"I'm in the 6.7%," Lia sang the phrase to herself for the umpteenth time after rereading her acceptance letter since she had opened it in the elevator twenty minutes prior. It was somewhat arrogant to equate herself to MIT's acceptance rate, but she didn't care. She got into her dream school. She could afford to be a bit arrogant.

She went straight into her bedroom when she came back into the apartment. It hadn't been hard considering she didn't see anyone around. She assumed her dad had either ventured off on his own or to find her mom. A large triangle of pizza had been cut out so she assumed her abuela was somewhere with the twins. She didn't mind, if she was being honest. She wanted to revel with the news for as long as she could.

Lia's phone pinged with an alert that put an even wider smile on her face.

Just wanted to say I had a great time with you earlier. Hope everything's okay.

She sat up in her bed, quickly typing out her response.

I did too! Can't wait for Thursday. Everything is fine...

Lia bit her lip as she thought about how much of her life she wanted to divulge. She was starting to trust Justin, and didn't want to make it seem like she didn't. But he also wasn't her boyfriend and the issue with Stella and her parents wasn't her story to tell. Besides, he seemed like he also had his own family stuff to deal with.

Just family stuff. She read over the text one more time before pressing send. She glanced over at her acceptance packet before typing a new message.

In better news, I heard back from a school today!

She wanted to share the news with someone and she did like talking to Justin. He didn't make her feel childish or silly for still being in high school. And they had been having a great time before their afternoon got cut short. The bane of her existence, the speech balloon, popped up in the messages thread. Before she could see what his response was, there was a knock at her bedroom door.

"Come in!" Lia called out and quickly stuffed the packet from MIT under her blankets.

Luz walked into the room, with a kind smile, "The twins are both laid down for the night. I always forget how much energy those two have," she laughed lightly before sitting down on the edge of Lia's bed, "I wanted to check in and see how you were doing,"

Lia offered a small smile, "I'm fine," She could tell by her grandmother's expression she wasn't convincing, "Honest! It's not the first time I've seen mom and dad fight."

"They said some pretty harsh things to each other. I know your dad was beating himself up pretty badly before he left out,"

Lia wasn't shocked. "Where did he go?"

"Get some air." Luz hadn't been surprised when Lin had asked if she could stay a while longer to watch the twins. Ever since he was a young boy, he had always processed things better on his own. For as extroverted as he was, he was also very intuitive.

"Do you think he still resents mom for not telling him about me?"

Luz took a few moments to gather her own thoughts before responding to her, also intuitive, granddaughter, "No. I think they both said things out of anger. He'll always wish that he had been in your life since the minute Vanessa found out she was pregnant, but I think he understands the reasons she made the choices that she did."

Lia nodded, quickly glancing at her phone as the screen lit up but she didn't respond. She knew that would be rude towards her grandmother, "Dad's just usually not the one to freak out like that. I agree with him though. Mom was acting pretty nuts."

Luz chuckled at Lia's choice of wording as she continued.

"He was the one who told me I should start therapy with Dr. Sanders originally. I don't get why he's so against the idea with Stel."

Luz looked at her granddaughter, seeing so much of her own son reflecting back. It was always striking how similar the two were, even though he had only been in her life for the last three years. "I think he is scared. I have never in my life seen your father happier than he is with you kids and your mom. He never wants to make any mistakes and I also think he sees a lot of himself in Stella."

Lia playfully rolled her eyes, "Well, yeah. Those two could perform a two person production of Hamilton and still have enough energy to run a 5K!"

The elder woman slapped the teenager's knee, with humor, as the two shared a laugh.

"You might be right about that," Luz said as their laughter died down, "Your mother is an attorney, and your father is a playwright. They see the world through vastly different lenses. It's normal for couples to have disagreements, but they'll be okay."

Lia nodded in agreement. She knew her parents couldn't go too long hating each other, even if they had said some pretty shitty things.

"So, back to you," Luz said with a clap, "Want to tell me about those papers you're trying to hide?"

Lia scrunched her eyebrows in confusion before looking down and seeing the referenced papers uncovered by her blanket. She gave her grandmother a sheepish grin, which was met with a look of omniscient smile. How were adults always one step ahead?

"I got in," she looked down and bit her lip, then realized she had no reason to hide her happiness.  Her eyes met her grandmother's and she finally allowed herself to fully smile.  She even let out a laugh.

Luz said nothing; just reached forward and took her granddaughter's face in her hands.  Lia could see the pride etched in her face.  The relief of it all washed over Lia and the tears began to trickle out.  She'd done it.  She'd gotten into MIT.

Finally, she whispered, "Estoy tan orgulloso de ti nieta."

Luz wiped away a tear falling down Lia's cheek.  She and her husband had struggled for so long.  They came from nearly nothing in Puerto Rico.  Through hard work and getting an education, they'd worked their way to New York City and a better life.  Lia was standing on the back of their accomplishments.  Because of their tenacity, Lia's own hard work was able to pay off with even bigger dividends.

"Gracias," Lia responded quietly.  "Te quiero."

"Yo tambien te amo," Luz responded.

The door burst open a moment later, and Lin appeared, looking flustered.  His eyebrows immediately furrowed at the sight of his mother and daughter crying together.  "Oh Christ.  Who died?"

Luz rolled her eyes at her son's comment then stood up.  She planted a kiss on Lia's forehead and walked towards the door.  She let a hand rest on her son's arm and looked up at him.  "Your daughter has news to share."

The look she gave her son told him not to mess this up.  Obviously, something important had happened.  He prayed to God she wasn't pregnant.  He was pretty sure Lia was responsible enough that he didn't have to worry about that particular nightmare.

Lin nodded and then closed the door after his mother wandered out.  He took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to push aside his own feelings for a minute.  It had been a difficult day to say the least.  Fighting with Vanessa was not something he tried to do regularly; the main reason being that he was almost sure to lose.  But in this case he wasn't backing down.  Stella wasn't a bad kid; she just had some things to work through.

He crossed the room and sat on the edge of Lia's bed, putting his hands on his knee caps.  "Alright, let's hear it," he declared.  "What's the news?"

Lia had since wiped the tears from her cheeks and composed herself.  She'd dreamed of this moment; of getting to tell her parents about being accepted into her dream school.  Her mother's alma mater.  Grinning, she pulled out the acceptance letter she'd just received.  Lin took it, reading the first sentence aloud.

"Dear Emilia Nadal Miranda, Congratulations," Lin stood up and his tone took on a high pitch of excitement, "YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY'S CLASS OF 2023!!"

He looked at his daughter, who was beaming proudly.  "Holy shit, Lia!!"

Lin tossed the letter onto her bed and pulled her up to her feet.  He began dancing salsa very badly and singing aloud (quite well).  Lia laughed and laughed as he twirled her and sang her accomplishment to the moon.  She felt like her heart was going to burst.

Surprised to hear her very recently pissed off husband singing joyfully, Vanessa put down her wine glass in the kitchen, where she'd been talking to Luz.  She gave her mother in law a confused look.  Luz winked back at her.  Vanessa gave her a good-humored suspicious look and began to walk back towards Lia's bedroom.  She could now hear Lia singing along.

The twins had just been put down and after a long day they certainly did not need to be woken up.  Vanessa rushed as quietly down the hallway as she could and pushed the door open.  The sight she found almost made all the stress of the day dissipate.

"Parriba esa bandera!  Alzara donde quiera!" The pair were singing and dancing along to some of Lin's favorite lyrics from Carnaval del Barrio.  "Can we raise our voice tonight?!  Can we make a little noise tonight?!"

Lin spotted his wife creeping in the door, looking confused, with Luz right behind her.  Between his salsa moves, he picked the letter back up from the bed.  He handed it to his daughter so she could show her mother.  Lia danced over to her mother; someone who had always been a role model and her biggest supporter.  Holding the piece of paper at the top and bottom, she presented it to her mom.  Vanessa's eyes darted over the paper, finding the MIT logo, her daughter's name, and the words congratulations and accepted.  Her arms flew around Lia as Luz shimmied back into the room, her old body still able to move easily to her favorite music.

They were all a sobbing, laughing, singing mob as they celebrated their Lia.  Sometimes it seemed their lives were full of non-stop stress, but moments like this was what carried them through.

Soon, there was crying coming from the next room over.  Lia's hand flew to her mouth and she giggled, realizing they'd probably woken up her younger brother and sister.  With her parents on edge all night, she was afraid they were going to be pissed, but her mother just rolled her eyes and laughed. 

"I'll get them," she told the crowd.  "Turn up some music!"

Lia laughed and grabbed her phone, deciding that Carnaval del Barrio would be the perfect song to continue with.  Andrea Burns's "Heyyyy!!! Heyyyy!!!" blared over her speakers.  Lia dramatically tossed her arms up as Lin and Luz feigned surprise.

"What's this tonteria that I'm seeing on the streeeeeeets?"

Vanessa walked in, carrying Seb in her arms with Stella holding her other hand.  Stella rubbed at her eye and looked around in bewilderment at all the grown ups being silly.  Is that what everyone did after she and her brother went to sleep every night?

"Carnaval!" Lia sang gleefully as she bent down and smiled at Stella, taking her hands.

"Carnaval!" Everyone echoed.

"Barrio!" She went on and Stella grinned widely.  She really adored her big sister.  Lia swayed her arms around, encouraging her to dance.

"Barrio!"

"Carnavaaaal," Lia sang with some sass, and she turned her little sister around in place.  Vanessa began to bounce Seb in her arms, but the little boy rested his head on her shoulder.  Unlike his sister, it took him a while to come out of his shell after he'd been woken up. 

"Barriooooo!  We don't need electricida!  Get off your butts avanza!  Saca la maraca!  Bring your tambourine!  Come and join the parranda!"

The whole family started singing and dancing at the chorus, with Stella toddler-dancing at the center.  As soon as that kid could stand, she was constantly bouncing, bending and milking any audience for attention any time music played.  And music was a big part of the Mirandas' world.  Any time she could hear her daddy's voice singing, she wanted to sing along as loud as she could and shake her tail off.

Since she didn't quite have her l's or r's down yet, she sang along, "Carnavawwww!!! Bawwioooo!!"

As Vanessa held their son in her hands, something in mind clicked and she met eyes with her husband.  Movement.  Dance.  Had this been what they'd been missing with Stella?  Maybe using these elements with some therapy could help Stella learn how to manage her anger in a different way.  Were there places that specialized in that?

The family celebrated together, ending the day with joy rather than the tension and hurt feelings earlier in the evening.  Somehow, Lin and Vanessa were able to get the twins back down relatively easily and Lia called all of the relatives she could think of. 

After she'd closed Seb and Stella's door, Vanessa went straight for her laptop.  She was the queen of researching things, especially when it came to her children.  Vanessa plopped herself at the kitchen table and did a Google search for dance and play therapy.  It was a thing!  She found several locations in New York City where therapy venues mentioned the subjects.  Several offered treatment to children, even mentioning that they started working with children as young as infants.

Luz bid her goodbyes, having stayed a bit later than she'd anticipated, but she was always happy to help the family.  After closing and locking the front door, Lin walked over to the couch, where his wife was sitting.  He closed his arms around her gently from behind, letting their faces touch.

"I'm sorry we were fighting earlier," he told her softly as he looked on.  Vanessa's hand gently stroked his forearm.

"Me too," she replied.  They didn't often disagree, but when it came to their children, both wanted what was best for them.  Most of the time, they agreed on what that was, but today was one of the rare instances where they didn't see eye to eye.

"I think I found a way to help Stella," she told her husband.  She pointed to the screen, where she had been reading up on how dance and movement therapy could help with dealing with emotions and tough feelings.  Lin quickly skimmed and felt his shoulders untense.  This sounded perfect for Stella.

"V," he said, standing up.  "I love this.  I absolutely think we should try this."

Vanessa put her laptop to the side and turned around to face her husband.  Her eyes sparkled, relieved that they were finally finding a possible solution.  "You think we should?"

Lin leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head.

"Best of wives, best of women," he told her softly, then he stood and reached for her hand.

"C'mon," he gestured down the hallway with a nod.  "Let's get to bed."

Happy to oblige, Vanessa walked around the couch, their hands still together.  Vanessa gave his hand a squeeze as they walked down the hallway.  No matter what challenges they faced, they would always be family.  And the Mirandas were an amazing family.