Kiké pulls up the wedding video that was recently delivered to the newlyweds. After missing the wedding last month, he figured that this is his opportunity to see what he missed out on, "Hmmm…maybe, but I know that there's a better-looking model of you, so why settle?" he fast-forwards a bit, "Pretty, but you feel like jailbait," he says as he continues with the video, "a little fat and possibly a pushover, next! Maybe, but too loose. Way too clingy, nope! Yes, but too vanilla. Dang, even dressed up, you aren't making much improvement, well at least the 'bride' can rest knowing she isn't the worst," Kiké says as he continues, "Maybe, she looks like she would be some fun, so yes. Now, you might be just as fun, especially with how you dress up," he chuckles. He pauses the video and looks at the screen, "They say that the prettiest things in nature tend to be the deadliest, are you worth it?"

"What are you doing?" asks Chuy.

Kiké looks up and sees his brother and niece, "Just watching the wedding, you know, since I wasn't invited."

"You were in Argentina."

"There's a post office at the end of the world, what excuse do you have?"

Chuy and Elena take a seat next to him, "You wouldn't have come to their wedding," the older brother reasons.

"Exactly, why would you go to a wedding of someone you don't even like?"

"I wanted the option to say no."

The two roll their eyes, "So why did you break into their house?"

"Because they weren't home."

"I think he means, why are you here?"

He leans and loudly whispers, "Because you and mom want to know what the baby is, and I got outnumbered two to one."

Today, Lynn and Francisco have an ultrasound appointment, and despite the couple already knowing what they're expecting, neither one has said anything. Elena is sure that in a matter of time one of them will accidentally reveal what everyone is curious to know, but so far, luck has not been on her side.

"I hope it's a girl," says Elena with a hint of yearning in her voice. "That way I can have a little brother and a little sister. I could read her stories, dress her up, play with some of my old toys…"

As Elena continues to list off activities, Chuy and Kiké can hear how much she would prefer a sister over another brother. It isn't surprising considering how their mom is, though they hope that she takes it better in case it doesn't pan out.

"Well, I hope it's a girl too," says Chuy.

"Gee, I wonder why?" asks Kiké with sarcasm in his voice.

The two brothers laugh, though Elena doesn't know why.

Kiké pulls out a fifty-dollar bill from his wallet, "Do you guys wanna bet?"

"No!" the uncle and niece say.

"I'm guessing that you guys are too afraid to put your money where your mouths are," he says, clearly trying to tempt them into taking the bet, but neither one budges. "Fine! Be that way," he complains as he puts his money away.

Elena turns to Chuy, "Why do you hope that it's a girl?"

"So that mom leaves him alone," Kiké answers for him. "You bought us a couple of years, but you're getting older, and mom wanted more than one granddaughter."

Alicia never made it a secret that she favors girls over boys in the family. She was more excited to buy presents for her nieces and would always push her sons to adopt girls. In fact, the brothers are sure that Francisco had an easier time when Elena was born because she willingly helped out as much as she did.

"Well, the Louds seem to have luck having daughters first," states Elena.

"Wait, all of them had daughters first?" asks Kiké.

"Yeah, every one of Lynn's siblings who have kids, have had girls first."

Chuy thinks back to the wedding and he noticed the sheer number of nieces that Lynn has, so Elena does make a point. While he knows that he shouldn't count on that happening again, lightning struck the Louds enough that it is possible that his brother and wife will be introducing a daughter into the family.

"I guess there are advantages to having girls," Kiké says while looking over at Elena, "They tend to like their dads over their moms–"

"That's not true, I love them both equally."

He shrugs his shoulders, "Yeah, that's why you like hanging out more with us," he tells her. "They like pretty things like glitter and ponies, and best of all – they can marry pro athletes who will give their dad and nice uncle season tickets."

"You only like sports so that you can bet on them," Chuy reminds his brother.

"So I sell the tickets at a mark-up, who cares?"

Neither one says a thing. Soon after, Francisco walks through the door with a box for a crib in his hands. His brothers and daughter look at him and he can feel their staring, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, we just wanted to ask you something," starts Kiké. "Have you bought much for the baby?"

Chuy and Elena casually look away but listen for Francisco's answer.

Before he is able to say anything, Lynn walks in with a large cardboard box from the secondhand store, and both brothers immediately say, "Got it."

Elena turns towards her uncles, "Wait, what does that mean?"


Chuy and Kiké follow their mom through the aisles of the store. Both boys can see where their mom is leading them to, and they silently groan. Like every time that they've gone to the store with their mom, she leads them towards the baby section to look through the girls' clothing.

She picks up a little dress and turns to her sons, "¿Qué piensán?"

They both shrug their shoulders indifferent to the dress presented to them. The three do this every weekend, even before Alicia learned that she was pregnant, but now as her baby grows, it seems like the idea of a daughter is more on her mind. After two sons, they know that she desperately wants a little girl, though that was clear even in her second pregnancy.

Alicia presents her sons with another little outfit, but Kiké's face makes is clear that he and his brother are not going to bother. She sighs and lets her sons to go to the toy section. The two run off, leaving their mom behind as she continues to admire the clothes that she hopes to dress her daughter in.

The brothers run to the toy section and begin to play with the boxed toys. Between the two of them, they didn't have a lot to play with and tended to use their time at the store to at least pretend they had something new.

"When are they gonna find out if it's a boy or a girl?" complains Kiké as he presses down on the buttons of the toy piano.

Chuy shrugs his shoulders, "I think mom said that she was going to the doctor this week."

"Do you think that it's gonna be a girl?"

Chuy shrugs his shoulders. He isn't too worried either way, he's more concerned about the sleeping arrangements, the crying, and his parents. Recently, he noticed that their parents have been more tense than usual, no doubt stemming from the news of their new brother or sister. He and Kiké hear their parents talking at night and while they can't always hear everything, he can't imagine that it's good if they only talk when both brothers are asleep.

"I don't know, but if it's a boy, then it's gonna be three of us in one room."

Hearing that makes Kiké shudder. It was bad enough that they barely got a room to themselves and separate beds so that they wouldn't have to share; he doesn't want to think about sharing that little room with another brother.

"But then if it's a girl, what's gonna happen?"

Chuy shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, maybe she'll sleep with mom and dad."

"Then what?"

The older brother isn't sure. He imagines that it shouldn't be much a problem at the moment, but when their baby sister gets older, the family is going to need a bigger apartment or a house. It took their parents years for them to finally move into an apartment with two bedrooms, he can't imagine that it'll be easy when they have a third kid to worry about.

Alicia passes by the toy section and calls out to her sons, "¡Ya vamonos!"

The boys leave behind the toys that they were playing with and follow their mom.

The next weekend, Alicia takes the boys to the store again, except instead of fawning over girl's clothes, she skims through the boy's clothes to find something for her son.


Meet me in the empty room after school
Come alone

Elena looks around her classroom to make sure that her teacher doesn't see her when she sends the response. The last part of the message has her wondering what to expect, but before she is able to place much thought on it, the teacher begins lecturing again.

After school, when most of the students are gone, Elena stands alone waiting for one of her parents to pick her up. She looks at her phone and notices the late hour. Her parents are usually never the type to keep her waiting over an hour after school has ended without a phone call or a message.

"Where are they?" she asks herself.

The sound of honking interrupts her as she types a message to both of her parents. Elena looks up and notices her mom waving at her.

When the car pulls up to her, Elena gets into the car, and her mom immediately apologizes, "Sorry, I was late. I wish that your dad would have told me sooner that you needed to be picked up and dropped off."

"It's okay, I was able to keep myself busy. Did he happen to mention why he couldn't pick me up?"

"No, just that he was busy and couldn't leave the house."

"That's weird. I wonder why Lynn couldn't pick me up."

"Apparently she made this huge mess in the house, that and I'm not comfortable with you riding around in the broken-down vehicle of hers."

Elena doesn't blame her mom, even she isn't that trusting of Dutch, especially in the winter months. While she hasn't had the misfortune of being in the car when it broke down, she doesn't like risking it whenever Lynn insists on driving the old vehicle.

"Couldn't she have taken his truck?"

"I asked him that, but he said that he had the keys. I don't understand what that is supposed to mean or why he couldn't hand them over to her, but he insisted that I should come over and pick you up."

Elena decides that she can probably ask him what's going on when she gets home.

As she walks into the house, Elena doesn't see or hear anyone around. She walks towards her room to put her stuff away, when she hears the door creak and her dad looking towards her.

"Thank goodness you're finally here," he says.

"Sorry it took so long, I had to wait until mom came to pick me up. What's going on?" she asks before Francisco pulls her into the newly painted nursery.

She looks around at the walls and the crib, before she is presented with a twenty dollar bill from his wallet and hands it to her, "I need you distract Lynn, take her to Meijer's and say that you need some chips or something."

"Why?"

Francisco wipes away the sweat on his brow, "I would like to be able to leave the room at some point."

Elena is confused, "What?"

"It's not important," he whispers. "Look, I just need you to get Lynn out of the house and take at least ten minutes."

"Dad, that still doesn't–"

Before Elena is able to finish that thought, Francisco kicks her out of the room. She knocks on the door of the nursery, but her dad doesn't answer.

"He's painting the nursery," Lynn yells from her room. Elena walks over to the bedroom and notices a large pile of clothes on the ground and Lynn digging around the closet looking for something.

"What are you doing?"

Lynn looks over at Elena, "Nothing, just waiting for your dad to finish."

"That doesn't really explain–"

"I swear he's taking forever. I mean how long does it take to finish painting a nursery?"

"Well, he's already–"

A whispered, "Psst," comes from the nursery.

Elena turns around and sees her dad shake his head. She isn't sure what is going on, but if her dad is listening in, she's sure that he isn't going to let her find out, "Hey Lynn, can we go to Meijer's? I could use some chips or something."

"You barely eat junk food," she reasons. "Why would you want chips?"

Elena is surprised that Lynn didn't immediately jump on the idea of snacks, though she's more surprised that Lynn remembered that little fact, "No, I figure that with the, uh…" she stops to think of a sporting event, "uh, Super Bowl coming up, you and dad might want something before all the good snacks are gone. My treat," she says, pulling out the twenty that her dad gave her.

"Okay," says Lynn. "We'll clean up when we get back."

The teen isn't sure when she agreed to help Lynn clean her dad's clothes off the floor, but rather than fight it, she follows Lynn. As the two pass down the hallway, they can hear the creaking sound of the door closing.

"Francisco, we're going to Meijer's, do you want something?"

Through the door, he answers, "No, I'm good. Though I guess a few vegetables wouldn't be such a bad thing."

"I guess, I'll get you celery and carrot sticks and call it a day."

"I meant for you."

"I'm doing great and it's not like I'm not eating all the food groups."

"Marinara sauce and French fries don't count as vegetables."

Lynn scowls. She knows that she hasn't exactly been holding up the best diet throughout her pregnancy, but aside from a little lightheadedness and some shortness of breath, she's fine.

"I'm fine," she assures him. "Now let me see that damn nursery," she demands as she tries to pry the door open.

Francisco leans against the door to keep her out, "It's still not ready."

"Who cares? I don't mind."

"I do."

Elena watches the two of them go back and forth; as Lynn presses her face along the door frame as if it's going to help her get into the nursery and her dad, as he insists that he isn't finished painting, despite the walls being fully painted when she arrived home.

Lynn takes a deep breath before stopping her efforts, "Fine, I'll be back, but I'm gonna wanna see the nursery when I get back, got it?"

"Yes."

"And we're keeping that room between the three of us, got it," Lynn declares, as she stares at Elena.

"Okay…?" she mutters, unsure of why Lynn wants to keep it a secret. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me get my keys and I'll meet you in the garage."

The teenager dreads the idea of going to Meijer's in Dutch. When she's sure that Lynn can't hear her, she knocks on the nursery door and whispers to her dad, "Can you please give Lynn the keys to your truck?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's snowing outside and you know how Dutch gets."

She can hear him sigh, but he still doesn't open the door, "I know," he says, "but she can't adjust the seat and reach the pedals."

"She did it before."

"She wasn't pregnant before."

Elena takes a deep breath, "Fine. We'll go, but can you please tell me why you won't open the door?"

Before Francisco is able to answer her, Lynn calls out to her stepdaughter, "Ready to go?"

Elena looks at the door and realizes that her dad might not answer with Lynn around, "Yeah, I'm ready," she says as she walks towards the garage.

Francisco listens for the sounds of fading footsteps. When he doesn't hear either one, he slowly opens the door to walk towards his bathroom. However, he can sense someone's eyes on him.

"You don't want to come?" asks Lynn, who is leaning against the wall, waiting for him.

Startled, he turns around, "I don't have time to get cleaned up," he says as he slowly steps back towards their room.

Lynn matches him step for step, "Don't worry about it. You know I don't mind," she says with a smile as she quickens her pace.

"Well, I think someone else does," he says, before crashing against the wall. He can feel his heart racing with each step she takes. Francisco scrambles away, but his arm is caught by Lynn.

He looks over at her, "C'mon," she whines, "is it really that bad? I mean, I wouldn't complain if I were you."

"I'm not, but," he starts, as he feels Lynn's lips brush up against his.

"Lynn! Are we going to get the chips or not?"

"Dang it…" she mutters under her breath. "I'll be back," she says before giving him one last kiss and walking away.

He watches her as she walks away, "Don't ram the shopping carts!" he reminds her.

"You really weren't complaining," she teases.

After the excursion, Elena bursts into the house, "I'll call dad to help us out!" she tells Lynn. "How the heck did you devour that whole chicken and not kill us, I'll never know," she says to herself. She spots her dad on the couch watching tv, "Can you help us with the bags?"

He looks over at her, "Bags? What did you two buy?"

"I would have said dinner, but that doesn't apply anymore," says Elena as she leads him towards the garage.

Lynn steps into the kitchen with almost all the bags in her arms. She notices the father and daughter walk towards her, and all she can say, "Oh, you took a shower."

"I needed it after finishing up."

"I guess."

Francisco takes the bags from her and places them on the counter. He looks at everything that the two bought – ten bags of chips, four two-liters of pop, an open container of Scooperman ice cream, and two rotisserie chicken containers – one is completely devoured and the other is half-eaten, "What the? Why did you buy so much?"

Lynn pulls out a spoon to grab a quick bite of the ice cream, "I was hungry."

"You ate a chicken, while driving," Elena reminds her.

"Well I didn't eat it before I bought this stuff, and besides, I offered you some."

"While speeding down the highway," she mutters under her breath.

Francisco glares at her to remind her to not be rude, then turns to Lynn, whose hand and mouth are stained with the red, yellow, and blue ice cream. He chuckles as she excitedly eats the ice cream, which also happens to be the first new food that she's eaten in months.

Lynn notices his staring. She smiles before leaning over and gives him a kiss, "There, now you get a taste."


Rita wakes up. She can feel her daughter kicking away again, and she sighs wondering how much longer until her little one learns to sleep through the night. For days, Rita has not been able to get a good night's sleep, and she misses it dearly. She rubs her hand over her daughter in hopes that it begins to soothe her.

"You really have a lot of energy, don't you?" she asks.

The kicking commences again, and Rita somewhat regrets her question, but regardless, she's happy to know that her daughter is doing okay. Rita is used to it, after four pregnancies, she's no stranger to kicking in the night, and it reminds her that her baby is doing okay.

She begins to hum a lullaby and Lynn looks over at his wife and asks, "She can't sleep?"

Rita shakes her head, "Nope. The others were never awake this late. How are we going to do it when she's here?"

He kisses her head, "Don't worry. We figured it out with four girls, one more baby isn't going to throw us for a loop." He begins to rub his hand over her growing belly. "Our last little baby, can you believe it?"

Rita looks over at him. When they got married, they both agreed that they wanted a large family, with plenty of kids. They thought that five kids would be perfect, especially with the number of bedrooms they have, and after such a short time, they're already on baby number five.

"Can we name her Lynn? You know that I've always wanted a baby named Lynn."

He technically wanted a son to name Lynn Jr. but if they are serious about the five kids, then he doesn't want to miss out on passing down his name, plus it was convenient that it works for a girl.

Rita looks at his puppy-dog eyes and she can't resist his request, "Okay, hopefully she has brown hair or it's going to be a little silly," she giggles.

"Yes!" he cheers, excited to finally have a little Lynn Jr. "You hear that, LJ? You have a name. I can't wait to tell your sisters. They're going be so excited."

"Are you sure? I think that the girls might be a bit disappointed."

He knows. Every morning when he gets up to make breakfast, he notices the new piece of paper with names that each of the girls have suggested. The parents know that their daughters want to be involved in the naming process, especially after they said that it's going to be the last baby, but he's just as excited to name his new daughter too.

"Well, I'll find a way to make it up to them. We can make cookies, listen to good ol' rock n' roll from across the pond, or take them to Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle."

"That sounds more like something we would do in case we didn't name her Lynn," says Rita, aware of the night that he planned for himself.

"That's not true! The girls love cookies."

"And the rock music and comedy?"

"Those are still things we can enjoy as a family."


Francisco packs his cooler with food and his thermos with hot chocolate. Today is Lynn's baby shower, and like the last one that took place in his house, he plans on occupying himself outdoors. He volunteered to cook the food alongside Jackson, which should allow him to show up enough while not feeling stuck sitting around with the others.

"I think I have everything," he says to himself. "Hot dogs, burgers, and the buns are staying here."

Elena, who is shivering, walks over to Francisco, "D-Dad, can I please turn on the heater? It's freezing in here."

"I know, but in a few minutes the guests will be here and it might help warm the house up."

"Because of the crowd of people or because everyone is going to be complaining to Lynn?"

"Both."

Recently, Lynn has been complaining about how warm she feels, which has lead her to keeping the house, truck, and restaurant cool in an effort to keep herself from fixating on the heat. Francisco didn't mind at first and was fine with wearing a jacket in the house, though he has grown concerned since the house feels almost as cold as it is outside.

"You sure that you don't want to stick around a little, we've got cake," offers Lynn.

"Didn't work the first time, not working this time. Besides, Jackson and I gonna cook up some food for everyone and maybe join you guys when you open your presents."

"What are you making?"

As Lynn looks though the cooler, Elena leans over to her dad, "Does her voice sound different to you?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind, I can't believe that you're going to spend the whole afternoon with Jackson, instead of being here with us."

He looks over at Elena, "It's going to be weird being the only man around–"

"We can invite Jackson," offers Lynn.

Francisco looks over at Lynn, "No, I think we'll be fine being around the fire pit."

"In the snow?"

"Well we can't change the weather and I'm sure that you and everyone will appreciate some warm food," he says as he grabs the cooler and rolls it towards Jackson's backyard.

"You know that Lisa can actually change the weather," says Lynn as she follows Francisco.

"She can?" Francisco and Elena exclaim.

"Yup, but NASA and environmental groups tend to get mad at her for it."

Jackson waves over at the family, inviting them towards his fire pit, "Hello neighbors, how are you this afternoon?" The older man notices Lynn in shorts and t-shirt, "Aren't you cold?"

She waves it off, "I've been through worse. Besides, I'm not leaving until I at least get a hot dog or something."

"I can offer you a warm apple," he says as he hands her the foiled treat.

Everyone can see that she's not enthusiastic about receiving fruit, but regardless she takes the tinfoil from the man.

As Lynn eats, Jackson heads into his house, "I have something for the two of you," he says as he pulls out a wrapped box. "I figure that with a little bundle of joy coming you might get some use out of this."

Lynn immediately unwraps the box, Francisco smiles, "Lynn, don't you think that you should have waited until you open presents later?"

"It's gonna get opened anyway, why delay the inevitable?" she asks as she looks inside the box. "A bunch of tiny blankets–"

"Burp rags," Jackson corrects.

"Some pacifiers, onesies, a hats, thermometer," before looking through everything, Lynn looks over at her neighbor, "Dang, we should have just told everyone to bring diapers, we're pretty much covered. Thanks, Jackson."

"You're welcome, neighbors. Remind me to pass the thanks onto my friend, she sent me the box, which by the way, acts as a little bed."

"But we already have a crib."

"It's how they come in Finland."

Elena looks over at her neighbor, "What were you doing in Finland?"

"Oh, I was helping her after a nasty break-up with her ex-husband."

The four hear cars begin to pull up in front of the house, presumably the first guests arrive to the party. Elena and Lynn head inside, while the men begin preparing the food for the shower. Francisco opens his thermos of hot chocolate and looks over at the inside of his house. From Jackson's yard he can see Lynn's sisters in a flurry as they get situated and talk. He can see how uncomfortable Lynn is, and despite not being able to hear anything, he's sure that they're all fawning over the baby.

"Thanks for letting me spend a couple of hours here with you," he says as he places a hot dog on the makeshift grill rack.

"Of course, though I'm surprised that you didn't want to join in the festivities."

"One Loud sister baby shower is enough for me, besides I needed a little break from Lynn's diet."

"Is she still continuing that?" he asks. When Francisco nods his head, Jackson says, "I can't say I recommend her continuing to eat the junk food that she has, do you know why she's doing it?"

He shakes his head, but he knows the reason. Lynn told him that she thinks that if she recreates her days before she found out about the baby, then nothing bad will happen. He tries to convince that she's being silly and that she is probably doing more harm than good, but she's too stubborn to listen.

"At this point, I just want both of them to be okay after this whole ordeal," he says as he looks over at her.

"How far along is she again?"

"About five months."

Surprised, the older man responds, "Really?"

"You see it too?"

Francisco knows that all pregnancies aren't alike, but he does notice that Lynn seems smaller than her sisters and even Caroline when they were that far along. He assumes that it may be because he wasn't around them for long or because so much time has passed that he doesn't remember, but it still worries him a bit about their baby.

'We can handle it…we just have to be vigilant and work together…'

Jackson notices how quiet Francisco has gotten. He opens his mouth to say something of comfort, but the younger man speaks up first.

"She does seem rather small. Do you think that means anything?"

"It's difficult to say," is all Jackson can mutter, hoping that he won't bring Francisco down.

Inside, Alicia looks around at the party. There are young children running around, the women are talking amongst one another, and she's sitting on the couch quietly taking everything in. During their last get-together at the wedding, she at least had Chuy and Elena, but at the moment, she's alone as her granddaughter is talking with one of Lynn's sisters. She knows that Francisco probably told Elena to stay by her side so that she can be her translator, but it isn't the same as having a conversation on her own, so she sent her granddaughter to go mingle on her own.

Lisa takes a seat next to Alicia, "¿Se está divertiendose?" she asks in heavily accented Spanish.

The older woman is surprised to know that someone other than Elena can properly speak with her. She notices a blinking ear piece and something in her mouth, but she isn't sure what it is. Alicia remembers the woman being described as a genius who is not afraid of solving problems, and she assumes that this is what she is doing.

"Si."

"¿Segura? Se parece aburrida."

Alicia didn't think that she was being that obvious, but apparently her face is giving it away. Only Elena could properly speak with her and she and Raffaelina can somewhat understand each other, but that didn't work out for long.

Lisa pulls out a briefcase and shows her the devices that she is currently wearing, "¿Le gustaría probarlo?"

Alicia doesn't see the harm, considering that Lisa is wearing the same devices and seems to be doing fine. She nods her head and Lisa helps her place the devices.

The scientist removes her own devices, "Now there's going to be a little lag as it translates it to you, and your accent, along with any other verbal idiosyncrasies will appear, however, you should have no problem communicating with the rest of the guests."

Alicia is quiet for a brief moment as the translator works its magic, but soon she is able to respond, "Tank you…I 'preciate it."

"Now mind you, I have had a lot of subjects try the device, but most start losing their accents after some time, so I encourage you speak to as many people as possible."

"You don' hab to tell me twis," she says as she walks over to the other guests.

As Lisa watches Francisco's mother mingle with the other guests, she wonders why her sister was against it at the wedding.

The party progresses without a hitch. While everyone isn't completely on board with the idea of burgers and hot dogs for a baby shower, they're sure that Lynn picked out the food, considering that she hasn't touched anything aside from the ice cream.

Lola looks at the dessert, "Superman ice cream? Aren't we all a little old that?" she asks her sister.

"What's wrong with it? Besides it's great."

None of the sisters say anything, though the younger children happily consume the sugary treat with their aunt.

Lynn finishes the bowl of ice cream, "Alright, time to open presents," she declares as she grabs the box closest to her.

"Sweetie," starts Rita," "don't you think that everyone should be here?" she asks, while turning her head towards Francisco and Jackson outside.

Before looking over in the direction that her mother is pointing at, Lynn rips off a piece of the wrapping paper, "Yeah, someone should get them."

The guests are clearly expecting her to do so, but when she doesn't, Alicia, who is the closest, opens the door to loudly call out, "Pancho! We're openin' presents," the men hear in heavily accented English.

They look over and see Alicia waving at them.

Both men are surprised when they see her and no one else around. Jackson looks over, "Did she speak English just now?"

"Yeah…" Francisco says, unsure of how to process his mother's sudden grasp at the language.

The two men get up and walk into the house to join in watching the presents being opened. Everyone is sitting around the gift table as Lori pulls out her phone to record her little sister who has already opened some of the gift boxes. Throughout her pregnancy, Lynn adamantly refused to tell them if she is expecting a boy or a girl, no one knows why and thus no one knew what to get her. Some took a chance and bought outfits, but others decided to play it safe by buying practical gifts, such as diapers and baby devices.

"You can open my present next," offers Lisa.

The sisters chuckle. Lisa isn't the most creative when it comes to giving baby shower gifts. Over the years, the family members have received gender-neutral clothing or diapers, citing that she is sure to be correct every time; she wasn't wrong, but the presents didn't tend to stand out.

Lynn opens the box and is met with the sight of a blue boy's clothing, "That's new."


Juan looks down at his sleeping son and he smiles, before placing the blanket on him. He turns to his two older boys, "Van a cuidar a su hermanito, ¿verdad?"

The two brothers look at each other, unsure of how to answer. As far as either one was concerned, parents are the ones that take care of their children, not siblings. Then they remember where their dad usually takes the conversation.

"Cuando tu mamá y yo ya no estamos," he starts.

Both boys look away from him. Their parents tend to bring up the subject of death whenever they want to guilt them into behaving or doing what they want. It tends to work, but both of them are sick of hearing how they're going to be alone or how they are going to be screwed for not mastering a simple life skill.

"No," Kiké responds.

"¿Como que no?"

Kiké shrugs his shoulders. He learned a while ago that whether he says yes or no, he's still going to get the same lecture, so he doesn't see any point in raising their hopes up of being a caregiver to his younger brother.

Juan takes a seat and puts his younger son on his lap, "Chuy, ven para ca," he calls out to his oldest son. "Quiero que recuerden esto, un día su mamá y yo vamos a morir y ustedes estarán solos. Deben recordar que ustedes tres son hermanos deben cuidarse el uno al otro. Ahora Panchito es demasiado pequeño para entender, pero un día cuando ya esté grande, se van ayudarentre ustedes. ¿Entienden?"

The boys mumble a response. He's said that to them before, nearly every other week since they found out about their mom's pregnancy and they're tired of constantly hearing how they need to stick together.

"Ya duermanse, okay," he tells his sons, as he walks towards the door. When both boys are in their own beds and under their blankets, Juan turns off the lights and closes the door.

Neither one is asleep and they hear the tv in the living room, but the sounds become muffled as they hear their mom talking. Both brothers are curious. Kiké gets out of bed and quietly open their door so that he can hear what their parents are talking about.

"Dime cuando te vas a largar a trabajar," complains Alicia. "Tienes tres niños, y no les vas a dar de comer ahí aplastado mirando la tele esperando que te den trabajo."

He closes the door. Their parents have been fighting more ever since they found out about their new brother. Now that he's here, it's becoming a near everyday occurrence. From what he can overhear, it has to do with their dad not having a steady job and having family of five to support, but they tend to bring up other stuff too.

When he hears his mom passing by their room, he quickly jumps into bed to pretend to be asleep. Despite seeing that the light under their door is turned off, he knows that their parents are still awake and clearly tense with one another.

Kiké stares at the dark ceiling and then over at his little brother, who sleeping without a care in the world. Things weren't that bad when it was just the four of them, but now he hears his parents fighting more often, their room is more cramped, and he's ready to pull his hair out from all the noise.

"I liked it better before you were born and everything changed," he whispers to his little brother, unaware that his older brother is overhearing him, and somewhat agreeing with him.


Lynn watches as Francisco begins to get ready for work. Most days, she would be dragging her feet at the thought of going in to work early, but now she is practically jumping at the chance to get out of the house.

"I'm starting to feel a little better," she says to him, hoping that he'll relent and let her get out of bed.

Francisco looks over at her. He knows that she's been miserable since the doctor told her that she would have to be bed-ridden for the rest of her pregnancy, but he knows that she is not going to get better over a weekend. From what the doctor said, Lynn has elevated blood pressure, which was presumably caused by her terrible diet and by the pills that she was using to get over her headaches.

Francisco takes her hand, "Lynn, relax for a minute, this is for the best."

"The best, my ass! What the heck am I supposed to do in bed all day?"

"I don't know, Lynn, but you can't walk around or do anything strenuous. Look, I told Jackson, and he said that he would come by later today after he finishes building a chair for his friend."

"Why does he need to build a chair? Can't his friend buy one?"

"I don't really try figuring out why Jackson does what he does, heck, I couldn't even understand the phone call they had."

"Wait, why not?"

"I don't know; it was in another language. Look, it's not important, just promise me that you'll try to stay in bed," he pleads.

Lynn looks at him and quietly nods her head. She isn't happy about the situation, but she has no choice.

"Two more things before I go," he says, extending his hand to her, "hand me Lisa's pills." She complies, but as a precaution, Francisco asks, "Is that all?"

"Yes!" she complains, annoyed at the accusation.

"I'm not trying to be a pain," he says as he pockets the medication, "but you heard what the doctor said. We don't know what's in these pills and they may be the cause of your hypertension."

"Give them to Lisa. Maybe she can figure out what the hell went so wrong," she complains as she holds her head.

He sighs, "I know. I'll text you whenever I can," he says before giving her a kiss. "You can get through this," he assures her. "Before you know it, I'll be home."

As Francisco leaves the house, he sends out a text message to her sisters, hoping that one of them can keep her company while she's alone at home. For the last three days, she had someone to keep her company, but if catching her in the backyard last night after he dropped off Elena is any indication, then she'll need someone around until she's used to the idea of bed rest.

"I hope that someone can come over," he tells himself before heading to work.

Over the next hour, Lynn tries to get some sleep, find something to watch online, or talk with anyone, but without someone around, staying in bed is a nightmare. Even as a kid, if she was sick, she didn't like staying bed, but how she has no choice.

Lynn looks down and tells her baby, "You better appreciate what I'm putting up with for you."

There is no response.

"Yeah, you don't understand me. You probably don't know why I have to stay in bed either." She sighs, "Just a few more months is all," she says with dread in her voice.

Lynn hears the street come alive from her bedroom window, and she is jealous of everyone that can go out without issue and annoyed that she is alone with no one around to talk to about anything other than her baby and bedrest. She groans in frustration. Despite craving someone to talk to, she buries herself under her blanket. Since her family and friends heard the news, they'll occasionally call to ask how she's doing and she's sick of answering the same questions over and over again.

"And those stupid verbal tests are getting…" she starts before her stomach growls, "I need an after-breakfast snack," she tells herself as she get up.

Lynn rifles through the pantry in search of anything to eat. After spending months eating the same foods, she is getting sick of the same meals, but she isn't going to argue with results, especially with only three months to go. She searches the fridge, but her brain is immediately repulsed by the sight of her typical breakfast foods, except for one. Lynn pulls out a packet of bacon and as she turns around towards the direction of the stove, she begins to feel dizzy.

"Stupid bed…something…" she mutters, unable to finish that thought.

With the bacon placed on the hot pan, Lynn heads over to the garage to check on her bike and turn it on. She looks around for the key, but is interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Lynn can hear Lily calling out to her, warning her that she's going to walk through the door after she finds the spare key.

Lily walks in with a box of electronics to spend the day with her sister, but is startled by the sight of her walking around when she's supposed to be in bed, "Hey, Ly– what are you doing?"

Lynn looks over at her sister. She wasn't expecting her to come over and she isn't sure if she wants to see her. The two haven't talked much since the wedding, which itself was a bit awkward when she's tense with three sisters. While it was fine then, there was a crowd of people around to keep everyone entertained.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily sets down her box, "Francisco asked one of us to come over and keep you company."

While Lynn isn't entirely opposed to having company, she was hoping for it to be someone other than her sister.

"I'm fine," Lynn declares.

Lily pulls out a game console, "Really? Not even for a chance to beat your favorite little sister at the latest and greatest fighting game?" asks Lily.

Lynn begins to consider it. It isn't like she'll be able to get out of the house and it something to do and someone to talk to, "Alright, come on in."

Lily chuckles, "I knew that that would get you."

The sound of the smoke alarm goes off and Lily rushes over to the kitchen and notices the pan of burning bacon. She puts down her console and removes the pan from the flame. The younger sister looks over at her sister, who is walking away towards the garage, as if unfazed by the possibility that she could have burned down her kitchen.

Lily runs after her, "Where are you going?"

"I'm hungry and I think there's bananas in the garage."

"When aren't you? But seriously, weren't you paying attention to whatever this is now?"

Lynn grabs a burnt piece of bacon and immediately spits it out, "That's terrible. We should make some more."

"Or you don't eat salty bacon after your doctor complained about you having high blood pressure."

Lynn shrugs off her sister, "What do they know? Lisa's got plenty of fancy degrees and she still makes mistakes. Hell, isn't she still being observed by the government?"

"Well it isn't like she doesn't do the same back. I'm pretty sure she has enough to blackmail the head of the CIA."

The older sister begins to walk away and Lily follows after her. She knows that Lynn is thick-headed and that she won't easily listen to the doctor's advice, so she'll have to entice her with something that she likes.

"C'mon, time for bed, we've got to see who the better fighter is," says Lily as she leads Lynn back to her bedroom. "Unless you don't think that you can beat me."

The words are enough for Lynn as she quickly walks to her hands her sister a remote before setting up the game on the tv. While the sisters pick out their characters, Lily looks over at Lynn, who is engrossed with the character selection screen.

When both sisters pick out their characters and location, the game announcer screams "Ready…fight!" to commence the match.

Both sisters press the buttons in hopes of besting the other with the right set of combos. On almost any other occasion, Lynn is the only competition freak, but video games are where Lily shines and she isn't going to let her sister best her, especially when she holds the title of one of Michigan's Best Gamers.

With a final blow, the round is over, "K.O.! Player Lynn wins!"

Lily stares at the screen, "Best six out of eleven."

Lynn knows that Lily didn't appreciate the loss and gladly takes her sister on for another round. With each passing round, the sisters get more competitive and by the time they reach the eleventh round, the two are tied. The older sister tightly grips her controller; she doesn't plan on going down so easily and refuses to let her sister best her at fighting game.

The round starts. Both sisters stare at the screen looking for any opportunity to get the upper hand over the other, unfortunately for Lynn, Lily found it first. When the younger sister got her opening, she showed no mercy and got her sixth win.

"Yes! Winner!"

Lynn angrily throws the controller towards the foot of the bed and crosses her arms.

"Oh c'mon, don't tell me you're gonna throw a fit because you lost."

Lily looks over at her sister, who isn't answering. She knows that Lynn doesn't like losing, but she isn't going to throw the match to spare her sister's feelings.

"You know, if you're going to act like this, I might as well go."

"Okay."

"Seriously? You'd rather pout than accept the loss."

Without looking over at Lily, Lynn responds, "I'm accepting it."

"Yeah, it's just hidden under your well-known charm."

Lynn glares at her sister, "Hey! If you don't want to be here, you can go and do whatever the hell you want. I'll be fine on my own."

Lily looks at her sister, who is purposely gazing towards the window. She is tempted to leave Lynn sitting around, bored with nothing to do, but she can tell that something else is on her mind. She's sure that it has to do with her what happened, and as much as Lily is over it, she can tell that Lynn isn't.

Hoping to ease some tension with her sister, Lily sighs, "I'm not going to go."

"Go, you know you want to."

Rather than let Lynn continue to throw her fit, Lily gives her sister a piece of her mind, "Okay, that's it. I get it, you're mad at me, but you're not exactly Ms. Perfect Attitude. I know that you're also still mad at Lisa and I don't know what you and Luna are arguing about, but everyone can tell that something's been up for a while, even if she still comes around for your stuff. I don't know what she did, and I don't care, but you have to get over this crap. We didn't want to go a game, so you throw a fit like a little kid. You just hate us, is that it?"

Lynn quietly mutters, "I don't hate you…"

"Good to know, because I can't exactly buy your love back with World Series tickets like Lucy, so we have to talk."

"She didn't buy my love. Heck, she offered them herself. I never said anything."

"Fine, I'll believe you, but you still have to hear it. You know how you are at games, your superstitions–"

"Which you don't mind whenever we go to your game tournaments–"

"Because I'm not sitting next to you!" Lily argues. She sighs, this isn't how the conversation should go. "Look, I appreciate that you wanted us there, and it was crummy of us to ditch you, but…"

She doesn't know how to keep the conversation going.

"So I'm just supposed to get over it because you guys are?"

Lily looks over at her sister. She hasn't and isn't going to get over it that easily. She can tell that Lynn is expecting some sense of emotional fairness from her, but she isn't sure how to accomplish that. Lynn isn't going to say much, as she would much prefer muttering to herself than reveal everything that's bothering her, so it's going to be up to her.

"No…I guess that's not fair to you," sighs Lily. "Look, I get that you aren't going to be happy about us ditching you, but…"

Once again, Lily is stuck.

Lynn looks over at her sister, and she sighs, "It feels like…" she starts. "Like, you guys, don't want to be with me."

Lily pulls her sister into a hug, "That's not true. We still want to be with you – we showed up for your wedding and the baby shower, so don't tell me that we don't want to be with you when you invite us to stuff."

"Could have fooled me growing up."

Lily isn't sure what she is talking about, for as long as she could remember, she only invited Grouse and eventually Francisco to sports games.

She lets go, "Okay, I will try to communicate better, but you have got to reel in your superstitions, and your running around, and your sports trivia, and calling out the refs for bad calls, and–"

"Jeez what kind of apology is this?"

Lily laughs and Lynn joins. The younger sister gets back into bed, and the two sisters spend their time catching up on all the stuff they missed while Lynn wasn't around. They munch down on a variety of snacks, watch movies, and challenge each other multiple times to Lily's fighting game.

"Wait a minute…Scott Reynolds, the sports guy on Channel 5? When the heck did you guys start dating?!"

"It wasn't that long ago. We met at a bar and next thing I know we've been seeing each other for a month. It's nothing serious, but yeah, we're dating."

Lynn takes in the information. Most of her siblings' dates have never been the type of people that she shared a lot of interests with, she can get along with them, but they were never the kind of people that she can sit down and enjoy the game with. Now she finally has her chance, especially with a guy whose job it is to know his stuff.

After work, Francisco walks into the house, and hears Lily laughing. He didn't expect her to still be around, but he is happy to know that Lynn didn't spend all day alone.

"No, I don't!" yells Lynn.

"Yes, you do, stop denying it."

He doesn't know what they're fighting about, and he plans on avoiding the two unless it starts getting bad. However, soon, he hears his name. Francisco stays put, but soon they call out to him again.

"We know you're out there," calls Lynn.

He walks to his bedroom and notices the two sisters snuggled under a blanket.

"Francisco, sit down and settle something for us," Lily says as she pats down on the space between the two sisters. When he sits down next to Lynn, she rewinds the anime that the sisters are streaming. "Tell me that this doesn't sound like Lynn."

"Hey bro! Are you going to town again today?"

Francisco isn't sure how to answer. The voice sort of sounds like Lynn, but it was such a short line that it could easily be missed.

"Aww, c'mon, Mom!"

He still isn't completely sure. Francisco looks over at Lynn, who is clearly upset that her sister compared her voice to that of a little boy.

"Come back as soon as you can, okay!"

Lily pauses the video, "Well, what do you think?"

Francisco doesn't say a thing. He can feel the sisters' eyes staring him down, and he knows that if he doesn't say a thing, they'll easily make assumptions, "I couldn't hear it."

"Ha! Told you!" Lynn boasts.

"He's your husband, of course, he's not gonna say that you sound like a little boy, right, Francisco?"

He gets out of bed, "I'm going to go get something to eat," he says excusing himself. "Do you two want anything?" he asks, to avoid the accusation.

"Scooperman ice cream!" requests Lynn.

When Francisco is gone, Lily turns to her older sister, "You know he thought what I was thinking," she teases.

Lynn shoves her sister, annoyed at the thought.


"Our little Lynn was born…" Lynn Sr. stops to think about how he is going to write his daughter's birth story in her baby book. It is two in the morning, and he is exhausted, "…uh…Lynn-sagna!" he screams, startling Rita.

She wakes up and looks over at him, "What's going on?"

He scratches his head with the pen, "I'm trying to think of what to write. It's our last little baby, I want to make sure that it's perfect."

"You don't want to wait until morning? We've been awake for over nineteen hours, you should take a break."

"But I wanna write while I still remember the details. I know we were eating Lynn-sagna and you took one bite–"

"And then I felt Lynn kicking like never before. Then my water broke."

He quickly jots down the information, "Do you happen to remember exactly what time it was?"

Rita looks over at him, "How about you move onto when my dad showed up to watch the girls?"

"Genius!"

She looks over at him as he continues to scribble. He insists on writing detailed baby books for the girls and after looking back at them a couple of nights ago, she's happy that he cares as much as he does to write them, especially since they can reminisce over some of the details they may have forgotten. However, after giving birth to their new baby not too long ago, she wants to rest.

"Do you remember how much she weighed or how long she was?"

"No."

"What about the time?"

"Maybe we could ask the nurse in the morning," she suggests, as she tries to close her eyes.

He looks up at the clock, "Well, I do remember that it was today-today," he pulls out his camera to find the photo that he took of her seconds after his youngest was born, "It was 1:11, hey look at that – it's summer."

"Great," sighs Rita. "Now can we please try writing this after we get a couple of hours of sleep?"

He whispers, "Right, right."

As Rita is about to close her eyes, she can hear him mumbling, "Lynn, can I see the book?" He complies and hands over the book and pen. She figures that if she can pretend to write long enough, he'll fall asleep before he expects anything.

She holds onto the pen and pretends to write something. After two minutes of moving the pen, Rita glances over at her husband, who has closed his eyes and begun to snore.

"Thank goodness," she tells herself, as she sets the book down on her lap. "We can get to you in the morning," she tells the book, as she closes her eyes to finally get some rest.

That morning, after receiving news from his daughter about the birth of his newest granddaughter, Albert takes the girls to the hospital so that they can meet their new sister. He couldn't believe that it would be their last baby, but after four others, he can't imagine that his daughter and son-in-law aren't content. He knew that growing up, Rita felt a little lonely being an only child, but now she's going to have a home full of children that will make her feel as loved as he felt when she was a girl.

Albert takes hold of his granddaughters as they walk down the hallway, "Make sure that you girls stay close, you don't want to get lost."

"Pop-Pop, are all these people having babies?" asks Leni, as she looks over at a man hurling into a bucket.

Albert moves the girls along, "No, some people are sick, so they come to see the doctors."

"Then why are babies born here if people are sick? Couldn't they get the baby sick?"

He can't argue with that, she makes a point, but he didn't know how to answer her, luckily, his son-in-law is within sight. The girls spot their dad, who is looking over at all the sleeping babies in the maternity ward.

"Daddy!" they scream as they let go of their Pop-Pop's hand and run towards him.

He pulls them all into a group hug, "Girls, I missed you all. Do you want to meet your new sister?"

"Yeah!"

A passing patient and nurse look over at the family, startled by the loud noise. Lynn Sr. and Albert try to quiet the girls so that they don't disturb the other people passing by.

Albert lifts Lori and Leni so that they can look at all the babies, "Which one is little Lynn?"

Lynn Sr. picks up the two remaining daughters, "It's the one with the little tuft of brown hair," he says, making it a game for the girls.

As the four look over at all the sleeping babies, they try to find one brown-haired baby that is their little sister. There are a few, and so they can have a little fun, while also getting their own guess.

"Is it that one?" asks Luna, as she points at a sleeping newborn.

"Baby," Luan answers with a silly smile.

Her three older sisters chuckle and continue their search, when one baby sticks out to them. Unlike all the others that are either sleeping or crying, she was sitting still as if taking in her surroundings.

"Is that her?" asks Albert.

"Where?" ask the girls.

Lynn Sr. looks over at the baby that his father-in-law is pointing to, "Yeah, that's her."

The girls look over at their new baby sister. All of them want to go into the room and gush over their new sister, but each time one of them wants to jump off, their dad or Pop-Pop immediately stop them.

"Don't worry, girls. Before you know it, we'll take your sister home. Isn't that exciting?"

"Yeah!" the girls scream, startling the passersby.


She looks down and places her hand on her growing belly, "I hope that you end up more like your dad," sighs Lynn.

Elena walks into the room with snacks in hand, and notices Lynn with a solemn look on her face, "What's wrong?"

She slowly looks up, "Nothing, just wondering…um…something…"

The teenager isn't sure what to make of that, and instead chooses to sit down next to her stepmother. All day, the two have been talking, but as the day progresses, Elena has noticed that Lynn has gotten quieter and less responsive. Over the course of the pregnancy, she seemed to have been doing fine aside from her current stint in bed. Now, as the due date approaches, it appears that Lynn is on edge, possibly worrying about the changes that the baby is going to bring.

When Parker was born, she noticed that her mom and Andrew had their own worries, from how they were going to work their schedules around that of a newborn, worrying if he was going to be healthy to how they plan on raising him. Now, they seem calmer, but the months before, aren't so easily forgotten.

To hopefully get some response out of Lynn, she asks, "Is something wrong?" hoping that she'll open up to her.

Lynn quietly stares out towards the door. Elena looks out in the direction that Lynn is looking at, wondering what could have her attention. When she doesn't spot it, she looks over at Lynn, who looks as though she wants to take a nap.

Elena gets out of bed, "Do you mind if I go study for a bit?" giving Lynn a chance to get some sleep.

Lynn continues to stare out until Elena repeats herself, "Oh…yeah, that's fine."

When Lynn is alone, she lies down in bed, and whispers, "I hope you end up a better kid than me…"

As Elena watches tv, she hears her dad's truck pull into the driveway. Francisco walks into the house crashes onto the couch. He's exhausted. Between work, the rental house, keeping up with Lynn's family members, who seem to be taking turns keeping her company, and the spare jobs he has recently started taking up to supplement their income, it's becoming too much, especially with them only weeks away from the birth.

"At least the nursery is done…" he groans into the couch cushions.

"That's good, right?"

He looks up and sees Elena looking over at him. He scrambles himself up. She warned him that he was taking on too much by agreeing to take on handyman jobs on top of his normal responsibilities, but he insisted that he was fine.

"Sorry that we couldn't go out, it took a lot longer than I realized to put in that new insulation."

"I understand, Lynn and I spent the day watching documentaries. I never realized that she snored as loudly as she did."

Francisco chuckles, "Makes me glad that I fall asleep before she does," he says, unaware that he's rubbing his aching muscles.

"How long are you planning on keeping up the spare jobs?"

"Not that long," he insists.

Elena can tell that he wants to mean that, but she knows that it probably isn't true. With all the money that he owes, plus the added expenses, he probably won't stop working for a while. Lola was kind enough to stop requesting payments on the jewelry that he bought, but she's sure that that was only because Lynn's family insisted that she cut the couple some slack. Andrew's repayment isn't much of an issue, so long as the tenants don't run into trouble, but that still doesn't leave them doing well, especially after the doctor recommended that Lynn take some time off from work after giving birth. Lynn's dad has stepped in at the restaurant whenever they need the help, but if what the doctor says is true, then they may need to look into getting more temporary help as the weather warms up and more customers arrive.

"Besides, I want us to have a nest egg."

After the wedding, Elena learned that Lynn paid off the mortgage on the house. Both she and her dad knew how she attained the money, and he was clearly bothered by it. He didn't want the house paid off like that, and while he is saving money now that he doesn't have to make mortgage payments, he still worries about finances with a baby on the way. She knows that it isn't the ideal way to earn it, but if one simple afternoon at a casino can help them pay nearly twenty years' worth of house payments, then maybe it can temporarily put him out of his misery.

"I've always wondered, if you know that Lynn is such a good–"

Francisco's snores interrupt her.

Elena shakes him awake and when he opens his eyes, she asks, "Would you rather go to bed?"

"I'd rather have dinner…oh, crap…" he gets up, "I'm gonna get a snack and go to bed."

"And take a shower too," she suggests.

He groans at the suggestion, then shudders at what he just did.

Hours later, Lynn wakes up. Her skin feels warm, and the blanket draped over her is making the feeling worse. She gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom. She can feel pain in her abdomen, and she hurries into the bathroom to see what may be going on. She turns on the light, but she doesn't see anything.

"Okay…I'm good…" she reminds herself.

Throughout the whole pregnancy, she has been anxious, worrying about any potential issue involving her soon-to-be child. It started as afraid of losing another baby, then the changes occurring and the one to come, and now as she heads into the final months, she worries about how she's going to size up as a parent. Her siblings make it look easy, and while she knows that they have their issues when it comes to child-rearing, she wonders if she's in over her head. She always felt like she was behind her siblings in certain matters, but now she has to worry about failing her own child.

Another jolt of pain overcomes Lynn, followed by the sound of water against the floor.

She looks down, "What the?"

Her heart begins to race. It can't be happening, not now. They aren't ready. It's supposed to be in May, not March.

Lynn can feel a contraction. She grips her hand into a fist and suppresses the pain as best as she can. When the pain subsides, she walks over to Francisco and begins to shake him, "Francisco…Francisco, wake up."

"Can't it wait 'til morning," he mumbles, trying to get back to sleep.

"No…it can't…I'm having the baby," she stresses.

Francisco opens his eyes and looks up at her, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure…let's go!" she says as she pulls the blanket away from him.

He jumps out of bed, "Alright, just give me a minute. Go to the truck, I'll tell Elena that we're leaving, get my shoes on, and meet you there in about five minutes."

"Fine…but don't forget…your pants," she says between breaths.

"Are you okay?" he asks after noticing that she is leaning over against the bed, struggling to catch her breath. He takes her arm and places his fingers on her wrist to feel her heart rate, which is currently racing. Francisco is sure that she won't be able to walk far without passing out, "Give me a sec to find you something."

"What…?"

Before Francisco is able to answer, he bolts out of the room as quickly as he can. He pulls down on the cord to bring down the ladder to the attic to look for the wheelchair that he used a while back ago.

The sound of the wheelchair falling onto the ground startles Elena awake. She looks at the clock and notices the early hour, "What the?" she asks herself, as she notices the light under her door. She walks over and notices her dad coming down from the attic. "What's going on?" she yawns.

Francisco looks over at Elena as he picks up the wheelchair, he winces in pain, "Lynn's in labor. I'm getting her the wheelchair just in case."

Elena looks at him, "Is she okay?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine. We're going to go to the hospital. Um…you can stay here if you want. It's probably going to be a long night and I'm not sure, but I think that the hospital will want you to wait in the waiting room," he suggests as he pushes the wheelchair towards Lynn. "Maybe you could call your mom to pick you up and take you home or something."

"Can't I just stay here?"

"Sure. If you want. Look, um…I'll call for a ride in the morning or something. I don't–"

She can tell that her dad is about to ramble to himself and not tend to Lynn, so lets him go, "Dad, it's okay, I'll be fine."

He takes a deep breath, "Alright, just be careful and I'll see you in the morning," he says before running off to get Lynn into the truck.

As Francisco leads her to the truck and helps her to her seat, "Give me one minute," he says, before going back to the house to make sure that everything is locked up. He sends Jackson a message to let him know to keep an eye out for Elena before running back to the truck.

Lynn tries to take a deep breath, but she's anxious as they drive through the dark streets. Everything begins to blur. She closes her eyes and when she feels the truck stop moving, she opens her eyes again; the sights clear again.

Francisco briefly glances over at Lynn and notices that she is in a daze. She has her head resting against the window and is taking rapid breaths. He takes her hand. Right now, he has to keep it together for her. He knows that she's probably scared, and he is too, but he knows that it isn't going to do them any good if they're both freaking out.

"We'll be there soon," he reminds her.

"…'kay…"

When they arrive at the hospital, they are immediately checked in and Lynn is wheeled in to see the doctors. The couple is told that it might still take hours before she goes into active labor, which leaves them stressing over their own thoughts.

"Was it like this the first time?" she asks him.

"Yeah, it takes a while, especially when it's your first kid."

Francisco notices the scared look in her eyes. In an effort to take her mind off of what could go wrong, he lets her know what she can expect over the next few hours and reminds her of the prize at the end of it all.

"You know," he starts. "It's okay to freak out, everyone does it, especially now."

Lynn stares forward. Her foot is tapping away incessantly, and her breathing appears more rapid than before. Francisco takes her hand, but she doesn't react.

With worry in his voice, he asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…when'd the sun come out?"

He's surprised that she barely noticed, despite hours passing since they arrived at the hospital. Francisco looks over at the monitors, which appear as though nothing has changed.

"I could go for some bacon pancakes."

"Now?"

"I haven't eaten in hours," she complains. "Wouldn't you be hungry?"

He would, but he would have bigger things on his mind besides food, "Well maybe they'll bring you a plate or would you like some ice chips?"

"Ice chips? That's not breakfast," she complains.

As the hours pass, the two patiently wait as the delivery progresses. Things appear fine, aside from the doctor's slight concern over Lynn's heart rate, but soon the machines start beeping faster than before. Francisco can see how lightheaded Lynn appears to be and he's sure that she's going to pass out. After hours of going through the ordeal, he knows that they're pushing into the final stretch, but as the machines continue to sound off, he begins to panic, wondering what is going to happen to her.

"Aren't you going to do anything?! These monitors have to be going off for a reason!" he yells at the doctors, worried about his wife and son.

"The baby is too far down the birth canal, we have to keep moving forward."

Francisco looks down at Lynn. She's been too quiet and he's sure that something is going wrong, but rather than let her see that on his face, he takes her hand in hopes of giving her some reassurance. He leans over and places his forehead on hers, and whispers, "You're going to be okay, you know that, right?"

The machines start to get quiet and all anyone can hear in the room is the soft cries of the newborn. Lynn looks up at the blinding lights above her and sees the nurse place a mask on her face before she closes her eyes.


"We can do this," Caroline starts, "We can do this. Who cares if we're living with your mother? Who cares that we're not financially at our best? Who cares that I still don't have a job? We'll be fine," she tries to convince herself.

Francisco knows that she's anxious and he is too, but it isn't going to them any favors if he expresses them at the moment. However, she is right; they're only okay because his mom agreed to let them stay in his childhood bedroom, at some point their little girl, that was taken by the nurses, is going to need a space of her own to grow up.

"We can figure something out. I mean, at some point I'll get a promotion, and when you finish school–"

"If I go back to school," she interrupts. "I can't go back now. Who's going to take care of her? I won't be able to study, go to class, and pay attention to our daughter. I probably won't be able to until she's in preschool or kindergarten."

Francisco takes her hand, "Hey, my family can help us out. I know that it isn't top-notch, but I know that they can help us. My mom would love to stop working and she'd probably offer to babysit."

"How is that fair to your mom? We're just going to tell her to babysit her granddaughter without any sort of consideration for her own life."

If Caroline knew how his mom talked about her job, then she'd know that she is jumping for any opportunity to do so. Even when he was younger, he would recall conversations that she would have with Chuy and Kiké about babysitting her future grandchildren.

"I think that my family will help us out. I mean, they cared enough to help us out this much, and I know that we can figure something out between all of us."

Caroline wants to believe that, but without a definitive plan, she's not going to rest easily. She knows that they'll have a place to stay, Alicia won't kick them out, especially if the couple continues to be helpful, but she doesn't want to take advantage of the family's kindness, especially when they have so little.

The nurse rolls the baby into the room. Francisco walks over to his daughter and immediately smiles at the sight of the sleeping girl. The feeling of joy and anxiety are mixing together, but it doesn't compare to the love that he feels for her. He stands over her, staring in awe, until she opens her eyes and looks up at him. He gently picks her up and walks her over to Caroline so that she can hold the newborn.

"You're so precious," Caroline whispers, so as to not wake up her daughter.

Francisco takes a seat next to the two, "Do you know what you want to name her?"

For weeks, the two were going back and forth on possible names, but they could never pick one they liked. Francisco insisted on a name that his mom could pronounce, and Caroline didn't like the names that he would suggest. She isn't sure what sort of name she wanted, but nothing sounded right, hopefully with their daughter in her arms, she could decide on a name.

"Victoria?" she asks herself while looking at the infant. She quickly shakes her head, and moves onto the next name, "Daniela?"

Francisco isn't sure about that name, "Julia?"

"No, she doesn't strike me as a Julia."

He sighs. Those weren't even his top choices, but Caroline couldn't make up her mind, so he moved onto other names that he thought she would like.

"What if you choose?" Caroline asks her daughter.

Francisco isn't sure how their newborn daughter is going to pick a name, and it honestly sounds silly, but he's willing to humor Caroline if it means they can decide on what to call their daughter.

"Carmen?"

No reaction from the newborn.

"Laura?"

"Miranda?"

"Lupe?"

The couple continues to offer names, the newborn stays quiet. Francisco pulls out his phone and lists off some names, when he stumbles on one that has her moving her head, "Catalina?"

Caroline isn't sure that's the name she wants to give her daughter, it reminds her of a beach resort and that didn't seem like the right name for a little girl.

"Elena?"

The newborn smiles and snuggles up against her mother.

Francisco looks over at their daughter and then at Caroline, "Does she like that name?"

"I guess so."

He smiles, happy to get over that little ordeal, "Elena De Los Reyes," he says with a little pride in his voice. He takes Elena into his arms and looks down at her with a reassuring smile, to remind her that he's going to do whatever he can to protect her.

"Can you hand me my phone? I want to take a photo."

Francisco complies and proudly holds his daughter for the camera to see. Caroline takes the photo, but purposely makes sure to not get his face in the photo. Despite the issues with her family, she doesn't want to be the one to deny them the right to see her newborn daughter.

Caroline quickly sends the photo, "I didn't come out right. I'm going to take another."


Francisco stares at the blank wall in front of him. There are people walking around in the waiting room, talking, but he can't hear a thing they are saying, all he can focus on is Lynn and their son.

'He was so small…'

He couldn't remember what the nurses said after he was ushered out of the room; all he remembered was that he was smaller than he remembered Elena being. It doesn't help that he came a month early, but he didn't imagine his son looking so fragile.

Lynn was barely any better. He never pictured the pregnancy being hard on her. He thought that with her active lifestyle, she would have had an easier time, instead she was pushed to the point of passing out in the delivery room.

'I should have been more stern about all that damn junk food…'

There isn't anything that he can do, and unfortunately for him, that's the toughest part. He can't magically make either one better, especially when he barely knows what's wrong. Instead, he has to sit back and watch the world go by until he hears any news from the doctor.

"Hey Dad."

Francisco turns around and sees Elena sitting next to him eating jellybeans. He didn't expect her to be here, but regardless, it is nice to see a familiar face. He's exhausted after being awake since early in the morning and after seeing his son taken by doctors to the NICU.

"Are you okay?"

He nods his head, "Yeah, I'm just…taking it all in. Lynn's being kept under observation, her blood pressure was getting pretty high, and your brother is getting examined."

"They didn't ask you to go in with him?"

He shakes his head, "No, they said that they were going to monitor him and then we could go see him later."

"What happened?"

"The doctors wanted to examine him in case there were any issues."

Elena quietly nods her head; her brother is a month early, and between Lynn's diet and how little she grew, it's expected that he would need to be monitored. She looks over at her dad, who is clearly holding himself together. She places her hand on his shoulder in hopes of giving him some comfort, but she knows that he won't be happy until he knows that everything is fine.

The two sit quietly in the waiting room. Elena has all sorts of questions that she wants to ask her dad, but he isn't in the right frame of mind to answer anything.

"You know when you were born, your mom and I were so afraid of how we were going to handle it. She was worried about money and how we were going to take care of you while she goes to work. I told her that my mom would have taken care of you, but I think she wanted us to be more independent. I don't blame her."

She smiles. Elena wasn't expecting her dad to hit her with a memory from the day she was born, but to keep this momentum going, she asks, "Did you reassure her?"

"I tried. I'm not sure if it actually worked, but I think it went well enough, even though I tried to convince her that she could go back to school."

"How was she going to do that?"

"You know that your mom is smart as a whip, she could have gotten scholarships easily, luckily, your grandma Elizabeth cared enough to reach out to your mom."

Elena is surprised considering the circumstances of her birth and how her grandparents behave around him. With how her aunt talks and how her grandparents spoke, she assumed that they wouldn't have done anything for the couple while they were together, though it is possible that they only did it for her mom.

"Of course, it wasn't right away, and your mom was still in school when we broke up."

"Right…"

There is a silence. Elena looks over at her dad, who appears tired. He wants to sleep, but he isn't going to rest until he hears something. Every time that his eyes begin to close, he quickly forces himself back up to keep himself from dozing off.

The nurse at the station calls out to Francisco, who immediately perks up. The two walk to the station and are lead by a nurse, who relays a message from the doctor. Francisco and Elena walk into the room and see Lynn looking around at her surroundings.

Elena takes a seat on the nearby chair, "How are you doing?"

"Okay…"

Francisco looks over at his daughter. The nurse informed them that Lynn might be in a daze, though he also warned them to closely watch her in case there were any complications following the birth. Neither one was sure how they were going to do that, but they figure that between themselves and the family, they can keep an eye on her.

"Where is he?"

"The doctors are monitoring him right now. They said that we can go see him when they're done."

"That sucks…"

The two chuckle.

"He's fine," Francisco assures her. "He's being watched by the doctors."

Lynn glances over at his watch, "Do you think we can go home soon?"

"It's gonna take more than a couple of hours, you know."

She groans. Lynn takes a deep breath and with all of her strength, she begins to get up out of her bed, stunning Francisco and Elena.

"What are you doing?" they ask.

"I wanna see my son…"

"So do I, but Lynn, you can't just get up and walk around, you–"

"I'm fine…jus' need the, uh, the, uh…"

"Wheelchair?" Elena finishes.

Lynn nods her head and begins to fall over. Francisco catches her and helps her back to bed, but she tries to get up again. He can't blame her, he wants to see their son too, but she is in no shape to get out of bed, let alone go to the NICU. Lynn grabs onto the rails along the side of the bed, and holds onto herself as she reaches out for the IV pole.

Francisco takes her arm, "Lynn, you're being stubborn. We can go see him later."

Lynn tries to break free from his grasp, but Elena rushes to her side to keep her from toppling over, "Lynn, Dad's right. You're going to hurt yourself–"

"I used to drag myself…even with a broken leg…I'll be fine…" she stubbornly declares, despite being lifted off the floor and onto the bed.

The nurse walks into the room, "What's going on?"

Everyone looks over at the man.

"I wanna see my son…now, let…me…go!"

"That's why I'm here," the nurse states. Lynn calms down, and he continues, "now, let me get you onto the wheelchair to transport you."

Lynn mumbles, but complies as she is pushed down the hallway. The nurse is moving at a snail's pace and no one seems to care.

"I wanted to say something," Francisco says to the nurse, "this wheelchair is our property, so who do I talk to to keep us from getting charged for it?"

"Uh…I'm not sure, but you may have to take that up with billing."

"Really? That's on your mind?" asks Lynn.

"Well I also don't want to lose it," he turns to the nurse, "Do you have a marker I can borrow?"

Lynn rolls her eyes. She takes a deep breath and commandeers the wheelchair from the nurse and rolls herself down the hall. She is able to maintain a decent speed, even with an IV pole slowing her down. The three follow after her, but quickly catch up to her, after she runs out of energy.

The nurse pushes her back, after missing the room in her rush.

"I would have found it…"

No one says anything.

The nurse directs them towards a changing room, so that they can change into a gown and gloves. He leads them towards the incubator holding the newest member of their family.

Francisco looks down at his little boy. He has some wires attached to him and little stuffed rabbit at the foot of his crib. He looks at name card above his head and notices the date, "Oh, yeah, it's Easter today."

Lynn tries to pick herself up and briefly glances at the date. She smiles and then breaks into laugh. She tries her best to stifle her laughter, but she can't help herself. It's the perfect day for her son to be born.

Neither Francisco nor Elena are sure what brought up her laughing fit, "Why are you laughing?" asks Elena.

Lynn reaches out to her son. She touches his forehead, "You just knew, didn't you little guy?"

The boy blinks.

Francisco leans down and looks at his son. He can feel his lips forming into a smile. He remembers the pride he felt when Elena was born, and the same feeling overcomes him as he stares down at the little boy. The sight of medical devices attached to such a small body has him feeling uneasy, but after such a hard delivery, he knows that that isn't what he wants to think about; he wants to think about the good that will come, especially after the storms that he and Lynn weathered.

He takes her hand and reminds her, "He's going to be alright."

"I know that," she declares. "Our son's a fighter."


The end, that feels weird. I've spent years working on this and now it's over. At least with one-shots, I expect it, but I got attached to these characters, which feels rather silly.

A few little things I wanted to add - Lily and Lynn's conversation is in reference Jessica DiCicco's voice acting, I added the few lines her character from Demon Slayer spoke (I didn't notice it the first time, but ever since then, I can't stop hearing Lynn), the bacon pancakes are from a YouTube video where she and Christy Carlson Romano make the dish together, Superman ice cream is a thing, but finding a straight answer for the flavor depends on where you get it (curse you, mysterious Blue Moon ice cream), and Scooperman is the Meijer's store brand, in case you didn't want to search around for it.

I said a while ago that I would tell you the order of the past shots so here it is (Some are repeated since the chapters had jumps in the timeline)

60, 30, 12, 35, 22, 54, 5, 14, 46, 18, 26, 1, 2, 6, 54, 3, 38, 4, 31, 13, 51, 23, 25, 36, 54, 28, 16, 20, 33, 39, 17, 18, 53, 54, 49, 57, 47, 40, 54, 58, 59, 8, 19, 7, 37, 24, 48, 50, 55, 56, 9, 15, 10, 21, 44, 60, 27, 34, 43, 45, 42, 11, 52, 41, 29, 32

Anyway, I'll probably be moving onto some of the other projects I have in mind including an explanation for what happened with Luna and Sam, which ties into this story, and two supernatural ones involving either Lincoln, Lynn and Luna and the second one involving Lynn and Lucy; though I am planning a potential sequel, but don't wait for it, it may take a while before that one comes out.

I want to give a final thanks to everyone who has supported me through both reading and reviews. I was nervous when I first posted this, since I wasn't sure how it would be received, but I'm glad you guys have enjoyed this long journey with me.

Now, in the words of Lynn Sr., "...this isn't goodbye, it's just see you later."