Chapter 4
Surrounded With Hands

If the first day had been about breaking past the initial shock and accepting the reality that they were going to be parents, the first week had become just… navigation. The next several months wouldn't be about their ending up someone's parents, it would all be about just getting to that part. It would be about taking care of their Junebug… Junesprout… taking care of him or her and taking care of Maya as she carried their baby into life…

The first thing to do was as straightforward as they came. They read up, both of them. Whenever they had time, they'd be at their books. They didn't carry them around with them and that was mostly for the fact that they were trying to keep it to themselves… them and the other seven people who'd been told or had found out on that first day. Maya had found a solution for that though. They got the audio version. They'd be sitting somewhere, walking around, and to all the world they could have been listening to music or an actual novel, instead of finding out about what she couldn't eat or what potential problems to look out for…

Faster than they would have expected it, they did get to feel like they'd hit the ground and gone from stumbling around in confusion to developing something close enough as to be called a rhythm. They weren't running yet, but they were moving forward and that was good enough.

Lucas couldn't help but be amazed by her. Already there were difficulties, the biggest of them being the morning sickness, and even there she'd just manage to go and crack a joke. As they'd come to expect it, the race to the bathroom had become a daily thing. Much as they'd read that it wouldn't necessarily be morning sickness, that's what it had been, almost like clockwork. She'd be awake five minutes at the most and then boom, off to the races. By now, she had half a mind to just get up and start walking as soon as she was awake.

"Gotta hand it to the sprout, the kid's prompt," she'd made a face as she looked up from where she sat, on the edge of the bathtub, to find him standing in the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He came and sat next to her, and she set her head to his shoulder. "Every morning, I wake up, and for a little while it's all nice, and peaceful. You're right there next to me, Mr. Big Spoon, and your arm's around me, like it usually is, except now… Now, when I wake up, and your arm's around me… I can just feel your hand, just here," she laid her own hand over that spot, smiling to herself. "Like even in your sleep you're thinking about… us."

"Asleep, awake, round the clock," he nodded.

"You're going to be a little intense as a dad, aren't you?" she smirked up at him.

"Hello, have you met my mother?" he looked back at her. She let out a laugh at that, only to pause, hand to her stomach. "You okay? You need to again?" She held up her other hand. Hang on.

"I'm good, fine, it passed." They stayed like that for a few seconds more, waiting out to see if it would stay that way. "Can you make me a toast?" she asked.

"Coming right up," he stood, moving to kiss her on reflex. She stopped him, whimpering, so he redirected to her forehead. "Nice save." She grumbled.

It was Saturday, so at the very least they didn't have class to worry about. He was due at the bookstore early though, full day, while Maya was due for work just after lunch and until closing. When she came down to the kitchen for her toast and he let her know he'd be there to pick her up, as he always was, she just groaned and laid her head on the table.

"That bad?"

"No, not now," she reassured him as she lifted her head again. "I cashed in three nights off this week, but I have to go in today, first time since Halloween, and I don't know, being around food all day, last thing I need is…"

"You know," he finished for her, in what she fully suspected was meant to be an imitation of her. She stared at him as she took a bite of her toast rather than reply.

"I'm just saying, there are a couple of things… I won't say their names, in case that's all it takes to get me going… They used to be fine, and I loved eating them and everything, but now the smell alone is enough to…"

"And are they on the menu at the restaurant?" he asked. She thought about it for a moment, like she was rolling through the memorized dishes one by one.

"I… Actually, I don't think… Well…" she paused again, ticking off components in her head. "Okay, no," she finally sighed.

"Alright, so you'll be fine." He stopped himself from going on with 'unless you find something else that gets you nauseated.'

"I know… In theory, I know. Except for how I feel like a ticking sickbomb, and that's just a really hard image to shake." He looked at her for a moment, thinking. "What?" she asked.

"Maybe you need to just tell Isabel about the baby. Instead of going around all day being off because you're trying to hide what's up."

"Way ahead of you on that. I just have to keep it contained. Just Isabel."

He'd had to leave her to her toast in order to get ready for his day at the store. By the time he came back downstairs, she was sitting in the living room with Chiara, showing her the bit of knitting she'd been working on over the past few days. To look at her now, proud of what she had to show, he could have informed their roommate of how many times he'd overheard her cursing under her breath the first few days. She was improving now, and that was all that counted.

Arriving at Coleman's Books, which wouldn't open for another twenty minutes, he found things as he often did at this point. Tracy was off in her office, Pete was in the back of the store, and Rosa was checking over the various displays, straightening up and redistributing where needed.

"Morning," Rosa greeted him after he'd shut the door again and locked it back up.

"Hey," he nodded over to her.

"Come here," she waved him over. "What do you think?" she pointed to the table in front of her. "If you ask me, it's way too early to start putting up the Christmas stuff, but after having the same argument with my mom all these years, I know when there's no point."

"Well, it's… it's festive. Maybe it helps with sales?" he shrugged.

"Oh, it does, I know. Hey…" He blinked, finding she was waving her hand in his face.

"Sorry," he shook his head. "Just got distracted for a second," he told her before moving back to the counter. He had been distracted, catching a glimpse of the pregnancy section off across the store from over Rosa's shoulder. He had been keeping away from there all week, the couple nights he'd been working, not wanting to look like he was taking his time, browsing, even though he still wanted to. Sure, he didn't need to go and look at those books, he had his own, back home, and the audio on his phone, too. But the books were there, just there, and it always got to feel like he was supposed to at least go and see what they had.

Then again, there was the computer, too. When he thought about it, he shook his head to himself, wondering why he hadn't thought about that. If nothing else, it would help satisfy his curiosity.

It wasn't so bad that no one here knew what was happening, not when he could at least talk to his roommates back home, and Bishop at school. He couldn't see how they could have kept that secret very long at the house anyway. Even with their knowing, there was some kind of a disconnect, had to be. They'd ask Maya and him how things were going, and they'd say fine, because things were fine, morning sickness aside. On the whole, that was really all she'd had to deal with so far. She'd been trying to go to bed earlier, to get more sleep, and she'd had to make some adjustments to what she ate, but she could deal with that easily enough.

Sooner or later, they were going to have to stop and figure some things out. The questions were all there, like the pile of stuff that got left sitting around in the corner of your room for ages because you wouldn't get around to dealing with it. But that didn't mean you didn't see it, every day, sitting there, waiting. Those questions were like that. They knew they'd have to deal with them sooner or later, some sooner than others.

They'd decided to wait until Christmas to tell their parents, or at least until they went back to Austin for the holidays. She'd be more than three months along by then, which seemed like a reasonable period to wait… Alright, so it seemed sort of pointless now, what with how many of their friends already knew. It would have been a completely different sort of thing if they were entirely… openly pregnant out here, and meanwhile no one back in Austin knew. None of their other friends over in New York and Boston knew either… Beyond their roommates, it was only three of them who knew, that was nothing. Christmas, that would be the time.

"Excuse me, young man, got any books on baseball?" a gruff voice asked, and he startled, looking up from the computer, only to find the laughing faces of Franny Santos and Kayla Banks, Maya's friends… his friends, too, really, he had to say. Kayla got to signing, and though he hadn't picked up nearly as much of the ASL Maya and the others in the band had done in the little over a year since she'd come into their lives, he still got enough to get the gist of what she was saying. Geez, why so jumpy?

"I-I was just looking for something, I… Do you need something?"

"I told you, baseball," Franny nodded. "It's a birthday present for my mom."

"Oh… yeah, okay," he nodded, remembering vaguely her telling them how her mother had loved the sport all her life, played as a kid, and a teenager. It was a sore spot of hers that she could never have gone on to the major leagues. "I mean, if she's as much into it as you say, we might not have anything she hasn't read, but… Wait, we just got this biography the other day…" he guided them to the section and passed the book on to Franny.

"Hey, yeah, she'll love this," Franny pronounced after looking it over. "Thanks, Lucas."

"Sure… Kind of my job," he nodded. "Do you need anything else?"

They had only come for the one book, so they'd started back toward the registers. As they got closer, Lucas noticed Rosa standing there with a sort of baffled look on her face. He was only mildly aware of the bells ringing over the door as he guided his friends to the counter. It was Kayla who stopped and tapped at Rosa's arm to get her attention before starting to sign what Lucas interpreted as 'is something wrong.'

"Nothing, just a misunderstanding," Rosa signed and spoke at the same time before moving to the counter. "Hey, where's your customer?" she asked Lucas. He looked up from the baseball book he'd been ringing up.

"You're looking at her," he indicated Franny, who raised her hand in a wave.

"No, the other one, whoever you were helping before. Is it that one over there with the toddler then?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" he asked back, still not following her.

"I just had a very unpleasant encounter with a woman I'm pretty sure will never come shopping here again since I thought she was the one you were helping, and apparently women don't take too kindly to someone calling them pregnant when they're not."

As confused as he'd been up to that point, everything slammed into place so fast that he might have been knocked off his feet. That made one of them, as Franny quickly interpreted to Kayla before turning back to Rosa.

"Why would you tell her that?"

"I didn't!" Rosa insisted, "But he was looking something up in the system before you came, and I figured I'd help with whoever got left behind… which I realize now he wouldn't have done," she sighed, stealing a look to Lucas, who tried not to hold her gaze. "So? Where is she? The one who was asking about the baby books?"

"Uh… phone," he lied, which worked for all of a second, as Rosa leaned over the counter to look at the phone. There was no call on hold.

"Try again," Rosa stared at him. "Why were you looking at…" She stopped, froze, even as Franny did. The only one who had no reaction was Kayla, who hadn't been in any position to catch what was being said between the three of them, mostly from having picked up a book on display on the counter. When she looked up though, finding the odd looks on all their faces, she tapped Franny's arm, asking with a frown what was going on. It broke the initial shock, as her friend turned to her and started to sign something much too quickly for him to ever understand. Even so, when Kayla gasped… He sighed, rubbing his hand at his face. Damn it…

"Lucas?" Franny asked. They were all staring at him, the three of them lined up like vultures on a line. There was no getting away from them. That cornered helplessness was all the answer they needed.

"Hey, hey," he quickly whispered. "Don't make a scene… please," he looked around. "You weren't supposed to know yet." Kayla signed something, a smile tipping closer to a smirk as she did. Whatever it was, it made both Franny and Rosa giggle. Lucas looked to them for assistance.

"She swore she… wouldn't say a word," Franny told him.

X

Maya sat outside the restaurant for a few minutes after she arrived for her shift. She took deep breaths of the cool autumn air, tried to imprint it in her mind to hold on to until the moment when she'd be standing out here again in wait of Lucas.

"Okay, Sprout, I'll make you a deal," she mumbled between breaths. "You stay cool today, and someday we're taking you to Disneyland."

When she finally walked in, she had one thing alone on her mind, and that was talking to Isabel. That was why she'd come in this early, to ensure that her friends and co-workers wouldn't all be standing around when she passed through. After having been away for a week on 'sick' leave, they'd be all over her wanting to know if she was okay, observing her face from way too close. What if they could tell?

"Chef Isabel?" she called as she stepped into the kitchen. The rest of the kitchen staff looked up, waving and saying hello.

"Office," Fidelio pointed in answer to her question. "Welcome back!" he called after her once she'd started in the direction of the office.

"Thank you!" she called back. At the door, she stopped, finding Isabel there, going through some papers at her desk. "Hey…" Maya breathed. Isabel looked up.

"Maya!" she smiled, moving around the desk. "Good to have you back, are you feeling better?"

"No," Maya replied at once.

"Oh, then are you sure you don't need another day to…"

"I'm pregnant," she cut in, and the chef blinked. "So, one more day isn't exactly going to cut it." She paused. "Surprise…"

"Right," Isabel slowly nodded, giving a look Maya took to mean 'are we happy about this?' When Maya nodded, her boss smiled. "Well, now, this explains a couple of things," she told Maya as she hugged her. "Taking that this sickness was of the morning kind?"

"Oh, yeah," Maya breathed out. "Things were a bit… shaky, the first couple days. But I'm good now, so… here I am," she nodded sharply. The chef looked at her for a few seconds.

"You sure about that?" she asked, staring her down like she already knew the answer.

"I mean… I am okay… I'm okay now. Sort of concerned about what'll happen if suddenly I'm not… out there," Maya pointed off toward the dining room.

"Right, I get that," Isabel promised with a nod. "If you need to take a breather once in a while, we can work it out, now…" she paused, before asking if anyone else out there knew.

"At the restaurant, just you," Maya shook her head. "Trying to keep it that way," she admitted.

"We're going to need a code word you and I."

With her fixer in her back pocket, in the form of Isabel's awareness and her code word, Maya had started her shift in the dining room. Her word was 'ergo.' Isabel had come up with it and found it particularly appropriate. No chance of it being misinterpreted, and it did sort of say what she'd be doing without actually saying… air go…

Once she'd actually gotten started, it became easier not to worry too much. She found her old rhythm again and it felt good to be in it. She only had one close call, midway through her shift, and with one quick ergo, she was out the back door and into the alley. This only proved to be a bad move however, as proximity to the dumpster only took her one notch closer and forced her to go right back in. She stood there next to the door, breathing slowly, waiting… waiting…

"Hey, you alright?" She was only vaguely aware of the question at first, until she turned her eyes and found Lion standing there.

"Fine, just need a minute," Maya told him, trying to sound as natural as possible. "Hey, can you check on table five's order? They've been waiting a while and…"

"Okay, look, I swear Willow never said a word, but is there any chance I've got this situation right?" She looked at him, held his gaze for a moment. She wouldn't even know how to deny it.

"How'd you know?"

"I live with a pregnant woman and I've seen this part of the show," he gestured to her overall stance and look. "How long?"

"Seven weeks," she told him. "Found out the night of the party at our house."

"So that's why you guys disappeared," he nodded.

"There you are," a voice broke in and Maya bowed her head.

"Oh, come on," she mumbled to herself before looking up again as Leona walked toward them.

"Table five's getting kind of vocal," the soft spoken waitress informed her.

"I'll take care of it," Lion volunteered at once and headed toward the kitchen. Leona watched him go before turning back to Maya.

"Hey, are you alright? You don't look so…"

"Colorful?" Maya offered.

"You look like you're going to be sick."

"Trying not to be," Maya told her. It had just about passed by now, but she still needed a minute or so to really shake this off and get back to work.

"Maybe you should go home, if you need another day…" Maybe it was that Chef Isabel had said the same thing earlier, or that it would get to a certain point where she didn't want to have to lie about her sprout, or that the universe seemed bent on contradicting her plans, but at that point she didn't have it in her to say anything except…

"Another day isn't going to root out this ill-named morning sickness I've got going on," she told Leona, looking her in the eye so there was no room for misinterpretation.

"Oh! Oh… Maya, you're…"

"Yup."

"So that's why you weren't…"

"Exactly."

"Do you need anything? Ginger ale? Crackers?"

"I'm fine, Leona, really," Maya gave her a smile. "I don't think we'd actually have crackers in here," she pointed out. "Maybe I should carry some with me," she told herself.

"I won't tell anyone, I swear," Leona promised as she came to lean against the wall next to her. Maya gave a sort of pitiful laugh at that. "What?"

"This circle of trust started out just Lucas and me, and it's like day by day it's only gotten bigger, and it's hard to think of it as a secret anymore. We haven't told our families and by now it's getting to feel like they'll be the last to know at this rate."

"Wait, does that mean…"

"Oh, yeah, Bishop knows," Maya revealed. "Sworn to secrecy, that's why he didn't tell you or else he would have."

"No, I get that," Leona assured her. "It explains a lot though."

She'd been able to finish out her shift without any further incidents, and save for the fact that she was exhausted she was really happy. This night, this sort of victory, it all left her feeling like she'd figured out something important. She'd probably have plenty more moments like these in the months to come… the months and the years… but if she just gave a bit of push back against the things that made her feel like this, she could find again that they could be made to dissipate until she didn't feel them anymore.

"I have never been so happy to see your face," she breathed as she walked toward Lucas, standing by his car, and melted into his arms.

"Same," Lucas told her, and she looked up to him, smiling as she stretched up to kiss him. When she pulled back a bit, she only had to look at him for two seconds before she sighed.

"Who'd you tell?"

"I didn't tell them, I…"

"Them? How many did you…"

"Franny, Kayla, Rosa," he nodded at each name. He explained about the computer, the baseball book, the misunderstanding, the actual understanding…

"So now that makes…" she started, then had to pause to count, "Thirteen people who know beside us… sixteen if you count the receptionist, nurse, and doctor from last Thursday's appointment…" Now he was the one who did some counting, and when his count stopped at fourteen – not counting the medical staff – he didn't have to think far to figure out who else could be added to make it sixteen.

"Alright, so… What do you want to do?" he asked. "You want to just go ahead and tell them now or…" Them… Their families… That was one of the things she needed to get to dissipate, but…

"No, we said we'd do it over the holidays, that's what we'll do," she nodded.

"Okay," he agreed. "If you change your mind…"

"You'll be the first to know." They got in his car, started driving toward home. "If you really feel you can't wait anymore, you have to tell me, too, okay?" she told him. He smiled.

"I swear," he told her. A few minutes went by before she asked what she'd needed to ask.

"They'll be happy about it, won't they?"

"I… I hope so," Lucas told her. That was sort of the thing that kept them from deciding for sure whether or not they wanted to make their big revelation at Christmas or just after they'd arrive in Austin. What if they wrecked Christmas? It seemed easy to tell themselves their parents would be over the moon, but what if they weren't? "It's still over a month away, Maya. There's time."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners