Chapter 167
Spooky Pumpkin Times

The Friars had a solid head start on Halloween this year, and a lot of it had to do with Lucas' accident. He was at home, recovering and feeling a bit restless, and Maya was at work, at school, wishing she could be home with him. So, since it was October, they had decided to help each other out by digging into their plans. As they'd done last year, they would take the boys trick or treating with their friends, their aunts and uncles… They were going to need costumes for that.

The question had been put to the boys. What did they want to be this year? At four and a half and three and a half, Elliott and Noah were looking forward to the costumes, the activities, all of it, like never before in their young lives. Figuring out what they wanted to be, that demanded some deep consideration. The pair had gone to sit with their little brother, never to count him out even if he couldn't really contribute.

Jamie was getting so close to walking on his own. For now, he would pull himself up on his feet and take slow, cautious steps. If not holding to furniture or walls, all he needed was a pair of hands to help him along. His favorite helpers were his brothers. They would each grab hold of one of his hands, and the three of them would slowly move along. It was their parents' favorite thing they ever did.

For the big costume discussion, Elliott and Noah had found their brother stood at the couch, so they'd taken it in stride and climbed on the cushions, lying on their stomachs and turning to face the one-year-old, like a two-tiered huddle. It took nearly an hour with the three of them there, the pair on the couch talking to one another and to their little brother, who looked to one and the other, sometimes babbled, or pointed at one of them like he was following the entire conversation. Without intervening, both Maya and Lucas could hear it all, too, and even though they veered off and back on topic a few times before staying all the way off for the last twenty minutes, by the end, the decision had been made, so Elliott and Noah climbed back down, coaxing Jamie to turn around and take their hands. They were not leaving him behind.

"You guys decided?" Lucas asked, as though they didn't already know. Maya came so close to laughing and giving them up. Elliott nodded, and Noah nodded, and because they were doing it, Jamie nodded, too.

Last year, they had all done their own thing. Cowboy, bee, dragon… They wanted to match now. So, what would it be? Thanks to Grandpa Shawn and his movie nights, where he took it upon himself to share his favorites with his grandsons, they wanted to be Ghostbusters. This was very doable for their parents to make it happen. As a bonus, it gave them an instant idea of what they might do for their own costumes. Not only would it be a perfect occasion for Lucas to roll his decapitated ghost man back into action, but Maya would get to fulfill a years long idea and give Lucas' ghost man a ghost bride. Oh, could she ever work with that… She couldn't wait to get chased around by those boys as they tried to capture her and Lucas.

Of course, he wasn't going to be very hard to catch if he couldn't run from them. He knew that, too, and he was doing his very best to put every chance on his side. He had to rest, had to help his back and his knees get better. Part of his time at home was given over to his job. His father would come over to the house and they would work from there. It was not so different from when he used to have his office back home, and as a bonus he got to be there to look after his son and youngest grandson… not that Lucas and Jamie were lacking in that department. To no one's surprise, Melinda was a constant presence, playing nurse and nanny, backed up by both Pappy Joe and Patty.

When Lucas wasn't doing work with and for his father, he was on Halloween mode. He helped track down the materials for the boys' costumes and props. Maya would take care of all the jumpsuits, making them as authentic as possible, across every bit of free time she could dedicate to the task between classes, while Lucas had decided to take on the construction of the props. He watched a lot of videos, took notes, had some trials and errors, but little by little, he was able to create everything they'd need for their trio of Ghostbusters, taking special care of the fact that the littlest one was still getting a handle of his walking legs.

As the end of the month drew nearer and nearer, while Jamie did start taking his first solo steps, his father had some mobile improvements of his own. He'd spent the first two nights after the accident on the couch before finally trying his hand at climbing the stairs to rejoin Maya. It had been… unpleasant, but he had pulled it off. Over time, it got easier, and easier. By now, he could get around without looking like he was in pain, and he wasn't… mostly. Brave faces could only take him so far, especially around Maya and his parents. His left knee was still stalling him, but the worst was still his back. Maya had been doing her best to help him there.

"Are you going to be alright out there tomorrow?" Maya asked, the night of the twenty-eight, as they got ready for bed. Halloween was on a Sunday this year, but she had school, and the boys had preschool, so Friday was when they'd all be celebrating, costumes and all. Well, if Maya, Elliott, and Noah were all going to get into character, then Lucas and Jamie needed to do it, too, didn't they?

"Hey, ghosts aren't that big on the running around, I'll figure something out," he told her with a confident smile.

"I'll protect you from those small hunters, my sweet," she intoned, putting on what he took to be her ghost character voice.

"I already lost my head, don't let them take me," he pleaded, summoning up his own scratchy voice, pulling her right out of character and into laughter. "Looking forward to putting your costume on for school?" he asked, back in his own voice.

"Oh, yeah," Maya grinned. He didn't know why he'd bothered asking. Of course, she would. She'd been looking forward to this day because of the boys, but also because of her students. She'd already been making her mark over already near on two months as a teacher, but this right here? This would be her biggest opportunity yet to share this other side of herself.

Night went and morning came, and then it was Halloween, 'part one'. In the Friar house, it began with Elliott and Noah scurrying up from the end of the hall with a request. It was sort of Halloween, and they wanted to start it with a Monster Hour. The tradition had started the previous year, to make it so that the two of them wouldn't go around jump-scaring their mother into an early grave. They could declare Monster Hour, and then they would be well within their rights to go and get their spooks out of their systems.

Maya may have inwardly hoped that they wouldn't have remembered any of this, but they did, and better still, they had recruited their little brother into the effort. Jamie… sort of knew what was going on, but not entirely. More than anything, he understood the concept of appearing out of hiding and shouting or going 'boo!' It tended to be hit or miss whether he pulled off a genuine scare or just sort of stood there, in plain sight, before 'jumping.' Lucas would tease his wife, claiming that their sons were granted 'Monster Hour privileges' on a cute technicality.

"Alright, fine, fine…" Maya breathed. "But I'm getting in on this one," she added quietly after Elliott and Noah ran off to see about springing Jamie from his crib. It was Monster Hour!

"I'll keep them occupied, go on and get ghostified," Lucas offered.

"Right, okay… Just watch yourself, please?" Maya countered, pointing toward his back and his knees. He promised, and she went about collecting her dress, accessories, makeup, everything she'd need to become the ghost bride.

"Woah, hey, no…" Lucas sped into the nursery as soon as he turned and saw the boys' attempt at getting the little brother out, which would likely have landed a third member of their family in the hospital this year, after Noah's arm on his birthday and now the accident at the ranch. He got hold of Jamie, immediately feeling the consequences of that haste in his back, but he gritted his teeth against the pain and focused instead on his sons. Jamie just looked caught somewhere between confused and amused, because here he was in his father's arms all of a sudden. Elliott and Noah both looked unsure of how to proceed as they stood there, realizing they might have done something bad. "You can't do that again, alright?" Lucas told them both. "You could have hurt your brother a lot. Do you understand?" They slowly nodded. Jamie looked at his father.

"Boo!" he called out before bursting into giggles. Lucas sighed, but he laughed, kissed the one-year-old's cheek.

"Yeah, you got me, tadpole. Let's not tell Mommy about all this right now, deal?" he asked, and the boys nodded. "Okay, come on, let's get downstairs. Breakfast."

"But we have Monster Hour," Elliott maintained.

"You can spook the pets… or Pappy Joe or Patty," Lucas volunteered. Well, that had merit… So, they went downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Lucas put Jamie down, knowing that he could either take himself along on wobbly steps or at a comfortable crawl. The bend to put him down was going to hurt; there was no point playing as though it wouldn't. Picking up or putting down children was the primary source of his pain shooting up out of nowhere. It was just a part of his life, and he dealt with it. Once the two would be off to preschool and the third would have his grandmother to collect him, Lucas would be turning his attention once more to alleviating the stress on his back.

It could have sounded like a bad idea to send the boys off to scare the pets, but then Lucas knew them all well enough not to be concerned. For the cats, Whiskey would have them sized up well enough by now that they couldn't surprise her in any way, while Shadow would only be curious about what the small humans were up to. Meanwhile, both the dogs would see it all for precisely what it was: a game. The boys might go for 'scare!' but the dogs would see 'hello!' and they would come up and try to give them all some sloppy kisses.

"Can we go, Daddy?" Noah pointed to the back door. Lucas looked out the window and spied his grandparents through the windows into their home. They were up.

"Alright," he agreed. He unlocked the door for them and as Elliott and Noah took Jamie's hands so they could start toward the small house, he was able to catch his grandmother's eye and telegraph what she needed to know: Monster Hour was in progress, act in consequence. The message was received.

While the boys were off springing their act on their great grandparents, Maya was able to complete her transformation, and as Lucas was in the midst of making breakfast, he was haunted by the ghost bride. She had taken the title very literally, getting her hands on an old dress she had worked to transform, fitting it to her chosen colors and overall aesthetic. She had also employed some temporary dye to change her hair, because she couldn't handle a wig all day unless it was absolutely necessary. Everything beyond the dress and hair, down to the 'wilted' fake flowers in her hands, told the tale of a sad bride who'd died waiting, unaware that her groom had gone and found himself suddenly minus a head. As haunting as it was, in every sense of the word, he also couldn't help but call it beautiful.

"We should have done this years ago," he smiled as she turned on the spot to give him the full effect, throwing in a few dramatic poses to drive the effect home.

"Where is my love? We were supposed to be married…" she intoned.

"Don't worry, he'll be there," Lucas told her, as though she wasn't Maya anymore. "That whole 'til death' part? He's in it even after that."

"Good to know," Maya laughed, back to herself. "Where…" she asked, and he gestured out the kitchen door. She grinned. "Right…"

Lucas meant to watch her go, but he was 'summoned' by the toaster. As he rescued a couple of toast, he heard a sudden outpouring of small boy screams from the little house, then a clear 'Mama!' Ah, well, two out of three wasn't bad, was it?

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners