"HEY! Give that back!" a woman in her late thirties yelled as she chased after the much faster thief who had snatched her purse from her. Not much after, she felt unable to keep on running and had to stop to catch her breath, watching helplessly as the bandit kept getting away.

But just then, she caught a glimpse of a figure zooming past from right above her, and she looked up to find who seemed to be a young woman swinging herself from a string. The mysterious person seemed to glide through the air as she landed on the roof of a nearby store and from there took a run from one rooftop to another of several side-by-side buildings, until finally placing herself ahead of the thief. With a peculiar hand gesture, a web-like-net shot from her wrist and glued itself on the criminal's chest, making him fall backwards onto the pavement.

As he unsuccessfully attempted to get up, the masked Roxanne used another web to snatch the purse from the bandit's hand and bring it up to herself. Ignoring his protests, she made her way back through the roofs until she got to the lady she had seen chasing after the robber, and descended halfway down the wall that the exhausted woman was still leaning against. The entire time, she had watched the scene in awe.

"Here you go, ma'am. I think this belongs to you," she offered the small tan bag back to its owner.

The black-haired woman smiled up at Ro as she took her purse back from her. "Yes, yes it does! Oh, thank you, Black Widow!"

"You're wel--" Ro was about to leave until she realized what she had just been called, catching her completely off-guard. "Oh, heh, no, no, I am not Black Widow."

"Sure you are," the woman replied matter-of-factly as she placed her newly recovered purse back on her shoulder. "You climb on walls and shoot webs like a spider. And Black Widows are spiders."

"Yeah, but not all spiders are Black Widows, and I am most certainly not Black Widow," the arachnid girl argued back, crossing her arms, still stuck to the wall by her feet. "She's a totally different hero, okay?"

"Are you positive? Pretty sure she can do stuff like that," she pointed at Roxanne's feet on the wall.

"Pretty sure not?" Ro was starting to get equal parts annoyed and confused. "I mean, she's way more awesome than me, but last I checked, she's never walked on walls or shot webs at bad guys. From what I've seen, I think she's more of a, uh, bikes and guns type of gal."

"Okay then, who are you then?"

"I'm..." the girl went silent for a moment as she blanked on an answer to that question. "I'm working on it, okay? I really gotta go now, so, you be safe." She shot a web from her wrist and used it to finally swing away from the scene. "NOT Black Widow!" she yelled one last time as the woman she saved watched her leave.

Unsurprisingly, there was plenty of crime in the streets of New York, and for the last two weeks, Roxanne had used pretty much all the free time she had in her hands to suit up and search for anyone who could use her help. So far, she had stopped plenty of robberies, a few assaults, and even saved two people from nearly getting run over by speeding cars.

People seemed to be starting to notice her presence as the newest vigilante. Even though people around still watched her, impressed whenever she jumped into action, she was beginning to hear phrases such as "It's her!" and "There she is!" more and more often.

Whenever she was working at the diner, the gossiping customers could not go unnoticed. Taking advantage of both her enhanced hearing and of the chatty groups of Latin women who often forgot that the Garcías' adopted white daughter could actually speak and understand Spanish perfectly, she would often sneak listening in from afar whenever she noticed that her masked alter ego was the topic of conversation. She tried as best as she could to show no reaction to what she heard so as to not raise any suspicion. She caught many varying opinions from many people throughout the days. Some thought she was awesome and a hero while others thought she was creepy and potentially dangerous, like she was going to snap and turn evil at any given moment. One person even thought she was an alien that had formed a truce with the Avengers and was now making amends with them by caring for the people of New York in their absence.

It was certainly interesting to hear all these opinions and theories about her without the people even knowing that the person they were talking about was right there, serving them coffee or taking an order from the table next to them.

______________________________________________________________________

On one of her days off from work, Ro got up at the usual time and ate breakfast with her family in the usual manner. After finishing and getting dressed, she excused herself and exited the apartment, carrying her backpack, to go on one of her typical "walks". Now that she had begun to actually do some street-watching on top of still training once or twice a week at the warehouse, her time away from home had increased. Whenever asked about it, she would often tell her family that she had run into Alejandro and spent some time with him. If Alejandro asked, she would tell him that she had been hanging out with her siblings doing some activity or other. After all, it was not as if either party was going to have a chat with the other to confirm her story.

Either way, all this secrecy towards her loved ones was beginning to weigh on Roxanne. She didn't enjoy lying to any of them, but for now, what choice did she have? Knowing these people the way she did, it was best for both them and herself if they didn't know about her secret double life for now.

Once Ro finally arrived at her abandoned hideout, she set her backpack on top of one of the crates and did some quick stretches before she began running some laps around the warehouse. This usual routine she had established reminded her of the P.E. classes she had at school, except now, she was doing laps on the walls and ceiling instead of just the floor. On her free days, she would typically train inside the warehouse for about one and a half to two hours, before suiting up and heading out to patrol, trying to watch over different streets on different days.

Just as she began to do some web practice, the girl suddenly stopped in her tracks when she heard a thud that came from behind her. She turned around just in time to see a medium-sized box that fell from a much larger one, and the sound it made came accompanied by a nearly-inaudible gasp. Since Ro was currently at ground level, she couldn't make out if there was anything, or anyone, hiding behind the crates that could've caused the movement, but she immediately felt suspicious.

Without taking her eyes off the spot, she dropped the webbings she had produced and leapt up halfway up the wall, searching for the source of the faint but telling noises. Surely enough, as she did this, she took notice of a human-sized silhouette that shrunk behind the pile of crates.

Had she been followed? Neither her enhanced senses nor her newly-acquired sixth sense had picked up anything on her way here. What did this person want from her? Either way, if they had seen her training her powers without her "mask" on, her identity was officially in peril, and she couldn't have that. So, she had no choice but to confront this intruder.

Making as little noise as possible, she nimbly made her way back on the ground, grabbed a metal crowbar that was nearby one of the several containers in the warehouse, and quietly approached the site where she had spotted her unwanted guest. The closer she came to the pile of boxes, the louder she could pick up an accelerated breathing coming from behind it. She tightened her grip around the bar as she knocked down the makeshift tower with a swift kick.

"WHO'S THERE!?" she loudly inquired as she held up the bar like a baseball bat, ready to strike whoever came to spy on her.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! It's just me!" a much too familiar voice cried out as the intruder shielded herself with her arms, shrinking against even more crates and boxes.

It took Ro less than two seconds to realize who the person she nearly attacked was. "CAMILA!? You're... I'm... What...?" she stammered before rapidly shaking her head and getting her words out. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? Did you follow me from home? I thought I told you years ago to NEVER come into these parts of town again!"

As she scolded her sister, Roxanne helped her get on her feet, setting the crowbar on the floor. It was no wonder she hadn't felt any tingle alerting her of Cami's presence, seeing as she didn't exactly pose any threat or danger for her.

"Okay, first of all, I'm not 12 anymore, and you are not the boss of me," Cami sassed back at her older sister. "Second of all, you have been acting way too suspicious for way too long now, so you really couldn't have expected me to not try and figure things out for myself by now. And third of all," Camila's sass suddenly melted away to a mildly confused excitement, "YOU WERE JUST WALKING ON THE FREAKING WALLS AND CEILING! How the hell did you do that!?"

"Okay, shhhh, Cami, I know this is a lot to take in, but I need you to calm down for a moment..."

"You're that spider girl that people won't shut up about lately, aren't you? HA! You totally are her! I knew it! I just knew it was you!"

"W-what do you mean 'you just knew'? Have you told anyone? HOW LONG have you been following me for!?" Ro almost barked at her sister's face, closing in on her.

"Hey, hey, chill, I haven't told anyone because I wasn't absolutely positive until now, I just had a very, very strong feeling it was you, and it turns out, I was right this whole time. And this is the first time I actually followed after you, I swear," she put a hand over her heart and showed the palm of the other as she finished this last sentence.

As she began to calm down, Ro grimaced as she covered her own face with both hands and let out a frustrated groan, pacing away from Camila. She then let her hands fall as she sighed defeatedly.

"Was I really that obvious?" she glumly asked without even turning to look at her sister.

"Uhm, yeah, kind of," Camila scoffed. "I mean really, Ro. Your 'constitutional' excuse worked at first, but they just kept getting longer and longer. And yeah, then you started covering it up with you spending more time with your boyfriend, which, admittedly, I also bought at first. But the more time away from home you started spending, the more frequent the sightings of Araña started becoming..."

"Araña? Is that what people are calling me?" Ro cringed as she asked.

"Well, people call you many things. 'The Crimson Hood', 'Flying Squirrel', 'Brooklyn Tarzan', 'Black Widow but not really.' Thankfully for you, none of them have really stuck just yet, so you might wanna do something about what you'd like your official alias to be while you still can."

"Look, look, I don't care about that right now." Ro grabbed Camila firmly by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "Does anyone else in the family know or suspect anything about this?"

"So far, not really, I don't think. I mean, Mamá was worried at first that you might have joined a gang or something like that, but I reassured her that you were far too soft to do such a thing..."

"Hey! I am not 'too soft'," Ro air-quoted, interrupting her sister. "I mean, not that I would ever join a gang, because I wouldn't. But not because I'm 'too soft' for it, and you know it!"

"Papá is still working in Ohio, and we haven't really mentioned any of this to him," Cami continued, completely ignoring her offended sister's protest. "And as for Manu, well, he's far too clueless to figure any of this out."

"HEY! Who are you calling clueless?" a third voice suddenly protested from behind the two sisters, making the two of them hold on to each other and let out girlish screams.

As they turned their heads towards the direction the voice came from, they found their young brother Manuel, casually standing from behind a large metal container, his arms crossed.

"WHA--Manu, you too!?" Ro facepalmed. "GAAAAHHHHHHH, how are you two SO damn good at snooping on me without me realizing!?"

"I guess it's a family thing. Wouldn't you say so, sis?" Manu asked Cami with a smirk and a level of sass in his voice that rivaled hers.

"Did you seriously just follow behind me ALL the way from home, Manuel?" Camila asked her brother in shock.

"Annoying, isn't it?" the oldest sister asked the middle one, in a deadpan manner. The younger girl simply grunted in response, pouting.

______________________________________________________________________

Given how there was no way to undo what was done or to erase her siblings' memories, Roxanne found herself with no choice but to come clean with them, entirely. She sat both of them down and explained to them the whole story about how she had acquired these abilities, why she had spent years without using them, and why she had now decided to finally learn how to harness them and try to do some good with them. Some parts of her tale were easier to tell than others, especially because this was her first time telling it out loud, so it became inevitable for a few bittersweet tears to come out.

As she finished her lengthy explanation, she remained quiet for a few moments, looking down at the ground. Neither of her siblings said anything either, and when she looked up at them, both of them were simply staring at her with mouths open and looks of concern.

"Oh, my God," Cami said under her breath.

"So that's why you were all alone when Cami and our parents met you?" Manu asked.

Ro cleared her throat, looking away from them again. "Yeah. But look, it's no big deal, I've gotten over it."

The young boy got up from where he was sitting and gave his oldest sister a warm embrace before she could say anything else. At first Ro didn't react, but as he kept holding on to her, she softened and surrounded him with her arms as well.

"Gracias, hermanito," she whispered to him as another tear escaped her eyes, though this one was more sweet than bitter.

Camila sat herself next to Roxanne and put her arm around her shoulders, squeezing her into a gentle, loving side-hug. "You know? I always knew there was something special about you. And ever since that day you saved me from those thugs, I knew there was something extra special about you." Both sisters couldn't help but chuckle at this statement. "I guess that, combined with your not-so-subtle weird behavior from the last few weeks, helped me realize it was you. I'm very sorry that something so horrible happened to you, but the fact that you're now making something so amazing and noble out of it, well, I really admire you for it, Ro."

Manu finally let go of his hug and looked at Ro with a smile, nodding in agreement. The arachnid girl smiled back at both her brother and sister.

"That really means the world to me, you guys," she said as she surrounded each of them in one arm and pulled them close to her once again. After a moment, she let out a sigh and got up, becoming serious once again. "Now, with all of that out of the way, I'm gonna need both of you to promise that you won't say a word about this to either Jorge or Andrea."

"WHAT!?" the two of them incredulously asked in unison.

"But why not? Don't they deserve to know too?" Manu whined.

"It's not that they don't," Ro replied. "But come on, you guys know how they are. I mean, I love them and everything, but they can be SO overprotective, especially Andrea."

"Hmm, tell me about it," Camila rolled her eyes.

"If they find out that I'm fighting criminals and casually doing death jumps in my spare time, I'll never hear the end of it. Don Jorge will probably ground me whenever he's in-state; Doña Andrea will be worried sick all day. It would just be a LOT for them to deal with and for me too. I will figure out a way to let them know eventually; I promise I will. But for now, I need this to remain between the three of us. Okay? Can you guys do that?"

The younger siblings exchanged an unsure look for a few moments.

"She does have a point, you know?" Manuel said to Camila, who couldn't help but shrug in agreement.

They both finally looked at Roxanne once again. Camila spoke. "Alright. We'll keep it a secret until you're ready to tell them."

The older girl sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys. That's very..."

"But under one condition," Manu interrupted. Both his sisters were taken aback by this. "You gotta let us name you."

"Uhm, I'm sorry, what?"

"Ooh, yeah, I like that," Cami enthusiastically agreed. "I've been thinking of a couple of cool hero name ideas, actually."

"Wait, wait, wait, you guys wanna pick an alias for me?" Ro asked, gesturing at herself. "No offense you guys, but shouldn't that be, you know, my choice?"

Camila rolled her eyes. "It's not like we'll impose it on you, silly. We just wanna help you brainstorm."

"Yeah, like, we give you ideas, and you tell us if you like them or not. And you can also give us your own," Manu explained.

"I know what 'brainstorming' means, Manu," Ro groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes in mild annoyance.

"So, what do you say, then? Won't it be easier to pick an alias if we help you?"

"I'm not even sure yet if I'll go by an alias to begin with or not!"

"Oh, so, what? You'll just swing around the city going: 'Your friendly neighbor Roxanne Brooks will save the day! Oh, this mask and these goggles? I just like the way they look on me!'?" Camila sarcastically imitated her sister, making her brother chuckle.

"No! Of course not!" Ro stomped a foot as she protested. "I just won't tell anyone who I am, and that's it."

"Sis, you gotta face the facts. If you don't name yourself, people will. Eventually a name will catch on more than the others, and whether you like it or not, you'll be stuck with it," Camila casually affirmed, crossing her arms.

"So, unless you want to have a cringey name for the rest of your life, you'll have to pick one for yourself. And unless you want us to tell Mamá and Papá your secret, you'll let us help you choose it," Manuel proudly lifted his chin as he finished his statement, crossing his arms, mimicking his sister.

Ro glared at both of them and leaned over to grab each of them by one shoulder, shaking them slightly as she huffed. "You. Guys. Drive. Me. CRAZY!"

She finished shaking and gave each of them a quick kiss on the forehead before heading towards the warehouse's exit. Both siblings took that as a "yes", and followed after her.

______________________________________________________________________

Later...

"'Madame Web'? 'Sticky Lady'?" Roxanne looked from a notebook with a list of names written on it to Manu, raising an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

He shrugged in response. After Andrea had gone out to visit a friend, the three siblings had gathered in Ro's bedroom to do their alias brainstorming session. Ro was lounging across her bed as Manuel sat on a beanbag next to it, and Cami sat at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, those feel like the kinds of names that I do not wish to get stuck with forever. No offense," she crossed out those options with a pen and gave the notebook back to Manuel.

"Worth a shot," he shrugged again.

As Camila wrote down some of the non-vetoed ideas in her own notebook, she handed Ro a stack of post-it notes.

"What are these for?" she asked her younger sister, taking the stack.

"Once we pick a name, you write it down on the post-its," Cami explained without looking up from her writing. "Every time you save someone, you drop one of these, and that way, they'll know what to call you."

"I don't know, Cami. Doesn't that sound like the kind of thing that makes it easier for people to catch you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you rather we let it up to the people to pick your name," Camila looked at one of the crossed out options, "'Webbing Wonder'?"

Roxanne cringed and shook her head after hearing that option aloud. "On second thought, I can go with the post-it plan."

The younger girl gave her sister a smug smile as she handed her a different notebook, with a page full of un-crossed ideas.

"Okay, so, we know which names I don't want to be called. Now, I just need to pick out a name that I would like to be called. 'Spider-Woman'?"

"Not bad," Camila replied, looking over at the list with Ro. "But it's a little plain. Try to pick something with character."

"Camila, I don't know if you've noticed, but I am plain."

"No, no, no. You are not plain. People only say that about you because they don't know you and you're a little shy. You need a name that tells people who you are, without actually telling people who you really are."

"Oh!" Manuel suddenly exclaimed. "How about Charmin?"

"'Charmin'? Like the toilet paper?" Ro asked. Both sisters stared at their brother in confusion.

"Soft and strong, just like you," he replied with an innocent smile.

"But what does that have to do with her spider powers?" Cami asked.

"You didn't say it had to have anything to do with her powers."

"Cause I thought that part was obvious."

As her siblings argued, Roxanne kept thinking about their reasonings for their ideas. While she certainly did not want to go around with a toilet paper name, the idea of a name that emulated softness and strength at the same time interested her and certainly felt fitting. The first image that came to her head were the webs she produced. They were extremely resistant, but still somehow delicate to the touch. However, while the idea of incorporating her powers into her hero name seemed like a natural way to go, she felt that using the word "webs" might feel a little on-the-nose. Maybe a word that described a specific characteristic of the webs. Like their stretchy nature, or their silk-like texture...

Her face suddenly lit up as a word came to her head. She turned the notebook's page over onto a blank one, and wrote it down in a particularly big font.

"How about this one?" she asked shyly as she showed the page to Camila. Manuel got up and placed himself next to his sister to see it too. "I mean, I was thinking of just using that word in English, but I really wanted it to be in Spanish because, well, one, you guys helped me think of it, and two, I wouldn't be who I am today without you two and our parents. So, it's sort of a nod to you guys. That way you're part of the name."

The two siblings exchanged a touched smile, and Cami turned to look at Ro in approval. "That's perfect."

The oldest sister smiled as well, and as she looked over at the word she had written in the notebook, she grabbed a thicker marker and copied it over onto the top post-it note.

Seda.

______________________________________________________________________

A few weeks later...

"Alright, niñas, I'll go deliver these orders, and do some supply shopping once I'm done," Doña Andrea announced to both of her daughters, who were standing behind the counter. "You two take care of the place while I'm gone, got it?"

"No worries, Doña Andrea," Ro replied.

"We've got it covered, mami," Camila said with a salute.

Doña Andrea planted a kiss on her son's cheek, who was sitting at the table closest to the counter doing some homework. "Be back in a few hours then. Bye, mis niños."

"Bye, mamá," the three siblings exclaimed in unison as they watched their mother pick up a perfectly balanced tower of food boxes and exit through the door with them.

Ro watched through the glass as Andrea put the boxes inside of the family car's trunk, got in the driver's seat, and drove away from the diner. Once she made sure the vehicle was no longer in sight, she turned towards her sister. "Hey, Cami, since business seems to be pretty slow today, you think you can hold the fort on your own for like an hour? Two max."

"Uhm, yeah, sure?" the younger woman replied, giving her sister a confused look. "May I ask why?"

Ro looked around. There were few customers present, but enough of them that she probably shouldn't say the next thing aloud. She turned towards Manuel who, as she had suspected, was listening in to their conversation, and beckoned him to come closer. Once all three of them were huddled close together, she spoke in a whisper, "Well, today's my second anniversary with Alejandro, and... I've decided that I'm going to tell him today. He's on his way here."

"WHAT!?" the two García kids exclaimed in unison.

Roxanne quickly put a hand over each of their mouths and loudly hushed them, with a rather annoyed expression on her face. She turned around to make sure the customers weren't staring at them, and surely enough, a few of them were. She forced an innocent smile and a shrug their way, and the patrons returned to talking amongst themselves after a few seconds. She uncovered her siblings' mouths and continued to whisper.

"What's the big deal? He's my boyfriend. I can't keep this a secret from him."

"Oh, so you're okay with keeping it a secret from our parents, but not from that dunderhead you're dating?" Manu asked in a deadpan manner, although he tried his best not to raise his voice too much.

She rolled her eyes. "Manu, please..."

"He's right, though," Cami intervened. "I don't think you should tell him yet. I, I don't totally trust the guy."

"Ugh, not this again, guys," Ro said with a groan as she put a hand to her face. "What do you guys have against Alejandro? He's a good, decent person. I know he'll keep my secret safe. Also, Cami, going out with him was your idea in the first place."

"Yeah," Cami agreed before clarifying, "because I thought having a hot boyfriend would help you be more confident. If anything, Alejandro's only been making you more insecure."

"He's worse than some of Cami's old boyfriends," Manu added, "and she's dated some pretty $#!++y guys."

Camila rolled her eyes at this. Ro stared back at them in disbelief, and after a few moments, she sighed. "Look, whatever. I don't need your permission; I just wanted to let you guys know." She grabbed the backpack she had ready next to the counter and put it on as she began walking towards the door. "I'll see you later."

"Why don't you believe us!?" Manuel yelled, making his adoptive sister stop in her tracks. "The guy's NOT as dreamy and perfect as you think!"

"Oh, yeah? And what do YOU know!?" Roxanne snapped back, turning towards him. She didn't even take notice that everyone at the diner was staring and listening to them once again. "You don't know him the way I do!"

"We know he's pushing you away from us! And unlike you, we're not too dumbed out by love to notice!"

"Hey! I am NOT dumbed out! Alejandro cares for me!"

"AND I THINK YOU CARE ABOUT HIM MORE THAN YOU DO THIS FAMILY!"

"Am I interrupting?" a masculine voice accompanied by the ring of the entrance's doorbell cut in.

Ro and Manuel kept staring at each other angrily for a few moments. The girl was still in shock after hearing what her brother had said. She finally turned around to find Alejandro standing in front of the glass door.

"Hey, baby. I'll be right with you," she said to him, her voice low and trembling slightly. She turned her head away from the man and wiped a few angry tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes. She took a few steps towards Manuel and spoke to him, her volume low and the hurt palpable in her voice. "I care about this family more than anything else in this world. And I'm offended that you would think otherwise. But there are other people in my life who are just as important. And you'll have to learn to deal with it," she finished in a more emphasized and stern tone, though she couldn't help for more angry tears to roll down her cheeks.

Manuel kept looking at her angrily, though he was clearly trying his hardest not to cry as well. Camila, who had stayed out of the discussion, took notice of her little brother's state and put a comforting arm around him. She also glared at Roxanne, although there was more disappointment in her eyes than anger.

Witnessing the uncomfortable situation, Alejandro took a few steps forward and squeezed Roxanne by the shoulders. "I can see this is another argument about me, huh?" he let out a dry chuckle. "It's been two years. We've really gotta figure out a way to work this whole thing out, don't we?"

"Why don't you figure your way out of here and piss off, Alex!?" Manuel snapped, not even turning to look at the man. "No one in this family likes you!"

As Ro called out Manuel's name disapprovingly, Alejandro stared straight at him. The moment he had heard the nickname Alex, his dazzling charismatic smile wiped away, reflexively giving way for an expression of barely contained anger. For a split second, his grip around Ro's shoulder tightened, to the point where it hurt her a bit, although this increase in pressure was so brief that she didn't even have time to react to it before it had passed. Alejandro's charming and carefree facade returned just as quickly as it had vanished, and seemingly no one took notice of its quick drop. He walked past his girlfriend and towards the counter, quickly forcing a smile and a lighthearted laugh as he approached the young boy.

"Hey amiguito, two quick things," he said as he tousled the boy's hair, though he quickly swatted his hand away. "One, Roxy likes me, and that's all I need to stay around. And two," he reached out his hand once again and this time grabbed Manuel by the shoulder, also squeezing it rather hard, "I've told you before. No one. Calls me. Alex."

"Hands off my brother, imbécil," Camila threatened as she slapped away Alejandro's hand, shooting him a death glare as she did so.

"What? We were just talking, bombón," Alejandro said with a chuckle. Although he didn't drop his smile, there was just as much menace in his eyes as there was in Camila's.

"Cut it out, all of you!" Ro yelled, stepping in between the counter and her boyfriend. She looked from him to her siblings and back again. She let out an exasperated sigh. "I think we all need to cool off."

"Agreed," Cami said, not taking her furious eyes off of Alejandro.

"Let's go out for a walk, shall we, mi preciosa?" the man said to his girlfriend, putting an arm around her and pulling her close to him, taking a step towards the exit.

Ro looked at her siblings, still wearing expressions of disapproval. She shot one back at them and addressed her boyfriend. "Yeah. Let's."

The couple turned away and exited the diner. Manuel and Camila could only watch as their sister walked off with her boyfriend, who almost seemed to drag her along, holding her as close to him as he could. As a tear escaped Manuel's eyes, Camila looked around to find every other person in the restaurant looking at them. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"Alright, show's over, everyone. Nothing to see here. Back to your meals."

______________________________________________________________________

"UGH! I can't BELIEVE those two!" Roxanne exclaimed as she and Alejandro walked down the street. "I get it if they're jealous, but what's their problem? They think you're this, this sort of monster! You'd think they'd know better by now. I really don't get it."

"It's okay, Roxy," Alejandro calmly said. "It's taking them a while to get there, but I'm sure they'll get over it eventually."

The girl paused her walking, making Alejandro, who still had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, stop as well. "You know, you weren't exactly a saint back there, either. I want all of you to get along; I truly do. But you've gotta do your part, too."

"Do my part?" the tall man asked as he finally let her go. "Roxy, I have done my part." He pointed back towards the diner's direction. "I've been nothing but patient with those two despite how poorly they treat me. Hell, even Jorge and Andrea seem to have a problem with me, though they, of course, try harder to act civil. Let's just face the facts, preciosa. For whatever reason, these people you live with simply cannot stand the thought of me."

"My family, Alejandro."

"Heh. Please," he replied dismissively. "We both know they're not your real family. Otherwise, you would've taken their surname when they adopted you."

"I've told you before," Ro said firmly, taking a step back from him. "I chose to not do that because my last name is literally the only thing I have to remember my deceased parents by. The Garcías are my family just as much as they were. They took me in and gave me a home when I had nothing."

"And I gave you love when no one else would notice you," Alejandro said looking at Ro straight in the eye, holding her hand with both of his. "Roxy, you are not the little girl they adopted anymore; you're a woman. What they did for you years ago was great, but it's about time you moved on with your life." He shot her a flirty smile. "Have you thought about my proposition already?"

Ro turned her eyes away from him and let out a sigh. She released her hand from his grasp. "Baby, you know how much I love you, but I just don't think I'm ready to move in with you yet. Not before I can get my family to at least accept this relationship. It just doesn't feel right." She looked up at El Rinconcito in the distance, with guilt beginning to creep over her. "You know what? Maybe let's celebrate our anniversary tomorrow. I should probably go back and talk to my siblings."

"Wait!" Alejandro exclaimed, blocking her way before she could take another step.

He grabbed Roxanne's face and pulled it towards his as he planted a long, passionate kiss on her lips. At first, this took the girl aback, but after a few seconds, she quickly melted in her boyfriend's strong grip and closed her eyes, kissing him back. She nearly forgot why she was walking away in the first place.

"I'm sorry, mi vida," he whispered once he finally separated his lips from her, though he still held her face in his hands. "I didn't mean for you to get upset. It's just that I love you so much that I want to have you all for myself."

As he said this, Roxanne's dreamy expression suddenly vanished as she felt an unpleasant tingle coming from her temples. This one was different from the one she would feel whenever danger approached. This one made her feel somehow repelled to Alejandro. As if something about what he said was off. It was really strange. She instinctively took a single step away from him, making him let go of her face. She looked down, confuzzled as to what her odd abilities were trying to tell her this time.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. This was not Ro's usual response to his smooth talk and sweet kisses.

"Uh, n-nothing," she replied, quickly shaking off the offputting feeling, and giving Alejandro a polite smile. "Apology accepted, amor. You, uh, sure we can't leave this for another day, though?"

"I'm sure," he replied without skipping a single beat. He tried masking his quick reply with another smooth smile. "No time like the present, after all. Don't you think so?"

Roxanne nodded and returned his smile, although a hint of nervousness was embedded in hers.

Alejandro took out some keys from his leather jacket's pocket and took a few more steps towards where they were heading, climbing onto a motorcycle and inserting the keys to start it. He took his sunglasses from the collar of his shirt and put them on. He revved up his bike and looked back at Ro, who was still standing in the same spot, staring back at her family's diner still.

"You coming, preciosa?"

Without saying anything else, Ro took the helmet that was on the motorcycle's back seat and sat behind Alejandro as she put it on. He put on his as well, and the two drove off, with the girl holding on tight to her boyfriend.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES: Behold, the fanfic's first emotional rollercoaster chapter! It will not be the last :'D In all seriousness, it kinda hurts me to write Roxanne and her siblings fighting, but hey, conflict happens. Things will work out soon, though. I promise. </3

I'm not too sure if it's abundantly clear, but in case anyone's curious about what the sibling's ages are here: Roxanne is 22 (her 23rd birthday actually happens during one of the timeskips in this very chapter, but we'll get back to that), Camila is 19, and Manuel is 11.

There's a few more references in this chapter, if you can catch them. To Marvel characters, an MCU movie, and even a very obscure animated movie that I'll be surprised if anyone catches xD (If you do, leave a comment and I'll give you a follow, it's kind of a deep cut but I love it. Hint: It's a Lucasfilms movie, but it's not Star Wars related)

Also, I'm very pleased with how this week's illustrations turned out, despite the jarring contrast between the first two and the last two :'x  I was actually very intentional with the color choices I made, especially in the outfits. I'd go into detail about it, but, it's more fun to let you guys figure it out, so if any of you catches it, do leave a comment as well x)