Chapter 29
On the Brain

If he had to put a word on it, Lucas would say that Maya had been sort of squirrelly on the whole drive back into Houston. It was Sunday, the last one where they'd be driving back to the house they shared with their friends. Seven days from now they would be about to spend their first night in their own house, officially living there. Between this and that, they had loads to do, the majority of that load having to do with finals, but he wasn't thinking about this right now. He was more concerned with whatever was on his fiancée's mind that had her like this.

When they arrived back, she went on upstairs, taking only her knitting bag from the car. That was fine, he would have carried that along with the rest; the thing that was making him watch her go was the fact that she'd stopped to take it at all. Lately, it had become what he could only call an escape, something to stop her mind from wandering places she didn't need it to go. What was it that she needed to work through tonight?

"Is she okay?" Riley asked when he came in with their bags.

"Physically, yeah. Whatever that is, I don't really know yet," he admitted.

"Want me to go talk to her?" she asked.

"I… Would you?" With a nod, Riley was gone, dashing up the stairs. Off on the couch, Dylan, Sophie, and Chiara were looking back at him.

"Did something happen back there?" Chiara asked.

"Not that I know of," Lucas shook his head.

Things had actually been going so well, since last weekend, when she had met her grandmother, and her grandmother had been reunited with her son and daughter. Aside from the fact that they had now finished classes and were about to start their finals, they'd been hearing about developments in the Hart Family (Dis/Re)Connection, as Maya had been calling it. Elizabeth Hart was the core: she was being connected to her granddaughter, reconnected to her children… and disconnected from her husband.

After that wild day, one week ago, Kermit had taken his mother and his sister back to the hotel where his parents had taken up residence since flying in from Florida, which so happened to be the same one where he'd booked a room for himself and his little sister. Whether he had expected to see his father there or not, that choice had been taken away from him. Upon arriving at the hotel, they had been informed by a very uncomfortable desk clerk that Mr. Hart had checked out. His wife's bags had been brought to the desk after they'd been found left in the vacated room. It would have hurt more if they hadn't expected it out of him. Kermit and Luna had moved their mother into their room and that had been that.

The trio had remained in Austin until the following day, at which point Luna had gotten on a flight back to Tucson and her girls, while Kermit and Elizabeth had gotten on a flight to New York. She would be staying with her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren. At some point they would have to find a way to deal with her belongings, back in Florida, but as far as she was concerned, Elizabeth didn't care to see her husband again, and that was fine by everyone.

Maya had been conversing with her grandmother primarily via e-mail, allowing her to reply whenever she had the chance, between classes… It had been something that made her truly happy. Lucas could see it, and she said it herself. Beyond that, their final days of class had been as smooth going as either of them could hope. She was sad to leave her classmates, some of her professors, but on the whole she was eager to get to Austin, to have their baby… So he couldn't understand where this feeling was coming from all of a sudden.

"Hey, so we were talking over the weekend, while you guys were out there," Sophie stood up from the couch. "We wanted to maybe have a small thing here, us and some friends, just a sort of going away party for the two of you?" Lucas had to guess he was not meant to have been told this way, and it would have been a whole surprise sort of thing, but now tonight, with how Maya was doing, she'd preferred to let him in on it, in case he thought it wad a bad idea.

Was this what this was maybe? Had it just hit her suddenly that they were leaving, and she was having trouble coping? He could see that… He was working his last day at the bookstore on Saturday, the day before they moved. It could have seemed like he should have finished earlier, but he was the one who'd chosen it. They were really set to go already, Maya and him. Whatever they had left to do wouldn't be done until next Sunday morning, and after he'd had to cut back his hours to just Monday through Thursday evenings in order to work on the house… He wanted to have one last day there, with Rosa, with Pete, with Tracy…

"Let me see how she's doing first, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Sophie nodded, just as they heard Riley coming back down the stairs.

"Well?" Dylan asked her.

"I don't know," Riley shook her head. "She's just knitting, she seems okay, except it just sounds like she's saying 'I'm fine' when she's not. She won't tell me what it is."

Alright, so he'd have to give it a shot now. Leaving the four of them down here, Lucas made his way up to his and Maya's room. Walking in, as he shut the door behind himself, he saw exactly what Riley had been saying. Maya was sitting up on their bed, knitting needles clicking away. Trix and Lou were on the bed with her, having made their way up behind her from the landing when she'd passed. Lou was curled up at her side, looking at the bag of yarn sitting nearby like she had half a mind to jump in. Trix sat over Maya's legs, lightly prodding her nose at her belly, setting her head to it… Maya paused in her knitting, scratching the dog's head with a smile, before looking over at him.

"Hey…" she told him, in that same sort of serene tone. He could hear it though, just as Riley did. The cheerfulness that didn't sound entirely genuine. There was something else.

Lucas walked over to the bed, sat on the edge. Trix lifted her head to look at him, almost warning him away, keeping eye contact as she set her head back protectively over the bump. Maya was back to her knitting.

"What are you working on this time?" he asked.

"A hat," she informed him. "Which I realize might not be a very requested item right now…" The month of May had started to really feel as though it had broken out the trumpets, announcing the approach of summer. It was hotter every day lately.

"Who's this one for?" Lucas wondered. She'd done a few of these before; she was getting very good at knitting, to no one's surprise.

"Nellie… or Gracie… Got the first one done, see?" she reached into her bag, pulling out a small pink and yellow hat. The one she was working on now was identical.

"Looks great," he smiled, especially as she moved to set the small thing on his head. "I don't know if it's in my colors."

"You haven't met a hat that hasn't looked good on you," she insisted, getting back to work. Lucas pulled the hat from his head, running his fingers over the stitches.

"Hey," he nudged her leg with his knee. He didn't have to say anything, she'd know he was changing the subject just as much as she'd know what this new subject would be. He could see it in the way her face shifted. She was trying harder to look okay, and it wasn't working. "Maya…" he tapped her leg with his hand now.

"Not now, okay?" she slowly asked him. He kept looking at her, and finally she looked back at him. "I really need to sleep through the night, and if I start…" she shook her head.

"Okay," he told her, nodding in such a way that she'd know he meant it. If she didn't want to talk about what was going through her mind, then he wasn't going to force her. She breathed out, nodding. When she turned her head to their desks for a beat, he had a feeling she'd just told him without telling him. Finals. That was all it was, or at least it was nothing about the baby, or the move. All of them were stressed about finals, sure, that was normal. But then he guessed between being all of a handful of weeks away from giving birth, everything that was happening to her body, everything coursing through her brain… It might have been the most intense finals stress she might have had to deal with.

And to make it worse, she couldn't put her mind at ease by having herself a solid review session, burning that midnight oil, not when she needed that oil to ensure that she carried their son healthily along. So, she needed her sleep… except her mind was having other ideas about that right now.

"Mind if I put on a movie?" he asked, standing to grab his laptop. She looked at him, frowning uncertainly. "Nothing too loud or anything, I swear."

"Sure, alright," she finally told him.

Bringing the laptop over, he sat on his side of the bed and started the movie once he'd selected one. Before long, he could see her peering over at the screen, her needles stalling for seconds at a time, then a minute, then a few minutes. After an hour, the knitting had been altogether abandoned and she had set her head in the crook of his shoulder. By the time credits rolled, she was sound asleep, lying against him.

Lucas closed the laptop, although now that he looked around at the bed, with the knitting things, and the dogs, and Maya on his shoulder… He pulled out his phone and sent off a text to Dylan. Soon after, he came sneaking into the room. Already with his instructions, he saw to the knitting. Riley followed in a moment later. She picked up Lou, who gave no resistance or noise, and carried her away. Dylan did the same with Trix before giving Lucas a look to say he'd be back. Eventually, they'd settled Maya in. By now, she couldn't even handle the blankets, she'd get too hot, so those would be folded at the foot of the bed.

"Thanks," Lucas whispered to Dylan when they were done. He smiled and nodded. "Hey… Go for the party," Lucas added before he could go. Dylan raised his hands happily and that was that.

The next morning, Lucas woke up to find Maya was already awake, sitting over at her desk with her notes and her books, putting in a bit of reviewing for the day's final. She had one today, while he had two, which had somewhat cut into his time working back at the house. Every so often he would stop what he was doing in order to sit with some of his materials. At other times, Maya had gone about quizzing him. He didn't want her hanging around too close to what they'd been doing, for fear of her tripping over something or generally getting hurt by anything, but then she'd come up with a solution soon enough.

With earbuds in his ears and his phone in his back pocket, he would have her on the line, asking questions from the comfort of the porch downstairs. His father would laugh whenever he'd be standing there, very quietly working away, then all of a sudden spouting off some fact or another.

"Morning," he yawned, sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Morning," she replied, and he was relieved to find she sounded a bit more genuinely upbeat, compared to the night before. "You know, I totally figured out what you were doing with that movie thing," she went on to tell him, which he took as her way of saying thanks. He smiled.

"Busted," he nodded, standing up and moving over to the desk. She turned her chair around and he leaned over to kiss her. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

"A lot better than I thought I could at this point. Although, by the time I finally woke up, like an hour ago, I swear I didn't think I'd make it all the way to the bathroom." He chuckled, which got him a squint out of her.

"The important part is that you made it," he saved himself from that look.

"Yeah…" she replied. 'Sure.' She was turning back to her notes already, and that little anxious bug was digging its teeth back in.

"Breakfast?" Lucas asked. Maya looked up at him. He nodded out the door.

"Yeah, okay," she stood, taking her notes. She was inching her way toward thirty-five weeks at this point, and by now she could hardly make any sort of move or sound that gave the impression of shock, pain, or uncertainty without someone assuming that she was going into labor. She'd told him, on the drive into Austin the previous Friday evening, that she was this close to getting herself a shirt made with I will tell you if I'm in labor, until then back off.

"And then under that 'no belly rubs?'" he'd suggested, which made her laugh.

"We could make a fortune."

It used to be she had to get much closer to him in order to 'bump bump' him, but now she didn't even have to try that much and he'd feel it. He felt it now, and he smiled, looking down at her, giving the top of her belly a small scratch with his index finger. She laughed.

"Tickles?" he asked.

"Please. It takes more than that," she shrugged. "And that is not a challenge."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he assured her, while she gave him a couple of purposeful, light bumps. "Okay, now that's asking for it."

"Ha," she looked back up at him. For a few seconds, they just quietly stared back at one another.

"Anything you'd like to get off your chest before we head down there?" Lucas asked. Maya hesitated. She had told him they'd talk about it later.

"It was silly, okay?" she shrugged. "We were in the car, and I kept rolling through everything I had to do this week, all my finals… last ones I'll take until who knows how long, with the baby coming, and staying with him. It's not even anything new, really. I've been getting stuck in that loop more and more as the weeks go by. Yesterday, I just kept thinking how I wanted to do well, better than well, because those results were going to have to get me back into school once it's time for me to go back. But then when is that going to be, when am I going to be… okay… to leave him behind… How do I even…"

She had expressed this to him before, and he did get it. He could never have that same bond with their son as she would have, he knew that, but he could still see why it would all be making her feel just suddenly overwhelmed. There really was nothing he could do to make that feeling go away. The only things he could do… he was already doing them, so he'd keep on doing them.

"It's not silly," he promised. "I'm never going to think it's silly, not if it really bothers you. You only ever hold back like that when it does."

"Yeah…" Maya agreed, breathing out, as they finally made their way out of their room to join the others at breakfast. "Hey, so, got any other movies to watch tonight?" she asked as they started down the stairs. He smiled.

"Might have a few. Could take all week."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners