A/N: Thirteen days behind...

September 9th 2023

Chapter 226
Let Us All Sing

It wasn't that he wouldn't heed her thoughts on the matter. If Maya declared that they either could not or should not host these dogs as fosters at the moment for whatever reason, he would make quick work of setting out and matching them to another temporary home. He would never dream of bringing the animals into their home and before their boys' eyes, where there would be a lot of smiles, of excitement, attachment blooming right before their eyes until they risked being unable to remove the pups without breaking a lot of little boys' hearts. Would they be at risk of this any time they brought new animals into their world? They definitely would, and that was never going to stop them opening their doors to any animals that could have needed them. And that was why the dogs were in the car with him now, wasn't it? Maya could say no, but the percentage was so small that his chance was warranted.

Chance… That was what they'd named one of them, wasn't it? They'd needed to name them all, almost as soon as they'd been brought into the shelter, needed to tie them all to life and to the fact that they were all still very much alive. The puppies were barely days old when they were brought to the shelter, as far as they could ascertain, and yet it felt like they might have gone through more than any human would have managed to endure. They had been found by their mother, who had already died along with the last of their siblings, only for the car transporting them to get into an accident, taking one more of them along with the driver.

"Of course, they can come home…" Maya replied once he called her and laid out the whole story. To hear her now, she might have meant that they could stay forever, not just for days or weeks, and though he had never set out to give her that incentive, he couldn't hide how relieved he was to hear it. "Four of them?" she asked.

"Two boys and two girls," he confirmed. "Chance and Lucky, Clover and Penny."

"Penny?" she chuckled.

"Yeah, you know, as in 'see a penny, pick it up…'"

"… all day long you'll have good luck," Maya completed the expression like she was nodding to herself. "Really went with the theme there, huh?"

"You would have done it, too, if you'd sat with them back there," he pointed out, and she assured him that she believed it. He couldn't see her face, but just in hearing her voice, he could tell that she was smiling, that she felt happy for him, as she would, because she knew how much it meant to him to be out there, helping animals in what way he could. And now, as a bonus, he'd also get to make their children happy.

"Are they spoken for in any way?" Maya asked, which was fair, as they were about to introduce this quartet of supremely lovable puppies to their puppy loving bunch.

"Not yet, no," Lucas told her. "We just felt that it would be best for all of them to get some time out in a real home if they could, and…"

"And you had just the one to offer," Maya filled in. That might not have been his exact wording, but the overall message was the same, so he smiled and said as much.

It was very important, of course, when they did introduce the quartet of foster dogs to the Friar kids, for them not to miss the mark. They had to make it clear that these dogs might well have a brief stay among them and that this fact should be kept in mind as they moved forward. The introduction could not be staged like a surprise, nor would it be. They had to make this matter of fact enough, without taking all the fun out of it. The kids could get excited at having the new puppies in the house, as they well should and both Maya and Lucas hoped for, all the while being aware of the big picture.

For that, when they were picked up from school, each of them was told about as soon as they were 'retrieved,' one by one rather than all at once. The giddiness was, as expected, immediate, but also very much where their parents would hope for it to be. They knew these were fosters, and they were looking forward to being the best temporary home the four of them could ever have. This was encouraging, though at the same time there was this underlying awareness that all the promises in the world would have little to no leg to stand on once they all actually came in contact with the cuddly little things.

And were they ever cuddly… fluffy even… It was a good thing that there were four of them and not quite twice as many kids. This allowed for each pup to find arms to hold them and some roving hands to travel from one to the next, too, until they could get their shot at holding one of them like the others got to do.

The next morning, they had become certain of the way things would be going in the days – if not weeks – to come, which was that any separation from the pups would be seen as near traumas and reunions would not be entirely unlikely to involve tears. Lucas got to see one of those, later on that day, as he went and collected Jamie from his time playing with his friends. He'd been out at Hazel's house, where he and his cousin Harry Olsen had been under the supervision of Miss Yasuda. The boys and Hazel were getting to be as inseparable as any children their age would ever be, and for all that, Jamie simply could not wait to be home again, back with the new 'doggies.' He was barely through the door that he was down on all fours as though he was a small dog himself and hurrying toward the spot where the little fluffs were enjoying a peaceful rest near the couch. They had barely been here a day, but they had already chosen that spot as something possibly comforting to them, so who were they to argue?

Jamie was still new to them, as most of the family was, but like their spot, when they saw him, they looked at once glad as they crowded around him with tails wagging and submitted to his small hands as they roved from one to the other. Lucas came and sat on the couch, watching his son and the dogs, and he couldn't help but smile all the while. He listened as he asked how his day had gone and Jamie told him about his adventures with Harry and Hazel. As happy as he was to be back with the dogs, he was also clearly thrilled for all that he'd gotten to do with his friends.

When Elliott came home, it was a tough call to decide what he was most excited about. Oh, he was very excited to be reunited with the puppies, yes, and he and his brother and sister did much as Jamie had done in approaching the lucky fluffballs. But when he caught one of them up to sit in his lap, he didn't tell Penny about the day he'd just had, no. All he wanted to talk about was the day that hadn't happened yet, the next day, where he would be heading out to the ranch to start and 'do more,' as he had very officially requested.

He had not let them forget. Every morning when he got up, it would be the first thing he would bring up, in one way or another, and it would carry on throughout the day, all the way until he went to bed at night. Finally, they'd figured out a 'schedule,' to let him know what the plan was, in hopes of maybe changing the subject around the house just a little. Going off the whole rundown that Elliott gave little Penny that afternoon, they had not achieved this nearly as well as they might have projected.

"Mom? Mom?"

"In here, Sprout," Maya called out over her attempt to stop the twins from slipping and sliding in the tub and causing a tidal wave as they went. It was bath time for Simon and Jack, which didn't always mean more water on the floor than in the tub, but lately… Once Elliott appeared in their line of sight, the boys in the water stopped and babbled out at their big brother, making their mother let out an exasperated but amused sigh. "I should have had you in here the whole time," she mumbled before turning to look at her firstborn, brushing hair from her face. "Elliott, we're not going until morning," she reminded him, getting a look of his outfit.

"I want to pick the right clothes," he reasoned before giving her a look that read as 'now let's hear what you think.' She bit back her laugh.

"You look just like your dad," she informed him, and his grin confirmed that this was just what he wanted to hear.

They were all going out to Sullivan Stables the next morning, not just Elliott and his father. The two of them would go off with Ava, probably with Noah, too, unless he decided to hang back, while Jamie had been spoken for, invited to step into the ranch's kitchens. Maya would settle in at Juliet's house with the twins to work on a few things for school… maybe work on putting down a song… finally…

When they got there, all of them together, to her surprise and happiness, Noah chose to hang back, the better to play with his little brothers. Maya could see the three of them as she sat settled up on the porch, and it was hard not to get distracted by her boys chasing each other with the mad glee in their eyes. The sixteen-month-old pair were fully intent on keeping up with their five-year-old brother, even as he was realizing how quick the two of them were and just fed right off that energy. Five… He'd be six in just under two months, and she practically refused to accept the fact. How could she? Her Bee was just a little thing in her arms, was just a buzzing babe in her belly a moment before that… Six years of him already… and six years without his grandfather…

Well out of sight of his grandmother's old house, Lucas didn't exactly feel his wife's momentary grief, but he swore he felt a tug at his gut, like something was trying to pull him back the way he'd come. The moment came and went, redirected by his other most prevalent reflex, the other thread permanently looped about his gut, which would be activated whenever any of the kids would start getting further away from him than what felt safe, even in a place that was as trusted and as secure as this one here. Elliott and Ava were getting well ahead of him, on their way to the stables.

That was fine, of course. Ava had her little brother by the hand, and she wouldn't let him wander off even if she didn't. But they were both so excited to be there that day, and that was what was most important that day, to all of them. The ranch had been such an important part of all of their lives, for reasons that were all their own. That day, Ava was going to get to ride her horse, yes, but also Elliott would help and ready said horse, showing all that he'd already learned to do even as they'd show him some more now. By the time Ava would be out there, riding along with that great smile on her face, Elliott would stand back, watching them go together, with such accomplishment in how he stood, and smiled, and just breathed… It was only a small part of what he wanted to do, what he could do, but to him it already felt like a lot. To Lucas, it was the first ring of the familiar bell for the year, the one that made him look at his firstborn and know what was coming. He would be seven years old soon, and he looked it.

"Alright, there you are," Lucas smiled as he helped Ava off her horse. Elliott was already standing by to lead the animal back to the stables.

"Dad, I can climb down on my own, you know," Ava reminded him with just a hint of an eye roll, her smile coming on much stronger in opposition.

"I know you can," he responded casually, matching the look she gave him with one that read like 'humor me.' Her squint right there gave off enough Maya energy that he started to laugh, and she soon did, too. "So… how's it going at school? You and Kelsey, and… him…" he asked, his tone showing very plainly what he thought of his daughter's young bully. On this, he and Ava were easily of a single mind.

"Kelsey says we shouldn't let him get to us, that we should just keep doing our own thing," she told her father, and he slowly nodded.

"She's a smart girl, your girlfriend," he declared, and it was not lost on Lucas that, though her cheeks took a warmer tone, Ava did not rush to correct his vocabulary for once. Whether or not they had taken that step together, Kelsey and her, clearly it was what she felt, what she wanted, and allowing the word to exist right here, she got to take it for a test drive… Her smile told him she'd liked it very much.

"Yeah…" she quietly replied, and he gave a squeeze, bowed to kiss the top of her head. He never wanted it to seem as though he wanted any of his children to be happier than the others, and he didn't, but it was undeniable that, when it came to Ava, there were added… levels. She'd started from further down than the boys ever had needed to.

Once Jamie had been accompanied back to Juliet's house to join his brothers and mother, he very quickly joined in on the mad merry go round that Noah and the twins had been in, on and off, since they'd arrived. Maya still kept an eye on all of them, alternating with keeping her ears wide open to compensate while she focused on her work. She would have much rather gone and played with her sons for a while, but she hadn't brought her work out here just to look at it, had she?

She didn't mind. That was the benefit of doing a job that she loved, wasn't it? She would get immersed in her students' work, seeing some of them not exactly giving their most, others pouring their very souls on to paper… She saw those who had been applying themselves to do better, saw some of them achieving new heights, some of them making her so, so proud for even the smallest of improvements…

In the end, her biggest distraction that day had nothing to do with her children and a lot more to do with the other thing playing at her mind: her music. She knew that she couldn't force the ideas to come from her, that they would have to find their way out, and now… now, finally, she was starting to feel it again, like a spark long gone out, giving the barest light and feeling as warm as a blaze for having been extinguished so long. She didn't regret that break for what had brought it on, but here, now… Oh, how happy it made her to be swept away by a melody teasing its way from her mind…

"You're not working," Noah's voice startled her, just a little, and the realization made him laugh.

"Hey," she pointed at him, standing next to her. His grin was so like hers here that she could never have mistaken it. "So, what if I'm not?" she challenged, raising her brow. He imitated her, flawlessly, she might say.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, taking a look at her notebook and frowning in confusion at the scribbles he found.

"Oh, this mess, huh?" she asked, looking at her writing. This really only made sense to her, didn't it? "It's… It's a song… or it's going to be, eventually… hopefully…" she explained. Noah frowned at the writing some more, trying to decipher it. She looked at it, hummed out the melody from her mind as best she could. It made him smile, and that made her try and match the melody to the words, the bit of a refrain she'd been toying with. "What do you think?" she asked him.

"I like it," he declared, and she beamed.

"Thanks, Bee," she extended a hand for a high five that he returned with great energy. Maya tried not to look too pained as she shook out her hand. The kid was very strong with those hand claps, wasn't he?

"Is there more?" he asked.

"Not much," she admitted, stealing a look at her work. She really should get back to it, but the way her second born was looking at her just now… she couldn't do anything but motion for him to sit across from her, so she could share more of her music with him. Of all her sons, she had not been oblivious to his having the most pointed interest in music, and if he liked it that much, then who was she to deny him?

They hadn't done much progress on the song, mostly as Jamie had called Noah back to play and Maya had sent him on his way, the better for her to get back to her school work. Still, as the family was reunited and set for home, they all felt as though they'd had the perfect day. Now, all any of them wanted, from eldest to youngest, was to return to their merry pups, who had spent the day being seen to by the Sandersons up the road. They were walked home, each of them in the arms of a Friar child, the youngest two of those up in their parents' arms and making for a funny picture as they all ascended the lane.

Dinner was all stories from the day, but clearly the children were eager to be through with the meal, as they got through their plates in near record time. It was one that they all loved, across the board, but even that wouldn't keep them from wanting to return to Chance, and Lucky, and Penny, and Clover. The rest of the house's pet collective had been very welcoming to the fosters, too, and as much as they had not wanted to encourage too much attachment with the fluffy little things, there they all were that evening, playing with the siblings and making them feel very much like part of the family. Time would tell whether they would end up becoming that, becoming permanent fixtures to the household, but right now they did feel bonded to them, and they let that love flow out to the pups, like some more of the luck that had kept them alive and given them their names.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners