A/N: I know the timeline is way off, but I wanted to include something about Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico. So, please ignore the timeline discrepancy for dramatic purposes! :-)

Even though she was barred from participating for a week, Emma still went to ABT every day after school to watch practice. She wanted to see what they were covering so she could work at home.  She brought a notebook and wrote down everything they were doing.  She wasn't going to let this set her back.

As they were doing their cool-down stretches, Emma tucked her notebook into her backpack and slipped out before anyone could talk to her.  She rode the subway home and went straight to her room.  Right now, everyone was disappointed in her.  Her ballet teachers, her parents, her chemistry teacher.  He was threatening to make her do her last lab over because she hadn't done the lab report right.

Sighing, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and took the subway home. When she arrived, her younger sister and her two friends had taken over the living room.  Sebastian was on the couch, hoping to get some attention.  Emma could hear "Cabinet Battle #1" playing over the sound system – quite loudly – and the girls were trying to rap along.  It was rather comical, really.  She rolled my eyes and headed back to her bedroom.  She changed into my ballet gear so I could go downstairs to practice what she'd just seen.

Downstairs, Emma could hear her sister's music blaring and it was hard to hear mine.  She walked upstairs, arms crossed.

"Lexi, can you turn that down please?" She asked her politely.

"But we're practicing," she told her.

"I'm trying to practice too and I can't hear my music," she told her.

"Fine," she groaned and reached for the volume.  Emma returned downstairs and plugged in her earbuds and got to work.  She had her notebook open and started at the top of the list.  Soon, she was sweating and her feet were working hard.

Before she knew it, Lin was coming down the stairs to tell her it was dinner time.  She nodded and finished off her last exercise, then came upstairs.  Lexi's friends had gone home, thankfully.  I took my seat at the table, feeling my heartrate come down.

"Ewww, it smells," Lexi commented, holding her nose.

"Shut up," Emma snapped at her.

"Hey," Lin said, looking at both of them.  "Let's have a pleasant dinner.  Lex, what's the best and worst thing that happened today?"

"Hmmm," she pondered as she chewed.  "Best thing was practicing with my friends after school for the talent show.  Worst was smelling Emma."

Emma jumped in.  "My worst was having to listen to Lexi and her friends practice for the talent show.  Best was nothing."

"That bad, huh?" Lin commented.  "Best thing for me was waking up next to Vanessa," he said, earning a smile and an eye roll from his wife.  "Worst was having to change Franky's diaper."

The kids laughed and Franky was, of course, oblivious to the problem.  Emma decided to help with the dishes, not yet ready to start her homework for the evening.  Lin jumped in to help.

"Did you have a bad day or something?"

"Yeah," she said as she rinsed a plate. "I'm still pissed about the whole Katie thing.  My chemistry teacher is a total asshole."

"Why's that?" He asked his daughter.

"He's so picky about everything," she explained.  "He threatened to make me do my whole lab report over.  That thing took me hours."

"Well, you know Vanessa's a scientist," he reminded her.  "I bet she'd be happy to help you."

"But, but she's been so overwhelmed lately," Emma said.  "I don't want to bother her."

"I think she might like the distraction," Lin said, knowing his wife well.  "She'd like to be helpful.  Since she's not working I think she's going a little stir-crazy.  Why don't you ask her after your shower?"

"Do I really smell that bad?" she asked.

Lin grinned.  "No, I just figured you were showering since you practiced downstairs."

Emma finished off with what she was doing, then hopped into the shower.  After she'd pulled her hair up into a bun for now, she padded back to the master bedroom to see if Vanessa might be able to help her.  She was sitting up in bed, Emilia laying quietly on her lap.

Emma knocked on the door.  "Vanessa?"

"Hi, Em," she smiled.  "What's up?"

"Um, I was wondering if you could help me with my AP chem homework," she said, notebook and papers in hand.

Vanessa sat up a bit.  "Absolutely," she said.  "My specialty."

Emma smiled and climbed onto the bed.  She explained to Vanessa what was going on and showed her the chem report with her teacher's red marks all over it.

"Wow, he's really persnickety," she commented, looking through the paper.  "Okay, let's start with the introduction."

Emma sat with Vanessa for the next hour or so, helping her correct her work.  It was making Emma feel so much better.  If only her teacher were this patient and thorough.  When Emilia started to cry, Lin came and took her away so they could have some peace and quiet.  Once they'd reached the end of the assignment, Emma thanked Vanessa and gave her a hug.  Then, she disappeared to her bedroom to type up her edited lab report.

Lin came into her room later to check on her.  "How'd it go with V?"

"Great," she said.  "I'm just finishing my edits up now."

"Good," he said.  "I was hoping to take her out for a date night Friday.  Would you be able to watch the kids that night?"

"All three of them?" she asked.

"I could ask Abuela to come as well," he said.

Emma nodded.  "Yeah, that would be good.  Three kids would be too much."

"Great," he said.  "I'll text her."

"Do I still get paid?"

"Why wouldn't I pay you?"

"Well, since I'm grounded.  I didn't know if I was your indentured servant."

Lin chuckled.  "No, I'll still pay you.  Five dollars bonus for every diaper you change."

Emma smiled and turned her attention back to her work as he closed the door.  Lin then checked on his second oldest.  She was on her bed, earbuds in, rapping along to "Cabinet Battle #1".  When she saw him come in, she pressed pause.

"How's the song coming?" He asked, sitting on her bed.

"Good," she said.  "Except I keep getting messed up at the part that starts with Thomas Jefferson, always hesitant with the president."

Lin nodded.  "There's a lot of rhyming there and it's fast.  It's a real tongue twister.  You're welcome."

Lexi laughed.  "Isn't that The Rock's line? Do you promise not to judge me if I mess it up?"

"You're not gonna mess it up," he told her.  "You three are practicing like crazy.  Which leads me to Friday night.  V and I are having a date night, so Abuela and Emma are babysitting the kids.  So, you can't practice here."

"Savi was gonna ask her parents if she can have a sleepover," she said.

"Great," he said.  "Where does she live?"

"Soho," she told him.  "I'll probably just take the subway to her place after school."

"Sounds good," he told his daughter, standing up.  "I'm heading to bed soon.  Good night."  He kissed the top of her head and left.

___

Friday night rolled around, and Vanessa was looking forward to a night out.  Emilia was about a month old now, and she was getting a bit stir crazy being in the house most of the time, not working.  It felt nice to dress up, do her hair and put on make-up.  Luz arrived around 6, and the house was buzzing with activity.  Now that Franky was walking, he and Sebastian were best buds.  They were really close and age and their parents hoped they'd be close growing up.  By all indications, they would be.  Sebastian loved showing his little brother the ways of the world.

Lin picked up Franky and planted a series of kisses all over his face.  "Be good for Abuela, buddy," he told him.  Franky reached for his nose and babbled.  He set his youngest son down and he ran off to play.  Vanessa handed Emilia off to her mother-in-law, slightly nervous about leaving her baby.  She hoped Emilia wouldn't fuss too much.  It was giving her anxiety, wondering if people were judging her for how fussy her baby could be.  Did they wonder if she was a bad mother?  Deep down, she knew Luz would never judge her.  She was well aware that Emilia had colic, and that she was a wonderful mother.

Lin and Vanessa finally left, and he took his wife's hand in his as they walked down the hall.  He squeezed her hand gently as they went.  "They'll be fine," he reassured her, knowing she was nervous about leaving all the kids, especially Emilia.

"I know," she said.  "Luz is wonderful."

Lin hailed a cab to the restaurant, where they had a reservation.  On the car ride there, he decided to make a rule that they couldn't talk about the kids at all.  This was their evening.

The restaurant Lin had chosen was dimly lit and romantic.  He pulled out her chair and pushed it in as she sat down.  As they looked over the menu, the waiter came by with the wine list.  They ordered a bottle of Merlot.  When the waiter came back a few minutes later, he brought the wine.

He poured a little for Lin, and after he approved, he poured a glass for each of them.  Lin ordered some calamari as an appetizer.

"So, how have you been feeling?" Lin asked his wife.

"Better," she admitted.  "I think the therapy is helping.  But I'm going crazy just sitting around the house all day.  I'm thinking of going back to work early."

"Really?" He asked, taking a sip of wine.  "We haven't talked yet about who would watch Emilia during the day."

"Do you think your mom might be able to?"

"Possibly, but she might not be able to every day," he said.  "She watches my nephews some evenings."

"She could take Emilia with her though," Vanessa pointed out.

"Yeah, maybe," he said.  "So, do you think going back to work would help you feel better?"

"I don't know," she admitted.  "I just get so frustrated being home with the kids all day, especially with Emilia's colic."

"Well, if you want to go back, I'll support you," Lin told his wife.  "I just want you to feel better."

She nodded and smiled a small smile.  "I'm afraid I might regret it later though," she admitted.  "Emilia's only a baby for so long."

Lin nodded and sipped his wine.  "Here we go, talking about the kids again."

Vanessa sighed and laughed.  "It's so hard not to.  How's the planning going for Tick Tick Boom?"

"It's going well," he said.  "I think I've got a lot of good people in place.  I'm excited."

"Are you nervous?" She asked.  Her husband was rarely nervous and full of confidence.

"Not really," he admitted.  "You'd think I would be, directing for the first time, but I think I've got the experience."

"How often will you be away?"

Lin had started to think more about this.  They would be filming in L.A., so he'd obviously have to relocate for a while.  "I don't know yet," he said.  "I'd come home on the weekends though."

Vanessa nodded, knowing it would be hard to have him away so much.  Lin was dreading having leave her with five kids.  He knew his parents would step in to help, though.  The rest of dinner continued, and the married couple enjoyed having time to themselves for once.  They didn't have to worry about a kid throwing food all over the floor or screaming randomly at the top of their lungs.

Afterwards, they decided to go for a walk.  They headed to Central Park and just walked around, hand in hand, chatting about friends and family.  After a while, they found a bench, dimly lit by a street light.  They sat close to each other, hands clasped.  Vanessa rest her head on Lin's shoulder as they watched random people walk or bike by.  Both of them had lived in New York City their whole lives, and they found it comforting.  Being just people in the middle of a huge city reminded them their problems weren't so bad.  In fact, they were pretty lucky.

"What are you thinking about?" Vanessa asked, after they'd been sitting silently for a while.

Lin looked down at their clasped hands and fingered her wedding ring.  "The day I married you."

She smiled, remembering the day fondly.  How he'd surprised her with a flash-mob rendition of "To Life" with her family and wedding party.  She'd felt like the luckiest woman alive.

"That was a great day," she commented.  "Remember how Melissa did a keg stand?"

Lin laughed, remembering how Emma and Alexis's dad had gotten incredibly drunk.  He was pretty sure Phil had had to drive them home that night.  The married couple just sat there for a long time, enjoying each other's company. 

Around 10:00, they decided to head home.  They found Luz and Emma in the living room playing chess.

"She's beating me!" Luz announced, causing Emma to grin in pride.

"She started beating me when she was fourteen," Lin reported as he took off his jacket.  "How'd it go?"

"They were fine," Luz reported.  "And Emma here changed two diapers."

"Impressive," Lin commented, reaching for his wallet.  He handed his daughter $40 for the evening.

"Thank you both for watching the kids," Vanessa said as she took off her shoes.

"You're welcome," Luz said.  "Did you have a nice evening?"

"It was wonderful," Vanessa said.

"I'm pretty pooped so I'm heading to bed," Lin said.  He leaned over and kissed his mother on the cheek, then ruffled Emma's hair.

"I'll just finish off getting beaten then I'll head home," Luz told them.

Lin and Vanessa headed back to the bedroom and began to undress.  He noticed how his wife shielded her body, something she never really did.  They'd been together for thirteen years.

"You okay?" Lin asked her.

"Fine," she commented as she quickly pulled on a nightdress.  Lin passed her by as he went to the bathroom, giving her a supportive squeeze on the hip.  Vanessa joined him a few moments later in the bathroom to brush her teeth.  After he'd finished, Lin stepped over and kissed his wife on the cheek before heading to bed.

Vanessa climbed in a few minutes later, facing her husband.

"How's your scar feeling?" He asked, gently stroking her cheek.

"Not bad," she reported.  "Still a bit tender."

He nodded.  "It's so badass," he said, causing her to laugh.

"It's disgusting," she told him.

"It's your battle scar," he said.  "You had a seven pound baby come out through that."

"Yeah, it was so thrilling," she said.

"Are you still feeling self-conscious?" Lin gently asked his wife.  She nodded.

"I just still feel disgusting."

"You're gorgeous," he assured her.

"You haven't seen my stomach lately," she corrected him.

"Yeah, you've been hiding it," he said.  "You don't need to."

Vanessa hadn't yet felt ready to be intimate with her husband since Emilia's birth.  Her stomach was still tender for one, and she just felt disgusting.  How could he be attracted to her?

Lin reached out and gently touched his wife's stomach and she recoiled.

"Lin, don't," she told him.

"Sorry," he said.  "I just don't want you to feel bad about yourself.  I love you."

"I love you too," she said.  "Sorry I haven't felt like being intimate yet.  I still need some time."

"That's fine," he said.  "I can wait.  Why do you think I've been taking such long showers?"

She chuckled.  Her husband had a way of lightening things up.  He balanced her out well.  She had a tendency to be way too serious, and he was a total goofball.

"I'll wait as long as it takes," he said softly, then gave her a sweet kiss.  Vanessa, reassured, let out a satisfied sigh and settled into her husband's arms.  Soon, they were asleep.

___

The next morning, there were reports on the news that a massive hurricane was forming in the Atlantic Ocean, headed straight for Puerto Rico.  The family left the news on all morning, watching for updates on the storm's trajectory and intensity.  Lin was on the phone a lot of the morning, speaking in Spanish to his Puerto Rican relatives.  Lexi listened in awe, thinking it was so cool how he could speak two languages so well.  Did he think in Spanish and English?

Lin hung up from his latest phone call.  Most of his extended family lived in Vega Alta.  His relatives were too proud to leave the island under the threat of the hurricane.  Most of the flights off the island were booked, and soon it would be too dangerous to leave.

The tension in the household was culpable.  Lin was worried sick as the storm approached.  Vanessa stopped him in the kitchen, rubbing his back to try to reassure him.

"They'll be fine," she assured him.  "They're going to a shelter and they'll have food and water and help.  They just have to ride it out."

Lin nodded, trying to take in his wife's words, but it did little to calm his fears.  Emma and Lexi began to get more worried as well.  They didn't know Lin's family well, but they'd spend time with them during their visit to Puerto Rico earlier in the year.

As the storm began to hit in the coming days, Lin began to feel more and more helpless and restless, just sitting around, watching the news, waiting to hear from his family.  There was no longer any phone contact with them, as the storm had wiped out all the cell towers.  Lin didn't often pray, but he prayed for the safety of his family.

He didn't feel like he could do anything of real use, so he did what he did when he was stressed.  He wrote.  He began to write a song.  Soon, it became a role call of sorts.  He ended up inserting the names of each and every town in Puerto Rico.  He called up a producer he worked with regularly and tried to see if he could get the ball rolling with making it into a single.  Lin was hoping to get as many Latin American singers involved and sell it to raise money for Puerto Rico.

Seeing their father's deep investment and want to do something, Lexi and Emma began to spring into action as well.  At school, they started a fundraiser to collect money for Puerto Rico.  In the first day alone they collected $200.  Some of the kids at Hunter had parents with pretty deep pockets.

Emma was allowed to go back to ballet and met face to face with Katie in the dressing room.  Katie's family was Dominican and had been thinking a lot about their brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico.

"Is your family in Puerto Rico okay?" Katie asked Emma, an olive branch extending.

"We haven't heard from them yet," Emma admitted as she pulled her hair in a tight bun before practice.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"We're doing a fundraiser at school to raise money," she told Katie.  "My dad is going to give all the money to the victims."

"That's great," she said.  Katie turned and started digging around in her bag.  She turned and held out a twenty dollar bill.

"Wow," Emma said, and slowly took the bill from her hand.  "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said.  "It's pretty cool you're doing a fundraiser to help."

"Thanks," Emma said.  "Hey Katie?  I'm sorry I lunged at you the other week.  I guess I just let my emotions get the best of me."

"I was kind of being a bitch," she admitted.  Suddenly, their little argument about who was going to be Sugar Plum Fairy seemed pretty insignificant.  There wasn't a hug fest or anything, but there seemed to be a truce between the two ballerinas.  They were still going to compete like hell to win the Sugar Plum Fair role, but they would be mature about it.

At the end of the week, Lexi and Emma handed Lin a huge bag filled with almost $1,000 that their classmates had raised.

"For Puerto Rico," Lexi said as she handed it to Lin.  Lin accepted the envelope and started to tear up.

"Girls," he said, fighting back tears.  "I don't know what to say.  Thank you."

He set the envelope on the counter and brought the girls into a double hug.  His family wasn't their biological family, but it meant a lot that they were so concerned and had gone out of their way to raise money.  They were special kids.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" Sebastian asked, not used to seeing his dad cry.

Lin wiped at his eyes and chuckled a little.  "Your sisters are really sweet," he explained.  "I'm crying because I'm so proud of them.  They're giving all this money to Puerto Rico."

"Cool!" He said.  Sebastian ran off to the bedroom he now shared with Francisco and came back with his piggy bank.  He held it up to his father.  "Here, daddy!"

Lin smiled and again teared up as his oldest son gave up his piggy bank.  There was probably only about $5 inside, but every little bit counted.  Somehow, the money was sweeter and more meaningful when it came from a kid's piggy bank.

The next day, almost four days after the storm had hit, Lin finally heard from his family.  The rest of the family eavesdropped as he talked frantically in Spanish to one of his cousins.  Lexi and Emma didn't know much Spanish, but Lin was sounding reassured.  When the phone call ended, they all looked at him expectantly. 

"So?" Emma prompted him.

"They're all okay," he said, his voice tearful.  "They're fine.  They're at the shelter.  No power, but they're okay."

Vanessa walked over to her husband and gave him a huge hug, knowing how relieved he must feel.  He breathed out and let himself cry in relief a little bit.  The family had gotten used to his emotional state over the past week.  It was clear how much his family and Puerto Rico meant to him.

He was set to start recording his song, "Almost Like Praying", that afternoon.  The girls had never been to a recording studio, so Lin let them tag along.  They watched as he first started recording his part of the song.  Then, a long line of celebrities began to come in including J Lo, Camila Cabello, Gloria Estefan, Fat Joe and Marc Anthony.  They were both most excited about meeting Jennifer Lopez.  Both girls managed to keep themselves under control, but they were completely star struck.  Jennifer was incredibly sweet and signed autographs for them and took pictures.

On the way home, they stopped at a Starbucks to get a treat.  The girls were still buzzing with excitement from all the celebrities they'd met.  The three of them found a table and began to sip their drinks and eat the pastries they'd bought.

"Lin, I wonder if my dance studio could make up a dance to go with your song," Emma wondered out loud.  Lin finished the sip of his drink and nodded in excitement.

"That would be amazing," he said.  "They need as much love as they can get right now.  My family would love it."

Emma nodded and sipped her latte, thinking.  "Do you have a copy of the song?"

"Yeah, my producer sent me the first cut," he said.  "Want me to share it with you?"

"Yes please," she said.

When they arrived home, Lin downloaded the song to his laptop then emailed it to Emma.  Immediately, she went downstairs and started working on choreography.  She texted Katie to see if she might be interested in helping, since her family is Dominican.  She responded immediately and ended up coming over about an hour later.  The two formerly rival ballerinas worked in cahoots for hours in the Miranda's basement.

Into the evening, Emma called upstairs to Lin to come take a look at what they had.  Lin had been surprised to see Katie come over, seeing as the last time he'd seen her had been when he'd been called to the studio after the fight.  At least some good was coming out of the hurricane.  Petty differences were set aside and it brought people together.

Lin sat on the couch and Emma pressed play.  It always amazed him how Emma could go from just walking around like a regular person to all of a sudden being in ballerina mode, taking on a different posture, completely serious and devoted to her craft.  He watched as the girls began to perform the choreography they'd come up with.  By the end of the song, he was again tearing up.

"Liiin!!" Emma laughed and rushed over to sit with him and give him a hug.

"It's perfect," he told her, patting her arm.  "Just perfect."

Emma kissed him on the cheek.  "Love you, Lin."

"Record that so I can share it with my producer," he said as he stood up.

The next day, the girls told their ballet teacher about their new number. After class had finished, they showed her and she was very impressed.  She agreed to hold a special weekend intensive with any students who were interested in participating.  Lin was arranging for some professional cameramen to come record them.

Everything moved incredibly fast.  That weekend, about 15 girls came to the weekend intensive, which was led by Emma and Katie.  They learned the choreography fast, and on the Sunday the camera crew came to record it.  By then, the final cut of the song was ready.

A music video was mashed up with footage of the artists recording the song along with the ABT ballerinas performing.  It turned out amazingly well and the girls were so proud of their work.  They were told to submit it when they applied to colleges.

Some of the press caught wind of the fact that one of the ballerinas featured in Lin's music video was his daughter.  Lin had been invited to a number of late-night talk shows regarding his efforts to help Puerto Rico, and Emma was invited along as well.

Emma was shaking as she and Lin arrived at Jimmy Fallon's talk show.  However, she was put at ease immediately when she met Jimmy.  He was hilarious and so down to Earth.  He and Lin continued to bond over their obsession with Weird Al Yankovic.  Emma just rolled her eyes as they began to sing one of his songs.

Jimmy began to prep them for their appearance, and they went through a trial run.  It reassured Emma that she already knew the questions she'd be asked and that she could think of the perfect words before hand.  Finally, it was show time.

"Thank you, first of all, for everything you've been doing for Puerto Rico," Jimmy began after they'd sat down on his couch.

"Hurricane Maria happened.  You still have family there, correct?"

"Yes, that's right," Lin said.  "My aunts and uncles and cousins are still all on the island.  And in a lot of ways, it's going slower than anyone wants.  There's 75% of the island that's still without power.  25% still without water.  We're making up for this sort of slow initial government response.  But what's been amazing has been the amazing outpouring of support from everyday citizens like you guys.  From, I mean, just from the Hispanic Federation we've raised $20 million. That's from you!"

"It's this weird paradox of wanting to jump up and down about the government response, but being so overwhelmed and hopeful about every day people."

"That's the thing I love about you, is that you're very hopeful and you spread that message.  We were talking backstage about how even children that are giving their babysitting money," Jimmy said.

"Yeah.  Yeah, kids sending their allowance money.  Kids breaking piggy banks.  Parents matching what their kids raise at lemonade stands.  It's been incredible to see that outpouring of support."

"And then Almost Like Praying.  How'd you come up with the song, how'd you come up with the title, and how did you put it all together?  Because it's amazing, and 100% of the proceeds go to the Hispanic Federation."

"Yeah, like everyone who has friends or family on the island, I was waiting for word from my family and I needed something to do and so I started writing this song.  Trying to kind of...the challenge became what lyrics could I say?  We didn't even know what the immediate aftermath was gonna be.  So I said if I could name all 78 towns in the lyrics, which is, in many ways the dorkiest possible response.  'I'm gonna name all 78 towns!'  But it was important to me.  There are a lot of towns that don't feel heard and don't feel like they're getting the same relief so I wanted to elevate them and then I called every Latino superstar I know and I tweeted at the ones I didn't know, and we got the thing...from writing the song to releasing the song was about two weeks, which is really fast.  So it was really incredible.  And everyone said yes.  J-Lo, Fat Joe. Everyone said yes without even having heard the song.  It was amazing. 

"You played it for your son.  That's when you knew it was going to be good because he's a very harsh critic."

"My son doesn't like Hamilton," Lin said.

"He's sort of the one...he likes Dear Theodosia because he thinks my wife wrote it.  She sings him to sleep with that song, and if I try to sing it he goes, 'You did not write that song.  Mommy wrote that song.'  So, he's a harsh critic.  I play him stuff and he's like, 'I don't like that song'.  Um, but I played him Almost Like Praying, and he got up and went, 'I am Puerto Lico!  You are Puerto Lico!  We are Puerto Lico!  He doesn't have his 'r's yet."

"Now, we also have your oldest daughter, Emma here," Jimmy said, gesturing towards a nervous Emma.  "Now, Emma, you heard an early version of this song, correct?"

"Yes," Emma said.  "My younger sister and I went along to the recording studio when Lin was recording and so we got to hear all the artists sing and I just fell in love with the song."

"And so, you're a ballerina, correct?"

"Yes," Emma replied.

"Not just a ballerina, but you're with ABT, the American Ballet Theatre, right?"

"I am," Emma said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"And you were also inspired by this song.  So tell us what you did."

"Well, like Lin said, we were all just really anxious waiting to hear back from the family in Puerto Rico.  What I do best is dance, so one of my friends, Katie, and I decided to make up some choreography to go with Lin's song.  So we had this intensive weekend where we taught all the choreography we'd made up to the other girls, and then they brought in a camera crew and recorded us."

"And then that footage was added in with the footage of everyone recording the song to make the music video," Lin explained.

"Well, let's take a look at it together, shall we?" Jimmy suggested.  "Here's Lin-Manuel Miranda's Almost Like Praying, complete with original choreography from ABT.  Take a look."

The music video played up on the big screen and Emma felt her heart swell with pride.  It had turned out incredibly well.  She was so glad that her classmates at ABT had agreed to do it and had danced so beautifully.

Jimmy wrapped up the interview, then it was over.  Emma let out a huge breath of relief, but Lin was totally in his element, not even phased.  Emma was used to performing on stage, but not talking.  It had been a good experience.

As Lin and Emma left the stage, he put his arm around her shoulders.  "You did good," he told her.

"I was a nervous wreck," she said, smiling.

"It didn't show," he told her.  "You really were wonderful."

"Thanks, Lin," she said as they walked back to their dressing room.

"And thank you again for all your help," he said.  "It means a lot to me that you would choreograph an entire dance to help with Puerto Rico."

"Of course," she said as they reached the room.  Lin pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead.

As the money started pouring in from sales of the song, Lin felt more pride than he had from Hamilton.  This was helping real people.  Not just his family, but his people.  He'd been born and raised in America, but felt a deep connection with Puerto Rico, his family's home.  He didn't always feel worthy of the love they poured out for him, but tonight he did.