As I joked around with Luz and Luis, holding Francisco, I saw Lin come out of his bedroom. He had a bit of a worried look on his face, but once he stepped out, he put on a smile. Vanessa was pouring some wine and he walked over, put his hand on her back and leaned in to whisper something in her ear. She looked at him, surprised. No, a more accurate word would be floored. Being the nosy person I was, I wanted to know what was going on.

My grandparents visited with everyone for ten or so more minutes before kissing and hugging everyone goodbye. Lin and Vanessa decided they weren't in the mood to cook, so we ordered take out from our favorite Mexican restaurant. Vanessa started to play with the boys as Lin hung back in the kitchen, leaning on the counter with his arms crossed. He seemed deep in thought.

"Nora? I need to talk to you in private," he told me.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked him, raking my brain for anything I'd done wrong lately.

"No," he said. "I just need to talk to you."

I made my way back towards my bedroom and he followed behind me, closing the door. We both sat on my bed. He looked uncomfortable.

"Lin, what's going on?" I asked, getting a bit worried.

"That call was from your mom," he informed me, taking my hand. "She called to let me know they're releasing her tomorrow morning."

I was shocked. All along, people had been telling me she'd probably be in jail for years. "What? How?"

"They're dropping the charges on a technicality," he told me. "And they didn't have enough evidence."

"Wow..." I said, my shock slowly turning into elation. My mom was getting out! I was going to get to be with her. "This is surprising."

"Yes it is," he agreed with me. "It's way out of left field. How are you feeling?"

"Ummm...excited I guess?" I said, but I had so many questions. "Do I get to go meet her when she gets out? Do I go home with her?"

"Well, she's been evicted from her rental house," he told me. "So she's staying with a neighbor for a few days while she looks for a job. And you have school tomorrow."

"But Lin, my mom is getting out of jail," I reasoned with him.

"She's going to have a lot to do tomorrow, and we don't know when exactly it's going to happen. I think it's best you have a regular school day and then see her after school."

I wasn't sure how they would expect me to pay attention at school, but I decided not to argue.

"So, am I going with her after school?" I asked hopefully.

"We're all going to go out to dinner," he told me. "You, me and your mom."

That would be weird, I decided. My birth parents together for the first time since I was conceived. "And then do I go home with her?"

"She doesn't have a home right now, sweetie," he reminded me. "Her friend is being very generous letting her stay, so I don't think they need an extra person on top of that. You'd probably have to sleep on the floor."

"Couldn't she stay with us?"

I could tell that made Lin uncomfortable, but it was my mother. "Nora, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"I think it would make everyone uncomfortable," he told me. "You'll get to hang out with her, I promise."

I bounced up and down a little bit on my bed, excited. It felt like Christmas Eve. Lin left the room a few moments later, and I quickly sped through my homework, feeling productive. Hopefully I wouldn't get too much homework tomorrow so I could spend all evening with her.

Somehow, I fell asleep, but I was buzzing with excitement.

"I'll text you later when I hear from your mom," Lin told me the next morning as I put on my backpack. "She'll probably meet you at school."

"Okay," I said excitedly, and gave him a quick hug. "Bye!"

The day passed painfully slow. I checked the clock constantly, and the minute hand seemed to be frozen in place. I felt my phone buzzing around 11:00, but fought the urge to get out my cell phone in class. When the bell rang for the class change, I pulled it out and found a text message from Lin. They were releasing her around 11:30. I jumped up and down in the hallway and tucked my phone back away.

Finally, the end of the day came and I rushed out to the front steps. There was my mother – in her regular clothes – waiting for me, all smiles. I ran to her and crashed into her arms, and we just hugged for a good minute. She was crying, and I may have shed a tear or two as well.

"Nora, you look so good!" She said, pulling back. "Let me get a look at you."

I stepped back a little more and turned around for her. Lin and Vanessa had been feeling me well, and were feeding me way more healthy food than usual.

I couldn't say the same about her. It was obvious she had been locked away for a couple months. Her skin was pale from lack of sunlight, and she just looked tired. Still, there was a twinkle in her eye. It must felt amazing to finally get out of prison.

"Let's go get some ice cream!" She suggested, and we wandered off to find an ice cream shop nearby. We talked and talked, and I told her all about my new school and what it was like to live with Lin and Vanessa. I told her all about Sebastian and Francisco. She listened and said all the right things, but I could tell it made her a bit sad. All along, it had been just me and her. I didn't have a 'normal' family, and never had any siblings.

"So mom, when are we moving back in together?" I asked her.

She smiled. "First, I need to find a job before they'll even consider leasing to me," she told me. "But as soon as I can put down a deposit, we'll be together again."

I was so excited. It was going to be just like before. I realized that I had completely forgotten about my new life. I wouldn't be able to just go back with mom full time. I'd be with my father part of the time.

"How's it going to work with Lin?"

She sighed, and obviously had been thinking about that a lot. "I'm not sure, baby," she admitted. "We'll have to work out some sort of custody arrangement. He'll want to keep you away from me."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not winning any parenting awards, Nora. I know that. Now that he's shown you what a normal family is like, he's not going to want you to be with me. I'm a bad influence."

"No, mom, he's not like that," I told her. "He wants us to be together."

"Is that why he's already hired a lawyer?"

"What?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "He's already got someone on the case. He's probably going to seek full custody."

I felt my heart drop. So this was what it was like to have estranged parents. They would be fighting over me and trash-talking the other. I wasn't sure what to say back to her statement. Was he really going to ask the courts for full custody of me? Would he do that to me? I'd been with my mother for thirteen years. He couldn't just take that away from me.

Mom changed the subject and we walked around for a bit. Lin texted me that he had reservations at a nice Italian restaurant, his treat. Around 6:00, mom and I showed up to find Lin already sitting at the table. He stood up and gave me a big hug, then gave my mom a polite half-hug.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her.

"Amazing," she said. "It feels so good to walk around and to see my baby. Thank you for taking such good care of her."

"It's been our pleasure," he said, flipping through his menu. "Vanessa and the boys are all crazy about her."

"Or going crazy because of her?" My mom teased. Lin and I both laughed. Lin ordered a wine for him and my mom, and I ordered a Coke. The waiter brought us some bread and dipping oil, and we settled in.

"So, I hear Nora's doing better at school," my mom commented to Lin. "Hunter must be a good school."

"Yeah, she's been keeping up well," he said. "She's a smart kid."

I smiled a little bit, proud.

"We'll have to figure out school," she commented, sipping her mind. "Hunter is not close to Queens."

"Yeah, we can figure that out another time," Lin said, obviously not wanting to get into a discussion.

"Well, she might be back with me as soon as next week," she told him. "I'm not going to be able to afford to send her every day on the Subway all the way to the Upper East Side."

"Laura, let's enjoy dinner and we'll talk about it later, just us, okay?" Lin said again.

Laura held up a hand, realizing he was trying to change the subject. "Sorry."

I didn't like the tension, so I tried to brighten things up. "Mom, I've learned four or five new tricks on the skateboard since you last saw me."

"That's great sweetie," she said, then decided to bring up my physical appearance. "I see you've gotten quite a few scratches. Is that from skateboarding?"

"Sort of," I said. "I got into a fight at the park?"

"About what?"

"A couple girls were messing with me," I explained. "So I started a fight with one of them."

"Good for you for sticking up for yourself," she commented and then sipped her wine.

Lin cleared his throat. "Laura, can I talk to you a moment? Alone?" He requested.

My mom put down her wine glass and followed Lin to another part of the restaurant. They weren't completely out of sight. I could see the expression on Lin's face. He was frustrated. By the way he was moving his mouth and gesturing, I could tell they were arguing. So much for a nice family dinner.

They returned a couple minutes later, trying to act civil.

"Nora, how was school today?" Lin asked me, trying to change the subject.

"It was fine," I shrugged.

"Do you have much homework?"

"Some," I said.

"Since when have you cared about homework?" My mother asked.

"Lin and Vanessa make me," I told her simply. I could tell she wanted to make a comment, but she bit her tongue. Soon, our dinner came and I think we were all glad to have the distraction. We ate and asked each other about the food, all agreeing it was really good. I wanted to ask for dessert, but I sensed Lin didn't want to stay any longer than he had to. He quickly asked for the check.

Mom and I chatted about where she could look for a rental house or apartment while Lin received his copy of the bill. He put his credit card away and signed.

"Alright, let's go," he announced.

We all walked outside together, heading towards the subway. As we reached the parting point, we stopped. I hugged my mother goodbye and Lin gave her another polite half-hug. She headed in the other direction, for her train to Queens, and Lin and I headed for Washington Heights.

"So what were you two fighting about?" I asked him as we waited.

"We weren't fighting," he told me.

"I saw you," I told him. "You were fighting. Was it about me?"

"No," he said. "I just needed to tell her something."

I sighed, realizing he wasn't going to spill. The train stopped and we hopped on. I was so happy, I started jumping around, up on the seats and spinning around the poles.

"Nora, calm down, please," he told me when I accidentally stepped on his foot.

"But I'm so happyyyy!" I told him, hanging off the pole with one hand, my other arm posed joyously to the side.

"I'm glad, but you need to be mindful of other people."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, party pooper."

Soon, it was our stop and we got off. I skipped down the sidewalk ahead of Lin as we walked to our apartment building. All the way up the elevator and down the hall I sang.

The boys were already in bed, but I continued my singing inside.

"Nora, keep it down," Lin told me, and I detected a hint of annoyance in his voice. He collapsed on the couch where Vanessa was on her laptop working.

"Okayyy," I agreed, dancing around the kitchen a bit.

"Why don't you go get started on your homework," he suggested. Vanessa got up and poured two glasses of wine.

I danced off to my room and tried to start on homework, but it was hard to concentrate. Again being nosy, I decided to very quietly open my door and creep down the hallway to listen in on their conversation.

"She was making all these comments, and it was like she was trying to undermine everything we've done with Nora," I heard him say. "Like asking why she cared about homework now and it was good she defended herself by getting into a fight at the park."

I pictured Vanessa playing with his hair, giving him her full attention.

"That's what they're used to," Vanessa pointed out.

"But we've been making such progress with her," Lin went on. "She's doing well in school and she's starting to make that switch into considering not pummeling people she disagrees with. I just...I don't want her relapsing, you know? And if she's with her mom full time, she's gonna go right back into her bad habits."

"So what do you think we should do?"

"I've already found a lawyer," he told her. "I think we should ask for full custody."

"You do realize the court system rarely awards full custody to the father," Vanessa pointed out.

"I know," he said. "I'm not trying to take her away from Laura, but I think we provide her a better environment. A more structured home. Laura's on drugs and she's been in prison."

"But not convicted," Vanessa pointed out.

"And how do you think Nora's going to respond to that? She adores her mother."

Lin sighed. "I know. And I don't want to drive a wedge between us, but this is her personal well-being, you know? I don't want her living in a dump in Queens, having to get into fist fights just to survive."

I heard a wine glass being set down on the table and I decided it was time to head back to my bedroom. Quiet as a mouse, I slipped into my bedroom and shut the door. Lin was going to try to take me away from my mother.