Did I write this at two in the morning while watching AFV? Yes. Am I a firm believer that Felix and Agustin are the best men in Disney? Also yes.

"I hate being perfect, I want to grow things other than flowers, I hate pink and light purple," said Isabela

"Oh Isa why didn't you tell us earlier?" asked Agustin, quickly pulling his eldest into a hug.

"Abuela expected it of me, I couldn't disappoint her," said Isabela quietly, burying her face into her father's shoulder and letting seventeen years' worth of built-up tears flow.

"Mi flor, you should never be afraid to come to us if something is bothering you, you have every right to be who you want to be, not who Abuela wants you to be. I'm so so sorry that we didn't do our jobs as your parents to make you feel safe enough to come to us," said Agustin quietly.

"I hate being treated like the village workhorse, I'm useless if I'm doing something or helping someone, I feel like my gift is all I'm good for," said Luisa, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.

Julieta this time, pulled her middle child close and gently shushed her.

"Luisa, listen to me please, I know how you feel, I feel the same way time and time again but your father helps me through those feelings and makes me feel loved and needed when I'm not using my gift. You will always be our sweet, sensitive little girl who loved her stuffed toys and sitting on your father's lap to play piano, nothing will ever change how much we love you. The house could come crashing down and all our gifts could fade and we wouldn't love you any less. We are all so much more than our gifts, and we all have things we keep hidden away from everyone else, but none of you girls should feel like you have to hide anything from either of us, just like I can't manage to hide my own fear and stress from your father," said Julieta, her voice quiet and in her daughter's ear, mainly to maintain breathing because Luisa was clutching her mother so tightly she may have broken a rib.

"What about Mirabel? She's obviously dealing with her own demons but isn't here to let us listen to them?" asked Isabela

"She has my temper, I also think the best person to help her right now is the one person who in this whole family who hasn't failed her, Antonio," said Julieta

"And lots of animals and other critters," muttered Luisa

"Do you think things will really change?" asked Isabela softly

"I think your little sister is determined enough to make sure it does, and something tells me the candle and casita will help her," said Agustin

"Abuela is demanding Casita open the door," said Dolores softly, her quiet voice actually being heard in the silence of her mother's room.

"It won't let her, we all know Mirabel is Casita's favorite," laughed Camilo, trying to use his humor to break the tension.

"So who is going to start? I thoroughly agree with Mirabel, we need all these issues out in the open, I only know your mother's and that is where I have failed, I should have been a better father and made you feel comfortable to talk to me about anything," said Felix

"Can I not be the town babysitter anymore? I barely know what I'm doing with the infants and I'm exhausted, I have no idea how Mirabel is such a natural with kids, but then again she did raise Antonio," said Camilo

Pepa looked ready to burst into tears and the cloud forming over her head went uncommented on for once.

"Sorry Mami, I forgot you're still sensitive about that," said Camilo

"It isn't your fault Milo, it is mine and mama's. I should be happy that he at least had a childhood full of love and attention which is more than I can say I gave any of you, I'm so so sorry mi hijos," cried Pepa

Felix pulled his wife close.

"Dolores, how are you feeling about all this?" asked Felix gently.

"I don't know, I got so used to being the one who heard everything, even things I should not have heard at five years old, I got so used to hearing but not being heard that I really just accepted it as normal but I still hate my gift, I hate not being able to laugh or cry too loud, I can't remember the last time I had fun at a party, I'm so close to just begging Mirabel to ask the candle to take my gift away," said Dolores

"Come here mi vida," said Felix softly, extending his free arm to pull his daughter into a hug.

"Have you tried to tell us this before?" asked Pepa gently, Dolores only nodded.

"Is there anything else mija?" asked Felix

"I used to be able to hear Tio Bruno in the walls, he was there ever since he vanished, I tried to say something but no one listened to me so I just stopped trying, Mira knows where he is now but I forget what she said because the town was just so noisy," said Dolores

"Tio was in the walls?" asked Camilo

Dolores nodded. Pepa's cloud grew larger and began thundering, Felix covered his daughter's ears to try to help with the noise.

"Amor, lightning, and rain are ok but please no thunder so close to Dolores," asked Felix gently.

Pepa calmed down just enough to stop thundering.

"Mama are you mad at the name or where he's been this whole time?" asked Camilo

"The later mijo, I miss my brother and if Mirabel is hiding him I'm going to have words with her," said Pepa

"Don't you think she probably wants to bring him out but both of them are scared of how Abuela will react?" asked Camilo

Pepa's cloud got bigger at the mention of her mother.

"She has a lot to think over and apologize for," sighed Pepa, the cloud starting to drizzle.

"When she does apologize should we forgive her?" asked Dolores

"I don't think I can, she hurt me, she hurt all of you, she made me miss every milestone of my own baby and let a ten-year-old little girl raise him, I've spent forty-five years not being allowed to feel what I want because of her. Dolores, I know just how you feel about wanting to ask Mirabel about getting rid of your gift, I just want to be able to cry without getting soaked, panicked without a tornado, and happy without a heatwave, just as you want to be able to laugh and shriek like you had before your ceremony," said Pepa, pulling her daughter into her own arms, making room for Felix to beckon Camilo over.

"Mirabel and I were so close when we were little, but Abuela took me away from my twin and now I hardly know her, less than I know myself, and I don't know who I am anymore, because no one wants me to be me," said Camilo

"Milo, we know who you are, you are our son, a kind young boy who cares about those he loves more than anything, no matter who your gift lets you become, it can't change how much we love you and how proud we are to call you ours," said Felix

"Thanks, Papa," smiled Camilo

"No problem our little chameleon, perhaps we should make these family talks and hugs a regular thing," said Felix

"Maybe, but it's exhausting laying seventeen years of hurt out for all to see," said Dolores

"That it is mija, but just know that you should never feel like you need to bottle up your feelings around us, I say the same thing to your mother, it never bothered me that we got married in a hurricane because I got to marry her. I married my Pepi for all of her, rain, snow, hail, sun, wind, thunder, all of it," said Felix as he caught the loving look in Pepa's eyes.

Oh, that man was going to be the cause of sunny skies for a week before tomorrow came.

"What do you think Mirabel is doing now?" asked Dolores

"Probably sewing while Antonio is sleeping curled up against her or his jaguar," said Camilo

He was half right, Mirabel and Antonio had both fallen asleep snuggled against each other while River acted as a pillow.