Chapter 18
From Here to There

The beginning of March got to feel like they'd just hit a new hill with a burst of speed. Things were moving along everywhere they turned. Already the most immediate showing of this was in Maya herself. It felt as though just overnight her belly had expanded into new territory as she broke through twenty-three weeks. She looked at herself in the mirror when she got out of the shower and just couldn't look away. If she couldn't see it, and feel it, she would have had trouble believing this was actually her.

When Lucas had taken the picture for her belly timeline, he had the same sort of look on his face like he was picking up on how much she'd grown. After he snapped the shot, he just had to go to her, set his hand to the swell of it, where their son was growing day by day.

"If this keeps up, I think gravity might do me in before I reach my due date," she joked. He laughed. "I'm serious, okay, I'm tiny," she protested.

"I hadn't noticed," he smirked, more so when she swatted his arm with a smile. "I like your… tininess…" he promised. "Get to carry you around."

"Have fun now, with that extra load," she told him, her hand joining his like she wanted to know their boy to know she wasn't making fun of him.

"Anytime," Lucas assured her. After a moment he crouched down until he could press a kiss to that growing belly of hers, making her feel that rush of love she'd get, every time she was reminded of this life they were about to start, him and her and their Alexander… She was kind of coming on to the name again. Maybe this was another effect of that growth.

They were getting ready for him, every day. Here at home, they continued in their reading, familiarizing themselves with everything they could need to know about their baby before and after he was born. Maya was getting really good with her knitting. She had already fashioned their son what felt like a solid wardrobe for his first few months, along with blankets enough to have themselves and all grandparents covered. Now she had started on crochet and some cuddly animals for him to play with and hold.

There was their other home, too, his grandfather's old place which would soon be theirs. The last few trips down there to advance the work that needed to be done had really pushed onward, too. They had finished clearing out the things that needed to be taken away, which made the place feel a bit empty at first. But they knew that in this emptiness they would start to build what would be their home together, and suddenly the emptiness felt like potential. There was nothing more enticing to a creative mind like Maya's than a blank canvas. This project wasn't just hers though, and they were looking forward to getting through it together.

"I don't know how much we'll be able to do by the time he comes," she told him as they stood in the living room, their first March weekend in renovation land.

She didn't have to say what she meant there. Clearing out everything had been easy, but it also revealed more of what would need to be done to the house itself, the things that would need to be replaced or added. And it was proving to be more expensive than they'd anticipated. They had the money from Lucas' parents, and it would pay for a lot, but they had to think about the long run, and the plans they had made for that money before. They had allotted an amount to the house, the rest as the start of Alex' college fund, and they didn't want to be counting on more money from their parents, much as they knew they would give it if they asked. They might do it if they didn't ask either, as shown by this first check they had received without prompt.

"We'll start with what we can," he nodded. "We can fill in the rest as we go. When have we ever done anything in order?" She smiled, a little, but he could see concern in her eyes. "Hey…" he trailed after her as she kept looking around. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, until she was leaning to him and he had his hands on her belly. "Do you trust me?"

"Always," she vowed.

"We'll make it work," he made his own vow.

"I know," Maya sighed. "It's all just really hitting me, all the things we want to do, and the ones we need to do. The house, the wedding, school, and him…" she looked down to herself, to those loving hands curved to her bump. "Suddenly the age thing is sort of rearing its head… and it's laughing."

The wedding was in six months, to the day, near enough. The dress was one great expense taken away from them thanks to their families, but it was only one thing. And if they wanted not just A Wedding but Their Wedding, the way they deserved to have it, then that would mean a lot more money. They weren't going to have one of those ridiculously overpriced weddings they could see on television, in more of those shows Maya used to watch with her mother, but even something in the middle felt like so much. So, they were calling in favors where they could get them.

Asher, their man of a million connections, was working his magic from all the way back in New York. Isabel had already insisted on catering the day, her gift to Maya, she said, though Maya suspected there would also be another gift, more of the registry kind. As for music, well they had the band, and decorations, well they had loads of crafty people happy to pitch in where they were needed. They could make that work.

And as for school, well they already knew that didn't come cheap, and they were building up a lot in the way of student loans with every semester they went through. They had known that going in, sure, but back then they hadn't considered the fact that they'd be moving into their first house, getting married, and having their first child all before they were handed their diplomas at the end of this. And now what had felt like a load that they could sustain over time had started to feel a lot more like excess, like something they couldn't reasonably saddle themselves with. But they didn't have a choice, did they? It all went hand in hand, getting the education that would enable them to get the kind of work they needed to get in order to support their family, especially considering what they had in mind for it.

After their Valentine's Day viewing of Titanic, because one very long movie demanded another, they had put on the Sound of Music. Lucas had learned that, somehow, Maya had never seen it, and he'd inadvertently revealed that, as a kid, his mother had roped him into playing one of the boys in a small production of one of her associations. So, naturally, they had to watch it, and she had to know immediately which of these boys – it was Kurt – her future husband had played, so she could picture it all in her head.

They'd had to pause at one point, as Maya was in dire need of going to the bathroom, already a chore when either bathroom was a flight of stairs away. When she'd returned, she'd resumed her position, just as Lucas did, and before he could hit play again, she'd said something that made the remote slip from his hand.

"I think we should try and wait about a year before having the next one." He turned to look at her, blinking, unsure if she meant what he thought she meant.

"The next…"

"Baby," she pointed to her belly. He sat up again.

"Wh-what, why? I mean…" Sure, they had both been of a mind, even before she'd gotten pregnant, that whenever they would have kids they would have… well, kids, plural. But with the first one still swimming along in her belly…

"Neither of us grew up with siblings," she pointed out. "I know I more than made up for that later on, but still, I was seventeen before I had any of them really be in my life." She'd had a sibling somewhere in the world since she was eight, but it had taken ten years before she'd even met him, so the first ones she'd really had were the twins. "Wouldn't it be a good thing for him to grow up with a little brother or sister?" Maya asked, her hand absently running along the curve of her belly.

He'd looked at her as she said this, and he'd considered it, and… well, she was right, wasn't she?

"You'll be at home with him for months after he's born, and if we have another one a year later… Maya, what about your degree?" He would never have her sacrifice her dreams, her education, for the sake of her carrying their children.

"Look, we haven't done anything yet, we're still cooking up number one over here, I have time to consider my options, talk to some people. It doesn't have to be one year, it can be two. Then again, this one came as a bit of a surprise, so the next one might be one, too. We really need to keep an eye on that," she thought aloud. Lucas bit back a laugh. "The point is, if we look into it, and we can manage it, what do you think?" He let out a breath, thinking about it, really thinking about it, and… well, there really wasn't much to consider, was there?

Except now, if they were aiming to be seeing her through this pregnancy and birth, and then providing for one baby, only to go and double this up before too long… They weren't going to just go and have a second one so soon if they couldn't provide for both at the time, no matter how much they wanted their son to have a brother or sister to grow up with. But if they knew what they wanted to do, then they'd have a way to set out plans, to do what was in their power so that, when the time came, one year, two years after their sprout had sprouted, they could add another branch to their family tree.

So, here they were now, standing in their future home in all its blank canvas glory, with their baby growing by the day, and all these things they needed to do, to be ready for him, and then to care and provide for him, and it would be so easy for either or both of them to get overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all.

"What's our priority?" Lucas asked. "In the house. What needs to absolutely be done by the time we come in here with the baby?"

"Well…" Maya thought for a few moments. "I'd say the nursery, but I mean we could just keep him in the room with us for a while and it would be sort of practical when we have to get up for him in the middle of the night," she started.

"Right," he nodded.

"Plus, I'm not exactly in shape for being up on a ladder, working on that mural, until after he's out of me," she gestured, making him chuckle. "So, we don't have to have the nursery completely set up for a while, but we do need the actual things." And on that, they were very aware of the number of eager grandparents and sort-of-grandparents, and 'aunts' and 'uncles,' all lying in wait to gift them with most of those items whenever her baby shower would roll around.

"So, our room," Lucas ticked off on one hand.

"Bathroom, kitchen," Maya added for him. "Laundry…"

"Essentials for keeping us clean, fed, and rested. Got it." She snorted.

"Rested, please. You've never lived with a newborn in the house," she looked back at him.

"Semi-rested then," he amended with a smile. "After those things are taken care of, then… we'll see what we do next."

"Organization, priorities, that's what we need," she gave an optimistic nod. "Don't know how that will all look once this guy's actually here, pooping and crying everywhere."

"We've got this," he assured her, backing up her optimism. "Come on, I want to show you something."

He led her up the stairs, or followed her up there at least. She'd gotten it in her head that she could trip and fall down the stairs at any time, so now he would usually be trailing behind her when they went up and going ahead of her when they went down, the better to catch her if she did fall. When they got to the top of the stairs, he pointed to their bedroom door and she went that way, stepping in and immediately knowing what he intended to show her.

"Woah, you finished it?" she grinned, looking back at him before moving toward the bed.

It had been one of the big things he wanted to do, ever since they'd walked through the place, starting to figure out what would stay and what would go. He wanted to restore his grandparents' bed frame for them. Though it hadn't been used in a number of years, and had been in their possession for several decades now, it was still very solid. All it had really needed was restoration. And Lucas had done that, sanding down the wood, varnishing and everything, until it looked like it might have been brand new, without losing any of its style.

"Last night," he confirmed with a proud smile.

"It's beautiful, consider me impressed," she nodded, running her hand along the details along the footboard. Her fingers travelled from there to the blanket laid over the mattress, and it finally dawned on her… "Hey, that's… it's the set I showed you, we said we'd get it once we picked up the mattress and…" Having spent a night there on New Year's Eve, having been in this room a number of times in the last couple of months, she had become familiar with Pappy Joe's old worn-down mattress. This was a king-size bed, they knew they'd have to change it, couldn't just bring the one they had in Houston, but this… This wasn't the old mattress, it was brand new. Even covered, you could just tell, but then… "Lucas?" she looked at him, needing to know.

"Okay, well…" he started, looking just a bit awkward as he started, knowing he'd gone against a choice they'd made. "Last night was more like last afternoon, after you went back to your parents' for the evening. Me and my dad, we finished the frame, everything was just… setting," he gestured to the bed. "So, we were sitting down, just taking a breath and all, and I told him how we picked the mattress and the sheets already… It didn't feel right to have the frame and not the stuff that went in it, so we went down to the store in his truck."

"Who paid?" Maya asked. He had to hand it to her, she was getting really good practice with her whole maternal third-degree skills.

"Uh…" he hesitated, feeling like he was getting grilled.

"Lucas…" she sighed, not so much angry but conflicted. "We said we weren't going to keep taking their money, that we were going to take care of this ourselves…"

"I know, I know, I tried to tell him that, but you know how they get once they've made up their minds about these things. I slipped up, I shouldn't have opened the subject with him, I was tired and I told him. Just look at it this way. For now, we have the bed taken care of, we can focus on something else we need. And, somewhere down the line, we'll find a way to pay them back, some way that they won't know it's for this, like we'll book them a vacation or something."

She was looking at the bed, turning it all over in her head. Lucas understood her frustrations, he absolutely did. It was becoming a point of pride for the two of them to be able and provide for their son on their own as much as possible, and had the situation been reversed he would have reacted the same.

"Did you try it?" she slowly asked, looking back at him. He smiled.

"I made my father try it out, because we had to, but I didn't want to do it without you."

"Well, I'm here now…" she smiled back, mischief returned.

"Women and children first?" he gestured.

"Ha," she deadpanned before moving to kiss him.

They had gotten pretty used to their sides of the bed by now, no matter where they slept, at home, at their parents', friends', in a hotel… She was on the left, and he was on the right. She went and sat on the edge of the left side, kicking off her shoes. Scooting her way back, she settled herself in over the made bed… Her immediate thought manifested itself into the world on a contented sigh.

"Well?" Lucas asked. She patted the empty space next to her without a word, and he went to the right side before sitting and lying down once he'd also let his shoes drop to the floor. "Woah…"

"Right?"

"Yeah…"

"Almost sad that we have to go back to our other bed for the next few months…" she sighed. "I mean, what's a two-hour commute every day, if it means getting back to this?"

"A lot, unfortunately," he laughed, turning on to his side to look at her. She lifted up her head, sticking her arm underneath.

"So… I'm having this idea…" she started slowly.

"Where does it rank against your last idea, with baby number two?" Lucas asked, cautiously hesitant. She smiled.

"Well, it would also mean bringing another Friar into this house," she nodded. "Except much older, and also a previous resident of this very house." He blinked.

"You want… Pappy Joe? To move in with us?" She nodded. "I'm not saying no, but why?"

"You've known the guy your whole life, where do you think he'd be living if he hadn't had his accident?"

"Right here, until the day he died," Lucas replied with confidence.

"The only reason he's not is because he couldn't live out here on his own anymore. But once we're living out here, he wouldn't be on his own. He'd have you, and me, and his great-grandson… He could have sold this place, but he gave it to you, kept it in the family. We could bring him home."

He hadn't even considered it. He might have, if he hadn't been so caught up in getting everything ready for the baby. But she was right. When he'd moved in with him and his parents, he'd been convalescing, and then eventually it had been decided that he would stay permanently, but Lucas knew it had been a choice made out of necessity, and it had cost his grandfather a certain amount of pride, like he was giving up some of his independence. His moving in with the three of them now, moving back into the home he'd made with his wife for all those years, raising his son… It wouldn't be the same, especially once they started redecorating, but it would be as close as it got.

Maya was staring back at him, waiting to know what he thought, and he could only smile, reaching over to pull her closer before leaning to kiss her. She never ceased to give him reasons to rediscover how much he loved her.

"He might not want to," he pointed out when the kiss broke.

"So, first, we ask him."

By chance, when Lucas' father returned to the house an hour later, bringing with him the materials he and Lucas needed to make some repairs, they found that he'd brought Pappy Joe along with him. He got out of the truck, looking up at the place… It was probably the first time he'd been out here in a few years, and seeing how his eyes seemed to fill with memories, Lucas and Maya just looked to one another like they knew how this day had to end.

Lucas and Tom went off to get started, which left Maya with her 'Pappy in law,' as she'd teasingly call him. Lucas had quickly said that she should be the one to ask him, since it was her idea, before leaving with his father to head down to the basement.

"Looks a lot bigger than I remembered," Pappy Joe looked around as they stood in the living room.

"A lot of the furniture's gone, that tends to put things into perspective," Maya moved up to stand next to him.

"Do me a favor, I know you kids are going to spruce up the place, as well you should, but…" he led her through and into the kitchen, pulling open the pantry door. On the inside of the frame, she soon spotted the notches and the neatly marked labels. Thomas, age 1… age 2… 3, 4, 5… It went all the way to twelve, likely the last time they'd been able to get him to stand for it. Somewhere in the middle of this, she spotted one mark which differed, a bit wobblier, with the words in a child's hand. Lucas, 5. When she pressed her finger to it, Pappy Joe laughed. "He was out here one day, saw that we had one, same as at his house. I don't think he even realized that was his daddy's growth. He just stood there with a pen and measured his own self, and there it is."

"It stays," she promised with a nod, and the old man smiled, patting her shoulder. Maya looked back at that chart, imagining when might start doing the same with their boy… Another generation for the Friar boys, right here. "Lucas and I were actually just discussing a few things earlier, about the future, our future, in this house."

"Tom told me he and Lucas finished the bed, got a new mattress and everything." She nodded. "It was about time," he smiled. "That thing needed to go for a long time, but we never got around to it."

"You should see the frame, they did a really nice job on it."

Once again, it was up the stairs, this time with neither of them with any particular advantage as far as who might be able to support the other if they fell. Maya walked into the room, and she turned to see Pappy Joe stop in the door, just for a moment. Memories, again. He came forward though, and he observed the refreshed frame with great attention. Maya kept watching him for a minute or two more before working up the courage to ask what she needed to ask.

"Like I was saying, Lucas and I were talking, about when we'd be living here, us and the baby, and… We were thinking maybe it's time you got to come home, too." He turned to look at her, even more uncertain of having heard right than his grandson had been. "We'd need to figure out some things, I know, and if you'd rather stay where you are now, we'd understand, but well… We'd love to have you out here with us, if… if you want to."

The first time she'd seen the man cry was when he'd found out for certain that he was going to be a great-grandfather. The second was here, now, as he came up and embraced her and gave a decisive yes. The way he stood there now, it felt like he'd been released of a long-held weight. He was coming home.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners