Rita was holding Lily in her hands. She was standing in the shadows of the tree in the backyard. Watching the girls playing in the pool is good for two reasons. One, they had a way of keeping themselves cool, and second, they wouldn't stay in front of the fridge (and make the bill reach astronomic values).
She remembered when Lincoln bought that little pool. Even though it said "paradise for one", they all managed to share the whole thing between eleven. Speaking of which, she couldn't see Lincoln anywhere, even if it was hard to see some of the other girls.
She was about to go to his room, to check on him. When she was just about to open the door, she almost bumped into her husband. She was glad to meet him, since her hands were already getting tired of holding her youngest daughter, while she was taking a nap.
"Hey, honey," Rita said. " Can you keep an eye for Lily just a second? I'm going to check on Lincoln, he "
Lynn made an awkward face. "Actually, he talked to me a few moments ago. He is not feeling very good," he was rubbing the back of his head. He didn't want to worry his wife, but it was kind of hard to remain relaxed when you don't have a slightest idea what you, or your son for that matter, has.
And, against his desires, she began getting worried, or better, desperate . "He is sick? What he has? Is it the flu? Grab the hazmat suits, we can't have another outburst…" Lynn had to grab Lily with one hand, for safety measures, and with the other, he hold Rita's shoulder, before she panicked and locked everyone inside Lisa' nuclear bomb shelter.
"Rita, relax, he's not sick," Lynn said, although not even him was sure about that. "He's just not feeling himself today, he asked me to take him to the doctor, and I couldn't say no" it was kind of hard to support his theory that Lincoln isn't sick, especially since he saw his son's appearance, but the best thing now was to remain calm.
"Okay, sorry. Are you sure he is okay?" Rita asked
"Of course, it's going to be a quick trip," Lynn said, confidently. "We'll be back in time for me to make dinner," he said, and he actually believed his last statement was true. "Just don't tell the girls, Lincoln doesn't want to worry them, and I'm sure there's nothing too serious."
"But what if they ask for him?" Rita asked
"Say he's doing homework or something like that," Lynn gave Lily back to its mother. "I have to go now," he said and went back inside.
"How could I be so wrong," Lynn thought to himself. Now, he simply found out his son had a sickness, but not a regular one. He was heading to ICU section of the hospital. The guys caring Lincoln were too quick for him to catch up with him. Lingard had pointed Lynn directions to the place, and said he would have someone waiting for him there.
Lynn had a load of questions to the doctor. However, he said he isn't a endocrinologist, and he may not know the answer to all of his doubts, thus recommending Lynn waiting until he reached his son's room. Lingard called another nurse, probably on his late twenties, to guide him to make sure he wouldn't get lost
The man was wearing a blue uniform, and signed Lynn so he would follow him. He isn't sure how his son is, but he wanted to be by his side.
"How long will he have to stay?" Lynn asked the man in a uniform
"I'm no doctor, but judging on other situations, a few days, at least."
Lincoln got dizzy, first because of the speed the two men were pushing his stretcher of the endless hallways and lights in the ceiling. He didn't even dare to sit up, he felt such a lack of energy, he was afraid he would fall asleep in the middle of the ride. He almost began snoring, but they entered the room
It was a small bedroom. All it had inside was a bed ( bigger than his own bed), a bathroom, a white table with a white bench, and two big reclining chairs in the corner. On the opposite side on the entrance, there was a huge window And of course, a load of medical equipment by the left side of the bed. Someone carried Lincoln from the stretcher to the bed. What Lincoln didn't realize was the crew wasn't finish helping him.
Instead of the two men, two girls, one was around her sixties, and has white hair, and the other is a blond in her mid thirties. They both began working on Lincoln, almost like he was a training dummy. The blond began placing some sort of sticker in his chest, and they were wired in a machine. Only later he would understand what exactly electrodes were at what they do
The older lady grabbed Lincoln's right arm, and she applied a little device, which consisted of a needle and a little plastic tube, a few inches long, on the back of his elbow. Next, she injected a transparent substance through the thing. And finally, she connected a serum bag to the thing. Lincoln could feel the substance entering him, but he was so tired he didn't even bothered. He couldn't remember, but he was pretty sure the nurses were still working after he began snoring.
After Lincoln woke up, he felt something really strange, he was no longer feeling so tired. Outside it was already dark. He saw his father seated in the huge chair. He was curved to the front, facing downwards. He was silent, and so was Lincoln. When he tried to approach his father, him right arm began hurting. He took a quick look at it, and realized the device those nurses placed on him was still there, even though the serum bag had been gone, as well as the electrodes.
Lincoln was about to call his father, when another voice sounded in the room.
"Ah, yes, the boy I awake," said a man. Like many others both father and son had encountered in that place, obviously it was a doctor. It was a tall and fat man, he had white hair and beard and was wearing glasses. He was carrying a folder with loads of papers on it. He offered his huge hand, which was almost three times bigger than Lincoln's, and then he went for a seat. Lynn left his seat, which gave a spot for the doctor, and he stood by his son side.
"Lincoln, Mr. Loud," the man said. "I'm doctor Connor, endocrinologist and diabetes specialist, and I'm here to treat you, little boy," he announced.
"What do I have, doctor?" Lincoln asked. Unlike his father, nobody told Lincoln what exactly he has been diagnosed with. They were to busy doing a series of little operations on him. He seemed a bit nervous, after all they did to him, it must have been something bad. However, he was already feeling better, so he probably didn't had anything to worry about.
"Well, we aren't exactly sure, but according to the symptoms you've described, along with the data Lingard has acquired, the chances of you having diabetes is almost 100%. Tell me, Lincoln, have you eaten a lot of candy lately?"
"Oh definitely not," Lynn said before Lincoln had a chance of speaking. "We don't even have enough money to buy too many sweets, and when we do, he has to share it with his sisters and…"
Lincoln just stood there hearing the statements, and he made an awkward face. The doctor, surprisingly, noticed Lincoln's expression. Working in the field for decades, Connor learned when people hide secrets from each other, due to being nervous of them finding the truth. However, he couldn't skip any information. He raised the palm of his hand, making a signal for Lynn to stop, and so did he.
"Thanks, Mr. Loud, but could you please give me and your son some privacy? It's only for a few minutes," he asked
Lynn was a bit confused, bus nodded with his hand and left the room. "Okay, I still have to call my family, I didn't had any time, and they'll probably want to see him" Lynn said. Of course he was lying. He had to take a few minutes to register his soon in the hospital, and a nurse had already spoke to him about his son's condition, but after that, he had a lot of time to tell his family. He was just trying to find the right words to tell his family.
"Uh, I'm sorry to inform you, but if you're planning to have them see your son, the visit times schedule is already over,"
"What?" Both son and father said. " But doc, I have ten daughters back at home, and all of them will want to see him," Lynn said
Firstly, the doctor seemed surprised by the number of daughters of that man. He adjusts his glasses. " Mr. I wish I could do something about it, but we have rules here. Your son will have to stay here a some time. All we can allow are two people to stay with him at night, as long as they are 12 or older, and due to his age, one of them will have to be you, or his mother. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow to see him.
Lynn would have said something, but he simply sighed in defeat, nodded, and left the room, closing the door behind him. Lincoln saw his father turning on his phone in the way out.
"I can only see one of my sisters?" Lincoln asked
"We can't allow any more then that, and your father will have to register who is going to stay with you," the doctor explained. "But let's go trough that later and go back to my first question, have you eaten a lot of candy lately?"
Lincoln was a little ashamed, but he told his little scheme with Clyde. The doctor took note over Lincoln's story.
"While that's not healthy at all, it's hard to believe you got the disease with only a month and a half. What exactly do you eat in your daily basis?"
"Well, for breakfast, it varies from bacon, eggs, pancakes and waffles," Lincoln began. " At lunch, we usually have pasta, since my parents aren't home and it's the only thing my older sister knows how to cook, and for dinner, our parents bring pizza or hamburgers for the whole family," Lincoln described. Only now he realized how unhealthy his family's food was, but making a healthy meal is hard in such a huge family, specially since it didn't taste as good to most mouths.
The doctor's eyes almost popped out of his face. He kept taking quick notes on his notebook. "What about exercise? Do you practice any sport?"
"Well, I have physical education on school, and one of my sisters makes me play with her, but is not that often," Lincoln answers, shaking a little bit remembering his wrestling sessions.
Some other questions followed the session, like if he drinks soda (yes), if he played a lot of video games (also yes), if any other family member had a similar case (no, or at the very least he didn't know). After what felt like half an hour, the doctor had finished the questioning. He stood up and opened the bedroom door, and found Lynn seated down in a chair next to the door.
"You can come in, Mr. Loud," Connor said
He came inside and stood next to his son. The doctor did a double check on his notes before he began speaking again. "Well, judging by all of the information that's been given to me, it's quite certain that you have diabetes,"
"Uh, what exactly is diabetes?" Lincoln said. Lynn, as an adult, had some sort of knowledge in the subject, specially with his job as a chef, but Lincoln was totally clueless as to what exactly that disease stands for. He had already heard the term before, but he never bother to find out what it was
Connor took a piece of paper from his folder, which had a picture of the human anatomy. He pointed toward an organ under the liver. "This here is your pancreas, and one of its functions is to produce insulin, a hormone. This hormone takes sugar from your blood, and send it to your cells, giving you energy. In your case, your pancreas doesn't work properly, so your body has a lack of it's primary source of energy. That brings two problems: too much sugar in your blood, and too much lack of sugar in your cells, thus making you extremely tired."
"But I'm good now, right? I mean, I don't feel tired anymore, you've cured me, I can feel it," Lincoln argued. He was kind of afraid this sickness could be harmful for him. He made a superhero pose to show how healthy he was, forgetting that, even though he was feeling energetic, he was still very thin. And also forgetting about the needle in his elbow, hurting him, and forcing him to keep his arm extended.
"Lincoln, unfortunately diabetes doesn't have a cure. What we have done was inject artificial insulin in your body, so your cells have received a new supply on energy. However, it doesn't last long," Connor explained
"Then what can I do to get rid of it?" Lincoln asked. Of course he had understand there isn't a cure, but maybe, just maybe…
"I'm sorry, but you can't," Connor said, now Lincoln was ready to gave up on any hope of a cure. He actually got pretty sad, and he got his head down. His father kept a hand rubbing on his back. Afraid of what would happen, he would probably live a miserable life and...
"Hey, why are you so sad? I mean, diabetes it's not exactly fun, but it's not like you'll die," Connor said
" I won't," Lincoln said, happily
"Well, you will, but not now, and not because of diabetes," Connor said. "Diabetes is like any person, it won't hurt you if you treat it well,"
" But you said you can't cure it," Lincoln said
"Correct, But you can control it," Connor said, giving him a smile, and Lincoln retrieved the smile with a confused expression.
Rita was getting a little bit nervous. It was already dark outside, and Lynn wouldn't pick up his phone. Most of the sisters were already hungry, thankfully she was smart enough and already ordered food for them. She was staring at her phone, the clock showing 8:30. It had already been five times she had called her husband, for the call to simply cancel itself immediately.
Suddenly, her phone began ringing. She almost dropped it on the floor, as she wasn't expecting it. After seeing the number which was calling her, she quickly answered it and placed the phone on her ear.
"Lynn? Is everything alright? Why aren't you answering my calls? How's Lincoln? Are you near home yet?..." Rita continued with the questions for at least two minutes, before she finally had to catch her breath.
"Rita, there's something I have to tell you, so sit down and tried to relax," Lynn said. Rita nodded with her head, even if Lynn couldn't see her. Her hands were sweaty, and shaking a little bit.
On the upstairs, Luna was in the middle of the hallway, with a pile of her amps plugged on. "Good night Royal Woods," she screamed, as everyone got out of there rooms and try to stop her. It was for no use, since her arm was already lifted, but before she swung it down, everybody heard a scream.
"WHAT!"
"Wow, what was that?" Lana asked, uncovering her ears.
"I don't know dude," Luna said, examining her guitar. "All I know it wasn't me," she said
"Girls, I think it literally came from mom's room," Lori said, counting her siblings. "Leni, go call Lincoln, the rest, follow me," she said, and everyone began going down the stairs.
Leni ran to the end of the hallway, and opened Lincoln's bedroom door. "Linky, we have to…" she said, seeing the empty room. "Guys, Lincoln is invisible again," she screamed to her siblings downstairs
"Have you tried opening your eyes?" Lisa asked
Leni blinked. "He's still invisible"
Lynn groaned. "I'll go help her," she rushed upstairs
Upon reaching the front of Lincoln's bedroom, Lynn realised Leni was right. Or Lincoln simply wasn't in his room, and she thought the latter was the correct answer. She grabbed Leni by her hand, and dragged her downstairs.
"Leni is right, Lincoln is not in his room," Lynn said
"But mom said he was doing homework the whole day," Lola said. "Then where is he?"
"Let's find out," Luna said, opening her parents room. "Hey mom, do you know where Linc- mom, are you okay?" Luna saw her expression. She was apparently shocked with something, that was for sure, while she held her cellphone, and apparently unable to reply.
"Mom, what's going on?" Lori asked. Rita suddenly snapped, and layed down the phone.
"Wait a second…" Rita pressed a button. "Honey, the girls are hearing you now."
"Dad, what's happening?" They asked almost all the same time
"Oh, good, you're all there. Listen girls, there's something important I've got to tell you."
