4. Chapter 4

Wow, 3000 views and nearly 50 people subscribed. I had no idea this would get this popular when I first published it. Thank you everyone for the support.

And I've noticed a lot of other stories about these kids are popping up. Won't claim anything for that since I wasn't the first, but I will say I'm surprised by it. Kinda iffy too; they're interested in their own right, but some of those stories are them exclusively. I'm of the opinion they're best when they're there for the benefit of Lincoln and his sisters. I mean, here I'm trying to make it their story as much as their kids.

But that's just me.

Onto the story

"Do you understand?" Lyra had asked him. Lemy had told her he did. That had been a lie. He just hadn't been willing to talk about it any further- her reaction and response had humbled him into silence. He wasn't even sure why he'd been stupid enough to ask her in the first place.

Okay, so Lyra didn't hate mom. He believed her on that…But he still didn't understand. If Lyra annoyed him, he just tried to be difficult. If he annoyed her she just sounded stern. But why did she act so mean when mom annoyed her? What did mom even do in the first place to annoy her? Mom could be a little weird or gross sometimes, mostly from coming home smelling weird, but she didn't yell at them or tell them off. She'd even got her that necklace.

And family members got annoyed with each other but still loved each other? Was that why she kept their deadbeat dad in her prayers? Lemy personally didn't even care remotely about that subject; he'd gone more than half his life without realizing he should have one. Mom and his sister were all he needed. Mom didn't care either that he could see. Lyra probably only cared because of the Bible. Father this, Father that, blablabla. If Lemy did care, which he really didn't, he'd be more than just annoyed. Oh, but hate was a bad word.

He was confused about a lot of things still, but he would push down his curiosity. He didn't want to have another conversation like that. He'd probably just end up not understanding again anyway. Besides, there was something kind of scary about his sister when she was like that. That was the best word he could think of, anyway.

Usually Lyra woke up before him. This morning, they both woke up at the same time. He'd rolled over close to her during the night so that when she stirred, she ended up waking him too. Upon realizing their proximity, Lemy made a disgusted sound and quickly rolled over to add some distance.

"Good morning." His sister took no notice of his action.

"Morning." He grumbled, sitting up since he knew he'd have a hard time going back to sleep. He was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when Lyra unexpectedly leaned over and hugged him.

"Everything still okay?"

"…Yeah." He lied. "Everything's fine."

"Sorry if I was cross last night." She really hadn't been, but he saw what she was trying to do.

"It's fine." He muttered, hoping she'd let him go. She did and got out of bed.

"I'm here if you ever want to talk." He nodded to show he heard her. She left the bedroom and crossed the hallway to the bathroom. After a minute Lemy got up went out in the hallway to wait at the door for his turn. They must've woken up their uncle, cause Lemy heard noise from the living room before the man in question stumbled into the hallway.

"Lyra's in there." Lemy informed his groggy relative. "Get in line." His uncle chuckled at that.

"Yep. This is what I meant about growing up with 10 girls. There was always a line." He leaned against the wall, a bit of a smile on her lips. "And all of them took forever." That sounded familiar. He didn't live with that many, but the ones he did took their sweet time.

"Lyra's like mom then." Lemy smirked to himself.

"I think that's just all girls." Lincoln offered. Lyra's muffled voice carried through the door a moment later.

"AHEM." Apparently she could hear them and wasn't amused. Lemy wondered if it was because they were poking fun at girls or the comparison to mom. Still funny either way. When she came out she gave both one of her usual unamused looks as she passed. Lemy avoided eye contact and Lincoln purposely did some nonchalant whistling.

Okay, that was funny. Lemy grinned to himself. Aside from that look, she apparently decided it wasn't worth admonishing both of them. He could get used to not being outnumbered anymore. He just knew he couldn't press his luck.

Well…maybe he'd try a little.

Later that day…

There wasn't anything remarkable for the rest of the morning. Lemy filled in the indent on the couch his butt had already made and wasted the hours away on more gaming. Lyra watched him for a little while, before retreating to her reading. She'd made a lot of progress in the past years of memorizing all the passages, and she hoped to memorize them all, eventually.

Around midday, she drifted over to her uncle's computer and asked to use it. She wanted to look up and write down the bus schedules, figuring it would be useful. Lincoln allowed it. She didn't notice her uncle getting up and disappearing into the hallway until he announced his return a few minutes later.

"Found it!" Their uncle declared triumphantly, walking into the living room with two books in his hands. Both siblings turned to look at him. "These-" He explained as he sat down next to Lemy. "Are photo albums. I said I could find a picture of your mother before she was into rock." He sat down next and Lemy. "And the other one has some more baby pictures in it." Curiosity piqued, Lyra got up and went to sit beside her uncle. He was already flipping through the pages of the first book, and Lemy had paused his game to look over.

She caught brief glimpses of picnics, school functions, and a lot of other family outings are her uncle flipped through the album before stopping on one page. "Here." He held it out for them both to look at. It was a family picture like the one they all had- on the same porch even-, although clearly a few years before and with less people in it. Aunt Lori was barely a teenager and Leni looked right on the threshold, both standing at the back. Aunt Luan and Aunt Lynn were sitting in front of them, and in their laps were younger versions of both their uncle and Aunt Lucy. But what they were staring at was the third girl standing next to Leni. "That's your mom." Lincoln pointed out unnecessarily.

She was obviously before her teenage years like Leni, beaming happily at the camera. Her hair was longer instead of a short cut, just a little shorter than her daughter's now, and curled at the ends. She more a much more feminine blouse and longer dress skirt (although of the same color). Unlike now, she didn't have earrings. She looked pure, petite, lady like even.

"That's what mom looked like?" Lemy voiced his surprise.

It was strange to look at. Lyra took hold and flipped through the next few pages, covering months and even years, watching the transformation. First it was t-shirts and jeans. Then t-shirts and skirts. Keeping her hair long lasted the longest, but that too was eventually gone. Lyra didn't have photos, but she remembered what she looked like in a mirror. They were almost identical before her mom's rock makeover.

The comparison between the pair of them at the same age came back to her. She was a little taller and her hair was flat, and she had a slightly more feminine figure, but the resemblance was unmistakable. It wasn't too far a stretch to say she was a good approximation for what her mother would've looked like at 15 if she hadn't got into rock culture. And if she changed her stylistic preferences, she could end up looking more like her mom than she thought she could.

It was amazing, and little bit unsettling.

"Man, mom fell in love with rock hard." Lemy was looking between Lyra and the picture.

"Oh yeah." Their uncle nodded. He closed that album and opened the other one. "Remember how I said your mom a sent picture of you when you were a baby? She actually sent a few." Lemy couldn't hide the excitement on his face. Lyra had to smile at that; he didn't make that expression often.

Their uncle flipped through the book, passing dozens of pictures of their other cousins at various stages of their early lives. "You take a lot of pictures." Lyra commented.

"I didn't take all of them." He shook his head. "A lot of these are copies of one's mom, dad, and your Aunt Lily took. I just collect them." He flipped the pages a little slower, going through a few of little ones Lyra assume was Liby and Lacy. "Your aunts come by sometimes to look at them. They trust me to keep up with these." Maybe that explained why their mom and aunt didn't have many pictures.

"Mom comes here to Royal Woods to play every few years. Did she ever come by here?" Lyra asked. She'd done it twice in both her and Lemy's lifetime. The first time she left them with Aunt Lori out of state. The second, they stayed with Aunt Lucy for those three days.

"No…but I went to see her the last time she was here." He answered. She detected some underlying discomfort in his statement. "It's hard for a lot of us to see each other anymore." He admitted, sounding let down. Lyra nodded sympathetically. "Here they are." He stopped on a page and passed it the book over to Lemy. "She sent me these." Lyra leaned over to look.

There was only five, but they were baby pictures in the most literal sense- all of them had to have been taken in the hospital the day he has born. One of them was him right after being born and attended to by the nurses. He'd come in his birthday suit, obviously. Her brother looked kind of peeved at that. One was mom holding him in the hospital bed after he'd been wrapped in a blanket, and another was the same thing except Lyra was lying in the bed space next to her looking at the infant in obvious wonder.

She remembered that day. Mom had told her she was going to have a little brother, and she'd been excited; in hindsight, maybe it was because she missed having other children around to play with after the move. Then the big day came. Lyra had spent the day with some of mom's friends, including Sam, while the delivery happened and they'd taken her back when it was done. She really had been in wonder; mom had been big for the longest time and all of a sudden there was another person there. Someone she'd grow up with, someone she could play and do things with.

The fourth picture was of herself holding her new brother. She'd been so giddy about it. Mom had told her to careful because babies and fragile and needed a lot of work to take care of. She'd promised she would be and help out all she could.

Naïve six old her hadn't realized within a few years she wouldn't be just helping but doing most of it. Ok, maybe that isn't fair. She admitted internally. That was really an exaggeration. She shouldn't be spiteful; it was too pure a memory to do that to.

The last picture was him in a crib at home, or the friend's house mom had been staying at, anyway. Eyes closed, and fists raised above his head. Wearing another purple onesie, just like his sister had worn.

What precious times those early years had been.

Lemy spent several minutes starting down at the pictures. Lyra couldn't see his face past his long hair, but she wondered what he really thought about them. Did he even recognize there was a difference in the way mom had been in their lives? What feelings did they give him? Wishful nostalgia like her, or something different entirely?

"They're pretty neat." He admitted quietly, sliding the book back over. Their uncle flipped it back a few pages and angled it towards Lyra.

"More of you when you were little, if you were curious." He started flipping through the pages. Just more of her with her mom or grandparents or aunts. One was of her being held by an older white haired man she didn't recognize.

"That's Pop-Pop. Grandma's dad." Her uncle explained when she asked. "He was a pretty cool. Served in the Navy. Never thought he'd live long enough to see his first great grandchild. He actually lived long enough to see five of them. Only passed away about four years ago."

"He sounds interesting." Lyra said. Would've been nice if mom mentioned him...

"And pretty cool." Lemy added.

"He was." Their uncle confirmed. "Really missed him…" They looked through a few more pictures, and Lyra had to stop and stare in amusement at one of her curled up sleeping on her uncles chest while he himself was sleeping on a bed.

"So at the house we all stayed in I had a room to myself since I was the only boy." Her uncle explained. "All your aunts were two to a room. It'd get so noisy or someone would be going in and out none of you could sleep. So they'd put any of you in my room during nap time."

"Is that a stuffed animal?" Lemy asked. Looking again, Lyra noticed her sleeping uncle has holding something- a white stuffed rabbit.

"That's Bun-Bun." Lincoln answered immediately. "There's nothing wrong with having a stuffed animal at any age." He defended.

"You mean you still have a stuffed animal?" His nephew asked, perplexed by what he probably thought as a sissy notion.

"No." Their uncle shook his head. "Bun-Bun was always my favorite, but I gave them to your Aunt Lily. She was really down about everyone starting to move out, realizing eventually it would just be her… I thought she'd like a constant companion." Lemy bit his tongue over having insulted a selfless act. Lyra nodded approving.

That story, the pictures, the way he was readily retold everything and tried to stay in contact with the rest of his sisters. He was clearly a family-oriented man. The way things were fractured must've hurt him.

The trio's musing over old pictures was interrupted by Lincoln's phone going off in his pocket. He pulled it out and Lyra caught a brief glimpse of the screen. The caller ID clearly said LYNN. "Here." He pushed the photo album into Lyra's lap and stood up to answer, moving down the hallway. "Hey Lynn." They heard him say before the bedroom door closed. Lemy scooted over next to his sister.

"Sorry if there weren't as many as you hoped." She offered, knowing he'd wanted to see some. He didn't look that bothered..

"It's fine." He shrugged, getting a smirk on his face. "They were cool. And I'm glad there aren't more" He looked over to her "It means there's nothing embarrassing about me." He flipped a few pages pack to one filled with, among other things, potty training pictures. She lightly swatted away her cackling brother's hand and turned the page back.

"I don't need pictures." She told him. "I remember everything since I was there." That realization and its ramifications made him go pink in the face. "You were such a cute baby." He crossed his arms and huffed at her. She just smiled back and went back to looking at the pictures. After a few seconds of sulking he joined her.

They looked through the next few in silence. Milestones passed by: Her first time standing up, first and second birthdays complete with messily devoured cake. Even more pictures with either mom or younger versions of her relatives.

"Ugh." Lemy recoiled. Lyra looked over to see what had offended him and saw a picture of her and mom at the beach. She never knew she'd been to the beach before. Mom was standing in ankle high water in a two-piece bikini, holding Lyra, who had to be around 2, with one arm and using the other to flash a sign at the camera with her fingers. Her daughter has clearly trying to imitate her, not quite pulling it off but still holding her fist towards the camera. Going from her mother's… "sturdier" body shape, this was at a point before she started performing again or even considered it.

That was such a foreign concept to her. She was sure it was as much to Lemy even though she had six years on him. By all accounts of her uncle, that had been mom's life before they were born, and it had been her life for nearly the last whole decade. But she'd switched from and to it suddenly. Lyra loved and appreciated her, she really did. But she couldn't comprehend her mother's thought process.

Lemy turned the page without looking at the rest. More pictures of Lyra, sometimes with Liena or even more rarely even Loan, with the rest of the family. Maybe she gave her mother too much credit, because it looked a lot like the whole family had raised her. She stopped at a picture of her with Lola and Lana. They were trying to lift baby her into a battery powered toy car.

Two aunts she couldn't even say she knew, along with Lily. She at least saw Aunt Lisa on TV occasionally. She knew what her grandparents looked like and what they were doing now, even if it was only recently learned. But she knew nothing about them.

She had to wonder again about the rift in the family. She'd always known her mom and most her aunts were estranged from their parents. Maybe she'd even noticed they were estranged from each other before her uncle mentioned it yesterday (Aunt Lori hadn't exactly been thrilled to see her sister). But she'd never stopped to deeply consider why.

The pictures were making her want to. Everyone had gotten along so well before, what could have possibly ruined it? And no person was above sin; maybe she felt a twinge of envy and wanted to know why those bridges had been burned to deny them a life like that- it clearly seemed like her, Loan, and Liena had at first.

Was it any of them? She couldn't imagine her grandparents were even remotely pleased of so many of their daughters being teenage mothers. There were the pictures that showed them happy with them, but she knew pictures only captured a brief moment and could be misleading.

For instance, mom always looked sober in press pictures.

And maybe there was only so much a person could take. All the pictures she'd seen was of Liena, her, and occasionally Loan. Even if she'd started young, Lori had at least started with someone she was committed to; she couldn't imagine they had any qualms with their eldest daughter. And perhaps this was cruel of Lyra to consider, but maybe they even suspected something like this would happen with both Aunt Leni and mom.

But it hadn't ended with them- Luan and Lynn had been repeat cases at nearly the same age as their older sisters. And lastly there'd been Aunt Lucy. Even if none of them had explicitly said it, Lyra could deduce that she'd been 14 when she got pregnant and only 15 when she gave birth, younger than any of them before.

Maybe it had been a move to protect their remaining four daughters by removing any negative influence on them. Maybe their uncle got cut off because he stuck by them. Or maybe she was wrong, her grandparents were entirely great people, and she was making unfair malicious assumptions about them.

But she really wondered…

She was so caught up in her theorizing, she didn't realize her brother was impatiently waiting for her to turn the page. She didn't break out of it till her uncle came back into the room, reminding them both he'd disappeared for the last few minutes.

"Right." He sat down at his desk chair. Lyra couldn't help but noticed he looked hurried- nervous, a slight twitch of the hand, and sweating even though he hadn't left the house. "Remember how I said your cousins come by and visit me sometimes?" He asked. They both nodded. "Well, I just talked to your Aunt Lynn and Lacy's going to come spend the day and night here later this week, so I figured we could all go do something. Sounds fun, right?" Lyra nodded in affirmation, although she was wondering why such an arrangement would stress her uncle out.

"Sounds great." Lemy slumped back on the couch. Lyra knew they had trouble getting along sometimes. She'd told them off for roughhousing numerous times. She'd even caught them once tangled on the ground trying to pull each other's pants down. She had no idea how they'd ended up like that, but she'd put a stop to it quickly. But there were times they got along too.

"So…uh, you guys can keep looking at those pictures if you want. I got to get some work done." He jerked a thumb behind him to his desk.

"We were done." Lyra explained, her mood to reminisce having been deflated by her theorization. Lemy didn't contest her on that and went back to his video games. After asking her uncle, Lyra carried the albums back to the bedroom to put them away.

She was curious, but she had no intention of trying to pry any answers out of him, not when he'd been such a gracious host. No, but maybe she'd try and pry them out of her mother next time she saw her. She felt she owed them to her.