A/N: One day late...

A/N2: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now available!

August 26th 2023

Chapter 238
We Write Our Melodies

Band practice had been a staple in her life for so long, always special, always a time she looked forward to. And now, as though it wasn't great enough with her own band of North of two decades, she also got to sit with them as they watched and listened to their junior band as they experienced that very same thrill, right here in the studio that had given them their updated name.

They had not all come by one another in the same way that TXNY, though in some ways maybe they had, too. It was chance that had allowed their paths to cross, to unite them and allow them to make music together, their music.

Their lineup had changed here and there along the way, same as TXNY's had. They seemed devoted to keeping this one going for as long as possible, but with some among them still having to contemplate their post high school plans, it didn't feel reasonable to go along as though no one would go and move too far to stay in the band. The best they could do now was enjoy the present together, and they did.

When they were done, they went and switched places with TXNY, becoming the audience. It was hard not to get distracted by them sometimes, sitting out there and giving their best concert vibes. They didn't get so loud as to interfere with the other band's practice, but they could mime as though they were, and that was almost better. Looking at them, they could remember the old days, not feeling so bad at calling them 'the old days,' not when the only thing that made them old was the time between then and now.

Standing in that booth together, they knew each other and how they functioned in a way that far exceeded predictability. It wasn't the same thing from day to day, no. It was synchronicity, and they had it in their bones. They had never regretted the course that they had taken, choosing not to pursue a contract together. They could have been household names, but they didn't need to be. What they had was really just as good, even better. They were doing something together that they loved, and they had loved doing it, most of them, for more years than what felt possible. That was all they needed.

"So, what's the plan?" Rosa asked, as the instruments fell silent at the end of practice. It took Maya a moment to realize that this question was aimed squarely at her.

"The plan about what?" she asked. The rest of the bands, both in and out of the booth, seemed just as curious to know.

"Oh, come on, Teach, you can't tell me you haven't been working on anything. You have project face." The bandmates looked from Maya to Rosa and back, giving off tennis match impressions. A few of them pointed as though saying 'oh yeah, I see it now.'

"No one, surprisingly, has called me Teach in all my years as a teacher... except people who aren't in my classes," Maya squinted.

"Because they don't know you the way we do?" Nadine smirked, which made the others laugh and snort, while Maya gave her every indication that she wouldn't be above punching her in the arm unless she clarified herself, squinting comically all the while. Nadine held up her hands. "And we all love you so very much," she added, turning her hands out as though to say 'there, see?' Maya just smiled before turning to Rosa again.

"Anyway, whatever way it is I apparently look to all of you… You might not be completely off the mark, no, but you're not completely on it either," she quickly added, before they could spiral into a heap of silliness.

"So, what does that mean exactly?" Ava Nash inquired of her former teacher, to the rest of the Hexes' approval.

"It means…" Maya started, stopping with a sigh as she looked for the best way to explain herself. "I've been wanting to get things done for a while, I have, and I've been trying things out, as best I could, but then, well… it's hard, you know? I have all those kids back there to look after, and that was already true before another one was literally left on my doorstep. And if that wasn't enough, well, I have all my other kids…" she breathed out, looking out to the array sitting outside the booth and staring back at her with understanding looks on their faces. "The ones I see every time I walk into my classroom, or anywhere in the school… It would be a lot easier if I was able to leave them aside once I got home, but at the same time it'd be a lot easier to do that if it wasn't for the supervillain taking up residence in her admin lair. Ash and Morgan both snorted, leading the teacher and student to look at one another like they'd never appreciated one another as allies nearly as much as they could have done.

"How does she fit into this?" Rosa asked. "Is she squashing your inspiration? Because I can work on that…"

"No, that's not it, it's more like… Whatever I do next, I know deep down that it will take me away from school for longer stretches of time, and if it does… I'll only be playing into her hand, giving her more chances to mess with the school, or get me out. And I can't allow that to happen. So long as Sandra Davenport is principal at our school, I can't go and make any big moves on the music side, and that's just how it has to be."

"Well, that's depressing," Kinsey frowned, and her bandmates nodded in agreement.

"It won't stay like that, will it?" Kelsey asked. "There's no way." Ava tapped her girlfriend's shoulder, showing that they were of one mind there, too.

"Yeah, we need to get her out of there… For the kids," Riley amended with a smile after she'd clearly come off a bit too intense for everyone. Maya patted her knee.

"Thanks, Honey," she smiled, and Riley beamed. "Alright, come on, we should get out of here. Some of us have spouses and kids to get back to… some of us have homework…" she pivoted to look at the Hexes, and band practice was officially done for the day.

X

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Friar,

It took us a long time to decide and do this, to reach out in any way. We know that you're looking for us, trying to find out who we are, and that's not what we want. So maybe we figured that, if we at least did this much, you would understand why we chose to do what we did, and also why it is so important to both of us that we have no connection to you or to Ezra. He is your son, he needs to be your son. He just can't be ours.

We know how harsh it might sound. We gave up our baby. We left him out in a box, on a December night. It wasn't so cold, which made it easier to go through with it all, but it wasn't easy. When it came time to put him down, it felt like he would start crying as soon as no one was holding his hand, but then he was alright, and the hard part became letting go of the box and not being there with him when anyone opened the door. It almost didn't happen, but it had to, and we knew it almost as soon as we learned of his coming. We never planned for him to come, of course, but he did. We were so scared, and we didn't know what to do. He was going to have to be born, that was for sure, but after that, neither of us were either ready or in a position to be parents to him.

If things had been different, for all of us, maybe we could have been a family. We would have loved it if we could, we think. We both want to have children someday, but now is not someday, now we just can't. It took some time for us to accept it, but once we did, we needed to figure out what we were going to do next, what would happen with our baby. And then, well, you were there, Mrs. Friar. You were there, and it was like every turn we made, we would see you, and we would hear about your family, and we felt like the answer was being given to us. Our baby needed a good family, the best family we could find since we couldn't be that for him, and your family, to us, was really just that. As soon as we decided what to do, it felt like it was the perfect solution, and we weren't so worried anymore.

From then on, it really was as though we were having your baby, and you both were his parents. We played your music to him, Mrs. Friar, and even though he wasn't born yet, after a while, it felt like he knew when he was hearing you, and he was happy.

The day he was born, we were as scared as we had ever been. But he came easy, and he was perfect. We knew there wouldn't be anyone there to help us, so we did all the research that we could do. That didn't prepare us for the shockwave of actually holding our baby boy. If you tell him one thing when he's older, tell him that it wasn't easy to let go of him. That's the truth. Even now, we haven't forgotten what it felt like.

We know it's impossible to think he'll never be curious about us, once he knows that we're out there. We don't want to tell you to lie to him, but then again it might be kinder to him. If he doesn't have reason to seek us out, he won't have to be disappointed, will he? Tell him he's yours if you can. Tell him we died if you have to. But he's better off with you than he is with us, and that's just how it has to be. We know how much you both love him, how good he's doing with you, and that's all we need to know. We chose correctly for his family. We're thankful that you honored our choice and left him his name.

Thank you, thank you, from both of us.

.

There was no name on the envelope, in the corner where return addresses usually went, but then there was no postage either. As soon as Lucas saw it, he knew what it had to be, and it took everything in him not to rip it open immediately. It didn't matter that his name was on the envelope along with Maya's and that he would be well within his rights to open the envelope and pull out the contents, but he felt that it was important enough to wait and look at it all with his wife by his side. He got to spend a good long while just staring at the thing where it sat, all the while holding his son and walking with him, while he waited for band practice to finish and for Maya to return. He had no expectations of band practice spilling into guests staying over at least, so when Maya walked back into the house, she found only him and Ezra.

"I sent the girls across to Abigail and James," he revealed, and she had enough sense to see something in his face that let him know this wasn't about being playful in any way. She looked around, and her eyes zeroed in on the envelope, and she knew. She stopped there, stunned, and he nodded. So there they were. Now the big question was 'what do we do,' and neither of them seemed to be sure.

Finally, they sat together, and as he still held the now sleeping Ezra, she opened the envelope, pulled out the letter, and started reading it aloud. She didn't stop until she was done, though more than once it felt as though she wanted to. Her voice told a lot in itself, her emotions twisting in and out of themselves. These were two of her students, she had always been sure, and here was proof as solid as they were ever going to get it. It was easy to see her look at the words and try to decipher any kind of pattern she could that might point her in the direction of the authors, but this was a futile hunt, and she didn't stick to it for very long.

Instead, all she could really do was focus on everything else, and most of all on the tale of how their son had become their son. The thing that went and stuck out the most was really just how much this had been anything but a spur of the moment decision. They'd had to figure as much, but to see it laid out like this now… What were they supposed to do? Lucas looked to Maya, knowing that this would be on her to decide their next steps so far as her unnamed students' request. Could they really do it? Could they stop looking for Ezra's birth parents and just continue with their lives?

"I'm not going to go and pretend I carried him. That's just going to be more trouble than it's worth," she finally said.

"Agreed," Lucas nodded.

"I'm not saying that they died either."

"No," he shook his head, kissing their son's forehead. Maya reached out, brushed at his hair. It was really coming in, and it would not sit still a lot of the time. "We're not lying to him."

"Right," Maya breathed. They were of one mind there, as they expected to be. But then after that, what were they supposed to do? "I guess…" she started, then sighed, not ready to commit. They knew that it would be settled once she did promise. That was their way. She looked at him, and he shrugged. They weren't getting anywhere, were they? Her face couldn't help but grow sad, and his did, too, as they looked to their son. They knew that there would be questions in his future, that it was near unavoidable, and they wished so much that they could give him answers, but it might have been the kinder thing for them not to go and keep digging forever, to instead turn their attention where it should be, with him, and not with the two kids who'd created him. "Fine…" Maya finally spoke, and Lucas nodded. Ezra yawned, and they smiled, looking at their son.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners