Chapter 151
The Most Wonderful Time

"Hey…" Lucas smiled as he stood up. He'd been crouched on one side of Jet, having dropped his brush, when he'd spotted a pair of familiar looking legs walking in his direction. When he stood up, he found Maya was approaching, with a smile of her own and a couple of small boxes stacked in her arms. By now, he knew exactly what those would be, or he thought he did. "Those for us?" he asked.

"Uh, these ones are," she tapped the bottom box with her finger before putting down the pair and opening the one on top. "But this is for him and a few of his horse friends," she grinned as the emergence of the specially-made treat brought the horse to approach her, eager to receive it. Maya didn't keep him waiting, offering the little cake, which was soon consumed. When it was all gone, Jet thanked her the best way he knew how, and she chuckled. "You're very welcome," she told him, returning the affection.

"Better be careful or they'll all be queueing up for one," Lucas told his wife, nodding for her to look around. Several of the horses sharing Jet's space seemed to have caught on to the delivery.

"I know, I wanted to make more than this, but you know, with the bake sale closing up today, it's a wonder I got to make even these…"

The baking club had been in full swing for over a month now, and it was everything Maya would have hoped for it to be and then some. Not all of her kids had been active bakers before coming into the club, though a vast majority of them were. Those few exceptions for the most part had already done some baking, but only in a sort of 'I helped my parent' sort of way. They'd never taken on the entire task on their own. A couple others were starting off from the very bottom of the ladder. They had no concept of how baking worked, but they were here to learn. Neither of those was shy to admit that they'd only signed up in order to follow a friend, and Maya didn't fault them for it. If anything, she applauded their initiative, as they quickly applied themselves and started to pick up the skills they were being taught. That wasn't to say that they didn't have any sort of baking disasters along the way, but on the whole they were just taken as learning opportunities that everyone could laugh about.

Almost more than those learning experiences, and the way they could all laugh over mistakes, the thing Maya was proudest of in the work she'd been doing so far was the spirit of her small club and what it accomplished. Those afternoons where they'd meet, every week, were fast growing to be the middle schoolers' favorite part of their time at school. She could see it in their faces when they'd show up, could hear it from the teachers when they'd see her and bring up one of her baking club kids. From what they told her, she got the impression that some of them had been showing a marked improvement, whether in academic performance or overall behavior. And it wasn't just about them either, it was the rest of the school.

As they'd headed into the month of December, the baking club had started a sort of bake sale/drive, selling baked goods to raise money for families in need over the holidays. Rather than simply making very straightforward wintery/holiday themed things, they had come up with a plan, the whole club together. They'd turned it into something like a challenge. There was a box where the students could leave a prompt, and then the club would pick one of those and fill it, one per day from the start of the month until the holiday break. It could be anything from a sport to an ingredient, a tv show, movie, book, comics, anything… within reason, of course. They were not surprised that a few 'comedians' left some more… crass ideas. Those were ignored and quickly set aside. Apart from those though, the rest of the school came through, and so did the club.

This had meant coming in not just on Tuesdays and Thursdays but Monday through Friday, but Maya was willing, and so was the school, and so were the kids, so they had done it. They even had some of the teachers coming along to pitch in, a welcome addition all, even Mrs. Brown, who promised to only involve herself in assisting, not actually baking, for everyone's health. She'd affirm this with her same energy as she'd show in class, and the kids would just laugh. Some of them even insisted that they could help her get better, and she thanked them kindly but continued to keep her distance and help where she could.

To everyone's benefit, Sue Cartwright was not one of the volunteers. Maya had barely seen the woman in the time since she'd started at the school, and when she had, it had only been in passing, not a single word uttered between the two. Others – primarily Mrs. Brown and the young bakers – were not shy to let Maya know that her presence had the art teacher rattled. According to Felicia, she might have gone so far as to try and get the baking club closed, to get her out of there. She had failed, royally so, and since then had been quietly sulking in her corner. And according to the students, she'd been taking it out on them in class, but they were still resisting her, all of them, and her efforts had been losing strength.

"Got some students who want to join the baking club when school starts up again in January," Maya told Lucas as they stepped outside with the second box. This one contained the baked treats which were not for the horses, and they each selected one, eating as they walked.

"That's great," he smiled, making her snort for how proud he was.

"It would mean expanding to five afternoons a week instead of two," she went on, revealing her one hang-up about the offer. "I want to do it, I'm just not sure, with the boys…"

"They'll be alright," Lucas told her. "They've been doing alright all this month, haven't they?"

"They have," Maya conceded with a tip of the head. He could see right through her, couldn't he? She just couldn't help feeling tugged back to them, like there were three lines connected between her and each of their sons, and the longer they were apart, the more she felt those lines drawing her back to them. "It was one thing when it was sort of… temporary," she explained. "And I know I'm supposed to go back to work at the art store on top of the club eventually. Right now, though…"

"Little tadpole?" Lucas guessed, and she hummed, taking another bite of her cupcake rather than try and put into words what he clearly already understood. It was easy to say 'oh, he's a baby, he'll be fine,' but it was about Jamie and her, too. A part of her would have felt so much better for having him there with her on those afternoons. Lucas passed her Jet's brush and she smiled, showing how she'd seen right through his method to clear her mind. She loved to tend to the horse, to any of them. It was soothing. "You want to talk Christmas?" he suggested, and she chuckled. They couldn't very well waste one of the few times when they didn't have the boys within earshot, especially now that two of them were old enough to not only hear them but understand… and repeat.

As much as they had always been enthusiastic, holiday wise, they couldn't say for sure whether Elliott and Noah had picked up their mad love for Christmas from them. No, they'd give that honor to Santa and Mrs. Claus, living in the little house behind their own. The funniest thing was that, while the two of them had taken up those posts at the mall, receiving children day to day, including their great grandsons, the Friar boys had their very own version of what was happening. In their minds, they had become convinced that Pappy Joe and Patty really were Santa and his wife, the real ones, and that was all it was. They were related, and no one would convince them otherwise, not that they tried. If anything, they played into it, suggesting that in time it would be their Pappy Tom and Granny Mel's turn to take over, and then their father and their mother, and then… well, what would they do when it was one of their turn? The boys had exchanged a look, turned to their baby brother in Patty's arms.

"We can all be Santa," Elliott nodded, plain and simple.

"That's good, then you'll get all those presents out a lot faster," Pappy Joe laughed as he addressed the two boys.

Maya and Lucas were more than happy to allow their boys to dive into this Christmas love. Under their great grandparents' guidance, they were getting to see what the holiday could mean, to know that this meaning didn't have to be restricted to the month of December.

"I just hope… I don't know, with the presents…" Maya hummed, brushing at Jet.

They didn't like to have those talks, no one would, probably, but they had no choice. They were fortunate for the fact that they had their house. It had been given to Lucas when he'd graduated high school, yes, but both he and Maya could guess that neither Pappy Joe nor… the rest of their families… had imagined that they'd have need of it to start and raise their own family so soon. Nowadays, it meant a lot, as far as saving up their money, to provide for themselves and their growing family, but it only went so far, didn't it, especially when it still meant so much to them to be able to pay their own way, as much as possible, without relying too much on the generous hands of some eager grandparents and great grandparents. But there were birthdays, and Christmas, and those… those had a way of boosting… generous tendencies. Could they even be mad about that?

And it was easier for it not to be a big thing when the boys had been smaller, but they were growing now, growing together. It was also easy to tell themselves that they had been showing their sons what mattered more or less, but then they were children, little ones, and they might not understand. They might see how things were elsewhere and want them to be that way for them, too.

"I know," Lucas told her, coming to stand by her. "It's okay. I think Santa's got it covered." She gave him a look. Covered how?

Pappy Joe was aware of his grandson's means, naturally, and he fully respected the way both he and his wife hoped to handle things. That also meant that he knew what Christmas could mean, for his favorite boys and for their parents. So, if Pappy Joe and Patty were supposed to be the genuine Santa and Mrs. Claus, then it was well within their power to show them to appreciate what they received and what they gave. They would all get to see how this shaped up in a matter of days, when the morning of the twenty-fifth rolled around.

Their first big day would be on Christmas Eve. It would kick off with their friends coming over for breakfast, all of them losing it one by one as they arrived and came upon Elliott, Noah, and Jamie, all in their holiday elf best. Whether sitting up in someone's arms or lying down, the three-month-old was deeply fascinated by the striped legs of his onesie and would keep staring at them or waving them around. As happy as they all were to see him and watch him in his fascination, the Friars were expecting several special guests who, for the part they'd played on a rainy September day, would be happiest of all to see Jamie Nathaniel Friar.

First among the those, accompanied by their parents, would be the boy's co-godmothers, Stella Buckley and Phoebe Munroe. They had both taken their role very seriously, right from day one, when they had been asked and had accepted the title. They had been by the house once a week at least, sometimes more, and even when they weren't there, they kept up to date with how their godson was doing, primarily when they'd show up for baking club but also via texts. They were also part of the message chain where the family would share pictures and videos of the boys.

And Jamie loved them both. By now, he would get such a smile whenever he'd see them, and the feeling would be mutual, as far as the girls were concerned. They were right up there with those people he was the most effortlessly comfortable with, whenever someone would pick him up.

Maybe less familiar to the baby boy but no less important as far as his family was concerned were the next guests to arrive. They would never know whether they would have ended up here today if not for the connection that Lucas and Maya both had to one of them, but they did have that connection, and so Zara Lindley came along, as did her partner and fellow paramedic, Jacob 'Trace' Tracey, accompanied by his wife and his own baby boy, Jake. With the Traceys, they found themselves with three baby boys in the house, all roughly the same age, with Jamie Friar, Jake Tracey, and Milo Bertrand. Judd and Tilly's son, as much as his parents had worried through most of the pregnancy, had come into the world about as healthy and thriving as any newborn ought to be. He was the spitting image of his mother, from his complexion to his hair. With any luck, his fairness would not get him the same 'vampire' jokes Tilly had dealt with for most of her life.

"If you ask me, what you have right here is a strong base for a future basketball team," Trace declared as he held his former opponent's baby boy. Lucas chuckled, looking to little Jake and Milo and letting both of them grip on to one of his fingers.

"Now, that would be something. Just because we were on opposing teams, doesn't mean they couldn't be teammates, huh?"

After a long, hectic but great day, no one had to be convinced to head to bed, especially the young brothers. Just because their great grandfather himself was The Santa Claus, it didn't mean that they were exempted from going to sleep and letting him do his thing. They had taken care to tailor the snacks they left him according to what they knew he liked. In no time, they had said goodnight to their sleeping baby brother and been tucked into bed. They were sharing Elliott's bed that night, two elves curled up side by side.

"What's the first Christmas morning you remember?" Maya asked Lucas as they settled into their own bed that night. He didn't reply right away. He considered her question, tried to think back. Finally, he nodded to himself.

"I'm not actually sure… I was either three or four… I'm not even sure whose house we were at, but they had a cat, and it managed to get in their tree. Brought it right down, came this close to me. My mother was shouting, and she picked me up. I remember her inspecting me for cuts of any kind. I was perfectly fine."

"Wow…" Maya had to laugh. "What about just at home? Christmas morning?"

"I think… the first one of those I can say I really remember… I might have been five. It's the first tree I remember helping to decorate, mostly because I remembered some of the ornaments we put up that year, new ones. I remember the morning, too. I woke up before my parents, and I wanted to see if Santa had come, so I went down the stairs and… there were the presents. I remember that I really wanted to open them, but I'd been told not to, that I had to wait for my parents to be there, too. So I sat on the couch, and I waited… and I fell asleep again. That part they reminded me about years later," he specified, and Maya laughed. Lucas opened his mouth to turn the question on to her, but then he hesitated, thinking of her childhood, what he knew of it… But she saw the look, and she understood it, enough that she reassured him; she could answer.

"I don't really have a lot of Christmas morning memories, not until I was maybe seven or eight or something, but the one thing I always remember, I was four. My mother worked at a diner, not the same one as in the end," she specified. "Anyway, they had all these little fake trees, decorations, about this high," Maya indicated a shape roughly three inches tall. "Plastic, very basic, green, with a bit of white in places to look like snow. She started to bring some home to me. For a few weeks, every day, I'd have another new tree or two. By Christmas, it was like I had a whole mini forest in my window, where she put them. I remember sitting there, looking at them, sort of crouched under so they'd look big somehow."

"I can picture that," Lucas smiled.

"Yeah…" she smiled back for a moment. "Her boss was a jerk. He figured out that she'd been taking them. I guess he asked her to bring them back… like they weren't just going to end up in the trash after the holidays… She wouldn't do it, and she ended up getting fired. She said it was the one time she didn't mind losing her job. And we still had the trees. I remember putting them back in my window for a few years after that. What I don't remember is when I stopped, and when we got rid of them."

In the morning, Maya woke first and had Jamie good and fed before Lucas woke up, too. The baby boy was passed into his half-awake father's arms, for some good Christmas morning cuddles, while his mother went to see how his big brothers were faring.

Elliott and Noah, brother elves, were both up and out of bed, standing where they could peek out their window, down to where the small house sat, their great grandparents' home, like they were hoping maybe to get a look at the jolly man in red returning from his trip around the world… maybe catch a glimpse of some reindeer. With the smirk of an idea, Maya reached up to tap the decoration hanging from the bedroom door, making the chiming little bells jingle. At once, the boys gasped and seemed to redouble their efforts at the window. Maya swallowed back her laugh.

"Merry Christmas, fellas," she told them, and the spun around, busted, before running up to embrace her. Maya bent to kiss the top of both blond heads. "Come on, let's go see how your dad and your brother are doing, then we can go see how Santa did."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners