Careful What You Wish For, Abuela

Felix

Day 3

Felix was very thirsty.

It was around 2am and the only thought he had was that he wanted water. He wasn't too awake but he did pause as he saw a light from the kitchen and heard a knocking. Knocking on wood? He also heard some grunts and huffs. Felix was still not fully awake so he went in with little thought.

When he entered the kitchen, he was immediately awake.

Standing before him with hands angrily waving at each other was Cas but also his long lost brother in law, Bruno.

"Bruno?" Felix asked in shock.

Bruno and Cas both jumped in shock and turned to look at Felix. Bruno and Cas both looked guilty.

Felix could do nothing but stare for a moment. Was he dreaming? No, his dreams are always just about Pepa and maybe his kids.

Cas moved her hands while making eye contact with Bruno.

Bruno looked aghast and moved his hands furiously back.

Felix looked at the two confused, were they....talking with their hands? Felix knew that this was a thing, he thinks there are some books on it at the library. It was something people that couldn't speak or hear did.

Felix finally snapped out of his stupore, "Bruno, your home? Pepa is going to be so-"

Suddenly Cas and Bruno weren't in front of him anymore, no one was. Felix looked to the left and saw that Cas was now sitting at the dining room table a bowl of soup in front of her along with juice looking at him concerned.

"Tio, you okay?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're talking to the wall saying something about Bruno?"

"What? You were just there with Bruno?" Felix pointed confused at where they had been standing.

"Um, I haven't seen Tio Bruno since I was 5 and if I'm not mistaken he isn't around here either is he?" Cas played it off as she ate more soup, " You must still be half asleep, Tio Felix."

Felix shook his head, no. That can't be true. He wasn't that out of it. He looked at his supposed niece and at the hourglasses on her green nightshirt. Did...Did she stop time and give Bruno a chance to leave? She did have the power to stop time but would she really use it on family?

Trying to play it cool, Felix walked over to the sink and pulled a cup out of the cabinet and got water then walked over to the dining room table to sit with Cas, "Guess, I must be."

The man watched the slight relaxing of Cas' shoulders. He was onto something it seems. Maybe, he could get more info.

"So, I'm sorry about the Camilo thing," Felix apologized.

Cas just hummed as she looked unconvinced.

Felix tapped his fingers on the table, this was weird. Mirabel would have carried the conversation, she was always up for talking to him. Especially when they were cleaning together with Agustin. Mirabel was so bubbly and loved talking with them. But Cas was so tight lipped. He very much missed his little cleaning buddy.

"So....Camilo found a picture of you with two boys," Felix commented while sipping his water.

He watched her slightly tense and glared a little, "It's rude to steal."

"Borrowing but mind if I ask who they are?" the man asked with a smile.

"I do."

The way she said that told Felix a lot. He heard that tone a lot. Julieta used it, Isabela used it, Dolores used it. It was the older sister shut down. Those boys were probably her brothers. Why was she lying, Julieta had told them everything she had said, why was she lying about the boys? Felix decided to try a different tactic.

"So, how close were you to Bruno before he left?" Felix tried again to talk to his 'niece', "I see you both have the hourglasses on your doors."

That caused a look to appear on her face. She looked at the hourglass on her night shirt, "I mean. Abuela has this photo of me and him in her room. He never had kids or...you know. so he kinda doted on me a bit. So much so people started a horrible rumor about me and him."

That piqued Felix's interest even more, "Rumor?"

"Everyone noticed my powers and hows my eyes glowed and thought that I wasn't my parents' kid," Cas replied as she played with her spoon, "That I was really Tio Bruno's."

People are always cruel it seemed. He had heard the same rumor about Mirabel after her failed ceremony, it had broken Agustin and Julieta. They tried their best to keep it from Mirabel but Dolores had admitted one day that Mirabel had heard the rumor from some kids in town.

"Geez, if I hadn't looked so much like...." The girl shook her head and picked up the soup and stood up, "Never mind. I'm as close as I could be before he disappeared."

Cas walked over and threw her bowl in the sink then left the kitchen, "Night Tio."

"Night, Cas."

Felix watched her leave then room but stayed. He turned back and stared at the family tree. That rumor seemed to be hurtful to Cas, just like it was for Mirabel. As he stared at where Mirabel should be on the tree and saw Cas instead. He then glanced at Bruno's place in the middle.

If Bruno had been here....he wanted him to come back to the family. Getting all the Madrigals to search for him wouldn't help. Especially not his still upset wife or mother in law. Maybe he could try again tomorrow? Goodness. Everything was so complicated. He probably should have shut down the rumor more but people were going to talk anyway he had hoped they'd talk themselves out. They hadn't.

"I'm sorry," he sighed as he got up and left the kitchen.

But he wasn't sure if he was saying it to Mirabel, Cas, Bruno, or all three.

.....

Meanwhile in the walls of Casita, Bruno was watching the cracks in Casita heal more. Bruno had figured that as the family catch on more to how they made Mirabel feel and their own issues that they would heal but it was still weird to see.

He knew the biggest cracks would only heal once Mirabel herself came back and healed with the family. But this was a nice start.

Bruno glanced at where Felix and Cas had just left and sighed in relief. He might be able to eat now. Bruno was not happy Cas had time stopped Felix to help him escape. Felix wouldn't fall for it. He also wasn't pleased that Cas had decided she had to push the last of the family tomorrow.

He had asked, 'how do you plan on doing that?'

She just had a smirk and signed to him, 'Hit them where it hurt. Make Luisa feel useless, remind Isabela's she is not perfect, and make Abuela wrong.'

Even now Bruno was shaking his head, "This is going to be a disaster."