here they were, in the thick of it.

He would have stayed there with them, doing his best to help, but he had to get ready and go to work. With the delay brought on by the incident, he just got dressed and drove off to the bookstore, where he stopped at the café downstairs for something to eat, which he brought along on his way up to his floor.

When he arrived there, he found he was the second to arrive, in the pre-opening hours. There was Maeve, casually hanging up Halloween decorations. There were already some of those here and there around the store, but as Lucas had discovered the year before, there could never be too many decorations where Maeve was concerned. Maybe this was a sign that things had taken a turn for the better as far as her situation went.

"Morning," he approached, which made her jump in surprise and drop her bag of fake cobwebs, which she had been unspooling and setting. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he reached down and picked up the bag for her. "How are you?"

"Well, I thought I was doing pretty well, then I got here and had something to eat and… it didn't stay… Which wasn't the food's fault," she added, seeing the bag in his hand. "Just something I get to look forward to for the next I don't know how long." The look on his face must have carried the question, as she gave the answer. "One way or the other, it's going to get born, and people are going to find out eventually, but right now I'd rather it stayed between us."

"Got it," he nodded.

"I'd ask if you could go and get some books for me so no one sees me, but I wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea about you and Maya."

"Right… Well, I could…"

"I found him," Maeve cut him off, and he knew who she meant without her saying it. The guy she'd met at the party, the baby's father.

"You talked to him?"

"No, I said I found him. I looked through my friend's friends, figured he'd be in there, and he was. Now I just have to figure out what I'll tell him, or… if I'll tell him… any of it… From what I saw, before I stopped looking because I didn't want to come off like a stalker, he seemed like the same good guy I met that night."

"That's good… The other day, you said you didn't want to… or you weren't sure…"

"If he won't take it…" Maeve started, cutting in again, in what felt like she was doing everything not to waver in her choice, not to let emotions fill her with doubt. "If he won't take it, then I need to make sure this kid goes to a good home, with people who can give it the life it deserves. That won't be with me." That much she looked very certain of. There would be no changing her mind, and he knew it wasn't his place to try. All he could do was be the friend she knew him to be, the friend she had confided in.

"Want me to tell you what Sam did this morning?"

"Please," Maeve nodded.

Lucas told the story, all the while trailing after her as she decorated and he ate his breakfast. They continued to play this 'game' all through their day at the store. Whenever they found themselves on their own, or whenever he saw her looking like she was drifting back into her brain, he went over and talked to her, not about the baby but about the other big – if much smaller by comparison – thing that was coming up, which was Halloween. It helped her get back in touch with that livelier side that was more herself than the distracted face she'd been up to this point.

At the end of the day, she came up to him and presented him with a photo.

"I almost forgot. For Halloween," she told him.

"Wow," he grinned, looking at the small girl posing in full witch regalia. She couldn't have been more than five or six here, and it might have been that she would have gone for the cute little witch, but instead she'd gone for the scary, and whoever had made the costume, clothes, hair, and makeup had clearly shared her spirit.

"There was this kid who thought I was evil because I had black hair. So I said 'fine, I'll be evil.' When he saw my costume, he ran off screaming like a baby."

"Served him right," Lucas nodded. "Maya can get you set for the makeup, anything you need, look," he took out his phone and pulled up some pictures, in particular their old standard of the severed head. Maeve was rightly impressed.

"Good to know," she nodded. "I'll think about it and let you know tomorrow." She was looking forward to Halloween, to a bit of normal. He hoped for her sake that she would get it.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners