Lincoln was sleeping ever so peacefully, dreaming about fighting aliens alongside Ace Savvy, when a gentle shake suddenly woke him up. He blinked a few times before a silhouette could be made out in the darkness.
"Lincoln?" a soft voice said. He recognized that voice.
"Lily?" he replied, he reached over to his bedside stand and turned on the light. Now he could see his little sister a little more clearly. The five-year-old was wearing a nightgown that had once been Lana's, judging by her eyes she might have been crying earlier.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, being careful to keep his voice down, lest anyone else in the house be woken.
"I had a really bad dream, I got scared and well, can I stay with you?" she asked, her eyes glistening puppylike.
"Why couldn't-" Lincoln stopped himself. He was going to ask her why she didn't ask Lisa, her own roommate to let her bunker down in her bed. But then he realized the most likely reason. Lisa wasn't exactly the most sympathetic sibling.
"Well, alright come on in, I guess it'll be okay for you to spend one night here," he said, moving over so Lily could climb in. He gently tucked Lily under his blankets and reached over to get two things from his bedside table. The first was his prized plushie, Bun-Bun. He didn't sleep with Bun-Bun anymore but he still liked having the rabbit in his room. The next was to turn the light back off.
"Here, y'wanna hold Bun-Bun? He always made me feel safe when I was little." Lily squealed a little and then hugged the bunny to her chest. Lincoln held a finger up to his lips.
"Careful, we don't want to wake everyone else up," he said. Lily nodded in agreement and then looked blankly at the ceiling. Lincoln laid back down, still looking upon his youngest sister. Then he thought of something.
"Hey, y'wanna know a little secret?" he asked her. Even in the darkness, he could see Lily shake her head excitedly.
"When I was little, I used to get some pretty bad nightmares too," he said.
"What did you do?" asked Lily, Lincoln smiled.
"Well honestly, I used to do what you're doing right now, I'd go into one of my older sibling's rooms and basically spend the rest of the night there. And you know what? They would always gently wrap their arms around me so I'd be protected, and then find a way for me to feel safe enough to fall back asleep," it was right about here that he did gently wrap his arms around Lily. She didn't stop him, she just used one arm to wrap around him, while using the other to hold Bun-Bun.
"If it was Lori or Leni, they'd always have a story to tell me. If it was Luna, she'd sing a lullaby. If it was Luan, well, she'd find a way to get me to laugh so much, I'd actually forget what I was afraid of."
"What about Lynn? Did you ever go into her room?" Lily asked curiously.
"Well, Lynn would have this way of reassuring me that she would never let anything hurt me."
"I love you, big brother," said Lily before closing her eyes.
"I love you too Lily," Lincoln replied. He made sure that Lily was fast asleep before he gave way back into his fatigue.