Chapter 40
Santa and the ELF

It had been their hope that they wouldn't welcome Pappy Joe into the house in any way that would make him feel like it would be in his best interest to turn around and run. That meant keeping the place as relatively clean and lacking in the smell of diapers and any other stench… and not giving off the distinct impression that they were a couple of sleepless zombies just waiting to pass off their infant son on the unsuspecting old man. On the whole, they would pull this off by the time the day came for him to take up residence with them, though it came on the tail of a few days which were not without… activity.

For one, there was the call they had received from Kermit and the news it brought.

She didn't see her father as needing permission to decide to move to Austin, but she could more than understand and appreciate that he felt he needed to run the idea by her first. But then what else could she say? The idea of having them all here, in her city, all her siblings, from her mother and her father, and then Kermit and Abigail, and her grandmother… Whatever her relationship had been with her father months ago – or her lack of a relationship – it was all different now. She actually had a relationship with him, and it was good. He had flown across the country to be with her when she had Elliott, he'd stuck by with them, and it had meant more to her than he could ever know.

And whatever he had been unable not to think about, she'd had her own set of invasive thoughts, and hers revolved around him and his having been ill. He was good now, she knew that, but she wasn't ignorant of the possibility that might change. She wanted him to be in her life, and in Elliott's life, too, and if she had a chance to ensure that this happened, in case…

Without going into all of that, she had told her father that she would love very much for all of them to move to Austin, and that she would do whatever she could in order to help from this end while they searched for a house and prepared to make the move. She wasn't supposed to tell any of this to her siblings until they had gotten to the point where they would let them in on everything, and that was fine.

After they'd hung up that night, she'd told Lucas everything her father had told her, and to no surprise he knew exactly where her mind would have gone.

"Do you think he's…"

"I don't know," she'd shaken her head, truthfully. "Either he is or… or he thinks he could be, eventually." She'd been doing her best to keep that thought at bay ever since that day he'd shown up on their doorstep in Houston and promptly collapsed. She would tell herself she didn't want the stress, because of the baby, but at the same time maybe it was that it was easier to say that than to admit she was scared. And now… Whatever she'd thought when she'd first found out about his being sick, it was all different now, wasn't it? Now she'd spent time with him, now they had grown closer, and she wanted him here. What if she lost him? "This is so…" she took a deep breath, shaking to her head to herself and trying to keep herself from crying.

"Hey, hey…" Lucas reached out one hand, keeping Elliott close with the other.

"I'm sitting out here, worrying about what it'll feel like for me if he dies, when he's the one… A-and Sam, and Cara, all of them, I… I barely know him…"

"Maya," he squeezed her hand.

"Your mom, she can help us look for houses, yeah? She has to love stuff like that… All those shows she watches…"

"We will ask her," Lucas nodded. "In two days, when she and my dad come, okay?" She let out a breath.

"This is you telling me to slow down, huh?"

"Maybe… little bit… Want to take him?" he offered, nodding to the baby. "He's very soothing to hold."

"Yeah, I know," she chuckled, quickly batting a couple tears away before he could hand her their son. "Hey, kid…" she spoke quietly as he settled to her. As much as it had felt like her heart had fallen in turmoil, she'd held that little body in her arms, and she'd felt the warmth in him, and the breath, and it was like a guide to her own, bringing her back down… Finally, she hummed, pressing a kiss to one of his small hands.

"Better?" Lucas asked.

"Little bit," Maya turned a smile toward him.

Much as it wasn't a very restful night by any means, the night that followed was maybe the best one they'd had since Elliott was born. When he'd woken up to daylight, Lucas had gotten up and walked across the hall to find Maya back in the nursery, sitting with Elliott in one arm while she looked to her laptop, perched on a small table she'd pulled within reach. Even without looking he knew what he'd find when he got a look at the screen. Listings for houses on sale in Austin, not too far from their own…

"Anything good?" he asked her, crouching and then kneeling next to the rocking chair.

"I mean, I don't know what their budget looks like, but look at that thing," she showed him one house. "Don't misunderstand me, because I love our house and wouldn't trade it for the world, but wow?"

"Where is this?" he asked, just as amazed as she was.

"Would it be too strenuous on my 'delivery plus five and a half days' body to go look at houses?" she asked with a bit of a goofy smile.

"I don't know, you tell me," he chuckled.

"Might be a bit too much of an ask for a first big outing with the baby," she admitted with a sigh. "Okay, I'm putting the websites away until tomorrow when your parents come, I promise."

The next day, with her promise kept, Maya had gotten Elliott dressed in a onesie courtesy of their incoming guests. They would have found him adorable no matter what she put him in, but as soon as she'd come through the door and spotted him in Lucas' arms she'd given off that happy sort of squeal that translated impeccably to 'look, he's wearing one of ours!' Her arms practically begging to get to hold him, Lucas had passed the boy into his grandmother's eager embrace.

"Look at this little angel, a week already…" she declared, looking at the boy like he was the whole world. Maya and Lucas looked to one another, both with the same thought written across their faces. Had it really been a week already?

After settling down in the living room, Elliott still securely in his grandmother's arms (though she'd sworn to pass him on to her husband at some time), the conversation had kicked off more or less where it had been expected to start. How were they doing? Were they getting much sleep? How was Elliott doing? Was he eating well? Was everything functioning as it should? Did they need anything? Lucas had handled the 'report,' putting both his parents well at ease with assurances that their grandson was doing as well as any week-old human could ever expect to be doing. Almost to prove his point, Melinda had discovered he needed a diaper change and immediately offered herself to handle it.

"I'll come with," Maya nodded, sneaking a look to Lucas. "Actually got some things to discuss."

"Everything alright?" Thomas asked his son after the others had gone up.

"Oh, yeah," Lucas promised. "Trust me, you'll hear all about it before long."

"A mystery, huh?" Thomas chuckled.

"Yeah," Lucas told him, mid yawn. "Sorry."

"No, don't worry about it, I remember how this goes. Coffee?"

"I already had too much, I think," Lucas rubbed at his face. "The way Maya and I see it, we're exhausted from looking after our son, who is healthy, and thriving, and loved… so it's all good."

Upstairs, in the nursery, Granny Mel went about changing her grandson's diaper like a maestro, leaving Maya to stand and watch with barely disguised awe. It wasn't as though she'd been struggling herself. Between the twins and MJ she had changed her fair share of diapers in the last few years, but this… this was something else.

"There we go, much better, isn't it?" Melinda cooed, lifting Elliott and his clean diaper back into her arms. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" she turned to Maya. "Is it about the wedding?"

"Uh, no, although I am going to have to start…" she started to tell herself before refocusing on what she did mean to discuss. "My father called two days ago. Kermit, my birth father." Melinda nodded to convey she had heard, even as her attention was also on Elliott. "He and my stepmother are planning to move to Austin with their kids and my grandmother." Her future mother-in-law looked at her again.

"Oh?"

"Yes, and, well, seeing as they're still in New York right now, it would be kind of hard for them to really go and look at houses, so I was thinking… maybe you'd be able to help us help them?" Melinda Friar looked at her like her moment in the spotlight had arrived at long last.

They had spent most of that morning looking over listings together, all of them around the kitchen table. Elliott had spent most of this time split between his grandmother and grandfather's arms. When Melinda would hold him, she would sit back while Maya handled the laptop, though she would often ask her to wait and let her get a better look. When her hands were free, she would reclaim the computer. Meanwhile, this would leave Elliott in his grandfather's arms. Looking at his father holding his son, Lucas couldn't help but feel something tug at his heart. Thomas Friar looked so utterly without troubles right there, looking into that little boy's face. His smile was a thing of wonder.

Had it been up to Melinda, they would have been making calls and setting up visits right on that day. Lucas had finally convinced his mother that they should really look, take their time. There was no rush. His mother almost looked like she wanted to point out that, for all they knew, they would wait themselves right out of The Perfect House, but if that was the case she eventually decided not to say a word. By the end of the day, the grandparents went on home shortly after dinner.

"You know she's going to keep working at this as soon as she gets home," Lucas told Maya as she walked along with Elliott. She chuckled. "Yeah, okay, she's probably looking on her phone right now."

Proving both their points, by the next morning, there was an e-mail in Maya's inbox. Melinda had sent her links to several properties, each accompanied by a vast amount of notes about the good and the bad for each of them.

"The way she writes about this one, I'm pretty sure if Kermit and Abigail don't take it, she will," Maya declared, showing it to Lucas. "Anything to be closer to her boys," she smirked. "It is really nice though," Maya went on, clicking through the pictures. "Think I should show it to them?"

"Yeah, go for it."

This was the last day they had left where it would be just the three of them. Pappy Joe would be arriving the following morning, ready to move into his room, down the hall from theirs. Everything was ready for him, and still it felt impossible not to go around the place and double check, triple check…

"Should we get him something?" Maya asked, stepping back from their room after putting Elliott down to find Lucas standing there, looking into his grandfather's room. "Maybe a mint for his pillow?" she joked. He looked at her. "It's fine, okay?" she laughed, turning the baby monitor in her hands. "The baby's sleeping, the house is clean, and I would very much like for you and I to go downstairs and just… I don't know, watch a movie, something. There's a… big chance one or both of us will fall asleep not five minutes into it, but hey, I'm willing to risk it, what about you?" she asked, moving toward the stairs and motioning for him to follow her.

"Yeah, okay, alright," he sighed and followed, stopping a moment to peek into their room at the crib.

They would have liked to greet Pappy Joe slightly more rested than they ended up being, but then their little sprout had other ideas. They'd spent a couple of hours doing their best, trying to get him to stop crying, to sleep, with little to no success. After a while, they'd had to take turns at it, one of them upstairs with the baby, the other standing out on the porch, getting some air, a bit of peace in their ears. It was not as they wanted it, and whenever they'd be the one outside, hearing their son crying in the distance, they'd only want to go back inside. And when they'd be inside, holding him, feeling him all seized up like that, not knowing how to get through to him…

"I don't know what to do anymore…" Maya tried to breathe deep, holding him close, walking around…

"Okay, bring him down to the car," Lucas finally decided.

"Why, do you think we need to take him to a doctor?" Maya blinked, teetering on the edge of panic just a little.

"No, no, just in the car, driving around," he explained, moving up to hold her and the baby together. "Okay?"

"Okay, yeah, let's do that…"

They'd gotten Elliott in his seat, and Maya sat in the back with him as Lucas drove. She kept hold of that little hand, sang him his lullaby on a loop. More from reflex than anything else, Lucas had been driving them toward his parents' house, and they were nearly there by the time Elliott finally appeared to be calming down, and they turned and started back for the house.

"Oh… He's asleep…" Maya breathed. Her voice was a little broken, exhaustion mixed with constant singing.

After what felt like a ridiculously tense walk from the car and back into the house, they had made it there without waking Elliott and spent the rest of the night sleeping on the couch with him nearby.

"Lucas… Wake up, it's morning," Maya tapped his arm. She'd only just woken up and oriented herself herself enough to figure it out for herself. Lucas grumbled. "They'll be here soon, come on," she tapped harder and repeatedly until he finally startled and very nearly rolled right off the couch until she caught him.

"Hey…" he blinked, dabbing at his face like he needed to check if he'd been drooling. "Elliott…" he looked over and spotted the boy, still in his car seat, planted on the coffee table. He was awake now and casually looking around, small arms bent together and almost crossed.

"Is he giving us attitude right now?" Maya asked in exaggerated shock. "Well, gee, kid, you're the one who went and gave a concert last night," she smiled, rising to get him from his seat and back on to the couch with them. "Morning, sprout," she kissed his cheek. "Would you like to hear the breakfast menu? We got left, and we got right, what will it be?" Lucas chuckled. "You know, I could go for some food myself," she looked back to him and whispered.

"That menu's a bit more complex, how about I just surprise you?"

"So long as you surprise me a lot, I'm starving."

They knew it wasn't as though Pappy Joe would just show up out of the blue without warning. Thomas and Shawn were coming along to help with the move, and they would call when they left from the Friar house. This left them some time to eat, freshen up, get dressed… Lucas went and walked the dogs and came home with a proposal to hire Missy Sanderson to be their dog walker. She would have done it for free anyway, but pocket money was always fun to have, wasn't it?

"My dad called, they're on their way," Maya told him. "They should be here in ten minutes. Question. Would it be poor hostess etiquette if I was asleep when they arrived?"

"Maybe… But you say the word and I will back you up and cover for you," Lucas assured her.

"So… so tempting right now," she groaned, dragging her feet with just a touch of dramatics when he opened up his arms for her to come along and be hugged.

"Don't let my mother hear that I said this, but etiquette is overrated sometimes," he told her.

"What a scandal…" she whispered, laughing.

"Go, take a nap, I've got this. Really," he kissed the top of her head.

"Fine, okay, okay," she sighed. "Just wake me up for… you know…"

"The lunch menu?"

"Would you believe, the same as the breakfast menu," she shrugged as she walked off to the second floor.

When he heard the sound of the truck, Lucas moved toward the door, stopping to look where Trix and Lou lay next to the low table where Elliott's seat remained. The dogs looked up at him in silence.

"You two got this?" he smiled. Trix yawned. "Yeah, okay…"

Stepping out on to the porch, he could see his father and Maya's were working together to unload some boxes, which Pappy Joe stood back. He might have been able to help, but with his knee he just didn't want to take the risk, and no one would fault him for it.

"Morning!" he cheerfully greeted his grandson, who almost recoiled at the volume. "Long night?"

"Loud, long night," Lucas nodded.

"You go on and get some rest then, I'll keep an eye on the little one. That's what I'm here for!"

"Well, not… specifically, I mean…" Lucas insisted.

"I know, I do," Pappy Joe clapped his shoulder with a laugh. "Come on now, let's go."

So, they walked back into the house, where Pappy Joe took Elliott from his seat and sat with him on the couch, instantly falling into a bit of one-sided conversation with him, which was as good as telling Lucas 'see, we're fine, now go to sleep.' Elliott seemed perfectly content this way, so Lucas relented and went to join his fiancée upstairs.

When Shawn came to wake her sometime later, Maya was surprised to find Lucas asleep next to her until her father told her how he'd been sent off by his grandfather. They snuck out of the room as quietly as possible, so Lucas might continue to sleep. Once they were out in the hall and the door was shut, Maya turned with a smile.

"Hey, thanks for this."

"Sure, anytime," Shawn hugged her before they headed down the stairs.

"Are you all done?" she asked, noticing the others were sitting in the living room with the baby.

"Boxes to unpack, but otherwise, yes, all done," Pappy Joe confirmed. "Now this young man is in need of his mama," he looked down to Elliott, and even as she came down Maya could tell he was this close to going off if he didn't get fed soon.

By the time Lucas woke up again and found his way downstairs, Maya was being treated to various stories of his grandfather's years in the house, especially those years where it was him, and his late wife, Susannah, and their boy Thomas. Pappy Joe was especially pleased to share any stories in which his son had gotten busted for doing one thing or another, while Lucas' father would sit there and laugh the whole thing off.

They were joined by Melinda and Katy and the kids in time for dinner. It was at this point, as Melinda asked Lucas and Maya if they had passed on any of the listings off to Kermit and Abigail, that Katy and Shawn first heard about the impending move. It wasn't so much that they had intended to keep it from them, only it had slipped their minds in all the sleeplessness and the baby things. For a moment, Maya looked worried that this would all blow in their faces, that her parents would take issue with her other parents being in the city, but that had not been the case by any means. Maya suspected, or hoped, that they could just see what it meant, for her and the others involved, too.

"I sent them one of the listings," Maya finally answered Melinda's question here. "They loved it right away, they'd like us to go and have a look so they might put in an offer if it turns out alright."

"Of course, it's always prudent to see more than one house, to compare, and consider," Lucas' mother counseled. "Although with the distance, and the time constraint… I assume they'll be wanting to get the kids settled in before school starts in the fall."

"Yeah, they do," Maya confirmed, even as this made her realize… They'll be here for the wedding. They would have been here either way, of course, but now… now they would be living here some time before, they could be part of… everything. The thought made her smile, and when she caught Lucas looking at her she guessed he knew what she was smiling about; he usually knew.

The grandparents had gone on home shortly after dinner. They had made offers to help Pappy Joe unpack but he had assured them he could handle it all on his own over the next few days, so they had gotten into their vehicles and had been waved off by Lucas, Maya, and Pappy Joe, standing out on their porch.

"You just didn't want them snooping through your stuff, didn't you?" Maya 'accused,' looking to Pappy Joe, who gave a laugh.

"Might have been a bit of that," he admitted. He let out a breath, looking back at the house, eyes full of memories. He'd made so many of those over the years. Most of them had been good, wonderful even. Others had been anything but. He'd left ghosts here, and now he was returning to them. One was his beloved Susannah, the other his little Annabeth… They knew so much of the first, so little of the second, and having been parents for all of a week so far, they could feel for him, could sympathize for holding on to that precious short time he'd had with her.

"Hey, you okay?" Lucas asked him.

"I'm home, with family," Pappy Joe told him. "I am as okay as I could ever be right now." A moment later, they heard the sound of Elliott's cries from inside. Maya and Lucas moved to go to him at once, but they were stalled as their new roommate stepped in at once. "I've got him, it's alright, you two sit out here, take a breath."

"It's going to be very hard not to treat you like the nanny if you keep this up!" Maya called after him with a smile.

That first night with the four of them together had really felt like the beginning of something wonderful. They'd sat out on the porch a while, talking about this and that… Elliott had spent most of that night in his great grandfather's arms, the two of them looking so inseparable that neither Lucas nor Maya would dare try.

They'd all gone to bed before long, the day and – in the new parents' case – the preceding night weighing in their bones. By the time morning would roll around, they would decide to chalk it up to Grand Pappy being in the house that they had all come very close to a full night's sleep all around. Maya and Lucas had both realized it in turn, looking like they could hardly believe it was real, so much that they were afraid to mention it too loud, for fear of jinxing themselves.

"Hello, good morning…" Maya smiled as she got up and found Elliott, awake and staring back with what she'd come to call his 'feed me!' face. "Don't you look rested, how did that happen?" she whispered, lifting him into her arms and bringing him back to the bed to feed him. Lucas was just coming around, too, and seeing his puzzled face Maya gave him a smile. "I know…" she whispered.

Shortly after breakfast, they had set about helping Pappy Joe to settle in and unpack, which had taken all of ten minutes to be brought to a grinding halt once they'd found the box with his photo albums. As ever, the promise of memories and stories was impossible to resist.

"Sir, those are your ears," Maya declared, looking to Lucas and back to a picture of Susannah Friar holding what had to be little Thomas at all of a year.

"I don't know, they're kind of like my mom's side, too… I think…" Lucas absently reached to his ears for a feel. It wasn't like he spent his days inspecting those.

The doorbell rang from below, and Maya volunteered herself to go, all the while motioning to the picture and her fiancé. Those are totally yours. When she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed to the door, she opened it and with great surprise found herself face to face with her now former professor, Patty Robinson.

"Pro… Patty, hi…" she blinked, surprised, yes, but also automatically happy. "Come in, please," she smiled, more so as she and the old woman hugged.

"I hope I'm not finding you at a bad time. I realize unplanned visits might be a hit or miss with a newborn to look after, but I came back into town and learned you'd had the baby, so I had to come and say hello, and congratulations."

"It's definitely a hit," Maya assured her. To no surprise, the woman had not come empty handed. She took courtesy to levels Melinda Friar would highly approve of.

"How are you doing, Maya dear?" Patty smiled. "You look great…"

"I don't know about that," Maya chuckled. Personally she was of a mind that she looked like she'd been playing pick and choose at her own upkeep, so focused as she was on the baby. "But I'm doing alright. The first few days were a bit of a mixed bag, but we've been figuring it all out, and now Lucas' grandfather is living with us, he arrived yesterday."

"Yes, so I heard," Patty nodded, and her tone suggested to Maya just how she'd learned about the baby being born. Had the two of them kept in touch that much?

Maya led their guest up the stairs and into the room at the end of the hall, where Lucas stood rocking the baby in his arms as he looked on while Pappy Joe sorted through one of his boxes. He had set the pictures aside, likely as a gesture to ensure Maya would get to see them, too.

"Fellas, we have a guest," Maya intoned with a smirk as she stepped aside and the professor walked in with her.

"Why, this is a wonderful surprise," Pappy Joe declared with instant excitement, coming around his stack of boxes to greet Patty Robinson. "How was your flight? Not as turbulent as the last one, I hope?"

"Not at all," she laughed. "Mind you, I slept through most of it. I think there was a movie, one of those ones with a dog, or a horse, that always gets me at the end." She turned to Lucas now, who approached her with a smile, especially as she got her first look at the baby in his arms and became a whole human-shaped burst of love. "I promise I am not ignoring you," she looked to Lucas again.

"It's alright, I'm used to it by now," he assured her, carefully shifting the boy in his arms so he might be handed over to some very willing arms who'd yet to hold him.

"Oh, hello, young man, hello…" Patty gave a glowing smile as he settled there and seemed entirely content for his new situation. Going off the way her voice trailed off on the end, which had become a familiar cue like 'and this is where you tell me his name, please?' Maya opened her mouth to say it, but then she turned what could be said to be a wily smile to her new roommate and tipped her head to him. Go for it. He didn't have to be convinced, and he approached the professor.

"Happy to present you with my one and only great grandson, Elliott Lucas Friar."

"Oh, look at that, your very own elf, Mr. Claus," Patty laughed, giving her focus back to the boy in her arms. "It is lovely to meet you, Elliott, and I look forward to seeing what you've got in store for the world."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners