Isabela groaned as she buried her head under her pillow, she knew that she used to share a room with Luisa, but that was so long ago she could barely remember being in the nursery with her. Now she was wondering how she ever got any sleep with her loud snoring.

Her bed jiggled beneath her reminding her of the third occupant of the room, Mirabel, who was sleeping right beneath her. She was a restless sleeper, constantly tossing and turning, shaking the whole bed, which of course included Isabela's bed above hers.

She honestly wondered how Antonio and Camilo had managed to share the nursery with her, because when she wasn't tossing and turning, she was talking and screaming. They hadn't even been sharing a room for a week yet and Mirabel had woke her up twice with nightmares.

As if that mere thought brought it on, she heard her hermanita whimper beneath her, mumbling something under her breath that honestly sounded suspiciously like, "No Abuela, I didn't..."

Isabela braced herself, knowing exactly what was going to happen next.

An earsplitting scream filled the air as the snoring suddenly cut off. Isabela groaned pulling her blankets further up over her as the door flew open with a blinding light as their parents came in to check on Mirabel once more.

…

Getting ready for the day was almost as bad as trying to sleep. They only had the one wardrobe and one set of drawers, and the room was on the small side. It seemed that everywhere she turned she was tripping over Luisa or Mirabel, or Hector, who slept in a large flowerpot on the windowsill.

"Ugg, Luisa careful you just knocked my glasses off the nightstand," Mirabel called out, "I can't see a thing without them."

"Okay, here, I'll help you look for them," Luisa said, trying to bend over to see where Mirabel's glasses could have disappeared to, only to come face to face with Hector, "Isabela, please get Hector out of here, he's in the way."

"This is his room also," Isabela snapped.

"It's also my room," Luisa pointed out.

"It's all of our rooms," Mirabel pointed out, "Until you move out or Mama and Papa buy a house, so please don't make fighting over every little thing part of the morning routine."

Isabela froze, until you move out, that was what Mirabel had said, she had two options here, she could move out, or she could put up with sharing a room with Mirabel until their parents buy a house with enough rooms for them each to have their own, and who knew when that was going to happen. Luisa was lucky, she knew that she was moving out in a week.

…

The breakfast table was crowded, what with her, both her sisters, Tio Bruno, Abuelo, and her parents seated around the small table. Isabela waited for everyone to dish up and quiet down, which took some time because Mama discovered that Tio had a couple of rats hanging out under his rauna and had to remind him quiet sternly that his rats weren't allowed at the table. Finally the table was quiet.

"Luisa, you mentioned that Tomas rented a room," Isabela asked.

"Yeah, but we're going to look at houses this week," Luisa confessed, "Now that he's got a better paying job and I'm getting paid for helping out around Encanto, we can afford something bigger, which is good, I don't really think that a family of four can live in such a small space. I mean the three of us are fighting every day just trying to survive the bedroom, why?"

"We've been thinking along the same lines Luisa," Isabela confessed, "We're constantly getting into each others way, and I'm just not use to sharing a bedroom," she admitted, "That's why I was thinking about maybe, I don't know, renting a room elsewhere? I mean, is that okay? Will you be mad at me if I move out."

"Just because my Madre is mad at me for moving out doesn't mean that I will be mad at you for moving out, if you want your own space and you have the money to provide it, you are welcome to do so."

"You'll also be welcomed at our door at anytime," Agustin agreed, "The only one that can't get her own place yet is Mirabel, you have to be at least eighteen before you can move out."

"Should I be concerned that Papa felt like that was something that he had to say?" Mirabel asked, "Like he's worried about me moving out?"

"Well," Luisa pointed out, "I'm moving out in a week, and Isabela just announced that she wanted to move out, so… I think Pa just doesn't want to become an empty nester just yet."

"Well, he has a few more years before I turn eighteen, so he doesn't have to worry about it just yet."

…

Julieta was just about out of Arepas, but that was okay, it was late enough that she was planning on closing up soon anyway.

Just then someone staggered up to her, completely unable to walk straight, that caught her attention, had there been an accident, then why did Dolores not fetch her, she knew that she could fetch her any time she was needed right?

"You owe me an arepa, lady," the man slurred.

Julieta sighed, recognizing him as the drunk that had got all upset over the fact that she had refused to open her stand on Monday. He looked like he had been sleeping in the garbage heap since the last time she saw him, smelled like it to.

"I'm sorry, I don't help people who expect me to patch them up so that they can keep their wives from finding out about their bad habits."

"But..." the man sputtered, "Please, she kicked me out."

"And judging from the alcohol on your breath you've done nothing in the past few days but drink," Julieta announced, "Sober up and stop picking fights, now leave."

"Fine I'll just tell Senora Madrigal about this."

"Really, you're going to tattle to a grown woman's mother?" Julieta demanded, "Alma's not going to change my mind," she announced, "Now go."

The man opened his mouth about to argue when a hand landed on his shoulder, "I believe Mama asked you to leave," a sharp voice said behind him, "If you are incapable of leaving on your own, I will happily help you."

The drunk man turned around, staring into Isabela's eyes in confusion, "What are you going to do, grow me a flower?"

Isabela didn't break eye contact once as she bent down and removed the vine she uses as a leash on Hector, "Hector," she said evenly, "Sic him," she commanded, pointing towards the drunk.

Hector let out a low growl, prowling forward, snarling, before letting out a bark, jumping up and clamping his jaws around his arm. Isabela snickered at the sight of the man trying to dislodge the large plant from him.

"I'll call him off if you promise to leave Mama alone," Isabela offered, "He's a good boy, he listens to his Mama, unlike you."

"Isabela call, um, Hector, off," Julieta insisted, "You don't want him getting hurt again, now do you?"

"No," Isabela insisted, "Okay, boy come here," she called out, patting her leg slightly as she let out a low whistle.

Hector quickly let go of the drunk's arm racing back to Isabela on his stubby root legs, barking excitedly, as he buried his head in her chest. Isabela wrapped a protective arm around his stem, giving the drunk a hard look as he stumbled away.

"Honestly, Isabela, I understand that you want to help," Julieta said softly, placing a hand on her oldest's shoulder, "But you need to remember, you are Hector's madre, you've said so many times, right?"

"Hector's mi hijo," Isabela agreed.

"And that makes you his madre, and as a madre your main goal in life is to protect your hijo from harm. That does not include sending them into dangerous situations, like siccing Hector on people who disagree with me."

"I was just trying to help," Isabela muttered.

"I know, and I appreciate it, just, a Madre's goal is to protect her child from harm. I know that I failed that miserably with you and your hermanitas, but..."

"You didn't fail us," Isabela insisted, "Mama, how could you have failed us if you didn't know, heck, I didn't even realize what was going on was abusive until you told me that it was. But that doesn't matter, what matters is that as soon as you knew about the problem, you did something about it. You aren't perfect, but nobody is, especially me, and that's okay."

Isabela finished her statement by wrapping her arms around her mother, burying her face into her neck, "te quiero Mama."

Strong arms wrapped around Julieta and Isabela, causing them both to grunt in surprise, as Luisa joined the hug.

"Luisa," Julieta gasped.

"I like a good group hug," Luisa insisted, "Besides I was hoping that you could babysit for me? There's a house for sale that Tomas and I want to take a look at. It's close to the school, three bedrooms, two baths, and it's within our budget."

Julieta smiled, "I was planing on closing shop early today anyway," she said brightly, "And Abuelo's dealing with cooking cena tonight seeing as Maria and her family are going to be there. So, it's just going to be you and me, nieta," she said, scooping Sofia up in her arms.

…

Julieta smiled as she stuck her basket just inside the door to the kitchen before turning to Sofia, "Why don't we go do some shopping shall we?" she asked brightly.

"Okay," Sofia said, holding her hand up to grab Julieta's, "You're Mami's Mami," she said as they headed back into town.

"Yes, that's right."

"So you're mi Abuela, si?" Sofia asked.

"Si, that's right."

"Tia Isa, and Tia Mira are Mami's hermanas."

"Si," Julieta said, wondering briefly where this conversation was going to go.

"I have a mami, and Mami has a mami..." Sofia said softly, tipping her head to the side, "I have tias, Does Mami have a tia?"

"Si, mi hermana, Pepa is your Mami's Tia."

"You have a hermana, Mami has two hermanas," The little girl furrowed her brow, "how come I don't have any hermanas?"

Julieta blinked, she wasn't sure exactly how old Sofia was, but family relationships wasn't what she was expecting the conversation to be about, "They just haven't been born yet."

"Oh," she said, "Okay."

Julieta smiled as she lead Sofia into the toy store, it was only fair that she got her own doll instead of always having to play with the old one at Abuelo's place, so what if they looked at baby toys that her hermanita will want to play with while they were there.