A/N: Okay but I am laughing so hard because somehow both this chapter and the one in the main story today revolve around Valentine's Day and it wasn't even planned that way? Ha!

Chapter 121
The Season For Cherubs

Much to her slightly weakened protest, Maya was convinced to stay home the following day as well. It was Friday by now, so better she take the next three days easy, and then hopefully return to class on Monday. She would have to miss a couple days' work, and she'd already missed some of that the day before, though she would never consider it that, pay or no pay. When Pappy Joe had finally brought her lunch, it had triggered a memory and she'd briefly panicked about the fact that she wouldn't be at the Buckley house for Stella's art session. He'd reassured her that it was taken care of, that the girl's parents had been alerted. They had been entirely understanding, and they would all see if maybe they could make up for the lost day at some point. Even Stella, who had apparently been right near her father when he'd taken the call, had gotten on the line with Pappy Joe and asked him to tell Maya she hoped she got better soon and she would have some things to show her the next time they saw each other.

Maya spent much of that Friday morning either replying to messages or making calls, seeing as she hadn't gotten to do it the night before. Everyone was glad to hear from her, to ask how she was doing today – not better, not worse – and gave some variation of 'I'd love to come and see you, but really it's on your own time, if you're not able to receive yet, I'll wait.' This didn't keep everyone away, nor had she expected it to. After the lengthy bit of calls and texts, she'd been ushered down to join Pappy Joe, Shawn, and the boys, to lie on the couch and see what they were watching today. They didn't spend the whole day in front of the television, no, but Pappy Joe had his 'schedule.'

Shortly before lunch time, the doorbell rang and brought in Melinda Friar, a bag heavy on her shoulder. She'd come to help. She had barely gotten through her grandsons' giddy hellos and was still sitting by Maya, where she'd been talking with her about the state of things, when the bell rang again, this time adding Elizabeth Hart to the mix. The two women soon teamed up to go and see about lunch, and Maya could have been contented just to have them, and Lucas' grandfather, and her father, and the boys. But then, about twenty minutes after her grandmother arrived, it was her mother's turn to appear. She'd taken an early/long lunch, so she could come and check up on her daughter. At the risk of coming off like a little kid, when here she was expecting her third child, she was deeply relieved that her mother was here, like now everything would be better.

Maybe it had been in her eyes, because when all was said and done Katy never went back to work that day. She stayed with Maya at the house, and in mid-afternoon, when she went to her doctor's appointment, she went with her. Lucas had class, couldn't get away, so Shawn was going to take her. Now it was both of her parents who went with her, and for the way she felt at the moment, Maya was glad to have them.

They came away from there with encouragement. Everything was looking fine despite the intense nausea. Maya would swear that she started to feel better after that, like some of what she'd been feeling had been intensified by worries over whether or not what she was experiencing at the moment would in any way mean the baby wasn't okay. But she was reassured, and with that, she was lifted, just enough. When they'd gone home, she'd even helped with the dinner preparations.

At Lucas' arrival, Maya wasted no time in telling him how the appointment had gone, how everything was right on track. Their baby was due on the 27th of September. He'd joked that it was perfect, because now they'd have the tadpole in September, and her in January, and the rest of them in May, all four months apart, more or less. Even happier were Elliott and Noah, who now could start counting down the days on the calendar their mother had made for them to put in their room. They couldn't actually count but they could ask and be assured that yes, that was one day less. Whether or not they'd lose interest in this before September rolled around, only time would tell.

Now here they were, Saturday… Valentine's Day. They were by no means in the most romantic of moods, nor were they planning to go on any big date, but that didn't mean they had no desire or intent to note the day's passing. Lucas' answer to this year's 'circumstances' was to shift entirely into 'gold star husband' mode, as Maya would come to find. As for her, the top rule continued to be for her not to overdo things, the better to put every chance on her side that she'd get to go back to school on Monday. She didn't mind that though. She was nothing if not a great improviser, quick to think and quicker to act. She couldn't do too much, fine. She could delegate.

As they woke up that morning, for the first time in a few, Lucas found himself in possession of a little spoon. Maya was curled up against him, something he would guess had happened somewhere in the middle of the night, or maybe closer to morning. After a few seconds, he realized his hand was in its preferred spot, low on her belly, and her hand was over his, almost as though she'd repositioned herself spoon-style and took his hand to hold it there herself. Now that he was awake, his hand no longer just rested there but consciously kept a light hold.

Morning, little tadpole…

This was the third time, so it was easy to see how the whole routine of pregnancy would have become very familiar to them, almost second nature. By the time this child would be born, they would have essentially been mid-gestation for the better part of almost four years. They'd had all of three months, give or take, between Elliott and Noah, and then their self-imposed break for about a year and a half after their second boy, but the rest of it had been him and her neck deep in baby land. There was no telling how long they would wait before the next one, if there was a next one, and everything they'd discussed indicated that there should be, more than one next one… more than two… Of course, once Maya started teaching, she'd want to keep that in mind, too, but as ever Lucas would let her call the shots. She was the one having to go through all this, and the last few days had been an unavoidable reminder of how difficult, how taxing it could be on her body.

"Is that my valentine, breathing down my neck?" a sleepy voice asked. Lucas smiled and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"The very one," he confirmed. "Good morning," he set another kiss to her shoulder now. "How are you feeling?" he had to ask.

"Not running yet, but I can feel it coming," she let him know. "I think I'm going to take myself slowly down the hall, hold on to what dignity I have left. Will you go check…"

"I'll be right there as soon as I do," Lucas promised her. They got up, and she walked with something between apprehension and leftover sleep. He watched her go until she turned into the bathroom before opening the door into the boys' room.

They were asleep, both of them, but as they did from time to time, they were both in Noah's bed. Elliott had gone and joined his little brother at some point, carrying his blanket along, so that the bed was a mess of yellow and green yarn mixed up together. They looked most comfortable that way, and it made Lucas smile.

It also made him wonder, for the first time, what they would do when this new baby would be born, or more to the point what they would do when he or she would grow big enough that they'd need to move him or her out of their bedroom. It wasn't even just a matter of separating the kids if they were to have a girl, to put her in a different room than the boys. Even if they had a third boy and could put him here… The room wasn't tiny, but it wasn't huge either. They could only fit so many kids in the same room and expect them to be comfortable.

There was the third bedroom, of course, but that was Pappy Joe's room, and they weren't about to ask him to move out, even if he would probably see the logic in it and would do it without hesitation. He would move back to live with his son and daughter-in-law, probably, but… No, they didn't want him to leave. They would just have to find a solution, especially once they reached the threshold of baby number four, whenever that would be.

Right now, it was all about baby number three, their tadpole, and that was all they had time to think about, wasn't it? Just as he was shutting the door to the boys' room, he could hear Maya in the bathroom. He went and joined her. There was little more he could do than to get whatever she'd need when she sat back up, but it didn't make it any easier to stand by and wait. When she stopped and finally sat back, he went and sat next to her before offering her the towel. She wouldn't speak if she felt there was more coming, and he would give her a sign, asking if that was the case. She'd usually respond in sign as well, a quick yes or no. In this case, she didn't look able to pronounce herself either way just yet, so he left the question alone and just stayed there, all the while keeping an ear tuned to any sign that either Elliott or Noah could be awake. For now, all he did find was Pappy Joe, coming from his room to stand in the doorway.

"Breakfast?" he asked his grandson. Lucas looked from him to Maya.

"Yeah…" she spoke, voice small.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked. She gave the yes sign.

"On its way," Pappy Joe declared. "The little guys?"

"Sleeping, last I checked, but…" Lucas shrugged.

"Right." Off Pappy Joe went and, in the second after they heard the door open down the hall, they heard their sons greet the man. It got a smile out of Maya, so Lucas counted this as a win. They heard Pappy Joe lead them down the stairs, and then it was back to silence for a few moments.

"Nice way to start today, huh?" Maya told him.

"You know what my parameters are for a day starting right, don't you?" Lucas tipped his head to her. The look on her face said that she did know, just as it seemed loaded with an implied 'Huckleberry' on the end. The answer, of course, was that he was with her, and their boys were nearby. By that rule, all his days started perfectly. "Hey, it's Valentine's Day, you can't roll your eyes at me for it today."

"I would never," she gave her best shocked look.

"Ready to head down there?" Lucas asked as he moved to rise.

"I don't know, how am I doing here?" Maya indicated her face. "Don't lie."

"Honestly, you look better than you've done the last few days, less sort of…"

"Left out to rot?" she suggested. "Well, I'm not exactly clicking my heels, but I'll take a chance and say I feel just a bit closer to how I usually feel on these mornings, so I'll take it as a good sign, yeah?"

"Gift of the cherubs," Lucas suggested, which made Maya laugh.

"Maybe…" She offered her hands and was helped back to her feet. Once she was there, she took the opportunity to lean against him, and he welcomed her at once, enveloping her in his arms.

"I know my dad's supposed to come get the boys and Pappy Joe for the day, but maybe they don't have to go right away? Like… after lunch?" he suggested.

"Won't hear me arguing," Maya smiled into his chest. "At the risk of stepping into your territory there, Huckleberry, if today is supposed to be about… us… and love… Isn't that what they are? Elliott, and Noah, and the tadpole?"

"Oh, good one, good one," Lucas nodded appreciatively.

"Thanks," she went ahead and tipped an invisible hat to him as they moved to join the others.

Soon enough, Lucas would come to realize he may have underestimated his wife. Just because she was working through this nausea situation of hers didn't mean that she couldn't pull a fast one on him. For that, he was completely taken by surprise when he was greeted by their little Cupid of a son. The way he looked, with the curls especially, Noah had never been too far behind from a comparison to the little character. Getting him dressed like this today, with the diaper, and the wings, and the toy bow, that was easy enough. For one, they had access to Granny Mel, who was all too happy to get her younger grandson ready to play 'the role he was born to play.' And for the other, Noah was either still at an age where these things didn't bother him, or more than likely from what they'd seen of him, he was game for anything.

He ran out of the kitchen like a kid who'd been given his signal to go. He planted himself before his parents and waved his bow at them. They hadn't dared give him an arrow, toy or not. They knew better than to assume he'd know what to do with it… or not to do with it. That was fine though. He was grinning and spinning around in his wings, and his parents were just unable to keep from smiling at him. And then it all got better when Elliott ran in to join them, too. They could have made him another Cupid, but it really wouldn't have the same effect. Anyway, as far as Maya had heard from her mother-in-law, as soon as they'd floated the idea of making him into a teddy bear, there'd been no alternative. Now here he was, the little love bear.

He clearly loved his costume, and he expressed this by hopping around again and again. As the day would go on, he wouldn't want to take it off, would only ever agree for them to take the hood off his head, and if he had to go to the bathroom, they had to put him back in the suit. He would wear it for the better part of the next month.

The boys and Pappy Joe would be picked up after lunch, one bear and one winged boy, as Noah refused to lose his wings. Maya and Lucas both would have been just as happy to keep them at home all day, but Thomas Friar pointed out that they might come to cherish this time to themselves. His wife and his father both agreed. So, it would be just the two of them (and the pets, and the tadpole, as Maya had to point out) for the rest of the day.

"You know, they might have had a point…" Maya hummed as she lay on the couch, her feet in Lucas' lap. "Kind of feel bad for saying it," she added after a beat.

"I know what you mean," Lucas slowly nodded. He had made it his mission to be there for her today, and part of this was to be executed by his tending to her feet. "Which does not mean…"

"I know, it doesn't mean we don't love them," Maya slowly nodded. "It'll be good for us, too, I know that, I do. I just…" her hands seemed to want to close around something small and precious.

"They were kind of adorable," Lucas smiled.

"Kind of?" Maya gave him a slightly exaggerated look like he'd just insulted their children.

"You do feel better today, huh?" he deflected instead. Maya took a breath.

"Not a hundred percent, but… Definitely a good eighty, eighty-five."

"I'll take it."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners