Francisco stares at his bank account. Between repairs on the rental house and Lola's payment plan for the jewelry that he bought, his account has been taking on more hits than he would like. He isn't remorseful of his recent purchases, though he does wish that they weren't piling on top of one another. He tries to think of his options for saving money, but he and Lynn have already been making sacrifices everywhere.

"Can't save money on food unless we start stealing from the restaurant…" he tells himself. He looks around, "Can't cut the cable or the sports channels or Lynn will get suspicious…"

While it took a little longer than expected to get tenants to rent out the house, he did get some, so that money is being used to pay Andrew back. However, he isn't going to see a penny until Andrew is fully repaid and Lola's interest rates are much higher than Francisco anticipated.

"I answered a million questions and you couldn't get me to a single digit rate?" he asks the computer. Francisco sighs, "Well, I guess I'm holding off a little longer."

"Holding off for what?"

Francisco turns around and sees Elena walking towards him. He quickly closes his laptop to hide his finances from his daughter, "Just something for my birthday."

Elena doesn't buy it. He rarely likes celebrating his birthday, so she doubts that he'll plan anything in advance for it. She looks him straight in the eye, but he immediately turns his head away, "Dad, what is it?"

"I told you," he says.

"Dad, I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle a little bad news."

"Well, I wouldn't call it bad news."

She takes a seat in front of him, "What is it?"

He didn't want to tell her about this, but if there's anyone that he can trust to keep the secret, it would be her, "Check my toolbox," he says pointing to the garage.

She looks in the direction and then back at him, "Dad, you aren't going to try and ditch me the moment I leave, are you?"

"With my bad knee?"

Elena decides to believe him and steps towards the garage. She keeps her eyes on him as she retrieves the toolbox so that she can open it in front of him. She looks down and then looks at him, "Is this?"

He nods his head, before asking her, "Can you hide it in your room?"

Elena knows why he would want to hide it, but she doesn't know why she thinks that it would be safer in her room than anywhere else in the house.

"How can you be so sure that it'll be safe in there?"

"Trust me," he assures her, "I know that no one will go looking for it in there. Now, can you go before anyone else sees it? I don't know how long we're going to be alone and I need it hidden."

Elena takes the box, "Alright, I'll hide it in my closet," she says as she walks towards her room.

"Take a photo and send it to me later," he instructs her.

Francisco sighs in relief. He has been afraid of Lynn one day snooping around in the garage and accidentally finding it, or worse, it getting stolen. At least if Elena hides it in her room, he'll be sure that it'll be safer.

Elena quickly walks back into the dining room, and takes her seat next to him, "So where is Lynn?"

"She told me that she going to see her family and run some errands, but she didn't tell me how long she would be gone for and I figured it's better to do it before she unexpectedly sneaks up on us."

The two quickly look over their shoulders to be sure that Lynn didn't somehow sneak into the house without either of them noticing.

When Elena is sure that Lynn isn't listening around, she turns to her dad and asks, "What made you decide now?"

Francisco was afraid that this would be Elena's reaction after seeing what was in his toolbox. He knows that she's going to have plenty of questions like Lola, and shirking her off isn't going to happen, "It's been brought to my attention that we have been together for years."

Elena looks at him, expecting a better answer, when he doesn't say more, she asks, "Who brought it up to your attention?"

"Lola."

"Dad!"

"Alright," he says. "We talked, she asked, and next thing I know, she's blowing up my phone wondering when I'm gonna do it."

"So she knows that you're going to ask?"

Francisco hands her his phone and Elena looks through the messages. They start off sweetly asking if he's asked Lynn, then the messages stop being as sweet and become almost threatening, "She said she's going to tell, what does that mean?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

Lola asked plenty of questions at the jewelry shop, and he's sure that at some point he's going to get blackmailed by her, but that's what he gets for wanting a lower interest rate on the jewelry that she offered to pay for.

Elena pulls her dad into a hug, "I'm so happy for you."

Francisco is taken by surprise, but he returns the gesture. He's sure that after so many years, she has probably wanted him to ask, but he was never sure about asking. At the moment, he and Lynn are happy with what they have, and the only reason that he got the ring was to get Lola off of his back. She asked plenty of personal questions, but every once in a while, she went back to asking him about why he hasn't asked Lynn to make them official. Now he feels like he has no choice, especially since she texts him every day wondering if he did it yet.

"I can see that she makes you happy and you both seem great with one another, I would have loved to have gotten to know her a little better on my own, but our little family weekend excursions have helped us get more comfortable with each other." She can see him smile, "So when are you going to ask her? Wait, how are you going to ask her?"

"I don't know…"

Elena sighs, not surprised that her dad hasn't thought too much of the perfect way to ask, "Dad, are you serious? You should think about it. You're only going to ask once, I hope."

"Well, I have other things on my mind."

"More important than this?"

He doesn't want to admit to her that today's Tigers game is what's on his mind, but it's important to both him and Lynn.


Lynn sets her tray down as she takes a seat with her friends. After spending hours pretending to listen to her teachers and trying to read the material in her textbooks, it is nice to take a few minutes away from the school stuff.

"Have you guys heard back from your schools yet?" asks Paula.

Lynn mentally groans as she thinks about college. She has already sent in her application to Michigan, but she hasn't heard back from them, and she's getting nervous. She looks at all of her friends who are suddenly getting quiet. No one wants to talk about acceptance letters or rejection letters, but everyone is curious to hear if someone already heard back from a university. Slowly, they begin to notice happy or sad faces as their peers share news from their perspective schools.

Francisco looks down at his lunch. Western Michigan has already withdrawn their offer and the other schools are being pretty quiet at the moment. He knew that with his bad back, he wasn't going to be attracting the best schools for college baseball, but he just needs one to give him a chance, and a scholarship.

He looks up at Lynn. He's sure that she'll get plenty of offers for her athletic skills, but it wasn't too long ago that she was stressing herself trying to make her grades up after years of skating by with the bare minimum.

She looks over at him, and gives him a reassuring smile. Ever since his accident, he has been worried about his plans for college. She knows that he's smart enough to get into a school without much issue, but she knows that he's stressing the same way she is. She did decently enough on the SATs, but she isn't sure if her score or grades were enough to get her into Michigan.

The two quietly watch as their friends continue their conversation, unaware of how little they contribute to the conversation that has overtaken the table.

After school, Lynn runs home. The mailman has been running late these last couple of weeks, and she knows that will be able to catch him if she runs as quickly as possible. She cuts through yards, runs through crosswalks all while narrowly avoiding oncoming cars. A car honks at Lynn after coming to a screeching halt to avoid hitting her, but she keeps moving. When Lynn can see her house, she huffs it before crashing into the mailbox, "Made it…" she groans. She looks inside and notices that the mail hasn't arrived yet, "Alright! Now to wait," she tells herself as she looks around in both directions to see if the mail truck is coming.

With every passing car, Lynn is immediately drawn to attention. She can feel her heart racing, "Today's the day, I can feel it!" she tells herself.

The mailman pulls up in front of the house, "Hello, young lady, it's a lovely day, isn't it?"

Lynn, who is bouncing back and forth in anticipation, says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, c'mon, I need a big fat envelope."

The mailman places the letters into the box and Lynn takes them out and goes over them. It's all junk mail and bills, but no response from Michigan. She looks over at the mailman, who is trying to make conversation with her, and notices the large bag of letters that he is carrying.

Lynn steps towards him, "C'mon! That can't the only thing you're delivering to this house. I mean look at those letters, there has to be something in there for me," she says as she makes an attempt to grab his bag.

The mailman backs away from her, "Miss, it's a federal offence to grab my mail bag."

"No one has to know," she says as she grabs the bag.

The mailman runs back to his truck and Lynn tries to jump in. He presses down on the pedal and Lynn runs after him, "Come back! My entire future is in your hands!"


Lynn stays seated in her car and looks at the paper in front of her. She isn't sure what to think. There's a swirl of emotions going through her mind, but all she can focus on how it's going to progress.

"What did I eat yesterday? Wait, what did I do yesterday? Did I do anything special? No, but just in case do it again. Or should I repeat my week? Month? Months?"

She panics as she tries to remember the details of her day and the last two months. Something is different this time around and she is not going to jinx it by changing up what has clearly been working.

"Try to remember everything – what I had for every meal, what I watched, what I did, and everything should be good," she convinces herself.

Lynn quickly taps her fingers on the steering wheel before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the car. She walks through the door and stays put. She is still trying to process everything, though at the moment, she does wonder how she got home without any recollection of her looking towards the streets.

Francisco spots her standing at the door, "Hey, I was worried that you weren't going to make it."

Lynn, who is still lost in her own thoughts, looks over at him, and says, "What?"

"The game is about to start. You know, the one that determines if the Tigers make it to the World Series." He notices that she looks out of it, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess I just lost track of the time."

Francisco knows that that's normal for Lynn, though he assumed that something as important to her as the Tigers moving on to play in the World Series, would occupy her mind more than anything.

The two walk to the living room, where Elena is sitting down to watch the game. Normally, she wouldn't join them, but after hearing what her dad has planned, she wants to casually determine what Lynn's thoughts are on the idea.

"Where did I sit for the last game?" Lynn asks herself. She notices Elena sitting in her lucky spot, and is tempted to move her out of the way. Elena and Francisco notice Lynn standing still as she looks at the chair that Elena is sitting on.

"Did you want me to move?" the teen asks tentatively.

Lynn nods her head.

Elena is about to get up, but Francisco asks, "Lynn, you're being silly. Elena was sitting there first."

"But I've been sitting there for every Tigers game for the last…" she stops to count how many months that she's been sitting in that chair, "six months. It's good luck."

Francisco stares at her and Lynn stares back. Neither one is backing down and Elena, despite knowing that Lynn wants the seat, isn't moving either. From what her dad said, this is an important game, so this might be the best opportunity.

Lynn stops to think, "I can make this work," she says before taking a seat next to Elena.

The teen is surprised at Lynn's stubbornness. She knows that her dad and Lynn don't mind the proximity, but she didn't intend to be seated as closely because of Lynn's stubbornness. Elena gets up and takes a seat next to her dad on the larger couch.

As the game begins, Francisco and Elena would look over at Lynn. She is clearly looking towards the direction of game, but has been muttering to herself since she sat down. Neither one can entirely hear what she is saying, but occasionally she brings up food and work.

Elena turns to her dad, "Is this a new superstition thing?"

Francisco shakes his head. Normally, for such an important game, Lynn would pull out her most tried and tested good luck rituals from cheese puffs to dancing to mini bat swinging at the fireplace, and while she has cut down on her more silly good luck rituals, he has never seen her mutter to herself.

"Lynn, are you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah…just seeing if Miller is gonna break out his signature curveball. I guess not in the second inning, but at some point they're waiting for it…"

Hearing that puts Francisco more at ease. He thought that with Lynn's excessive muttering, she wouldn't be paying attention to the game, but it appears she's able to keep her attention while maintaining her potentially new ritual.

As the game continues, Elena looks over at her dad and then at Lynn. She is curious about the woman's behavior, but it appears that her muttering is getting fewer and far between. She turns back to her dad and whispers, "What about if they win?"

"Then we go to the World Series," he answers without looking at her, focusing his attention as the ninth inning begins.

That isn't what Elena meant, but she notices both adults' attention on the game. Her dad was right, this game is important is to them, and she isn't going to get the answer that she wants if they aren't focusing on anything else but the outcome.

She leans back in her seat and sighs, uninterested in the action. Elena looks over at her dad and then at Lynn, "I'm surprised it took this long."

"Yeah, I know," says Lynn.

Elena stays quiet, letting them enjoy the game in peace.

On screen, the fans in the stadium and the players on the field excitedly cheer after the ball flies into the stands, assuring the Tigers' place in the World Series.

For a brief moment, there is silence in the living room until Lynn screams at the top of her lungs, "We're going to the World Series!" She jumps for joy before pulling Francisco into a kiss.

He pulls away, "Lynn, I'm excited too, but we aren't alone," he says, reminding her of Elena, who is purposefully staring at the tv.

"Fine, I gotta make a phone call anyway," she says before excitedly running out to the backyard. She pulls out her phone to call her sister.

"Hello?"

"Hey Luce, guess who's going to the World Series – we are!"

"Groan…" Lucy whispers.


"Reyes! Keep your eyes on the ball!" says the coach, who notices that his player has missed the ball again for the third time in the last couple of minutes.

Francisco shakes his head and notices the ball that has landed inches from his feet, "Dang it…" he complains as he bends down to pick up the ball. He quickly picks up the ball, ignoring the pain before throws the ball towards the second baseman.

"Out!"

Francisco sighs, 'At least I still got my arm.'

The next batter looks over into the outfield. He can see that Francisco isn't paying as much attention, so he decides to hit towards him. As expected, he didn't notice the ball coming towards him until the runner was already on first.

The coach, frustrated with his player, calls Francisco to see what's wrong with the boy, "Are you okay? You seem distracted."

"I think I'm just tired from classes," he lies.

"Do you want sit out for a few minutes?"

Francisco shakes his head, knowing that if he stops to sit down that he will fixate on what is really bothering him. Ever since Western Michigan withdrew their offer, his mind hasn't been in the game, and everyone on the team seems to be noticing. However, he isn't alone, all of the seniors on the team are nervous about what is going to happen next year assuming that they even got the attention of a school. He should be happy that he had four scouts interested, when some don't even have one, but he's nervous since he only has three schools left to hear from.

Yes, academically he should be okay, most of the schools aren't that tough to get into, but that isn't what he is striving for. He needs a full scholarship, if not then what good was applying to schools outside of Michigan.

As Francisco heads back to his position, he stops to think about his options. He knows that grants are possible, but he doesn't want to constantly worry about filling out forms every year and being at the mercy of whoever decides how much money to give out to students. Not to mention, he might not be able to earn enough; his grades are decent enough, but not so great that he can earn academic scholarships and without a baseball scholarship, he'll have to go crazy searching for essay contests that could help out too.

'I'll be fine…I'll be fine…' he tries to assure himself as he moves his focus from the thought of college to practice going on in front of him.

When practice comes to an end, Francisco grabs his bag and he hears a notification sound from his phone. He can feel his heart racing as takes his phone out of his pocket, wondering if he got another rejection. Francisco tries to keep himself calm, his friends have mentioned that some of them haven't heard back yet, and for all he knows it's just junk.

He opens the email app and looks at the response from Central Florida – he was accepted, but he won't be on the team.


Lucy stares into her crystal ball. She hasn't foretold the future in years, but after Lynn mentioned that she wanted World Series tickets from her sister, she wants to know how many games the two teams are set to play. She should have expected this from her sister after she made the offer, but she did promise to go to a game with her and she is going to follow through on the promise.

Rocky notices his wife's moans as she looks into the crystal ball, "What are you looking for?"

Lucy claps the lights on, "Lynn is calling in her favor and she wants tickets to the World Series."

"Dang, I guess I can't blame her for wanting to go, it looks like it might be a good game," he says. He notices the look on his wife's face and offers, "You know, if you want, I could go with you. I'm sure handling Lynn would be easier between the two of us."

She looks at him, Lucy knows that he probably wants to go as well, "I think you mean four."

"Four?"

"She wants tickets for herself, Francisco, and Elena."

"So five tickets…?" he asks slowly, knowing how expensive that's going to get. Money normally isn't an issue for the couple, but isn't like they toss around thousands of dollars that easily.

Lucy nods her head, "Her Thanksgiving was going to be for ten people, so I'm guessing she thinks that five shouldn't be that much of a stretch. But it isn't the money that I'm worried about."

Rocky knows what Lucy is talking about, "Is it really that bad?"

He has only heard stories about Lynn's behavior at sporting events from his wife, but he has never experienced it firsthand. He doubts that Lucy would lie about her sister like that, however he finds it difficult to believe that Lynn is as crazy superstitious as he has been told.

"Well she has landed in jail before."

Rocky is taken aback, "Well, we'll make it work; I mean she probably isn't going to be the only crazy fan."

"Groan…why did you say it like that?" she says as she rests her head on the table.

She didn't even think about all of the other crazy fans that are going to be at the game, probably all as excited as Lynn and eager to fight her if she angers the wrong opposing fan.

"Okay, bad example, but you know what Francisco and Elena are like, do you think that she'll go that nuts in front of them?"

"It didn't stop her when we were taking her years ago," she reminds him. "and after being with Francisco for so many years, she probably won't feel any shame doing to the same thing in front of them either."

Rocky takes her hand and looks her straight in the eye, "Well, we'll see how we make it work, if not, then maybe you can buy our tickets as far away from their's," he jokes.

"And then I'm going to have to buy her tickets to the Super Bowl or game seven of the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup. I'd rather rip the bandage off now."

He can tell how little she cares about the game and how much she is dreading going with her sister, but if she's going to see this through, then he's going to help ease her suffering.

"You're a good sister," he reminds her, "and I promise that we'll deal with Lynn's craziness together."

Lucy smiles, "Thank you."


Lincoln watches Lynn as she stands around the mailbox. For days, he has watched her check the mail waiting for Michigan's response, but nothing has come if it. He knows that she is getting fed up with waiting, especially after some of her friends have heard back from their respective schools, but he doesn't want to see his sister in trouble again after the mailman incident.

He calls out to her, "Lynn! It's getting late and it's almost time for dinner."

Without looking at him, she tells her brother, "I'm waiting for the mailman!" Lynn pulls out her phone and wonders where the mail truck could be, "Jeez! You scare one mailman and suddenly we get our mail later than ever," she complains.

He walks over to her, "Lynn, the mail isn't going to disappear just because you aren't here. We can go have dinner and then you can come back to check if the mail arrived," he takes her arm to pull her towards the house, but she doesn't budge.

As Lincoln tries to pull her inside, Lynn looks at every passing vehicle. She's nervous. Everyone is hearing back from schools much further away and she can't get a single response from a school that's an hour away. She knows that her grades aren't on par with her athletic skills, but it isn't like she didn't amaze the scout during the home interview.

Lincoln keeps trying to pull his sister, but after realizing that it's futile, he decides to go a different approach, "You know, I think that we're having pizza for dinner."

From inside, the two siblings can hear a crashing sound from the kitchen, presumably a younger sibling who overheard Lincoln say 'pizza'.

Lynn, who doesn't want to take her chances on missing out on her dad's homemade pizza, gives in and decides to go inside. Lincoln follows her from behind to make sure that Lynn doesn't stray back to the mailbox.

"You don't think that Grouse accidentally got it, do you? Or maybe one of the other neighbors?" she asks with a hint of worry in her voice.

He reassures her, "If they did I'm sure that they would return it. Why would they want a letter addressed to you?"

She shrugs her shoulders. Her brother is right, any one of their neighbors would probably do the right thing and not keep or throw away her important letter.

As they walk through the front door, Lynn walks upstairs surprising Lincoln, who asks, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to wash up before dinner…?" she says in a confused tone.

"Okay, well hurry up. You don't wanna be the last one to get to the table."

"Alright, alright I'm going, jeez!" she complains.

Lincoln watches her and then turns to the dining room table. He can't believe how hard it is to get his sister to the table, but he decides to be patient, after all, if she could do it, then so can he.

After ten minutes, Lincoln is surprised that Lynn has yet to come down, "What the heck is she doing up there?" he asks himself.

"Lynn, hurry up!"

As Lynn walks down the stairs, she tells her brother, "What's the big deal? It's not like I smell pizza anyway."

Lincoln turns to his parents, who are in the kitchen silently mouthing him questions wondering where Lynn got the idea of pizza.

He shrugs his shoulders and quietly responds, 'It was the only way to get her in here.'

Lynn walks towards the window behind the tv and asks, "Hey, where is everyone? I didn't see anyone upstairs and I haven't heard anyone for a while."

Lincoln nervously answers, "Oh, I think they're uh…they're uh…cleaning the basement. You know, better if we all do it together."

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "You guys got it. Dad! Is the food almost ready? I'm hungry!"

"Uh…almost, I just need some help shredding the cheese," he says in an effort to get her to the dining room.

"Oh, I can help you," says Leni, "I'm right here."

The family groans.

While Lynn is distracted, Lola sneaks Lincoln away from the living room, "How hard is it to get her in here?"

"Hey, I'm trying, but she's tougher than usual today. Besides, if it's so easy, you try."

Lola takes the challenge and screams to her older sister, "Lynn! Lincoln's about to use one of your lucky jerseys in his magic act!"

Lynn marches towards her brother, "Stinkoln, you better not be messing with me! Ask our former mailman!"

As Lynn's stomping turns to running, Lincoln leads her to the dining room and points at the table where Lynn sees a big envelope that she was waiting for from Michigan. She stops in her place and instead takes hold of the envelope. She rips it open, letting all the papers fall to the floor. She looks through the pile and finds the letter which has the word 'congratulations' written at the top.

Lynn doesn't bother reading the rest of the letter, and instead jumps for joy, knowing that she got into Michigan. "I got in! I got in!" she screams at the top of her lungs as she pulls her little brother into a hug and they jump up and down.

"I can't wait to tell everyone," she says.

"You don't have to," says Lincoln as he points towards the family, who are standing in the kitchen recording the whole moment.

The family surrounds Lynn as they congratulate her on getting her acceptance letter; all of them proud that her hard work paid off.


Lucy stares at the entrance to Comerica Park. Donning Tigers colors that her sister insisted that she wear, she is anxious of what the next couple of hours have in store for her. She hasn't gone to a game with Lynn in years, so she doesn't know what to expect. While Rocky made a point that Lynn can't be so bad if people as level-headed as Francisco and Elena decided to tag along, she can't help but dread what the next three hours have in store for her.

Rocky wraps his arm around her shoulder, "It's not the end of the world, if anything, maybe Lynn will be so focused on Francisco and the Tigers that she might not even pay attention to us."

She stares back at her husband, "If that's true, then she wouldn't have dug up her old Tigers gear for me to wear."

"Well I think I'm right," he says. Rocky points to Lynn, who is pacing back and forth muttering to herself, "Whatever is on her mind seems to have her complete attention."

Lucy stares at her sister before walking over to her, "Are you okay?"

Lynn is snapped from her thoughts, "Yeah, just um…something…"

The younger sister isn't sure what to make of that. After six games, she expects Lynn to be on edge, after all, this game is going to determine who wins it all, however, Lucy can sense that there is something else on Lynn's mind.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" offers Lucy.

"Yup, I could use um…wait, what couldn't I eat?" she silently mutters that question to herself, though Lucy could overhear her.

Lucy turns to the rest of the group, "Lynn and I are going to go get snacks, we'll meet you at our seats," she says as she takes her sister away from everyone.

"Have fun…"

The look on Francisco's face worries Lucy, but before she is able to ask him anything, Lynn begins to wander off, forcing her to chase after her sister.

Rocky hands Francisco and Elena their tickets, "I'll be back. Lucy mentioned that one of Lynn's good luck things is about not going to the bathroom and I am not risking it."

"I don't blame you," says Francisco, as he takes the tickets.

With Elena left alone with her dad, she turns to him, "Today seems like a pretty good day," she casually tells him. "Did you bring it?"

He knows what she is trying to tell him, "Yes, I know, but…"

"But what? Win or lose she'll be happy getting out of here."

"Or she'll think the loss is a sign."

"I didn't think of it like that," she says as the realization dawns on her, "Maybe today isn't as good a day as I thought, but it's been long enough, then again, if you're right, then it'll never happen."

"Don't worry, it's not like I have a deadline. Besides," he pats his pocket, "what kind of rush are we in?"

"Tell me about it."

As Elena walks away, he looks over at her, wondering where her sudden boldness came from.

Lucy looks up at the menu. She isn't hungry, however, she knows that Lynn's voracious appetite coupled with her stubbornness to watch every second of the game, will mean that they are going to have to get snacks to avoid any potential issues.

"What did you want to get? Pepperoni pizza? A hot dog? Fries?"

Without thinking, Lynn groans, "I can't…"

Lucy raises and eyebrow and wonders about what her sister said. At every game that Lynn has attended, she has eaten something that she should regret, but has never said no to eating food.

"Heartburn?"

"No, but I should expect it."

That isn't new. Lisa has warned Lynn for years to cut down on the spicy and greasy food, but the older sister refuses to listen, which has Lucy curious at the moment, "Expect it?"

"Yeah…" says Lynn as she looks around at some of the other fans as they walk around.

Lucy looks at the fans that her sister is staring at, eventually noticing that she has her eyes locked on a young family. Lucy doesn't know why they would have her attention until it dawns on her, "Gasp!"

Lynn feels the hairs on the back of her neck raise after hearing her sister say that, "Wh-What?" she nervously asks.

With a knowing smile, Lucy asks, "Are you–"

"Shush!" Lynn quickly says, while looking around for anyone who might hear.

"What's wrong? Does Francisco know?"

"No, he doesn't know," she sighs, "but money's been tight for a while since Elena's birthday and that house he bought, not to mention the restaurant needs some updating, so what's he gonna think if I tell him?"

"Well, he might–"

Lynn covers her ears and walks away from the line, "Just get me anything that you think I should eat."

Lucy looks back at the menu, "I don't think you should eat anything on this menu, but I'll try."

Lynn walks over to her seat, where Francisco, Elena, and Rocky are chatting away. They look over at Lynn, surprised that she didn't bring any food and instead blankly looking at the field. Since learning that the Tigers were going to the World Series, they imagined that a swirl of emotions have been going through Lynn's head, but surprisingly, she appears to have remained calmer than expected.

Rocky turns to his sister-in-law, "Are you excited?" he asks, trying to gage her mood.

"Yeah…"

Francisco, Elena and Rocky are concerned. They expected more fanfare from her, especially since her team came from behind to tie the game, and her sister is paying for everything, including the expensive tickets that she received to the game.

Lucy returns with alongside two other gentlemen, who are carrying food that she bought. They distribute it the group and Lucy hands them some money for their help. Looking at that display, reminds Francisco of his current money woes and he can feel himself getting nervous.

"How much food did you buy?" asks Rocky.

"I wasn't sure what everyone would like, so I settled for buying what I thought would be the most popular food."

"And the two men?" asks Elena.

"I met them in line and asked them to help me carry the food if I paid them."

Rocky is still confused, "But why so–" he is about to finish his question, when he notices Lynn stuffing a handful of fries into her mouth. "Nevermind."

As the game begins, Elena looks around at all the fans. Unlike her, they seem to be taking the game much more seriously than she is. Of course, that's expected, when the only reason she wanted to come to the game was to see if her dad would ask Lynn after the game was over, "Wow, there sure are a lot of people around."

"Imagine if the tickets were cheaper," says Francisco, "but then again, it didn't stop these die-hard fans."

Rocky turns to his wife, "You know, we should have bought tickets for every game and then scalped them each time."

"I can't imagine how much we could have sold those tickets for."

"About three times their face value," says Lynn.

Everyone looks at her, unsure if she has actually sold game tickets before or bought them at such a high mark-up price. No one can actually believe that she would do the first one, though Francisco has a feeling that it may have happened during one of her 'down' years.

As the first inning plays out below them, Francisco notices Lynn tapping her foot away. He can tell that she's nervous, and in an effort to calm her down, he takes her hand to silently remind her that she's not alone.

Lynn looks over at him and smiles.

With Lynn distracted, Lucy looks over at her sister. She is mentally preparing herself for her sister's antics, and as soon as the Brewers batter steps onto the plate, Lynn begins to roar.

The four look over at her and all she can say is, "What? I'm trying to psych him out."

The batter swings and misses.

"Ha! It worked!"

Lucy groans. If Lynn begins to believe that her rituals are working then she's likely to keep it up.

Over the next three innings, Lynn begins to shuffle around her rituals; she dumps her cracker jacks into the group's nachos, runs in place by her seat, and tosses her and Francisco's ball caps towards the field.

"Lynn, that's enough," says Francisco, frustrated after losing his favorite hat.

She crosses her arms and pouts, "Fine…"

A ball flies towards Lynn and while people are standing up to catch the foul ball, Francisco notices that it's about to hit her and she's not making an attempt to catch the ball. He moves his gloved hand and catches the ball before it makes impact.

"Why didn't you try to catch it?"

"A Brewers' foul ball?! No way, it's bad luck. Now get rid of it!" she tells him before spitting onto the ground.

Francisco looks over at Rocky and Lucy, "You guys wanna take it back to the kids?"

"Not to them! To some fan of the losing team," says Lynn, as she looks around for a nearby Brewers fan. She hands it to the fan behind them, "Here, to remember your team screwing up tonight."

"Big words from some shrimpy fan of the team that's down two runs."

Lynn gets up, "You wanna say that again?"

Lucy and Francisco quickly call out to her in an effort to remind her not to get into a fight. She sits down and crosses her arms as she stares out at the game, "It's not a big deal, why couldn't I just rough him up a little?"

"You know why," says Lucy.

"Lynn, security would have kicked you out. I doubt you want to miss the miraculous turn around," Francisco says towards the Brewers fan, while keeping his eyes on Lynn.

She smiles and goes back to paying attention to the game.

During the next five innings, Lucy notices that Lynn has subdued her earlier behavior. She isn't sure if it was the risk of getting kicked out or because staying calm has actually allowed the Tigers to start catching up. Either way, Lucy isn't going to complain.

Lynn stares at the scoreboard. The Tigers have been able to edge out a one run lead, but anything can happen, especially since she hasn't done a ritual throughout the whole eighth inning. However, she can't concentrate on the game, only on what she is going to tell Francisco.

'This should be a dream come true! I'm at the World Series, my team is ahead, and it isn't some boring runaway. But what am I doing? I'm freaking out, wait no, have been freaking out for too long. Just win the pennant and then we tell Francisco. Easy!'

Francisco quickly glances at Lynn, then his pocket and then at the field.

'C'mon Tigers, one more inning, strike 'em out, catch every ball, I don't care, something! Just win and I'll ask.'

By the top of the ninth inning, the Brewers are still down by one run, the fans in the crowd are on the edge of their seats as the batter steps up. The pitcher throws the ball and the Tigers catcher is running after the ball. If he catches it, then the Brewers runner is out and the game is over. Silence overtakes the crowd and what is only seconds feels like an eternity as everyone stares at the ball.

When the ball lands in the catcher's glove, the Tigers fans roar in excitement – they won the game! Lynn and Francisco jump up for joy, "We won! We won! We won! We did it!" She picks him up and spins him around, "We did it!" she says before pulling him into a kiss. Lynn looks over to her sister and pulls her into a big hug, "Thank you for letting me be here."

"You're…welcome…" says Lucy as she tries to breathe.

Francisco looks over at Elena, who smiles at him. He knows that he didn't tell her that he was going to ask Lynn today, but his daughter has made it more than clear that today is a good day to ask, and there's no better sign than the Tigers winning the World Series.

"Can I record it? Please," pleads Elena as she tries her best puppy-dog eye routine.

"Alright, but don't make it obvious," he says.

As the crowd begins to run down towards the field, Lucy turns to her sister and whispers in her ear, "I think now is a good time to tell him."

"I don't know," whispers Lynn anxiously. "How long do you think I can hide it?"

"Until you're about four to five months along."

Lynn relaxes, "Oh good, I still got time."

"Time for what?" asks Rocky.

"For us to go to the souvenir shop while the fans keep cheering," says Lucy as she gets up. "We promise to get you guys something," she says as she grabs her husband and Elena's hand.

Elena panics. She wants to record what happens, but she won't have a valid excuse to stay behind. However, unknown to the teen, Lucy also doesn't want to miss the moment when her sister surprises her boyfriend with her news. Both walk slowly, occasionally glancing over at the couple, who don't appear to be moving.

Francisco takes a deep breath, like Elena said, now or never, he's waited long enough.

At the same time, the two say, "I need to tell you something."

"Well, let me go first," says Francisco.

Lynn nervously looks at the diamond where the players are celebrating and then back at Francisco, "Alright, you've got ten seconds before I tell you what I need to tell you."

Surprised, he asks, "What?"

She closes her eyes, "Eight seconds…"

Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly pulls out the ring box and says, "Lynn, I know that we've had our ups and downs in this whole relationship, but we've stuck through it together and rather than keep on waiting I figure that we might as well make it official, so will you marry me?"

"I'm pregnant!" she tells him immediately after asking his question.

Elena and Lucy stare at the couple from a few rows back, wondering what just happened.


Francisco throws the ball towards home plate. He's frustrated after not receiving his scholarship from Central Florida. He knows that he was bound to miss out, but it still hurts after Western Michigan got his hopes up for nothing.

He can hear his phone buzzing in his bag. He doesn't want to read another disappointing email from another school, so decides to ignore it in favor of throwing the ball towards home plate.

"Hey Francisco!"

He turns around and sees Lynn running towards him. He can see a bright smile on her face and for a minute he stops thinking about colleges.

Lynn crashes into him, "What the heck are you doing?! I've been trying to text you and you haven't returned a single one."

Francisco tries to keep his eyes on his feet, before answering, "I'm busy."

"Getting ready for your freshman season," she says before punching him in the arm, "I should too, especially when I'm going to Michigan!" she yells while showing him her acceptance letter.

He doesn't say anything. He's happy that her hard work paid off, but he is jealous that she got an acceptance letter from her first choice while his future is still up in the air.

"Good for you…" he says with the best convincing smile her can muster.

He can tell that Lynn didn't notice as she continues to talk about how she got into the school, how relieved she is, and how proud her family is of her. Francisco tries to keep his cool, but the more Lynn talks, the more he wants her to shut up and let him wallow in silence.

"So have you heard back from anyone?"

Francisco doesn't want to sour her good mood. She's still all smiles as she stares down at the new student brochure that she received.

"They've been quiet."

"Really? Jeez! You'd think that with twenty-first century technology a university would be able to get back with someone real fast."

He nods his head in agreement, "Right."

"Well, it doesn't matter, you've got four schools to choose from. I mean, Western Michigan'll be close to home, and we'll be rivals and whatnot, but maybe a change of scenery will be good too. Who else did you talk with?"

"UT Arlington and Santa Clara," he answers.

She quickly counts the schools, "Wait, you said that you talked to four schools, what happened to the other one?"

He doesn't say a thing, and he goes back to throwing the ball.

Lynn looks over at him, but he moves away to keep her from seeing him face, afraid that it'll give away what he's feeling.

"Hello! I asked you a question."

Francisco stays quiet, but Lynn is not making it easy. She keeps talking in an effort to get an answer out of him, but he stubbornly refuses to give in.

"Hey! What's with you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he says as he walks towards to the dugout.

Lynn follows after him. Francisco tries to quicken his steps, but she manages to keep up with him, "You know that I'm not gonna stop 'til I get an answer."

He turns around and looks at her, "Fine! I applied to Central Florida–"

"That's great."

"But I can't go without a scholarship."

He does make a point, "Okay, so one school didn't work out, but it's not the end of the world. You still three other schools–"

"Two," he corrects. "I have two other schools. Western Michigan withdrew their offer."

"Oh…" she says, looking down to avoid his gaze.

"I mean, sure, I technically got into Central Florida, but I didn't get the scholarship that I needed. What good would it do me to go to an out-of-state school without a scholarship? My family and I can't afford that!"

"Alright, alright, well it's not the end of the world. I mean, you're still a smart guy, couldn't you get an academic scholarship?"

He kicks the ground, "I'm not that smart, Lynn."

She's beginning to get sick of his attitude. She knows that he's frustrated, but he's throwing in the towel with two schools left to go, "Well, what makes you think that the other schools aren't going to accept you? And did Western Michigan just say no or no scholarship?"

"No scholarship," he answers. "But even then, my family can't afford tuition."

"Really? What about grants? Lori said that one of her friends got a grant and it covered like five thousand a year."

"Tuition is nearly seven thousand a semester, not to mention the differential tuition because I want to study engineering, books, and the dorm. A little grant isn't going to cover that."

"Have you tried? You might earn more money to study. You always said that you played baseball so that you can earn a scholarship, you had to have had a back-up plan or something, or were you actually excited to play college ball?" she asks with a little smile on her face.

"Yeah…"

"I knew you would come around," she says before punching him in the arm. "Well, it isn't impossible, there's always open try-outs."

"I would still have to go and pay for school."

"Then take time off, or go to community college or something. You get to stay home, take some classes, get a job, save some money, train in your down time, try for one of the local colleges. Heck, I bet that Oakland or Wayne State would think twice about not offering you a scholarship earlier. So why are you upset? You know that you'll find a way." She place her arm around his shoulder and forces him down to her level, "Besides, if you stay nearby we can still hang out on weekends, instead of you going off to some school on the other side of the country."

He chuckles, "Alright, alright, now let me up."

Lynn releases him, "Alright, but only 'cause I like you." When he gets up, she looks up at him to remind him, "You're gonna be okay," she says as she gives him a light punch on his chin. "C'mon, let's go get a Flippee. You're buying."

"When did I agree to that?"

Lynn begins to run, "When you got to Flip's last!" she says, laughing as she leaves him in her dust.

After getting their Flippees, the two walk towards Francisco's house.

"I wanna ask you something, there's this rumor going around that you tackled a mailman to the ground and beat him for being late. Is it true?"

"I didn't tackle him, I chased him, and I only did it because I thought he was holding out giving me my mail."

"Yeah, that sounds better," he says sarcastically.

She shoves him, "Hey, my mail is my property. Woah, I sounded like Grouse there for a minute," she says before laughing at the silly incident.

Francisco joins her as they spend the rest of the walk talking about sports and trivial matters as they keep the silence away. If what Lynn says is right, in the coming fall, neither one will be able to see each other on the same frequent basis that they're accustomed to. She'll be off in Ann Arbor and he's going to have the whole summer to figure out what to do with himself. Before, it seemed like his dreams were going to be dashed, and in true Lynn-fashion, she pulled him up to at least see something when he was ready to quit.

He looks over at her, as she stares at everything around them in the neighborhood, sipping on her cherry Flippee, and he smiles.

As they arrive to his house, Francisco notices an envelope sticking out of his mailbox. For a brief moment, he thinks that it could be from one of the two schools that hasn't answered him yet, but he decides to hold back in case he is wrong. He grabs the envelope and sees that it is from California, he opens it and inside are brochures and a letter congratulating him on his acceptance.

"I got in," he quietly says. "I got in," he says a little louder. "Isn't it great?" he asks her.

Lynn looks over at the letter. On it, she can see the letter congratulating him on his admission, while also mentioning the words 'baseball scholarship'. He got what he wanted and come fall, he's going off to school across the country. With the biggest smile, she can muster, Lynn congratulates him, "Yeah…great…"


Francisco looks over at her, "A-Are you serious?" he asks.

Lynn nods her head.

He stops to think about what she just said and begins to make a list of things that he's going to need, 'I'm gonna have to fix the spare room, paint it, get a crib, clothes, baby-proof the house, start stockpiling diapers in the basement or somewhere. Now how am I going to do all that with our finances so screwed up? I'm sure I could ask Lynn's family to lend us some baby gear, they probably have a bunch to loan each other and chances are Elena will ask Caroline so I guess that could help, heck, maybe Lola's not such a monster and could waive the payments for a while. I should still try to find another source of money regardless…I could probably get another job, it's not like the restaurant needs me full-time, so as long as the orders are being made, Lynn and others can handle themselves. That should work.'

"Are you okay?" asks Lynn.

Francisco looks over at her, "What?"

"Did you hear what I said? We're gonna have a baby."

Hearing it a second time made it more real to him. After Lynn miscarried before and after learning about the subject in an effort to comfort himself and her, he learned of the difficulties that they could face conceiving again. Now as he stares at her anxious eyes, he begins to chuckle, "I can't believe it. So we're gonna, are you sure? I mean, after," he nervously moves his hands as if it will help him say what he wants to say.

"Yeah, the doctor said I was."

She isn't sure if he's nervous in a good way or a bad way. She knows that money is tight at the moment, but they've been able to stay afloat, and if he was gutsy enough to propose, then he should have thought that they were going to fine.

'But that was before he knew that was going to be a dad again…'

A subtle smile forms on his lips as he tries to think of what to say in the calmest way possible. Fans around them are cheering their heads off, but he didn't just want to blurt out like an idiot how happy he was to hear that is going to have another child, "H-How far along are you?"

"Not that far, just a couple of months."

Francisco was hoping that she could say more, but he also knows that she's nervous too. He doesn't know how long she has been sitting on this information and now that she admitted it to him, he isn't saying or doing much.

"When are you, when are we, when is the baby due?"

"Umm…I think the doctor said May."

"Okay…"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just, trying to wrap my head around this and everything else going on through my head. I feel like I'm going a million miles an hour here."

"Welcome to my world," she remarks.

Francisco puts the ring box away and gets out of his seat. He takes her hand and then pulls her into a hug.

She returns the gesture and asks, "Do you think we're gonna be okay?"

"We'll figure something out. I'm just so happy."

She smiles, "Good."

Elena looks over at her dad and Lynn with a smile on her face. She's thrilled for them. After so many years, they're finally moving forward with their relationship. She knew that not much would have changed, considering their current behavior as a couple, but them moving forward is a good step for the two.

She puts her phone away and looks over at Lucy, "Did you know that she was pregnant?"

"I just found out," she says as she texts someone on her phone. "Did you know he was going to propose?"

"Yeah, I was hiding the ring in my room. I'm so happy for them," Elena gushes. "I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this."

Lucy looks over at the teen, "You're starting to sound like some of our sisters."

She remembers a time, when some of their sisters were gushing over Lynn getting together with Francisco, especially since she never told him that she liked him as kids. At first, they wanted to know everything about the couple, but Lynn was quiet and preferred to keep her relationship more under wraps. At some point, the sisters understood and stopped asking, but it never stopped some of them from wondering how Lynn's relationship was faring. Lucy knew that it wouldn't be a magical spectacle, that isn't who Lynn is, and despite how plain it may look from the outside, she knew that the relationship meant something to the couple.

Francisco and Lynn get out of their seats, and start walking hand-in-hand towards the two, who are waiting to go.

"Where's Rocky?" asks Francisco.

"He's at the souvenir shop. He said that he'll meet us by the exit."

"Aww I wanted to get another ball cap," complains Lynn.

"Well, then don't toss them onto the field next time."

"It was good luck! We won, didn't we? Now let's go, I wanna get something before all the good stuff is gone," says Lynn as she pulls Francisco towards the souvenir shop.

"But Rocky already bought us something," says Lucy, who is ignored, as Lynn continues to drag Francisco to the souvenir shop.

Elena reassures Lucy, "She'll figure it out, I hope."

Neither one believes it and they decide to run after the couple. The two catch up to the couple, who are embracing each other in the middle of the open area, surrounded by cheering Tigers fans. Lucy and Elena lead them towards Rocky, who is waiting by the exit with a bag in hand.

"Lucy told me the good news, and we decided to get you guys a little gift."

"You didn't have to do that," insists Francisco. "The tickets, food, everything was more than enough."

"Then call it an early baby shower gift," says Lucy, as she hands them the bag with the championship hats, a pennant, and little onesie that looks like the Tigers uniform.

Francisco quietly thanks them, and after Lynn looks in the bag, she shyly pulls them into a hug and thanks them both for being with them today, "Thanks…"

It doesn't sound like much, but they know the emotions that she is trying to express behind that one little word.

"You're welcome," says Lucy.

Lynn lets go, "I guess you guys have to go, right?"

"Yeah, the babysitter is probably wondering where we are," says Rocky.

"We'll see you later," says Lucy before congratulating her sister and future brother-in-law one more time.

The three head to their truck, and once inside, Elena looks over at Lynn, "So did you say yes or no to marrying my dad?"

"What?"

"You never answered him."

"Are you sure? I thought I did."

"You didn't, but I kinda stopped worrying when I heard your news."

"It was the more important one."

Francisco rolls his eyes. He takes the ring out of his pocket and looks over at Lynn, "So what do you say, will you marry me?"

Lynn looks at him and then at Elena, who is pulling her best puppy-dog eye routine, and then back at Francisco. She takes the ring, and then pulls him into a kiss.

When she breaks the kiss, Lynn looks at him, "Does that answer your question?"

"Couldn't just say yes, could you?" he playfully asks.

As she puts on the ring, she looks over at him, "What's the fun in that?"


With only two chapters left I'm getting a little sad to see the story end. A part of me wonders if I have it in me to write a sequel, but I have other fanfics I want to write, so probably not in the near future or until I have enough material worthy of a story

Anyway, it's nice to see the two sisters get along again, sorry Margo and Lily, you two got cut in favor of Lucy.

As always, I'd like thank you guys for reading and see you next time