Poor Artie was hiding in the bathtub of the bathroom and he was shaking while rocking on the bathtub floor. The image of that clown he saw before did not go away from his brain. The poor boy had a few tears streaming down his cheeks just thinking about it some more, and he was just starting to warm up to this whole house, and the kids were on their hest behavior for him so that he wouldn't be so nervous or scared.

"I hate clowns." he sniffled a little. "I hate clowns more than anything. I'll never come out of the bathtub for as long as I live."

There was a knock on the door and a voice called put from the other side. "Artie? It's mezcal Lincoln. Are you okay?"

"No. I hate clowns Lincoln,"

"That wasn't really a clown, it was Luan, my funny sister. She was just trying tl make you smile. She didn't know you hated clowns. Now come on, let's talk about this and come on out of there."

Artie buried his face in his legs while sobbing quietly. "I'm never coming out again."

Lincoln made a small sigh and he was thinking of a way to get the boy to come out of his own bathroom. "Man, poor kid."

"Way to go, Luan." Lana scolded her.

"I said I was sorry!" she kept saying over and over again. "What will it take for you to forgive me? Sheesh!"

"Look, we didn't know Artie was afraid of clowns. Maybe... you can talk to him, Luan. You don't have your... clothes on anymore, so you should talk to him, and show Artie that it's really you."

"Great idea, Lincoln!" Luan smiled. "I'm going in. And don't worry, I won't bring ant 'toilet bumor' into this! Haha Haha! Get it? Because I'm entering the bathroom, and the toilet's in there and-"

"We get it Luan," said Lola, sounding annoyed. "Just get in there and talk to the poor thing."

"Got it." as Luan set foot inside, she looked to and fro for him. "Artiem are you in there?"

"Go away." Artie repeated.

She found out that the boy was sitting in the bathtub, and sue slowly opened the curtain, revealing a crying boy. "Artie, please," she slowly closed the drapes after entering the tub, and she sat next to him. "Look, that clown was just me. I didn't mean to scare you and make you cry. I promise you."

"Well... why did you dress like one?"

"Because I wanted to bring a smile to your face. Clowns make everyone happy."

"Well... not me. They scare me."

"I got that, and I am sorry if I scared you. Please don't cry." she gave him a sympathetic look. "Besides, clowns are just people trying to be funny and have makeup on their faces to make people smile."

"Just please... don't ever do that again. I mean, don't scare me like that again."

"Don't worry. I promise, I will never dress up as a clown in front of toy ever again. I absolutely promise."

Artie made a small smile and a few tears escaped his face. Okay. Look, I didn't mean to scream and sound like a crybaby. I just don't like clowns at all."

"No, it's okay. I'm the one who should be sorry, I was the one that unintentionally spooked you. So it was my fault. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, let me know, and I will bring a smile on your face."

"Okay. Well, I just need to think about it, okay?"

"Of course." Luan then stood up in the bathtub, and she asked: "are they ready to come out of here now?"

"Yeah. I think I'll come out now.:

"Good, because I really need to use the loo."

Young Artie got up, and exited the bathroom, where Lincoln was waiting for him. "Feeling better, Artie?"

"Yeah. I'm okay now." the boy replied.

Lincoln smiled. "Good. So you want to play more Karate Red Panda with me?"

"Sure. I would like to." while walking down the stairs, Artie couldn't help but ask: "so, how are you my cousin?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Luke said you are a new brother to him, and he always wanted a little brother in his life. Why didn't you yell me that you were my cousin too?"

"Oohhh, I'm not really your cousin." Lincoln said. "As for the brother thing: we're surrogate brothers, but, I did wish on a star for a big brother I always wanted in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters, but it's fun hanging with a guy."

"Ah. So you guys are not brothers then?"

"We are brothers at heart." Lincoln admitted.

"I get it now."

"Good. And, you want to have something else to eat?"

"Well, not right now. I had some cookies your daddy made."

"Good to hear." They began playing the video game, and had more fun than ever. They played for about an hour and a half until Artie felt a little bored. He asked for more lemonade and the father was more than obliged to bring out more of the ice-cold beverage to him.

"You feeling okay, little dude?" Luna asked the little boy.

"Yeah. As long as there are mo more clowns around here."

Luna chuckled, and replied: "nah. And Luan is very sorry she scared ya, Artie. She didn't mean to."

"I know. I forgave her."

"Good. Besides, I know very well what you need to bring more smile on your face." she playfully pooed his nose with her right finger, making him laugh. "How would you like to hear a song or two on my guitar?"

"Sure. I didn't know you played guitar." Artie remarked.

"I've been playing it for as long as I can remember."

"Uhhh, Luna?"

"Yeah little bro?"

'"Can you please play acoustic?"

"Of course. I know my electric ax will scare him. I'll be mellow and gentle, like the cliffs of Dover." she pulled out her acoustic and began playing nice, mellow keys on it, making Artie smile shd feel relax to the beautiful strumming and Luna's beautiful singing voice.

While strumming, Luna began playing some nursery rhymes like "I'm a little teapot', "Old Macdonald", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore, and other types of kid songs for him. Artie was liking this more and more and he would always exclaim: "yay!" while clapping his hands with joy.

Luna was happy that the boy was hally and she began saying some more when he requested a few more songs be played for him.

Leni and Lori came downstairs and had a blue turtleneck sweater that was Artie's size. "Oh Artie!" Lori and Leni sang in unison.

"Yeah?"

"We got something nice for you." Lori replied in a sing-song voice. "It's sweater just for you. Just a little something to keep you warm in the cold Massachusetts winter."

"Yeah, it sounds called in Massa... Massa-thingy." Leni added. "Especially if it's snowing."

"Wow. Thanks guys." Artie said gratefully.

"You are very welcome, sweetie." said Lori. "I know we shouldn't have, but you are literally just so cute, and we wanted to do something nice for you."

"Yeah, I mean, I can just totes squeeze your cute face." Leni added.

Lori bumped her roommate's right arm, reminding her how sensitive Artie is with certain things. "Leni, remember, he's a little boy."

"What? Oh! Right. I'm not going to really do that."

"Oh. Good."

"Hey little buddy," Lana walked in the room. "Look at this mud pie I made from the backyard." The tomboy showed him the thing she made in her free time, and it made him a little grossed out, it even had a few earthworms in it.

"Well... uh... it's brown and round."

"I know! It's so cool. Look at the worms on here."

Artie was trying his best not to throw up and be grossed out, for he didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her he did not like it.

"Ooh! I have more to show you."

"Uhhh Lana, don't you have to feed Hops or something?" Lincoln asked her

"Oh my gosh, you're right! I need to feed my frog all the flies he can eat to fill up his slimy belly."

"Well, Artie, your cousin Luke is a very good guy. I will tell you that."

"Yeah, Luke's cool! He's the best cousin I have."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Uh-huh, two older brothers. Nick and Danny. Nick's in the tenth grade while Danny's in the seventh grade."

"Are they nice to you?"

"Well... they like to tease me and annoy me, but... they have been nicer to me."

"Hmmm, maybe it's because of what happened with him in Sandy Hook those years ago." Lincoln thought in his head. With his mouth, he said out loud to him: "that's good. They know how sensitive you are."

"Yeah. I mean, they would still make fun of me from time to time, but they do help me."

"Good."

"And Luke can play guitar too."

"He played his electric guitar to you?"

"Yeah, but that's okay. I know Luke."

"I see. Have you been to Inside Africa before?"

"Yeah!" Artie clapped his hands and he looked very happy. "That place is big and amazing. the anions were so cool over there. And I loved the ice cream."

"I bet you did. Well, you want to play on the swing outside?"

"Sure! I didn't know you had a swing."

Both boys walked to the backyard and Artie got on the tire swing under the tree branch, and felt Lincoln pushing the tire to make him go higher. Laughing and playing, Artie was really having a blast on this thing and he was feeling less worried and stressed than before.