Julio makes it back to the City to an empty house.

Meanwhile, Mirabel and Antonio have a heart to heart.

A/N: Again, I apologize for it being almost a month later. This past month has been crazy, and August seems like it is going to be another crazy month. I will do my best, but I have added a slow update tag. I promise I will finish this story. I have made an outline of how I want this story to go and there are about 2-3 main chapters left and then an epilogue.

Thank you for sticking by 3

Also, again I do not speak Spanish, so let me know if there are any mistakes :)


Julio arrived at their empty house nearing evening. He had had to stop as it had gotten hot during the midday sun as he had wanted to give Margarita a water break, while he had eaten the packed lunch Julieta had handed him.

Upon entering their courtyard, he unhooked the cart from Margarita and guided her to her stall.

"Gracias, bonita. Let me get you some fresh food and hay." He said, patting her neck. She whinnied at him and butted her nose against his shoulder. "Alright, alright, I'm going." He chuckled as he stepped away to first fill her bucket with water.

After ensuring she was settled and happily munching away, he grabbed his bag from the cart and made his way out of the courtyard and to the main door. As he went to unlock it, he heard his name being called.

"Julio!" He turned to find a slightly winded Señora Cruz. She came to a stop in front of him, a basket in her arms. "Julio, how is Mirabel? Is she okay?"

"Buenas noches, Elena. Mirabel is doing well. La Doctora thinks that both Mirabel and our bebé will be okay." He finished unlocking the door. "Please, come in, I can put some café on." He flicked the light switch and the hall light flickered a bit before turning on. He was grateful he didn't need to worry about lighting a candle, as they had finally gotten electricity in their city a couple years ago.

She followed him in. "No café for me at this time of night, but thank you." She settled onto the couch he motioned her to. "I am so relieved they both will be alright." She then realized what was missing. "Where are the niños?"

Julio sat in the armchair nearby. "Where Mirabel is, is close to her familia, the niños will be staying with them until I can arrange things here to join them. I'm hoping La Universidad del Tolima will accept my leave of absence. Especially when I didn't give them notice for my absence the last couple days." He said with a sigh, running his hands through his hair.

"I am sure they will! Also, I took the liberty of contacting them for you. I knew it was the last thing on your mind a few days ago."

Julio glanced up at Elena with surprise written across his features. "Muchas gracias, Elena." He said sincerely, a little smile playing across his lips.

"Of course dear." She leant over and patted his knee, before shoving the basket at him. "I saw you when you first pulled up and grabbed you some essentials to tide you over a couple days until you can go shopping. Damián also told me to tell you that you will be having dinner with us tomorrow night."

"Elena…" He started, looking like he would refuse the kind offer.

She interrupted him with a pointed look on her face. "No hay excusas jovencito."

"Alright, alright." He held up his hands in surrender, the basket balancing on his lap, not wanting to face the wrath of her sandal if he attempted to refuse again. Señora Cruz had perfected the slap after raising six rambunctious children.

"Now, it's late, I am going to let you get your rest. Do come get one of us if you need us, no matter the time, day or night." She said as she stood, her graying hair glinting in the light.

Julio stood, and set the basket on his vacated seat. He placed a hand on her arm. "Muchas gracias Señora. We will never be able to thank you and Damián for all you have done for us."

"It was our pleasure, chico. Buenas noches." She said, patting his cheek before starting towards the front door.

"Buenas noches, Elena. And thank you!"

After locking up behind her and storing the little bit of milk and eggs in the refrigerator, Julio trudged upstairs. He was exhausted from the trip, and quickly changed before falling into bed. But try as he might to fall asleep, the house was too quiet without the sounds of his niños or his Mira. This was the first night they had been separated since their marriage, and he longed to have her back in his arms. It took another hour of tossing and turning before he fell into his first restless sleep of many.


Mirabel was in the kitchen helping her mamá prepare lunch.

"You should really sit down mija. I can tell you haven't been sleeping." Julieta said, placing some new arepas on the griddle.

"I'm fine Mamá. You know how it is with sleeping with children." Mirabel smirked at her mother. "For such small creatures, they like to take up the whole bed." She set down the knife and moved the cut peppers, tomatoes, and onions into a bowl. "Aarón was kicking my back, while this one was kicking my bladder." She ran a hand over her bump.

Julieta smiled in return. "Ay, your hermanas were the worst for it, especially Isa. Luisa, once she turned 5, would just nudge you slightly and you would fall off the bed." She smiled wistfully though as she thought about her hijas as pequeñas. "You on the other hand, just wanted to be as close as possible. It was adorable, but perhaps less so on hot summer nights and all you wanted to do was snuggle so close." Julieta pinched Mirabel's cheek.

"¡Oye, Mamá!" Mirabel exclaimed, rubbing her cheek. She couldn't keep the smile off her face though, she had missed these moments so much over the years.

"I can't believe my bebés all have bebés of their own." Julieta sniffled, and turned to flip the arepas. Ever since she returned, Mirabel noticed that her mamá seemed to get more emotional easily, when she usually associated that with her tía.

Before Mirabel could respond, they heard running feet. "¡Tía Julieta!" Adoria came barrelling into the kitchen, with Aleta and Luna trailing after her. The three had quickly become the best of friends over the last week.

"¡Despacio, chicas!" Julieta called out, causing the three to come to an abrupt halt. "Adoria, you know that you are not supposed to run in the kitchen." She lightly scolded, her hands on her hips.

"Lo siento, Tía." Adoria said, head turned down. She hated disappointing any of the adults.

"Just remember that the rules are there for your safety, mija." Julieta patted the girl's head, and accepted the hug the 5 year old bestowed her. "Now, what was so important that you had to run in here for me?"

That seemed to ignite the little girl's memory, and she dragged her tía over to the other two girls. "They have chichóns on their knees!"

Mirabel frowned and approached her girls. "Are you okay, mijas?" The girls weren't crying though, and didn't seem in distress.

"She is talking about our scars Mamí." Aleta replied, lifting up the skirt of her dress to show off previously healed skinned knees.

"Oh." Julieta felt a whoosh of air leave her lungs. She was unused to seeing marks on any of the children with her gift. It pained her that her nieta had once been injured and she hadn't been able to heal her.

"They are perfectly fine, mi sobrina." Mirabel said, giving Adoria a smile. "They both tripped a few months ago while playing with their amigos at the park."

Adoria felt better once she realized that her tía Mirabel's emotions were calm and not worried, neither were her primas. But she frowned at the mention of a park. "What's a park?"

Aleta smiled wide and began explaining about their local park that had a big play area with things to climb, swings, and a slide. Luna smiled along with her sister as she saw her prima's eyes widen.

"Maybe Tía Isa and Tía Luisa will make one for us?" Luna suggested, her voice not quite as shy as usual. Mirabel was happy to see that her bebé was warming up to her prima. Meanwhile the three young girls grinned at each other before taking off to go find both tía's, who were somewhere in Casita.

"Oye, what did I just say about running?" Julieta called out in amused exasperation.

"¡Lo siento, Tía!" "¡Lo siento, Abuela!" Were heard as they continued, only slowing slightly.

Mirabel and her mamá shared amused looks, before turning back to their previous task of preparing lunch.


Another couple days passed before Mirabel realized Antonio had been avoiding her. At first she thought it was typical pre-teen boy not wanting to hang out with adults, but she would notice that he would walk into a room, and then leave if she was in there, or if she walked into a room, he would shoot out a random excuse before running off with Parce before she could say anything. The only time they seemed to be in the same room together was during meals.

Mirabel huffed her way up the stairs, intent on finding Antonio to speak with him. Casita made the steps easier, but Mirabel was still feeling the strain of being so far into her pregnancy and going up all the stairs. She patted Casita's banister at the top of the stairs in a thank you. At least she had the help here, unlike the stairs at her own casa.

Once she caught her breath, she looked around the upper floor for the first time since she had left almost 8 years ago. The biggest change was the Camilo and Antonio's doors had been moved to a new third floor, and Adoria's new door was beside her madres. Another change was that her Tío Bruno's door was once more golden, and wasn't so detached from the family. It was now beside her mamá's door once more, like it had been when the triplets had been little.

Mirabel's eyes drifted to the nursery door. She hadn't wanted to look, not wanting to bring up bad memories, but she found she couldn't look away. The door still looked the same green it was before. Before she knew it she had closed the distance between the stairs and the door. Her hand ghosted over the spot where she had attempted to carve her name into the door at age 8, wanting to be like the rest of her family.

She swallowed back the pang of remembered loneliness. As she went to trace over it one more time, she felt the door move, and realized that it was ajar. She held her breath as she pushed gently on the door and it opened to reveal the room.

Mirabel was surprised to note that it looked almost exactly how she left it. She would have thought that the niños of the family would be staying in here. But instead, it was almost as if the room had been kept frozen in time. In a trance she walked over to her old bed and sat down, her eyes focusing on the step up to the window sill. It was covered in photographs of a young Mirabel, and candles with varying degrees of usage. There were drawings she had done as a niña pequeña.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she realized that her family really had mourned the loss of her all these years. She felt guilt rise in her, especially when she noticed the little jaguar plush she had made Antonio all those years ago. Swallowing heavily, she leant over and picked it up, noticing the layer of dust on it. She dusted it off before running her thumb over the worn face. A few more tears slipped from her face as she thought more about the little boy she had left behind.

A new determination fills her. She stood up, with Casita's help, and once again set out to look for Antonio. Casita indicated that he was in his room, so Mirabel headed there, plush jaguar still in her hand.

She knocked on his door, but didn't receive an answer. After another few knocks, she tried the door, and it was thankfully unlocked.

She stepped inside and took a moment to marvel at the room she had only seen once before. It was a perfect room for her pequeño explorador, a jungle that had so many areas to explore.

"Antonio? Are you in here?" Mirabel called out as she moved to the edge of the entryway that then opened up to the jungle floor. "Toñito?"

After a few moments, a rustling was heard, before Antonio appeared from the foliage, riding on Parce's back.

"Sí?" He asked, looking like he wanted to go back to whatever he was doing before.

"Toñito, I was hoping we might talk?" Mirabel asked, pushing her glasses up her nose anxiously.

He just stared at her for a while, before sighing and nodding. "Follow me." He said, before he guided Parce on a beaten path to the right of Mirabel.

She followed, trying to keep up while also trying not to trip. Finally they ended up at a little spot beside a river that had some comfortable chairs. Antonio was already sitting sprawled on one, his one leg thrown over the arm of the chair. Parce was laid down in front of him, and a coati had come up to cuddle on Antonio's lap.

Mirabel licked her dry lips and tried to catch her breath as she sank onto the other armchair across from the boy. Her fingers flexed and brought the jaguar plush to rest on her lap, holding it with both hands. She all of a sudden didn't know what to say to him.

"Toñito…" She began, hesitating as she tried to find the right words.

"Don't call me that." He grumped, his brow beginning to form a frown and his lips tightened into a thin line.

"Oh, lo siento primo." Mirabel replied softly, swallowing past the lump that formed at his declaration. "I, uh, I thought maybe we could… talk. I've missed yo-"

"If you missed me so much, why didn't you come back sooner?" He griped, shooting a glare at his prima.

Mirabel tried to hold back her grimace at the heated look he gave her. Never once had she thought he would ever look at her that way. "I wish it was that simple, Antonio."

"It could have been!" He argued back.

She calmly responded, heart aching at his anger. "No, primo, it wasn't. If it had been I wouldn't have even left. You heard about everything the night I returned." She fingered the ear of the stuffed jaguar. "You were young when I left, and I am sorry I did it on your special night. If I could go back and change something it would at least be that."

"What about leaving with no note? You didn't even say that you were leaving, you just left." He shooed the coati off his lap before crossing his arms. "You didn't have to watch tía cry and not be able to leave her room for weeks or tío trying to keep it together for her and your hermanas. The animals told me everything. Dolores could hear everyone crying at night or even in the day. She had to hole herself up in her room for days to be able to control the migraines that came with it. Tío Bruno gave himself nosebleeds trying to see anything about you. Mamá caused a hurricane once they had to admit you were probably dead. It lasted a long time, before Papá managed to calm her down so it was only raining instead." Antonio at some point during his rant had gotten up and began pacing like his mamá was prone to do. He was now breathing heavily and had stopped pacing, facing away from his prima. His hands were gripping his hair.

Mirabel could feel her heart breaking, tears streaming down her face unchecked. While she had thought he would remember being upset, she thought he would forget a lot about her like she and Camilo had forgotten their Tío Bruno. Obviously this wasn't the case.

"Antonio, mi corazón, lo siento tanto. I… I never once thought that you would re-" her voice caught in her throat, "remember me. Or at least more than a distant memory. But you're right, I should have left at least a note. I never meant to cause so much pain to everyone, but especially you." She sniffled. "Please know that I have loved you since the moment your papá placed you in my arms and you were only an hour old, mi pequeño compañero. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to stay and see you grow up, I swear I will regret that my whole life."

She stood as quickly as she could, and approached him tentatively. He watched her warily, his hands having dropped from his hair while she was talking. Now his arms were crossed over his chest, hugging himself. Mirabel raised her hand, but waited until he didn't move away before cupping his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Antonio. I am sorry for the hurt I have caused you. I promise that not a day has gone by where I didn't think of you. Wondering what you were doing, or who you were becoming. Te he echado mucho de menos, mi pequeño explorador." She wiped the tears from his cheek with her thumb.

All of a sudden she was pulled into a hug by him, as the boy began sobbing in her arms.

"Y-you never forgot about me?"

"Nunca. Never, Toñito... I mean Antonio. You have always been my first bebé. Nothing will ever change that. Nada." She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go any time soon.

"I'm sorry Mamí, call me Toñito. Lo siento."

Mirabel pulled back to wipe his tears away again. "Don't apologize, mi amor. I was the one who hurt you. You never have to feel sorry for feeling your emotions or telling people that they have hurt you."

"Te amo, Mari."

"Te quiero mucho, Toñito. I promise to never disappear again. Even if I don't live here, I will come visit, or you can visit us in the City. Lo prometo."

They held each other for a while as they both regained their composure.

Mirabel handed Antonio the plush jaguar. "I found your little friend."

Antonio blushed as he accepted the stuffie, holding it close. "Gracias Mira."

She smiled at him. "Why don't you show me your room? Or at least the safe parts. I'm afraid I'm not getting around very quickly these days.

His eyes lit up and he grabbed her hand, pulling her off to the left. Mirabel heard Parce huff behind them, before rolling over and falling asleep.


A/N:Let me know what gender you want the baby, I am good with either and haven't chosen yet, so I will let you all have your say if you want to.

Should we even it out with a second boy, or should girls rule their little family too?

No promises on when the next update will be, but I promise this story will be completed.

Translations:

Gracias, bonita - Thank you, pretty girl

No hay excusas jovencito - No excuses young man

chico - boy

¡Despacio, chicas! - Slow down, girls!

chichóns - bumps (but in this case, more refers to boo-boos, if this isn't right from a Colombian aspect let me know, my friend said this is what Puerto Ricans use)

lo siento tanto - I am so sorry

mi pequeño compañero - my own little companion

Te he echado mucho de menos - I've missed you so much

Nunca - never

Nada - nothing