Bruno muttered under his breath as he headed towards Mirabel's room, as it was now officially known, already regretting his decision. Honestly - what had he been thinking? He should have let Julieta do this. Mirabel probably wanted her mamá not her tío and really, could he blame her?

He stood outside his nieces room and nearly doubled back on himself before giving himself a stern talking to and knocking the door.

"Come in, Bruno!" Mirabel called, her voice a little hoarse.

Blinking in surprise Bruno pushed the door open and asked. "How did you know it was me?"

From her bed Mirabel gave him a surprisingly bright grin and explained. "You're the only one, apart from Pepa, who talks to yourself, Tío Bruno."

He sighed and nodded before saying, hesitantly. "I brought you some food. Are you hungry?"

Mirabel scrunched her nose up and considered for a few moments. Then she sighed. "No, but I suppose I'd better eat it or I won't get better." She held her hands out and Bruno passed the bowl to her.

The young girl sighed and poked the food half-heartedly.

Bruno looked at her sympathetically. "You're really not feeling well, are you?"

Mirabel didn't reply, just speared her food with her fork and took a bite. After about ten seconds her energy perked up significantly and she ate more, finishing the entire bowl in about five minutes. She sighed happily and lay back on her bed. "I had not realised how hungry I was." She stated and immediately sat back up. "Is there any more?" She asked, eagerly.

"Eh..." Bruno played with his hands nervously. "I don't think so? I don't know. I just took the bowl of off your mother-"

Mirabel looked a little confused and asked. "Por qué?*"

Bruno ran his hands through his hair. "...Just wanted to make sure you were okay, you know? You seemed really low, and I know how much of a bummer it is to be sick on your own, so..." He trailed off.

Mirabel smiled and gently gave him a hug. "No estás solo ahora.*" She reminded him, not for the first - or even the tenth time. "Not anymore."

Bruno laughed shakily and hugged her back. "This is the wrong way round." he told her. "I'm the uncle, I'm meant to be comforting you."

"You are!" Mirabel said, brightly. "You brought me mama's food, didn't you?" She indicated the empty bowl. "And I see you trying to help us all. Like last month with Luisa."

Bruno grimaced a bit as he remembered last month.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"The donkeys have forgotten how to walk!" Was Luisa's opening announcement as she walked into the cocina*.

Bruno blinked and stirred his coffee. "Good morning to you to, Luisa." He said, dryly.

Luisa looked at him, like she was just noticing he was there, and laughed nervously while massaging the back of her neck. "Sorry. I thought you were Mama."

Bruno nodded and took a sip of his coffee. It was boiling. He put it down again and said, dryly. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Luisa smiled and sat down. The table shifted to the left. Bruno saw Luisa automatically lift her knee up subtly so it made the table level.

There was a silence during which Luisa stared into space thinking about goodness knows what and Bruno wondered if he should actually try and make some conversation with his niece.

Mirabel chose that moment to come in. "Mañana*!" She said, brightly. She hugged Luisa and then Bruno. "Any plans today, Luisa?" She asked, sitting next to her sister.

Luisa considered the question for a moment. "The church needs the roof fixing. I should probably help with that." She sighed and tapped her fingers on the table rhythmically.

Bruno looked at her and thought about what to say. He used to have quite a good relationship with Luisa, maybe he could rekindle that?

"Do you need any help with that?" He found himself asking before his brain had really engaged with his mouth.

Luisa looked at him in surprise and grinned. "No, I can handle it. Thanks for asking though!" With a sudden burst of energy she leapt up and whacked him on the back, in what he guessed was meant to be affection [but really hurt] before hugging Mirabel and practically dancing out the door.

Bruno watched her go and immediately asked Mirabel. "Do we have any leftover-"

Mirabel indicated vaguely. "Either top cabinet or fridge."

"Thanks."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I didn't really do anything though." Bruno admitted, wringing his hands together again.

"No, but you asked." Mirabel said, earnestly. "And that's what counts. The thing with Luisa-" She added. "-Is there's a lot going on up here-" She tapped her forehead. "-and sometimes it takes her a little longer to think over stuff people have said." She frowned. "I don't mean she's estúpida*. She's just...a very private person." She sighed and rested her chin in her hands. "It's not just you." Mirabel admitted.

There was a silence while the two of them reflected. After a few minutes, Mirabel asked, hesitantly.

"How do we seem to you? As a family, I mean? You've watched us, you must have been able to observe things that we haven't. Are we...normal?"

Bruno laughed, a loud laugh that echoed around the room. "You've got an tía* who control the weather and an tío who looks into the future and you're asking if we're normal!?"

Mirabel rolled her eyes and gave him an affectionate punch [a trait she'd clearly picked up from Luisa] "You know what I mean. In our family, our relationships. Are we normal?"

Bruno sighed and took a few minutes to think about his answer. "...Where has this come from?" He asked.

Mirabel gave a small shrug and drew herself up. "I've just been thinking..." She murmured. "Isa and Luisa told me some...things during the whole...incident. It concerned me." She admitted. "They're clearly not coping."

Bruno felt a pang of concern and asked if either of Mirabel's sisters had said anything specific to make her think that.

His niece did that thing when she scrunched her nose up [he thought it meant she was unsure of something, but wasn't certain] and murmured something about how she wasn't sure-

"Mirabel." Bruno said, firmly, leaning forward and gently resting his hands on her shoulders. "I want you to know two things. One - whatever you may think it is not your responsibility to look after the whole family or even just your two sisters. They have two perfectly capable, loving and supportive padres*." He reminded her. "Not to mention a fantastic tía, tío* and cousin's. They can go to any of them for their problems and I know for a fact-" He leaned forward confidentially. "That they have." He leaned back and nodded, while trying to make his face look 'wise.'

His face clearly needed some more practice, because Mirabel burst out laughing and hugged him tightly. "Gracias Bruno." She said, relief clearly audible in her voice. "You have no idea how much those thoughts have been bugging me." She let him go and smiled at him brightly, before getting serious again. "You didn't answer my question though."

Bruno took a few seconds to think about how best to phrase his next sentence. "If there's one thing the past year has taught us, Mirabel, it's that there is no such thing as normal. If by 'normal' you mean 'are my relationships with my family good' then I would say as a whole yes. Even before the whole 'casa' incident, I saw you with your family and your padres clearly adore you, as do your sisters - even though Isa had her own way of showing it - and I genuinely think that-" He paused again and forced his brain and mouth to work together. "-even if the casa incident hadn't happened...even if you hadn't found me...all of you would have been alright and the problems would have got addressed, just in a different way. You're good with people, Mirabel." He explained, patting his niece on the shoulder. "And that's not a gift that was given to you, that's just you." He looked at her and blurted, un-elegantly. "Is this making any sense?"

Mirabel kept him waiting for a few agonising moments while thinking over her uncle's words. Despite the awkward phrasing Mirabel understood what he meant and - in that moment - was comforted. 'I can still help my sisters' She thought to herself. 'I just don't have to support them completely.' She smiled and hugged Bruno again. "Gracias, Tío. Gracias." There was a beat and then she asked. "But seriously, is there any of mama's food left?"

Bruno laughed. "I'll have a look." And giving her one last hug he got up and headed downstairs, a smile on his face.

*Why?

*You're not alone now

*Kitchen

*Morning!

*stupid

*Aunt

*Parents

*Uncle