July 2nd 2020

Chapter 184
Their Escape to Paris

As they would awake this morning, both Lucas and Maya would be taken with that happy surge they had felt over the last four mornings. They would wake and remember that they were now married to one another. In due time this memory would manage to settle, to not feel so new as to be the one of the first things they thought about when they woke up, and that would be fine, of course. But until then they would happily bask in this feeling. This morning, they'd have to say, would easily be the most notable of these surges, as it didn't hit them back home in Austin but rather in a hotel room in Paris.

They had flown in the day before, landing in mid-afternoon. They had taken the rest of the day to settle into the hotel, to familiarize themselves with what would be their home for the next two weeks, from their room to the pool, to their room, and the restaurants, and their room, and the view from the balcony, and their room... They'd had dinner up there, finding no desire to explore the city beyond just yet.

It was the most relaxing day they had had since the day of the puppies. Sure, they hadn't done much on the day after the wedding, especially since they had slept through most of it, but with preparations for the trip, and for the following day, and the miracle of the Hex out there, it hadn't really left much of a mark. They were really just in a haze.

And then the day after that was the fourth of July, and the party for Haley Hunter's third birthday. As though being surrounded by several toddlers wasn't enough of a frenzy to leave one exhausted, they also had to contend with the heat, which left them in a perpetual stage of feeling sweaty and gross, seeking the nearest means to cool down as soon as they could have it again, and overall finding their energy to be in the red. By the time they had returned home, Maya and Lucas both felt compelled to go straight to bed after a refreshing shower, to ensure they didn't sleep too late and end up missing their flight.

They very nearly did, too. In something bordering on Home Alone levels, they ended up speeding through the airport and being allowed through just in the nick of time.

"I know we said we were going to make this memorable, but that's not what we meant, was it?" Lucas asked as they were finally able to sit in their seats.

"Wasn't it your mom who said trips were no fun without a surprise or two?" Maya asked with a smirk, which made him laugh and relax, finally taking in how they were on a first class flight - thanks to Diana Zvolensky - to Paris, for their honeymoon. He looked back to his wife, and he knew his smile echoed hers.

"We would have been fine with our old seats, wouldn't we?" Lucas pondered as they both settled in, looked around at what they had at their disposal.

"Sure, yeah," Maya nodded, leaning back in her seat.

"But hey, we're here now," Lucas did as much, which made her laugh.

"Yes, we are." After a few seconds of their quietly enjoying their accommodations, Maya reached into her bag, pulling out a folded piece of paper, which she opened out as she sat up straight. "So, here's what I've been thinking," she started, and Lucas wore his confusion on his face. "The name thing," Maya told him.

"Oh," he blinked. He had forgotten how they had agreed to talk about it on the flight. With this tiny bit of information, he understood what this was about. She wanted to get it settled quickly, the better for them both to get to enjoy their fancy bit of flying. "Okay, yeah, what do you have?"

"Thought about it a lot... probably even before we were engaged," she told him.

"Sounds right," he laughed.

"Yeah, so you know some of the points already."

"The Hart name means a lot to you," he nodded. "You kept it even when your mom got married to Shawn."

"I did," Maya nodded. "And he understood that," she went on. Sometimes she worried, like maybe it would have meant so much to him, too, and he hadn't said anything because he wanted her to do whatever she wanted. "I think part of me had to wonder if it would be weird now, if I did take your name when I wouldn't change mine for his."

"I get that," Lucas nodded.

"And then, now, there's the music side of everything. Everyone's starting to know who Maya Hart is, and they would probably make the transition easily, it hasn't been so long... There are all these small factors all over the place, and I know you'll say that I don't have to do it for you..."

"I would say that, yes," he nodded.

"Do you know who Christine Sutcliffe is?" Maya asked. Lucas did not, at first, but then having seen the surname in recent times, he was able to connect the dots. "I didn't even know that was her full name until I met her daughter. Everyone called her Ree for as long as she could remember, so that's who she became when she did her first album. And then when she got married, she took her husband's name, everywhere except on stage. There she was still the Forster girl."

"So, does that mean..." Lucas slowly asked.

"This might sound like a weird plan, but this is what I came up with. There's like three parts, so just stay with me."

"Okay," he nodded.

"One: Whatever music I put out there, with the band, or for the label, I am and will continue to be Maya Hart," she declared. He nodded again. "Two," she breathed, "I first become, officially, finally, Maya Hunter."

It was as Lucas had said, the Hart name had meant a lot to her, for how she had carried it with her after coming to Texas, one of the few things left to her to remember who she had once been. So when Shawn had married her mother, he had adopted her, yes, but she had kept her name. To take it now, nearly a decade after the fact, could have come off as pointless, especially for the time it would last, but it wasn't pointless to her... and it wouldn't be pointless to her father.

"Sounds good," Lucas smiled. Of course he would see it how she did, too.

"And three," Maya stared back at him with that happy little smile he'd seen so much of over the past few days. It shifted now into the precursor for her most Southern Belle of an accent."Mrs. Maya Friar, at your service," she tipped her head, snapping back with a grin, presenting him with her notes. "I call it the Maiden, Mother, and Crooner plan. What do you think?" she asked, for the first time almost shyly so. She wanted to make sure he was on board. It was her choice, but this was for the both of them in the long run, wasn't it?

"I think... I have never been so proud to share my name with anyone," he told her, and he meant it wholeheartedly.

"Good," Maya beamed, leaning so she might kiss him.

"Looks like we have the next few hours to ourselves then," he told her, as they were informed their flight was about to take off.

They had spent the flight brushing up on their French, which didn't actually require any refreshing. Their old days of French class had been memorable, always, but they would both claim they had been each other's best tutor in making so that they not only learned properly but also maintained it after they had graduated. They had vowed to return to Paris one day, and now here they were.

"Bon matin," Lucas spoke at her ear as they both eased into waking, their first morning at the hotel.

"How bad would it be if we just stayed here today?" Maya hummed pressing kisses to the knuckles of his hand laced with hers.

"I would like to see anyone try and make us do anything we don't want to do," Lucas pointed out.

"They are kind of far away, they won't know," she agreed.

"And even if they were in the next room..." he added, smirking, especially as she laughed and turned toward him. After a bit of light kissing, continuing their way along this good morning, she was taken with a look he equated to a light bulb popping up over her head.

"Compromise? We enjoy the hotel for today, and tonight we go out for what I can only describe as a capital D Date... bolded, italicized, double underlined. Because, you know... Paris..." she finished, in her best French accent."

"I like this plan a lot," Lucas smiled. "Good thing I already have a reservation for dinner tonight."

"Do you?" she inquired playfully. "Who with?"

"A very interesting, smart, beautiful woman..." he indulged her with truth. She responded with a modest smile.

"So, you and me and a quiet day in, huh?"

"You do make a compelling argument," he nodded, pulling her closer and making her laugh.

"First things first though, I am starving, so..."

"Breakfast, on it," he kissed her before going in search of the room service menu. For as long as they had been talking about this trip, since they had chosen Paris as their destination, he knew she'd had some images stuck in her head, things she wanted to do. Breakfast on their room's balcony, overlooking the morning city beyond, was one of those, near the top if not the top itself.

Opening the doors and stepping out on that balcony the day before, when they had first checked in, Maya had felt that immediate twinge, the kind she usually got moments before reaching for paper and pencil. She knew she'd want to spend every minute here she had a chance, her and Lucas, sitting together in their small pocket of the world.

"I think there's still a part of me that can't believe we're here like this," she told him as they settled in with their breakfast once it had arrived. "This is my third time coming to this city and I still remember when it felt like it couldn't be real." He could have said that he knew what she meant, but in his case he knew it would have only been general amazement, while in hers... it had been something just deeply unattainable.

"Good feeling?" he asked her.

"I think so," she replied, looking on to the city with a smile. "This time will be so different though. The first time, I was here with my parents, for a couple of days, mostly sightseeing. And then the second time, it was all of us, but we were not here so long either, and it was kind of..."

"Crowded?" Lucas offered.

"Very," Maya chuckled. "This time... this time it's just you and me, for two whole weeks." He smiled back at her, feeling anticipation as well as she did on this part.

"Still feeling this day in or are you starting to rethink?" he asked, in an effort to decipher her face.

"I don't know... I could be talked into going for a casual walk later on," she replied, turning a look to him. "What about you? Do you want to go out?"

"I have to say, I'm getting a bit conflicted on the subject," he told her, his chin in his hand as he watched her sitting there, eating breakfast, looking like she was in a constant state of happiness, radiating out, over being here with him. She was so beautiful right now that the thought of there being anything he'd rather be looking at felt impossible. "Here sounds good."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners