September 30th 2022

Chapter 177
The Place They Made

By chance… or maybe more by misfortune… Lucas' trial segment would air on the morning of his twenty-seventh birthday. It was supposed to air three days ago, on Friday, but had been postponed on account of breaking news coverage. As disappointed as they could have been that it didn't air when it was first supposed to, they couldn't pretend as though it happening today didn't feel pretty exciting. They had been preparing for it over the weekend, and now the moment was approaching. Even as the people inside the Friar house would start to wake, already out in the city, there were two other families already up, ready and on their way to join them.

"Hey… Good morning…" Lucas whispered. After having scooted down a bit closer, he posted his fingers there just under Maya's shirt, at her growing bump. "Nugget… Peanut…" he tipped his head once, then once more, and smiled. "I know we did this a few days ago, but it didn't happen in the end. Today's the day though… They're going to show my segment… The first of many more, I hope, but right now we're just looking to see if people will like it enough that they'll let me do more. You both won't get to see it with the rest of us, but I promise when you're finally here you'll get to see it all, so until then just keep on doing what you're doing, yeah?

"Your mother's asleep right now, or at least…" He paused, looked up to see his wife's face. She could pretend to sleep like a champ, but not so much that he wouldn't be able to tell… "Yeah, she's asleep, but if she was awake, she'd say 'aren't you forgetting something?' So… it's my birthday today," he smiled. "Birthdays are the anniversary of the day when we were born, when we came out of our own mommies' bellies," he explained. "Every year, when that day comes again, we celebrate. Well, most people do. Some people don't like to do anything on that day, and that's okay. Their birthday, their choice. Your birthday is not going to be until later in the year. December 1st, we were told, but we're pretty sure you'll be here in November."

For a few more minutes, Lucas continued telling the unborn pair about birthdays, about how there'd be cake, and people, and presents, maybe balloons, decorations, music, dancing… He pointed out that, as their birthday in November or December, this time around, would be the most literal one, their birth day, two words, there wouldn't be cake yet, or much of the rest, but there'd definitely be people, a lot of them, all so happy to meet the Friar twins.

"Hey, birthday guy…" a whisper made him look up. "Get up here so I can kiss you before I have to run…" Maya requested, and he chuckled as he moved up and did as told. "Happy birthday," she smiled, holding his face after the kiss.

That was about as far as they got. After that, he saw the turn happen in her eyes, and she was off. While Lucas followed her, he remained out in the hall, ready to assist if she needed him but ultimately listening in case the boys came around from their bedroom, which was right across the hall. When he did hear something, he checked back to find that Maya was by now just sitting there, waiting to see if it was over, so he took the chance and slipped inside the boys' room before shutting the door again.

More than a week later and the charm of the newly transformed room had not been lost, to its occupants or to anyone who saw it, like their father. The noise he'd heard, which had drawn him to enter, turned out to be Jamie. The twenty-month-old was sitting up in his bed, sat up on his knees, and looking at one of the walls. At this point in time, he was very much into the Ewoks, which he tended to call 'wokies' and would lead Noah to try and correct him, like he might have said 'wookies,' and those were a whole other thing, which he was very well placed to know.

"Good morning…" Lucas whispered, holding a finger to his lips to instruct silence as he approached his youngest, seeing that the other two were both either still asleep or just barely coming around. Jamie imitated him, but he got up on his bed, the better to hold out his arms to be picked up. Lucas happily did so, especially as the boy seemed to remember something… Yes, he knew that today was his father's birthday; they had been telling him, including last night, where Maya had drawn a cake and a picture of him on the big drawing pad on the wall. Jamie had seen it now and reacted in consequence, which went and woke up his brothers.

"Daddy, it's your birthday!" Elliott told him, with no need to look at the pad.

"Yeah, it is," he confirmed even as he laughed and braced himself while Noah jumped off his bed and came over to hug around his legs. In the next moment, he was grabbing on to him like he was trying to climb up. Eternally grateful that his accident at the ranch was now far behind him, Lucas crouched, still holding Jamie, the better for his little beastie of a boy was able to climb on until he landed somewhere like a cape or a backpack. "How about it, think I can hold on to all three of you?" Lucas held out his still free hand to Elliott while Noah continued to adjust his position at his back.

He would soon carry his triple load of boys out of the room and up the hall, with the sound of their laughter at his ears. Once there, he put them down and instructed them to go downstairs and keep an eye out for when people would start to arrive. For one, he wasn't going to attempt the stairs with all of them and no hand hold, and for another, he wanted to go back and make sure that Maya was alright. She was up and brushing her teeth when he'd left the room, but he still had to check.

"Not a fun morning, huh?" he gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm telling myself that it will be over soon and then I can really get into the next part, you know?" Maya breathed as she continued to inspect her face, tried to make herself look like she hadn't just been sick. It wasn't as though their families wouldn't know that it was part of her current… circumstances… but even he knew that the worse off she looked, the more they'd be all over her, and she didn't want that. "Alright, now we need to get dressed, because after all this, we still need to go to w…"

"Daddy! They're here!" Elliott called from below. Maya sighed, let her head thump against his chest, and Lucas smiled as he rubbed her back.

"We've still got time, we're good," he promised. He kissed the top of her head. "Go get dressed, I'll handle it. I will throw myself at the mercy of birthday wishes and my mother's tears," he told her, which made her snort. Already that did wonders for her expression.

The boys were understandably hyper about this morning. They were very familiar with how things usually went throughout the week on mornings, but they were aware that today would be different, that it wouldn't just be about getting up, eating breakfast, getting ready, and then everyone going to work, or preschool, or off to spend the day with the senior Friars or any others of their grandparents and great grandparents in town who might look after Jamie if they couldn't. All of that would still be happening eventually, yes, but right now they had people coming over at this early hour, and they would watch something together, and that was exciting.

It did get to feel like that to Lucas and Maya, too, by the time they found themselves surrounded by everyone, in the living room, waiting for the segment to be shown. Friars both elder and senior were here, and the Hunters, and the Harts… There were much too many of them to fit on the couch and recliner, even with all the kids on the floor, but they'd done their best to compensate. Lucas may have been aware of how unusual it was to have them here this early, knowing all of them then had to go on like this was a normal Monday morning, but also… he was just glad. It was impossible to put into words how wonderful to have them all there on his birthday, first thing in the morning. For all he'd told to the twins earlier about birthdays, those who celebrated and those who didn't, he would tend to put himself somewhere in the middle, tipping closer to the first side than the second. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy or want to acknowledge his birthday, but he'd said it and he meant it: all he ever wanted on his birthday was to be surrounded by the people he loved. And here, so he was.

He was kind of nervous about the segment, admittedly, but only ever in a good way. He'd had plenty of time to think about it, even before he'd gotten the call for his trial run, so he'd had this idea building itself in his head about what he wanted it to be about, and how he wanted to go about it. Once the station had gotten involved, he'd been able to get all those free-floating notions and turn them into something more coherent. Yes, he'd had to make some adjustments per their request, but there was never any of it that felt disingenuous or like he couldn't see himself following along. In some places, they brought a perspective that helped make his ideas better.

The actual filming of the segment had been a brand-new experience for him, too, and in that respect, he was kind of glad there hadn't been too many people there with him that day who were in the living room on the morning when it would air. Once he'd get a bit more comfortable, he knew that change… hoped… but on that first attempt… The best he could do was channel his grandparents. He'd gotten hold of some of their old segments, and he'd watched them… If he hadn't been sure before that this was what he wanted to do, needed to do… He was never so determined to see to it that this was not just a trial run; this would be the beginning.

There was an outburst of voices when the introduction came, and Shawn Hunter saw to it that everyone would settle down so they could hear everything. Finally, they went to the segment, and though they for the most part succeeded in keeping their voices down, it was impossible for them not to break out with a few noises here and there, whisperings… Lucas particularly loved to see how Maya would react (and to imagine the jokes that had to be piling up in her head but could not be spoken in present company), and their sons (who even though they'd known he would be there were still in complete awe of watching their father on the screen and the ranch), and his mother… Oh, his mother… It had already been a great day for her, because it was her sweet Luke's birthday, but then to see him there, doing what he did, doing what her own parents had done, and talking about them… They'd even included clips from those old segments, showing the ranch as it had been then and how it had become today.

"They would be…" she told Lucas, when the segment had ended and everyone was clearing out for work or school, and she couldn't even get the words all the way out. She was just so proud, and she knew that her parents would have been, too.

Lucas hugged her, saving her from having to carry on, and she hugged him back, kissed the side of his head like he might have done with his boys, like it didn't matter that he was a grown man now. To her, he might as well have been as small as Elliott, Noah, or Jamie. He never understood that sentiment so well as he did over this month, as not only did he have his birthday, but to one side and the other of his own, two of his sons were reaching new age milestones, too. And sometimes it just felt like he'd blink and it would be May all over again.

Noah turning four this year had already felt impossible, but then Elliott… Before they knew it, the time would arrive when their sprout, their first baby boy, would wake up a whole five years old. Every time one of them would have a birthday, it would be like the reel would wind back in his head, showing him all these highlights, and now… That night in the bathroom with the tests… A heartbeat… A kick… Blue hands as a heart… A tiny crying boy, placed in his arms… Blue eyes, a smile… First steps, first words… A great and loving big brother and just such a wonderful little kid… who was five years old today.

He preceded both of his parents in waking that morning, left his room and walked into theirs, climbed up on the bed and woke his father by tapping on his knee. Lucas opened one eye and saw him crouched there, so he slowly made space for him between himself and Maya. When he arrived, it seemed the presence of his small body there was enough for her subconscious to recognize. She turned over to face them, never waking but still putting her arm over the boy, who slipped into that hold, even as he looked to his father.

"Happy birthday, Sprout," Lucas whispered with a smile. He offered his hand in a fist, and Elliott did the same, bumping both together without a word. Lucas showed him his open hand now, the fingers counting to five, and Elliott nodded, which made the sleeping Maya bow her head to rest with their son's as she held him. She didn't wake up for a few more minutes, in which time Lucas and Elliott played a silent but rousing game of thumb wars.

When Maya did wake up, it didn't take long for her mind to take in the scene, from her firstborn and suddenly five-year-old son in her arms to his interaction with his father. It was sweet, it was wonderful, and it was interrupted by nausea, which took no pity this morning and instead sent her running off, leaving Lucas to collect Elliott in a two-armed bear hug and getting rolls and rolls of giggles from him.

"You know, say the word, and we just stay right here. Or we run off, have an adventure day, you and me," Lucas suggested with a smile. Elliott still laughed as he shook his head. "What? No? You don't want that?" he asked, playing hurt. "Alright, I guess we can bring your brothers, and your mom… But no one else, okay?" he 'bargained.'

"What about preschool?" Elliott asked.

"Mm, yeah, there is that…" Lucas relented. He could have suggested they just skip out on all that today, but it wouldn't have been practical, would it? Anyway, he was kind of proud to see how his son was attached to his responsibilities. "Fine, adventure day will begin when I pick you and Noah up this afternoon, deal?" Now they were in business. "Alright, go on and tell your brothers, Birthday Sprout."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners