Chapter 69
The Tree & the Big Apple

Maya never had to worry about being made to feel special on her birthday. She had Lucas Friar for a husband, and you had to hand it to the guy, he wore his feelings as openly as anything… especially when these had to do with her, their son, or their Bee. Waking up on the morning of her twenty-second birthday, she didn't have to worry for any chill that might have invaded the January air thanks to the arms wrapped snuggly around her. One of Lucas' hands was – of course – splayed over her belly, while the other had gotten hold of one of hers, bringing their fingers entwined together.

"Oh, so you're both awake, huh?" she spoke quietly, when the baby's movements had led to Lucas' hand moving to follow.

"Wasn't sure if you were and I didn't want to wake you," he replied, tipping his head over her shoulder so he might kiss her cheek. It got her laughing. "Happy, happy birthday," he wished her.

"Looking good so far," she appraised. "You just keep holding on to me like that and it's going to be even better." It wasn't even entirely her joking around. The way they were positioned together just now, her back didn't pain her one bit.

"That's only going to work so long once little guy over there decides we've ignored him long enough," Lucas reminded her. Maya only had to turn her eyes up to see the crib in the corner, and their son lying there, grabbing at his toes. They'd decided to put him in their room last night, the better to sidestep any morning cries from across the hall.

"That is a terrible choice to make," she sighed. "I want him here with us, but that would mean one of us moving, and we just decided we weren't going to do that."

"Yeah, that's a tough one," Lucas chuckled, pressing kisses to her shoulder. "It's your birthday though, so you get to decide."

"Oh, sure, leave it on me," she 'accused.'

The choice was made in the end, not by Maya, or Lucas, and not even by Elliott. Instead, it was the sound of Pappy Joe's laughter from downstairs, and the realization that there was someone else there with him. It was barely seven in the morning, and there had been no doorbell, not to their knowledge, so who could be here at this hour?

"The curiosity… It's always the curiosity," Maya sighed as she and Lucas both moved to rise out of bed. She went over to the crib automatically, there to be greeted by the brightest of smiles out of her baby boy as she picked him up. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you, too, Sprout," she grinned, getting one good breath of him. "Well, that diaper held up," she complimented and kissed his blond hair. "Come on, let's go see who's the early bird with your Great Pappy Joe."

Lucas had already made his way down the hall. Even as he climbed down the stairs the voices had grown clearer, until he could recognize who the other voice belonged to. It wasn't until he got further down though that he discovered there were four people downstairs, but then two of them were in the kitchen and thus unheard up until he got closer and spotted them. Sam and Cara Hart were in there, making breakfast by the looks of it. Meanwhile, their father sat in the living room, talking with Pappy Joe, who spotted his grandson and sat up with a face that asked 'oh, is she awake?' Lucas nodded and pointed up. She was on her way down, one step at a time. The two men stood up from the couch, making it look as though they were all subjects waiting for their ruler to come down.

Maya caught his eye as she came down, clearly too curious to find out what was going on to even wait until she could see for herself. He wasn't about to tell her, oh no, he wasn't going to ruin that surprise for her, not on her birthday. Although…

"Let me just grab this guy," he climbed up to join her. It wasn't so much that he expected her to lose her grip and drop him, but it would be easier this way.

"Shenanigans," she whispered her 'accusation' as she had to surrender Elliott. At least he didn't get too disturbed over this switch from one parent to the other.

"Go on, birthday girl, after you," Lucas nodded down the stairs.

So Maya went, though she did not see her siblings in the kitchen just yet, as they had moved out of view. She did find her father though, there with Pappy Joe, and it still affected her so much to feel this bubble of happiness in her chest when he would be around now. On this one occasion though… For once, in what felt like a first as of late, she wasn't thinking about the fact that she was seeing her father on what would be the last of her birthdays she'd manage to spend with him. She was just thinking 'it's my birthday, and my dad is here to surprise me.

"Hey…" Kermit moved over to greet her and embrace her, smiling with a similar unencumbered joy. Here he was, with his daughter, on her birthday. "Happy birthday, Maya."

"This feels familiar, almost like we did this already, not too long ago," she smiled.

"Oh, so it's not just me then," he laughed.

"Don't think I'm not happy to see you, but it's a little early, isn't it?" Maya had to ask.

"Now, that part wasn't my idea," Kermit promised, nodding past her. She turned around to find their other guests had emerged from the kitchen.

"Hey!" she gasped and smiled as her brother and sister hurried over for a triple hug. "You guys are supposed to be in school today," she couldn't help but point out as they pulled back and she could see their faces again.

"We're sick," Sam informed her, to which Cara added a pitiful cough and some air quotes.

"Well that… that is a real shame," Maya could barely pull off a serious face as she looked to her father. "How hard did they have to twist your arm?"

"Oh, they didn't even need to lay a finger on me," Kermit shook his head. More and more it felt as though he had embraced a policy of indulgence in these last months with his wife and children, bending a few rules for the sake of cramming as many happy memories into the time they had left. None of them could have argued with this if they tried. They didn't want to.

"We made breakfast," Cara proudly announced. Even as she was saying this, she turned a look to Kermit, like there was something else she was even more anxious to say but she needed to know if she could do it. When Kermit tipped his head to the door, Sam and Cara eagerly guided their older sister toward it. "Wait until you see what we brought."

Sam went ahead and opened the door, and there on the porch Maya discovered a few items sitting in wait. There was a closed box, and just behind it, lying on its side, a wrapped but distinctive enough shape that there was no mistaking what it was. The tree… the cut out… It was here, and Maya was stunned into silence, turning to look at her siblings, at their father… It had barely been three days since she'd made the plan with Kermit about this. She knew she'd seen him and Dot talking, back at the birthday party, but this was just so sudden that the turnaround couldn't help but feel impossible. Then again, Kermit and his end run determination these days… Maya could see him calling in a favor with Dot, ensuring that this would be ready, right here, right now, on her birthday.

"Check it out," Sam opened the box, and Maya discovered its contents. The leaves. They were blank, plain wood, but once painted, they could be fixed along with the tree. "Eliza had the idea that you could mail them to the people who are too far away…"

"And I said to add a little thing of paint," Cara added.

"And then they can do their handprint again, and mail it back to you when they're done, then you can do the rest, so it's just like the other tree," Sam continued.

"That is really smart," Maya complimented, feeling a new rumble of emotion in her chest. As birthday presents went, this one was going to be one she would remember for years to come. "Thank you," she told her siblings, her father… Kermit had gotten hold of Elliott now, never so happy as when he held his grandson, and the way he smiled to his firstborn… How many years had she tried to imagine him like this when he had been gone? Now he was here, and it was everything.

Lucas couldn't stick around much longer, as birthday or no he still had to go to class, but he left his wife and son with the knowledge that they were going to have a good day, and he couldn't ask for more.

When he did return, in late afternoon, the house was quiet. Pappy Joe was snoring away on the couch. Making his way up the stairs, Lucas stepped into the nursery to find Maya looking into the crib, where Elliott was also enjoying himself a nap. The wall behind the crib now boasted a tall tree, not so garnished as the one across the hall but dotted with sufficient colorful leaves already as to recall its eye-catching twin. Maya turned a smile to him when she realized he was there.

"It was really the tree," she told him. He came up to join her, peering in at their sleeping boy. "Put him down a little while back, went right to sleep, no fuss."

"Well it's a very good tree," Lucas nodded, making her laugh. "So is this one," he looked up at it now. "When did you get all of those?" he asked, noticing there were more than those leaves she would have gotten from her father, and her brother and sister, and Pappy Joe… There were Abigail, Elizabeth, Eliza, Wyatt… and the Hunters, and his parents…

"We might have made the rounds, after we got the tree up, and our own leaves," Maya revealed. "And I've got this one right here that's just been waiting for your digits," she picked up a bare leaf she'd left nearby.

"Paint me up," Lucas offered out his hand at once. He would have his handprint, his leaf, there for his boy to see when he woke up, whether he could read it or not. As they moved across the hall into their room, Maya gave him a quick rundown of her day with her father and the rest of her painters.

The tree itself had been Kermit's work, top to bottom. It was a big piece, and getting it on to a flat surface to work on had been a challenge already. Once they'd gotten it there though, Kermit had set himself to the painting. He'd pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, where Maya discovered his original sketch. Dot had used this to make the cut-out, and they had to hand it to her, she'd nailed the measurements for the room by eye. But the sketch… Maya had actually loved it on its own, and now it sat on her nightstand, waiting for her to buy a frame. She wanted to hang it, somewhere in the house.

The rest of them had all been intending to help him with the paint, but then once he'd started, there'd just been this impression among them and they knew it was important to him that he should accomplish this on his own. So, they let him do it, all the while making it not so evident that they had taken a step back. Maya, Sam, Cara, and Pappy Joe all made their leaves, and then saw to making one with Elliott's little hand. Maya had gotten just a bit emotional to look at it. She was so familiar with that tiny print they had from the day he was born, and to see how he was growing, closer to a year old than newborn…

Once everyone's hands had been cleaned up again, Sam and Cara had run upstairs to make a list of all the leaves on the first tree, to see how many they would need to send out or pass to others in Austin or Houston. They had continued to add the odd leaf here and there, whenever someone came into their lives they felt belonged on one of those branches. Those garnished branches were a testament to the people they cared for and who cared for them, for Elliott and for this baby coming to join his or her big brother.

With their list gathered, Maya had helped her siblings pack up leaves and paint and address them all, the better to drop these packages off at the post office later on. They also counted off leaves for local deliveries, likely not until after the trip to New York. As they did all this, Pappy Joe saw to Elliott's overall care and entertainment and appeared very satisfied of his task. And Kermit continued to work on the tree. Sometimes, Maya or one of the others would notice his hand trembling just a bit, and they would try and get him to take a break, with a question or an observation.

The tree had been completed shortly after lunch time. Maya was already so amazed by her father's work, but then once the piece had been carried up the stairs and into the nursery, once they'd brought it to sit in its place against the wall… It had taken her a moment to collect herself, finding a whole new set of emotions to hit her all at once, this time the renewal of her approaching grief. In a few months' time, who knew how many… who knew…

This was the point where the plan to hit up the other grandparents had come along. It really felt like the tree was too bare as it was. They had the rest of the Austin Harts' leaves already in the box, with the palms of those four not at the house that day, and Maya had completed them, adding them to the wall with the others, but they'd needed more. So, they had gone off to the Hunter house, and the elder Friar house, where they had added more handprinted leaves to their collection, and Maya had received many a birthday wish.

Once they'd come back to the house and added the new leaves, the tree had really become something to behold. Maya was tired by then, as was Elliott, and as was Kermit. Pappy Joe had driven the Harts home, leaving Maya to go and test a hunch with the baby.

"Okay, what do you think? Nap sound good? Look at that, look," she'd pointed to the tree, and he'd stretched out his little hand toward it, babbling incoherently along. "It is nice, yeah," she'd beamed, pressing a kiss to his cheek before setting him down. When he had actually gone and fallen asleep, she'd felt her face settle in what could only be a bittersweet smile. It was the tree… Thanks, Dad.

X

Two days later

"We are not going to survive this trip," Maya declared as she watched Lucas crouch and dump out the contents of their Elliott suitcase to start again and cull away some of the items. They were leaving for four nights and just about the same number of days if they excluded Monday morning's flight home. After what felt like the sixteenth attempt at packing this thing – when they were meant to head to the airport in twenty minutes, no less – they were still giving off the impression of leaving for several weeks, with the amounts of clothes, and toys, and books, and diapers, and other random items.

"Okay," Lucas raised his hands in a way that either said 'I have a brilliant idea' or 'I surrender.' "How about this? We just pack him for four days, and if we need anything else, we will buy it out there. Yeah?"

"Yeah, okay," Maya nodded, and much as she tried to keep it in, she knew he had caught her small laugh.

"What?" he asked.

"I have never seen you this frazzled before," she explained. "Actually, no, that's not true. There was that one time," she nodded to the crib, where Elliott was having a very relaxed morning, unlike his parents. "But look, see, now we have a plan, we're good," she spoke with renewed confidence, though this was deflated somewhat with a doubt sneaking its way back in. "Right?" she asked. "How do you think he'll do with the plane?"

"I really don't know," Lucas admitted, running a hand through his hair.

"Look, forget I said anything," she waved at him, sensing he was close to spiraling. "We really need to…" she pointed to the suitcase and the things on the floor.

"Right, yes, okay. Packing the suitcase, here goes," Lucas got back to work. "This will be the right time," he vowed.

"Yes, yes it will," she encouraged him, walking around him to get Elliott from the crib. "Please, please, please…" she mumbled, checking… "Oh, not cool, man, not cool," she carried him to the changing table. "You weren't going to warn me about this? Huh?" she shook her head at him, smiling despite herself as her son just looked at her so innocently. "Yeah, that one's on me, you got that look from your mom. Excellent currency, just use it wisely," she whispered.

Against all odds, they were packed and out the door right on time. Technically speaking, they were ahead of time, as they had set their deadline with enough wiggle room so that, if they were really in trouble, well, they wouldn't be missing their flight and bailing on her father. He was downstairs all this time, as he'd spent the night, the better to speed them all on their way to the airport. The whole ride had played like they were working out a plan of attack, as Operation Baby On Board neared. They were all of them experts in the field of calming Elliott down, and while this would be one of if not their biggest challenge yet, they felt up to the task.

"Are you just going to sing him his lullaby up there?" Lucas asked at one point.

"Yeah, why not?" Maya asked him, like she challenged any potential passenger to tell her to stop.

"No reason at all," Lucas assured her, and his smile simply stated how much he loved her for who she was, more and more for who she was as a mother.

They arrived at the airport, thankfully without the need to rush, as this would have been impossible with three quarters of their party. Instead, they peacefully boarded, finding their seats and settling in with a feeling of deep relief. They'd made it.

"Look, we're already making friends," Maya frowned. Lucas turned and spotted an older couple just now turning away, like their annoyance at the sight of a baby on their flight had been challenged by the fixed stare of his mother and they had finally admitted defeat.

"Want me to take first shift?" he asked, turning back to his wife in an effort to pull them back on track, focusing on the fact that they were New York bound, all of them, for the next few days.

"Sure, yeah," Maya smiled, getting herself one quick kiss to the top of Elliott's head before passing him over. "If anyone gives you any airs, you pull out your most Huckleberry face, that's your superpower, mine is more…"

"Intense?" he offered.

"Yeah, let's go with that," she chuckled, brushing at their boy's hair as he settled in his father's arms. "Where'd we put his blanket, we might need it once he discovers the 'wonders of flying.'"

"Should be in the bag there, but I think this might be a job for Opie," Lucas suggested. Maya gave a cheerful gasp, grabbing the bag and soon finding the small long-eared rabbit. It had been one of the many Christmas gifts, and from the moment he'd had him, Elliott had not gone far without his new best pal. "Oh, there's that smile," Lucas laughed, Maya, too, as Elliott received his bunny with great joy.

"You know, he could surprise us all and be a model baby this whole time," Maya settled back in her seat after taking the blanket out and folding it in her lap, just in case.

She turned to look at her father now, finding him in the midst of scribbling in his notebook. He'd been carrying the little thing around for a few weeks now, writing in it every now and then. She never asked him what it was about, a journal, or letters… Whatever it was, she had a fair idea of what it was about, and that was his own business.

"Hey," she quietly spoke up, getting his attention. He looked at her. "You doing okay?"

"I'm on my way to New York, with my daughter, and my grandson, and my son-in-law…" Kermit declared. He was telling her he was doing great.

"Dad…" Maya gave him a pointed look he was growing familiar with. This one said 'I know you're trying to reassure me, but I'm going to need more than that.'

"I slept great last night," he told her. "Woke up feeling about as good as I ever do anymore, maybe better. Everything is fine."

"You need anything, I'll flag someone down for you, alright?" she asked anyway.

"Noted," Kermit smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners