They just released a couple of sides for ep 12. Alex is not Mateo's aide. Alex - I think is a she - and she potentially has breast cancer. We see her at the end of the episode, she is at the hospital with her friends and family after a fall in a competition - I am assuming that its the same dance competition that Xo has entered - but the significance of this character must be something big as this all happens at the end of the episode. Truthfully, I actually would have thought it was for a different show were it not for the LLN.

Rafael is also trying to find his birth mother. There is a side in which he is talking to Jane and he says that the woman he found was not his real mother - idk if she was a nun or another woman who gave birth in the orphanage in Italy, as its the only way this could make sense - but she put her name on his birth certificate because his real mother was terrified that her family would find out. Rafael tells Jane that she doesn't know his real mother's name. Jane tells him not to give up and there must be records somewhere - such as the convent that they went to last season - which is personally where I would have started.

Why would most of the audience care about Alex? Many are not going to care about Alex because they have no connection to her. I'm guessing her death is most likely going to affect Xo. I'm just happy Rafael's bio family is coming back into play. I wonder who they're going to cast to play his bio mother?!