Lynn glanced over at Francisco as he checked her car. Ever since she returned from Margo's weeks ago, he has been nagging her to get it looked at, but she always found a way to put it off. Now, he calls her under the guise of a home dinner date to finally take care of what she has neglected for so long.

She tapped her foot. She didn't plan on spending her evening in his garage looking at her boyfriend under her car as she handed him tools.

His hand popped out from under the car, "Can you do me a favor and unscrew the filter cap?"

Lynn looked under her hood; she has no idea what he's talking about, 'I should have asked Lana for lessons a long time ago…'

"Have you done it yet?" he asked.

"No. I have no idea where the filter cap is."

Francisco rolled out from under the car, he extended his hand out, "Help me up."

She did so, and Francisco called her over and pointed, "That's the filter cap. When you unscrew it, it helps the oil pour out faster."

"Okay…"

She appreciates his efforts to teach her, but she knows that she isn't going to retain the information. Next time she needs to change her oil, she'll just go to a mechanic or something.

Francisco noticed her staring, but knew that she wasn't looking at him, "Did you listen to what I said?"

Annoyed at his tone, she loudly declared, "Yes!"

"What did I say?"

She groaned, "It's to help pour the oil in!"

"It's to help pour it out faster," he corrected. "You should learn how to do this yourself; it can save you some money."

"Money isn't a problem for me."

Francisco scowled, "Fine! I was just trying to be helpful." He rolled back under the car, and began to hum as he waited for the oil to finish pouring out of the car.

Lynn bent down under the car, "What are you humming?"

"Turkish March," he responded, "Why?"

"That's sort of my next question, why are you humming that?"

"Elena has been taking music lessons and this is one of the newer songs," Francisco rolled out from under her car, "Have you seriously not considered getting a newer car? The repairs alone are have got to be insane, and I find it difficult to believe that you like tossing money at this pit."

"No way!" Lynn scowled, "Dutch and I have been through a lot together, and I'm not getting rid of him."

Francisco rolled his eyes, and muttered to himself, "Fine. Keep throwing all your money at this old piece of junk."

Lynn helped him, "Is that it for today?"

"Yes, but next maybe time don't wait so long to change your oil."

"Not making any promises," she walked back inside the house, "So Elena started taking music lessons?"

Francisco followed behind her and washed his hands, "A little over two months. You have no idea, how long it took me and Caroline to finally get her to pick something," he rubbed his head, thinking about how frustrated they were with their indecisive daughter, "She kept going back and forth between dance, music, and art, she even tried adding languages in there too."

"So she's one of those artsy scholar types of kids? What instrument did she end up taking?"

His head pulsed a little, "That was another big decision. Luckily, Caroline was able to get her to choose piano," he pulled out his phone, "Here take a look."

Lynn looked at the video. It was hard to believe that over two months of music lesson, Elena is doing so well on the piano. Granted the girl isn't Mozart, but for a few months worth of lessons, it's still impressive.

"Dang…she really picked up piano quickly," she told him.

Francisco put his phone away, "I know. Those lessons have really been sinking in," he said as if holding back something from her.

Lynn asked, "So is that a bad thing? Cause you sound like something's bugging you."

He shook his head, "It's fine."

She decided to take it at face value, and not pursue it any further, "So do you want dinner? Cause you told me that we were gonna eat."

"Sure, whatever you want."

"Pizza. Little Nero's, maybe?"

He let her order, and in a few minutes they were sitting at the table eating. This is the first time that they have eaten a meal together without some sort of distraction since the week after her birthday. Unfortunately for both of them, the habit is a little tougher to break than anticipated, and they sitting in the large reclining chair that Lynn is fond of.

Thunder began to roar outside, and shocked the couple, who quickly jumped and went to look out the window.

As Lynn looked out the window, she said to herself, "I should have left earlier."

It was getting late, and she knew that he was going to have to get to bed soon for work tomorrow. She opened the front door, and walked onto the porch; feeling raindrops hit her face as wind blew towards her.

"What are you doing out there?" questioned Francisco as he cautiously stepped outside the house.

She turned around, "I'm just getting a feel for the weather before I have to go home."

"Just spend the night, anything is better than going out in this storm," Francisco said as he took her hand and led her back inside.

"I'll be fine. Besides, it can't get any worse," she tried to reassure him. She wasn't sure if the weather would get better, but she didn't want to intrude, especially on a work night.

"I insist. Besides, Dutch isn't too reliable and you don't want him dying on you before you get home."

"I'm telling you, don't worry. I've been through worse and Dutch has gotten me through it."

"Lynn," he said firmly, "It's fine and I don't want you to risk anything bad happening just because you're too damn stubborn to spend the night."

She stared at him. She didn't want to concede, but she also knew that he wasn't going to give in either. The two continued their stare-off waiting for the other to give in.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

He believed her when she said that, but he still didn't want her going out in the storm. Call him cautious, but he preferred to know that she was safe rather than risking her car breaking down or something worse happening for driving in such conditions.

She noticed the worry in his eyes, and gave in, "If it really bothers you that much, I'll stay. But just this once, especially since I'm not looking forward to having to wake up at five in the morning so that you can lock your house up."

He let out a sigh of relief.

She teasingly shook her head and walked past him, "I'm such a good girlfriend."

As she stepped down the hall to find his room, she turned to him and asked, "So what time should I set the alarm for us to wake up?"

He closed the door, and noticed the red mark on his calendar, "Set it for…" he closely looked at the note he left himself saying that he was off, "…don't bother. I'm off tomorrow."

He followed her, wondering why she went to his room instead of the spare room. She laid down on his side of the bed, and buried herself between the sheets.

"Wow, so miracles do happen," she said, as she made herself comfortable.

"I'm allowed days off…so, why are you in here?" he asked, slightly bothered as she undid his bedding and wrapped herself with his blanket.

"Where else do you expect me to sleep? Elena's room? The couch?"

"I was – you know what," he shook his head, "it's fine, I'll just take the spare room," he said as he grabbed a T-shirt and shorts to change into.

She got up, surprised that he would rather sleep in a spare room rather than sleep in his own bed.

"I'll be right back. I'm just going to go get some spare blankets from the linen closet," he told her before stepping into the hallway.

"Is he serious?" Lynn asked herself as she got up and followed him. He was standing at the doorway, looking into the room. "Excuse me, what exactly is so bad about us sleeping together in the same bed? We've done it once before, I doubt one night will be so damn bad." Lynn looked inside the spare room, which was only furnished with a bed frame and a chair.

"I guess I can just sleep on the couch…"

Lynn laughed, "With your bad back?" she gently pushed him back to his room, "C'mon, one night won't be so bad."

Francisco sat on the bed, while Lynn rummaged through his drawers, "So, do you have anything I can change into?"

"I don't think so. I don't exactly make a habit of stocking women's clothing in my drawers."

She rolled her eyes, but she didn't have a choice; they weren't near the same clothing size, and she didn't plan on spend the night to begin with. Lynn pulled out a pair of shorts and T-shirt, and shrugged her shoulders, "This'll do, I guess."

She began to undress, "What are you doing?" asked a shocked Francisco.

"Changing? I kinda have to do that if I want to wear these clothes."

"At least warn a guy," he said before walking to the bathroom.

"You are such a prude. You act like this is the first time that you've seen me take off my clothes."

"Hey! The last time was in the dark."

"Yeah, like you weren't paying attention…" she muttered to herself.


After spending hours in a truck, Francisco's family crossed the border into Texas from Mexico and Francisco is happy to finally get cell service to text his friends. He and his family spent over a month visiting his extended family, and while he loves his grandparents, he isn't fond of visiting. For a little over four weeks, the three brothers spent most of their time stuck on the couch watching television, sweating, and cleaning; it was almost like staying home.

As the family got out of the truck to stretch their legs and grab some lunch before getting back on the road, Kiké approached his younger brother, "Nothing like spending a month in a sweat box with no indoor plumbing to make you appreciate a fast food restaurant toilet and air conditioning."

"Grandma and grandpa's place isn't that bad," Francisco told him, his eyes still fixated on his phone.

"Says the guy who spent a month sleeping on a thin piece of sponge and wood?"

Francisco rolled his eyes, and continued to text his friends, letting them know that he would be home in a few days to hang out before summer is over and they go back to school.

"Well at least now you can understand what they're saying on tv again and you can speak English again without people trying to rip you off."

"Are you done complaining?"

Kiké shook his head, "No, but you're the only one who doesn't mind hearing me or giving me crap about it since I know you agree with me."

"I do mind, you just don't shut up, and even if I tell you anything, it's not going to stop you."

"True," he glanced over Francisco's shoulder, "Are you texting the tiny orc?"

Francisco pocketed his phone and scowled, "Would you stop calling her that? She has a name and you know it."

Kiké ruffled his brother's hair, "Sorry, didn't mean to upset lover boy."

Francisco's hand formed a fist, he was ready to strike his brother, but heard his family approach the truck to continue their trip for as far as they could.

"Just 1,700 more miles until we get home," Francisco sighed.

The thought of twenty-five more hours in the truck is stressful. The family has already spent six hours in the vehicle and they were getting on each other's nerves, but there is still plenty of sunlight, and he would rather endure the claustrophobic conditions than take another week to get home.

Kiké buckled up next to his younger brother, "You know stopping wouldn't be an issue if dad let someone else drive."

Francisco somewhat agreed. Despite having four drivers in the family, the patriarch refused to let anyone else drive based on the assumption that everyone but him will get lost. It is definitely annoying, considering that Juan could take a break and refresh his eyes, but the man is stubborn and refuses to hand over the keys.

Francisco whispered to his brother, "How many more times does he almost have to crash into a guard rail before he lets someone else drive?"

Kiké snickered, "Or almost drive off a mountain?"

Francisco's phone buzzed. He barely took it out of the pocket, and turned it on to read; it's Lynn.

Come to my house when you get home

He sighed. He was still two days away from arriving, but that isn't going to stop her from inviting him over.

Alright. I'll text you when I'm close.

Two more days…

He continued the countdown every time that he looked at his phone's clock. If you search the map from the southern tip of Texas to the family's home address it's about nineteen hours of driving, but that doesn't account for gas, food, and stretching, or the occasional fright from his dad's speeding and his mom and Kiké's complaints at the reckless driving.

As the family pulled into the house, the sun has already set. Everyone is exhausted, but they still need to unpack, plus everyone was tired, hungry, and felt dirty.

I'm home.

What the hell took so long?
You said that you crossed the border two days ago!

We decided to take the scenic route.
Do you know how big the Grand Canyon is?
And I got picture at Mount Rushmore!

HA! HA!
So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?

Yes, I'll see you tomorrow.

GREAT!
I'll be in the backyard

Francisco out his phone away, and shook his head, "Of course she already has something planned."

The next day, he walks over to her house, and he gets closer to Lynn's house, he hears loud music. He follows the music into the backyard and sees a large wrestling ring with her bouncing off of the ropes.

"Lynn!" he yelled.

She ignored him.

"Lynn!"

She still didn't listen.

"LYNN!"

She turns off the music and sees a tired Francisco, "Finally!" she yelled as she tossed him a lucha libre mask.

He pulls the mask off of his face and looks at it, "Seriously, Lynn? I spend a month in Mexico and you think that this is the first thing that I'm raring to do?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I thought that you were just complaining too much on the phone. But if you really don't want to do lucha libre we can do something else. How about wrestling?"

He tossed the mask back at her, "It's the same thing."

She pouted and he turned his eyes away from her's, he knew her puppy-dog eye routine, and he refuses to fall for it. Even if he isn't planning on looking in her direction, she knew that he is going to turn around and look at her.

"No, I can't wrestle right now. Besides, I don't even have a change of clothes and my mom is definitely going to get mad if I tear another shirt."

He opened an eye and accidentally made eye contact with her, "Fine! But can you stop pulling the puppy-dog eyes already?!"

She laughed, "Alright, alright, I'm done. Now get in the ring!"


Francisco awoke to the sound of his doorbell, he turned to look at his alarm, "Who's at the door this early in the morning?" It was nearly four in the morning and was annoyed that he was forced to wake up early on his day off.

He rolled out of bed and stumbled to the floor, "Are you okay?" asked Lynn, groggy as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fine…" he struggled to say between the pain. It was like this every time that he stood up after being in the same position for hours, and he hated it. He pulled out an amber bottle from the nightstand and took his medicine, before slowly attempting to pull himself up from the floor. "Just stay put, I'll go tell them to go away."

"Or you could just ignore it," she said before hearing the doorbell ringing again.

"I don't think they're taking the hint or going to go away any time soon," he said as slowly walked towards the front door.

"Geez…when did those religious people start getting pushier so early in the morning?" asked Lynn as she tried to get back to sleep.

Francisco kept on his slow attempt to the front door. He cursed his back, he cursed the person knocking on the door so early; he wanted to sleep, was that so bad?

The doorbell rang again, this time coupled with knocks on the door. He reached the door, and looked through the peephole and his heart stopped. He forgot all about Elena coming early today, and his promise to Caroline. Francisco took a deep breath, and opened the door to see the woman about to take out her phone to call him.

"Finally!" said Elena, "I almost thought that you were going to go to work with tío Chuy."

"Of course not, I remembered that you were coming over," he tried to convince the girl.

Caroline gazed at him, before kissing her daughter goodbye, "I'll be back on Sunday night to pick you up. Don't give your dad a hard time."

"I won't," she said, somewhat confused by her mother's statement. She's never said anything like that before, but Elena disregarded it.

The girl took her bags and walked into the house, Francisco was about to follow her, but Caroline quickly pulled him aside.

"Really, Francisco?"

"What?" he pretended to play dumb.

"Did you actually forget about that she was coming over early today?" she crossed her arms, annoyed at the possibility that he didn't even remember the little task that she told him about.

"No. I just didn't expect you to be here so early. I even had it written on the calendar, I just had a long night and the storm didn't help me get to sleep…" he began to ramble.

She believed the calendar part; he's prone to writing down important dates, although he could forget to write why they were important, but she didn't believe the rest of his excuse.

"…and next thing I know, I'm falling off of the bed and struggling to get to the door."

She didn't feel like probing, "Fine," she sighed, "I get it." She turned towards and car and quickly remembered, "One more thing, who's car is that?" she asked pointing at Dutch. Francisco tried to think of what to say, but the lump in his throat forced him to struggle. Rather than wait for his response, she told him, "I hope you know what you're getting into."

'Well…no choice now. It's going to be so weird, especially when Lynn gets out of bed.'

Francisco went after Elena, who was standing at the entrance to the hallway. He approached her, hoping to get a look at what has her attention; it was Lynn outside of his bedroom door, still dressed in his clothes.

"Good morning, Elena," Lynn said with a nervous smile.

"Good morning, Coach Lynn," she responded, before walking to her room and closing the door.

He walked to his daughter's room, and tried to listen to her, but he didn't hear anything.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she whispered to him. He shook his head. They walked back into his bedroom in silence. She grabbed her clothes, "I guess I should go."

"What? Lynn, it's early. You can wait until the sun is actually out."

She was surprised by his suggestion, "You want me to stay? It's already weird enough that she saw me coming out of your room in your clothes, and you think that it's a good idea to be here?"

He hung his head in shame, "Yes…I wanted to tell her, but definitely not like this."

She wanted to scold him; his damn insistence at her being here is the reason they're in this mess, but it wouldn't solve anything, especially after Elena saw her walking out his bedroom.

'I knew spending the night was a mistake.'

"You don't have a choice now…but fine! I'll stay, but you're doing all the talking. I'm just going to stick around for breakfast."

Francisco walked to Elena's door, and knocked, "Elena, can you come out…we need to talk."

Silence.

Lynn placed a hand on his shoulder, "Just give her time. She'll come out on her own."

He sighed, "You're right."

"I mean she kinda has to, unless you set her up with her own bathroom in there," Lynn suggested. Francisco clearly isn't thrilled with her response, "Just trying to lighten the mood," she said with a small smile.

The two walked to the kitchen, where Lynn began to raid the refrigerator for something to eat. Francisco took a seat on the couch trying to contemplate every answer that he was going to give to Elena.

'We've been dating for a few months…a year? Well, there were those three months that we didn't date, ugh, she doesn't need to know that…where was I? No, I didn't show up to your practice because of Lynn…It was my idea to not tell you…We haven't told any other family member…I was going to tell you…'

Lynn glanced over at Francisco, who was staring into space, she finally spoke up, "I'm sure she'll be fine, she doesn't seem like the type to get overly mad about stuff, especially something like this."

Lynn wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean that Elena was just going to let this go; he lied to her, and despite knowing that she doesn't like being lied to, he still did it anyway. He was hoping that they could talk this out quickly, but it can't begin to happen if she stays in her room.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, as he saw her sniffing for anything to eat.

"Anything that can remotely be considered breakfast, I mean how the heck do you only have an egg, but no bacon? Not even breakfast sausage or anything," she complained before taking a seat next to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Do you at least have some flour to make pancakes or biscuits?"

"I don't know," he lightly snapped, "Look, I don't care about breakfast; I'm too busy worrying about what to say to Elena."

"You should, how the hell do you expect to feed anyone when you barely have anything in the fridge?"

Francisco loudly groaned. This isn't the conversation that he wants to have; he wants to think clearly of what he's going to say and get it over with.

"You're coming to my place for Thanksgiving. If this is how crappy your fridge is year-round, I hate to imagine what you do for a major holiday."

"If it'll get you to stop focusing on the food, fine! But if you're so desperate for breakfast, you can go the grocery store, and get something."

"Fine!" she snapped back and the two went back to sitting in silence.

As Lynn thought about him, she wondered what she would say to her own family members. It didn't matter as much, Lisa and Lucy probably already knew, and the rest would wonder why she didn't tell them sooner. Easy! Because they, and she'll admit that she herself, are meddlers. They'll wonder about dates, stages of the relationship, and worst of all – possible marriage dates. Okay, marriage may not be the worst thing that they'll ask, but it isn't like she wanted her sisters to know anything more intimate than that.

Lynn got her keys and turned to Francisco, who was still deep in thought. "It's going to be okay, she'll understand."

"I hope so."


Lynn circled the ring as she waited for him to get in the ring. He noticed her fingers, which looked like she was ready to grasp tightly to him. Francisco could hear his mother's yells from the last time he brought home torn clothing, rather than face that wrath again, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it to the side.

Her cheeks began to burn, "What are you doing?"

"I see your hands and I don't want my mom yelling at me because you decide to grasp tightly onto my shirt and tear it. So how are we doing this? First to five wins?"

She looked away from him, "Ten."

"Okay, whenever you're ready."

"Three…two…one…start!" she said as she ran towards him.

He stayed put, with his feet planted firmly on the ground. The two locked hands, until he swept her off her feet. She landed on the floor, and she looked up at him before getting back on her feet. He held onto her arm, held her head down, and dropped as he took her with him; pinning her to the mat.

She tried to get out of his grasp, but to her surprise, he overpowered her and she couldn't escape.

"One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten! I win!" Francisco happily said.

Lynn took a deep breath, "You got lucky. C'mon! You still got to get nine more wins to go!"

With each round, Lynn continued to fail, and it stunned both of them. Normally in their competitions against each other, they were usually on par with the other, but seeing her lose so many times in a row stunned them both. She took a seat and tried to catch her breath.

One of the things that Lynn knew was bound to happen was that the boys that she competed against were going to get bigger and stronger, but she hadn't struggled yet. She manages to compete against them and is still able to keep up, yes, there are losses here and there, but seeing herself lose ten times in a row to her friend was a tough pill to swallow.

"Did you just let me win?" he asked as he took a seat next to her.

Lynn blushed, but didn't want to admit the truth, "Yeah…in your texts you sounded so annoyed about your trip I thought that you could use a win."

He noticed her not looking at him in the eyes, and knows that she's lying. Lynn is competitive, and he knows that she wouldn't purposely throw ten matches in a row, but regardless he is going to appreciate her words, even if they are lies.

Lynn slicked back her sweat-drenched hair, "I feel like I'm burning alive."

Francisco held his breath, "I can tell," he joked.

Lynn sarcastically laughed and punched him in his arm for the joke he tried to pull at her expense. She walked over to the hose and washed away the sweat and dirt from her skin. The cold water felt good against her reddening skin, and in an effort to have fun with her friend, she turned the hose on him.

He spit out the water and saw the goofy smile on her face. Not wanting to let her get the last laugh, he ran after her in an effort to take the hose from her. She saw him running after her, and she bolted from her spot with the hose in hand.

Occasionally, she would spray him, and he would bend the hose to stop her, but would pull on the hose as hard as she could and get him off before spraying him and starting the cycle again.

Lynn Sr. looked at the pair of teenagers from the kitchen window. The two were laughing and playing, but he is concerned, especially since the shirtless boy is running around after his daughter. Normally, he trusts his daughters, but with Lynn's impulsiveness, the father became a little more cautious; she's getting older and he knows that things can happen.

Rita walks into the kitchen with Lily in hand, "What are you looking at, honey?"

"Did we ever have the talk with Lynn Jr.?" he immediately asked.

Rita tried to recall. She was sure that they talked with the four oldest, but she wasn't sure if she or her husband has gotten around to talking with their fifth oldest. Rita knows that Lynn is about to start high school, but it doesn't hurt to go over a few things before she begins dating or become the object of someone's affection.

"I don't think so, why?"

She approached the window and saw what her husband is staring at; her daughter spraying water on her shirtless male friend, who looked as if he wants to tackle her to the ground.

Both parents saw them running back and forth until Francisco cornered Lynn. She turns around and tackles him, claiming to want 'revenge' on the boy.

"Okay, I know that this doesn't look good, but I don't think–"

Lynn Sr. took Lily from his wife's arms and ran outside, "LJ! Can you watch Lily? She keeps coming into the kitchen and I don't want her to get hurt."

" –that you should overreact…" Rita finished.


Elena yawned and stretched as she got up. She didn't want to leave her room right now, she wanted to stay curled up in her bed, and sleep the morning away. Normally, she would be in school right now, but she wanted to relax on the extra day off that her dad promised her.

Her dad.

After immediately falling asleep, she didn't give herself much time to digest the new information.

She opened the door to her room, and could hear the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. Normally, meals at her dad's would consist of leftovers from the week or takeout, but her stomach is now conspiring against her as the smell of pancakes and bacon wafted in the air. She wants to stay in the room and avoid seeing her dad and Lynn, but she couldn't stand the rumbling of her stomach, so she walks towards the kitchen.

Lynn sees the girl walking towards the kitchen, "Hey! Take a seat. I'm almost done with the eggs, and I've got some bacon and pancakes ready if you're hungry and want some," she handed Elena a plate with some food before leading her towards her dad at the table, "Coffee's almost done, wait, you don't drink coffee do you?" she shook her head, "No wait, you probably don't, you're kinda young. Don't be like me and start early, it stunts your growth and before you know it, you end up the shortest in the family," she tapped her foot, "Oh! I know orange juice! I'm sure one of your neighbors has some we can borrow or I could go to the store. Or do you like fresh orange juice? I could use the arm workout and some cardio," she told herself as she stretched her arms.

Both father and daughter look at her, surprised by her behavior.

"Uh…I'm fine. Just food and some milk," she quietly responded as she took a seat next to her dad.

Lynn continued scrambling the eggs, "Alright, well the eggs are almost done. I used that guy Guy Grazer's–" the coffee stopped pouring and Lynn tossed the spoon to the side, "Coffee's done!" as she grabs two mugs.

Elena whispers to her dad, "Is she normally like this?"

Francisco shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know…this is the first time she's ever spent the night, so I've never seen her like this in the morning."

Lynn sets down the mugs and grabs scoops some eggs for the three, "So how was everyone's night?"

Francisco cleared his throat, "Lynn, I think that we have something to talk about with Elena," he took a sip from his coffee, and immediately spit it out, "How many scoops of coffee did you add?"

"Seventeen, race you Ann Arbor," she winked.

He pushed the mug to the side, "Look Elena, I know that you probably have some questions right now, so do you want to ask us anything."

Elena shook her head, "Dad, can we just eat breakfast first? I don't–"

Lynn chimed in, "I can fill you in on some things, if you want."

Francisco and Elena immediately said, "No!"

The three quietly ate breakfast. Elena kept her eyes on the both adults; her dad visibly nervous and Lynn appearing to have no care in the world as she scarfed down extra helpings of each breakfast item. She doesn't want to talk, but she knew that by coming into the room her dad was going to want to talk, or at clarify as he sees fit.

The quiet is beginning to bother Francisco and he finally speaks up, "Umm…just so you know, it's been about a year now."

Elena closed her eyes, she wanted to have a peaceful breakfast before they started talking, but her mouth quickly asked, "So it was after the first season ended?"

"Yeah, although we have known each other for some time before that."

"We've been friends since we were kids," Lynn added, between bites of bacon. "I met him at the baseball diamond, and he said–"

"Lynn," Francisco interrupted, "you're getting off track."

She took a bite of her pancake, and decided to let him handle the talk instead.

"When were you planning on telling me?"

Francisco paused as he tried to gather his thoughts. He didn't know when, he knew that he was going to, but never actually stopped to think about when the best opportunity would be.

"When Lynn and I were more serious as a couple," he said.

"She spent the night, and she's still wearing your clothes," she pointed out.

Francisco nodded, "I know, but there was that storm last night. You know how I feel about nights and stormy weather."

Elena sighed, "You don't like it, but you won't tell me why. You never want to tell me anything."

He is taken aback by where she turned the conversation. This isn't the first thing that he's kept from her, but other things don't affect her immediately nor does he think that she's old enough to understand everything that he's held from her.

Lynn spoke up, "What hasn't he told you?"

"Why I never see abuelito, how he got hurt, why he hates chocolate chip cookies, shouldn't that last one be easy?" she turned to her dad, "You never want to tell me anything, you always keep saying when I'm older, and then everyone keeps saying that they want you to tell me, so I'm never going to know, because I'm never old enough."

Francisco firmly said, "Elena, you just turned nine, and I don't think that you're ready to hear about that."

"Really? Even the cookie thing?" She took a deep breath and decided that she didn't want to hear him out for the time being, "Can I be excused?"

Francisco sighed, and let her go.

Elena got up and turned to Lynn, "Thank you for making breakfast."

Lynn snapped her attention to the girl, "You're welcome. Did you want any more?"

She shook her head and told Lynn, "I'm just going to go back to my room…"


Lynn let the running water hit her as washed off all the mud and sweat that she accumulated in her little wrestling match. While she did expect a wrestling match, she didn't expect to be running around in the grass and mud with her friend, but she was happy about the little turn of events, even if she was eventually tasked with caring for Lily. She exits the bathroom after her shower, and walks into her room where she happily declares, "There! All clean."

Lucy, who is reading a book, didn't look up, but responded, "Maybe next time, you shouldn't wrestle and run around the backyard with a hose chasing your friend."

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "We were just having fun. It's no big deal."

Lucy laid into her coffin and continued reading her book. The older sister knows that she just wants to peace and quiet, and decides to quietly toss her basketball through her hoop.

She keeps track of all her baskets, and when the ball goes through the hoop the fiftieth time, Lynn pretends to make the sound of a final buzzer and cheers for herself, "Aww yeah! Look at the MVP down there folks!"

Rita and Lynn Sr. knocked on her door, "Lynn, can we come in?"

"Uhh…sure."

The parents locked the door, and each took a seat near her. They were carrying a few sheets of paper, and looked as if they wanted to have a serious talk with her. She could sense the tension in the room and her parents' eyes locked on her's.

Rita started, "Lynn, we know that you're about to start high school in less than a month and things are changing around you, both physically and mentally, and you're going to start feeling things for other people that you may not have felt before."

She slowly pushed herself towards the wall to avoid them, "We already had this talk in school. I don't need it," she tried to assure them, especially her dad, who is nervously staring at a picture of her team and the opposing team after their last tournament.

"We know, "Rita continued, "but we want to be sure that you have the proper information."

Lynn looked at the withered brochures and printed pages on her father's lap. The idea of hearing this talk is awkward enough with just her mom, but having her dad's panicking voice and eyes made the ordeal a living hell.

With each new image, came another internal groan from Lynn. She had an idea of how this talk was going to go based on her sisters' occasional comments, but seeing her dad shuffle through the pages on his lap scared her a bit. Her older sisters never mentioned that he would be talking too, she always assumed that it would just be her and her mom; now here she is trapped in her bed seeing her parents stumble through graphic photos about a variety of diseases, childbirth, and the changing body of a young woman.

Lynn looked at her parents and saw their lips moving, but she stopped listening to what her parents were saying. Her eyes are still looking at the two, but she could feel the information go in one ear and out the other. She knows that she should be taking this seriously, but she also didn't want to have this awkward conversation with her parents anymore.

"Lynn, are you listening?"

She groaned, "Yes. Are we done? I want to go downstairs and watch tv."

"No," her father told her, "We want to make sure that you have all of the proper information and that you're paying attention. This is important and we want to make sure that you are being safe that nothing bad happens to you. I mean, do you want this to happen to you?" He pulls up a graphic photo of a baby exiting the birth canal which surprises Lynn.

Rita pushed the photo down, "Lynn, don't scare her," she placed the photo on the lid of Lucy's coffin, and turned to face her fifth oldest daughter.

Lynn's eyes focused on Lucy, who was emerging from her coffin. The older sister could see the color, or lack thereof, drain from her face as she looked at each photo that was placed on the coffin. With both parents placing their attention on Lynn, neither one could see the trauma that they are accidentally placing on Lucy. Lynn felt bad, she can't stand looking at the photos, and she doubts that the nine-year-old is faring any better.

Lynn got up from her bed. She led her parents towards the door, "You know mom and dad, this has been great, and I appreciate it. We – I mean I am sure that today will never be forgotten."

Lynn Sr. sighed in relief that it was finally over.

Neither parent is sure if they are convinced with how much of the talk Lynn retained, they know that she sometimes makes a habit of staring in the right direction, but not listening. However, Rita was happy to end this so that her husband can stop his panicked teaching. As they exited, Rita turned towards Lynn and whispered in her ear, "I promise next time, it can be just the two of us, okay."

Lynn nodded, "Okay, bye."

After quickly closing the door, Lynn shuddered as turned towards Lucy's coffin and asked, "Are you okay?"

Lucy shook her head, and the older sister took the printed images off of her coffin lid and threw them in the trash, "At least if they ever try talking to you about this in the future, you can tell them that they already did," she said in an effort to ease the tension.

Lynn couldn't tell if her younger sister appreciated the effort to ease her trauma, but she hoped she did.

"Why did he do that?"

"I think they just forgot that you were in here."

"No, I mean, why did it seem like dad was trying to scare you?"

Lynn shrugged her shoulders, "I barely noticed. After a while it just sounded like Luna when she plays her trumpet with the silencer on.

"Lucky…"


Francisco tapped his foot incessantly under the table. He knows that the talk could have gone over much better, but at least it was finally out in the open. Elena has barely said over a few words since hearing what he had to say, but for now it was just baby steps.

"You know if you stop tapping your foot, it's gonna itch to tap again when you're done," mentioned Lynn, as she cleaned. As much as Francisco and Elena appreciated their meal, Lynn left behind a mess of a kitchen, which she is currently cleaning alone as Francisco stayed trapped in his thoughts.

"Hmm…"

"I'm just saying from personal experience."

She turned around and saw him continue to tapping his foot away nervously. Lynn understands that both he and Elena have to give the conversation another try, but she doesn't plan on being there. Lynn knows that while the girl didn't intend to, she was trying to get Lynn to side with her about some issues that she has with Francisco, and she doesn't want to get caught in the middle.

"I'm gonna go get my clothes and go…"

"What? Now?"

"It's almost noon, and I don't know…I figure that I should get going or else I'm going to make lunch awkward like I did breakfast."

"You didn't make breakfast awkward. The conversation just got away from me and, yeah…"

Lynn tried to recall what Elena said, and surprised her that Francisco hasn't told her about how he got injured or what happened to his dad. She knows that it's a touchy subject for him, but to outright never explain surprised her. Then again, if Lynn wasn't around when it happened, she's sure that he wouldn't bringing up unless necessary.

She grabbed her things, "I guess I'll bring back your clothes next time."

"I guess…"

As Lynn stepped outside, she turned around and looked at his worried face, "I know that you're afraid of being alone with her, but I don't that she's going to change that dramatically the moment she leaves her room."

She took his hand, and tried to comfort him.

"I know that, but I can feel the…the…"

She knows what he's trying to say. Even if Elena was calm upon hearing the news of their relationship, the amount of stress that he was exerting alone could be felt by anyone. The girl has a right to be annoyed that the man she spends her weekends with is as secretive as he is, and Francisco needs to open up or he'll end up making Elena as distant as he was as a boy.

She kissed his cheek, and whispered, "Give her something to work with. Don't you remember what you used to do when you were a kid?"

He sighed, "I'll think of something that won't lead to too many questions."

"Fine, at least you're trying," she said before getting in her car. "Wait! Don't forget the," she pulled out her phone, "the 24th, okay?"

"What?"

"Thanksgiving! I invited you. You can bring Elena too if you want."


Look at that! Francisco finally told Elena, sort of... well it's out in the open at least, (Took me long enough) and now that means that she'll be included more in the story than she has been

Also, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page, the year is 2033, I'm not sure if I screwed up chapter 1 and got the year wrong then, but over a year has passed in the story's time

Just some fun facts that you guys are free to ignore - my dad has come close to driving us off of a mountain and into guard rails for the same reason I mentioned, the chair that was mentioned in chapter 5 and again in this chapter is based off of The Giving Chair from It's Pony, and there was supposed to be a joke about a picture of crabs on Lynn Sr's lap, but I decided to leave the talk more to the imagination

Thank you to everyone for reading, until next time