Chapter 45
Stormy Night and Day

After a few days of either going to her parents' or leaving her siblings with them if she had somewhere to be, Maya had known she needed to do something more for them. Much as they loved hanging out with their big sister and The Baby, or with the twins and MJ, they were still kids, in the middle of summer, and they needed so much more than this if it could be given. Finally, the Saturday after the dress fitting, the idea had come about to see if they might be able to get them in summer camp. It would already have begun, and getting them in there now might have been an issue, but they'd checked with Kermit and Abigail – and with the kids, of course – and they had agreed, so they had put in some calls. Soon, they had Eliza, Wyatt, Nellie, and Gracie signed up, along with Sam and Cara once they'd make the trip over, which would happen the following week.

Monday was the first camp day, and Maya drove them out there, meeting more than her parents as far as familiar faces went. She ran into Dot Cassidy, Lucas' aunt, who was dropping off her two youngest, Dora and Alex. They chatted briefly, as twelve-year-old Dora really wanted to get to hold baby Elliott for a little while. Dot offered to drop off Eliza and Wyatt back at the house that afternoon, which Maya happily accepted, once she'd told her brother and sister and made sure they'd be alright with it.

Maya went back home after this, and as Pappy Joe took up his great grandson for some quality nap time, she went ahead and got to picking up around the house. It had been a bit more hectic, with Lucas at work and her siblings in the house, and it wasn't exactly a mess but it was enough that there were things she'd keep seeing and wanting to clean without ever getting around to it. Today was the day when she'd get around to it.

"I think I'm turning into a clean freak," she told Willow, phone balanced between her ear and shoulder as she frowned at some stains on one of Wyatt's shirts before tossing it into the machine.

"Sounds about right," Willow chuckled. "I look at Zola sometimes like I'm just waiting for her to spit something up on herself."

After her call with Willow, Maya checked in with Billie, who by any rights should be having her baby any day now. As upbeat as she always was, it was clear now that she was getting to that very definitive 'oh please just get this kid out of me' stage.

Maya had just taken Elliott up for some quiet feeding time when the rain started, in early afternoon. She thought about her siblings, off on their first day of summer camp. They might not get to play outside much this time around, but they should still be having fun.

As the afternoon progressed, the rain went from a sort of peaceful shower to something less and less calm. The wind was picking up, sending the rain lashing against the windows… There was just the slightest rumble in the distance, like thunder and lightning wouldn't be far behind. The clouds were getting into that dark and foreboding shade. Elliott was in that very particular fussy mood now, and Maya just kept him permanently in her arms, kept walking along with him… But she also worried over her brother and sister out there. Eliza wasn't scared of storms, as far as she knew, but Wyatt definitely was… and so was Gracie…

"They're not going to get here any faster that way," Pappy Joe called to Maya as she stood at the window, keeping an eye out for Dot's car when she knew the camp would have let out.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" she turned to look at him with a smirk, focusing back on Elliott when he started to cry again. "I know, sprout, I know…" she told him before starting to hum his favorite lullaby, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

Finally, there was the car, and as it stopped Pappy Joe was already making his way out, with his big umbrella, to go and get the kids from there to the house. Eliza came hopping out, and even from back inside the house Maya could tell she was talking a mile a minute, telling Pappy Joe about what camp had been like that day. Meanwhile, Wyatt got out of the car and made a mad dash for the house, rain be damned. He just wanted to be inside.

"Oh, hey, okay, okay…" Maya moved to set Elliott down before Wyatt could come barging in. The baby didn't sound too happy about this, but it was either that or having the four-year-old boy clinging on to her, too, and her being unable to deal with him. If that wasn't enough, of course, the sudden activity, coupled with the brewing storm, would get the dogs fired up. They were here now, barking and nearing the open door like no amount of training was going to keep them in very long with that kind of stimulus. And now in swept Wyatt, leaping for his sister, who barely caught him. "It's alright, bud, it's just rain."

"Don't like it," Wyatt grumbled.

"No, it's not fun, I'll give you that. But you're here, you're fine. How was your day?"

"It was so much fun!" Eliza came in now, while Pappy Joe shook out the rain from his umbrella outside and came in a moment later, shutting the door. "This morning, we went to the pool, and then at lunch we watched a movie while we were eating, it was like a picnic. And then after that we made mugs out of clay. We're going to paint them tomorrow when they're ready. I have two new friends, they're going to the same school I'll go to. One of them, she did my hair, see?" she pointed to the braids dangling on either side of her head.

"They're very nice," Maya chuckled, "What about you?" she looked to Wyatt, or tried to at least, as his grip made it hard to turn and see his face.

"Don't like it," he repeated.

"What don't you like, the camp?" Maya asked, rubbing his back.

"It's just the rain," Eliza knowingly explained.

"Why don't you hand him over here, I've got the perfect remedy for the rainy day blues. What do you say?" Pappy Joe came up into Wyatt's line of sight. "Tell you what, I know you're scared right now. I had a little one just like you. My Tom, he'd just grab on to my leg when there'd be a storm out. But then he'd hear his baby sister crying, and scared as he was, all he would really want would be to make sure she was alright." Maya could just imagine them in her mind, and it was impossible not to think about what those storms would have been like, after Tom's little sister had passed away. "Look at the baby right there," Pappy Joe told Wyatt. "He's scared, too, because he's too little to know that it's just rain, and wind, and that it'll stop. He needs reassuring. Can you do that for him?"

There were a few seconds of all of them just standing there, as Wyatt considered his options. But then, finally, his hold started to loosen and Maya was able to put him down. He went over to where Eliza had gone and picked up the still crying Elliott. She sat on the ground with him, and Wyatt joined her, taking his nephew's little hand.

"It's just the rain," he whispered. He hadn't conquered his fears, not exactly, but he always wanted to help look after his little nephew. Whenever he was around and it was time to change a diaper, he would be there, fetching things for whoever was doing the actual changing.

By the time Lucas had arrived home from work, the storm had not let up, and in fact it was only getting worse. They'd barely managed to finish dinner when there was one heart rattling clap of thunder. The power went out, and the chaos came on. Dogs were barking, and both Wyatt and Elliott were hollering, which sent the others in action to calm them down. It was a good thing there were enough of them so that Lucas and Eliza each saw to one of the dogs, while Maya and Pappy Joe saw to the boys.

"Looks like it might be until morning before they can fix it," Lucas reported, a few minutes later, as he hung up the phone. He'd gone up to where Maya was trying to keep the baby reassured, keeping his voice low for their boy as much as for the other boy, presently in the care of their personal Santa. They didn't want to worry Wyatt any more than they had to. "How's this guy doing?" Lucas asked, setting his hand to Elliott's back.

"Oh, he's hanging in there, I think. Aren't you, sprout?" Maya looked to the baby with a smile. He responded by pitching a new wail, gripping at his mother's shirt. "Then again not… aaand I think he just pooped." They turned to look at Wyatt. He was not in the mood to help anyone right now. "I'll do this one solo then."

When she returned from upstairs, her son with his fresh diaper now snug in his sling, Maya found that Operation Keep Calm had evolved into lamps posted to light up the living room, while a board game was laid out on the coffee table. Pappy Joe sat on the couch, while Lucas and Eliza worked to set up the pieces. Wyatt sat nearby on the ground, with Trix and Lou piled up around him.

"Are we doing teams?" Maya asked.

"We can't, there's five of us," Eliza pointed out.

"There's six if you count Elliott," Pappy Joe told her. "I'll team up with him."

"But he's a baby, he can't play," Eliza told him.

"Yeah, but I'm old, so it balances out," Pappy Joe replied, which made the girl laugh.

"Alright, so who's going to be my teammate?" Lucas looked to the three Hart siblings. While Maya tried not to smirk, she and Lucas watched the other two, both of them looking torn by the choice. Finally, Eliza had looked to her little brother.

"Who do you want to play with, Wyatt?"

The game saw them through to bed time. After a lot of indecision, Wyatt had decided to tag team with Lucas. It meant he got to sit in his lap, which was apparently the safest place to hide out from the storm. Whenever the thunder would strike, he'd startle and Lucas would close his arms around him.

"I know they've barely been here a week and a half, but I think this might be a good experience for Eliza," Maya told Lucas as they went back down the stairs. "Out here, she gets to be the oldest, and she's really stepped up."

"I've noticed it, too," Lucas agreed with a nod. Tonight, with a lamp as their night light, Eliza had allowed for her little brother to come and bunk with her, because he was still afraid. Maya and Lucas both expected to have one or two small visitors through the rest of the evening and into the night, but for now, with any luck, they would remain where they were and get some sleep. "If this had happened next week, they would already have had someone there with them," he added, alluding to the fact that, rather than try and add two more beds to the room, Sam would bunk with Wyatt, and Cara with Eliza, for the duration of their stay, until their parents made the trip and they all moved into their new house.

"We've been doing okay so far, haven't we? With them up there, and him here," she looked to Elliott asleep in his sling.

"More than okay," Lucas nodded.

"And once we have the others, too?"

"Even better," Lucas promised, which made her smile.

The 'visitors' came in the middle of the night, when the sky decided to have a light show. Maya was just getting back to bed after feeding the baby, and Lucas was awake, as no matter what the sound of his son's crying would wake him up, when a creak in the floor made them look to the door and find two pairs of eyes staring back at them.

"Come on," Lucas opened up the covers like a trap door, and Eliza and Wyatt came climbing in, burrowing between him and Maya. This time, Wyatt chose his big sister as partner, folding himself into waiting arms.

"Just close your eyes and pretend it's fireworks, you like those, yeah?" Maya whispered at his ear. He nodded. "Then it's the fourth of July all over again."

The power only returned about an hour after they'd all gotten up the next morning, but by then the storm was over and the daylight helped to make things feel about as normal as one could hope. After breakfast, Pappy Joe decided it was time for a good walk along his usual circuit, and he wanted everyone else to come along. After a night of being cooped up in the dark, there could be nothing better.

"Maya, look at the tree!" Wyatt pointed out ahead, more alert than they'd heard him be since his return from camp the day before. Out ahead, they could see one of the trees beyond their land had been struck by lightning. "Can I touch it?" the boy turned back to his big sister.

Before she was able to give an answer, affirmative or negative, Maya's phone rang and she took it from her pocket to find it was…

"Hey, Ainsley, how'd you guys do with the storm?"

"Oh, fine. Cameron loves them, go figure. The louder, the better," Ainsley Ellis informed her former classmate, though in a rapid fire tone that said she wasn't calling about that. "Just got a call from Jonah. Billie went into labor early last night, don't know if she's had the baby yet, but they're at the hospital now and I wanted to give you the heads up in case you want to go, too. Brianna and I are on our way, I called the guys…"

"Right, no, absolutely. I'll meet you there!" Maya smiled, stalling Lucas – who now wore the sling and the baby today – by holding to his arm. After she hung up, she relayed the news to the others. "What do we do? We have to get these two to camp," she looked to her siblings.

"I want to see the baby!" Eliza declared, which soon got Wyatt's vote, too.

"Don't you want to go and play with your friends at camp?" Lucas asked them. This brought conflict in their choice. "I can call my aunt and see if she'd dropped off Alex and Dora already. Otherwise we'll drop them off and swing back to the hospital after.

In the end, Dot was able to come and get the kids, so Pappy Joe stayed back to wait for her, while also keeping watch over his great grandson. If it looked as though they would be at the hospital for a long time, they would see about getting him up there with them, so Maya could feed him.

"Hey, how's it going? Is it over?" Maya asked the rest of their group – minus Willow, who was coming but still on the road – as they arrived at the hospital and found them there in the waiting room.

"Still waiting," Aaron stood from where he'd been sitting next to Marius, who had baby Simone in his arms. He came up to greet them both. "How about that storm last night? How did you do?"

"Between my siblings and the baby, a bit… complicated," Maya replied.

"Simone spent the whole night faking us out. We'd finally get her to calm herself down and we'd put her back in her crib. A minute later, she would be at it again. All night."

"Oh, no," Maya tried and failed not to laugh.

"She seems to be doing better now," Lucas remarked, looking to Marius.

"Oh, sure, like she'd be caught acting out here," Aaron joked.

"I never liked storms, and whenever there'd be thunder, it would startle me so much I was afraid I'd go into labor," Brianna reported, their 'last belly standing.'

"Cam kept going to her to try and reassure her," Ainsley smiled. "It was really sweet." On this, Brianna had to agree. She had been staying with the Ellis mother and son since just a couple of days after their visit up to the house. The move out of her parents' house had been difficult, to put it mildly, and the first few days at Ainsley's had been quiet ones. But now she looked determined more than ever to stop looking to what was and instead start to look toward the future, with her and Jay, with their baby… whether it was his baby or not.

"Hey!" They looked up to find a frazzled-looking Jonah coming toward them. One look at his face and they knew that expression. It was the face of a new father, eager to share the news. "You're here, hi!" he hugged here, clapped shoulders there.

"How'd it go? How's Billie?" Maya asked.

"She's great, she's so great," Jonah nodded firmly. "We have a daughter," he announced, to many cheers from the waiting group.

They left the new parents some time to bond with their little girl, and for Billie to get some rest, but already an hour later they were eager to introduce the newborn to their friends, so they went to see her, in two groups. Maya and Lucas were joined by the newly arrived Willow as they went with flowers and gifts in hand. Their fiery haired friend sat up in her bed, looking as serene and bright as ever, as she looked upon the bundled up babe in her arms.

"Well, she's got your hair," Maya commented with a grin as they walked in.

"My mama says it's not a recessive gene in our family, it's a survivor gene. It'll cling and find you at every turn," Billie shook her head, never tearing her eyes from the baby sleeping in her arms. "Ain't she the sweetest thing?"

"Coming from you, what else could she be?" Maya pressed her friend's shoulder, giving her a light hug. "Did you pick a name yet?"

"We did," Billie confirmed, finally looking up, to find Jonah. He was coming around now to sit with her. "This little girl here, she came around with hell breaking out there, like she wanted to make damn sure to make a dramatic entrance."

"So she's yours alright?" Willow guessed with a chuckle.

"Got that right," Jonah laughed, getting a half-hearted glare from Billie, who turned a smile back to her new daughter.

"Maya, Lucas, Willow… Meet Stormy."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners