November 23rd 2020

Chapter 328
Their Possibility to Wait

Maya wouldn't say that she had been afraid her little sister would be upset at her somehow, after having been sent off with Lucas, far from that. He'd been sending her pictures of Haley with the horses throughout the afternoon, each one as sweet as the last. The thing she did worry about was what the evening would look like, and especially the morning after. It was one thing to have gotten the word of a four-year-old on one morning. It would be another to have it kept on the next.

Just to put every chance on her side, she'd reversed the drop-off order the next morning, so Haley would be first and, if she tried to repeat the previous day's tantrum, Maya would have some backup in getting her to go into her school. They were never needed in the end, as they arrived and she allowed herself to be unbuckled from her seat and lifted out of the vehicle and on to the ground. Maya hurried her inside, and then it was off to the elementary school.

"Can we go to your school like Haley did?" Nellie asked.

"Don't even tempt me right now," Maya squinted at her in the rear-view mirror, knowing she was messing with her, especially for how Gracie was barely keeping from laughing.

So, they'd headed to their school and she'd gone on to hers for an infinitely more relaxed day than the one before. Sure, once she got past the fact that it was not the way were meant to go, and she had to keep a closer eye on her than her actual students, she would have to admit she had liked having Haley with her, but it hadn't done a whole lot for her actually getting to do her job, had it?

Bedtime that night had been made trickier for the fact that the kids knew their parents were coming home the next day and they were excited, but they'd gone off in the end, paid in stories.

Wednesday morning went off without issue like the day before, and as she went off to work, Maya was thinking about her parents' return, too… especially the information they'd be bringing back. Knowing when their flight was set to land, she was ready for the message from her father, saying they had landed. They were heading back to the house now, the better to freshen up post flight and unpack without four kids demanding some attention or assistance. Maya told them to just aim to get to her house for dinner and she'd take care of picking up the kids from school, seeing as she had their minivan.

At the end of the day, she went and collected Haley from pre-school, bringing her along with the picture she'd drawn for their mom and dad. It was a horse, of course, and actually more or less recognizable as such. Next, they were off to the elementary school, where Maya found her siblings in the gym. The twins were playing with Desi Russell, not too far off from where MJ was looking through a comic book with Mikey Winger. As soon as they saw their sister, the three Hunters said goodbye to their friends and the teacher looking after them before running to her.

"Are they back?" Gracie asked.

"They'll be at the house not long after we get there if they're not already there," Maya promised them and Haley, too, as she kept her perched in her arms. There was no point passing her off to Zay like they usually did, not when everyone wanted to get out and back home as soon as possible.

Coming up the lane, Maya was happy to point out that their parents had in fact arrived already, laughing as Sparkles the minivan was taken with much high-pitched cheering. It was a free for all as they pulled up to the house and they were able to jump out to the waiting arms of their mother and father. Sure, if they'd come just for dinner they wouldn't have been here for another hour at least, but then they'd missed the kids, too.

The time spent waiting for Lucas and Sam both to get home, which tonight also brought Dora and Cecilia as well, went by like the snap of fingers once the stories started to come out, all from the kids' side for now, as Katy and Shawn were more than happy to indulge them. And when the others did arrive, Lucas last of all, the decision came that they would go out to eat instead of staying here. Between all that and then the drive over to the Hunter-Hart house afterward, Maya was left to cultivate her patience, waiting to find out about her parents' trip to LA and what they now brought back as news. Eventually, while everyone else pitched in for a sort of group homework session with the little Hunters, Katy and Maya walked out, trailing along the street together. They would go up a certain distance before coming back around, passing the house, eventually turning again…

"I took the part," Katy came right out with it, and Maya smiled, much as she couldn't hide the immediate concern this brought from her. "They would have recast if I couldn't do it, but they really wanted to have me back. They said that the work I did on those episodes I did before was what got them to come up with an actual extended story for the character, that she would fit into the core team, so they were very motivated to get me to agree."

"You were really good in those episodes," Maya agreed. "Even if you weren't my mother, I would have loved Doctor Jenny enough to hope she came back."

"I never would have believed anyone would like me so much that they'd want to bring me back like that," Katy gave an awed sort of laugh, and Maya was really best placed to understand all that.

"When do you have to go?" she asked.

"July, when they start on the next season," Katy told her, and hearing this, Maya felt like a new boulder had gone sinking to her bowels. She'd be on tour with Ree by then, she'd be in Asia by then, far away from home and the ability to see them all off if they moved to LA, which was looking more likely by the minute, just hearing the way her mother went on about her meeting, how much they wanted her. "I know," Katy told her, grasping her hand. "Look, I don't have an exact date yet, you won't be doing shows every day, will you? Maybe you could come back, or…"

"Won't make much difference by then, will it? Might as well tell them goodbye when I leave for the tour," Maya bowed her head, thinking of Kayla, going out on her own terms with the band.

"Look, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do yet," Katy touched Maya's arm.

"Doesn't seem that complicated though, does it? This isn't the first time…"

"That was different," Katy cut in. "I was getting a full-time job, in an office, all to give you a better life than I'd been able to give you until then. And I did that, didn't I?"

"Of course, you did," Maya breathed, hating to be in any way short with her mother.

"Good," Katy nodded. "This is something else, okay? It's a different opportunity, and, well… it's about me… and what I wanted to do…"

"Which you should do," Maya added, rather than to listen to her go down any route suggesting that her following her dreams was in any way selfish and would ruin her family's lives. Katy smiled back at her, looping her arm with hers.

"And I won't be filming the whole year… or forever. The show is in its third season, fourth by the time I'll get there, so who knows how long it'll last."

"You're not just going to finish there and come home and go back to the theater though…" Maya countered, and even as she said this, the thought that now her mother wouldn't be working at the theater anymore either made her almost grieve for that period of their lives. So much was changing lately… "You could land a role on another show, you could catch a lead in a brand-new show that'll run for like a decade…"

"That'd be the day," Katy chuckled.

"The point is," Maya got back to what she'd been trying to say.

"I know," Katy shook her head. Much as breaks between seasons or within seasons might bring her back to Austin, for the most part she'd be in LA, and what was she going to do, leave Shawn and the kids out here all that time? It just wasn't possible. "Maya, baby girl, I need you to hold steady for me a little while longer, please? Nothing's been decided, nothing except me taking the role. Okay? Your father and I are still discussing everything, hopefully we'll have our solution very soon, and once we do, we will tell you, first of anyone. Maybe… Maybe it will be that the six of us will have to move out to LA," she stated, knowing it was the option that Maya dreaded but she had to say it anyway. "But we might come up with something better. Are you with me?"

They stopped walking now and, turning to look her mother in the eye, Maya could do nothing but be truthful. So, she hugged her.

"I'm always with you," she vowed.

When they returned to the house, homework was done, and the pre-bed 'sequence' was underway. As much as they had loved staying with their sister, the kids were all clearly very happy to be back in their home, too.

"Maya?" She looked over to find Gracie stood nearby, now in her PJs and holding a pair of elastics in her hands.

"Want me to…" she pointed to her hair and Gracie nodded. "Okay," Maya smiled. "Just the two?" she checked, as always, and Gracie smiled back and nodded. "Sit, turn." The braids were quickly formed and bound off with the elastics. "Ta-da. Where's my tip?" This had been the joke, about as long as she'd been fixing up any of her sisters' hair. The 'tip' was usually a hug, or a high-five, a fist bump or a kiss on the cheek. Lately though, Nellie had apparently learned another alternative, and when asked about a tip, she would tell her she was all out of change and run off laughing. Gracie still very much believed in a good hug as her tip, and this was what Maya got that night. As had been happening too many times for her to count over the days where her siblings had stayed with her and Lucas, the small moment went and struck right at the part that couldn't forget about their mother's secret, and it made her hold on that much more to her Mouse Mouse. How she would miss this, miss her… so much…

Gracie was holding pretty tight, too, and Maya realized her little sister's grip felt a bit shaky. She didn't need to ask. Somehow, she'd heard something, or she'd pieced it together, or it was a bit of both. Either way, she knew something was up, something that could take her away from here, and she was confiding her fear within the breadth of her nine-year-old arms. You'll be ten this year… ten already… Where are we both going to be when that happens? Maya kissed the top of her sister's newly braided dark brown hair, feeling an immediate call back to Sunday night, when she'd had to do hold Haley as long as she did. The reasons were completely different, but at the same time weren't they so, so similar, too?

"Hold steady, Mouse Mouse. It's not over."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners