"Sebastian," Lin called from the couch, where he was reading the newspaper.  "Be gentle."

The 3 year old giggled from where he laid on the floor.  Francisco was on his back, and Sebastian was laying his head on his belly.  He loved using his younger brother as a pillow.  He wasn't always aware of how rough and unaware of his surroundings he could be.

Francisco babbled and kicked his legs around.  It was a lazy Saturday morning, and Vanessa and the girls were still in bed.  They'd learned early on that the girls liked to sleep in on the weekend.  It was almost 9:30, so he decided he'd start making pancakes in a few minutes.  That usually woke them up.

Vanessa walked out in her bathrobe, yawning.  "Why didn't you wake me up?" She started the kettle to make herself a cup of coffee.

"Seemed like you needed your sleep," he told her.  "You had a long week."

Sebastian ran over and hugged his mother's legs. "Mama, will you come play with me?"

"In a minute, baby," she told him, stroking back his bed-head hair.  "Why don't you go get your clothes on?"

"No, I wanna stay in Spider-Man," he pointed proudly at the hero on his pajamas.  Sebastian was starting to get a little big for this particular pair of pajamas, but it was his favorite.  The bottoms of the legs and his sleeve cuffs were inching up his limbs.  Vanessa didn't feel like arguing.  They didn't have any big plans for the day.

"Are we gonna start packing today," Vanessa asked her husband as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.

Lin winced at the thought.  Packing was definitely not something he was looking forward to.  Their offer on the 5 bedroom house had been accepted the previous day.  There had been multiple bids on their property, so they ended up getting full asking price.  They had 2 weeks to pack up and be out.

"Maybe later," he told his wife.  "But yea, we probably better get a start."

"We could make the girls do it," Vanessa smiled.

"That's kind of cruel considering they've only lived here for two months," he pointed out, folding the paper up.  He walked into the kitchen and gave his wife a kiss, then headed over to the pantry to find the pancake mix.  Lin got out a bowl and began mixing the ingredients together.  Soon, the pan was sizzling and the smell of pancakes wafted through the apartment.

Sure enough, Alexis wandered out a few minutes later, tying her brown hair up in a messy bun.  "She appears," Lin commented cheerfully.  "Is your sister on her way out too?"

Alexis took a seat at the breakfast bar.  "Yeah, she just got in the shower."

Lin set 3 pancakes on a plate and handed it over to Alexis.  She immediately drenched it in syrup and dug in.  "Thanks, Lin."

"You are welcome," he said, pouring more batter into the pan.

Ten minutes later, Emma appeared with a frown on her face.  She was still pissed that Lin and Vanessa were trying to force to drop an AP class.  She would, however, accept pancakes as a bargaining chip.

"Did you sleep well?" Lin asked her.

"Lexi kept rolling over onto me," she grumbled.

"Well you won't have to put up with that much longer," he pointed out.  "Soon you'll have your own rooms again."

"Thank goodness," Alexis commented.

"Amen," Emma chimed in.

"I can feel the love," said Lin.  "So...speaking of moving, we need to start packing up the house.  Would you two be interested in helping if you were promised pizza for dinner?"

Alexis perked up, but Emma was not so easily convinced.  "Just pizza?" she pushed.  "How about a trip to the mall as well."

"For what?" Vanessa asked.

Emma shrugged.  "Stuff," she said vaguely.

"Pizza, ice cream, and a movie," Vanessa countered.  "I doubt you'll have much energy to be running around the mall."

Francisco let out a wail from the floor and Sebastian looked up guiltily.  Vanessa immediately walked over to her crying son.  "Sebastian, were you being careful?"

"Maybe?"

Vanessa picked the baby up and gave Sebastian a look.  "Daddy and I have talked to you about this before," she reminded him.  "You can't play rough with Francisco.  You've gotta be gentle."

"We'll go to the park after breakfast," Lin told his son, knowing the little guy needed to get some energy out.  Sebastian jumped in the air and did a little dance.  "But you've gotta be dressed to go to the park."

Now that he had the park hanging over his head, Sebastian was eager to get dressed.  He ran full sleep towards his bedroom.  Vanessa followed him in taking her coffee mug.  "I better go make sure he doesn't choose anything too ridiculous."

"How much stuff are we talking about packing?" Emma asked as Lin passed her a plate of pancakes.

"As much as you want," he told her.  "Maybe a few hours' worth of work?"

"Can we pick out our new furniture today?" Alexis asked eagerly.  She was excited about getting to start her own room from scratch.  She'd been surfing the web for ideas.

"Probably not today, but we could look tomorrow maybe," Lin told her.  "Do you already have some in mind?"

Alexis nodded and grabbed her laptop from the coffee table.  She had tons of websites bookmarked and started to show him some of her favorites.  "Dang girl," he commented at her thoroughness.  "Do you put this much effort into your school work?"

She giggled as she finished off her last pancake.  She definitely wasn't as into school as her older sister.

"Well, if you decide what you like, you can go ahead and just order it," he told her.  "You'd have to make sure it's delivered after the other owners move out."

Alexis excitedly took her computer back and continued comparing her favorite items.

"How about you, Em?" Lin asked as he started to clean the breakfast dishes. 

"I haven't really looked yet," she told him.  "I'll probably just order stuff online too."

"That makes it easy," he said as they all heard little feet running in the hallway.  Sebastian was dressed and eager to go to the park.

"I'll take the boys down to the park if you want to join me in a few minutes," Vanessa said as she found the keys.  She'd quickly changed into some jeans and a simple t-shirt, throwing her hair up in a ponytail.

"Okay, I'll be right there," Lin said.  "Girls, why don't you come with me and I'll show you what to pack."

____

Soon, the girls had been put to work packing a lot of the family's rarely used items.  They blasted the radio as they worked.  Emma's phone dinged in her pocket and she pulled it out.  She smiled when she saw it was from Alex.

                Hey you.  Busy today?

                Packing up the house.  We're moving in 2 weeks.

                Cool.  Where to?

                Just a couple blocks away.  Looking forward to not sharing a room with 11 y/o sister.

                I bet.  Need help?

Emma thought for a moment.  Lin and Vanessa had never really set down any rules about inviting people over, so she didn't see the harm.

                Sure!

She texted him her address and smiled as she packed away some towels.  About 10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Emma hugged him hello and then took his hand to walk him in.

"I'm so glad you offered to help," she told him.  "It'll go so much faster with 3 people."

"Didn't you just move in though?" He asked as he picked up some linen from the closet to start packing.

"Yeah, but they're buying us pizza for helping," she said.  "Plus, we're getting completely new bedrooms when we move in.  Alexis and I have been sharing a bed, so I get to pick out my own of everything."

"That'll be nice," he said. "I've been stuck with my same bedroom set since I was a little kid."

The two continued to pack, talking and laughing.  Alexis watched them and rolled her eyes.  Teenagers could be so ridiculous. 

With Alex around, packing actually wasn't that bad.  They'd packed 6 whole boxes when the front door opened, the family returning from the park.  Sebastian immediately ran for his toys, and it sounded like Francisco was in need of a feeding.  Vanessa took him back to the master bedroom.

Lin kicked off his shoes and was about to collapse on the couch when he heard giggling coming from the bathroom and a distinct male voice.  He knitted his eyebrows and walked down the hallway.  Inside the bathroom, Emma and an unknown teenage boy were dropping items into an open box.

"Oh, hi Lin," she said, clearing her throat.  "This is my friend, Alex.  Alex, Lin."

Lin gave a nod and a quick wave to Alex, a kid he had never met, who was currently handling the family's toiletries.

"How was the park?" Emma asked.

"It was great," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.  "Em, can I talk to you a minute privately?"

Emma sensed he wasn't happy.  "Uh...sure," she said, following behind him as they walked to her bedroom.  After they were inside, he closed the door.

"What is he doing here?" He asked her, crossing his arms.

"He's helping me pack," she said simply, not seeing the issue.

Lin nodded.  "A stranger I've never met is alone in our apartment with you?"

"We weren't alone.  Lexi's here," she pointed out.

"Emma, you can't just invite boys over when Vanessa and I aren't home," he told her.  "It's not appropriate."

"Oh my god," she said, rolling her eyes.  "You can't be serious?  We were packing.  It's not like we were making out."

"I'm glad you had enough sense not to be doing that," said Lin.  "You need to ask him to leave."

Emma let out a frustrated gasp.  "But why?  You're home now.  He was only here for, like, 15 minutes."

"He needs to go," Lin restated simply.

"Fine," Emma said shortly.  "Then I'm leaving too."

"No you're not," Lin told her.  Emma ignored him and moved to step around him, but he caught her upper arm.  "Take a seat."

He guided her over to the bed.  "You can stay in here for a while.  I'll go ask him to leave."

"This is so ridiculous!" Emma fumed, falling back onto the bed.  It seemed Lin was trying to ruin her life – making her give up an AP class, and now sending away perhaps the only friend she had in New York City.

Lin shut the door behind him and walked back to the bathroom, where Alex was examining a pumice stone.  "Alex, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need you to head home."

Alex looked over at Lin and put the pumice stone down.  "Oh okay," he said.  "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, but Emma shouldn't have invited you over here when we weren't home," he told the teenager.  "I'm sure she'll text you soon."

"My bad," Alex told him.  "Hey, are you that Hamilton guy?"

Lin sighed.  "Yeah, I'm the Hamilton guy.  Let me walk you to the door.  Are you taking the subway home?"

"Yeah," Alex told him.

"The station's down the block and to the right," he directed him as he opened the apartment door.  Alex nodded, disappointed, and walked out.  Lin breathed out slowly through his mouth.  He couldn't believe Emma would just invite a guy over when they weren't home.  He wasn't done talking about this with Emma, but he needed to have some space from it for a while.

That apparently wouldn't happen, as Emma came storming out of her bedroom.  "Why are you trying to ruin my life?" she accused him, hands over her chest, fuming.

Lin took in a deep breath to calm himself.  "I assure you, I'm not trying to ruin your life," he told her, keeping his voice steady.  "But you need to realize that having a boy over here unsupervised is not appropriate."

"Nothing happened!" she told her, raising her voice even more.  "You act like I'm some skank who has tons of guys over to make out or something."

"Emma, I'm not ready to talk about this with you yet," he admitted.  "You need to go to your room until we've both calmed down."

"This is bullshit," she told him as she turned to walk away.

"Emma Elizabeth!" he scolded her, looking over at Sebastian.  Luckily, he seemed to be distracted by his toys, but he certainly didn't want him hearing that type of language.  He heard the door slam, and he struggled not to go after her.  He reminded himself they both needed some space.  Vanessa walked into the kitchen a few moments later, looking confused and concerned.

"What was all that about?" she asked, sensing her husband was tense.  She rubbed her hand up and down his back.

"Did you see Emma had a guy over?" he asked.

Vanessa shook her head.  "No, I was so focused on getting Francisco fed.  There was a boy here?"

Lin nodded, rubbing his goatee.  "I sent him home, and Emma's pissed.  I didn't think she'd do something like that."

"I'll talk to her in a little bit," Vanessa told him, sensing this might be more of a woman to woman issue.  She certainly didn't think it was okay to have a guy over with no adult home, but she could tell where Emma was coming from.  To be a teenager and have a crush on someone did things to your senses.  "Why don't you go relax with Sebastian."

Lin nodded, still a bit perplexed.  Had he overreacted?  Emma's response certainly hadn't made it any easier.  He gladly joined his son on the floor, wanting to take his mind off what had just happened.

___

About half an hour later, Vanessa knocked on Emma's bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Vanessa," she replied.  "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she mumbled.  Vanessa opened the door and shut it behind her.  Emma was laying on the bed, leafing through a magazine.

"I heard about what happened earlier," she began, sitting on the edge of the bed.  "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't see why Lin got so upset," she told him, setting her magazine down roughly.  "He totally embarrassed me, and now Alex will probably never talk to me again."

"If he's worth it, he will," she said.  "Is this the boy you were telling me about the other day?"

Emma nodded, smiling.  "He's a musician and he goes to Stuyvesant."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to meet him," she said.  "Maybe you can invite him over another time so Lin and I can meet him properly."

"Yeah, maybe," she sighed.  "Do you think it's a big deal I invited him over?"

"There needs to be an adult around if you have a boy over," she said, backing Lin up.

"Don't you guys trust me?"

She nodded.  "We do, but sometimes things can get out of hand.  Teenage boys have crazy hormones.  If he started coming on to you, what would you have done?"

Emma thought about it.  She'd like to think she could control herself, but she had to admit Alex would be hard to resist.  Vanessa took Emma's hand.

"When you're a teenager, it might be hard to see, but we're just trying to protect you," she said gently.  "We don't want you to put yourself in a bad position."

Emma nodded, understanding somewhat.  She was in a transition period.  She was still considered a child, but was starting to have adult urges.  Vanessa gave her hand a supportive squeeze.

"When you're ready to come out, you can," she told her.  "But I think you owe Lin an apology."

Vanessa left the teenager to compose herself, then joined the others in the living room.  Lin and Sebastian had since moved to the piano, where they were playing together.  Sebastian was demanding he sing the Paw Patrol theme song.  Lin was doing his best to get all the names right.

"Paw Patrol, Paw Patrol!

  We'll be there on the double

  Whenever there's a problem

  'Round Adventure Bay

  Ryder and his team of pups

  Will come and save the day

  Marshall, Rubble, Chase,

  Rumba..."

"No, daddy," Sebastian interrupted him, touching his arm.  "It's Rocky."

Lin put his hands back on the piano

"Rocky, Zuma...."

"No, soft voice, daddy," Sebastian corrected him.

Vanessa smiled.  She loved watching them play together.  Sebastian was lucky to have a father who was so musically inclined.  They had so much fun together.

The silly tunes continued, and a few minutes later, Emma emerged from her bedroom.  She grabbed a cup of water, watching Lin and Sebastian play together.  Emma realized how much she missed her own father.  As a little girl, they would often sing silly songs together.  She took a deep breath and composed herself.

Quietly, she walked over to the piano.  Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Lin's shoulders from behind.  Lin took one hand off the piano, and gave her wrist a squeeze.

"Sorry I snapped at you," she said softly.

"Thank you," he told her, impressed that she came to apologize.

"I shouldn't have invited him over.  I'll ask for your permission next time."

Lin nodded, satisfied that they were on the same page now.  "Good girl.  I would like to meet him."

Emma stood up and smirked.  "I'll get back to packing."

"Emma, play with us!" Sebastian requested, looking up at Emma.  It was a request she couldn't resist.  Lin scooted over a little bit, and she joined them on the piano for a trio.

A/N: Thanks to those who have voted and commented! They make my day! Let me know if you have any suggestions for where the story should go. I'm open to suggestions!