Francisco grabs some work shirts, pants, T-shirts, socks and underwear to pack in his suitcase. He isn't sure how he's going to handle living with the Louds. It isn't as though the house is going to be as packed as it was when Lynn was growing up, however, he's used to his current living situation and the privacy.
"Ready to go?" he asks Lynn, who is stuffing a bunch of clothes into her bags.
"I don't know why we need to pack so much stuff, we don't live that far from my family."
"I know, but I think we'll get tired of making trips here every time we need a pair of socks. It's just a month, right?"
Asking that made it feel longer than it should have. It reminds him of those month-long trips he and his family used to make to Mexico, at least he doesn't have his mom stressing out about how she's going to fit a bunch of gifts into the few suitcases the family owned.
"Yeah, and hey, Victor's a strong little Ironman, he might bounce back faster than Lisa thinks."
He nods his head in agreement; Lisa has been wrong before, and she might have overshot how long he'll take to overcome the infection and how long it'll take to recuperate.
The two take their bags and place them in the truck with the rest of the things they packed for their stay. Francisco locks the house and hides the second key. Before he walks back to the truck, he tries to think if he forgot anything. He already told Jackson that they probably wouldn't be back until December, and asked his neighbor to bring in their mail, and he locked all the windows and doors and he set a timer for the lights.
"That should be everything," he says as he walks to the truck. "You didn't forget anything did you?" he asks Lynn.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"I said, no," she answers, holding back a tone.
When Francisco isn't looking, she immediately pats her pockets to make sure that she didn't forget anything, while also trying to remember what she brought for Victor.
He looks over at her, "What'd you forget?"
"Nothing! I was just looking for some money. I might wanna stop and get some snacks between meals, you know."
He knows that she's lying, but he isn't going to argue that the thought of sweets hasn't crossed his mind lately. Heck, the whole time that they've been away from his in-law's house, Francisco has constantly thought about chewing bubble gum or hoping that Mr. Loud has made some sort of treat for them to enjoy.
How he wishes that work could have been enough of a distraction.
"It's gonna be weird having one bathroom again."
Francisco chuckles, "That's what you're worried about?"
"Hey! Don't tell me that it isn't convenient to have two bathrooms."
He can't argue with that.
As Francisco drives them back to Lynn's childhood home, he thinks about what happened that morning. They were casually eating breakfast together, when Lisa finally told them the results of her tests. While she was speaking, the world went silent, he couldn't hear the words that she said after mentioning a viral lung infection.
It wouldn't be that bad, except Vic is a seven-month-old baby whose lips went blue. Lisa recommended that he continue to stay in the humid room for a month and to limit his contact with cold air, which is rather difficult considering that temperatures are dropping.
"You guys can stay here."
That's what his father-in-law suggested.
Francisco was already trying to think of ways that they could make things work while taking Victor home. He thought about the possibility of one of them staying home with him full-time, or Lynn switching her schedule around with her clients, so that they could both care for him.
"I do recommend it."
Lisa argued that it would be much easier to treat him in the event that there's trouble, while also suggesting that six adults caring for one baby would allow them to split the responsibilities without having to shuffle him or themselves back and forth.
He wanted to think about it for a little longer, but Lynn immediately answered and said that it would be fine. Now, he and Lynn are going to spend the next month with his in-laws while Victor recuperates from his virus.
On top of that, he has to get himself acclimated to living with his in-laws.
From what he's picked up over the years, he knows that Lisa will need rides, Mr. Loud and Rita try to maintain some independence while a variety of robots help with some strenuous chores, and Lily pops in and out while visiting her boyfriend.
It doesn't sound too bad, but he might not know about some other things that are typically kept private.
Later that night, Francisco lays down on Lynn's bed as he tries to finish reading his magazine. From the baby monitor, he can hear Lynn humming a song to Victor, who is slowly becoming quieter, after waking up for the first time since he fell asleep a few hours ago. They figured that he would be exhausted, since all day, Lisa's cameras have caught him pulling on breathing tubes, crying, and struggling to nap. That would have been normal anyway, but since he's sick, he's fussier than ever and impossible to ignore.
Eventually, Victor quiets down. Francisco can still hear Lynn humming, possibly trying to make sure that he goes down for the count. After about a minute, the humming stops. Lynn is done and she is going to leave the room as quietly as she can.
What both of them would do for a soundproof nursery to ensure he doesn't hear any of the other adults in the house.
The door opens and he looks at Lynn, who informs him, "Well, he's asleep."
"That's good. How long do you think it'll last?"
She snickers, even though she knows that Victor will likely wake up at some point in the middle of the night.
"Hopefully long enough that my shower will be worth it," she complains before grabbing her things to take a quick shower.
Francisco gets up and grabs the disinfectant from the desk and cleans whatever Lynn touched. Lisa has been constantly warning them to keep themselves clean after interacting with Victor, especially since Mr. Loud and Rita are susceptible to whatever he caught.
If you ask him, they do a good job cleaning up after themselves, but according to Rita, she still takes a disinfectant light to every room on the second floor whenever everyone is out of the house.
Lynn walks in, now changed into her pajamas. She notices Francisco taking up all of the space on her old bed. She didn't mind sleeping together on her old bed, but it definitely felt cramped. Then she notices Lucy's empty bed. She walks over and moves the bookshelf between the two beds before pushing Lucy's old bed towards the middle, "Okay, it might be a little weird with two beds, and this little gap, but it's a lot better than both of us trying to squeeze into my old bed."
"I wasn't complaining last night."
She quickly answers, "Yeah, I bet," she can't see him smile, but she knows that he is. "You know, it's funny," starts Lynn, as she lays down on the bed. "So many years ago, I would've loved to have had you alone in my room, on my bed…"
He turns to her, "And now you want a separate little bed away from me?"
With a smile she pushes him, "Shut up."
Francisco begins to laugh, then he rolls over to face. She stares into his eyes, and he stares back at her before leaning into a kiss. She runs her fingers through his hair before pulling him down on top of her. Lynn breaks the kiss and looks up at him. She flashes him a sly smile, daring him to continue.
He leans down to kiss her, but pulls away when he hears Lily call out to them, "How about you guys wait until we all fall asleep first?"
"I concur, not only for myself, but for the sake of everyone else in the house that will be able to hear you."
He looks around towards the source of the voices, confused.
Lynn sighs, "Right, I forgot to tell you that the walls are paper-thin."
"Is it really that bad?" he whispers.
She stays quiet, not wanting to tell him that she recalls hearing her parents whenever she struggled to fall asleep as a kid. Lynn leans in and whispers in his ear, "Do you wanna wait or not?"
"We both know the answer to that."
She smiles, "Meet me in the garage in five minutes," she tells him as she quietly sneaks out.
Caroline watches as the man next to her scratches his leg. It's clear on his face that he's uncomfortable with the cast. He glances over at her and she quickly turns away. Francisco hasn't told her much about this brother, though from the few pieces of information she's gathered, the two are not on the best terms.
'He's full of himself… He tends to care only about himself… He doesn't stick around anywhere for too long… I don't know what he does for money, but he always seems okay…'
It sort of has her worried, especially since he was found buried in the desert head first. Neither brother seems to want to ask about it and when they were at the hospital, they went along with his story in front of the doctors.
It makes her wonder if the family does it often.
Without thinking about it, she places her hands on her abdomen and stares out the window. There isn't much to look at, but the three brothers aren't saying much. The only source of sound in the truck cab is the radio and she doesn't want to ask Chuy if he would be willing to change the station.
He's already doing plenty by driving out to pick them up, the least she can do is let him listen to his music.
Kiké notices her hands on her abdomen and immediately puts two and two together, "So how far along are you?"
Caroline immediately turns around,"What?"
The music quiets down.
"Your baby. How far along are you?"
She didn't know that anyone mentioned it to the middle brother. Heck, she didn't even think that he cared.
Francisco groans, "Since when do you care?"
Kiké shrugs his shoulders, "There's not much else to do, and it gets Chuy to turn down the grandpa music. Unless you actually like listening to the same damn songs while staring out the window like an idiot."
Chuy turns up the radio again.
"Leave her alone, and look outside." the younger brother sternly says.
Francisco is bored of the view, but he has so many things running through his mind. The baby is coming in October, that's less than five months for him and Caroline to get themselves ready and figure out what they're going to do. He's got an interview at the plant in a few days, but he's sure that until he gets an official job offer, he's going to be spending that time worrying about how he's going to take care of growing family.
Kiké scoffs, "We've seen this part of the country before. Same cities, but different billboards." He turns to Caroline, "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
She quietly shakes her head.
"I hope it's a girl."
The two brothers upfront don't say anything, but they hope so too.
Francisco yawns as he starts to wake up. For a minute, he's confused by his surroundings, but remember that he isn't in his bedroom, or even Lynn's childhood room. No, he's on the couch. He can't believe that a few dang minutes on the couch was enough to fall asleep, but that's what he gets for trying to keep his wandering father-in-law from noticing him after he woke up for a midnight snack.
Thank goodness he didn't turn on the lights in the living room or notice his hanging foot off the couch.
As he tries to get up, his back begins to radiate pain, forcing him back down. Francisco sighs, and looks up at the ceiling. He never imagined himself as the type of man that would be bold enough to sneak around his wife's family to fool around in the garage, but he did it somehow.
Maybe he was desperate to continue what they were starting on their anniversary, but still, he was an idiot and now he's paying some sort of price.
A spring pokes him right in his lower back, and he makes another effort to get up and go back upstairs before the family wakes up. He gets up from the couch and stretches his body as best as he can. He has no idea who he was kidding, he's not a teenager, and he can't go around sleeping on couches as if he isn't going to suffer the consequences the next day.
"Good morning," says Lisa.
Francisco is snapped awake. He looks over at Lisa, who is walking towards the front door, dressed to practice her tai chi, "Hello…" he awkwardly answers her.
Neither one moves.
Francisco tries to move his legs, but he feels paralyzed by his embarrassment. He didn't expect anyone to be awake this early, but now all he can think about is what Lisa will probably say before he even gets to the stairs.
In a haste, Francisco forces himself up and rolls off the couch until he feels his feet touch the floor. He walks towards the stairs, but stops when he hears Lisa, "I thank you both for not using my underground bunker, though now I might be more wary of the garage from now on."
There it is what he wanted to avoid.
He wants to think of something to tell her, but there isn't anything can think of to rebut that, so he settles on looking up towards the top of the stairs and walking away.
Francisco looks over in the direction of the bathroom and notices a lack of line. Lynn warned him that lines were normal when she was a kid, but he reasons that five other adults wouldn't be too much of a problem when it comes to lines.
Rather than going back to bed and possibly waking up Lynn, he decides to stretch and get in a quick workout. He tries to twist his back, but he notices that he can barely move more than a few inches away from the normal position.
Francisco sighs.
He is not such an old man that he can barely stretch, but this is what he gets for sleeping on the couch. He tries to touch his toes, but his back continues to ache. Francisco bites down on his lower lip as he tries to slowly rock himself forward, but in the end, he can't do it.
"Okay, that's enough stretching," he tells himself.
Francisco quietly opens the door, and spots Lynn still sleeping away. He does his best to tiptoe into the room and grab the pullout bar from her closet. The door squeaks as he opens it and he looks over at Lynn, who is still asleep. He quickly spots the bar and mounts it on the door frame.
At least if he can barely move his back he can try to make up for it with his other muscles.
Lily opens her door and yawns. It's still early in the morning, but she has to keep up her work schedule so that she can finish the latest app that she was hired to make. She sort of hates her job because of the tight deadlines, but the people who hire her are definitely not afraid of paying her well, so she's willing to suck it up.
She turns towards the bathroom and notices Francisco on the pull-up bar, "Morning."
He turns to Lily, "Morning," he quietly answers back.
"What time is it?"
Francisco holds onto the bar and tries to turn himself around to look at the clock in the room, "About half past six."
"Dang it," she complains. She leans against her door frame and waits. She notices Francisco looking over at her, and she glances back, hoping to get him to stop.
Today is the day Dad gets his back hair trimmed. It doesn't sound bad, but considering he and Mom have to get up early in the morning so that he has time to make breakfast, it's definitely an ordeal.
"Are you okay?" he asks.
Lily nods her head, "Just waiting for the bathroom to clear out."
Francisco is confused. He didn't see anyone walk past him while he's been in the hallway. "Who's in there?"
"Mom and Dad. They should be out soon enough," she sighs. "You know what? I'm gonna make a pot of coffee, that'll probably get them out a little sooner," she tells him, before heading down to the kitchen.
Francisco lets go of the pull-up bar and walks towards the bathroom. He presses his ear against the door and can hear light whispers and a soft buzzing sound. He didn't think that anyone in this house could be so quiet, but somehow the elderly couple are able to accomplish that.
The door slowly opens and then Francisco is met with a sight that he was not prepared for. He immediately closes the door and walks right back to his room. He quietly removes the pull-up bar, walks in, and quietly closes the door so as to not disturb Lynn. Francisco drops down to the floor, and he stares out at the window, refusing to close his eyes, fearing that if he does he'll see what happened in the bathroom.
Lynn rolls over. She can feel that she's alone in the bed, and wakes to look for her husband. She looks towards the door, "What're you doing?" she asks.
"Just waiting…"
She sits up and asks, "For what?"
"The bathroom…"
"No use waiting around here, you've got to get in line. Trust me, I know that Lisa and Mom and Dad might not take too long, but you don't wanna get stuck behind Lily or me."
"I can wait…"
His tone has her a bit concerned, "What happened?"
"Nothing…"
He doesn't want to tell her that he was surprised by the sight of his father-in-law sitting in his underpants surrounded by a large pile of graying hairs. He doesn't know why it was weird, after all, he's seen those hairs stick out of Mr. Loud's shirt, and even he has some too, though not to the same extent.
Of course, they're over thirty years apart in age, so who knows what'll happen to him by then, especially since the only idea he has are his memories of his grandfathers.
Lynn notices the deep look on her husband's face. She places her hand on her shoulder and shakes him, "C'mon, I wanna-"
The sounds of Victor's crying gets their attention. Francisco stumbles as he tries to get to his feet. Lynn watches him try to stand, but she can see him wincing and silently hissing as he moves. She tries to offer him a helping hand, but he refuses, using whatever strength he has to push through the pain.
"I'm gonna go check on him," he tells her as he stumbles out of the room.
"I'll make him a bottle in the meantime," he hears Lynn say.
Francisco opens the door and the humidity immediately hits him. He can feel his clothes sticking to his body after only taking a few steps in the room. Francisco reaches the crib and tries to console his son. His cheeks are a little reddish, he's got snot dripping down his nose, and he can barely go a few waking minutes without coughing and the worst thing for him - Lisa insists on him having probes so that she can monitor him.
He bites down on his lower lip as he removes some of the probes so that he can pick him up. Victor slowly stops crying, but begins to cough uncontrollably. It has Francisco concerned, but then the coughing goes back to crying.
Francisco sighs. He places his son over his shoulder and gently bounces him up and down, "It's only a few days, then you'll start to get better, and before you know it you'll be fit as a fiddle," he reminds him as he pats his back.
As he looks down at his son, who is still crying, he's reminded of a familiar situation so many years ago. Elena herself could be a fussy baby whenever she was sick, not that he imagines that any baby is calm in this situation, but she definitely was not afraid of wailing at the top of her lungs like her brother.
"At least you're a little quieter than your sister," says Francisco.
The boy continues to cry. Francisco settles on trying a cradle hold. Victor grips his dad's shirt, grabbing a bit more than Francisco is comfortable with. He holds back an uncomfortable groan, "Okay, let go, Vic. That really hurts," he says, he tries to carefully release his son's hold on him. Eventually, Victor lets go of his dad, who looks him in the eye, and tells him, "You have definitely got a grip on you," he compliments, "but let's make sure that you don't hold onto your grandpa unless he's wearing a few layers."
Caroline looks down at the greasy bag of food. She didn't mind the first day of the trip, but eating fast food three times a day is becoming exhausting, even if she does order a salad. Surrounding her, however, is the smell of burgers, fries, and whatever sides the brothers purchased, all of which is making her feel sick.
This is how she wants to get back to Michigan. She wishes that they could take the trip at a bit more of a leisurely pace, so that they can get a chance to see the country. However, Francisco told her that Chuy used up some of his vacation days to come pick them up before heading back to work, and she will feel terrible to deprive him of an actual break once they get back home.
At the moment, he's resting his head against the window trying to get some rest while Francisco drives, but instead of getting sleep, he's looking at his younger brother's driving. To Caroline, Francisco isn't a bad driver, but it seems like Chuy can't relax enough to let himself fall asleep.
Kiké steals Francisco's cap off his head and places it on his head and he looks down at his own feet, "Thank you."
The younger brother tries to take his hat back, "Gimme that."
Kiké doesn't let him, "What do you care? You don't need it anymore."
"And why do you need it now?"
With a casual tone, Chuy says, "Duck."
Kiké does as his brother says. Francisco and Caroline are confused, until the truck passes by a patrol car. Both of them do their best to act natural, but considering what Kiké is doing, they wonder what has him nervous around the car.
Caroline looks over at Chuy, who is doing his best to stifle his laughter. He notices her looking at him and he gestures to her so that she does not say a thing.
She complies.
He eventually tells Kiké to get up. Chuy leans over and quietly whispers to her, "If they ever get to be too much, just do what I did and he'll stop. Just don't do it too often."
Caroline nods her head.
"Can you pass me the bag?"
She hands him the bag and he looks around for his burger. He finds his burger and fries and pulls them out before handing the bag back to her.
Caroline half-heartedly takes the bag. She doesn't feel like eating, but it's either the salad or the chips, and even if she's not hungry she still needs to eat for her baby.
She looks over at Chuy as he chomps down on the burger, just the noises and the smell of the greasy burger has her feeling nauseous. The smell of the patty, the bacon, and the cheeses are overtaking her. She wants to escape, but she's trapped in the backseat with him.
Caroline closes her eyes and tries to take deep breaths to calm herself. Then she feels the truck going over a small bump, her stomach feels agitated, but she's able to stay calm until he goes over another bump.
Chuy notices the ill look on Caroline's face. He leans over to talk to his brother, "Francisco, pull over."
He looks up to briefly glance over at his brother, "What, why?"
Without making it obvious, Chuy points over to Caroline, who looks as though she's about to throw up. Francisco pulls over by the side of the road. He opens the door allowing Caroline to run out so she can heave in a nearby field.
Kiké looks over at Caroline and Francisco, who is rubbing her back, "Those hormones sure are a bitch," he tells Chuy.
The older brother nods his head, not at all jealous of the young couple in front of them.
"Think Pancho can handle it?"
Chuy isn't sure. His younger brother can be responsible, but he's never had to raise a child, and even then he and Caroline aren't going to be alone. Their mom will likely help and both brothers are going to be contributing to the house's income, so they should be fine, for now.
Kiké looks back at his brother, "You may want to finish your food."
"Why?"
"'Cause it's smacking me in the face, and it stinks," says Kiké as he rolls down the window.
Chuy wants to tell his brother off, but he has a point. While the couple is still away, he decides to finish off his food so that Caroline doesn't have to deal with it anymore. He glances over at the field, watching the couple heading back to the truck, however, when Caroline spots Chuy shoveling the chili into his mouth, she runs back to the field.
Lynn runs out of her bedroom and runs towards the bathroom. There's only a few days before Thanksgiving, and she and her dad need to go to the store, again, so that they can have everything for Thanksgiving. Her siblings are coming over in a few days and her dad is a mess trying to decide on the final menu. Everyday this week, Lynn and her dad have gone to the store, fighting crowds of last-minute shoppers in hopes of getting the best ingredients. Any other day, he would go himself, but like Black Friday at the mall, the grocery store is a mess of people trying to get everything in time for the big day and he can't fight them off or beat them to get what he wants.
It isn't what she wants to do, but she can't say no to him, so she settles on coming home early so that she can spend some of her free time helping her dad.
"Thanksgiving cannot come fast enough," she mutters to herself.
As she steps out of the bathroom, she stops by the stairs and notices that her dad isn't at the front door waiting for her, so she settles on sneaking in a quick peek at Victor. She walks into Vic's room to see him after a long day. She can like her job, but it doesn't mean that it isn't work - having to plan regiments based on what people want, driving around Huntington Woods, replacing her gear, and last-minute appointments since her clients are already talking about vacations and being out of town for the holidays.
When he spots her, he grabs onto his crib's railing to turn himself so that he can see his mom, but is stopped by the breathing equipment that Lisa has him strapped to. Lynn knows that he hates it, especially since he keeps pulling off anything that is attached to him, but at least he can take them off for a few minutes a day.
"Hey Shortstop, look at you getting all strong," she tells him, as she removes some of the probes taped to his warm, feverish body, "Before we know it, you're gonna be getting yourself outta here all by yourself."
He squeals in delight before stumbling down onto his mattress.
Lynn smiles as she looks down at her growing son. It felt like just yesterday that he was a frail little baby who couldn't even come home from the hospital; now, he's sick again, but she knows that he's getting better and stronger with each passing day. Before she knows it, he'll be walking, and talking, and going to school, and he won't be so little anymore.
She picks him up and flies him around the room, "But you know what I really can't wait for? For you to get better. This room isn't any way to live - waiting for Mom or someone to come entertain you, looking at the same four walls, feeling like you can swim in the air. You know, remind me to never take you to visit your Aunt Margo. I mean, she's not your real aunt, but you know what I mean… I think. But when we bust you out, we're gonna make sure you get to have some real fun. I'm talking snowball fights, Lights Udder the Milky Way, the whole shebang!"
"Lynn, are you almost done? We have to go!"
Lynn nuzzles the top of his head before setting him back down in his crib, "Sorry I gotta go, but I promise to bring you a surprise," she tells him as she puts the probes back onto him. "One less, your aunt won't know," she winks at him.
Thirty minutes later, Lily walks over to check on Victor. The poor little guy could use some company until his parents come home, so she decides to entertain him until she's ready to go back to her project. Lily opens the bedroom door and notices Lisa rocking her nephew while feeding him his bottle with Todd overlooking the two like a proud father.
It definitely takes Lily by surprise, but she quietly watches over the two through the small opening. If this is Lisa's weird way of creating a pseudo family, it definitely has Lily curious.
"Testing completed. Would you like me to add this to his file?"
"Of course."
Lily thinks to herself, 'File?'
It has her confused for a minute, but she figures that her older sister likely keeps some sort of health files on the whole family, especially since they call on her when they need a quick diagnosis or treatment.
"Were there any abnormalities?"
"Aside from his infection, no."
Lisa gets up from the chair and hands the boy to Todd, "Please burp him."
Todd takes the boy, but keeps him at arm's length, "You haven't waterproofed me. Why don't you do it?" he says as he forces Victor back onto his aunt.
Lisa steps back, but with each step she takes Todd rolls towards her, until she ends up trapped against the wall.
Lily snickers from the hall and both Lisa and Todd look towards the source. "Dang it," is all Lily can say before the robot forces her nephew onto her. She walks into the room, grabs the burp rag from Todd and places the boy on her shoulder.
She begins to pat his back, waiting for what's to come, while occasionally glancing over at her sister who is whispering to her robot in a mix of multiple languages. Victor burps and Lily groans as she feels the warmth of whatever her nephew spit-up on her shoulder.
"Good… job…" she shudders as she sets down the boy in his crib.
Lisa looks over at her sister, "Metas la sondilojn reen sur lian korpon."
Lily turns her head towards Lisa, unable to understand what she said. Lisa points to the probes near Victor's crib and Lily eventually figures out what she wants her to do. She puts the first probe on her nephew's body, but each time she goes for the second one, he pulls on the first one to remove it.
She tries again, and he stubbornly removes them. Lily can tell that he's probably sick of them, not that she blames him. She figures that she can probably outlast him, but rather than risk that, it seems easier to outsmart him.
Lily places a probe, where he can't reach. It isn't going to work for all of them, but it might be enough until Lisa or Todd get sick of watching her fail. She places another probe, but he doesn't make an attempt for it, instead, he stares at her. Lily is pretty sure that he's concentrating on how he's going to take off the first probe, until she finally figures out what has his attention.
He sighs and then the smell hits her like a ton of bricks. The smell is putrid, like his guts are rotting. She turns to Lisa and Todd, neither one moves from their position, "Why are you guys standing there?"
Todd responds, "You seem to have a grasp on things."
"I concur, though, I do believe that you should be thankful that nothing began leaking out of his diaper. There should be fresh supplies to handle his mess in the changing area."
Lily looks over at the changing table and then at her nephew, "Yeah, I don't think I can stomach changing a baby's diaper. I'm gonna go get Mom or someone."
Lisa sighs at her sister's squeamishness. She settles on grabbing her nephew and setting him down on the changing table, but like Lily, the smell is too much. Lisa walks towards the hallway to take a deep breath of 'fresh' air.
"Even years later, and the formula is still not perfected?"
"I didn't have many opportunities to do so, only the few moments whenever my nieces and nephews visit and that brief period when Lily was bottle-fed. Now aside from the unfortunate diaper issues, I'd say that it was successful at what it was meant to accomplish."
"So you're adding an experiment on top of another experiment? Couldn't that skew the results of the first one?"
Lisa looks over at Todd, unaware of who is listening in, "It could, though according to my findings, it needs to be consistent feeding over a period of months to cause any gain. Since I was able to whip up a quick batch after his parents forgot to purchase his powdered nourishment, one month will not cause much issue with the overall experiment."
Francisco opens the door, with Lily right behind him, though she immediately runs out of the room to avoid having to be in the same room as her nephew.
He approaches his son and begins to gag, "Damn, Vic, what are you eating?" Francisco looks over at his son, unaware of what could be causing that terrible smell. He looks over at Lisa, "Does he have anything else going on?"
Neither Lisa nor Todd say anything.
He moves his head away from his son, takes a deep breath and holds it while he finishes changing the diaper. Francisco hands the diaper to Todd, who takes it to the window. He briefly opens it and tosses the diaper out before obliterating it into smithereens.
"What just happened?" asked Francisco.
"I obliterated the diaper with heat vision."
Both of them look at the robot, unsure of how to react to Todd's heat vision. Francisco turns to Lisa, wondering what went through her mind to give her robot heat vision, but even she's confused.
"Todd, where did you get heat vision?"
He quickly answers, "Internet."
Francisco doesn't want to think about how a robot got heat vision on the internet, or even worse, ask too many questions that might result in something bad happening to him. He doesn't think that it'll happen, but he can't be too sure when it comes to Lisa and Todd. Instead, he decides that it's better to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened and focus on Victor. The infant is currently squirming, clearly tired of being on the changing table, so Francisco takes him back to his crib so that his mobile can entertain him.
He can feel two sets of eyes on him as he looks down at his son. Without turning his head, he tries to see what Lisa and Todd are doing, but he can't see them too well.
Francisco turns his head, but the two don't appear to be doing anything. He shakes his head, it was clearly his imagination.
"I'm gonna head downstairs and see if I can find something to snack on before Lynn and Mr. Loud get back."
A buzzing sound from Todd's head startles Francisco, "The two should be back in about 3.75 minutes, you can wait."
That doesn't sound so bad.
Francisco walks out the door, but as he heads to the stairs, he wonders how Todd knew that, then it hits him, "Tracking chip in Vanzilla."
Lynn kicks the front door, "We're home! And we got dinner!" she yells, hoping that it'll get someone to open the door faster.
Rita walks to the front door, and immediately, Lynn walks as fast as she can to set the bags down on the table.
"Alright," starts Lynn as the family gathers around here, "we got three rotisserie chickens, some pop, and Dad said that he'll whip up some sides, but I don't know if I can wait."
Lily looks down at her stomach, and then the thought of that diaper smell overtakes her, "You know what? I think I might skip dinner."
Lynn looks up from the grocery bag, "Oh, then can you check in on Vic? I wanna know if he's still awake before I give him his little surprise." She takes out a variety of baby food jars, "I got purple, orange, and yellow, all the baby food groups."
Francisco walks into the living room, freshly showered, and crashes on the couch to enjoy the day's game. He sinks down into his seat, grabs the remote and tries to move as little as possible. He has been working at the plant for a few days now, and his body is taking a beating trying to keep up with the workload. It shouldn't be hard, but with his ailing back, the demands can be a bit much. So every night, after dinner, when his mom goes to bed, and after he's had a shower, he unwinds with a baseball game.
Caroline walks into the living room, watching Francisco perform his nightly ritual. His eyes are only half open as he watches the screen. This is pretty normal for him, and he'll usually perk up when the game actually starts.
Unfortunately, that doesn't give her much time.
She takes a seat next to him and watches the tv in silence. She has no idea why he bothers to watch all the pre-game stuff, especially since the game already passed hours ago and he can fast forward through it and the commercials, but he insists.
Of course, why is she complaining, this is her chance.
She's about to speak up to him, when she hears him snore.
Caroline looks over at him and smiles, thinking about how the poor man couldn't even make it to the start of the game. She takes his hand, and he opens his eyes to look over at what woke him up, "You know, if you're tired, you should go to bed," she suggests.
"No way," he yawns, "besides if I fall behind it'll take me forever to catch up."
She doubts that, though he might be right when there's over a hundred games a season. Rather than letting him sit alone, she rests her head on his shoulders to settle herself and watch the game. Baseball isn't exactly interesting to her, and he knows it, but she makes an effort since it means a lot to him.
The announcers list the roster and Francisco quietly mutters, "I miss Miggy."
Caroline has no idea what he's talking about, but she quietly nods her head.
The two go quiet as the first batter steps up to the plate. Caroline looks over at him, as he stares intently at the screen. The Tigers get their first three outs quickly and the games go to commercial.
Before Francisco presses the button to fast forward to the second half of the inning, she takes his hand and the remote from him. She pauses the game and says, "You know, I've been thinking about doing something other than hanging around here. I mean, I know that I help out with some of the household chores, but that's not really a good long-term plan for us."
"So what do you want to do? Get a job?"
The job he does pays decently, and combined with Chuy and his mom working, they have enough money between the three of them to handle the expenses of the soon-to-be five members of the household. However, every night when he comes home, Caroline mentions how bored she is staying at home, even if she leaves the house to run errands, it isn't enough.
She's itching to go out and do something.
He watches as Caroline looks down at her hands. She twiddles her fingers, thinking about the position that she's in. School wouldn't be the worst idea, when she graduates she can go to work and earn money while he finishes up his degree, but going to class and studying would be nearly impossible to do with a newborn.
Regardless, she tells him, "I would like to finish school."
"Then do that."
"But how are we going to do it?"
Francisco chuckles. He hasn't mentioned it to Caroline, but his mom has been dying to step back from her job. In fact, she was planning it before the accident. However, with such a small income and not having Dad's paycheck to help, she had no choice but to keep going so that she could pay bills and keep a roof over her head, even with Chuy helping. Now that he's around and making money, she can step back and help care for her future grandchild the way she always said she would.
"We'll find a way. I promise."
Rita and Lisa look at the whiteboard. Their guests are due to arrive tomorrow, and they haven't figured out where everyone is going to go. Each year, it gets tougher, between new grandchildren and last-minute changes in plans, and it feels like they have to plan months in advance to get a grasp on where to put everyone.
"What about your underground bunker?" asks Rita.
Lisa shakes her head, "No, my robots recharge there, also, there are classified documents and experiments being conducted, which I don't want to be tampered with by extended family members."
Rita sighs. This would be easier if two of the rooms weren't taken up. Lily and Lisa can bunk together in their old room, but Lynn and Francisco are already staying in the smallest bedroom. Then there's the large room that Victor is staying in. They can try to move him at least for the weekend, but no one enjoys staying in the room for more than a few hours at a time, let alone a whole night.
"Okay, Lori, Leni, and Lola are planning on staying at a hotel, so that leaves us with only with Lincoln, Lana, Luna, and Luan."
Francisco takes a seat on the couch and turns on the tv. He grabs the remote, opens his pop, and searches around for something to watch. It's what stinks about the holidays, networks constantly air Thanksgiving reruns, so he's left to search for something to kill time until dinner.
Rita turns towards her son-in-law, who is blissfully unaware of her gaze as he stares at the screen while downing a bottle of pop. She knows that he doesn't mean harm, but she is on time crunch and hearing the constant clicks from the screen as he searches for something to watch is bothering her.
Through her teeth, she asks, "Francisco, can you please mute that?" She doesn't want to let on how frustrated she is with him as she tries to figure out the rooming situation.
Francisco does as he's told and looks over at the board. Trying to fit four Louds, three spouses, one of whom is pregnant, and five kids into two bedrooms is not easy. Sure, Luna could probably bunk with Lily and Lisa, but they still can't fit everyone comfortably.
He joins Rita and Lisa in their staring. No matter which way they do it, unless someone gives up their room, or decides to go to a hotel or to Lucy's they can't fit everyone in the house. Then they both remember their guest and his currently empty home.
Both of them turn towards Francisco, but he doesn't appear to notice their staring.
Lisa starts the conversation, "You know, Francisco. Since your family is staying over, your domicile is available for guests."
"And you can trust our family to keep an eye on things while they're here."
Francisco stops for a second, then looks over at the two women who are staring at him, "Yeah, I guess someone could stay in our room."
"Room?" asks Rita.
"Doesn't your home have three bedrooms?" asks Lisa.
"Yes, but I'm not gonna open my children's room for guests like that."
Both of them stare at him, hoping to wear him down, "Fine, let me call Elena and ask."
Rita and Lisa look over at one another, wondering why he's going to go through the trouble considering that Elena stays over only on weekends. They're sure that the teenager will likely let them use the room, which takes some of the pressure off of them, depending on who goes over to his house.
While they wait for his response, Rita looks over at her daughter, "Would Victor's room be okay? Considering they haven't been home and he could have infected the room."
Lisa thinks about it. Any surface that her nephew has touched in the house should be safe considering how much time has passed, though she could probably go over and disinfect the room with UV-C lights, at least to give the guests some peace of mind, "It should be fine."
Francisco hangs up, "Well, Elena is fine with it. We have a cot so someone could use Victor's room."
Rita sighs in relief, happy that there's one less family to worry about, maybe two depending how they set themselves up, "I'll send a message to the others and see how they arrange themselves, You can tell them what they need to know later. Thank you, Francisco."
He looks over at his mother-in-law and wonders what happened. All he wanted to do was sit down and relax with a cold pop, and somehow, he ended up offering his room to his in-laws.
"Yeah, no problem…"
Ronnie Anne turns her head towards her kids, "Alright, now remember that we're guests, so no touching anything that isn't yours and we're going to try to keep the house the same way we found it, got it?"
The two children nod their heads, "Okay."
"And your Aunt Luna is getting the room with the bed," says Lincoln, as he looks at his kids from the rearview mirror, "I brought your sleeping bags, so you two are gonna be camping in your cousin Victor's room."
The little girl pulls her shirt over her nose, "But he's sick!"
Her younger brother copies his sister, "Yeah, I don't wanna get sick either."
"Your Aunt Lisa cleaned it up already. It's perfectly safe," Ronnie Anne assures her kids. She whispers to her husband, "It is safe, right?"
He nods his head.
Lincoln pulls into the driveway and notices an unfamiliar car parked in front of him, "Did Lynn or Francisco mention company?"
Everyone in the car shakes their head.
He taps his fingers on the steering wheel, "Okay… well we know that they talk to their neighbor a bit, and Lynn did mention that he pops in to turn on the lights. Maybe that's him."
Luna asks, "Then what about the car?"
Lincoln doesn't really have an answer for that, but
He opens the door and notices a man in the living room, watching tv and eating something. Lincoln silently whispers to his family to stay put outside, while he keeps his eye on the potential burglar. It seems like he hasn't noticed the family looking over at him, but before Lincoln is able to step out of the house and call the cops, he turns around and yells, "Burglars!"
"What? No!"
"You're the burglar!" claims Ronnie Anne.
Kiké scoffs, "No, I'm not. My brother lives here. I'm house sitting."
No one recognizes the man, and if what he claims is true then they're surprised that Francisco didn't mention him staying.
"No, you're not," says Luna.
"Yes, I a-" Kiké approaches the family, who step back, afraid of what might happen. He takes a good look at them and notices some shared facial features on the man and the older woman, "You're what's her name's family aren't you?"
"You mean Aunt Lynn?" asks the little girl.
"Sure, why not," he says, disregarding the family as he goes back to the living room to finish his meal. Without looking at them, he asks, "So why the hell are you guys here?"
Everyone is confused. They didn't expect someone to be staying in the house, and from the looks of it, he might not leave anyway.
"Francisco said we could stay here," says Lincoln.
Kiké snickers, "Yeah, right, he's not going to let all of you stay on the couch."
Ronnie Annie crosses her arms and glares at him, "We're not." She takes Lincoln's phone from his pocket and searches for the message from Francisco. She reads, "If you want, your family can stay at our house, while we stay at your parents. We have plenty of rooms for you and the kids."
Kiké sighs, "Well I was here first."
Ronnie Anne approaches Kiké. She stares him in the eye and tells him, "And we're here now. We were invited and told we can use the rooms, you can stay, and if not, then the door's right there."
The two stare each other down, before Ronnie Anne walks away. She grabs her bag, "Let's go kids."
"To our rooms?"
"Yup."
"So I end up with the couch? That's a load of crap!"
She opens her eyes and looks up at the dark ceiling. She turns towards the alarm clock, flashing the time in bright red lights. Normally at the time, Francisco would be getting up for work, while she would wake up alongside him out of habit, instead, he's snoring away and she's left alone with her thoughts.
After telling him that she wants to go back to school, she expected a bigger issue from both him and his mom, instead took it all in stride. Alicia officially declared that she would retire after summer school ends, which means that she has to hurry up and make a decision on what she's going to do come the start of the next school year.
Caroline quietly gets out of bed, grabs her laptop, and walks out of the room. She tiptoes to the dining room to avoid disturbing the family. She knows that she should have started this research much sooner, but most of her time was spent preoccupied with getting through the semester and worrying about the impending birth of her baby.
She looks at her laptop and looks at her options. There is the option to finish her degree online, which would be easier than applying and transferring to a local school. There wouldn't be as much of a hassle about graduation requirements, but she's not sure if taking classes online is going to be easy.
Then there's transferring to a local school, but that'll require applying and gaining admission. While she would save money not having to live on campus, it'll probably get spent going to school each day.
"I guess going online wouldn't be so bad," she tells herself. "I can go to the public library, study there too, and then come home to take care of the baby."
That would probably be a lot of time away from home, and with a newborn, it'll be difficult. She could probably put off going to school until next year, but she doesn't want to be away for so long or she might never go back.
Caroline can feel her heart pounding against her chest, as she anxiously reminds herself, "This is the right choice. Go back to school, get my degree, finish law school, get a good job… everything…"
She takes a deep breath to calm herself down, but it doesn't work.
School is still going to be so difficult with a little baby. Yes, she'll have Alicia's help and the rest of the family, but it isn't going to be like last year, when her only worry was getting good grades and studying.
"I can do this… I can do this… Don't give up before you even start."
"¿Con quién estás hablando?"
Caroline runs around and sees Alicia walk towards the kitchen. She didn't expect the older woman to be awake, especially since she always seems tired every day when she gets home from work.
She waves her hand, "Good morning."
Alicia returns the gesture, and in her best English, she responds with, "Gud morni."
Caroline silently goes back to researching on the computer, while Alicia, with a smile on her face, makes her morning coffee. Caroline has no idea what Francisco told her, but she's been happy ever since they've sat down and talked about her going back to school.
Alicia watches the younger woman stare at her computer. If you ask her, she's on that dang thing too much, but Pancho assures her that it's because she's researching local schools to transfer to. Personally, if you ask her, it's smart that the girl wants to go back to school and get started on her career. If she waits too long, she and Pancho will start to settle and they won't go as far as they could, and while her son will have to wait a bit, at least the small family will be able to support themselves with his salary and her help.
She pours her coffee into her mug and takes a seat across from Caroline. She starts thinking about what will change when her grandchild is born. It'll be a tough couple of months as the family adjusts to having a baby in the house, but she's raised three boys, another child shouldn't be too difficult. She'll have plenty of time to care for her new grandchild now that she won't be working, and she's sure that Caroline will help. She seems like a good girl, based on how helpful she is while the family is away and from what Pancho has told her.
"¿Quieres algo pa' desayunar?"
Caroline looks up and tries to determine what Alicia said, luckily, she remembered the word for breakfast and shakes her head, "No, gracias," she answers in heavily accented Spanish.
Alicia nods her head and goes back to quietly sitting, alone with her thoughts.
Caroline has no idea what's going on through the older woman's mind, all she sees is that serene look on her face as she quietly sips her coffee and looks out at the street as the neighborhood slowly gets basked in sunlight.
Francisco looks down at his watch. It's almost two o'clock and Elena said that she would arrive in a few minutes. The meal is set to start in about an hour or two, and everyone is currently mingling in the living room and dining room, while he watches Lynn get Victor dressed.
"It sucks you don't get to be one of the pardoned baby turkeys this year," she tells him, as she puts on his little clip-on tie. "Well, maybe next year."
He shudders at the thought of that long trial that they have to sit through. It's a cute family tradition, but nearly ninety minutes is too damn long, while everyone slowly starves.
He wipes away a bead of sweat from her head, "You know, I could watch him. You've been here for a long time."
"Nah, I've got him." She looks up at him, "Do you think Lis would let him out for a few minutes, you know, get some food, see a different set of four walls?"
In his best Lisa impression, Francisco says, "Absolutely not. I know that you may not understand the ramifications of your progeny's illness, but I refuse to let you release him from his temporary domicile. He'll contaminate everything and spread his illness to the rest of the family."
The two laugh.
"Hey, do me a favor," she starts. "Can you get me something to bite on? I'm starving."
"I'll try, but I can't make any promises that the rest of the family hasn't already beaten me to the snacks."
Mr. Loud is currently in the kitchen with Luan. The two have been working on the meal, but everyone is getting impatient, especially when they're getting teased by the smells coming from the kitchen. Some of the siblings have offered to help, but most tend to leave after far too many food puns and dealing with his constant need for perfection.
He understands that this is his World Series, and he wants perfection, but most of the family members are getting hungry because of the long wait. Sure, they're satiating their hunger with rolls and the vegetable platter that he set up, but that's going to cause some problems once it's time to eat.
"I'll be back soon," he says.
Francisco walks out the door and is happy to feel the cooler air hit his skin. He heads down the stairs, passing the family, who are currently chatting in the living room.
He's about to head into the kitchen so that he can steal a snack, when hears a knock at the door. Since he's already nearby, he decides to let in who he presumes to be his mom and Elena.
Francisco notices the tray in his mom's hands and he quickly walks outside, closing the door behind him. He forgot to tell his mom not to bring anything. It's not often that she joins the Louds for Thanksgiving, so she didn't know that his father-in-law tends to take it a bit personally if his guests bring food.
He takes his mom's hand and leads them towards the back of the house.
"¿Dónde vamos?"
"Atrás de la casa. El papá de Lynn es medio…" he tries to think of the right word to describe Mr. Loud. "Dang it, what's the word?"
"What's wrong?"
"He gets a bit offended if someone brings food that he's already planning on making," Francisco lifts the foil on the tray a bit and sees the stuffing that she made. "Yeah, he can't see that Mom brought stuffing."
Elena is confused. From her few meetings, she has picked up that her step-grandfather can be rather emotional, but she doubts that he'll actually get offended at the idea of someone else bringing a side dish.
"You're exaggerating," she claims.
"I'm not, so we're gonna try to eat this," he says as he pulls off the rest of the foil. "¿Traistes tenedores?"
Alicia takes the dish away from her son, "Esto es para todos. ¿Como voy a venir sin algo cuando nos invitaron?"
Francisco tries to explain again, but like Elena, Alicia doesn't believe him.
He throws a pebble at the window, hoping to get Lynn's attention. He knows that she's probably watching over Victor right now, so she's in his room and she'll be able to convince them he's telling the truth.
Lynn opens the window and notices Francisco and his family, "What are you guys doing? Go inside."
Elena takes it as a sign, "Thank you," she says as she and her abuela walk away.
"Wait," starts Lynn, as she notices the shine of the foil and points at the covered dish, "What is that?"
"Es stuffing."
Lynn mutters under her breath, "Dang it." She looks over at Francisco. "You forgot to tell her."
He shrugs his shoulders.
"Put it in the car or eat it. I'll get you some perfume to cover up the smell. My dad's like a bloodhound on Thanksgiving and no one is gonna want to deal with that today."
It isn't that her dad is crazy or competitive or anything. Maybe it is, but if he notices the stuffing, he'll spend the rest of the evening looking over at both dishes comparing one to the other. He'll ask everyone for their opinion, even though he'll do it against his own anyway, and possibly eye her mother-in-law if anyone so much breathes a word that they like hers better than his. If he deems it better, he'll spend the rest of the holiday season upset, and that's going to be a rough time for everyone.
Elena can't believe it. She watches Lynn step away from the window and looks over at her abuela. She explains what's going on and even she thinks that the couple is being ridiculous. Rather than worry about it, the two decide to walk away while Lynn is gone, however, they're stopped when they notice someone approaching them.
Kiké quietly sneaks into the backyard with a pack of cigarettes in his hands, trying to avoid the family inside, but surprised to see his own looking at him, "What the hell are you guys doing out here?"
Elena looks over at her dad, curious to see his reaction at her tío's sudden appearance, but when there isn't one, she tells him, "I didn't know you were coming today."
He lights his cigarette, "We were invited."
"We?"
"Chuy is in there, but he's too nice to walk away from all of them."
"So that's why you're here?"
"Well, I had to get away from that desperate son-of-a-bitch. He's like a puppy who's never been let off his leash, going on and on about his stupid job. If anyone asks, I needed some fresh air."
It isn't a lie, but it beats hurting whoever he's talking about's feelings.
The three decide to head towards the entrance, Elena leans over and whispers to her dad, "You invited him?"
"No, Lincoln and Luna did…"
The two siblings told him that he was staying in his house shortly after they arrived. To his surprise, the house was still in good condition, but he didn't expect Lincoln or Luna to have invited him to Thanksgiving over breakfast the day before.
Francisco is sort of curious how he was able to convince one of the Loud siblings to invite him over, but anytime he asks, Kiké blows him off and says that it was 'his charming personality'.
Lynn peers her head out the window, "What are you guys still doing out there? Everyone's wondering where you guys went and the play is about to start."
Kiké runs off behind the garage, "I was never here. Call me when the food's ready."
Elena sarcastically remarks, "How can we? You were 'never here'."
Francisco leads his mom and daughter inside, "Let's just go."
"¿Ya no importa el stuffing?"
"Right…"
He tries to think of a solution and the only other one is to leave it in Elena's car, "Nah, está bien." Mr. Loud is just going to suck it up, besides maybe he won't notice if the rest of the family eats it while he's in the kitchen.
The three reach the front door, but before anyone can open it, Lola opens the door and takes Elena's hand dragging her towards her parents' room, "C'mon, you're running late and we need to get you into makeup before we get started."
"Excuse me?"
"You're one of our pardoned turkeys this year."
Elena tries to escape Lola's grasp, but the woman does not let her go, "I thought that those roles were for the babies of the family."
"They usually are, but with your brother sick, we need a new turkey alongside Christopher. We already have the script ready, we are not going to change it again. Now, let's move! The show must go on!"
Elena looks out towards the crowd for her dad, but she loses him as the family shuffles around getting the last-minute props ready.
Through the crowd, Francisco can tell that Elena is not pleased, and he doesn't blame her - she's too old for the role and the play is cheesy and time-consuming. However, the family loves it and someone is likely to guilt her into going along with it.
He looks over at her, and quietly mouths, 'Tell them no.'
Elena notices him. She nods her head, and turns to the nearest Loud sibling, Leni, "Look, I'm flattered that you guys want me to do this, but…" she struggles to finish. Leni isn't the type to force her into doing something that she doesn't want to do, but as Elena stares at her sweet smile, she feels bad about trying to get out of the play.
It wasn't even Leni that forced her, but she still doesn't want to let her down.
In a defeated tone, Elena hangs her head, and mutters, "I don't have to get into one of those turkey costumes, do I?"
"No, but I can probably make a cute belt with feathers or something."
"Sure, why not?"
Francisco watches as Leni takes Elena into the dining room, "At least she tried." He heads upstairs to Victor's room, so that Lynn can get a break. She's been dealing with him for a while and he's sure that she needs a break.
He opens the door and watches her play peek-a-boo with him. He stands perfectly still, waiting to see if she will notice him, however, not long after, Victor turns his head towards him and Lynn turns to see what has the boy's attention.
"Hey, how are things?"
"Not bad. The play's about to start."
Lynn doesn't move, instead she picks Victor up from his crib. It's a shame that he won't be able to participate with the rest of the family, but there's always Christmas and any other family holiday to come. For now, Francisco decides to give Lynn a break.
Francisco takes Victor from Lynn's arms, "Go. I know you're dying to catch up with your family."
She tries to hide it, but it's obvious despite telling him, "I'm not dying."
"But you want to," he teases.
Lynn rolls her eyes and gives both him and Victor a kiss before heading downstairs.
Before Lynn closes the door, he quickly tells her, "And don't point out the turkey thing to Elena." He looks down at his son, "Your sister is definitely not going to forgive Lola and the others for the skit." He leans down and whispers, "But be happy that you don't have to participate."
Victor squirms in his father's arms, reaching his arms out towards his mom. Francisco puts him down on the floor and lets him drag himself around a bit. He keeps his eye on the boy as he walks towards the door and opens it, leaving it slightly ajar. Francisco can somewhat hear what is going on downstairs, while feeling the cool air from the hallway.
"Only a few more days, Vic, then you can go out into the world again."
The boy isn't paying him much attention, but Francisco is sure that Victor could use a change of scenery, a chance to look and touch the colorful leaves outside, the feeling of cool air against his skin, and a last glance at grass before it gets covered in snow.
"We'll just have to make it up when we spring you out of here," he jokes.
Victor looks over at his dad as he chews on a toy he found on the floor. Francisco shrugs his shoulders and keeps looking at Victor, as he goes about exploring the room as best as he can. He isn't able to sit up on his own yet, so he's stuck dragging or rolling himself on the floor, and lately, he's had his fun grabbing things and putting them in his mouth, so at least he's entertained.
Francisco sighs. He's a bit hungry, and no one is going to come up until the play is over. He closes his eyes and tells himself, "I should've grabbed a roll or something…"
About two hours later, the door opens and Francisco falls down to the floor, startling him awake, "What the?" He looks up and spots Lynn with a tray in her hands, "Hey."
"Hey, I brought food."
Francisco yawns, "Was I asleep for that long?"
Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "No idea," she looks over at Vic, who is conked out on the floor. "Like father, like son," she says, pointing at their son.
Francisco sighs in relief, happy that Victor is fine. He tries to get up so that he can bring him over but is stopped by his back.
Lynn sits down on the floor, "I'll get him," she tells Francisco, extending her arm out, waiting for him to grab onto her so that she can pull Vic over. "I hope you two are hungry."
Francisco grabs his place, but he notices something missing on Lynn's plate, "You didn't get stuffing?"
"I ate your mom's before Dad found out," she replies, grabbing Vic, who's giggling as he placed on Lynn's lap.
"Did he?"
"No idea. But some of us made it disappear before he noticed the tray on the table."
"Should we be happy that he needs glasses?"
Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "He's already using them, but I'm more thankful that no one said anything and that he didn't smell it."
Francisco chuckles and jokingly agrees, "I'm thankful for that too."
Lynn offers her son a small spoonful of mashed potatoes, which he happily eats. It definitely isn't how she expected their son's first Thanksgiving to play out - the three of them sitting down on the floor of the humid room, while everyone else is downstairs eating together.
At least they aren't alone, they've got each other and that's good enough for them.
I'm alive!
Boy, oh boy, did that take me a long time. I'm sorry to have kept you guy waiting for so long, but I'm glad that I was finally able to get this chapter out. I definitely don't like keeping you guys down, but at the moment, my mind is on so many other things from work, to ball games, and other shows (seriously, Nick needs to get some more new episodes out or air the current ones more three times a week on the main channel), but I will try harder to not keep you guys waiting like I did this time.
As always, thank you for reading and see you next time.
