Manny was so happy to have his mother back. He never thought that he would see her again. The sound of her gentle voice, the sight of her kind eyes, and the feeling of her warm arms whenever she held him. He felt his hard heart soften a little.

Maria didn't have anywhere to live so she was invited to live with Frida and her grandmother. Manny was also invited to live with them because he couldn't bring himself to live anywhere away from his mother after he had just gotten her back.

"I can't thank you enough for letting us stay with you Mrs. Mondragon." Maria said as she had tea with the old woman. "You and your granddaughter are so kind. I hope that one day I can repay you."

"Think nothing of it dear." Sandra said sipping tea. "Your son is very good young man and he's done a lot for my family especially my granddaughter. You raised him well."

"I just can't believe after all these years I finally found him. Now if only my darling husband could come back then everything would be perfect."

"How long has it been since you last saw him?"

"Sixteen years ago, he had to leave the night Manny was born. I don't know where he is or if he'll ever return to me. I miss him so much."

"I know how you feel. I would give anything to have my dear Jose and my daughter Ingrid back."

"Manny that's too many eggs!" Frida called from the kitchen.

"A few extra eggs won't hurt anything!" He called back to her.

"And you're supposed to separate the egg whites from the yolk."

"That doesn't make any sense! How does that make a cake?"

"What on earth is going on back there?" Maria asked Sandra.

"Oh well Manny was just so happy about you coming back into his life that he wanted to make you a tres leches cake, he says that it's your favorite."

"It is. My grandfather would make it for me all the time when I was younger."

"Manny did you get the milks we needed?" Frida asked him.

"Yep. I got three of them just like you said."

"Manny these are the same kind of milk."

"So?"

"So the recipe calls for three different types of milk."

"What? Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I did tell you that! You never listen!"

"Unfortunately my son didn't inherit any of my grandfather's baking skills." Maria giggled while sipping her tea.

In the end the cake was a disaster so Manny had to go out and buy an already made cake from the store.

"Sorry that I couldn't make you a good cake Mom." Manny said glumly.

"It's alright dear." Her mother smiled. "You know this reminds me of the time you were eight years old and you tried to make me waffles for mother's day. Not only did you burn them but they caught on fire and you put them out with Sister Dolores's bloomers."

"Hey it was the only thing I could use to snuff out the flames, she understood...Even though she went after my ass with a broom."

"Manuel Pablo Gutierrez O'Brien Equahia Rivera, what have I told you about using foul language in front of ladies?" Maria scolded. Manny flinched at her words.

"Manuel Pablo what?" Frida said. "What is that?"

"That's my...My full name." Manny blushed in embarrassment.

"You never told me that. It sure is long, geez."

"Well it was Rodolfo's idea to give him such a long name." Maria said. "It runs in his family you know."

"Mrs. Rivera we have some strawberries and cream in the firdge." Frida said. "Would you like them with your cake?"

"I would love some and please call me Maria."

"I'll get the plates." Sandra said.

Frida and her grandmother got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen, leaving Manny alone with his mother.

"She's wonderful." Maria said to her son.

"Who?" He asked.

"Frida. She's very funny and sweet."

"Yeah she's cool."

"And so very beautiful, don't you think?"

"Who? Frida?" Manny's cheeks quickly turned red. "I mean she's uh...Uh...She's not bad looking...She's definitely not ugly...I mean-"

Maria burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"You've become more and more like your father over the years. He would get so shy and flustered when it came to his romantic feelings. I remember when we went on our official first date and I had worn this dress that was very fitting, I asked him how I looked and his reaction was the exact same as yours. If she gets you that nervous then she must be very special. You know I think she would love to hear about the time you were three and put on nun's clothing."

"Mom!"

"I'm just kidding." She laughed.

"Here we are." Frida said coming in with two bowls, one filled with strawberries and one filled with cream.

For the rest of the afternoon they talked and enjoyed eating the cake. As much as Manny enjoyed fighting demons and other stuff like that he didn't mind having a day where he could just calmly relax and talk. It was like that for several days, nothing out of the ordinary happened, he was just left alone to enjoy spending time with his mother who had been apart from for far too long. But after a week of peacefulness he started to get suspicious because neither T.J or Andrea had made any contact with him or Frida.

"Andrea's been stumped with work." Frida said. "She's been too busy to even call or at least that's how it was the last time I heard from her."

"What about T.J?"

"Nothing on him which is really weird. You don't think something's happen to him do you?"

"No. He's probably just sneaking around and spying on girls at the bathhouse again."

"Actually he hasn't been as lecherous as he used to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Well he still gropes and spies on Andrea but he doesn't do it to any other girl. Not even me thank goodness."

"So what's your point?"

"My point is I think he's growing out of his womanizing ways and started to focus only on Andrea."

"Hmm...You know I think I'm going to pay him a visit. Just to find out why he's been so discreet lately."

"Do you want me to come?"

"Actually... Could you do me a favor and stay here, just to keep an eye on my mother. I don't like the idea of her being alone."

"Sure."

With that said Manny went off to visit T.J's house. His uncle was there and as usual he was completely insane but T.J wasn't home however he was allowed to come in and wait for him. It was almost nine when T.J finally came home and he was battered, bloodied, and bruised.

"T.J what happened to you?!" Manny asked him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I haven't heard from you in a week, I was worried so I went to check on you. Who did this to you? A demon?"

"No."

"Were you mugged?"

"No."

"Then what happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well I do. What's going on here?"

"It's none of your business."

"If you won't tell me then I'll drill your uncle for answers and I'm sure that he's crazy enough to tell me everything about you which I can later tell Andrea."

"Alright but don't tell anyone okay? I...I've been in gang fights."

"Gang fights? Wait a minute you mean when the local thugs of this town get together at night to watch two men try to beat the crap out of each other? You participate in those fights?"

"Yes."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"What's the big deal? People do wrestling and boxing."

"Wrestling and boxing is one thing, gang fights are another. They load the fighters up with drugs making them high enough to where they're barely even human and they fight to the death man."

"I haven't killed anyone."

"Do you let them put drugs in you?"

"I make them think they did."

"Do you use any of your shaman stuff on them?"

"I can't. Rules say no weapons, tricks, or other forms of aid, only fists and feet."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I need money."

"Dude there are other ways of getting money! It's called a job!"

"You don't understand I need big money. Lots of it."

"For what? What could you possibly need money for so badly that you would fight overly high thugs?"

T.J stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled something out of it. It was a gold, hand crafted pocket watch with a macaw engraved on it.

"What is that thing?" Manny asked.

"It's a watch that belonged to Andrea's father, she had to pawn it to pay for her brother's medical bills. It was very expensive and it cost half a fortune to buy it back, this and Andrea's medical bills are the reason why I'm doing this. Her brother is getting worse, the expenses are getting higher, and her job doesn't pay her enough. Soon she won't be able to pay for her brother's life support, she needs help."

"T.J I understand why you're doing this but what you're doing is going to get you killed. You think Andrea would want that?"

"Manny if her brother dies then so will she. He's her only reason for living."

"But this is crazy!"

"I love her too much to see her suffer. So I get a few broken bones, if it'll lead to her brother living and her being happy then I don't care."

"You need to go the hospital."

"No! I don't want her to see me like this and you can't tell anyone about this especially Andrea."

"Why? Because you know she wouldn't like it? Because you know that she would try to stop you?"

"I'm doing this for her happiness. If he dies she'll just give up on everything and let misery swallow her and I just can't bear to see that happen to her."

"And what do you think will happen to her when you die? If those maniacs beat you to death and she finds out you let that happen to help her she'll blame herself for the whole thing. She'll think it's her fault that you died!"

"You don't know that. She...It wouldn't be that hard of blow to her if something happened to me."

"Want a bet pal? I'd bet you a million dollars that if you keep this up it will end with you six feet under and Andrea hating herself for the rest of her life! You need to stop this!"

"But what else can I do?! They pay me a hundred a bucks for each fight!"

"I will help her with the money and so will Frida, you're not the only one who cares about Andrea you know!"

"How can you guys help?"

"We'll think of something but right now you're the one who needs help the most. So please let me take you to the hospital."

Thankfully Manny managed to convince T.J to let him take him to the hospital to get examined by doctors. To T.J's relief, Andrea didn't see him because she was working late. He had a broken rib and plenty of bruises but with time he would recover.

"I can't believe went through this just for Andrea." Manny told him. "You really do love her huh?"

"Of course I love her, I'm not habit of lying about how I feel unlike some people."

"Don't start."

"I'm not starting anything but just so we're clear you know what I'm going through right?"

"Uh no because I would never beat up a guy or let him beat me up for money especially when he's an insane drug addict."

"Maybe not but you would do anything for Frida wouldn't you? Even die for her?"

Manny froze and didn't speak for awhile as he pondered T.J's words.

"Am I right?" T.J asked after everything become silent.

"I think you need more morephine." Manny said. "Nurse!"