Lori took up the couch's middle cushion and rested her eyes on the latest episode of Los Angels. She sighed as she watched Marcy and Josh walk on screen, hand-in-hand, with the goofiest smiles she had ever seen.

"And I thought Leni's were forced."

Resigned, she turned her head to the left and saw said sister and Lincoln on the carpet, hugging each other. The parents felt comfortable leaving him with his sisters while they prepared dinner, given how he was almost a year old by now. And as Lori thought, Leni was the one giving her brother most of her attention. She watched as Leni brushed his hair, which was now as white as the snowflakes falling outside. Lori found it weird how a baby's hair can be that color, but both Lincoln and the second sister chuckled with every stroke she gave him.

Lori just exhaled and went back to her show, only to be met with more cheesy love. It had been well over a season since Marcy and Josh got together, but Lori felt as if Los Angel had been going downhill since that moment. Sure there were some episodes she enjoyed as much as the early ones, however the mere presence of Josh now became enough to ruin otherwise decent stories for her. Not helping matters was the giggling happening outside of the show.

"Kids! It's dinner time!"

Using this cue as an opportunity, she grabbed the remote and flicked off the TV. She got up and saw her two younger siblings still playing with each other on the floor, as if they didn't even hear their mother.

"Leni, Lincoln. It's time to eat," Lori said. But Leni kept hugging her brother, treating him like he was the entire world. She was in a bubble again, annoying Lori, "Leni. You have to stop playing with Lincoln. Mom said it's dinner time."

Still, nothing. Lori felt like she was nothing more than the surrounding air. Ever since that boy came along, Leni had become absorbed with him, spending at least seventy-five percent of her free time with him. Lori recalled at least several instances where her other sisters tried to get Leni to share their brother, only to come up short. It wasn't that Leni told them 'no' or even gave them a scowl; she simply failed to notice they were even in the same room. And Lori had already concluded that more direct means were needed to get her younger siblings to dinner.

Lori strutted to the duo and she wrapped her hands around Lincoln's waist. She then pulled him in an effort to lift him, however she was soon met by a jerk in the opposite direction.

"No...I want Linky," Leni moaned. She then groaned as she attempted to envelop her own body around the infant.

"Leni. You have to give him to me," Lori said firmly, "Mom said it's time for all of us to eat."

"But Linky."

"Leni."

Their tug of war was defined by increasingly violent movements that proved to be too much for the baby involved. Lincoln started wailing from the pain and point-blank noise. Leni froze upon hearing this, allowing Lori to grab the crying infant.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Leni said, as though she were reciting those words.

Lynn Sr. entered the living room, his face washed by concern.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay," he said as he took his son from Lori, "Shh. It's okay, Lincoln," he then proceeded to cradle him in his protective arms, which successfully calmed the child within a short amount of time. Lori and Leni looked on at the scene, while the latter repeated 'I'm sorry' every few seconds. After consoling Lincoln, Lynn Sr. turned to his two oldest daughters.

"Do you two know what happened?"

"I was trying to get Leni and Lincoln to come to dinner," Lori said, allowing her irritation to slip into her voice, "but Leni wouldn't stop playing with Lincoln. And when I tried to grab him, he started crying."

Lynn Sr. had a feeling something like this would happen again. He understood how much his second daughter loved to express her love directly to Lincoln, but even he was getting concerned with the stubbornness that often accompanied it. And he regretted having to repeat his talk with her.

"Leni," he said walking over to her. His voice, though, was drowned out by the girl's mantra. She recited it over and over again. He appreciated that she recognized that she made some mistake, but she wasn't letting up. It wasn't until he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and called her name again that she finally stopped and stared him in the eyes.

"Leni. Do you remember what I told you about playing with Lincoln?"

Her gaze kept on his face.

"I don't...know."

Even though he hoped she had, he understood from looking at her that he couldn't blame her too much. Glancing down at Lincoln, Lynn Sr. affirmed that he was a pretty cute baby and he knew that Leni in particular liked cute things. He knew that she loved Lincoln, but he also knew that all her sisters did too.

"That's okay," he said softly while holding the baby, "I told you that you can play with Lincoln when you finish all your homework and you did that. But now, you need to eat and so does Lincoln. Once you two are done, though, you can play again."

She stood there for a minute, stiff as a pencil. Her face, however, displayed more subtle tinges (occasional twitches, wavers, and pulls) that wouldn't have been present a year earlier.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's okay, Leni. It's great that you love your little brother and I like that you want to play with him. But now you know that sometimes, we need to take a break," Lynn Sr. said with a smile. He then knelt and gave Leni a kiss on the forehead. As he did this, he felt a tiny jolt shake Leni's face. He backed up and saw her lips race upwards. And that in turn made him feel good.

The four of them headed to the dining room and took their seats. The parents and five daughters occupied all the spots and Rita set up a high chair next to her's. Each of the children had a completely different dish to accommodate their ages and preferences. Rita spoon fed baby food to little Lincoln, doing the whole airplane shtick. While she was starting to grow out of it, Lynn loved the tan mush and gobbled it down every time she had it; she wasn't gonna let the presence of a younger sibling change her tastebuds. Luan and Luna, prided themselves in their "big kid" food and all of it's fun adventures; tonight, their new thing to try was spaghetti. Leni took a fork and poked at her hot dogs, the same item she had for dinner for as long as she could remember. Finally, Lori remained indifferent at her boring mac and cheese, wishing that her parents got her pizza instead.

Given the number of children, the process of all of them finishing their food was slow and occasionally punctuated by chatter and horseplay (which was tampered by the parents). Lori spent much of the time staring at Lincoln, watching as her mom slowly fed him and spoke to him in her 'baby' voice. Lori supposed that she was getting used to having a little brother after all these months, but she still got irritated thinking about the type of boy he would grow up to be.

"Sure he's cute now, but soon he'll be all gross and stuff," she thought. Yet, she couldn't understand why she kept turning back to him. Feelings were weird.

After dinner, Lori and Leni headed back into the living room to settle down. Rita came in carrying Lincoln and took a seat on the couch beside Lori. The eldest daughter turned to Lincoln and gazed on him, much how she was during dinner. But whereas the dinner table had multiple side events occurring, the couch had but one.

"Is there something you want, Lori?" Rita asked after noticing her daughter's focus.

"Dang it," Lori exclaimed internally. She was in a trap now and no aversion was gonna get her out of it.

"I uh..." she said as she struggled to find a good lie. Unfortunately, she was too slow to get her own words out, so her mom helped her out.

"Did you want to play with Lincoln?"

Out of all the children, Lori had spent the least amount of time with the baby. Sure she sat with her other sisters as they played with him and she made small gestures with him here or there, but Lori didn't recall sitting down to truly interact with him.

"I don't know. I'm too big to be playing with babies," Lori pouted, crossing her arms.

"Lori, you're never too big to spend time with your little brother. I'm sure Lincoln would really like to spend more time with you," Rita said. As she spoke, though, she came up with another one of her special ideas. She turned to the other side of the couch, "In fact, Leni could play along with you."

Lori sighed.

"Do I have to play with her?"

"Yes," Rita replied, somewhat offended, "why wouldn't you want to play with Leni?"

For a six year old (soon to be seven), Lori had developed a basic understanding of her mother. It was only after asking that fateful question that the realization resurfaced to her that it had been a bad one. Thankfully, it was just in time to stop herself from saying something else that would have upset her mother. So instead, she sighed.

"Fine."

It was that simple word that made Rita smile.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said before facing Leni, "Hey Leni. You can play with Lincoln now and Lori wants to join you two."

The girl replied with a tiny smirk, as if to create a tiny grin. That escalated, however, once her mother handed her the baby boy. Lincoln's cheerful giggles were enough to excite the second oldest sister. Leni got up, holding her brother, and settled down on the carpeted floor.

Unwilling to hear her mother remind her again, Lori got up and slid down to a spot near the two. She say there and watched Leni cradle Lincoln, channeling all of her mental energy towards the bundle of joy in her arms. Lori, though, only looked on from outside the bubble for several moments.

"Leni," Lori eventually said, although clearly unamused. Her patience found no support from the lack of an answer. She sighed, "Leni."

Surprisingly to Lori, her sister actually stopped what she was doing and turned to her.

"Yes, Lori," she said slowly. Lincoln, meanwhile, was hugging his sister.

What was even slower, though, was the response. Lori spent several painful seconds mustering the words she felt were appropriate for conveying her thoughts.

"Can I play with you two?" she asked begrudgingly.

Rita grinned at her eldest daughter's ability to at least ask. And now, with a brief pause preceding it, it became Leni's duty to react.

"Okay."

With that cue, Lori inched her way towards her siblings. She raised one of her hands used it to rub Lincoln's back, the only part of his body that was faced away from Leni's. His head perked up to see the source of the tender, if somewhat rigid, stroking. Upon seeing his oldest sister, his mouth clamped open with glee, exposing the teeth that were slowly emerging from his gums. He nudged and pushed against Leni's body as it contorted its posture towards Lori, however the former's hands were still positioned on him.

"Leni, honey. Let Lincoln move around. I think he wants to see Lori," Rita said, observing the scene.

Lori was surprised again when Leni's grip immediately loosened. Lincoln climbed down from his sister's body with a widening smile. His eyes were clearly set on his oldest sibling, the one he had seen around the house almost every day yet spent little time with.

"And to think he didn't like me," Lori thought as the baby crawled his way towards her.

Lincoln surmounted his sisters legs and rested himself on her lap. She looked down to see this, yet was slow to react. It was weird feeling his large, warm, squishy body. Things didn't feel right in that moment. Having this was exactly what she wanted and exactly what she was uncomfortable with in the same package.

"You are scared...Lori."

Her head jerked to Leni. She didn't recall addressing her younger sister beforehand.

"I know you are scared...And when you are scared, I want to make you feel better," she said. Lori hadn't realized her face and body werr drawing out her emotions for even Leni to see. She was astonished.

"Linky isn't scary...he's cute and he's happy and he loves you...why don't you give him a hug? That's what I do to someone I love."

Even amidst the surprise of Leni taking the initiative to speak, Lori took the time to contemplate. Lori understood that her sister wasn't the most expressive one, but if there was any gesture she was fond of, it was that act of wrapping arms around other people and things. She found it unusual (an outlier), but she accepted it as fact. All the while, she merely sat there, awkwardly remaining in her emotionally confused state, just staring at Lincoln's jubilant face.

"Lori, why don't you give your brother a hug?" Rita asked as she saw the display persist, "He wants one from his big sister."

She glanced back at the baby. By now, her lap had acclimated to the jolt his warmth and weight brought. Lori supposed he was cute, even though his hair was an unexplainable mess.

"If it's gonna be the wrong color, it should at look nice," Lori thought to herself, referring to the multiple ashen strands that stuck astray. She lifted one of her hands and began stroking his hair, trying to comb it into something 'presentable'. Lincoln, though, started giggling from this. The vibrations his head made from this threw off Lori's trajectory, making the task more difficult.

"Stop it," Lori said, her voice weaker than she would have liked, "You gotta stay still or you'll...never look handsome."

Rita covered her mouth to hide the chuckles escaping her. As it turned out, Lori's words and her attempts of being cold were being washed away by her lighter tone and noticeably widening smile.

"Girls should be able to look at you and say 'That's one handsome fellow' and then ask you to go to the big dance with them," she said, seemingly unaware of how much her joy was emerging, all in a cascade. Lincoln's laughter amplified as Lori continued to groom his hair, but it was quickly becoming apparent that such an effort was becoming useless.

"Okay, prince. Your hair is better," she said. She didn't even mind the fact that what little progress she had truly made was undone as Lincoln buried himself into her chest. And then she herself did the unthinkable. She hugged him back. Deep down, Lori did feel a tiny ember of anxiety still lingering, but she had embraced her excitment and saw her underlying love of her little brother shine through. In that moment, she forgot all about her hesitations, particularly her dislike of Josh on that show suffering from seasonal rot. Would Lincoln turn out like one of those gross meanies? Maybe, but Lori doubted it would be because of the family. She, at least in the heat of the hug, gravitated to the idea that she could be a loving role model that could set him on a certain path. But she didn't want to think too much about the nuances right there.

"You and Linky are happy," she heard Leni say, once again to her welcoming surprise.