22. The Calm(2)

The eyes and posture of Sue changed in a second. She took her glasses off, tilted her head and stared at Lincoln with narrowed eyes. He, meanwhile, was biting his lower lip. It was at that moment that he realized that he wouldn't leave the retirement house without telling the truth to someone.

"You know how… how to deal with old people", he said, and Sue was now definitely looking at him with surprise and worry after noticing his tearful eyes. "And I… I need y-your help."

The trip back home was even more silent than the previous one. Lincoln didn't know what his mother had been doing during the little over an hour that he had spent at the retirement house. Judging by the way she checked her phone on every red light, he assumed that she had been talking with someone, but he was feeling too dejected and discouraged to even ask.

Maybe she's talking with one of the girls, he thought. He was still intrigued about where had they all went to in the afternoon, when they had left him alone with his friends and Rita.

Aside from those sporadic thoughts, Lincoln tried to not think of anything. He pressed his head against the window and focused on his own breathing. The temperature was going down, and he gave credit to the reports he had heard about the storm coming up the next day over Royal Woods. With every puff of air that he blew he fogged Vanzilla's windows, and he focused on it to kill time.

They soon reached Franklin Avenue 1216, but Rita didn't get on the driveway. Instead, she stopped with the engine still running in front of the house. Lincoln looked at his home, and the familiar clash of emotions happened once again inside of him: the happiness of finding himself near his family one more time, and the sadness of knowing that the people that lived there weren't the happy, cheerful persons that had always been there for him. He was coming back to a home where he was forced to be strong. Strong for his sisters, strong for his parents. He needed to bury all his emotions and fears in the deepest parts of his heart so they wouldn't affect the rest of his family, and that was becoming harder with each passing day.

To make things worse, Lola and Lana were sitting on the steps of the stoop. Lola was leaning against her twin, their shoulders meeting, and they both were hunched over, with their heads looking down. He needed to conceal his feelings, and he would have to do it fast.

"I'll go buy the groceries. I'm taking Lily with me", Rita told him. "Your father is at the supermarket right now. We'll meet there and… and we'll buy the… the things for dinner."

Lincoln nodded, as he wondered how much pain her mother was going through, to the point where she could barely finish a simple sentence.

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" She asked him.

He was surprised by the question. It wasn't something that got asked too often. Usually, they were so tight on a budget that they didn't have the luxury of choosing what to eat.

"I don't know. Dad's lasagna?"

"Alright. Yes, we'll eat that."

After a moment of silence, Rita took her seat belt off and leaned over her son, trapping him in a tight, warm hug. She stroked his hair and filled his forehead with little kisses as she squeezed him against her like it was the last time she'd hug him –and that thought made him shake on his seat.

"I'll be back soon", she whispered, before opening the door for him.

The only boy of the Loud children stepped on the sidewalk, and a few instants later his mom drove away. The sound of the engine driving away was enough for Lana and Lola to look up, and even though he was a few meters away, Lincoln could see their eyes brightening at his sight.

"LINCOLN!"

Both of them jumped to their feet and started to run towards him. Knowing that he would need to plant his feet if he didn't want to get thrown to the ground, Lincoln knelt to be at their same height and to have a better grip. Just like he had predicted, both twins jumped right at each side of him, trapping him in a double hug.

"We missed you!" They both said at the same time, their faces rubbing against his chest.

"I missed you, too. What are you doing out here?"

"We were waiting for you", Lana said in a whisper, looking up at him.

"Let's play, please", Lola shyly asked, embracing him tighter.

It hurt him, oh, it hurt him so bad. Lincoln suffered along with his sisters, he felt their pain multiplied by ten. And even so, he also felt love. Love and a pinch of happiness for knowing that he had such beautiful, wonderful and lovable sisters like them.

"Of course. What do you want to play?" He asked them, forcing Lola to draw away from him long enough to look at his eyes.

Both twins shared an insecure look.

"What about… a tea party?" Suggested, surprisingly, Lana. Lincoln blinked a couple of times.

"You sure?"

She nervously played with the buttons of her overalls.

"If you don't want… maybe we can… uh..."

"No, I mean, I'm okay with it. But do you really want to do that?"

Lana bit her lip and slowly looked up at her big brother. Lincoln saw himself reflected in those bright blue eyes, and he smiled at her to give her a little confidence. His smile managed to ease Lana a little, and she finally spoke.

"I just want to play with you. I don't care what we do."

Somewhat touched by her words, he nodded and stood up. Lola had to release her grip on him, but she quickly grabbed his hand. Lana, not to be left out, was also fast to grab his other hand. He didn't bother telling them that he was ok with a tea party. He simply walked along with them to the door. Lola opened the doorknob and the three of them went inside the house.

They moved towards the stairs, but Lincoln stopped his march when he heard something that caught his attention. He stood in his place and tilted his head. It had taken him a few seconds to notice the difference. It was understandable, though; for over eleven years, it had never been something worth noticing, it had been part of his everyday life. Only now, after nine terrible days, the usual became strange. Only a few seconds focusing his hearing was enough to confirm that it wasn't his imagination, that it wasn't just wishful thinking, and a big smile spread on his face.

Music.

Cheered up and with renewed energies, he walked the stairs up, almost dragging his two little sisters. Once he was on the first floor, instead of turning to the right, he took a turn to his left.

"Wait!" Both girls said, planting their feet and stopping his brother.

"Huh?"

"You can't go there."

"Why not?"

They both exchanged a silent look. Lincon adored them and had an almost infinite patience for them, but he really wanted to go to Luna's room and see with his own eyes if his older sister was playing the electric guitar once again. Had she bought a new one, or did she have a spare one after smashing Chloe?

He resumed his march towards Luna's room, but once again, his younger sisters tried to stop him.

"Stop!"

"You said you'd play with us!"

"I will, I just want to-"

"Let's go now!"

"You can talk with Luna later!"

"Why?!" He asked, raising his voice and releasing his grip on their hands, turning around to glare at them.

The moment he let go of them, though, the strength they were using to stop him made them fall hard on their backs on the floor. The two of them looked up at their brother, their mouths agape, and they instinctively leaned closer to each other. Lincoln saw the hint of fear in their eyes, and he wanted to hit himself in the face with a mallet. He didn't even notice that the music had stopped.

"Guys, I'm sorry, I'm sorry", he said, kneeling down and throwing his arms around them. "I didn't mean to yell."

He was afraid that they might not forgive him so easily, but the moment he stretched his arms, they jumped right at him. He closed his eyes and cursed himself. This wasn't the girls' fault. They had nothing to do with everything that he was going through, and they were feeling just as bad if not worse than him because of it. They didn't deserve to be treated like that.

"Bro?"

The three turned around at the sound of Luna's voice, and Lincoln thought he heard Lola whispering an "uh-oh". Peeking her head out of her bedroom door, the musician was looking at him with worried, red eyes, like she hadn't slept in a long time, or like she had been… Well, he couldn't tell for sure, but he was confident that he knew what had caused those puffy, red eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that she had stopped putting make up on her face this last week, she would probably have a tale-tell trace of mascara running down her cheeks.

Perfect, Lincoln thought. Now she had stopped playing. And his hopes of seeing her playing her guitar with a smile on her face had practically vanished.

"Luna!" He said with a fake smile, though. "What's up?"

"You alright? Why did you scream?" The girl asked, evading the question and taking a step out of her room, closing the door behind her. Lincoln, always sharp and with an eye for detail that would make Ace Savvy proud, noticed how her hand was on the doorframe, controlling the entrance to her room. Like she didn't want anyone to get inside.

He looked back at the twins again. They both looked anxious. They didn't even dare to look at Luna. He squinted his eyes and raised an eyebrow. What were they hiding?

"Nothing, it was a silly thing. I shouldn't have raised my voice", he admitted. "I heard you playing… it sounded pretty."

"Thanks, but, uh..."

Luna bit her lower lip and sneaked a peek into her room. Lincoln heard some movement, and he was ready to see Luan walking out of there, but he then heard the unmistakable sound of a guitar being unplugged from an amplifier. Luna would never let Luan touch her expensive equipment. His surprise only increased at an alarming rate when he heard some whispers, Luna looked inside her room, sighed, took a step aside, and an unexpected visitor stepped into the hall.

He, of course recognized, her on the spot. Her light blue jacket, her purple jeans, and that blonde hair with a blue streak… it was impossible to mistake her.

"Sam", he said, surprised.

He looked at Luna. He knew the feelings his sister had for that girl. Sam had visited the house several times before. He still remembered that time when Luna thought she had lost Sam's pick, and they all turned the house upside down to find it. Still, it surprised him to see her there, given the circumstances. As far as he knew, none of his older sisters had been hanging with their friends ever since the early-mourning process had begun. They simply didn't feel strong enough, or motivated enough to be with someone else outside of their family. Only Lori had visited Bobby a few times during the past week.

"Hey, Lincoln", the girl said, with those sad, green eyes, and that soft voice that characterized her. She took a quick glance at Luna and then back at Lincoln.

"We… uh.." Lola began.

"...we'll be in our room", Lana finished. "Don't keep us waiting."

The twins stood up and ran to their room, leaving the two punks and Lincoln alone. Now that they had a little more privacy, Sam moved closer to her friend's brother and crouched down to be at his height.

"Lincoln, I… I'm so… I just wanted..." She shook her head, from side to side, looking frustrated. "Look, what I wanted to say is..."

He was prepared to receive her condolences. Empty words, like the ones everybody had sent to his phone the day before when the whole school found out about him. Words of sadness, words of hope, hackneyed phrases that didn't help him at all and that didn't make him feel any better. It's not that he blamed them. They were all clearly trying to do what they think was right, but sometimes, as he read those messages, he wished they were more honest. More real.

"...is that you're a wonderful kid", Sam told him, looking intensely at him. "You're always kind and attentive to me, and with how much Luna talks about you, and the love with which she does it… It's enough for me to know that you're amazing and that I'm lucky to know you."

Lincoln felt his jaw falling open and his eyes widening in surprise.

"Luna also told me you play the guitar. That's rad", she commented with a smile.

He had seen several smiles lately. From his sisters, from Clyde, from Ronnie Anne. He had seen his own smile in the mirror. Big, fake smiles from ear to ear. And yet, that little smile, that little gesture of the corner of her lips moving up, those little wrinkles next to her eyes… That little smile meant more than all the ear-to-ear ones that he had seen lately.

"I'm not… I'm not really good with it", he said, kinda overwhelmed by this conversation that he had not been prepared for. "But I once played the cello in a family band."

Sam's smile grew a bit.

"I would've loved to be there. You were probably rockin' it!"

Lincoln couldn't help but blush a little at her compliments. The girl giggled, and after staring at him for a few seconds, she gave him a little hug.

"You're a cool kid, Lincoln. Most importantly, you're kind, and that makes you special. Don't forget that."

Before leaving, she shook his hair with her hand.

"I dig the new look. It looks cute."

Sam walked back with Luna, who was smiling but clearly holding back her tears. Her friend put a hand on her right shoulder, and both of them walked back into the room, probably to calm down a bit and then go back to keep playing the guitar. Lincoln decided to leave them alone. Luna deserved to have some privacy with one of her best friends and the girl that had conquered her heart.

He then went into the twins room, walking right past Lucy and Lynn's. He didn't hear any sound coming from it.

The twins had already prepared the tea table. There was a free chair where Lola used to always sit, next to which, Lana was occupying her place. The rest of the seats were already taken by Lola's plushies and Hops. The dress wearing was standing next to the free chair, and patted it while looking at him. Not wanting to disappoint her, Lincoln took his place on the table. To his utter surprise, Lola rushed to her toy stove and grabbed the plastic kettle. She pretended to pour the hot water into the teapot, put it on a plate, and walked back to the table.

"May I offer you some tea, Prince Linkington?" She asked.

Lincoln stared at her for several seconds.

"Don't you want to sit and let me serve tea?" He asked.

"Of course not!" Lola yelled, looking at him like had suggested to take his shoes off for the tea party. "You're the guest of honor! Now give me that cup!"

The "guest of honor" was fast to raise his cup, fearing that Lola would stab him with a plastic fork on his throat if he dared to suggest something so evidently out of the discussion. The little princess' face morphed into a happy smile as she made the sound of the imaginary tea pouring into the empty cup. She made her round, serving all guests.

"Okay your Highness, what'd ya wanna talk 'bout?" Lana asked, drinking a little of the made up tea and burping after she was done.

Lola pursed her lips and squinted her eyes.

"I'd like to know where all our sisters are", he said, lifting his cup to his lips, pretending to drink from it and then wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"They're busy", Lola asked, refilling Lincoln's cup. "Luna's in charge of watching over us."

"Busy doing what?"

"We don't know, we didn't ask", both twins answered at the same time, without looking at their brother.

The twins used to talk at the same time. It was one of their talents, but this time the coordination had been too perfect. A little too much.

"By the way, where did you guys go to this afternoon?" He asked them, and he noticed how tense and rigid they went right after he asked it. "You didn't even say goodbye, and you left me alone with Ronnie Anne and Clyde."

Lola made a new round filling everyone's cups of tea before she answered.

"We didn't want to bother you..."

"Yeah, you looked happy with your new girlfriend", Lana emphasized in a low voice. "We didn't want to distract you."

"Guys, come on, you're my sisters. You know I'll always have time for you!" He told them, shaking his head in disbelief. "But it doesn't matter. Where did you go anyway?"

Even Hops seemed to notice the tension in the air after Lincoln's question, croaking to break the silence.

"Would you guys like a sandwich?" Lola asked, walking to another table where she had some small sandwiches ready. "These ones are real."

She started to hand out the appetizers, and Lana was quick to congratulate her for her culinary abilities. Lincoln sighed, but a little smile appeared on his face.

He would let them get away with this one.

The rest of his sisters came back home at different times. Lynn was the first one, only a few minutes after Lola's tea party began. Lucy and Luan were next, followed by Leni and, finally, Lori. They all went to the twins' room to say hi to him, but none of them accepted the invitation to join their tea party, excusing themselves saying that they had some other things to do. The twins didn't let Lincoln leave the room not even to go to the bathroom. He heard a lot of movement in the hall, and Luna and Sam moved to the garage to keep practicing, but no one let him know what was going on.

Lincoln enjoyed the long tea party Lana and Lola hosted for him, treating him like he was truly part of the royalty, making sure that he had every luxury he might need. They let him talk about comics, asking him questions about Ace Savvy and looking at him with religious admiration as he explained the Captain Yahtzee on a Roll tie-ins for Crisis on Infinite Decks.

When they finished, he paid a visit to Luan. They talked for a bit in her room before they continued recording the secret project his older sister was helping him with. Lori almost walked into the room at some point and both of them were suddenly scared because they didn't want anyone finding out about what he was doing. Not yet, at least.

Supper came soon, and once again, they all ate at the big table, the whole family together. The big difference was that being so late, Lynn Sr and Rita invited Sam to stay for dinner. The presence of such a special guest —he and all his sisters knew about Luna's feelings towards the other girl— helped to keep a nice atmosphere for the evening, with light, entertaining conversations.

Lincoln enjoyed every second of it because, for one moment, as they all laughed and ate Lynn Sr's lasagna, it really felt like a regular dinner, and not like it was the last supper.

After finishing dinner and changing into his night outfit, Lincoln went into his room, grabbed the key his parents had gotten to him, and locked his door behind him. He had stopped doing it after Lucy and the twins found out about him. He didn't want to deny them the entry if they wanted to be with him, but right then, he had something to do.

He moved his bed a little, grabbed some folded papers, and displayed them on his bed.

His calendar and his objectives list. Operation Farewell. The first thing he did was to grab his calendar and, since it was past supper already, he crossed another day out. So long, Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were the remaining white squares. The next week, with the red squares, was getting closer and closer. And he didn't even know if he would live long enough to see it.

As soon as he felt chills running down his spine and his legs shaking with fear, he closed his calendar and threw it behind his bed once again. He then grabbed his objective list, since he had some things to mark as done. He checked the "Kissing Ronnie Anne one more time", "Play one last online match with Clyde", "Have a tea party with Lola" and "Fixing thing up between Ronnie Anne and Lynn" items. The last one had been a late addition, written down the day when the two girls had their beatdown. He was happy to see not only how many items he had marked as done after one more day, but also because that one last item had been resolved without his intervention.

Ronnie Anne and Lynn, they were now friends.

Lynn…

He checked his list. Some objectives had been added after that first draft made during one night. It was easy to see which ones were newer since the original list was written with blue ink and every new objective was written with black. He lost the damn blue pen. There were a lot of objectives that he hadn't considered the first time around and that he had added after his talks with his sisters. As he read down the list, he focused on some of the objectives that had been added after his one on one talk with Lynn last Friday, after she escaped from school and ran to her karate dojo.

With a sigh, he hid the list behind his bed and left his room determined. He walked directly towards the room in the middle of the hall, and he knocked the door.

"Come on in", answered Lynn's tired voice. Was she already in bed, ready to sleep?

He opened the door and walked inside. Lucy was nowhere to be found, but his older sister was laying down transverse on the bed, her ponytail hanging over the edge and her legs pressed up against the wall, forming an L shape with her body. She was throwing a baseball up, catching it and throwing it again. He noticed she was wearing the same old jersey she used as a nightgown to sleep, with only that over her underwear, leaving her legs exposed, not caring that the window was open and a cold breeze made its way into the room.

Lynn caught the ball and tilted her head backward.

"Lincoln!" She said when she saw him, rolling back and falling on her feet on her bedroom's floor. She tossed the ball aside and walked closer to him. "What's up, bro?"

"Not much. How are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm doing… fine… I guess..." she answered, not really convinced by her words, and Lincoln understood just how stupid his question had been. Of course she wouldn't be doing well.

"Listen, do you have a second? I want to try something", he told her with a smile that, oddly enough, he didn't have to fake.

Sadness and other downer emotions were known to create an atmosphere that, just like a whirlpool, could drag everyone around into a spiral of endless negativity; but just in the same way, a radiant, honest smile could expand to others like fire in a pasture land. Lynn caught on Lincoln's smile, and she fiercely nodded, her ponytail bouncing behind her head. Lincoln grabbed her by her arm, over her left shoulder, and he escorted her to Lucy's desk. He made her sit on the stool and moved her little goth sister's books, feathers, and inkwells so there was nothing between Lynn and the mirror.

"Uh, Lincoln?" She said, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Do you remember the other day, when we had a talk?"

Lynn took a long breath and then sighed. Her shoulders dropped and her gaze moved down. She didn't need to ask which day he was talking about; in fact, he made no comment at all. She remained in silence waiting for her brother to continue.

"I loved being able to talk to you like that. I always thought I knew you better than anyone else… and I still do", he added, and Lynn cracked the shadow of a smile, "but turns out there was a lot about you that I didn't know. Like all the things you said about… well… the way you see yourself."

He remembered it all. He had asked her to talk about herself, just to kill time, and Lynn saved nothing. She told him about her fears, her secret hobbies, the things she'd love to learn. She told him that she wanted to learn to cook. That she was actually interested in learning how to polish her nails. That her secret crush was Francisco, a boy she knew from the baseball championship and her tennis classes. And she also told him that she didn't really feel confident enough to talk to him was because she didn't think she was pretty enough. She sent him an anonymous letter, yes, but she felt like she could never tell him her feelings face to face. She had told him that no one really paid any attention to her because she wasn't pretty or girly enough. And Lincoln had a very strong opinion about that.

"I think you're beautiful", he blurted out, like it was no big deal.

Lynn snickered and gave him a half smile.

"I'm serious", he defended himself, resting his hands on his sister's shoulders as he stood behind her.

"I believe you, but you're my brother", she said, moving her hands over Lincoln's, gently stroking them, "we're all beautiful to you."

"Yes, but I can also appreciate if a girl is pretty or not, regardless if they're my sister. And I think you're pretty. Look at the mirror, come on."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, but she complied with her brother's request. She looked at herself in the mirror and dedicated several seconds to appreciate her face and body.

"I don't see what's pretty", she whispered, barely loud enough for Lincoln to listen to her. He gave her shoulders a little squeeze.

"For starters, I think you have some cute hazel eyes", he told her, looking at her reflection. "I've always thought you and Luan have the prettiest eyes in the house."

"The twins have blue eyes", Lynn said with the beginning of a smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah, and they're really pretty too, but your eyes are just as pretty. Besides, you have freckles. Everybody likes freckles, only the most attractive human beings have them", Lincoln said, puffing his chest and showing proudly his own face.

Lynn giggled and rolled her eyes, giving him a funny look afterward.

"Not to mention you have the most squeezable cheeks in the house", he added, moving his hands up to Lynn's cheeks and playfully squeezing them.

"Stop! Lincoln! Quit it!" She complained, shaking her head to free herself from her brother's hands.

Lincoln wasn't lying about Lynn's cheeks. For some ironic reason, she had always had the softest, squishy and most round cheeks in the family, and everyone found them adorable. Every time they could, they pinched them or poked them with a finger, telling her how cute she looked. This, of course, served to enrage the little athlete, making her blush as she, with her face red with shame, usually yelled and cussed. She defended her honor by saying that she wasn't cute at all, chasing down whoever had said such a disgraceful thing, trying to beat them up. She always looked and acted mad, but Lincoln knew that deep down she really liked those tender gestures.

Lynn finally stopped him by grabbing his wrists and moving his hands away from her face.

"Don't do that!" She complained, puffing her cheeks in an angry way, but that only made her look even more adorable.

"See?" Lincoln said, pointing at the mirror with his chin. "You look pretty."

"Of course not."

"Well, I think you do."

"Well, you're crazy."

"I trust your girl's gut when you guys want to give me advice. Why don't you trust my men instinct?"

"Because you're not like the rest of the boys. You're better", she rushed to clarify, "definitely better than everyone else. But I know that the rest of the boys my age won't take a second look at me."

She was still holding him by his wrists, which she gripped a little tighter. Lincoln leaned forward, leaving his head next to his sister's.

"I'm convinced that you're beautiful, and it's just a matter of time until another boy realizes it."

Lynn buffed and rolled her eyes again.

"If you're going to lecture me about 'sooner or later someone will notice you and love you just the way you are', I appreciate the thought, but-"

"Actually", he interrupted her, "maybe you could use some little changes."

Lynn gave him a murderous glare.

"I'm not saying you should change who you are or to have a complete makeover", he rushed to clarify. "I think you're beautiful right now, at this very moment, but not every other boy is as lucky as I am to see you every day and notice all your pretty features, you know? People don't have time to appreciate the beauty, they just look at the surface of things. So maybe we could work some little tweaks to make you stand out a little more at a first glance. Like, what if we change the ponytail?"

Lynn released her brother's wrists, grabbed her ponytail with her hands and turned her body to give Lincoln a horrified glance.

"Are you nuts?! It's streamlined! Aerodynamic! I need it to play sports!"

"I can understand that, but when you're not training-"

"I'm always training."

"...when you're not competing, why not wear your hair down?"

She looked at him like he was suggesting a deadly sin.

"Lincoln, I can't wear my hair down. It's annoying. It's too girly not… not like me."

"Would you let me try it?" He asked. "Give me a chance. Just one. If you don't like it, I won't suggest it again, but think about it. You can't say you don't like it without even trying, right?"

Lynn looked away. One of her hands unconsciously stroked her ponytail as she bit her lips and her eyes looked at the desk, undecided. She turned her head to stare at her bedroom's open window before fixing her eyes on Lincoln. Once again, she puffed her cheeks, looking at him with venom in her gaze.

"Nobody can know about this, you hear me?" She muttered.

She sat looking at the mirror, her back straightened and a red blush spreading across her face. Lincoln smiled and with a soft movement he took her scrunchie off, letting his sister's hair fall free a little past her shoulders. Her hair was so used to be confined in a ponytail that it didn't fall either straight nor even. Not to mention that Lynn wasn't really the type of girl that worried about the state of her hair. She didn't use as many products as Lola, Leni or Lori, so her hair wouldn't be easy to work with.

Lincoln had a lot of experience helping his sisters, especially Lola, with their hairstyles. He searched Lucy's drawers for a comb, and he went back behind Lynn. He put the brush on the top of her head and gently moved it downwards. Even while doing it slowly, the comb got stuck with Lynn's hair, pulling it and causing her some pain.

"Lincoln!"

"Sorry, sorry", he said, trying to do it a little gentler this time. "What conditioner do you use?"

"We don't have an air conditioner, dummy, we use a fan."

"Wow. This will take some time."

And some time it took, indeed. The first minutes were spent trying to untangle Lynn's hair, undoing all the knots he could find. Once the hair brush could move without any obstructions, Lincoln allowed himself to relax and focus on softly caressing his sister's long hair. The difference to the touch was noticeable when compared to Leni or Lola's, but it wasn't as bad as he would have expected, and he wouldn't give up. With all those years of experience on his back, he delicately and carefully worked Lynn's hair, brushing her with his expert hands, determined to make her realize how beautiful she was. He wanted her to understand that she could be pretty like any other girl. That she wasn't less than anyone.

So focused he was that he didn't realize something was odd until Lynn moved an arm to rub her eyes with the back of her hand, wiping away some tears. He stopped everything he was doing.

"What happens?"

Lynn didn't say a thing. With both hands rubbing her eyes, she leaned back, resting her back against Lincoln's chest. He threw the brush to the floor and hugged her from behind, the hairstyle suddenly forgotten. With a shaky sigh, Lynn rested her hands on Lincoln's forearms and gripped him tightly.

"Sorry, I'm… Ugh… I'm…"

She couldn't finish. She sunk into her seat, losing herself in her brother's comforting embrace. He held her even closer to him, and at the risk of her getting mad or a little annoyed, he gave her a soft kiss on her temples. He received no complaint.

He was afraid that Lynn might get carried away by the sadness and she would start crying. He would be there for her to contain her, to help her deal with her feelings and hopefully help her feel a little better. To be honest, though, he wasn't in the mood and he didn't have the energies to deal with it. It was a relief when Lynn started to take deep breaths, letting it out in long, heavy puffs. In just a minute, she managed to get a grip and she looked calmer now.

They still remained in silence, close to each other, until she spoke.

"Lincoln?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think I'm pretty?"

He smiled.

"Of course, you silly", he told her, moving away from the hug.

He grabbed her hair and made some little arrangements with his bare hands so she could see it better in the mirror. It was now falling tidy on her back, with just a few waves where the scrunchie always squeezed it and where Lincoln's arms had been when he hugged her from behind. He moved some locks of hair so they would rest on her shoulders, and Lynn started to turn her head to admire her new look from all angles.

"This way your hair frames your face better", Lincoln explained to her. "If you go to school like this, everybody will turn around to look at you, and they'll see your face in a way they haven't before. What you need to do now is to make your eyes pop. You don't need to use a ton of makeup. Just put on a little eyeliner on the upper eyelid and people's attention will be dragged to your eyes, and that's when you'll win them over. Believe me, Francisco will be asking you out in no time."

She blushed and kept staring at herself. Her legs were swinging back and forth on the chair, and the smile on her face was so honest and happy that it dissimulated her shiny cheeks, soaked with the trails of the tears that she had cried just a couple of minutes ago. Lincoln had never seen Lynn like this, but she knew Lola and Leni enough to realize that, at that moment, her athlete sister felt pretty.

"No wonder Lola has you as her coach. If you could change me to look good, you must do wonders for her", she softly said.

"I didn't change you. This is still you; I'm just suggesting a different hairstyle to accentuate the beauty you already have."

"I guess I could try this… When I'm not playing, of course. My ponytail doesn't just keep my hair out of my eyes; it's also good luck."

Lincoln gave her a curious look. He had never asked her this, and he guessed that there was no point in not doing it. If he didn't ask her now, when would he?

"With how much you train and how great you are, it's still hard for me to accept that you believe in luck", he honestly told her.

Lynn looked at him over her shoulder and arched an eyebrow.

"Luck always plays a big role in sports. I can be the best player on the field, elude four rivals and shoot to score, but if I hit the ball just half an inch over where I should, it can go everywhere. Or the field may have a tiny bump and the ball bounces off in an unexpected way that confused the goalie. Or a basketball can roll on the ring, and the stadium's air current says if it falls in or out."

As she kept explaining to him that every sport had a lot of random moments that could change and influence the result, he couldn't help but smile to his insides when he saw the passion with which she defended her beliefs. Sports wasn't the only thing that defined his older sister, but they were clearly her favorite activities and hobbies in the world, and it brought joy to his heart to see that even during these dark times, she was able to cope and smile for a few minutes by talking about her passions.

"Of course hard work is important", she continued. "When I started with the Turkey Jurkeys I was the only good player and we lost the first championship, but I trained them hard for the rest of the season and we won the next tournament. I was finally able to finish my FLIBBR!" She remembered with a smile. "But yeah, luck matters, too. Oh, come on, don't look at me like that. You can't really blame me for being superstitious. I've been Lucy's roomie for six years. With all the things I've seen, I'm more than willing to do everything in my power to cast away bad energies."

Lincoln raised his eyebrows, impressed by what he heard. It had never occurred to him that Lynn's superstitious nature was related to her roommate.

"Speaking of Lucy… where is she?" He asked, looking back at the rest of the empty room. Was she trying to sleep inside her coffin under the bed?

Lynn turned her stool around, and her face darkened a little. She pointed at the open window with her left hand.

"She went out to the roof", she explained with sorrow. "I don't know what she went to do. I tried talking with her, but she won't let me."

Lincoln glanced at the window. The breeze was cold.

"Lincoln… Go with her."

The boy looked at his sister. She didn't sound totally convinced of her own words, and he could only imagine how much she wanted him to stay there with her. His eyes must have reflected his worries, because she was quick to fake a smile and punch him in the arm.

"Don't look at me like that", she said. "I'm worried about her. This is the first time I really don't know how to help her. She needs you, bro."

Lincoln sighed. The two of them stayed in silence for a few seconds until he made up his mind. Even though she wasn't precisely euphoric, he had managed to at least help Lynn a little. If he could help another sister… the more the merrier.

"We'll keep working on your look tomorrow", he warned her, looking at her with a smile.

Lynn let out a giggle and raised her fist to punch him. He closed his eyes, getting ready for the impact, but he instead heard her standing up, and he was trapped in a bear hug. He was about to tell her how much he loved her the moment she released him, but Lynn was faster and she gave him two punches in the shoulder.

He moaned in pain and glared at her, looking surprised, confused, and betrayed.

"Two for flinching", she said with a smile, shrugging her shoulders and walking towards her bed.

Lincoln stood there without knowing what to say. He went to the window, ready to climb to the roof. As he stepped on the little nightstand and planted his feet on the outside edge of the window, he smiled. He prayed for Lynn to never change.

His happiness didn't last. The gelid air of the night hit him as she stood outside the window, and his whole body shook. He clung on to the window. How could Lucy be out there with this cold? He shook his head and decided to end this as soon as possible. To climb from the window to the roof was no easy task. Most people would consider it dangerous, impractical and probably suicidal, but in a house where privacy was a luxury seldom enjoyed, the kids had learned to escape to the roof every once in a while.

With a dexterity that he had never before shown in gym class, Lincoln soon reached the slate roof. He flinched when his hands and bare feet touched the cold surface, but he didn't care. He raised his head, and he spotted Lucy's figure right on the act.

His little sister was balled up, sitting there with her head looking up to the sky, wearing her black pants and white t-shirt, her usual sleep attire, as she hugged her knees against her chest. He could see her shaking.

"Lucy, what are you doing here?" He asked her, crawling on all fours next to her. "You're gonna freeze here!"

His sister didn't answer. She didn't even turn to look at him. She kept her head pointing slightly up, staring over the backyard tree. A new breeze blew past them, and both kids shook. Lincoln sat next to his little sister.

One time, he and Clyde had decided to start a project that they called "The Girl Guru". He, Lincoln Loud, promoted himself as an expert in females and girls of all ages, trying to give advises to his classmates on how to interact with girls in order to be liked by them. Their plan had miserably failed because they didn't realize that all girls weren't the same, and that they all behave in different ways and like different things. In hindsight, Lincoln should've noticed the giant flaw in his plan, since he knew for a fact that not all girls were the same. He knew it first hand, since he lived with ten sisters, every single one of them unique in their own way.

What worked for one wouldn't work for the rest. Some of his sisters needed someone to talk with. Other sisters needed physical reassurance. Lucy, his little goth sister, needed time. Silence. Space to think, to feel. There wasn't much he could do to help her other than being there for her. And that's what he did. He sat by her side, determined to wait as long as she needed him to. The blistering cold had his jaw shaking, but he didn't complain. For Lucy, he would stand those temperatures and worse.

None of them said anything for a while. Lucy was staring at the thick, dark clouds that covered the sky, painted with the orange tones of the city lights beneath them. Lincoln could only stare at her. Nothing in the world mattered more to him than her.

After what he felt like half an hour, the girl's soft voice broke the silence of the night.

"I'm waiting for a shooting star", she simply said.

Lincoln blinked, surprised. He looked up at the sky.

"It's cloudy", he commented, pointing out the obvious.

"The wind moves the clouds. Every once in a while I can see a piece of the sky", she said, hugging her knees tighter to her chest. "If… If I'm lucky… Maybe I can catch a shooting star."

Lincoln was biting the inside of his cheeks. Understanding dawn on him. His hand moved up to scratch his head, trying to come up with an idea, with something to say. As much as he knew his sister, it was hard to find the right words for her. Changing the subject didn't seem like the best idea. She wouldn't get distracted with trivial stuff. He was absolutely lost, he didn't know what to do.

It was then when his eye caught something in the sky, and the answer appeared in front of him.

"Lucy, look", he urged her, pointing frantically to the sky. "A shooting star!"

She jumped on her knees, almost snapping her neck with how fast she turned her head to look at where he was pointing out. She opened her mouth excited, only to immediately close it and drop her shoulders, disappointed.

"It's a plane", she wept.

They both stared at the little twinkling light as it moved across the distant sky.

"It looks like a shooting star to me", he said, giving her a warm smile. "Why don't you ask for a wish?"

Lucy ducked her head. She didn't answer him, and for a moment he wondered if maybe he hadn't hurt her feelings.

"Aren't you going to ask for a wish?"

"You know what my wish is", she mumbled, burying her head between her knees, "and I don't want it to be a joke."

Yeah, he had definitely hurt her feelings. The idea sounded much better in his head. He leaned closer to her until their shoulders were touching, and he wrapped an arm around her. Lucy immediately rested her head against him.

"I'm going to pretend that it's a real shooting star", Lincoln said, her head looking up. He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them with a smile. "Done. Wanna know what I wished for?"

A car drove by the street, its noise breaking the monotonous silence of the night.

"I wished that my sisters never forget that I love them", he said, holding Lucy in his arms. "And that… that every time they miss me, they remember that I don't like seeing them sad. That they know that even if they can't feel my arms, I'll be hugging them whenever they need it."

He could have gone on. He had a lot to say, a lot of things he could wish, and he could list them all out without stuttering. He would have done if Lucy had needed it, but when she jumped on his lap, wrapped her arms around his chest and buried her face on his pajama, Lincoln decided that it was enough.

He tried to comfort her the best way he could, stroking her back, her hair, and whispering pretty words into her ears as she allowed her emotions to take over. The plane disappeared in the horizon, and with the clouds hiding the stars and the Moon, there was no one in the night to watch over the two children on the roof. It was like nature itself understood that the moment was only theirs.

They remained there for a long while, until Lucy sneezed. Lincoln put a hand on one of his sister's exposed arms.

"You're freezing", he said. "If we stay here you're going to catch a cold. Let's go inside, okay?"

He noticed his sister's hesitation as she clung even harder to his body.

"You need to warm up. Why don't you bunk with me tonight?" He suggested, smiling when she looked up to meet his eyes. "You'll be warmer there."

To the untrained eye, it would appear that Lucy's face hadn't changed at all, but Lincoln knew her like the palm of his hand, and he spotted right away how happy his invitation made her. The girl limited herself to softly nod her head, and they both stood up. Careful not to slide off or trip, they crawled to the edge of the roof. Lincoln was about to climb down to the window when she pulled his sleeve.

"What?"

"You do know that you don't have to say what you ask a shooting star, right?" She asked, with just a hint of worry in her otherwise monotonous voice. "If you say it, they don't come true."

Lincoln shrugged and gave her a new smile.

"It was a plane", he stated, matter of factly, "maybe it's not up to the starts, but to ourselves to make our wishes come true."

He let her thinking about his words as he maneuvered himself back down to the window of his sisters' room. He carefully put a foot on the nightstand and jumped on the carpet. Lynn was looking at him as she sat on her bed, playing once again with her lucky baseball.

A minute later, Lucy's small figure joined them, closing the window behind her. The three sighed in relief now that the cold breeze was gone.

"Sigh. Let's go", Lucy said to Lincoln, grabbing him by his wrist and dragging him towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Asked Lynn.

The boy and the goth girl stopped in their tracks. They exchanged a glance and then looked at Lynn.

"She'll be bunking with me tonight", Lincoln explained to her, "is that okay?"

"Oh", Lynn said, failing to catch the ball she had thrown to the air. "Yeah, uh, sure. Of course. Good night, then."

She bent over to grab the ball and returned to her game, actively avoiding to look at her younger siblings. Lincoln felt a knot on his stomach to see her like that. He wondered if Lynn would be alright sleeping by herself in her room tonight. He felt a little guilty, but he mostly felt Lucy's elbow on his ribs. He turned to look at his sister, wanting to ask her what the hell was wrong with her, but the serious look he found silenced his complains. He needed a few seconds to interpret it, but when he did, he couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, Lynn", he called her.

His sister looked up at him.

"Remember that time when you and Lucy had that pasta fight in this room?" He said. "You both had to bunk with me for the night. We were a bit cramped, but we fit in my bed. Whaddaya say?"

Lynn's face transition from sadness and resignation to extreme happiness was quite a show. Almost as impressive as what she did next, standing up on her bed and jumping forward, doing a front flip and falling on her feet next to her siblings.

"Sounds like a plan, bro!" She told him, as she wrapped her arms around Lincoln and Lucy's shoulders, dragging them closer into a hug they both accepted and returned.

Things were not okay; the situation was as terrible as it had been lately. But at that single moment, that instant where his two closest sisters in age had him sandwiched in a double hug, Lincoln allowed himself to feel calm. Calmed because he could live and enjoy the moment, without thinking about what was to come, without thinking on anything other than the love he had for his family, and the love hey had for him.

It had had some ups and downs, but overall it had been a good day. He had completed a couple of objectives on his list, he had… well, he had prepared everything so his grandpa would know the truth, he had played with Clyde, he got himself a girlfriend, and now he was wrapping it all up with a great moment with his sisters.

He couldn't ask for more.

Lynn broke the hug and looked at them with a smile.

"You guys go and get things ready. I'll go to the bathroom to take the Browns to the Super Bowl", she said between laughs, patting her stomach before running away into the hall.

Lincoln and Lucy exchanged a worried look. His bucket list was long, but he definitely had no item reserved to receive a dutch oven.

.

.

Well, was that too long? I hope you could enjoy it. The sisters, Lynn and Ronnie Anne, the three friends playing, Sue, Bernie, Pop-Pop, the twins, Sam, Lynn, Lucy… A lot to sink in. This is because we have TOO LITTLE time left. And by "too little" I actually mean "you have no idea how close we are to the end". The sisters that haven't got too much screentime will soon earn their paycheck.

This chapter is titled "The Calm". It was pretty calm, I think, without depressing parts or anything. But I think you guys are pretty smart, and if this chapter was titled "The Calm", I assume you can make an educated guess on how the next chapter will be called. The fact that this was pretty light is because we have something coming.

After all, after the calm…