A/N Hey guys, I'm back! Yeah, this chapter is uber-tier late. But I have a reason! I was planning on updating last week… and then I got a virus scare. Yeah, I can write through a lot of things, but a virus scare is not one of them. (Turns out my old anti-virus was a form of malware). Anyways, it's all fixed now, and I can get back to writing! I hope you enjoy!
R&R!
Chapter Eleven: Finding A Mind
"Settle down girls, settle down!" Lori shouts while slamming her shoe on her podium as she does so, signaling for the overly excited girls to simmer down. "Come on girls! I need you guys to cool it! I wanna get this meeting started already!"
"Aww don't be such downer Lori!" Luan holds up her rubber chicken in her right hand, as if prepared to clock someone in the jaw with it, "We're just too high to go down that easily!"
Lori can't help but mentally smile. Yeah, normal days in the Loud House were fun and all, but she finds it nice to see all of her sisters getting along and, well, spending more than just five minutes with each other and then getting back to practicing their talents. It almost seems surreal.
"Well I can't argue with that." She chuckles before slamming her shoe on the podium again, "But that's no excuse! Girls! Listen up!"
A few moments pass before the joy-filled sounds of Lori and Leni's shared room die down, allowing the eldest sister to continue, "As you all know, Lincoln came over again today to just hang out. And from the look of it, it was a complete success!" Her voice fills with pride, while she mentally fills with hope, "We probably even put dad's fears to rest too!" She continues, "So what do you girls think I'd love to hear your thoughts!" While she promptly thinks, "Plus, I wanna know if they think it's a good idea to invite him back."
"I'll admit… that was more fun that I thought it would be." Lucy is the first to speak, blushing ever so slightly as she does so. "Lincoln likes me back… he just has to. He even crawled through the vents with me instead of running away!" The young Goth then glances down at her small notebook. Its pages filled with the thoughts and feelings she would never share. "Oh Great Grandma Harriet, please be right."
"Yeah!" Lynn cuts in, throwing her free arm around her Gothic Sister "Plus, it was nice having someone who was willing to take a punch for me!" While she keeps her eyes focused on the small ball she is spinning on her finger.
"Uhh, what?" Lori goes, with the rest of the Loud sisters turning to her in surprise.
"What?!" Lynn throws her arms up in surrender, causing the ball to fly across the room and out the door, "All he did was hold a dummy up for me! It wasn't that big a deal!" While she can't help but think, "Though, I've never seen a boy run that fast before… it was… nice…" She chuckles with that, her cheeks heating up ever so softly.
Lana then interjects, holding up her newly restored and restocked toolbox, "Plus, he taught me how to repair all of the old toys we've broken!"
"Poo-poo!" Lily squeals, flailing her arms in excitement. "Wincoln poo-poo!"
"Nice one, Lily!" Luan says as she rubs her baby sister's head, prompting the infant to soil herself, resulting in both Luan and her own smiles to fall into surprised frowns.
Thought of course, Luan doesn't miss the chance to point out the timing, "Haha! It's a good thing you didn't lay one on him while he was here!" She raises her up with both hands, "You didn't wanna soil his visit did ya?!"
"Ugh." The sisters grown, with some even face palming.
"Seriously?! Luan?" Lori pinches the bridge of her nose, "That was just… no."
Luan shrugs, "Oh well, at least I tried!" She holds her finger up and leans back, "It's not like everyone enjoys dirty jokes!"
"Poo-poo!" Lily cheers, no doubt amused by her elder sister's attempts at comedy.
"Haha! Lily liked it!" the comedian cheers, followed by Leni speaking up.
"I liked it too!" Leni turns away from her workbench and chirps, "It was nice finally having such a good model!" then, with a prideful grin, the fashionista stands up and displays a Lincoln-sized dress, "Ta-da! Thanks to Lincoln I was finally able to get the sizes right!"
"Heh, and the jam session we had-" Luna starts, while she begins to strum a familiar tune.
Though, Lola cuts in before she can finish. "Whatever! You girls going on about Lincoln is starting to get on my nerves!" Her voice cuts through the room's joy-filled atmosphere.
Lori immediately turns to face the five-year-old pageant queen, a quizzical and slightly annoyed expression on the elder woman's face, "What's up Lola?"
The young girl stares at her sister for a short moment, her frustration building, before she snaps, flares her arms and shouts, "While you were all busy wasting time with that stupid boy, no one's been helping me get ready for my pageant!"
"He's not a stupid boy!" Lana rushes at her twin, making sure to get in her face as she does so, "In fact, I think he's even smarter than you!"
Yet, not to be outdone, Lola pushes back against Lana, "So what?! You girls are just gonna put him before your own sister?!" She turns away and crosses her arms, making sure to scoff as she does so, "Seriously? How can you girls even look at yourselves?!"
For a moment, silence overtakes the room, as if the girls are taking the diva's words to heart.
"I'm just going this to help him out, right? I'm not forgetting about my own sisters!" Lori worriedly thinks, before looking towards the rest of her sisters, the young women choosing not to respond.
Though eventually, Luna speaks up, strumming her guitar as she does so, "Yo Lola, calm down." She strums her guitar ever so softly, filling the room with its soft notes.
The young girl is taken aback for a moment, before she stares at Luna in disbelief and starts stomping her feet, signaling the beginning of one of her famous tantrums, "Don't you tell me to calm down! I'm not the one wasting my time and ignoring her little sister's problems just to spend time with a random boy Lynn found off the street!"
"Come on Lola, we're not wasting our time with him." Luna shakes her head, "I mean come on! We're just having fun! What's wrong with that?" While she can't help but think, "Plus, I didn't even get a chance to have a full jam session with him! And I haven't even been able to find out what song he sang either…"
"The person you're trying to have fun with is immune to my tantrums is why!" Lola stares Luna in the eyes, "No one in this house should be able to stand up to me that easily! If he comes around more often, he's gonna start taking over everything!" Before she answers, "You know that it takes forever to get anything ready in this house!"
"Now sister…" Lisa says as she pulls out her calculator, "You are aware that no matter how ready you are for your next pageant, you have been unable to surpass Lindsey Sugarbottom, whose participation, may I remind you, is the reason why you have yet to earn first place.
Lola grits her teeth in annoyance, "Can it Lisa! Your negative babbling isn't gonna help me win a pageant any time soon!"
"I am only trying to speak the truth." Lisa speaks with a monotone voice uncharacteristic of a typical three-year-old, "Please under-" Though, she stops when Lola's anger-filled eyes fall upon her.
Now Lisa, typically, isn't a child who scares easily. This, of course, is due to her deliberate effort to divorce herself from what she deems "irrational human emotions". However, even she cannot help but feel cowed by Lola's fiery temper, especially given what happened to her the last time she incurred Lola's wrath.
"Poor Mr. Snuzzles…" Lisa forces herself to keep up the illusion of a stoic outer demeanor for a moment, before she adjusts her glasses, stands up straight and turns around. "Very well sister units," she says with a yawn. "I believe it is time I retire to my room for the night. Good evening, siblings." And with that, she walks over to the door, which Leni cheerfully opens for her, and she steps out into the Loud House hallway.
"Close one." She thinks, "Any longer and those useless sentimental emotions would have started to grate on my brain power.
"Ahh, there you are dear!" Rita greets as she walks up to her second youngest daughter. "I was just looking for you and the girls!"
"They're currently talking in Lori's room." The toddlers nonchalantly answers, "How can I be of service, mother?"
"Do you have anything planned tomorrow?" Rita asks.
The young scientist rubs her chin for a moment. "Hmm, well my application to teach at the community college has not been accepted yet and I have completed this week's experiment already… so no, I believe I have nothing scheduled for tomorrow."
"Good." Rita lifts the young girl up. "Wanna come to the mall with me tomorrow? I have to pick up some stuff."
"I'd rather not," Lisa answers while shaking her head. "There's nothing I need at the mall at the moment, especially since I realized that I have almost everything I need already in my room."
"Well, remember Lisa, just because you can make a lot of things in your room, doesn't mean you'll always have everything you want." The woman looks from side to side for a moment, knowing just how touchy her daughter is when it comes to what she is about to say. She leans in and whispers, "Plus, we're out of that formula you like so much."
Lisa's face goes red in embarrassment for a moment, before she crosses her arms and looks away, "Fine."
"Now don't be all Ms. Pouty face or else I'm only gonna buy enough for Lily!" Rita taunts, prompting the young girl to relent, and instead tap her fingers together out of nervousness. "All right mother, all right.
"Good." Rita then bring Lisa into her room. She carefully steps around her toddler daughter's latest experiments and easily climbs over the piles of scientific papers on her way to the bed. And when she finally arrives, she carefully lowers the young girl into it and tucks her in, "Now get some sleep dear, we're gonna be up early so that there'll be some left when we get there."
"Very well, mother." Lisa then pulls the sheets over herself, further covering her body in thee think sheets.
And with that, Rita turns around, steps through the labyrinth of Lisa's room and over to the doorway, "Goodnight, dear."
"Goodnight, mother." Lisa answers.
And with that, Rita calmly takes a deep breath, before flicking off the light and exiting the room. "She really needs to go out more…" She mutters to herself. "She's always cooped up in her room doing science stuff, but I've never seen her actually spend time with someone even close to her age…" And with that, she heads down the stairs, only to come face-to-face with her husband, the man sporting a look of distress on his face.
"Welcome home dear." Rita places her hands together in front of her, "Are you all right?"
"Hey Rita…" The man's voice trails off, while the man looks away, as if trying to understand his own thoughts, "Was I really wrong about him?"
Rita's heart fills with worry. "What could've happened? He's never like this…" And so, slowly, she steps over and places a soft hand on his cheek, "What's the matter dear?"
"That kid… he isn't anything like I thought he was…" The man whispers, followed by him thinking, "He… he spent time with the girls because he wanted to spend time with them… and they wanted to spend time with him. He even got them to stop fighting so that they could all enjoy their time together…"
"Lynn?" The woman looks on in worry, "Are you all right?"
"No…" The man's flustered thoughts continue on, filling his mind as if it were a hurricane of thoughts, "This is all just an act, it has to be! It's all a ruse to trick us into take him in! He's not really this well behaved or good at breaking up fights!"
"Lynn!" She shouts, breaking the man out of his confused trance.
He darts his eyes around for a moment, confusion beginning to build in his body, "Huh? What the?!" His eyes go wide with the realization, "Hey, when'd I walk in here?"
Rita looks on in concern for a moment, "About a five minutes ago…" She looks inot the man's nervous eyes, "What's wrong Lynn?"
The man hesitates for a moment. "Should I tell her? No… I can't let him… but those kids love him… Maybe…" He shakes his head, "Nothing, Rita. It's nothing."
"Is it about Lincoln?" Rita grabs onto his shoulder, "I know you don't-"
"No, it's not about Lincoln." Lynn cuts her off, "Lincoln was fine is all… Lincoln was fine."
Rita then raises an eyebrow in confusion, "Oh? Then why are you-"
"No reason." Lynn break free of his wife's grip, "It's nothing, I'm just tired is all." And with that, he steps passed her and walks into their shared bedroom, closing the door behind him as he does so.
"Lynn…" For a moment, the woman considers following and demanding that he explain himself. Yet, instead, she finds her self calmly taking a seat on the couch and grabbing for the remote, "Oh Lynn, what's going on between you and Lincoln?" She takes a deep breath, "And why are you so worked up now?"
Meanwhile…
"Ok, kids, ok!" I'll tell you guys a story! I'll tell you guys a story!" Lincoln chuckles as the many children pull him into the orphanage foyer and shove his notebook in his hands. "Heh, I guess these kids missed me more than I thought…"
A familiar voice speaks up, "Yeah, and they're gonna keep missing you more if you choose to keep going to that blasted house!" Though Lincoln forces it to the back of his mind.
"Please Wincoln!" A young boy motions towards a small folding chair standing in front of the small, old couch.
Lincoln chooses to run his hand through the boy's hair, "Don't worry Billy, I will, I will." He looks towards the group of waiting children, "I'll tell a story for you all, but first I gotta talk to Cristina." He turns towards the doorway, "I'm sure there's-"
"Nope," A familiar voice answers, before the young redhead walks into the room, clipboard in hand and an exhausted Chandler following close behind. "Mrs. Sherman got Chandler here to take on your… rather ridiculously large share of the chores for the day." She holds the clipboard at her side, "She mentioned that you might be doing this a bit for the next few days."
"Yeah…" Lincolns rubs his head awkwardly, "Sorry for not telling you. I just… forgot you know."
Cristina shrugs, "It's fine Linc. Just make sure to check in please. There are some chores that not even Chandler or I can do."
"Well that's just great, Lincoln!" A familiar voice echoes in his mind, "Now you've gone and done it! Before, all you were doing was skirting your duties as the oldest in the orphanage, but now you're making poor chandler do it all for you! How can you even live with yourself?! You useless-"
"Come on Lincoln, can you tell us a story now?!" A girl grabs Lincoln's hand and pulls, attempting to drag him over to the seat. Immediately, more of the children come along in an attempt to help out.
"I think I'll-" The white-haired boy looks around for a moment, only to catch a glimpse of the orphanage director, a soft smile on her face. She watches the scene for a moment with joy filling her body.
"I haven't seen Lincoln smile like that in a long time…" The woman steps into the room, "All right children, settle down now, settle down!"
The children quiet down with that, before turning to the old woman, "I know you're all excited to have Lincoln back and are excited to spend time with him…" her voice fills with a soft, tender, care, "But our Fundraiser is tomorrow morning, so I need all of you to be well rested!" She holds her finger up to them, "You wanna make a good impression don't ya?"
"Aww." The children sigh in unison… though Lincoln can't help but breathe a silent sigh of relief.
In order to keep up the major expenses the Shermans would have to undertake in order to hold an adoption fair, it is customary for the director and her husband to hold a fund raiser immediately afterwards. Though, as much as they would like to deny it, this serves two purposes. First, to replenish their funds so that they could continue to keep the orphanage open, and second, to hopefully bring some attention to the children, left behind after the fair.
Mrs. Sherman then steps aside and motions for the children to go to their rooms, "Now off to bed with you!" She turns to the young boy, "Lincoln, would you mind doing your usual nighttime rounds?"
The boy shakes his head, "Not at all Ms. Sherman." He steps behind the children, "Let me just-"
Yet, the woman places a hand on his shoulder, "Please stay a moment." She smiles at him, "I would like to know how your day was."
Lincoln nods, "It was fun."
"How fun?" She chuckles, "Was it grand?"
"Yeah, your day was grand!" More thoughts cross his mind, "It was grand at the orphan's expense! Don't you see how much they missed you after you were gone for just one day?! Imagine what'll happen if you start going over to them regularly! I don't even think Liberty would be able to look at you after seeing how far you've fallen!"
Yet, he forces that thought away. "It was fine." He rubs the back of his head, unsure of just how to describe his time with the Loud girls, "I mean we hung out, I broke up one of their fights." He smiles, "I even got a chance to get to know the girls better! Hah hah, they're pretty talented you know."
"Yeah, and they're more talented than you'll ever be. Just face it!" The voice speaks up once more, "Why are you forcing them to spend time with you and your untalented self?!"
"Oh?" She says, rubbing his head lovingly. "Well, why don't you tell me about them? I'm sure there's plenty to talk about when it comes to a family as big as that!" While she can't help but think, "And you are more talented than you let yourself think Lincoln… you just have to open your mind to the possibilities…"
Lincoln then takes her hand in his. "Well… one of them loves music." He smiles, "She even got me to have a jam session with her!"
The woman raises an eyebrow, "Oh? And what did you do in that 'jam session'?" She chuckles, "You kids and your strange phrases."
"She doesn't understand. You just wasted time with them!" The voice shouts once more, yet Lincoln forces it away, "We played music and stuff!" The boy puts on a nostalgic smile, "She even taught me a new song!"
"Tell me it later." The woman rubs his head, "I wanna hear about what you did with the other girls first."
"She doesn't really care! She's just trying to convince you that you're better off with those girls!" Lincoln rubs his chin, "Well uhh… another one tried and well… succeeded in getting me to help her make a dress."
"Oh?" The woman raises an eyebrow in confusion, before softening her expression. "She know you are a boy, right?" She asks with a chuckle. "Though, of course, I'm sure she meant no harm by it."
"Course she didn't. All she did was remind you that you had a sister that was way better than you'll ever be! Ya know, no biggie!" The voice begins to overtake Lincoln as if it were a cloud covering his body.
"Heh yeah…" Lincoln's voice trails off.
"He is tired…" The woman immediately thinks, before rubbing his head, "Anyway, while I'm sure you've done plenty with those girls, I need you to be ready in the morning too, all right Lincoln?"
Lincoln nods. "Yeah…"
"All right. Off to bed with you!" Mrs. Sherman commands, before motioning him to step passed her.
Wordlessly, the young boy complies and walks passed the woman, "Goodnight, Ms. Sherman."
"Goodnight, Lincoln."
The Next Day…
Excitement fills the air surrounding the children as they walk along the old, worn roads of Royal Woods, on their way to the mall. No doubt today the place would be full of people: the perfect place to hold a fundraiser.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherman lead the group while the oldest children hold up the back, making sure that none of the children would stay from the pack.
"Hey! No pushing!" Alexis shouts, before shoving Berry aside, nearly causing him to tumble into another child.
"I didn't push you!" Berry shouts in response, before shoving the girl back, causing her to almost crash into the girls on her side.
And before they know it, the duo is pushing each other back and forth, nearly breaking up the line in the process!
"Guys!" Lincoln shouts in frustration, before getting between them, "Take it easy! We're all going to the same place!"
"She pushed me!" Berry complains, followed by Alexis arguing, "Because you pushed me!"
"Both of you, apologize!" Lincoln orders, "Neither of you should be pushing each other! You wanna make a good impression don't ya?!" The boy's body is enveloped with a cloud of stoic command as he stands over the duo.
And so begrudgingly the duo turns to each other and apologize, before returning to the line.
"All right Lincoln, so far, so good." Lincoln takes a deep breath, "Just keep things calm and everything's gonna turn out all right." And with that, the group heads off into the mall to begin the fundraiser.
Later…
"So how did you like the mall, Lisa?" Rita whispers to the resting three-year-old in her right arm, while she carries a bag filled with the formula she likes so much in the other.
Lisa hesitates her answer for a moment, before nestling herself in the crook of her mother's arm just a bit more and responding, "I am indifferent to it." Her voice fills with defeat, no doubt she secretly enjoyed leaving the confines of her room for the day.
"Heh." Rita chuckles, "Come on then Lisa, I'm sure there's something else we can-"
"Bake sale!" A little voice shouts, "Come over to the Royal Woods Orphanage Bake Sale please!" prompting Rita to turn towards the source… though Lisa immediately chooses to close her eyes and rest instead.
Just a few feet away stand the Shermans and their group of orphans. In front of them lies a small table with a small amount of pastries spread out for sale, no doubt they would be relying more on donations than the actual baked goods themselves. "Huh, the orphanage is holding a bake sale today?"
"Come support the Royal Woods Orphanage!" Lincoln shouts, trying desperately to grab the attention of nearby shoppers, but to no avail.
"I wonder…" Rita thinks, before shaking Lisa ever so slightly, "Want one, sweetie?"
The toddler responds by just digging herself deeper into her mother's arm.
"Of course." She chuckles, before approaching the shoddily-prepared stand, "Hi there!"
Mrs. Sherman turns towards her and smiles, "Why Rita, hello there!"
The woman looks at the few wares they were able to make for the sale for a moment, before looking at the woman with a curious gaze, "You're holding a bake sale today?"
The woman nods, "Yes, we just hold this after every adoption fair…" Her voice trails off painfully.
For a moment, Rita looks around, taking in the scene. She can see the children trying desperately to bring in the attention of the chaotic crowd, and the unsold merchandise resting upon the table. "Things don't seem to goin' so well…"
The woman sighs, "These never do, but we have to at least try to amend the deficit in our funds."
Rita raises an eyebrow, "I thought most of your funding came from the government or something?"
The woman looks away, almost as if trying to hide the shame she feels, "The only thing the government does to fund us is to give us a tax-exempt status. My husband and I still have to pay for the home." She then glances at the unsold cupcakes, "But… the past few years haven't been so good for us."
"What do you mean?" Rita asks, her curiosity building
"My husband and I use these fundraisers to help pay for new clothes for the children and to replace any equipment we need…" She sighs in defeat, while thinking, "As much as I do not want him going out at night to get supplies, Lincoln's been forced to do so in order to amend what we cannot provide."
"Well… is there anything we can do to help?" The woman asks, determination filling her body.
"I don't know…" The woman sighs, "I guess we just need some way to get some attention here…"
"Hmm." Rita rubs her chin, "Maybe my daughter Lisa can help you! She's great at getting people's attention!"
"While I appreciate the gesture, isn't your daughter too young to-" Mrs. Sherman starts, only for Lisa to cut her off.
"Ugh." She groans, "Mother? What is it?"
"Lisa, could you please help them out?" Rita asks. "They're having trouble grabbing people's attention and I'm sure some of your science is bound to help them!"
Lisa stirs for a moment, "Do I have to?"
"Please Lisa? If you do I'll get you more formula." Her mother's voice fills with a begging tone.
For a moment, the toddler considers denying the request and returning to her slumber, but more formula? Now that is an offer she cannot deny! And so, she tiredly pulls herself up and hops out of her mother's arms, "All right fine." Then, she begins going through
"Uhh, should I be concerned?" Mrs. Sherman asks.
Rita shakes her head in response. "Not at all, this is normal for her."
Lincoln meanwhile, turns towards Lisa and watches her for a moment, "What's she doing?"
Lisa promptly pulls out a small vial of red liquid from her sweater and a straw. "Ready?"
The children take note of the girl and crowd around her, eager to see what their new playmate has in store for them.
The toddler sticks the straw in the vial and blows for a few short moments, and eventually, the liquid turns red, signaling the reaction's completion.
"Ooo!" The children go in unison, no doubt intrigued by the reaction.
"You like this?" Lisa raises an eyebrow in confusion, "This is only a basic reaction with Phenol Red Solution…"
Lincoln speaks up, "This is the first time they've seen something like this… Lisa, right? Plus, this is pretty cool." He smiles intently, "Liberty would've loved to see this… She was always gifted with science."
For a moment, Lisa takes in his words. Normally when she wished to spend time with her siblings, she would have to do her best to ignore science. After all, her siblings had enough science when they did work in school! The mere idea of being surrounded by people that are interested with her… well she doesn't know how to respond.
Her hand trembles as she sticks her hand in her sweater again. Nervously, she pulls out a empty test tube and small brown rock, "Ok uhh…" She runs over to the nearby water fountain and fills the tube with water, before returning to the group, "All right stand back!"
The children comply and watch as Lisa drops the rock in the water.
Immediately, the rock and water react, causing the test tube's safety glass to shatter in a small explosion.
"Wow! That was awesome!" Berry shouts, flaring his arms in excitement, "It went boom!"
Though, Stacy can't help, but cling to Lincoln
"That was… but it was dangerous too…" Lincoln thinks as he wraps his arm around the young girl, followed by, "You should stop her. She's the smartest of all those sisters! You're nothing compared to her!"
"Hey, a bake sale!" A voice calls out, before a man approaches the stand. He buys one of the pastries, before walking away.
Mrs. Sherman smiles, "It's working! Lisa please keep going!"
The three-year-old shrugs, "All right." Before she pulls a clear prism and a flashlight from her sweater.
"Ok, how do you keep all that stuff in there?!" Lincoln asks, confusion filling his voice.
Lisa shrugs, "Simple, I just use the laws of physics to do so." Then she aims the flashlight at the prism, dispersing the light into a simple rainbow. "Besides, just because I have a small extension of space-time under my sweater doesn't mean there's anything too complicated going on!"
"Ooo!" The children go in interest, while more people begin to notice the stand. And soon enough, with more experiments, the stand runs out of pastries to sell, and the bake sale is complete.
"Yeah… but usually there's more to it than that…" For a moment, Lincoln simply watches, unsure what to make of the young girl's experiments. After all, this is the young girl that rebuked him just a few days prior.
Yet, as he thinks, a certain memory can't help, but come up and reveal itself.
"See Libby? That's what happens when you pour salt in water!" Lincoln shouts, before grabbing their mother's sugar bowl, "But if I try to put sugar..." he drops a cube into it, "Nothing happens!"
"Whoa Lincy!" Liberty leans in, "That's weird, do you know why it's not breaking up?"
The slightly older boy shakes his head, "No sadly."
Liberty rubs her chin for a moment, before taking the bottle from her brother, "Let me try something..." she then carefully turns on the hot water and allows some to flow into the cup.
A few moments pass with that, as the duo watches the cube disassociate, leaving behind a small cloud dispersing in the liquid.
"You, you did it Liberty!" Lincoln throws her arms around her sister in joy, and Liberty responds by throwing his arms around her as well. Yet, neither of them notice their mother standing nearby, an expression of worry filling her face.
Later...
After yet another long day spending time with his family, the young Lincoln tiredly shuffles along, on his way to return to his room. "Ahh what a day. Heh, at least the bed's calling is nice."
Yet, as he walks passed their kitchen, something catches his attention: his parents simply sitting at the dinner table, talking.
"I'm worried about Lincoln..." the boy hears his mother go.
"She's talking about me?" His curiosity peaks, prompting him to turn and plant his back against the kitchen wall, hoping to hear the conversation better.
"Why's that dear?" His father answers, looking up from his newspaper as he does so.
"It's just... he doesn't seem to be doing well in school." His mother's voice fills with fear, "His teacher told me that he spends all class ignoring her and would rather try to come up with what those dolls do when they're not looking!"
"Come on, it's not that-" the man tries to counter.
"But Liberty... she tells me she's a model student... but she doesn't talk to people other than Lincoln..." The woman looks down, as if trying to fight the thoughts beginning to fill her mind.
The man returns to reading the paper, "Don't worry dear, this is just a phase for them. It always has been."
"I know, I know…" She takes a deep breath, "But… I'm worried they rely on each other too much…"
"Now dear, you and I both know that our children will be fine." The man speaks with a kind, understanding voice, "Just because Lincoln doesn't focus doesn't mean he won't succeed. After all, you as well as I know that everyone is different."
"Still, it worries me..." her voice trails off, "Today, Lincoln couldn't figure out that sugar dissolves in hot water..."
"They're still children, they're learning!" The man answers, disbelief filling his voice, "At their age I was still learning how to tie my shoes!"
"Liberty figured it out though, and Max and Alicen figured it out earlier than him!" The woman counters, a slight hint of annoyance filling his voice, "I just… feel like he's going to fail… or not even live up
"No..." Lincoln takes a deep breath with that, before shaking his head, turning and walking away, choosing against listening to the conversation any longer. And so he walks away, uncertainty beginning to fill his body.
Yet, unbeknownst to him, his father notices his silent walk away.
This time, Lincoln is luckily enough to break free of his trance without someone having to snap him back to reality. Instead, him simply blinks back to his senses just in time to notice the seen in front of him.
"Wow, I can't believe it." Mrs. Sherman speaks with joy filling her voice, "It's been months since we were able to sell all of our product!" She turns towards the toddler, "Thank you Lisa!"
Though, the young girl doesn't answer, choosing instead to continue showing off to the young children, "All right, I just add food coloring here and here, place the paper…" She does so, then places the cups on top of each other, before removing the paper, "And ta-da! The water doesn't move!"
Rita smiles, "It's been a while since she's smiled like that."
"Really?" The old woman answers, "It is not good to stay cooped up in a room all day."
"I know…" The younger woman answers, "But… Lisa's different. She's not interested in what normal kids like."
"Heh, I don't think so." She responds, before motioning towards the group of children, "From the looks of it, she's quite content." She turns towards Rita, "How about you bring her over tomorrow, I'm sure there's plenty she can find in common with the orphans."
The Loud Woman hesitates for a moment, before taking a deep breath, "Mrs. Sherman, about coming over, I was wondering…"
"Oh, it's no issue is it?" Mrs. Sherman asks, her voice filling with disappointment.
"No, it's not that, I was just wondering if, well, I could volunteer to help you out?" Rita finishes, her voice filling with a begging hope. "I heard the orphanage is understaffed and well…"
For a moment, Mrs. Sherman considers denying her request, after all, she hasn't had the best of experiences with her volunteers, and neither have her children. Yet, she finds herself nodding, "Sure, though don't you have a rather large family to take care of already?"
Rita nods, "I know, but I'm sure they can manage for a bit." She then looks at her toddler daughter, "Plus, I think Lisa and Lola need to interact with more people their age."
"All right. Thank you for everything." Mrs. Sherman goes.
"And thank you too!" Rita responds.
And with that, Lisa and Rita head home for the day.
Lincoln meanwhile stands back and simply tries to collect his thoughts.
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A/N Welp that took forever to write. I thank MrTyeDye for editing this chapter and Wolvenstrom for his help! Man I really need to get back into the swing of things. But hey, now that school's back in session, I can pace myself better! I hope you guys enjoyed! Unwavering Bonds will be updated next week.
Also, I have a new story coming, yeah I know, I'm overworking myself. All I'll say though, is that it involves Lincoln and Bun Bun.