They couldn't remember when it happened, but at some point, both siblings dozed off, and Lynn spent the night with her brother.
During the early morning hours, while they were still sleeping peacefully, the door to Lincoln`s room was opened, and Charles walked in. He sniffed out a bowl of water on the floor and started drinking from it.
What eventually stirred Lynn awake was the loud music from Luna`s solo jamming session. Groggily, she opened her eyes only to notice another odd noise: the sound of lapping water.
She turned to her side and saw Charles, and quickly noticed that her hand was in the same bowl the dog was drinking from.
Confused, she jerked back and bumped into Lincoln who unbeknownst to her had a feather carefully placed over his face. Jolted awake, the boy immediately felt his nose tingling and he instinctively went to scratch it, only to slam a handful of whipped cream into his face.
Startled, he jumped up yelping. Lynn did the same. "What's going on?!" a disoriented Lincoln stammered. Lynn looked at him equally confused but then started snickering.
"What? What`s so funny?!"
"Look in the mirror, Linc." Lynn told him in between snickers.
Lincoln looked into the mirror hanging over his dresser and saw his face smeared in white cream. He took a whiff of his likewise smudged hand and his face contorted in annoyance.
"Luan..." he moaned irritably.
"She got you good alright..." Lynn kept snickering until she noticed that something felt off in her private region, causing her to freeze silent with dread.
Nervously, she felt her shorts and realized that they were soaked. "Oh no..." she groaned while blushing furiously.
"What now?" an annoyed Lincoln faced her. His sister looked like she was about to die from shame.
The now crimson-faced jock couldn't find her voice. "I...I eh...my hand...was in...a water...bowl and..." she stuttered in embarrassment.
Lincoln didn't understand her, but then her words and demeanor lined up in his mind. Hand? Water bowl? Lincoln grew a look of horror and jumped out of bed.
"Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!Ew!" he shouted while pulling on his clothes to check if any part of them was drenched.
"I`m going to kill her!" Lynn growled viciously through gritted teeth while balling her fists. Lincoln managed to calm down after confirming to himself that he wasn't caught in Lynn`s little accident.
He spotted a note pinned to the frame of the bed. He grabbed it and it read: "Gotha! Try not to SCREAM! But you can say "Gee-whizz!" if you want!" with a smiley face at the end.
A very pissed Lincoln crumbled it into a ball before sighing tiredly.
"Forget it, Lynn. There's no time." he replied exasperatedly while grabbing a towel to clean his face. " Just go change. We have more important worries."
Lynn huffed angrily but then noticed Charles standing up against the bed frame and wagging his tail. The girl`s face softened.
"Hey, pal. How are you?" she asked brightly and pulled him closer to pet his head. Charles started licking her face.
"Stop it!" she giggled, remembering how much she had missed their dog. Having cleaned his face, Lincoln came around.
Smiling, he petted Charles on the back. Sniffing, the dog turned around and started licking off some remaining cream behind Lincoln`s ear.
Lincoln giggled. "I missed you too. Take it easy!"
"Yeah, sorry we ignored you for the last two days." Lynn said. "It`s just...we weren't sure you were real until now." she added sheepishly.
After their brief reunion, Lynn returned to her room to change shorts. Fortunately, Lucy was still sleeping in her coffin. Once she met up with Lincoln she asked him the big question.
"So what do we do now? You're usually the man with the plan?"
Letting Charles rest his head in his lap, Lincoln pondered. "I thought about it. We can't be hasty, we have to think things trough. We gotta be careful, even squashing a butterfly could change the flow of events entirely, and not necessarily for the better."
"You and your comic books." Lynn rolled her eyes.
"I mean it Lynn, we only have eleven days before "the incident" happens. After that, it's game over." Lincoln said seriously.
"Just eleven days?!" Lynn blurted and looked at him incredulously.
"Yes." Lincoln confirmed, staying calm. "We have to prevent "the incident" from happening at all costs, but it's not that simple. Mom and dad are already stressed out, overworked and broken beyond belief from years of trying to keep this madhouse in check, and it has left their marriage trashed. We have to make life easier for them while they are in this fragile state, we owe it to them."
"Yes, we do owe them that." Lynn replied grimly, feeling a massive wave of guilt.
"We do. They are close to their breaking points now. As hard as it might be, we have to convince them to enjoy the lives they still have, to remember why they loved and married one another again. That their lives haven't been reduced to being the unappreciated slaves to a horde of bratty kids."
Lynn looked skeptical. "Bro, that's a lot of stuff to do. How can we do it all in under two weeks?" she asked somberly.
Lincoln gave her a firm look. "We have to organize a siblings meeting first."
That was easier said than done. For one, they could only say so much to their sisters without looking like they went bonkers. Saying that you saw the future obviously didn't paint the picture of a sane person.
Secondly, they had to convince them to come to the meeting in the first place as everyone seemed to have been preoccupied with something or in a hurry to leave.
As usual for meetings relating to family crises, they all assembled in Lori`s and Leni`s room. Lincoln felt nervous and Lynn put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Lincoln hoped that his sisters had enough common sense that he could appeal to their better nature and make them come on board with him.
The two were sitting in front of Leni`s bed, the rest were sitting in a semicircle, except for Luna and Lori who were standing, the former having a guitar strapped over her shoulder and the latter was wearing a fancy light-blue dress and pearl necklace, and checking her hair and makeup in her makeup kit mirror.
"Alright, what's all this about!" Lori asked rudely. "Bobby`s like picking me up in ten minutes!"
"And I`m supposed to meet the guys at Sam`s garage to practice for the upcoming battle of the bands." Luna pointed out, though more politely.
"I`ll explain everything. This is very important." Lincoln raised his hands to gain attention.
"I can only hope that it's of the utmost importance." Lisa said monotonously. "I was preoccupied constructing my own personal android laboratory assistant."
"And I was in the middle of playing princess of the plush kingdom!" a bitter Lola whined with her arms folded.
"And I was her brave knight, defending the kingdom from an evil dragon." Lana, who was wearing a cardboard suit of armor, pouted.
"And Izzy was playing the dragon!" she pointed at her "helmet" where said lizard was crawling and trying to bite off the paper wings taped to her back.
Lucy stayed quiet and listened.
"And me and my friends are going shopping." Leni joined in with an emptyheaded smile.
Tired of the complaining, Lynn grabbed a coaching whistle she had on standby and blew it, causing everyone else to cover their ears.
"Alright! Enough yapping and listen up! We`ve called you here for a very important reason!" the jock shouted sternly and gestured towards her brother.
"Yes. I called you here-" he paused as he noticed something. "Wait? Where's Luan?"
"I think she went to perform at a birthday party." Luna shrugged.
"Oh this of to a great start." Lincoln grumbled while pinching the bridge of his nose before looking back up. "Nevermind. We`ll inform her later."
"Inform her about what? Can you get to the point, twerp?" Lori asked impatiently. "Me and Bobby were saving up for months to get a reservation at this fancy restaurant-"
"You mean he was saving up the money from his multiple jobs and you were "supervising" his progress?" Luna smirked snidely, earning a death glare from Lori.
"Listen, girls." Lincoln raised his voice. "I called you here because of mom and dad."
The room turned silent."What's wrong with mom and dad?" Leni asked cluelessly.
Getting an encouraging nod from Lynn, Lincoln sighed. "I`ve noticed lately how both of them seem to be pretty stressed and overworked. I don't think either of them has had a moment to relax and enjoy themselves in a while."
The sisters started whispering among themselves. "Are you sure about that? They looked pretty okay to me yesterday." Luna spoke up. Most of the rest quickly voiced their agreement.
Both Lincoln and Lynn deflated with dread. Of course, their sisters were oblivious to it.
"Are you freaking kidding me?" Lynn raised her voice. "They`re completely worn out, tired and exhausted and need a break!"
Lincoln facepalmed. Lynn was not handling this well.
"Dude, chill." Luna was surprised by the jock`s outburst. "I just said that they looked perfectly happy to me."
"Of course they did, they want us to think that. They don't want us to worry about them." Lincoln replied, after nudging Lynn to stay calm. "But it's an act, trust me, I can tell that they are under a lot of stress."
Lori tapped her foot irritably, checking her watch. "And you're sure of that based on what?" she asked in a deadpan manner.
Lincoln gulped, how could he convince them of this? Saying the real reason why he knew was out of the question.
"I`ve watched them, I helped them both with some chores for the last few days. They talked about how much work they had and they may not have said it explicitly, but it was very clear to me that they are both overworked."
"Lincoln, you're being overdramatic." Lori dismissed him. "All grown-ups are a little stressed out from time to time, and mom and dad are just like any other. If you were worried about mom drinking a little too much last night and going to bed early then don't be, all grown-ups do that from time to time."
"No, Lori, it's not as simple as that. We have to stop fooling around and stop causing chaos and destruction in this house on a daily basis. How do you think that affects our parents?" Lincoln countered seriously.
The sisters stared at him oddly. "What "chaos and destruction" are you talking about?" Lori asked curtly.
"You know what he's talking about, Lori." Lynn interjected sharply.
She glared at everyone. "You all know it's true. With all of you doing your thing every day this house is like a cage full of chimps let loose in a zoo."
Lola gasped. "That's ridiculous! I`m not destructive or noisy. I`m as well behaved as they come!" she huffed indignantly.
"I fail to fathom how indulging myself in the exploits of science could possibly have negative repercussions?" Lisa retorted monotonously.
"So?" Luna asked Lynn casually. "This place has always been a little crazy, mom and dad never seemed to have had a problem with it before?"
"Maybe." Lincoln cut in. "But in the past, they had fewer kids with them, but that number has only been growing with like every two years. And it has been having a negative impact on our family!"
Poor choice of words.
"Oh I see, is this another one of your "I just wanna be an only child" rants?" Lori asked snidely while checking her phone. Hearing that, the other sisters started glaring at him.
Lincoln cursed inwardly. They were derailing the conversation."That`s not it, I was-"
"Because I think we already told you that whining about not having "enough privacy" will get you nowhere, twerp." Lord cut in mockingly.
Lynn balled her fists in annoyance. "That wasn't his point, guys! Haven't you guys been paying attention? Our folks are working themselves to the bone taking care of this place and all of us!"
"And? They`re our mom and dad, and we`re their kids. They`re supposed to take care of us." Lola said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, isn't that how it's supposed to work?" Lana asked innocently.
"Yes-I mean no...ugh...yes, but most parents don't have to take care of more than two or three kids. Our folks have to take care of ten kids! And it's taking its toll on them." Lincoln replied.
"Excuse me, but I don't need to be taken care off." Lori replied smugly. "I`m like practically an adult and I take care of myself." she proclaimed proudly.
"Oh really?" Lynn said snidely. "If by that you mean lazing around all day and talking on your phone while dad serves you dinner and mom cleans your room and does your laundry-"
"Not now, Lynn." Lincoln hushed her while Lori glared daggers at her.
"Look, my point is that mom and dad are suffering taking care of us!" Lincoln nearly yelled as he stood up.
"I`m just saying that we should do something to show our appreciation and make things easier for them."
"Fine, if they are a little stressed how about we all just buy them some flowers and chocolate with a note saying "Best mom/dad ever!" and call it a day?" Lori suggested halfheartedly.
"That`s not gonna cut it." Lincoln replied sternly. "We have to do more!"
Lori sighed and rubbed her temples. "Okay, okay. If you were hypothetically right, Lincoln. And they really are that stressed, then what do you want us to do about it?" she asked exasperatedly, just wanting this meeting to end.
This was their chance. With Lynn giving him an encouraging smile, Lincoln spoke.
"I think we could make life easier for them by relieving them a bit of their duties. Now that we don't have school we could take up more of their chores, like making dinner, doing the laundry, cleaning all the rooms, feeding our pets, mowing the lawn, buy groceries, wash Vanzilla and mom`s car, and other things like that."
A silence ensued and everyone had their eyes on him. Then, abruptly, everyone sans Leni and Lucy hollered with laughter. Lincoln`s face dropped.
"Why is everyone laughing? Did Linky say a joke that flew over my head?" Leni asked worriedly before looking for the "joke" on the ceiling.
After the laughter had died down, Lori glared at him incredulously. "You're asking us to waste our summer doing menial labor?!"
"Do I look like a lowly house maid!" Lola growled accusingly as she jumped to her feet.
"But...that doesn't sound fun. It's summer. We`re supposed to have none-stopped fun!" Lana complained.
"Frankly, dear brother, your request sounds like a tremendous waste of my intellectual capacities." Lisa crossed her arms haughtily.
Luna looked away uncomfortably while Lucy remained silent.
"I`m not asking you to sacrifice your summer. Only to take some time to relieve mom and dad of a few chores. For their sakes." Lincoln replied, almost pleadingly.
"We have to do it." Lynn stepped in. "Or else something bad might happen?" she let it slip.
Once again silence ensued. "And just what would that bad thing be?" an irritated Lori asked, raising her eyebrow.
Lincoln and Lynn turned silent, looking at each other nervously. How could they possibly answer that? But then Lynn got a determined look.
"They could get divorced! Have you thought about that?"
The occupants of the room were left in shock, their jaws dropping after hearing that. Lincoln knew they messed it up now.
"Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" an angry Lori stormed towards Lynn. "Where in the world did you get such a bogus idea? And how do you have the gall to even say such a horrible thing?"
The usually confident jock shrank back under her sister`s angry glare and thunderous voice. Lincoln came to her side to defend her.
He raised his arms. "Lori, girls, it`s not like that, she...just meant-"
"Oh, so you're thinking about that too?" Lori addressed him condescendingly.
"Is this why you two called for this meeting?! Just what the hell kind of parasites crawled into your puny, little minds and gave you such ludicrous ideas?"
The two siblings lost their voices, unable to explain themselves.
Lori suddenly heard someone`s car honking. "Bobby!" she smiled happily before looking back at the two. "I don't know what your deal is, you two, but get your freaking heads checked." she spatted bitterly and grabbed Leni`s arm.
"Come on Leni, we`ll give you a lift to the mall and out of Crazyville!" she informed her roommate and they rushed downstairs.
"Lift? You mean there's an elevator to the mall!" they heard the latter ask in amazement.
"Lori`s right! That was the dumbest thing I`ve ever heard! You two should be ashamed of yourselves!" Lola yelled at the duo angrily.
"I`m out of here, come follow me my loyal knight!" she called for Lana as she stormed out. Looking confusedly and somewhat angrily at her brother and sister Lana followed.
Luna stood there awkwardly, unsure if she should say something to the two, but then she received a text message. "Sorry, dudes, but Sam`s wondering why I'm keeping them waiting, gotta go." the rocker excused herself and exited the room.
"I`ve heard some fanciful and ridiculous hypothesis before, but this one takes the cake. I`ve wasted enough valuable time..." Lisa said coldly and turned to leave, while Lucy had silently slinked away before her, leaving Lincoln and Lynn alone.
"Well, that was a bust." Lynn lamented as she and Lincoln now sat in the shadow of the tree in their yard. Lincoln buried his face in his hands
"Why did I even try..." he grumbled bitterly.
"I`m sorry, Linc. I messed it all up." Lynn apologized shamefully. "I...I just thought that if I planted the idea in their-"
"It`s not your fault, Lynn." her brother replied with understanding. " It wouldn't have worked either way. I should have remembered that they would never have committed to so much work without personal gain."
Lincoln took a long exhale. "Now what?"
"Don`t be discouraged, Linc. This game is far from over." Lynn tried to lift his spirit.
Charles approached them and Lincoln let him lick his hand. "Don't worry. I`m not giving up, you can bet on it." he replied firmly.
"But this means that it will just be you and me in this, and we have our work cut out for us." he sighed dejectedly.
"Well, there`s someone else who might be willing to help us. He knows what we know." Lynn suggested.
"Who?" At this point, Lincoln was glad to get any help if possible.
"Remember what I told you last night?"
Lincoln thought about it and then promptly frowned.
"Oh no! Not him!" he moaned.
"But desperate times call for desperate measures." he told himself.
Lynn Sr., sweaty and his face and clothes smeared everywhere with oil, growled with endless frustration as he removed the positive and negative cable from Vanzilla`s battery. He once again checked out the van`s engine.
"What else is there left to do? I charged the damn thing? All the wires are hooked? All the fluids are full? No vacuum leaks?" he ranted to himself when a likewise oil-covered Lana appeared from the hood of the van holding a screwdriver.
"Everything`s fine, dad. But I think your fuel tank is leaking." she told him helpfully.
Her father blinked before looking to the side of the van and noticed a dark pool forming beneath a tire. How did he not notice it? He felt embarrassed on top of being exhausted and frustrated, knowing his first grader daughter found the problem with his vehicle before him.
He sighed pathetically. "Thanks, sweetie, could you-"
"No problem, pops! Gotta go! Teaching Hops how to fetch!" the tomboy exclaimed cheerfully as she bolted into the house.
Her father stomped the ground in frustration. Of course, he was once again left to fix this unsavable pile of junk by himself. For two days he`s been stuck working on this damn thing after returning from work following their abruptly canceled visit to the mountain resort.
Which meant he would be late for making dinner again, and Rita would no doubt never let him hear the end of it.
"Hey, dad?" he heard his son`s voice while inspecting the fuel tank. He turned to see him and Lynn.
He wiped his forehead, smearing it with more oil. "Yes, what is it, son?" he asked in a tired voice.
"We were wondering if it was okay if we stayed at a friend`s place for the night? You know, a sleepover?" Lynn asked him right off the bat.
"A sleepover?"
"Yeah, remember that new kid in town I befriended? The one I mentioned yesterday? Is it okay if we stay at his place?"
Lyn Sr. pondered for a second, but supposed that there was no reason not to give them permission. If anything, having two less mouths to feed for the night meant at least a little less work for him.
"Well, I see no reason why not." he tried to smile. "You kids have fun."
"Thanks, dad." Lincoln smiled begrudgingly as he and his sister left him to work on the van and packed a few essentials.
"So you think he`ll help us?" Lincoln asked skeptically.
"Of course he will, you doofus. He`s my friend, and he knows a thing or two about getting out of sticky situations." Lynn replied confidently.
"If you say so." Lincoln sighed, not having any options for an alternative solution.
Lincoln and Lynn headed towards Ryan`s house as sunset came closer. Unbeknownst to them, Charles was following them.
Took me a bit longer to upload this chapter do to having to rewrite the siblings meeting scene, and some connection hiccups.
Unsurprisingly, it would take something as bad as losing their home and their parents divorcing in order for the sisters to realize that actions have consequences and not to take their good life and devoted parents for granted. Unfortunately, only Lynn remembers that harsh lesson now...
