Francisco brings in a large piece of drywall. After a getting the roof fixed, dealing with the pests hiding inside the walls, and getting a plumber to check the pipes, he will be ready to remodel, once the electrician is finished rewiring the house. From the windows, things looked fine, and he assumed that people living in a wealthier city would be on top of their home maintenance, but as Francisco learned, that isn't always the case. The bank mentioned that the previous owners ran out on their payments, and presumably during that time when the house was sitting empty, bad weather and pests began to wear away at the home.

At the moment, an electrician is downstairs finishing up before he heads to the garage, and after that he will be done; then Francisco can begin to focus on remodeling the house to welcome potential tenants.

The electrician tries to open the door to the garage, "What the?" he says to himself.

The door is stuck and he can't see inside to see what could be causing the issue. He calls out to Francisco to let him know of the issue, and he rushes to the side door. Ever since he got the keys to the house, the garage has been the only one to give him a hassle. He has tried to ram the door open, but he fails every time, and the other door seems to be locked from the inside. After nearly a month, Francisco figures that he may have to break down the door, but he didn't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

He turns to the electrician, "You wouldn't happen to have something to break down the door, would you?"

The electrician shakes his head.

He sighs, "Let me go look for something," says Francisco as he walks into the house looking for any tool that can break down the door. He spots a hammer in his toolbox. While it isn't going to be easy, he knows that he isn't going to find anything else that can help him.

Francisco returns to the door and swings the hammer at it, however it doesn't budge. He takes another swing at it, and is able to cause some damage to the door. Francisco strikes at the door repeatedly. When pieces of the door begin to loosen, he pulls them out and tosses them out onto the lawn.

The two look inside. There are boxes filling the garage nearly all the way to the ceiling. Francisco carefully tries to pull out one box, but it is jammed in tight. He tries again and succeeds however, he isn't happy by what he sees inside.

The electrician looks through the hole in the wall of boxes. There appears to more boxes inside and it is unlikely that he will be able to get inside to finish his job. He turns to Francisco, "I won't be able to do anything until you clear out the boxes."

Francisco sighs, "Yeah, I get it."

There goes his afternoon. He wanted the electrician to finish today, but he's going to be wasting a lot of time going back and forth with the boxes. He could hire some movers, but he doesn't want to waste the extra money, especially since he might to have to get the electrician back tomorrow.

"If I can get these out of your way, do you think that you could finish today?"

The electrician looks at his watch; it's early enough in the afternoon, but he doesn't know what to expect when he gets inside, "Probably."

Francisco begins to get to work to get the boxes onto the lawn. He figures that once the electrician begins to work, he can place everything inside of the house, and then he can look through them to see what is inside.

"Alright, I'm gonna go take a lunch break, and I'll be back in an hour."

Francisco doesn't say a word as he pulls out boxes. With each one he takes out, it should get easier to get more of them out, he figures. As he hears the electrician's truck pull away, Francisco takes out boxes. He figures that he has about an hour before the electrician returns and he has to hustle. He places as many boxes as he can in his arms. He doesn't care about the weight, he can lift it, and it needs to be done.

After forty-five minutes, about half of the garage was emptied, "Just a little more…" huffs Francisco as he sets down another load. He slowly steps towards the garage. He feels his knee aching, and by reflex, he checks his pockets for the amber bottle. When he doesn't feel it, he mutters, "Right…"

He walks back into the garage. Francisco is mentally cursing out the previous owners, wondering why they left so much behind. He hasn't bothered to check what is in the boxes, and at the moment he doesn't care, though he does plan on selling whatever he finds to make up for everything he has had to spend on the house.

Francisco pulls out a few more boxes, and he notices that the next layer is looser than all the rest. He sets down what he has in his arms and begins to clear the way, figuring that he might reach the end sooner than he expected. Hidden underneath, he spots something that he didn't expect, as if it was purposefully kept hidden away so that no one could see it.

"Well looks at that," is all Francisco can say.


Megan walks into her dorm room and is met with silence. She sighs in relief. She has a test to study for and did not feel like hearing her roommate bouncing balls out of boredom. She likes her roommate, but when it came time to buckle down, Megan preferred that Lynn find something else to do that kept her out of their room.

She knows that Lynn is currently with Cesar. Ever since the two started dating, Lynn has spent more time with him after classes, Megan didn't expect her roommate to ever be one of those softies that let her relationship consume her, though she isn't sure what exactly the two do together. Normally, Lynn is home early enough in the evening and she seems to act as if she just came back from the gym. Now that she thought about it, it is possible that that's what Lynn is doing.

Rather than dwell on it, Megan pulls out her textbook and tries to enjoy the silence.

An hour later, she hears a knocking at the door. She assumes that Lynn forgot her key again, and sighs, "Well, it was nice while it lasted," she says to herself.

Megan opens the door and sees Bryton, "Hey, you and Lynn wanna head to the dining hall?"

She chuckles, "You know that she isn't here at this hour."

"Well I thought that I might get lucky if I mentioned food near here. She's like a ninja hiding somewhere in the walls waiting for someone to mention a meal."

"You've been watching too many movies."

"And I think you've forgotten what your roommate is like," he says as he walks in, "Speaking of, where is she?"

Megan follows after him, "You know where, hanging out with Cesar."

"Again? It almost makes you forget that they didn't get along when they first met."

After the first study session, Lynn told the two how much she disliked the guy who tutored her, how much he hated jocks, and how he would insult her. They weren't sure if she was exaggerating, but they went along with her stories. Then, it seemed as though that first interaction never happened – they started getting along better and apparently decided to become a couple.

"I can call her," he offers. "We can go get dinner before it gets late."

"Are you sure? She probably already ate."

"And she's probably hungry again," he reasons, as he dials her number.

She can't argue with that; it's what surprised her most about Lynn when they first met.

Bryton hangs up, "She's gonna meet us there."

The two friends head towards the dining hall. Outside, they wait around for their friend

She turns to him, "You don't think that she's already in there?"

He stops to think about it, "You know, you're right." Bryton sends her a text message, and Lynn answers back, "She hasn't even left yet."

"You're kidding!"

"Well I'm not going to wait around, I'm going in," says Bryton as he walks inside.

Rather than wait around for Lynn by herself, Megan follows him and the two catch up on everything while they wait around. This has become more of the norm now that Lynn is spending more time between practice, studying, and Cesar.

Lynn runs inside. Her two friends look over as she grabs a tray and begins loading it up with food. They're sure that she hasn't spotted them, but watching her can be fun as she tries to balance everything that she plans on eating for dinner.

They see her looking around for them. Bryton waves his hand at her and Lynn moves as quickly as she can so that she can set her tray down. Before either one can ask why she took so long, Lynn begins to bite down on a slice of pizza.

"Man, I never thought that it was possible to screw up pizza," she says, despite continuing to eat.

They can't argue, the food is okay, but there are occasional hiccups in the quality.

"Then why are you still eating it?" asks Megan.

With her mouth full, Lynn answers, "You don't let food go to waste, what's wrong with you?"

"Alright, we can't argue with that," says Bryton, "but what the heck took you so long to get here?"

Both girls know the answer to that, but neither one says anything.

Bryton, with a playfully sinister glint in his eye, stares at Lynn, "You know, I never pictured you the type to be so obsessed with your boyfriend. I mean, a month of dating and you're already neglecting us. I feel so hurt," he takes Megan's hand, "we both do."

Megan takes her hand back, but she goes along with Bryton's little game, "It's true, we never see each other anymore, I almost wonder how we're going to compete with Cesar for your new obsession."

Lynn bangs her fist on the table, "I am not obssesed!"

Some students look over at the three friends, shocked by the sudden noise.

When the sounds of chattering commences, Bryton speaks up, "You aren't, but you sure do spend a lot of time with him."

Ever since the two started dating, the two friends rarely see Lynn. They understand that it's part of the early dating stages to want to constantly be by their partner's side, and Lynn isn't even that insanely obsessive as they are playfully implying. However, they like having their little fun as they tease her a bit.

"So? Like you guys haven't?"

"True," says Bryton, "so call it an initiation into the wonderful world of romance."

Lynn pretends to vomit, "Yuck! Why would you say it like that?"

"Because it's fun," he says.

Lynn turns to her roommate, "Talk some sense into him."

Megan pretends to think about it for a minute, before looking over at Bryton, "Alright, you've had your fun. If you keep this up, she'll shy away from us and then we'll really never see her again."

"So I'm going to make her run into his arms."

Lynn isn't having that, and proceeds to kick him in the shins.

"Ow!"

The girls say, "You had that coming."


Caroline walks through the open door of the empty house. She wants to talk with Francisco about what they are going to do for Elena's party. While she's sure that she and their daughter can search online for their answers, they reasoned that it is better to have the help of someone who has actually attended quinceañeras.

She follows the sound of humming and spots Chuy painting the walls.

Chuy spots the woman and puts down the paint roller, "Hey Caroline."

"Hello Chuy, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty good, just helping Pancho paint this place."

Caroline looks around for Francisco before turning back to Chuy, "Is he paying you?"

He smiles, "Yes, I told him I wouldn't bother coming over if he didn't."

"Good," she says.

Caroline looks around for a place to sit, "Is Francisco around? I was hoping to ask him a few questions about the party."

Chuy nods his head, "Yeah, he should be in the next room," he says as he leads her towards his younger brother.

The two spot Francisco locking a door with a key. He looks over at them and asks, "What?"

"We need to talk."

Francisco checks his watch, "Is it about Elena starting high school? Because I think we can wait until August before going over that."

Chuy is confused and wonders what his brother means, but Caroline speaks up, "No, it's about the party. I want to go over some details with you, and you too, Chuy."

"Happy to help."

Francisco leads them towards the empty dining room. While he goes to search for something to sit on, Chuy asks, "What were you guys going over about Elena and high school?"

"It's so that we're the same page with things, like dating, school, and things of that nature. It's nothing strict though, it's so we present a united front and so that one of us doesn't get too protective," she whispers.

Chuy nods his head, understanding what she means. Ever since Elena was born, Francisco was sort of the protective father type, and he made it clear that he was afraid of her growing up unsure of how to handle what life would throw at him.

Francisco returns with some lawn chairs and sets them up for the three to sit down.

Caroling pulls out a notebook and pen and looks up at the brothers, "What can you both tell me about the kinds of quinceañeras that you both attended growing up? What kind of decorations were there? Is there a family tradition that you guys want to incorporate? Anything."

Francisco and Chuy stop to think of the all the quinceañeras that they have attended in their lives. They can recall the same plates of food, large amounts of pop and beer, kids running around, and the same songs that everyone dances to. None of that is going to appeal to Caroline's family and they are unlikely to want it at the party around their rich friends.

Chuy starts to name the food, "Frijoles, arroz, y asado – we had that every party, remember?" he says as he turns to his younger brother.

He nods. It was rare if any of the parties ever had a different plate of food, and he always assumed that it was because of how easy it was to make for a large crowd.

"No one in that country club is going to want to eat asado," Francisco says, "Besides, the food can be whatever you want, it's just that our aunts only made that."

Caroline takes note, "Anything else? I saw online something about having pairs of dancers, and how each pair had to be from ages one to fifteen."

The brothers shake their heads. They recall their mom mentioning it once, but they aren't sure how true that it, not to mention, no one ever seemed to be able to find that many people for the party.

"If you do want the pairs of dancers, you can use her school friends. It's got to be much easier than finding so many people. Seven pairs should be good, right?"

Chuy nods his head, then snaps his fingers, "There's that song that plays at every quinceañera, it goes," he begins to hum it out, "Do you remember what it's called?"

Francisco shakes his head, "No, I don't remember, but yes, it's at every single one we've been to."

The brothers hum the tune, hoping that it might jog their memory. However, neither one ever paid attention to the lyrics that were being sung; instead they only memorized the tune.

Chuy gets up and tries to move along to the song, hoping that at least one line will pop out at him, he extends a hand to his younger brother, "Help me out, we might be able to get it if we bother dance."

Francisco shakes his head and rubs his knee, "No thanks. Why don't we call mom? Maybe she knows what it's called."

Chuy takes a seat, "She's in Mexico, she won't be able to answer our call." He sighs, "There's probably, one more person who can help us," he says, despite knowing that neither one will want to call him.

"A DJ? One of our cousins? A tía?" asks Francisco, hoping to avoid calling Kiké.

The older brother shakes his head, "He might not answer, but at least he won't ask why he didn't receive an invitation like everyone else will."

Caroline and Francisco groan as Chuy pulls out his phone to call Kiké, but he doesn't answer. Chuy leaves his brother a message asking him to call him back.

"I'll let you know if he calls me back or if I remember what that song is called."

"Take your time," she says. "Do I need anything else?"

"Have you booked the church?"

Caroline is confused, "The church?"

Francisco answers, "It's part of the ceremony that happens before the party. It's usually the parents and the godparents who are going to give Elena one of her presents that attend. Which reminds me, how much is our part for the big present that we're going to give her?"

Caroline bites her lip. She doesn't want to tell him that her parents have already got the present covered and that they already bought it for Elena.

When his brother mentioned presents, a thought occurred to Chuy, "You know I just realized, Elena probably wouldn't need as many padrinos for everything. Your folks can pretty much cover everything, can't they?"

She reluctantly nods her head. Her parents made it clear that they didn't mind paying for the granddaughter's birthday, but she knows that they're using it as an opportunity to show off to their friends and remind Francisco of how he isn't able to provide for her.

"Great…" mutters Francisco.

Chuy looks over at his brother and then at Caroline, "You guys didn't know about mass, did you?" She shakes her head, "Then that's our family's time to shine. We'll have the tiara, the rosary, the bible, and the flowers covered."


Cesar stares at his laptop's screen. It's the first of his acceptance letters to graduate school, and while it isn't his first choice school, he is able to let out a big sigh of relief. All these years studying have paid off, he's going to be able to continue his education with a scholarship and nothing is going to stop him.

He hears a knock at his door. Cesar gets up and opens the door to see Lynn with bags of takeout. He is excited to share the news with her and pulls her inside of the room.

Lynn is a little resistant as she is dragged into the room. She turns to him and says, "Dang, I didn't think that you were that desperate for burgers."

"No, but I'm glad you're here," says Cesar. "I have something to show you." He grabs his laptop and shows her his acceptance letter from Columbia.

She stares at the screen, "I thought that you were applying to Michigan's grad school program, what happened?"

"Well you don't put all of your eggs in one basket, I applied to other schools – Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Harvard."

Lynn is taken aback. This whole time, she assumed that he would be more interested in staying put in Michigan, but now she's finding out that he's planning on going to these other fancier schools that are further away.

"Have you heard back from the others?" she asks, curious about his chances of leaving are.

Cesar answers, "No, not yet, but I figure if I can get into Columbia, then hopefully, I should be able to get into most of the other schools more easily."

"Really?" she asks, surprised in his confidence, "So Columbus is that hard to get into? What about the others?"

He chuckles as he corrects her, "Columbia, they have a seven percent acceptance rate and nearly everywhere else that I applied to has it in the double digits, so I'm sure that I'll get a few more acceptance letters, and even if I don't it won't matter since I already got into one school."

Lynn asks, "Did you only apply to those four?"

"No, I also applied to Emory and North Carolina. However, I also have to think about…"

As Lynn listens to him excitedly talk about his plans for the next school year, she wonders why he didn't mention any of this to her. She knows that they haven't been dating for long, but it isn't as though a simple comment couldn't have been said.

"What do you think?" he asks.

Lynn shakes her head, unsure of what he asked, "What?"

"I said, what do you think?"

Not sure of how to answer, she responds, "Sounds good."

Cesar smiles, "I'm glad you understand," he says before pulling her into a hug.

She isn't sure what she understands, but goes along with it, figuring that it'll work itself out later. She figures that he's right and he'll probably get into the other schools that he applied to, but that doesn't mean that he won't stick around in Michigan; he said that he liked having the distance from his family.

He takes a seat next to her and hands her a can of soda, "Now, I'm not holding my breath for Harvard, especially since I really want to go Johns Hopkins, but it would be nice to say that I got a letter from another Ivy League school."

Lynn bites down on a fry, "Where's John Hopkins?"

"Baltimore," he answers, as he takes his food from her. "It's the best school in the country and…"

She once again begins to phase out. Lynn looks at his face and notices how happy he is. He appears to be glowing with pure joy as he continues talking. She isn't sure what he's saying, and instead nods her head pretending that she is listening. She wants to think about what is going to happen now that he's graduating this semester, but if he keeps talking, she won't be able to get her thoughts in order.

Lynn finishes her pop and gets up, "You know, I think I'm gonna head out. I have a test to study for," she lies.

He's confused. He knows her syllabi better than she does, and he knows that she doesn't have tests to study for any time soon, though he isn't going to complain if she wants to study, "Do you have your books? We can study here if you want, you know, before next week."

She isn't sure what he means, but answers, "Nah, I'm good," she says before finishing her burger, "I'll see you around."


Lynn tightly clutches the ladle in her hand. She can hear Pete washing dishes, but worst of all, she can smell it. Francisco recently ordered supplies for the restaurant, but instead of getting some of the usual supplies, he got some slightly cheaper versions. She's sure that it has to do with his recent kick of saving money at home, but he didn't need to be cheap at work she reasoned. Unfortunately for her, the scent of the new soap that Francisco ordered has been bothering her and he refuses to get rid of it or order the old soap until it is used up.

Greg sees the ladle in her hand begin to shake. Unlike his coworker, he doesn't understand why she is bothered as much by the scent of the soap, but he doesn't bother to ask her why anymore.

"Why don't you step out into the dining area," he suggests. "We aren't busy and you can help out the wait staff with getting the cutlery ready for the dinner rush."

Lynn doesn't think twice about the offer and quickly runs out. She looks around for the staff and joins them in their task. Most of the employees chat away as they wrap the cutlery, leaving a stack nearby to show how many they have done. Lynn, who doesn't want to look like a slowpoke, gets into the rhythm and begins to catching up to the others. Everyone stops as they notice how quickly she performs the job, and soon, they are all done.

"What else do you gotta do?"

The wait staff looks at one another, but no one has anything else to do. Usually, the task takes up more time, however, Lynn ended up working so fast that they finished ahead of schedule.

Lynn gets up and looks around. The staff has everything under control, and she isn't going to have anything to do. She looks through inside the kitchen and notices that Pete is still busy washing dishes. There is no way that she's going back in there any time soon, so she settles on taking a seat in a booth and waiting until he is done.

"This sucks," she groans as she slouches back into the booth.

She rests her head onto the table and waits for something to happen, when she hears a familiar voice, "Given your field of study, I believe you should be more knowledgeable on the detrimental effects your current seating position will have on your back."

Lynn looks up and sees her little sister staring at her.

Lisa takes a seat in front of her. Ever since Lucy had her talk with Lynn three months ago, the two sisters seem to be on somewhat better terms; though Lucy did admit to the young scientist that it was due to bribery. However, unlike Lucy, who was trying to clear her conscience, Lisa needs her sister's help in more important matters and unless the two begin to patch things up, she won't be able to advance.

Lynn, bothered by her sister's silence, asks, "What do you want, Lis?"

"I don't request anything from you at the moment, although a meal would appreciated, though I can attain that from other staff members."

The older sister looks around. There are plenty of empty tables, so she doubts that Lisa decided to sit with her, unless she has a reason.

"If you want to talk, I'm not in the mood right now," she says as she clutches her head.

Lisa takes notice of her sister's body language. Despite her claims, Lynn stays put in her seat, with her hand gripping near her ear. The younger sister looks across the table and notices; mentally taking note. Over the last three months, Lucy has relayed to her that Lynn has been more stressed than usual, which she attributed to a project that Francisco was undertaking outside of work.

"How is your relationship faring, fifth eldest sister?"

"It's fine," she says, "Why do you care?"

Lisa shrugs her shoulders, "I don't. I was just exchanging pleasantries."

'Still as honest as ever,' Lynn notes.

"Actually, I was informed that you have been struggling with cephalgia, and since I have been receiving positive feedback on my new medicine," Lisa says as she pulls out an amber bottle filled with medicine from her bag. "I believe that you might be interested in trying it."

"Why do you think that?" asks Lynn as she pushes the bottles back towards her sister.

"Your body language," she answers. "It's clear that you are suffering, and I'm offering you an opportunity to relieve your pain. In case you're worried about any issues, my medicine is not addictive and has been performing positively on a variety of other subjects." Lisa pulls out her laptop to show Lynn the results, "As you can see–"

Lynn closes the laptop. While Lisa has been proving herself to not treat close family members as guinea pigs, Lynn is still wary of her and her intentions.

"What do you really want?"

"Preferably, I would like you to not touch my laptop, but I only ask for help sometime in the future."

"What exactly do you mean by 'help'?"

Lisa shrugs her shoulders, "Nothing that I can think of at the moment, though it could be something as simple as a ride to the planetarium during a meteor shower, moving some equipment or anything along those lines."

"That's it? No, asking me any weird probing questions? No probes? No testing some weird new machine?"

"Not unless you ask," Lisa responds. She opens her laptop, "I do have some questions though."

Lynn sighs, "What?"

"Do you know the cause of your cephalgia?" She sees that Lynn doesn't understand her, "Your headache, how long have you been suffering? And are there any stressors that you may think is causing your issues?"

"Soap, a couple of weeks, and…" she stops to think about any other stressors, but aside from Francisco constantly yammering on about the house, there isn't anything else. "Nope, nothing else," she says, not wanting Lisa to get too close into her personal life.

Lisa is confused by her sister's answers, "Pardon, but did you say soap?"

Lynn nods her head, "Yeah, Francisco bought this new one for the dishwasher in the kitchen," she says pointing towards the back, "and he refuses to get the old stuff until we finish what we've got."

Lisa types her sister's answers into the laptop, "One more thing, do you only suffer at work?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just need to be sure that there isn't an underlying problem." Lisa pulls out three bottles of the pills, "For the first few weeks, I ask that you consume one pill at least eight hours before your scheduled shift. You will continue once a day until you are no longer exposed to the root cause. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call my office during normal business hours, and if you feel any symptoms such as pain, fever, blurry vision, or confusion, please stop taking the medication and seek emergency care."

Lynn grips the medicine. She looks over at Lisa and asks one more time, "Are you sure don't want anything?" she asks, giving her one more chance to tell the truth.

"As I have stated before, I might need your help in a few years, but nothing at the moment."


Lynn throws the ball up towards the ceiling, 'Michigan, North Carolina, Harvard, Hopkins, Columbus, and whatever the last school he said was…'

For hours Lynn has been repeating those words in her head. On the one hand, she's proud that he's going after what he wants, she did that with Michigan and she respects him for doing the same. However, she doesn't want to think of him not being around next semester.

'There's always long-distance, Lori and Bobby made that work.'

However, Lori only had to endure it for a few months and it isn't as though she and Bobby didn't make occasional trips to see one another, so it isn't going to be the same. Cesar is going to be studying in another city, in another state, and it isn't like she can make day trips to New York, Baltimore, or wherever the other schools are.

'We haven't been dating long…'

She shakes her head. She doesn't know where that defeatist attitude came from, and she doesn't want to think about that option. They got together because they like each other, but Cesar made it clear that he was interested in going to that Hopkins school.

'He hasn't heard back from them.'

Lynn stops throwing the ball and thinks about that. He only mentioned getting accepted by the school in New York, but he did also mention that it was one of the toughest to get into, so he may be able get into first choice. Not to mention, as smart as he is, those schools would be fools to say no to him.

'I could convince him to stay here for grad school.'

She can't do that. Just a few years ago, she was hell-bent on attending this school; despite people telling her how hard it would be to get in. Cesar studied like crazy to get into the best schools possible, so she can't be the one to influence such an important decision that is going to impact him.

'But I don't want him to go.'

She shivers at that thought. Lynn Loud is not such a lovesick fool who can't endure being away from her own boyfriend. Technology has helped her sisters, so there isn't any reason that it can't help her maintain her relationship. Now if only Cesar was the type to initiate.

In the few months that they dated, Lynn was typically the type to start their conversations. Every time she asked what he was doing, he would reply with the same thing, that he is studying. Which brings her back to problem, he studied hard and should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of his labor, and it isn't like grad school is going to be easier.

'What do I do?'

She throws the ball again. She doesn't want to be the one to stop him from going to his dream school, even if it is in Maryland.

'Wait…would he actually give it up for me?'

Lynn can't imagine that he would. Cesar isn't going to throw away four years of hard work for someone that he has only known since last semester. However, as she thinks that, she isn't so sure. He has said in the past that he likes quiet solitude, so he wouldn't be tempted by a school in his own hometown or one that's closer than Michigan, but that wouldn't explain why he would apply.

'He wants to go to school somewhere else, so why should I stop him? If he applied, it means he's interested…or maybe he does miss home…'

While he rarely mentions his family, Lynn figures that maybe deep inside he does miss his family. He's further away from them and is usually hundreds of miles away for most of the year, if she was in his shoes, she's sure that she would feel homesick too.

'Then again, he came back scarred from his trip to home. Was that what he had to deal with before he came out here? It would explain why he doesn't talk about his home life.'

Lynn sighs. She isn't sure how she feels about this.

'Well…I guess I could do something for him…'


Francisco walks into the dark house. He looks around for any sign of Lynn, but aside from the messy kitchen, it appears as though she's not inside. He knows that he lost track of the time working on Lynn's belated birthday present, but he can't imagine that she is already in bed.

"Lynn!" he calls out, hoping to hear some sort of response. Francisco walks towards their bedroom and calls out to her again.

"What?"

He walks inside, ready to tell her the good news, but she looks like she's about to go to bed, "What's going on?"

She swallows the medicine Lisa gave and looks over to him, "I'm going to sleep, what's it look like?"

He looks at his watch, "This early?"

"Well Dutch crapped out on me and I might have to catch the bus tomorrow."

"I can give you a ride," he offers, "I don't mind, or maybe I can show you something in garage," he says in a tempting voice, hoping to show her the surprise that he has been working on for weeks.

"Don't worry about it, I know that you want to be done with the house already," she says, as if tired of hearing about the house.

All summer she has heard him talk about how his construction, renovation, and maintenance plans are going, and she is sick of it. The last time she recalled listening with him about it, he mentioned that he and Chuy were finishing up the final details, so Lynn is sure that things should start getting back to normal soon. However, after so long, her brain automatically tunes him out unless he calls her by name.

"But Lynn, I'm already done. I just need to find a tenant," he assures her.

"Great…" she says as she pulls the blanket towards her.

"C'mon Lynn, I was hoping for a little more excitement from you."

Lynn looks over at him, "You spent all summer working on the house–"

"I know," he interrupts.

"You're constantly crunching numbers and worried about money."

Francisco can tell that she has been frustrated by this ordeal. He knows that he has spent a lot of time away from his usual responsibilities, but he figured that she would be more understanding of it all. He told her that it would be for the summer and he kept true to his word. Yes, money has been an issue and they've had to tighten their belts a little, but no more than usual.

"And you've been slacking off at the restaurant."

He can't deny that, "I know, but…I want something to help cushion us financially. I mean, you know that the restaurant was never my thing, I only came onboard because you needed the help, but I want something that I build where I don't have to constantly ask for someone else's opinion."

She sits up and looks at him, "When was that an issue?"

"Remember when I wanted to trim the menu? You and your dad said no and shut down my idea immediately. What good is keeping the restaurant afloat for someone that doesn't let me suggest something new every once in a while?"

"I didn't realize it was so annoying," she says in a tone that is trying to hide her annoyance.

Francisco takes a seat at the foot of the bed, "I didn't picture my life being like this. I'm nearly forty-years-old, working at your dad's restaurant, feeling like I'm at a standstill. I thought that by this point in my life, I would have a little more autonomy, instead I think I'm just scraping by at a job you had to give me."

Lynn sighs, "Yeah, I get it…" she says, sounding somewhat like an annoyed child. She looks up and sees Francisco is upset with her response, so she asks, "What did you want by this point?"

"Assuming that Elena was still in the picture and I still met you?"

She nods her head.

"I would have wanted my own business. When Elena was born, I went to work, Caroline was going to do the same, but I figured since she might be pickier about what kind of work she could get with some college education, so I told her to finish school. Her mom didn't mind offering the money, and she was able to study. She wasn't sure, but I told her that I can go when Elena's older. As you can see, that didn't happen."

"Would you want to go back?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know. I think at this point, I might be wasting my time."

"What's with the quitter's attitude? You're a smart guy, you know that you can do it. Besides, who said that you needed a degree to start a business? All you need is an idea!"

He smiles. He loves her optimism. Even when they're a little more distant from one another, she still tries to get him to see the world with such a bright light.

"That's why I went for this house," he tells her. "I know that Chuy and I still have our old childhood house, but the money is mostly going to our mom. I wanted something for myself, for us really."

She blushes. Sometimes Lynn forgets how long they've been together. It shouldn't be difficult to remember considering that Elena was a little girl when they started dating and now she's about to start high school, but when he makes financial plans for the two of them, it sort of puts it more into perspective.

"It would be nice if the two of us went in on this together, sort of as something that we both create," he tells her.

"How about we…" she mutters the end, sort of embarrassed at admitting what she said.

"Okay, it's been a long time since."


Lynn exits the rec center. For the last couple of days, she has been going about her day, but with one difference, she isn't seeing Cesar as often as she used to. To her, there is no point in holding off the inevitable – he's going to go off to some fancy school and she's going to be stuck in Ann Arbor finishing her undergrad.

'It's fine…'

That's what she would tell herself. It's her first relationship, and it isn't like they had a while lot in common; he's academic, likes things to be quiet, teases her about her good luck rituals, but he has big plans that start here like she does.

She shakes her head to stop those thoughts, they have their similarities, like their stubbornness and their determination, but just like she wouldn't ask him to hold her back, she isn't going to hold him back.

'He's gonna be much better off if he doesn't have to worry about me…' she convinces herself.

Cesar walks around the campus. He has been looking for Lynn for days, but it seems like out nowhere, she disappeared. The two have walked together in their free time, so he has an idea of her usual path and alternate paths for when she wants food or a challenging run before class, but now she is nowhere to be seen. He has sent her text messages, but they aren't being read, he has seen her posts online, and when he sends her a private message, she doesn't answer either. It's frustrating not knowing why she is avoiding him, and he at least want to figure out what has been going on since they last met up.

A crowd of students pour out from a nearby building and he spots a familiar brown ponytail. He walks through the crowd, hoping to catch her before she disappears, but he loses sight of her, "How the heck did you do that?" he asks, surprised that she suddenly vanished.

He walks around the campus, going to Lynn's usual hangout spots, in hopes that he'll find her. As Cesar walks past the Union, he once again notices the familiar ponytail. He can see that it's Lynn and he isn't going to let her vanish that easily again. At the moment, she is busy stretching and doesn't appear to notice him walking towards her, but he has to move fast, because he's sure that she can easily outrun him.

"Hey, Lynn," he says when he spots her tying her shoelaces. "Where have you been?"

"Around," she says without looking up.

He isn't sure what that means, "Have you been busy?"

"Yeah."

He's an understanding person, "Well, what's been going on? I haven't seen or talked to you in a while."

"Well I don't feel like talking," she says as she tries to start her run.

He follows after her, "That's why I sent you messages, I sort of expect my girlfriend to answer my texts."

She wants to control her voice so that she doesn't attract attention to the two of them, 'It's going to happen, so let's just skip the awkwardness…'

"Well I didn't feel like doing that either!" she sighs. "So why don't we stop pretending and just break up already."

He stops in his place, surprised to hear that, but the first thing he says is, "Really? You want to break up?! You have no idea if I'm coming here next school year, but you're just going to jump the gun and say that we're over?"

"Yeah," she says, as coldly as she can, as she hides her true feelings. "C'mon! Be real, you're gonna want to go off somewhere better, so go."

Cesar tries to think of something to say. He knows that he hasn't made up his mind about where he is going to school, but he didn't think that she would call it quits so easily.

He calmly asks, "That's it? You don't want to talk about it or anything?" he says, giving her a chance to stop and think clearly about what she is suggesting.

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, but she doesn't look at him, "Why delay the inevitable? There's nothing else to say."

He takes a deep breath, "Fine, then, I guess we're through," is all he can say before walking away.

Rather than stay and make his argument for why he thinks she is being ridiculous, he decides to take the loss and let her go. He wanted to share with her that he has heard back from all the other schools, and that he was accepted as well. While he still isn't sure where to attend, Lynn made his decision a little easier about his plans for the fall.


Francisco, now changed into his pajamas, sits across from Lynn and says, "You know, I sometimes think about how it's just going to be the two of us in this house one day."

"You think we're going to outlive Elena?"

He chuckles, "No, I mean, when she goes off to college. She's only here from Friday until Sunday, what's going to happen when she's gone for good?"

"There's always hobbies," she says, "like buying a boat so that we can gut our own fish, or weekend trips to wherever, and it's not like she's going to disappear, and what're cell phones and video chats if not for moments like that."

"I guess I don't like thinking about it. She's my only kid and I barely see her as much, at least if she was younger or if there was another kid then it might not sting as much."

Lynn snickers, "Don't be so sure, my dad held onto Lori's bumper when she drove off to college, and he almost did it for all of us whenever we would leave the house. Like, when I got dropped off, he lifted me up and sobbed so loudly, refusing to let go no matter how many people were staring."

Francisco laughs, "After four others, he still reacted that way?"

"Two," she corrects him, as she moves to sit next to him. "Luna and Luan were still living at home. They didn't move out until I did, so he had three kids to say goodbye to at once, and I couldn't get my own room because of that." She stops to think about that. A house with five bedrooms for eleven kids never felt like enough, "You know, sometimes I was jealous that you and all my friends grew up in normal-sized families," Lynn admits. "I mean I love my siblings, but I would have loved having some more attention and my own room."

"It's tough to pass up your own room, but I was more jealous that you had siblings that were close your age."

"Really? Jealous enough to have to share everything with ten other siblings?" she asks as she rests her head on his shoulder.

"Probably not, but it was still a pain when my brothers didn't want me around because I was the baby of the family."

She quietly tells him, "At least you knew why."

Francisco can't recall if Lynn ever mentioned being left out as a kid by her siblings. He always imagined that with so many siblings there wouldn't be anyone being left out since there would be someone around, but that is all it is – his imagination.

"Is that why you kept saying that there was something wrong with you?"

He never understood why she would say that. Granted, they both had traits that they could improve on, but he never felt like there was something wrong with him the same way she said it.

Lynn nods her head, but doesn't tell him anything.

To keep the conversation going, he admits to her, "You know my knee's hurting again."

"Again? Have you been skipping physical therapy?"

Francisco nods his head, "Hutchison asked me if it was all the work I've been doing or because I'm purposefully hurting myself."

"Purposefully hurting yourself? Why would he think that?"

"I mean, I did do it at one point, but then he asked me something. He asked me if the reason I never sought treatment for my back when I was younger was because I didn't want to forget the night my dad died and I stayed quiet. I've been thinking about that question for a while, and…yeah…"

She never thought about it like that, and it's likely that he didn't either. Lynn moves over next to him and takes his hand. She knows that talking about that night is tough, and letting go isn't easy either, but then a thought occurred, "Wait…then why would you have taken pills to numb your back? Wouldn't that mean that you want to forget?"

"I don't know," he answers. "I mean, they wear off eventually, so I'll feel something."

"Do you miss him? I mean, I guess you do, but…" she struggles to finish her thought.

He nods his head, "Yeah, but I think the issue is that," he looks out and tries to think of what he's going to say. "I don't picture him much in my life anymore. I didn't expect him to live long the way he would drink and eat, and I always thought that it would be easier if I never thought about him, but I guess I don't want to let him go and…" he couldn't finish that sentence.

Lynn looks up at him and notices his reddening eyes. She is about to say something in hopes comforting him, but he quickly asks, "Can we talk about something else?"

She nods her head, but she doesn't know what to say. Despite the two of them sitting in near darkness, Lynn can feel him staring at her, waiting for her to say something. The feeling reminds her of school, teachers, and her parents, who would stare at her because she wasn't making progress with her schoolwork.

The first thing out of her mouth is, "School…I hated it so much as a kid."

That isn't where Francisco expected the conversation to go, but he goes along with it, "Yeah, I kinda figured whenever I would see your schoolwork, not that I was too overly fond of it either."

"Yeah…but it was worse when I was a kid. Heck, sometimes I hated that too."

He looks over at her and wonders what she could mean by that. Francisco always imagined that childhood would be the part of life that Lynn would love the most since she would be able to run around without a care in the world. He asks her, "How come?"

She doesn't say anything at first as she tries to think of what to say, "I didn't feel like I fit in with my older sisters – I wasn't girly like Lori and Leni and I wasn't artsy like Luna and Luan, so we didn't have that much in common."

He nods his head.

"I remember trying so hard to play with them when I was little, but it never really worked out."

"What happened?"

Lynn remembers that she would force herself onto her sisters' games, but it didn't always last long, especially if they were hanging out with another sister. Usually, she would play a little rough and then her parents had to intervene and separate her from them, but it always felt like there was something else.

"They didn't like how I played," is all she could say.

He knows that she was rough when they were younger. She has softened up over the years, but it probably came too late.

"Can I ask you something, why do you think there's something wrong with you? Has anyone told you that?"

She shakes her head, "No, I just feel it. Like my siblings didn't want to be with me because I was bad, or because they saw something I didn't see."

Francisco assumes that it might have something to do with her strong personality, especially her good luck rituals. He remembers seeing Lynn's team going along with them as kids, they looked miserable doing them, but it seems like they couldn't say no, despite hating going through with it.

"When did you begin feeling that way?"

She tries to think about it, but she can't remember a time when that wasn't the case, "I think…all my life…"

Lynn began to think about how her sisters would yell at her for how she would behave as a little girl, how her siblings would avoid her if she invited them to watch a game, or how she felt like they wouldn't understand her problems. At some point, it felt easier to be quiet about what was going on than to say something to them, in fear that they wouldn't be able to relate.

"I wasn't like my siblings. I thought that…I thought that their lives were going so much easier than mine. I mean, I got picked on, I was terrible in school, I never felt like I was taken seriously by anyone, and it felt like people expected the worst in me."

He isn't sure what to say. When he first saw her on that baseball diamond, he thought that she was arrogant, but that confirms what she said. He doesn't know what it feels like to feel the way she said, but it couldn't have done Lynn much good growing up.

He looks into her eyes and says, "I really want you to believe me when I say, you aren't a bad person, Lynn."

Francisco notices how quiet she is, no doubt thinking about what she revealed to him. To take her mind off of it, he asks, "Did you know that I first liked you when we were kids?"

She look at him, "You did?"

"Yup," he says as he wraps his arm around her. "Well, to be honest there were two times. Once when you started going through your growth spurt."

She glares at him, "Really? You only started liking me when I was getting taller."

"Sure, let's go with that one. I mean, I did occasionally glance over at you, but I tried really hard to make sure you didn't notice because I was afraid of what you would do."

She can't fault him. She's sure that as a teenager, she probably would have beaten him black and blue for gawking at her the way she thinks he's talking about. Though, she did like him for years, so she isn't so sure about that.

"I didn't really start thinking about it emotionally until we were about to graduate high school. I figured there was no point since we were both going to go off to different schools, so I never told you."

Hearing that made her wonder of what could have been, "So what would you have told me? You know, if you weren't too much of a chicken?"

Francisco looks at her, and tries his best to remember, "I don't know. I do remember that I thought, 'No way that Lynn Loud isn't going to laugh at me'. So does that answer your question?"

"A little."

"What about you?"

She can feel her cheeks warm. Lynn doesn't want to admit that she liked him a year after meeting, especially after he told her that he wasn't thinking about her until they were in high school.

"I was a little younger and you were kind of a cute teenager, although you did look a little better as you got older."

"Good to know."

"Do you remember that afternoon that we wrestled in my backyard?"

He vaguely remembers, "Sort of, why?"

"It's the only time I ever liked losing."

They both laugh, before he pulls her into a gentle kiss.

As she pulls away from him, Lynn looks out the window. Sunlight is beginning to shine into the room, and both of them are surprised that they spent the whole night talking with one another, "I can't believe that it's already morning."

Francisco looks over in the same direction, "I know. Have we ever stayed up like this?"

She shakes her head, "Nope. Do you want to go get breakfast this morning?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice, where did you have in mind?"

"That place with the breakfast buffet. I've been craving their pancakes for a long time. Then after that we can come back here so we can have a little fun."

He raises an eyebrow, "Really? I don't know if I'll want to with a stomach full of pancakes and bacon."

She climbs onto his lap and looks down, "Okay, then how about we have breakfast later?" she says as she leans down to give him a kiss.


As a warning, I'm going to let you guys know that the last chapters might be delayed. With an upcoming change in my day-to-day schedule, I'm not sure if I'm going to have the same amount of time to dedicate to writing, but I'll look for it whenever I can so that I can finish the last four chapters for you guys.

Even though I'm sad that this story is coming to a close, it's nice to fill in some of the last pieces, despite it being clear since the earlier chapters, from Cesar and Francisco's shared line to Lynn back in chapter seven to Lynn's issues coming home that first summer, as well as connecting some pieces from canon.

If you're curious about the song that Chuy was referring to, it is 'Tiempo de Vals' by Chayanne. I swear, I have never been to a quinceañera that never played that song, so of course it had to be included for our upcoming birthday girl

As always, thank you for reading and see you next time