February 11th 2025

Chapter 234
The Friars' California Summer - Part IV

They might easily have stayed out in California for weeks and weeks and been content, but where they had only experienced the tiniest bit of home sickness in the beginning, for silly things like one room in their home, one particular tree near there, a toy that had been left behind, or for whole people that they were not at all alone in missing, in time it all balanced off. Now, after spending an entire month out here, the nostalgia was on the rise, and it would no longer be ignored. Once they were gone, once they had returned home to their memories, their stability, they would likely turn right around and miss their hotel days, and that'd be fine. Right now, the thing that mattered most was for all of them to get there, and they would. Today was their last day at the hotel. They were flying home in just a few short hours.

This meant, unfortunately, that they had a whole lot ahead of them that needed doing. Much as they had hoped to get to this point and be the people who were ready in no time, who had prepared so swiftly that they would breeze on out the door, they were left to collect themselves, their big girl and their five boys, and all the things they had arrived with, and all the things that they had acquired since arriving. They were up bright and early, yes, but they were far from ready.

"Hey, bud, what do you have there?" Lucas came up on Jamie, and the small boy tried very hard… and very badly… to pretend as though he wasn't doing anything he wasn't meant to be doing.

"Hi, Daddy!" he beamed a great, big smile, the kind he now knew worked so well on his parents and grandparents a lot of the time, thanks to his big brothers. He hadn't exactly honed it past suspicion, but then neither had Noah, or Elliott, which worked in Lucas and Maya's favor.

"Hi," Lucas chuckled before lifting the small blond boy off his feet. Jamie gasped, and his arms managed to remain grasped together, behind his back. That might have been the end of it, for what he knew, but then all his father had to do was gently turn him around as he held him, and there he would see what was being guarded with such great care. Lucas resisted the urge to laugh as he turned Jamie back around to face him. He still gave him that same smile, spilling all the cuteness and charm he could into it. "You know you have to leave it here, Jamie," Lucas told him, shifting his hold so he could support him with one arm, the other retrieving the object kept guarded behind him.

Jamie resisted for a while, resorting to crying and wailing as he tried to keep the thing, which summoned the others around him to look up. They saw what was happening, and they could not say that they were surprised. While Lucas showed gentle patience, never wanting to forcefully pull the object away from his boy, Jamie continued to hold on to it like his entire life depended on it.

"It belongs to the hotel," Lucas told him. Jamie only shook his head and carried on. "We can find one back home, I know we can. Probably even the same one you got now." No joy. Lucas sighed, with a feeling like he knew just how this would be brought to a swift close and he couldn't believe that it had to be the one. "Miss Ellie will be very upset," he told Jamie. The struggle ended so suddenly, and Lucas bowed his head. Figures…

Without a word, Jamie presented his father with the thing he had been in the process of hiding among their packed bags before he'd been busted. The twisted pattern in the stem of the long bar spoon had been pressed into his little palm for how hard he'd squeezed it. Lucas might have known that he'd struggle to let it go. The spoon had been discovered shortly after they had first arrived, and since then Jamie had claimed it for his use in just about every way other than its intended use. He would go and find it whenever they ate in their room, especially for ice cream. He would commandeer it for make believe play, turning it into a magic wand, or a sword… Though he obviously knew that it wasn't his, with how he'd tried to sneak it back to Texas, Lucas could just picture the moment when Jamie had realized that while they were packing everything up to go home, his favorite spoon was not part of the deal.

They had to deal with a bit of a sulky Tadpole for a while after that, as the great packing carried on, but they parked him in front of the television for a while, with his trusty cooking shows, and after a while he was back to his usual cheery self. They were all very glad to have him back, and they let him know that much.

More and more, the suite started to look as it had done when they had first stepped through the door, though they couldn't imagine that it would ever look like that to them again. How could it, right? This had become their home, even if only for a few weeks. This was the place they went back to at the end of everything, where they went to sleep and woke again for brand new days. The more they had gotten packed away, it felt like they were moving, not leaving.

"I think that's all of it?" Maya breathed out as she watched Lucas load the last of the bags on the cart by the door. As much as she and Lucas had been holding it up for the kids, she was feeling her own share of nostalgia, and he could see it as he rose from negotiating the twins into their stroller. They both looked ready to make for an escape, but Lucas was ready to tickle them back into their spots if he had to. Just now, his attention was divided between them and their mother. He didn't want them to have to leave with that heavy sigh in any of their chests.

The best way to prevent that, he realized, was to have them leave with laughter. This led to one final round of everyone checking every room, every corner, inspecting for potential forgotten items. Everyone ran back and forth, and it was as frenzied as it was hilarious. They were getting to the end of it with no one having found a thing – though Jamie made one more attempt for the spoon – but finally Elliott was the champion, as he found one tiny sock belonging to Jack, which had fallen under the bed while his mother had packed them.

"Well, now we can go, I guess," Maya hummed, tucking the sock into her carry-on bag. This made Noah laugh, and she squinted at him, smiling all the while, before capturing him in a hug that made him laugh some more, especially as she pressed kisses atop his curls. They'd been telling the kids over the past few days that, even though it meant leaving this place they'd come to love, the important part was that they were going home. To Maya though, and to Lucas, too, she was certain, there was a lot more to it. Yes, they were going back to their house, their physical home, but deep down the fact was that so long as they were all together, that they got to hold on to one of their children, to feel little hands that so lovingly held on to them, they couldn't think of anything else feeling more like home.

They left the suite, they packed everything into their rental, and then after their final goodbyes to everyone – and after some big and slightly tearful hugs to Miss Ellie who'd come to see them off – they were on their way to the airport. They had music on, as always, but none of them really said a thing. Everyone was too busy taking in the city around them, all of it having become so familiar to them in the time they'd spent there. Even when they had made it beyond the area most common to them, they were transfixed, all save for Lucas, naturally, as he sat at the wheel. He got to look whenever they pulled to a stop, though for his part he mostly looked to his wife, leaning to her window's ledge and looking out.

There was still no telling what the future would hold for all of them, now that there was this plan developing between them, this goal for Maya to pursue music in earnest, veering once again from all those original ideas she might have had for her career before that Halloween when four pregnancy tests had stared back at them with positive markings. This new curve was for sure the biggest one yet, enough that he could understand her being apprehensive and a bit concerned. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't right there with her on that. But he was confident in her, as he had always been, and he knew that they would get through this, and the world would get to know what he'd known of her talent. There was simply no argument there.

They couldn't know, just now, what that choice would lead to. Maybe they would end up living here, sometimes or most of the time. Maybe they'd end up somewhere else entirely. Or maybe they'd stay back in Austin somehow. None of them knew, and it was for sure a secret between the two of them for the time being, and that was fine. They kind of enjoyed having this space to imagine together, to dream as big as they could. He had plenty to give there, but it was nothing compared to what Maya's brain could conjure up. The best he could do was help her manage those expectations. Their children weren't the only ones who could end up disappointed by overactive imaginations.

Soon, they had made it to the airport, and their bags were unloaded, leading to one more semi-exaggerated farewell. The rental minivan. To hear it out of the boys and Ava, this had become one more member of their family's adventures, and the idea that they should have to abandon it, that some other family would now get to use it… It just wasn't fair.

"What do we do now, Huckleberry?" Maya whispered as they led their bummed-out bunch through the airport. She didn't give out any specific suggestions here, though he could guess at what she might have said if not for the odds of any of their children taking the joke seriously. They were not about to play tag in the airport.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Lucas looked to the kids, and Maya snorted. Just now, she was remembering how he'd been on his phone the night before, looking up the various restaurants found within the airport terminal. He'd prepared for this exact problem before it manifested itself. All he had to do now was list off his most likely candidates, and the intrigue lifted everyone's faces. Yes, now that he mentioned it, they just might have been starving.

"Everyone good?" Maya later asked, as they moved toward boarding. One look to between them and both she and Lucas knew they were thinking the same thing. Everyone was happy again now, satisfied by their snack stop, and they just had to hope that they would keep all that… happiness… down in their bellies. The twins were asleep in their stroller, which might have been a good sign for take-off. The three boys on their feet nodded in response to their mother, though there was a moment shortly after where they all snuck a look to their big sister, and as good as she was at keeping a straight face, she gave herself away just a little here in her posture, suggesting she might have snuck some extras to dispense during the flight.

As hoped, the take-off went off about as well as it could have gone, the rest of the Friars acting together to allow Simon and Jack to go on sleeping. It was just what they needed to start their journey home without getting caught up too deep on how they were going to miss California. Ava and Elliott started to watch a movie together, Jamie drew a picture they would send back to Miss Ellie, and Noah listened with great curiosity as his father showed him a card game. Maya had taken it upon herself to look after the twins for the first stretch of the trip home, no need to explain her reasoning. They would keep her mind from being overtaken with the future… the unfixed future…

The twins might have slept a lot longer through the flight, snuggled up to their mother, if not for the man sitting behind her, who was apparently having the worst flight of his life, going by the way he called loudly after the attendants, made the seat ahead of him jerk a few times as he moved to make himself heard. When all his complaints woke the small boys and got them hollering in distress, he was surprisingly sobered up, grumbling to himself rather than making more of a scene, though Maya saw very well how Lucas never let the guy out of his line of sight for the rest of the flight.

As far as the twins went, of course, the damage was done, and now their family rallied to try and comfort them. Jamie left his crayons and crawled over the empty seat occupied solely by his baby brothers' things to be closer to them. Across the aisle, both Ava and Elliott craned their necks to see what was happening, while Lucas did his best to reach across and try to soothe his crying sons. From next to him, Noah got up and moved to join Jamie on the other side. He had this look to him like he'd gotten an idea, and he knew exactly what he had to do. He leaned to his mother's shoulder, so Simon and Jack could see him. He reached for their hands, like he'd seen his parents do, and he started to hum and then quietly sing one of their favorite comfort songs.

He probably couldn't be heard all that far, but those near enough did hear, and they turned or moved around so they might see where the singing child was. His purpose was clear, and no one was about to stop him if he succeeded in calming his brothers, who would be heard up and down the aisles without trouble. Maya and Lucas both smiled, seeing the way the twins very quickly registered the familiar voice and, given the time to let it do its work, stopped their crying to listen to him.

When he saw that it was working, Noah looked up to his mother so proud of what he'd accomplished. Maya kissed his forehead and mouthed a quiet thanks. Noah smiled on, stealing a look to his father like he wanted to apologize for abandoning their game, but he felt he had to stay with his brothers. Lucas shook his head and smiled. He was right where he needed to be. Soon enough they would all be home again, and they could play all the games they wished to play.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners