Chapter 6, Enjoy! Oh, yes the blond boy is Diesel and someone asked about the cancer and it being genetic. Are the girls going to get cancer? Ehhh-I don't know, I have something brewing with one of them, so maybe...?

Warnings: light angst Hurt/Comfort.

Disclaimer in chapter 1

Two and A Half Women oh, and Carlos

Chapter 6

Photo

"Oof," Heidi fell on her bottom, looking up at the top of her Papi's and Stephanie's closet, "I can see it…"

She went over and grabbed the vanity chair that Stephanie kept in their room and pushed it, with all her little might over to closet and climbed on top of it. She reached out with the broom stick handle and begin to push things down until finally her target came down as well, a thing of swiss chocolates that Papi had promised them for after dinner. It was after lunch now, close enough!

With her prize on the floor, Heidi hopped off the chair and went over and grabbed the packet of chocolates. She placed them to the side and then began to push all the stuff that fell from the top of the into the back.

She lifted up a heavy photo book and was about to toss it into the back but stopped, seeing a picture hanging out of it. She set the book down and pulled the hanging picture out from between glossy sheets and looked at it closely.

There, in the photo, was a woman, with skin like Heidi's, long curly black hair that flew around her pretty, smiling face and bright amber eyes. She was wearing a blue sun dress and was petting a horse, beside her Papi, who was looking on at the woman, with a content smile on his face.

Heidi sat down on the floor and looked at the picture, frowning. Who was this woman? And why was Papi hiding her picture in the closet?

"Oi, Heidi, what in the hell are you doing in here? Ya know Papi and Stephanie don't like you in here alone.

Heidi looked up quickly, as Julie walked into the master bedroom and looked down at Heidi, frowning, "I came after the candy."

"Ah, smart lass, I was going to do that at 2, when Stephanie and Papi were busy outside," Julie looked at the closet, "You see my sling shots and cherry bombs?"

"You know Papi doesn't keep the contraband zone in one spot," Heidi looked up at her 13 year old sister, "Hey, Julie, who's this woman?"

"Hmm?" Heidi gave Julie the photo and stood up, "Oh…oh, you don't-Papi didn't tell you about her? Didn't even let you have a picture...jeez, doing you wrong, punk."

"…Who is she?" Heidi demanded, her hands on her hips, glaring up at her sister, "Is she some side piece? How can Papi just cheat on Mom with another-"

"This is our mother," Julie looked up at Heidi, waving the picture in her hand, "You know Stephanie isn't our birth mother, right? Geez, you have three degrees in science but you still think Stephanie is your birth mom."

"I know she isn't our mom mom, whenever I go ask Papi, he goes silent and then walks off." Heidi and Julie sat down and looked at the picture, "I don't know why."

"Papi loved the shit out of her," Julie looked down at picture, smiling, "Grandpa Newton and Aunt Brittany didn't talk to you about her because they're waiting for Papi to talk to you about her, Julie handed Heidi the picture, "But, despite Papi being strong and shit, there's some things he's too chickenshit scared to do. Talking about our birth mother is one of them."

"…Why?" Heidi huffed, "I-I don't want to be in the dark about her, it's not fair!"

"Shut up, I'll tell you all about her," Julie looked at the picture in Heidi's hand and smiled, "Mom was cool. She encouraged my badassery, even at a young age, she saw my gifts."

"Well, if she saw you now, she would try to find you some original plans, come on, you're 13 not 9," Heidi smiled earning a hiss from Julie.

"Whatever, you POS," Julie huffed and then her face got serious, "Our mom was…amazing. She really was, she was an awful gardener, loved to eat her weight in chocolates, was terrified of spiders but loved snakes. She was the best mom anyone could have..."

Julie wrapped an arm around Heidi, "She loved the shit out of us too, oh, where'd you get this picture from?"

Heidi grabbed the photo book she found and opened it to reveal several pictures of their mother, their father and them. Heidi frowned as she picked up a picture of their mother holding her, as a newborn, "I can't believe I was that tiny and she looks ill."

"Yeah, you were one when they told me she had cancer," Julie flipped through pictures, each picture slowly showing how their mother got sicker and thinner, her full hair thinning out until she started to wear scarves , "Truth was, she had complications with her cancer when she was about 6 months pregnant with you. I had to beg it out of Grandpa Newton, you were underdeveloped when she gave birth to you and by that time and she had been diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. Papi thought that he was gonna lose both Mom and you. I remember when she went into labor with you…"

Julie had a far away look in her eye and Heidi had to shake her gently. Julie smiled down at Heidi weakly and continued, "You were…1 pound and 2 ounces, and spent the first six months of your life in ICU unit at the hospital. Mommy and Papi were always there, they never left your side."

"They didn't forget about you, right?"

"No, They always made sure to be around me, but-I was a big girl, I knew that long weekends at Grandpa Newton's house or Aunt Brittany's house meant that they wanted to spend as much time with you as possible. I came to see you all the time, I couldn't hold you though, only Papi and Mommy could, you still are a sickly little thing."

"Hey!"

"Anyways, like I said, by the time you were one, the cancer got worse, and maybe…about 9 months later, she died," Julie closed the photo album, "She uh..died surrounded by everyone, we didn't let her die alone."

Heidi looked down at the picture of her smiling mother and then held the picture up, "You take it, Julie."

"No-no, you keep it, so maybe, one day, when Papi's not too much chickenshit, he can tell you about her, I bet his stories about her are better than mine." Julie scoffed, her throat tight.

"Your story was good, Julie," Heidi watched as Julie's eyes filled with tears, "It wasn't chickenshit, please stop crying."

"Idiot," Julie pulled her sister close and hugged her tightly, "C-come on, let's go clean up this mess and take these sweets to your room and eat them."

"Can't believe she called me chickenshit," Carlos looked over to Stephanie, who leaned against the wall beside him, holding his hand.

"She's a good girl, Carlos, she only means well," Stephanie smiled, looking on at the two as they cleaned up Heidi's mess, "So, are you still chickenshit?"

"…No, she's nine, she has a lot of questions, tonight, I'll talk to her and Julie about her," Carlos sighed, earning a peck on the cheek from Stephanie.

"That's a good idea, now, come on, let's go and let them pretend they got away with the perfect crime."

END.

Julie is a good sister and daughter, when she wants to be :P