Chapter 73
Your Trusted Companion

Ever since Elliott had been born, when morning came, they didn't have to worry whether Maya would be awake to see Lucas off to his day at university, or sometimes at the bookstore. Their days would start early, with feedings, with stories from the tree and its leaves of names, and then Lucas would kiss his wife and son goodbye until the end of the day when he would return.

But now here they were, trying to put all chances on their side, to keep Maya as rested as she possibly could be, and so in the last couple of days, since their trip to the hospital in the night, she had been waking up later, by which time Lucas was already gone, while Elliott would be downstairs with his great grandfather. He didn't like this any more than Maya did, always wanted to get the chance to wish her a good day, so he'd compromised by leaving her a note on the night stand, right where she could see it when she moved to get up. Today, she sat up, turned, let her feet reach the ground as she spotted the paper and picked it up.

Told Elliott the story of how you and the others became a band, that time at the Babineaux party. He looked very happy to hear it. I wonder if he'll have any of your musical talents. We could start a family band? Love, so much love, 366 of it. See you tonight. Lucas

Maya smiled, pulling the night stand drawer open and placing the note on top of the previous ones. Of course, she kept them all.

After a stop over at the bathroom, she made her way slowly down the stairs. Truth be told, she didn't exactly need to take it so slow, but then she was so concerned with not making matters worse that she preferred to err on the side of caution. By the time she came down the stairs in the morning, unless she absolutely had to, she didn't go up or down again until the end of the day. Already, Pappy Joe had volunteered himself to run errands for her, if she needed something from her room, or the nursery, or the basement, and she'd feel so awkward about calling on him that she'd try to keep from making those needs clear in any way that would send him shuffling along. All she could think about was his old injury, which had come from a fall down the stairs. The last thing any of them needed was for him to have a repeat.

Presently, Pappy Joe was sitting on the couch, holding to Elliott's hands as the boy stood before him and talking to him. His theory was that the longer he kept his attention, the longer he'd remain standing before he went tipping back to fall on his diapered butt. He was determined that he would be able to start taking steps before long, at least with some assistance. He was not alone in this belief. According to Katy and Kermit both, Maya had been going through all the levels from crawling on to walking on her own faster than most other babies, like she already couldn't wait to expand her horizons, to see the world, to be her own person. Elliott was giving them the same impressions.

"Good morning," Pappy Joe turned his head when he heard the creak of the steps, pulling Elliott to sit in his lap in the same instant. "Hungry?" he asked, standing to move toward her. Elliott spotted his mother and merrily reached for her at once. Maya took him into her arms, kissing his squishy cheek.

"Hey, hey," she smiled as he did the same to her, if with the excess of one who didn't entirely comprehend what he was supposed to do just yet. As far as Maya was concerned, he could keep doing that for as long as he wanted to. "And hey, hey to you, too," she turned to Pappy Joe, who received the greeting with a laugh. "Yes, very hungry," she informed him, and that was all he needed to know before going into the kitchen to make her breakfast. "What do you think? What should we do today?" Maya looked back to Elliott, who had gripped on to the collar of her shirt even as he watched her with unfailing curiosity. "I have a feeling that one of your grandparents might show up… maybe even two of them. What do you think? Nana Katy or Granny Mel?"

Just to hear the names now, he would react, he would understand, and if that was a big hit with his parents, it was so much more with the grandparents. To see him recognize some word or object, it would be as though he had made some kind of genius discovery. Neither Maya nor Lucas could help from being so deeply amused by their parents' interactions with their baby boy.

A close second to these encounters would be whenever any of their friends would come in contact with Elliott, showing how they had all earned the honorary titles of aunts and uncles.

When the doorbell rang, just as Maya was finishing up her breakfast a short time later, it was not 'Nana Katy' or 'Granny Mel' that Pappy Joe escorted back into the kitchen but Auntie Nadine.

"Hi," Maya laughed, surprised. "What are you doing here?" she asked. Nadine was not long to go and greet Elliott, who knew her very well, naturally, and did not leave her wanting for a display of affection.

"I had the day off, and I thought about what I wanted to do with that day off, and here I am. If that's alright with you…" she went on, in a tone that showed clearly she knew the answer to this.

"It's so alright, I would almost have been upset with you if you didn't show," Maya told her.

"Good," Nadine smiled. "So, what should we do?" she asked, making Maya laugh as she recalled asking the same question of her son not very long ago.

"A lot of things, each one more entertaining than the last," she told her friend. "Once that guy is down for a nap," she nodded to Elliott, "I have a big basket of laundry to fold." She punctuated this statement with a gesture like 'isn't this exciting?'

"Oh, I can do that," Nadine jumped in at once, and the words were barely out of her mouth that Pappy Joe was shaking his head and Maya was pointing at her, practically shouting 'ah-ha!'

"Too eager," Pappy Joe coughed.

"Alright, who sent you?" Maya asked.

"What? No one sent me, I told you, I had the day off…" Nadine promised. Maya kept looking at her. "You know, you were pretty intimidating already, but you're really coming into your mom stare," Nadine settled back in her seat, while Maya continued to wait, never deterred by the affirmation, even if it amused her. "Fine," Nadine sighed, tipping her head back before looking up again. "Today's my Maya Day."

One arched eyebrow moved her to speak further.

"It so happens that there are a lot of us out there who, out of love and concern for our friends, decided that we could do with giving of our time to lend some support, which is really not asking a lot, because we would be here all day, every day, if it was up to us, because you and Lucas are literally some of our favorite people. Except there's school, and there's work, and there's the fact that some of us live in Houston, or New York, so we can't all be here all the time… but we can be here sometime, a day here, a day there, and with all of us, well that's enough where we got you covered no matter what day it is. Today, I'm it," she smiled, extending her hands in a definitive 'ta-da!'

Maya was not surprised by this revelation. She was touched, so very touched, just not surprised. And maybe they had a point. Already having Nadine here for a couple of minutes, it felt like her day had brightened. She wasn't going to let herself be coddled into inactivity, not when she could very well decide how much or how little she was able to do, but she could see the benefit of having her here.

"You're not folding the laundry," she told Nadine. "It's going to sound weird but I really like doing that? My mother would laugh, because I used to complain about doing it when I was younger, but now I don't know if it's that I'm a mom myself or that folding a lot of baby clothes makes me happy, it's just…"

"That basket is yours," Nadine understood, holding out her hands in full 'surrender,' and Maya thanked her with a tip of the head. "I guess I'll just have to spend that time playing with this guy," she turned a smile to Elliott, who saw this and responded by squealing and reaching for her, a signal that he wished to be picked up. It was gladly accepted as Nadine lifted him from his high-chair. "Yeah, you're right, this is better."

Nadine was still with them by the time Lucas came home from school, and by then she had been joined by Zay, who was now 'flying' Elliott up in the air while lying on his back on the floor. He seemed to enjoy this very much, crying whenever he was brought down again.

"He's not going to let you stop, you know that, right?" Maya was telling him. Zay looked like he was realizing this, too, even as he came to find his arms were growing tired. "Good thing the relief team just got here," Maya told him, as Lucas leaned over the couch to kiss the side of her face before moving around the couch to sweep their boy into his arms. As predicted, Elliott completely forgot about his plane rides once he saw that his father was back. There was really nothing quite as invigorating as to see the way their son's face lit up at the sight of his parents.

Nadine and Zay remained at the house until mid-evening before finally heading on home. Lucas carried Elliott upstairs, following after Maya, and once they reached the nursery she sat in the rocking chair while he handed her the baby. He was already asleep, but it just wouldn't have been enough to set him in his crib and be done for the night. So, she held him, calmed by his presence, the peace on his face. She might have stayed like this all night, but she finally had to get up and set him down, walking across the hall to join Lucas, who had been going over some of his notes at his desk.

"School was good?" Maya asked as she moved to get changed for bed.

"Yeah, it was, actually," Lucas turned around in his chair. "You know those days where it's not that it wasn't good, or motivating before, but suddenly that one day makes you feel like you're so in the right place?" She smiled.

"Yeah, I do," she nodded. Maybe a part of her would have felt disappointment, knowing how she should have been having days like that, too, if not for their circumstances. But then she would never choose that, not over Elliott or the Bee. And beyond that, knowing what Lucas had already given up, his dreams of being a veterinarian, in favor of business school, of getting to work with his father so he could support their family, well… A good day like that was all she could hope for.

"What about you? Today, with Nadine?" Lucas asked.

"Did you know about their whole 'Maya Day' thing?" she asked, smiling.

"I may have heard of it," he confessed as she walked up to him and he put his arms around her waist, finding himself face-to-belly, which was not a bad place to be. "So, it was good?" he asked, looking up.

"Yes, it was good," she replied, honestly, and maybe just a bit indulging. It didn't fix everything, and no one expected it to do so. But it was something, and that was already better.

In the days that would follow, both Maya and Lucas and their friends would be reminded of this, as a few more of them clocked in for their own 'Maya Day.'

After Nadine, Riley had shown up, so early as to suggest she had gotten in the car at something like five in the morning. But she was here, and rather than to feel as though she might have been imposing on her friends, Maya recognized the balance of their wanting to be with her and of her wanting to be with them, and so she simply showed her gratitude by enjoying the fact that she had one of her friends there with her.

"How's he doing?" Riley asked, as she drove the two of them and Elliott off to the Hart house. When Maya had told her that she was going to visit her father that day, she could see her best friend's flicker, like she didn't want to say anything because what choice did she have when her father was dying, but really on the inside all she could think was that it would be too much for Maya to handle.

"In some ways it's like before. Some days are better than others. But now, his good days are a lot more like what his bad days used to be, so the new bad days… they're really bad," Maya told her, her gaze fleeting, like all it wanted was to run away and take her far from this subject. They talked, Riley and her. They talked every day, whether it was by voice or by text, but more often than not they sort of sidestepped the subject of Kermit's condition, both of them much more intent to focus on the good. But sometimes it couldn't be helped, and now, as they were about to go and see him, it just had to be told. "Sometimes, he has trouble speaking, and I can see it in his eyes, how much that… pains him," Maya bowed her head.

When she came around to looking back at her best friend, in the quiet of the car, she could just see Riley's unease, her loss of words as she struggled to respond. She just didn't know what to say, and Maya didn't blame her one bit. She didn't know what to make of it all half the time either, but then how was anyone supposed to make sense of losing a parent? She was twenty-two years old… With all the years they'd spent apart, and the years where she had been too young to know one thing from the other, he really hadn't been in her life all that long, had he? She'd spent more time missing him, being upset at him, than she had ever spent knowing him, being near him… and now she was about to lose him for good.

The biggest thing for her, inevitably, was all the what ifs she would have to juggle for the rest of her life. How long would it be before she looked at her children and she would just be able to pick out those little parts in them that were just their grandfather, when they would never have been old enough to remember him? Of the multitude of photos and videos they had already amassed, of Elliott and any of his grandparents, Lucas had pointed out once just how many featured Kermit, and she'd been made to realize what she'd been doing, what they'd all been doing, consciously or not. They were building up a record of him, of the time he'd spent with Elliott, and with as much of the Bee as he could ever expect to be, so in time they would be able to show it all to them and be able to say 'See? That was your grandfather, and he loved you very much.' Sooner or later, they'd have to find out the part where he had not been around for a long time, but whenever that moment came, Maya knew she would be telling a much different story than she might have done if the two of them hadn't mended bridges as they'd done. For that… For that she was maybe thankful most of all.

The flow of new photos and videos with Kermit had slowed as of late. They didn't mean so much to erase this part, to pretend as though it had never happened, but this was just not how she wanted to remember him, not how she wanted her kids to know him. It had taken her so long to get to know him properly, to cut through the blurry image she had of the man who had been her father, when she had been a small child and he'd been… little more than a child, overwhelmed and lost enough to leave. The man he had become, fifteen years later, was so different, of course, but at his core still her father, and as she'd made space for him in her heart again, she'd found him…

The parts she was happiest to have discovered were the ones where he was like her, she couldn't lie. His musicality, that… that had been her greatest discovery, and it was something she would hold on to after he was gone. She would remember him with that guitar, the change in his posture, the flow of his voice. Thinking about it, and thinking of his difficulties now, in speaking, it would shake her deep. How would she feel, when she had expressed so much of herself in her voice, in music, if she suddenly could not do it anymore? She could see that look in his eyes again, and it was as though she could read the words in his eyes.

That day, when she'd gone with Riley to visit him, with all those thoughts in her head, she'd ended up sitting there with him on his bed, just singing to him. Any song that came through her head carrying any feelings of him, they followed down through her vocal cords and emerged in sound. And all the while, Kermit would watch her, listen to her, and he would hold her hand. He understood what this was meant to be and wanted her to know he appreciated it.

He didn't know about what had happened the other day, her ending up at the hospital in the middle of the night. She didn't want to tell him, didn't want to pile any extra worry on to him. One way or another, he'd already know that this was all so rough on her, everything that was happening at the same time, but that was as far as it could go. Maya had asked this of Abigail, and Sam and Cara, and her grandmother, and they had agreed to keep it to themselves. They'd found out, which was inevitable, but they kept it from the little kids, and from Kermit. So long as she minded herself, they never had to know.

After that day with Riley, with her father, she'd needed to pull back, to regroup, and of all people to clock in for a Maya Day, she couldn't have asked for a better companion than Dylan Orlando. It felt weird to say, really. Dylan was like one of those balls that just bounced off everything at great speed and repetition, and there she was, just so emotionally spent. But that was where his power was, she realized. He'd bounce, and bounce, and he'd just refill that empty gauge at every turn, little by little, without her seeing it, until at one point they'd just be sitting there together, with him holding her son and infusing Opie Bunny with voice and character, making Elliott laugh and laugh, and she would look at him thinking of how lucky she was to count Dylan Orlando as one of her friends.

Nadine, Riley, Dylan… Sophie had come the day after that, being the easy friend she had been from the start, and then it had been Rosa, and then Zay, and then Chiara… At some point, she'd see how the days were going by. They always did, sooner or later, but this was different, had no choice but to be. Even those of them who lived far away, Farkle and Isadora, Asher, Ray, Rebecca, Joey… They all checked in, spent hours on video calls with her, and near or far, the result was the same. Whenever they would leave, whenever the calls would end, she would be left feeling just so, so thankful. Did they even realize how important they were to her? Could she ever thank them enough?

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners