November 20th 2020

Chapter 325
Their Possibility to Try

The week following Born Curious' most recent and biggest victory had been made no different by it on the whole, but it had been a good one anyway. The girls were happy, and while they all understood the notion that it shouldn't go to their heads, that they could and would lose matches, too, they wouldn't chastise themselves for just enjoying this giddy feeling in them. Right now, for a little while, they were invincible.

On Thursday afternoon, after school had let out, Maya was on her way to the mall for a supply restock when her mother called.

"Hey, Mom," she answered, over speaker.

"Hey, are you still at school?" Katy asked.

"No, no, I just left, why?"

"Can you come by the house on your way home? I need to run something by you." Maya was glad to be stuck at a red light for once as she looked around, considered her options. She was much closer to the mall than her parents' house at this point, and she really needed to go…

"Uh, is it okay if I stop somewhere on the way, I was just…"

"Sure, yeah, no problem."

"How come you're not at the theater? You okay?" Maya asked, seeing the time.

"I am, yes. I took the afternoon off, that's all."

"Okay, well… I'll be there in like half an hour, forty-five minutes tops."

After they hung up, the running impression was that something was definitely going on, and her mother could downplay it all she wanted, but if it was nothing then she would have just said it over the phone, wouldn't she? Her brain went a tiny bit ridiculous, pondering whether her parents had gone and conceived themselves a surprise baby. No, that wasn't going to be it, would it? Then it could end up with the two of them pregnant at the same time, and that would be too weird. Besides, after Haley, her father had… well… closed-up shop, so if there was a baby then this was a whole other story. Even more ridiculous than that idea was just how long it took her to come up with other potential reasons for this summons out of the blue. They weren't splitting up, were they? No… No, they would want to talk to her together if that was the case, unless her father had done something really bad, and that wasn't going to happen. So what was it? She was pretty relaxed on the phone, so… it had to be good news.

After a stop at the art supply store made even faster by her curiosity and the need to get to the bottom of this, Maya arrived at the Hunter Hart house. No one else was around except for the dog and her mother, so she guessed that her father had gone to collect the kids from school… maybe took them out somewhere to allow the two of them to talk…

"See, I did this all wrong, I should have gone to you instead," Katy almost chuckled, seeing the traces of dire 'I have to know!' thoughts on her daughter's face.

"That could have been nice," Maya agreed with a nod. "Can you just… put me out of my misery now?"

"Just come here, okay?" Katy motioned for her to follow and sit on the couch. Once she did, joined by Una the dog, her mother let out a breath. Here we go. "We need you to take the kids for a few days again," Katy revealed, and if Maya's thoughts had been racing in circles in her head, now they'd started to slow to a stop.

"Oh… That's it? Sure, no problem. I mean, I'll check with Lucas, but it should be fine, I…" Now that the first part was out though, the implications opened new doors. "Los Angeles again?" she asked, and her mother nodded, smiling. "New role?" Maya smiled back.

"Same role, they want me back," Katy told her, soon caught up in a hug with her daughter.

"That's great! Doctor Jenny, making a comeback," Maya intoned. Katy laughed.

"Yes, she is," she nodded.

"How many episodes this time?" Maya asked, and right there came the crack in the road, the one she'd been waiting on without knowing it anymore.

"This is just a meeting for now, discussing a few things before moving forward. Apparently, when they cast me and brought me on, they were waiting to see how things would pan out, how I'd be received… I guess it all worked out, because they're offering to have me on as a regular."

If any of her thoughts were still coming around the course in her head, then they got their feet caught in the crack and came crashing down, toppled over one another in a heap… It didn't take much of a leap to go from what her mother had just said to what she'd be saying next, and as happy as she had been for her and should continue to be, she was terrified of what it would mean for the family on the whole, and her place with them. The last time she'd gotten a job that big, they'd moved from New York to Texas, and even though it had all worked out in the end, this time… This time…

"That's… I mean… That's great, I… I'm so happy for you," Maya nodded, and oh how she wished her voice sounded anything like what the words were supposed to sound like. They didn't sound like that at all though, and no doubt the one thing they'd match right now would be her face, where she felt the sting of incoming tears.

"Baby girl…" Katy breathed, reaching over to touch her face, to hold her hands… She'd known this would be how she reacted, hadn't she? And that was why she couldn't say it over the phone.

"No, I shouldn't be…" Maya shook her head, tried to make herself calm down again, but it wasn't so easy. "I know how much you've wanted something like, for… so long, I know… I was there, wasn't I? The rough parts… the Law & Order disappointments," she managed to make herself laugh and then her mother, too, which helped, too.

"I think after all these years I'm ready to give them a pardon. Thinking back on it, I wouldn't have hired that Katy for anything except an already dead victim." Maya breathed a few times, feeling the tears had stopped, for now at least.

"So… You would have to… to move out there for this, you and dad, and… and the kids…" Oh, that was the part that hurt the hardest, she couldn't even pretend like it wasn't. The thought of being so far from them, to not get to see them grow up and become… not strangers, no, but not nearly as close and part of their lives as she was here. When she'd moved back to Austin and they'd been so close by again, it had meant so much, and they'd been only two hours away before that. Now, between Austin and Los Angeles…

"Look, I don't know what we're going to do yet, not for certain. That's why Shawn and I are headed there, so I can talk with them, and then figure out what we'll do."

"Mom, let's be real, you can't commute from Texas to California every night, and if you're a regular, that's going to be months on end, isn't it?"

"I know that, I do," Katy replied. Clearly, she was very aware of how likely it was that she and Shawn would have to relocate themselves and the kids out there if it all came together, but at the same time Maya had to realize she was fighting to find the best option for everyone. So the least she could do was to give her mother the chance to pull it all together, right?

"What did Dad say about all this?"

"That he can be a photographer anywhere, and in LA, well…"

"Yeah…" Maya nodded. There would definitely be opportunities. After a pause, she had to state the obvious. "He doesn't really feel all that 'LA' to me."

"No, not even a little," Katy agreed with a laugh. "I told him they'd eat up that whole vibe of his, they'll love it."

"What about the kids?" Maya slowly asked. Her siblings meant the world to her, which wasn't to say they didn't mean so much more to her parents, of course not, but their well-being was the part that felt just… vital. "Are they going to love it?" Katy sighed. She'd been thinking about that ever since she'd gotten the call.

"MJ will, for sure," she stated, the notion making her smile. It got to Maya, too.

"Star boy," she nodded. "I guess Haley might do alright, she's still so little," she went on, trying not to let this get her started again.

"Yeah," Katy smiled, the next thoughts breaking through. "It's the twins I worry about." Maya was on that same page, absolutely. She hadn't been that much older than they were when they'd moved here… just four years more… That was strange to think about.

"I know how they'd feel…" she simply said, and her mother's nod suggested her mind had gone to the same place.

"Do you know what's kept me struggling to commit to the offer?" Katy asked, finding her hand again. Maya looked at her and, oh, that look… That look was hers alone, grown from years when it was just the two of them. It didn't matter that she was twenty-seven years old now, not a small girl scared of storms in the night. She was and forever would be her baby girl, and the thought of going anywhere without her for so long… It was unsettling. It dislodged a breath from deep within Maya's lungs, she felt, as she leaned to hug her mother. "I think about being so far away, and then when you and Lucas go and have a baby, and we won't be there, I won't be there…" Katy went on, almost more to speak aloud the thoughts running through her mind. Maya hugged her tighter at this. She hadn't even thought of that yet.

They were forced to remember the world around them when Katy's phone buzzed.

"That's Shawn, they must be on their way back," she told Maya, and they pulled back so she could look and confirm it. When she nodded, Maya reached up to her own face, looked at her mother's.

"We need to do something about all this or they'll think someone's dying."

They'd hurried over to bathroom, resetting their faces as best they could, as quickly as possible. As they did, Maya had one more thought which needed to be expressed before the others arrived.

"I'm guessing we're not telling them anything about this until you get back?"

"No, yeah…" Katy confirmed. "We'll just say I have an audition. It's not a total lie, right?"

"No, that's good," Maya promised. They looked to one another as they'd finished.

"How did I do?" Katy asked.

"Should be okay… Gracie might bust you, but if you get past her then you should be fine," Maya appraised, and her mother laughed. The little detective was as sneaky as they came, sneaky little Mouse Mouse… "Maybe I should go. If I'm here, they'll wonder why, I don't just drop in like this on weeknights unless there's a reason."

"Good point," Katy replied. She didn't want Maya to go, but she kind of had to.

So, they hugged once more and Maya headed out, getting in her minivan and hoping she wouldn't cross her parents' on the way. Her siblings were very good at spotting good old Sparkles. Thankfully, there was no encounter and she got away in the clear. As good as that was, now she had to drive home with this bubble of weirdness in her gut.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners