Disclaimers: I do not own CM or the characters. I do own all OCs.
Spoilers: None
Rating: T+ for kidnapping

Notes: Ohhh, another chapter with this mysterious little girl, 'Andria, and the setting is in Barcelona, Spain, again.

*Rubén is five, Elena is three*

Trigger Warning: Kidnap. It will be marked.

February 2nd, 1979
Barcelona, Spain

*Andria's point of view*

Sometimes my dreams make no sense. Other times, the dreams are of me and Bubba having to "be friends" with the closet.

I really do not like when it happens 'cause it is dark and really scary. Eddie does weird noises with his mouth, and it makes me feel like a big, fat elephant is sitting on me! It makes it hard to breathe.

Mom wakes me up today. She tells me to get dressed. I have to hurry if I want to eat breakfast.

"'Andria, hurry!" Bubba tells me.

I hurry and put my shirt on. Then I put on jeans and tennis shoes. I have to brush my hair, but the brush gets stuck.

"Bubba! Help!"

If I am not ready, I will not get to eat. My belly is so hungry; I have not eated since two sleeps ago.

"Let me do it."

Bubba helps me even though he is not allowed. We get in trouble for it. Mom says we are old enough, and we will be punished if Bubba helps me with anything. Sometimes, I get scared 'cause I need help, but I cannot ask. And I get scared of not knowing how to do it.

I hear Mom walking down the hallway, and I move away from Bubba fast.

"I am ready!"

I hope Mom does not know about Bubba helping me. Bubba puts my brush on my dresser — the home for all my clothes — and pretends he was not holding it.

"Yes, Mom," He says too. "I am ready." Bubba has on a blue shirt. I know it's blue cause it matches my eyes! And he has on jeans, too.

"Good." Mom says.

Yes! She said 'good'. That means we are a "good boy" and a "good girl".

"Come eat breakfast. It is almost time to leave."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Bubba and me go to the kitchen. 'Livia is not here today. That means we will actually get to do our 'job'. It is going to be so much fun… I think.

Mom and Dad say this is a very special job, and it is time for me to do it. They say if I do it, they will be very proud of me.

Mom and Dad never has said they are proud of me. So I want to do this.

I hope I can do it. I hope I do it right…

I really want to be "good girl" and I want Mom and Dad to be proud of me.

*1 hour later – 'Andria's point of view, cont.*

"¿Ver? Pates así!" See? You pat like this!

My new friend is called Elena; Bubba's new friend is called Rubén.

"¡Palmadita! ¡Palmadita! ¡Palmadita!" Elena says. Pat! Pat! Pat!

"¡Ahora dale la vuelta!" Now turn it upside down!

Elena turns the bucket, but most of her sand falls out. Oh, no! She looks sad. I give Elena a hug, and say, "¡Está bien! Toma, te ayudaré." It's okay! Here, I will help you.

I help Elena put the sand in her bucket. Then I help her pat it down just like Bubba helped me. We pat, pat, pat until all of sand is inside. Then, we tip it upside down and pat it some more. When we lift it, ta-da!

"¡Un castillo!" Elena says. She smiles at me. "¡Gracias!" A castle! Thank you!

"De nada."

We play Princesses and Pirates with Elena and Rubén. Me and 'Lena have to protect our Castles from the mean Pirates!

"Arg! ¡Danos todo tu botín!" Arg! Give us all your booty!

"¡Nunca!" Never!

"Derribaremos los muros y… darle estas rosas porque una princesa merece las flores más bonitas." We shall break down the walls and… give you these roses because a Princess deserves the prettiest flowers.

"Aw! How sweet!"

Mom suddenly appears like magic. Me and Bubba straighten up. I hope we did not say anything bad!

"'Andria, Eddie," Mom says. She leans close like when you share a super-secret. "Move it along. You have 5 minutes."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Mom goes away.

Then Bubba says, "Vamos a jugar al escondite! ¡Voy a contar, y tú puedes esconderte!." Let's play hide-and-seek! I will count, and you can hide!

""Bien! ¡Vamos, Elena, Rubén, por aquí!" Okay! Come on, Elena, Rubén, this way!

"1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… 10…"

We have to hide, quick!

"¡Escondamos aquí! ¡Nunca nos encontrará!" Let's hide over here! He'll never find us!

I take Elena's hand and Rubén's hand, and I take them to the hiding place that Mom said to. I see Dad; he is saying come here with his hand. I go over to him with Elena and Rubén.

"Good girl, 'Andria." Dad says and it makes me feel so good. I look dad in the eye like Mom and Dad taught us, and he says, "I am proud of you. You did a good job."

Wow!

He said it! He really said it!

Oh, I am so happy. I hope mom will be proud, too.

"Go on now, and play."

I nod and turn away to go hide so Bubba does not find me easy. I hide in the loopy slide.

"¡Listo o no! ¡Aquí voy!" Bubba says. Ready or not! Here I come!

*Meanwhile – with dad, Ruben, and Elena – Ruben's point of view*

*** Trigger warning begins here ***

I don't know what happened! We were playing in the sandbox, my sister and me. We were playing with our new friends, and Eddie said we should play hide-'n-seek. Elena and I play it with our big brother and big sister, Leonardo, and Elisa, and they say we are the bestest hiders.

But we did not go hide. Instead, 'Andria took us to some man in the bushes. We cannot see the park from here. We cannot see our Mamí or Papí. We cannot see anyone!

I wonder why the man told 'Andria he was proud of her? Mamí says that sometimes, when I do my chores or get a good note from Miss Arlet.

But why would this man say it to our new friend?

"¡Quiero a mamá!" Elena says in that voice that means she is about to start crying. I want mommy!

The man grabs her and then gets my arm, and he makes us walk and walk and walk. It feels like forever, but, finally, we stop.

Suddenly, there is a second man. He comes over to us and he has something in his hand… a gun!

I know it is a gun because Papí has one at home. He said we are never, ever allowed to touch it. It could hurt people, just like that big boy did last year. The big boy bringed a gun to school and he hurt a lot of kids. He hurt some of my hermana's friends and made them go away to see Jesus…

Oh, no! What if the man hurts Elena that way?!

"¡No, por favor!"

"¿No quieres que le dispare?" The man says, putting the gun at Elena's head. You don't want me to shoot her?

I shake my head really fast.

"¡No, por favor!"

The man moves the gun. I want to yell. I want Mamí and Papí. I want to go home. I don't want to be here. I want my mamí and papí.

I want to yell, but the man says,

"Si te quedas callado, ella no sale lastimada. ¿Entender?" You stay quiet, she does not get hurt. Understand?

I want to yell, but I do not want Elena to get hurt. So, I say,

"¡Sí!"

"Bien." Good

The man looks at Elena. He slaps her across the face, and she starts to cry.

"Go on, David." The man says to the one that 'Andria bringed us to. Then he looks to me. "Come with me, or I will shoot your sister." He puts the gun to her head, and I walk over right away. There is no way that man is going to hurt my sister!

"¡No lo hagas!" I shout. Don't do it!

Then my face hurts. The other man, the one 'Andria bringed us to, he hit my face.

"¡Aprende tu lugar, Muchacho!" Learn your place, Boy!

"Take them away, Thomas."

The man walks off, and Thomas looks at us. Then, he takes the gun away and points it at a tree. I wonder what he is doing. I hope he decided not to hurt Elena! The man shoots the tree, just points the gun, and shoots! The sound is not loud. I don't know why. Papí's gun is always loud, so why wasn't this one?

The man looks at me.

"Dices otra palabra, y la siguiente estará entre sus ojos. ¿Me entiendes, Muchacho?" You say another word, and the next one will be between her eyes. You understand me, Boy?

I nod my head really fast. I want to scream at him — no one hurts my sissy and gets away with it! — but the man with the gun can hurt her so much that she might go see Jesus, and I really do not want that to happen.

The man makes me follow him. We go to a car, and he makes us get in. Then, he drives off. We drive by the Park. I see Mamí and Papí. They are sitting on the bench playing with our baby brother, Mateo. We drive by and keep going, until I cannot see them anymore.

I look at Elena. She looks scared and sad. She is crying. I wrap my arms around my little sister, and I promise to never, ever let that man hurt her ever again.

"No te preocupes, 'Lena. Nos iremos a casa pronto. Lo prometo." I whisper to her and kiss her forehead, just like Mamí does. Don't worry, 'Lena. We'll go home soon. I promise.

I hope Mamí and Papí start looking for us soon.

*Meanwhile, back with 'Andria and Eddie – normal point of view*

After doing her "job", 'Andria goes to hide in the loopy slide. She climbs up inside of it and stays quiet as a mouse, while she listens to Eddie counting. He goes all the way up to forty.

"¡Listo o no! ¡Aquí voy!" He shouts. Ready or not! Here I come!

'Andria peaks out from around the corner of the opening in the bottom of the slide. She sees Eddie looking by the swings, the Jungle Gym, the climbing structures…

"¡Te veo!" I see you!

Aw, man! She thinks.

"¡Te veo, tonto!" He giggles as he comes closer. "¡Se supone que debes esconderte, no mirar a tu alrededor!" I see you, silly! You are supposed to hide, not look around!

Suddenly, they hear the telltale chime of something all kids love…

"¡Helado!" A man shouts.

Yes, he is delivering ice cream to a park full of kids in February. Since today it is exceptionally warm, being about 4° over the regular temperature of 58°, he decided to come out. Besides, what kid would say no to ice cream?

"HELADO!"

A chorus of children, young and old, shout as they run over to him. Parents are already lining up to hand out money. 'Andria and Eddie stay by the playground equipment unsure if they are "allowed" to have it today. Usually, they are not, for one reason or another, but their dad had said he was proud of 'Andria, so maybe…

"¿Qué están haciendo ustedes dos tontos gansos?" Their dad shouts. "¿No oíste – helado!"

Hey, what are you two silly gooses doing? Didn't you hear – ice cream!

That is their cue.

"¡Helado!" They both chorus as they run over.

So far, so good…

They get caught up in the crowd, eat their ice cream, play on a different area of the playground. They stay for 15 more minutes, and for every second of those minutes, 'Andria, Eddie, David, and his wife, Lori, ignore the distressed calls of Elena and Rubén's mother and father.

"Rubén! Elena!"

"Has anyone seen my children?!"

"My babies! My babies are gone!"

"Rubén Santos-Rodríguez! Elena Santos-Rodríguez!"

"In the car, both of you." David instructs Eddie and 'Andria. Lori climbs into the front seat, and then turns around. She smiles at the two little children, something that is not done often, and tells them what she promised to say if they did their 'job' correctly.

"We are proud of both of you. You did well. You may stay up 2 hours late, eat cookies and milk, and each have one lollipop."

Eddie and 'Andria's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. They have NEVER been allowed to eat sweets, stay up late, or so much as look at cookies, let alone eat them.

To them, this is as close as a real Christmas they will ever have.

To make things better, Lori said she and David are proud of both of them.

And that is the best thing ever.

Well, there it is. Next is the Balloon Release for Eddie and Lexie. Then Chapter 34 will get the ball rolling to be an incredible, uplifting turn of events.

Can you guys can figure out who these kids are? I left clues throughout this chapter… You just have to gather and access them. ;)

Please review and let me know what you thought! :)