For a whole week, Mirabel and Rosa were at odds. The only time Rosa talked to Mirabel was when she would ask her again if she could have Dolores try to find Javi. Every time, Mirabel told her no and Rosa would go back to ignoring her mom. Mirabel hoped this was something she would eventually get over. She just had to stay strong and not give in.

After watching Mirabel and Rosa practically at each other's throats for that whole week, Julieta finally pulled Max aside one day. "We've got to do something about Mirabel and Rosa. They can't keep this up."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? You know as well as I do that they're both stubborn."

Julieta sighed. "I can see both sides of this. Javi broke Mirabel's heart, so of course, Mirabel doesn't want her daughter anywhere near him. I watched her go through that and it was rough. But I can understand Rosa's side of this. I also never had the chance to get to know my father. I would give anything to have gotten to know him. Obviously, it was a very different situation and my dad was a better man than Javi is, but…she will always be curious about him."

"I get where she's coming from, too, but I don't want her to get hurt."

"I don't either. Trust me, it's the last thing in the world I want. But…you said it yourself. They're both very stubborn. Do you really think Rosa is going to give this up?"

Max shrugged and said, "I don't know, I mean…she didn't talk about him for 5 years and just now brought him back up."

Julieta just stared at Max for a moment with a look and then said, "Yeah and how much of those 5 years do you think she spent thinking about him and wanting to talk about him? I'm sure it was all the time." Julieta saw so much of her daughter in Rosa.

Max knew she was right. "I hate to admit that you're probably right."

"And do you want her sneaking out in the middle of the night trying to find him?"

"Of course not,"

"Okay, then. That's what is going to happen if Mirabel and Rosa continue this. Please just talk to Mirabel and figure out what you need to do."

Max knew Julieta was right, but he didn't want her to be. He was not ready to have this conversation with Mirabel, but he knew he needed to.

That night while getting into bed, Max said, "We need to talk about this thing with you and Rosa."

Mirabel looked at him a little shocked. "What's there to talk about? I tell her no until she finally gives it up."

"Mirabel," he said gently. "You know her. I know her. Do you really think she's going to give this up anytime soon?"

"I don't know. But I'm not giving up."

He sighed. "Yes. You don't give up on something that you set your mind to. But you passed that trait onto Rosa. Mirabel, I don't think this is something she is willing to give up. This is her life. This is her finding out who she is."

Mirabel scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you think she should go find him."

"That's the last thing I want her to do. But…" He grabbed her hand. "She's not going to give it up. What happens when this continues, you and her at odds with each other, and she chooses to leave in the middle of the night and she goes to try and find him all by herself?"

Mirabel gulped. She knew he was right. Rosa had never been outside of the Encanto, so it was terrifying to imagine her trying to leave it. She rubbed her face as her eyes filled with tears. "I don't want her to get hurt."

"I don't either." he said, pulling her in for a hug. When they pulled apart, he said, "Look, let's not get ahead of ourselves right now. We still don't know where he is. Dolores would still have to try and figure out where he went and that could take a long time. For now, I think we just need to let Dolores see if she can find out where he went. If she can't, then we can tell Rosa we tried."

They were silent for a moment before Mirabel spoke. "And what if she does?"

"Then…we'll cross that bridge if we get there."

Mirabel nodded and they both laid down and went to sleep.

The next morning, Mirabel pulled Rosa aside before breakfast. "Okay. I talked to Papa last night. We decided that Dolores can try to figure out where your biological dad went, but only if it's okay with her."

Rosa's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Mirabel nodded. "Yeah. I can't promise she will find out, but…she can try."

"I know. That's okay." Rosa sighed shakily. She felt so guilty for the mean things she said to her mom. "Mama, I'm sorry for the things I said to you. I know you were just trying to protect me when you didn't tell me about him."

Mirabel smiled. "You're not just saying this because I gave you what you wanted?"

"I'm happy you said yes, but I've been feeling bad about saying that to you since the moment I said it." She hugged Mirabel tightly. "You have been the most amazing mom to me. I know that everything you've done since the moment you found out you were pregnant with me was to protect me."

Mirabel wanted to keep her daughter close and never let her go. She kissed the side of her head and said, "I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

Mirabel and Rosa spoke with Dolores and she didn't mind trying to find out where Javi was. It took her a solid 2 weeks of listening to random conversations in places that Javi used to go to a lot to figure out anything. She heard a friend of his say his name and say that they missed him. She immediately went to talk to this friend of his to find out more information. She found out he left to a town west of the Encanto eight years ago. They didn't know much information about how far away it was or anything like that. Dolores asked around, though, and figured out more about the towns that were west of the Encanto. There were only a few of them that were even remotely close to them, so the greatest chance of finding him was going to those towns.

Mirabel came home from a day of chores and immediately ran into Dolores. She told her hi, but Dolores just gave her a sad look and said, "I'm sorry, I know you didn't want me to find out where he went. But…I may have."

Mirabel's heart started beating wildly out of her chest. Her anxiety had definitely lessened over the years, but there were still occasions it could flare up and get bad. She started taking quick, jagged breathes. "No, no, no, no, don't tell me that." She put her hands on her head. "Now she's going to find him. Oh, no, she's going to face him. He's just going to slam the door in her face. No, I can't let her do this. I can't do it, I can't do it."

Once again, even after all of these years, everyone still knew how to get her out of it. Dolores stepped a little closer to her and said softy, "Let's take deep breathes together."

After a few moments of deep breathes, Mirabel calmed down. She was still freaking out, but she wasn't on the verge of a panic attack anymore. She took one final deep breath and said, "I have to tell Rosa now, but how do I tell her? She'll want to immediately go find him. How is this going to work? She isn't going alone, so who will she go with? Will she even have luck finding him? What if she traveled for weeks and still couldn't find him? She'll come back so disappointed." She had to take a few deep breathes to keep her anxiety levels down. "I shouldn't let her do it. Do you think there's a chance he has changed? Be honest. I want to believe he has, but…I just don't know."

Dolores shrugged. She was silent for a moment. "Mirabel, I…I want to say yes. I want that for Rosa so much. I hope so much that he will want to know her. But…we both saw how he was. You did not deserve to be treated that way by him."

"And Rosa doesn't deserve to be treated like that by him. What is going to happen if she goes to him and he tells her he wants nothing to do with her? She will be heartbroken. She wants this to work out so much." Mirabel had to blink back the tears. "What kind of mother am I that would allow that to happen? I've been protecting her since the moment she was born and I will continue to protect her until the day I die. How is this protecting her?"

Dolores rubbed her shoulder. "You're an amazing mother. She may always be your little girl, but the truth is, she's not a little girl anymore. She's 15 years old. She's the same age as you were when you saved the miracle." Mirabel smiled at that. "Rosa is so strong and so independent. If she does go through that, which would be worst case scenario, she'll be okay. Whoever travels with her will comfort her and once she's home, we will all comfort her, too. Everyone is right. She will always wonder about him and I know the last thing you want is for her to sneak out in the middle of the night to go find him. This way, you can have some control over it. You can set the boundaries and she's a level-headed enough person that she'll follow those rules."

Mirabel nodded, feeling a little bit better. Then, she got more information from her cousin about where he might be. Then, she told Dolores to please keep this between the two of them and to not tell Rosa yet. Dolores agreed she wouldn't tell her, so Mirabel spent a couple of days talking to Max about what they should do and how they should tell Rosa. It took them awhile, but they finally came up with a plan for how she would be allowed to travel to try and find him. She had to have someone with her and she had to return back within 2 weeks, regardless if they found him or not. They would travel with a horse and a carriage with enough supplies to last them the 2 weeks.

As Mirabel was planning this, she hated it and didn't want to do it. But she knew her daughter and knew she'd do whatever she could do to meet this man. Mirabel hoped and prayed that there was a tiny sliver of hope and that he had changed. She still couldn't get the image of him slamming the door in Rosa's face out of her head. She wanted so badly to be wrong about him.

Mirabel had several family members in mind to ask to go with Rosa, but the one she wanted the most was Antonio. Even now, at 27 years old, a husband and a father, he was still very close with Rosa and she was very close with him. They didn't see each other as cousins; more like brother and sister. He was still such a sweet soul and if things did go bad with Javi, Mirabel knew he would be there to comfort Rosa.

Mirabel went to him one afternoon. He and Genevieve were coming out of his room. They had just laid Andrea down for a nap. They stood there talking for a moment and then noticed Mirabel standing there. "Hi Mira." he said. "What's up?"

"Oh, um…I just wanted to talk to you about something. But if you're busy now, I can come back."

"No, we're not busy." said Genevieve. She gave Antonio a kiss on the cheek. "I'll leave you two alone." She smiled at Mirabel as she walked off. Mirabel absolutely adored Antonio's wife. She was as sweet as could be. Genevieve, unfortunately, had a little bit of postpartum depression after having Andrea, so her and Mirabel bonded over that and spent a lot of time together.

Antonio walked closer to Mirabel. "Have you told Rosa yet about Dolores finding…you-know-who?"

"Not yet. Max and I have been talking a lot about how we want to tell her and how we will allow her to go visit him. The last thing I want her to do is go see him, but I feel like she'll try to go find him eventually."

"Yeah, unfortunately,"

Mirabel took a deep breath. "We'll have some conditions for her. She'll go in a carriage with a horse to hold all the supplies needed. She has to be back within 2 weeks, whether she has found him or not. And…she has to have somebody with her. Someone I trust that is going to look after her. Someone I know will protect her at all costs and will comfort her if things go wrong with him."

Antonio slowly got a smile on his face. "Let me guess, the person you're talking about is me?"

She nodded. "It can't be me or Max. I never want to see his face again and, well, the last time Max saw him, he punched him in the face. Who knows what he'd do now." Antonio laughed, remembering when that happened. "I just…I know I could ask lots of other people, but…I don't want anyone else to go with her." Mirabel took a deep breath. "I need you."

Antonio didn't say anything. He just stepped forward and gave Mirabel a hug. She held on tight. It was crazy to her that he was taller than her now. Sometimes, it felt like he should still be a little kid. "I needed you for my gift ceremony and you were there for me. I'll be there for you now." They pulled apart. "I would be more than happy to go with her. I'll have to talk to Genna to make sure it's okay with her, but I'm sure it will be." Genevieve frequently went by Genna.

"Thank you so much, Tonito."

He used to hate that everyone still called him that, but he had accepted the fact that it would be a forever nickname for him.

He talked with his wife and, just like he said, it was perfectly okay with her.

Mirabel, Max, Dolores, and Antonio pulled Rosa aside to talk to her. Rosa eyed all of them, confused. "What's going on?" It had been a month since Dolores first started to try and find out where Javi had gone to. All their plans were made and, if Rosa still wanted to do it, they could leave within the next week. Prior to this conversation, Dolores gave Antonio the rundown of where she thought he could be and where they'd be traveling to.

"Rosa," started off Mirabel. "We have some news."

Her eyes widened and she smiled. She looked at Dolores and said, "Did you find him?"

"I didn't find him exactly, but I think I know where he might be." Dolores explained where she thought he might be and Mirabel explained the plan for how it would be to go try and find him. As they explained everything, she agreed with everything. She was fine with Antonio going with her. She was fine with being back within 2 weeks.

After everything, Rosa was so excited she could hardly stand it. She wanted to leave the next day, but she would have to play catch up on her chores and school work to be able to go. She worked extra hard for the next several days. She was so excited that she asked her Tio Bruno to have a vision about how the visit would go. He laughed and said he couldn't, because he couldn't have visions of things that happen far away from the Encanto.

Everything was all packed up and ready to go. Rosa and Antonio said bye to everyone inside, but Mirabel, Max, and Julieta were all standing outside as they were about to leave. Rosa stood in front of Mirabel. She gave her mom a big hug. When they pulled apart, Rosa said, "I love you so much, Mama. I can never thank you enough for sacrificing so much to be the best mom in the world to me."

Mirabel's eyes filled with tears and she rubbed her hand over her daughter's cheek. "I love you, too, baby. So much. Are you sure you still want to go?"

Rosa nodded. "Yes. I have to do this. I have to know where I come from."

"I know. Just thought I'd ask one more time," Mirabel grabbed her face and kissed her on the forehead.

Rosa gave Julieta a hug and told her she loved her. She walked up to Max and gave him a hug. She said to him, "No matter what happens, you'll always be my Papa. No one could ever replace you. And I can never thank you enough for choosing me. I love you so much."

He kissed her on the forehead. "I love you, too, mija. No matter what,"

Rosa turned around and got on the carriage.

Mirabel stepped in front of Antonio. She hugged him tightly and whispered, "Please keep my baby girl safe."

"I won't let her out of my sight. I promise." he said when they pulled apart.

Antonio walked up to the horse, who was named Penny, and reminded her where they'd be going. He had already talked to Penny before about this journey, but he wanted to make sure she knew exactly what was going on. He wanted to make sure and tell Penny everything now, because they didn't know if he'd still be able to understand animals once they were out of the Encanto.

As they headed away from Casita and on their way out of the Encanto, Antonio and Rosa looked at each other. He patted her back. "Are you sure about this? This is your last chance to back out."

"I've never been more sure about anything."

"Okay, then. Let's do this."

Back at Casita, Mirabel watched as the carriage left and she kept her eyes on it until she couldn't see it anymore. She turned around and hugged her mom, bursting into tears. "Why can't I just keep her close to me forever?"