Lia had this senior year thing down. At eight o'clock she shut her laptop, done with her final assignment for the day. Her parents had been worried about the amount of AP classes she was taking but they had to admit they were impressed with the results. She was only a few weeks into the semester, but was pulling all A's as usual and was still holding her spot in the top ten percent of her class. Surely MIT would take notice.

They were down to the last week of filming season one of HDM in Wales. Tomorrow, she would visit her dad one last time on set. The twins loved the hot air balloon and Lia had to admit it was pretty damn cool. One thing she was ready to be done with was her dad's mustache. He'd grown it to play Lee Scoresby and she and Vanessa both thought it looked ridiculous.

She couldn't wait to be back in New York and, most importantly, see Ayden. They'd been together coming up on three years and they were pretty serious. They had gotten a bit physically intimate but had never gone all the way. She was paranoid that one of her parents would walk in or they would be interrupted some way. Now that he was in college it would be easier, but Lia still didn't feel quite ready. Ayden never pressured her but she could sense he was ready for them to move their relationship to the next level. Lia knew he wasn't a virgin. He could surely get laid at college. Lia worried that he viewed her as immature and babyish since she was still in high school and they'd never slept together.

She'd been gone for months and knew many things could change in an instant. They'd kept in touch but Lia wondered if things would feel different when she got back. Had anyone at Columbia caught his attention? Would they pick back up where they'd left off? Would he expect sex since they'd been apart and they missed each other?

And most importantly, how would she know if she was ready?

—-

The next morning they were up early to join Lin on set. When they arrived a couple of the kids were running around being ridiculous. They saw Lin and immediately ran to him. Dafne embraced him and joked around with Lin about something that had apparently happened yesterday. Lia felt a twinge of jealousy. Dafne had been spending more time with her father than she had lately. Her dad was a big kid himself so she shouldn't be surprised he was so playful and close to all the kid actors but it still hurt a bit.

"Dafne! Lewin!" The studio teacher called to them from a trailer. Thank goodness. It was time for them to do school work. They both hugged him before running off for their lessons.

"Ugghhh..." Lia mumbled under her breath.

Lin adjusted Seb in his arms. "You okay?" He asked his oldest.

"Fine," she said shortly. "Can we go see the balloon?"

"Bawwoooon!!" Seb exclaimed excitedly. Lin could sense his daughter was peeved but he wasn't sure why. They'd just arrived and everyone seemed in good spirits.

"Sure, c'mon," he gestured with a nod of the head towards the large building that held the green screen and hot air balloon. Sebastian began to squirm with excitement so Lin set him down so he could run ahead with his twin sister.

Lin hung back as Vanessa began to chase the kids. "Are you alright?" He asked again.

"Fine," she told him again shortly, her arms crossed. Though he'd only known his daughter for three years, he could read her moods and body language. She was definitely not fine.

"You sure?" He asked gently.

"I'm fine..." she told him. "Just ready to be home."

They came to a stop outside the building and turned to face each other. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. If I don't get a decent bagel soon I might lose my mind."

Lia chuckled a little, thinking of the bakery down the road back in Brooklyn. There were a lot of things she missed about New York, and the food was definitely one of them.

Lin studied his daughter as she bit her lip and seemed to be thinking.

"Are you nervous about going back?" He ventured a guess

She looked up and met his eyes. After pausing a moment she nodded her head.

"I feel a little nervous too," he admitted. Lia looked at him again, a bit surprised. Her dad was always so cool and collected. He was always smiling and laughing and just being a good spirit. Why would he be nervous?

"Why?" She asked.

He half-smiled, knowing his kid thought he was invincible. He'd thought the same thing about his own dad growing up. He always had the answer and knew what to do.

"I worry I'll fail," he admitted. "Every day. Hamilton has been my biggest accomplishment so I know the public expects great things. I'm afraid I'll get it wrong and bomb."

Lia thought for a few moments, considering. Her father, a multi-millionaire with the highest accolades, was afraid of failure?

"You won't," she told him.

Lin chuckled and dug at the ground. "Well I hope you're right," he told her, squeezing her shoulder. "And you won't either. Know why?"

She grinned and shook her head. Lin looked at his wife, holding Stella upside down as she cackled. "Because that's your mom."

Lia rolled her eyes and laughed out loud. "Yeah, failing isn't in her DNA."

"Miranda AND Nadal?" He pointed out. "You've got no chance."

Lin put his arm around her as they walked together towards Vanessa and the twins to enjoy their last day on set.
—-

"Seb, babe, please don't touch that.... box," Vanessa said with a sigh, as she saw the aforementioned box tumble to the ground, kitchenware sprawled out onto the floor. As stressful as packing up the family's entire lives and moving to a different country was, there was something about unpacking and moving back to what 'normalcy' was meant to be that was even moreso daunting. Thankfully, they had put out the money to have professional movers box up all of their stuff, but the type A woman had given such specific instructions that they really just paid for people to put their stuff into boxes. Those boxes, however, were apparently no match for her active toddlers who found great enjoyment in moving the boxes around and hearing the noise they made. Their mother... not so much.

"Alright," Vanessa mumbled under her breath as she stood up from the ground with a crack of her knees, "Let's find something for you two to do," she couldn't help but smile at their innocent faces, looking so proud of themselves for seemingly helping their mom unpack.

Vanessa picked up both twins and moved them from the dining area into the living room, still within her eyesight but with a baby gate up that would keep them from wandering. She selected a playlist on her phone of 90s rap, a fan favorite in the Nadal-Miranda household. The twins loved the beats to dance to and, fortunately, didn't quite grasp the lyrics yet.

Thirty minutes later, Vanessa was still unpacking while the twins were still dancing around the living room to Nas as Lia barreled out of her bedroom.

"Why does it sound like there is a party happening at 9:00 a.m?"

"Because the twins and I decided we needed some hype music to start the day," Vanessa said with a laugh before doing a double take at her eldest, "You look exhausted,"

"You know how to make someone feel great first thing in the morning," Lia said contrite as she beelined for the coffee pot, "I was trying to beat the jet lag and decided to catch up with Hunter on FaceTime last night and it had the opposite effect,"

"If you can hold off on the coffee. Dad went down the street to grab some about an hour ago. He should be back soon,"

"The man talks to anything that moves," Lia let out a sigh as she dragged her feet to their countertop and laid her head on the cool granite, "You think if I call him he'll come faster?"

Vanessa shrugged her shoulders, "Worth a shot," she replied as she continued to organize the various bowls and cups they had accumulated in Wales, "Are you going to see Hunter soon?"

Lia didn't respond as the dial tone on her phone rang to no avail other than the automated voicemail box she knew her dad would never check. She sent him a text with an abundance of exclamation marks that she needed him to return to their apartment immediately. Lia had never been a morning person, and coupled with the last few days or travel plus the time difference, to say she needed caffeine was an understatement.

She put her phone away when she sent the text, "Yeah," Lia finally responded to her mom, "She said she'll probably come up here for Fall break," One of the advantages Lia got when Lin came into her life was a whole host of new family members. She had grown especially close to her cousin, Hunter, over the years.

"That sounds great!" Vanessa smiled, "And you're going to see Ayden today, right?"

When Lia nodded, Vanessa went quiet for a few beats before deciding to open the can of worms, "You don't think it was a bit strange that he didn't see you yesterday?"

"Mom...," Lia curled her head into her forearms, not wanting to continue the conversation that had taken up the majority of her day yesterday through various arguments with her boyfriend, "I told you that he had practice," There was more to the story, but Lia wasn't going to have that conversation with her mom, especially not before having even a sip of coffee.

"I know," Vanessa continued the conversation with caution. It was hard finding the balance between wanting Lia to open up to her and Lia feeling stifled, "You just haven't seen each other in nearly five months. I figured he'd whisk you away the second we landed,"

"Which is why we are seeing each other today," Lia replied swiftly, "He has a life; I can't just expect him to stop it for me," She repeated the words that she had said the previous night to Hunter over FaceTime when she made a similar argument.

"Well, Lia, he is your, -"

"Mom," Lia took her head out of her self-made cocoon and gave her mom a look, "We're hanging out today; can we please drop it?"

"Alright," Vanessa conceded and peered her eyes up to find the twins still happy as ever with Tobi scurrying around them, before returning her attention to her dishware. She didn't want to start the day arguing with Lia, and if she wanted to talk to her, she hopefully would.

Lia was about to pull out her phone to send another urgent text to her father when Lin walked through the front door, carefully balancing a tray of drinks in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other.

"Thank god you're back!" Lia said with delight, hopping off of the chair and taking the tray from her dad to sort through which coffee she was about to down.

"Damn, I'll bring you breakfast every day if it means I get that reaction! I got your usual," Lin said with a smile as he made his way over to his wife to hand her the coffee and breakfast sandwich she had asked, which she thanked him with a kiss. He stepped over the assortment of boxes and baby gate towards the twins, whose eyes lit up when he pulled out juice boxes and a blueberry muffin. "I was thinking of taking the kids and Tobi to the park in a bit to get out of the house while you have time to unpack,"

"No park. Muffin now," Stella said contrite with her mouth wide open towards her dad.

"Por favor?" Lin encouraged the toddler, who repeated the words with vigor, before breaking off a piece to her delight.

"That would be amazing, thank you" Vanessa chimed in. Although her work-life balance was a shitshow, she was always grateful how in sync she and Lin usually were when it came to their family life.

"Of course; it will be good for all of us to consume the New York air again," Lin said with a wink before turning his attention back towards his youngest as he simultaneously broke apart the piece of the pastry his son was trying to stuff into his mouth, "Stel, you love the park! You go down the slide with daddy and we get to see the pond with the ducks! Lia, aren't the ducks the best part of the park?" He looked over his shoulder to his daughter who was hoarding down a bacon and egg croissant.

"Oh yeah," she said enthusiastically in between bites, "The ducks are the coolest! And you'll have so many things to tell me about when I get back tonight,"

"You're not coming with us?"

Lia shook her head, and finished her last bite before speaking again, "I'm seeing Ayden,"

"No ducks! Por favor!" Stella repeated the magic words before eating more of the muffin that Lin had tore off for her.

"But you love the ducks!" Lin pleaded with a huge smile as he faced off with the two year old, "You mean you would rather hang out with your boyfriend than your family?"

Vaness and Lia gave her Lin a look.

"Yeah, don't answer that," Lin's voice trailed off as Vanessa flashed him a sympathetic smile.

"Dad, I like hanging out with you. Just not today," Lia said as she came out of the kitchen, "Stel don't you want to chase the butterflies with Tobi again? With all the pretty colors!"

Stella's face went into an 'o' shape as she squealed in excitement, "Yay park!!"

Lia gave her sister a high five before smirking in pride at both her parents before heading into her bedroom.

"I've been replaced by butterflies and boyfriends," Lin said in a voice filled with pity once Lia's door shut.

"That's not true," Vanessa laughed as she drank the last bit of her macchiato as she came and sat on the ground with his husband and two kids, "Sebastian also really loves his trucks,"

Lin rolled his eyes at his smirking wife. He knew they still had to unpack the various boxes around the house, figure out his next steps and have an actual conversation about Vanessa going back to work, and simultaneously manage to parent an independent teenager and two rambunctious toddlers, but that could wait. Right then, all Lin wanted to do was drink his coffee and sit back with his wife and watch their kids giggle with delight as Tobi would come over to them with hopeful eyes for crumbs of their muffin. Their time in the UK had drawn to a close, but it seemed like their life in New York was already going to bring new challenges for them to face together.