Return of the worst writer ever!

In short, my life is really busy right now. Some IRL writing projects are starting to be more time-consumming, I was sick a while ago, there are books to read, laptops to get fixed, insomnia problems to fix... but here I am now! I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

April 6th 1970

Rodrigue replaced a letter from Lois in Sammy's hand with the phone. Sammy was about to say something unflattering, but his roommate gave him a telling look, so Sammy picked up this room's phone cautiously.

"Hello," he said leaning his head back.

"Dad, you need to come over right now."

Sammy frowned. "Gab? Gab, what's going on?"

"Dad, just come over," he said.

"Gabriel, is everyone okay? You tell me right now." Sammy said getting to his feet and heading to the door as far as he could without yanking the phone's chord out. Rodrigue frowned and followed him.

"Yeah, yeah, everyone's fine, nobody's hurt, but just… get over here? Please." Gab's voice nearly cracked. That put him on edge.

"Okay, give me five minutes," Sammy said.

Gab hung up before Sammy could say anything else. He swore under his breath and tossed the phone to Rodrigue so that he could put it back.

"What's wrong?" Rodrigue asked.

"No idea," Sammy said.

"Is he okay?" Rodrigue asked.

"No idea," Sammy said. "Well, no, he said yes, but I don't know."

He really had no idea what in the world was going on. The only thing that was chewing at him was what Beca had just found out last month, about heart problems, and Maria's angina. He sped through two red lights to get to his family as soon as he could. He knocked on the door and Gab answered looking furious.

"Tell her that I'm allowed!" He demanded.

"Allowed to do what?" Sammy asked. "I'm not just going to agree with you- are you fighting with your mother?"

"I'm not fighting with her, she's fighting with me," Gab said throwing his hands in the air.

"Gabriel Val-"

"Okay, both of you are going to calm the hell down right now or else I'm just going to assume that Felipe's dead body is in the living room and that Mia's the murderer," Sammy said.

They shut up.

"Thank you. Now what the hell is going on?" Sammy asked.

"She totally just flipped out at me-"

"Oh, don't act like I'm the monster Gabriel."

Gab shot her a look.

"Don't look at your mother with that tone of voice," Sammy said. "Why is she mad at you?"

He knew that not addressing himself directly to her frustrated Carmen, but since he was involved she'd be frustrated one way or another. Might as well go by it honnestly and not piss off Gab.

"I told her I wanted to join the army."

Sammy froze and looked at him. "No joke?"

"I'm not kidding!" Gab said. "Stop saying that, everyone's said that- Felipe, Ellie…"

"Your brother knew about this?" Carmen gasped.

"Yeah and he didn't react like a lunatic," Gabriel said.

"Nobody here is a lunatic! Keep calming down, that was a good strategy." Sammy said. "Both of you…"

He gave it a few seconds as a test-try before speaking up again. "Alright. So Gab, what the hell… you want to join the army now?"

"As a mechanic," Gab said. He was meeting Sammy's eyes. He didn't know how difficult it was for Gab to do that, but it was hard on Sammy. A million thoughts raced through his head. "They're looking for people to do that."

"Why?" Sammy asked.

"Hey- you did it!" Gab said defensively.

"Yes, imitate every single move your father has ever made, that's a brilliant idea." Carmen said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"What do you mean by-?" Sammy shook his head. Priorities. Rationalise with son, argue with ex later. Got it. "Yes, you're right Gab, I did it because the world was at war and my family was desperate."

"There's still war going…" Gab said.

"Not like it was Gab," Sammy said shaking his head. "Not at all like it was."

"Whatever. I need to get certified as a mechanic somehow, you said so."

Carmen turned to look at Sammy, eyes wide.

"You told him what?"

"I told him that if he wanted a job he needed to get certified for it. See, that's a thing that makes sense- don't you dare look at me like that," Sammy said. "Gabriel, sit down."

He dragged both of them to the living room. It looked exactly the same as it had when he'd lived in the house, but the pictures of the kids had multiplied and evolved- and yeah, the couch did sink a bit more when he sat down. He mulled over what he was going to say before saying it, feeling two pairs of eyes on him and waves of thought around the lines of pick me, pick me! My point of vue is more valid, pick me!

"Gab, the army isn't a game or a cool job or free studies," Sammy said.

"I know," he said. "Seriously, I've been thinking about it since December. I've talked to the career orienteers at school. I've done my research. I found a recruitment center and talked to a guy and everything."

"Sure," Sammy said. He turned to Carmen. "And you in all of this..?"

"I don't want him to run off and join the army just so he can go get himself injured or even worst."

"He's not going to get himself injured or even worst," Sammy said.

"I'm not ready to take that risk," Carmen said. "He is my son, how can you not see that?"

"He's just as much my son," Sammy said.

"Don't make this about you guys." Gabriel said. "If you are, make it about Mia's life decisions, not mine."

Carmen wound her fingers in her hair. "Gabriel… This isn't…"

"It's a good idea to me, and that should be enough!" Gabriel said. "Dad..."

He gave Sammy a tired, pleading look.

Sammy swallowed sharply.

"You'll be eighteen anyways," he said carefully. "You don't need our permission."

"Sammy!" Carmen said.

"What?" Sammy said. "It's his life. We gave it to him, now he gets to spend it. If he wants to join the army for his country-"

"Don't you 'for his country' me," Carmen snapped. She turned towards her son. "Gab, people die in wars."

"I know," Gabriel said. "And I know that you have a brother who died in Europe and so that's probably why you're reacting like this but Mom, I'll be okay."

Carmen looked away and shook her head.

"Well, with or without me, I see that this is going to happen," Carmen said. She raised her head, and her curls flew back. "Let me sleep on it. I'll… Gabriel, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Can I spend the night at Dad's house?" Gab blurted.

Carmen's eyes spread. Sammy looked at Gab wondering where all this denseness of his had come from and hoping that it wasn't from him. Now was not a time to ask that question. He wanted to strangle the kid for making everything worst, just like that.

"Fine, but don't be late for school and make sure you get enough to eat," Carmen said getting up.

Sammy squeezed Gab's shoulder. "Go get all the stuff that you need for school tomorrow. Including a toothbrush."

Gab looked at him and nodded. "Thanks Dad."

"No problem," Sammy said patting his back.

Dear Esperanza,

See, here's the thing with Gabriel, a thing you will like and find genetically appropriate: he didn't care what his mother and I said.

For all his impulsiveness in the moment, when it comes to the long-term he can sure plan and be minute and anal about it. He always has a blueprint and a pre-mediated course of action, it's wild. He was just sharing his plans with us- one way or another he was going to go ahead and join the army. He just wanted our approval because we were his parents.

There are some things that Leo's going to do and you're just going to squint, look at him and think 'Are you seriously going to..? Really child?' I can guarantee it. But sometimes he's going to want you to approve of his ideas and plans and opinions anyways. He'll want you to say yes to the road trip, the tattoo, the party and whatever other crap will exist when Leo's going to grow up. And you might say yes, you might say no, it all depends. But sometimes it'll be really hard to do one or the other and you're not going to want to.

Anza, I spent three years, give or take, in Europe during the war. Despite the fact that I wasn't suppose to ever see action and only be a mechanic, I was riding in the back of a truck that had gone out to liberate a concentration camp. I've seen things that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I've had nightmares. And so for my son to ask me to go out there and see those things too? Asking for my permission to put himself in dnager? It hurt. But I had to say yes to him: he asked, he thought it through, and it was his life no matter how much I cared for it.

Just remember that, okay? Leo's got a special destiny (more on that later) and so he's going to want to do things in the likes. And whether you want to or not, your baby's going to get swept up by life and karma and whatever else there is to believe in in this world.

You may as well send him off with a smile, a wave and some snacks for the road.

Sammy