*reads comments from last time* Was… was I the only one who was forced to wear clothes I didn't like when I was younger? Seriously, she just made him wear a shirt. It's not that big of a deal…

Well, semi-important announcement; I've decided to bump this up to a T rating, after all the references to alcohol in this chapter, and because of some plot points/jokes that may come in the future (yes, I'm willing to change it for the sake of one-liners). I won't go into specifics, because it'll get spoilery, but for the most part things won't change too much.

I got a little more to say, but I'll leave that blabbering for the AN's at the end (Typical Auto. Has to have ANs at the start and end like the hack he is)

Anyways, enjoy.


Lincoln took a deep breath and looked at himself in the large mirror. He had made sure to throw the shirt his mother gave him away, pretending he had lost it. The despondent look on Rita's face made him twinge internally with guilt, but it was a bit worth it when he looked at himself in the mirror, dressed in his orange polo shirt. His eyes glanced up towards his hairline, and he saw the little tuft of standing hair on the back of his head. He licked his thumb and combed over it, and was not surprised when it shot back up as it usually did.

Still, his spirits weren't down. He had gotten to know most of the other apartment dwellers pretty well by now, at a surprising speed. He could even call some of them 'friends.' Sure, they punched him on his arm, snuck up on him despite his instance not to, played their music loudly and aggressively… come to think of it, why did he like these people again?

Lincoln simply shrugged with a small smile. "Oh well," he said to himself, "It beats having no one to talk to… Though, I guess that wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't move…"

Royal Woods. As much as he wanted to move on from that place, he couldn't find it in himself to do so. He grabbed his small photograph that he left on his desk, and glanced over it again, the smiling faces of Clyde, Ronnie Anne and Paige bringing him a small smile of his own.

"I guess… I'll never stop missing them…" Lincoln said to himself.

"Lincoln, honey, are you ready? We're about to leave," his mother called for him. Lincoln cupped his hand around his mouth and responded with "Coming!"

He tucked the small photo into the pocket of his pants, patting it for good measure. He exited his room, and made his way to the living room, where he saw his the remainder of his family. His father was sitting on the small chair, tying his shoelaces, while his mother held on to Lily, bouncing her slightly, causing the baby great joy and merriment, as she clapped her hands and babbled excitedly. When the snow haired child entered, she pointed at him and said "Linky!" in a glowing, happy tone.

"Where would I be without you, Lily?" he said fondly as he took the baby from his mother's hands, and starting tickling her on her exposed stomach with his fingers, and the baby responded by squealing with amusement, something that caused everyone present to go "D'awwwww."

"Well, family of mine, today's the start of the rest of our lives," Lynn said with an upbeat tone, "Let's meet the neighbors. Now Lincoln, I want you to be on your best behavior…"

"I know, Dad. I'm not ten. I can manage myself."

"Honey, I don't think you should be lecturing Lincoln about being on his best behavior. Remember last time we got invited to a large party?" Rita responded with.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about…" Lynn said as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Rita smirked and even gave her children a small wink before responding with "Well, let me help you recall. You had a few too many drinks, really let yourself go, and then you ran up to the hostess of the party and proposed to her on your knees. You said 'It will be great, baby. We'll have a bunch of kids and get a TV show about that or something.' And when she said no, you broke down in tears and started crying," the woman began to chuckle slightly, "I would've been angry you proposed to another woman if it wasn't so gosh darn hilarious," she said before bursting out in amused laughter, her son and infant daughter soon following. Lynn simply stood there, blushing furiously at the memory, before he grinned as well and joined in with their laughter.

Thankfully for Lincoln, having fun seemed to be a communal experience in his small family.

"Well, I think we should get going now," Rita said, wiping a little tear from her eye, "Wouldn't want to be late for our own party."

"Alright. Let's move out," Lynn responded. Lincoln handed his baby sister back to his mother, and as he left the apartment, watching his dad fumble with the keys as he locked the door, and entered the elevator with his family, he breathed in calmly and gave himself a bit of a smile.

I may not be in Royal Woods anymore, but… I think I can make it here. Yep, everything is going to be A-Okay…

Suddenly, the elevator stopped its descent. "Someone must've called it on this floor," Rita said, before muttering an annoyed curse under her breath. For some reason, Lily seemed to be amused by that.

The doors slowly opened, revealing the culprit; Lynn stood before them, and her face broke into the widest grin imaginable when she saw that Lincoln and his family were inside.

I take that back. Everything is not going to be A-Okay. It's all a disaster. A Lynn-sane disaster.

"Well, if it isn't Lynn Jr." his father said with a touch of fondness in his tone.

"What's up, OG Lynn?" she said, fist bumping the older man.

"Did you two seriously bond over sharing a name?" Lincoln asked in annoyance and disbelief, "You don't even know each other."

"Oh come on, Lincoln. Are you saying if you never met another woman named Lincoln that you wouldn't become instant friends?" Lynn said as she entered the elevator, the doors slowly coming together behind her. Before Lincoln could respond to what the young athlete had just said, his mother spoke first. "So, Lynn, why aren't you with your parents?"

"Oh, they're all downstairs with everyone else. I just needed to come back upstairs to get something important."

"Wait… everyone else? Does that mean… oh no, are we the only ones who haven't shown up?" Rita said bemoaningly.

"Honey, not that I blame you or anything, but maybe you shouldn't have spent so long in the bathroom applying eyeliner," the older Lynn said, but he quickly backpedalled after an aggressive glance from his wife, "Of course, I'm very glad you did. You look very beautiful. Why I'm practically baking in your presence."

"Baking, huh? That reminds me," the younger Lynn whispered to Lincoln, giving him a wicked and mischievous grin as she did. Lincoln stared at her with confusion, wondering what she was implying, when the young girl subtly lifted her leg and…

"Lynn, did you fart?" Lincoln said in shock, a little too loudly. His parents, despite how repulsed they were with the smell, immediately glared at him with anger, and Lynn feigned ignorance and distress.

"Why, Lincoln, how could you accuse a proper young lady like myself of doing something so vile like far… farti… it's so repulsive I can't even say it," she said, a faux innocent look plastered on her face.

"Lincoln, you apologize to your friend this instant," Rita ordered sternly, causing the young boy to gulp and immediately spit out a quick "Sorry, Lynn."

"Apology accepted. I wouldn't be a good best friend if I didn't learn to forgive and forget," Lynn said, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

The elevator stopped at the appropriate floor, and Lincoln's parents rushed out of the lift to get some fresh air, trying to wave away the stink of Lynn's farts. The two children walked out more slowly and calmly after them, and Lynn gave Lincoln a confused look. "Hey, how come you aren't as affected as they are?" she asked, pointed at Lincoln's wheezing father.

"Trust me, you have nothing on Lily's dirty diapers," he said with a small, sad laugh.

"Poo poo," they heard Lily shout out loud with pride.

"Sounds like you got it rough," Lynn said with some sympathy.

"Well, you don't exactly make it easier by doing stuff like… that…" he said, jabbing his thumb back at the contaminated elevator. "Oh that's different. We're friends, Linc. We gotta make life a little hard for each other," she responded, wrapping her arm around his shoulder with a satisfied expression.

"You really promoted yourself to best friend status with me pretty quickly. What makes you think we're best friends?"

Suddenly, the girl's happy expression seemed to slip away, and she looked at the young preteen with a little more concern in her eye. "Well… because we are, right? Me and you, the cool kids on the block. I mean, you do want to be my friend, right?" she asked him, giving him some powerful puppy dog eyes, eventually resulting in Lincoln being unable to stay mad at her.

"Yeah, Lynn, we are friends. We're good friends, really. Still, I wish you wouldn't do stuff like Dutch Ovening an entire elevator."

Lynn whistled. "You know, you could always just… get me back sometime. Keep me on my toes, you know," she said with a competitive smile, yet it was more warm and friendly than usual.

Lincoln responded with one of his own. "Sure. But I'll warn you… you better watch yourself. They don't call me the man with a plan for nothing."

"I'll look forward to it…" Lynn said as she extended her hand, which Lincoln took, and the two of them shook, glaring at each other in the eyes. Of course, their glares seemed to linger for more than a few seconds, as their intensely competitive looks faded away and were replaced with more softened glances…

"Ahem," they heard the older Lynn clear his throat, and both tore away from each other's gaze and towards him, and found both him and Rita smiling at them, "Hate to break you two lovebirds up, but…"

"We're not lovebirds," Lincoln shouted back in a fluster.

"Well, you two are still holding hands…" Rita said a bit coyly, and even Lily sitting in her arms seemed to point at their intersecting hands with interest. The two looked down to see that was indeed the case, and Lincoln and Lynn both yelped as they threw each other's hand away from each other.

"… anyways, we're about to go in," Lincoln's father said, as he knocked on the door to the apartment, "So Lynn, can you show Lincoln and Lily around to the other children?"

"Well, he's actually met most of them. Heck, just yesterday I caught him playing cards with Luna and Luan in a van…"

"You caught him WHAT?" Rita screeched, as Lincoln cringed internally. I guess that would sound pretty bad to her.

Come to think of it, it should've sounded bad to me…

Luckily, before Rita could begin chewing him out, the door swung open, revealing a familiar blonde girl with sunglasses on her head and a greenish outfit, that Lincoln recalled seeing earlier.

I know her. She's either Lori or Leni.

"Hey, Lynn," he whispered, "Is that Lori or Leni? I forgot which one was which."

"Don't worry. She probably forgot as well," Lynn said with a mean snicker, before following it up with, "That one's Leni. She's one of the nicer people here. Remember, how she helped us out with Lori's window? Yeah, she's so nice that… she's the only person I ever feel bad for making fun of."

Lincoln patted her comforting on the shoulder, just to be sure, before he and Lynn focused their attention back on Leni talking to his parents.

"… and so you grown-ups go into the living room, while I'm supposed to, like, take your kids with all the other minors."

"Oh, so this a grown up separate thing, is it?" Lincoln's father asked excitedly.

"Even if they do have alcohol, you're not having any," Rita said sternly, as the older man slumped over in disappointment. "Yes, honey," he said sadly, holding back tears. Rita patted him comfortingly on his shoulder, before turning back to her son. She carefully put Lily in her brother's hands and told Lincoln "Now, Lincoln, I want you to watch over your sister carefully, okay? Don't take your eyes off of her. Can I trust you to be responsible with Lily?"

"Why don't you take Lily with you?" he asked.

"Because I want Lily to play with some other kids. She can't just stay with us all the time. Plus… I think you might enjoy her company," she said with a kind smile. Lincoln looked down at the infant in his arms, and even though the baby was busy blowing spit bubbles, she still looked back at her brother with awe and admiration in her eyes. Lincoln smiled gently at her.

"I… I guess it couldn't hurt to take her," he said, "I promise to look out for her, Mom. Trust me, I can be responsible for her."

"I know you can," Rita said as she ruffled her son's hair playfully, before turning back to Leni. "Well… Ms…"

"Oh, my name is Leni."

"Leni what?" Rita asked.

Leni held a finger under her chin as she tried to recall. "You know… I don't remember my last name."

"Told you," Lynn muttered to Lincoln.

"Well, Ms Leni, can you take our children to the other kids?" she asked, and was answered by Leni's enthusiastic nodding.

"It's the one thing Lori trusts me to do," she said with pride, as she gestured towards the three minors to follow her, "Come on, Lynn and the baby. You can come to, if you want to look after your granddaughter," Leni said sweetly to poor Lincoln. He heard a loud snicker, and looked back to Lynn, who was covering her mouth as her face went redder and redder, before she couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing.


"I'm so so sorry about that," Leni said apologetically to Lincoln as they made their way to the room where all the kids and teens were grouped. Lincoln was annoyed with her comments, of course, but the genuinely sorrowful and apologetic tone made Lincoln much more forgiving of her mistake.

"Don't worry about it, Leni," he said reassuringly, "It happens to me all the time. Honest mistake. In fact, back where I come from, I actually did see an old man who looked exactly like me... orange polo shirt and all."

"So you're not mad?" she asked, and Lincoln shook his head with a smile. The teen girl's face lit up with happiness, as she let out an excited "YAY!" and her slumped over posture quickly transformed into... something else. The girl had her arms swaying side to side in a curved fashion, which immediately brought the image of a velociraptor to Lincoln's mind. He looked back to Lynn, who just shrugged and said "It's how she always walks. We've all gotten used to it."

"So, like, Lincoln, what's your baby sister's name?" Leni asked.

"Oh, her name is Lily. My parents had a whole stash of L-names ready to give to their kids, and they felt that this one was appropriate," he said as he lifted Lily up into the air before him. The baby smiled and laughed as she felt herself go up, even going so far as to stretch her arms out and start imitating airplane noises, which caused all three of the on-lookers to go "D'awwwwww."

"O... M... Gosh, she is so cute. Can I... can I hold her?" Leni begged, stretching her arms towards him expectantly. Lincoln hesitated, and cradled Lily a little closer to himself.

"Look, no offense, but we kinda just met. I'm sure you're a nice girl and all, but... you know, she's my baby sister, she's my responsibility."

"Oh," the blonde girl said disappointedly, before perking up slightly, "No, I understand. You're a good big brother, looking out for your sister like that," she said with a kind beam, filling Lincoln with both a sense of guilt and, oddly enough, pride.

Still, he returned the smile. "Thanks, Leni. And, really, I meant what I said. You are a really nice girl. Nicer than some people," he said, glaring at Lynn, who simply stuck her tongue out.

"Aw, thanks Lincoln," she said, before stopping in front of a door, "Well, everyone else is in here. Lynn, you can just go in, I want to say something to these two." Lynn shrugged and gave Lincoln a soft punch on the shoulder, "I'll see you inside, Lame-O," she said as she entered the room, leaving Leni standing before Lincoln and the baby in his arms.

"Well, before we go in, I just want to say... welcome to the apartment. Some of the people inside can be, like... a bit of a handful, but... they are all totes nice and great. Even that twin girl who writes all those mean things on my door. She doesn't mean it," Leni said with a bit of a forgiving laugh, "Point is... we're all totes happy to meet you two, Lily and Lincol... actually, can I ask a favor?"

"What's that?"

"Can I... can I call you Linky? I know it's a bit silly, but... I can sometimes have a problem with some words..." Leni said, with a hint of sadness in her tone, before she quickly followed up with, "It's totes okay if you don't want me to..."

"No," Lincoln said, kindly smiling at the blonde teen, "If it makes it easier for you... you can call me Linky..."

"Thank you, Linky," Leni cheered as smiled fondly at him, causing his face to go a little red and he looked away down to the ground as his ears started burning. Having an attractive girl like Leni look at him like that wasn't the easiest thing for a boy on the cusp of puberty.

Oh God, I hope I don't develop a crush on her. I don't want to be like Clyde with that Carol girl.

"Well, let's go inside," he said, grasping the door handle and slowly opening the door...


The worst part about having the two Lynns in the same scene is that I have to use some awkward distinguishers. Never take that 'Sr.' and 'Jr.' for granted, folks.

And yes. Another two parter, to wrap up this final part of the introduction 'arc.' And next time I'll give a little more focus to Leni and a lot more to Lori, while also tying up a few loose ends from this part of the story. I know I've been slowing with updates on this story, so I'll try to make sure this one comes out before the end of the month.

Otherwise, I hope you've enjoyed, and stay tuned for Part Two.