A/N: [July 3rd 2024]


September 19th 2023

Chapter 262
We Breathe From Up High

"Daddy, Daddy, we gotta go!" Aubrey's voice joined him just as the feeling of something moving over him did, and he moved his arm around his youngest daughter, pulling her near before opening his eyes to look at her smiling little face.

"Where are we going?" he spoke with the rough voice of morning.

"On the plane, Daddy! We're going to the cold place! In the snow! The snow, Daddy!"

"You know, if I open the freezer door, I can get you some of that right now," he teased, and Maya's snort confirmed she was awake, too. It was probably just as well that this distracted Aubrey, and she wouldn't retain what he'd just said. The last thing they needed was for the kids to start sticking their hands in there, looking for snow.

It wasn't exactly like the start of Home Alone, with everyone running all over the place in fast motion because they'd slept too late, but it was close. With six kids and a baby to get ready along with themselves, there were so many ways in which they could end up being late and missing their flight, so they were going to do their best to avoid that. None of the girls had gone and moved away from being early risers like their parents. If anything, they all had much too much energy in the morning, and that could make them prone to want to run around and do a lot of things except the things they were supposed to do. If they had not had the rallying cry of 'we're taking a plane,' it could all have been that much more complicated. Instead, they did what they had to do, said goodbye to Nellie, Gracie, Wyatt, and Finn, and the nine Friars were off to the airport.

"Are they here?" Marianne asked as she looked around, walking through the airport. Lucas directed her to stay with the rest of them as she did so, knowing better than to expect her to stop seeking. "What if they're not here on time?"

"They'll be here," Maya promised her, keeping an eye on the twins, who'd insisted on pushing Ezra's stroller as they went. "They're just a couple of minutes behind us."

They were not nearly so far behind, as it turned out, or maybe they'd simply managed to catch up, being two adults, one child, and one baby, with a lot less baggage to move with them. Either way, Ella, Taylor, and the girls were soon part of their pack, and all together they made it to wait and board their flight. Everyone on the Munroe-Friar side looked just as rushed out of bed as they did, down to little Sunny, who was not feeling so sunny that morning. Taylor was doing what he did best to calm her down, and it would run its course before they finally moved on to the plane.

They were hard to miss on any flight, and by now they hardly paid attention to any stares they might have received from other passengers. They knew what they had ahead of them, they knew how to handle any situation with the kids. This would be Ezra and Sunny's first flight, and they didn't know how either of them would react, but they would deal with that question once they needed to.

"Wait, I'm sitting next to you," Lucy blinked when she was shown her seat and it wasn't next to the one where her father had just dropped his bag.

"They moved us around a bit," Lucas admitted with an apologetic smile.

"That's okay, though, you get to sit next to me," Ella told her little sister as she moved up with Sunny. "We both are," she smiled down at her, and Lucy's face brightened. She was still just a bit disappointed not to sit with her father, but this was maybe the best compromise she could ask for.

"Yeah, you can help your sister with her plane jitters," Lucas told Lucy, and now she turned to Ella again with curious eyes.

"You don't like it?"

"Not really, no. Makes me nervous, which is silly, I know. But it's like Dad said, I've got you now. And this girl here," she turned a grin to her nearly eleven-month-old daughter. Sunny Munroe wore her name well once more, now that she was properly awake, and she hugged her arms around her mother's neck. "And then… Tori?"

"Here!" she squeezed through after a man cut past her with a briefcase.

"Hey, are you okay?" Taylor put his hand on her shoulder, frowning at the man who'd never stopped on his way to his seat.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad," she promised him. "Where are you going to be?"

"Just back here," he pointed. "I might pass you some surprises later," he suggested, indicating the space between seats, which made her laugh.

"Dada!" Sunny reached to him, and after exchanging a look to decide what they would do, Ella passed the small girl into her father's arms.

"So, now it'll be the three of us," Ella looked from her elder daughter to her little sister, and that was more than fine by all of them, so they got in their seats and prepared for take-off.

Sunny did well on the flight, for the most part. Take off was difficult, as they'd all expected it to be, but soon after she was good and curious, looking all around with her jolly smile. Ezra had a rougher go at it, and so Maya's attention was almost solely devoted to him, with the help of Marianne on one side and Mackenzie on the other. Lucas watched a movie with the twins. Aubrey had been watching with them, too, at first, but she'd quickly fallen asleep and he didn't try and wake her, instead gently brushing at her back to help her sleep along. He was only really watching the movie in passing, to be honest, as his eyes would go from one block of the family to another, seeing if any of them might need anything in any way.

For that, he had been keeping an eye on their reluctant passenger, and he could spot her discomfort. Ella would always try and play it cool, like she was fine, but he knew she hated to fly. When she finally got up and hurried toward the bathrooms, he got up and followed her. They were occupied, so she was stuck outside, waiting her turn, and she didn't look good. He managed to grab a bag on the way and, when he presented it to her, she took it and held on to it, just in case.

"Are you going to make it?" he smiled encouragingly.

"It's not the plane… or maybe it is the plane… Might be both, honestly," she spoke, more to herself by the end. He frowned as she looked at him, hesitating a moment. "I don't know for sure yet, I barely even did the math, and this morning I was just sort of queasy, the way I did before I knew about either of them…" she gestured off to where her daughters sat, and Lucas blinked.

"Oh…" he breathed, which made her smile. "Hang in there, I'm sending backup."

He didn't want to make too much of a scene, which would be easier said than done, but he was motivated to figure it out. He went back to where Maya sat and offered to take Ezra for a while. His look was enough to convince her there was more to this, so she stood and passed him the still crying boy. This was as good of a cover as any for him to pass on his message, as covertly as he could. Their eldest might be pregnant again, but there was no way to tell for certain.

"Leave it to me," she nodded, and as he sat back down with their youngest, she went to help their big girl.

She couldn't exactly go to a store and pick her up a test, but if there was one within reach on this plane, she would find it, and she did. Ella had finally made it into the bathroom by the time Maya arrived with her gift, and this was passed over to her as covertly as possible. Lucas had had that big thumping heart Dad feel in his eyes when he'd come to her earlier, and Maya was sure she had the Mom version going as she went back to the family and took Sunny from Taylor, suggesting that he might look in on his wife. This was done at Ella's request, because as tricky as it had been to go through this mess while way, way up in the sky, if she was pregnant, then she wanted him there to find out, and if she wasn't, well, she'd want him there anyway.

Taylor was not blind to the fact that first his father-in-law and then his mother-in-law had been to look in on his wife, so by the time he got to go and see to her himself, he was understandably concerned. Marianne had picked up on some of the comings and goings, too, and so had Tori, and Lucy, who'd been without Ella between them long enough to wonder what was going on.

He couldn't exactly go into the bathroom, with only so much space especially, so they could see him, standing outside the closed door, talking with Ella all the while. The two of them who knew exactly what this was about were looking with the most intent, waiting for a clue, in either direction. They knew when she told him what it said, and they were almost sure they knew what the answer was, but Taylor mostly kept it together in that moment, waiting for Ella to come back out again so they could return to their seats. When she did step out though, they briefly hugged, and Maya and Lucas exchanged a smile in full trepidation.

The revelation of this new baby did not happen until after they had landed and made it to the hotel. They could just imagine the noise level it would have brought while on the plane, so it was better to wait. Oh, the girls were all very curious, and a couple of them had probably put the pieces together or, at the very least, started to have suspicions. Ella and Taylor first went and told Tori on her own, as the big sister. The last time, with Sunny, she had struggled for a while with this unknown of a younger sibling, but now she was as excited as could be, and they knew she would stay that way.

The girls were as loudly happy as they had been expected to be, falling in around their big sister, and their brother-in-law, and their nieces… They were so amused with telling Sunny that she was going to be a big sister. She was still so little that they couldn't say if she really understood what they were getting at, but she could at least grasp that they were happy, so she'd squeal and clap her hands together and be happy with them.

Lucas and Maya were as moved as they would be, taking in the fact that they were going to be grandparents for the third time. And for the space of this vacation away from home, their two families would be the only ones to know of this little joy coming their way. As excited as they had all been to be out here together, this made it that much more of a thing. They might have to adjust some of their expectations where Ella would be involved, but that was really the very opposite of a problem. They stepped into this other world of cold, and snow, and they felt so much warmth from within.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners