December 28th 2020

Chapter 363
Their Moment of Family

For Start Tour – Day 35 – Show 21 – Manchester, England

They had not had a string of three shows in three nights, not since the very beginning of the tour. Just now though, a month gap had never felt so significant. In the last month, with the pregnancy advancing as it did, the prospect of three shows so close to one another like this could come off as potentially daunting… taxing… It wasn't as though she didn't think she was able to do it, or that anyone from Dr. Jill on down was suggesting she shouldn't do it. All things considered, her energy had taken a bit of an upswing, somewhere between France, Spain, and – as of last night – England. Still, she wouldn't be the slightest bit opposed to what Ree had dubbed 'rest day.' For this one and only time in the whole tour, they had a gap of two show-free days, after their England to Wales to Ireland string.

And because they were not just in England for this show but Manchester in particular, they were not in a hotel, at least not the For Starters and not the Sutcliffes. Though Ree split her time between the US and England, when she was in England – which just edged out for majority – she lived in her hometown of Manchester. While she might have decided to stay in a hotel anyway, so not to let this brief stint back in her own house derail her tour momentum, Ree and her husband and daughter had spent this first night back and would remain for the following night as well before they carried over to Wales, and then to Ireland, all before returning here for their rest day, a third night in total, before the tour flew off to Brazil for the start of this next leg.

And also because Ree was Ree, she insisted that Maya, Lucas, Cara, and Shae should come and stay at her house while they were in Manchester. They had very little in means to graciously decline, and so they had arrived here, the night before, and they'd spent the night in either one of the two guest rooms.

As much as Maya would have loved to go and walk through the city that day, she essentially grounded herself, as though she might be able to fill up reserves of energy in herself before those three shows, the first of which would be in less twelve hours. She'd ended up back up in that guest bed, having dreams of those many guitars in Ree's Manchester collection. She had mentioned them so many times before, and they were really worth the wait, if a little tempting for someone such as Maya to bolster her own set.

Somewhere in her dream, for reasons she could not explain, her mother appeared. She would walk along, handing her one guitar after another, and somehow Maya would not drop a single one.

Waking up, slowly emerging from the space between waking and dreaming, it felt as though she was still there, in her dream, with her mother, although she could also feel… a hand at her cheek, a real hand, and there lying at her side, the owner of this hand was looking back at her, with happy tears in her eyes. Maya had to blink back some of her own, her hand coming to cover her own mouth before moving to touch this face so like her own. Fully satisfied of its reality now, her sole reaction was to draw herself closer to her mother and put her arm around her, even as Katy did the same with her.

She'd had no idea… Not one bit. All this time, she'd been keeping her eye on that August passage through Los Angeles, and this, right here… Not a single, damned clue. It had been hard, once, when they'd just moved to Houston, to be two hours away, but it was nothing… nothing compared to having been more than a month with oceans between her mother and her, and with everything else on top… those oceans felt like galaxies.

"When did you… How… You're really here?" she cried, feeling no more than five years old all of a sudden, clinging to her mommy. Katy, for her part, looked like she wanted nothing more than to be that for her, when she'd so missed her firstborn in all the weeks she'd been away.

"We arrived yesterday, but you'd just gotten here, too, so it was better to wait," Katy explained, brushing at her daughter's tears with no concern for her own. She looked down now, the belly in between them looking significantly larger than she'd last seen it in person. When she placed her hand against it, Maya could only hope that the baby would feel some of what was happening just now and manifest herself. At the same time, her mother's words seemed to finally align themselves. She'd said…

"We… Dad's here?" she asked, her little hopeful smile growing. Katy was smiling, too, but for a whole other reason.

"Come with me," she got up, holding her hands out.

As they walked down the stairs, Maya recalled a conversation with Lucas, back in Paris. He'd told her that his own anniversary present had just been tricky enough that it would be a little late. However, he had assured her of two things: one, that it would be worth the delay, and two, that she would know it when she saw it. And as she followed her mother down the stairs of Ree Forster's Manchester home to find the Sutcliffes, Lucas, Cara, and Shae, she soon also found her father, and her maternal grandparents, and her little Hunters. Just like that, Lucas' promise had been fulfilled in full.

X

For Start Tour, Day 37 – Show 23 – Dublin, Ireland

Beyond all expectations, the last three shows had felt like the best and easiest ones she had given alongside Ree. She felt untouchable, though this did not mean that she did not take the time and care for herself as she had needed it. But her family was here, her Hunters… Her mother was here… Oh, no matter how much she'd known that she'd missed her, when she was actually there with her again it felt like permission to be honest about just how much she'd missed her.

And then to have them all here, her parents, her siblings, her grandparents… Tanner Clutterbucket stood out in about five different ways among the people here, and he had the look of someone who had never been so far away from home in all the years of his life. But he was here, and he was glad to be, in that way which still so reminded Maya of her father, Kermit. From what she'd see of him and her grandmother, as they interacted with the little Hunters, it would be clear that they were all still figuring their way in co-existing back in Austin, but by no means did they appear to be in difficulty on that front. If anything, the kids were showing their growing attachment to their grandparents, and Maya didn't know how much she'd needed to see that for herself, to get through the rest of this time away from them.

As Haley and MJ sat squeezed in on either side of their big sister and the twins sat with Lucas, Maya had been told the whole tale, by her parents and husband in turn. Before they'd even left Texas, Katy had mentioned to Lucas how she and Shawn hoped to find a way to fly the family out and meet them at some point on the tour. The problem there was that, with the move coming up, and the start of shooting, it was potentially unlikely that she'd find any few days to string together into anything worthy of saying they'd go, so they didn't want to say a word to the kids, and not to Maya either, as they did not want to get anyone's hopes up. But at the same time, if it was going to work – and Katy would do her damned best to make it so – then they needed someone 'on the inside.' They had considered one of the girls, but the risk was too big that one or the other would spill. And she was certainly not brave enough to reach out to Ree Forster, a statement which felt all the stranger now, as they sat in the woman's home. But Lucas, oh, he could be their person, and he wouldn't say a word. If there was anyone out there with a vested interest in pulling this off to make Maya happy, it would be him.

There had been a brief period where they might have come to find them back in Germany, and then it had fallen through. Truth be told, it had not been certain in any way that they would all make it here, not until as recently as two days ago. Back in Barcelona, Lucas had tasked Cara and Shae with keeping Maya occupied so she wouldn't notice when he had to go and make calls to his in-laws. They had assumed this had to do with the belated anniversary present, which… well, it did, just not in the way they believed. When it had all finally come together, the only one who'd come to know was Ree. Lucas had it on good authority that, even though she had invited the quartet to stay at her house, she would have booked the rooms just in case she really couldn't convince them. So, were those rooms still available?

Now, for the past three days, as the tour had shifted from England, over to Wales, and then today into Ireland, the Hunters and Clutterbuckets had shifted along with them. In the day, they would be with them, and at night, they alternated which of them got to go to the shows. Shawn and Katy had taken the four kids with them to the show in Manchester. They hadn't known how well this would go, especially where Haley was concerned, so they'd packed along some noise-cancelling headphones just in case. They had become necessary in time, though as the others would tell Maya later on, it hadn't stopped her from shouting 'That's my sister!' or 'That's Maya!' more than once along the way, her shrill little voice only reaching so far in the noise around them.

When they had then gone on to Cardiff, Shawn and Katy had gone again, though this time only taking the twins. This had not gone over so well with MJ or Haley, but from what they'd seen of them this morning, the ride into Dublin had cleared the air a great deal. And now tonight… Tonight, Shawn had stayed back at the hotel with the kids, while Katy had gone for her third time… and she'd brought her parents with her.

Lucas had texted Maya about this. She'd been in the hair and makeup chair as she saw it, and it sent her heart in flips. Tanner and Angela… at a Ree Forster concert… The Clutterbuckets… The idea felt so impossible that if it hadn't come from Lucas, who would know not to joke with her at a time like this, she would never have believed it. As she'd made it to her spot backstage, waiting to go on, it could have set off a ringing at her ears like nothing else, destabilizing her after two such great shows as they'd done on previous nights. But no, that wasn't what it ended up doing. Instead… Instead it made her more determined than ever to give a great show. This was for her mother and her grandparents, out there together. Two generations here, two generations there…

X

For Start Tour – Day 38 – Rest day – Manchester, England

They had travelled back here in the night, after the show, the one and only time when they didn't wait until morning. This was done in the spirit of giving everyone, from performers to crew, one whole day when they didn't have to work or travel. It was their rest day, a very minimal but much felt thanks for their commitment to making this very compact tour happen the way it did. As it was, they could not have asked for a better team.

If they didn't already understand it, spending the day with the Sutcliffes would show Maya, Lucas, the girls, and the visiting families, how much of that great team existing around the tour went back to Ree herself. She inspired like-minded people in such a way that they all gravitated toward one another, becoming what they had been, here, for the first half of this tour and now the second half, well underway. It would have been so easy, so understandable, for Ree to simply want to spend this rest day with her husband and daughter at home, no one else around. Instead, she had invited them all to spend this day together, and so here they were. It might have been once that it would have felt strange, to be sitting here with the Hunters, and the Clutterbuckets, and Ree Forster herself, like she could only ever stand out, but… No, not anymore. She was such a dear, dear friend, and the more time went by, the more they spent time with her over this tour, she was really getting to border on something like family.

"Do you know what, when I was pregnant with Teeny, I swear I'd found some frequency or something, and she would kick, every time," Ree laughed, as they all watched the way Haley had been standing in front of Maya for the better part of an hour, her little hand on her sister's belly, waiting to feel the baby kick.

Sometimes, Maya would redirect her, so she'd move her hand to a different spot, and she'd do it at once. Maya was just so happy to have her here, to have them all here, and if her sister wanted to just follow her, with her hand stuck there as it was, she would gladly let her do it. For now they sat here, and Maya smiled, watching the intent in Haley's face, especially as she'd sometimes lean in and whisper where her hand was, like somehow it would convince her niece to do something.

"Did she really?" Lucas asked.

"Did I?" Christina asked at the same time. She'd been sneaking a try, adding her hand next to Haley's, every once in a while. All the kids had been doing it.

"Every time," Ree insisted with a good nod, even as her husband shook his head. "Did, too," Ree laughed, meeting his look of his amused disbelief with a raised chin. "Just had to get it right, that's all."

"Are you suggesting then that you were off-key?" Peter Sutcliffe inquired, a challenge he was curious to see his wife take on. Ree squinted at him before standing up from her chair.

"Alright then, if it's a demonstration you want, mister, you will get a demonstration," she cleared her throat. "Got your hand on good there, sweetheart?" she asked Haley, who looked at her and nodded. A moment later, four more hands were rushing to find a spot.

"Okay, okay, still under here, guys, easy," Maya bit back a laugh. Admittedly, she was kind of curious about this, too.

"Let's see now, haven't done it in about twelve years, so it might take a few tries…" Ree breathed.

"Ah, yes, yes, naturally," Peter slowly nodded, his tone suggesting he might have been indulging her. At this, Ree turned a look to Maya, who passed on a nod of confidence. She could do it.

It would be a debate whether or not Ree had hit that mythical note of hers, or if by some chance the baby decided it was high time for a bit of moving about. Either way, all at once the five kids with their hands to Maya's belly felt something, with varying degree depending on where their hand was in comparison to the origin of the kick. By the looks of it, Gracie had gotten the direct hit. Meanwhile, the others sitting around the room had either laughed or argued on whether or not it had been Ree's work.

"Do it again?" Christina asked her mother.

"Give her time, now," Ree laughed, "Can't just keep prodding." Peter gave his own opinion on this with a 'humph' that suggested she had just gotten lucky and didn't want to be proven wrong this time. "Do you know, I think he's still upset I didn't pick him for my team for our Sing-Off to Cape Town," she teased, making Maya and Christina both laugh, much as they tried not to, while Peter pointed to his wife with mock frustration. "Such disappointment," Ree shook her head.

"Well, until we try this again, I need to go up there a minute… maybe more…" Maya informed the owners of those clinging hands, allowing them all to let her go one by one so she might stand up and head to the bathroom.

"Hey, Shutterbug, where do you think you're going?" Shawn went to scoop the five-year-old before she could follow her sister upstairs. "Come on, there you go," he led her back to the living room. Later, Lucas would relay how Haley had gone dashing over to her grandmother, there to give her the old raised-arms request. Angela Clutterbucket had become familiar with the move by now, and the joy with which she complied to her little granddaughter's request, bringing her to sit in her lap, was immeasurable in its breadth.

X

For Start Tour – Day 39 – Traveling day, England to Brazil

It had to come sooner or later, and finally here it was. Shawn and Katy were headed back to Los Angeles, Tanner and Angela and the little Hunters were returning to Austin, and the For Starters and the rest of the tour were flying off toward their next stop. If it hadn't been evident to them already, Maya and Lucas were shown once again how the thrill of a reunion, in a situation like this, also had to go hand in hand with the sadness of a new separation. It didn't matter that they would go back to how they had been before, speaking over video calls, and texts, every day and sometimes more than once a day. They would be headed in different directions, and they wouldn't see each other again… Well, it would depend in some cases.

They wouldn't be there to see Shawn and Katy say goodbye again to the little Hunters, and maybe they didn't want to have to see it. As far as the tour went, they took off a few hours ahead of the rest, so they parted ways at the hotel. Maya and Lucas both hugged Nellie and Gracie with a just a bit of extra squeeze, just in case they didn't see them in Los Angeles on their tenth birthday.

"Maya! I didn't tell you!" MJ gasped, as he'd been about to step back from his hug with his sister.

"Tell me what?" Maya asked, curious.

"I'm going to go to the camp when we go home!"

"The camp, the… Stage Ready camp?" she asked, and he nodded. "Bud, that's great," she laughed. "It's started already though, are you…"

"They said that they could make an exception for me because I'm your brother and also because of Mom," he explained.

"Well, with an opportunity like that, you have to go for it," Maya nodded firmly, and MJ agreed.

"I told Grandpa about it and he asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes, and then he called them."

"That is amazing," Maya told him, and oh how she wished he understood just how amazing that was. It would be some years still before he could be expected to understand, much less be told about the reason why his mother and grandparents had not been in touch for so long. "Send me lots of videos, okay? I want to know everything." That was a promise.

Haley hugged her sister and her brother-in-law like she never wanted to let go, and Maya could have easily just snuck her along the rest of the tour if she could. The five-year-old tried one more time to see if the baby would kick when she put her hand on her sister's belly, and much as Maya wanted it for her, too, Marianne Friar did not make herself felt this time again. She hated to see her go with disappointment in her eyes, but one extra solid hug and several kisses worked to shift things back into something like the happy face they were most used to seeing out of her, and so she went along with her siblings and her grandparents, while her parents had their turn with the goodbyes.

"When will you know about where you'll all be when we pass into LA?" Maya asked them both.

"I don't know, a week at the earliest, might be later. But I'll let you know, I promise," Katy hugged her, and Maya held on, trying not to go and start crying… again. She really didn't want them to leave, but she knew they had to, like she and Lucas had to as well. Almost to break the dread settling in, the baby chose this time to give one good kick, surprising her mother and making her and Katy both start to laugh. "I'd go and get Haley back, but there's no telling if she'll do it again," she stated knowingly.

"Probably not, no," Maya agreed. They looked to each other once again, and Katy held her daughter's face in her hands, bent to kiss at her forehead and pulled back to look at her again.

"Never ceases to amaze me, you know? Seeing you up there…"

"Kind of does it to me, too," Maya admitted.

"Good," Katy nodded. She had to let go, had to remove herself or she would never leave either. "I'll go see how they're doing back there. My mother will buy them more souvenirs if she gets the chance. Write me when you all land?"

"I will, I promise."

"Love you, baby girl… both of you," she added, addressing her unborn granddaughter with a smile before moving to hug Lucas as well, while Shawn came and had his farewell with his daughter, too.

He had that look to him, not unlike Maya had done, where he had it in him to cry but he did all he could to hold it in. Sometimes, it was so strange to think how they had been strangers, the two of them, once upon a time. So many years of her life, before he'd come into it, he'd been out there, for a while the oft mentioned but never seen 'Uncle Shawn.' But if she looked at him, it just felt impossible that he hadn't always been there. Even when she knew he couldn't have been, it was as though her mind worked over time to add him to the narrative, to put him where he belonged, as part of the family. The whole time he and the others had been here with the tour, he had been surprisingly quiet, and yet Maya understood this very well, knew where it came from, and in the end… it felt exactly like what it was: his overwhelming love for his first child, and the difficulty he felt for being so far from her at this point in her life while at the same time being so utterly proud of her and all she was getting to do. Not to be forgotten, when she came home, when the tour was over, when she'd have the baby, oh… Shawn the Dad would share duties with Shawn the Grandfather, and he was ready.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners