Chapter 5
Thump, Thump

Two weeks and some dust had gone by now. It was mid-November, and on this one afternoon the members of TXNY were to gather for their first practice together since before Halloween. It hadn't even all been strung together under the same excuse which had kept Maya from working at the restaurant on the first week. Some of it was, yes, but then there had been other things, mostly school things, and those had always taken precedent to these practices.

But now, today, they were back on. Maya had been laid out on the couch in the basement's music room, headphones in her ears, phone clamped in her hands, eyes closed. That was how her bandmates came upon her, led down by Riley, who had let them in.

"Maya?" Riley went up to her, lightly tapping her shoulder. She opened her eyes, which immediately dislodged a few tears previously stuck and now free to roll down her cheeks. "Oh, no, what's wrong, are you okay?" Riley asked at once, which soon had the others rushing forward, too, even as Maya pulled the earbud from one of her ears.

"What?" she asked, sniffling and brushing tears from her eyes.

"You're crying, why?" Rosa asked, forward in the huddle of four.

"Huh? Oh…" Maya breathed, smiling through her tears. "No, it's not like that, it's… Here." She disconnected the jack from her phone, and a moment later the room was flooded with a steadily thrumming sound. As the others listened, she looked to Kayla and, not knowing the sign for it, she spelled out the word. Heartbeat. Her friend and bandmate smiled that bright smile of hers and provided the sign. Maya replicated it, again, and again, and again… She couldn't keep up with the rhythm of that tiny baby heart, but it didn't matter. She could hear it… They could all hear it…

They'd had the appointment that morning. She could still remember the feeling in that room as they'd waited, Lucas and her. They were going to hear their baby's heart. Today, in that room, within minutes. It would be some time still before she could feel any actual movement, something substantial, like their Junesprout telling them 'hey, I'm in here.' Sure, her body was changing, some things more than others. No one could tell any of this if they saw her with her clothes on, which was… the vast majority of people in the world, but if she lifted up her shirt, her little roundness was getting entirely more noticeable all of a sudden. Still, that was her body.

That heartbeat… when they'd hear it… that'd be it, that'd be… an overture. First contact.

"I don't know about tiny heart, but my fully grown one is beating really hard right now," she'd told Lucas, if she was honest, in order to get him to stop pacing the room as they waited for the doctor. He'd come toward her and taken her hand.

"It'll be fine," he nodded.

"I know," she smirked. "I'm going to keep hold of this hand now, so you don't wander off," she whispered, making him laugh.

When the doctor had finally come along and they'd gotten started, she squeezed that hand she still held, and he squeezed hers back. Later, as she laid on the basement couch, listening to the recording they'd received on her phone, she could still feel what it had felt like, in that first moment, when the sound had met their ears, the sound of their child's heart… It was like the most vibrant of inspiration rushes, the kind that led to great songs and drawings you couldn't quite believe you had drawn. And Lucas… Looking over to him, seeing that look on his face, like he was feeling everything…

"Breathe," she'd whispered to him, and the way he took that lungful of air, he might actually have stopped breathing for a little while until she'd told him to start again. Even after they'd left the office, he'd been walking around like his feet actually bounced, and it would make her laugh, proper rolling giggles. It was the best feeling either of them had felt since the night they'd learned they were having this baby. All the stressing, the questioning, the sickness… none of it existed as they walked around with that feeling in them.

The next morning, Saturday again, started like all their mornings over the past two weeks, no surprise there. The actual surprise came as, upon waking up to find Maya gone from the bed, he'd gotten up to go find her in the bathroom. He was almost out the door when her phone started to buzz on her nightstand. He'd looked back to it on reflex, and when he'd seen the image on her screen… It was her mother.

It was not uncommon for him to pick up her phone if she was indisposed and vice versa, although this one was definitely the most peculiar instance. He wouldn't be able to go over to Maya… and he'd have to lie to her mother.

"Hey, Miss Hart… Yeah, no, she's in the shower… Yeah…" He heard more retching from the bathroom, and every impulse in him said to run over, but he had to press his hand over his ear and keep talking to Katy Hart when he heard why she was calling.

They were driving up to Houston to visit today. It hadn't been planned, but ever since they'd moved out here, the deal had always been that, unless advised that they were going to be too busy to receive them, their families were always welcome to drive over. There hadn't been any visits since before Halloween, and now, today, there'd be Maya's mother and father and her siblings, all of them in this house, in a matter of hours.

He could have said no. He could have lied again, said they were busy, but… no, he couldn't. So he told Katy Hart they couldn't wait to see everyone and, when they hung up, he dropped the phone on the bed, and sped off to the bathroom. Maya was sat on the ground still, lost somewhere in her thoughts as she recovered from the sickness. He crouched in front of her.

"Tub's edge?" She responded by holding her hands up to him. He took them and helped her up. When they were sitting on the edge together, he took a moment before telling her about the call. There was no time to waste, whether they liked it or not. "Your mom called."

"Did you talk to her?" she asked.

"Yeah… They're coming over."

"Oh…"

"What do you want to do?"

"Crawl back in bed? That's about it right now," she spoke low.

"It was a bad one this morning," he guessed, reaching over to tug a bit of sweaty hair stuck to her forehead back into place. "If you want, I can call back, tell them… something, anything, so they won't come." She shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"I want to see them," she confirmed.

"But we're still not telling them, right? Or are we?"

"Holidays," she maintained. "We should tell your family at the same time and they won't be here."

"Okay. Then we're going to have to talk to the others. And we'll have to put away the books. "Should I put away the knitting, too?" That made her laugh, just a little.

The next couple of hours saw the house in full activity, as the six roommates did their parts to ensure the place would be clean, free of any clues as to the grandchild in progress, which spanned from the books, to some small things in their room and in the bathroom, to a few papers in the kitchen, and scribbles on the calendar… Riley, Dylan, Sophie, and Chiara had all decided after a while to just go ahead and leave the house for the span of the Hunter Hart visit, diminishing chances of the secret coming out down to the parents to be.

"Starting to feel human again, so that's good, yeah?" Maya breathed as she came down the stairs after getting dressed. "Shower helped."

"Good," he smiled. "The others just left, so…"

"Hey, come here," she walked toward him.

"Yeah?" he asked, moving to meet her.

"I need you to hug me," she declared, and before he could get concerned on her, she went on to explain why. "It's going to sound silly, but I want you to tell me if anything… feels different… like noticeable," she gestured to indicate herself.

"For the record, nothing sounds silly from you, unless it's supposed to. Also, as a repeat hugger of you, I'm pretty sure the answer is no, everything feels the way it always does, but let me check anyway. For science," he nodded.

"Yeah, sure, just hug me already? Try and do it the way my mom does it?" He frowned, chuckling, before doing as told. "Hey, it could have been weirder, I almost said like my dad."

"Yeah, would have been weirder," he agreed. "As for the hug, it's like I said, sprout's keeping a low profile."

"Kid knows what's up," Maya nodded confidently.

"Yeah, kid does," he agreed with a slow tip of the head that suggested someone or something else didn't. She questioned him with a look, but he couldn't seem to find the words.

"Lucas, what is it?" she insisted, but he looked so awkward all of a sudden that she had to laugh. "Look at me here, we are having a baby, we didn't exactly get to that point by holding hands, so whatever it is, just… Wait," she closed her eyes. She got it now, even as her hand absently went to her chest. "Oh…" she laughed. "Well, they won't notice, will they? Not like they'll stare or anything… It'll be fine," she nodded, hoping to sound confident. After a moment, there was something she had to ask. "Do you ever get any feeling one way or another? Whether it's a girl or a boy?" He breathed, thinking about this for a moment.

"I didn't really, at first, but I mean we've only known for a couple of weeks, which is just… weird to think about. Last couple of days though, I don't know, I guess I do… a bit. But I try not to get too attached to the idea, because what if I'm wrong?"

"Then no one has to know but us," she promised him, smiling, waiting for his answer. He sighed, laughed.

"Girl," he finally confessed.

"Really… Interesting," she hummed. "Any reason?"

"Not really, I just… I keep seeing a little girl… What about you?"

"Well…" Maya trailed off for a moment. "I don't know, but ever since yesterday morning, I… I keep thinking about the baby and… it all comes out like… he sounds healthy, and… I can't wait to hold him, to see him…" She shrugged, smiling, especially with how his face was so lit up, even as he was presented with the opposite of the vision in his mind. "So, here we are. One of us will be right, and the other…"

"Will be just as happy," he filled in. "Which brings up… Are we waiting until the birth or do we find out before?"

"I'm good either way," she declared, then, "Actually, no I'm not. I kind of want to know. I want to be prepared. I know it's not like we know if the kid will be into… animals, or superheroes, or anything, so any decoration will be whatever we picked, but… I still want to know. But if you want to be surprised, we can wait, really. Don't just change your mind for me."

"I'm not," he promised. "I kind of wanted to know, too, but I would have waited if you didn't. So… whenever we get to find out…"

"Loser buys dinner," she smirked.

"I'd like to be paid in pizza," he told her as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," she just went on smiling up at him before sighing. He didn't have to ask where her mood had slipped.

"It'll be fine, they won't know," he told her. "And if they find out then… then they'll just know. They're going to have to, sooner or later."

"Walking in with a baby will definitely be a giveaway," she agreed.

"Kinda, yeah," he smiled, then, after a moment, "Okay, my turn to ask you to do something."

"Another experiment?" she asked, intrigued, while he looked around in search of…

"Here, take this," he went to the couch and grabbed a cushion before bringing it to her.

"Right?" she frowned, not following.

"Both hands, like this, in front of you," he mimed, and she did the same. "Now, lift it up over your head, the way you do with the twins and MJ." She did as told, hoisting the cushion up in the air. He looked down, indicated for her to look. Arms still in the air, she looked to herself and saw what he was getting at. Her shirt had gone up with the motion of her arms, leaving that new curve suddenly in view.

"Damn…" she frowned, tossing him the cushion and tugging at the hem of her shirt. "So, I should change, right?"

"Either that or don't pick up your siblings," he nodded, knowing that wasn't about to fly. Maya huffed and hurried back upstairs. "What are you going to wear?" he called out.

"No idea!" she called back.

Five minutes later, Lucas ran up the stairs two at a time, stopping just inside their room to find her still digging inside the closet.

"Hey, they're pulling up now, are you…" She groaned, tossing a shirt overhead. He ducked and it flew past him.

"I'm not even showing that much, this is ridiculous!" she sighed, fishing around.

"Maya, they're here," he repeated. "Maya, hey…" She turned around. "Your family's here."

"What? No, I…" she motioned to herself.

"I'll stall, what about the other girls, maybe they have something?" he offered. Maya considered this for a moment before walking into the hall, looking to the doors leading into Riley's room and Sophie and Chiara's for a moment before heading into the second. The doorbell rang.

"I'll be right down, just be cool, yeah?" Maya told him, already digging through her friends' clothes.

"Yeah, sure, I…" he frowned to himself, feeling doubt rise.

"Go, go!" she pointed after the bell was rung a second time. He started to move away, then came back. "Lucas, come on!"

"That blue shirt of Chiara's, we washed it the other day?" She blinked.

"Might work, thanks, now go!" she begged as the bell rang a third time. She heard him hurrying down the steps as she looked through the closet until she found the blue shirt in question. She stuck it over her head, pulled it down, lifted her arms… The shirt did lift a bit, but it wouldn't show anything. Maya breathed, looking herself over one more time before moving to the stairs and climbing down as casually as she could.

"Maya!" Nellie came hurrying to the bottom of the steps, Gracie in tow. Lucas was still at the door with her parents. He had little MJ perched in his arms, and in all their preparation for this unplanned visit, the one thing they hadn't factored, the thing that risked busting them more definitely than anyone noticing she'd put on weight, involved Lucas being presented with a small child to hold. MJ Hunter, at all of eleven months, was a lively, cheerful boy, and his having much of Katy Hart in him, it also made it hard not to thing he looked like Maya… Maya, who felt in her gut that they were having a son…

Come on, Huckleberry, pull it together… It was all she could think, even as she was all smiles for her sisters. When she reached them, she scooped Nellie up at once, high in the air as always, which made her giggle, before bringing her close to kiss her chubby cheek and setting her back down on her feet. In almost the same motion she had Gracie up now, though when she went to set her back down again she wouldn't let go, so Maya stood back up straight and kept her sister in her arms. That's one way like any other for no one to see anything.

"Group hugs?" Maya asked Gracie with a smile as she walked toward her parents, the better to give Lucas time to shake that look on his face like he was the one with the easy tears these days.

"Hey," Katy laughed, finding herself hugged by not one but two of her daughters all of a sudden, the third one never to be left out and holding on to her mother's and her sister's legs.

"My turn?" Shawn asked after they parted.

"Got those dad hugs," Maya smirked.

"Yeah, I do," Shawn smiled confidently as he put his arm around both Maya and Gracie.

None of them had eaten yet, so they'd ended up heading out for lunch. Of all places, her parents wanted to go to her restaurant… where she worked… where pretty much everyone knew she was pregnant now. She was already picturing having to write to Leona, who'd be out there at this hour, to tell everyone not to say a word about the baby, but then Lucas had come to the rescue, suggesting it might be nice to go somewhere with a menu Maya wasn't so intimately aware of. Her parents had agreed, and so they'd headed elsewhere.

The meal was easy. Once they sat and were done figuring out what they would all be ordering, the conversation had carried on from the car. Even without alluding in any way to the pregnancy, they had plenty to talk about. School things, work things, the band, their friends… The same went with Maya's parents, and the twins, of course, who only got chattier by the day… Well, Nellie at least.

"I can't believe he's almost one already," Maya breathed, looking to her little brother in his seat, next to her. "You're getting so big already, MJ," she smiled down at him. He looked up at her, smiling that baby smile back at him and, damn, that mojo was working on her, too. She could feel herself tearing up all of a sudden, and she had to think quick. "Sorry, I just… I hate that I don't get to see him all that much," she told her mother and father, shaking her head as she tried to wipe away as many of her tears as possible and hoping there wouldn't be too many more.

"We'll do his party a week after his birthday, then you'll be back with us," Katy told her daughter from across the table. "Sound good?"

"Yeah, definitely," Maya replied before stealing a look toward Lucas, sitting on the other side of the high seat. He understood its meaning. That's when we'll tell them. His family would be at the party, too, it'd be all they needed.

They returned to the house after lunch. Even after over a year of their living away from home, it still struck them as so strange sometimes to find themselves receiving their parents into their home, to know that they were only visiting. They couldn't even stay too long, if they wanted to prevent having to get back to Austin too late.

The longer her family was with them, the more Maya felt as though she was stuck under a spotlight. How could they possibly not see that there was something different about her? She didn't want them to see it, not yet, but it didn't mean she didn't feel like it was obvious. They had to see it, had to notice something, anything.

She kept thinking about all the things they'd be dealing with in the months to come. They'd started to discuss it, Lucas and her, or at least they'd lightly grazed the surface. June 11th. That was her due date, they knew that now. The baby could come before that or after, and it was still months away, but not so far away that they didn't have to start thinking about.

For one thing, there was school. Everything in her said she'd have to take at least one semester off, but then she would also think it would better, simpler, for her to take the whole year off, just come back the fall after next and kick-start her third year in what was meant to be her fourth and final.

And today, with her parents here, even if she couldn't tell them the truth yet, wouldn't tell them yet, all she could think about was the possibility of Lucas and her being out here in Houston with a newborn, instead of in Austin, with their families… the grandparent squad. Except she couldn't just go back, could she? Lucas would still be school, and there was no way she was going to be in Austin with their baby while he was back in Houston. Whatever happened, wherever they ended up, it was the three of them together, always.

It was getting to be late afternoon when Maya's parents started going about packing up the twins and MJ and everything they'd brought with them before they could start on the drive home. Lucas had gone to help Shawn do all that, which left Maya alone with her mother for a few moments, and it didn't take long for Maya to guess this might have been orchestrated on purpose by her mother. She tried not to come off like she was panicking all of a sudden. Lucas had said it, if they found out, then they found out. It wouldn't be the way they'd hoped to have it happen, but the fact that they were even expecting their first child here and now was already defying this invisible future plan they'd always had, so…

"Maya, look at me," her mother spoke gently, and Maya turned to look at her, summoning everything in her that knew how to keep a straight face, no matter how much it felt like those abilities had been breaking away more and more over the last two weeks. "I know it wasn't an easy choice, when you came out here, knowing it meant being away from your sisters while they were growing up. And I also know that MJ coming along wasn't part of it either. Today, you got me thinking, and you know, I always want to look out for my kids, all four of you. If you need more time with your little brother, we can find a way, baby girl…"

As soon as she realized this sidebar conversation had nothing to do with the baby, Maya had felt herself relax just a bit. And then, to hear her mother say she'd get to see MJ more often, it had her so conflicted all over again, feeling the urge to just flat out tell her, right here and now, just say 'Mom, I'm pregnant' and have it out in the open, but also wanting to keep her mouth shut now that she knew that she and Lucas could have their reveal the way they wanted it.

"I'd love that," was all she could say, with new happy tears in her eyes. Her mother had smiled, looking close to tears, too, as she wrapped her arms around her. She gave her that good mom hug, and Maya melted right into it. She hadn't realized just how much she'd needed it until she was in it, nor had she known what it would feel like to let the past two weeks of whirlwinds and changes be translated into the way she held on to her mother.

"Maya? Hey, hey…" her mother rubbed at her back. "Is something wrong?"

"No…" she spoke, her voice warbled by tears. "I just missed you all, not just MJ."

"I miss you more than words can say," her mother told her. "But that's not all of it. You've been acting strangely all day, and not just you," Katy nodded out the window, to where Lucas was trying to convince Nellie to get into her parents' car. If they find out, they find out… It didn't have to be all of them, did it? And this was her mother. Lucas would understand… She just hoped her mother would, too.

"Hart to Hart?" she asked, stealing another look out the door to ensure no one would come back. With those words, she'd made it plain to her mother, she couldn't tell anyone, not even Shawn. Her mother always said that no matter who came along, they would always have those years in them, those years when it had been the two of them alone.

"You and me, baby girl," Katy vowed, looking into her daughter's eyes. Maya felt her breath so tight in her chest for a moment.

"Not exactly," she told her, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out her phone, pulled up the recording. Just as her mother looked confused enough to ask what she was doing, the sound rang out from the speakers. The heartbeat… She watched her mother's face go from one confusion to another and then on to understanding in the span of three seconds, and then she was covering her mouth with her hand, softening her gasp.

"Maya…" she finally pulled that hand down as the recording reached its end and the room was quiet again.

"Please, don't be mad…" Maya spoke, her voice low, warbled with tears again.

"Mad? Oh, sweetie, no, no, never, oh…" Katy hugged her again, and Maya returned the embrace with a new release in her lungs. "How long have you known?"

"About two weeks… Halloween night. We were going to tell all of you when we came home for the holidays, and I… I still want to do that, even if it means…"

"Not telling your father?" her mother guessed.

"If you don't mind keeping it from him for the next month?" Maya tentatively asked as they pulled back from their hold.

"I won't say a word to him," Katy shook her head. She was looking at her now, and there were those tears in her eyes, taken with the realization that her baby girl was to have a baby of her own. "But you… You call me, write me, any time, for anything, alright?"

"I will," Maya nodded at once.

"You've been to the doctor's," she nodded to the phone in her hand. "What did they say?"

"Everything looks good, sounds good… June 11th," Maya revealed, and her mother got that trembling smile again, nodding to each bit of information. "They asked about family history, I… I told them what I remembered you telling me from your side, but on the other…"

"You leave that to me, alright? I'll get you what you need to know," Katy told her, then, from the look on her face, "I won't tell anyone, I swear."

"I think they're done out there…" Maya reached to dry her face after she'd looked out the window.

"Alright, then I'll call you tomorrow morning, we can talk some more, yeah?"

"Please." Katy smiled, hugging her one more time.

"Alright… Can you get Lucas back in here while you go say goodbye to the others?"

The moment she'd stepped out of the house and he'd seen her face, Lucas knew she'd told her mother. She was covering that fact, though, so he also figured she didn't plan on telling her father, not today at least. She sent him back inside, on the excuse that she was trying to find this magazine she meant to lend her mother. So, he went, re-entering the house to find Katy Hart waiting for him. When she saw him, he wasn't sure what'd she say or do, but then she came up to him, pressing her hands to his shoulders.

"So, she told you?" he had to say, couldn't keep quiet. "And you're… are you…"

"Lucas, breathe," Katy told him, smiling.

"Maya keeps having to remind me to do that, too," he admitted, smiling back.

"Listen, I know it's not the same thing, but I also know you won't get to talk to your own mother about any of this for some time, so I want you to know, if you ever need to talk, it's like I told Maya, you can call me, write me, anytime." He didn't think it would hit him the way it did for her to say that, but when it did, he must have looked like he needed some of that mom hugging, too, because that was what she gave him. Right then and there, Katy Hart earned all his trust that she'd be a solid grandma…

After she left, Lucas watched her get in the car, watched Maya wave as her family drove off before coming back inside. Now that it was just them again, and after having told one of their parents, it felt like they were exhaling, finding their footing again. Maya came over to him and he closed his arms around her, kissed the top of her head.

"You alright?" he asked.

"So much," she nodded. "I'm really glad they all came. I needed to see them, even if I haven't told the others yet. And I think… I know… They're going to be so happy when they find out, too," she told him, and he smiled, feeling that hope in her shining back on to him. He felt it, too, and he truly couldn't wait until the day he would finally get to tell them.

"Then, I think we need to pull out all the stops, make it a good surprise. Christmas morning?" She smiled, nodding.

"Christmas morning."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners