Emma sighed as she stepped off the elevator the next morning, reluctantly on her way home. She kept replaying the huge blow up she'd had with Lin yesterday. Hopefully now that they'd both had time to cool down they could have a mature conversation. They'd agree that she'd get help and she was pretty sure she could convince Lin to still let her do ballet. He wouldn't really pull her out, would she?

Emma put her key in the door and gently pressed it open. Everyone was in the living room, hanging out together with the TV on in the background. PJ Masks, of course.

"Hi, Emma," Luz greeted her granddaughter, with Emilia in her arms.

"Hi," she said quietly, and then discreetly slipped off to her bedroom. She noticed Lin didn't greet her. Just glanced at her and returned his attention to Francisco. Emma unpacked her overnight bag and then laid down on her bed to rest. She had no desire to go be with her family at the moment. A few moments later, there was a knock at her door.

"Who is it?"

"Abuelo," came Luis's answer.

"Come in," she said.

Luis pushed the door open and smiled at his granddaughter. He pulled out her desk chair and sat down, then slapped his hands down on his knees.

"Lin told me what's been going on, Em," he began. "It's very worrying."

"I know," she examined her fingernails. "I'll go to an addiction center and get help. I know I need to stop."

"That's good that you can admit that," he said. "That's the first step to recovery. Lin has it narrowed down to a couple places, which he's going to call tomorrow. So you'll go to school, then Abuela or I will meet you at the addiction center afterwards."

"How long will the sessions last? I still need to fit ballet in," she said. Luis looked at her, confused. Lin had made it clear that was done for now.

"You're not going to ballet," he told her.

She sighed. "I know he said that, but I think I can convince him otherwise."

"I'm not so sure about that, Em," Luis said honestly, crossing his arms.

"I'll talk to him later."

"Listen, Em," he went on. "We all think it would be a good idea if you came to stay with Abuela and me for a while."

Emma stopped and stared at her grandfather, a confused look on her face. "What?"

"Obviously you and your parents are butting heads right now," he said. "I think it would be a good idea for you to all get a break from each other."

"You mean they're sick of me?"

"No, not at all," Luis corrected her. "They love you very much, but they don't know what to do. Your Abuela and I are both retired so we can be there for you full time."

Emma scoffed, not believing her parents were planning on pawning her off on her grandparents. They were getting rid of her?

"And when is this going to happen?"

"Today," he said. "We have a guest room all ready. You can get packed up and we can head over this afternoon."

Emma sighed out loudly and stood up, heading for the door.

"Emma, wait-" Luis called after her, but Emma stormed out to the living room.

"You're sending me away?" She accused Lin and Vanessa. The parents looked at each other and sighed, knowing they were in for an argument.

"It's not like that, Emma," Vanessa explained patiently.

"Then what is it?!" Emma raised her voice. "How else would you explain it?"

Lin stood up, observing that Sebastian was looking upset at the arguing. "Let's go to your room and talk."

Emma stormed off to her bedroom as Luis was coming out. Vanessa slowly walked, Lin right behind her, and met Emma in her room. Lin helped his wife sit down on the chair so she had a back to lean against. He then sat on Emma's bed next to her.

"Let's get a few things straight," Lin said. "We're not trying to get rid of you. I just honestly don't know what else to do."

"I'm going to rehab. I understand that," Emma said. "You don't have to send me to Abuela and Abuelo's."

"Sweetheart, I think it's a good idea," Vanessa said gently.

"You just want me out of your hair because you have a newborn baby," she accused. "Well I'm sorry if I'm getting in the way of your perfect family."

"It's not like that, Em," Lin told her as Emma began to get emotional.

"I'll do it," she pleaded with them. "I'll go to school and I'll go to rehab after school. I'll take a break from ballet. I won't give you any more problems."

"I'm glad you're feeling that way," Lin said gently. "But you need a lot of attention right now, and we all think your grandparents will be able to help you best."

Emma cried, putting her hands over her eyes. "Please don't send me away," she pleaded.

Lin put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Sweetheart, this needs to happen. You'll get well and you'll be right back where you belong. Will you do this for us?"

Even though she was incredibly upset with her parents, she needed comfort in that moment. She turned to Lin and buried her face into his shoulder. Emma felt his arms close around her and rub her back.

"It's gonna be okay," he whispered to her as she continued to cry. They sat there for a long while, Lin staying in the hug as long as Emma needed it. Finally, she pulled back and he took her face in his hands.

"I love you, and you're going to get through this," he told her seriously. "You're gonna get healthy again."

He wiped a tear away with his thumb and kissed her forehead. Lin gave her one last hug before standing up.

"Why don't you start getting packed," he suggested. "We'll have lunch and then you can head over sometime in the afternoon, okay?"

She nodded, wiping at her face.

"And you know you'll be over to visit all the time," Vanessa pointed out. "Emilia needs her big sister."

Emma smiled at that. She didn't want to miss out on her little sister's first few weeks of life. They left Emma to reflect quietly in her bedroom and start getting packed. As the day went on, Luis and Luz began to pack their bags after staying for a few days. They of course had to have some cuddles with Emilia before they left.

As they began to head towards the door, Emma hugged everyone goodbye. She'd be back later in the week. Luis and Luz had brought their car, so they loaded their suitcases in the trunk and headed to their house. It had been a while since Emma had been to her grandparents', and she'd never stayed the night. Luz showed her to her bedroom. A room with a simple bed, dresser and desk. It was nothing special, but it was fine. Emma began to unpack her suitcase and get comfortable. She spent most of the rest of the day in her new bedroom.

___

Back at the Miranda household, Lexi was feeling guilty. She felt partially responsible for what had gone down with Emma. If she'd told her parents earlier, could all this have been avoided? Vanessa noticed that she'd been quiet most of the day. As the twelve year old stared off into nowhere on the couch, Vanessa took a seat next to her.

"You okay, Lexi?" She asked softly, putting her hand on Lexi's thigh.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. Vanessa gave her a look.

"You've been quiet all day and you were staring at the floor just now for ten minutes straight," Vanessa told her. "What's up?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I feel bad about Emma."

"How so?"

"I should have told you guys," she confessed.

"Lexi, this is not your fault," Vanessa told her firmly. "This is all on Emma. She never should have asked you to hide the pills in your room. That wasn't fair of her."

"But I knew better," Lexi pointed out. "I should have told you."

Vanessa began stroking Lexi's hair. "Lin and I are not mad at you at all," she assured her. "That was a choice you never should have had to make."

Lexi nodded, feeling a bit better. "How long is she going to be at Abuelo and Abuela's?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Hopefully only a couple weeks. We just need to make sure she's back on track solidly before she comes home."

"I miss her already," she admitted. Vanessa smiled.

"I'm sure you do," she agreed. "But she'll be back multiple times a week. You'll probably be sick of her again in no time."

Vanessa kissed her hair and gave her shoulder a squeeze. They heard Emilia crying from the bedroom.

"I better go see what she needs," Vanessa said, slowly pushing herself up. Her surgical scar was healing nicely, but it was still painful to move. Francisco and Sebastian were having a hard time understanding why mommy couldn't pick them up.

Vanessa found Emilia screaming in her bassinet, her arms and legs moving around in frustration. She was exhausted. Francisco was barely a year old and still needed a lot of attention and now they had a newborn. They'd purposely waited a couple years after Sebastian was born to have their second child. Emilia had come much earlier than they would have planned.

Vanessa first checked her daughter's diaper and found that it was clean. She sat down on the bed to try breast feeding. Emilia didn't seem interested. She continued to wail at the top of her lungs. Vanessa stood up and began walking around the room, rubbing Emilia's back. After fifteen minutes of non-stop crying, Vanessa thought she was going to lose her mind. There was nothing wrong, so Vanessa decided to put her back in her bassinet. It was no use losing her mind.

Emilia was a few days old and already she was a very demanding baby. Perhaps her rough pregnancy had been a sign of what was to come. Colic didn't begin to describe Emilia. She'd taken her to the doctor to make sure there was nothing physically wrong. The doctor had assured her that Emilia was perfectly healthy and that colic was normal. She'd advised Lin and Vanessa to put the baby back in her bassinet if she continued to cry when nothing was wrong. It was hard, but they were trying to stick to it.

Vanessa went out to the kitchen to try to distract herself from the crying. She put on some classical music to drown out Emilia's crying. Luckily, Sebastian and Francisco were playing in the living room quietly. Vanessa began to make dinner as Emilia continued to cry. Maybe it was her hormones and the stress, but she began to cry and she just couldn't stop. She started to sob, drawing Sebastian's attention.

The little boy walked over to his mother and grabbed her hand.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" He asked sweetly. Vanessa tried to compose herself and bent down to his level.

"I'm sorry, baby," she said. "I'm just having a rough day."

"Want me to sing you a song?" He suggested, because that's what she did when he was upset or couldn't sleep.

Vanessa nodded. "That would be great," she said, sitting on the ground. Sebastian crawled into her lap and began singing the theme song to PJ Masks. Vanessa chuckled a little at his selection, but she felt her spirits being lifted. She was lucky to have Sebastian. He was incredibly sweet and caring.

The front door opened as he finished. Lin was home from work, finally.

"Hello?" He called out, not seeing anyone.

"Over here, daddy!" Sebastian called. Lin walked around the counter to find his wife and son on the floor together.

"What's going on here?" He asked, and could see that Vanessa had been crying.

"Mommy was crying so I sang her a song and now she's feeling better," he informed his father as he stood up. Sebastian hugged Lin's legs and then ran off to play with his toys. Lin stepped forward and sat down next to his wife.

"You okay?" He asked softly.

"No," she told him. "Emilia won't stop crying."

Lin could faintly hear his daughter crying over the sound of the music playing. "Well, you're doing everything right. The doctor said we just need to let her cry it out."

"But it breaks my heart," she confessed, tearing up again. "She's crying for a reason, you know? What kind of mother am I that I can't comfort her?"

"Don't do that to yourself," Lin told her. "You are a perfect mother. Emilia's just different. She's got colic. It's nothing you're doing wrong."

"I'm so tired," she confessed as she started to choke on her sobs. Lin reached over and wrapped his arm around her, cradling her head in his hand.

"Ssshh..." he urged her quietly. "You've been through so much. You had a rough pregnancy and a C-section, and now you're dealing with a colicy baby, along with two small kids and a twelve year old. You're allowed to lose it."

Vanessa began to compose herself as Lin kissed her hair. She hadn't showered in 24 hours and she felt disgusting. "Let's get you into bed. I'll take care of the kids."

He helped her stand up and walk her back to the bedroom. Vanessa decided a nice hot bubble bath would do her good, so Lin ran it for her. He picked up his crying daughter and then dragged the bassinet along with him. He opened the door to Emma's room and positioned the bassinet in the middle of the room. Lin cradled Emilia to his chest and laid down on Emma's bed. He gently stroked her back, hoping he could help her calm down a bit. Finally, her cries began to subside. He wasn't sure how her tiny body had the energy to cry that long and that hard.

Very carefully, he stood up and set Emilia back in her bassinet. He gently closed the door and went to check on Vanessa. She looked perfectly serene in the tub, surrounded by bubbles. He didn't disturb her, just closed the bedroom door and went off to get dinner ready for the boys and Lexi.

Lin put the boys down a little earlier than they usually went so he could have a couple hours of peace to himself. He went to check on Vanessa and she was curled up in bed, sound asleep. Hopefully a good night sleep would do her good. Lin pulled up his laptop and tried to get a bit of work done. He'd barely had a moment of peace.

A couple hours later, Lin decided to head to bed. As he walked around the house turning off lights, he realized he hadn't seen Lexi all evening. He pushed her door open and found her fast asleep in bed. Hopefully tomorrow evening he'd get to spend a bit of time with her.

___

The next day, Emma tried to push through her regular school day like normal. It was strange – everything seemed the same at school, but her life outside had shifted greatly. After school, she wouldn't be heading to the ballet studio like usual. She'd be heading to rehab. That made her feel dirty and pathetic. Rehab was for junkies and low-lifes. Then after that, she'd be going to her grandparents'.

When school let out, she hopped on the subway and rode it towards the addiction center. She sighed as she made her way into the building, then took the elevator up to the correct floor. Abuelo was waiting for her in waiting room. He gave her a smile and she sat down next to him. Apparently there was a session going on simultaneously for family members about how to best support their addicts. Reluctantly, She made her way into a room where she found a circle of chairs. There was a table with name tags, so she scribbled her name on one and stuck it to her shirt. She found a seat away from everyone else and tucked her hands in between her thighs.

The group was all teenagers, which was nice. She was glad she wouldn't have to be in the same room with hard-core meth users and drug dealers. Most of the other kids seemed normal like me. There were a couple kids who had obviously lost their way majorly. The therapist began by having everyone introduce themselves.

She was anticipating the whole, "My name is Emma and I'm addicted to Adderall" confessions, but that didn't happen. The therapist began by asking about what situations led them all to become drug users.

Several of the kids jumped right in. They seemed comfortable and Emma figured they'd been coming to these sessions for a while. Emma just sat back and listened to the other kids' stories. Rough time at home, homelessness, depression. No one mentioned they were trying to keep up in school. Emma wasn't sure she was going to fit in. But did she really want to fit in with this group?

She was hoping to coast through class just listening, but about fifteen minutes in, the therapist called me out.

"Emma, we haven't heard from you yet," she said, smiling warmly. "You're new this week. May I ask what you became addicted to?"

She cleared her throat. "Um, Adderall."

A couple of the hard-core kids laughed at that. "And what caused you to turn to Adderall, Emma?"

"I have a pretty demanding schedule," she explained. "I take a lot of high level classes and I do ballet full time. I was having a hard time getting all my work done so I started taking Adderall to stay up late."

She scribbled down some notes. "And was that arrangement working well for you?"

"Yeah," she said. "I was getting straight A's and I was doing great at ballet."

"So what caused you to seek help?"

"I didn't. My parents made me," she said.

The therapist nodded. "That's often the case. Do you think they were right in asking you to do that?"

She shrugged. "I guess so. I mean, I don't feel like it's doing me much harm. I wasn't having any bad side effects."

"What do you all think of that?" She asked the group. "Do you think Adderall gives people any negative side effects?"

"Well, any time you're addicted to something, that can't be good," one girl chimed in. "Were you having any physical effects?"

"I lost some weight," Emma said. "And when I didn't take any I was completely drained."

"How about consequences on your regular life? Were there any negative effects?"

Emma breathed out and thought about that. "I guess my parents don't trust me now," she admitted. "And I put my little sister in a really bad position. She was hiding the pills for me in her room because my dad was searching mine."

"Everyone, how important do you think it is to have others trust you?" The therapist asked, looking around the room.

"I think it's incredibly important," one girl said. She looked decently well dressed and put together, like Emma. Emma wondered if she'd had a similar experience. "Not being trusted by your family just feels lousy."

Emma agreed with that. Her parents, her sister, and now her grandparents viewed her differently now. She'd always been a model student and a hard worker. To have them suspecting her and not trusting her felt awful. She hated that she was worrying them so much.

About half an hour later, the session came to a close and Emma went out to the lobby to find her grandfather. He smiled at her encouragingly and they took the elevator downstairs.

"How'd the first session go?" He asked her.

"Fine," she said, feeling guilty. Emma just felt crummy about the whole situation.

"Well, you know, our group leader told us there's one very important thing we must do to help out our recovering addicts," he said as they stepped outside.

"What's that?"

"Go get ice cream," he said.

Emma smiled as they walked down the street and found a little ice cream shop. Emma ordered mint chocolate chip and Luis ordered rocky road. They found a little table in the back and enjoyed their treats.

"Abuelo, I'm such a screw up," Emma blurted as they ate.

"No you're not," he told her. "What do you say that?"

"I just finished a group therapy session at an addiction center," she said. "No one ends up there unless they massively screw up at life."

Luis sighed. "You've made some mistakes," he said. "But you're not a bad person. You just got too caught up in what you were doing."

"Lin and Vanessa don't trust me anymore," she went on.

"It's going to take a while to earn their trust back," he admitted. "But you can do it. You're doing the right thing by going to these sessions, and Abuela and I are going to help you. Whatever amount of ice cream it takes, I'm willing to buy it."

Emma smiled as she reached the crunchy part of her cone. It felt nice to be with her grandparents. Growing up, she didn't spend much time with her biological grandparents. It was a different relationship with Abuela and Abuelo. They cared about her, but they didn't have to be so stringent and strict as her parents. It was nice to be spoiled with ice cream.

After they finished up their cones, they made their way to the subway to ride home. Abuela was busy making dinner, and it smelled amazing. A while later, they sat down at the table together to eat. It was nice being the only kid at the table. She had their undivided attention, and she felt loved.

___

A few blocks away, Lexi sat at the family dinner table about to explode. Dinner was not going well. Emilia was screaming in her bassinet back in Emma's room. Francisco had a fever, so he was being held in Vanessa's arms. If she tried to put him down, he fussed and whined. And now Sebastian was throwing a temper tantrum because he'd been told he couldn't watch any PJ Masks after dinner.

"Sebastian, if you don't stop, I'm taking you to your room for a time out," Lin warned his son. The three year old sat at his chair and cried, inconsolable. He tried to stab his macaroni with his fork through his tears. Vanessa tried to make some conversation over the noise.

"Lexi, how was school today?"

"Fine," Lexi mumbled, pushing her food around. She couldn't take all the noise. Three children under the age of five in one household was too much. Usually, she and Emma had each other, but of course Emma was gone right now. Lexi felt like the lone sane child.

"I waaant PJ Maaasks," Sebastian continued to cry. Lin set down his knife and fork on his plate, and they made a clattering sound. He got up, causing Sebastian to cry harder, knowing he was in trouble. Lin quickly picked his son up and walked back to the boys' bedroom. A few moments later, he came back to the table, the sounds of Sebastian screaming mixed in with Emilia's colicy cries.

"Can I be excused?" Lexi asked, not able to take more of this.

"Yes," Vanessa said. "Rinse off your plate, please."

Lexi took her plate to the kitchen and rinsed it, then disappeared to her room. She got out her headphones and found some angsty music and turned the volume up high. She then laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to calm down.

A similar situation went on for weeks. Emilia screamed constantly, and Sebastian and Francisco were demanding themselves, as all young children were. Lexi found herself alone and ignored more and more, and it was starting to take a toll on her. Vanessa and Lin tried to engage her in conversation, but it seemed half-hearted. Half the time when she started to respond, she was interrupted by some issue with one of the little kids. She started to box herself up in her room more and more, missing her sister.

One Tuesday after school, Lexi decided she couldn't go home. She couldn't face another evening of crying and fussing and noise. So instead of going home, she went to Central Park and found a bench. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day, and so she plugged in her headphones to listen to some music and just people watched.

Lexi sat there for hours, enjoying the peacefulness. Finally, the sun started to set and she figured she should probably head home. She hopped on the subway and rode it to Washington Heights. Since she hadn't checked in with her parents, she was expecting a couple firm words from them, but when she got home, it seemed like they hadn't even noticed. The house was a flurry of activity. Vanessa was on the couch feeding Emilia as Sebastian played nearby. Lin was holding Francisco as he cooked dinner.

They both greeted her briefly but didn't ask where she'd been. It's not like she enjoyed getting in trouble, but she expected to be reminded to be home by a certain time. When they didn't even mention the late hour she'd arrived home, she felt hurt. Did they not notice she wasn't there? Lexi frowned as she walked back to her bedroom, feeling ignored.

She tossed her backpack onto the floor with a thud, then plopped herself down on the bed, sighing. If she was going to be ignored, then she was going to have to do something to get their attention. Being invisible wasn't working. It wasn't in her nature to be blatantly bad. She decided she'd stop doing homework or anything at school. Maybe that would get their attention.

For the next week, Lexi didn't do a single assignment, didn't participate in class, and purposely did a poor job on her class work. After a chunk of missing assignments, two of her teachers finally decided to call home.

When Lexi got home that evening, Lin told her they needed to talk later. She inwardly smiled. After dinner and after the boys were down, Lexi heard a knock on her bedroom door and Lin walked in. He pulled out her desk chair and sat down.

"Lex, I got a call from two of your teachers today," he began. "You have a bunch of missing assignments. That's not like you."

Lexi just shrugged.

"Why haven't you been getting your work done?" He asked her.

"I haven't felt like it," she said. "Plus, it's too noisy here to concentrate."

Lin sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I know it's been a bit crazy lately," he admitted. "We're all getting frustrated with Emilia's colic. But that doesn't mean you can let your school work slide. I have a list of your missing assignments here. Get out your backpack."

Lexi sighed and pulled her backpack onto her bed. She unzipped it and began pulling out crumpled up, creased papers. There were a dozen unfinished assignments. Lin checked through them all and cross-referenced them with his list.

"Do you understand how to do all this?" He asked her.

"Yes," she mumbled.

"So why are choosing not to do them?" He asked. Again, she shrugged.

"You need to get these done," he told her, setting the stack on her bed. "They're going to be late, so you won't get full credit, but it'll be something. Zeroes will really bring your average down. I think it's a good goal to get three missing assignments done a night. Does that sound do-able?"

"I guess," she said.

"Alright," Lin said, standing up. "Get started now. I'll be back later to check on you."

Lin left the room and Lexi smiled a little. She'd had his full attention for a good five minutes. While it was negative, it was still attention. It felt good. Instead of working on her assignments like she was supposed to, Lexi laid back on her bed and closed her eyes and listened to some music.

About an hour and a half later, she felt a tap on her arm. She opened her eyes to see Lin looking down at her, not looking happy. Lexi took off her headphones and sat up. "Yes?"

"Why aren't you working on homework?" He asked her pointedly.

"I'll do it later," she said.

"It's almost nine o'clock," he pointed out. "It's time for bed."

"I guess I'll do it tomorrow, then," she said, then reached to put her headphones back on. Lin reached down and took her iPod away.

"Alexis Marie, what has gotten into you?" He asked, surprised at her behavior. "We talked a couple hours ago, and we agreed that you needed to do three missing assignments a night. I come back, and you've done nothing. What is going on?"

"I just don't feel like it, okay?" She said in an annoyed voice. "I don't see why I have to go to school all day and then do more work at home."

"That's how school works, Lex," he told her as he wrapped her earbuds around the iPod. "This is mine until I see some progress on your homework."

Lin tucked the iPod into his back pocket and Lexi crossed her arms. "Now go get ready for bed," he said. "You're coming home straight after school tomorrow and getting started on this right away."

Lexi brushed her teeth and then changed into her PJs. It felt nice to actually get paid attention to for once. The next day, after school she took the subway all the way down to the upper tip to Manhattan and bought some caramel corn at a specialty store. She sat around snacking for a while before heading home just around dinner time. Vanessa was finishing up dinner.

"Alexis, where have you been?" She asked her daughter, looking at her watch. "We expected you home at 3:30 and it's 6:00."

"I went to go get a snack," she replied, setting her backpack down.

"For two and a half hours?"

"Well I had a craving, so I had to take the subway down to lower Manhattan," she explained.

"The subway? Lexi, you know you're not supposed to ride the subway alone until high school," she said. "And I believe Lin told you to come straight home after school. You've got missing assignments."

Lexi rolled her eyes as Lin came into the room with Emilia. For once, she wasn't screaming her head off.

"Where have you been?" He asked his middle daughter.

"She took the subway to lower Manhattan," Vanessa jumped in.

"And I got a call from another teacher today," he said as he patted Emilia's back. "More missing assignments. What's up with you, Lex?"

She just shrugged. "Set the table, please," Vanessa said. "We'll talk about this later."

Lexi did as she was told, and the family sat down to dinner. Emilia was placed in a little rocker right next to Vanessa so she could be with the family. Lexi was made to do the dishes and then sent to her room. She got busy on one of her missing math assignments as she waited for her parents to come talk to her. A while later, after the littles had been put to bed, there was a knock. Both of them came in.

"Lexi, the last week or so there's been a big change in you," Vanessa observed. "You're always such a good kid, but you've got all these missing assignments and you took the subway by yourself, which you know you're not allowed to do. Why are you acting up?"

Lexi looked at her feet. The real reason was kind of pathetic, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Sweetheart, I know with a new baby and two little brothers, we haven't had as much time to spend together as usual," Lin went on. "Is that part of the problem?"

Again, she shrugged.

"I'm sorry we haven't had as much quality time together," Lin said. "But I wish you would just come out and tell us instead of acting up."

Lexi refused to admit that was the problem and didn't speak.

"How about this weekend, Abuelo and Abuela come over and watch all the kids," Vanessa suggested. "And the three of us go out and spend the day together. Would you like that?"

Lexi felt her heart leap at the thought. A whole day alone with her parents? With no screaming babies?

"Yes," she said softly.

"Good," Vanessa said. "Think about what you might want to do, and we'll call your grandparents."

"Let's go out to the kitchen table," Lin said, "And I'll help you with your homework."

Lexi nodded and picked up her backpack. The house was quiet at the moment, so they sat at the table for a good hour getting through a few of her missing assignments. She still had a lot of catching up to do, but it was a good start. As Lexi began to pack up her stuff, Lin decided to talk to her a little more.

"Sweetheart, you know how important you are to us, don't you?" He asked as she put her papers in her bag.

"Huh?"

"You're very special to us," he explained. "Even when we get busy and caught up with everything, we love you so much. I'm sorry we've been so busy lately."

"It's okay," she said quietly.

"If you don't feel like you're getting enough attention, will you tell me next time?" He asked her. Lexi nodded as she stood up. "Good. Now hand over your metro card. No more joy rides to lower Manhattan."

Lexi sighed and handed it over, and Lin pocketed it in his jeans. He kissed her good night and she disappeared into her bedroom. Lin cleaned up around the living room and kitchen for a few minutes before heading back to his bedroom. Vanessa was propped up in bed feeding Emilia, looking thoroughly exhausted. She'd begun pumping breast milk so he could at least get up and do a midnight feeding if needed. Lin quickly brushed his teeth and climbed into bed next to his wife.

"How'd the homework go?" Vanessa asked.

"Fine," he said. "She got four done. I texted dad and he said they could come over Saturday and watch all the kids. Emma will help too."

"Good," she said. "It's not like Lexi to act like this. I think it was all to get our attention."

"Yeah, I think so," Lin said as he gently stroked Emilia's tiny back. "It's hard to make time for everything."

Vanessa nodded in agreement as she gently pulled Emilia away. She covered up and then brought her tiny daughter up to her shoulder to burp her. Once she'd let out a couple impressive burps, Lin reached for her and he gently transferred her to her bassinet. The colic had subsided somewhat, so they'd moved it back into the master bedroom. Both parents settled down into the bed, facing each other. Lin reached over and gently tucked some hair away from her face.

"Not to mention we've barely had time for each other," he said. They both missed having alone time together. There was always a kid who needed something. "Maybe we need a date night."

Vanessa smiled at the thought. "That would be nice," she said. "A kid-free night."

"Let's do it," he told her. "Next weekend."

They were both too exhausted to talk much more, so they gently kissed for a few moments and quickly drifted off to sleep.