Lincoln sighed as he sat on the edge of his bed and picked up a worn, framed photo from the nightstand. He smiled as he ran his finger across the old photo of a young Michael and LJ, taken at Michael's high school graduation. The two had always been really close, a fact that Lincoln had always been extremely happy about. That is until recently.
Over the past few weeks, it seemed as though the bond between Michael and LJ had grown, while Lincoln's bond with his brother seemed to be slipping away. He felt guilty about it, but Lincoln couldn't help but resent the closeness of their relationship. He couldn't understand why, when he was trying so hard to support his brother, it only seemed to push Michael further away.
Lincoln tried to put it out of his mind as he exited his bedroom and descended the staircase toward the living room. He was about halfway down the stairs when he glanced to the left and saw Michael on his hands and knees on the living room floor. Thinking something was wrong with his brother, Lincoln took the remaining eight or so steps in about two strides and rushed to his brother's side
"Michael!"
But he had apparently misinterpreted the strange situation he found his brother in. This was clearly evident when Michael, still on his hands and knees, turned his head and smiled up at his brother excitedly.
"Oh, hey Linc."
"Hey yourself." Lincoln replied, still confused. "Michael…what the hell are you doing?"
Michael looked confused himself for a moment. Then realized how silly he must appear kneeling on all fours on the floor. He laughed as he pushed himself up and settled back on his knees.
"Oh!" he chuckled, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm playing with Veronica." He explained as he pointed to his niece who was on the floor across the room in the exact same position Lincoln had found Michael in.
"From way over here?" Lincoln asked him. "That's weird Michael. Even for you."
"No, I'm just…" Michael began, but Lincoln ignored him.
"Hey baby girl!" He beamed as he took a step toward his granddaughter.
"No Linc! Wait!" Michael exclaimed and reached out, grabbing his brother by his pant leg.
"Michael." Lincoln laughed. "What are you doing?"
"Just wait!" Michael replied excitedly. "Wait and watch."
Lincoln looked back over at Veronica who squealed happily and began rocking back in forth on her hands and legs.
"There! There! There!" Michael exclaimed. "Do you see that? Do you see what she's doing?"
"Oh yeah!" Lincoln said smiling. "That's what LJ used to do right before he…"
"Yes!" Michael cried out happily.
"Oh my God!" Lincoln exclaimed, dropping to his hands and knees next to Michael on the floor. "Do you think she's going to do it?"
"I think so." Michael replied, settling forward on his hands and knees again. "I mean…it certainly looks that way right."
"Oh! My granddaughter is gonna crawl!" Lincoln said proudly.
"Look at her. She's just building up the momentum. That's all she needs." Michael reasoned. "That and a little bit of motivation."
"Come on baby girl." Lincoln pleaded, smiling happily at Veronica. "Come on! Come to Grandpa! You can do it."
"Just put on hand in front of the other." Michael coached.
But then, just as the excitement was really starting to build, Michael suddenly stopped, settled back onto his knees and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Lincoln asked, still smiling as he briefly glanced up at Michael.
"Well…I just realized…LJ and Amber are going to miss it. Veronica is about to crawl for the very first time and LJ and Amber aren't here to see it."
"Oh shit. You're right." Lincoln replied seriously. "Do you think we should stop?"
Michael considered this for a moment before turning to his brother and smiling mischievously. Lincoln smiled back.
"NAH!" They both said unison.
"What the hell." Michael said, getting back down onto his hands and knees. "She'll do it again."
"Absolutely!" Lincoln agreed.
The brothers laughed and turned their attention back to Veronica. On the floor, they excitedly tried to coax the baby to come to them. They were still at it when LJ walked through the door a few moments later.
"What are you doing?" He said, laughing at the absurd sight of his father and uncle on the floor.
"Oh good LJ. You're here! I don't think my conscious could have taken it if she had done this when you were gone." Lincoln said.
"What is going on?" LJ asked them, then turned his attention to his baby. "Hey Vee. What are you doing way over there?"
LJ started toward his daughter, which elicited howls of protest from both Michael and Lincoln.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold it right there kiddo." Lincoln instructed
"Huh?"
"LJ. Come on." Michael said, grabbing LJ's arm and pulling him back. "We're trying to keep the motivation down this end of the room. Work with us here! Please!"
"OK? Have you two been smoking something?" LJ wondered.
"What? No!" Lincoln insisted. "We're babysitting here. How are irresponsible do you think we are?"
LJ opened his mouth to respond but Lincoln quickly cut him off.
"Don't answer that."
LJ laughed.
"OK Fine. But I'm going to ask again. What are you doing?"
"Veronica's about to crawl." Michael exclaimed.
LJ tilted his head and glanced over at his daughter who was once again smiling and rocking back and forth on her hands and legs.
"Really? You think?"
"Absolutely." Lincoln insisted. "You see what she's doing there?"
"What? The rocking? She's been doing that for days."
"Yeah. Well that's what you did right before you crawled." Michael informed him.
"Exactly." Lincoln continued to explain. "So we figure…all she needs is a little bit of motivation and she'll crawl right over to us."
"Oh, I get it." LJ realized, dropping to his knees beside Michael. "Here…" he said, grabbing a stuffed Elmo doll from a basket of toys under the coffee table. "Use this. She loves this stupid thing."
"Well that's just teasing her now." Michael replied, grabbing the doll from him.
"No it's not." Lincoln insisted grabbing the doll from Michael. "It's motivating her. Why the hell didn't we think of it?"
"Hey…" Michael said, turning his attention to Lincoln who was busy shaking the Elmo doll out in front of him. "You don't think she's going to do what LJ did. Do you?"
Lincoln paused briefly, then shook his head.
"Nah."
"What? What did I do?" LJ asked them.
"Nothing. Never mind." Michael replied, shaking his head.
"No seriously…" LJ continued to press. "What did I do?"
"You crawled backwards." Lincoln stated matter-of-factly.
LJ frowned.
"Well…that's normal. Right? I mean…I'm sure lots of babies do that."
Michael gave his nephew a sympathetic smile and patted him on the shoulder.
"Sure they do."
"Hey don't worry about LJ." Lincoln chimed it. "You know…Michael dropped your on your head the day before. You probably had a concussion or something."
"I did not!" Michael protested, settling back on his knees once again and placing his hands on his hips defiantly.
"Yes you did!"
"Did not!"
"Michael, he still has the scar on his forehead from the stitches!"
LJ furrowed his brow and rubbed the spot on his forehead where the tiny scar, though faded, was still visible.
"I did not drop him. He was on my lap and he tipped over sideways and banged his forehead on the coffee table. The kid had balance issues! Not my fault!"
"He was a baby! All babies have balance issues! You'd think fourteen year old genius would know that!" Lincoln practically hollered at him.
"OK guys. Never mind. It's fine." LJ tried to intervene.
"Yeah! Well even a 20 year old idiot should know better than to leave a fourteen year old kid with no baby experience, home alone with an eight month old!" Michael snapped back.
"OK guys. Seriously!" LJ pleaded. "Lower your voices. You're gonna scare the…"
LJ stopped mid-sentence and jumped to his feet as Michael and Lincoln quit their bickering and turned their attention to the opposite end of the room.
"Where the hell did she go?" Lincoln asked dumfounded.
"Veronica?"
LJ quickly hustled across the room with Michael and Lincoln close behind. They had just rounded the corner into the kitchen, when they practically bumped into Amber who was holding Veronica in her arms… a huge smile plastered on her face.
"You boys lose something?" She giggled at them.
"Where did you…? LJ stammered.
"How did she…?" Michael wondered.
"I came in the back door and was making my way to living room when she just crawled right over to me!" Amber explained enthusiastically. "Isn't this exciting! She crawled right to me!"
"You've got to be kidding me." Lincoln groaned.
"We totally missed it." Michael moaned.
"Yeah…thanks to you!" Lincoln said, slapping Michael on the arm as he walked out of the room.
"Hey!" Michael hollered, chasing after him. "This was not my fault!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"OK?" Amber said quizzically, handing Veronica to LJ. "What did I miss?"
LJ sighed, shaking his head.
"Don't ask!" he replied. Then, glancing down at his daughter he asked, "Do you think we can get her to do it again?"