January 14th 2023

Chapter 192
Cursed and Petrified

"I think November is going to be very good to us this year," Lucas reflected as he propped himself up on his side, laying his hand over his wife's belly.

Per her due date, the twins were almost exactly one month from being born, but to look at her now, she wholly gave off the impression that she'd been due several weeks ago and had just kept on growing anyway, refusing to deliver. Not that she had though, no. There was always a point in time, near the end of her three previous pregnancies, where she would come to think how relieved she would be when it would be over, when their boys would be on the outside and she would no longer be pregnant. Now with the twins, that feeling had probably checked in a lot earlier, whether or not she'd had much ability to service it. Life all around just was not giving her time to stop and lament aches and discomforts.

"Think so, huh?" she asked, smirking. She had always loved how he could manage, in little more than the touch of his hand, to convey so much love, both in himself and offered out to her, to their boys here where they grew… On her most uncomfortable days, it could pull her back from the brink and make her smile, and that meant a whole lot. "Got big plans for tomorrow there, Huckleberry?"

"Oh, me? Always," he replied with confidence, turning a smile up to her that couldn't help but make her laugh. "So, tomorrow, anniversary," he counted, tapping one finger at her belly button.

"That is not a bell, sir," she mock-complained.

"And then at some point between now and the end of the month – unless they've got their hearts set on December – Messrs. Simon and Jackson Friar…"

"Oh, come on," she snorted under her breath.

"… will be gracing us with their presence." He paused, punctuated his statement with a kiss to the great big twin bump – two kisses, naturally, one for each. Maya just kept quietly laughing, fussing with his hair all the while. "Any thoughts on a date for the…" he gestured at her, seeking for a word.

"Infant eviction notice?" she offered, now making him chuckle. "I'd say 'as soon as possible,' but that wouldn't really feel right to me…" He hummed; he was with her there. "But I'm also not putting much stock in it being too late in the month either." Again, he agreed. "So… maybe somewhere halfway?"

"Yeah…" he smiled.

"You know, the teachers at school have a pool going about when I'm going to go in labor. I think they would have liked it if it happened while I was still working, like boom, waters break, right in the middle of class."

"They're just going to have to wait and see then, huh?" Lucas shook his head, before sitting up.

It had been Maya's hope to keep working as long as possible, especially to make it to Halloween. Well, she'd done her most, but in the end, she'd finally bowed out, with just under a week to spare before Spooky Day. Weekend aside, the morning of October 31st was now the second day of her maternity leave. She would have wanted to keep going, too, but really by the end she was glad to bow out, and so now she got to be here, much to the delight of one little tadpole.

As they got up at last, Maya went down the hall to see how her little monsters were doing. Halloween itself could have been a full day of Monster Hour, but they all knew better than to just jump scare their mother by now, so their solution was generally to show themselves to her and then to turn into their best spooky selves. It turned into so much of a theatrical scare act that it not only delighted the audience but the performers themselves, too.

They were all awake, all three boys. Not only that, but they were all standing up on their respective beds, instructing one another in what she could only assume to be their best frozen action poses. Elliott and Noah had the right idea of it, while Jamie was maybe coming off a bit off center, not that it seemed to bother him. He was having the best of times, going by his giddy smile.

"Hey, fellas, how are we doing?" Maya announced herself, causing a mad rush of small blond boys hurrying her way. "Give me a good rawr, go on," she encouraged, and they did so, guaranteeing that if anyone was still asleep on this floor – which she knew was not so – they would have been awakened… and spooked. For her part, she gave them her best reaction and got to hear all their giggles for it. "Okay, good job, all of you, yeah," she laughed, offering her hands out for one, two, and three high fives. "Downstairs, let's go, breakfast won't be long."

While she'd gone to check on the boys, Lucas had moved in search of the only other girl in their household. She was not in her bed across the hall from their room, so he had a pretty good idea of where she would be.

Many days had passed since they'd received Bill Nash's envelope. In that time, many things had happened. The first thing they'd done, the morning after, was to get in touch with his attorney, so they might speak with him and settle a few things, just so everyone would be on the same page. They brought Topanga in on the situation, so she would be able to advise them in turn, which she did gladly. Through all of this, they established that Bill had been consulting with his attorney for a time, while he was in rehab. None of it had been about actually doing anything, not at first, but he'd wanted to know just what needed to be done, should he want to go through with leaving his daughter in the care of the Friars. For one, there had been his wife to consider. Yes, she had left, and they hadn't heard a word out of her since that day, but if she was to suddenly find out that their daughter had been given over to another family to raise and decide to sweep back into town, demanding to get her back – which he highly doubted she would – then he wanted to make it so that she couldn't get her hands on Ava. His attorney had seen to it.

So then, what about him? What was his position going to be once he named the Friars to see to Ava from here on out? He was going to be leaving her now and, though it would be done from a whole other place than what his ex-wife had done, it wouldn't be so different at heart, would it? He would be abandoning her, relinquishing her to them and falling entirely out of contact. Would he ever reestablish contact with her? Though he would not pronounce himself there, it had been clear that a small part of him hoped that he would, someday, but didn't put so much stake in a future he had no way of knowing. And so, for that, the next part all came down to the Friars. There was the money that Bill had already left, and then there would be the money from the house, once the sale was completed, providing for his daughter without leaving young parents to three, soon five small children to fend for one more they hadn't set out to have. There was an option for them to reach out to his brother and see if he'd take Ava, but he had been confident that they wouldn't do that, and he had been correct.

So, if they chose to adopt Ava, they would have his full support.

It was too early to go down that road. For now, they were still doing their best to get her settled into her new reality. That had started with a trip over to the house, to pack up her room. There was no rush as of yet. The place was still being shown to potential buyers, nothing was to be touched until later, but right from the beginning, knowing that the day would come, Ava had wanted to go out there and empty out her room. So, they'd done that.

Even before they went anywhere near the Nash house, they knew it would be a heavy and emotional day for Ava. Her family had been far from ideal, truly anything but, and that feeling had existed in its most concentrated way in her house, in all but one room. Oh, she had worked so hard to make it her space, her safe haven, and it had been that. For all her family's failings, they had never invaded it, and so it had been precious to her. It was the one thing she'd missed the most, and now it was the one thing she was going to regret. Oh, they would make up her room back at the Friar house, in full splendor, but it was impossible for her not to feel like it would never be the same.

There had been a fair amount of discussion about what her room would be, or where it would be, in the house. They had explored creating a room within the open space of the attic, knowing that Ava, like many people, appreciated the view from up there. But then they thought about the boys, and the attic trap, and it all felt like a bad idea. They had considered whether it would be feasible in any way for them to get some proper stairs built, leading up to the attic, like it could be a second floor, maybe erecting some walls and doors for some extra rooms. They didn't have the means for that, and they didn't want the 'Family Bank' to decide to pitch in, generous as it would be.

"I don't mind being in the basement," Ava had told them. They could work with that.

Technically, her room was still the nursery, across from the master bedroom. Her bed was still there – her actual bed now, from her old room – and her desk, and her plants, and her clothes… But there was also everything else, everything they had brought back from her house, sitting in boxes and bins and bags down in the basement, her future room. And since the day it had been decided that it would be her room, they had been working to turn it into that. Primarily Lucas and Ava had been working on that together, their project, though the boys would also want to help once in a while. It was slow going, but it was as she wanted it, because she wanted it done right.

Most of the time lately, when she'd be here, she'd be downstairs, working at organizing her room, doing everything that would come ahead of their bringing down everything still upstairs. That was how she wanted to do it, so they allowed it. She didn't remain hidden away all the time, but in the morning before the rest of them got up, and then now and then in the afternoons after school, over the weekend, she would either be up and about, with the rest of the family, or she'd be downstairs, quietly organizing away. Lucas and Maya suspected that 'quiet time' was also 'reflection and feelings time.' In the morning especially, it helped clear away whatever she'd felt in the night. She'd been having trouble sleeping.

This morning, she was tackling the book boxes. They sat in great stacks all around her, like a fort, like a protective wall. Even as the steps creaked under his feet, she didn't seem aware of his presence. She'd paused her sorting and ended up getting caught up reading one of the books. Sirius sat at the bottom of the steps, quietly watching her at first but now trailing Lucas' approach. He got up and took a couple of steps toward him when he reached the last steps, and Lucas petted him with a smile. After a moment's consideration, rather than going up to her and startling her, Lucas sat on the steps and waited, watching Ava as she went on reading, looking around at the progress done in the room… Finally, after about three minutes, Ava raised her head and saw him there. He raised his hand in greeting.

"Good morning," he told her. She closed her book, settling it on one of the piles.

"I don't feel well," she spoke.

"You feel sick? Or just tired?" Lucas asked, rising to approach her. He was careful to step over the 'wall' without knocking anything down, the better to sit with the girl. "Or do you just not want to go to school today? Whatever it is, you can tell us, you know that?" As of yet, despite everything, she had not missed one day of school, but they had seen all too well that she was struggling with it ever since the letter. "So, which is it?" he kindly asked. She only had to look at him for the answer to be clear. She wasn't sick, and she was tired, but not nearly enough that she couldn't sit through a day of school. But going out there today, she couldn't bear it. "Okay then," Lucas told her, and she looked instantly relieved. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"It's just…" she tried to explain, hesitated. "It's harder to not…"

"Is it the other kids again? The ones who'd mess with you before? The ones you said couldn't get to you because you didn't let them?" Lucas guessed. It had all been so much better since she'd swapped classes, since she'd ended up with Kelsey's group. But they were still out there, and maybe since Ava had been dealing with this new blow of her father's departure, it had become infinitely harder for her to keep her walls up – metaphorical ones, not brick, not books – which had given them the means to break through.

"They're such jerks," Ava mumbled.

"I can't tell you to just forget about them, okay? You're allowed to feel the way you feel, so you just let it out when you can." She nodded quietly. "Come on, let's go see what we can do about today," he offered her his hand. Her smile was small, but it was there. She gave him her hand.

Up the stairs they went, where they were soon accosted by a trio of small 'monsters.' While Ava allowed herself to be swept away into their games, Lucas went and caught Maya up on the situation. She was of a same mind about letting Ava stay home from school for today, if only to give her a break, to let her enjoy this day she'd been looking forward to since before the world had turned upside down for her. When she and the boys were called into the kitchen to eat, she was informed that they had already called her school and let them know she wouldn't be there.

"Why not?" Elliott spoke up at once, surprised, as he looked to Ava. The two of them were school buddies, they always went together.

"Ava's not feeling well today, so it's better that she stays here and rests up, especially ahead of tonight," Maya explained, sharing a smile with the eleven-year-old. After they'd eaten, as Lucas led the boys to get their teeth brushed, Maya found herself embraced by Ava, so she smiled and closed her arms around her in return.

"Thank you."

"You are so welcome," Maya told her, kissing the top of her head. "Now, big question. What would you rather do today? Would you like to stay here with me and Jamie, or would you like to go with Lucas? He's going to be at the office in the morning, but then he's going to the ranch this afternoon. Don't worry, I won't be offended if you choose him because it sounds more fun," she teased, and Ava smiled.

"Can I do both? Stay here this morning and then go to the ranch later?"

"Good choice. I like it," Maya nodded. "Maybe we can get you and Super Tadpole over here into your costumes before you head out there. I think they're going to love it." Yes, Ava liked that plan. "If you want to keep working on your room for a bit first…"

"Oh, I have to finish organizing my books…" Ava remembered, then, "Is it okay if I bring Jamie along?"

"Pretty sure you'll make his day… at least until all the candy comes out," Maya declared, and Ava turned to head upstairs.

"I'll go get dressed…" she started, then paused and turned around again, a thought coming to her. "Kelsey… She's going to be waiting for me." Maya had thought the same thing, almost at the same time, and she went to pick up her phone.

"I'll call her mother, you go ahead."

Elliott and Noah had two different costumes this year. The reasoning had gone that their 'main' costume would not work for them while they were at school… not without the rest of them there and the central figure of their 'ensemble.' So, while they'd be at school, they'd have a simpler version of that second costume, which they soon had on for their mother to see before their father drove them off for the day. After they were gone, Ava took Jamie into the basement, and they worked together to get her books put away. It all went very well, and both were satisfied by the results, which they showed to Maya before they could get on with the next phase of their morning: costumes.

Jamie had actually worn part of his costume, mainly the cape, while he worked with Ava. Now he'd need the rest, which included a bit of hair and makeup work. A lot of work had been done ahead of today so they would know what worked best. Maya had shown Ava everything as she'd worked, and the girl had listened so very intently, even taking notes. Now, today, while Maya took care of Jamie's wriggling little self, Ava saw to her own makeup.

"What do you think?" she asked them both when she turned around. Jamie looked up at her and startled. If his mother hadn't been right there, holding him, and if he didn't know from having been right next to her as she'd done everything that this was Ava, he might have started to cry. As it was, he still looked like he was reserving himself the option to do so.

"You look simply… petrifying," Maya intoned, which made Ava laugh. That calmed Jamie down from his would-be tears more than anything. He didn't exactly understand the joke, but he got enough of an impression to understand this was meant to be funny, which made him laugh along. "Ready for the hair?" Maya asked, and Ava nodded eagerly.

They had worked together on this, in precious days before The Day, and they had been very satisfied with the results, but none more so than today, as they put all the pieces together, turning Ava's very generous auburn curls into articulated snakes, sprouting from her head, all the better to turn her into none other than Medusa. For now, as she'd make her way to Sullivan Stables, she would have but one tiny statue boy to trail along with her and suddenly freeze, but she would have more later on, and a few more along with them. It was the first time that they were putting it all together, hair, makeup, and costume, and when it was all done, she looked very imposing despite her short stature.

"You look so good!" Maya couldn't stop smiling. "Want to take a picture to send to your uncle?" she suggested.

"Yeah!" 'Medusava' smiled back. They went downstairs, in the decorated living room, where Jamie got to put his action poses to play while Ava stood herself as though she'd just cursed him into stone. The results were as comical as they were thrilling. Ava saw them and her grin knew no end, until… a thought… "Can… we send one to… to Mr. Walton?" she asked. That was her father's attorney. She didn't need to say more for Maya to get the unspoken part of that question. If he had the picture, and if he was in touch with her father somehow… maybe he would see it.

"We can do that, of course. We'll get them all printed and send them over."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners