The alarm begins to sound off and Elena groans as she turns away from the source of the sound. She doesn't feel like going to school and wants to stay home, after all, there is only less than a month left in the semester and her grades can take the hit.

She can hear her mom knocking on the door, reminding the teenager to get ready for school, and she sighs in defeat, knowing that her mom isn't going to let her stay home. Rather than make another attempt at taking a day off from school, Elena gets up and begins to get ready for the day.

'Just a few more days…' she reminds herself as she goes downstairs and grabs something light for breakfast.

Andrew pours a cup of coffee for himself and looks over at his stepdaughter, who is quietly eating breakfast in the dining room. For the last couple of months, this has been the norm concerning Elena, and while he assumed at first that it has to do with her growing up, he knows that she's bummed about not seeing Francisco.

"Good morning, Elena," says Andrew.

She quietly responds, "Good morning."

Caroline quickly walks into the kitchen and gives her husband and daughter a kiss, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"A little tired," Elena answers, "but my headache wasn't as bad."

"That's good," she says. "Sorry to have to rush you, but we have to go in a few minutes, so that I can be on time for my doctor's appointment," she reminds her daughter.

She quietly nods her head and continues to eat her breakfast in silence. Caroline is concerned about her daughter, who hasn't been feeling well for some time, notably since earlier this year. The girl has gone to the doctor, but was only recommended to relax from her day-to-day stress.

The teen finishes up her breakfast and heads out to grab her things, Andrew watches her head out to the car and when he's sure that he hears the front door close, he turns to Caroline and tells her, "You know why she's being like this, right?"

She sighs.

It isn't the first time that he's brought up what could be causing Elena's shift in behavior, and the woman understands what her husband is conveying. She knows that it isn't fair to keep Francisco from Elena, but at the same time, she doesn't want their daughter around him until he is sober for more than a few months, "I promise that by August, I will let them see each other."

"Have you told Francisco?"

"I won't have to," she says with a knowing smile as she grabs her keys and purse to head out the door.


Caroline hangs up the phone and sighs in frustration. She knew before she even called her dad that he and the rest of her family were going to be upset, but she didn't think that it would go as far as insulting Francisco and saying how much they distrusted him from the beginning. Caroline knows that that statement was a lie, her parents did like him when they first met, but she can't be surprised that they're upset after hearing that the young couple is expecting a baby.

Francisco sighs, he himself tired from talking to his own mom, "What'd they say?"

Caroline leans back on the bed, "What do you think?"

He looks over to Caroline and pulls her close to him, "Yeah, my mom wasn't too thrilled either."

"So what do we do? My dad…does not want to see you, and I'm not going to keep you from seeing your own child," she says as she takes his hand.

Francisco smiles, but he does think that Caroline is being foolish; her family can give her anything to make this whole ordeal easier than anything he can, but he does appreciate the gesture.

"Well, my mom was mad and she hung up before she could say anything like your dad did, so I don't know what we're going to do, but I'll find something. School is almost out, I can get a job, we can try to find a place to live, and maybe you can keep studying while I work.

She wants to believe that all that can be attainable, but neither of them has much money, and just living in the area can get expensive, especially without many marketable skills.

"What about you?"

"When you finish law school and the baby is a little older or at school, I can go back," he offers.

Francisco's phone begins to ring. He imagines that it's his mom ready to yell at him after having time to think about everything he did wrong, but the caller ID reveals that it's Chuy, "Hello."

"Hey, I…" the older brother is quiet as he tries to think of what to do. "I'm going to go pick you up when the semester is over. Then, if you need a little more help, you and Caroline can live here with us in Royal Woods if you want."

"R-Really? Why?" he asks, somewhat relieved that his family was able to help him and Caroline.

"Mom calmed down and offered you two a place to live. She said that she couldn't stand knowing that her grandchild was possibly going to be out on the streets or something. So what do you say?"

"Y-Yes! Um…thanks," he tells his brother, "I'll let you know when the semester's over and when we have to be out of our dorms."

"I'll see you then, bye."

With a smile on her face, "Your mom offered us a place?" she asks, despite knowing the answer.

"Yeah, I'll have to get started looking for work for when we get there, but at least it'll be a few less things to worry about."


Hutchison opens the door for his patient; for the last couple of months, he has been seeing Francisco about twice a month and talking with his patient about how he has been adjusting to sobriety. There were a couple of times that he was tempted to take pain pills, but he didn't give in and found a way to deal with it in the form of chewing excessive amounts of bubblegum.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good," Francisco answers as he pulls out a piece of gum to chew on. Some wrappers fell to the ground, and he leans over to pick them up, "Sorry, I forgot to throw them out earlier."

Hutchison notices that his patient is still chewing bubblegum like he did in his last session. He's seen this before with other patients, their addiction coming out in other forms; it isn't the worst habit Hutchison has seen, but it is a habit based on the number of gum wrappers that fell from his pocket.

"How did your idea with the restaurant work out?"

The idea that Hutchison is referring to is when Francisco tried to trim down the menu from nearly ten pages to six – it didn't work out and both Lynn and her dad shot him down. However, he doesn't plan quitting just yet.

"They shot me down, but there's always next time," he says before popping another piece of gum into his mouth.

Brushing it off – the classic Francisco technique.

Francisco blows a bubble and thinks about anything new in his life that could be stressing him, but most of it revolves around Caroline and Elena. He hasn't talked to them since the initial meeting with Hutchison after getting out, but it bothers him every weekend to know that he can't see his daughter.

"My mom has been complaining about headaches for the last couple of months. Chuy and I insisted that she see a doctor, heck, he's even gone with her to find out what could be causing them, but the doctors kept saying that they can't find anything."

Hutchison writes some notes, "That sounds stressful."

"It is. She has been taken to see a specialist and getting some imaging tests done, but nothing pops up. At this point, the doctors think that it could be a migraine or some other name that I can't remember."

"Has she had these headaches for long?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "She mentioned that it's a more recent thing, but she's definitely worried. Of course, she's always overly worried."


The three adults depart from the university and Chuy yawns, exhausted after driving three days from Michigan to California with little breaks. At the moment, he wishes that he would have requested more days off, but he wanted to save them for a rainy day.

He looks back to Caroline through the rearview mirror, "Are you comfortable back there? I can turn on the air more if you'd like."

"No, thank you, I'm fine."

Chuy turns to Francisco, "Remind me to call Kiké when we get near Salt Lake City."

Francisco is surprised, "Kiké came along? Why?"

The older brother shrugs, "I don't know, he said that he had business out there."

The couple looks at each other. From what Francisco told Caroline, Kiké has a rather questionable 'job', and he's going to be picked up to travel multiple states, both of them can imagine that it can cause some problems as they cross more and more states.

A few hours pass and the three sit in silence as they listen to the radio; Chuy is focusing on the road, Francisco is naturally quiet, and that leaves Caroline with nobody to talk to.

Rather than sit in silence, Caroline starts up a little conversation with her boyfriend, "I'm surprised that your mom was so generous to let us both stay," she admits.

Her dad offered a hand to her, but under the condition that she and Francisco split up and that he doesn't get to see the baby. However, Caroline can already imagine that there would be more issues popping up if she needed more help, or worst case, they would pressure her to get rid of the baby.

Francisco looks over at her, "She's a generous person. Every year, when I was growing up, we would visit our family in Mexico and she would have large suitcases of items that she bought over the course of the year to give away to her siblings and parents. I always thought that it was overkill, but she always told me that she felt bad especially for our little cousins."

The older brother nods in agreement. He remembers how much of a pain it was to help his mom carry so many things, but like his youngest brother said, it was always to help family.

"Hey," Chuy starts, "can you drive after we fill up on gas? I'm getting tired."

"Yeah, no problem."

After filling up with gas and Francisco taking his turn at driving, he takes the opportunity to ask his brother, "Is the plant hiring?"

It isn't the best job for someone who struggles physically, but somewhere in the plant there has to a job that he can do. He spent weeks looking, but it is the best job that he can find that can help him earn money fast while Caroline is at home with the baby and possibly later studying to finish school.

Chuy sighs, "I'll see what I can find out."

Hours pass and Francisco yawns; he's ready to stop for the night, but he still has about an hour until they reach the capital city. He asks his older brother, "How much longer until we get to Salt Lake City?"

Chuy checks on his phone, but a call from their mom interrupts them, "Siguen manejando derecho hasta que encuentre un gran bache en el camino, y no importa si el camino termina, sigue derecho."

"¿Qué?" asks Chuy.

"No mas hazlo y encontrarás a Kiké," she says before hanging up.

Chuy isn't sure what his mom meant by any of that, but Kiké did mention that he would call him on his way back through Utah, "Mom said to keep going straight until we hit something."

"But the road is about to curve; we're going to be driving into the desert."

Chuy shrugs his shoulders, "She said that we'll find Kiké this way."

Francisco complies and about a mile off the road, they hit the bump that their mom mentioned.

Chuy looks at his brother and girlfriend and tells them, "Stay here, I'm going to check on that. Keep the high beams on and if you see anything, honk and I'll jump in the back, so that we can get away."

The couple is nervous, but keep an eye on the man as he goes back to see if there was any damage to the truck. Chuy notices that the truck is fine, but he goes back to see what they hit. A bump in the road grabs his attention and he sees a shoe and part of a pant leg sticking out of the ground. Chuy kicks it and can hear muffled screams from the ground. He clears out some dirt and finds his brother tied-up and wrapped in burlap in the hole.

"You fucking idiot," Chuy complains as he clears off the dirt and unties his brother, "Hurry up, we have to get out of here before anyone sees us."

"I can't! You ran over my foot!"

Chuy helps Kiké lean against him as they head back to the truck, "Actually, it was Pancho." He looks down at his brother's broken foot and sighs, "Let's hope we can find you a hospital nearby."


Kiké pops a pain pill in an effort alleviate his headache as he comes to a stop at the red light. For months, he has wanted to swing back to Michigan, but his 'job' keeps getting in the way of his return.

His truck speeds down the road as he swerves through cars until he reaches the security gate that surrounds Elena's school, "Seriously?! A security gate?! Elena, your mother definitely spoils you if she puts you up in this rich people's school."

Kiké drives up to the guard, who is monitoring the security cameras, and pulls out his license to show that man to let him in.

The guard takes the card and inputs the information into the computer. When the system told the guard to let the man in, he hands the license back and raises the barrier arm, "Have a good day."

"You too," Kiké says as he places the license back into his pocket.

He parks the truck by the entrance and can feel his stomach churning. Kiké groans, "This better fucking fix it," he whines.

Kiké walks through the front door and heads towards the secretary's desk, "May I help you?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up my daughter, Elena. She has a doctor's appointment and her mother asked me to take her."

"Have you picked her up before from the school?"

"No, but I should be on the list, Francisco De Los Reyes," the secretary searches for his name. "Here's my license in case you need it," he says as he hands the card to her, "She should be in science with Ms. Kim, if that helps."

The secretary smiles, "It does. You have no idea how often I'm looking around for children, because their parents don't know their teacher's name."

"It's so much easier when they're in elementary school – one teacher, no problem."

The secretary nods in agreement as she calls the classroom, "Would you like to wait here while your daughter arrives?"

He opens his mouth to give a response, but he pulls out his phone and pretends that he's receiving a phone call, "I should take this, just let Elena know that I'm right outside."

In the classroom, Ms. Kim's lesson is interrupted by the phone, "Elena, get your things, your dad is here to pick you up."

She raises an eyebrow. For weeks, she hadn't seen her dad and she missed seeing him. Her mom said that he wasn't feeling well, and needed to recuperate, but after so many months, she wasn't sure if that was true anymore. She knows that her dad wouldn't abandon her or not want to see her, but after so many failed attempts at communication; she was scared to know what may have happened, but now, he is in the front office waiting to see her.

She grabs her things and walks down the hall. She feels nervous, after so long she missed seeing her dad face to face. She quickens her steps as she walks down the halls to get to the front office.

Elena looks around and doesn't see her dad. She turns to the secretary and asks, "Where's my dad?"

The woman looks up from her computer and points Elena to the door, "He's right outside. He had to take a phone call."

Elena walks outside and is surprised to see her tío in front of her. She looks around for her father, but is taken by surprise when Kiké pulls her into a hug before waving at the secretary, "Thank you very much."

The secretary waves back at the two. When she is no longer looking, Kiké leads her to his truck, and quietly tells her, "C'mon, I've got a surprise for you."

Elena is hesitant to go. As far as her teacher and school are concerned, her dad came to pick her up, not her tío; granted, he isn't a stranger, but she is leaving the school under false pretenses.

"Um…" she shakes her head, "I'm sorry, you took me out of school for a surprise?"

Kiké rolls his eyes, "Look, you're already out and it's not like you aren't smart enough to skip one day, so why don't we go to my truck and I promise that you'll love today, deal?"

Elena sighs; she is curious about what he has in store for her, but she is worried about what could happen if they get caught. Over the years, her parents, and even extended family members, have warned her to not be alone with Kiké. While he hasn't given her much reason to believe that he'll do anything wrong with her around, she can't be too cautious either. As he walks ahead of her, she has a text ready to send to her mom and she turns on the location services on her phone.

As both got in the truck, Elena asks, "Where are we going?"

"I thought I'd take you out to have some fun. I mean, do you honestly want to spend all day in school when you can go out and enjoy today?"

"I'd rather not get in trouble. So how did you convince the school that you were my dad?"

As he pulls out of the parking lot, away from the security guards and cameras, Kiké pulls out an assortment of fake IDs from various states and countries, "One of those should have your dad's name on it. If you see it, let me have that back to destroy, your dad hates it when I use his identity."

Elena looks through all the cards; they had Kiké's photo and physical information, but all of them had fake names, "I wouldn't blame him." She finds the Michigan license with her dad's name on it and sets it aside, away from her tío, "Why do you need so many 'documents'?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "Sometimes I do business overseas and I'm not too trustworthy of what they do to Americans."

"Have you been anywhere where that would be a problem?"

"It depends on your definition of problem," he casually says. "But if you're curious–"

She recalls her father's words about his brother and quickly shakes her head, "Nope, the less I know, the better."

"See, I knew you were smart. But I can tell you the tame parts, let's see now…I went to Mexico, then Switzerland, skied on the Alps, took a train to Liechtenstein, got you some chocolate and some other souvenirs then came back to see how my favorite niece was doing."

"I see," her imagination began to run a bit as she wondered what made him go to those countries, "Wait, you've been to Mexico? Mom and I can never get dad to come along with us," she said with a slight longing in her voice.

"Your mom invites her ex to go to on vacation? Isn't she married?"

She nods, "But it was before she got married. She figured that having someone who could speak to the locals would be great and that he could use a real vacation."

Kiké bursts out laughing, "You're kidding? Of the three of us, he's the worst Spanish speaker, hell, you're better than he is! And aside from obviously using him, he hates going."

"Why?" she asks, "It's fun. We go to the beach, eat at seaside restaurants, go–"

"Do what Americans think Mexico is like," Kiké finishes. "You see the touristy side, growing up we just saw a farm in a small pueblo, or mountains that couldn't be climbed, or a crap ton of farmland with maybe a stick house somewhere on the property, and I mean a stick house, but sometimes a crappy cement house, although those sucked too. Think of it like this, if you lived overseas and were visiting America, what do you think that people would think of? LA? New York? Hawaii? The touristy parts! Not some farm in the middle of nowhere."

Elena sighed, "Is that all?"

"No, he hated other parts, like one of the first Christmases he could remember, but I don't blame him, I hated it too."

"Was it really that bad? I mean, I know you can be quite the story teller, but–" she stops talking as he pulls into the parking lot of Lynn's Table.

"We're here!"

Elena looks at the sign, "You took me out of school to catch an early lunch?"

"No!" he says as he gets out of the truck, "but if we can get something free to eat, I don't mind. Now hurry up, this is the only chance you'll get."

Elena quickly jumps out of the truck and catches up to Kiké. He's right. Her mom isn't around and this is her only opportunity to see her dad without it being a problem and get an explanation as to why she hasn't seen him.

As the pair walk in, they were greeted by Joyce, "Welcome to Lynn's Table would you like a–"

"Outta my way, I'm looking for the manager," he says as he walks past her and goes towards the backroom.

Elena waits by the entrance, as Joyce walks up to Kiké, "Look, I don't know who you are, but you're not just going to bust into the backroom like you own the place."

"Oh, and who's going to stop me, some glorified kitchen maid?" Joyce scowls at the man, and calls the busboy to back her up, "Ooh I'm so scared," he mocks as he walks away towards the door. "C'mon Elena, let's go."

Elena follows after him and apologizes to the staff and patrons on the way. She can see the two employees keeping their eyes locked on them as they get closer to the backroom. When they arrive, Elena spots the two walking towards them, but they take a turn towards the kitchen.

'Great, because I didn't have a headache before,' she worries, knowing what is likely to come.

Kiké tries to open the door, but it is locked. He knocks on the door, but doesn't receive a response. Shortly, he knocks on the door again, and is annoyed by how long it is taking his younger brother to open the door, "Hey Pancho! Put your pants back on, I have a surprise for you!"

She looks up at him and whispers, "Do you honestly think that that was appropriate to say in front of your niece?"

"Appropriate? You're thirteen, if school hasn't taught you about sex, then I don't what the hell your mom is paying for."

Francisco finally opens the door, "Was that really necessary?" before he notices his daughter behind him, "Elena, what are you doing here?"

Kiké looks at the two and steps away, "Well I'll leave you both to it, I'm gonna go try and get a sandwich or whatever the hell this place is known for."


As the four adults step out of the truck, Alicia opens the front door to greet her sons and new houseguest. However, before Kiké can walk through the door, Alicia stops him and tells him, "No quiero verte mas aqui. ¿Cómo puedes ser tan estúpido para poner tu vida en riesgo así?"

Kiké rolls his eyes, at the lecture that he's about to receive from his mom, "No fue una problema hasta que desaparecío mi bolsa."

Rather than continue her argument with her second son, Alicia turns around and closes the door behind her. She is sick of his reckless behavior, especially since it could have put her children's lives at stake. At some point, she hopes that he'll learn his lesson, but she doesn't want his bad behavior to harm anyone in the household.

The three adults watch, but neither one says a thing as Kiké leaves and Alicia closes the door. She walks past them and heads to her room, leaving the three to relax on their own. Chuy chooses to crash on the couch for the time being, exhausted after so many days spent in the truck.

Francisco takes a box and asks Caroline, "Would you prefer a bed?" he asks, pointing his head down the hall, presumably to his room.

"I'd rather take a shower; I did not have a lot of confidence in the motels that we stopped in."

He sets the box down, "Follow me, I'll show you where the bathroom is and Chuy and I can finish putting our stuff away."

She looks over at the sleeping man, "We can probably do it ourselves, just let me finish showering and I can help you."

Francisco gives her a hug, "Don't worry about it, relax, we can handle it," he turns to his brother, "Right, Chuy?"

The older brother takes a deep breath and gets up to help get the couple moved in.

"See, we got this," he reassures Caroline.

For the next few weeks, Caroline watches as Francisco and Chuy head off to work; this is the part of the day when she's nervous. She and Alicia spend most of the day in silence while the two men head to work; it wasn't a problem when the older woman would go to her job as well, but her vacation started and now she spends her days at home.

"¿Quieres algo para desayuno?"

Caroline nods her head and goes to the kitchen to help; a habit she picked up from watching the brothers, who would nervously help whenever she was on her feet. While she has been living under her roof, Caroline has made attempts at learning Spanish so that they can communicate, but the Internet and Francisco are only so helpful.

While the two quietly eat breakfast, Alicia, in her best English, asks, "De baby…es un gril o buoy?"

Caroline swallows the bite of food in her mouth. She assumed that Francisco would have told her, but she answers, "It's a girl."

Alicia smiles in delight and continues eating, however, unlike other days when she would sit and slowly drink her coffee while scrolling through her phone, she gets up to clean the kitchen. After finishing, she asks, "¿Quieres ir a la tienda? Podemos ir a comprar ropa de bebé."

Caroline doesn't understand, and Alicia begins gesturing her invitation to clothes shopping for the baby.

"Si, uh, let me get changed," she says as she gets up.


Elena walks into the backroom office and Francisco closes the door to give them some privacy as they catch up. He slowly drags his feet to his chair and Elena watches him struggle. She can tell that he has physically gotten worse, especially with the folded wheelchair behind him.

"How are you doing, dad?"

Francisco smiles, "You're like your mother, she always asks me the same thing, but I'm good. I've been here working and seeing a doctor about my back. Anyway, how have you been?"

He didn't want to focus on his back or why they couldn't see each other; the two only have a few hours with each other, especially since Kiké took her out of school without Caroline's permission.

"School's fine, mom is pregnant, and I'm going to the eighth grade. I've missed seeing you."

That isn't what she wants to talk about; she wants to know what has been going on for the last couple of months that he's been absent.

"That's good. I've been–"

Elena interrupts him, "Mom said that you were sick and that's why we couldn't see each other."

There. She is happy to get it out and get the real conversation started.

Before Francisco can answer her, Lynn bursts into the room, ready to complain about Kiké annoying her and the staff, when she spots Elena sitting across from him. She pulls the girl into a strong hug, "Where have you been? I missed you."

"Lynn, let her go," Francisco tells her. "I want her to stay in one piece."

She lets Elena go and grabs the seat next to her. Both of them want to talk, but would prefer to do it privately, without Lynn. Francisco makes an attempt to move his head towards the door while maintaining eye contact with her, but she makes herself comfortable on the chair.

"How's school been going, Elena? Has seventh grade been treating you good?"

Elena nods her head, "Yeah, just waiting to finish all these tests so that summer can start."

"You know, my family is hosting a Fourth of July barbecue, you can come if you want. My parents invited my siblings and they're gonna bring their kids, my dad's gonna grill up some burgers, and I know that my mom probably has some new games that she made. I think that the last time we all got together we had a corn hole tournament," she points to herself, "winner, by the way."

Rather than wait for Lynn to eventually take a hint, he tells her, "Lynn, she isn't supposed to be here."

"I know that, she's supposed to be in school. Did your uncle break you out?"

"Yes," Francisco answers for her, "so that we, as in me and Elena, can talk."

"Alright, alright, I'll leave you both alone," she says as she gets up. "Elena, it was nice seeing you. If you're still around for lunch, I'll bring you something for you and your dad to eat," she offers before leaving the room.

Elena watches as the door closes begins her and turns to her dad, "I hope that she doesn't text Andrew about me being here."

"You noticed that too? They are always texting, but she doesn't tell me what it is."

"He's the same way, I think that mom is getting annoyed."

"I don't blame her."

He taps his fingers and looks up at the ceiling; Francisco isn't sure if it's right to tell her, but he can't keep it a secret forever, "You're mom's right by the way. I've been sick, but for a long, long time." When Elena doesn't talk, he continues, "I've, um…" he pulls out the empty amber bottle from his desk and shows it to her, "You know that I'm in pain, and it started when I was seventeen. For years, it was okay, it hurt, but I was able to go about my day without being paralyzed by pain. Then, I got hurt playing baseball, and it happened again, and again, and again. Doctors would give me pain medication, but it never really became a problem until…" he stops himself from continuing the story.

He knows when the problem got worse, but he doesn't want her to think she played a role in it. She was a baby when it became a bigger problem, and he knows that she isn't why he became an addict, but he doesn't want her to worry.

"A few years passed, and eventually I kept taking them. Every once in a while, I would up the dose, but since I couldn't get them without going to the doctor, I would ration them carefully. Luckily, Kiké was able to help, and so long as I am able to endure his visits, I would get a few months supply."

Elena thinks about what she is hearing; it makes sense of why his brother would only stay with him despite not enjoying his company and why his visit would be short and sporadic.

"When did the problem…get worse? Why would you up the dose?"

He didn't admit when the issues became a larger problem, but he answered her second question, "Stress, um…I used to purposefully injure myself and," he sighs, "it gave me an excuse to get a real prescription or take them more frequently, it definitely helps when I'm alone in here and that Lynn doesn't notice how much time passes. Then a few months ago, when your uncle was around more, and your mom kept you, my problem got worse and long story short, I was ordered to go to a rehab facility and have been without my pain pills since."

Elena stays quiet as she tries to process what her dad admitted to her. All her life, she never noticed much of a problem, but of course, her mom would keep her around whenever; in hindsight, she probably knew and was trying to keep her safe.

"Did Mom know?"

"Yeah, she knew that I was taking them. When we were first dating, it wasn't an issue…"

"But then it became one," Elena continues. "When?"

He doesn't say a thing, but it tells her enough. Rather than force him, she asks, "If Mom knew that it was becoming a problem, why did she let me see you?"

Francisco leans back in his chair and sighs, "I used to work hard to convince her. I bought the house that I live in, kept my job until…but I can't be completely sure. At this point, I think that she still had some faith that I could be the man that she knew before," he grabs the amber bottle and shakes it. "When I first got out, I called her right away and told her what happened, but after so many chances, your mom probably learned her lesson."

"Why didn't you call again?"

"I was being respectful of her wishes. No good was going to come from me forcing myself into both of your lives, and since I saw that Lynn was texting Andrew, I figured that at some point he would convince her to give me another chance. Although...this was my third strike, and I almost don't blame her," he says, despite it killing him to do so.

She doesn't say a thing. He's right, her mom gave him multiple opportunities to try to get better, and he wasn't doing so, but it doesn't make her feelings go away as easily as she hoped.

"Elena, Sunshine, are you okay?"

She nods her head, but doesn't say a thing. It was a lot of information to process about that man she's known all her life, and it makes her question how much of who he is now, where he is in his life, and how her own life could be impacted because of his addiction.

Before Francisco has an opportunity to ask her again if she's okay, Lynn pops in with plates of food for the three of them to eat for lunch. Elena is thankful for the interruption and quietly eats lunch as Lynn makes an effort to catch up.


As Francisco lays down on the bed, ready to go to sleep, Caroline leans over and gives him a kiss before asking him, "Long day?"

He nods his head, "Yeah, we're exhausted. I have no idea how Chuy and the guys at the plant do it every day."

She rubs his back, "You just need a little more time," she reassures him. "Can I ask you something? How come Chuy takes on a lot of the responsibility in the house? We both know that you are capable of fixing the same things and not every one of those chores is going to hurt you."

"I don't know," he mumbles, "He's always been that way."

He begins to snore and Caroline drops the issue, but rather than wait around, she decides to head to the living room to read a book. She spots Chuy in the kitchen, eating some cookies and she walks over to him, "Late night snack?"

He shakes his head, "Dinner," he corrects, "No different than when we were kids," he says nonchalantly. "Although it used to be five cookies not ten," Chuy admits.

"That…explains your brother and some other things."

He explains, "Mom used to be tired after work, but she had to make dad's lunch, and since he hates eating the same thing two days in a row, we were on our own to make dinner. Either that or it was because mom and dad never really ate 'real' dinners either. You know, we would visit family and dinner was usually pan dulce and coffee."

The two are quiet as Chuy continues to eat his cookies and Caroline breaks the silence by asking the question that has been on her mind. She can see how exhausted the man in front of her is, but he has almost no issue taking on every request that his family asks of him.

"Can I ask you something?"

Chuy nods his head, and Caroline thinks carefully about how she's going to word her question. For weeks, she has noticed the family's dynamic, and while Francisco and Alicia don't see anything wrong, she wanted to ask the man who is currently eating cookies in front of her.

"How come…how come you do what you do? Let me try that again, why does it seem like you take on every responsibility that your mom and brother ask you to do or bring up? You get home from work and if someone needs your help, you're on it. I can see on your face that you're exhausted, but you still do everything."

Chuy stops chewing on his snack, "I help my family out, Pancho can barely move and my mom needs help keeping the house and our vehicles running."

"I understand that, but I mean, in all the weeks that we have lived together, I don't think that you've said no to someone's request. Francisco needs a job and you help him get one, your mom needs money and you give it to her, something needs to be fixed around the house and you're the one doing it. I know that Francisco can do it, I've seen him do so, but why does it look like you take on everything that both of them ask?"

Chuy shrugs his shoulders. No one has ever asked him why he did, heck, most people didn't even say anything, but after doing it for so long he is used to it.

"I've handled things like this for years; I'm the one everyone counts on. It's the curse of being the oldest."

"I was the oldest too."

"Your family had money," he sighs, "Caroline, I appreciate that you care, but we aren't the same people, we didn't have the same family, our parents weren't the same, and our responsibilities weren't either. I have been helping out because my brothers and mom needed me to do so. I'm going to be fine, besides you have more important things to worry about," he says referring to her soon-to-arrive baby.

She sighs in defeat, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

As Caroline walks back to her and Francisco's bedroom, Chuy stops her, "By the way, congrats on the baby girl. I know that you'll be a good mom."

"Thank you."

When she's gone, he tells himself, "One less thing to do…I hope…"


Dr. Lopez looks through her list of appointments. After retiring a few years ago from her practice and growing bored during her retirement, she applied as a school psychologist to keep herself busy and to help children who need help dealing with the stresses in their lives.

She hears the knock on the door, "Come in," she says, presumably to her afternoon appointment.

Elena quietly walks in and Dr. Lopez greets the teen, "It's nice to meet you, Elena."

"It's nice to meet you too," she says as she takes a seat.

It isn't long until the school year is over and she has a lot to get off her chest before the start of summer. Prior to her appointment, she wrote down some things that have been bothering her and a reminder to mention nearly everything on the list to make the most of these appointments.

Dr. Lopez takes a seat and calmly looks over at the teen, and before she could talk, Elena starts, "My dad is a drug addict…he's addicted, was addicted to pain pills, but after a stay in rehab, he's stopped, but my mom hasn't let me see him nearly all year. They've known for years, she gave him chances, but he would always go back to using his pills, I should be happy that he's getting help, but I miss seeing him. We already saw each other only twice a day and my mom's family has always tried keeping him further away, but now even she's doing so too. I know that she wants to protect me, but is not telling me anything really the best way? Now she and my step-dad are about to have a baby, and I've tried to not to say anything about how I want to see him or why I couldn't, because my mom has a lot on her plate, but," tears begin to form in her eyes as she lets out months of stress onto the doctor.

"It's okay, this is a safe space, we're going to help you get through this together," she assures the girl.

The doctor wasn't expecting her to open up as easily as she did, but she will admit that it helps. Elena isn't the first patient to come through her doors with a parent addicted to drugs, and she probably won't be the last. Over the years, the doctor has seen plenty of families who struggle and she has been able to help mend relationships, but like every one, she wants to treat it with care and make sure that her patient is heard.

With a broken voice, Elena mutters, "It makes me wonder how things would be different…if my dad didn't have a problem…"


It's funny, I wasn't planning on using Dr. Lopez at all, but after that review a while back ago, it ended up working out with the story. Elena isn't entirely blind to what goes on around her, unless it's well hidden, and this is an opportunity to show a little more of her personality - that she doesn't like bothering people and she bottles her feelings to keep the peace, but at some point, it comes out. Francisco revealing the truth didn't help after being anxious for so long, but both of them needed to be honest and it helps them go in the right direction.

Also a little fun fact - the McBrides are the reason that Dr. Lopez was able to retire early (although she'll never reveal if it was to get away from them or because they financed her early retirement)

Thank you for reading, everyone, I hope that you enjoyed it.