February 7th 2023

Chapter 38
We Greet the Runaround

"Oh, you're not going anywhere today," Lucas frowned as he checked the thermometer and looked back to Marianne. They'd already known something was up in the middle of the night when she'd gone and told her parents that she wasn't feeling well, but they'd hoped a night of rest would help. Now morning had come, and she had a fever and a sickly glaze to her eyes.

"What if I made them sick, too?" Marianne looked out to the other side of the room, where Mackenzie and Aubrey stood in their PJs and bedheads, looking on. In the morning, especially on school days, they would usually be helped to dress by big sister Annie when the time came, but whatever they understood of the situation, so far, they both looked lost and concerned about who would help them now.

"They're fine, both of them, so let's just focus on you right now, okay? You're going to stay here and get some more rest. Are you hungry at all?"

"Not really," Marianne admitted. "Dad… Can you stay with me today? Please?" With that pitiful look turned up to him, he really had no hope at all, did he?

"I'll see what I can do," he told her, bowing to kiss her forehead. "Try and get some sleep, yeah?" She nodded, closing her eyes, and settling in. "Come on, let's go," Lucas gently guided the little ones out, a hand at either girl's shoulder.

"Annie's not okay," Mackenzie affirmed, half-stalling at every step like she just wanted to hurry back to her big sister's side.

"She's not feeling well today. Don't worry, Macaw, she'll be all better before you know it."

Whether that'd be so or not, the day would not let them wait and see. They had to get everyone else set to go. When he brought down the little sisters to join the triplets, Lucas shared Marianne's wish with Maya along with the thermometer's readout.

"I can stay," she sighed, tipping eggs into the line of plates before her with the speed to suggest she was eager to get upstairs and see their daughter for herself. "Barton might be able to fill in for me," she suggested before shaking her head with a frustrated groan Lucas roughly understood. With everything that was going on with the principal and her thing with the arts, she hated the thought of being absent, but if she had to… and for any of their kids, she would do it in a heartbeat… then she would.

"No, hey, I've got this, okay?" he stalled her. "I'll stay. It's what she wants, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah… You know, I'm the one who gave birth to them, grew them in my body and all, and then you come in with the smile, and the good, good dad hugs, and… here we are," she lifted her hands and let them drop. Lucas smirked, put his arms around her. "Ah, there's the good stuff," she hummed. "Go on, be the hero."

At least some of the day was going to go as they expected it to, if only a little. Maya would go ahead and drop off five out of six of their girls here either at preschool or at the elder Friars'. It was one thing to see the triplets off. When it came to leaving Mackenzie and Aubrey at their grandparents', it got complicated the moment Melinda Friar greeted the girls, asked them how they were doing, and was immediately told that Marianne was home sick. Oh, now Granny Mel was on high alert. She claimed she had felt something off earlier and that this explained it, and they might have brushed this off, but with her and Marianne, they almost wouldn't be surprised. Maya assured her that all would be well, that she'd asked for Lucas to stay with her and so he had, and that at least did enough. Melinda could defer to her son's presence, sure. They still expected her to drop in at the house at some time during the day, the better to look in on her favorite pumpkin.

Back at the house, Lucas had already made calls to the ranch, informing both office assistant Olivia and clinic assistant Sylvie that he would be home for the day. He was just getting things set up so he might transfer Marianne down to the living room, get her cozy on the couch, when he heard the creak of steps that told him she was coming down on her own.

"Everybody's gone?" she asked, her voice coming quietly.

"Yeah, off to school, to the grandparents', so it's just you and me, right here, all day. Good?" She nodded. "Come here," he went and stood at the bottom of the stairs, held out his arms. As soon as she'd come down far enough, she reached for him, and he scooped her up. Tall as she was getting, that didn't stop him bringing her to the couch. "Here, how's that?" he asked, bringing her favorite couch blanket to rest over her.

"I'm thirsty," she let him know. He smiled.

"On it. Where are we at with breakfast? Yes? No?" Her face landed somewhere in the middle. "How about some toast? PB and J? PB or J?" He had her attention. "I'll be back. In the meantime, you want to pick a movie?"

"Can you tell me a story? From a picture?" she asked. Lucas paused, smiled.

"I think I have just the one," he told her. He sat on the couch with her, pulling up his phone's photo albums until he had just what he needed. Maya couldn't believe he kept that one sometimes, but she'd just as soon remember why he had it, and that'd be all she needed. "Check us out. Babies, all of us," he intoned, then smiled, "In your case, literally." The picture showed the three of them, Lucas, Maya, and baby Marianne, up in the master bedroom. "It was morning when that picture was taken, morning after the first night you'd been really sick, at least as far as we'd seen since you'd been born. You had a fever then, too. We were so scared. We'd never dealt with anything like that, and you were so tiny to us." Looking to those long legs of hers, stretched out under the blanket, they could have laughed. She wasn't so tiny now. "When morning came, and you were getting better… I can't put into words what that felt like, but we've got this picture, right here, and it helps."

"I get it… I think…" Marianne looked up at him, leaned to him.

"It's not much more fun today," he promised. "Can I go do your toast now?"

"In a minute," she requested, in a very Maya-like way. Lucas smiled, and he bent and kissed her forehead. Eight years later, and he wished just as he'd done then that he could take the ill from her and bear it himself. If nothing else, he got her to fall asleep, so he stayed with her and let her rest.

By the time she would eat, after waking nearly two hours later, they would finally go ahead and put on a movie. Her favorite at the moment was a basketball comedy, which was just what they both needed that day. It was easy to focus on that just now, but later she'd think about what she was missing, and it would be even more so as the runaround began.

That was what they'd come to call the afternoons where they had to plot a course and see to it that each of their girls made it to their given activity and back home in time. Kacey to her figure skating, Remy to karate, Lucy to the pool… Mackenzie was coming up on three years old, they didn't have anything for her yet, same for Aubrey at one and a half, but whoever would be looking after them on any given day would do their best to not just keep them entertained but actively in play, in active learning. And as far as Marianne, other than soccer practice on the weekends, her non-red group days were spent at one friend's house or another if not at home, and whenever she was home nowadays that meant guitar practice out in the Hex. So really, these days, the biggest concern was getting the triplets to their activities. The easiest way – provided that they did not encounter any unforeseen delays – was to collect everyone from the preschool, then drop off Lucy, then Remy, and finally Kacey, and when that was done, to pick them up in the reverse order. That was the easiest way, but a lot of the time, dropping off the last one meant sticking around, looking on, and the other two wanted that, too, so they'd have to scramble the order… That was when the runaround got a bit mad. And today, which was to be Lucas' turn, was set to be one of those.

Marianne wanted them to go together. She was feeling better, she claimed, but Lucas saw otherwise, and there was no chance she was going anywhere. She'd have to stay right there with her uncle, who would be coming home from class just early enough that he could be tagged in while Lucas went to get the triplets. Instead, Wyatt saw the state of his niece, who was good and tucked under her father's arm, and decided to take up the charge. He'd see to the triplets, gladly so.

"He's okay, right?" Marianne looked up to her father after her uncle had gone.

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked.

"He…" she started, then paused, searching for the right words to explain what she was perceiving. "He's trying so much," she finally said, and Lucas understood what she meant. Ever since he'd found out he would be a father, as involved as he'd been with his nieces before, Wyatt was now the first to volunteer at any chance he got to look after them in any way. Marianne had noticed it, and she saw it as him putting in that extra effort, and it was to wonder what his goal was. Practice? Proof? If so, to whom? Alicia… or himself?

For his first runaround, he did pretty good. He returned in time with the triplets, and everyone looked like they'd had a good time. They came hurrying over and crowded around their big sister, deciding the best cure to having been home sick all day was to hear about how their lessons had gone. Kacey and Remy climbed on either side of her on the couch, while Lucy ended up in her lap, by Marianne's own summoning. She'd wanted to go with them today, but this was just as good, if not better. It made her the happiest she'd looked all day.

"Everything go alright?" Lucas asked as he stood back with Wyatt, leaving the sisters to their stories.

"Yeah, it was great," Wyatt nodded. "Wait until you see some of the videos I got of Remy in her class," he chuckled, and Lucas knew what they were in for. Remy in karate mode was always one of the best things they'd see on a given day.

"I really appreciate you doing this," Lucas told his brother-in-law.

"Oh, it was nothing, I…"

"No, it really wasn't," Lucas clapped him on the shoulder. "You stepped up. You're doing great." Wyatt would know what he was getting at, even if he didn't say it, and his face slipped back somewhere honest, showing the touch of fear he'd lived with since he'd found out about Alicia and the baby.

"It's all happening so fast," he sighed. Lucas looked to the couch, his daughters there… You have no idea.

"You just keep going, keep being you. That's all you need to do right now."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners