AN: I did not intend to write this - it just sort of happened. It's currently complete as a two chapter story - though I may add a third chapter, I do have an idea for one, I'm just worried it's pushing the story past where I want it to go.

Also, all my story titles for Encanto stories will come from song lyric from the movie. This one, of course, is from The Family Madrigal.

"But Mama, I want to go on the trip!" Isabela was frustrated. "Why am I the only one who has to stay home?"

"You know that the magic starts to fade if no one is inhabiting the house. You are the oldest. Your Tía and Tío and myself and Papa have to go, as does Abuela."

"But - but-"

"Isabela isn't coming?" Mirabel popped her head around the doorframe. She wasn't supposed to be listening, she knew, but her hermana and Mama were much too loud for her to be able to ignore.

Isabela shot her a look, and Julieta shook her head. "She's staying here."

"I can stay instead." Mirabel offered.

"Mira, baby, I don't know. You're only eleven…" Julieta started. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with that."

"Come on, Mama. I'll be fine. Casita can take care of me. If I need anything I can go to town and ask. Dolores will probably be able to hear me if something is really wrong."

"You want to stay?" Isa asked, shocked.

"Yes." Mirabel nodded vigorously. "There isn't much with the building and working that I can be helpful with - not like Isa. Please, Mama?"

Julieta sighed. "Let me talk to Papa and Abuela." She conceded.

"You'd really stay?" Isabela asked Mirabel after Mama had left the room.

Mirabel shrugged. "I didn't really want to go in the first place. Anyway, you'd be more helpful than I would be."

Isabela cocked her head to the side. "You're helpful even without a gift, Mirabel.

Mirabel gave Isa the best smile that she could. "I know. But you'd be more helpful with this."

Isabela shrugged. "Maybe." She conceded. "Thank you for offering regardless."

"I - maybe if Mama doesn't want to leave me alone, I can stay with you anyway?" She offered, hopeful.

"No, I don't think Abuela would like being down two of us. Even if you don't think you'd be as helpful as I would be, you would still be much better than not having both of us."

Mirabel knew that Isa was right. She wished she had a gift and could be even more helpful, but going down that rabbit trail wouldn't get her anywhere.

After dinner that night, Mama and Papa sat Mirabel down.

"We have discussed the idea of you staying here instead of Isabela." Papa started.

"We don't love the idea." Julieta told Mirabel. "But your Abuela likes it. And since you've volunteered, if you are serious about it, we will let you. If you are not comfortable about it, we will not do it."

"I'll be fine, Mama." Mirabel promised, relieved.

"We have some rules, though." Agustín added. "We will be getting a few villagers to come and check on you throughout the week. You are not to cook - Mama will leave enough food that you won't need to cook anything. And if you run out, you will tell one of the people in town that are checking on you and they will take care of it."

"You aren't to go wandering around town." Julieta added. "I know that you do that now, and when we are so close, that's fine. But if something were to happen to you while out there, nobody would know where you are or that you didn't come home. So you will stay here unless it's an emergency."

Mirabel readily agreed. "Anything else?"

"We believe that Dolores would still be able to hear you if you need one of us." Julieta said. "But we aren't sure - the further away a noise is, the more it fades into the background or gets covered by other noises. If you need her attention, say her name a couple of times loudly and clearly, and we will make haste to get back here. That's a last resort though, mija."

"I understand." Mirabel was practically bouncing. She already had ideas on spending the week sewing and embroidering some new projects when she was done with whatever she needed to do around the house.

Two days later, she was waving goodbye as her family left to go across the encanto to help build a small, offset town. The population in their village was growing, and they needed room to expand to, and the Madrigals were of course volunteering themselves to help.

They hadn't even left her with chores to do besides making sure she was picking up after herself. So she was going to have all week to herself to work on her projects.

The rest of that first day went smoothly. The next day, Mirabel woke up late. She was really tired. That was strange, she wasn't doing much. She lounged downstairs, sleeping on and off, and was interrupted by a knock on the door of Casita.

Mirabel approached cautiously, knowing that she wasn't to open the door if she didn't know who was there. She peeked out to find Señora Guzman.

Mirabel flung the door open. "Hello." She said, trying to sound awake, even though she was tired.

"Good afternoon, Mirabel. I'm checking in on you for your parents. Are you doing okay?" She asked her gently.

"Yes, I am, gracias." She grinned.

"Okay, fantastic. I will be around a couple of times this week to check on you. And if you need anything at all, you come and get me. Alright?"

Mirabel agreed, and then she was alone again.

Her cough started later that evening, and it wouldn't go away. She ended up sleeping against the wall because the coughing got worse when she laid down.

She slept fitfully that night, and awoke the next morning with a sudden realization.

She was sick.

She felt horrible, her chest ached and her cough wouldn't stop. She was alternating between being cold and hot - she wondered if that meant she had a fever? She didn't know how to tell.

Mirabel got up and got herself some water to drink, but the food that Mama had left her didn't seem appealing. She was a little nauseous, and the idea of the arepas or any other food that was heavy made her stomach clench.

Her coughing only got worse all day long. She was sorely tempted to call Dolores for her Mama or Papa, but she knew they were busy and they were needed. She would have to be fine alone.

When Mirabel moved to go to bed that night, she almost couldn't stand up. She was dizzy and her chest hurt and she just couldn't stop coughing.

She made it to the stairs, but had barely started up when she lost her balance. Casita caught her and helped her up the stairs, but that just made Mirabel more nauseous, and she vomited the little bit of water that she had in her stomach all over the floor.

Mirabel almost screamed when she felt a cool hand on her forehead. As it was, she thought she must be dreaming.

"Tío Bruno?" She asked, incredulously.

"You're very warm." He commented, and then lifted her up and carrying her to the nursery.

He laid her on the bed, but she gasped, forcing her way up. "I can't… breathe… laying…down." She gasped out, fighting panic as she tried to catch her breath again.

"Okay, okay. I've got you." He murmured. "I'm going to get you some stuff. I'll be right back, mi sobrina."

"No, don't leave me." Mirabel couldn't help the panic now that there was an adult. She'd been trying to be so brave being alone and sick had scared her.

"I'll be right downstairs." Bruno said soothingly. "I'm going to make you some soup, hmm? You haven't eaten anything all day, right? And get you some water, and some cool cloths to try and bring your fever down."

"Bring me back downstairs with you." She sobbed, still scared that if he left her sight that he would disappear and she would be alone again.

"Shh, shh, mi sobrina. I'll bring you back downstairs with me. Please don't cry." He picked her back up, grabbing her blanket to wrap her in as he did, and carefully made his way downstairs with her.

He set her up where she could see him in the kitchen, and started with the cool washcloths and some water.

He had been trying to keep a close eye on her, which had been especially difficult since she hadn't come into the kitchen all day. But that indicated that she probably hadn't been drinking or eating much, if anything.

Bruno then set to work making her some soup. He dug around the kitchen, pretty sure he remembered how from Julieta's lessons. If only her food healed sickness, then he could just force an arepa down Mirabel's throat and they would be golden.

"Tío?" He heard Mirabel ask.

"Yes, Mira?" He responded as he got everything stewing. It wouldn't be as good as Julieta's, he was sure, but it would be better than nothing.

"Are you really here or am I that sick?" She laughed a little bit.

Bruno came back over and felt her forehead. She was getting hotter. He grimaced, not sure how much longer her fever could stay that high.

"I'm really here." He promised her.

"Are you going to leave again?" She asked, her voice full of vulnerability.

"I don't know." He admitted. "But I do know that I'm not going anywhere until you are 100% better. Okay?"

"Okay." She yawned, leaning back into the mountain of pillows that he had situated around her. She fell into a fitful sleep, and Bruno went back to working on her soup.

When it was finally done, he tasted it, not wanting to give her anything that would make her even sicker.

It turned out better than he expected. While he allowed her bowl to cool, he quickly made his way upstairs and cleaned up where she had gotten sick earlier in the evening, before he ventured back downstairs to Mirabel.

He forced her to wake up before settling next to her on the couch, forcing the soup down her throat, a spoonful at a time.

She ate the whole bowl, and Bruno allowed her to fall back to sleep, and she did, slumped over onto him.

He wrapped his arms loosely around her, allowing her to slumber for a while.

She was still too warm, though.

He decided to try to get her to take a lukewarm bath, and gently tried to wake her.

And tried again.

He tried to squash the panic when she didn't respond. He knew she was still breathing, but he should still be able to wake her up.

Bruno didn't like it, but he knew what he was going to have to do.

He was going to have to take her into town. She needed a doctor.

AN: Just for the record - Encanto is set around the 1950s, so that would make this only a couple years earlier - I imagine leaving a child in that sort of setting for a couple of days with safeguards in place wouldn't have been as outrageous as we would find it now - though still obviously not the best idea. Also, its the only way to make this story work, so... yeah. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll have chapter 2 up tomorrow or Wednesday!