Chapter Two

*Three Years Later*

Lucy sighed, coming home from school. She hated coming home. The house was much quieter now. She was 13 and Lincoln was 16. Lori was gone from the house and engaged to Bobby. Leni was engaged to Scott, Luna was engaged to Sam and Luan was dating Maggie. Lynn occasionally had a temporary partner, but her passion was for athletics. She had already been in the Olympics once and taken the silver in the Triathlon. But she wasn't satisfied with that. She was going to get the gold this time around.

That meant that Lincoln was the oldest in the house. Lucy was 13 and getting close to graduating middle school. Lola and Lana were heading into middle school and Lisa was still in elementary officially, but there was a lot of talk of her getting offers from colleges who wanted to recruit her for their various science programs. Lily was still adorable. At 6 years of age, she was very precocious, but was most talented at art, mainly painting. She had already won a few junior artist's competitions.

But that wasn't the reason Lucy hated coming home. She loved her brother still. She wanted him so badly and it made her sick to see him coming home with Girl Jordan, just like it had made her sick to see him come home with Ronnie Anne. They had broken up, though as far as she could tell, they were still friends. They still hung out with each other, though they did that less often now. But worst of all, Lucy hated how her room was right next to Lincoln's.

She could hear him making love to Girl Jordan through the walls and every time it happened, she felt angry tears flooding her eyes. She heard them saying how much they loved each other. She heard their moans of pleasure. She could have left and not been quite so creepy… She was sure that Lincoln wouldn't appreciate knowing that his younger sister was listening in on him having sex. But every time, she was paralyzed with an ice cold feeling of inadequacy.

She knew she could never pleasure him like that, not least of all because she was his sister, but also because she knew that she could never be as sexy or as skilled as Jordan was. Girl Jordan was an amazing woman and she was just… Mediocre at best. As she got in the door, she saw Lincoln sitting on the couch with Girl Jordan.

Of course. Torture me right away, why don't you?

"Hey, Luce… Are you alright?" Lincoln asked. Lucy nodded, trying to get away from the situation as quickly as possible. Lincoln stopped her, though.

"No you're not. What's wrong?" He asked gently, his eyes penetrating her soul. She could never hide anything from him. He knew her better than she knew herself sometimes, and in a way she loved that about him. He was her soulmate and he didn't even know it.

She couldn't deal with this, though. She couldn't deal with watching Lincoln and Girl Jordan laughing and holding hands and kissing and making googoo eyes at each other. It made her sick every time she had to see it. It was almost as disgusting as seeing Lori and Bobby flirting with each other, but worse because she was in love with Lincoln, and seeing him with another woman made her feel like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

"Leave me alone!" Lucy growled angrily, slapping Lincoln's hand away from her. Lincoln was so surprised by her sudden vitriol that he let go of her. He quickly recovered, though.

"Please let me help you… Are you having anxiety problems again?" Lincoln asked, looking into her eyes. Her pupils weren't dilated. Her body wasn't trembling. Her muscles were tense, but they weren't so tense that they were cramping… Or it didn't look like it.

"I… I'll tell you what my problem is! I don't like you, Girl Jordan!" Lucy snapped, tears flooding her eyes. She knew that Lincoln was going to hate her after this. But she couldn't stand it anymore.

"I hate you! You're trying to steal my Linky from me! I loved him before you even knew he existed, and now you're trying to take him from me, you little whore!" Lucy snarled angrily, tears spilling from her beautiful cerulean blue eyes before she ran upstairs. She couldn't look at Lincoln right now.

She knew he must be enraged with her. She wouldn't be surprised if he went up to her room and hit her for being so rude to Jordan. Lincoln just stood there, though, stunned. Girl Jordan looked at Lincoln. Lincoln looked back at her.

"Did you know?" She asked.

"That Lucy had a crush on me? I suspected. She never told me outright. But she's kissed me on the lips more than once. She always tried to laugh it off afterwards. But I knew it wasn't just an accident."

"Why didn't you ever talk to her about it?" Girl Jordan asked.

"That's a great conversation to have with your 13 year old sister. Not creepy at all." Lincoln said… He didn't want to say that he was a little bit attracted to Lucy… That would be creepy.

But there was something so elegant about Lucy. She was so beautiful, her eyes were haunting. The way she moved was so graceful, like her feet barely touched the ground. And she was so gentle and so considerate of others. Even when she was mid-panic attack, she never said anything. She didn't want to bother anyone else with her problems. Lincoln thought that was really noble, if a bit misplaced.

"I guess I'll leave for now." Girl Jordan said, kissing Lincoln and heading out.

"You really should talk to Lucy about her feelings for you."

"You're… Not angry that she called you a whore?" Lincoln asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't really that angry either. A little annoyed, maybe. But he could never stay angry at Lucy.

"Nah… She's thirteen. I have a thirteen year old brother who frankly doesn't care much for you. Lucy wouldn't be the only sibling to ever say mean things to their sibling's partner. Hopefully you can work things out with Lucy… See ya tomorrow, Lincoln." Girl Jordan said, kissing him tenderly and leaving. Lincoln took a deep breath, heading upstairs. He walked over to Lucy's room. She had her own room, now. It took her some time to get used to it, but she liked it better now.

He knocked on her door, hearing sobs coming from inside.

"I-I don't want to talk to you!" Lucy yelled. Lincoln sighed.

"Please? For me?" Lincoln asked. Lucy growled angrily and opened the door. She didn't have any makeup on. She never wore makeup. She was beautiful without it.

Lincoln hugged Lucy tightly. Even back when she was eight, he was taller than her. But now, he was about 5'11" and she was still only about 5'3". She was pretty average height for her age, but short compared to him. He positively dwarfed her in height, towering over her. He knelt down and looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were puffy from crying and still bloodshot. He brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"It's alright, Lucy…" He whispered. "I'm not angry at you."

"I… I s-said such horrible things to Jordan…"

"It's alright… Girl Jordan understands too. She's not angry either. Is that really how you feel about me?" Lincoln asked. Lucy moaned miserably, nodding.

"I love you, Lincoln… You're the only one in this family who truly understands me. You're my soul mate. I know you'll never love me like I love you, though." Lucy muttered, fresh tears falling.

She had never been so humiliated, having to talk to Lincoln of all people about this. Her breathing was getting labored. She was feeling dizzy again. She could feel her chest constricting and her heart pumping harder. She wasn't in a full blown panic attack yet. But it was coming on. Lincoln held her, gently rubbing her back, whispering soothing words to her.

"Come on, Lucy… It'll be alright. I know you're scared… Why don't we go into my room for a while?" He asked, lifting her up bridal style and carrying her to his room, letting her wrap her arms around his neck for support, resting her head on his shoulder, trembling violently in his arms. He laid down on his bed, holding her close to him, stroking her hair gently, slowing his breathing so that he could calm her down. She was panicking and he didn't want her to have an attack.

After a few minutes, she looked at him with a look of incredible love, kissing him tenderly on the lips. She knew he would probably push her away. But she just wanted that one kiss before he pushed her away… Probably forever. She put all of her emotion, all of her love in the kiss. It was a little bit awkward, but he could tell how much he meant to her. He didn't push her away. But he also didn't return the kiss. Sometimes, there was a fine line between accepting someone's feelings and returning them.

She pulled away, her eyes glazed over with desire, her chest heaving from the experience, her hands shaking slightly.

"I love you, Lincoln…" She whispered. Lincoln blushed slightly.

"I know… I… Love you, too… You've always been my favorite sister…" Lincoln said gently. Lucy could feel her heart breaking at this statement… His sister…

That was all she was to him… His favorite sister. She looked away from him, feeling terribly ashamed of herself now. How could she not realize that he would never love her the same way she did him? She was so stupid. She had let herself dream, let herself hope that one day he would return her feelings. That the fact that they were related by blood wouldn't matter to him. That maybe he would look past that and see how devoted she was to him.

To him, though… She was only his sister… Of course she was… He could have any girl he wanted. Lincoln was so handsome and charming and confident. Any girl in the world would be lucky to have him. What would he want with someone as average looking as her? "Yeah, average looking at best, sweetheart." A quiet voice said mockingly to her. She nodded at this. Average looking at best. That was her… That had always been her.

How could she ever make him happy? What could she do that Girl Jordan couldn't do better? Each thought like this drove her further into her self-loathing and misery. She didn't even realize she was sobbing now, wails of despair coming from her lips. She couldn't even feel Lincoln trying to comfort her.

All she knew was misery. All she felt was heartbreak. Her cries were heartbreaking to Lincoln as well. He never meant to hurt her. He never meant to lead her on. He didn't push her away because he knew how much the kiss meant to her. He had really screwed up. How could he have hurt his little sister so badly? What kind of worthless brother would do that? He could feel tears stinging his own eyes. He held them back, though. He needed to be there to comfort Lucy as best he could.

Eventually, she fell asleep, still racked with occasional sobs, shivering violently. She had cried herself out, exhausted herself so much with her despair that she finally fell asleep. He gently tucked her into his bed and went down to the kitchen, silently hating himself for what he had done. Eventually, Lisa came home, putting her backpack down and sitting at the kitchen table.

"You seem to be dealing with personal problems, Elder Brother… I've been known to dabble in the soft sciences. Perhaps I could assist you." Lisa said, looking intently at Lincoln. She was 10 now, and already graduating with a doctorate and three PhDs in in genetics, physics and chemistry. Furthermore, she was pioneering the field of biomechanics. She had already created biomechanical enhancements for humans.

They would connect to the body just like a biological body part, but they would have mechanical parts in them. She had created an arm that was ten times stronger than humanly possible, but would distribute the strain and project it outwards so that no damage would be done to the body. She had created nanomachines that would effectively give the person regeneration… Not enough to regrow a limb, but enough that wounds that would normally be life-threatening would begin healing fast enough to save their life. She was famous all over the world, and she wasn't even a teenager yet.

"I… I'm afraid I broke Lucy's heart…" Lincoln moaned miserably. Lisa nodded.

"Yes, her crush on you. I understand it's quite intense. What was the instigating factor that caused your epiphany?"

"Lucy had come home and Girl Jordan and I were sitting together on the couch. Lucy looked really upset, so I tried to ask her what was wrong and she started yelling at me and Girl Jordan and then she ran upstairs. I went up to talk to her and noticed she was having a panic attack again. So I took her to my room and helped her calm down. Once she had, she kissed me… O-on the lips. Only I didn't push her away this time…"

"I see… She took that as confirmation that you returned her feelings, even though I'm sure you don't." Lisa said flatly. Lincoln grimaced slightly.

"I-I'm not so sure I don't… I'm not sure of anything anymore. But Lucy told me she loved me, and I tried to tell her that she was 'my favorite sister'."

"Sure… Just forget about the rest of us, why don't you?"

"I…"

"I was joking. We all know how close you and Lucy are. Continue."

"Suddenly, she was sobbing… She was wailing… I-I broke her heart… I didn't mean to. I never meant to lead her on. I never wanted to hurt her… I-I love her…"

"So you do have feelings for Lucy?" Lisa asked, not seeming to either approve or disapprove. It was merely a question, asking for a statement of fact from Lincoln.

"I… I don't know. Lucy is so sure of her feelings for me… She feels them so strongly. I'm confused about my feelings. She's beautiful… I've never met a girl… A woman in my life as graceful and beautiful and elegant as Lucy… I feel like I have a deep connection with her.

"I don't know if my feelings for her are romantic, or if I love her like a brother loves his favorite sister… She's more than just a sister to me, but I know that she's my sister… I can't be in a relationship with her… Everyone knows that we're related… Immediate family. And I couldn't ruin her life like that either." Lincoln protested. Lisa nodded.

"You seem to have yourself quite a predicament.

"It's obvious to me that you have some level of feelings for Lucy. But on top of her only being thirteen years old, she's your sister." Lisa said, her lisp still just as strong as ever.

"Still… Love knows no gender. Love knows no familial boundaries. Love knows no age…"

"What about you, Lise?"

"What about me? I'm 10."

"Yeah… You seem pretty close with Darcy."

"Nonsense… She and I are friends. That's all. Besides, I have no time or inclination for romance. My work is far too important to allow a boy or a girl to distract me from it."

"Some distractions are more welcome than others. Do you even talk to Darcy anymore?"

"No time. Besides, we're talking about you right now, and your incestuous attraction to your younger sister." Lisa said bluntly. Lincoln grimaced at her choice of words.

"I told you! I don't know how I feel! Lucy and I have always been close! That doesn't mean I'm gonna turn into a freak over it!"

"Perhaps… It's your decision what you do. But if you don't wish to damage your relationship with her, you may wish to at least talk to her about it."

"I thought that's what I was doing today! She confessed to me and I wanted to talk to her about it… But it turned into this debacle! And I can't tell her how I'm really feeling! She's already confused! I don't want to make things worse for her!"

"Your actions are entirely up to you. But your actions will affect your relationship with Lucy. If you hope to keep a good relationship with her… One not tarnished by pain and heartbreak, you may want to attempt to at least smooth things over with her."

"Y-yeah… I know. I knew she had a crush on me… I just never knew how strong her feelings were… If I had known… Maybe I would've been a bit more careful in approaching the subject." Lincoln muttered.

He should have known. Everyone in the family said that nobody understood Lucy better than Lincoln did. All the signs were there. Everything he had needed to know what was going on. He had ignored it and Lucy was hurt because of it. He owed her a pretty significant apology. He sighed and went back up to his own room and just watched Lucy sleep for a while. She was really beautiful. Even in her sleep, even trembling with tears, he had never met anyone as beautiful as her.

-0-

A/N: Updating Chapter Two to change Leni's fiancé to Scott from Chaz. I admit I just recently watched the movie and I loved the relationship between Scott and Leni.