V

Objectives

As he descended the stairs, Lincoln, with a smile adorning his face, hummed the song "We Are The Champions" by Queen. Because that is how he felt at that precise moment: like a champion. And while some people might criticize him for going "over the top", he would have not minded in the slightest. He managed to stop his sisters' fight, and that was the most important thing.

He would not deny that it was a relief for him that they stopped, for since he was a child he never was a fan of arguments nor of the chaotic environments that they brought; he preferred to relax in a peaceful place whenever he could. Yeah, it definitely was a big relief; but that was not the main reason. What mattered the most to him was that his sisters got along and lived as harmoniously as possible. He did not want any silly disagreement to trigger more problems, far more serious than the last one, and end up angry for life. "Maybe I'm exaggerating," he used to constantly say to himself, being completely alone; but his own mind betrayed him and provided multiple nightmare scenarios in which his family ended up fragmented. He hit himself on the head and thought, "No, that will never happen. The love we have for each other is much stronger than any disagreement", and then he felt better. But then he asked himself, "Are you sure?", and felt overwhelmed again. That's why be that as it may, exaggeration or not, Lincoln decided that he would never allow that to happen. He loved them too much as to just stand there, doing absolutely nothing. Besides, it was better to be safe than sorry. After all, living with a grudge was horrible… Oh boy, it was…

When he stepped on the last step and reached the ground floor, he saw his mother hugging his older sisters, while kissing each one on the cheek; after not seeing them in weeks, it was to be expected that she would be more than happy to have them back. The process was repeated with Lynn Sr.

At forty-nine, Rita had become an internationally recognized author for her saga, "The White Feather", which not only came with a fresh an innovative premise that broke the molds for adventure novels, but that had also been critically acclaimed "for its clever parallelisms with reality; its characters, as endearing and likable as they are interesting; and her seemingly endless source of creativity and inspiration.

And Lynn Sr., at fifty-four, had become the owner of five of the most important restaurants in the states of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio; in addition to winning several really important awards in the culinary world such as the James Beard Foundation Award, and the Zagat Award.

Once his parents stopped talking to his sisters, he stepped forward. "Hey," he greeted, with a relaxed pose and raising his right hand.

Rita, when she heard her son's voice, ran to hug him. "Hello, my baby!" the woman exclaimed with the most motherly and mellow tone she could offer, while giving him a big kiss on the cheek.

Lincoln gave a little laugh, but he didn't stop his mother and hugged her too. "How have you been, mom?"

"Very well, darling," she replied, pulling away from her son, watching him closely and starting to comb with her fingers a few unruly curls of white hair that fell down his forehead. "I see you haven't cut your hair yet."

Lincoln put a hand to the back of his head to feel his man bun. "No. And I don't plan to cut it yet. I like this style."

"But you look much better with short hair. You look cleaner and neater."

"Mom, I'm not a baby anymore."

Rita twisted her mouth and turned her gaze away. No, she did not dislike her son's appearance; in fact, she would even say he looked very handsome, and that made her feel proud. However, it also made him look much older than he really was, and she didn't like that; she didn't like that at all. After all— "To my eyes, you'll always be. So, you better never forget that, young man."

Lincoln looked at her with a deadpan face. "I never forget. Whenever you can, you remind me…"

The woman gave a little laugh. "Then, you should be already used to it, right?"

He said nothing. Touché.

They continued to exchange a few more words, until Lynn Sr. approached them.

"Hello, son," he greeted, resting a hand on one of the boy's shoulders.

Lincoln turned his neck in the direction of his father, curled his lips upwards, and calmly replied, "Good evening."

It only took a moment for the man to step forward to hug his son, whom immediately, almost robotically, also raised his arms and returned the welcome, patted him on the back a couple of times and pulled away five seconds later.

And as it happened every week, they began their typical question and answer routine. Lynn Sr. first asked, "How did it go on the way home?", to which Lincoln replied, "Very well. Thank you for asking". "And how did it go in college?" "Excellently. My average is still ninety-five. Thank you for asking." Lynn Sr. scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "And tell me, do you have to do any work or project?" "Had. With Lisa's help I managed to finish faster. Thank you for asking." The man opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again; he had no more questions. Lincoln watched the gesture and knew he could withdraw. He looked at his father squarely in the eyes, nodded, said, "With your permission", and walked past him, towards the living room, to go with his sisters and watch television. Lynn Sr. walked the opposite direction and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

The moment he was in their range of vision, he heard how each one of the women begged him to sit next to them. Then, there were fierce glances, a burning desire to fight, bloodlust, and they ended up pulling Lincoln by both arms, from side to side, to see who would stand up as the winners. The match ended with Lola and Lana clutching and snuggling into each of the boy's strong arms.

But the final winner was Lily, who was comfily sitting on his lap, hugging him and rubbing her face against his chest. She sneakily turned form left to right and saw how each one of her sisters looked at her, wanting to punch her; especially those who were distributed in the other sofas where the white-haired man was not sitting. She gave a cheeky smile to all of them.

When the program ended, everyone got up and went to the dining room to set the table for dinner. Luna, Lynn, Lincoln and Lana handled the plates and glasses; Lucy, Lola, Lisa and Lily the silverware; and Lori, Leni and Luan carried the food, along with their father. The whole operation took less than five minutes, and immediately after completing the preparations, Lincoln wanted to sit down, but there was something that stopped him: his instinct. There it was again. That strange feeling that appears every time a situation goes outside the parameters of what can be classified as "normal". Nevertheless, for him it was no longer an alien feeling; he knew it —oh boy, did he!— very well. He raised his head, looked around, and noted how each and every one of his sisters stared at him intensely, as a predator would do to its prey… No. He was wrong. They did not look at him; they looked at the seats next to him. He took a step to the right, changing his potential place, and they also changed their objective. He took a step to the left, returning to the starting point, and the process was repeated.

However, it was Lori and Leni who ended up sitting next to him, for they claimed that "they had not seen him in a long time due to their jobs". Luna, Luan and Lynn reproached them for saying that, and argued that they were in the same conditions; but they did not expect that Lori would use her most powerful ploy and declare that she, for being the eldest, had the preference. For her part, while these four were debating, Leni took advantage of the distraction and sat next to the boy. Because, from her perspective, she could not afford to waste time arguing when there was still an available spot; especially when Lucy, silently, almost imperceptibly, skillful and determined as a panther, tried to avoid the vision of her older sisters in order to take over the much-desired place. And Lisa, despite being (extremely pissed off!) dissatisfied, hurried around the table and took the seat that was right in front of Lincoln. If she couldn't sit next to her beloved older brother, she could at least study his handsome face every time she raised her head… Yes, just for that. Not for anything else!

And in the end, when the others accepted their —according to them— unfair destiny, the dinner began, which consisted of Lynn Sr.'s famous homemade lasagna, fresh purple lettuce, apple, celery, and caramelized walnut salad with yoghurt dressing, and tomato, mozzarella cheese, and olive skewers. No one thought twice and they immediately started eating. Nobody said anything on the first few minutes of dinner, because they were so immersed in the delicious flavors of the dishes that were presented before them; but as time passed, and voracious hunger subsided, the conversations began.

Lori spoke, incredibly happy and excited, about her new promotion in her job, as well as explaining how the firm already had her identified as one of the most important and sough-after attorneys in Michigan and in the neighboring states. "For someone who is only twenty-five years old, I must say I'm not doing bad at all," she said and giggled.

Leni, for her part, spoke about the growing popularity of her new designs for the spring-summer line of that same year; in addition to declaring, extremely pleased, that her boss had personally congratulated her. She also explained that she was offered a better contract to continue working as one of the most important designers, but that she asked for time to think better about it; after all, she wanted to open her own fashion house.

Luna explained the entire process that took her to choose, along with her band, the songs that would be recorded on the first album. They had many, and each one of them was a hit among their audience; but if they wanted, she argued, to appeal to the taste of many more people, they would have to choose the best of the best. Because that was the only thing she planned to deliver: quality content.

Luan told parts of her new comedy routine, and many of those present had to stop eating or drinking water to avoid choking for the laughter that it was causing them. Her professional routines were, without a doubt, true jewels of humor; nothing like her usual jokes. But, as it was expected of the comedian, she ended her participation with one of her classic bad jokes.

Lynn related, very briefly, the intensity of her trainings and how she and all her teammates were ready to win and be remembered as one of the best teams in history. Then, she returned her gaze to the plate and resumed her dinner; weeks of constant exercise and rigorous diets really made her bless every day that she could enjoy her father's food.

Lucy recited some excerpts from her new poems and part of the new story she was writing for a contest; and although many of those present did not have the full context of the story, they felt the beauty of each word that came out of the girl's mouth. Rita felt especially pleased to see that one of her daughters shared her same love and vocation for writing, and that, on top of it, she was also so talented. Then again, she was greatly surprised that her poems were much less gloomy than those she was used to write; she would even dare to say that they had a romantic taste.

Lana showed a few photos of the animals that had been recently adopted by good and loving families who yearned to have a loyal pet. She didn't need to have the power to talk to them to know that each animal was happy, because their expressions in the images said it all. Then she stopped talking, put her cell phone away, and took a huge piece of lasagna into her mouth and swallowed it quickly, without chewing it properly; she needed to, because otherwise she would have ended up crying.

Lola, in a vain tone of voice, spoke about how her experience was that week; although it was not something that they didn't knew: congratulations from her coach for being such a good captain of the cheerleading team, catwalk practices after school, a few confessions here and there from boys of her grade, etc. However, from one moment to the next, she began to explain, almost frenetically, that she rejected the boys immediately. Everyone believed that the explanation was too much, but the beauty queen seemed more relaxed after giving it.

Lisa, as a precautionary measure, said only a couple of sentences; everything she wanted to tell Lincoln she had already done… And also, because the other homo sapiens were still resentful of her for spending the time that was legitimately hers with her older brother. She raised her head for the hundredth time, looked again at the boy's face, smiled, and returned her gaze to the plate. His masseter muscle is much more defined when chewing. Makes his jaw look stronger and more masculine. Why is it that chiseled jaws are so attractive? Maybe it is due to— And she continued to formulate her theories.

Lily told how well she did on her exams with Mrs. Johnson, and how several children in her class asked her to make drawings for them, since she was considered the best drawer of her grade and even several above. Also, she explained that she was seriously thinking about starting to charge for the drawings they asked for. After all, Lola had already given her her own golden advice: "If you're good at something, never do it for free".

And Lincoln observed them, listened to them, congratulated them, smiled at them, and remained silent; always silent. Although it was not as if he had made the slightest effort to speak. Leni noticed this and addressed him. "Hey, Linky, you haven't spoken at all, and we want to hear from you, too. What did you do in all this time that we have not seen you?"

All the eyes were on him; the younger ones with the interest of each week to listen to their brother; and the older ones with passionate vehemence to finally know what has been of the boy. Lincoln felt intimidated for a second by all the attention that was suddenly put on him, but he pushed the emotion aside and cleared his throat. "Well, nothing interesting has happened. I have only dedicated myself to study and pass the subjects."

"And to exercise, I imagine," Lynn said, with a cat smile, and running her gaze over her brother's torso. Even with his leather jacket on, she could appreciate how well-worked his body was.

"Yeah, that too," he agreed and laughed.

"I don't buy the little story that you have nothing to tell us, Lincoln. There must be something! After all, college is fun," said Lori.

"Maybe it was for you, but some mortals like us suffer in it," he replied in a dramatic tone, putting a hand to his forehead and posing exaggeratedly to prove his point.

The girls laughed, but kept insisting.

"Okay, there are no interesting stories from school. No problem. But at least there must be stories about parties," the rocker said, hoping to hear something juicy. The boy's big grin gave her hope.

"Sorry, Luna, but I'm a healthy, well-behaved, polite and educated man whose life is strictly governed by the decrees of American law."

Luna wanted to throw a piece of lasagna to his face for giving her false illusions, but quickly noticed the wink that Lincoln gave her. She smiled. He definitely had some wild and crazy stories to tell.

They wanted to keep trying to get some information out of him, but before they could even continue, Rita spoke, and the question that came out of her mouth came to be the one that would end the peace of that night. "Now that I remember, son, what happened to that young lady you told me about?"

Ten necks almost snapped from the speed with which they turned in their brother's direction at the same time. And also, as if their thoughts had synchronized, one word echoed in their minds: Lady?

"Oh…that… Well, we went out a couple of times," he replied simply.

A tidal wave of emotions and sensations violently hit the girls.

Oh, that?... Oh, that?! Really?! Oh, that?!

Went out?! Where?! With whom?!

A couple of times? So that means it was more than one?!

I refuse to accept something like that!

Who is she?!

"You don't sound very excited, son. Although, on the other hand, it isn't as if you were very eloquent the first time you told me. What happened?"

"I don't know, mom."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

Lincoln shrugged and took a sip of water. "I mean that I don't know. It's that simple. Maybe I was not comfortable with her. And yes, she is beautiful, I admit it; but other than that, I didn't feel anything else for her. I guess she just wasn't my type."

Since Lincoln began to speak, the girls paid all the attention in the world to each one of his words, even to the tone of voice, the diction, and the tempo. And when he pronounced the wonderful words where he declared that he was not interested in that unknown brother-stealer-harpy they felt much calmer. Yeah, that, until Rita spoke again. "And what about the other girls who confessed to you?"

There were divided reactions among the women: some felt that they were going to faint, and others felt that they were about to explode. However, the thought that went through each other's mind was the same: There are more?!

"I rejected them in the gentlest way I could, just as you advised me. But I felt really bad after doing it. It's not nice to see a woman cry, you know. And less if you are responsible for her pain."

"You would've hurt them more if you became their boyfriend without loving them, son. And not only them, but you too."

"Exactly!" ten voices screeched at the same time.

Mother and son turned to look at the girls with an expression of curiosity, to which they giggled nervously, their faces tinged crimson red, while some rubbed their arms or napes and others brushed a few strands of hair behind their ears. They decided to not give any importance to that strange reaction.

"Anyway, the thing is, what's done is done."

"Don't torment yourself, son. You did the right thing and I'm proud of it." Rita approached the boy and pinched his left cheek affectionately. "Awww, my baby is already a responsible little gentleman."

"Mom!"

After that, everyone picked up their plates and finally moved on to dessert time, which consisted of a slice of cheesecake with strawberry jam for each one of them. Lincoln took his spoon, ready to ruthlessly devour his portion, but then realized that his plate was not in front of him as it should be, but in the hands of Leni, who was already cutting a small piece with her own spoon. "Ummm…Leni…"

"Yes?" she replied in an innocent tone of voice.

"That's my cake," he said and pointed a finger at it.

"I know."

"Then why did you take it?"

The woman smiled. She brought the spoon with the small piece to Lincoln's mouth and waited. It took the boy a couple of seconds to fully understand his sister's intentions, but when he did, the color rose to his face in an instant. "E-Err…L-Leni… I-I can eat by myself. You don't need to bother."

"It's not a bother to me, Linky. Now, open your mouth and say, 'Ahhh'".

Lincoln looked at the dessert in front of him, then at the blonde's smiling face, and again at the dessert. The situation was extremely embarrassing, and if it had been for him, he would have eaten the cake himself, without anyone's help. But it was too late, and Leni looked so hopeful to do that little gesture for him. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, thought, Oh, screw it, held the woman's fine wrist and directed the spoon to his mouth. The flavor was exquisite; the cheese slowly melted in his mouth, while the sweet taste of the jam scattered across his tongue, leaving a slight tickle on his nape. In addition, there was an extra element that gave the sensation of intensifying the flavors: a fragrance. The scent was captivating, hypnotic, and wove a spell in which Lincoln, for a moment, thought that he was in a field of flowers; a field were jasmine, violets and bergamot danced in perfect sync through his nose. He inhaled the delicious smell again and finally knew what it was: it was Leni's perfume, combined with her natural essence.

When he finished chewing, he opened his eyes and saw how his sister's beautiful face —cheeks, forehead, nose, and even her ears— was completely red. This worried him.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, and put his hand on her forehead, looking for any signs of fever.

"Perfectly. Don't worry. It's just that it's hot in here, don't you think?"

He considered the designer's response and agreed with it; summer was about to start.

"Anyway, thanks for the bite, Leni."

"You're welcome, Linky. It was a pleasure for me."

The boy gave her a warm smile and took his spoon again, determined to act like an adult and eat his dessert, but something stopped him; the dining room's atmosphere had grown denser and heavier. He looked up and saw his other nine sisters standing, each holding their own spoon with a piece of cake, watching him intensely and shooting fire from their eyes.

"Brother—" Lori began, in a terrifying tone of voice.

"—now—" Luan continued, just like the first one.

"—it's—" Lynn followed.

"—our—" the Lana.

"—turn…" and finally Lola.

They launched into attack, and Lincoln ended up being fed against his will by each one of those women. Oh well, at least he ate more cheesecake than everyone.

Holy... crap... Guys, I can't believe it, but I guess it's true: 99 followers after the fourth chapter. Thank you so much. When I first started to translate this story I first thought that I would barely get 10 favs and followers. But this goes beyond my expectations, as it is now my most popular story (even more than the spanish version). I hope you liked this chapter and got a good laugh.

Ah! And before I forget, there had been some questions about the ages of the characters, so here they are:

Lori, 25 years.

Leni, 24 years.

Luna, 23 years.

Luan, 22 years.

Lynn, 21 years.

Lincoln, 20 years.

Lucy, 17 years.

Lana y Lola, 15 years.

Lisa, 13 years.

Lily, 11 years.

I changed it slightly for Lincoln, and edited the first chapter.

Yet, as always, if you see something weird or something that needs to be corrected, please say so. Criticism is always well-received. And please, review. I love reading your comments, guys.

And answering some these:

NoSoul01, you said it yourself, man. The hypocrisy is strong within these ones. Yet, we love them just like that. Thank you for saying that you like the fluff. I try. Yet, the story is only beginning. There'll me a hella lot more of fluff and... maybe more? ;) Like...hand-holding?

Maximess, here you go, dude. I hope you liked this one and thank you for your patience.

Tristen, you bet it will get even more intense.

Emperor Lee, well, you know: they see the speck of sawdust in their sister's eye and pay no attention to the plank in their own. Yet, it's Lisa's fault for being too obvious, heh-heh.

nuuo, hope you like this one too, pal.

Guest, the fights have not stopped, but they are not as intense. Yet, now we saw a part of Lincoln point of view.

henry-kun, thank you so much, my friend. I never thought that, with only four chapters, I would manage to turn this story into one of your favorites. I'll work even harder to improve even more the quality of the chapters.

godfkaifsifsi, thank you.

Mr. Haziq, you bet she was. but in the end, she really took advantage of it, ha-ha.

pddf999, here you go, dude. I really took my sweet time. After all, the spanish version took more than five months to be updated. Anyway, I hope you liked this.

Well, that's all for now. Please favorite, follow and comment this story. And if you have to point out some mistakes, please do. I always want to improve.

Dark Dragon Of Creation