Chapter 110
Here Be Spirits

Without ever really trying, the year's Halloween had taken on a theme within the Hunter and Friar circles. The twins had gone and decided to be mermaids, and once the plan had been made for Elliott, Noah, and Alex to become the octopus, turtle, and pufferfish from the aquarium book, it was hard for the rest of them not to fall into the aquatic theme. MJ, to no one's surprise whatsoever, decided to be a starfish, locking in the lineup of costumes his parents would have to make or acquire ready-made somehow. Katy and Shawn hadn't been looking to get dressed up themselves, but by the time Maya and Lucas had elected to be seahorses (Maya's 'on brand' idea for Lucas), they almost had no choice. The little Hunters were insisting that they needed to be part of it, too. Once Pappy Joe had thrown in his lot to become a crab, there was no way out. And so they would become a stingray and a narwhal.

"I'm not sure if all of these would technically live together, but I guess that logic went out the window when we brought in mermaids," Lucas observed as he walked back into the room, now wearing his just completed seahorse costume.

He'd gone to change in the bathroom, because Maya insisted they needed to have a big reveal. She was waiting for him now, putting finishing touches on her own costume while the boys were clearly having a blast as they tested out their abilities in their Otto and Tommy personas. For Elliott, this involved hopping and twisting around to make his tentacles move, while Noah became reacquainted with the floor, lying down on his tummy and 'walking' with his hands and feet. All this came to a stop as the kids looked to their father and their mother almost pricked her finger with her needle when she burst out laughing.

"So, what do you think?" Lucas asked the boys, giving them the full look, even as he could hear his wife nearly having a fit from laughing so much. Both Elliott and Noah looked conflicted between looking at him and back at her. "Do you know what I am?" Lucas asked them.

"Fish?" Noah tried.

"Seahorsy!" Elliott declared.

"Oh, you nailed it, Sprout, well done," Maya managed to get words out as she started getting a hold of herself again. "That is Mr. Seahorsy right there."

"When am I going to get to see Mrs. Seahorsy?" Lucas wondered with a smirk.

"She's coming, nearly there," Maya promised.

Their whole aquatic family lineup took more or less the whole month to assemble, from the day they'd started planning it out, the day they'd put the decorations up, up to the day before the day. For the kids especially, Hunter and Friar both, it was an ongoing thing that they got to see drawings, and bits of this costume or that one coming together. It took that long because Maya and Katy were doing it all together, a project they decided would be great for them to share as mother and daughter. That was all fine and great, but then between school, and work, and Stella, and home, there was only so much time to dedicate to the eleven costumes they needed to create. The very last to be completed was done on the evening of the thirtieth, where the Hunters had been over for dinner and sewing. This had been Pappy Joe's costume, as he'd insisted that he be kept for last, giving priority to the kids and their parents, and while he tried it on and assured them that everything was working perfectly, he wouldn't show them how he looked. He wanted it to be a surprise for the next night.

When morning came along, Lucas awoke to feel at once the tickling touch of a kiss at his neck. If this hadn't gotten his attention already, the sensation of a pair of traveling hands would have done it.

"What time is it?" he mumbled. His eyes were still closed, and they would remain that way until he knew what he was dealing with.

"Well, the alarm isn't ringing for another twenty minutes, just about, so if I may be so bold…" Maya hardly had to move to whisper at his ear, and when Lucas finally opened his eyes he locked them with hers… She could be as bold as she wanted. He grinned as he held her and rolled to lay over her, and there were no more words to be heard out of them for some time.

It had been weeks since they'd reminded themselves that they'd officially entered 'the window' as it had been decided long ago, and while they hadn't exactly kept their hands to themselves all this time, they'd both been so busy that it never felt as though they had this baby plan in mind. Today though… If they didn't see the worth in really making a start of it on the day that had changed their lives three years prior… Three years since that Halloween party when they'd discovered they were going to be parents for the first time, what better time to go after that third time?

"Pretty good for a start, yeah?" Maya teased as they redressed, knowing they were bound to hear the boys calling at any second.

"I mean, I'm not saying we succeeded, but didn't we though?" Lucas volleyed back and made her bite back a laugh.

"Definitely," she agreed as he came up and kissed her. Given the chance, it just might have evolved into a rematch right then and there, but then they were called from their room by their octopus and turtle children.

"You know what, whenever we do get there, I have a feeling we'll need to think of a little aquatic creature…" Lucas suggested as they moved into the hall and then the nursery. Maya didn't follow on this right away, but then it came to her and she smiled. Yes, he had a point. The Sprout, the Bee…

"Tadpole?" she suggested. Lucas laughed, but at the same time he just had to smile. It had potential.

They both had class that day, so they couldn't go into Halloween mode just yet, but the promise of what would come after they made it through to the drive home would be more than enough to see them through it all with ease. The plan was for them to finish class, head home, pack up the costumes and the kids and take themselves and Pappy Joe over to the Hunter Hart house, where they would all assemble their team of underwater friends for a bit of trick or treating. When this was all said and done, the Friars would head on home, where they would be joined by their friends for a very informal sort-of party. This wouldn't be like their days back at the Houston house, with thumping music and people eating, dancing, talking all over the place, not with two toddlers sleeping upstairs. They could have a good time just being together, watching scary movies and piling on the snacks and diving into the boys' candy hauls. It wasn't as though they could eat most of it, could they?

"What do you say we kick everyone out of here not too late?" Maya sidled up to Lucas as he was doing his best to put the pieces of their five costumes into the back of the minivan. Out by the porch, Pappy Joe was making sure that the boys didn't get too playful with the carved pumpkins.

"What do you say we just leave those three at your parents' for the night, cancel the party, start the anniversary early…" Lucas countered, drawing a grin from her. "I mean, we want to put every chance on our side, yeah?"

"I admire your… dedication, Seahorsy, but don't think I'm giving up our spooks. Your patience will be rewarded, you know?"

"Patient, so patient, that's me," he vowed, adding an invisible hat tip for good measure.

"See, how could I give up these jokes all night?"

They would have been sorry to miss out on trick or treating if they'd just left the boys and Crabby Joe with the little Hunters and their parents. The kids were already dressed and playing around when they arrived. The twin mermaids – one in shades of green, the other pink – were already amused merely by running around in their 'tails,' pretending as though they weren't just skirts that minimized their steps as they kept their feet close together under the cover of the piece mounted on to their shoes and connected into the skirt. Their brown hair had been done up and accented with glittery seashells after having been sprayed with colors according to their respective choices. Whatever visions they might have had in their heads had been far exceeded. Meanwhile, MJ the starfish was insisting that he wouldn't have a problem with holding his arms and legs in position as they went. He believed in keeping up the role, and his mother couldn't have been prouder to see any one of her kids take after her.

"Paulie!" Elliott dashed over when he spotted his young uncle in his costume. Alex was sat on the couch, lightly prodding at his pufferfish 'spines' and smiling all the while. "Alex!" Elliott approached him and the smaller boy looked up with a knowing smile. He moved to get up and stand next to the couch and Elliott reached over to test one of the spines. It made both of them laugh at the same time.

Their excursion would demand everyone to go ahead and transform, and so they did. The kids' costumes couldn't help but be the cutest of the bunch, while the rest of them were just... hilarious. Maya and Lucas as the 'Seahorsies' were very happy to match one another and to uphold their roles in their own way, all the better to make their sons laugh. Katy looked almost like a caped superhero as the stingray and she ran with that analogy.

It all got even better from there, because if seeing Joseph Friar as a clawed crab wasn't enough, they got to see Shawn Hunter play the hell out of his narwhal. Only for his kids and grandkids would he have been convinced to go around with that horn on his head, which became a problem at every doorway but to the twins and MJ and the Friar boys was absolutely the funniest things. And then it gave Alex something to discover. The way he touched the thing on his father's head and reached back to his spines, it was like he was saying that they were the same, and it made his father very happy.

If they were all going to go out there that day for trick or treating, it had been very important for them to make sure the littlest of their candy hunting pack didn't stray away or get any ideas about diving into an excess of the sweet stuff. They would stop the rounds for Elliott, Noah, and Alex earlier on, thanking the fact that they didn't know yet that there would be more houses and more candy, and they would be taken back to the house while the other three were allowed to continue a bit further. None of them felt in any way slighted. They had a great time, and they were so happy whenever someone said they liked their costumes. Elliott had more than one person shake his little tentacles.

The highlight was robbed away from the kids the moment they landed at the Matthews house and Cory and Topanga got one look at their horned friend.

The octopus and the turtle - who had cried more than once for not being allowed to go along on his tummy out on the sidewalks - fell asleep as they were taken back to their grandparents' house with their pufferfish uncle brother, also asleep. After the rest of the group arrived and the mermaids and starfish recounted their adventures to their big sister, the Friars headed on home for part two of their evening. Pappy Joe went up to Sanderson Farm and would remain there until later, while Otto and Tommy became Elliott and Noah once more. They were down for the night in no time, which lined up almost perfectly with the arrival of the first of their group of friends.

There would be a good number of them, between their oldest and truest friends, some of their co-workers from the bookstore and the art store, and their friends from school. In Maya's case this was Franny and Kayla from Houston days but also Diana and Farah. As for Lucas, while he had Bishop from back before the move, out here he had the girls from his start in Austin, then his first business friends now graduated, and lastly his newest business classmates and friends. With how many of them there were in total, it was a wonder that they didn't wake up the boys more than the one time they did.

They may not have held parties the way they used to have back in Houston or how they might still have them if it wasn't for their having two little boys to think about, but here they were tonight, surrounded by so many friends that they'd had to bring in many more seats and still ended up with a bunch of them spread out on the floor. The way they saw it, there was nothing to get people awake and laughing like putting on scary movies and seeing some of them lose their minds. Throw in the food, and the drinks for those who could and wanted to have them, and they were good. The selection of costumes was the cherry on top, and the presence of the animals...

They'd all looked confused in their own ways in the beginning, but eventually the dogs went off to their regular spot when they'd see the television was on, while the cats ended up burrowing their way where they wished. Shadow had gone and curled up on Dylan's back as he lay on his stomach on the floor. Sometimes she'd stand up, like she sensed something was about to happen.

Their guests didn't all leave at once, but bit by bit the living room cleared out, until everyone present could sit on a couch or chair instead of the floor, and after that only on the one couch, and then they were all gone, save for Maya and Lucas.

"Well... it's November," Lucas stated with a breath expelled at the same time as he removed his seahorse headpiece and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yes... yes, it is," Maya concurred, doing the same for herself. "And Saturday, too. No school today. Not working either. You?" she asked, like she didn't already know.

"No, not working either," he shook his head. "No errands either, did them already."

"How thoughtful," Maya smiled innocently.

"Isn't it?" Lucas played on. "And Pappy Joe said he'd look after the boys in the morning."

"How nice of him!" Maya intoned as her husband nodded. "Basically, neither one of us has any reason to get up early tomorrow... later today..."

"Not a one."

"But you, do you know what you are?" Maya asked, moving toward the stairs.

"Thoughtful?" he replied, recalling her earlier compliment.

"Yes, that," Maya pointed in agreement. "But also very, so very... patient..."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners