It was a beautiful day after the dreaded kidnapping episode that happened a day ago. With the taxi stopping at the entrance of Bay Hospital right on time, Albert and a slightly injured Rosalia got out of the vehicle as they made their way to Clair's ward. The professor, carrying a small fruit basket and his little daughter holding his other hand proceed their way but unknowingly found a joyful Carlos switching the channel on the television set.

Albert placed the wrapped basket on the table, calling Rosalia to play with her brother. "You look awfully joyful there after rescuing children and catching syndicate members." He turned to his son. "Feeling better?"

Clair nodded. "I feel fine, aside from a few bone fractures." He pointed at his bandaged arm and leg, both looking fine after treatment.

"Actually, I have good news." Carlos then left the children alone watching Mexican soap operas, pushing his friend further from the kids. "Caught Leo right after we save the kidnapped children. And speaking of that, they have returned to their respective parents. About their drug activities, we managed to seize most of it. We interrogated Leo for the past 12 hours, however he failed to cooperate with us despite many threats to make him confess where he hid the other drugs."

"Then what about the other one?"

"Oh, him? Only caught some of his men, but El Paco's nowhere to be seen. Well, at least it's a vast improvement from what we did in the past weeks."

"Why are you telling me all this? I mean, from what I know those details should be kept confidential. I'm no police officer."

"You did tell me you were worried about those kidnapped kids. Now let's-"

"OW!"

The two older men turned back, seeing Clair with an anguished look, holding his bandaged arm caught their attention.

"I-I'm so sorry. Did I press your arm a little too hard?" Rosalia was about to touch the injured arm when a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her from doing anything else. She raised her head, looking at Clair with his face still red, with his other hand holding her wrist. "Oh, silly me." She brushed her arm off and then kept quiet as the children obediently watched television.

Carlos looked at the clear blue sky and shakes his head. He grabbed the remote controller from the table and switched the screen off, leaving an irritated Rosalia on the run for her only entertainment in the hospital. "Don't watch this trashy soap opera; telenovelas are renowned for being too melodramatic to you Americans. Exposure to too much angst is bad for your mental health. It's a great day out there, you mind for a game of soccer?"

"I see. You…never heard of soccer?"

"Heard of it, but most of us are interested in American football. Soccer's not very popular back home."

"You're missing out the fun! Here, let me show you a few moves of mine…kick that ball back to me."

"H-h-h-how?" The boy then struggled between his cast and his other foot, urging to return the circular ball. As he figured out a way to take it back to Carlos, he felt his light body reaching the green grass with the crutch slipping off of his touch. Seeing that, Albert and Rosalia, sitting along the benches inside the compounds attempted to help Clair. The red-eyed boy waved his hand as he successfully stood his ground, taking the crutch and unleashed all his might to kick the ball back to Carlos. Despite the mild pain of his injured leg, he caressed it before facing his 'opponent' for the second time.

"Oh woah, be careful. You don't want to hurt yourself." The Mexican policeman sniffed out a few laughs at the boy's clumsiness. Father and daughter then heaved a sigh of relieve and went back to their seats. "Nice try for a beginner, now watch this!" Kicking the black and white truncated icosahedron ball back to the teenaged kid, they found themselves so emerged with their little game that they tend to forget the other patients walking round the outdoor path. Clair felt that there was no language barrier in between their game; it was true that he had difficulty listening to Carlos's heavy-accented English whenever he took him and his sister out for sight-seeing. Playing a different game aside from American football makes them feel connected, with a link that they aren't much different.

With his lonely senses tingling, Albert left his daughter alone (but not without calling a nurse to look after her, in case she runs off and got lost) and joined in the fun. Reminiscing the high school days where he was the resident loser when it comes to sports; he can't kick a ball properly, he was always the first person to be eliminated at dodgeball and came in last in an unmemorable track-and-field school competition.

"Well, don't leave me out of this fun game you're having. Let's see what you guys have what it takes. Whoever kicks the ball the furthest wins the game."

"Don't make us laugh, Al." Carlos mocked as he tried his best not to laugh out loud in front of Albert. "When it comes to sports, sayyyy that you are a hopeless case on this one."

"I-I…" He was at a loss of words. He can't take back what he just said to his son and his friend. If only he took control of his big mouth. He has to face this…like a true man. "I will show you what I can do. You first, son."

Rosalia, along with several others watched the game in awe. It was her very first time seeing her father doing something athletic; he was always either busy or too weary in his work lately, without having the chance to know more about her current paternal figure. Imagining him having his suave legs kicking the ball, up flying into the air, she knew her fantasies won't fail all the time. After all, life is not always full of miseries.

"Go, Daddy, go!" The little girl cheered for her father, before his father waved back at her. (The nurse had to remind Rosalia after she got a little too far, unintentionally disturbing the patients resting back at their wards.)

With a smug smile, it was Albert's turn to kick the ball.

"Oh lord this is embarrassing."

"Oh, Daddy, you're wide awake?" He could hear her daughter standing next to him, seeing the white ceiling facing him. Finding himself at his son's ward, lying on his bed, as he tried to take a deep breathe he found his nose hurting a lot, pinching it in pain as he turned to the side of the bed.

Carlos and Clair take a closer look at his face. "Are you all right?"

"All right? How can I be all right? Okay, fine, I admit, I'm bad at sports. But you don't need to kick my groin AND my face to get the message across, for goodness sake." Albert argued childishly, removing his hand from his nose, discovering a red stain on his palm. "Blood?"

"Here, a plaster. It was an accident. You should have moved away from that place while Clair and I are at it. Blame yourself, not anyone else about this. This is how all ball games are like." Carlos poured a glass of water and gave it to Albert. "Man, sometimes you're a pain in the ass."

"Oh let me give you rough." Albert rose from the bed and pushed Carlos to the side. Falling at the side, Carlos did the same. Doing it continuously for the past 3 minutes, the fight then turned from a push fight to a slap fight where they battle themselves out of childish matters. Watching at the sidelines, a shocked Rosalia turned to her brother.

"Why are Daddy and Uncle Carlos fighting?"

"Well, sometimes adults do act like kids." Feeling uncomfortable with Rosalia seeing his father and the policeman slapping them in the face, while screaming as both men were too angry to speak coherently, Clair took her hand. "Let's get out here until the both of them settle their small problem by themselves. And I need to go to the washroom."

Taking her brother's instruction to heart, she took one last look at them, each hand flying to and fro as they collapsed onto the floor when they find themselves unable to maintain any balance. Rosalia shook her head with disappointment before aiding her brother to the washroom.

Back in Clair's ward after the adults settled their differences (Rosalia forced both of them to apologize the moment she and Clair returned and saw that the both of them are still arguing), Carlos spread his holiday itinerary onto the small table as all of them planned on what to do. Finding themselves missing many activities over the kidnapping episode, all they had to say was 'no…" or shook their heads.

"This won't do…guess I bring this to the 8th day…no choice but we need to miss this one…" Carlos whispered to himself, circling, crossing out or pointing arrows on the sheet of paper. "Okay kids, I'm afraid we have to skip some of our activities in my itinerary. Roller coaster rides are out of option, buddy. You don't want your broken limbs to fly around the sky by the time the ride ends." He pointed at Clair, who doesn't look bothered one bit about missing out the ride.

"There's always the roller coaster ride back home. Not that it bothers me." Clair shrugged the small problem off as he speak, holding onto his bandaged arm.

It took a few more strokes before Carlos turned back to the Sartre family. "Aside from a few hiccups, most of the activities will proceed as planned. And before you speak up, no, we are not going bullfighting. Unless you want to die painfully, that is. So Albert, you think Clair will discharge from the hospital soon?"

"I talked to the doctor not too long ago. He should be recovering fast if he take good care of his body, so from the doctor's estimation he should be out of here…in about two or three days time." Albert counted using his fingers, looking up at the spinning fan, contemplating on his vacation plans. "About time we have some fun," he paused as he turned to his children. "I apologize that work got in the way of our family time, but let's have as much fun as we can the moment my son here quickly makes a quick recovery…"

"And then I won't have to eat the food here anymore." Clair interrupted, lying nicely on his bed. "Not to complain anyhow, but really, hospital food is horrible." Speaking of the devil, it was already lunchtime and the nurse, pushing a tray of food, distributed lunch to everyone in the ward. The moment the nurse placed the pile of food onto Clair's table, Rosalia jumped up excitedly as she saw the plain dish lying on the desk.

"It doesn't look awful to me. You mind if I have that for lunch?"

"Oh, sure. Go ahead. Don't return it back to me if you find it…unpalatable to your taste." Taking the metal plate out of the table, Rosalia scooped up a spoonful and take a bite. Looking very green the second she place the food into her mouth, she hastily took a glass of water and took a big gulp, never mind how fast the water gushed all the food out of her mouth.

"T-t-t-t…Yuck! I…I can't believe that this is actual food…it tastes terrible!" Rosalia hissed, swiftly placing the plate back to the table. "I'm so fortunate that I didn't end up here, I doubt I'll stay alive if I stay here for a day."

While the children were at it, Albert took out a long list, consisting mostly of Mexican souvenirs and weird items he supposing had never heard of in his first forty-something years of his life. Some of the stranger items were listed; fake Palenque glyphs (Just buy the imitation version, the originals are way too expensive), skulls made out of sugar, a super-sized piñata with assorted candies inside as well as a fun-sized vihuela and Spanish names that are left for interpretation (Even Carlos had no idea that the selected items under the list exist). He shouldn't have agreed to his colleague about buying weird stuffs. Who knows if the items are non-existent or the professor was taking Albert as a fool. But, at least his colleague did tell him that the money will be eventually paid back to him as soon as he bought the goods.

"I should have said no in the first place."

A/N: Hey, the fluff is back again! And about the Mexican soap operas, yes, it is true that most of them are known for its overdramatic drama with female leads that are too dumb to think for themselves. So sorry that I made Albert too OOC, behaving childishly this time. (Ohh, here comes another slap…WHACK!)

This also means the end of the Mexico arc, as we see the concluding arc fold in the next chapter. It seems there are going to be major changes around the next few chapters or so, I have no choice but to deviate from my original plans. I'm not so sure if it's for the better or not but I'll try my best to get the rest of the story across. Update will slow down in the next few weeks or so since I have to adjust my new school life. So much pressure and stress…feel so sick…

I have a gut of re-editing the past chapters; in my opinion the continuity of each chapter feels disjointed at time so if you don't mind I would like to make some minor changes if I have some free time in my hands.

Watched 'Despicable Me' in 3D yesterday. Funny movie, as well as heart-warming (luckily those yellow minions didn't get too much in the way of the story) and man, I got to pay more attention to the studio who made this movie in future. This can be a good way to make a big break for them and join the other animation powerhouses soon enough. (I'm looking at Dreamworks and Pixar here.) So those yellow minions; are there any female ones? (Aside from the one that cross-dresses throughout the film.)

To end this off with a good note, wait patiently for the next chapter, which is the last chapter to end off the Mexico arc nicely. Please read and review after you're done.