Sorry for another long wait and another short chapter but hey, at least a new chapter is finally up! I'm still trying to get back into a good routine with this fic. So much has happened since the last update, I hope everyone is safe and well in these crazy times!
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"Papa Héctor! I'm so glad I found you!"
Héctor nearly has a literal heart attack as he hears someone other than Miguel call him by that name and the most unexpected person, at that.
Elena? He's still not used to her calling him 'Papa Héctor' like Miguel does. He's still not used to the rushing and pounding of his heart when it beats so fast like this either, even though he probably should be by now. It's been how long since he's come back to life?
He's been in the ofrenda room most of the day helping to watch baby Socorro while Miguel is at school again, at the same time craving any closeness with his family a world away that he can get even if that time is only with their photos. Luisa had tasked him with the important job of looking after her while Miguel is at school after he's done in the workshop. Héctor might be family and the family is getting more and more used to him, but Luisa had still trusted him with her daughter. Héctor suspects it could be because she'd heard him singing Miguel's unfinished lullaby not too long ago.
"Hola," Héctor says a bit uneasily, backing up a step or two away from Elena. Who knows, she might have a shoe hidden behind her back that she's ready to threaten him with...she might have apologized at the dinner table and is gradually starting to warm up to him, but he can't help feeling a bit suspicious around her.
But Elena doesn't pull out a shoe. Instead, she brings out what looks like...broken pieces of wood?
"I saved these pieces from when I destroyed the poor boy's guitar, but I'm clueless on how to put them back together. I thought it would be a good present," she explains slowly, unsure of herself or if it's even a good idea. She's spent almost all of her life hating music, after all.
Elena wants to...fix Miguel's old guitar? As a Christmas present?
It does seem like a nice idea, and Héctor definitely wants to be in the same room as Miguel when the boy opens the gift to see the look on his great-great grandson's face when he opens his old guitar—the guitar that he made all on his own. It would be even better than buying a new one. Plus this way, Miguel doesn't have to borrow his guitar anymore, not that Héctor doesn't want him to.
Well, fixing things is what he's good at. He had to be in order to 'survive' in the Land of the Dead, what with how many times his own skeleton body had fallen apart. He's gotten pretty good with the tools in the workshop (tools for cleaning and shining, at least...) by now, so he's almost sure he can trust himself with something a bit more advanced like this.
Key word: almost. It's a lot of wood, and Miguel won't be happy if he hurts himself in the process and has to go to the hospital.
But this is a guitar, something he knows inside and out by heart. Guitars are just as much a part of him as music is, and a guitar as special as one built by Miguel deserves to be put back together in all of its original glory.
He decides that it's worth the risk, or risk Elena really bringing out a shoe on him. It will be a great gift, one from both himself and Elena, not to mention it will help him stay on good terms with her.
Héctor takes the handful of pieces from Elena anyway, giving her the best reassuring smile he possibly can.
He can do this!
"Leave it to me," he says with as much confidence as he can muster. This will be a cinch!
It's just Elena that he's worried about. If he messes this up...
She eyes him suspiciously, but leaves him be with the pieces. Héctor cups them gently in his flesh-covered hands, the feeling of the wood pricking his skin.
Still, he holds the pieces as carefully as if he were holding little Socorro.
xxxx
Whining from under the Christmas tree causes Miguel to look underneath and find the dog-boy lying on his belly, his head resting gently on his two front hands.
"Dante? Are you okay?" Miguel asks, worry flooding through him as he hangs up another ornament.
Decorating the tree with Papa Héctor has been an...interesting activity, to say the least. It's tall enough for Miguel and Héctor to both need a stepping stool, though Miguel reassured his great-great grandpa that he can take care of the ornaments that should go up higher now that the bottom is running out of room.
Enrique and Luisa had told them to take their time decorating the tree together. Both cousins Rosa and Abel are even letting them do it on their own when normally it's a family activity, but Miguel isn't complaining.
Héctor lets out a wistful sigh. If only he could decorate for Nochebuena with everyone in the Land of the Dead, especially Imelda and Coco...
Turning away from the tree to distract himself, Héctor glances down to where Miguel is on his knees, trying to coax Dante out from under the tree.
"I think he's sick," Miguel says, scooting closer. Dante scoots a little more to the back, whining again softly. That wouldn't be good. If Dante is sick, then he might have to go to the hospital instead of Héctor and that would be just as bad, if not worse.
Héctor kneels down next to Miguel and takes it upon himself to reach a hand out, pressing it against the dog-boy's forehead. He has to remind himself that since Dante might have once been human, the child simply might be getting used to life just as he had to. Dante has been a wild ball of energy ever since they found him, never really giving himself a chance to rest like when Héctor spent all that time in bed.
Either that, or maybe it has to do with something else entirely.
Dante growls a warning, and Héctor pulls his hand back in alarm.
"Dante!" Miguel scolds, surprised at his best friend's sudden turn in behavior.
The child just squeezes his eyes shut, scooting back more under the tree.
"It's alright, I don't think he was growling at me. He's been growling at nothing a lot these days," Héctor murmurs. He still hasn't figured out just what the human-dog might be growling at.
Dante exhales sadly. If he still had his dog ears, they would probably be drooping.
"What's wrong?" Miguel asks, a little more than concerned. What if getting stuck on the other side after sunrise had more bad effects on Dante than they thought?
"No fever. Maybe he's just homesick," Héctor suggests.
It's so easy to forget that Dante might have a family of his own, that he might not have really been a stray dog all his life.
Miguel's heart drops, his shoulders slumping. "Oh. So you think he does remember his old family?"
Maybe it's selfish, but Miguel just doesn't like the idea of Dante once having another family. He's his family along with Héctor.
"Possibly," Héctor answers, though he's just as unsure as Miguel.
What if Dante is remembering his past family? A past name he might have had? If only Dante could talk...maybe that's another thing he can put on his to-do list: fix Miguel's guitar and teach a former dog how to talk. What a thought!
Miguel doesn't want to think about it anymore.
Dante is a part of their family now, not anyone else's.
Getting up from his spot on the floor, Miguel takes out the last decoration they need from one of the many boxes scattered around the room.
He holds it out to Héctor, and his great-great grandfather's eyes widen in surprise.
"You want me to put up the star?"
Miguel nods, nothing less than enthusiastic.
Héctor takes the star gently into his own hands, stepping back onto the stool. It wobbles and he almost loses his balance, but he manages to stabilize himself fairly well. He takes a deep breath in relief, but Miguel stares up at him with worry.
"Careful. Remember, we can't have you going to the hospital."'
Héctor lets out an uneasy laugh. "Right."
Reaching an arm up, he sets the star where it belongs. Once it's firmly in place, Héctor gets back down to admire his work.
"It looks wonderful, you two," Luisa's soft voice praises as she comes into the room, holding a giggling Socorro who can't seem to stop herself from reaching out towards the shining lights and ornaments.
"Thanks, Mamá," Miguel says brightly. "It was fun setting it all up together."
"I thought you two would like to set it up by yourselves," Luisa says with a soft smile.
She holds out Socorro towards Héctor. He doesn't quite understand at first, but then a smile of his own starts to spread.
Luisa watches warmly as he takes Socorro from her arms, showing her the tree.
"What do you think, mija?"
Socorro's giggles turn into full on laughing.
"I think she approves," Miguel says, and he can't help but laugh as well. Luisa shakes her head in exasperation, but her smile never leaves.
Socorro blinks tiredly after all of her laughing wears her out, her small head resting against Héctor's chest.
Miguel's laughter fades as he notices Dante get out from under the tree, only to find a corner away from them. He lies down again, curling into a tight ball and squeezing his sad eyes shut once more.
Héctor hands Socorro gently back to Luisa, coming up next to him.
"I'm sure he's fine. Want to go work on that lullaby of yours?"
Miguel can't resist the offer, following Héctor to the musician's guitar.
xxxx
Héctor has to admit, Miguel's lullaby is coming along nicely. They have a good melody so far, and now they just need a name for it and lyrics. In no time at all, Miguel is going to be able to help little Socorro fall asleep even faster, and maybe even himself on nights when sleep just doesn't want to cooperate with him.
Sitting on his bed, Héctor tries piecing together what's left of Miguel's guitar that Elena had given him. Maybe this is going to be a lot harder than he thought...and maybe if he can't figure it out on his own, he can go to what Miguel had called the 'internet' for help.
He's all alone. Not even Dante had come to rest in his spot at the end of the bed; maybe Miguel is right and something really is going on with the poor boy. He should probably go check on him just to make sure...
But before Héctor can even get up, the bedroom door bursts open and Miguel comes running in. Is everyone trying to give him a heart attack today? It's certainly possible now that he actually has a heart.
He hides the guitar pieces the best that he can, instantly throwing the bed sheet over them before Miguel sees and sighing in relief when it seems that his grandson's present is safely hidden for now. But then he takes note of Miguel's panicked face and fast breathing.
"Whoa, whoa. What's wrong?"
"Dante's sick!" Miguel shouts so loud that Héctor's ears ring for a second. "He has a very high fever and he even threw up! Mamá and Papá are taking him to the hospital!"
Héctor's eyes bulge. Dante? The hospital?!
"No, no, no, no. This is bad, very bad."
If Dante goes to the hospital, their secret will definitely be found out if the child acts...well, like a dog. What's worse, if she's there—Dr. Mendez—then she'll know he's been lying about supposedly not finding Dante. What little trust he had in her vanished the moment he realized that maybe he's not going to get any results back from his blood test, after all. Maybe she found something out about him and just isn't telling them what exactly she found.
"Papa Héctor?" Miguel asks carefully so as not to surprise him too much from his deep thinking. "Is something wrong?"
Everything's wrong, Héctor's mind snaps back, but he makes sure not to say it out loud. I came back to life, I'm separated from my wife and daughter once again for who knows how long, and a boy who acts like a dog is going to the hospital!
"Nothing!" Héctor responds maybe a little too quickly in the most not-nervous voice he can muster. "Except that Dante going to the hospital is very bad."
He can't let Miguel know that he messed up and ran into Dr. Mendez on a stupid walk that he'd so foolishly decided to take. His great-great grandson would never let him live it down!
Live. Hah. Okay, he's losing his mind. He's most definitely not going to last an entire year in the living world. Every minute, every hour and every second is just ticking by much too slowly even when he does find ways to make time pass more quickly.
"I know," Miguel groans in frustration. But then he gets a look in his eyes. That certain look with a grin that can only mean he's up to no good.
"What are you thinking, chamaco?" Héctor asks, even if he's sure Miguel is thinking the same.
"I know it's a big risk, but...I think we have to go to the hospital to watch Dante and make sure he doesn't act like a dog in front of everyone."
In a way, Héctor can't help but feel that Dante getting sick is his fault. The boy has been spending his days running on all fours in the dirt, even picking up a stick in his mouth to play with Benny and Manny one day. Now he's responsible for not even noticing how ill Dante had seemed when he hid under the tree.
Things might actually turn out alright. Maybe Dante is too sick to act like his usual wild self, but there's still a possibility that Dr. Mendez will come across the dog-boy at the hospital. If Miguel finds out that he's been lying (or rather, keeping it to himself) about not being discovered by anyone outside their family or running into the doctor again, he's going to be so mad..but Héctor should be more worried about Dante and how sick the former dog suddenly is.
Yes, this is bad and a sudden turn of events when Miguel had thought for sure that he would be the one to end up in the hospital at some point for one reason or another. On the other hand, maybe this is actually a good thing, too. He can try to find Dr. Mendez before she finds Dante and maybe even try to find out what she knows about his blood test if she's not going to tell them herself.
Miguel's parents are already gone, but they can get someone else to drive them there.
Dante needs their help.
xxxx
Franco is the only one in the house still up, even though it's way past everyone's bedtime including his. Enrique and Luisa are at the hospital with that strange kid (who actually might be a dog that was transformed into a kid who was transformed into a dog, something Franco still can't really wrap his head around just as much as he still can't fathom someone coming back to life) Gloria and Carmen are asleep as well as Abel and Rosa. Héctor and Miguel had convinced Berto to drive them to the hospital to check on the kid.
His wife is sound asleep next to him. They have the honor of watching Socorro in her crib while Luisa is gone, but something is telling Franco that they aren't the only ones in the house at this late hour. He can't explain it, but a cold chill sweeps down his spine, preventing him from falling asleep and making him want to get up and investigate.
Shuffling from next to him puts him on edge until he realizes that it's just Elena waking up.
"What's the matter?" she asks, her voice tired and groggy.
It's probably nothing, but Franco feels the need to get up, grab a flashlight and check it out, anyway.
"I thought I heard something, I'm going to see what it is," Franco tells her quietly. He feels bad for waking her up. "Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up again if I find anything."
Or anyone. Someone could be trying to break in. He probably won't find anything or anyone, but better safe than sorry.
The house is dark and quiet until he put the flashlight to good use, lighting up the hallway. Maybe a little too quiet...Franco isn't used to being up so late. He needs his rest so he can do his best in the workshop tomorrow, but he presses on anyway.
"Alright, who's there?" he demands sharply, squinting to get a better look. He doesn't see anything except for two dark shadows rushing towards him in the flashlight's glow. Eyes widening, he prepares himself to run.
The shadows are too fast for him, catching up easily.
Franco sighs in relief once his eyes focus more clearly, pounting the flashlight down.
It's just Benny and Manny.
What are they doing up so late?
"Hey, little ones. Where's the fire?" he asks.
Franco doesn't see a fire at least, which is good.
It was just a false alarm.
They wrap their arms around his legs so tightly that it hurts, and he frowns.
They both seem...afraid.
The young twins say it at the same time, and the same chill rushes down Franco's spine again that he can't explain.
"There's a bad man in our room."
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In case anyone is wondering, yes, I am coming up with an original song of my own for Miguel's lullaby which is funny because I've never written a song before in my entire life, lol
And by the way...if it was possible for Mike Wazowski to rebuild an entire door from thousands of pieces of wood, then it's possible for Héctor to do the same with Miguel's guitar ;)