In New York City, a taxi drove up in front of its destination in the SoHo district. Mrs. Cordwain, Jack, and Hilary stepped out of the cab and looked up at the apartment building in front of them.
"What's wrong? Is this the right place?" Jack asked, noticing the look on Cordwain's face.
"Yes, it is."
"Let me guess, they're not expecting you?" She said nothing. "Well, who doesn't love a surprise?"
At Derek's house, Evelyn and Derek were conversing in his room, while she tried to comfort him.
"What is it, hon?" Evelyn asked, her hand on his shoulder.
"It's Hilary. Jack left town with Cordwain, and he took her with him."
"And you didn't stop them?"
"I didn't know until after they were gone."
"I'm sure she's safe." Evelyn assured. "And as soon as Cordwain's done, Hilary will return."
"But not with me."
"Back from where?" Katherine asked, standing by the door. "Where has Rivera gone?"
"I don't know."
"Well, if she's left town, she's defenseless. She can be killed."
"The moment either of us leaves, we lose our tech… and our advantage." Evelyn explained.
"And your memories?" Katherine asked, curious.
"None of us were victims of the curse." Derek reminded them. "It's not about memories. It's about powers."
"Well, I don't need powers. I'll go after her alone." Katherine started to leave.
Derek stood up. "Even if you could find her, do you really think you could just walk to her and stab her in the heart?"
"You're not going anywhere." Evelyn spoke up.
"I deserve my vengeance!" Katherine shouted.
"You're right, you do."
Hilary, Jack, and Ms. Cordwain entered the lobby of the apartment building. Hilary scanned the list of names on the intercom. Jack and Ms. Cordwain also took a turn looking at the list.
"Do any of these names mean anything to you?" He asked.
"Sadly, no." Ms. Cordwain shook her head.
"Here." Jack pointed to apartment number 407, the only one that didn't have a name.
"Or it could just be vacant."
"You may be skilled in shoes, but I know how to find people that don't want to be found, and those sort of folks don't like to advertise their whereabouts." Jack buzzed the apartment on the intercom. "UPS package for 407." The person on the other end of the line didn't respond and then hung up.
"Maybe you should have said FedEx." Hilary joked.
Suddenly, they heard a crash and clank coming from the fire escape outside.
Jack realized what was happening. "They're running."
The three of them rushed out the door, where they saw a hooded person climbing down the fire escape, and then running through the streets.
"Watch Hilary. I'll be back." Jack took off and chased after the unknown person through the streets of New York, stalling traffic along the way. He ran around the opposite side of the building and managed to ambush the person as the two met. He tackled them, and the two of them fell to the ground. When Jack looked up, a shocked look came over his face. "No. Sam?"
"Jack?" They both stood up. "I don't understand. What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? I'm not answering anything until you tell me the truth. Are you Cordwain's relative?"
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, confused. "Who's Cordwain?"
Jack started getting angry. "You played me. You're from there. You both played me! You and Cordwain!"
"Whoa, Jack, slow down! What are you talking about? Who's Cordwain?"
"Imelda Rivera!" Jack shouted.
Sam's eyes widened in shock. "She's here? She's alive?"
"Why else would I be in New York?"
"You brought her to me? Why would you do that?!"
"Hey! I'm the only one allowed to be angry here! Did you know who I was, where I was from, the whole time? Was this just some sort of sick twisted plan? Did…did you even care about me at all?"
"Jack, don't-"
"I want to know! I want the truth, all of it!" Jack demanded.
"Fine! We… we gotta get off the street. We can't do it here. We're out in the open. There's a bar down the street. We can talk there."
"I'm not drinking with you! Whatever you're gonna tell me, tell me now!"
"No, the bar's better. Don't worry, you can keep yelling at me when we get there."
Sam began to walk off. Jack followed her, annoyed.
Hilary and Ms. Cordwain were still waiting outside of the apartment building. They stood by a hotdog stand.
"Don't worry, Jack's really good at catching people." Hilary assured her.
"Well, sneaky kind of runs in my family. I have a feeling they're equally adept at it."
"Well, at least we found them, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh, and, uh, thanks, for the hot dog. I forgot."
"You're quite welcome. And thank you."
"For what?"
"Well, if it wasn't for you bringing Jack to Pixfare, none of this would have happened. You're a remarkable young woman."
"You know... I forgave him. Jack... for giving me up. He thought it was the best for me then. That's why he did it. I'm sure your relative will get it too."
"I hope so."
"You're here now, and you want them back, right?"
"More than anything."
"Then that's all that matters."
Jack and Sam were seated inside the bar she recommended.
"Well, what do you want to know, Jack? You want the truth? Ask away."
"Did you know who I was when we met?"
"If I had, I wouldn't have gone near you."
"Come on."
"'Come on?' Come on, what?" Sam asked, "I was in hiding. I came here to get... a-away from... all that stuff."
"So, if you didn't know, then you were just using me. You just needed someone to take the fall for all the watches that you stole."
"I wasn't using you. When we met, I didn't know. I found out."
"How?"
"When I went to sell the watches... I ran into a friend of yours - Kelly."
-Flashback-
"When you see what I have in here, you're gonna listen. You're gonna believe every word I say." Kelly explained.
"Yeah, right."
Kelly opened the lid of the box on the back of her motorcycle. Inside, there was a typewriter with a piece of paper with the sentence 'I know you're Socorro' typed on it.
- End Flashback-
Jack was now furious. "You left me... and let me go to prison because Kevin told you to?"
"Jack..." Sam tried to explain.
"I loved you."
"I-I was, um, I was... I was trying to help you."
"By letting me go to jail."
"By getting you home."
"Are you telling me that our meeting was a coincidence? Because how did that happen if it wasn't in your plan?"
"Maybe it was fate."
"You believe in that?"
"Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, the point is, maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together."
"No. Not that I can think of. I just went to jail. That's it. Doesn't matter now, I'm over it. And you." Jack stood up, getting ready to leave.
"Why do you wear the keychain I got you?"
Jack looked down at the keychain hanging on a cord around his neck. He pulled it off and placed it on the counter in front of Sam. "To remind myself to never trust someone again. Come on. I made a deal with your ancestor that I'd bring you to her."
"You made a deal with her?"
"Yeah, and I'm upholding my end."
"No, Jack, you don't have to. You know that."
"I know."
"Okay. So this should be easy for you. Tell her that you lost me. Tell her you can't find me. You do that, you'll never have to see me again."
"Wait a minute. Cordwain's great-great-granddaughter is Hilary's mother?" Laura Reed asked Jack over the phone.
"I know. I know. And the millions of questions you have, I have, too. The problem is, it doesn't matter right now because I don't know what to do."
"Please tell me you're not calling to ask me to tell you to keep it from her."
"Hilary thinks her mother is dead. I told her that for a reason. I wanna protect her."
"No matter what this woman did, Hilary has a right to know who her mother is. The truth about your parents- Jack-Jack, you of all people should know how important that is."
"I don't want Hilary to get hurt. I just want to protect her."
"Are you sure this is about protecting Hilary and not yourself?"
Hilary and Ms. Cordwain were sitting in the lobby of the apartment building, waiting for Jack to return. The girl could tell the older woman was anxious.
"Why are you so nervous? When I found my dad, I was excited."
"Because I have the benefit of a little more life experience, niña. I know things don't always happen as we want them to."
The door opened and Jack entered. "Hey."
"Did you find her?" Ms. Cordwain asked, standing up.
"Sorry. She... got away."
Héctor was laying in bed in his room at the hospital when Derek entered.
"Who are you?"
"So, it's true. You really don't remember anything."
"Are we friends?"
"We spent some time together. But I'm here because I believe you can help me find something that belongs to you."
"What is it?"
"Your guitar."
"I, uh… I-I don't play guitar."
Derek pressed a button on his gauntlet and zapped Héctor, knocking him out. "Not anymore. But you did."
Derek, Evelyn, and Katherine were in the music classroom at the school.
"Shouldn't we be pillaging her shop or ransacking her house?" Katherine asked, bored.
"That would be the obvious choice, yes, but Cordwain wouldn't risk crossing the town line and losing her memory without entrusting the guitar's location to someone."
"Héctor."
"My guess is he hid it with one of his beloved instruments."
"Impressive, son." Evelyn smiled.
"Thank you, Mother."
"I'll be impressed when I'm holding the guitar in my hand."
Derek found the correct spot, but there was just an empty case. "No. It should be here."
"Well, it's not, is it? Can we go now?" Katherine complained.
"Hold on." Evelyn pulled a folded piece of paper out from the case. "What's this?" She wondered, unfolding the paper.
"Oh, yes. Crude." Katherine spoke up. "To the untrained eye, a child's scribbles, but to an explorer... it's a map. Rivera may not have hidden the guitar here, but I believe she's left us the next best thing. Its location."
"Can you read it?"
"Well, lucky for you two, I'm quite adept at finding things."
The Riveras were gathered at the Parrs' place after Laura Reed told them about her phone call with Jack. Clark, Dash, and Violet were also told to join the meeting.
"What's going on?" Miguel asked.
"I just got off the phone with Jack-Jack." Laura Reed explained the whole situation. Miguel and the other kids were listening intently.
"My sister is alive?!" Miguel cried and turned to Rosa. "And Hilary's our niece?!"
"Actually, Rosa's first cousin once removed." Laura Reed corrected him. "But you could still call her your niece." "W-wow, I can't believe it." Luisa said, amazed. "You're saying that my daughter is alive?"
"Apparently." Laura Reed nodded. "That's what Jack-Jack told me."
"Will she come back to us?" Abel asked.
"I hope so." Miguel said.
"What does she look like now?" Rosa asked.
"He didn't say, but I'm guessing she probably looks like you guys." Laura Reed suspected.
"You guess?" Victoria asked.
"She probably looks a lot like Mamá when she was young." Elena imagined.
"Or Papá." Miguel added.
"She's alive and well, that's what matters." Luisa spoke up.
"Well, I hope she'll come home." Rosita said, who had just recently moved back with the family. "I just think that she might be a mixture of all of us."
"I'm not sure about that." Laura Reed said. "Jack-Jack wasn't too happy to see her. He doesn't even want Hilary to meet her."
"Let's just hope they'll be ok."
"I just can't believe I'm a tío." Miguel still wasn't over the shock.
"And I'm a great-grandmother." Elena said, getting emotional.
Enrique and Luisa looked at each other. "That means we're..." He started to say.
"...grandparents." They both said at once and hugged each other with tears of joy.
"But Helen and I are her grandparents." Clark said, gesturing to themselves.
"Dad, you're Hilary's parental grandparents and Miguel's parents are her maternal grandparents." Violet corrected him.
"She's right." Victoria agreed. "You can have more than one of each."
"Ummm... that means that Hilary is... a Rivera?" Abel asked.
"Well, half, but yes. She's also half Parr." Laura Reed explained.
"Our little Socorro has grown up." Oscar said, nearly starting to cry.
"It's too bad she had to grow up without us." Luisa looked sadly at her husband. "I hope she doesn't think we abandoned her."
Still in the lobby, Jack and Hilary watched as Ms. Cordwain frantically hit all the buttons on the intercom, trying to gain access to the building.
"Wait. What are you doing?"
The door clanked unlocked. "I'm finding my great-great-granddaughter." She opened the door and began the enter. Jack and Hilary followed her.
"She's gone."
"But she lives here. She'll be back, and I'll be waiting."
They soon arrived at the door of Sam's apartment. Ms. Cordwain began to pick the lock.
"Stop. You can't just break in." Jack warned.
"Yeah, well, actually, that's something I'm quite adept at."
"She might not come back."
"Okay. Finding people is what you do, Jack. I'm simply going to assist you. There may be information in here. Who she is, what she does, who she loves."
"No, don't do this. There are things called laws."
"I'll be a lookout." Hilary walked away.
"No, I..." Jack tried to stop her but then turned his attention to Ms. Cordwain. "You could get arrested."
"Then my great-great-granddaughter will have to testify against me, and we'll be reunited." She managed to pick the lock and opened the door.
"Cordwain. Come on, please. We really shouldn't be here." Jack tried to convince her as they entered.
"I don't think she's listening." Hilary commented and joined Ms. Cordwain to investigate the apartment.
Jack walked over to the window and noticed a dreamcatcher was hanging. It was the same one he and Sam took from the hotel room eleven years ago. He took it down and stared at it in his hands.
"You find something?" Ms. Cordwain asked, noticing his interest.
Jack snapped out of his thoughts. "Nothing. Uh, it just looks like a dreamcatcher."
"Yeah, well, if it's nothing, why are you still holding it? You're lying to me."
"Just get back to looking, okay?"
"No, no, no. You saw something. Tell me."
"You don't know what you're talking-"
"Tell me!"
"Hilary, go wait in the bathroom."
"But I can help-"
"Hilary, go!" She walked away, leaving the two of them alone. "There's nothing here. The woman's a ghost."
"What, you think me a fool?" She took off her boot and aimed it at him. "You're holding back. I want to know what and why."
"I'm not holding back."
"Did she tell you something?"
"Cordwain-"
"Did she tell you something?!"
"Nothing. She didn't say anything."
"But you talked to-"
"Don't put words in my mouth-"
"Tell me! You tell me, or I'm gonna make you tell me."
"You really wanna do this?"
"Do not push me."
"Don't push me."
"We had a deal!"
"Hey! Leave him alone." Sam shouted as she burst through the door. She stared at Ms. Cordwain in complete shock. Imelda's ofrenda photo and skeletal spirit flashed in her memory. "Mamá Imelda? You're alive?"
"S-Socorro?" Ms. Cordwain stared at her, practically speechless, and gently touched Sam's face, realizing that she looked almost like her daughter when she was young, but also like Enrique. "I-"Is that you?"
"Yes. I mean, I just recently found out who I was."
"You came back." Ms. Cordwain said, hugging her gently.
Sam felt weird being hugged by a former skeleton. "I came to make sure he wasn't hurt. I heard shouting." She was a bit unsure of what was going on.
"Sam..." Jack tried to explain.
"Jack, I got this."
Ms. Cordwain looked between them, confused. "How do you two know each other?"
"You sent me chasing after her."
She held up her boot again. "No, no, no. Stop it! You're lying. How do you two know each other?!"
Hilary, who was still in the bathroom, entered the room. "Dad? What's going on?"
"Hey." Jack tried to comfort her.
"Who's this?" Sam asked.
"My daughter."
"What?"
"Is that Socorro?" Hilary wondered.
"I need you to stay in the other room for a little while longer, okay? Come on." Jack tried to rush Hilary out of the room.
Sam stopped them. "Wait. How old are you?"
"Don't answer her."
"How old are you, kid?!"
"Eleven!" Hilary replied. "Now, why is everyone yelling?"
"She's eleven?"
"Dad?" Hilary glanced at Jack.
Sam suddenly put two and two together. "Is this my daughter?"
"No. My mom was a cop. She... she died." Hilary turned to Jack for reassurance. "That's what you told me. You said..."
"Is this... my daughter?" Sam asked again.
Jack sighed, knowing that he couldn't hide the truth anymore. He gently touched Hilary's face. "Yes." Sam put her hands to her mouth in shock. Hilary backed away from Jack and climbed out the window and onto the fire escape. Jack looked down in depression, realizing that he messed up. After a brief pause, he went after her. "Hilary. Hilary?" Jack crawled through the window, leaving Sam and Ms. Cordwain alone.
The two women looked at each other with mixed feelings. "I'll make some chamomile tea for us." Sam said. She went into the kitchen and added water and a tea bag to two microwave-safe mugs.
Ms. Cordwain couldn't believe that one of her great-great-granddaughters had grown up and become a career woman. She changed so much since she last saw her. Sam took the heated mugs from the microwave and let them sit on the counter. She wasn't sure what to say to break the ice. They waited for the tea to cool down before they were ready to talk.
At the hospital, in an isolated hallway, Gina was talking on her cell phone.
"Hey. N-no, I… I'm… I-I'm okay. Yeah. No, they… They… They said I'm… I'm good to go. But, um… You know, I think I'm going to stay here for a little while. Why? Well, take a look at this and see." She sent a video of Derek using zero point energy in Héctor's room to the person listed as 'Him'.
Katherine was showing Derek and Evelyn the now deciphered map. "I give you the location of the guitar."
"Well done, Muntz." Evelyn snatched the map from the table. "We'll take it from here."
"No!" Katherine grabbed a letter opener and pointed it at them as threatening as she could. "You promised me!"
Evelyn used zero point energy to throw Katherine across the room and into a wall, knocking her unconscious."The guitar's too powerful to be wasted on you." She grabbed Derek's arm and they headed toward the door.
Derek stopped walking and turned toward Evelyn. "So... is... this what it was all about? Getting the guitar so you could obtain its powers?"
"If we have the guitar, we control her. And when she returns to Pixfare, we can command her to kill Elastigirl, Mr. Incredible, and their kids. Our enemies will be defeated," Evelyn began stroking Derek's hair. "and you will be blameless in the eyes of the only person who matters."
"Hilary."
Evelyn smiled wickedly as she and Derek walked away.
Hilary was talking to Jack outside on the fire escape. "So, that's her?"
"Yeah." Jack nodded with a sigh.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I never thought I would see her again. I never wanted to."
"Why not?"
"She was a thief, Hilary. A liar, a bad person, and she... she broke my heart."
"I could have taken it, you know. The truth."
"I know. She was just a part of my life I... wanted to forget. That's why I didn't tell you. I was thinking of me, not you."
Hilary scoffed, disappointed. "I thought you were different, but you're just like him - Derek. He always lied to me too."
Jack couldn't believe she was comparing them. "I'm sorry."
"I want to meet my mom."
"Here." Sam said, giving Ms. Cordwain her tea mug after it cooled down.
"Gracias."
They moved over to the couch, looking at each other knowing they haven't seen each other for so long.
Ms. Cordwain was the first to speak. "I know you don't really know me very well. You were just a baby when I last saw you."
"Yeah, I mean, I never thought of it. I saw you in person before the curse." Sam said as she took a sip of her tea. "I mean, I was still a baby. No little memory of a skeleton or my parents. I had to spend my entire life without my family. My parents, my life. I took to crime. Even giving up my own daughter."
"Oh, pobrecita." Ms. Cordwain put her mug down and gave Sam a hug. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that."
"Well..." Sam pulled away. "Without a family, growing up I had to learn to survive on my own. I toughened myself out. I was willing to steal or do anything to survive."
"You certainly have the Rivera blood in you, mija." She suddenly had an idea. "Come with me to Pixfare. The whole family is there. We can all be together again."
"I don't know." Sam said as she put her tea onto the coffee table and fidgeted her fingers.
"Everyone would love to see you again. They all miss you, especially your parents and Miguel. You won't have to be alone anymore."
"Well, it's not easy... because..."
"Why? There's nothing to be afraid of."
"I have a job here."
Ms. Cordwain was proud that Sam had made a life for herself, but her reason for coming was to bring her home to the family.
"Look, I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave the city."
"I understand that coming to a new place can be pretty scary. I certainly was on the trip here."
Sam stood up, put her tea down, and went to get the photo of her birth.
Ms. Cordwain's face lit up when she saw the photo. "You kept it."
"Yeah. I didn't remember who the woman in the picture was until Kelly came along and I began analyzing it right before the curse ended."
"Yes, that's your mamá."
"My m-mother? I didn't even know any Spanish or even of my Mexican blood when I growing up."
"It's alright. Your family can help you get back in touch with your roots."
"Well...I don't know if I want to."
Ms. Cordwain couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had always urged the importance of family.
Jack crawled back into the apartment through the window, while Hilary waited outside on the fire escape. "She wants to meet you." He told Sam who was waiting.
"You were going to make her forget me."
"Yes, I was."
"Yeah, well, she's my kid, too, so you don't get to make that decision by yourself anymore."
"Great. Go talk to her, then." Sam took a deep breath and then walked toward the window. "But... don't break her heart."
"Trust me, I'm not gonna do to her what mine did to me."
"Or what you did to me."
Sam exhaled. "Okay. I get it. We're all messed up. What do you say we try to avoid that with her? Alright?"
"Alright."
Sam stepped onto the fire escape and stood next to Hilary.
"So... you're my mom."
"Yeah."
"I'm Hilary."
"It's nice to meet you, Hilary. Sorry I took so long."
"It's okay."
Inside the apartment, Ms. Cordwain watched them through the window.
/Thanks to my co-writer Varzate732 for helping with planning Sam's reveal and the entire conversation between her and Imelda