by Disney Press
“Sounds wonderful,” Chloe said, smiling.
“Oh, yes,” Papi said, smiling. “Just go ahead and relax all night…I have done the deed,” he told her.
Chloe narrowed her eyes. “You want me to look at them sleeping, don’t you?” she asked knowingly.
“Yes, very much,” Papi told her.
Chloe hopped out of the tub and together, the couple went to check on their puppies. But things were not as Papi had expected. There were feathers flying everywhere! All the puppies were wide-awake and digging in their bed!
“What is going on in here?” Chloe cried out.
“We’re digging tunnels to carry our messages of love,” Ali explained.
“Yep, we sure are!” Pep piped up. Rosa stuck her nose through a hole she had dug in the middle of a giant painting that had been hanging on the wall. “It’s so romantic,” she said.
Chloe looked at her husband, confused. “Papi, what did you say to them?” she asked.
“Oh, just a little something about Chihuahua warriors braving great danger for love,” Papi mumbled sheepishly.
Chloe trotted around the disheveled bed. “I sent you in here to calm them down, Papi, and they’re more riled up than ever. You have to put your paw down with them sometimes.”
“But I don’t want to ruin their fun,” Papi told her. “Besides, they’re just puppies. They don’t know any better.”
“So it’s up to us to teach them,” Chloe pointed out. “You can’t be afraid to discipline them.”
“Afraid? I’m not afraid!” Papi shouted, standing tall. “I just don’t like that part….” He trailed off.
Chloe turned her attention to the puppies. “Okay, I want everyone in bed this minute!” she ordered.
All the puppies scrambled back into the doggie bed…except Papi Jr. Chloe stared at him. “Don’t make me put you back in the sailor outfit, Papi Jr.!” she warned.
He leaped into the bed.
“Sorry, Mama,” the puppies said in unison.
Chloe tugged on the blanket with her teeth and covered the puppies. She sighed and then smiled. Being a mom was hard work, but she loved every minute of it!
As the early morning sun rose in the sky, the puppies scampered down the hallway to the guest bedroom at Viv’s house. They pushed open the door and jumped up on the bed to wake Sam. Groggily, Sam opened one eye as he felt Papi Jr. licking his face. Then all the dogs were barking and licking him.
“Okay, I’m up! I know you guys are excited to meet the rest of the family, but at least let me get out of my pajamas,” Sam said, laughing happily.
Soon enough, Chloe, Papi, and their puppies were all in Sam’s truck heading away from Beverly Hills. As Sam drove out of the neighborhood, the streets started to look different. Houses were closer together and painted in bright colors, and people sat out on their porches with music playing.
Sam turned to see the puppies sticking their heads out of an open window. “What do you guys think of where your dad and I grew up?” he asked.
“I can’t wait for you to meet my brother,” Papi said to his family.
Papi was very excited to be back in his old neighborhood. He pointed out where he had once hidden a bone, where he had dug his first hole, and where his favorite fire hydrant was. There were so many memories!
Sam parked his truck in front of a brightly painted house, and his mother came running down the front-porch steps.
“Come inside, I have food,” Mrs. Cortez said warmly.
“That’s why I come home, Mom. I miss your tamales,” Sam said with a smile. He walked up with Rosa, Pep, and Lala in his arms and Ali and Papi Jr. following behind. He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.
“Que linda! So cute!” Mrs. Cortez gushed, looking at the puppies. She bent down and picked up Ali and Papi Jr. “Look at these delicious little taquitos!” she exclaimed.
“Be careful,” Papi Jr. whispered to Ali. “I think she’s hungry!”
Sam, his mother, and the dogs made their way inside the house. Mr. Cortez was sitting in a chair in the living room.
“So these are the newest members of the family!” Sam’s father exclaimed when he saw the puppies. “Pedro! Come here, boy! Come meet your nieces and nephews!”
Papi’s brother, Pedro, a sweet and sensitive Staffordshire terrier mix, lumbered into the living room. The dogs greeted him excitedly. But suddenly, Pedro bared his teeth. He looked really angry!
“Ahhhhhh!” the puppies all shouted, hiding behind their parents.
“He’s going to eat us!” Lala cried.
The puppies scattered and dove under the furniture. Poor Pedro looked around, confused by the puppies’ reaction. He hadn’t meant to scare them!
“Dude,” Papi said, coming up beside him, “you’ve really got to work on that smile.”
Pedro stopped baring his teeth. He instantly looked like a sweet dog again.
“That was a smile?” Rosa asked.
“Chloe, kids, I’d like you to meet mi hermano, Pedro,” said Papi. Now that Pedro looked friendly, Papi could formally introduce him to his family. He and Pedro highfived with their paws.
“Hi, everyone!” Pedro exclaimed, trying not to smile and show his scary-looking teeth.
Chloe stepped forward. “Pedro! It’s so good to meet you,” she said.
“Chloe,” Pedro said, admiring her. “You are even lovelier than I imagined. I’m sorry I was not here to greet you. I saw a butterfly in the yard whose wing was caught in a blade of grass, and I had to blow on it to set it free.”
The puppies peeked from where they were still hiding. Pedro seemed very sweet!
“How can you and Dad be brothers?” Papi Jr. asked, incredulously. “You don’t look anything alike.”
Rosa nudged her brother. “They’re not real brothers, silly,” she told him.
“They grew up on the streets together,” Ali said, remembering the stories her dad had told her.
“That doesn’t make our brotherhood any less real, kids,” Pedro told them. “Family is about who you love, not just who you’re born to.”
“Well said, mi hermano,” Papi added. “Ah, I love a family reunion.”
As the dogs continued to greet each other, Sam surveyed his parents’ living room. He saw a stack of mail on the table and quickly thumbed through the bills.
“Dad, what’s this?” he asked.
Mr. Cortez turned to his wife and gave her a worried look.
Mrs. Cortez sighed. “We should tell him, Fernando,” she said to her husband.
“Tell me what?” Sam inquired.
“Sit down, son. We have to discuss something with you,” Mr. Cortez told Sam.
Chloe watched the Cortez family. She led her puppies toward the door. “You kids go in the backyard and play,” she said. “It’s time for the adults to talk.”
Though they groaned and complained, the puppies scampered outdoors, giving the adults some privacy. Chloe and Papi sat at Sam’s feet, attentive to every word spoken.
“Oh, Sam, it was awful,” Mrs. Cortez said, shaking her head. “These men from the bank—they came in here and said they’re taking the house!”
“But how is that possible?” Sam asked, shocked.
“I haven’t been able to make the mortgage payments,” Mr. Cortez confessed.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me?” Sam ran his hand through his hair. He had no idea that his parents were struggling financially.
“I thought I could catch up with the payments,” his father told him.
Outside, the puppies were curious about what was happening inside.
“What are they saying, Papi Jr.?” Rosa asked. Papi Jr. jumped up, but he couldn’t reach the window.
“Ugh, I can’t see,” said Papi Jr. “Wait, I’ve got an idea!” By standing on his sisters’ backs, he was just barely able to see over the windowsill.
Sam paced around the living room. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What about the money from all the lands
caping jobs?” he asked his father.
Mr. Cortez lowered his head. “Since my back went out, I haven’t been able to work,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of jobs with the company down to just you,” he told his son.
“There’s got to be somebody we can ask to borrow the money from,” Sam said, thinking aloud. “What about Viv?” he asked.
“No, no, no,” his father said adamantly. “We will not burden anyone with our problems. This is a family affair.”
“Hold still!” Papi Jr. demanded outside the window.
Rosa, who was part of the tower of Chihuahuas, started laughing. “Pep, your paw smells like peanut butter!” she exclaimed.
Pep giggled. “Your nose is tickling my paw, Rosa!”
Papi Jr. looked down. “Shhhh! I’m trying to listen!” He watched Sam pace around the living room.
“Uh-oh…I can’t hold you guys much longer!” Ali warned them.
“Oh, no! Oh, no!” Pep shouted, starting to wobble.
“We’re going down!” Papi Jr. cried. He went flying as the tower toppled to the ground.
Inside, Mr. Cortez saw fear in his son’s eyes. “Don’t worry, the Cortezes have always pulled themselves up,” he said, trying to reassure his son.
“And if we can’t?” Sam asked.
“The bank will take the house,” Mr. Cortez replied solemnly.
Pedro hid his head with his paws.
Mr. Cortez continued. “Your mother and I will have to go live with my sister and her family in Arizona,” he said.
“But that’s so far from here!” Sam cried. “I’ll never see you. And they live in that tiny apartment. What will happen to Pedro?” Pedro put his head in Sam’s lap just then.
“I spoke to your cousin in Texas. He can go live with them on the farm. He’ll have space to run around,” Mr. Cortez told Sam.
Papi barked. “They can’t split us up!” he cried.
“It’s okay, Papi. We’ll figure something out,” Pedro assured him.
“It’s only until we can save up some money,” Mr. Cortez added.
All this talk was too much for Mrs. Cortez. “Oh, my heart is breaking,” she said. She stood up from her chair and ran out the back door.
Sam’s mind was racing. “There’s got to be something I can do. We’ll go to the bank first thing tomorrow,” he declared.
“Good,” Mr. Cortez replied. He didn’t sound so confident, but he had complete faith in his son.
In the backyard, the dogs were silent.
“They can’t lose this place,” Chloe whispered to Papi.
Papi’s eyes welled with tears. “This was my first home,” he said. “This is where I discovered what family was.”
“And what it was like to be loved and taken care of,” Pedro added.
“Oh, Papi, Pedro, I’m so sorry,” Chloe said. She felt awful for them.
“Before this house, we were on the streets.” Papi closed his eyes, and in an instant he was back in the alleys with Pedro, looking in garbage cans for scraps of food. Shop owners would shoo them away, and meals were hard to find.
“We had nothing,” Papi told Chloe. “Then one day, Sam and his parents adopted us. Suddenly, we had a family.”
“I don’t even want to think of what your life would have been like without them and this home,” Chloe said sadly.
Papi nodded. “That is why we cannot give up without a fight,” he said.
“Yeah!” Pedro agreed. “They gave us a home, let’s help them keep it!”
“Tomorrow we start the battle to save the house!” Papi declared.
After a long day, the puppies were finding it hard to settle down for the night at the Cortez house.
“Okay, everyone to bed,” Papi said.
Rosa came up to her father, her eyes wide. “Are you scared about losing this house, Daddy?” she asked.
Papi couldn’t deny his sad feelings. “Well, yes, I am,” he replied.
“But you’re not supposed to get scared,” Lala said, coming up next to him.
“You’re the dad,” Ali reminded him.
“Right…Um…” Papi stammered nervously. “Well…you know who was always brave?”
Papi Jr. charged forward with the answer. “Chihuahua warriors!” he shouted.
“Yes! Would you like to hear a story?” Papi asked.
“Yeah!” the puppies all cheered.
“Once, there was a little baby in grave danger…” Papi began. He told them the story of a snake who was about to attack the baby. He looked around at his children, who were hanging on his every word. “Luckily, a brave member of the tribe acted fast,” Papi continued. He told them that when the snake was about to strike, the Chihuahua grabbed it and tossed it to the ground. Then Papi paused and looked at the puppies. “And he was a hero to all!” he concluded.
The puppies leaped up to celebrate the heroic story—except Lala, who shuddered.
“I hate snakes,” she said, frightened.
Papi Jr. stood tall. “But the Chihuahua wasn’t afraid of the snake at all!” he declared. He turned to his father. “Right, Dad?” he asked.
“That’s right,” Papi said. “So, we should all be like a Chihuahua warrior and have no fear. Buenas noches, mi perritos,” he said, wishing the puppies good night.
As soon as Papi was gone, Papi Jr.’s head popped up. He turned to the window and sat up straight. There was a vine outside that looked just like a snake. Warrior time!
Downstairs, Chloe sat in front of a roaring fireplace, enjoying some peace and quiet. Papi walked in.
“Go ahead, check. I assure you, they are peacefully asleep,” he said, full of confidence.
At that moment, a bark from upstairs broke the silence.
Papi and Chloe tore up the steps to see what the commotion was about. As the door to the room opened, Papi and Chloe saw utter chaos—wild puppies jumping around and cheering Papi Jr. on!
“Let me guess,” Chloe said to Papi. “You told them another story?”
“Look, Mom! Papi Jr. is a brave Chihuahua warrior! See?” Ali explained. She lifted her nose and motioned toward the open window. There was Papi Jr., balancing unsteadily on the edge of a flower box.
“Don’t worry, mi hermanas, I’ll save you from the evil snake!” Papi Jr. cried.
Rosa giggled. “I told him it’s just a vine.”
Chloe raced to the window. “Come back here this instant!”
Suddenly, the flower box began to buckle under Papi Jr.’s weight.
“Help!” Papi Jr. screamed.
Chloe jumped up. “Papi, do something!” she cried.
One end of the flower box came unhinged from the window, and then the whole thing snapped. The box plummeted toward the ground—with Papi Jr.! Terrified, Papi and Chloe ran to the window. They could barely make out the figure jumping into the air to catch Papi Jr.! The flower box smashed to pieces on the ground.
Papi and Chloe charged down the steps and raced out the doggy door in the kitchen. When they got outside, the shadowy figure placed Papi Jr. gently down on the ground.
Chloe couldn’t believe her eyes—or her son’s good luck! “Delgado!” she cried. She had not seen her good friend in a long time. She had met the German shepherd in Mexico, and he had been a true friend when she was lost and alone there. Seeing him now and knowing that he had just saved her son was overwhelming.
“I was just in the neighborhood,” Delgado said humbly.
“I’ve never been so happy to see a dog in my life!” Chloe gushed.
“Thank goodness you were here,” Papi said with relief. “I am forever in your debt, Delgado.”
Chloe turned to her young pup. “Now Papi Jr., you go back to bed this instant. And never do that again!”
Papi Jr. stuck his tail between his legs and scurried inside the house. Before he reached the door, he turned back to his parents. “Sorry, Mama, I was just trying to be a brave Chihuahua warrior, like in Dad’s stories,” he said sheepishly.
Fro
m the room above, Papi Jr.’s sisters were watching the scene below and giggling. Chloe looked up at them and then at their father.
“I guess he didn’t read the fine print where I said ‘don’t try this at home,’” Papi responded.
Just then, Sam and Mr. Cortez rushed outside in their pajamas. Pedro was by their side, barking loudly.
Sam glanced around the yard and saw the other dogs. “What’s going on out here? Is everyone okay?” Sam asked, concerned. Suddenly, his face softened. “Delgado, is that you?” he asked.
Delgado barked.
“I don’t believe it!” Sam exclaimed. He hugged his old friend.
“Don’t get all mushy on me now,” Delgado told him.
Sam stood up and looked at Delgado, amazed. “How did you get all the way here from Mexico?” he asked. “I better call your partner, Detective Ramirez, and find out what’s up.” He headed back inside with his father to make the call.
“Delgado, how did you find us?” Chloe asked.
Delgado grinned. “I’m a police dog. Tracking is what I do!”
Papi turned to his brother. “Pedro, this is the amigo I told you about,” he said proudly. “The one who kept mi amor safe when she was lost in Mexico.”
Stepping forward, Pedro bowed his head. “It’s a true honor to meet you,” he said.
Before his brother flashed Delgado his famous smile, Papi warned him, “Uh, maybe don’t smile, bro.”
Chloe moved closer to her good friend. “What are you doing in Los Angeles, Delgado?”
“I’m here on assignment,” Delgado reported. “Um, police business, you know…” he began.
Chloe’s mind was racing. “Oohh, what is it?” she asked excitedly. “Some kind of undercover operation? You’re tracking a criminal!”
“It’s classified. I can’t tell you,” Delgado said. “But I could use your help. Will you come with me on a special assignment tomorrow?”
“I’d do anything for you, Delgado,” Chloe said sincerely. “I know!” she shouted suddenly. “It’s a jewel heist, isn’t it? Just give me a hint,” she begged.
Delgado shook his head and laughed. “I can see you haven’t changed a bit, kid.”
Inside the house, Sam was getting off the phone with Detective Ramirez.