10. Chapter 10

AN: Another chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Updates may be slightly less frequently for a little while - I have been severely neglecting writing for my HP stories, and with the exception of this story, I finish every story before I start posting. I'm almost halfway through posting the second in my HP story and I've barely started the third, so I have some work to do to get caught up. In this story, I try to stay 3-4 chapters ahead so that I have time to go back and fix things if something isn't working.

Thank you all for your support and understanding! All of the responses I get to this story absolutely make my day and give me motivation to keep writing!

The door burst open to reveal Pepa and Felix - which was definitely not what Dolores was expecting.

"Oh, mi sobrina," Pepa sobbed, rushing Mirabel and pulling her into her arms. "We've been so worried. How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened? What-"

"Let her breathe, mi vida." Felix chided gently, and Pepa pulled back and looked Mirabel over.

"I feel okay, Tía Pepa." She assured her. "I sort of remember what happened. Dolores and Dr. Gonzales and Tío Bruno have been filling me in."

At the reminder that Dolores was still in the room, Pepa turned to her daughter, allowing Felix to move in and greet Mirabel himself.

"I thought I gave my hermano instructions to send you away." She said, eyebrow raised.

"Mirabel was awake when he got here!" Dolores exclaimed. "Don't make me leave her!"

"Please don't make her leave, Tía." Mirabel begged. "Please don't."

Pepa let out a sigh. "I guess she can stay a while longer." She winked at Mirabel, and Mirabel grinned back at her.

"Where's Mama and Papa?" Mirabel asked then, her voice surprisingly vulnerable.

"They had come into town for some supplies, so they weren't there when Dr. Gonzales came to get them. He went to find them, they should be here soon." Pepa pulled Mirabel back into her arms. "We've all been so worried." She repeated.

Dolores almost laughed at Mirabel's expression. She didn't seem to know what to make of this change in their family. If Mirabel was thrown off by this, she was going to have a heck of a time understanding the rest of the family.

It wasn't long before they heard another set of footsteps, and nobody was surprised to see Julieta and Agustín.

Pepa and Felix made their way out of the room, and Bruno retreated to the corner, giving them space. Dolores would have moved as well, but her prima's death grip on her wrist wouldn't allow her to - and if Mirabel wanted her there, she wasn't going to deny her prima that wish.

"Oh, mi amor." Julieta breathed, stepping forward almost tentatively, and cupping Mirabel's face in both her hands. Agustín was right behind her, and both were crying.

"Hi Mama," Mirabel whispered, leaning into her touch, and that broke the dam. Julieta burst into tears and pulled Mirabel into a tight hug.

Dolores had to smile as Mirabel finally loosened her grip on Dolores' wrist to hug Julieta back, and Agustín hugged them both, all of them crying. Dolores moved over to stand with Tío Bruno.

"You okay?" He murmured gently.

"I'm excelente." Dolores declared. "I was - I was starting to really worry-" She couldn't finish her thought, it was too painful.

"Yes." Bruno murmured. "I'm sure you were. I was too. But she's awake now."

"And now is when we really step it up." Dolores was quiet, but firm. "Now we prove that things have changed."

Bruno laughed quietly at her. "Have you really not seen it?"

"Seen what?"

"Dolores, you are all doing it. The way you've protected Antonio and Luisa. The way you are watching out for each other when working, making sure everyone is taking care of everyone - the only thing that changes now is incorporating Mirabel, but even with her in a coma you've all been watching out for her, prioritizing her. All five of you had that massive argument with Abuela just a couple weeks ago about the bedrooms."

Having plans that they could see the plan for the house was really exciting. Even though none of them were really talking to Abuela, none of them could resist seeing the building plans.

"We've planned it to be as close of a match to Casita as possible." Abuela was showing Pepa, Felix, and Bruno.

Dolores and Isabela managed to wiggle in, but Dolores was having trouble making out what the plans were saying.

She watched as Abuela pointed out various rooms, and eventually, Dolores felt like she had an idea of what she was looking at. But-

Isabela had come to the same conclusion as Dolores had, and was just a step ahead of her. "Where's Mirabel's room?"

All of the rest of their rooms were marked with their names, and there was still a nursery. Surely, now that they had control over the rooms in the house, Mirabel would be getting a room?

"I told you, the house is designed to be as close of a match to Casita as possible." Abuela sounded irritated.

"Well, you need to change it and add in a room for Mirabel." Dolores looked at the adults aghast.

"I hadn't looked at the bedrooms yet." Pepa admitted. "Mama, the girls are correct. Mirabel needs her own room."

"The plans are already made-"

"Then remake them." Bruno said quietly.

"It is not that simple-" Abuela was quickly getting angry with them.

"Well, I refuse to live in a house where Mirabel is still being overlooked and not given her own room." Isabela declared.

"Me too." Dolores nodded.

The others had heard the commotion.

"You still didn't give Mirabel her own room?" Luisa asked quietly from behind them.

"That's bullshit." Camilo scoffed, and it showed how upset their Mama and Papa were that nobody reprimanded him for his language.

"We are trying to get back to how things were before-" Abuela started.

Luisa cut her off, her voice full of disbelief. "No, we aren't." She shook her head. "We are trying to move forward. That's different."

"Yes, most of us are actively trying to change, to be better. Not to go back to how things were before." Pepa said, her own voice hard.

"Yeah, the way things were before wasn't good." Camilo was quiet. "Mirabel almost died because of the way things were before. Tío Bruno left because of how things were before. All of us were suffering with pressure from our gifts because of the way things were before. Why would we want to go back to that?"

"Fix it, Mama." Pepa stated firmly. "The children are correct, Mirabel needs her own room. And you better have it fixed before you show this to Julieta, because I suspect she would be more upset than all of us combined to find out that you are still delegating her youngest daughter to the nursery."

It was only a day later that they were looking at new plans, with Mirabel's room planted firmly between Luisa and Isabela's, and definitively not in the nursery.

"But-"

"No buts, sobrina." Bruno's voice was uncharacteristically firm. "Stop. You cannot control the other's actions. You can not control how they treat Mirabel moving forward. You can only control your actions. You can certainly keep them accountable, but you cannot stress yourself out over this the way that you are." He had kept his voice low, and their conversation was going unnoticed by the other three people in the room.

"Okay." She agreed reluctantly.

"Besides, I don't think that you have anything to worry about." Bruno said. "Most of the family has woken up - they don't want to go back to how things were."

"Yeah, you're right." She relaxed quite a bit, and turned her attention back to Mirabel, who was now checking on her parents and their health. Typical Mirabel. She wakes up from a coma and wants to make sure that everyone else is okay.

She really was too good, too pure, especially considering how everyone else has treated her for so long.

Julieta moved and sat down next to Mirabel, pulling her into her side and wrapping her arms around her, and Agustín did the same thing on the other side of her, and they all just sat in silence, reveling in the fact that Mirabel was awake and alert and responsive.

The silence was disrupted by another pair of footsteps. The only ones who hadn't been in to see Mirabel yet were Camilo and Antonio, and Isabela and Luisa.

Antonio didn't even stop as he burst threw the door, throwing his whole body straight into Mirabel's lap, crying his eyes out.

Mirabel caught him with reflexes that surprised Dolores, and she held Antonio as he continued to cry into her shirt, his little body shaking. Dolores knew that he was close to their prima, but she hadn't realized just how attached he was to her until this moment.

Camilo stood back, shifting from foot to foot as he anxiously waited to have access to Mirabel as well.

Mirabel smiled softly at Camilo over Antonio's head though.

"Hello, primo." She murmured.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," She nodded at him, rocking Antonio. She looked down at him, as he had quieted down, and started to laugh. "He's sleeping." she shook her head.

"Here," Dolores stood up to take him. "Let me hold him for you."

Mirabel reluctantly handed the youngest Madrigal over to Dolores, which opened her up for hugs from Camilo.

"I'm so sorry, Mirabel." Camilo said quietly to her as he held her. "I've not been the best cousin recently, but I'm going to change that. I'm so sorry."

Mirabel waved him off. "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"I do." He said. "I did not include you or stand up for you the way I should have. I didn't protect you or defend you from family or townspeople. For all of that, I'm truly sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for." She repeated. "But if it makes you feel better, you are forgiven."

He grinned at her. "I'll make it up to you."

Mirabel protested, but Camilo wasn't going to take no for an answer. He spent the next hour or so making her laugh and being a general clown, but everything came to a halt when they heard more footsteps.

The only people it could be would be Isabela and Luisa. And Mirabel knew it, the tight expression on her face proved it.

"Come on, Camilo." Dolores stood up with Antonio, still asleep in her arms. She motioned with her head towards the door. Bruno had left a while ago, so they were the only ones besides Julieta and Agustin there.

"Wait-" Mirabel protested, but Dolores shook her head.

"No, prima. You'll be fine." She smiled gently. "Talk to your hermanas. I promise I'll be back soon."

Mirabel barely had time to nod hesitantly, when the door flew open to reveal the two girls.

Dolores quickly moved out of the way and slipped behind them, outside. She hung in the hallway with Camilo for a moment, just long enough to hear Isabela start her apology through her tears.

Camilo and Dolores exchanged a satisfied grin, leaving to head back to the church.

Maybe things would be okay.