Buildings passed as Lincoln watched out of the window of the car. Thinking back to the fun day he had with his... friend who happens to be a girl, he managed to crack a smile. Not knowing what would come next, he relaxed in the car seat with Jordan by his side.
"So, uh... what are we gonna do when we get... home?" Lincoln asked. Jordan gave him a suspicious smile.
"We're just gonna have a normal talk," she said. She didn't want the young boy to freak out if she were to tell him that both her parents needed to be aware of his problem and situation. Accepting the answer, Lincoln went back to relaxing in the seat, the slight vibrations of the car guiding him even more to be at ease. But he didn't watch out for how tired he was and soon fell asleep, which alerted Jordan and her mom when they heard deep yet peaceful breaths coming from the boy.
"Well, he certainly has it easy going to sleep," the smiling mother commented.
"To be fair, he does live with ten rowdy sisters," explained Jordan. "And from the rumors, they certainly live up to their last name. But I'm really hoping that Dad can help us with... this." Jordan was referring to the situation was in.
"So do I," the mother said. "We'll see what happens when we get home." She saw her daughter nod in the rearview mirror and they both allowed the Loud boy to catch up on his z's. Once they got back to the mansion-sized house, Jordan saw her dad's car in the driveway, so he was indeed home. She gently nudged Lincoln to wake him up. He opened his eyes and let out a yawn. Looking around, he saw that they were back at Jordan's place. When they got out of the car, Lincoln was blasted by familiar cold air that he came to surprisingly enjoy and followed the two people who helped him out so far back inside.
"Hey there!" someone said from the kitchen. A man was sitting down with a cup of coffee. Lincoln was instantly confused, but it went away seeing Jordan greet him.
"Hey, Dad!" she said, hugging him.
"Hey, honey," said Jordan's mom, kissing him on the cheek. "How was work?"
"Pretty great, actually," Jordan's dad responded. Lincoln didn't have a clue what to do right at this moment. Were he to judge, this would probably be one of his most awkward moments aside from trying to impress Stella along with his other friends from school. Jordan's dad then motioned for Lincoln to come over, which he did.
"Uh... hi?" Lincoln simply greeted.
"Hello!" said the father of Jordan with a warming smile. "I'm Jack. And I see you've met my wife, Kate, and my daughter, Jordan."
"Yeah... I did," said Lincoln, trying not to sound awkward, which he failed... massively.
"Ah, don't worry about first impressions, kiddo," said Jack. "Why don't you sit down?" The sudden change in his tone suggested to Lincoln that this might be like an interrogation, but at the same time, he was keeping it friendly.
"Alright," agreed Lincoln. As he did, Jordan and Kate left the room so that Lincoln and Jack could talk alone.
"So, what's your name?" asked Jack in a friendly manner.
"Well, my name is Lincoln," Lincoln said plainly.
"Now, how old are you?" Jack asked. Lincoln got confused at the simple question, wondering why Jordan's dad was asking all this. Although, it could be easily tying in to his situation at hand.
"I'm 12 years old," Lincoln responded.
"Do you have any family?" asked Jack. Lincoln visibly froze at the question, to which Jack mentally noted.
"W-well, yeah," Lincoln said, stuttering a bit. "I have ten sisters, my mom and my dad, and also Pop-Pop. ...My grandpa."
"Big family, eh? Must get tiring trying to handle all that chaos."
"Well, yeah, but I guess that's the price I pay for living with a large family." Lincoln then let out another yawn. Jack processed everything the boy said and thought about his next move.
"Where do you see yourself in your family?" Jack asked, which threw Lincoln for a loop, considering his view on what Jack meant changed over the past few days. After struggling to find an answer in his head, he managed to come up with something.
"I used to think I was... the mediator of sorts, the one who helped keep the family together... I had a connection with each one of them, but..." Lincoln trailed off, no longer having the words to finish his sentence.
"But what?"
"But something happened that made me change my mind about them," Lincoln explained.
"What was it?" Jack knew the answer, but he needed to know in greater detail if possible to be able to help the kid.
"I-it started with my eldest sister Lori moving out with her boyfriend, Bobby. Lori shared her room with Leni, so it left her half free, which caused a war between my other sisters. I tried to avoid getting involved, knowing that it would end as all the other times had, but when Leni chose me to move in with her..." Lincoln didn't even want to finish the sentence, remembering the only thing he could make out from seven angry sisters.
"SHE CHOSE YOU!" That was all Lincoln could understand as shadows of his sisters loomed over him.
Memories began infiltrated Lincoln's poor little brain, which caused him to remember everything - every punch and every ounce of pain he felt. A cold chill was sent down his spine as he briefly hugged himself in fright. Jack noticed this and didn't need to hear the end of the sentence to put two and two together. But he recalled something else Lincoln said.
"Forgive me, but I heard that you said 'it would end, as all the other times had'," said Jack. "What do you mean by 'all the other times'? Have similar things like this happened before?" he asked, but Lincoln felt like he had no words to summarize all the times he had been swept up in the household chaos.
"Yes, but we made up in the end, a-as all siblings do," he explained.
"You realize that just because you and your sisters make up doesn't exactly make it any less bad or that everything's fine," Jack said to Lincoln. The boy nodded meekly. "Now I want to ask you this. What do you think of your sisters and your parents as of now?" It was yet another question that made Lincoln unsure. But after some thought, he did his best to answer.
"Well, some sisters I don't consider responsible, such as Leni, Lori, and Lily. Lily's only two years old, so she's still fine as is, but the other sisters... I guess I have mixed feelings for them. There's Luna, the one I felt that I trusted the most, relied on, and even looked up to. So what she did to me... hurt me... the most..." Lincoln sounded so hurt that he was about to cry in front of Jack, but he tried to hold it together. "I guess a room matters more than any sibling bond." Lincoln being visibly hurt even stung Jack, getting invested in the young Loud's life.
"Let's not focus on the bad, Lincoln," said Jack, attempting to keep Lincoln from getting too sad or emotional. Lincoln drew in a nice, deep breath before continuing to talk.
"Well, for starters, Leni may be sometimes irresponsible, but she couldn't have known that her choice would lead to something horrible," he went on. "She's our sweetheart sister who wants no bad to happen. Then there's Lori when she lived with us. She kept the house under control, despite often her wanting to be in control got the better of her. But when she moved out... you know the rest. And poor Leni had no idea. A-and Lily had no hand to play either." After hearing Lincoln explain, Jack gave his next question some thought before asking him.
"Do you want to go back?" he asked straight out. This question shocked Lincoln to his very core and he got anxious over how to answer. "Lincoln, it's okay if you take your ti-"
"No." Lincoln cut him off with the only word he had from his mouth. "No, I don't want to go back," he clarified. Jack accepted the answer and prepped his last question, one that he hoped the boy would agree and say yes to.
"Lincoln... there's no easy way to say this, so no beating around the bush. I want to get the law involved in this matter, but I also want to know if this is what you want. I want to know if I have your support in this," Jack explained as best he could. Lincoln's face changed instantly upon hearing the question to one of unsureness. An internal war was going on inside his head. Yes, what his sisters did to him was undoubtedly in the wrong and if the law was involved, there would be a punishment. But was he really about to betray his family in exchange for revenge?
"I-I... I want to... take some time... and think about it. Is that okay?" asked Lincoln, still somewhat on shaky grounds. Jack nodded.
"As I wanted to say before, take your time. Nothing needs to be decided here and now today," Jack pointed out. They both stood up and Jack offered Lincoln a handshake and he took it. "It's been a pleasure to talk you, kiddo. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask me. Alright?"
"I will. Thanks, Jack." After their talk, Lincoln found Jordan and her mom talking in the living room until he came in. Jordan jumped off the couch and ran over to hug the white-haired boy. Lincoln almost lost his balance, not expecting Jordan's arms around him, but luckily, he didn't fall over. Jordan's mom simply smiled at the children.
"How did it go, Lincoln?" Jordan asked hastily while Kate went to the kitchen to talk with her husband. "My dad wasn't too intrusive or anything, was he?"
"No no, he was fine," answered Lincoln.
"Dad's a psychologist," said Jordan, releasing her hug. To Lincoln, that explained the slight interrogation, but he was glad to have had that talk, as it had helped him vent some of his pain he was feeling on the inside. He then proceeded to explain his talk, including the question at the very end. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Lincoln was struggling with it.
"I just don't know, Jordan," Lincoln said to her. "My mind says that I should take the offer, but my heart says I shouldn't do it." He suddenly began to enter a panicked state, his breathing becoming more erratic, but a warm hand on his shoulder calmed him down.
"Lincoln, don't stress about it too much," said Jordan gently. "Look, how about we go and play some video games on my PowerStation 4?" This earned a small smile from Lincoln, who agreed. He followed her into her room and was amazed at how much stuff there was inside - band posters on the wall, dodgeball trophies on her desk, and Ace Savvy comics littered on the floor.
Wait, this is just her home away from home, right? Lincoln thought of Jordan's actual room back in Royal Woods and was prompted to ask her about it, but saw that she looked a little flustered.
"Sorry it's a bit of a mess," she said. "I really wasn't expecting anyone else other than my parents to come in. Lincoln only chuckled.
"Don't worry about it," he said with a warming smile. "You think my own room isn't messy?" Jordan giggled at him. "So what's the game for today?" Lincoln asked. Jordan grabbed a few games from her shelf.
"Who says we're only playing one?" she said with a smug grin. She then got out two beanbags for them to sit on. "Ready to get it on, cowboy?" For the next couple of hours, Lincoln and Jordan played video games together and had a lot of fun. Most times, Jordan won, having more experience, but once in a while, Lincoln's inner nerd allowed him to come out on top. As it turned out, this ended up being a chance for the two young kids to get to know each other way better than opportunities at school. For example, Jordan was good at dodgeball because she had been playing it with visiting relatives since she was only four years old, which shocked Lincoln. Then there was Jordan learning that Lincoln liked to draw and aspired to be a comic book artist one day, much like Bill Buck, the author of Ace Savvy and one of his heroes. The more they went on about themselves, the more Jordan came to realize how much she adored the boy she was currently helping. There was his good nature and good heart, as despite his case of domestic abuse, he was still willing to protect his family from the law, even if he had been used as a stepping stone too many times to count. Somehow, Lincoln was shaping into a genuinely good person, always wanting to help and placing other people's needs ahead of his own. This even happened while they were playing games. Jordan's controller ran out of batteries and Lincoln simply handed her his and let her play solo. Jordan asked if she should find more batteries, but Lincoln said he didn't want her to stop having fun with her game.
It warmed her heart and his smile came across as intoxicating to her, and she couldn't help but smile back, even if her heart skipped a beat. Jordan was surprised that she and Lincoln hardly ever hung out together, even in school. Stella was the one girl in Lincoln's circle of friends, but all she wanted was just to be friends and hang out with them. But Lincoln and Jordan seemed to share similar interests and likes and they shared great chemistry together. Of course, Jordan realized what she was feeling. She was growing up just as Lincoln was, so she knew what the signs pointed to. Jordan thought it best to think about it more, but from the looks of things as they were, Jordan liked Lincoln as someone more than just her friend.