Lynn walks into the house. Meditating was a total bust, despite how often Jackson kept trying to get her back; she couldn't stand the silence or being left alone with her thoughts. While she knows that she can't master it in a day, Lynn can tell that it isn't going to be her thing.

Francisco notices the tired look on her face as she walks through the door. Every day this week, he made an attempt at starting a conversation, but she refused to talk back. As she takes a seat at the dining room table, Francisco takes another shot at starting a conversation by asking, "Long day?"

She nods her head, "I feel…" she is too tired to think of the right word, an instead rests her head on the table as she hovers her hand around her head.

He is surprised that she answered back. Rather than bring attention to it, he continues the conversation in hopes that she doesn't take notice.

"Exhausted?" he completes.

"Yes!" says Lynn, as she snaps her head back up, "And meditating is not for me."

Francisco pulls out a bag of popcorn and puts it in the microwave, "Jackson tried that on you too? He says something about relaxation and whatnot but sitting still with your thoughts seems stressful."

"Tell me about it and he still wants me to go back. I mean, if it's no good, then why bother, right?"

"He can be persistent, but he'll stop when he realizes that it isn't doing any good."

The microwave dings, and Lynn looks towards the appliance, "How long is that going to take?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders. He pulls out the bag and pours the popcorn into a bowl, and takes a seat next to her, "So, what'd you do today?"

Lynn takes some popcorn. She doesn't want to talk about it; she's already done enough talking today to last her the rest of the week. However, as she quietly looks at him, Lynn feels a headache coming on, she knows that airing out her grievances will make her feel better, but she doesn't feel like getting into an argument.

When Lynn doesn't answer, Francisco assumes that she recalled that she wasn't talking to him. He casually says, "I see that you're back to being mad at me."

Lynn scowls, "I've been mad at you since you got arrested," she says.

He is taken aback by that. Francisco can understand why she would be upset with him, especially since after he got arrested, things took a nosedive, but since she never brought it up after the two of them talked at Lucy's door, he assumed that she was fine.

"Fine…that's reasonable. We both have things that upset us about the other."

She is surprised, "What are you upset about? I haven't done anything to you. I drove you around when you didn't have your license, I got Lisa to help you in court, I talked to Dad so that you could keep your job, had Margo find that surgeon, kept you from chickening out on that surgery, and up until last week, kept track of your pills so that you wouldn't relapse, so tell me what the hell are you upset about?"

Francisco gets up, "Fine! Forget I said anything."

Lynn follows after him, "No, tell me!"

Before Francisco reaches the bedroom door, Lynn grabs his shoulder and forces him to face her. He knows that she isn't going to let it go, and immediately starts, "Look, I get it. I screwed up. I have made life harder to everyone around me because I was too damn stubborn to quit taking pain pills years ago! Every other week, I'm talking with someone about it, my own daughter has to talk to someone because of my screw ups, my neighbor has to hand me my pills because I can't trust myself, I have two women mad at me for the same reason, and I'm being petty about something that was out of both of our control."

She isn't sure about what he's talking about, but she knows that if she continues to ask, the conversation will go back to him, and it won't solve her problem. All year, she has been attentive to him and his problems, and as selfish as it sounds, Lynn wants one minute where she can be the focus of his attention instead of the other way around.

Francisco looks over at her, "I am sorry that things have been tough for you, and I'm sorry for having to call you from jail, for going to jail, rehab, everything! I'm sorry for it all."

Lynn takes a deep breath, "I just wanted one damn minute where everything isn't on you. It sounds stupid, but…" she walks away.

He sighs before following after her. While she may think that it's silly, she has a point; for months, she has been surprisingly patient with him, and all he's done is take and take without doing much for her in return.

Francisco walks into the living room and sees her sitting on the couch flipping channels. He takes a seat next to her, "You're right. I haven't been paying much attention to you, especially with everything that you've been doing for me."

Lynn doesn't look in his direction and continues to change the channel.

"C'mon Lynn, be mad! Yell, do something."

"Even smash the tv?" she asks.

"Well, we both lose there."

She sets down the remote and sighs, "Does it sound stupid that I'm mad at something like this?"

He shakes his head, "No, I think it's normal. We all want some sort of attention from others, and it sort of reminds me of when we were growing up, remember soccer? Baseball? Football? In every sport, you loved being in the spotlight, but it's normal for us to want attention, human connection, something like that. Everyone was so busy with me – worried or thinking about a misstep that no one notices all the work that you're doing behind the scenes to keep me on track."

Lynn leans against the armrest, trying her best to stop thinking about what she said, but the headache forming isn't making it easy. She doesn't even know why it's bothering her so much; she knows that Francisco isn't doing anything on purpose, but it is still bringing her down.

He takes her hand and reminds her, "You know that I love you, and it may take some time, but I'm going to make sure that you know it."


Cesar watches the puck as it flies across the ice. For the last fifteen minutes, he and Lynn have been watching the hockey game that she insisted would be fun, but he doesn't share the same enthusiasm as her and the crowd around him.

Lynn, who is completely donned in blue and maize, turns to Cesar, "Are you having fun?!"

He nods his head, despite being bored at the game. When Lynn presented him with the two tickets, Cesar made an effort to learn as much as he can about the game from books, so that he didn't make a fool of himself, but a few nights of studying isn't going to make him as passionate about to the game as the girl next to him. Unlike him, who is sitting quietly, Lynn is bouncing in her seat at every opportunity. He understands her excitement – all week, she has gone on about how this is the one hundredth season for the men's hockey team, her love of the action and speed, and even how she has loved sports for as long as she can remember.

A player down on the ice slaps the puck past the red line, incurring an icing penalty.

Lynn sits down with her arms crossed in anger. In the short time that the two of them have been together in the arena, Cesar learned how quickly Lynn can lose her temper when her team makes a mistake, even when they're ahead, "I can't believe he did that," she complains.

"Well, you can't blame him. The winger seems to be rather quick, although it shouldn't be a surprise that Michigan State noticed too."

"He could have been faster," she sighs. "I had a friend in high school, he could have skated circles around these guys, and even you slowpoke Spartans!" she yells to the opposing team.

Lynn grabs her cap, ready to throw it towards the ice, but out of the corner of her eye, she sees Cesar looking over at her. She doesn't want him to question her good luck ritual, or worse, make fun of her for believing in such a thing, so she decides to stay still and put her hat back on. They know each other enough, but Lynn is too shy to admit that she believes in good luck rituals to him.

For the rest of the game, she settled with trash talking the other team and occasionally making conversation with him between periods. Despite making passing glances down on the ice, Cesar didn't pay much attention to the game, instead focusing on Lynn's frenzied yells, groans, and cheers as their school wins the game.

With the game over, the two walk back to their respective dorms, Cesar can see her trying to soothe her aching throat; no matter how much he warned her, Lynn was yelling in excitement as she cheered for their school's hockey team, taking almost no break in between.

In a hoarse voice, she asks, "Did you have fun?"

"Not really, I don't think that sports are for me."

She's disappointed, "But you knew everything; I thought that you liked it," she claims, despite seeing that he rarely moved from his seat.

He sighs, before admitting, "That's because I studied for you. I didn't want to frustrate you by asking you too many questions at nearly every opportunity. Before today, I didn't know any of the positions, or rules, or even basic terms."

Lynn looks down at the pathway. She knows his feelings towards sports, but she hoped that if he saw one game with her that he would have had fun the way she hoped that her family would have. She even held back so that he wouldn't run off, but it didn't do a thing to change his mind.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, I won't ask you to come anymore," she says, disappointment clearly heard in her voice.

Cesar feels bad. She invited him to something she enjoyed, and while he admitted to never liking sports shortly after meeting, it's still something that Lynn cared enough to share a few hours together away from their usual Sunday afternoons.

Before he is able to say anything, Lynn interrupts, "Well, we're here," she says. Cesar didn't realize how quickly they would arrive at her dorm, "I guess I'll see you for our tutoring session."

"Uh…yeah. I guess I'll see you then. Look, Lynn, I–"

Lynn walks towards the door without looking at him and he stares as she opens the door without saying anything else.


Elena yawns as she wakes up. She looks over at the clock on her nightstand and notices the late hour. Normally, she was accustomed to waking up at a nine in the morning on weekends, but since her baby brother was born, sleeping through the night has become much more difficult. The teen understands that she can't fault the newborn, he has needs that need to be met, regardless of the hour, but she now finds herself seeking solace at her dad's every weekend.

She steps out her room and is enticed by the smell of bacon wafting in the air. As Elena walks towards the kitchen, she sees her dad cleaning up the mess that Lynn presumably left as she made breakfast for everyone.

"Morning," says Francisco.

"Morning," murmurs Elena.

Noticing the time, Francisco is surprised that she slept in until nearly eleven in the morning asks, "Someone had a long night. What were you doing last night?"

"Not much," she says. "It was nice to be able to sleep through the night."

Remembering that there is a new baby in the house, Francisco is taken back to when Elena was born and how she would wake up at random hours of the night. He can't fault his daughter for being tired, between waking up early for school and her baby brother; she is bound to be tired.

"So long as you don't sleep the day away," he reminds her.

"I know. Would it be weird if I stayed here for however long it takes Parker to sleep through the night?"

Francisco chuckles, he understands her annoyance, and while he would love to have his daughter around a little more, he knows that she's probably asking due to being sleep deprived during the week.

"How about we ask for when you really need a good night's sleep? Like test days or something like that."

With excitement in her voice, she asks, "Really? Would you talk to Mom?"

"Sure, I don't want you struggling in school especially now that you're about to start high school."

That was it – the words Elena didn't want to hear. She knows where this conversation is headed; for years, her parents have been pushing her to do well in school, and while her mom pushes her towards excellent schools, her dad wants to push her into a successful career. She understands where her parents are coming from, but it gets annoying having the same conversations over and over again.

With a smile, she walks away from him, and heads towards her room to get dressed. She notices that someone is missing. She stops and looks at her dad to ask, "Where's Lynn?"

Francisco, who is preparing a plate for her, says, "She went to go meet her sisters for breakfast, so it'll be the two of us this morning."

"Okay," she says, before heading to her room.

After returning to the kitchen showered and dressed, Elena serves herself the breakfast the Lynn left and sits down with her dad at the dining room table. She felt at ease being able to have a nice conversation with him without an interruption getting in the way. While she tries to remind herself that her brother isn't doing it on purpose, it is going to take a little while to get used to not being her mother's only child.

"Did you get a chance to work on your project?" he asks.

"No, not yet," she doesn't want to admit that school is keeping her from starting her project, especially since she knows where her dad will turn the conversation towards.

While they haven't been apart for more than their usual time, it has been a long time since Lynn has gone to breakfast with her sisters, leaving the father and daughter to catch up on their own. Neither one wanted today to amount to more than lazy afternoon at home, and aside from his stitches getting removed today, it appears as though their plans are getting off on the right foot.

After breakfast, Elena takes a seat on the couch. She has a small ball of yarn and some knitting needles; all she needs now is to get started with her project. At Dr. Lopez's suggestion, Elena has decided to take up a hobby that can help her relax and after looking over a few hobbies, she decided on knitting. She already had music and dance, but Dr. Lopez brought up that since she can get nervous performing in front of other, so a hobby that doesn't involve an audience may be a better fit.

She places her phone on the couch's armrest and pulls up a video for beginners. As she wraps the red yarn around the needle, Elena hears her dad's phone ring. She sighs, as she sets the needles down to go see who is calling her dad.

"Good morning, Lynn."

"Hey, Elena, is your dad busy?"

Elena calls out to Francisco, "Dad! It's Lynn!"

"I'm coming!" he calls out from his bedroom. Elena hands him the phone and she heads back to her project. She manages to get one row done, when she hears her dad say, "Are you serious? Why are they here today?"

"I don't know! But the guys can't put everything back and deal with the breakfast rush. Can you come over to help us out for a bit?"

Francisco sighs, "Fine, I can…" he notices Elena, who is sitting on the couch trying to knit a scarf. "Are you sure you can't do it? What about Elena?"

"Bring her with you or let her stay home alone, it isn't going to take you long, and you can go when you're done," Lynn offers.

"Fine, I'll be there in a bit," he says before hanging up. He grabs his keys, and looks over at Elena, who is sitting on the couch. "I'm going to head to the restaurant for a bit and then I have to go to see Lisa about getting my stitches removed. Do you want to come?"

Out of habit, he invited his daughter to go with him on errands; Francisco is sure that she won't want to go with him, and she can stay home alone, but sometimes it's hard to forget that she's growing up and won't follow him around.

Elena gets up from the couch, "Sure," she says.

He's surprised that she agreed, rather than stay home and work on her knitting project, but he isn't going to complain.

"You don't want to take your yarn or anything?" he asks as they walk to the truck.

She shakes her head, "It's probably going to be a little loud and crowded, I'd rather do it here where it's nice and quiet."

"Alright, let's get going," he says. "You know that if you want to come back with Lynn, that'd fine, right?"

"I know," she says.

Francisco drives towards the restaurant and when he pulls into the parking lot, he and Elena can see the large delivery truck and the driver, who is unloading boxes of food. He regrets ordering as much as he did, but after a nice review in the local newspaper, the restaurant has begun to see a small surge of customers and they had to adapt.

After parking the truck and walking inside, the two see the dining area full of customers; as Lynn said, the staff can't do it alone, and while Lynn helps them in the kitchen to get the crowds going, he and some of the busboys will have to store and keep track of the inventory.

Francisco spots Lucy, Lisa, and Lily sitting in their usual table, and he leads Elena towards them so that they can keep her company while he finishes in the back.

"Hello, ladies."

The three sisters look over at Francisco and Elena and have an idea of what he is going to ask of them. After Lynn abruptly left to help the staff, they knew that Francisco wouldn't be far behind, and while they assumed that Elena would be old enough to be left alone without supervision, the sisters didn't mind watching her.

Lily moves over to let the teen sit next to her, "We'll keep an eye on her."

"In exchange as a free breakfast," Lisa adds.

Everyone looks at her, surprised that she would make such a request, considering that all the Loud siblings can eat at a discounted price.

"I'm removing your stitches for free. I believe that my generosity can be repaid with a free meal."

"Fine, you can have a free breakfast," he says, before looking at the staff running around, "I gotta go."


Francisco walks into the auditorium as he waits for his math class to begin. He looks down at his watch to check the time, and he has ten minutes until the professor arrives, so he takes the time to watch the footage that Coach Filter sent.

Caroline spots a familiar red and white baseball cap that Francisco typically wears. For their entire first semester, the two have run into each other on campus, made some pleasant conversation, and had a chance to get to know each other. Now, for the first time, the two share a class, and she has been thrilled at how their friendship has been progressing.

Back in Huntington Oaks, Caroline was used to the rather image conscious people that her parents surrounded her and her sister with. All the families in her neighborhood were typically the same – parents in high-paying positions, children that all attended private schools, and families that vacationed overseas at nearly opportunity. While she appreciates everything her family gave her, in terms of love and material things, it made it hard to know what life is like outside of that social circle.

She takes a seat next to him, "Hey, what are you doing?"

He pauses his video and looks over at Caroline, "Just watching some footage that Coach sent. I'm kinda nervous. Our first game is coming up and I don't want to mess up on the field."

"You're going to be okay. You said that you played from little league until now, what did you do before?"

"Chew an insane amount of gum," he jokes.

Caroline giggles, "Are you serious?"

He nods, "Yeah, I got into the habit after my parents would lecture me about not biting my nails, that and I would sometimes bite down until I would almost bleed."

"I'm sure that you'll be okay."

He nods, "I think so too, but maybe I should calm my nerves by watching some footage before class starts.

She leans on Francisco's shoulder and glances at his phone, "Can I see?" she asks.

He's surprised by the sudden action, but he doesn't say anything, "Do you really want to? The camera is mostly aimed at the pitcher."

"It's fine," she says.

Francisco plays the footage and the two quietly watch until their professor arrives. He puts his phone away so that they can focus on their lecture, but his mind goes back to the anxiety that felt about his first game. Before his injury, he was a star athlete, but now he feels weak due to his bad back. While he's aware that he doesn't need to be the fastest person on the team, he knows that he'll have to work harder to ensure that he can make up for it with his other skills.

Caroline notices that Francisco is tapping his pencil against the retractable desk. She can tell that he is nervous about his upcoming game and in an effort to calm his nerves, Caroline places a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?" she whispers.

"Yeah, just not understanding the material too well," he lies.

"Do you want to study one of these days? We can probably find a good day that doesn't clash with your schedule," she offers.

"Sure," he says, without looking over at her. "We can do that."

The two go back to the lecture, but Francisco keeps thinking about the game. He has been doing fine at practice, but a game is the real test.

Caroline sees him nervously tap his pencil and she asks, "What's going on?"

"I keep thinking about the team and how I'm going to perform on the field. Before, I used to be much faster, but now with my injury…I could really use one of my friend's pep talks."

Caroline gives him a reassuring smile, "Do you know why you're here?"

"Because of my major?"

She chuckles, "I meant the school. You're here because the recruiter saw a great baseball player, and you were recruited in your senior year, so your injury didn't hold you back, don't let yourself hold you back."

Hearing that brought a little smile to Francisco's face; she makes a point; he was brought to this school because he could play despite his injury. While he is still nervous, hearing those words did calm his nerves enough to calm his heart.

"Thanks," he tells her.

With a smile on her face, she says, "You're welcome."

As class lets out, Francisco quickly gets up to his feet to head towards the library. Caroline follows after him, hoping to ask him something before they part ways. For a few weeks, she has wanted to ask him out, but every time she sees him, she loses her nerve and fails to go through the act. She doesn't know if it's because she is afraid of being rejected or because he always seems busy and she doesn't want to get in the way, but today, she told herself, she is going through with it.

When the two approach the library, Caroline can see that Francisco is about to continue on his way back to his dorm, when she asks, "Are you busy this Friday?"

He stops in his steps, "What?"

She takes a deep breath, unaware of her reddening cheeks. She nervous, but calmly asks, "Are you busy Friday? I was wondering if you would be interested in going to get some pizza."

"Yeah, sure, that sounds fun."

"Great…um…" Caroline is struggling to come up with a less awkward way to end the conversation.

Francisco notices that she is stumbling on her words, and in an effort to end the conversation so that he can go snag a computer in the library, "I can meet you here or at your dorm, whichever one you'd like. I'll text you the details," he says.

With a hint of excitement in her voice, she says, "Yeah, I look forward to it."

"Great," he says as he walks towards the library entrance.


The waitress places a basket of fries in front of the group. It's almost two in the afternoon, and at this point the sisters would be gone, but they agreed to keep Elena company until her dad and Lynn return, which means sitting around without much conversation. The sisters figure that they can revisit some topics from Lisa's latest experiments, Lily's latest job, or Lucy's latest book or pregnancy, but they didn't want to bore each other by talking about the same topics.

Lily turns to Elena, "How's middle school treating you?"

"Not bad. We started a few weeks ago, so there isn't much to say other than teenage gossip."

"If I recall, you should be in eighth grade, such a simple time. It feels as though yesterday I was cloning my first human life."

Elena is taken aback by what Lisa said. Lily has told her about the sort of experiments that Lisa has conducted, though she never expected that the scientist has done anything with such moral implications.

"I-Is that legal?"

In a nonchalant tone, Lisa answers, "Not in this country, although I have kept the technology a secret for the most part."

"How about we turn the conversation away from anything the government or an ethics committee would want to question you about again?" Lily says. She decides to catch Elena up on the latest Loud family news and opens the gallery on her phone to show her a photo of a baby girl dressed in a frilly pink dress, "Her name is Amelia, and weirdly enough she was born exactly one year after her twin cousin," she turns to Lisa and Lucy, "Is that the right word? Maybe it would be cousin twin or mom's twin's daughter, but that sounds like a mouthful though."

Lisa interrupts her younger sister, "The point is, we have another addition to the family, not to mention, our soon to be niece or nephew," she says as she looks over at Lucy.

Elena asks, "Baby number three, right?"

Lily jokes, "I bet you regret that dinner date?"

Despite not being seen by her bangs, Lucy silently scowls at her youngest sister for her comment.

"What? It's not my fault that Lisa did the math and told me the date."

"You said that you could maintain your silence."

"Well, it's not my fault that you can't tell when I lie to you," says Lily, as she throws Lisa's tell back at her older sister.

Nearly an hour later, the inventory is properly stored away and the crowds begin to die down. Lynn and Francisco step out into the dining room with a plate of appetizers to share with the table. The couple takes a seat and Lynn asks, "So what'd we miss?"

As they listen to Elena recount the conversation that they missed, Lynn is reminded of the upcoming holiday season. She knows that her parents are making plans to see Lana in Indiana, but that leaves the rest of her siblings and their families to come enjoy the holiday together with what Lynn has planned.

"Are you guys busy on Thanksgiving?"

The younger sisters look over at each other. Whenever their parents are out of the town the siblings choose whether or not they wish to follow them to their sibling's home or stay put. Lately, Lucy chooses staying home because of how difficult it is travel with the twins and the soon-to-be new baby, while Lisa and Lily make their plans based on their schedules.

Lily decides to break the silence, "I'm not sure, do you have anything planned?"

Lynn nods her head and takes a bite out of her food. The sisters look over at her, expecting her to explain what she has planned, but Lynn stays quiet as she eats.

"Would you care to elaborate?" asks Lisa.

The oldest sister swallows the bite of food, and says, "I have something planned, but it's a surprise – all you need to know is that you won't need to cook or do anything and it'll take a short drive into the city."

The sisters don't know what to expect based on that response. While Lynn has helped take care of things for Thanksgiving whenever their parents are away, they can't imagine that she'll want to handle the holiday all alone. However, upon hearing that they'll have to go to the city, the three sisters can't imagine their older sister has in store for them.

Lucy takes a sip from her coffee, and says, "Sounds good, Lynn."

The two youngest sisters look at each other, surprised by her casual response. Lucy knows Lynn better than the two of them, and she figures that she may be able to determine what her older sister has in store for them on Thanksgiving; she just needs a phone to be sure.


Lynn grabs her backpack. Her tutoring session is over and she is ready to head back out to enjoy the rest of her weekend. Cesar is surprised that she is walking out the door, considering that they usually walk back to their dorms together. However, before he is able to say anything, Lynn has already left the room.

Cesar quickly walks after her to catch up to her, "Lynn, where are you going?"

She turns around, "I'm heading back to my dorm and going for a run. Softball season is about to start and I can't afford to be tripping up as the season is about to start. I swear it would not kill the rec center to be opened longer on Sundays."

He understands, but is disappointed to hear that, "Oh…well, okay. I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, sure," she says before running towards her dorm.

Over the course of the week, Cesar has occasionally seen Lynn pass him by between classes or at the Union, usually with a guy. He would look over at the two, and wonder where they met, how long they have known each other, and why they are hanging out so much.

After thinking for a minute, he realizes how silly he is being. He has no reason to be concerned over who Lynn hangs out with – she's his tutee, and nothing more.

A student walks over to Cesar and asks if she can borrow the empty chair in front of him, and he agrees. As he looks around, he notices that his is the only table with only one person that most students have someone to talk to. Cesar is aware that he can be a loner; he's known about it for years. When he arrived in Michigan, he expected himself to open up with the intention of getting a fresh start in a place where no one knew who he was. However, he fell back into old habits, and aside from a few acquaintances, he never made much of an effort to get close to anyone until last semester.

Lynn would question how he spent his time in school, his interests, and why he would spend most of his time studying due to her persistent nature, he had no choice but to answer her; the only person at the school who has taken a genuine interest in his story. To be fair, that may be due to the questions that he asked her last semester, which he asked in an effort to help her study, but they've both opened up to one another well in the short time that they've known each other.

Cesar spots Lynn and the random boy that she's been seen with standing in line to get food. The two are laughing and chatting as though they have known each other for years, and for a minute, he thinks that they do know each other, but it still bothers him to see them together.

Lynn spots Cesar and waves to him. He awkwardly waves back to her, and she turns to her friend to tell him something before stepping towards him.

"Hey stranger, where have you been? Studying in your room all week?"

"Yeah…hey, I was thinking about the hockey game–"

"Don't worry about it. I won't invite you to any more games."

"No! I mean, I know the next game is an away game, and I was wondering if you wanted to watch it, with me?"

Lynn is surprised by the sudden invitation, but she isn't going to question it, "Really? Sure."

"Great, we can meet at my dorm, if you'd like?"

With a smile, she answers, "Sure. I'll see you then."

On game day, Cesar sets up his laptop and some snacks so that he and Lynn can watch the match. He isn't looking forward to watching another hockey game, but he was rude with her and he could at least give it another shot.

He hears knocking at the door, and Cesar invites Lynn inside. The game is about to start in a few minutes and she gets herself comfortable in front of the laptop

When the players skate onto the ice, Lynn turns to him, "I promise, I won't yell too much today," she assures him, "unless our team starts crushing it."

"I'll make sure to get you a lozenge," he jokes.

"Ha ha," she says sarcastically, ready to punch his arm, but stops when he glares at her.

When the first commercial comes on, Lynn turns to Cesar and notices that while he is trying to enjoy the game, his face tells her that he isn't interested. While she didn't question the invitation, Lynn can't figure out why he wanted to watch the game when he doesn't look interested in the action.

Lynn looks around at his room; everything is almost exactly the same since the last time that she was inside. She spots a box with a cheap chess set in it, and she gets up to retrieve the box. Cesar wonders what she is doing, until Lynn takes out the chess set and begins to set it up between the two of them.

"Don't you want to watch the game?" he asks, confused that she isn't putting one hundred percent of her focus on the screen.

"Yeah, that's why I didn't mute it. C'mon you aren't taking the game seriously, so why bother sitting around when you don't want to watch?"

Lynn finishes setting up and moves her first pawn. She turns towards the hockey game while she waits for Cesar's first move. He knows what Lynn is doing, she's doing what he is doing to her – taking an 'interest' in something he likes.

"You don't have to do this," Cesar says as he sets down his book, "I can watch the game."

Lynn, who has her eyes glued on the screen, tells him, "It's fine. I can do both."

Cesar decides to test that, and moves his first pawn, "Your turn."

She briefly looks down at the board and moves another pawn before going back to the hockey game. Cesar stares at the board and makes his move. He can't believe that it's going to be a good game if she isn't focused; however, with Lynn being the hyper competitive person that she is, he might be proven wrong. He moves another piece and lets her know, once again, Lynn briefly glances at the board and moves a piece, presumably at random.

Cesar will admit that he's surprised that Lynn knows how to move the pieces, considering that chess never seemed like a game that she would enjoy. After a few moves, he notices that Lynn has set herself up rather well, while also capturing a fair amount of his pieces.

"You're pretty good," he compliments.

"Thanks," she says towards the screen. "I used to play against my little sister, so I've picked up a thing or two."

"I'll say," he says as he thinks about his next move.

"Why did you invite me over to watch hockey?"

Cesar can feel his heart pounding. He hoped that Lynn wouldn't have thought to ask that question, but he came prepared regardless.

"We…haven't hung out much…I sort of…missed that…"

Lynn doesn't know what to say. She can feel her cheeks turning red, and in an effort to keep Cesar from seeing her, she turns away from him and the screen.

He moves his queen and looks up, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Who was that guy that you were hanging out with?"

Suddenly it clicked in Lynn's head and she turns to him, "Were you jealous?" she asks in a teasing tone.

He quickly says, "No! I was, curious."

Lynn doesn't believe him. She points at the screen, "He's right there – the forward. We met at the rec a few days ago, and we talked sports. Turns out he was a student in my English teacher's class and he was giving me pointers about the test."

There it is – that feeling again. In the dining hall, he felt annoyed at seeing Lynn with the hockey player, and hearing her say that they were getting along so well, spurred feelings that he couldn't understand.

After Lynn finishes her move, Cesar stares at the board, wondering where these feelings are coming from, until he realizes something – he's jealous that the hockey player was able to get close to Lynn so easily. They met a few days ago, but they looked as though they were close, meanwhile, he feels as though after the semester is over the two will part ways and never think about each other again.

He and Lynn have spent so much time together since the first day she walked into the tutoring center, and despite their rocky start, he likes to think that things are going well between them.

"Oh…"

"I think I know why he bothers you so much."

He blushes, "What are you talking about?"

She sees him getting nervous, and in an effort to put him out of his misery and because she's been curious too, Lynn leans over to give him a brief kiss. As she pulls away, she says, "Checkmate!" with a smile as she moves her queen to corner his king.


Francisco, Lynn, Elena, Lisa, and Lily walk into the Loud house. Lisa leads the group upstairs to her former bedroom, now laboratory, so that they can begin the procedure. Over the years, the young scientist has taken it upon herself to act as the family doctor for minor scrapes or procedures not yet approved by medical science, but she has never cared for a patient who has had a procedure done by someone else.

Lisa walks towards her closet to prepare, "Excuse me," she tells the group.

As she gathers her instruments to begin, Lisa receives a text message from Lucy, which she quickly reads before putting her phone away. She puts on her scrubs, gloves, and face mask, "Please disrobe and lay on the table, so that we may begin."

Francisco looks around at everyone, who is staring at him, "Does there really need to be an audience for this?"

Elena speaks, "I'm curious to see how stitches are removed."

"I've had enough stitches, I'm not fazed by them," Lynn proudly declares.

"I'm Lisa's assistant."

"And we don't have all day," Lisa stresses. "May we please commence with this procedure."

He rolls his eyes, "Fine, let's get this over with," he says, as he lifts his shirt and lowers his pants enough to expose the stitches on his lower back.

Francisco lays down on the exam table and does his best to ignore the extra pairs of eyes looking in his direction as everyone surrounds him to watch Lisa remove the stitches on his back.

Lisa shines a light on Francisco's back; the procedure is generally painless, but in an effort to keep him calm, she makes casual conversation, "Are your sessions with the physical therapist going well?"

"It's been fine; they say that I've been making good progress."

Francisco can feel as Lisa pulls the knot and slips the scissors to snip the stitch. She gently tugs on the thread as it slips through his skin until it is out. He can feel the pull, and he reminds himself that it'll all be over in a few minutes and then they can leave.

As the procedure continues, Lily and Elena begin to chime in with their own questions about how he has been doing since the surgery and what he is looking forward to with his increasing mobility.

He looks over at Lynn, who is quietly watching him, their eyes lock for a brief moment. Since she brought up how ignored she has been feeling, he has felt guilty that he didn't notice on his own. He can't stop others from wondering about him, but he could still remind her that he appreciates everything that she has done for him.

Lisa pulls out the last thread and sets her tweezers next to her other instruments, "That's it. The procedure is complete." She turns to her older sister and asks, "Can you fetch me a bottle of water from the refrigerator?"

"Why can't your assistant do it?" asks Lynn.

"Because I'm doing this favor for you, now," Lisa gestures her sister to the door.

Lynn mutters under her breath as she steps out of the room, Lisa motions Francisco to lean down, so that she can whisper to him, "Do you have any idea what our fifth eldest sister is planning for Thanksgiving?"

Francisco is curious about why she cares considering that Thanksgiving isn't for months, "No, I didn't even know that she wanted to host, not that she'll even ask me to begin with."

Lucy sent Lisa a text about the Thanksgiving Classic and she's afraid that the sporting event is what Lynn had in mind when she offered to 'host'. She doubts that her older sister can afford so many tickets, but she can't put it past Lynn considering what she has hidden from the family before.

Lynn returns with the water bottle, "Here you go," she says as she tosses the bottle to Lisa. "Are we done?"

The scientist dodges the high-speed bottle and confirms, "Yes, you three are free to go home."

"Yes! Last one to their car is a rotten egg," Lynn says as she challenges Francisco.

Neither he nor Elena run after her immediately, instead Francisco thanks Lisa for her help before they go. When he steps down to the first floor, he runs in an effort to say that he tried running, even if he can feel a slight sting in his back.

Lynn, who is honking her horn when she sees him, calls out, "Man, you got slow!"

"Bound to happen," he answers. "I'll see you at home," he says as he and Elena step into the truck.

Lynn waves as she leaves the two in her dust.

Francisco drives away from the Loud house a more normal speed, but Elena notices that her dad is not heading in the direction of home, "Where are we going?"

"I need to pick up some things at the grocery store but do me a favor and don't tell Lynn what I grabbed."

She's confused by the request, until she remembers how Lynn can be around chocolate and junk food, "Sure, I can keep quiet."


Caroline looks through her wardrobe for an outfit to wear. This is the first time that she is going out to a much more casual restaurant than she was accustomed to, and she doesn't know what would be appropriate to wear. When she would go out on dates in high school, she had her mom and sister making a fuss about how she presents herself, but with her alone in her dorm, she doesn't have to worry about anyone's opinion but her own, and maybe Francisco's.

It wasn't long after their first outing that she noticed her own budding interest in him – it started with his imperfect smile, then his shining brown eyes, his deep voice, and it wasn't long after, that she was sure that she felt something for him.

Francisco messaged her and let her know that practice ran a little late and that he will meet her after he gets cleaned up. Caroline is nervous, in a few minutes, he is going to arrive, and she still hasn't decided on what to wear. She settles on a sundress and some light makeup – it's pizza, it's supposed to be casual.

A few minutes later, Caroline hears a knocking at the door. She puts down her book to open the door and she sees him dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and his usual baseball cap.

Francisco is surprised to see her dressed up a bit, especially since they are going to a little pizza place, but he assumes that the warm weather is the reason behind her choice of clothing.

"You look nice," he tells her.

Caroline grabs her purse, "Thanks," she says leads him out. "How was practice?"

"It was fine, it was mostly drills, so nothing really special."

"You say that about everything. Isn't there anything you brag about?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "I'm not the type, but I'll let you know when I find it."

The continue chatting as they take a slow walk off campus. Despite not being in pain after leaving practice, Francisco is beginning to feel the effects of the training regimen, but he tries his best to keep Caroline from worrying about him.

When they arrive, she looks up at the sign. She has seen Little Nero's commercials back home and how they brag about their deals, but she has never actually eaten at their establishment. As she looks inside, Caroline notices that there are no places to sit down and eat, the employees are mass-producing pizzas in the back so that they can put them in a warming cabinet, and the employees at the register are grabbing them at random to give to the customers.

Francisco looks over at her, "What kind of pizza do you like?"

She snaps out of her trance, "I'm fine with anything."

"Are you sure? They have a small choice of toppings, but you can put what you want on it if you don't mind the wait."

"I'm sure," she tells him.

Caroline opens the door, and the smell of tomato sauce, garlic, and cheese hits her as she and Francisco step inside. He steps up to the register and orders a pepperoni pizza for them to share. She doesn't know what to expect, but rather than question anything, she follows him like a baby duckling.

The employee hands him the box of pizza, and Francisco heads towards the door to leave with their food in hand. Caroline is surprised by how quickly they were dispatched, despite watching the process from outside.

He turns to her and says, "I hope you don't mind that I can't sit on the grass, but we can probably find an empty table today."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

After arriving back on campus, the two find an empty table and take a seat.

Francisco sets down the box between them, "They didn't have plates, but if you want, I can tear you the empty side of the cardboard so that you can use it."

She wants to tell him that she can manage without a plate, but instead, tells him, "Sure, thanks," she says before Francisco cuts the cardboard for her.

Caroline doesn't know what to expect from the food in front of her, but as she looks over at Francisco, who is eating his slice without a care in the world, she follows suit and takes a bite. It isn't like the usual pizza places that she and her friends frequented back in Huntington Oaks, but it's still good enough to eat.

Francisco looks over at her, "Are you okay? You look like you're thinking as you're chewing."

She chuckles, "Well, I haven't had Little Nero's before," she admits.

He chokes on the bite of food in his mouth, "Are you serious? How could you have never had Little Nero's before? There's a bunch back home. They even have the naming right to the Pizzarena."

Caroline is confused by his last statement, "The Pizza-what?"

"Pizzarena, the arena where the Red Wings and the Pistons play. It's a nickname, but still, how could you have never tasted it before."

"My friends and I typically went to more authentic places, and Little Nero's was never on our radar."

Francisco grabs another slice of pizza, "Were there that many in Huntington Oaks?"

"We traveled a bit when we could."

He nods his head as he takes in the information. Over time, Francisco has figured out that Caroline's family has some a comfortable amount of money, but that did raise a question that he's been curious about for a while, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You know that I'm here because of my baseball scholarship, but what made you choose here?"

She sets down her slice, "Well, my parents were pushing me towards Northwestern, Notre Dame, Butler, and a few nearby schools, but I knew that if I stayed close to home that my parents would try to influence my time in college. I decided that I wanted to explore on my own and figured that California would have plenty of schools to choose from. My parents weren't thrilled, but eventually I talked them into it, and from there I applied to variety of schools. There wasn't a particular reason that I chose coming here other than wanting to get away and experience life differently from how I grew up in Huntington Oaks," Caroline grabs her slice, and decides to ask him, "What about you? You've mentioned that you were a good baseball player, and a few other sports, was there a reason you picked this school?"

"Nope, well, I didn't have much of a choice, a few schools withdrew their offers, and this was the last one left, so I took it. Personally, I would have preferred a place closer to home so that moving wouldn't be such a hassle, but it is nice to have the whole college experience."

Francisco stops for a brief moment when their eyes lock. He quickly breaks the stare and grabs another slice of pizza.

The two are quiet, until Caroline breaks the silence, "What started your interest in baseball?"

He doesn't answer. Francisco knows the reason, but he doesn't want to talk about what first started his interest in the sport, instead, he opts to tell her some of the other details, "I watched a World Series game when I was little, and my grandpa was really good too, like good enough to play for Mexico's national team good. Before his stroke, he used to give me pointers."

"That's sweet, did he ever attend your games?"

He shakes his head, "No, he adamantly refused to ever leave his hometown after his dad forbade him from trying out for the national team. I personally thought that he was being excessively stubborn, but he's over eighty-years-old now, so I don't think that he's going to change."

"What about videos? There has to be a video of you playing baseball as a boy."

He tries to think about it, but he can't recall seeing any videos, "There is one video. One of my brothers was in the stands and recording when a pitcher from the other team accidentally hit me in the arm. Then I think she smiled at me, which I don't get, considering that she once hit a goat for making her mad."

Caroline is surprised by that last fact, "She hit a goat?"

"With the ball," he reminds her, "Point is, my brother recorded me getting hit and refuses to delete it, so yes, there is some footage of me playing baseball."

She stops for a minute, as she tries to imagine the sight of someone hitting a goat with a baseball, then remembers that they were talking about baseball, "Is it upsetting that your family can't attend your games here?"

"Kind of, but it's okay, it's not like we're within driving distance, so I'm not going to be petty," he tells her, despite knowing that he'll be a little upset that no one he knows will be in the stands.

The two reach for a slice and his fingers accidentally brush up against hers, she doesn't seem to notice, but he does. Francisco pulls his hand away and lets her grab the slice first.

Caroline takes the slice, and offers him, "If you'd like, I could attend your games, so that you have someone in the cheering stands. I can't imagine that you wouldn't want someone that you knew there at your first college game."

"You don't have to do that," he reminds her.

"I want to," she says with a soft smile; hoping to get Francisco's attention, but he doesn't appear to notice.

For the rest of the afternoon, Caroline gives off subtle hints in hopes of getting her feeling across, but despite being attentive, smiling more, and taking brief, but occasional attempts at getting closer to him, Francisco isn't taking the hint.

The alarm on his watch goes off, surprising the two of them, and he pulls out a pain pill from the bottle in his pocket, "Excuse me, it's been a while."

"Do you want me to get you some water or a pop?"

He shakes his head, "Don't worry, I can down one without water," he says before swallowing the pill, "It's getting dark out, do you want to head back?"

"Sure," she says.

Caroline gets up from her seat and takes the empty pizza box to throw away. They slowly walk back to her dorm, and whenever she looks down at his legs, she notices that the strained gait that he was walking with earlier in the afternoon is getting worse.

"Is this why you were worried about playing?"

"What?" he asks; confused about what she is talking about.

"You look like you're struggling to walk."

Francisco shakes his head, "It's fine, but I think that between the training regimen and us sitting down for so long it got bad. I'll be fine," he assures her. "If I was able to get myself here to play, then I shouldn't be holding myself back," he says with a smile.

She's glad that her words of encouragement stuck with him, "Good. I'm glad your nerves aren't getting the best of you anymore."

Before heading into her room, she leans up towards his cheek, and he pulls back.

The light bulb finally turns on and Francisco realizes why Caroline has been acting the way she has, "Oh! Was this a…I mean, I thought that we were, uh…I thought that it was just pizza between two…friends."

When she heard that last part, she attempts to shrug it off to avoid further embarrassment, "No, I understand. I assumed that you knew…"

Francisco will admit that he's flattered. While he has had girlfriends in high school, it still comes as a surprise that any girl takes an interest in him. He will admit that Caroline is attractive, but prior to this moment, he didn't think much would ever come of it.

"I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it," he says with a slight smile.

She smiles back at him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.


Francisco sets out snacks on the coffee table. The Lions game is about to start and despite the fact that he has only seen football once, he is going to power through it for Lynn's sake. After she made a point of how difficult the year has been for her, he decided that she needs something for herself.

A few minutes ago, he asked Elena to request Lynn take her home instead of him, and he plans on using the hour to set up a game day feast complete with Lynn's favorite snacks, an assortment of pops, candy, and popcorn, and her 'lucky' cheese puffs. Francisco knows that it isn't the best way to make things better, but he hopes that the Lions and a homemade pizza can point them in the right direction.

He kneads the dough, and he pours on the sauce before topping the pizza with cheese to put in the oven. Francisco sets the timer and heads to the living room to turn on the game. The announcers are talking about the game from earlier in the afternoon, and Francisco tries his best to remember football, but it's all a blur.

Francisco scratches his head in confusion, "I guess I could ask Lynn to explain all this to me," he convinces himself.

With only five minutes until Lynn should arrive, Francisco checks on the pizza, and realizes that he forgot to put on any toppings. He knows that Lynn isn't too picky about what sort of pizza she eats, but he's sure that she would want toppings instead of a plain cheese pizza.

Francisco opens the fridge to look for anything that he can use. He grabs some leftovers and sees which ones would be fine to add before the pizza begins to burn. He settles on some cut up meatballs, sliced ham, and shredded chicken, "It's not a meat lover's or a supreme pizza, but it'll have to do. I seriously need to buy more vegetables," he tells himself as he opens the oven to add the meat toppings.

He waits for the time to elapse and when the timer goes off, Francisco can hear Dutch backfiring in the driveway, "Good timing, Lynn."

She walks into the house and is surprised by the sight of the snack spread, the smell of pizza, and sound of NFL announcers as the Lions game is about to start. Francisco gets up off the couch to lead her towards his surprise.

"What's all this?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "Just thought that you would like a night with most of your favorite things – Lions football, your lucky cheese puffs, that fancy pop we get from Meijer's, and me."

Lynn is confused as to why he would go through the hassle of doing this, especially since he never actually watches the game and always opts to read a sports magazine.

As Francisco slices the pizza, he explains, "You made it clear that you have felt ignored all year, and I know that it isn't anything grand, but I hope that it's a step in the right direction."

He's right, it isn't grand, but the last time he did something big, she felt out of place; at least, with the two of them at home, she won't feel like an outsider.

"Thanks," she says. Lynn grabs a slice and notices the odd toppings, she asks, "Why did you put this on the pizza?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "It needed toppings."

Lynn takes her usual seat on the couch and Francisco follows after her. It has been a long time since he's actively watched a football game and unfortunately, due to hectic things were this weekend, he didn't have time to refresh himself on the sport.

The game begins and Lynn watches the screen intently. Francisco follows suit, but the statistics being posted on the screen confuse him. The only time that he has ever watched a game was live, and even then, the rules needed to be explained to him at nearly every opportunity.

"How have the Lions been doing this season?"

Without looking over at him, she says, "Not bad, but they could do better if the ding dang ref wasn't so fixated on screwing over the Lions."

"You could send them a bit of good luck," he says as he hands Lynn her lucky cheese puffs.

She grabs a handful of cheese puffs and scarfs them down when the Lions have possession of the ball. The camera focuses on the wide receiver as he runs the ball towards the end zone. He is tackled at the twenty-seven and Lynn groans.

"Who was that? The guy who got tackled."

"He's our wide receiver, Dante Elliott."

"What does he do?"

"He catches the ball," Lynn can see that he wants more information. "Think of it like this, they're like the legs to the quarterback's arm, they catch the ball and from there they have to move fast to get past the cornerback, who is trying to keep them from making big yards. They have to be smart and move fast to score, plus they can also be ready to block whatever player has the ball."

Francisco nods his head, "Good to know."

Over the course of the game, Francisco occasionally interrupts to ask Lynn to explain something to him. While it would be easier to pull out his phone and figure everything out on his own, he can see that little smile that she gets from sharing her knowledge with him, so long as he doesn't interrupt at a critical point in the game.

Halfway through the game, he feels he has enough of an understanding of the sport; it's painfully slow, but he has a gist on the rules.

"So why does the clock stop now, but not the other time?"

"Before it stopped because the Vikings ran out of bounds, but if he got tackled before running out of bounds then it would have kept going."

Lynn glances over at Francisco. Throughout the game, she has been surprised that he has actually taken an interest in the sport; he asks questions to learn, he cheers at the right time, and groans whenever the Vikings get the lead. Then it dawns on Lynn – he's probably only doing this because of what she said.

"You know if you don't want to watch or if you want to do something else, you can go."

Francisco is surprised by the offer. He has been trying to make a genuine effort to learn the sport and spend time with her, but here she is thinking that he's faking.

"I want to watch," he assures her. "I'm serious."

"Really? You never seemed interested before, why'd you want to watch football now?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "It does seem silly to be sitting here every Sunday in the living room and not watch a game, besides, didn't you used to beg for someone to watch a game with you?"

She does remember that. For years, she wanted someone to watch sports games with her, but sometimes her friends were busy, and her family never wanted to, despite her constant offers. Luckily, Bud allowed her in one day and nearly every week she was at his place watching one game or another. While he has been gone for years, she does admit that watching football or basketball has been lonely since he's passed, and despite Francisco being in the room, it isn't the same if he never cared to look up or learn much information.

In a low whisper, she admits, "Yeah…"

He moves closer to her and wraps his arm around her shoulder, "Besides, it never hurts to have a little more hometown pride in our teams, maybe we can watch a Pistons game when the season starts."

Lynn rests her head on his shoulders, "That sounds nice," an idea pops into her head. She gets up and with excitement in her voice, tells him, "Why stop at professional teams? We can root for the college ones too! I'll root for your team, and you can root for mine. We probably won't see a lot for a school out in California, but we can find a way."

He doesn't argue it, heck it's hardly going to be different from their usual weekend schedule, and while Francisco isn't as enthusiastic about football as her, he figures that another game a week isn't going to kill him, "Sure, why not? We'll watch every college sport we could. You've got red and white, and I've got plenty of blue and yellow."

"We can get you more," she jokes as she takes her seat next to him rests her head on his shoulder. "Plus, it'll give me a chance to instill a healthy dislike of Michigan State in you."

"I look forward to it," he says as he playfully goes along with her suggestion.

"Good," she says before pulling him into a kiss.


I never intended for this chapter to end up as long as it did, in fact I always told myself that chapter 5 would be the longest chapter, but if any chapter surpassed it, I'm glad it was chapter 50 (Get it? It's inversed…yeah, number jokes aren't exactly killer), but after touching up some of my earlier chapters, I think that I've been shirking a bit with my writing, so I tried a bit harder.

Also, I can never seem to decide what I make real and what I don't, like Moon Mist soda and Meijer's (real), Little Nero's (obviously not real), the Pizzarena (apparently a real nickname) but as a little fun fact for you guys, Coach Filter and Coach Hutchins, who was mentioned in the last chapter, are real people. The 2022-2023 University of Michigan Men's hockey team will also be celebrating their one-hundredth anniversary next year. I also picked out the schools that Lynn and Francisco attended based on the other's main colors.

To the guest reviewer (yes, I had the feeling that you were the same person), I really don't remember anything about my DeviantArt account, sorry

As always, thank you for everything, readers and happy Easter