A/N: Five days behind...

September 4th 2023

Chapter 247
We Unite As Parents

It just couldn't be in their cards for every parent teacher night to fall on separate nights and allow Maya to attend along with Lucas, and that spring's session was not in their favor. While he was off to make the rounds for all their girls, she'd be off at the high school meeting parent after parent. She had one thing on her side this time, and it was that she'd decided to bring Ezra along with her. She had her reasons for it, and he understood, so off they each went on their nights.

He'd already been keeping to how Mackenzie and Aubrey were doing in preschool, they both had. It was a whole other world, but then they'd been in it for so long, thanks to the four who'd come before their latest two. Some parts were different, others were supremely identical. The other parents were all the same to them, whether their kids were four or five or ten. They knew that a lot of those people would be in their periphery for many years ahead of them, as their girls would grow up. Some of them were wonderful, could be counted on for good conversations, advice, favors, play dates… others were under the impression that their sons and daughters were going to be rulers of the world someday, and any difficulty thrown their way was a complete injustice and would not stand, and the rest just fell somewhere along the middle.

Lucas had always been an ace at navigating the school parents scene. As Maya herself would put it, she'd land into the zone where New York Maya and Mama Bear Maya had become the dream team so fast, the moment any of those moms or dads started throwing attitude, especially it they threw it anywhere near her daughters. Him though, he'd pull out that great Huckleberry charm, and all the attitude would roll right off of him and knock them back. Maybe for that, he was better off rolling through those parent teacher nights on his own. If she ever got thrown in there on her own for too long, they just might have to find the girls a new school to go to.

Instead, she was meeting with her students' parents, and it brought out a balance to her… maybe because they'd either perfectly fine, or they'd try to kiss up to her… This was where she was able to let the attitude roll off her, and that was the rest of her roster. Right now, she was with her senior class, so she had a lot less of the attitude, much more of the sweet talking. She knew that a lot of the parents would see this visit and this class as sort of pointless in the big picture, but others would recognize that she held a lot more sway than she might appear to.

"Another one out the door, huh, E-Z?" she intoned as she pulled her son into her arms, knowing who would be coming in next. Right on cue…

"You're lucky your mom's not here tonight, she's getting as emotional as she was when the girls were about to graduate," Shawn shook his head as he approached, his face shifting into Grandpa mode as he locked eyes with his grandson. "You come talking to us when your baby boy walks the stage to get his diploma, huh?" he smirked, holding his hands out. Maya conceded his point and passed the baby over.

Ezra was very popular with the parents that night, not just with his grandfather, though he would be back, of course, once she got to the freshmen. For now, she had her sophomores to see to, and their parents played many a round of holding the baby, or greeting the baby… Maya did genuinely want to spend a bit more time with her son that evening, but if she was honest, the first reason why she'd wanted him with her tonight had something more to do with his birth parents.

Yes, she'd agreed not to seek them out too much, and she wasn't… not exactly… But then parent teacher night was coming up, and she was supremely aware of the fact that somewhere among the people who'd sit across from her she could end up being sat across from her son's blood relatives, a grandmother or grandfather… Maybe she'd have a better chance of putting the pieces together there than she'd done with their unidentified son and daughter. A resemblance, maybe, or some kind of… recognition between them and Ezra. It was silly, she realized that, but she had to give it a shot, for him, for them…

It would have been silly, too, for her to assume that Lucas hadn't seen right through her and simply decided to pretend as though he hadn't noticed. That was exactly what had happened, and as he walked into the elementary school, he guessed he did hope she'd find some answers… just a bit. He had plenty more to think about just now, fielding the parent lines. Right up first, he was supposed to meet with the triplets' teacher, and the meeting itself would be just fine, he was sure, but this part right here… He was good Huckleberry Dad up here, yes, but he could still do without the parents who would argue, openly or indirectly, that he took up so much time and kept them waiting, as though they didn't know he had three kids to talk about instead of one.

That was going to be the norm for however many years to come, he was sure, and he wasn't going to let it get to him. He'd told Maya before how it was probably a good idea that she didn't have to get anywhere near those guys, and the thought of her being here right now made him chuckle, and he needed nothing more to make it up the line and into the room. Once he got in there, he'd get to talk about his girls, and that was one of his favorite things to do. They were all doing well enough, much better than after his attack, that was for sure, and what issues they had were for the most part with the school material, which could be dealt with. They were thriving, all three of them in their own ways, and that made all the wait and the nagging parents worth it.

Once he got to the line with the fourth grade parents, the issues were different, but he had them, too, if he gave them any mind. They had plenty to say about Marianne being out of school some days, when she had to be driven out for musical business, but he didn't let that get in the way. He had plenty of people in that line he'd now been acquainted with, friends with, for near on a decade, as wild as that sounded sometimes, and he'd much rather focus on them.

They knew how much he couldn't help sharing his pride if he was given the means to, and they would almost insist on it, so he would happily share whatever new information he might have had at the time. He might have done the same here, as they waited, but he chose not to. He didn't need to throw anything in the other parents' faces, and instead he would ask his friendlies about how their kids were doing, reciprocating only with the non-musical bits on Marianne's side. He knew that even if he didn't talk about the musical, they'd find something to complain about, and the other big one, for this year at least, was her connection to her teacher…

"Good evening, Mr. Friar, please come in. Yes, Mrs. Gray, you're next, I promise we won't take long, yeah?" Zay addressed the woman with his best winning smile before shutting the classroom door and turning to his best friend. "So, how are you doing? Please, don't skip any details."

"Not looking forward to that one?" Lucas guessed, chuckling.

"If I have to hear one more word about how her precious Adam is so undervalued for his talents in this school, I might retire early," Zay sighed.

"Please don't," Lucas smiled. He'd heard the same sentiment out of the boy's mother for as long as he'd been in Marianne's school circle.

"Give me a hundred of yours any day instead, we'll talk."

"I don't know about a hundred, but you should have three coming your way in about three years," Lucas reminded him, and Zay gave a pronounced nod, pressing his hands together.

"I am counting down the days. And I've been trying to decide where I might seat them in here," he gestured around the room and the desks. "Alphabetical order is nice and all, but it might be time to shake things up, yeah?"

Back at the high school, Maya was left to think about how much the spring session would be different from the fall one when it came to the freshmen parents. Unless they had an older child already in high school by the time they started rolling through her class, they'd have a lot of the parent version of their children's 'high school transition' expressions going at the first meeting. Once they'd get to the spring though, it would be different, more settled in, definitely, which could be as good as it could be revealing of where the parents would fit in her eagerness to meet with them… or lack thereof.

"Is he sleeping?" Shawn asked as he reappeared.

"Well, he was for a while, and then someone didn't get the message to leave him alone. Hasn't gone back to sleep since, just sits there like a cranky boy," she bowed to kiss his little face.

"Give him here, I've got this," Shawn took his chance, and he sat through his appointment about Haley with his grandson nestled in his arms. By the time he'd go again, Ezra would be back in his car seat, snoozing peacefully.

Thankfully, the junior parents got the message, and Ezra was allowed to sleep for the remainder of the evening. Maya credited this primarily to this set being on the verge of seeing their children enter senior year, which would get them so deep into college brain that even a tiny sleeping boy would not so much as register with some of them.

Everyone was still unaware of how Ezra had come to them in a box on their doorstep, save for those who were closest to the family beyond school, and the story they had given instead was so accepted around here that Maya barely ever thought of it anymore. The only times she would think about the truth would be with those in the know, the one exception being perhaps Freddie Jacek's social worker. Whenever they'd meet, her mind would drift off, just a bit, wondering if Ezra might have ended up being another case like Freddie if he hadn't been left with them. Would a family have taken him in for good or would he have bounced around the way Freddie had done all his life? It was a non-issue at this point, but still, she couldn't help but wonder.

When Ezra woke again, it was just as Maya was picking up her things, and just as Lucas came into the room. Maya naturally teased her husband, claiming that their son had sensed his arrival. Lucas just smiled and crouched to get at eye level with the seat and the baby, the better to get his face prodded at with eagerly curious fingers.

"Home, please…" Maya sighed as she grabbed her bag and Lucas lifted the seat and Ezra. He took her hand as they walked down the hall, and they shared stories of the evening. She hadn't found some grand revelation as to their son's birth parents, but she hadn't expected to for real, had she? Maybe later…

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners