Lynn pulls out a bag of her favorite cheese puffs. It's game day for the Tigers, but just as importantly, she gets to watch the game with her best friend. Normally, she and Francisco would be watching the game together, but since he has an appointment with the physical therapist and his normal therapist, he can't join today. Luckily, Margo is available to watch the game and keep her company.
She looks at the screen, "Ready for your team to lose?
Margo, who is donning Tigers gear, asks, "Are you sure about that? We're rooting for the same team."
Lynn looks over and notices that her son isn't around, "Where's Nick? I thought that he was going to watch with us," she asks, hoping to see the boy around.
Margo knows what her friend is implying. Lynn is a notorious trash talker and takes her sports seriously, and she's not sure that having her son around is the best idea, especially when he's a fan of the opposite team.
"Tom took him to a friend's house and they're watching the game there."
Lynn unclips her cheese puffs and bites down on the stale snack, "What the heck?!" she complains as she spits out the cheese puffs.
"What's wrong?"
"These are stale," she says, before tossing the bag on the ground. Lynn sighs, "Well that doesn't matter, I've got my friend here, the Tigers are having a good season, and I'm gonna make the best of it."
The game begins. The two friends are quiet, except for the sound of occasional groans for when things looks bad from the Tigers. Lynn crosses her arms and looks at the screen with intense focus. Margo is almost surprised that she hasn't pulled out one of her famous good luck rituals, but she isn't about to remind her friend about them either.
When a Tigers player strikes out, Lynn tosses her bowl of popcorn at a wall and loudly screams, "What the hell was that?!"
Margo is taken aback by the sudden burst of anger. She knows that Lynn can get passionate about sports, but never about something as simple as a ground out at the top of the third. She stares at Lynn, who is staring at the television screen with a scowl.
Lynn looks down and notices Margo staring at her, "What?"
"I don't know, you tell me. You never get that mad over a simple out, especially this early in the game."
"Maybe I think that the ref is trying to screw the Tigers out of a World Series appearance, did you think about that? I mean, do you know when the last one was?!"
Lynn starts, but Margo soon jumps in, and they both say, "2025."
"Exactly, I want to see another one someday, preferably a win."
Margo drops the subject, but the look on Lynn's face doesn't ease up, even when the Tigers score a point. She notices that her friend is still upset, and against her better judgment, with dread in her voice, she asks, "Do you have any…good luck…rituals?"
Lynn stops to think for a minute. She hasn't performed one in years, since Francisco would make it clear that he thought that they were silly. She shakes her head, lacking the mental energy to remember one from her childhood.
Margo is surprised. For as long as she's known Lynn, she's always had some sort of good luck charm or ritual to help their teams, "What happened?"
"Nothing! I just don't have one!" she complains to her friend. "I'm not just some maniac who needs to have a good luck ritual all the damn time!" Neither one says anything after that outburst, but Lynn eventually apologizes to her friend, "I'm sorry. I'm just tired, my cheese puffs are stale and the damn Tigers are getting screwed! But that doesn't matter…"
The exhaustion in her voice makes Margo wonder if there's something else bothering Lynn, aside from the game, "Is that all?"
"I'm sick of driving Francisco around," Lynn complains to her friend. "Every single driving chore is up to me! At least when he was able to drive we could split the chores, but six months are taking forever to pass."
"Is it really that bad?" asks Margo.
"No, I guess not," she admits.
There were some perks to being the main driver; namely that she doesn't have to feel annoyed at going speed limit, she gets to pick out her favorite station whenever they're on the road, and when she drives him around, they can use his handicap placard, but those aren't enough sometimes.
"You know what stinks though?" Lynn starts, "It doesn't look like he's getting better. After so many months, he's still struggling to get around. He gets out of his wheelchair and, at best, he can go a few steps before his nerves fire up."
"What have the doctors said? After so many months, they can't ignore his walking issues."
"I don't know. I haven't talked with them and Francisco mentioned that if physical therapy doesn't work, then he'll have to have surgery, and he's afraid of going under the knife, because the doctor said that there's a risk of paralysis."
An idea pops into Margo's head, "What about talking to doctors outside of Detroit or the state in general? Maybe you and Francisco can find someone to help you somewhere else, maybe with different ideas that don't involve the same risks."
Lynn sighs. It isn't the worst idea, and there are plenty of larger cities with better medical facilities that could provide a second opinion for him.
"Yeah, I guess I could look into that."
"I can give you my sister-in-law's number. She knows plenty of doctors, maybe one of them could help you two out," Margo offers.
"Really? Thanks, it means a lot," she says with a soft smile.
Luna packs her guitar in the van. She and the Moon Goats finished their latest gig at the club and are exhausted, but they have to drive home before they can officially call it a night.
She turns to her bandmates and yawns, "Remind me to check where our gigs are going to be before I agree to them."
Sully and Mazzy look at each other and then to the ground.
Luna notices and asks, "What's wrong?"
Both look at the other as if insisting that the other tell Luna the news. It's been a long time coming, but they have to do it.
"We're quitting the band," they say.
She looks at her bandmates in disbelief, "What do you mean that you're both quitting?"
Mazzy and Sully both look at her; they know that she's disappointed, but they can't survive off of the few performances that they do a week. When they were young, it was fun, but they're nearing thirty, and balancing part-time jobs with night gigs is beginning to take a toll on them. They are ready to put away their instruments and have a sense of stability.
Sully speaks up, "My dad said that he was going to kick me out of the house if I don't go to school or 'get a real job', whatever that means. So I applied to culinary school to keep him off my back."
"Great! Then you can play nights," Luna suggests, hoping to keep the band together.
He scratches the back of his head, "Yeah…here's the thing, it's gonna be a lot of work I need to focus on it so that I still have a place to stay."
"And I got an offer to be a music teacher. I'm sorry, Luna, but I'm tired of living off of vending machines and riding around in the van for small gigs."
Luna can't believe what she's hearing her friends are abandoning her all because things are getting tough. "Are you serious?" They nod their heads, "Fine, I'll just go solo then. Who needs you guys!"
"You're right," Mazzy starts. "You don't need us, and we don't need you. You can travel around all alone playing silly gigs at no-name bars and barely become a blinking dot in the music scene until you grow old and just look like that crazy homeless lady who never makes it."
Luna is surprised to hear that from Mazzy, "What?"
"Yeah…and you'll, uh, regret it forever when we leave you behind while we make it big."
The two friends begin to laugh as they run into the van and drive away towards the light of the big city. Luna's guitar falls out of the van and she chases after the case, but it bounces away until it lands in the gutter, where it is stolen by clown who takes it into an apartment building.
Luna gasps as she wakes up. She hasn't had that nightmare in a long time, but it still shakes her up when she thinks about the night the Moon Goats officially disbanded and went their separate ways. At the time, Luna was upset that her bandmates for quitting, but there wouldn't be any point in keeping them around if their hearts aren't in the music.
She looks over at the time and falls back onto the bed. She closes her eyes, but a knock on the door wakes her up.
Luan peers into the room to wake up her sister, "Rise and shine! Hurry up, we have to get the l-egg out. Get it?"
Luna groans before tossing her pillow at her sister.
Francisco gets out of the cab. After months of physical therapy, he still struggles to walk for more than a few steps, despite his best efforts. Now that all that time passed, he can already imagine what he's going to be told to do by the doctors. Then to top it off, his session with Hutchison annoyed him.
"Complacent in my relationship…don't worry about her needs," he mutters to himself. "What kind of bullshit is that?"
In their most recent session, Hutchison asked Francisco a simple question – why doesn't he mention Lynn unless asked. He also asked the same question about his dad and Kiké, but the doctor was more curious about Lynn, especially since she is the one that he lives with and isn't mentioned as much as Caroline and Elena.
"How can I not mention them? Especially now."
Caroline apparently found out about Kiké busting Elena out of school because their daughter had her location services turned on, but then to add to that, both parents received a phone call from the school psychologist who wanted to meet with them. Both adults were civil when they met with Dr. Lopez, but Caroline made it clear that she was bothered that he spoke to their daughter about his drug addiction without her.
'Is there a reason that you don't bring up Lynn during any of our sessions?'
"Right, back to that…"
He doesn't know what he would bring up; their relationship is going smoothly as far as he's concerned. Yes, he's aware that she isn't fond of driving him around anymore, but other than that, Lynn seems to be doing fine. His brother hasn't shown up since he brought Elena to the restaurant, and he hardly thinks about his dad.
'Do you think that there may be something that those three have in common? Something that you may not like thinking about?'
When Francisco heard that, he wasn't sure what to think – Lynn and Kiké can be impulsive and she and his dad both drank, but that doesn't strike him as enough.
'Is it possible that you're both becoming complacent?'
Her birthday came and passed, but they barely did anything out of the usual compared to other days. Lynn mentioned not wanting to do anything since her birthday fell on a Monday, and he went along with it since it was easier.
"Well, I can't argue with that last part, but what are we supposed to do? We work all the time and on weekends we're too tired. Plus we're with each other all the time, I'm pretty sure that she wants a break from me, even if it's a few hours."
'Those are excuses, Francisco.'
Francisco stops worrying about the session and rolls in through the front door. He can hear the game playing from the living room and knows that Lynn is so focused on the game that she probably didn't hear him come in. He looks over at Lynn, who is angrily wringing her hat, presumably due to the Tigers being down by six runs. In an effort to prove Hutchison wrong, he slowly gets onto his feet and surprises her with a kiss.
"Hey Francisco," Margo says to let him know that she can see him.
His cheeks flare up and he immediately stops kissing Lynn; embarrassed to know that Margo saw him.
Francisco ducks behind the couch and loudly responds, "Hey Margo."
Lynn laughs, and when she stops she looks over at him, "Do you need help getting up?"
"No, I'm good," he says, despite not making an effort to get up off the floor.
After he feels a little less embarrassed, Francisco turns to grip onto the couch and help himself get back on his feet. He walks around to the couch and looks at the mess of snack foods on the ground; sighing in frustration. Rather than getting into a fight with Margo around, he keeps quiet and picks up the bag of stale cheese puffs. He understands that Lynn can get messy whenever her team is losing…or winning, but he's sick of having to remind her to keep the living room clean.
There are some cheese puffs in the bag and Francisco decides to eat them. Lynn looks over at him, as he eats the stale puffs, "What are you doing? Those are stale."
He shrugs his shoulders, "I like them stale, besides, there was a fresh bag in the pantry behind this one."
"I ate it last time. I thought that we had the normal bag so I didn't buy one when I went to the store! I mean, who likes stale cheese puffs, anyway? You never eat them stale."
"I never could, because you always set out the snacks, or eat the cheese puffs before I get a chance to make them stale, and by the way, they aren't bad when they're stale."
She scoffs, "Says you."
Luna yawns, but the sounds of trains and passengers drowns her out. It's seven in the morning and she is not in the mood to be out and about after getting home from work less than a few hours ago.
Luan walks over to her with their train tickets, "Here you go," she says as she hands her sister her ticket.
Luna takes the ticket, "Why couldn't we take a later train?"
Luan begins to walk towards the waiting room and her sister follows behind her, "Because we promised mom that we would be there early for the twins' birthday so that we can help out, and if we take the later train then we won't make it in time."
"I guess…" yawns Luna. "What about a bus? I woulda been happy with a bus."
"It leaves at the same time and gets there later," Luan informs her sister. "Besides, you'll have more leg room and be able to sleep."
Luna may be tired, but she doesn't feel like sleeping, after that nightmare she had, she didn't feel like reliving one of the worst nights of her life.
The older sister turns to her younger sister, "How are you so chipper? You work late nights too."
"Not always, besides I came home early, today is a big day and I have a whole lot of new jokes that I want to try out on the family."
That was one of the things Luna disliked about living with her sister – she's always listening to any joke that she wants to pitch to her coworkers. It was bad enough when they were growing up, she did not like having to do so as an adult.
"Great," Luna says with sarcasm in her voice.
An announcement comes on over the P.A. system, their train is about to arrive at the platform to take them to Michigan. When the train arrives, they hop aboard and about five hours later, the two sisters arrive in Royal Woods, where their grandfather is waiting to take them home.
The sisters hug their grandfather, who happily returns to hug, after not seeing his granddaughters in a long time. "I've missed you two so much."
"We miss you too, Pop-Pop," the sisters say in return.
The three walk over to Vanzilla, so that they can head back to home to where the party will be held. As Albert pulls out of the parking lot, he looks over at the sisters, "It's so nice to have you girls back in town, I know that your parents miss you."
A few years have passed since the two have moved to Chicago, and excluding the holidays, they didn't have plenty of opportunities to come home and see their family in person. Luna looks out the window and notices how many businesses have either closed down or look completely different from when she and her sister lived in Royal Woods.
"We miss them and you too, Pop-Pop," Luan answers.
Albert asks, "How's the big city been going?"
"Pretty good," Luan starts, "I got a job writing for a tv show!" she says with excitement.
He looks at the rear-view and asks, "What about you, Luna? Have things been going well?"
She nods her head, "Yeah, I've played a few gigs here and there."
Albert was hoping for more, but he notices that his granddaughter's attention is being taken up by the scenery at the moment. After so many years, he can imagine that both granddaughters need to be acclimated again to their former hometown, so he leaves them to take in the sights.
"Did you know that the twins went for a Hawaiian theme party this year?"
The alarm clock buzzes away in the bedroom and Lynn reaches out to stop the noise. It's the weekend and she wants to get a few more minutes of sleep, but her mind begins to start racing.
'I really should remember to buy some of those curtains that block out the sun…wait, I'll probably be running late to work, but Francisco is around and we work the same schedule, but he also hates getting rid of things that are still useful. Maybe I can talk him into putting these curtains somewhere else? The living room? Maybe. The kitchen? Wait, there's no window there. Elena's room? Does she have curtains? Probably…she should, I doubt Francisco wouldn't put any in there. I wonder if she's coming over to the barbecue? Probably not. She would have liked to have seen everyone…Isabella, Charlotte, Alfredo…do we have leftover chicken? I think so, or would it be too early in the morning for pasta? Where was I? Oh yeah, the barbecue! Lori and Bobby, the kids, Stinkoln with Ronnie Anne, I think he said that they're having another baby…Lana, Lola, Lily, Lisa, Lucy, Rocky, Luan, Julius, Luna…'
She didn't want to think about Luna being at the party, but her mind keeps going back to her older sister. While Lynn is excited to see her siblings together again, she knows that Luna will probably be keeping an eye on her like she does at every party. After 2289 days, she has a good handle on her problem, but it seems that her sister doesn't agree and it bothers Lynn.
Francisco turns towards and wraps his arm around her, "Morning," he mutters.
That stops Lynn's thoughts for a minute, she turns to him and mumbles, "Morning…"
He opens his eyes and looks over at the time; the Louds are planning to start their barbecue in a few hours, but like most mornings, Lynn wants to sleep in. Francisco, on the other hand, is ready to start the day. He tries to move away, but she buries herself in his chest.
"I don't wanna get up," she says into his shirt.
"You never do. How did you ever do it when we went to school?"
She doesn't answer, which causes Francisco to think that she fell asleep, but she eventually answers, "Who said I wanted to? I would be asleep while I waited for the line to go to the bathroom and I would usually be at the back of the line…a lot. Then there was when I would wait for the school bus."
He chuckles, completely believing that she would do something like that. Francisco looks down and sees her closing her eyes again. He stays still, but he can't stand lying around as if it was still dark out. Eventually, Lynn loosens her grip on him, and he carefully gets out of bed to start his morning.
Francisco sits down on his wheelchair and the creaking sound makes him worry that she's going to wake up, but he hears snoring instead. He sighs in relief as he heads to the bathroom.
After a quick shower, he steps out of the bathroom and hears her snoring from the bed. He decides to let her sleep a little longer while he gets changed. Its times like these that he wishes that Lynn would be a heavy sleeper, but rather than dwell on it, he quickly grabs some clothes and takes them to the sparsely furnished spare room to change before getting breakfast.
Francisco opens the fridge and looks at the leftovers. Nothing is grabbing his attention, but he doesn't know what to make with the food in his kitchen. Before Lynn came along, he was an unimaginative chef who lacked variety, and after spending years eating her food, he realizes how spoiled he is. Francisco picks out a container, grabs a pan and heats it up on the stove.
"I should probably find a video one day," he tells himself as he puts the food on a plate.
Francisco takes a seat at the dining room table, grabs a sports magazine, and eats his breakfast as he reads a baseball article. An hour passes, he finishes his meal and the magazine, and he wonders how much longer Lynn is going to stay asleep.
He rolls over to the bedroom, where he can hears Lynn snoring. They still have time until the barbecue starts, and he understands that she had a long week, but it's Sunday and she has to get out of bed eventually.
Francisco opens the door where he spots Lynn, wrapped in a blanket that is keeping her falling onto the floor. He rolls over to her to help her up, but she opens her eyes and looks up at him; she mumbles, "It's too early in the morning for that."
"Lynn, it's almost afternoon, we have the barbecue in a few hours. It's time to get up."
She crashes onto the ground, "Do I have to? It's not like they're going to set off the fireworks right now. We can go later."
"I know that, but you should get up and do something," he says, as he snatches the blanket from her, "What's going on with you? It's not like you to lay around so late on a weekend."
Lynn yawns. She doesn't know herself, all she can think of is, "I didn't sleep well last night, cut me some slack that I want to sleep."
Francisco figured as much, although he can assume that something else kept her awake last night, "Are you excited to see your siblings? I know that it's been a while since you guys have all gotten together."
"Yeah…it has been a while," she mumbles without looking at him.
He notices her lack of life in her voice and asks, "What's wrong?"
She massages her temple, "Nothing, I think that I'm gonna go get a shower in before we go."
He checks the clock on the nightstand, "It's not that late, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be early. Does your family want us to bring anything?" he asks as she grabs her things. "We could get some pop. Ice? Something?"
"I don't remember. It doesn't matter if I forget; dad always has plenty of food."
Francisco can't argue with that, her dad is always the type to have more than enough food for all of his guests. While Lynn gets showered and dressed, Francisco waits for her in the dining room, expecting that she'll want to get in a pre-barbecue meal before they head out.
Lynn runs towards the car, but notices him waiting, "What are you doing? I thought that we were going my parents' place."
"I thought that you would want to eat. You didn't eat breakfast."
She is tempted, but she decides against it, "Nah! I'll eat at the barbecue. I could really go for a cheeseburger."
"If you say so," Francisco says, as they head to the garage.
The drive is mostly quiet and uneventful, but it makes Francisco wonder why Lynn is behaving the way she is. Months ago, she was excited about the barbecue, and now it seems as if she doesn't want to go at all.
"I was sort of hoping Elena would have been able to come," Francisco says in an effort to kill the silence.
"Yeah, me too. It's weird not having her around, but maybe you'll get your chance next month. I mean, Caroline has to let you see her eventually, and she'll probably want a quiet place to study what with her new brother coming."
"You know that it's a boy? And what makes next month so special?"
Lynn nods, "Andrew told me, he also told me that Caroline was considering letting you see Elena, but that was back in May."
"You knew?! Why didn't you tell me?"
"To not get your hopes up in case she changed her mind."
"Well, I guess by that point six months would have passed–"
"And all completely sober."
"And in pain," he reminds her.
Lynn and Francisco step out of the car and can immediately hear the sounds of kids laughing and running around, the smell of burgers on the grill, and music blasting from the backyard.
"Alright, let's get in there. I'm in the mood for one of dad's burgers."
Lynn tosses and turns in bed. Her mouth feels dry. She opens her eyes to look for something to drink, but the closest bottle was empty. She sighs, and looks at her phone to check the time, "Crap!" she yells.
The twins' birthday party started an hour ago and she wasted the afternoon away tossing and turning in an effort to sleep, "Why is it so hard to sleep now?"
Lynn has an idea, but she's sure that it hasn't been that long since her last drink. As she stumbles out of bed to look for something to change into, she looks around to see a room which is littered with glass bottles, trash, and her clothes. Lynn grabs a stained blouse and tosses it back on the floor. She slowly looks around for a decent outfit that isn't dirty or reeks of sweat, vomit, or alcohol.
After she gets dressed and gets her hair up in a messy ponytail, Lynn begins to feel a headache, "I need a drink," she complains. "What time is it?" she looks back at the clock, "Dang it…I'll get something to drink later."
She steps out, but when she grabs her keys to lock the door, she notices that she forgot them inside. She heads back inside, grabs the keys, but remembers that she forgot her purse in the apartment. Once again, she unlocks her door, walks in, and grabs her purse. As she closes the door, Lynn hers her cell phone go off inside, and she groans, "I swear if I forget one more thing," she mumbles to herself as she goes back into the apartment.
The cell phone stops ringing by the time she reaches it – it was her mom.
"I guess they're all waiting for me," she sighs. She texts her mom back and lets her know that she's almost out the door, and before she steps out the door, Lynn checks her bag to see if she has her phone, wallet, and keys. When she's sure that she has everything, she runs to her car and high tails to the party.
As Lynn pulls up by the house, the sound of music and laughter can be heard in the air. She's excited to see her family, but she sort of wishes that the twins' were turning twenty-one. As she walks into the backyard, she notices that table with presents and Lynn realizes that she forgot to buy her sisters a present.
"Dang it…"
She tries to sneak away, hoping that she can find something last minute at the mall, but her dad notices her arrival and loudly calls out, "Lynn Jr.! I'm glad you finally made it, we were worried about you."
Lynn turns around to face her whole family; their eyes all staring at her as she waves to them all. She walks over to them and takes a seat. Everyone begins to go back to their conversations, but all Lynn can think about is how her head is pounding from the noise and exhaustion.
Rita shows up with a plate of food and a cup of pop for her daughter, "Are you hungry?" she asks, despite knowing the answer.
Lynn nods her head and Rita sets down the food on the table. She looks down at the plate of food and begins poking at it with a fork. Luna and Luan, who are sitting beside her, begin to strike conversation with the sister, but Lynn barely pays any attention to them as she takes a nibble.
Luan begins to wave her hand in front of her sister's face, "Earth to Lynn, are you there?"
She looks up, "Yeah, I'm just…"
When she doesn't finish and goes back to nibbling on a bite of food. Lynn can feel her sisters' eyes on her, which begin to make her nervous. She swallows, but eventually gives in, "I'm not feeling too well, probably caught a bug or something. I'll probably be fine, but I, uh, I think it started before I got here."
"Is that why you were late?" asks Luna.
"Maybe it was something you l-ate," Luan jokes.
The two sisters groan at their sister's attempt at a pun.
Lynn looks over at Lana and Lola, who call on everyone to take their seat, as the fire dancer prepares entertain the guests. However, Lynn begins to feel more ill. Between the loud noises, the smell of the food, and the lingering heat of the day, Lynn can feel her stomach turning and she can't take sitting in her seat any longer.
"I have to go," she says, before quickly walking into the house.
Before the couple turns to the backyard, Francisco gets up from his wheelchair and attempts to walk into the party. He knows that it's silly, especially since some of the family members know that he has been almost completely bound to the wheelchair, but he at least wants to try.
Lynn watches him, hoping that the physical therapy worked some sort of magic or that maybe he was faking and is using the barbecue to show her that he can walk. She counts the steps that he takes, but stops when she notices that he is about to crash against the house.
She runs over to him to give him his wheelchair, but instead he wraps his arm around her, "We could walk in like this," he offers.
Lynn laughs and gets out of his grasp, "Stop messing around, c'mon, they're waiting for us."
He sighs and admits defeat.
She leans down and whispers, "Still nice that you tried, though."
For months, Francisco hasn't been fond of going anywhere. People look at him, especially those that knew him before, and always ask the same question with a scrap of pity in their voices. He wanted to avoid having over twenty people asking him the same question, but knows that it's useless.
The two around the corner and the nearby family members greet them as they pass through the backyard. So far, so good, but Francisco is still waiting for someone to bring up the issue.
"Where do you want to sit?" she asks.
"In the shade or under the tree would be nice. I don't want to be a bother, especially if I have to ask someone to help me move this thing through grass," he complains as Lynn inadvertently leads him through a patch of soggy grass.
"Shade? You're wearing a baseball cap, I think you'll be fine," she tells him, even flicking the cap askew.
He straightens his cap back and notices Lynn leading him towards her dad and the grill. She places him at the end of the picnic table, "I'm gonna go find my sisters and catch up a bit. You can talk with my dad," Lynn tells him before running off to find any sister.
Francisco isn't sure if he should be thankful that Lynn at least remembered to help him get to the shade or that he'll be near somebody who isn't going to ask him how he got in the chair; he decides to go with both.
Lynn Sr. notices the man and greets him, "Hey Francisco, I'm glad you and LJ could make it."
He smiles, "Yeah, me too. It's nice to get out of the house and catch up with you and the others."
At the moment, the two men were mostly alone, except for a random child who would ask if they could get a bite to eat. Francisco looks around at the family members and tries to remember who was who based off of Lucy's wedding years ago, but his memory is mostly fuzzy. Before, when he was a teenager, it was hard enough to recognize the family when it was only thirteen members, but with so many added family members over the years, it is only getting harder.
Lincoln notices the two men by the grill and decides to approach them, "Hey Francisco, how are you?"
"I'm fine," he says.
The two men sit in silence until the sound of Lori's laughter grabs their attention. Francisco and Lincoln look over at Lori and at Bobby, who currently has his arm wrapped around Lori's shoulders as he rests his head against her's.
"Lincoln, you see them more often than I do, but is he really like that?" he asks the younger man.
The younger man nods his head, "They're worse whenever their wedding anniversary gets close, or Valentine's Day, or birthday, or first date-iversary, or email-iversary, or pizza-versary, or anything else that I've probably blocked out."
He can't believe that there is a couple out there that celebrates all those anniversaries. Francisco would understand if they were a young couple, but from what he knows, they're been together since they were seventeen; that's long enough to have grown out of the silly anniversaries phase.
"He remembers all those dates?"
Lincoln sighs, "He even remembers mine and Ronnie Anne's too."
"That…sounds weird."
In a tired voice, Lincoln responds, "Try living with it. It's even sappier and more embarrassing."
Lynn Sr. turns to the two, "Don't be that way, son. I think that it's cute that they love each other so much, and not everybody is the same when it comes to expressing their love."
The two nod in agreement.
A little girl approaches Lynn Sr. and she wraps her arms around his legs, "Grandpa, when are we gonna eat?" she whines, "I'm hungry."
He picks up the girl, "We'll go in a bit, but first, do you want to play hide and seek with grandpa?"
The girl screams, "Yeah!" as she jumps out of his arms to get away from the man.
Lynn Sr. takes off his apron and hands the spatula to his son, "Lincoln, man the grill," he says before slowly chasing after his grandchildren.
Lincoln looks at the glowing charcoal briquettes and nervously approaches the grill. The sound of sizzling meat and the glow of the hot coals didn't bother him, it was when family members began to appear from behind to either ask for food, give advice on how to cook, and ask for different orders that he begins to panic.
He looks behind him, "Hey Francisco…anyway you could help me out?"
Francisco isn't paying attention. He is looking over at the older man as he plays with his grandchildren. Everything is beginning to grow silent as he focuses his attention at the laughing children with large smiles on their faces as they're being carried by their grandfather.
"Francisco!"
He turns around and notices Lincoln quickly flipping hamburgers as his some of his sisters and brothers-in-law gather around them. He tries to get up out of his wheelchair and slowly steps towards the grill.
"What do you need help with?" he asks in between breaths.
Lincoln turns around, "Are you okay?"
Francisco nods his head, "Yeah, I'll be fine, although I can't help you for long."
The white-haired man points to the cooler, "Can you get me the cheese from in there? And the hot dogs?"
Francisco slowly steps towards the cooler and immediately hands him the food that he asked before he takes a seat on the cooler. Lincoln and some of the others notice how much he struggled from such a short stint on his feet and Bobby offers to help him back to his chair, but Francisco is too proud to admit that he can't do it.
He looks up at the others and immediately recognizes the look in their eyes. Without knowing it, they give him the same sympathetic eyes that he's been accustomed to seeing since he was released from the facility.
A little boy pushes through the crowd and looks at Francisco, who is sitting on the cooler, and asks, "Can I get a pop?"
The adults around him begin trying to explain that he has a hard time standing, but Francisco gets up regardless so that the boy can get his drink.
He grabs his can of pop, and turns to Bobby, "You said he couldn't, dad."
Bobby doesn't say a thing as both Francisco and his son wait for his explanation, lucky for him, his son notices that his cousins are beginning to arm themselves with squirt guns and runs off without hearing what his dad was going to say.
Francisco still looks up, waiting to hear what Bobby was going to say, but he is saved by Lori who calls out to him.
"Coming, babe!"
Lynn splashes water onto her face. She looks at her reflection in the mirror; her eyes look tired despite spending most of the day asleep and she can feel her stomach aching in pain. Lynn feels like crap, but she has to get through this party for her sisters, especially after skipping out on a few other family functions.
As she walks down the stairs, she looks around to see if anyone is around to see her. Lynn looks through the kitchen window and notices that everyone is busy. She quickly moves as she looks through the pantry for anything that she can drink that can get rid of the nausea and headaches. This has happened before, and a good drink tends to make her feel better until she goes a while without.
"C'mon dad, you have to have something. Cooking wine, brandy, something!"
Luna opens the door to be greeted by the sight of her sister rifling through the kitchen cabinets in search of something, "What are you doing?"
Lynn immediately closes a cabinet door. With the sound of shuffling kitchen equipment, she didn't notice that someone walked into the room, "Nothing," she says, without turning to see the source of the voice. "Just looking for something for my…upset stomach…"
Luna walks over to her sister and places her hand on her forehead – sweat is dripping from her head down, but she doesn't think much of it. "You know that Mom and Pops keep the medicine in the bathroom, right?"
Lynn nods her head. When she doesn't move, Luna sighs and goes to get the medicine instead. She isn't sure what could be ailing her sister, but if she's sweating, then she probably has a fever.
The older sister returns with the medicine and is surprised to see the kitchen is in more disarray after being gone for a few minutes. Lynn hunched over the sink as if she's going to throw up, but at the moment, she is only resting her head against the faucet.
"What the…? What happened here?"
Lynn makes another attempt to heave, but nothing comes out. She turns to her sister, and shakes her head, "Nothing. I just have an upset stomach."
Luna hands Lynn the bottle of medicine, who reluctantly takes it from her sister's hand. Lynn isn't sure if taking the medicine is a good idea, but she reasons that it might calm her symptoms. She pours herself some of the medicine into the little cup, but as soon at the drink touches her tongue, Lynn feels sick again.
She manages to swallow the medicine without issue, "I think that I'm going to be okay," she assures Luna.
"You sure?"
Lynn slowly says, "Yes…let's go and enjoy the rest of the party."
Luna looks around and clears her throat; reminding Lynn that the kitchen is a mess because of her.
"Right, I'll start cleaning up…"
Lynn squirms in her seat from boredom; for the last couple of minutes she has been listening in on her sisters' conversations, but her eyes always turn to the children running around the yard. She almost feels jealous that they get to run around and play while she sits back, catching up with her sisters.
"…and then they literally got covered in glitter. Look!" Lori says, as she pulls out a picture of Bobby and the kids covered in glitter in an effort to make her mother's day special.
The other sisters begin to chime in, but Lynn sighs. Her attention is then taken back to the children who are running around having squirt gun fights. She's ready to jump in and play while running around with them, meanwhile, her sisters don't want to get messy or are 'too old' to be playing silly squirt gun fights.
She gets up from her seat, "I'm gonna go get a pop," she tells Lucy.
When Lynn is close to the door, Luna turns to Lucy and asks, "Where is she going?"
"She went to get a pop."
Luna's big sister instincts begin to kick in. As far as she knows, their mom is inside, and that can hold Lynn off for a minute, but Luna doesn't want to take the gamble and she walks to the kitchen. She is hoping that history doesn't repeat itself, but she can tell by how bored and stressed Lynn looked that it is possible that she is right.
Luna approaches the door as quietly as she can, and peers through the window. She sees Lynn pouring something from a bottle and she bursts in, surprising Lynn.
Pop spills all over the counter and Lynn scowls at her sister, "What's wrong with you?"
In an effort to keep Lynn from knowing the truth, Luna lies, "I just wanted some pop."
Lynn groans and sets down her cup on the counter. She grabs a rag and silently cleans up, but she notices her sister looking around the room as if looking for something.
"What are you looking for?"
"Just looking for something to help you out."
Lynn finishes up and leaves the rag in the sink, "Don't bother, I'm already done."
Luna looks over at the counter, it's still sticky, but it isn't like Lynn was ever known for having high standards of cleanliness. Lynn pours herself another cup of pop and the older sister keeps her eyes fixated on the younger sister's hands. She doesn't spot any shaking, but she also doesn't notice when Lynn looks over at her for staring.
Lynn approaches her sister, looks her dead in the eye, and says, "Do you seriously think that I'm drinking again?"
The younger sister understood years ago that Luna was only trying to help her and keep her from going down the rabbit hole of alcoholism, but after so many years, she is ready to be left alone. Most family functions where the two of them interact have reduced Luna watching Lynn as if ready to catch her fall apart.
"You seem to have a lot on your plate," Luna reasons in the most innocent tone that she can muster. After hearing what happened to Francisco and how he's still in a wheelchair, coupled with work, she can't imagine that Lynn is in a good place emotionally, and that tends to force people back to their vices.
Lynn is almost tempted to believe her response, but the accusation is leaving her infuriated. After so many years, she assumed that Luna would stop thinking that she has a problem, but it seems like her older sister can't let go of who she was.
"Why don't you just leave me alone and worry about your own damn problems," she says with sharpness in her voice.
Luna is surprised to hear that, but she doesn't take it lying down, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know what it's supposed to mean. I've been sober for years and getting back on my feet, and yet I still can't shake you. What's it gonna take? Calling you? Texting you? Sending you a livestream so you can watch me at all hours of the day?!"
"Oh quit being dramatic," Luna complains, "You know that this is a lifelong problem, and people can relapse, so accept a little help already."
Lynn scoffs, "Where was that when I needed it? Instead, you tell me that I'm alcoholic and–"
"And then you left," Luna finishes reminding her sister of the party years ago. "Don't act like I couldn't have helped you."
"Oh yeah! Because you're known to help people who clearly need it! All you care about is yourself and you know it!"
Luna doesn't take those words kindly and fires back, "Excuse me? You aren't exactly the most generous person either, so look at yourself in the mirror before you hurl insults."
Rather than letting Luna have the last word, she responds, "Yeah, well don't forget that I'm not the only one who thought that you were selfish."
As soon as those words leave Lynn's mouth, she instantly regrets them. She knows that it's a sore spot for her sister, but it came out before she was able to stop herself.
Before Lynn could say anything, Luna walks away.
The two sisters step out of the kitchen and sit down by the door as they look over at the guests. The party is beginning to wind down, but no one is leaving as they take a seat and begin to talk with one another.
Lynn's head begins to pound and she doesn't feel like going towards the guests to join them, and instead takes a seat on the stairs. Luna notices that Lynn is holding onto her head and she's sure that her sister may have more than a simple bug. Everything that she's seen in her sister reminds her of the heavy drinkers who patronize the bar, especially when they haven't had a drink in a couple of hours.
Luna asks, "Has this happened to you before?"
The younger sister shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know…doesn't everyone get sick every once in a while?"
"Yeah, but that's not what I meant." She looks over at her older sister, "Lynn, are you an alcoholic?" she quietly asks.
The younger sister doesn't take it well, "What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You've been complaining that you've been sick that you have a 'bug', but I've seen you. You're jumpy, your hands are trembling, you aren't eating much, and," she takes Lynn's hands and feels how clammy they are. "You have a headache, don't you?" she asks to confirm.
Luna notices a bead of sweat running down her sister's skin and knows enough. She's sure about her accusation, and she gives Lynn a chance to admit what she knows and admit that she needs help.
"If you want, I bet Lori could help, or maybe Lincoln, they could probably find something to get you through all of this."
Lynn doesn't want to hear it. She doesn't want her siblings to know and she doesn't need to bug them for something as little as a few drinks to get through the day.
The younger sister gets up and walks over to her parents to let them know that she needs to leave. The stores are going to close and she doesn't want to risk a whole night without anything at home to calm her body.
Luna doesn't bother going after her and lets her sister walk away – she can't do anything to help her sister if she doesn't want any help.
Lynn walks over to her parents and grandparents, "I think that I should get going."
Albert asks, "Are you sure? The night's still young, even your Gran-Gran and I still have a little boogey in our bones," he says in an effort to tempt his granddaughter to stay.
She nods her head, "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not feeling too good and it's getting dark so I should get going."
Lynn Sr. walks over to his daughter, "Do you want me to drive you home? Al, can you come with us?"
"Sure."
"I'm fine," Lynn sternly tells her family. "I can get myself home." As she walks towards Dutch, she turns to her parents, "I'll call you when I get home," she assures them.
The couple quietly drive back home. For most of the barbecue, Lynn didn't say much to her sisters, and focused on talking with only the kids and Francisco, unless she was asking for more food or answering a question. Francisco isn't sure what made her upset, but he knew that asking at the barbecue around the rest of the family wasn't the smartest idea.
He turns to her and asks, "Lynn, are you okay?"
"Fine," she says without taking her eyes off the road, "Why?"
He shakes his head, "No reason."
At a stop light, she turns to him, "Luna pissed me off and I didn't feel like being around my family. Happy?!"
"It was a family barbecue; everybody there was somehow related to you by blood or marriage, so it's pretty hard to avoid them." Lynn turns her attention back to road, but Francisco continues talking, "What did she do that made you mad?"
"Treated me like an idiot," she mutters under her breath. "Pretending to act all high and mighty. She caught me one time, but apparently that gives her the right to watch me every time that I'm alone," despite driving, Lynn punches the steering wheel in anger, "Just drop it, okay?" When he doesn't answer, she loudly repeats herself, "Okay?!"
Surprised by her outburst, he answers back, "Okay."
Francisco isn't sure what Lynn is talking about, but seeing her grind her teeth and that little anger vein pop out, warned him to stop asking any more questions until she has calmed down and stopped the car.
When Lynn pulls into the driveway, the couple sits in silence as they look forward, avoiding conversation. He decides that it's smarter to leave her alone and let talk whenever she's ready, but from the tension in the car, Francisco isn't sure if that's going to happen.
Lynn opens her mouth and asks, "C-Can I get a few minutes alone?"
He nods his head and gets out of the car. Lynn watches him as he rolls into the house and when she sees the door close, she pounds on steering wheel repeatedly as tears begin to shed from her eyes. She unleashes as much frustration as she can, but it doesn't do her any good.
Lynn's phone rings. She looks at the caller ID and wipes away her tears. She answers as calmly as she can, "Hey Margo, what's going on?"
"Hey Lynn, have you gotten around to calling any doctors about Francisco's back?"
She doesn't answer. Ever since the game and the barbecue, she hasn't put in much work into looking for doctors or anything, except sending Francisco's information to Margo's sister-in-law.
"No, I haven't found anyone."
As if holding back excitement, Margo tells her, "Tom's sister has a colleague, who specializes in minimally-invasive surgeries, and she said that she's willing to look at his file and see if it'll be beneficial for him."
"Wait…are you-are you serious?" Lynn asks, ecstatic about the possibility of getting him help. In rapid fire, she asks, "Where is she? When do we go? Does it have to be in the summer? Is there any chance that she could reschedule for the fall?"
"Hold on, Lynn," Margo tries to interrupt. "Lynn!" her friend stops. "Dr. Lee said that she would be willing look at Francisco's case. She says that she wants to look over his files, meet with him and if she thinks that he's a good candidate for the surgery, then she can perform it. Although, she did say that it may take a few weeks to schedule an appointment, but if Francisco sends the files soon, then he may get looked at right away."
"That's great…"
Margo can sense that her friend isn't as happy as she assumed she would be after hearing good news, "Lynn, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just tired after going to a family barbecue. I'll let Francisco know the good news. Thanks for helping me out."
"You're welcome, Lynn."
In case you're curious, Sam already left the band before they officially disbanded, it was why she wasn't in Luna's nightmare and Lynn briefly mentioned why too. The story is a little one-shot that I want to write that takes place in the same universe, and I'll probably get to it when I finish this story, since it won't be explored much here.
To answer the guest question - Yes, Lynn will get help, but not exactly the same way that Francisco and Elena are getting help, but it is coming.
Fun Fact – The Tigers last appearance in the World Series was back in 2012 (their last win was in 1984), but I figured I'd make a guess and see if I'm right (I doubt it).
Thank you, readers for your patience and thank you for reading
