That night, Nani sat around her family's small dinner table and listened to everyone talk about their day.
    
She knew it was coming up. It had every night for the past month. "So... Nani. Are you excited for your birthday?" Her mom asked in a cheery voice. A large smile on her face. Bingo. "Yep. The big one eight." She said with a small smile. This wasn't dinnertime small talk.
    
"Are you prepared?" The warmth and cheer was all gone, replaced with the criticizing look that means your answer better be yes. "Of course Mama. I have been preparing for seventeen years." At this tone, her mother raised an eyebrow, "Take that tone with me again and I'll give you to the man myself."
    
Nani put down her spoon full of instant mashed potatoes and rubbed her forehead in circles with her palm, "I'm sorry Mama, I'm just stressed and tired. I'm prepared though. He won't get me." Prince found those words as an excuse to be apart of a grown up conversation, "Yeah Mama! Nani can kick his butt! She just beat another guy up today!"
    
The youngest boy didn't see Nani shaking her head at him until he smiled in her direction. "Oh, no, um... No she didn't! She didn't kick anybody's butt." He scrambled to take his words back, but he'd already spoken them and their mother was already looking at her daughter with a look of disappointment.
    
"Nani! What have I told you?! Does no one in this house care what I say?" Nani rubbed her forehead again, eyes closed, "A high schooler was picking on Michael, Mama. He was too big for them do do anything about it." While their mom shook her head, their father beamed with pride, "How old?"
    
Michael decided to jump in now, the area where his two front teeth once sat on full display, due to the large smile on his face. "He was a sophomore! Dad, he was taller than Nani,"

"And bigger! He's a football player!" Romeo jumped in, trying to help their mom see the good in Nani's deed, and genuinely excited that his big sister was able to beat the crap out of a football player nearly twice her size.
    
"That's my girl!" Their father cheered, clapping Nani's shoulder beside him. Her mother's mouth dropped open, "Adam! Don't encourage her!" She scolded her husband. Adam looked at his wife, "Come on Marie. There's no difference between those punks picking on our kids and Jerome Valeska. You encourage her hitting him, why not get some practice in?" He turned to his daughter again, "I'm proud of you." He said kissing her forehead as he stood to  leave the table and wash his dishes. "Not a scratch on her! That's my daughter!" He yelled as he was walking off, making his wife smile. "I am proud of you honey. I wish I'd had a big sister like you. Good night babies. Mama loves you." She said as she went around the table, kissing her children's foreheads and taking their plates.

    
"Nani?" Artemis's sleepy voice called out. She went and sat beside her sister's cot, "You're not gonna stop fighting any time soon are you?" Nani looked at the little girl. Her hair in braids and light brown freckles sprinkled across her nose, like hers and their father's.
    
Looking at her sister, Nani remembered being young and believing in Jerome Valeska. She remembered dreaming she didn't have to be raised to fight some mystery man. She realized that even though she wasn't scared, her sister was genuinely afraid. "Never, never, never. I'm gonna be here forever Artemis. No one's gonna change that."
    
The little girl smiled, satisfied and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. Nani kissed her forehead and stood up, tip toeing through her siblings on the floor. She didn't know she was lying, but she felt it. Whether she knew what the feeling was or not.