First off I just want to say that I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of support that my first chapter got. All the faves and the reviews were more than what I was expecting. For everyone that has faved and commented so far, I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. I can't promise regular updates, but I will get them out when I can. I just ask for a little patience, because Summer is a busy time of the year for me and I'm going to be taking my time with this story.
And since this story is inspired by the show MASH, I'm going throw in a little Easter Egg in this chapter. If anyone reading this is familiar with show, you should be able to spot it very easily.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House
Usually late nights were the only peaceful time at the house at 1216 Franklin Avenue since the entire family was usually asleep at that point, with the exception of young Lisa Loud's late night experiments which were, at times, had a tendency to be a little explosive. The only other times were usually on Friday nights with the kids celebrating the arrival of the weekend that could last until near midnight. But they never went on into the early morning hours and they certainly never involved an ambulance and a police car sitting in front of the house, unless Lynn had busted her leg while playing sports inside the house again.
A few of the neighbors did take casual glances outside to see what was going on, including the elderly and typically grumpy Mr. Grouse. There was tense feelings going on, but there was some relief as neighbors watched the police car pull away indicating that what was going on wasn't as serious as originally believed, but with the ambulance sticking around they knew that whatever was going on was still pretty serious. They all wondered, but for now that's all that anyone outside the house could do.
Inside the house, a couple of men in EMT uniforms had placed some patches over Lincoln's eyes and were currently wrapping a bandage around them to keep them in place. They had administered a saline solution for Lincoln's eyes in case anything had gotten in them that shouldn't have. But as far as they could tell, there wasn't much else that they could do but hope that the young lads eyes got better.
The living room was currently devoid of any other people save for Lincoln's parents as they sat on each side of him doing their best to keep him relaxed and immobile. He had stopped freaking out at this point and was letting the medics do their jobs, but he was still taking heaving breaths. Anyone listening to him could tell that he was still feeling a little bit of pain, despite the reassurances the medical team were giving him that the pain would pass.
"Alright partner listen to me. As long as you have those patches on your eyes, you must keep them closed. The solution on them should take care of the pain soon," one of the paramedics, an African-American man with a small mustache assured him.
This didn't help Lincoln as he let out a little whine in response. His mother sat to the right and was griping his hand so tightly that she was practically squeezing it at the this point. She whispered soothing things into his ear to keep him calm, while his father sat to his left and was staying silent. He knew it was just an accident, but he still felt responsible for this whole ordeal. He had forced Lincoln to help him with the furnace and when his son had tried to warn him about the excess gas that was being released, he wouldn't listen. He was currently patting Lincoln's other hand to assure the boy that he was sitting by him. All he could think right now was that his wasn't able to look at him as he didn't want his son to be seeing him shedding tears.
"So how does he look?" Lynn Sr. asked the men.
The African-American man looked at his partner and asked, "What do you think Roger? Should we get the boy to the hospital?"
The other EMT, a caucasion man, shook his head and said, "Well his injuries aren't life threatening and it sounds like the pain is going down. I don't think a hospital visit is really warranted."
While Rita was a little relieved at the news that they wouldn't need to take a hospital trip, Lynn Sr. however wasn't nearly as accepting.
"Not warranted?" Lynn Sr asked with his anger rising.
Rita could sense Lynn's anger beginning to rise and given how Lincoln was gripping her hand even tighter than before now, she could tell that he was beginning to feel it as well. Lynn Sr. was a man of great patience, neccesary for the father of eleven children, and only really lost his temper when the kids did something more than just destructive. So for both Lincoln and Rita this was something incredibly rare for them to experience. Lincoln had made his dad angry in the past before, plenty of times and usually involving one of his sisters. But this was the first time he could feel his father actually beginning to lose his cool.
"Not warranted. MY SON CAN'T SEE! You honestly expect me to believe that that doesn't warrant a trip to the hospital? What am I supposed to do? Just pretend that this isn't a problem and move on?" Lynn Sr. as he began to rise from his seat with fresh hot tears beginning to stream down his face.
The African-American EMT stood before him and said, "Now sir, please calm down and listen to me a for a second okay. For all we know this could just be a case of hysterical blindness. That the explosion may have scared him so bad that it took his sight away. If that's the case then he'll be fine when he relaxes for a bit and he lets the pain go down from his eyes."
Lynn Sr however was still shaking and had not calmed down one bit. The other EMT, Roger, grabbed Lynn's shoulder and made him turn his attention away.
"There's no need for that now sir. We understand that you're upset, heck Steve here is a dad himself and his kids have had scares like this themselves with their health. Best thing to do right now is wait and see what happens from here. We haven't found a reason to believe that his injuries are dangerous. Nor that he needs any extra medical attention," Roger explained as best he could.
It did seem to make Lynn calm down a little bit and he sat back down on the couch. He knew these two gentlemen were just doing their jobs as they were trained to do. But it still angered him to think that the situation possibly wasn't worse than how these two were making it out to be. The idea that his son, his ONLY son, was in a bind like this and that these medical workers were telling him all of this was enough to agitate him.
"So what if this isn't some small thing? What if this is something bigger than any of us expect? What am I supposed to do?" Lynn Sr said as he began to brush his tears from his eyes.
Before either of the two could answer, Rita decided to chime in with her answer.
"Honey I know a man in town named Dr. Alda who specializes in Optometry. We'll check on Lincoln in the morning and see how he is and if there's no change then we can take him to the doctor. Just remember that you're not the only one upset about this. I don't get angry with the paramedics to express my outrage," Rita said to her husband.
She could understand why her husband was so upset, quite frankly she was angry that the two men agreed that a hospital visit was unneeded. But she knew that they had a point and that it may be less serious than it actually looked. The men had a job to do and quite frankly they, the parents, had a duty to look after their family. She knew that he was upset, but he had to remain strong in case it really was the worst case scenario.
Lynn Sr. wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "You're right dear. Getting mad isn't going to help anything."
He looked back to the two men and said, "I'm deeply sorry for my behavior gentlemen. I'm just-"
Steve held his hand up and said, "Hey I completely understand sir, it happens all the time in these kinds of cases. For right now I would as your wife suggests. Let the boy get some rest and if his vision doesn't improve by morning, I'd take him to see the doctor."
With that, the two men began to pack up their equipment and proceeded to head out. As they did so, Rita pulled Lincoln close to her and kissed Lincoln on the side of the head. He grabbed her arm in response and snuggled into her embrace. Lynn looked back at the duo on the couch and watched as the two men departed the house with the two wishing them the best of luck. In short order, they could hear the sound of the ambulance starting up and driving away from the scene.
Rita looked back at her husband and asked him, "What are we going to tell the girls?"
Lynn sighed and said, "You let me worry about that. Why don't you just get Lincoln back up to bed? At the least we were able to get the heat back on in here, not that it was worth it though. I'd rather be caught in the cold right now than this."
Lincoln could hear was his dad was saying and was flabbergasted that his dad was beating himself up over it. What happened was just an accident. One that could have been prevented, but he knew that it was just an accident. But he knew that everyone makes mistakes, especially after he's made a few himself.
He tried to reach out to his dad and said, "Dad it was only an accident. It wasn't your fault."
Lynn knew what his son was thinking and even though he couldn't see it, Lynn Sr. shook his head anyway.
"No son it is. I forced you to help me fix the furnace and when you tried to tell me something was wrong, I wouldn't listen and instead kept trying to fiddle with it. I know I've made mistakes in the past, but this by far the worst I've made. At least my past mistakes never ended up injuring someone," Lynn Sr said and then buried his face in his hands.
Lincoln wanted to run out and hug his father. He couldn't see it, but he knew his father had been crying and was starting to cry again. He tried to reach out, but his mother pulled him back.
"Come on honey, let's just get you back to bed. We'll see about calling a doctor in town in the morning. Right now you need rest," Rita said and began to pull her son to the stairs.
Lincoln tried to get himself free from his mother's grasp and after a few tries, managed to work himself free.
"Mom I know this house like the back of my hand. I think I can find my room on my own," he said and began making his way to the stairs.
Or so he thought.
Instead he ended up walking towards the dining room. His mother tried to grab his hand to lead him in the right direction, but missed it by just a little bit as Lincoln put his hands out in front to try to find the wall. Instead he ended up walking right into the dining room table. Walking into the table caused a moment of confusion for Lincoln which is when Rita grabbed Lincoln's shoulders and turned him in the proper direction.
"Lincoln I know you want to be capable of this on your own, but this is new to you. Please just let me help you get upstairs. I don't want to see you get hurt even more tonight," Rita said to Lincoln with tears forming in her eyes and her voice beginning to break.
Lincoln could hear the hurt in her voice, something that was even rarer than his father crying. It really did hurt Lincoln to hear his mother sounding so upset, so instead of arguing with it he decided to let her help him. She turned him away from the table and began to lead him in the proper direction. As they slowly made their way up the stairs, Lynn sat back down on the couch and ran his hand through his hair.
"How am I going to explain this to the girls?" he asked himself with a groan.
Upstairs in Leni and Lori's room, things weren't much better. In the thirty minutes that had past since they had seen Lincoln's eyes, the girls had each left the living room and had gone back to their rooms. With the heat back on they had all tried to go back to sleep and hope for the best. But they each quickly found out that such a task was going to be impossible. Their worry had overpowered their need for sleep. Even Lola who constantly depended on her beauty sleep had found herself unwilling to get some shut eye, as long as she was unsure of what was going on with her big brother. Her ONLY brother.
So they had all gathered in Lori and Leni's room which is where they usually met when the siblings all had a universal problem. Right now though they were all being silent, but they could tell that they were all thinking the same thing. Lori was sitting in her bed, busy texting on her phone, replying to messages the second they popped up. Normally it'd be a happy affair for her, but with her eyes a little bloodshot and practically wide open with a couple of tears in them, it was obvious she was seeking comfort from her Boo-Boo Bear right now. Normally a happy affair for her, she was currently doing it to keep her mind occupied, but judging by how she looked it certainly wasn't helping. Leni had her head buried in her pillow and even though they were muffled, the rest of the girls could still hear her crying and could even see her body heaving with each sob.
Luna was sitting by herself and was humming familiar tunes to herself. She was staring off into space, not at anything in particular but at the wall. Lori could hear what Luna was humming and they sounded just like the lullabies that she used to sing to Lincoln when he was little. The two had always been close and Luna had frequently been there for Lincoln whenever he was feeling upset about something.
Luan was pretty much the same as Luna. She also shared a close bond with Lincoln, especially after the time that they made up after their little falling out regarding Luan's birthday entertainment business. The very thought that he might have been hurt or worse was weighing heavily upon her. Especailly since she had been part of the group to send him down to the basement in the first place.
Lynn Jr, the last of Lincoln's older sisters, sat on one of the beds and just kept tossing her baseball against the wall and catching it as it bounced back at her in one of the few times that no one was telling her stop. Apart from the tapping away on Lori's phone, it was the only sound in the room and for once no one seemed to be annoyed by it... for the most part.
As for the younger sisters, the reaction seemed a bit more mixed. Lucy just sat at the window, looking out at the emergency vehicles outside and even noticed that a few of the neighbors were looking out of their houses. She had already watched the cop car pull away and began focusing on the ambulance still parked outside. She hadn't uttered a single word or sigh.
The twins were being quiet in a rare moment for them. Lana was curled up on the floor, petting their dog, Charles', head as he let out an occasional whine. He didn't know what was going on, but could feel that something was wrong with how quiet everyone was being. Lola however was sitting cross armed with a scowl appearing on her face. She was sitting closest to where Lynn was tossing her ball and could hear and practically feel each thump that the ball made as it hit the wall. This combined with her losing sleep and few other factors were aggravating her nerves greatly. With each thump, her scowl increased.
Lisa however appeared to be reacting as she normally did. Silently reading a book and scribbling down notes. This actually surprised a lot of them seeing as they actually expected her to be a little freaked out, but instead here she was acting as emotionless and nonchalant as usual. Every time Lynn cast a look at her, she tossed her ball at the wall a little harder.
The only one missing from the room was baby Lily as she had slept through the whole ordeal downstairs and they hadn't wanted to wake her. They did check on her earlier to make sure that she wasn't being affected by the cold. And now that the house was starting to feel warm again it was one less worry for them to deal with. It didn't make what they were feeling any better though.
Lynn kept thumping her ball against the wall as she took another glance at Lisa. At this point she had done so much that she was beginning to grit her teeth. She tossed the ball a little harder than usual and began to do it at a much faster pace. Each thump began echoing themselves around the room and even made one or two of the other girls turn their heads towards her. Not out of annoyance, but instead more out of concern. Lynn never tossed her ball against the wall like this except when she was feeling angry. Then finally she threw the ball at different angle as she shifted her position that instead of bouncing back at her, it bounced towards Lola's head.
"AHH!" Lola shouted out as the ball connected with her head and knocked her over. She stood back up yelled, "LYNN!"
Lynn turned her head towards the screeching six year old with a glare and said, "What?"
Lola stood up with a growl with Lynn's baseball in hand. "Your stupid baseball just hit me in the head!" Lola expressed angrily.
Lynn merely just led back on the bed and said, "Pfft. Well you should watch where you're sitting. You knew what I've been doing this entire time."
Lola just let out another screech with a look that could kill. As she tried to rush Lynn, Lana grabbed Lola around her waist to hold her back. Lola took no notice as she still tried to rush Lynn with her feet scrapping the ground. Even with Lana's efforts, Lola still managed to find some traction on the ground as Lola still managed to make some ground towards Lynn who was still lying back on the bed without any concern about Lola.
"Whoa there Poncho. Pull it back some," Lana said as Lola slowly dragged her along.
Lori groaned angrily as she set her phone down, turned towards the three of them and said, "Will the three of you be quiet? You're literally driving me mad with your noise."
Lynn sat up in the bed and said, "That's a lot coming from you Miss Tapsawayonherphonealot. You haven't stopped since we got up here."
"AND YOU'VE BEEN BOUNCING YOUR STUPID BALL AGAINST THE WALL!" Lola screeched as she still tried to reach for Lynn.
Lynn began to grit her teeth again and said, "The only reason I was doing that is because there's nothing else to do. Especially with little miss genius over there getting on my nerves."
Lisa overheard Lynn's words and she looked up at the jock with her usual stare and said, "And what pray tell have I been doing to anger you? Sitting quietly? Keeping to myself? Trying to keep my brain stimulated during a prime oppurtunity?"
For Lynn this was reaching her breaking point. It was one thing for Lisa to not show any concern, but when she couldn't even figure out why Lynn was upset with her or why anyone would be upset with her right now. She was supposed to be the family's resident genius and she seriously couldn't figure out why Lynn was upset? What kind of genius was she?
Lynn shot a death stare at Lisa and said, "You know why. You saw what we all saw downstairs. Can you honestly sit there and not feel a thing for what's going on?"
Lisa let out and breath and solemnly closed her book. She shot her own angry look towards Lynn and said, "It'll pass. He's had worse in the past. Simple first degree burns to the face is nothing compared to getting trampled on a regular basis. Something even I will admit to being guilty of. I'm honestly surprised that he hasn't broken any bones yet."
Lori began to understand what Lynn was talking about as she had shot her own occasional glances towards Lisa as well. Just sitting there, acting like nothing was going on when they all knew that plenty was happening right now. It was enough to make her feel a little annoyance towards the second youngest of the family. Still the two of them bickering with each other was not going to make any of them feel any better. If anything it was having the exact opposite effect right now. Just as Lola was about to reach Lynn, the jock merely sat up and placed her hand on Lola's head, effectively holding her back.
Lori wasn't the only feeling frustrated from the argument going on right now. Luna was still sitting against the wall trying to hum to herself as the girls began to raise their voices. As the volume from their mouths grew, so did her humming. Even began turning her head away from the rest as they began getting physical. Luan saw what Luna was doing and began shuffling away from her.
Lori got up from her spot and quickly put herself between Lynn and Lola and began pushing the both of them away from each other.
"That is enough you two. Look we're all upset about what happened to Lincoln, but getting hostile about it isn't going to help," Lori said while trying to keep the two apart.
"Oh that's a lot coming from you Lori," came Luna's voice.
Everyone quickly turned their heads towards Luna, only to see that their musician sister was up on her feet with a not-at-all happy expression on her face as she stared at Lori. Luna mainly tried to stay out of the fights with her other sisters, but there were times where she could be pushed too far. This time it wasn't just their bickering that was bothering her, but how Lisa was being casual about things and how Lori was being hypocritical in her eyes.
Lori stared right back and said, "What? What is that supposed to mean?"
Luna crossed her arms and aggresivly added, "Oh you know what I'm talking about. You just couldn't leave Lincoln alone and had to get him in trouble as well. He didn't even do anything bad and you couldn't handle that."
"He woke all of us up. We'd still be asleep if he hadn't," Lola added.
At this point, even Lucy had turned her attention to the fighting going on in the room. Lola was currently trying to break from Lori's grip and was still trying to reach Lynn and Lynn was merely smirking in triumph at Lola. All the while, Lori and Luna were staring each other down while everyone else was trying to avoid getting involved in the argument. Normally Lucy would be enthralled by such a fiasco, but currently was not feeling it.
Lori nodded as Lola spoke and added, "And it was freezing in the house. Someone had to turn the heat back on. How was I supposed to know it'd go so bad."
Lucy had finally heard enough and piped up and said, "I'd rather be sleeping in the cold than see what I saw. I've never seen anyone's eyes like that before."
As usual, no one really noticed what Lucy had to say and instead the fight continued.
"Look we all voted and we voted for Lincoln. It sucks what happened, but it could have been anyone," Lynn added in.
This only seemed to make Luna angrier as steam began to rise off of the top of her head. The girls had seen Luna mad in the past, especially during the time with the family band when she had gone nuts with trying to make the band sound perfect. But the way she looked and felt now made that look like simple annoyance.
"Excuse you? We voted? Not me, I don't remember voting. Leni and I were the only ones who didn't vote. The rest of you ganged up on him and forced things against him and used dad to make it happen. You all acted like cowards and then this happened to him. So you're going say were all responsible? Well not all of us are cowardly and care only for ourselves," Luna fired back at Lynn and Lori both. She even cast a glare at Lola to solidify her point.
That was it. One moment the girls were simply having an argument, but now Lori, Lola and Lynn had pounced on Luna with a resulting cloud of dust forming around them. The rest of the sisters backed as far away as they could as the girls went at it. Lana had backed into a corner with Luan while Lucy still sat by the window and watched as the ambulance outside was leaving with just the two paramedics and no Lincoln. Lisa was wide eyed as she watched the scene and slowly brought the book back up to her eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.
The girls continued fighting with smacking, hair pulling, scratching and even biting. The fight went on for a few moments with everyone either just watching or being involved in the fight. This went on, until finally they all heard someone yell at the top of their lungs, "STOP!"
With that, the dust cloud disappeared and the four fighting sisters ceased their fued and everyone turned their heads to source of the voice. To their shock, it was Leni who had screamed out loud at them. Tears were still running down from her eyes as she wiped them away. The four fighting girls each let go of each other and stood back at attention.
Leni finished wiping the tears from her eyes and said, "Look none of us are responsible for Linky getting hurt. None of us knew what was going to happen. Yes some of us sent him down there, but just as Lori said it could have happened to anyone. We're all upset, but arguing about it isn't going to help anything."
(AN: Am I the only one who has noticed that when it comes to worrying about family, Leni usually shows a lot of intelligence?)
The four girls who had been fighting all looked at each other and they quickly realized that Leni was right. The four of them all rubbed the backs of their heads as a knock came from their door.
"Girls I heard fighting in there. What's going on?" came their father's voice.
He opened the door and gave each of them a look of disapproval. He hated it when the kids fought as it just made things a little harder around the house. Especially now with Lincoln's new condition.
Leni held up her hands and said, "It's okay dad. Everything's been settled."
Lynn Sr rubbed his eyes with a yawn and then said, "It better be. It's late and we should all be getting back to bed, so no more fights."
"But what about Lincoln?" Lynn Jr asked.
Their father groaned and began to rub his eyes again. This was followed by him rubbing his hand against his forehead. Clearly he was not comfortable with discussing this right now and the girls could understand, but it was something that he believed they had the right to know so there was no use in saving.
He let out a sigh and said, "Well as I'm sure you girls can already tell, your brother can't see right now. The paramedics that were here flushed his eyes and says he should be better by morning. But if he's not, we'll have to take him to the doctor."
The girls heard what their father was saying and they began to let it sink in. Some of them felt a little relief since it could have been something minor. But at the same time there was still a sense of dread in knowing that that may not be the case.
"Now there's not much else we can do tonight. So please girls, no more fighting tonight and lets all just get back to bed," their father instructed.
The girls did as their father instructed and filed out of the room with the exception of Lori and Leni. The two sat back down on their beds with Lori lying back and quickly going back to sleep, albeit it not a pleasant one. Leni however just lied there and stared at the wall for a moment before turning over and staring out the window. She could hear the wind still whistling through the air outside as it blew a small bit of snow from the roof.
"Please be okay Linky," she whispered quietly as she closed her eyes.
In the meantime, the other girls shuffled into each of their rooms as their father went back downstairs. Luna and Luan's room was just across the hall from Leni and Lori's room so they had the shortest distance to travel. Whereas Lola, Lana, and Lisa had the farthest to travel since their rooms were at the end of the hall. Between the room of Luna and Luan as well as the room of Lola and Lana sat the room of Lucy and Lynn, giving the two of them a spot in between.
Lucy went in first and Lynn was about to follow. But as she stood in the doorway, she decided to cast a quick glance back at the door that led to Lincoln's room. She couldn't even begin to understand what he was currently feeling and she wasn't going to try to pretend to either. She couldn't help but worry about him right now. Even if the two of them didn't really get along very well, she still viewed him as one of the few people she could confide in. He was her little brother after all. She figured the best thing to do right now was to be his big sister.
She looked back into the room she shared with Lucy and said, "Hey Luce?"
Lucy looked at her and Lynn continued by saying, "I'm going to check on Lincoln real quick."
"But dad said-," Lucy started but was quickly interrupted.
"I know what dad said, but I still feel that I should make sure he's okay. He'd do the same for us if what happened to him had happened to us," Lynn said with genuine concern in her voice.
Lucy heard what Lynn was saying and knew that Lynn had a point. While Lincoln had plenty of selfish moments, like the time he embarrassed all of them on the internet all to win a trophy or when he bought a pool all for himself. But despite all of that, he usually ended up putting his sisters before himself in the end. With a slight smile, Lucy nodded and turned over to go back to sleep.
Lynn quietly closed the door and made her way to the end of the hall where Lincoln slept. She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath as she prepared to knock. What exactly was she doing anyway? How would Lincoln react to her waking him? How was he feeling in his current condition? Did he blame her for what happened to him? Was he mad? Scared? She didn't know and not knowing was making her mind go crazy. Before she even realized it, her knuckles were gently knocking against the wood of his door. This was followed by a groan from within and the sound of someone shuffling across the floor. A second later, the door opened just a crack and Lynn got her first look at Lincoln.
He had turned on his bedroom light and she could see him quite clearly. The white bandage wrapped around his eyes was quite obvious, but it contrasted with the redness on his face as it surrounded the bandage and met his white hair. It was enough to make Lynn gulp as guilt began to wash over her.
"Hello? Who's there?" Lincoln quietly asked.
Lynn was a bit hesitant at first. She didn't want to see Lincoln like this, with his burned face and a bandage reminding her that he couldn't even see her right now. To tell the truth, part of her was glad that Lincoln couldn't see her right now. She was usually the toughest member of the family, she really didn't want Lincoln to see the worried expression on her face right now.
"Is someone there? Or is this some sick joke, because I'm not laughing," Lincoln continued with annoyance in his voice.
Lynn knew that she couldn't put it off anymore and said, "It's just me Lincoln."
Lincoln heard her speak and said, "Lynn? What are you doing here?"
Lynn paused for a moment and wasn't quite sure how to respond initially. So she figured it'd be best to explain what she truly felt.
"Well to tell you the truth Lincoln, I came to see how you were feeling," she said truthfully.
Lincoln frowned and said, "How do you think I'm feeling right now? Isn't it obvious?" He tapped the bandage on his head to emphasize his point.
Lynn inhaled sharply and said, "Yeah I know about that. I just wanted to see how you were actually feeling right now. Are you feeling alright given what's happened?"
Lincoln groaned and said, "You can call it what it is Lynn. I'm blind, how do you think I feel right now?"
"Does it still hurt?" Lynn asked.
Lincoln shook his head and said, "Not like earlier. Why do you care anyway? I thought you'd be asleep right now."
Lynn didn't answer his question with a response. Instead she wrapped her arms around him gently and held him as close as she could. Lincoln was initially surprised by her action and didn't feel comfortable with it, but instead of pushing her he simply wrapped his arms around her as well. It was rare when Lynn showed this kind of affection, especially towards him. But when she did, it always felt great.
"Lynn? Do you think you could stay with me tonight?" Lincoln asked her.
Lynn was a bit surprised by Lincoln's question herself. She could recall the time that she had been Lincoln's roommate and how annoyed he had been with her. Sure she did some of it simply to annoy him, but she really was touched when he let her stay.
"Huh? Why do you want me to stay here?" she asked.
Lincoln shrugged as he broke from their hug and said, "I don't know. Guess I just need some familiar sounds right now."
He didn't want her to know that he was scared of being left alone in a world of darkness and needed someone to hold onto as he tried to adjust to this. There's no way he'd live it down if that were to get out. Besides he was partially telling the truth. After what happened tonight, even Lynn's snores sounded good to him. With a second hug from Lynn, he was sure he had his answer.
"If it makes you feel better, I'll keep an eye on you," Lynn said as she walked past him into the room.
As she settled on the bed, Lincoln closed the door and said, "Just NO and I mean NO Dutch Ovens."
So in the first chapter I noticed some of the comments said that the first chapter was a little too short. I looked back at it and you know what? I agree. This is actually the longest chapter that I have ever written at over 6000 words. This was a monumental task for me and I hope everyone enjoyed this as much as the first chapter.
I know that the story seems to be progressing a bit slowly, but that's kinda how I want this story to progress. I'm doing my best to make sure I get how the girls would feel in a circumstance like this. Not to mention I REALLY wanted Lynn to have a nice moment with her brother.
She needs some serious redemption after No Such Luck. An episode I shall not talk ever again.