February 4th 2023

Chapter 195
Hearts Within Hearts

In the months since they had known that they wouldn't just be bringing home one more baby but two by the time this pregnancy was through, they had been doing their best to prepare for what that would mean in their lives. Sure, they were already looking after four children, so going up to six rather than five might not have seemed like that big of a difference to some people, but they knew better. Ava was twelve, she was in a class all her own in this and a big potential help, sure, but then they also had the boys, the big bro squad. A five-year-old, a four-year-old, and a two-year-old… They were all very eager to see to their new little brothers and had each shown their competences on the whole, but there was no ignoring the fact that they could be well-behaved and helpful one second and, in the next, turn the way of a wild bunch of hellions. Joining this to a pair of crying infants… A fifth child and a sixth at the same time were really not the same.

They had been preparing for this. It hadn't been hard to grasp the difference between this pregnancy and the last once they'd started to see to setting everything up, stocking up with everything they'd need to tend to their nugget and their peanut. Double this, double that, the volume increased at a much faster rate, didn't it? The whole thing brought memories back to Maya of when her sisters had been on the way, and when they'd been newborns. Lucas had been around, so he remembered a lot, too, though he hadn't been as close to it as Maya was. It would be as though they'd had this set of images in their heads all this time of what it had been like with Nellie and Gracie as babies, but now that they were preparing for their twins, the blur was turning crisp again, reminding them of what it had been like for real. It wasn't discouraging, no, but at the same time… They really needed to reassess their plans and expectations.

Now, the moment of truth was upon them. Simon and Jackson Friar were coming home, back to the place of their birth, after a quiet night in the hospital with their parents. Of all those who would be overjoyed at this, the first who got to express that joy ended up being the dogs. Pappy Joe and Patty had brought a few things from home for Maya and Lucas to change into and for them to get the boys dressed and, according to them, it was as though Trix, Lou, and Sirius had all picked up on the new scents already and were now in a near frenzy, looking for the babies. It was no wonder then that, as Maya came up and got the door open for Lucas and the two car seats, the trio of pups was right there on the other side.

"Hey, hey!" she beamed as they all briefly circled her before quickly cutting past and crowding around Lucas, sniffing, tails wagging, but on the whole remaining respectfully quiet like they knew. And they did, didn't they? They'd been through this three times already, two of them at least. Sirius, for his part, seemed to take his cue from Trix and Lou. The two of them weren't as spry and speedy as they used to be, but in times like these, oh… They were so excited. "Yeah, okay, makes sense…"

The cats were not nearly as all over the place, but they showed themselves after the babies had been taken up to the nursery and were about to be placed in their cribs. They looked on with their personal brands of curiosity, whether it was playful Shadow or regal Whiskey.

"Maybe we should keep them together?" Maya wondered as she and Lucas stood looking inside one crib and then the next at the sleeping twins. "They've always been together, now they're barely a day old, I mean… They've got time to figure out that whole individuality thing, yeah?"

They were their smallest babies yet, not so small as to have been cause for concern by any means, but it did make it so that they struggled not to be overly protective of the pair of them. It was almost like, as much as they remembered what it was like when their previous newborns had been 'fresh out of the oven,' they forgot just what it was like when they were at their very smallest and holdable. And now with these two…

"You know, I was thinking the same thing," Lucas started nodding even as she did, and they both reached for the closest twin to lift him into the other crib, only to realize what they were doing and starting to laugh. It nearly woke the babies and they both stopped, tried to decide which way to go with quiet nods of the head until Lucas finally deferred to Maya's choice and set Jackson at Simon's side in the latter's crib. They stood back and looked down to the babies. Right next to each other that way, it was automatic, even in sleep, maybe especially. They managed to hold to one another, fully committing to their family calling them the Hug-a-bears for the rest of their natural lives, with no consideration for what it would do to their teenage years.

Ava, Elliott, and Noah would all be at school by now, having been taken in by the Farrells after their sleepover, so they wouldn't be back to see their new brothers until that afternoon, but there was still Jamie, who had been picked up by his Aunt Charlie and taken to the bakery, giving his parents time to arrive and get settled back in. After lunch though, he very happily was brought home to reunite with his parents. He was received by his father, who caught him coming at a run and lifted him high before bringing him into his arms, nearly sending the bag he carried flying. He kept hold of it though, and he presented it at once.

"What do you have there, Tadpole?"

"Coooookies!" Jamie informed him with great pride to suggest he had assisted in their making.

"Cookies for me? All for me?" Lucas asked, playing in the knowledge that it wouldn't be so, no, and so what started as a nod turned to the blond boy shaking his head. Not all for him, of course not. "Ah, all for Mommy, yes, that's fair," Lucas kept playing, and as credit to her rightly earned importance, Jamie hesitated for a moment before shaking his head again. "Daddy, and Mommy, and Elliott, and Noah, and Ava, and you?" he tried, and this was much more correct. "Got it, alright. What about Pappy Joe and Patty?" Yes, them, too. "What about… your little brothers? For Simon and Jackson?" Jamie nodded at this, too, but it was the most tentative nod, eyes locked on his father as he sought confirmation before fully committing. Lucas clued him in with a discreet shake of the head, which Jamie imitated before showing full assurance. "Alright, we'll eat in their honor then. You want to go see them?" Oh, did he ever.

The better part of the next few hours felt like just a bit of a fever dream. It was anything from crying, and lullabies, and sleep, and feeding, and changing, to playing Jamie's new game, which primarily involved him playing around, then coming to look at his brothers and pointing to them in turn, turning to his mother or father so they would tell him which one was Simon and which one was Jackson. It wasn't even as though they were dressed the same, but Jamie always wanted to be told, and so they did. After a while, they would start to laugh even before he started to point. They would keep on humoring so long as he found the whole thing funny, too.

Finally, the time came for the children to be picked up from school, and Lucas went, leaving Maya and the twins in the capable hands of big brother Jamie… and his great grandparents. At the preschool, Noah was playing with his cousin Caitlin, yes, but he was also all dressed up and ready to go the moment his father showed up, and so he went. That was more or less the mood he met with over at the elementary school, too, where he was to collect Elliott and Ava. They all just wanted to get back to the house to see the babies and their mother.

When they arrived, Jamie was stood by Jackson's crib, looking in at his brother like he was as good as guarding him while Maya was finishing up getting Simon changed.

"Hey!" she beamed, setting the baby down by his twin before turning back and finding herself already halfway into a hug with her elder sons as they locked in around her legs. "Did you miss me?" she asked them, brushing her fingers at one blond head and another.

They nodded, talking over one another about their days, at the sleepover and then at school, before turning their attention over to the babies when they made noises. To see them all like this, it might have been the first time it properly sank in… Five boys… She and Lucas now had five whole sons, and she had no idea how they'd gotten there so quickly… Five boys… and one very special girl.

"How did it go?" Maya asked as she opened her arms to greet Ava and received her in a hug. The fifth grader took the moment to note just as Maya did that the hug felt different than the one that they'd shared just one day ago, what with there being no twin belly between them anymore.

"It was really good. They loved my board, and my teacher said it was my best presentation yet. I wasn't worried about that part, it's just like when we do the segments at the ranch," Ava told her, and Maya couldn't get enough of how happy she was, about the story and about getting to tell it to her. "My teacher said that, when we have presentations again, I should help some of the others, like a tutor for public speaking."

"Yeah? That sounds great! Would that be something you'd like to do?" Maya asked, feeling herself grab hold of her excitement to restrain it. An amazing idea was only going to be truly amazing if Ava thought that it was.

"I think so," Ava nodded. "Some of the others would probably not want me to help them, but that's usually because they're embarrassed. I don't think they need to be, not everyone is good at things like that and it's not their fault, you know?"

"I do," Maya chuckled, renewed the hug. There was really something special that came when Ava was passionate about something. "You know, if they don't want the help, I'm sure I know a few of my students who'd take it."

"But I'm only twelve, I'm not in middle school yet," Ava replied in surprise.

"So?" Maya went on smiling. "You've got the skills, and you've got the drive. What's there to stop you?" She considered this, and she saw merit in it, which made Maya bite back a laugh. She wouldn't put it past Ava to take this suggestion and run with it until she had her own small business going, helping fellow students of her own grade, or below, or above, to better their presentation abilities. The more she thought about it, the more she seemed to think that Maya was on to something.

The idea could only hold her attention for so long, especially with the babies right there. In no time, she had joined the viewing line. It was an unending source of happiness, to Maya and Lucas both, to watch Ava and the boys together. While she had needed more time, and still needed it in places, to situate herself and acknowledge herself as part of their family, Elliott, Noah, and Jamie had required a whole lot less. She had become their sister and she would always be their sister from here on out. She had brothers before, several of them, but they had all as good as forgotten about her. Even after their mother had left, even after their father had done the same, if for different reasons, not one of them had reached out and tried to check in on their young sister. Ava didn't seem bothered by this, but then she'd always expressed how little of a relationship she'd had with the Nash boys even when they'd lived back with their parents, so it was no surprise.

On the other side now, the Friar boys had been the total opposite. Not only did they acknowledge Ava, but they loved her and were thrilled that she lived with them now, and they all let her know in their own ways. The connection went both ways now, as Ava got more and more at ease. And now there were the twins… Seeing her with them, the feeling they got was that she was so deeply aware that they were starting from day one with her. Elliott, Noah, Jamie, they would probably forget in time that she hadn't always been there with them, Jamie especially, but still, there was a before and after with them, not so with Simon and Jackson. Would she love her new brothers any more or less for that distinction? Not at all. But she appreciated it, nonetheless.

Maya and Lucas both got to see it in action as the days started to accumulate and the family as a whole settled into the new normal of having the twins among them. The three small boys were a big help, too, in their own way, but naturally the level of help that Ava could give them was very different. Add to it that she was most eager to give it, and honestly they were just so happy for having her there with them, especially as both the days and the sleeplessness began to accumulate. It was to the point that they had to insist and remind her that she was not obligated to get up in the middle of the night when the babies would wake up and start to cry. She needed her sleep, too, needed it for things like school but also life as a whole.

"You know, it dawned on me today… This is just like when my sisters were born," Maya told Lucas, one night. Simon and Jackson were nearly two weeks old by then, as incredible as it was to consider. Just now, they were in the midst of a 'feeding rotation,' as they would call it, which would be one of their steadiest opportunities for conversations and touching base, as odd as it could seem from the outside.

"What is?" Lucas asked, hiding a yawn in a funny face to little Jack in his arms. They might have called him Jax, like the man he was named after, but then his brothers had started calling him Jack, and it just worked for all of them, so he was Jack.

"Ava… Us… Twins…" Maya counted off, eyes still on Simon. Just like his twin, the hair on his head still looked intent on curling, showing especially at the hair nearer his forehead, and it might have been the sweetest thing she'd ever seen.

It took Lucas a moment – exhaustion and all – to piece together what she meant, but then he chuckled. Yes, he supposed that it was. Back when Nellie and Gracie Hunter had been born, it had been a double dose of sleepless nights for their parents. But, not to fear, they had big sister Maya, who was grown enough and highly motivated by the presence of two brand new siblings. And when they would start to cry in the night, she would hear them from down in her room, in the basement of the Hunter Hart house, and she would run up at once to lend a hand.

"Huh…" Lucas replied, resettling Jack in his arms. After a few seconds, he looked back to Maya as she looked at him, and he knew she was probably thinking the same thing he was now that the comparison had been laid out for them. It was one thing for them to laugh with hindsight, thinking of teenaged Maya running up from her room – or trying to – and tripping and hurting herself as she climbed the stairs, and a whole other to think that Ava might echo that as well. They would not want that for her, their valiant big sister helper. "We should tell her that story. Might help make her more careful," Lucas suggested before rising to put Jack down when he saw that Maya was about done with Simon and would be ready for the handoff.

"Cautionary Tales For Sisters… I like it," she whispered down to the boy, kissing him lightly before he could be passed into his father's arms. "I can write them down, do illustrations… It'll be great. Pretty sure I still have a mark on my leg from that night," she twisted it this way and that, looking for the supposed mark. When she couldn't find it, she stood and walked to go check on Jack.

He looked asleep, but for what they'd seen of him over the last couple of weeks, they were certain that he was not so deeply asleep and wouldn't be, not until after they'd returned his brother to him, and the same would go for Simon. They were definitely nowhere near ready to put them in separate cribs, and they were doing just fine as they were.

Simon was definitely blinking up at his father. Lucas was sitting with him and… Oh, he had dozed right off. Maya pressed her lips together so not to laugh even as she went to pick up her phone and take a picture of them. It wasn't the first of the type that she had, not just with the twins but with each of their sons over the years, and he had some of her with them in the same situation; it had become a bit of a running gag between them, so she was always very happy to have a new entry to the pantheon of sleepy parents. The one who was maybe not a fan was little Simon, who went and started crying just a few seconds later, waking his father and getting his twin going along with him in one moment. Lucas was startled for a beat but then realized what was going on and set himself to calming the baby even as Maya went to gather Jack. A minute later, a sleepy Ava appeared in the room.

"Hey, Sweetpea, we've got this, alright?" Lucas went up to her, leaned to kiss the top of her head even as he directed her to turn and head back out.

"Don't mind…" Ava mumbled, allowing herself to be guided even as she looked to Simon like she wanted to take him and rock him to sleep.

"School tomorrow, remember? Go on," Lucas promised, so she went. "Be careful in the stairs, yeah?" he frowned, caught between one kid and the other. Maya was right there with him and after staring at each other in debate, they nodded, and she passed him Jack before hurrying after Ava, making sure she'd make it back down to the basement in one piece. "Hey, would you look at that…" Lucas smiled, not thirty seconds later, when he realized that the boys had not only stopped crying but fallen asleep. "Is that what it was, huh? You guys were apart too long and you didn't like it? Well, I'm so sorry about that," he whispered to them. "We'll do better next time, promise."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners