Chapter 23
And Then We Dance

Some mornings, Lucas would wake up and hear something like a grunt, or a huff, a deep breath. He would open his eyes, knowing of course that it would be Maya but needing to know what was going on. Half the time she'd still be asleep, but she'd be awake other times, too, whether or not she'd make it obvious. There'd be some thing or another causing her some kind of discomfort, and he would try and do his best to relieve her of it, but that didn't always work. He didn't know who'd get more frustrated when that happened, because as much as he might feel helpless over not being able to do more, to carry some of the load… He knew she was finding it hard to find balance between not making him feel… exactly what he was feeling… and admitting her own discomfort.

When he woke up that Sunday morning, he could hear her and feel her moving about, and he opened his eyes to find exactly what he'd expected to find. Maya was in that lightly awake stage, where she'd either go all the way back into asleep or continue on her way to being wide awake, depending on whether or not she found a way to get comfortable again. With that big pillow of hers, they couldn't exactly go for the old spooning position as they slept, but they'd be turned toward one another, and when he'd wake up and see that crease in her brow he would reach over and take her hand, slowly drawing his thumb along the back of her hand, hoping she'd get back to sleep. This time, it didn't work, as she finally opened her eyes.

"Hey…" he whispered. "What do you need?"

"This is good," she promised, eyes turned to his hand holding hers. "I'm going to have to get up in a minute, not looking forward to that."

"After you get back, there might be another pre-interview fashion show," Lucas offered as something of an incentive. It made her smile, so he counted this as a success.

This would be a charged day, for him especially. Two interviews this morning, followed by lunch and checking on the wedding venue, and then two more interviews, and dinner, before he and Maya started back for Houston, in time to go to class in the morning with a good night's sleep.

When Lucas was gone, off to his first morning interview, Maya left the Friars' house, too, taking her notebook and pen along with her before going on a walk which eventually brought her to Asher and Joey's uncle's diner. She had maintained a solid relationship with Fernando Garcia over the time since she'd stopped working for him here, and she had been sure that he must have known about her and the baby, through her family stopping in, or his talking to his nephews, or his sister, Isabel. And then she'd walked through the door of the diner, and he'd seen her, and his hands had fumbled and let slip the plate he was holding, which crashed on the floor and shattered. Maya flinched, like his surprise had echoed back on to her.

"At least it was empty…" she offered with a shy smile. "I mean… sorry, I didn't mean to startle you… Hey…"

"It was an old plate," Fernando brushed this off, motioning for one of the servers to grab a broom and sweep up the pieces before moving up to greet her, in the kind of hug that confirmed to her he genuinely had no idea she was pregnant.

"I thought you knew. Didn't Isabel say anything? Or Asher, or…"

"Now that I think about it, I think they did, but they never said the words and it went over my head. They must all have assumed someone else had said so. Look at you…" he stood back, looking her over. It was always different when people had known her longer, and Fernando had known her since she was thirteen years old. "Lucas?" he guessed, and she nodded, and there was that look again. The evidence may not have been as visible on him as it was on her, but the man had known Lucas even longer than he'd known her, known him since he and Asher and Dylan and Zay were little kids, and now he was about to be a father.

"We haven't sent out invitations yet, but we'd love to have you there when we get married in September," she told him, and the man let out a great laugh before embracing her again. Of course, he'd be there.

As she took a seat in one of the booths with her notebook, he insisted that whatever she wanted, to eat or drink, was his treat. It left her with a little while to focus on this new project, started on the drive into Austin on Friday evening. She would offer her services, in songs, in drawings, in paintings… in art. She didn't really know how she was supposed to fix any kind of fees, but she could figure that out later. As far as the song writing went, the time she had spent performing with TXNY had brought her into contact with a great number of other performers and aspiring singers, so she could put this offer out to all of them and see what came of it. And then for the rest… She'd have to get a look at what she already had on hand, things she could see herself putting up for sale, and from there she could start creating pieces specifically to be sold, open herself up to commissions…

Looking at all she'd written down so far, clearly coming up with ideas was not a problem. Were there problems? Well, maybe one… As confident as she generally was, in day to day life, right now, she was discovering something shy in her, shy or just… uncertain of what would come of this project of hers. Would she even be part of this band anymore? She'd be out here, with her baby, looking after him… What was she going to do, just keep going back to Houston whenever they had band things? Pack him up in his car seat and bring him along?

No, that wasn't going to work, it was… It was over. She wouldn't be able to carry on with them. It was a heartbreaker of a realization, but when it came right down to it she just cared about the band too much to hold it down by trying to shape it around the life she was making with Lucas, with their sprout. TXNY could survive without her.

She was sure it would have been a harder choice to make, to step away from the band she had helped create, with so many followers near and far and still so much space to grow. But in the end it really had been easy. Her son was always going to be her top priority, as he had been from day one, and as soon as she'd understood what she needed to do there had been no doubt, only clarity. She would have to tell the others…

Lucas: Back from morning interviews, where are you?

Maya: I stopped in at the diner after my walk.

Lucas: We'll meet you there.

Maya smiled to herself, thinking of how Fernando might react when Lucas arrived. The Friars hadn't arrived yet by the time her parents and her siblings walked through the door. The twins hurried over to their big sister, who had moved in anticipation of their lunch party's size. They were excited at the prospect of going to see the place where Maya and Lucas would be having their ceremony and reception. Whatever they'd heard so far had left them picturing something sort of impressive in their three-year-old minds.

When Lucas and his parents walked through the door, the father-to-be was quickly accosted by the man who would treat his nephews and their friends to ice cream whenever they'd come in from their childhood baseball games, going back to days when not one of their feet would touch the ground as they climbed on to the stools lining the counter. He'd exercised loads of caution in hugging Maya earlier, but he let his joy for the two of them be expressed in full force when it came to Lucas. By the time he was let go, he looked like he'd just been on one of those carnival rides where they strapped you to the walls and made you spin around. Maya was still laughing in her hand as he came over to join her.

"He didn't know," she told him.

"I guessed that," Lucas blinked.

"I haven't even told him we're moving back yet," Maya whispered to him and he looked like he was trying to keep a straight face so Fernando wouldn't look at them even though he was about to laugh. "How did it go this morning?" Maya asked. So far, he would have had the interview with a second bookstore and then an animal shelter.

"Good, I think," he told her. That was usually his stance, as far as interviews went, unless they'd been notably bad. As far as he was concerned, they had gone well, but his prospective employers might have seen otherwise or found someone they liked better. He wouldn't know until he heard back.

"Which bookstore did you like best, yesterday's or today's?" she asked, curious. He thought about it for a beat before holding up a single finger. "Yesterday's," she translated, and he nodded. "What about the shelter, how was it?"

"Really nice," Lucas told her, recalling the place. "If that's the only place that wants me though, we'll be in trouble," he sighed.

"Hey, come on," she tapped his arm, almost scolding. "I know that when I say it and when they say it the meaning wouldn't be the same, but you are a catch, okay?" He smiled. "If they don't want you, then they're the ones with the problem."

"I'll take your word for it," he promised.

"Good," she smiled back.

"And how was your morning?" he asked, spotting her notebook, closed on the table top in front of her. She absently touched the cover, thinking of what she'd written down… and what she'd decided. She didn't want to get into it now.

"Just a lot of… stuff," Maya told him, with a discreet tip of the head to her notebook. He would understand what she was talking about, which was a good thing, because neither of them wanted to say anything that would get their parents asking why they were putting so much emphasis on alternative ways of making more money.

"Good?" he asked, just as discreet.

"So far, so good," she nodded. Also, I've decided to quit the band.

The conversation over lunch had soon turned to the wedding, which was now less than five months away. The venue had been picked through research and the occasional drive by, but they had not gotten to see it in person yet. The fact that it was available for the date they had picked had pushed them just a bit to book it on a mix of trust and word of mouth.

Deviating from the wedding yet to come, talk had moved to past weddings, those of the parents around the table. They had all been at Katy and Shawn's wedding, of course, save for the three children who had not been born at the time. As for Katy's first wedding, to Kermit Hart, there had been little to tell, according to her… A courthouse, a couple of determined eighteen-year-olds, and a – rented – maternity wedding dress.

"All I remember was I kept looking at the wreath on the wall behind Kermit, like it was right over his head… It was almost Christmas," she added, catching a few confused looks. She cleared her throat and turned to the Friars. "What about you two, it had to be something, yeah?" There had been absolutely no hesitation out of Melinda Friar to go ahead and take the stage here. She was all smiles, looking to her husband for a moment before turning back to her son's future in-laws.

"August 9th, 1998," she told them. "8 – 9 – 9 – 8," she added, almost singing. "It was a Sunday…"

By the time Melinda Friar finished her story, Maya was looking to Lucas somewhere between awed and baffled. It wasn't like they were shooting for the wedding of the century here, but they did have a solid idea of what they were envisioning for the whole thing and, compared to his parents' ceremony, their plans were starting to sound a bit… simple. Were they doing too little? Did they need a lot? Months ago, when they had been trying to lock down an actual date for their wedding, the whole reason for them to have it set for after their baby was born was so that they could have the wedding they deserved, not just something they'd put together in two seconds, because they were having a baby and they just wanted to be married already. Had they been doing enough all this time? Would four and a half months be enough?

They'd been stuck with this awkward line of thought in their heads, all the way from the diner to the venue, and as they rode in the back of his parents' car, Lucas had reached for Maya's hand. She'd looked at him with that same sort of confused look in her eyes, and he really wished his mother and father could have toned things down with their story.

But then they had reached the venue, and it hadn't been long that they had all forgotten about the magical wedding tale of Tom and Melinda Friar.

"Why don't you two go on ahead and have a first look?" Mr. Friar had told his son and future daughter-in-law as they'd pulled into the lot. Mrs. Friar briefly looked like she'd argue about having to sit back, but then she'd looked at the two of them in the backseat and she'd retreated and echoed her husband.

Lucas got out of the car and moved around to open the door and offer a hand to Maya as she climbed out. She looked over her shoulder as they walked, hearing a car, and they saw that her family had just arrived, too. No one was getting out, so maybe the Friars had sent a message.

"What do you think?" Lucas asked as the two of them advanced on their own. She was looking all around. They were still outside, hadn't even seen the rest yet, except in pictures, but already she felt her heart thumping out like a song.

"Fall Fest…" she breathed.

"What?" he asked, not sure he'd heard her right.

"When I first moved here. The Fall Festival was coming up, remember?" Now that she put it like that…

"I remember we went there," he nodded, smiling. He looked around again, thinking about what the place would look like, come September, as summer gave way to fall… Maybe he'd just been so close to her for so long that he could almost start to see the world the way she saw it sometimes, but yeah, he could sort of see what she was imagining, and it made him feel a surge of a smile. This was going to be the place where he got to marry the girl he had always and would always love, and it was just right.

"Maybe we should stop here… What if the rest isn't…" Maya started to say, but just as soon stopped and shook her head to herself, regaining determination. They may have been momentarily shaken by his mother's wedding story, but they were steady now.

They were greeted by a woman they soon learned was the same one they'd been dealing with over the phone and through e-mail. She gave them a tour, just the two of them, and every new thing they saw with their own eyes made the pictures they had previously seen look like poor imitations. The outdoors had been breathtaking, just what they wanted, and the inside had topped it without so much as raising a finger. It was a good thing that they'd already established how much this place would cost them, that they'd had ample time to freak out over it and gone through the process of figuring out how they would afford it without this turning into yet more parental charity.

The answer had come in the shape of something apart from their parents though, and it was that, in their lives, they had been fortunate enough to accumulate several sort of… fairy godparents, who wanted nothing more than to help and make this day special for the two of them. The venue fairy remained a mystery, but, they suspected, lived in New York and had just recently scored an invitation. It might have been lumped together under the category of parental charity, but it ended up squeaking by on a technicality.

"Alright, I think we don't have a choice anymore," Lucas spoke even as he was still looking around the reception hall. It was bare now, but he had confidence in his future wife's eye on this.

"I'm afraid not," Maya concurred with a sigh, pulling out her phone.

Maya: You can come in now.

Tom: We'll be right there.

Katy: On our way!

After they'd leave the venue, Maya would join her parents and siblings in their car, while Lucas got a lift from his parents to head into his third interview of the day. Though she'd already heard some raving compliments out of Mrs. Friar as they were all walking around the place, Maya knew her enough to see when she was holding back, for propriety's sake. She couldn't say if she was disappointed or relieved to be missing the 'full blast' once they were in the car and driving away. She could imagine it all though, so many hand gestures, happy tears at the thought of her sweet Lukey getting married in a few months. She also hoped it wouldn't throw Lucas off his game for his next interviews.

As they were nearing home, Maya's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out, expecting for a moment that it would be Lucas, but instead she saw…

Ainsley: Are you still in town?

Maya: Yeah, until tonight. What's up?

Ainsley: We didn't get to talk much yesterday, so I was thinking we could meet up somewhere.

Maya: How about the park?

Even though she insisted she could walk or grab a bus, Shawn had insisted on turning the car around and driving her to the park, so that she arrived just a few minutes after texting Ainsley. She wasn't sure how long it would take for her to arrive, so she sat on a bench and waited. She still had her notebook with her, so she turned the pages to a blank one before starting on a sketch of what she'd seen in her head when they'd been at the venue, not just the place itself but what it might become once it was all done up for the wedding.

She had a pretty good image drawn up already by the time a child's squeal made her look up and she spotted Ainsley heading her way, with little Cameron fixed to her hip much as he'd been the day before, the only different being that he was wide awake this time around, and they no longer looked like they'd just come out of the pool. As they approached the bench and the boy's gaze fixed on Maya, he looked silently curious.

"Hey, I didn't keep you waiting too long?" Ainsley asked.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Maya insisted, closing her notebook and setting it on the bench, tucked at her side. "I always like being out here like this. Anyway, it feels nice to just get to take a breather for a while."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Ainsley replied knowingly. When she moved to set her son on the bench, the boy started to whimper in mild distress, and no matter how she tried to soothe him, Ainsley couldn't get him to stop, so finally she just sat and kept him in her lap. He curled up in her arms, lying against her even as he turned curious eyes to the other person sitting with them. "He gets shy around strangers, but he warms up after a while," Ainsley explained, brushing her fingers through her son's head of hair, which was the same sort of strawberry blond as his mother's. They had the same eye color, too, an almost faded blue. Cameron Ellis looked as though he'd caught all his inherited traits from his mother, which some might call a blessing.

His presumed father may have been deemed one of the hottest guys in their class back in high school, but he didn't take long to reveal himself for having character in near total opposition to his looks. Maya hadn't meant to bring him up, but later in the conversation he had come up anyway.

"One of my sisters was like that, too," Maya smiled, recalling the baby days of Nellie and Gracie. "But then my other sister, her twin, was the opposite, which definitely ended up mixing some signals whenever people would see them again. They'd go up to Gracie, thinking she was Nellie, who loved just being picked up and spoken to in a very upbeat sort of way, and then she would just freak out…" They laughed, and it was funny now, sure, though back when it was actually happening, she was more of the 'don't you make my sister cry' type.

"Oh, no…" Ainsley laughed on.

"She's still like that, a little, but at least now instead of screaming like a banshee she'll just hold her hands up like 'no!'" Maya imitated her with a smile. "Either that, or she'll stand just far enough that Nellie's in front of her anyway, and Nellie loves saying hello to people… It's been a problem a couple of times, so, you know, it might not be a bad thing this guy here doesn't jump in right away."

"Yeah, probably," Ainsley agreed, looking down to Cameron, who continued to stare at Maya like he was trying to decide if he liked her.

"You know, my brother's just about his age, we could get them together sometimes, they might become friends."

"You think so? That'd be great, actually. I mean, if your mother is okay with that," Ainsley nodded, looking at once invested in the thought.

"Give me your phone," Maya held out her hand. Ainsley pulled it from her pocket and handed it over after unlocking it. Maya created a new contact with her mother's name and number before passing the phone back. "I'll let her know I gave this to you."

"Thanks," Ainsley replied as she took the phone and put it in her pocket again. Maya looked at her, and there was something almost sad about her former classmate for a beat, which left her to debate whether or not to ask what she wanted to know, what she suspected more and more. Ainsley had no one to back her up. She was doing it all on her own.

"Hey…" Maya slowly asked after a few seconds. "Are you okay?" A simple question in itself, but the kind of simple that was like a very small bit of an iceberg peeking over the surface of the water, when below the surface a massively imposing chunk of ice resided, unseen. As soon as it was asked, by someone Ainsley considered a friend, someone near enough to a position of understanding, it looked like she'd been rattled, her defenses challenged.

"I am, I just…" she started to say, looking to her son, who had spotted a dog across the park and was now following its progress with great intent. "You're lucky, you know that? You've got so many people around you right now." Even as she said it, Ainsley looked almost ashamed, like she was faulting Maya for something that was good, something she yearned for.

"I wasn't always," Maya told her. "My mother wasn't always," she pointed out, and even as she said it, all she could think about was how much Ainsley's story paralleled her own. "She got pregnant with me right before she finished high school," she revealed, and Ainsley looked at her. "She was on her own, and my father, his parents kicked him out, so the two of them went at it on their own. Then, my dad left when I was six, so it was just me and my mom. Those were not good years," Maya shook her head, though she had to edit this claim just as soon as she made it. "She loved me, and she did her best for me, and it took me a while to really be able to put myself in her position…" Her hand had been moving along the curve of her belly as she spoke, and right here she felt a kick, which made her smile.

"I used to wonder about your mom, when I'd see you and her. She looked so much younger than the others, but I never…"

"What happened with your family?" Maya slowly asked, feeling this would be as good of a time as any to bring it up. Ainsley let out a breath.

"My mother's been living in Spain since I was ten, and my father… He wasn't the most involved parent, so it was mostly Allie and me. She went to college in England, so our senior year it was just me and my dad, but he was just sort of there. I worked so hard, I had a plan, I was going to New York. Then prom happened, and… I slipped. I got together with Brian, and well…" she looked to her son.

"What did your father say?" Maya asked, sympathy rising.

"He didn't exactly kick me out, but he made it very clear that he wasn't going to put in one cent to support another kid, even if it was his grandkid. Then I went to Brian, because what other choice did I have? He gave me money. He didn't say what he wanted me to do with it, but he didn't have to. I had the money my mother had already sent for me to start off in college, which is a good thing, because otherwise she would probably have taken it back. When I told her I was having a baby, she had… words."

"Damn…" Maya breathed.

"I stayed at home as long as I could, to save up money, then I got my apartment and I moved out there, had Cameron a few weeks later, and it's been him and me ever since. Brian went to school in Michigan, I think. Allie says once she finishes school she'll come back and we can get a place the three of us together, but at this point maybe it's best if I keep things the way they are now." They were silent for a moment. Cameron was looking back at Maya again, not clinging so much to his mother as he'd done when they'd arrived. "Sorry for unloading on you like that…" Ainsley breathed.

"No, hey, it's fine. I'm glad you told me. I meant what I said, and I want us to hang out some more. Lucas and I are moving back in a little over a month, and then before long this guy will be coming along," she nodded down to herself. "I could use another mom to talk to," she smiled. At this, Cameron reached out his little hand to her, and Maya took it in hers. "Right?" she told him with a chuckle and the boy giggled. "Hey…" she looked back up to Ainsley now, thinking even as she said it, "Want to come over for dinner tonight? Both of you?"

When Lucas returned from the last of the day's interviews, he entered the Hunter Hart living room to find Maya and her mother sitting on the couch with Ainsley Ellis, while the twins hovered about MJ and another small boy who was the spitting image of the girl on the couch, as the toddlers teetered around the room, laughing and squealing.

Dinner had been good and lively, but soon after it was over Maya and Lucas said goodnight to everyone and started back for Houston. Lucas especially was exhausted, which was to be expected, and he didn't want to be driving later than he had to. The ride back was spent with Maya first recounting Ainsley's tale before drifting into a pensive silence which Lucas did not disrupt. When they arrived at the house, they found Dylan and Riley watching a movie on the couch, the two of them passing on that Sophie and Chiara were off on a date. Maya headed upstairs while Lucas headed into the basement for a shower.

He made his way up to join her minutes later, catching on to the low sound of music coming from their room, and then there was Maya's voice, lightly humming along to the tune. When he reached the door, he finally got a look at the full picture, which featured Maya just sort of swaying slowly from foot to foot as though dancing, hands locked under her belly and head bowed to the music… holding their baby, dancing with him. She looked so casually happy and at peace, and he couldn't remember his having been tired before. All he felt now was love at once complete and forever expanding for this girl off in her own world.

Lucas moved into her line of sight and she looked at him, smiling as she opened out her arms and let him into her dance.

"Practicing for the wedding?" he asked, and she nodded. He took one of her hands, placed his other to the small of her back as she set hers to the back of his shoulder. "I feel like there's something between us," he joked, making her smirk.

"Get used to it," she joked back.

"Already done," he promised.

"How did it go this afternoon? I never got to ask."

"Pretty good," Lucas nodded, and she gave him a look like 'oh pretty good, that's new.' He smiled. "The guy at the clinic knows Aunt Tanya, they went to school together. Hasn't seen her in years, but she's my reference, so…"

"Rekindling friendships, look at you," Maya gave a proud smirk. "And the museum?"

"Well, the good thing about getting interviewed by your old boss for a job you left amicably because you were going to college out of town is that it makes things a lot easier. It was almost just the two of us catching up more than an interview."

"So does that mean…"

"Won't know right away," he explained. "But it's looking good. At the same time, if things pan out with any of the other places, I might choose to go with those first. I loved working at the museum, and I'd be thrilled to be there again, but it's good to move forward sometimes, take new steps instead of going back." She nodded in agreement. "I know how much you missed that blazer though…" Maya gave a coy sort of shrug.

"We can get you a blazer," she told him. "I want you to go wherever you want to go."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners