A/N: [July 9th 2024]

September 30th 2023

Chapter 273
We Ask For Fun

They'd known the day would come, all of them, and none of them had looked forward to it, but then it came hand in hand with all the good things that had preceded it, didn't it? Haru had come to spend the summer at his aunt and uncle's house, and it had all been as great as the summers he'd already spent with them, but now summer was ending. Now, today, he was going back home. That was all part of it, but it didn't change that Maya and Lucas had to see how much it pained their baby girl to see her friend leave and know she wouldn't see him again for months, maybe until next summer, maybe longer, depending on what either of their lives involved by the time next summer came around.

"Hey… Hey, okay, alright, I know… I know, pumpkin," Maya hugged her firstborn when she came and leaned against her as she did that morning. She brushed at her hair, which was regaining more and more of its length since her Annie cut.

"It sucks," Marianne mumbled. "Summer goes by so fast and then…"

"Yeah…" Maya sighed with her. A moment later, Marianne looked up at her, and Maya braced herself for the plan that had to have sprouted in her girl's mind. She knew that look, she'd invented that look and passed it on to her without her knowing.

"Maybe… Could he be an exchange camper next year? Like his sister was before?" she asked, suddenly invigorated at the possibility of having Haru in Austin for a whole year and then some. "Then he could go to school with me and my friends, and he could live with his aunt and uncle again, or… Oh, he could stay with Mosi, and…"

"Alright, hey, slow down, slow down," Maya chuckled. "Let's just start by getting him home for now. We'll worry about the rest later, yeah?"

Marianne promised not to bring up this big scheme with anyone, not even Haru, and it might have been the biggest challenge to her following the family's views toward promises. They were heading to the airport along with the Farrells, who would be flying him home, the better to spend time with Haruna's sister and the rest of the family there.

She kept her promise, and her parents suspected she achieved this mainly on the power of the hope she was provided by the chance that it could all work out and Haru might get to spend a year with them. It wouldn't be this year, sure, but maybe the next one. They could get there, couldn't they? They'd done it before and they could do it again.

Oh, the goodbyes were as emotional as they could get for a pair of ten-year-olds. Haru looked like he didn't know what he could or couldn't do, so Marianne had put her arms around him. From there, he didn't hesitate to hug her, and she hugged him back.

If Haru cried, he kept the tears unshed until after he'd boarded the plane, same as Marianne did, once the door had closed. Lucas walked with his arm around her shoulders all the way back to the car, where they finally started on their way home.

They had been driving in an uncomfortable bit of silence for a few minutes by the time Maya finally decided to turn on the radio, and in what felt like some sort of intervention from the universe, the second song that came along was one that broke through Marianne's pensive scenery stare. She turned her head toward the origin of the sound, and her eyes were filled with memories. It took a moment for them to remember, too, but then Maya and Lucas placed where they'd last heard that song. It was at Zay and Nadine's house, just two days back, at the annual Babineaux party. Haru had been there with them, attending as their guest as he'd done the year before. They had been able to make it so he wouldn't leave until after this day, and it had been worth it.

This was already a special time for the Friars without the boy's presence, thanks to the presence of another boy, their boy. They always had special memories tied to these parties whenever one – or three – of their children got to be there for the first time, and this year was going to be Ezra's first. Oh, how they looked forward to introducing him to this tradition, to all their traditions. It felt as though each time they got to do so they also reaffirmed to him and to the world that he was one of them, that he was their son, blood or no blood, box or none.

"You know, I've been going to these parties since I was just a boy, no older than Aubrey, or Mackenzie… I became friend with your uncle Zay, and he was even smaller than I was, but that's another story. Anyway, I…" Lucas paused, looked away from Ezra to find Maya stood in their bedroom's doorway.

"No, please, continue, I want to hear this," she smirked. Ezra seemed to agree with her, sitting up as he was, on their bed. He pointed up to his father, babbling at him. "That's what I said," Maya nodded at him before moving to sit with him on the bed, where he didn't waste time, reaching toward her at once until she lifted him on to her lap and he settled in. "Go on," Maya nodded to her husband. "Tell us the great legend of the Babineaux party. And there better be a whole speech about GiGi Babineaux and her cookies, or we're out of here." Making her point for her, small as he was, when he heard 'GiGi' and 'cookies,' Ezra turned his head around, in case any of them might have little bits of said treats to feed him.

Once they got to the party, it was not long before everyone split off in several directions, with everyone having people, or activities, or food that they needed to get to. Marianne was soon off with both Shonagh and Haru, while Nellie, Gracie, the triplets, and the little sisters saw to taking MJ around on a tour of 'all the things.' Wyatt might have followed them if not that Finneas had immediately needed to go to the bathroom as they'd arrived. He took him inside the house and just as the two of them stepped out of the house again to rejoin Maya and Lucas with Ezra, Wyatt stopped, all at once stunned silent.

"What's the matter?" Maya chuckled. Wyatt blinked, looking back to his sister and remembering himself enough to approach her and Lucas before quietly indicating a girl standing across the yard, talking to two of Zay's aunts. "Do you know her?" Maya asked.

"Kind of… Only met her once, I just… You don't know how she fits in here?" Wyatt asked, and neither Maya nor Lucas had ever seen him quiet this flustered.

"Hold on, is this…" Maya started to ask, then hesitated. He hadn't wanted to talk about it the last time, and now…

"Yeah, it's her," Wyatt replied, guessing what she'd been about to say. It was the person he had met, either on the day MJ had moved into the house or the one right before.

"Do you want me to snoop? Because I will," Maya volunteered.

"She's very good at it," Lucas happily endorsed this plan, which made Maya smile.

"No… No, it's alright," Wyatt promised. He was going to approach her himself. They tried not to spy on him and they succeeded… for the most part.

Anyway, they had other things they needed to keep their eyes on, like their children all over the yard. Sure, just about everyone here that night would be someone that they trusted to keep their children safe, but they would never go and pass that entire responsibility onto them. And if they watched their kids, then they would get to watch them all have a wonderful day together.

This year, it was impossible not to be deeply aware of the presence of the trio that was Marianne and her two visiting friends. Haru was making the most of his final days in Austin, him and his camera, and Shonagh was still locked into discovery mode, so recently arrived to America as she was. The party was a very special kind of place for them all to explore together on this day, and they weren't going to waste a single second. Maya and Lucas both heard the three of them plot out some way in which Shonagh could come back to visit again, so she could join them for this party, and as far as they were concerned, they didn't see why not. It already felt, with just a few days behind them, that a connection was being made, and they did not take those lightly.

For all their children got to do, and all they got to watch them do, they had their own fun, too, a lot of it coming as it tended to do, through the presence and intervention of their friends. The Turtles would all be found, sooner or later, gathered at their table, with plates and cups everywhere, children coming and going to join them, or seeking their assistance on matters of great importance, genuine or perceived. Those of the guests who had been attending long enough that they'd seen their group grow, in age and in number, seen them go from kids and teens to adults, friends to couples, seen them become spouses, and parents, several times over…

Maya was more than happy to share the tale of how Lucas had set about telling their son about the party that morning, and their friends reacted as they'd both imagined they would. They were very intrigued to know what he'd had to say, too, perched in their seats and turning to look at him. When they heard that the two of them had shared stories from over the years, they'd needed to know which stories had been told to little Ezra, and that soon turned into them all trying to one-up one another, pulling tales from their own memories to tell the boy. Coming up on nine months as he was, Ezra Friar may not have understood everything that was told to him, but he still looked fascinated all the while, and whether or not he'd remember all his aunts and uncles taking turns at holding him, at talking to him, his parents definitely would, and they would tell him all about it when he was older.

Remembering the party had helped Marianne get out of her sadness bubble. She still wished Haru didn't have to go, but she had things to look forward to, possibilities with him, with Shonagh… And if that wasn't enough, she had school to look forward to. When the four of them returned from the airport, they found the rest of the household to be in full 'school is starting again soon!' mode. It didn't matter which school they were all going to, or what kind of course load they could look forward to, if they had any to begin with. This was something they all got to share in, and that fact was making the smallest among them feel happier than they might have expected. When the airport group returned, the others were apparently trying to decide what everyone was going to wear. They had done everyone else, but now they were sitting up in the art room while MJ perused his many options and showed them each one, fashion show style. The girls were loving it, and MJ was giving it everything that he had, because of course he would.

This turned into a lengthier exercise once Marianne and Shonagh had their turn, and once it was decided that Maya had to do it, too, and then Lucas, too, even if he wasn't exactly going to school, unlike the rest of them. They all ended up going out to dinner at Nando's diner and, while there, decided that they needed to have a movie night. It was Lucas who suggested to Wyatt that he might see about inviting his 'new friend' to join them. He might not have done it, except that she happened to text him about two minutes after Maya had brought her up. So, Wyatt had extended the invitation, and she'd said yes.

Her name was Laurie, and she was a nurse. She had gained her invitation to the Babineaux party for being the daughter of the late GiGi Babineaux' nurse in her final days. Her mother and the family had stayed in touch, but Laurie herself had never attended the party before, had never been in town for it, not until this year, as she'd moved back to Austin. As to her connection to Wyatt at this point, everything was still very much on the friendship side, but anyone who was in any way aware of the situation could see that he was interested in more than that, and so was she. It was more complicated for him, naturally, as he had Finneas to think about, and he would always come first. Laurie knew about him, had met him at the party and honestly seemed to get along very well with him, but Wyatt wouldn't take any steps out of the friendship lane for a while, they knew. For his sake and Laurie's, he would not take too long to make up his mind, or else his chance might get away from him.

"What do you think? By Christmas?" Lucas asked as they both got ready for bed that night.

"This year? Might be asking a lot. Next year? Maybe…" Maya hummed. Lucas smirked, and she matched him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes would go, as they would each night since they'd put them there, to the boxes full of diaries waiting to be handed out. Once they'd made it to this point of summer, it really got to feel like she was waiting for school to start already. Lucas could see her looking at the boxes, and he'd know what she was thinking about, too.

"Do you need me to go in there with you on the first day?" he asked.

"You won't want to model for me by any chance, will you?" she turned to look at him.

"On the first day?" he tried not to laugh.

"No, you're right, they need something to look forward to," she replied, and his laughter escaped. "We'll come back to that," she waved at him. He sat next to her and they each lay down, moving to face one another before they could see about getting into spoon position.

"I will hold you to that, Huckleberry."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners