Chapter 144
A Day For a Tadpole

One would be forgiven for needing a few seconds after a rattle of a thunderclap like that, especially as they could almost feel every bit of active energy dying away when the power went out. Maya stood there, holding to her kitchen counter. Out in the corner of her periphery, her two young visitors had been startled, and they just sort of stood there for a moment, realizing what was happening… most of it at least. They had sort of expected this power outage, their second together in this house, as already pointed out, but it still stopped them in their tracks. Then, like a generator kicking in, they turned back to their host in her peculiar stance… and they looked to the floor, even as she looked down at her feet.

"Oh, no…" Stella blinked.

"What do we do now?" Phoebe asked, much more expressive in her panic though not alone in feeling it, going by the way her best friend was gripping her hands in her sleeves. All things considered, being the one who was actually about to have a baby… standing in her kitchen… with a storm raging outside… Maya was the picture of calm by comparison. How's that for experience? She was breathing, she was good, now she just needed a plan.

"Phoebe, go upstairs, in my room, there's a blue bag with white stars on the floor, next to the closet. Bring it down?" she told her, and the girl sped off. "Be careful!" she called after her, with a fleeting thought of fingers and toes. "Stella…" she turned to the quiet girl and extended the hand that wasn't gripped to the counter. "Come here," she breathed. "It's okay," she promised when she didn't budge. She finally came, and Maya held her hand. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise. Alright?"

"Yeah," Stella nodded, movements still on the jittery side.

"Okay, now, I need you to get… Oof…" she paused, breathed, assessed… "I need you to get me my phone, and then I need you to collect the dogs, and the cats, and take them downstairs, you know where. They'll be calm there, they'll be safe." Stella still hesitated to leave her after bringing the phone. "Phoebe will be back in a second, go on."

Stella went. It wasn't easy to start gathering the pets, as the storm and the outage had brought them along with their own frenzy. She started to herd them away, picking up Shadow the cat possibly more for her own comfort than anything else. As predicted, Phoebe arrived with haste, brandishing the bag. Maya dispatched her to go and look out front and report on what it looked like out there. It wasn't entirely necessary, not when she could see out the windows in the kitchen that things were growing dicey and only getting worse, but she had to make a call and she didn't want to freak her out.

She called 911 first. She wanted to call Lucas first, needed to hear his voice more than she could put into words, but time was of the essence. She explained her situation to the woman who answered her call as best she could. It was just her and a couple of eighth graders. Were any of their neighbors at home right now? There was no telling, and even if they were, she wasn't about to get any of them on the road, not with this storm. The more pressing issue was that she was here, in her home, far from help, and she had it on good authority that the baby was coming… and he was coming fast. She did not want to put the responsibility into the girls' hands, but if someone didn't show up soon, she might not have a choice.

She walked back to her chair, sat down. Help was on the way, but it would take a little time, especially as Maya had a memory blast and recalled what the girls had said earlier, when they'd come back from upstairs. The broken tree… Was it in the road? Would it block the way? She told the operator, who was still on the line with her, before putting her on hold so she could finally call Lucas.

"Hey…" he answered. "We lost power, didn't we?" he asked, and she knew by the tone of his voice that, apparently, he and his father's office had been spared as of yet. He had no idea.

"Yeah, just now," she kept her voice as even as she could. "You and your dad hanging in there?"

"Yeah, we were just talking about the ranch and…"

"Great, great, great, good," Maya cut in, taking another breath. "Listen, not going to beat around this too long but I'm kind of having the baby right now…"

She couldn't see his face, no, but she had a pretty good idea of what it would look like just now, and she was almost sure he'd come very close to dropping his phone.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and she vaguely heard Thomas' voice in the background.

"Very, very sure," she breathed. "Everything's fine, but it's happening fast, and it's just the three of us…" she reminded him, even as she tried to listen for the girls.

By the sound of their voices, she'd guess that after finishing her task with the animals, Stella had joined her best friend in scoping out the state of the road. They had to be freaking out, too, and she really did not want to have to put them in the position of helping her actually deliver this baby. On the line, Lucas understood just where her mind was at, just as he had the presence of mind not to suggest a mad dash for home. The last thing they needed was for him to get into an accident.

"Did you call…"

"Ambulance will be coming," Maya assured him. She did not mention the tree to him, didn't want to add to his stress. "Just meet me at the hospital, okay?"

"O-okay…"

"Your dad can drive you, yeah?" she asked.

"Yeah…" he replied.

They were silent for a few seconds. He wouldn't be there. They both knew it. Their baby boy was coming, and there was very little chance that he'd be born anywhere except right here in their own home, and Lucas wouldn't get to be there with her when he came. It might not have been a big deal in the long run, not if it meant he was alright, but it was hard not to feel a bit of a loss. They'd so looked forward to this moment together.

"Call Stella's phone and she'll keep you updated, I have to get back to the operator…"

"I will," he promised. "And I'll let everyone know…"

"Tell your mom to wait for the storm to pass before bringing the boys," Maya quickly pleaded.

"Got it. Hey… I love you."

"I love you, too," she breathed, allowing herself one brief moment of fear and uncertainty.

Maya got back on the line with the operator, updated her to any changes she might have been feeling before being updated herself. Help was on the way, but it was still far enough away that they had to be honest with one another of what might happen in the meantime. They had to be ready, just in case her tadpole decided to come first.

"Do you know what you're having?" the woman asked, her voice sounding like she'd long honed her soothing tones. Annette… She'd introduced herself earlier, it came back to her now.

"Boy… Third of three," Maya informed her.

"Three boys," Annette showed herself impressed, a sympathetic laugh coloring her voice.

"Yeah," Maya had to chuckle in return.

"Does this boy have a name already?" Annette asked, and even if she couldn't see her, Maya nodded, taking another breath to steady herself.

"Jamie…" she revealed, and speaking her son's name for the first time, even to a stranger on the phone, made her feel less afraid. He was coming… He was coming, and he would be alright. They'd bring him safe…

She was going to have to call Phoebe and Stella back, prepare them in the event that they had to intervene. She wasn't looking forward to that idea, but her choices were what they were. At least they were here, right? She might have been all on her own today, 'taking things easy,' and then it would all have started. Before calling the girls in, Annette asked her more questions, had her verify what she could. Finally, Maya called for her young friends.

"There's people out there, I think they're trying to move the tree, but it's heavy, and the rain is coming down, and the wind…" Phoebe told her.

"Is it in the road, or…" Maya asked them.

"A little, but not all the way," Stella tried to show with her hands.

"Okay… Okay, good…" Maya breathed. "Listen, I have to tell you something right now, and you have to try and not freak out, okay?" They nodded, neither of them really managing not to look anything less than fifty percent freaked out. "Paramedics are on their way, but so is the baby, and he might get here first. We're going to hope that he doesn't, but the odds are not looking good, okay? That means… That means I might need your help."

The percentage climbed very fast as they grasped what she was telling them. She would have been more concerned if it hadn't. But after the initial shock passed, the two young friends exchanged a look, and it was decided. They were here, and the situation was what it was, so what else could they do? They turned back to her, and Maya swore right then and there, if the baby had been a girl, no matter what name they might have picked for her already, it would have changed. Failing that, she knew that no one from Lucas on down would disagree with the thought that Jamie Friar should have two godmothers.

Maya's phone was put on speaker, and Annette introduced herself to her new helpers before telling them what they'd need to gather and what they'd have to do. When Lucas called Stella's phone, she passed it over to Maya, who put this one on speaker as well and put it on the table, next to her own. He let her know that he'd spoken to his mother, and she would stay with the boys at the house. She would wait there with them until such a time as they told her to go somewhere else. They still had power, and while they had learned not to be so scared of storms, this was definitely a big one, so Granny Mel was working overtime to entertain her little grandsons. The fact that the third of those boys was now on his way might end up pulling her focus, but what else could she do?

Lucas had also put out the word to their friends over their message chain. As to her family, his mother would take care of calling Katy, Shawn, Abigail… They would all coordinate their efforts and meet her at the hospital when the time came.

"Maya, I've got good news for you, the ambulance is two minutes out. How are you doing?" Annette's voice asked. Maya let out a breath. Stella and Phoebe stopped what they'd been doing and looked at her.

"I think I can do two minutes," she nodded.

"I'll go look for them," Phoebe bolted out of the kitchen. Stella stayed at Maya's side, offered her hand. Maya grasped it with a smile.

"Promise I won't break it," she told her, and Stella nodded.

She was vaguely aware of Phoebe calling that she had spotted the ambulance, and people were coming. The door was opened for them, and then there were new voices, people approaching. Two paramedics, a man and woman, strode into the kitchen.

"Maya?" the woman asked, and she nodded. "My name's Zara, this is Jacob," she introduced herself and her partner. Maya looked at them both, and of all the things that could momentarily distract her from everything else happening around her and to her, to stare at this stranger in her kitchen and find that his face was familiar…

"I know you," she stated, breathing, frowning in confusion. When she said this, he looked at her and… yeah, she looked familiar to him, too. He looked down at the information he had carried in with him, while she spied the name on his uniform. Tracey. It was like a synchronized eureka. He only had to see the Friar name and it all fell into place.

"What's going on? Maya?" Lucas' voice sounded from the phone on the table. Jacob approached Stella's phone and picked it up.

"Hey, Lucas, long time no talk. It's Trace, remember?" There was a beat of silent surprise, and then Lucas laughed, sounding instantly just a bit reassured. Not only had help arrived, but here was someone he actually knew. "Hang tight, alright? I don't think you'll have long to wait."

He wasn't wrong. It was surprisingly helpful to have this old acquaintance to catch up with as he and his partner examined her and helped her get in a good position. Everything happened very fast after this. With Stella and Phoebe there in full encouragement mode, the kitchen soon rang with the cries of the newborn baby boy. Zara put him into his mother's arms as soon as she could. Maya received him with happy tears spilling freely from her eyes.

"Lucas, he's here…" she spoke, her voice coming with the wave of her emotions, the outpouring of love she just let come and envelop him as he went on crying, his new lungs exercising their great power. "He's beautiful, he's… perfect… Looks just like his brothers… Hi…" she laughed, cradling him. "It's okay, tadpole… It's just a storm. I've got you."

The rain was not letting up so easily, but Maya and the baby were eventually settled into the back of the ambulance and all set to go. Stella and Phoebe were allowed to climb in and follow along, and so they did. If they'd wanted a memorable day off from school, oh, they had gotten their wish and then some. Phoebe spent the better part of the ride to the hospital recalling past incidents where her clumsiness had led to injury, enough so that she had started going around with a first aid kit in her school bag. The look on Trace's face as he took all this in was kind of priceless. Stella would laugh, and Maya, too. It was hard to feel anything but at peace just now.

It only got better once they reached the hospital. The moment the doors to the ambulance were opened, Maya and the others discovered Lucas and his father had arrived, and they'd found their way out here just as they arrived. She was so relieved to see him, as he was to see her. He had a brief reunion with his former 'adversary' on the basketball courts of middle and high school before climbing in and reuniting with his wife… and meeting their son.

"You are soaked," Maya laughed, crying all over again as she got a look at him in his nice suit, weighed down with rain. He laughed back, his own eyes starting to well up as he got a look at the baby, bundled up in her arms.

"I'm alright," he assured her even as she signaled that she would pass him the baby. He took hold of the bundled-up boy, so immediately enthralled by him… their little tadpole. "Hiya, Jamie…" he smiled. Oh, it never stopped to hit him with this force, to hold his child for the first time, but this one… He hadn't been there. It was not his fault, wasn't for lack of wanting. But now he was here, finally meeting him… After getting Maya's call, which had sent so many of them scrambling, he'd felt so helpless, being somewhere else. All he'd wanted was to be back with them and he wasn't going to be okay again until… this moment right here. And now that he'd made it, now he was so much better.

Lucas would keep hold of the baby as they all headed into the hospital. They briefly gave Thomas a chance to get a look at his new grandson, after which he took 'custody' of Stella and Phoebe while Maya and Jamie were seen to. On all accounts, despite the unexpected location of the delivery, both mother and baby were doing just fine. After all this had been handled, the rush of activity they'd been caught up in from the moment labor had started officially came to a stop. They were taken to a room, where Maya sat up on her bed, holding the baby, while Lucas sat by them, looking on their little son with fascination just like hers.

"I don't even know what time it is anymore, but I am realizing… I never got to have lunch," Maya shook her head without breaking eye contact with the baby.

"It's almost dinner time," Lucas confirmed.

"That would explain the hunger then," she whispered, and he chuckled.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No, it's alright, I can wait," she promised, then, after a beat, "I might only be saying this because what I really want to eat right now would require someone going out to get it, and I really don't want to have to send anyone out there in this weather."

"It should calm down soon," Lucas assured her. "As soon as that happens, I'm sure we'll find a way, but in the meantime, are you sure you don't want something to hold you over?"

"I… might be up to suggestions," she finally conceded, and he smiled. "But, really, it doesn't have to be now. This right here, this is all I need right now, or… mostly," she looked up at him, and he knew what she meant. Elliott, Noah… They needed to be here, to meet their little brother.

Until then, they at least had a few people there to make the day feel like what it had become. September 7th, Jamie's day… Thomas Friar came along, with Stella and Phoebe right behind him. They'd gone and brought flowers, and a balloon, a blue teddy bear – for sapphires, his birthstone, not because he was a boy, as Phoebe explained. On Lucas' signal, he and his father briefly stepped out of the room, leaving Maya to talk with the girls.

"You know, as glad as I think we all are that things worked out the way they did in the end, it really means so much to know that you were ready to help the way you were," Maya told them as they stood by her bedside, looking upon the baby.

"It was nothing," Stella promised, and Phoebe nodded in agreement. Maya gave them a look. "Alright, maybe not nothing," Stella amended, and the girls laughed. "But we would have done it if we'd had to."

"We would," Phoebe nodded again.

"You want to hold him?" Maya asked, and the instant smiles told her enough. When it came to who would do it first, Phoebe tried to pass the privilege on to Stella, suggesting that maybe she herself shouldn't be trusted with the newborn, that she might drop him. "You'll do fine," Maya assured her. "Just take him, you know how." Phoebe nodded, though she still looked halfway terrified as she was handed her friend's child. Maya swore she saw her mouth 'watch the head' to herself as she took him. "See, you're fine."

"I've never held one small like that," she commented, smiling all the while. "Hi, Jamie," she greeted him. "I'm Phoebe." Stella stood right by her, enabling her to look on to him, to reach out and touch his little hand… "That's Stella," Phoebe carried on. "Was today as wild for you as it was for us? I mean, being born, that's a lot." Maya snorted, and the girls looked up as one. Yeah… That was the way to go.

So, she made her proposal. She told them how, after what had happened back at the house, leading them to this very moment, it would just be both her and Lucas' great honor if they would be Jamie's godmothers, both of them.

They were surprised at first, then unsure if she was serious. Surely, she had to have plenty of other people who would be better placed, more deserving… Maya promised them that while, yes, they had several worthy candidates, it didn't change anything. In her eyes, and in Lucas' as well, when she'd suggested it, there could not be anyone else but the two of them, not unless they didn't want to do it. So, giving it all due consideration, they accepted.

"I was working on a painting for him," Stella revealed, after Phoebe passed her the baby. "Well, I still am… it's not done yet. I thought I had more time. But I'll get it done soon and I'll bring it to you, okay?" she told Maya.

"Can't wait to see it," she smiled and nodded. "We can hang it in the nursery." Stella liked that, and Maya had a feeling that she'd get right on to work as soon as she made it home that night.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners