The Heart of Camilo (A Camilo Madrigal x Reader Fem Y/N Story)

Always

*Y/N*

When Pepa's eyes opened, the relief was so immense that I thought my heart would explode. It had worked. I couldn't believe it. I looked over at Diego, amazed at what we did, and he was looking just as stunned as I was. The look on Camilo's face as he hugged his mother was pure happiness and I knew I would remember it forever. Camilo and Pepa were getting buried in a group hug underneath Felix, Dolores and Antonio and I laughed watching how happy they all were, tears pouring down my face. I got up and went over to Diego, pulling him into a hug.

"I can't ... I can't believe we can ..." he couldn't even get the words out.

"I guess twin gifts are a pretty big deal," I smiled at him.

"Did all this really happen?" he asked me, looking stunned and overwhelmed. "I feel like... I don't even know."

"I know how you feel." I took his face in my hands, remembering him racing through the forest after me, refusing to leave me, him diving into the lake after me. "Little brother, what did I do to deserve you?"

He grinned, embarrassed. "You're my sister," he said. "I'd do it all again." 

Dolores had run outside to yell to everyone else what had happened, and before we knew it, the living room was packed full of people laughing, crying, hugging each other, Camilo's family, the other families, all of us altogether. 

Diego was still in his blood-soaked undershirt, although it was faded slightly from the time spent in the lake. I took his hand. "We need to get you some fresh clothes, looking at that is too upsetting," I said, the image of the arrow in his chest flashing through my mind.

Rafael overheard, telling Diego he could borrow some of his clothes, and Diego left to change. Mirabel came over to me, pulling me into a tight hug and I laughed as she held my face in her hands. "Seriously, Y/N, what you did two years ago for Camilo, now for Pepa, my family is seriously indebted to you forever."

I laughed, pulling her hands down. "I really need a shower, maybe we can start there."

Suddenly, Pepa appeared, having finally gotten up off the couch from under the giant group hug. Our eyes met and she began to cry, prompting me to do the same, and she pulled me into a hug, holding me for a long time as we both cried, overwhelmed, overjoyed, relieved, grateful. I wiped my eyes, seeing Camilo smiling at us over her shoulder, still crying himself. When Pepa finally pulled away, he swooped in and pulled me to him tightly. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you. I wasn't ready to lose her."

I was beginning to think I would just permanently be in a state of crying in relief as I hugged him back. The buzz around us of happiness was intoxicating and I wanted to hold onto this feeling forever, but I settled for holding onto him.

***

The next 24 hours were spent cleaning up the house from all the damage, sending people to check on the villagers, making sure people had what they needed to repair any damage to their houses. We were lucky Ramirez had just let the wave fall at the forest line when he took me again instead of him purposely crashing the wave down on the village - things would have been infinitely worse. At Casita, we did our best to fix the windows, dry out the floors, clean up the debris, try to make it as though it all had never happened, the Serrano and Ortega families helping us.

On the second night after everything, we decided to finally have a birthday party for Camilo, who had had to turn 18 with me trapped in Ramirez's house. Pepa had gone all out, making a huge feast with Julieta, Isabela decking out the house in flowers. I had gone back home briefly with Diego to get some of our clothes since Pepa insisted we stay at Casita for a while, wanting us to be close by after everything, and I was wearing the red skirt Camilo had bought me, feeling finally back to normal, back to my life, watching everyone laugh and eat around the table.