January 28th 2023

Chapter 194
Sweetpea

If anyone at the middle school had November 12th as their selection for when Mrs. Friar the art teacher would deliver her babies, they'd soon learn that they were winners. They very likely wouldn't have come anywhere near to the manner of their arrival, or any of the other things they would remember about this day, among the Friars on the lane.

It would be the day that Simon and Jackson came into the world. It would also be the day that Ava would gain her 'small nickname,' even as it would be the day when she first called Maya her mother.

She didn't do it intentionally. It just came naturally, as she was about to leave for the Farrell house on that Sunday morning. She had to do a presentation in class the next day, and she'd been working on it harder than she'd done any of her schoolwork thus far, right down to the big board she'd put together to show her classmates and teacher. She'd wanted it to be perfect and her first attempts – smaller mock-ups – had been too crowded, not to mention lacking in some design cohesion, or so she claimed. She'd only shown these mock-ups to Maya after having asked for her help and having been asked to show them for reference. In a happy medium of mother and art teacher, Maya had handled this like a pro, all the better to set Ava on the right track to reimagine her board. She kept it hidden all along as she worked on the real one, only bringing it up to show the finished product before Lucas drove her out to the Farrell house, where she was meant to be spending the night.

"Ava, that's amazing!" Maya beamed when the board was flipped over for her to see.

"You think so?" Ava asked, her eyes shining like her heart was probably going a mile a minute.

"I really, really think so," Maya promised, motioning for her to bring it closer to where she sat. "You really took your time with the letters here, huh?" she pointed knowingly to the title, and Ava nodded. "You're happy with how it turned out, too, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ava smiled.

"Then that's what matters even more, right?"

Ava thought so, too, and she nodded as she set her board down and moved in for a hug. Maya returned it, already feeling so very proud of her girl before she felt her almost relax in the hold, releasing herself into whatever she was feeling enough that Maya heard at her ear…

"Thanks, Mom…"

It startled them both for different reasons. Maya heard it and felt a great, buzzing jolt of happiness, one she could not have measured before it came. Ava heard herself and just sort of pulled back, looking hesitantly back at Maya like she was afraid of her response. But Maya just smiled on, reaching to touch her cheek.

"You're welcome," she told her, and Ava's smile was shy, but it returned. She felt good, now that she'd said it, like it had been this tiny bird she guarded in her hands for a time, out of sight, and now it was flying free. Maya gave her a small head tilt. Another hug? Ava hugged her again. "You have a good day, alright? Call us if you need anything."

"I will, I promise."

Elliott, Noah, and Jamie were all bound for the Farrell house, too. They had debated about sending all three of them for this sleepover, especially Jamie, but then they didn't have it in their hearts to keep him back from the others, so he would be going, and so would Max McAllister's little sister, Rosie. The two sisters were soon to have a younger sibling, which had been the height of excitement between Elliott and Max in recent weeks, as they both looked forward to being big siblings all over again.

They had a slight delay in departure as they set off to leave just as Shawn was arriving. Lucas was doing his best to get Ava's board settled in such a way that it wouldn't get damaged or get in the way of both passengers and driver. The boys were already in their seats, buckled in, but their grandpa was coming, they could see his car, and Elliott was able to unbuckle himself, and his brothers…

"Hey, guys, no, no, stay in your seats, alright? He'll come and see you," Lucas told them, and the buckles were left alone, though a lot of little legs were kicking around in anticipation. The mood must have been clear, because Shawn soon came jogging over to the minivan. He passed around the back, clapped Lucas on the shoulder, held up a hand for a high five with Ava and got it, before continuing over to the open door.

"Good morning, grandsons," he greeted the trio with a grin. The crowd went wild for Grandpa Shawn.

The board was secured, the back hatch closed, and with Lucas and Ava in their seats, they were able to take off. The four kids would be dropped off at the Farrell house, after which Lucas would head for a grocery run. Once he had waved them off, Shawn made his way into the house, there to track down his eldest, making her way slowly into the living room.

"Looking good there, Mom," Shawn smirked. Maya pointed at him with one hand as she kept going toward the couch, her other hand pressed at her back.

"Watch yourself, Grandpa." Once she was seated, he came and sat by her side, keeping an eye on the cushions at her back like he was just waiting for a chance to fix them for her. "Alright, I forgive you," she breathed.

"About time, huh?" he smiled at her.

"Yeah, definitely not that attached to making it to December. These guys have been hanging tight in there, but I think we're good now if they want to get out, get the hugging on the outside where we can see them."

"Sounds good to me," Shawn agreed.

"Been a while since you've held twin newborns," Maya commented, and he sighed, thinking about it. Nellie and Gracie were already nine years old, but he remembered very well.

"I haven't lost my touch, just hand me those boys. Right here," he held up his arms in double hold mode.

"I'll see what I can do."

She'd be remembering those words before very long. For it being her fourth go, she was sure that she would have known that things were starting to happen faster than she actually did. Sure, she'd been feeling funky, but then she was so close to full term with two babies, so she'd been more concerned with 'let's take things slow.'

And then she got a call from Haruna Farrell that the kids had forgotten a couple of things they'd need for school the next day. Lucas had already dropped them off and gone on to the grocery store, and he could have headed back out after returning home, but Shawn had volunteered to make the drop. If there was anything, the senior Friars were home and could see to Maya while he was gone. So, he gathered the forgotten items and headed out to his car.

Maya watched him go up the road and headed back inside. Thinking of Pappy Joe and Patty, she decided to walk over to the little house and see what they were up to. Oh, her back was on fire, and she wouldn't have said no to a very big nap, but she didn't feel like being alone, so off she went, waddling out the back door, up the path… and discovered that Lucas' grandparents were not at home. It wasn't impossible for them to have gone by without any of them noticing, but it always hit them with a sort of 'huh, how did that happen?'

"Fine…" she sighed and headed back up to the house. She made it inside the house, pulled the door shut and the timing was impeccable. The door clicked shut, and…

She froze, and then… she laughed. She had to, just for a bit, had to. Here she was, standing just a few feet from where she'd given birth to Jamie two years back. After that, reality started to kick in.

"Nope… nope… we're not doing this…" she breathed, looking down at herself. "You hear me? Hug-a-bears? Hospital. Hospital. Okay…" she breathed again, paused… Oh, she did not want to do this again, especially on her own with two… "Phone, phone…" she directed herself once she could move. Her first thought was that her father would be nearest still, so she called him first.

"Missed me already?" Shawn teased.

"So, about that twin hold?" she hummed, gripping to the wall. She heard him hit the brakes.

"Alright, I'm turning around," he promised, and she closed her eyes, nodded to herself. "Did you call…"

"Did you first," she told him. "Paramedics next, then Lucas."

"Good, that's good. I'll be there in a couple minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, hurry up but no heroics, alright?"

"You got it, Mama. See you soon."

After they hung up, as promised, she called 911. Even as she spoke to them, part of her brain was stuck thinking that maybe she should have sent Shawn to get Lucas instead, so he wouldn't have to drive with that haste in mind.

"Hey, are you still at the store?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"I got the ice cream," he told her, a smile in his tone. "Went all the way across and picked it up first. Not that I would have forgotten, but…"

"Yeah, might want to park that basket somewhere… not sure what they'll do about it… especially the ice cream…" Maya told him, thoughts wandering. Her winding train of thoughts hit the brakes with a rise of pain, and if Lucas didn't already understand what was going on, he got it now. She quickly caught him up about what had happened in the last few minutes, how her father had gone off on an errand right before things had taken a turn, but she'd called him back and he would be here soon. There was no telling how long it would be before the paramedics made it, but at least she'd have her father.

"What do I do? Come back to the house or head to the hospital ahead of you?" Lucas asked.

"Here, here. If we leave, we'll let you know," Maya replied right away. She didn't want to think that this would be like last time, twice over, but she also couldn't rely on the fact that it wouldn't be. The weather was clear today, and there was every chance that he'd be able to make it back in time to see their boys born. She was thinking about the kids, too, over at the Farrell house. They had no idea what was happening, and right now they needed to focus on the labor, the babies, before they could worry about telling the big siblings that it was go time.

By the time Shawn came hurrying through the door, he found his daughter holding to the banister, looking like she was standing in a room that was flooding, doing her very best to keep a door shut to keep the flow from overwhelming her. Here, the water was the pain, and it was spilling out of every side.

"Hey, hey, I got you, kid, okay? I'm right here," he came up behind her, his hands moving to support her and keep her from tipping one way or the other.

"You're going to think it was a stupid move, but I wanted to go up to my room," Maya breathed.

"Hey, you're the one who knows what she needs, yeah? You want to go up there, we'll go up there."

"I just… If I'm going to be stuck having these babies here, it won't be like last time, with Jamie on the kitchen floor."

"No chance we could just get back to my car, head straight for…" Shawn nodded to the door.

"No, no," Maya quickly shook her head. "It's too far, we'll just end up having to stop. No matter how bad I don't want to have babies on the floor again, I really don't want to have them in a car."

"Absolutely not, I'm with you. Let's roll… climb… up there," Shawn moved next to her, safeguarding her ascent to the first floor, then the walk toward the master bedroom. They had to stop a couple of times, but they made it. "You want to lie down?"

"No, wait," she clamped on the edge of the bed. "Need something… for the mattress…"

"Right, okay, uh…" He looked around, looked back at her.

"Go, go, I'm not going anywhere."

Off Shawn went in search of protection for the mattress. He returned, letting Maya know that he'd left the door unlocked for the paramedics or Lucas, whoever came first. Soon, he had her settled in and she breathed out. This was about as comfortable as she was going to get until the babies were out of her. They had a few seconds of near silence, after which Maya lifted her head to look at her father. He was pacing the floor, hand stuck at the back of his neck.

"Dad?" she breathed. He paused and looked at her… and looked… and…

"Wait, hold on," he took a step back.

"Dad…"

"The paramedics will be here any minute, okay? It's probably a good idea if I just don't…"

"Hey, the last time this happened, I had two fourteen-year-olds in here and they were ready to go," Maya reminded him through gritted teeth. The pain was right there, and she wasn't sure if it was helping or hindering her right now. "Of the two of us, I don't see you winning the 'most uncomfortable' award, just… please… Dad…"

That was enough to snap him into action, if only because she was right and there was no other way. All they could hope for was that, like in the past, the paramedics would arrive in the nick of time. Until then, well, they'd both been on one side or the other of a delivery three times a piece, and one of his had been with twins, too, so surely, they could figure out what had to be done. The whole time, Maya was sure, her father was telling himself over and over that someone would come before it got too far. Someone would come, someone would come…

Luckily or not, depending on what end they stood on, someone did come, or started to, at least. Everything had been progressing, and the first baby's head found its way, and it was going to come out, so it was Grandpa Shawn up to receive, trying at the same time to hold his daughter's hand as she pushed through the pain and to keep an eye on the baby's progress.

Lucas came through the front door, having found no sign that anyone had yet left here, and when he opened the door, he could already hear Maya, so he hurried in and took the stairs two at a time, almost three at a time. He swept into the room and was stalled where he stood to find the scene as it was.

"Hey, do me a favor and go up there, will you?" Shawn pointed his and Maya's hands together, even as she saw him and was flooded with more than a bit of relief.

"Oh, thank yo-aaaah!" The relief was short-lived, but it was converted to new strength because he was here. Lucas was here this time, in person, not on the phone. He would be there to see their boys born. She barely had time to think as much that her father, now fully committed to his task, found himself holding his screeching new grandson.

"Well, look at you, little Nugget… That's you, isn't it?" his face was nothing but joy. "That's him, isn't it?" he asked. Maya nodded, even as Lucas moved over, blanket at the ready, so the baby might be placed there. When he felt the weight of that little quaking body, he welled up.

"Simon," he confirmed to his father-in-law, who was looking at the time on their alarm clock.

"10:43," he told them as he saw to his cord. They'd just finished seeing to one birth that Maya shifted, and they knew that the second baby was on his way. She barely had a chance to look into Simon's face, but Lucas had him close to himself and close to her, so pain or no pain, she sang to him, the same lullaby she'd been singing to him and his twin, to all their older brothers when they'd been small, their late grandfather's melody. And it calmed him. Whether it played a part or not, it was not long before the brothers were reunited, out in the world, in their parents' room. Jackson Friar was born at 10:45, two minutes after his twin brother, and maybe a minute before they were alerted to the arrival of the paramedics.

Once the responsibility had officially left his hands, Shawn leaned against the wall, looking like he was ready to just sit on the floor and not move for a while, realizing what he'd just succeeded in doing. But then he caught Maya looking at him from where she lay, and there was such fierce gratitude in her eyes. Had she needed to coax him into pulling himself together and doing this? Sure? But he'd done it, and she was never going to forget it. He briefly removed himself to wash up, but then he returned, and, by that point, the two newborns were snug in their blankets, so he got to fulfill his promise, displaying his 'expert level' twin hold.

"Second time holding them, huh?" Maya noted, and Shawn laughed lightly, the better not to startle the newborns.

Maya had to make her peace with the fact that, once again, she had not made it to the hospital. At least this time she hadn't been on the floor, right? Right there, she told herself that next time – if there was a next time – she might as well cut out the expectations and just stay here on purpose. Maybe they could do a water birth or something.

For now, mother and sons were brought out of the house and into the waiting ambulance, their father trailing behind. Shawn vowed to get everyone caught up, especially the new big siblings, over at the Farrell house. He would meet them at the hospital. Maya didn't know how she felt about him driving after all this, but she trusted that he wouldn't get behind the wheel if he was in any way impaired.

They made it to the hospital, where Maya and the babies were seen to, all of them being pronounced to be doing very well, all things considered. They couldn't have been any better if everything had happened right there instead of at the house.

"You know what this looks like to me?" Maya asked, once it was only the four of them again in the room. She held Simon, while Lucas had Jackson, and she was staring with loving fascination at his head. Lucas followed her gaze and her pointing finger, curious at her smirk. "I think we've got a couple more members for the curly gang right here." Lucas turned back to the baby he held, and to the semi-generous bit of blond hair already on his head. Yeah… He could kind of see it, too, and it made him laugh.

The next to come along were the elder and senior Friars. Pappy Joe and Patty had gone to visit Thomas and Melinda, and as it turned out they had told someone… They'd told Noah, but he'd forgotten to mention it to his parents. When they came upon the two babes, it was almost too much for them to take in. None of them dared the double hold just yet, but they would take turns with each of the boys in turn. Now that they were clean, they were wrapped up in the blankets that their mother had knitted them, Simon in the blue, and Jackson in the red.

Abigail and Stephen arrived not too long after, along with the new aunts and uncles. All of them were so excited to be there and to meet the babies, but it couldn't help but be very special to those who were still settling into their titles. Stephen Brett looked understandably emotional at meeting these two boys who were to be his grandsons, who would only ever know him as their grandfather, one of three. And then for Daphne and Stevie, it was the same, only that they were aunts, this time from the very beginning, and they were beyond thrilled to meet their nephews.

Shawn had driven home first, where he'd revealed to Katy not only that the twins were born but that they'd been born at home, delivered by him. From there, they had two tasks, the first being to track down their kids and go with them to then pick up the three boys and Ava from the Farrell house, to take them all to the hospital. They did all this, and once they got there, the first stop had to be the gift shop, the better to then enter the room with balloons by the plenty, along with a few plush toys, these doubled in number because each of them who wanted to gift a stuffed bear, or a rabbit, or any other animal, would then get two, one for each of the boys. They ended up with something like a little zoo of soft things in many colors.

"Just my luck, huh?" Maya breathed when she saw her mother come along. Katy knew that all was well, yes, but she'd still much rather see it and confirm it with her own eyes. She quickly gave her daughter a side hug before moving to do the same with Lucas and then to see her new grandsons, currently in the arms of Eliza and Cara.

"Mama!" Jamie called out, at half voice, as he was escorted into the room, hand in hand with Ava, just ahead of Elliott and Noah.

"Hey, tadpole," Maya beamed. He let go of Ava's hand and came up nearer, until Lucas hoisted him up to sit by his mother's side. He looked just a bit aware of everything, not so much that restraint might have been in order though, so Maya had to request that he not hug her so tight, even if she could gladly endure all for his sake.

He was the first one of the little Friars to get to hold the newborns, one at a time and both times right so that one or both of his parents could ensure that they would all be safe in this. Elliott and Noah both got to hold them at the same time, one to each, and when the time came, they were exchanged so that they got to hold the other. Even though they sort of remembered when Jamie had been born, they'd still been kind of small, Noah more so than Elliott, so now, right here, meeting Simon and Jackson for the first time, it felt like they'd have entirely much more of a chance to remember this day than the one two years prior, especially with not one but two babies.

Ava hung back through all this, like a part of her felt that she would be intruding if she stepped nearer.

"Hey…" Lucas soon approached her with a smile that she returned. "You want to hold them?" he asked. She hesitated, but only in a way that made it clear that yes, she very much wanted to. Maya was looking at her now, too, and she was motioning for her to come and sit at her side, so slowly she went and did so, climbing on to empty space on one side of the bed. When she got there, Maya was just so happy to see her, and she took a moment to lightly embrace her.

"Sorry I interrupted your sleepover," she whispered, but Ava did not mind at all. She seemed to be taking in her position, surrounded by the extended family, and she looked so at peace again. It was made even more so when the babies were brought along. She was asked if she wanted just one or both and, being only the second one to do so outside of their parents after Grandpa Shawn, she soon held them both, close together. It was enough that, even in their blankets, the Hug-a-bears seemed to be trying to grasp on to one another, which made Ava smile again.

Despite everything that had happened, the kids would in time be brought back to the Farrell house and to their sleepover. It kind of worked better that way. Maya would be spending the one night there at the hospital, and Lucas would stay with her and the babies, so the sleepover was a readymade solution. Before they would go, all of them would want one last instant to hold their new baby brothers, and so they would. Again, Ava was the last of them to get her turn, and as she did, she looked more confident than the last time.

"Peanut and Nugget?" she asked, amused at the nicknames when she heard them.

"Yeah, well, when we were going to have Elliott, we started calling him our little sprout. There was no plan behind it, just came that way. But then after that, when Noah was coming, we kept thinking about how Elliott was Sprout, so Noah became our little bee. And then by the time Jamie came around…" Lucas explained.

"Tadpole," Ava filled in knowingly. Jamie looked up at the sound of the name, as though he was about to announce himself present. The nicknames made more sense now. They recalled a time of smallness for the Friar brothers. Of course, now that it had all been laid out, it also called up her place in all of this. Whatever she was or wasn't in this household, the one thing she had never been was a small baby girl held in their arms.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Maya asked her, again motioning for her to approach, which Ava did, until Maya could hold her hand. "Not a secret you have to keep, just one that I kind of kept, and only because… well, it kind of felt like I didn't understand why I started to think about it. But now, I think maybe it's that a part of me, of us," she looked over to Lucas, "Always knew you were going to be part of our lives."

"You did?" Ava blinked.

"Absolutely," Lucas chimed in, and she looked back at him before looking to Maya again.

"I think it was back when I went to the ranch and took care of your curls after the brush," she went on, and the memory, as bad as it could have been after how things had started, her curls brushed into a mess, had been so entirely healed by what had come next that it could only make her happy to live it again in the split second of recall. "That day stayed with us, too, it stayed with me, and after that, when I would think of you, all I could think was that little face of yours, all smiles… And in my mind, you became my little Sweetpea." Ava might have been about as happy to hear this as Maya herself had been, surprisingly only hours ago, when she'd first been called Mom by the eleven-year-old. "When I told him, do you know what he said?" Maya went on, just above a whisper, stealing a look to Lucas. "He was surprised, amazed… because that was just what he'd been thinking about, but he couldn't find the right word for it. And that was the one."

Ava may not have had it in her to call him Dad yet, but she looked at him here, and in her smile, there were seeds at least, the promise that in the future, if all continued in this way, that was exactly what he would be to her. And she would gladly and forevermore be their Sweetpea.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners