No amount of anxiety can change the future

 "I think you care in your own way," Mario wished his sister would stop saying how bad she felt. How she didn't know. She really didn't know. It was like looking at her smaller self who would say things like that when they were kids. Even at three, she was so grown up and always felt bad if she accidentally ate his cupcake or tore a page from his comic book.

Immediately, he thought of the time he was teaching her how to put puzzles together and she snatched the piece he'd put in place. She said she would use it for later. Of course, this led to a fight which his dad had to break up.

"Little Mama, you know you're his biggest fan, why can't you be nice?" He'd say. This made Mario smile now and he wondered if his Dad even remembered calling her 'Little Mama'. Of course, Caitlin always referred to her dad as the "Bear".

"Then what am I?" He would ask and she would always turn away from him as if she had no real name for him.

Maybe it was all too much for her now, to see their dad dwindling away, but he thought his Dad needed her, yet Mario knew he needed her just as much and now he knew Rico, but it wouldn't feel right until he got here.

"I can pay for your airfare," he promised on the phone so Rico could be there in a week or so.

Of course, Caitlin didn't see how. "Where are you getting any money?" She wanted to know.

"Aw, I see it now," he grinned. He recalled how his dad used to call her 'Lil Moma'. Naturally, she gave him a funny look. "I'm just between jobs." He told her he'd done a lot of things. He'd been a roofer, then a carpenter, done some flooring. He guessed he could have gone to college, but never had time for it. He knew a little to get by.

"Is it going to be a problem, meeting our little brother?" Mario wanted to know. He'd been waiting for years for this.

It looked as if it could all work out. Rico could stay with him at Megan and Cori's. 

Caitlin said it wasn't a problem, but he knew she wasn't used to having this much family around.