The bartender places two beers in front of the brothers. Chuy grabs a beer and looks up at the game; usually, he can handle soccer or whatever sports that Pancho played growing up, but unlike his two younger brothers, sports aren't his thing.

In an effort to make small talk, Chuy asks, "So what do you think that we should do for Pancho's birthday?"

Kiké, who is busy scrolling through his phone, says, "Who cares? He's turning thirty-four. Not exactly a milestone birthday."

"Don't tell me that you're still upset that we didn't do anything for your birthday," the older brother teases.

"Une fête aurait été appréciée," Kiké says before dialing a number.

Chuy shakes his head. He isn't sure what his younger brother wants; he is out of town on his own birthday, so there is no way that they could have done anything special on the day of, unless everyone just packed up and tried searching for him.

"Put a dime on Michigan State and a half dollar on Notre Dame."

"Wow, big spender this time around," Chuy says sarcastically.

Kiké signals his brother to be quiet, and continues his phone call. Honestly, he wishes that his brothers would make better choices in their lives, but at least this is the smallest of Kiké's vices.

The younger brother hangs up the phone, "Like I was saying, a party would have been appreciated. Instead, what happens? I'm all alone on my fortieth birthday."

"You didn't tell us where you were, how did you expect us to do anything?"

"A good family would figure it out."

"Well, we aren't all mom and Elena."

Kiké raises an eyebrow, "Elena?"

Chuy mentally beats himself up, "I didn't say Elena, I said…el y…" he grabs the menu and points to some appetizers, "We should order some for Francisco when he gets here."

Kiké rolls his eyes at his brother's awful lying, 'Oh great, now I have someone else breathing down my neck.'

"Why do you want my help anyway? Mom doesn't want me around, and I doubt that you guys and the other one really need my help to take him out to dinner."

"You don't know that. Mom may change her mind one day," Chuy assures his brother. "and he's your little brother."

Kiké scoffs, "Oh yeah, because calling him the little brother makes sense as adults. Besides mom telling me I never want you in my house again is so reassuring; she's happy I'm gone."

While he has been invited to their mom's home on occasion, it was rarely without reason; her move was due to needing an extra pair of hands and Christmas two years ago was due to him just being around Chuy when the phone call to invite him was made. However, hearing his brother say that bothers Chuy; he knows that Kiké has always been difficult, but it still feels weird to hear something like that.

"It's been over ten years since that threat, maybe if you tried to be a better person then it wouldn't be a problem anymore."

Kiké mockingly smiles at his brother, "Well we can't all be the son mom and dad wanted, right, Mr. Perfect Oldest Son?"

Chuy rolls his eyes; he's nowhere near perfect, but regardless, Kiké will always think that Chuy is the preferred son despite his blue-collar job, his crappy apartment, and his lacking social life.

Chuy ignores his brother and stares up at the screen. Both brothers ignore the other and drink beer until Francisco arrives.

Francisco, the unfortunate designated driver, notices Kiké, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, menso."

Both Chuy and Francisco roll their eyes and proceed to ignore Kiké and his antics.

"So what are you planning for your birthday?" asks Chuy, even though he already knows the answer. For as long as he can remember, his youngest brother wasn't the biggest fan of his birthday, but it never stopped Francisco's loved ones from trying to make it festive.

"Does it matter? I'm turning thirty-four, it's not exactly a milestone birthday," Francisco says.

Chuy shakes his head. Even if it was, Francisco wouldn't want to make a big deal of it; after all, he never liked that his birthday is so close to Christmas and that growing up that was always the theme for the party too. "But it can still be fun, you've got Elena and Lynn, they could possibly make the party more to your taste."

Francisco raises an eyebrow. Even if they did plan something for his birthday, he knows that his mom would just convince them to go along with the Christmas decorations and call it a day.

"I doubt that," Francisco tells his brother, "You know, you're lucky you never had to worry about these sorts of themed parties."

"Quit complaining. You know I sometimes got them," Chuy scolds his brother, reminding him of his own Easter themed birthdays.

"Once every couple of years is not the same as every year."

"Still more frequently than mine," Kiké says, while still looking at his phone. "Hell, you guys didn't even celebrate my eleventh birthday either, I'm starting to think that you guys don't like me," he says, feigning hurt.

The two brothers laugh, "Let it go," Francisco tells him.

"Funny, I could say the same thing," Kiké says as he drinks his beer.


Leni steps out of her car and looks at the apartment complex. This is the first day of her vacation and she has decided to spend her time with her parents and sisters after being away from Royal Woods for so long.

She spots her sister's beat up car in the parking lot, which lets Leni know that Lynn does in fact live here. Unlike her other siblings, Lynn can sometimes be a little trickier to find as she keeps changing homes every few months without warning.

"I can't wait for her to see me," she says to herself.

Due to her job that has her traveling around, Leni rarely has an opportunity to stop back home and see what her siblings are up to, but she finally decided to take some time off and surprise her parents and sisters.

Leni knocks on the door, and smiles as she imagines Lynn's surprise upon seeing her sister. She presses her ear against the door, but she can't hear any activity inside, so she tries knocking on the door again.

After waiting a short time, Leni pulls out her phone and decides to call her sister instead. The sound of her ringtone can be heard as she presses her ear against the door again, but Lynn still isn't responding. Assuming that her younger sister is in trouble, Leni pulls out a bobby pin and unlocks the door.

She looks around the apartment and spots the discarded phone on the floor, empty chip bags, broken glass, a mess of plates and cups all over the room, and a giant pile of clothes. Leni grabs the phone and nervously looks around, "Lynn?" she calls out, afraid of what she may find as she walks towards the bedroom.

Leni hears groaning from behind the door; her heart is pounding, afraid of what she may find after she opens the door.

The sound of Lynn throwing up grabs Leni's attention and she quickly opens the door and spots her younger sister hunched over a trash can.

"Lynn!" Leni calls out as she runs to her sister. She rubs the younger sister's back, "Are you okay?"

"What the- Leni, what are you doing here? And how did you get into my apartment?" Lynn asks, with her head still buried in the trash can.

"I wanted to surprise you and everyone," Leni says.

Lynn reaches out and touches her sister's face, "Oh good, you're real."

Leni is confused by what her sister said. She reaches out to feel Lynn's forehead, but she isn't warm, just trembling, "Are you sick? Do you want me to call Lisa to check you out?"

Lynn shakes her head, "No! You know what Lisa is like, and I don't want her probing around me, besides, I'll be fine. I just need to, uh, need to, uh, rest."

Leni is still worried after the sight of Lynn and her surroundings, but she's willing to respect Lynn's wishes, "Alright, but if you don't get better soon, I'm calling her," she says as she tucks Lynn into bed.

"Deal," Lynn groans. "But I'll be fine, it's happened before and I've only been sick since yesterday."

"Are you sure? Do you want me to get you something?"

Lynn shanks her head, "No, I just need rest."

As the younger sister closes her eyes, Leni continues to look at her; worried that something is very wrong that she doesn't want to talk about.

Despite having her eyes closed, Lynn isn't sleeping; she's only doing so to get Leni to relax after finding her the way she did. At the moment, her heart is racing, but all her sister could see is Lynn turning in an effort to get comfortable. She keeps thinking about what Leni could have seen on her way to her bedroom; the living room and kitchen. Lynn is sure that Leni is more worried than she's letting on, but for now she can pretend to sleep while she comes up with some sort of explanation to give her sister.


"Are you sure that it's okay to leave Lynn at home by herself?" asks Elena as she steps out of the truck.

When Elena arrived the night before, Lynn was in bed with a fever and a stuffy nose; which her dad claimed was from her insistence of swimming out in the lake on Christmas Eve.

Francisco nods his head, "She insisted that we come and have fun, and I told Jackson that she's sick so he'll probably bring over some remedy."

Both shudder as they remember the foul smelling remedies that he has given the two over the years. They don't mind since the remedies work so well, but stomaching them is a whole other issue, especially after the trouble that their neighbor goes through to make it.

Francisco knocks on the door of his mother's apartment; it isn't his ideal birthday, not that he has one, but his mom wanted to throw him a small get-together. He isn't expecting much in the way of novelty, especially since he and Elena were there three days ago, but he's going to try to have fun for the two of them.

Alicia opens the door, and immediately pulls her son in for a hug, "Feliz cumpleaños, mijo."

He returns the gesture, "Gracias."

"Metanse, se esta entrado lo frio," she tells the two, as they quickly get in to get out of the cold.

Francisco looks around at the decorations in his mom's apartment. Like every birthday that she's thrown for him; it's Christmas themed and it's using the same decorations from their celebration three days ago.

Alicia places a plate of food in front of Francisco, "¿Dónde está Lynn? Tengo un plato de comida para ella," she says while pointing to the large plate of food on the counter.

"Está enferma y no pudo benir," he tells her.

At the moment, Francisco wishes that he put his foot down and stopped Lynn from jumping into the lake, but he knows that it would have been for naught and that she would stubbornly jump in regardless. Instead, he is going to try to make the best of what he's got at the moment.

After he finishes his tamales, he looks at his mom and daughter talk. He gets up from his seat and heads towards the couch; looking through all the channels to find a Christmas special that he hasn't gotten tired of watching.

"Otra vez ahí estás aplastado," Alicia jokingly complains, as she spots her son sitting down on the couch.

He has no idea when the first time was, and even growing up it was a rare occurrence that he would sit on the couch due to being out with friends or playing on one of his sports teams, but it never stopped his mom from complaining that he was lazy when at home.

Alicia takes the remote and turns off the tv, "Ven conmigo, vamos a intentar un poco más de diversion hoy."

Francisco isn't sure to believe her; like him, she's practical, so whimsy isn't a trait she has unless it involves decorating a house. "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

Unfortunately, with a stiff person like Francisco, fun isn't the easiest thing to accomplish, especially with just the three of them. So, Alicia decides to take out the photo album and show her granddaughter pictures of her father from when he was a little boy and celebrating his birthday. Most of the photos show the boy with nervous eyes, and away from the spotlight; there are photos of him actually enjoying himself with his cousins, but alone, he looks shy.

"Desde que era niño, nunca le gustaba tomar fotos," Alicia says as she points out multiple photos with a nervous looking Francisco.

Elena is in awe as she looks through the photos; excluding the photos that put Francisco in the spotlight, he looks happy when he surrounded by other people.

"Pensé que no tenías cámara cuando mi papá estaba creciendo, ¿de dónde vienen las fotos?" Elena asks, curious about the few photos that Alicia possesses of Francisco as a young boy.

Francisco answers, "Mis tías tomaban fotos y se la dieron."

"Es una pena que no sonreirá a menos que haya alguien más a su lado."

Elena looks through the photos; she spots a man drinking two beers at once who somewhat resembles her dad. She looks up at the two adults and asks, "¿Es este hombre, abuelo?"

Alicia spots the photo and closes the album, "Déjame guardar esto, ¿quién quiere atole?"

Elena turns to her abuela as she takes the album back into her room. The girl looks at her dad, "What's wrong?"

"I guess she didn't want to see his face tonight…" Francisco tells her. He looks out the window, "Look at that, it's snowing."

Elena turns to the window and as she turns back, she spots her dad staring at the snow. She feels tears forming in her eyes.

Francisco looks at Elena, and spots her crying, "Sunshine, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asks, concerned about her sudden tears.

"I don't know," she says as she wipes away the tears, "I'm just really sad."

She doesn't know why she's crying, but she felt a sudden sadness after her abuela took the album from her.

"Okay," he says, unsure of what to do, "Do you want me to go get your abuela?"

Elena nods, Francisco walks towards his mom's bedroom and he spots her shedding a few silent tears. He gives her a few minutes before he knocks on her door to get her attention.

Alicia wipes away her tears, "Ya voy," she says as she wipes her tears.

The three spend the rest of the evening talking as they reminisce about past birthdays and some of their favorite memories that they have involving the birthday boy; while avoiding bringing up why both Elena and Alicia cried.

As the evening comes to a close, Alicia notices the weather and turns to Francisco, "¿Estás seguro de que quieres manejar esta noche?"

He isn't sure that he does want to drive; the snow has stopped falling, but the roads are probably icy and less than ideal, but he can't stay out all night with Lynn sick at home.

"Está bien, no mas manejo despacito," he says in an effort comfort both of them.

Alicia pulls Elena towards her, "Déjala quedarse conmigo. Ve y ten unas buena noche."

It's hardly going to be a good night, if he has to worry about a sick Lynn, but he's willing to take the opportunity, "Alright, te miro mañana," he tells Elena before going back to his truck.


Lynn vomits into the trash can as Leni pulls her hair back. It has been two days since Leni arrived, and while her younger sister is doing a little better, she's still sick in bed for most of the day. She's shivering, but not cold, sweating, and her head hurts constantly; at least that's what Leni has been noting.

Lynn looks up, "Can you get me, um…something for my…" she taps her head as she tries to think of the word.

"Do you have another headache?"

Lynn nods her head, "I couldn't sleep…"

That isn't much of a new complaint; growing up Lynn struggled to sleep and usually resorted to bouncing a ball until she could do so.

"Well, you can stay in bed, let me see if I can find something to make the room darker," Leni suggests as she looks around for something to block out the sunlight.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get to sleep eventually. "

"Do you want something to eat? You haven't eaten much in the last couple of days."

Lynn groans, "No! I–" she stops talking as she feels her heart quickly pounding in her chest. She takes in a deep breath through her nose and lets the air out of her mouth; repeating action until she thinks her heartbeats have gone back to normal.

"I'm calling Lisa," Leni says as she pulls out het phone.

Lynn grabs the phone, "I told you, I'm fine! Just leave me alone so that I can sleep!"

Leni steps back cautiously; she knows that Lynn won't hurt her, but she doesn't want to take any chances.

She closes the door, and sighs; she's trying to help her sister, but she's getting moodier than Lori on a bad hair day. Rather than dwell on what occurred, Leni looks around the apartment and decides to occupy herself by cleaning up the mess.

"Wait," she stops herself, "is this one of Lynn's good luck thingys?"

She can't imagine that it is, but Lynn is so unpredictable that it probably is, "Just like the mustard stains on her jerseys."

Leni giggles at the memory; Lynn insisted on their mom not washing a jersey because she convinced herself that it was lucky and wouldn't work anymore which means that she'd lose and it'll be her fault, causing her teammates to hate her. Leni stares out after that; she almost felt like a young Lynn was right in front of her as she thought that.

She never could figure out where her sister's superstitious nature came from, but it makes Leni wonder how much she really knows about her sister. Aside from their brief stint as roommates, neither one has had a chance to sit down and talk.

Leni looks around the room, and figures that the messy room could help her out. She rolls up her sleeves, and cleans up the chip bags, "Look! Lynn still loves cheese puffs and spicy cheese puffs," she tells herself as she throws away the empty bag. "and she drinks Great Lakes Brewery Hop-arine beer, Comeback beer, and White Deer Distillery," she sniffs the unbroken bottle and is immediately put off by the strong scent.

She places the bottles in the trash and grabs a broom and dustpan to clean up some of the smaller shards of glass. Leni doesn't want to jump to conclusions, but as she clears out the glass bottles, she worries about what her sister isn't telling her.

Leni takes a seat on the couch and looks online to see if her suspicions are true.


Lynn blows her nose into the tissue. Her nose is stuffy and the world feels as though it's standing still; she feels likes hell, but she didn't want to admit it, especially after Francisco told her not to jump into the lake a few days ago. He calls it punishment for her stubbornness, and she doesn't blame him, because now she's missing his birthday while she's in bed.

She didn't have much planned, the man hates celebrating his birthday in public, so most things were out of the question, but she figured that they could all have fun trying to find something for him.

"Dairyland would have been fun again…or maybe…" Lynn pauses as she tries to think of something that he would like that doesn't just involve everyone being cooped up inside. "This is what I get for working instead of thinking about what he wants. I had a whole year!"

After doing well enough on her dad's little skills test a few months ago, Lynn has spent a considerable amount of time at restaurant as a cook and as her dad's assistant with the books. While she doesn't mind her job as the cook, she does miss her free time which allowed her to plan things out a little better.

"Knock knock Lynn," Jackson says as he walks in with a large thermos in hand and a medical mask on his face.

Lynn is snapped from her thoughts, surprised by the man next door, "What the…"

"Francisco told me that you were sick and I thought that I would bring this for you before I went to the hospital."

"Why are you going to the hospital?"

"An old acquaintance of mine works there and she sometimes asks me to moonlight as a midwife and I was called in tonight. But don't worry about me, here," he pours a cup of the drink, "It's my famous hot toddy."

"A hot what?" Lynn asks as she looks down at the drink in her cup.

"Toddy," Jackson finishes, "it's to help relieve your symptoms. There's honey and lemon and cin…"

Lynn's mind wanders away from what Jackson is saying and goes to the drink in her hands. It doesn't look bad, but she's heard stories from Francisco about Jackson's remedies, rather than risk the taste startling in her mouth, Lynn swallows the beverage in one quick gulp, "Holy crap! This stuff is strong." Her throat feels less scratchy, the sinuses are somewhat cleared, and stomach feels warmer.

"Call it an old family recipe; now be careful with the cinnamon sticks, I left them whole in there."

"Do I have to drink the whole thing?"

"Well if you'd like to get some sleep this evening, it's recommended."

Lynn chuckles as she pours herself another cup of the concoction. A smile forms on her lips, she knows that she isn't going to be able to participate for Francisco's party, but she hopes that she could feel a little better by the time he gets home.

She licks her lips and swallows the warm beverage, before accidentally choking on a piece of cinnamon and deciding to take her time and enjoy the warmth that the toddy is providing.

"I'm glad you like it, but try to get some rest as well."

Lynn falls back on her pillow, spilling a few drops of the drink on her pajamas, "I screwed up…but no one but my brain told me to jump in the lake in the middle of December."

"Actually Lynn, from what Francisco told me, you jumped in the lake about 81% percent into the month, so hardly the middle," he informs her. "And if memory serves it was a rather cold night."

She closes her eyes and nods as she takes in the information. Unlike Lisa, Jackson doesn't possess a tone that makes him sound like he's happy to be the smartest person in the room, but listening to him does reminds her of a close relative.

Lynn can feel the drink working some magic, "Am I supposed to get tired?"

Jackson chuckles, "No, I think that it's your fever. You should relax and pace yourself–"

"But I want to get better now!" she whines.

"Now as a doctor, I'm not going to recommend the quick route, take your time and you'll be better before you know it," he assures her.

Lynn sighs as she lies back on her bed, almost spilling her drink, "Fine…wait, I thought you were a teacher?"

"I can be multiple things; I'm also a pilot if you're curious."

"So is my mom! But only on weekends. Wait!" Lynn asks, "Can you take me on a ride one day? My mom doesn't fly much these days," she says sadly.

"Sure, I think my friend still has his plane, but I must warn you, there are some countries I can't fly over."

With a surprised look on her face, she asks, "Which ones?"

"I'm not at liberty to say…"

Lynn isn't sure if she's hallucinating, but rather than argue it, she decides to ask, "What else can you do?"

Jackson stops to think about it, "I'm a polyglot, and I was a rather formidable gymnast in my youth," he looks at his watch, "I'll tell you more some other day, but I should go, I told my acquaintance that I would be at the hospital after doing Francisco this quick favor."

"Tell him thanks and that I love him when you see him, okay," Lynn slowly tells him as she pours herself another cup of the toddy.

Jackson chuckles, "I think that you'd be better off telling him yourself."


Leni opens the fridge to find something for her sister to eat, but the fridge is empty except for some premade deli sandwiches. She looks through the cupboards, but she still can't find anything to eat, she finds it difficult to believe that Lynn, as gluttonous as she was growing up, doesn't have much food in her apartment.

Leni sighs, "I guess we're eating sandwiches again."

She takes out a sandwich from the fridge and pops it into the microwave to heat it up. Upon hearing the ding from the microwave, Lynn walks into the kitchen and spots Leni taking out the sandwich, "Are you hungry? I warmed up a sandwich"

Lynn shakes her head; she isn't hungry, despite spending the last few days eating almost nothing.

"You have to eat something, Lynn, and I'm not going to leave you alone until you try," she threatens, "Sorry, was that too harsh?"

"No…?"

"Oh good, I was afraid of being too mean," Leni says, relieved after hearing her sister's response.

Lynn takes a seat and looks at the deli sandwich, "Again? I've had Romano's since Sunday."

"Sorry, but there isn't much in the fridge," Leni apologizes.

"It's fine," Lynn says, "I guess I forgot to go to the grocery store."

She can't recall the last time she went, but she does remember not buying much, just junk food and something to wash it down with.

Lynn looks around the apartment; it's nearly spotless and she can tell that it's Leni's doing. She admits that she can be a slob, but Leni actually went through the hassle of cleaning her apartment and didn't even bring it up. The younger sister is beginning to feel bad and hangs her down in shame; upset to let this side of her out.

Leni watches as her sister looks at the sandwiches in front of her. She isn't eating, and the two remain silent. Lynn can feel that Leni wants to talk to her about something.

Lynn looks up from her sandwich and tells her sister, "Alright, go ahead and ask me, I know you want to."

The older sister tries to think of her words carefully. The apartment was a mess of broken bottles so clearly Lynn is temperamental and might not take the accusation well, but the evidence was shattered on the floor.

"Are you an…" Leni leans in to whisper, "alcoholic?"

Lynn sighs; this is the second time that it's happened, another sister calling her an alcoholic. She can't blame Leni, just looking around the formerly messy apartment, and it's clear that no sane person would live in these conditions without something being wrong.

Lynn scowls and turns her head away from her sister, "No! What makes you say that?!"

"Well there's the beer bottles; there were a lot of those, and I was wondering was making you sick, so I looked online…"

Lynn begins to phase out Leni as she talks; she knows that Leni knows and soon a few more siblings are going to know. This is where she wishes that Leni could keep a secret, but she'll probably blab, but then again, she would probably be the best one to know; a sister who could be of some comfort, assuming that she can stay in Royal Woods and not say a thing to anyone else.

"What do you say, Lynn?" she asks.

Rather than answer, Lynn buries her head and begins to eat her sandwich.

Leni notices the depressed look on her sister's face, "It's okay, we can get you help. I know that between you, me, and our family we can–"

"No!" Lynn snaps, "You can't tell them. Besides I'm working on it, no one needs to know."

Leni isn't sure why her sister against help from family; she knows that they would be more than willing to help her through this tough time.

"Forget it!" Lynn angrily declares as she pushes her plate away and walks to the living room. "Just drop it!"


Francisco walks into the dark house with his presents in tow. He hears laughter emerging from his bedroom, followed by a crashing sound. He makes his way to the bedroom, and sees Lynn on the floor laughing as she tries to untangle herself from their blanket.

"Hey!" she slurs, "How was your party? Did you bring back any balloons? I like bouncing them around for a few days, especially the ones with the…with the…" she struggles to think of the word. "The floaty balloons!"

He chuckles, "I had a nice time. Although, I wish that you could have come."

"Me too. Instead I'm sick and wondering where I lost my balloon," she says as she searches around the room for the nonexistent balloon.

Francisco gives a slight laugh before he grabs her hand and tries to help her up to the bed. He sees the thermos and sniffs inside, "What's in here?" he asks as he took a seat on the bed next to her.

"Hackson's…Jack…son's tot hoddy…" she says before giggling, "Jack…son's…hot…hoddy," she breaks into laughter again at her mispronunciation.

"I'm guessing you mean Jackson's hot toddy?" he inquires, as he wraps her in the blanket.

"Yes!" she says getting up slightly, "Have you had it? It's…goo-licious."

"Goo-licious?" he says with a slight laugh.

She rests her head back on the pillow, "I don't know…a better…something…where's Elena? I bet should like to play with the balloon too!"

"She's spending the night with my mom," Francisco shakes the thermos a bit and feels that it is empty, "Wow, I can't believe that you finished this whole thing. When Jackson brought it over for me once, I couldn't finish one cup."

"Weak…ling…"

"Well excuse me, but pain medicine and alcohol don't mix, and I'm not going to be screwing my liver just to get over a bad cold."

Lynn laughs a bit, "What alcohol?"

"The toddy. Jackson puts whiskey and bourbon in it. He says that it's to numb your throat," Francisco informs her. "Although I think his hand slipped this time," he says as he sniffs the thermos again to confirm his suspicions.

Lynn's hands began to shake, and in her most sobering tone, she asks, "There was alcohol in there?"

"He didn't tell you?"

Lynn tries to recall, but between the fever and shock she just received, she couldn't remember with her senses as screwed up as they are or maybe her exhaustion combined with her own inattentiveness, she couldn't tell; at least that's what Lynn is trying to tell herself, but she knows that she wouldn't have made that mistake.

"I drank…"

She grabs the thermos from Francisco and looks inside; it's all gone and she didn't even stop herself, she just drank it all like a damn fool.

Lynn begins to hyperventilate and she yells in frustration; shocking Francisco as she throws the thermos to the floor.

He places a hand on her shoulder, "Lynn, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! I can't believe that bastard didn't tell me!" she yells with tears in her eyes.

"Lynn, calm down–"

"No! You don't know what I lost, how hard it's going to be to start over, so don't tell me the calm down!"

Francisco stays quiet. He sees the pained look on her face before pulling het into his arms to comfort her. He has no idea what's bothering her, but based on the yelling how hard she is punching the bed; she's probably not in the best mood to tell him.

"It's okay…we– I can help you," he assures her as she stops thrashing and cries into his jacket.


"Do you want to know why I did it?" Lynn asks as she stares up at the ceiling. "I just wanted to shut off everything…school…my crappy love life…my brain. I wanted to not feel as intensely…not feel like I couldn't stop…probably didn't help that I was so quiet emotionally…"

Leni isn't sure what Lynn is talking about, but she nods and gives her sister a sympathetic smile. She's sure that her younger sister doesn't tell her much since she's always running around the Midwest, but she can believe that Lynn probably kept quiet to keep others from asking too much.

"Are you sure that you don't want our help? We can probably–"

"Leni," the younger sister interrupts, "I've got it. I can do it. I just gotta get cleaned up and get rid of everything in the apartment that can get me back to drinking and I'll be fine!"

The older sister nods, despite there being nothing else that Lynn can clean up. Leni spent her whole vacation cleaning the apartment, throwing away glass bottles and helping take care of Lynn through her weird symptoms.

Leni places a hand on Lynn's shoulder, "Are you sure that you don't want any help from us? We aren't going to judge you."

That's what Leni says, but Lynn is sure that someone will and she can't bear the thought of her family looking at her with pity as they think that they've ignored the very issues that she hides from them.

Tears begin to form in Lynn's eyes as she imagines everyone's disappointment, she tries as hard as she can to fight it, but she is happy to just get the weight off of her chest, "I'll be fine," she says as she turns her head away from Leni, "besides I can handle myself, I've got a lead on a job as a little league coach, and I'll pay you back for this week."

"You don't have to do that," Leni assures her.

"Yes I do! I can't think that I've gotten away with anything; I have to pay my debts."

Leni nods her head, "Okay, and don't feel bad about my vacation. I wanted to spend time with family and I did."

Lynn knows that Leni is a bit disappointed; after all, she can't imagine that her sister is fine with the idea of taking care of her sick sister over relaxing, although knowing Leni, maybe she is telling the truth.

"So this has happened before?" Leni asks.

Lynn is quiet as she nods her head, "I was doing pretty good until Pop-Pop died after Bud's funeral…"

She doesn't want to relive the memory; it was bad enough that she was tempted after walking into Bud's empty house, but Pop-Pop dying shortly after, sent her over the edge especially after getting his note with those hunting rifles. She begins to feel tears forming as she remembers the funeral and the shock of hearing that her beloved grandfather was dead.

" I think I had about eight months…then it all went to pieces."

Leni remembers that day; the whole family was comforting each other, and even spoke of their favorite moments with their late grandfather, but Leni remembers Lynn stumbling through her eulogy trying to keep herself on track as she spoke.

"That was tough on everyone, and going to two different funerals isn't easy, but you don't have to do anything alone."

"Especially when there were only a few weeks apart…" Lynn says, focusing on the first thing Leni said. She begins to mouth out something, and while Leni notices, she decides not to ask; letting Lynn have her private moment.

Lynn turns to Leni, "I'm getting help, but please keep it between the two of us," she begs.

The older sister, to her dismay, agrees.

"Do you want to go get something to eat? I'm hungry and craving something really sweet, my treat," she offers with a smile on her face.

Leni smiles, "Okay, let's go."


Francisco holds onto Lynn. He can feel her slightly shaking in his arms, but for the last couple of hours she hasn't said a thing. He opens his mouth to say something, but he isn't sure what he could say to remedy the situation.

"So many days…gone," she declares.

He isn't sure what she meant by that, and he asks, "How many?"

"Who cares…" Lynn says in a defeated tone.

She does, and Francisco knows it.

"Lynn, you can tell me what happened, you know that, right?"

She knows, but she doesn't like opening up about this. He knows that she hates showing vulnerability, but she knows that if she is ever going to move forward, she has to tell him the truth.

"I was nineteen…I was lost…and I didn't…think that…anyone could help…" Tears are beginning to form in her eyes. "I would have had…1736 days…you know that that sounds longer than four years, eight months, and twenty-nine days."

"It does…but why are those days so important?"

Lynn is silent. She takes a deep breath and says, "That's how long I've been sober for."

There. She finally said it, to the first person who never confronted her or accused her or anything; he is the first person who she chose to tell about this, instead of having someone else find out on their own.

Rather than asking anything, Francisco stays quiet and continues to hold her. Looking back, it makes sense for why she would actively avoid alcohol; before, he just took her responses at face value and missed the true reason behind her words.

"Everyone was so happy and that's when I fell…"

He isn't sure what she meant by that, "Umm…what happened?"

"Lori got engaged. Everyone was beginning to work hard on making her big day special…and I just stayed quiet instead. I was falling apart, but stayed quiet for everyone else," Lynn looks through her pockets and pulls out her driver's license, "I used to have a fake one that my friend made for me, you know, the one from Bryt Solutions. I owe him so much."

He is confused, "Why would you owe the guy that made it easier for you to get alcohol?"

She thinks about her words carefully, "Because I have no idea how much further I would have sunk in desperation to get a hold of a drink."

The memories begin to come back to Lynn; the late nights with random people, the vomiting, the lying, or waking up in random locations without any idea of how she got there; she hates being able to remember those snippets of her life, because they remind her why she missed out on so much good in her life, by being stuck in the bad.

"What…made you decide to quit?"

"The first time, because I was jealous of how well my friends were doing and I wanted to do well too, the second time because I didn't want to be a quitter, and the third time…because Raffaelina saw me in church and took me to Romano's."

Francisco remembers Martino mentioning church a while back, "What were you doing there?"

She turns away, "I was just hoping to get a little sip of wine. I didn't know that it is Easter though, so when I saw all those people with their families…I sort of chickened out. I couldn't go through with it, so I sat there when after the sermon was over. Raffaelina saw me and I don't know why she cared, but she did and she invited me back to the deli to get something to eat."

"That was really nice of her," Francisco says.

"I know…and she kept inviting me, heck, she didn't even let me leave until I talked with her; it felt nice to talk to someone and not worry about disappointing them. I figured then that she wouldn't care what I did or why and she wouldn't blame herself, so it was a little easier to spill my guts to her. After that, she told me to go back every Sunday and talk. I didn't know why, and I probably could have lied, but I guess I liked the talks and the attention, so I returned every week."

Francisco nods head as he listens to her, as he tries to piece together other hints that she probably gave but missed.

"Are you getting help?" he asks, hoping that it isn't just Raffaelina and her family helping Lynn through this ordeal.

"Haven't you been listening?! Of course I am! I go to those talks every Sunday, listen!"

"I meant, never mind…is that why you swam out a few nights ago?"

Lynn nods, "Yeah…I needed good luck to keep going."

Francisco silently sighs; swimming in a near frozen lake isn't going to do her any good with keeping the temptation away, but he knows that there's no point in questioning Lynn's superstitious beliefs.

"You know, it feels nice to tell someone…can you keep it a secret though?"

"Why?" he asks, confused by the request.

"I'd rather tell people myself…" she says before muttering under her breath.

Francisco stays quiet, but wonders what she means by her siblings knowing. As far as he was concerned, no one treated her differently during the family's get-togethers, but he doesn't know when they could have found out.

Rather than ask questions that might upset her, he gives her a kiss on her forehead, "I promise."


Finally! After little hints since the first chapter, I finally got to the chapter where Lynn reveals her secret; which was never even a secret in the original rendition. The only reason alcoholism got brought up was because of someone's comment about how they saw Lynn growing up to be an alcoholic and, I thought about how it's a nice little self-conflict to add; so thank you for the idea random deviantart commentor.

Thank you, readers, until next time.