The beginning of a series of Papa Bruno AU oneshots.

First, we have a snippet that is inspired by something that actually happened to me in real life. Or, more specifically, it's something that I did to my sister when I was a toddler. My mother has told this story enough times for me to use it as a basis, so please enjoy.

Isabela loved her baby cousins.

She'd been a toddler when Luisa had been born, so she didn't really remember being around her sister when she was a baby. That meant that Camilo and Mirabel were the closest thing she had to baby siblings. Especially Mirabel. Camilo had a tendency to freak out if anyone other than Pepa or Felix held him, but Mirabel would just stare at anyone with those wide brown eyes and give them a sweet baby smile that just made Isabela want to hug her to death or squeal loud enough to make Dolores cover her ears.

She didn't get many chances to be alone with Mirabel. It was mostly due to the fact that Tío Bruno was very protective of his daughter. Even at night, Mirabel was either sleeping in his room or he was sleeping on a spare bed in the nursery. It was frustrating because Isabela wanted to play with the baby but the youngest Madrigal was never out of her father's sight for very long.

One day, she went up to her tío's room to call him and Mira down for lunch and found him sleeping on his bed. It had been set up in the room before the sand waterfall so he wouldn't have to comb the sand out of Mirabel's hair or dry out her sensitive skin. Mirabel was sitting up next to her father, babbling in baby-speak and playing with a rattle Abuela had gifted her. The baby looked up at Isabela and smiled that little smile.

"I'll bring you back later," Isabela whispered, picking up her cousin.

Mirabel was a lot heavier than Isabela had thought, but she wasn't too heavy for her to carry. Even if she didn't have Luisa's super-strength, she was strong for a seven-year-old. Everyone said so.

Eventually she arrived in the dining room and then faced a new obstacle: how to get Mirabel into her special chair.

"Papa!" she called. Mirabel let out a string of babbles.

"What is it, Isa?" he asked, coming into the room.

"Can you put Mirabel in her chair? I wanna sit next to her for lunch."

"Of course, corazón."

He took his youngest niece from his daughter and set her in her chair.

"Where's your tío?" Julieta inquired, poking her head in as Luisa came running for her seat.

"He's sleeping. Mirabel was awake so I decided to bring her downstairs."

Everyone except Tío came into the room, Camilo being perched on Tía Pepa's hip, and they all sat down to eat. Mirabel drank from her bottle of milk, unaware of the look of adoration she was getting from her eldest cousin.

This was the longest Mirabel had been away from Bruno since she was born.

The peace was broken, however, by the sound of a door banging open and panicked yelling.

"PEPA! JULIE! I CAN'T FIND MIRA! WHERE IS SHE?!"

Julieta leapt to her feet and Isabela was right behind her.

They entered the courtyard just in time to see her tío almost fall down the stairs. Luckily Casita turned them into a slide and he came to a stop at the bottom. That did nothing to assuage his panic, however, and he leapt to his feet before his eldest sister laid her hands on his shoulders.

"Mirabel is fine, Brunito. She's just having her lunch."

He breathed a sigh of relief, then went into the dining room and gave his daughter a hug. Julieta gave Isa a look that said she was in trouble.

Once Bruno calmed down and everyone finished lunch, Isabela was made to stay in the dining room with her parents while her tío went to go give Mirabel a bath. She'd spilled milk on herself during lunch and he needed to clean her up.

"Isabela, do you know why your tío was upset?" Papa asked.

"Because I took Mirabel downstairs for lunch?"

"No, Isa, it's not that," Mama assured her.

"It's because you took her without permission from tío. I'm sure you noticed how much he loves Mirabel."

"But I wouldn't do anything bad!" Isa protested. "I just wanted to play with her and help her have lunch! It's not fair! She's the best cousin and he keeps her all to himself!"

Her mama took her hands gently and smiled.

"Isa, do you remember when Mira was born?"

"Yeah. Tía Sara was hurting a lot, just like Tía Pepa when she had Camilo. Only she didn't make the weather go crazy."

"Well… do you remember what happened to Tía Sara?"

"She… she was lost. Like Abuelo."

"Si. Just like Abuelo. Your tío loved her very much, and he lost her just like Abuela lost Abuelo. Mirabel is the last thing he has of hers and he wants to always make sure she's safe. So he doesn't lose her like he lost Tía Sara."

"But she was safe!"

"He didn't know that, carina. He went to sleep with Mirabel right next to him and when he woke up, she was gone. He was very scared. That's why he was upset."

"Oh." Isabela fidgeted in her seat. "I'm sorry for scaring him."

"Then you need to tell him that," Papa advised her, getting down so they were at eye-level. "Go apologize to him and let him know you won't do it again."

Isabela stared at her feet.

She really hadn't meant to scare him. She'd thought he'd come downstairs once he realized Mirabel wasn't there and join them all for lunch. And while she'd been right, she hadn't expected him to come downstairs all panicked.

Quietly she went upstairs to where Bruno was giving Mira her bath and saw her youngest cousin splashing in the water happily, unaware of anything bad having happened. Her tío didn't turn around, but he knew she was there.

"Hola, Isa."

"I'm sorry, Tío Bruno. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Come here." He gestured for her to sit next to him. "Can't take my eyes off Mira for a second when she's in the bath or she'll put her head underwater."

Isabela sat down next to him and Mirabel waved her hands at her.

"Mama and Papa scolded me," she told him. "They said next time I need to ask you before I take Mirabel."

"They're right." Bruno gently scooped some water onto Mirabel's head and she let out a happy squeal as it ran through her wet curls. "She's usually right beside me when I wake up, so I was afraid something bad had happened."

"You were sleeping and it was lunchtime. I thought she would be hungry."

"It's a fair guess, but you could've woken me up, too." She nodded.

"Abuela says I'm not supposed to, though. Because of your visions." He sighed.

"I wasn't sleeping because of a vision. I was sleeping because Mirabel kept me up last night." Mirabel gave him a pointed look as he finished rinsing her. "Isa, can you get me a towel?"

Isabela grabbed a towel and handed it to her tío, who lifted her cousin out of the water and wrapped her in the fluffy cotton. She then proceeded to follow him to the nursery.

"Next time, I'll wake you up," she promised.

"Good idea." He pulled out a clean diaper for Mirabel and wrapped it around her bottom. "Mind picking out some clothes for her?"

Isa grabbed a light green dress that Bruno quickly put onto his daughter with a practiced efficiency. He then smiled and sat down on the spare cot, setting Mirabel down beside him.

"Tío, do you think… do you think I could watch Mirabel sometimes? Just so you can do things without her if you need to?"

"Sometimes. But you can't watch her without an adult, okay? And ask me first."

"Okay. I will."

"You've got a big job with Mira, you know. She's gonna look up to you and Dolores and Luisa, and you three have to set a good example for her."

"Like eating my vegetables and cleaning my room?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I can do that. Even the icky vegetables."

"If you do that, well… I'll let you play with Mira more."

Isabela couldn't hide her grin as she left the nursery and went downstairs.

Of course, she was punished for scaring Tío. She had to go to bed without dessert and she wasn't allowed to play with Mirabel for a little while longer while Dolores and Luisa got to pull Mira and Camilo in a little cart outside under Tío Bruno's watchful eye. But it was worth it when she made a tiny flower and tucked it into Mirabel's curls and she saw her baby cousin's eyes get huge with wonder.

She was going to be the best big cousin ever.

Okay, so the story behind this one is pretty simple. Stay tuned for author lore, click off if you don't care.

When my sister was a baby and I was around three years old, she was sleeping on my parents' bed while my mom took a shower. Because she was in her car seat, three-year-old me thought it would be a great idea to take my baby sister out into the living room so we could play together. And no, I have no clue how I lifted the car seat either. But my mom got out of the shower and couldn't find my sister and so she panicked until she found us. I'm pretty sure I got a time-out for scaring her.

I will be taking suggestions for this fic, so leave them down below! These will all be for this Papa Bruno AU, and I will be writing my own ideas as well.

So long and thanks for all the fish!