May 14th 2023

Chapter 134
We Love To Remember

He was doing better. His recovery was ongoing, and it would continue to be for some time still, but the recent weeks had seen an upswing, enough that many people had noticed and commented on it, sharing gladness for him. And Lucas was glad. He would smile and suggest that this turn had come as a result of the news he'd gotten from his daughter and her husband, the knowledge that he was about to be a grandfather for the second time. There was something about the realization that there would be another piece of his big girl out in the world that did something to him. She may not have been related to him by blood, but that did not matter. There would be another Friar in the world and that made him feel extra alive like he couldn't believe.

He wasn't the only one to receive that dose of happiness. He could still recall the look on his father's face when he'd learned that his eldest granddaughter was going to have a baby. He'd hugged Ella with so much love and excitement, and she'd been so touched, knowing how precious that feeling would be to him. When Theo and Lea had found out, their happiness for their friends had known no bounds. They were all one big family, the four of them and Tori, they had to be, for her sake, but even so… They'd all come so far together, and this was a next step they would eagerly take alongside one another. There was plenty brewing on both sides, as both Ella and Taylor had stated that they were sure an engagement was right around the corner for the other couple, though it wasn't the only big change possibly happening soon. There were whispers of Lea finally taking the plunge with New York, and Broadway, though she continued to hesitate, knowing how it would inevitably complicate things with her, and Theo, and Tori… Theo would never want that to stop her, and Lea both appreciated and echoed this feeling to a degree, but until she could make up her mind, there'd be nothing else for them to do.

Lucas was going out more, even if he couldn't go so far as to travel on his own, with his car… But he did get dropped off somewhere a couple of times, leaving behind his 'driver' and carrying on by himself for an hour or two. He had been told to pace himself, though of course he also needed to make some effort, to not simply sit back as though it would all happen to him with the passage of time. He'd been hearing plenty about this from his physical therapist, and he could see very well that she had a point, so he did what she told him to do. She was good at her job, he could tell, and he enjoyed speaking with her. She made it easy. They would talk about anything, from his current life to his childhood, and anything in between. He hadn't thought that anything would ever come of those conversations except that it made their sessions fly by, but that wasn't all they did. There would be an unexpected bonus, this one as much a surprise to Lucas as it was to his therapist.

One afternoon, Lucas sat outside the house, watching Aubrey run around with the dogs. It would be just the two of them some days, no more 'babysitters' for him, as he couldn't help but call them, and if any part of his recovery could be referred to as a perk, spending extra time with his youngest daughter was definitely that. He could see how happy it made her, too, and he did his best to make the most of their solo days together. She would love to play and simply turn around, finding him there, or she would run up to him to show what she was doing, or she'd ask if they could do something together. It would have been a lot to expect out of a child her age to always know what he could or couldn't do, and sometimes she would get upset when he'd have to tell her no, but it usually wouldn't last very long.

"Car!" Aubrey called, standing at a stop, looking to the road as the dogs reacted in kind. They would all do this, every single time they saw people driving by. There wasn't a great deal of traffic in the area, which had always been something Lucas and Maya appreciated, so any vehicle they'd see would be expected to turn in and drive up to their house or one of their neighbors'. By now, they knew who many of the visitors would be, could recognize them by what they drove. This one was not familiar to Aubrey, or to Lucas, but he could recognize the slowing down that came with someone approaching their destination, and this car was making an approach for the Friar house.

"Lucky, come here, hey, come, come," Lucas held out his hand, and Aubrey turned at once to run to him, the dogs following her.

"Visitors for us?" she asked excitedly.

"Looking that way," he told her, still intrigued.

He could see people sitting both in front and back, four in total, and it wasn't until they all got out, with three of them appearing to be strangers at first glance, that he saw one of them that he recognized. Marissa, his physical therapist, had gotten out of the passenger seat before joining the man who'd been the driver, approaching along with the two backseat passengers, a man, and a woman. All four looked to be roughly the same age, around twenty-five, like Marissa. The three strangers all had this look to them of nervousness mixed with excitement, which was not helping Lucas in getting to understand what brought them here. They were looking at him, looking with intent and awe.

"Hi, hi!" Aubrey cut to the chase, looking from her father to the guests. She had met Marissa once before and seemed to remember her, which was something. It went a long way, with how it made the strangers smile, to make Lucas stop and feel the pull of memory, like he was suddenly certain that he actually knew these faces, these people, just not where from.

"Hey, Mr. Friar," the driver spoke, and the nagging feeling only got more intense. It must have been written all over his face; it made the man smile. "You can't figure it out, can you?" he asked.

"Afraid not," Lucas admitted.

"That's ok, it's been a while," the driver told him.

"We were a lot smaller, last time you saw us," the woman added with a grin. "But we didn't forget you, and I'm sure you didn't forget us either, it's just we're not seven years old anymore."

"Or wearing matching yellow shirts," the other man added, and all at once, he knew them. The shock was a very good one, happily received. It only took a moment or so for him to identify the backseat pair.

"Billy… Tessa," he pointed to them, and they nodded and smiled. Lucas looked to Marissa and the driver, who he guessed would be her fiancé, and he knew she'd called him Scott, in past conversations, but Lucas could only recall a boy that he called… "Scottie," he grinned. Far be it for him to play favorites, but he'd definitely had an easy bond with the boy, ardent TXNY fan as he'd been back then… eighteen years almost… He could barely believe it. Here were three of his former summer camp kids, from back when he'd been a counselor, over the summer, in high school.

As the story emerged, something about their conversations had scratched at a memory that Marissa had, of stories from her future husband's childhood. From there, she'd been left to wonder and then to confirm that her patient had once been her Scott's former camp counselor, someone he'd remembered all through the years, just as his childhood friends had done. Much as it rode the line breaking confidentiality, she had revealed the connection to the trio, which left them all finding it near impossible to ignore. So, they had made up their minds: they were going to go and see him. It would make them all happy, they were sure, and maybe some of them more than others.

"We heard about what happened, saw it on the news," Tessa mentioned, and for being eighteen years older than she'd been the last time he'd seen her, he could still see the small girl he'd known at camp. "We wanted to come and see you, but we thought it might have been just… intruding, I guess."

"I might not have been the best person to visit at the time," Lucas reluctantly admitted. It wasn't as though he'd been rude to anyone, but it had made him uncomfortable, having too many people around him, having anyone hover or stare at him… His family had been one thing, his closest friends, but beyond that, he couldn't bear it, and he hated to think what he might have been like if his former campers had shown up back then. "But a lot has changed since," he promised before his attention was pulled – almost literally – down by Aubrey, who had taken hold of his hand and started pulling at it so he would look at her. She was confused, as she'd have to be.

"Who is it, Daddy?" she asked. He told her, as best he could, but he knew that she still didn't quite get it. So, he figured he might as well show her.

He didn't keep every single thing, but he could easily be counted on when it came to something like this. He had photos and, because they had mattered so much to him and Maya on that summer, the one they'd spent apart for there having been a 'ban' on him, he had videos. They had been carried over from his phone to where they could be kept from loss of any kind. For that, Aubrey was able to see images of her father, so much younger than he was now, enough that she almost didn't recognize him, and of three of their guests, themselves looking to be somewhere about Tori's age. She definitely wouldn't have known that these kids in the videos, singing loudly to TXNY songs as they walked behind her young father, were their guests. She still looked vaguely unsure that it was actually them.

"That was really the best summer," Scottie… Scott told Lucas with a smile. "Especially the big show at the end," he added, and Lucas chuckled. He remembered that surprise appearance by the band very well. It was the best way they could have closed the book on that summer. The ban had been lifted, he and Maya could bask in the way they felt for each other without having to hide from her parents… What else would she do once she was back in Texas except to go play songs for the kids who'd become so enthusiastic for her band? And little Scottie had been her band's biggest fan.

"Still a fan?" Lucas had to ask.

"Now and always," he vowed. "Got my sisters into it when they were old enough, too."

"They were barely toddlers," Marissa laughed.

"I don't remember you having sisters," Lucas commented.

"I didn't, not back then. But my parents got back together, and then boom, there they came," Scott explained, his smile promising that these sisters meant the world to him.

They'd still be there by the time Maya arrived, and she was as stunned to realize who they were as Lucas had been. They may not have been her campers, but they had been his, and they'd played a role, just as Lucas had claimed. To her, they were as much a part of their family's history as Siobhan Hughes offering her mother a job that brought the two of them from New York to Texas and the middle school where she'd meet Lucas Friar and his friends.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners