If she were a good friend she would've already known what to grab Justin at Starbucks. But, as recent occurrences showed, Lia was definitely lacking in the good friend department so she had no idea what he'd want. A peace offering in the form of a hot chocolate was all she could come up with.

Lia waited nervously on a bench at East River Park the next afternoon after school, her own hot chocolate in hand. Would Justin think it was childish to bring hot chocolate? It was such a juvenile drink wasn't it? She wished she knew more about sophisticated hot beverages to be able to order something fancy like espresso or cappuccino. Right now, though, she needed comfort and what wasn't more comforting than hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

The first days back at school had been rough. As someone who hated being the center of attention, it had been a bit of a nightmare to have students and teachers alike congratulating her dad and how cool it was that she got to be there. And what was Weird Al like? He was hilarious, by the way.

All day she'd had a rock in her gut, wondering how Justin might act at their first meeting. The phone call had gone reasonably well, but Lia knew she'd been in the wrong by lying about her identity. Would he feel like he couldn't trust her after such a big lie? He didn't seem like the type but what if he blabbed her secret to the rest of the group or, worse, the media? Just as her thoughts were starting to race she saw Justin walking quickly through the entrance. Her face lit up.

"Justin!" She called, giving him a timid wave when he looked up. He gave her a nod and a half smile. However, she could tell instantly that  he looked stressed.

He took a seat next to her and let out a big sigh. He was going to dump her wasn't he? They hadn't even officially been dating in the first place but this felt like the beginning of a break up.

"What's wrong?" She asked him immediately, searching his face for any clue about what he was thinking.

Justin ran a hand over his hair, not sure how much to tell Lia. The mess that was his family was enough to scare anyone anyway.  He'd started to become numb to it in recent months; if he lost a friend over it he didn't much care.  But Em - Lia - somehow this was different.  If she ran, he wasn't sure he could handle another blow.

"Um..." he felt his nerves shoot up, wondering if he should let her in.  No, it was still too early.  She'd freak out.  "Don't worry about it."

It was obvious to Lia something was bothering him.  "Listen, Justin, I'm really sorry about how I handled all this," she started.  "If you don't want to see me anymore-"

"No, it's not that," he told her, finally making eye contact.  His eyes were stressed; pained.  It seemed like he wanted to continue, but something was stopping him.  Lia put down her hot chocolate on the ground and took his right hand between hers.  Warmth.

"Then what is it?" She asked gently, rubbing her top hand over his.  Her eyes pleaded with his to open up.

Justin looked at her for a few long moments, but then psyched himself out.  "Look, I totally get how you didn't want to tell the group who you were," he expertly changed the subject.  "Having a famous parent must be exhausting, and you're entitled to your privacy."

Lia nodded gently, relieved that he seemed to understand.  But his behavior so far still left a sick feeling to her stomach.  Something was still wrong.

"But when we started hanging out I should've told you," she confessed.  "And I should've told you my real name."

"You had your reasons," he acknowledged.

"I'm still really sorry," she told him gently.  Lia began to rub his wrist, his forearm, with her hand, hoping something would work to soothe whatever it was he was feeling.  She had a feeling it wasn't just her doing, but she was clueless as to what it might be.

"No worries," he gave her a reassuring half-smirk.  "Don't worry, I won't ask you for Hamilton tickets.  I saw a student matinee when I was in high school."

Lia finally laughed a little.  People did seem to have a tendency to ask for a ticket hook-up after they got comfortable.  Somehow she'd known Justin would never put her in that position.  Justin moved his hand and instead linked it with hers, sending a flutter to Lia's heart.  He really didn't hate her.

"Let's go blow off a bit of steam," he decided, fishing out his cell phone from his pocket.  "Have you ever been to NYU?"

Lia shook her head, feeling much more relaxed now.  As a life-long New Yorker, there were certain places she had just never ventured, even though so much was relatively close by.

"We can take the L, then the N," He told her as they stood up, only now noticing the two Starbucks cups. "Don't forget your coffee."

"Oh!" She bent down and picked up the two drinks.  "I got us both hot chocolates.  I hope that's not too babyish."

He chuckled as she handed him his cup.  "My favorite," he confessed.  "You're my spirit animal."

The two began walking towards the Bedford Avenue station, chatting about anything and everything.  There were pauses in the conversation every now and then, but Lia never felt like they were uncomfortable or that she had to rush to fill in the silence.  Everything with Justin was just easy and relaxed.  Lia wondered what others might be assuming about them as they got off the subway and strolled towards Washington Square Park.  Did they assume they were a couple?  That she was an NYU student?

They reached the fountain in the park, where they'd filmed the opening theme song of Friends, one of Lia's favorite shows.  She was feeling goofy by this point, mimicking some of the cast's ridiculous dance moves, though falling short of playing in the fountain.

Justin began showing her around NYU, pointing out some of the buildings and what programs were located where.  They had science programs and creative writing programs, and the campus was beautiful and right in the heart of NYC.  Lia's mind began to wonder.  She'd never even considered NYU. 

They sat down on a bench to take a break.  "I've been so focused on getting away from my life that I never even considered staying nearby," she confessed to him.

"New York's a pretty big place," he reminded her.  "Big enough for both you and your dad."

Lia grinned at that.  Sometimes the world didn't seem big enough being the daughter of Lin-Manuel Miranda.  She loved her dad, but she wanted to be her own person. Could she ever completely escape his shadow, no matter where she went?

"So where do you live?" She asked him.  "One of the dorms?"

He immediately looked a bit unsettled and Lia wondered what she'd said wrong.  Justin looked down at his shoes.  "Oh, I still live at home for now."

"Oh," she said, a bit surprised.  Part of the pull of college was being able to live away from home.  She loved her parents and siblings, but the prospect of being independent thrilled her.  "To save money?"

Justin let out a humorless chuckle.  "Not exactly," he told her, leaning forward as he rested his forearms on his thighs.  "Family stuff."

"Oh," Lia felt embarrassed for not having realized it was a sensitive subject.  It was so presumptuous of her to just assume Justin was a regular college kid, enjoying dorm life and partying. It seemed like his family was a sensitive topic with him. "Sorry."

"Not your fault," he told her, letting out a puff of air through his mouth. 

Lia's phone buzzed and she saw that it was her dad.  She decided she'd better answer it, since she was still trying to earn their trust back.  "Sorry," she mumbled to Justin.  "I gotta take this."

Lia stood up and walked a couple benches away from Justin.  "Hey, Dad," she greeted Lin.

"Hi mija," he responded.  "Are you nearby?"

"No, not really," she told him. "Why?"

"Ugghhh," she could just see him rubbing a hand over his hair in frustration.  "I was hoping you could pick up Seb from daycare."

"Oh," Lia was a bit confused.  "Umm...I could be there in, like, half an hour?" She guessed.  "Only Sebastian?"

"Yeah, we had to pick up Stella early," he explained.  "She...bit another kid pretty hard.  We might have to pull them out."

"Yikes," Lia responded, concerned for both her sister and whoever the poor soul was that she bit.  "So is Mom not around?"

"She's in a meeting with the principal and the other mom, and I have Stella," he explained.  "Don't worry.  I think Abuela might be able to get out of a meeting she has and come get him.  But you should probably head home."

"Okay, I will," she told him, and they said their goodbyes.  The look on Lia's face must have been a giveaway as to how she was feeling, because Justin looked concerned.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, we had a little family emergency," she explained, tucking her phone in her back pocket.  "I need to get home to help with my little brother.  I'm really sorry."

Justin gave an understanding nod, and Lia thought she could sense a tinge of sadness.  She felt awful for having to ditch their date like this after she'd lied to him.  "Family's important."

Lia nodded as he stood.  "I'd love to hang out again though," she told him earnestly.  "Maybe Thursday after group?"

He nodded and grinned a little.  "Thursday after group."

Not thinking too much into it, Lia stepped forward and gave Justin a hug.  It seemed like they both needed it.  She was relieved that he didn't pull away.  In fact, his arms closed around her and he hugged her back for several long moments.

When they pulled back she smiled at him, wondering what it would be like to kiss him.  She felt her face begin to flush, so she wished him a quick goodbye before she said or did anything embarrassing.

Justin smirked as he watched her walk off quickly towards the A train station.  His own phone rang and he knew he, too, was being called to duty.

_____

Lia was half expecting to walk into a house full of shouting and crying toddlers.  She'd only heard a little bit of what had transpired at the twins' daycare earlier.  All she knew was that Stella must have bitten a kid badly enough that her enrollment might be in jeopardy.  The kid was gutsy, but Lia could tell she was starting to border on dangerous.

She was a bit out of breath from walking as fast as she could.  Lia walked in to find both her parents sitting on the couch talking softly.  Her mother had apparently already broken into the wine, as she was nursing a glass while Lin rubbed her back.  They both looked over as Lia set her backpack down and caught her breath.

"Hi sweetheart," Lin called to her, giving her a look that could only mean to tread lightly around her mother.

"Hi," she responded quietly as she toed her shoes off.  "Need me to help with anything?"

"Would you pull out a frozen pizza?" Vanessa called tiredly.  "Cheese for the twins.  And maybe some peas?"

"Sure," Lia responded dutifully, knowing it wasn't a good time to question anything.  It was a sad state of a day when her mother resorted to feeding the family frozen pizza.  She was a stickler for eating healthy food, and pizza was usually reserved for weekends or nights when she was just too exhausted to bother with anything else.

Lia tried to work quietly in the kitchen as her parents kept talking quietly on the couch.  She knew she shouldn't try to eavesdrop, but she also needed information.  How bad was this?

"...bleeding...mom was so angry...mortified..." she could overhear bits of her mother's venting.

"Spoiled celebrity kid," Vanessa pushed her hair out of her face, "That's all the mom kept repeating every time Ms. Cabera tried to say anything,"

Lin shook his head in frustration. He was used to his job leading to completely false assumptions about himself, but his kids didn't deserve the same treatment. "We know that isn't the case. Ms. Cabera loves the twins,"

"But it doesn't matter how much she loves you or me or us!" Vanessa said louder than she had intended, clearly still processing the meeting she had had, "If something like this happens again, they're both out!"

Lia gnawed at the inside of her lip as she poured the bag of frozen peas into a pot. This was bad.  "What exactly happened?" She cautiously asked, still not sure of the full story.

Vanessa took a swig of her merlot before having to recount the details yet again, "The class was on the playground and Stella was playing with some sand toys. A little girl took one of the toys from Stella and wouldn't give it back when she asked."

"So, Stella bit her?"

"Yes," Vanessa replied.

"But I don't understand why there was no conversation about the kid provoking Stella in the first place," Lin spoke up, which Lia nodded in agreement to.

"Because sand toys are irrelevant when a kid's arm is bleeding!" Vanessa was growing more irritated, "Did you really expect me to say, 'Sorry your kid has a bite mark on her but you should teach her how to share?!'"

"No," Lin tried to carefully choose his words. He knew his wife was upset, but he felt a bit defensive. "Of course not. But I think the response should fit the action. Now because our toddler bit another student, we have to find her therapy?"

"Therapy?" Lia's brow raised as she leaned against the closed stove, the aroma of the pizza started to fill the room. How did you even put a two year old who can barely handle being potty trained with a licensed professional?

"Play therapy," Vanessa said when she looked up and saw her teenager's expression, "And we aren't just talking about today, Lin. Stella's behavior has been amping up for the past few months and we've both said things about it."

Lin tried to maintain his normally level headed demeanor, but the way that his hand left his wife's back as he folded his arms across his chest made Vanessa feel otherwise, "We've had conversations about Stella acting out - like any other toddler does. That doesn't make Stella a bad kid."

"Are we getting these calls about Sebastian?" Vanessa asked pointedly, not understanding why her husband was downplaying their daughter's actions.

"Sebastian has always been less rambunctious than Stella."

Lia turned away from the living room and mindlessly stirred the pot on the stove. She could tell by the rising volume of their voices that her parents were becoming more agitated with each other - something that rarely happened.

Vanessa shifted her weight on the couch, setting her half filled glass down, "This isn't an issue of Stella being too active! This is an issue of you making excuses for her behavior and trivializing the situation. You weren't the one in that office having to sit there humiliated, practically begging the school to keep them! It's not as if we just have a pick of schools to choose from."

The underhanded comment was a dodge at him and they both knew it, "I get that I'm a public figure, V, and I know how hard it was to find a daycare for the twins."

"So then why are you fighting so hard on this? We either look into outside help or they kick us out."

Lin threw his hands up, "Why are you so alright with this? We just nonchalantly give into ultimatums when it comes to our kids? Is that what you did when Lia was their age?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes, feeling like she was talking to a wall, neither of them paying any kind to the seventeen year old who was awkwardly standing less than ten feet away at the helm of the cooking food, "Well, you weren't there Lin so, unfortunately, there wasn't anyone around to talk me out of my insane parenting philosophy of listening to the people who are around my kid the majority of the day. I had to do that on my own.

"And whose fault was that, Vanessa?"

A pin dropped would have sounded like an atomic bomb as the room grew eerily quiet. The subject of Vanessa not telling Lin that she had been pregnant was one that hardly ever came up. It was an easy shot to draw out the intense emotions of both parties involved, and they both were well aware of it. If it was ever talked about, it was dealt with compassion - not used as a tactic to hurt the other. And it definitely wasn't something that Lia wanted to hear.

"What is going on out here?" Lia looked up to see her Abuela for the first time that day as she came through the hallway, "I just got the twins out of the bath and settled down with a movie."

Vanessa and Lin both shared the same cold look. A conversation that started out bad took a turn that brought up old wounds that neither of them knew how to address, especially when they were still in the midst of their heated emotions towards the other. It was different from a regular marital disagreement.

"It's fine, Luz, I just need some air." Vanessa said shortly, not even looking at her husband, as she stood up from the couch and grabbed her keys off the counter as she headed out the front door.

Lin ran a hand over his face as the door slammed behind his wife. He was feeling an array of emotions: frustration, embarrassment, guilt. But most of all, pissed. He was pissed that people were making Stella out to be a monster. He was pissed that Vanessa had brought up him not being around when Lia was growing up. He was pissed that he had acted like an ass towards her. And he was pissed that their daughter had witnessed it all, and that his mother was looking on with clear disapproval.

There was an instant pain in his stomach when he looked up and saw Lia's face. The ever sensitive teenager just held a stoic face, stunned at her parents' harsh words. The fact that the normally overly sensitive girl wasn't crying spoke volumes.

The beeping of the oven timer went off before anyone could say anything further. Lia grabbed an oven mitt from the drawer and pulled out the slightly browned pizza from the oven and left it on top of the stove. She turned the oven off and turned the burner for the peas on a low heat before calling out that she was going to check the mail.

Lia had never been more appreciative to a timer as she slipped on a pair of her Nike slides she kept near the entryway and made her descent into the elevator. How a conversation about Stella took a turn and ended with her parents fighting about her was lost on the seventeen year old. Did her mom regret raising Lia on her own? Did her dad still resent her mom for keeping her from him? The one thing she did know was that she was at the center of, yet, another family blowout.

She gave a small wave to the doorman she frequently saw before heading into the mailroom. She got to their apartment's box and slid her key into the slot. She pulled out the stack of papers that had accumulated over the past day - her mom was typically quite rigid about picking it up each day. Lia shut the box before heading back to the elevator, mindlessly flipping through the envelopes. Mostly bills and flyers for upcoming activities going on in their neighborhood. What made her heart skip a beat was at the bottom of the stack that made its way up to the top of the pile. The package that was bigger than the rest. She impulsively dropped the rest of the envelopes at her feet and pressed the emergency button in the elevator.

There it was. A crisp, shiny packaged envelope, stuffed with papers inside. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Admissions written in a cardinal red in the upper left hand corner. She had only received her rejection from Yale and had assumed with the holidays nearing she wouldn't hear from another school until after the new year. She knew by the weight of the package what was inside. For years, she had waited for this very moment. All the work and anxiety and stress had led to this very moment. The state of her family problems upstairs in their apartment wasn't lost on her. It wasn't, at all, how she had pictured this moment happening.

She had envisioned her mom, trying to remain stoic while equally wanting to run off and grab her old MIT hoodie as her dad watched behind the lens iPhone wanting to catch every second of the moment while keeping his own tears at bay. Her siblings would have very little clue as to what was going on but would cheer with the rest of them as she barely got the words out in a, somewhat, coherent manner. None of that would be happening though. This was her moment alone.

She knew that once she opened the envelope there would be more questions and decisions to be made. She didn't care though. She took a deep breath and said a quick prayer to whoever might be up in the sky watching over this moment. She carefully cut the edge of the taped envelope with her key, just enough to pull the first sheet of paper out of its packaging. Her eyes fiercely scanned over the first sentence of the letter, which she held out far enough from her face to not smear any of the words with her tears that began escaping her eyes in an abundance. 

She was in.