A/N: Hey, azuliara! Thanks for catching those slip-ups! They're definitely that, because yes, his middle name is supposed to be Thomas. I've gone back and fixed those two chapters, thank you thank you!

March 14th 2023

Chapter 73
We Elevate Into Life

Saturday mornings when Marianne's soccer team had a game, the entire family would be up and getting ready to go as soon as possible. Once she'd have her uniform on, she would hurry to her mother so she could do her braid, her preferred hairstyle for the occasion, while her father and uncle would team up to see that everyone else was all dressed up and ready to go, too, and finally they would be off. She would always be very happy to have them there to cheer her on, but even more so, her parents knew, when her grandparents would come along, too, and especially…

"Ella!"

"Hi!" Ella grinned, catching her little sister in a giant hug even as her daughter cut past her to go and jump for a hug of her own from her Pappy Luke and Nana Maya.

"Guess what!" she told them both, only to pause and turn when her mother cleared her throat.

"Can I tell them, please?" Ella asked, amused by the six-year-old's giddiness almost as much as by her reluctant agreement not to do the big reveal herself.

"What's going on?" Maya asked what everyone else was left wondering.

"Taylor and I set our wedding date," Ella told her parents and sisters with a big smile that was rewarded with many excited voices chiming in, piling over one another as they all wondered the same thing: what had they decided? When she told them, the younger girls just cheered, figuring that was the thing to do, only to pause and wonder why everyone else looked surprised and a little confused.

"Isn't that the day when he's flying in from Indiana?" Lucas asked.

"It is," Ella confirmed.

"So, is he just going to go straight from the airport to getting married?" Wyatt wondered.

"More or less," Ella smiled.

"But why?" Marianne frowned.

"Because he's been out there for so long, and we've been waiting all this time, and because… we just don't want to keep waiting any longer. We're ready now." They could see very well that she was telling the truth, and that was all good and fine, but it did leave out a few very important details, primarily…

"You're deciding this now, when he's coming home in two weeks? That's not a long time to get a whole wedding together," Maya told her eldest. Would she rally and do everything in her power to make it happen for her? Absolutely, and so would Lucas, she knew, but a part of her did still feel like Ella and Taylor would be better off taking their time with this.

"I know it's a lot, but we're both fine with making this as big or small as we can make it in that time. We don't need a huge wedding, really," Ella promised her mother with a smile so confident that there was nothing for them to argue with.

"You're going to get just the one you both deserve," she vowed, and that was that. There were several hugs exchanged, and then it was time to find their places before Marianne and her team got out on the field.

They made it all of a half hour before Wyatt's phone vibrated in his hand and he took his eyes away from his niece, stared at the screen, and nearly dropped the thing from turning to his sister so fast.

"Maya… Maya, it's happening, I… Alicia, sh-she's having the baby, she… I…" he pointed to his phone, hands shaking and eyes wide. The words hit Maya, Lucas, and Ella at once, the others still focused on the field and the young girls running around, mid play.

"Okay, it's okay, we're just…" Maya touched her brother's arm before looking back to Lucas. They both shared a loaded look before staring back to where Marianne was just making her way across the field, braid flapping behind her as she broke through, kicked the ball to one of her teammates… Oh, they hated to have to take her away from the game, but they also knew it would be what she wanted; she wasn't going to miss this moment, wasn't going to be anywhere else but near her uncle.

"I'll get her, you guys go, and we'll catch up," Lucas told Maya, Ella, and Wyatt. He only needed to take one quick look to his father to know he'd see to Tori, the triplets, and the little sisters, and then he looked back to the field and let out the call, knowing it would get Marianne's attention. She smiled as she looked his way, then paused, confused a moment before she pieced together what was happening. With a gasp, she dashed over to her coach, told him what was going on, and then she hurried after her father, so they could follow the others.

They weren't so far off from the hospital and made excellent time. They could only imagine the impression they made as they went in there, all in soccer mode, but there was no time to stop and think about that. They found where Alicia would be, and Maya took a moment to look to her brother.

"Hey, take a breath, okay?" she told him. He looked so very young in this moment, completely terrified for this dive into the moment that would soon come. "Are you going to be good to go on your own? If you want any of us to…"

"No, I'll be okay, I… I need to…" Wyatt told her.

"Okay, then we'll be right here, yeah?" Maya squeezed his arm and he nodded. She gave him a good hug and he started down the hall before back pedaling.

"Will you call…"

"I already let them know. They're on their way," she assured him. He hadn't even been aware of anything but this on the ride over.

"Thanks…" he breathed, paused a moment like he was forgetting…

"Go, go!" Marianne reminded him, and he blinked before turning and hurrying to the room.

All they could do after that, for a while, was sit and wait, or pace and wait… The Hart-Lanes in all their branches soon descended upon the waiting room. They didn't actually know what would come of this day so far as the baby and where they would end up, but that wouldn't stop the family from being there to lend whatever support they could. Abigail and James were there, feeling together their son's nervousness and anticipation right along with him. Maisie was there, lamenting the fact that she hadn't gotten to see her big brother before he went away. She'd made him something that she hoped would reassure him through his nervousness for the birth.

Sam and Dora and Cara and Mateo arrived after having dropped off their respective children with a sitter, right behind Emma and Dakota, and Teddy and Priya with Lily, and Eliza and Ben last of all. The recently wed pair was in the midst of a pregnancy of their own, nearly halfway done and entirely more planned than her younger brother's, but she had definitely been struggling with it, which left her with very understandable fears that were not going to be helped by sitting in wait to know how Alicia and the baby were doing. If not for her little sister and her niece being there to be in awe of her growing bump, small as it still was, she might have spiraled right off. But they were with her, and they were so excited for yet another baby in the family, and she couldn't help but smile.

The longer it was taking for them to hear anything, the harder it was not to fall in line with Eliza's concerns, but the wait ended at last as a pacing Sam looked up and stopped.

"Guys, hey…" he quietly alerted the others, and several of them moved to rise and see what he saw.

The baby had definitely been born. As they saw him coming slowly up the hallway toward them, Wyatt held a bundle in his arms. He looked so taken with it that it was a wonder he advanced without bumping into anything or anyone. But he came along just fine, and as tired as he looked, he was also without a doubt relieved. The last few months had been a lot, understandably, but the last few weeks, the last few days especially, had left him looking so tense and stressed… In that instant, they might not say that a whole hundred percent of it had gone away, but he couldn't have carried more than a handful of percents as they saw him now. Just now, he was simply in awe of the newborn he carried in his arms, his own child…

"Sweetheart…" Abigail breathed, and the sound of his mother's voice made Wyatt stop and look up, blinking a moment, turning his eyes to the baby again before smiling up at her. Stunned as he was, he was going by what he felt in his present. He didn't know what the future held for either one of them, but here and now…

"He's a boy, I… This is my son," he said it, like he'd needed to say it, wanted to say it, had never said it yet but now did, and they could feel the love and happiness bubbling up in him.

The family came in as close as they would dare, not wanting to crowd in so much. The newborn could not have been all too aware of what was going on around him, but if he could, he would open his little eyes and see all these faces smiling down on him, already seeing him as one of their own, just as he was.

"How's Alicia?" Ella asked.

"She's okay, I think. Everything went fine, but she was tired, so I figured I'd let her sleep and… and bring him to meet you," Wyatt explained. They could guess without his saying it that he'd actually figured that, while she was all for them seeing the baby, she didn't want any visitors at the moment, so he'd given her space.

"What's his name?" Marianne and Maisie called, the both of them eager to dote on him.

The rest of them, Maya and Lucas at least for sure, knew that Alicia had not shown inclinations toward baby names throughout the pregnancy, enough so that she'd looked to Wyatt for ideas, as good as giving over that power to him and gladly going along with what ever he'd choose. They also knew that Wyatt had been drawing blanks whenever he tried to come up with anything. In the end, Lucas had given him the advice he'd stuck to. He'd told him to stop trying and just to wait until he saw the baby, until he held them in his arms. The name would come to him in time, whether it was in that very instant or not. As he'd later tell them, he had done just as his brother-in-law had told him. He'd held his little boy in his arms, all cleaned up and still crying. He'd held him, and spoken to him, and he'd watched as he'd calmed down until he just stopped and lay at peace, like some part of him recognized the voice that had spoken to him while in his mother's belly, when he'd been his daddy's little fish.

"Not sure about… last names or middle names yet," Wyatt shook his head, and they nodded in understanding. It was too early yet for anything bigger than the here and now. "But this… This is Finneas…" he declared, like before, for the first time out loud, and once he'd said it, he smiled; he knew it was the right one. He looked up to his family, and it was like watching Wyatt the Father come to life before their eyes. He'd never meant for this to happen, certainly not now, but it had, and this little one, his little Finn, was a part of him. And now he was a part of all of them.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners