Chapter 162
Guests of the Little House

Summer was a whole other thing for them now that they had children. It used to be that summer was all about being out of school, getting to play with their friends, going to the pool, maybe going on a trip if they were fortunate… Two months for them to just check out of the usual day to day until, sooner or later, they'd just have to get back into it. Now they were the adults, the parents. True, after this summer, for Maya at least, summer would mean a change of pace while school was out, but it wouldn't be the same. There'd be no 'checking out.' More than anything, they'd get to see their boys through that bit of freedom, get to enjoy it with them… until they entered that period in their lives where they would prefer not to hang out with their mom and dad, but that was for another time. Right now, they had four-year-old Elliott, three-year-old Noah, and ten-month-old Jamie… and their little Tadpole was now a full-time crawler.

Making it all even better, this summer, they had some very special guests taking up residence in the senior Friars' home, one short dash out the kitchen door from their house. Charlie and David had arrived, with three-year-old Caitlin and baby Harry, a little over a week after the initial call, and now they had been with them for two weeks… and it was everything they'd wanted it to be and more. The three brothers loved having their cousins there, even Jamie, who suddenly found himself not the youngest around. He couldn't walk, couldn't hold the four-month-old, but then if he was ever put down next to him, he would be so happy, reaching out his little hands and giving Harry some gentle tap-taps, like he'd seen others do.

Meanwhile, there was Caitlin, and to see her and with her contemporary cousins, the three of them looked like they'd just been waiting for each other. The first time they'd been brought together, six months back, when the Friars and Hunters had been reunited with the Clutterbuckets, Olsens, and Youngs, they'd been alright, but there had definitely been some uncertainty between the two sides. Their parents had just sort of chuckled about it, figuring the kids were shy around strangers and things would change once they got to know each other. The next two times they did see each other, at Noah's and then at Elliott's, there had still been a gap between them. Their parents had left them to their own devices, figuring that sooner or later they'd come around.

And they had… right on the day when the Olsens had arrived for the summer. They'd all been waiting for David's truck to come driving up the road, and as soon as they'd pulled in and Caitlin had been brought out from her seat, the three cousins had pooled in together, a giddy mess of small blond children… They didn't know where the change had happened, but it was hilarious to see them, and it was only starting.

The visitors had settled into the little house. They didn't call it that by chance; it had been made to be small, fitting those bare necessities of its regular occupants. One kitchen/living room, one bedroom, a small office, and a bathroom, that was all. Charlie and David had debated how to deal with the children. It wouldn't have felt right to put her in the living room, on the couch, and if they settled her in the big house – which Maya and Lucas would have gladly done – then they lined themselves up with the possibility of her waking everyone up at night, seeking her parents. So, they'd keep her between them in the bed. That was fine, they would make it work. Then, what about Harry? They wanted to keep him in the room with them, but there was no room for any kind of crib… not unless they moved some of Pappy Joe or Patty's furniture out. They'd gotten the couple's blessing on this, but in the end, they decided to set the baby up in the office, and it worked perfectly.

Right on that first morning after the guests arrived, there had been… an excursion. The kids might have called it that… if they'd known the word. For Lucas and Maya, it was very nearly something closer to a heart attack. Thankfully, they'd never actually had time to discover that two of their sons had up and disappeared from their beds, their room, and the whole house. Instead, they had barely woken up, with Maya collecting Jamie from his crib a moment before her phone vibrated on the nightstand. Lucas had stretched over to answer when he'd seen Charlie was calling.

By now, both Elliott and Noah knew there was a key, right in the kitchen, that would let them into their great grandparents' house. And if they worked together, they could get it. They also knew how to unlock the kitchen door. They had done all this, early that morning, making their way over to the little house. Why? Because they had happened to look out a window that allowed them to see the other window, in the little house, and there they'd spotted their cousin Caitlin. She had crawled out from between her parents and gone wandering out into the living room. So, the responsible brothers, as they saw it, could only go and keep her company. The key was acquired, the door was opened, and one quick run over granted them access to join with the girl. A couple minutes before she'd called her niece, Charlie had woken up, found her daughter absent, and gotten up to look for her.

Just as Maya and Lucas would come to find them, Charlie and David had found the three children sat up on the senior Friars' couch, giggling at the kids' show playing on the television, which they had turned on.

As far as they were concerned, they had done nothing wrong and, on the whole, one could say that they were right. Still, they did their best to explain to all of them why it could be considered just a bit problematic. If that was what they wanted to do, that was fine, but they couldn't just go like that. They had to let one or both of their parents know if they were going to step out of whatever house they were in. This was acceptable… which was good, because not one morning had gone by without either Elliott and Noah going to join Caitlin, or Caitlin coming to join Elliott and Noah for some morning cartoons since they'd arrived. It would be the norm, all summer, and they already imagined the moment it would all come to an end, when the Olsens went home, would not go over too well.

"Mommy?" Elliott came dashing up to her where she sat with Harry in one arm, watching Jamie in his ground explorations. Not too far off, Lucas and Charlie were still 'chasing' after Noah and Caitlin even as Elliott had escaped, splashing the squealing cousins with a spray hose and super soaker respectively. David had picked up lunch duty that day, so he was inside the house, cooking away.

"Yeah, Sprout?" Maya asked, laughing as she watched her eldest shake water from his hair. Some of it got to Jamie, who squeaked and looked up to find where it had come from.

"Can we have a sister?" Elliott asked, so matter-of-factly that he looked puzzled by the startled look his question produced in his mother.

"What, uh… Where did this come…" she tried to ask as casually as possible, but even as she did so, she could see Noah and Caitlin and… Ah… Right… This was new to them, only ever having had brothers, and at least where Elliott was concerned, it inspired this wish. "Okay, let me just get him down, yeah?" she got up to put Harry in his seat and secure him before turning back to her four-year-old and getting at his eye level. "We… We can't really decide that, see? When there's a baby coming, we don't get to decide if it'll be a boy or a girl, it just happens, one way or the other, and for us, so far, it's been a boy every time. It doesn't mean that, if you guys get another sibling in the future, it'll never be a girl, but maybe it won't, maybe you'll only have little brothers… Seven tall sons… We totally jinxed ourselves, didn't we?

"But I want a sister," Elliott insisted, sounding like he did understand what she was saying, but it didn't change the fact that he had this wish in him.

"Well… maybe you'll get one. We just have to wait and see." He looked so cute, moping there, which made it hard not to laugh, but Maya simply hugged him, kissed his cheek. "You know, whether it's brothers or sisters, you're an amazing big brother, and that's not going to change, okay?" she told him, and he hugged her back. "And now I'm all wet," she looked at her clothes as he pulled back. This made him grin, and he pressed his wet self against her some more, freeing the laughter from her. "Okay, okay, get back there, go save your brother and your cousin, yeah?"

The whole point of the Olsens being in Austin over the summer was as much about them bonding with the Friars as it was to allow the previously estranged sisters to get to do the same. Katy and Charlie had set out with something of a list of things they wanted to do, the two of them especially, and so they would get together whenever they had the chance, checking items off their list when they could but also just spending time together without much aim, alone or with their families. And they had dinners, Friars, Olsens, and Hunters together, nearly every night, unless some other plans or obligations prevented a full roster. It was everything they could have asked for.

A few days after the backyard 'sister request,' Lucas, David, and Shawn found themselves looking after all the kids while Maya, Charlie, and Katy went off for the day. They gathered in the Hunters' backyard. An obstacle course had been built there over the last few weeks, nothing so permanent, just a bit of fun inspired by the twins. Nellie and Gracie would be turning eight next month, and this had been a project they wanted to undertake, with their father's help, so it had happened, bit by bit, until it was now this great winding maze going left, and right, and up, and down, and back around… It was a big hit with the two of them, their brothers, their nephews, their cousin Caitlin… MJ had long designated himself as his little brother's guide, though by now he was mostly there just in case. Alex had gone through the course enough times now that he could find his way very easily, and they would see how proud he was whenever he got through one section or another without any help.

"You know what this is missing? Surprises," Shawn declared, looking from his son-in-law to his new brother-in-law. "Like oh, you get over this block and then boom, water balloon," he mimed. Lucas and David both chuckled, imagining the kids' reactions. "See, that's what happens now, I spend way too much time thinking up what else we could do," he shook his head to himself. It was easy to see why he'd want to keep making it better, keep giving them new developments. It was the kids' favorite thing this summer, Alex especially… How could he want anything else?

"You could add a sprinkler. Hide it, add some kind of triggering element so they step on it and… whoosh…" David offered, and Shawn gave this an appreciative nod.

Those two had definitely been each other's biggest surprise that summer. Sure, their wives were sisters, and they were getting to know one another, but somewhere along the way they had started to catch on to their own new labels by association. Suddenly, they had a brother-in-law, and that was new, for both of them… It was kind of nice, and they got along great… Maybe for that, as the three of them guys stood around, watching the kids on the course and the two babies by their sides, David ended up sharing a bit of news.

Well, it wasn't news, not exactly, more like a passing thought, shared between him and Charlie that morning, after seeing Caitlin off for morning cartoons with Elliott and Noah. It had come to them that, even after just two weeks here, they were really feeling a change in them, and they were starting to understand where it came from. They really liked being here. They loved it. Oh, their lives were pretty wonderful back in Arkansas, with their families, and the music store, but even for all that, once they'd made it to Austin…

"What are you saying?" Lucas had to ask, as curious as Shawn.

"We're not saying anything, really there's nothing to tell, just that… Things are really good here right now, and… it's making us wonder about the future. Charlie, she's almost seeing it like a sign, you know. She hoped to meet her sister for so long, as long as I've known her, and now that she's here, now that they get to be together… It's kind of hard to give it up." Lucas and Shawn didn't say anything in reply, but they could both see exactly what David was saying. "Look, don't tell Katy or Maya about any of this, alright? Last thing I'd want would be to put any ideas in their heads ahead of time, them or the kids…"

They looked back out to the obstacle course. Elliott and Noah were working closely with cousin Caitlin, a tag team of three. What would they say if they learned there was a chance they could be in the same city for more than a summer?

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners