January 22nd 2023

Chapter 22
We Jump Into the Spotlight

It got harder to find times to practice. Between the five of them in the band, they had three mothers, each with anywhere from three to six small children at home, ranging from seven months to nine years, and just now one of their quintet drawing nearer to the end of her surrogate pregnancy. Rosa's new comment, even as she was seriously considering calling up a sub to take her place until after the baby, went something like…

"This is what I get for all those times I teased the three of you, huh?"

She said as much on that day, as they all worked to gather up their things to make way for the Stage Ready students. They were due to give a few performances over the following weeks, running up to the holidays, and Siobhan had insisted they had freedom of the space whenever it was available.

"Who's going to take my place? Did you decide?" she asked as the others grinned, watching her.

Oh, she did not like people to touch her belly. Her friends she would allow only if she felt willing, and of course she would never refuse the two couples who would be, who were this baby's parents, but everyone else, complete strangers who just saw her and that growing bump and decided to lay a hand on her… They might have been lucky to keep that hand.

Unwanted touches and bodily discomforts aside, Rosa would not say much about her experience of this time, of being pregnant even if it wasn't for herself. But they would watch her at time, watch what came naturally to her as the months progressed, and there'd be no denying the care and attachment she'd developed for the little one growing inside her. As had eventually been discussed between the friends, Sophie, Chiara, Asher, and Ray were leaving it all up to Rosa as far as how she would connect with the child once they were born. As far as they were concerned, they would tell them how they had come to be, just as they had always done with their other children, and Rosa would of course be part of this one's life, as she was with the others. Rosa was wholly willing on all accounts, so long as they all knew where they stood. Now she was sitting in the first row of seats before the stage, absently running her hand over her belly.

"Well…" Riley started, looking to the others, to Maya.

"Cara might be able to step in. She's not as far along as you are right now," Maya pointed out, nodding to Rosa. "But she's also been looking to help the rest of Sisters find a new member or two, with Nika off in England, and with her wanting to… maybe take a step back from the band, to let the rest of them go on…"

"Oh," Rosa blinked, same as Nadine and Morgan did where they stood. None but Riley had been told beyond Maya up to now. "So, what does… I mean… Is she going to sub for me, or…"

"I'm not sure. We can talk about it when the rest of them get here, alright? I promise, we've got you covered, Very Special Aunt Rosa," Maya smirked. That was what Giulia, Connor, and Jae had come up with as a title for the woman carrying their unborn sibling. She'd been touched to hear it, as could be seen by the twitch of a smile that came over her in hearing it now.

"Fine," she settled back in her seat before starting to shift, finding that the position didn't align to her comfort needs.

As claimed, We Are Sisters arrived not long after, even as the instructors and students of Stage Ready and Backstage Ready took over the space and the members of TXNY had taken up seats in the back row to stay out of their way and observe. Cara had gone and picked up Jenny first before swinging around to get roommates Ava, Kelsey, and Olivia.

They weren't there to rehearse, no. As a valued alum, Ava had taken the initiative – with her band's agreement and full support – to offer the lot of them as sort of guest instructors, in whatever functions and on both sides of the stage divide. To hear of it from Siobhan, everyone in the program so looked forward to the days – twice a month – where the band descended upon the theater. They were becoming quite the mentors, and Maya expected no less from her former students or her sister. She could tell that, ready as she was to move from the band, Cara liked the idea of being involved with the theater very much. There had been rumblings to suggest she might step into the position of assisting under the current director of the (Back)Stage Ready program, and as the creator and former director, Maya really liked the idea. She had done a lot over the years, had plenty of achievements to be proud of, and in the pantheon of those things she was proudest of…

She had not said exactly the thing that Riley had been thinking about when she'd been prompted to answer Rosa's question. All that she'd said had been true, yes, but she hadn't mentioned how she had another thought with regards to both Rosa's sub and Sisters' potential new recruit or recruits. Riley knew, but only because, to this day and for as long as they lived, her best friends – from New York and from Texas – would be those she turned to with things like this. She'd talked it over with Lucas first, then with Riley as much because of their friendship as for being bandmates. As to the reason why she hadn't brought it up to the rest of the band, before now and when prompted, well… She just wasn't sure yet if it was a good idea, or if it would work at all, if she should even give it a shot.

The idea had been inspired by watching exactly what was happening here, now, as We Are Sisters moved along and greeted the students and their instructors and interacted with them. They all had their own perspectives to offer in being here, and they were doing very well for it. All it had taken, in sitting there, partially distracted, was a fleeting memory to send her thoughts sailing. She'd started to think of the days when she herself had been out there, directly involved with the program, with its students young and old… She'd always had a special affinity with their younger students, which made sense now, thinking how her life revolved around her children, at home and at school. She could remember so many of them, those who'd stepped on to this stage over time, whether she'd gone on knowing them or lost track of them, and she'd think of them when sitting in the theater.

That one day, she'd thought of little Ash Bell. She remembered a child who had just loved coming up on that stage and singing, and dancing around… To recall that child and then to look at the teenager they had become, it might have been easier to think that the two of them were completely different people… at least until music was involved. There were plenty of reasons why Ash had given it up the way they'd done, and they were each of them valid. Still… Still, Maya saw them when they helped with the musical, or when their friends would dance around and sing and be very silly, and it felt very much like there was this thing in them, long buried down, that would bang against the locked doors every once in a while. The child and the teenager felt separate, but in those precious few times where Maya had heard the latter sing, there was no denial that they were one and the same.

They had been doing better since leaving their mother's home, since they'd moved in with their once estranged father along with little sister Kennedy. They were still just the person that Maya had known in classes the last two and a half years, but there was a weight removed from their shoulders, the weight of a mother's pressure. They could breathe again, and Maya thought perhaps that, in this breath, they might regain the thing that they had loved and lost. They might be given back music.

They might not want it though, or they might not be ready at all, and she wouldn't push them. But if they did want to get back, then subbing for Rosa might be a good first step… and taking up a spot in We Are Sisters could be the next, taking them back here, to their old stomping grounds and the Stage Ready program, no longer a student but a mentor. Far from the errant question of whether they could still be 'Sisters' with non-binary Ash among them, the pressing matter just now was whether Maya felt able to bring up the subject with them at all. Her gut said yes, but it also had reservations. It didn't want to get this wrong.

Almost as a nudge from the universe, when they all left the theater, Maya stopped over at Nando's Diner to pick up dinner for the family and came upon the new addition to the wait staff behind the counter.

"Ash?" she smiled. The 'uniform' was very plain, but matched up to Ash's style as a whole, it couldn't help but clash just a bit, even if they had clearly toned it down some.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar," they nodded before pointing back. "Your order's almost ready."

"Thanks," Maya took a seat at the counter. "I had no idea you were working here."

"They just started," Nando informed her, cutting behind with that jovial smile of his. "And I am very glad to have them," he declared, tipping his head to Ash, who got that look on their face that was as true to them as just about any teenager presented with praise that left them feeling awkward. At the same time, they seemed to be so appreciative of the simple fact that Nando gendered them correctly like it was second nature, as though they'd been sure it wouldn't be this way. Maya was sure they must have had to hear several calls of 'Excuse me, Miss?' whenever they were on shift, but they never had to worry about that coming from Nando, and that would make all the difference.

"You know, I used to work here when I was in high school, too," Maya told her student.

"Yeah, he told me… a few times," Ash revealed, and Maya bit back a laugh.

They were just there, the two of them, one sitting in front of and the other standing behind the counter and, with the thoughts that had been playing at her mind back at the theater, it was no wonder that they'd still be on her mind, and on her face.

"Is everything okay, Mrs. Friar?" Ash asked, and Maya blinked, wondering how long she'd been sitting there, lost in thought.

"Oh, yeah, everything's great, I just…" she started, then paused, chuckled. "I was just thinking about you earlier, and now you're here…"

"You were thinking about me?" Ash looked surprised at this.

"Thinking about something, and your name sort of came up," Maya admitted. "Thing is, I wasn't sure about whether to bring it up or not, though now that I've told you about it…" she smiled. Ash's expressions more often than not had a sort of subdued quality to them. They were there, and if anyone bothered to look, they would recognize them. Just now, they wanted to know what was going on. "Understand that I really am leaving it up to you, yeah? I'm not talking to you with any other authority than as someone who's known you for a long time and knows what you're capable of."

"Okay…" Ash replied, nodding. Maya breathed in, let it out.

"I wanted to talk to you about music."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners