Carla and Vanessa stood in the kitchen as they made dinner for the family together. It was a regular occurrence, Vanessa hanging out with the Ochoas. Usually multiple times a week she came over just to hang out or help with the mess of kids.

In the living room, Alicia was happily pounding on the piano while Joseph played the Nintendo Switch. Carla's husband Isaac was sitting at the dining room table with three year old Marco on his lap, the baby in her high chair fisting Cheerios.

"Will you stop with the piano?" Isaac called to his daughter. "Carla?"

The two women ignored him and continued their conversation.

"But he never posts pictures of his kids right?" Carla asked as she pushed around the ground beef.

"Well no," she agreed, peeling potatoes at the sink. "But she was the right age and she's called Mariele. It's not that common of a name."

"Still, it's New York City," she pointed out.

"The greatest city in the world!" They sang together.

"But she looked just like him," Vanessa pointed out. "Same eyes."

"Why are you thinking about Lin's eyes?" She teased her friend and Vanessa grinned.

In the dining room, Isaac asked his son, "So you saw the bears? What else did you see?"

He took a swig of beer. "Then we saw the gorillas and mommy said it was you!"

Isaac took in a sharp breath as Carla poked her head in to defend herself. "Oh no I did not," she told him. "I did not!"

Isaac looked down at his son. "Did she take you to see the elephants?"

"Watch it Isaac!" She warned him and he grinned sheepishly. Alicia pounded harder on the piano.

"Will you stop with the piano?!" He asked again. "Carla?"

"What?"'she asked. "I'm not playing it."

He sighed, not wanting to get up after a long day. The noise continued but that was typical in their house. One thing he would not ignore though was the smell coming from the baby's diaper.

"Jeimy, ugghhh!!" He complained, waving his hand around his face. Marco giggled and plugged his nose, making a silly sound.

Vanessa, always willing to be helpful, put down the potato peeler and wiped her hands. She scooped up baby Jeimy from her chair.

"Isaac, get up and change her!" Carla complained. Her best friend had probably changed more dirty diapers than her own husband.

"It's okay, I've got her," she assured them.

"I'll change her," Isaac said, then took another sip of beer. "I got it, I got it."

Vanessa had already carried her away so he gave in. Carla shook her head at her husband. "Eres tan vago!"

Isaac knew he was being lazy, but after a twelve hour shift at the firehouse he felt he deserved a break. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Vanessa was out of earshot.

"I invited someone over for dinner," he whispered to his wife. Isaac loved Vanessa but it was time. She needed a husband before she turned into an old maid.

"What? Why?" Carla asked in confusion as she picked up some empty cups from the table.

"To meet Vanessa," he told her.

"What?!" She asked, incredulous. "Isaac, no! She can meet someone on her own."

"When? She's here almost every night of the week."

"Who did you invite?" She demanded.

"Father Rudy," he confessed.

Her face was incredulous. "Father Rudy? The priest?"

"EX-priest," he clarified.

Vanessa returned with a clean baby and gently set her back in her high chair to continue her murder of the Cheerios.

"What's going on?" She asked the couple.

"Isaac invited Father Rudy over for dinner," she explained, obviously miffed. "To meet you."

"What?!"

"Yeah!!" Carla agreed.

"Auntie Vanessa, do you hate priests?" Marco asked as Vanessa began desperately looking for a scarf of some kind in her bag. She'd dressed casually for the evening and part of her scar showed. It made her self conscious around people who didn't know about the surgery.

"No, of course not honey," she assured him.

"Good, cause if you do you'll go straight to hell," he reported. Isaac immediately covered his son's mouth as Carla gasped in horror.

"Oh that's great!" She complained. "You taught him hell."

"I did not teach him hell," Isaac defended himself. "You did. I heard you say it yesterday."

"I have never said hell, you son of a bitch," she spat, full of Brooklyn attitude.

The doorbell rang and Alicia started screaming. Joseph shouted at her to shut up. The house was chaos. Isaac pushed off Marco and stormed towards the living room. He picked up his daughter and covered her mouth to stop her from screaming.

"Will everyone just calm down?!" He yelled, looking around at his children. Marco stood by with his finger up his nose. "For the love of God and all that is holy?! CALM THE HELL DOWN!!"

He ripped out Joseph's controller, which the eight year old protested. Vanessa found a napkin and splayed it over her slightly exposed scar.

"Jesus Christ, he's just a man!" He told his family, up in arms that a priest would be eating with them.

Isaac opened the door to find Father Rudy, who had recently left the priesthood. But still, he wore his clergy collar. Pedro turned his head to the side in puzzlement.

"I'm just not used to being without it yet," he confessed to his friend.

Isaac huffed and knew they'd be in for a long night. "Get in here."

—-

The strict Mrs. Lopez had banished Mariele to her room for the afternoon after she ran away from her at the zoo. After dinner, she had a bath and was heading to bed early.

Lin arrived home around 6:30 for a quick visit, having received a frantic call from the sitter. Luckily, a bystander had stopped her in time before she'd gotten too close to the bear cage. He apologized and headed to Mariele's room to talk to her.

As he entered, her head was stuck in the neck hole of her pajama top. Lin reached over and helped her tug it down.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said quietly as she adjusted her shirt. Lin sat down and pulled her into his lap.

"Mija, what happened today at the zoo?" He asked her, getting right to the point. "Why'd you run away?"

"I don't like Mrs. Lopez," she told him honestly. "She's mean and she smells."

Lin sighed, knowing Elana said the same thing. He felt that maybe they needed someone firm to keep a routine and structure. That had always been his wife's strength, not his.

"You still have to listen to her because she's an adult," Lin told her. "She needs to keep you safe and she can't if you run away."

"I wanna stay with you," she told him, resting her head on his chest. She tugged at his heart strings so easily.

"I know, baby, but I have to work," he reminded her. "You need to go to bed."

She grumbled, not liking his answer. "I don't want you to be Hamilton anymore," she said. "I want you to be daddy."

Lin didn't have a good answer for that. He wished he could split himself in two. His girls obviously needed him, or at least someone who cared about them. His parents both still worked and were very busy. Juliana's parents lived in Chicago. He really needed someone caring and responsible to be with them in the evenings.

He thought about Vanessa. He knew she worked but as far as he knew, not in the evenings. Lin gently kissed her temple.

"I know," he said quietly. "But I've gotta go."

She clung to him tighter. "Nooooo!"

He gently extracted himself from her arms and laid her on her back. "Good girl," he told her as his heart continued to break. "I'll see you in the morning."

Mariele gave in, crying in bed as her daddy left her. Before it got any harder, he ducked out and closed the door behind him. His heart told him he needed to be a dad but his responsibilities forced him to be Hamilton.