Isabela had been swinging on her vines for hours.

"Woohoo! I'm never gonna stop!" she said, just as she got tangled up.

Now, she was upside down!

"Oh, no!" she said. "I'm stuck!"

Meanwhile, Mirabel was talking to Julieta- in the kitchen, of course.

"Mami, why do you always smile?" Mirabel asked. "Is it because you're always happy?'

"No," said Julieta. "It's because if I ever stop smiling, your Abuela will hit me."

"Oh, okay… WHAT?!" Mirabel responded

"Hey, do you hear that?" Julieta asked, trying to quickly change the subject.

"Help! Help!" Isabela called.

"Nope! I don't hear anything!" Mirabel said.

Luisa barged into Isabela's room.

"What's wrong, sis?" she asked.

"I'm stuck!" Isabela said. "Help me!"

Luisa laughed, "I can see your underwear!"

"Waaah!" Isabela cried. "It's not funny!"

Bruno was knocking on Pepa's door.

"C-C-come in…" Pepa said, in a shaky voice.

"Hi," Bruno said, coming in.

"Hi," said Pepa. "Food is on the bedside table. It's cold, though."

"I don't care," said Bruno. "I'm starving!"

He rushed to her bedside table and began ravenously gobbling her food.

Pepa chuckled weakly. "Oh, Bruno. You're always hungry…"

A few minutes later, Julieta went to check in on Pepa again.

"Wow! You ate all of your food! Finally!" Julieta said. "Good girl!"

"Y-y-yep. I sure did," Pepa said.

She was talking that way, not because she had a stutter, but because she was shaking so hard that she could barely speak.

"Don't you feel so much better now?" Julieta asked.

"Y-y-yeah," said Pepa. "So much better!"

"PEPA!" Alma screeched from downstairs. "Where are you, Pepa?"

"Ugh," Pepa said, rolling her eyes. "What does she want?"

"Uhh… maybe she wants to discuss birthday plans?" Julieta suggested.

"Umm… well… why don't you just tell her?" Pepa asked.

"PEPA!" Alma screamed.

"Yeah, no," said Julieta. "I'm pretty sure she wants you."

Pepa sighed.

"Fine."

She began getting out of bed slowly, but felt a sudden wave of dizziness. Her heart was pounding, and her ears were ringing.

Oh, no. I don't want to faint again, she fretted.

Julieta noticed Pepa's distant stare and rushed over to help steady her, asking her if she was alright.

"Yes!" Pepa snapped. "Leave me alone!"

A few days later, Alma was looking for Julieta.

"Where is she? I want to discuss birthday plans with her!" she demanded.

"I saw her go outside earlier," Bruno said.

"WHAT? OUTSIDE?!" Alma screeched.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Bruno asked.

"She's supposed to stay in the kitchen!" Alma said Karenly. "Is there a kitchen outside? I don't think so!"

Mirabel rushed into the house.

"ABUELA! ABUELA!"

"Ugh," Alma said. "What do you want, Mirabel?"

"I found Mami's apron outside, in a tree!"

"Oh, no!" Alma gasped. "That can mean only one thing!"

"W-w-what?" Mirabel asked.

"She's dead!" Alma said.

Dun, dun, DUN!

"NO! Why are you saying that?" Mirabel said.

"Because! She never takes her apron off!" Alma said.

She then had a random flashback to Antonio's ceremony for some reason.

"MAMI! NO!" Mirabel cried.

"This is all your fault, Pepa!" Alma said.

"My fault? How?" Pepa asked, putting her hand over her rapidly beating heart.

"You broke her heart by rejecting her food! Why didn't you just eat?" Alma said.

"W-w-what?" Pepa asked. "I've been eating!"

"No!" said Alma, over the sound of Bruno burping. "You've been giving your food to Bruno! Dolores told me everything."

"ARGH! HOW DARE SHE!" Pepa said. "Just wait until I find her! She's gonna be in such big trouble!"

"Don't be so hard on her!" said Alma. "After all, she is pregnant."

"SHE'S NOT PREGNANT!" Pepa roared. "I AM!"

Bruno, Mirabel, and Alma began laughing hysterically.

"At your old age? Ha!" said Alma.

Julieta entered the room.

"Yeah! That's a good one, Pepa!"

"Oh! You're still alive!" Alma said. "Now I don't have to cancel your birthday party."

"Of course," said Julieta. "I was only gone for a few hours…"

"Where exactly were you?" Alma demanded. "You know you're supposed to stay in the kitchen!"

"I was just visiting some friends…" Julieta whimpered.

"Ha!" Alma scoffed. "You have friends?"

"Y-y-yes, and they hadn't seen me in a long time, since I've always been in the kitchen…" Julieta said, starting to tear up. Her smile began to turn into a frown, until she saw Alma making a fist.

Then, she quickly smiled again.

"Get back in the kitchen," Alma said, cracking her knuckles.

"Yes, Mama…" Julieta sighed. "But can I at least have the day off for my birthday? It's coming up soon, you know…"

Alma actually didn't know. She had forgotten exactly when Julieta's birthday was, because she was an old lady and forgot things easily.

"Well, I'd say yes, but you were naughty and snuck out! So, my answer is NO."

Why she gotta be so rude?

"Oh, okay…" said Julieta. She put her apron back on and headed into the kitchen.

Later that day, Pepa told Félix everything that had happened to her.

He quietly listened without saying a word, because he knew that she'd hit him if he interrupted her story.

"… and I would've come home sooner, but the rocks fell and blocked my path! I spent hours crying for help, but nobody came! There I was, alone in the dark. Weak, vulnerable, tired, hungry, soaked from the rain! And then some strange man grabbed me! And then he… well, he…"

"Hey, hey!" Julieta interrupted.

"What do you want?" Pepa said. The cloud that had been perpetually over her head for the past few days began to darken.

"I made you some extra food!" Julieta said. "Eat up!"

"I already told you that I'm not sick! Why don't you just drop it?!" Pepa scowled.

"I know you're not sick, but you are eating for two… right?" Julieta giggled.

"WHAT?!" Félix said, flabbergasted.

"Umm… uhh… let's not discuss that right now…" Pepa said.

"Have you been keeping secrets from me?" Félix probed.

"No!" Pepa said, trying to run away.

Julieta grabbed Pepa and tackled her, which is a lovely thing to do to someone who's ostensibly pregnant.

"Ahhh!" Pepa screamed. "Help me, Félix!"

Julieta shoved a bread roll into Pepa's mouth.

"Eat up! Yum, yum, yum!"

Pepa cried as she was forced to eat.

"Chew, chew, chew, swallow!" Julieta said. "There you go! Doesn't that feel great?"

Pepa sobbed and curled up into the fetal position, which is ironic since a fetus is exactly what she was pretending was inside of her at the time.

Antonio saw her crying and ran up to her.

"Mami! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Pepa said, wiping away her tears. "Mami's okay."

She knew better than to cry in front of her children. It was a sign of weakness.

Camilo peered around the corner and saw them hugging.

I wish that she would hug me! he thought.

"Are you really pregnant, Mami?" Antonio asked, smiling innocently.

She stared at him blankly, but he only smiled harder.

"I'm 50 years old, Antonio," Pepa said, after a long silence. "What do you think?"

"Yeah!" Antonio said.

Pepa sighed.