An oh so brief chapter focusing on the grandkids.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted suggestions for this story. I think I know where I'm going now with this chapter. Next chapter will be the last one I will be taking suggestions for.

For more of my work, please check out "Thirteen Hours", which is an AU inspired by the movie Labyrinth. It stars Isabela and Mirabel and I'm really proud of it so far! I'm only self-promoting because I don't know how many of you have read it yet and if you've stuck around this long, you've gotta like my writing.

On with the story!


Being a grandfather was definitely a different experience than being a father.

It didn't help that Agustin had very little time to prepare for his first granddaughter's arrival. Isabela left home in the morning and returned in the evening with a three-year-old girl she'd apparently functionally kidnapped from the girl's uncle. Agustin took one look at the tiny toddler in pigtails and knew he was willing to punch someone in the face if it meant this girl could stay with them. Julieta was more skeptical but she still made sure Maya had ample portions at mealtimes to help her gain some much-needed weight.

Maya was also possibly the shyest and quietest child he'd ever met in his life, and it was little wonder she was the way she was when he had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting her tío Mattias. The man was a slimeball who clearly saw Maya as nothing more than a possession to do with as he pleased. He hid a smile when Isabela sent him flying down the hill in an effort to protect her daughter.

He watched her grow up for two years, gaining size and confidence as she adjusted to living with the Madrigals and being around so many people who cared about her. And he had so many memories of that time, those years where she was finding her way in the family.

One of his favorites happened to be when Maya was about four (by anyone's estimate; they hadn't known her birthday at the time). He'd been playing the piano, practicing for an upcoming celebration, and Maya had silently appeared next to him. Her hazel eyes watched him as he practiced each chord.

"Do you want to try?" he asked.

She shook her head, and he moved over so she could sit next to him on the bench. He resumed playing and she simply listened and watched him. It wasn't an unusual occurrence but he wondered what exactly she wanted.

Finally, he finished the piece and closed the piano.

"How come you don't have a gift?" Maya inquired in her little voice.

"I married into the family," he explained. "I'm not a Madrigal by birth, so I didn't get a gift."

"Is that why Tío Felix doesn't have one, either?"

"Precisely."

"What about Tía Mira?" He thought for a moment.

"I dunno, querida."

"And me?"

"We'll have to see. I'm sure you'll get a gift, though. You're as much a Madrigal as any of us. And even if you don't, we'll still see you as one of us."

She stared up at him again, then a tiny smile appeared on her adorable face as she hugged him around the waist. It was far from the first time they'd hugged, but to get Maya to hug anyone but Isa had been an uphill process. So far she'd only taken that step with Julieta and Mirabel, and now Agustin could count himself among that lucky few who'd gotten it.

"Thank you, Abuelo," she whispered, and his heart swelled. She hadn't called him Abuelo before, either, and that felt even better than the hug.

"You're very welcome, mi amor."

"…can you play that song again? I really like it."

"Of course I can."

He opened the piano and started to play out the notes, Maya humming the melody alongside him with every press of a key.


Mirabel rubbed her eyes as she made her way downstairs.

She'd always been an early riser, ever since she was a baby. And that meant that more often than not she was the first person downstairs in the mornings to set up for breakfast so Tía Julieta could get started without worrying about setting the table or making coffee for the older Madrigals.

This morning, however, there was someone else in the kitchen. She was alerted to this fact when she heard a clattering sound followed by a dish breaking. Alarmed she ran to the kitchen, only to find the twins and Isaac standing around a broken plate and surrounded by what appeared to be Julieta's ingredients. Maya, Diana, and Pedro were there, too, covered in flour as they tried to cook. And Catalina sat on a stool in the corner, quietly sipping a glass of juice and watching the chaos as she swung her legs.

"Niños, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Buenos días, Tía Mira!" Diana greeted her with a bright smile. "We're making breakfast for everyone!"

"The plate was heavy, Mama," added Sara, staring up at her. "I didn't mean to drop it."

Mirabel let out a sigh.

"Casita, clean up the mess, please."

The kids were moved away from the plate before Casita flipped the tiles it was on over and the shards were gone. Oscar stared up at her with wide impressed eyes.

"Where'd it go, Mama?"

"I dunno, cariño. Only Casita knows that."

Her attention turned to the three older children.

"Whose idea was this?"

"Mine," Pedro stated, levitating a coffee cup out of the cabinet and setting it down on the counter. "We wanted to make breakfast for everyone so Tía Julieta doesn't have to cook on her birthday."

Mirabel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She understood the sentiment, but Pedro was only eight and he was the oldest of the grandkids. They were too young to cook unsupervised.

"All right, if you kids really wanna do this for Tía Julieta, you need an adult in the room. Luckily, I'm the second-best cook in the family, so you all can help me out."

"Mama cooks!" cheered Sara, jumping onto Oscar's back and knocking him over. Isaac leapt on top of them and started giggling.

Sometimes Mira thought they were the second set of Madrigal triplets.

She grabbed an apron out of a cupboard and tied it on, making sure her long hair was out of the way as she took the mixing bowl from Diana to begin the cooking lesson. Her eyes went to Pedro.

"Pedrito, you and Maya go set the table."

"We should eat outside!" announced Sara. "I'm gonna get Tía Luisa to grab the table!"

"Be nice about it, abejorro," called Mirabel as her daughter ran upstairs. "And Casita, keep an eye on her."

Eventually, everything was done and Mirabel jogged back up to her room to retrieve her yearly tradition—homemade cards for her father and aunts. This year, though, the kids had decided to join in on the fun and made their own. It had been a massive art project mostly contained to Mirabel's room, which provided the best space outside the nursery for such things.

And of course, the triplets were overjoyed with their first gifts.

(There was also a new rule that nobody under the age of twelve could cook by themselves without an adult to supervise.)


One thing was certain with so many kids in the house: it was never quiet.

Felix liked it that way. Things only became quiet when something was wrong, like when somebody (usually Pedro or Camilo) was planning some kind of prank. He loved watching the kids run around, play games with each other in a way that his own children hadn't really been able to after receiving their gifts. With Mirabel in charge, the gifts were gifts, not things to be earned. As much as he loved his suegra, that had been one part of her running the family that he'd never quite understood.

Today in particular was a loud day, in large part because it was a triple gift ceremony. Isaac shared a birthday with Mirabel's twins, which made it extra-special for the family and for the Encanto. The very first gift ceremony had been the one for the triplets, and everyone knew how that had gone. This was the first time since then, in over sixty years, that there had been more than one Madrigal receiving a gift at once. And two of them were his grandchildren!

Currently he was waiting alongside everyone else as the three were told the story of the Miracle by Luisa, as had become the tradition. Mirabel was anxiously waiting for her children to emerge so she could begin the ceremony. Another thing that was happening for the first time since the first ceremony—a mother having her children open their doors.

He could hardly believe that this young woman was the same child he'd helped raise all those years.

The ceremony began, Mirabel making a speech like she had for Pedro and Maya and Diana and Catalina, and the three made their way down the red tiles as he'd seen happen so many times before. Sara, he noticed, pulled ahead of her hermano and primo ever-so-slightly. She was impatient to receive her gift, more-so than he remembered most Madrigal children.

Even so, Isaac received his gift first.

Isaac's gift was that of moving earth. It didn't seem like much until they watched him crack a boulder within his room with very little effort. The gift went well with Luisa's and she swept her hijastro into a massive hug. He smiled brightly and Diana grinned.

The twins, on the other hand, received gifts that seemed to be opposites. Sara got some form of super-speed and Oscar could slow things down.

(He thought he heard Joseph sigh "Oh, thank God" when they realized what Oscar's gift was.)

Sara wasn't so fast that she couldn't be caught, but she was fast enough that it was extremely difficult unless you had some other way to grab her or Oscar slowed his sister down with his own gift. It suited them both well; Sara had always dashed around in such a way that her mother called her bumblebee and Oscar was definitely more cautious than his sister.

Altogether, he'd call it a successful gift ceremony.


Alma could feel her time approaching as her youngest nietos received their gifts.

She was nearing her nineties now, an age she'd never thought she'd make it to for so many years. She'd seen so many friends leave over the past few years, and each one made her wonder when her turn would come. The family was in good hands, she knew, and she was at peace with the idea that she would soon join Pedro.

The idea that the family was thriving grew as Antonio married Cecelia from the village and Isabela adopted an infant boy from an orphanage outside the Encanto who she named Sebastian. And as Mirabel announced her second pregnancy. Everything would be fine when she was gone, she knew, but it didn't mean she felt right leaving everyone behind.

Bruno gave her a knowing look sometimes, and she knew he'd looked.

There was no way he hadn't.

And just six months after the gift ceremony, Alma Madrigal quietly passed away in her sleep, joining her husband and nuera in the afterlife.

Four months after that, Mirabel gave birth to her second daughter.

Her daughter was named Alma.


Another shorter chapter with brief peeks at some characters.

Please please please remember that next chapter will be the very last one I'm taking requests for. We are two chapters away from completing this saga.

Also, please give "Thirteen Hours" a read and review!

So long and thanks for all the fish!