lilacelf82

[lilacelf82]

So I have posted the link for my Encanto fanfiction here for anyone who wants to check it out.

If you need some fluffy, check out 'Sick Days'!

Like hearing about Bruno and his furry little friends? Consider reading 'Tio Bruno and the Rats of Casita'.

Do you like loads of drama and angst? 'Stand By You' is your fic!

I even have two modern AU stories, one of which is still in progress.

Hope to hear from y'all!!

[lilacelf82]

https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacElf8582/works

[lilacelf82]

Camilo: Antonio is the best younger sibling ever!

Luisa: Mirabel is better.

Camilo: She’s also a giftless jinx. Therefore Antonio is better by default.

Luisa: Wanna try repeating that while I rip you apart limb by limb?

Camilo, smiling: I hope you fall down the mountains.

Luisa, also smiling: I’ll make sure to drag you with me.

Pepa: *about to destroy them both with her argument of why Bruno is the best younger sibling*

[lilacelf82]

Bruno: Don't you just love how mental disorders are buy one, get seven free?

Pepa: I didn't even want one, my mom made me buy it.

Julieta: Mine's a family heirloom. Been passed down for generations.

Mirabel: And that's why we're in group therapy.

[lilacelf82]

I just thought about this.

What if Pepa saw Dolores In her room in distress and couldn't take no more noise, Dolores wanted her mom to sing her a song like she did when she was younger.

Later the both were found sleeping together by the family.

I combined these two asks and it's not 100% exactly what you two wanted... Hope it's still okay

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruno taps her on the shoulder. It's a light touch, nothing more than his fingertips brushing her dress. Pepa knows what that means. Usually he is much louder when he's trying to get her attention. He will give her braid a short playful tug or he will snip her temple with a finger. Despite the heavy burden his gift has left him with, her brother is and will always be a little brother first, with all the brattiness that comes with that. And Pepa will always be the big sister first and make sure to deliver that outraged squawk and retaliate in style by kicking his shin.

But not when it's the soft touch to the shoulder. She knows what that means and so she turns around carefully, making as little sound as she can, holding the skirt of her dress so it rustles a little bit less than it normally would.

There is Bruno, standing at her back. In his arms he is holding Pepa's most precious treasure besides the one just beginning to grow inside of her.

Dolores, so small, so vulnerable, buried into his chest, her small hands pressed to her ears so hard her arms are quivering. Her face is squished against his ruana and Bruno keeps hold of Pepa's gaze while at the same time constantly whispering into his sobrina's left ear. Any other child wouldn't have heard him over the hands and the folds of fabric. But Dolores is not like any other child. She is a Madrigal. She is Pepa's daughter. She is blessed. 

She is cursed.

Pepa has to strain her hearing to make out the words, the soft and rumbling whisper whose only purpose is to drown out all other sounds. 

"And Maria is not actually Maria, she is Carmen, the evil sibling. At least everyone assumes she is the evil one, but she is just misunderstood, you know? She was just dealt a bad hand. She is not so bad, people just need to give her a chance."

Pepa wants to smile. His silly Telenovelas. She wonders where he gets all those ideas from.

She doesn't smile. Her baby is overwhelmed and in pain, how could she smile right now?

Instead she steps closer, putting down her toes first and rolling the balls of her feet with the utmost care. Lolo still winces as if her Mama had stomped her foot. 

Pepa catches Bruno's eye. 

'Bad day?' she mouths. 

He doesn't stop his tale, just nods and widens his eyes. A very bad day, then. 

Pepa sighs noiselessly (not for Dolores, nothing is ever without noise for Dolores) and winds her arms around her daughter. Her arms entangle with Bruno's for a second. For just a second, the three of them are joined in a hug, the vulnerable child trapped in the middle. But then Pepa pulls away and Bruno let's go. 

Dolores whines for a heartbreaking moment, clearly reluctant about the change of hands, but then Pepa starts to hum and her baby latches onto her instead, pressing her face into Pepa's hair. The woman is so glad that she's chosen the lavender shampoo that morning. The smell always calms her daughter down and now Pepa does smile after all as she can hear her child take a deep breath, audibly sniffing her hair. 

Bruno is still standing there, his arms hanging in the air. He looks a little bit lost, she thinks. Misplaced. Helpless. 

Pepa doesn't stop her humming and instead brushes her foot against his calf since her hands are full. Her brother snaps out of his daze. His eyes focus and he nods at her. 

'Tea?' he mouths and she simply smiles. She doesn't want to nod, doesn't want to disturb her daughter who has stopped shaking, but he knows her. 

Her brother glides away on bare feet, almost soundlessly, and Pepa follows his example and slips off her slippers. The tiles are warm against her feet and she silently thanks Casita. 

****************

When Bruno finds them later in Pepa's room with the tea, Dolores is much calmer already and the two of them sandwich her between them on the sofa and start to sing a song for her to distract her. It's mostly Pepa who sings, with Bruno humming along. 

Dolores has her head pressed against Pepa's mostly flat belly, listening to a heartbeat only she can hear at this point, and has her feet up on her Tio's lap. 

Felix and Julieta find them like that, hours later. Dolores has long since fallen asleep listening to new life, and Pepa and Bruno are sitting side by side on the sofa with her. Also asleep. Their heads are resting against each other, Pepa's one arm curling around his bony shoulders, while her other hand rests on Dolores' head. 

Julieta and Felix share a smile and retreat. Felix will just have to sleep in Dolore's room tonight. 

[lilacelf82]

Who wants some Grumpy Bruno fanfic? Me, I do. So I wrote some.

I’ve seen a lot of Stop Infantalising Bruno discourse recently, and I wanted to write a situation where he could be a grumpy, sleep deprived old man and still (hopefully!) be loveable. Because I personally love those little flashes of temper we get from him…plus, it gave me a chance to find some fun Spanish swears!

Also I’ve resigned myself to every single one of these having a book reference in them; my real life is either selling books or writing them so I guess I have them on the brain haha. You can check out more of my fanfic (and the translations for the Spanish that I got from Babbel.com) here.

“Spiders are some of the most eff…um, effic…some of the most…”                Bruno glanced over Antonio’s shoulder at the encyclopaedia. “‘Efficient’,” he said. “Don’t worry, kid; that’s a big word, even for me.”                Antonio smiled gratefully, turning back to the page. “Okay. Efffishant. Spiders are some of the most efffishant hunters in the animal ki..kingdom. They spin webs to…”                Another weeknight; another Family Weirdo Club Bedtime. Mirabel was nestled in a comfortable spot under the gigantic tree in the middle of Antonio’s room, Chispi by her side, while Bruno and Antonio were curled up together in the pile of leaves, cushions, extra bedding and general comfy detritus that made up the best reading nook in the Encanto. Bruno was half asleep, lying back against a pillow Mirabel had sewed for Antonio out of his oldest, softest, most faded ruana. Was this the seventeenth time he’d heard about how spiders catch their prey, or the sixteenth? Mmyeh, didn’t matter. Kid was getting better with his reading. Pepa was happy, Mirabel got time and space to knit so she was happy. Hence, Bruno was happy.                A shadow fell over the pair. Bruno looked up into the amber eyes of the most dangerous, unpredictable creature in the entire Encanto – including his sisters. And it was looking directly down at him.                “Um,” Bruno said warily, as Parce the jaguar edged a little closer. “H-hi, Kitty?”                “Parce wants to snuggle!” Antonio chirped, delighted.                “W-well, that’s great, kiddo,” Bruno said, edging up the cushion pile, eyes never leaving the big cat in front of him, “but Tio Bruno super doesn’t want to snuggle.”                It wasn’t that Bruno disliked cats. He just didn’t trust them. They had weird, intense stares – Parce was always watching him – and Bruno didn’t like human eye contact, let alone eye contact with a creature that could pick its teeth with his ribs. Plus, y’know, he was a rat guy. Rats and cats didn’t exactly get along.                Parce put one giant paw on Bruno’s stomach.                “Ah-heh…um…Antonio…?”                “Parce,” Antontio said – that big, innocent grin never leaving his face – “come look at the pictures with me! Look at the spider webs!”                Parce gave Bruno one last, long stare, before removing his paw and leaping over the pair in a single bound.                “Eep,” Bruno would have said, if he weren’t an incredibly brave and constantly stoic man. Which, you know. He was. Parce laid his massive head across Antonio’s belly and yawned, showing off a set of huge, white canines, before closing his eyes and dozing for the rest of Storytime. Bruno had to admit, it wasn’t his best work. His performance of the titular Frog in Oi, Frog! left much to be desired. As much as he loved spending time with Antonio, he kinda just wanted to get in his own bedroom – with his pets that wouldn’t turn on him in the blink of an eye and eat him alive – and have a good, restful night’s sleep.                And, of course, because he was Bruno Madrigal and his life was one big cosmic joke, he had sleep visions all night. Not about the jaguar, that was a blessing, at least. No; these were weird, twisted half-prophecies, showing him a mix of things from the past, blurred over with green, sandy film of time. Pepa in particular showed up a lot, that night – twenty-seven years old, in her soaked wedding dress with her hair stuck to her forehead, dancing at Dolores’ wedding far off in the future. Why was he thinking about Pepa? Everything was fine with Pepa. Wasn’t it?                Did Pepa still hate him for the wedding thing?                What if he did it again at Dolores’ wedding? What if he opened his big mouth and ruined everything?                Was that what the vision was trying to warn him about?                Shut up, Bruno. You need to sleep. Go to sleep…now. Now. Now? Please go to sleep…                In the end, Bruno estimated he got about two hours’ sleep. At five to nine, he finally gave up, dragged himself downstairs, poured himself the largest cup of coffee possible, and sat through Morning Briefing, not registering a word, barely noticing his family. As soon as the last syllable of ‘La Familia Madrigal’ left his mouth, he downed the last of his coffee, slammed the cup down, and hauled himself back upstairs to bed.                Low moods didn’t hit very often, these days. Bruno had been working on his coping mechanisms – meditating, getting fresh air, affirmations, blah blah blah. But when he was tired, they hit him all the harder. Add to that the fun of reliving the past and the future at the same time all night? Day was shot before it began. He buried his face in the pillow, curled himself up in his sheets, and prepared himself for a day of sifting through sickly green thoughts and not much else. Dios, he was tired. His head felt like it was about to fall off his neck and shatter. Couldn’t even sleep right. Tu es loco, ‘Brunito,’ he thought spitefully to himself. Loco, tarado, maldito…                About an hour later, the door creaked open.                “Hey, Bruno…”                “Not in the mood, Félix,” Bruno said, not lifting his head from the pillow, his voice muffled.                “Bro, I just gotta ask you if –”                “Vete a freír espárragos, Félix, seriously,” Bruno growled, propping himself up on one arm. “Que te folle un pez, I just want five minutes on my…uh…oh.”                There, standing in Bruno’s bedroom doorway, was Félix. Holding a scandalised Antonio in his arms.                “Félix,” Bruno said, scrambling into a sitting position. “I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t –”                “It’s alright, Tio Bruno,” Antonio said primly. “I’m not allowed to copy bad words. Camilo taught me to say tresero, and Mamá said…”                “Okay, okay, hombre,” Félix interrupted, jostling the kid in his arms. “Hey, let’s just see if your sister can look after you today, ‘kay? Tio Bruno is…tired.”                “Félix…”                The side-eye Félix gave him reminded Bruno of his sister, which sent another spike of shame through his guts. “S’alright. Get some rest, bro.”                And they were gone. Bruno fell back against the mattress, pressed the pillow over his face, and swore some more. The really, really bad ones, this time. Well, it had taken a few months, but he finally messed up things with Antonio. The quirky, harmless image of Fun Tio Bruno had been shattered in the amount of time it took him to tell his Pá to piss off. There goes Family Weirdo Club. He’d never be asked to babysit again. He’d been doing such a good job with not using bad words around the kids, too. Stupid sleep visions. Stupid gift. Stupid him.                Somewhere around an hour later, just as his temper was starting to cool and congeal into a thick layer of self-pity (and sleep was still a thousand miles away), the door opened again. Bruno pressed his hands against the pillow still strewn over his face and let out a long, strangled noise somewhere between a scream and a sob. “Please,” he moaned, “I am exhausted, and I’m in such a bad mood, please just leave me alone to…”                Two gigantic paws hit the mattress with a thump. Bruno lifted the pillow away to find Parce staring down at him.                “Erm…h-hey, Kitty,” he gulped. “Félix send you to eat me for cursing in front of his kid?”                Parce titled his head this way and that, before hauling himself up onto the bed. The mattress groaned a little beneath the extra weight, and Bruno suddenly had images of shattered wood and feathers flying through the air. Bruno scooched up the bed, away from the gigantic cat, but Parce butted his huge head none too gently against his cheek with a deep, low ‘mmrow’. Something was tied around his neck; a green ribbon, with a scroll of paper tied to it. Bruno tentatively reached for it, snatching his hand away as soon as possible. Parce started kneading the mattress, staring into the middle distance, as Bruno unfurled the scroll with shaking fingers.                It was a drawing. A drawing of Bruno and Antonio, holding hands. Or, at least, Bruno suspected they were holding hands. Their palms kinda intermeshed. Bruno’s hair came down to his waist in long, grey scribbles, while Antonio’s manic smile went outside of his face. Bruno loved it instantly. Written in the corner in huge wobbly script, was a message.                ‘TIO BRUNO. GET WELL SOON. PARCE WANTS TO SNUGL WITH YO TIL YU ARE HAPPEE AGAIN. LOVE, ANTONIO MADRIGAL.’                In a neater, smaller hand underneath was written;                ‘Don’t worry, Parce won’t eat your rats. Unless you say more bad words. Come find us after your nap. Dolores xoxo’                Bruno felt his heart melt into a lump of warm, gooey affection. “So I haven’t totally messed up then, huh?” he asked Parce. Parce purred, blinking slowly. “Okay,” Bruno sighed, letting the drawing flutter to the floor and stuffing the pillow back under his head, “I guess you can stay and snugg—oof!”                Parce pressed his head against Bruno’s cheek again, so hard it moved Bruno’s head to the side, all the while purring even louder. “Pfffttt, ppfffbtttt, pff,” Bruno sputtered, getting a fine mist of jaguar hair across his nose and mouth. Parce didn’t smell like Bruno thought he would; like blood and viscera and abject terror. He smelled like…like a warm, clean animal. “Come on, now, settle down.” He reached up, haltingly, and held out his hand for Parce to love on instead. The big cat pressed his cheek against Bruno’s knuckles, eyes closed in contentment.                “Hey, y-you’re actually kinda cute, aren’tcha?” Bruno murmured with a small smile, his fingers getting lost in the thick, white fluff of Parce’s chest. Parce blinked down at him, eyes soft and full of affection. How had he ever thought this cat was creepy? He was just…well, intense. Plus, c’mon; it’s not like Bruno could complain about someone having a staring problem, now was it?                “Good Kitty, such a nice kittycat, yes you are…”                Parce turned around a handful of times in Bruno’s lap (“watch the paws,” Bruno winced, “watch the paws –!”) before settling down across his stomach, purring so loudly Bruno swore he could feel it in his bones. The weight of Parce across his torso was enough to help him relax, just a little bit – feeling the warmth and sturdy weight of this creature that had chosen, apparently, to spend time with him. Even if he was a screwup who swore in front of five-year-olds. “Thanks, buddy,” Bruno said with a yawn, reaching up to scratch behind one gigantic, spotted ear. Parce made a friendly noise in the back of his throat, tail twitching against the bare skin of Bruno’s arm, then laid his head along Bruno’s chest and closed his eyes. And, after a long moment, Bruno did the same.

[lilacelf82]

I read about a tradition in Spain that was just perfect for a small "Encanto Easter Story" because I could finally use my headcanon that Bruno is the godfather of every single grandchild. 

Please enjoy some wholesome good Tio Bruno content:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Easter mass is finally over. The church had been packed, like it always is on Domingo de Pascua, and for Bruno the service had been peaceful and nerve-wrecking in equal measures. He had spent the entire time gripping the cross hanging around his neck to keep from knocking on the wooden bench and disrupting the sermon. 

Nerves shot or not: Bruno had missed this. The singing and the praying and the stillness in between. 

He had not missed the side eyes and the occasional whisper directed his way. But that's just the way things have always been. No matter how much more decent the villagers have been treating him these past couple of months, he will always be an oddity, the unknown and mysterious and sometimes scary seer of the Madrigals. 

Bruno can deal with that, especially with his family by his side. Mirabel holding his hand and Dolores leaning against his shoulder, Camilo occasionally leaning forward to make funny faces at a bored Antonio until Felix scolds him and tells him to pay attention to the Padre. 

Yes. He can deal with anything.

But mass is over and they have returned to Casita. Bruno feels a silver of apprehension and fidgets with his ruana (a nice one, the one he only wears to church). Julieta seems to have picked up on his nervousness, because she bumps his shoulder and smiles at him. It always surprises him how much those little affirmations can boost his confidence. With a deep breath he nods at her and hurries into the kitchen to gather the surprise he has prepared for the children. 

The Mona de Pascua, the traditional Easter cake that is passed from the godfather to his godchildren to be shared, sits just as wobbly and misshapen on its plate as it did last night. Bruno had insisted on making it himself, without Julieta's help. Seeing it now, he kinda wishes that he'd accepted her offer. It is not round at all and the chicken he'd tried to form out of chocolate to be placed on top looks more like a chicken that has been run over. 

The kids will probably hate it. 

"Ay hermanito. It doesn't look so bad." 

Bruno gives Pepa, who has followed him into the kitchen, the stink eye. "The fact that you need to tell me that tells me everything I need to know." 

Pepa snorts and ruffles his hair. He hates when she does that (no he doesn't) and ducks away from her. 

"Well it looks… unique?" 

Bruno scowls at the cake. It's the first one he's made since his disappearance so of course he is out of practice. But that's exactly why he had wanted it to be extra special. 

Sometimes he still can't believe that his sisters have made him the godfather for all of their children. Hard to believe that everything had started because of an innocent promise in their teens, either. When a nervous Bruno had sat his sisters down to tell them that he doubts that he will ever want children of his own. 

He had been worried and scared, unsure of how his sisters, who were already discussing baby names at the tender age of 16, would react. But he shouldn't have worried. They had simply declared that, in that case, he would make the perfect godparent for their own children. They had promised him that the first born grandchild would be his to spoil rotten. As is the job of every godparent, apparently. 

When Julieta had given birth to Isa first, Pepa had been so distraught that Bruno had offered to be her child's godfather as well. One more wouldn't make such a big difference. 

By the time Luisa had been born, the villagers had started to call him "Bad Luck Bruno", had started to curse his name and had insisted that he was bringing nothing but misfortune to everyone and everything he touched. 

Julieta had placed baby Luisa into his arms and had said "None of that is true. Don't believe a single word they say. I trust you with my second child as well, Brunito. Always remember that when it gets too much." 

When Camilo had been born, Pepa had followed her sister's example and Mirabel a few months later had just felt like the next logical step. 

Godfather to four beautiful sobrinas and a sobrino. Bruno had been so happy. Every time he'd felt like the words of the villagers were getting to him, he had just remembered his sister's words instead and had gathered them all close for a tight hug. 

Looking at Pepa now, smirking at his sorry cake, he just regrets that he wasn't around for Antonio's birth as well. 

"Listen, Pepa. I know I'm not Tonito's godfather, but I would like to include him as well. I don't want him to feel left out and I kinda consider him mine as well, you know, so I just thought that-" 

"What are you talking about?" Pepa interrupts his rambling. "Of course you are Antonio's godfather."

"Wait. I am?" 

"Yeah. Well, not 'officially' with the church. We had to make Julieta the godmother to get the baptism done but we left the space for the godfather blank and later put you down as his godfather in our will. Hey, maybe we could ask the Padre to repeat the ceremony or whatever you do when you want to add a godfather later on."

"I'm not sure that's even possible." 

"Oh well. No matter. Like I said, we put it down in our testament and it's not like Juli would challenge you about this."

Bruno can only stare at his older sister. "But why? I was… gone."

Pepa grimaces. She doesn't like to be reminded of that time. None of them particularly do. "You are the godfather for all of our children. I wasn't going to change that just because you weren't… around." Suddenly she turns away and her shoulders start to shake. Just the tiniest bit. "Not making you the godfather would have felt like giving up. And no matter what you might think, I never gave up hope that you would come back one day. One day my little brother would return and he would be the most wonderful godfather to my youngest, just like he'd been to all of them. I just had to believe that, or I would have… I would have-"

Bruno wraps his arms around his sister from behind and buries his face between her shoulder blades. Pepa exhales shakily, grips his arms and lowers her head. 

"I will Pepi! I won't ever disappoint you again. I will take good care of Antonio and the others." 

"I know you will."

They stand like that for a long time until the children all stumble into the kitchen. Bruno and Pepa break apart and he can see her inconspicuously wipe away some tears. Before the kids can notice and question her, he takes the plate and holds it up with a flourish. As if it doesn't hold the most sad looking cake anyone has ever seen. 

"Felices Pascuas!" 

None of the children laugh when they see their special cake. In fact, they are all delighted and every one of them demands the biggest piece. In the end Bruno gives it to Antonio, since it is his first one. There is some grumbling but they are good kids and congratulate their smallest on his big serving. 

And as Bruno finds himself surrounded by all six of his godchildren and sharing the Mona de Pascua with them, he can't help but smile. 

It tastes a lot better than it looks. 

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Please accept some artistic freedom when it comes to how baptism and godparents work. Let's just say that the Encanto is a closed community and it got its own rules.

Happy Easter!

[lilacelf82]

Couldn't get past this. I've always enjoyed reading @sketchnwhatevr's headcanons, but this latest compilation gave me a sudden burst of ✨i✨n✨s✨p✨i✨r✨a✨t✨i✨o✨n✨

The headcanon on the last art belongs to @prophetic-hijinks. Thank you! ❤️

The situation with Mirabel and Isabela is LITERALLY me and my sister. Almost always I'm in the place of Mira, and @tianamomo is like Isa (what Mira says on the art is my only saving argument 😂)

Where Bruno and Antonio are talking to Julieta, I kind of tried to draw something about the clicks on the nose, but I seem to have lost the idea in the process. It's here only because I like the picture (okay, it was actually supposed to be "boop", but I didn't translate correctly and realized it just now 🙃)

[lilacelf82]

inspired by a headcanon i saw the other day where baby mira asked julieta to heal her after the failed ceremony :")

[lilacelf82]

My two faves of this movie 🥺 I like to imagine they were always very close and she is the person Bruno trusts the most and always could confide in the most. I just think they’d be very comfortable with each other. So I think it wouldn’t take long for them to have this conversation.

[lilacelf82]

This is so adorable!!!

I just thought about this.

What if Pepa saw Dolores In her room in distress and couldn't take no more noise, Dolores wanted her mom to sing her a song like she did when she was younger.

Later the both were found sleeping together by the family.

I combined these two asks and it's not 100% exactly what you two wanted... Hope it's still okay

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bruno taps her on the shoulder. It's a light touch, nothing more than his fingertips brushing her dress. Pepa knows what that means. Usually he is much louder when he's trying to get her attention. He will give her braid a short playful tug or he will snip her temple with a finger. Despite the heavy burden his gift has left him with, her brother is and will always be a little brother first, with all the brattiness that comes with that. And Pepa will always be the big sister first and make sure to deliver that outraged squawk and retaliate in style by kicking his shin.

But not when it's the soft touch to the shoulder. She knows what that means and so she turns around carefully, making as little sound as she can, holding the skirt of her dress so it rustles a little bit less than it normally would.

There is Bruno, standing at her back. In his arms he is holding Pepa's most precious treasure besides the one just beginning to grow inside of her.

Dolores, so small, so vulnerable, buried into his chest, her small hands pressed to her ears so hard her arms are quivering. Her face is squished against his ruana and Bruno keeps hold of Pepa's gaze while at the same time constantly whispering into his sobrina's left ear. Any other child wouldn't have heard him over the hands and the folds of fabric. But Dolores is not like any other child. She is a Madrigal. She is Pepa's daughter. She is blessed. 

She is cursed.

Pepa has to strain her hearing to make out the words, the soft and rumbling whisper whose only purpose is to drown out all other sounds. 

"And Maria is not actually Maria, she is Carmen, the evil sibling. At least everyone assumes she is the evil one, but she is just misunderstood, you know? She was just dealt a bad hand. She is not so bad, people just need to give her a chance."

Pepa wants to smile. His silly Telenovelas. She wonders where he gets all those ideas from.

She doesn't smile. Her baby is overwhelmed and in pain, how could she smile right now?

Instead she steps closer, putting down her toes first and rolling the balls of her feet with the utmost care. Lolo still winces as if her Mama had stomped her foot. 

Pepa catches Bruno's eye. 

'Bad day?' she mouths. 

He doesn't stop his tale, just nods and widens his eyes. A very bad day, then. 

Pepa sighs noiselessly (not for Dolores, nothing is ever without noise for Dolores) and winds her arms around her daughter. Her arms entangle with Bruno's for a second. For just a second, the three of them are joined in a hug, the vulnerable child trapped in the middle. But then Pepa pulls away and Bruno let's go. 

Dolores whines for a heartbreaking moment, clearly reluctant about the change of hands, but then Pepa starts to hum and her baby latches onto her instead, pressing her face into Pepa's hair. The woman is so glad that she's chosen the lavender shampoo that morning. The smell always calms her daughter down and now Pepa does smile after all as she can hear her child take a deep breath, audibly sniffing her hair. 

Bruno is still standing there, his arms hanging in the air. He looks a little bit lost, she thinks. Misplaced. Helpless. 

Pepa doesn't stop her humming and instead brushes her foot against his calf since her hands are full. Her brother snaps out of his daze. His eyes focus and he nods at her. 

'Tea?' he mouths and she simply smiles. She doesn't want to nod, doesn't want to disturb her daughter who has stopped shaking, but he knows her. 

Her brother glides away on bare feet, almost soundlessly, and Pepa follows his example and slips off her slippers. The tiles are warm against her feet and she silently thanks Casita. 

****************

When Bruno finds them later in Pepa's room with the tea, Dolores is much calmer already and the two of them sandwich her between them on the sofa and start to sing a song for her to distract her. It's mostly Pepa who sings, with Bruno humming along. 

Dolores has her head pressed against Pepa's mostly flat belly, listening to a heartbeat only she can hear at this point, and has her feet up on her Tio's lap. 

Felix and Julieta find them like that, hours later. Dolores has long since fallen asleep listening to new life, and Pepa and Bruno are sitting side by side on the sofa with her. Also asleep. Their heads are resting against each other, Pepa's one arm curling around his bony shoulders, while her other hand rests on Dolores' head. 

Julieta and Felix share a smile and retreat. Felix will just have to sleep in Dolore's room tonight. 

[lilacelf82]

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused

[lilacelf82]

My favorite pairing--Ziva David and Dean Winchester.