Chapter 159
The One We Need

"Hey, bud, need a hand?" Lucas casually asked Noah as he approached him, with Jamie balanced in one arm. The eight-month-old was off somewhere in his own world, playing with his father's shirt collar, paying no mind to his big brother in his antics.

Just a few days ago, current middle brother Noah had turned three years old. And he had celebrated this momentous occasion by taking a tumble that landed him in the ER. Oh, it wasn't so bad in the end, even if he'd cried himself red in the face after the fall. By the time they'd tended to him, he was back to his energetic self. They'd put a cast on his arm, which had immediately fascinated him, long before the nurse learned that it was his birthday and that he loved Star Wars and went digging in her stickers to find some appropriate ones to put on his cast.

As amused as he'd been by in at first, he'd soon found that going through his day to day with that thing on his arm was kind of tricky. By now, as he played with one of his new birthday presents, he just had a look full of frustrated concentration on his little face, complete with a bit of tongue sticking out.

"I can do it, Daddy," Noah insisted.

"You sure?" Lucas asked, and Noah nodded, sending his curls bouncing. "Alright," he told him, stepping away… slowly…

"Daddy?" Noah called him back, and so he came, taking a seat on the floor across from him and seating the baby against himself in his lap. This summoned Elliott over from where he'd been chasing after Shadow the cat.

They were all doing their best to put the incident behind them now, to focus on 'he's alright, his arm will heal,' but oh… when it had happened… They hadn't even gotten to go and do anything like wish him a happy birthday yet. They were barely up with the baby and plotting how they would go about surprising their newly aged up son when they'd heard the great big noise, followed by immediate, high-pitched wailing. They might have developed super speed for how fast they ran off to see what had happened. When they'd found him there, twisting around on the floor with the panic of the pain he felt etched on his face… Both Lucas and Maya had felt as though that feeling had become part of them, like Noah's being part of each of them meant that his pain was theirs as well. They must have been wearing it on their faces by the time they carried him into the hospital, and all the while as they'd seen to him. They could do their best to look like this was fine and totally not scary for Noah's sake, but any adult looking at them would only see a couple of scared parents.

Lucas' way of coping, naturally, had been to try and see Maya through the ordeal. Had they both known to expect something like this for the better part of their second born son's life? Yes, absolutely. Did it make it easier when it actually happened? Only a little, and not nearly enough to make it so that their hearts didn't feel as though they were beating out of their chests. And for Maya, well, he knew she'd be feeling it so deep, like this was all her fault, like she hadn't been watching him twenty-four/seven and so she was the reason that their boy was hurt, when of course it wasn't so. They had fixed their fair share of small hurts in their near four years as parents, but this was much more than a small hurt, or a runny nose, much more than a fever in the night, and they'd had one of those to handle before… The fevers, the arm… They existed like dread in their guts, forcing them to see their children as breakable… and that was never going to be easy to deal with.

"Daddy, when are we going to eat?" Elliott asked.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," Noah pitched in at this.

"We're going to Nando's as soon as your mother gets home, I promise," Lucas told them, and that was already good news to the two in front of him, even to the one in his arms, who seemed to catch on to his brothers' cheer and decide to join it with a squeal and a round of clumsy applause. Then, as Lucas should have expected, the next query became…

"When is she going to be here?" Elliott asked.

"Yeah, where's Mommy?" Noah followed.

"She had to stay a little later than usual at the school, but she should be back soon," Lucas explained. She had in fact texted to say that she was on her way right before he'd gone and found Noah in his 'struggles,' so he fully expected her to come along within a minute or two. And she did.

"Mommy!" Elliott scrambled up and ran to her before she'd even managed to shut the door. Noah pushed up with his good arm to stand, keeping the bad one up, and soon joined his brother.

"Hey!" she smiled so brightly to see them, and hug them, and immediately Lucas was taken with this impression like, as happy as they would both be to see their sons at any time, she looked like she'd already been overflowing with this emotion before she got here.

"Can we eat now?" Elliott asked.

"Yeah, we're going to Nando's, did your dad tell you?" Maya laughed. The boys nodded. "How's your arm, Bee?" she asked, crouching down before them so she could have a look when he presented it to her. He'd gotten it into his head that her kisses were like medicine, and she would happily 'dispense' said medicine whenever asked, planting a light but smacking kiss – for emphasis – over the cast.

"Better," Noah declared with satisfaction, then, "I want fries."

"You and me both," Maya agreed wholeheartedly with this sentiment. "Why don't you go and see if Pappy Joe and Patty want to come along?" The boys dashed off together, the better for her to be presented with and receive their baby brother when she stood again. "Hey, tadpole, hi…" she smiled before kissing the top of his head even as he grabbed hold of her necklace and tried to eat it. "Oh, you're hungry, too, is that it?" she lightly teased before easing the pendant away from him and offering her hand to him as substitute. "How about you?" Maya looked to her husband, as they could finally have their own greeting. He leaned in and they briefly kissed as they said hello. Even here, Lucas could feel that excess of happiness in her, so he had to ask.

"So, what kept you back there?" It was plain to see that this would be the cause of it, and going by the way her smile expanded…

"Well, it's definitely going to take me longer than it'll be before they get back, so do you want the short of it now or should I keep the whole thing for after we get back?" she offered. Oh, that was already too intriguing to pass up…

"Short, please," he requested, and she tipped her head as though to congratulate him on the correct choice.

"Sue Cartwright was fired today," she revealed.

"No way…" Lucas' eyes widened with surprise, and Maya lifted her finger. Wait, it gets better. She spun that finger around and pointed it at herself, allowing him to piece together her meaning. Now he blinked. Was she actually saying what he thought…

"As of this fall, I will be the new art teacher at the middle s…"

She didn't get to finish the word, as he'd already come up and embraced her, very careful not to squash their littlest son in the process. She laughed, and oh how he wished for a moment there that they didn't have dinner to think about just now. They could have discussed it all right there, with the others, at Nando's, but he understood that she wanted to relay this particular story to him alone, at least the 'full and unedited version.' So, all they could do for now was stow away the information and get everyone off to the diner to eat.

The story may have been stowed away until later, but the news certainly didn't remain hidden for too long. They arrived at the diner – where Nando Garcia happily welcomed his small diners as soon as he saw them – and packed in around one of the tables, and even as they were all deciding what they would get the matter was brought up. Maya had the distinct look of someone who'd had a very good day, and the senior Friars were wondering what had happened to make it so. She briefly tried to suggest that this was nothing, but she was just happy enough that she finally just said it. The news of her hiring was received here just as it had been when Lucas had heard it, if with less hugging and kissing. Even Elliott and Noah understood that this was something great for their mother, and their heads turned this way and that, following the conversation with great interest.

"I need to tell my parents, and your parents, before the boys go and blurt it out, but not tonight, too tired…" Maya hummed, later, back at the house. The senior Friars had now retreated to their house, and the boys were asleep, so it was down to the two of them. Maya plopped down on the couch, illustrating her exhaustion. Whiskey the cat came slinking toward her and climbed on to her lap. Her head dipped gladly at the hand that came to scratch her and Maya smiled.

"That would be ideal," Lucas agreed as he came and sat by her side. She reached out her other hand with a smirk that seemed to ask if he wanted to get some scratches, too. He played as though imitating the cat for a moment before resettling, taking her hand in his instead. "So, what happened with Sue and…"

"You know, it was kind of… enlightening," Maya reflected with a hum. "All this time, I was so frustrated, seeing what she did, hearing about it, like… how could she still have a job there? It couldn't be that no one noticed what she was like, so if they were going to keep her on… But then today, after talking with the principal, I got to understand a bit… They weren't blind to it, but they were looking at the big picture, more than the rest of us did, I guess. They knew that if they weren't careful, it either wasn't going to stick, or it was going to come at too high a price. She knew what she was doing, but so did they. No one liked that it went on for this long, especially for the students' sake, but that ended today. I didn't even see what happened, but Felicia said that Sue finally got careless, and she went too far. So, they fired her."

"Good riddance," Lucas politely nodded, which made Maya chuckle.

"I didn't see what came before, but I definitely saw her departure. Oh, it wasn't graceful. I'd have felt sorry for her, but she literally had it coming. I think my favorite part was that Bodhi got to see her go, to see that, even though it took time, her actions didn't go by without consequence."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed.

"I wish I would have gotten to be his teacher… More than for a little while," she explained with a hum. Whiskey the cat was like a fluffy blanket over her by now, and Maya took comfort from her warmth. "But he'll be going to high school next year, and that's good. He got his grades back up… came so close to being held back last year, but now he's doing so well."

"You may not have been his teacher, but you still helped him," Lucas suggested, and that did help put things into a better perspective. "So, Sue got the boot, and then… they just hired you, or…"

"No, well, it was more than that," Maya came back to story mode, eagerly carrying on. "It's like I said, they've been trying to get her out for a while. The fact that I got the job like that, it's been in the works. Definitely seeing Felicia Brown's hand in this. She's been making sure admin didn't miss a beat of what was going on with Sue, and she also didn't miss a chance to talk me up whenever she could, mentioning how well the students responded to me, what I'd been doing for the school already with the baking club… No, it didn't get decided today. They've been waiting for the moment when they could get Sue out to get me in, and today finally happened. The year's almost out, there'll be a substitute for the last few weeks, and then in September I'll be taking over the class."

"That's amazing…" Lucas shook his head in awe.

"It really is," Maya agreed. "The kids don't know… Sort of can't wait to see the looks on their faces…" she added, and her smile made him laugh. "So now it means that I'll have to quit my job at the art store at the end of the summer…" she reflected. She'd only just gone back not too long ago, splitting her time between there and the baking club. Even though it would be necessary, she would be lying if she said that she wouldn't be sad to go.

"It'll be worth it," Lucas assured her, and she hummed. Yes, it would be…

"Noah will be in preschool by then…" she stated, and for a moment both of them sat there, imagining how on Earth they'd already made it to this point. Then, the memories of that birthday morning trip to the ER left them wondering what kinds of adventures he'd get up to out there… In near unison, they sighed, and that made them break into laughter. "Understanding that I have no other motives than curiosity," Maya slowly went on. "After I left the school, with this new job in my pocket, I did sort of have to stop… and think about what it might mean for us, and the boys, and then… any other little Friars we might have a mind to bring into the world…" she explained.

Lucas knew what she meant, and he gave it due consideration. They may not have had any definite plans in mind, either of them, but what they could absolutely agree on was that they weren't done. They wanted more children beyond their three sons. They were in no way obligated to jump into number four right here and now, certainly not with her having this shiny new teaching post she hadn't even stepped into yet. They had an eight-month-old, a three-year-old, and – by the end of the month – a four-year-old. They were In their mid-twenties, they had time, but still…

"Well, what are you thinking?" Lucas asked, looking at her. Ultimately, she was the one who'd have to carry them, and he firmly believed that it should be up to her to decide on any kind of timeline.

"I don't want to wait too long," Maya told him. "I don't mind gaps in ages, I mean I love all my siblings so much, but at the same time I've seen how they are together, just like how our boys are together… It's not the same as what I have, and…"

"You want them to be able to actually grow up together," he guessed, and she nodded. He smiled. He really wanted that, too. "What if… we wait, so you can have this first year of teaching before we see about making Jamie into a big brother?" The thought both made her smile and a bit sad, the bittersweet kind that came with thinking of their boys growing up out of babies, and toddlers…

"I can work with that," she finally replied, and Lucas tipped his head to her. They could both hold on to that. It was a solid plan. Right now, the only 'new baby' she'd have to focus on would be her career. She was finally going to be a teacher…

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners