Ten minutes later Rita and Lynn Jr. arrived home and Albert, Lana and Leni were watching Audition on TV.
"We're back," Rita announced.
"Is she seriously hurt," Albert inquired with concern in his voice.
"She'll be fine, her jaw isn't broken," Rita explained.
Albert and the other girls were glad to hear that.
"Girls go to your rooms and Lori tell Lincoln to come downstairs?" Rita asked her oldest daughter.
"Yes mom," Lori replied. Lynn decided to sneak upstairs with her sisters but Rita had other ideas.
"Hold it right there!" Rita ordered, stopping Lynn in her tracks. "Remember you have an apology to make."
Lynn frowned as she sat next to Pop-Pop and Rita told the other girls to go upstairs.
Meanwhile as Lincoln watched videos on his laptop Lori was knocking on the door. "Who's there?" Lincoln asked.
He heard Lori's voice. "Moms back, she wants to talk to you downstairs."
"I'll be right there," he called out. Instantly Lincoln became nervous and began thinking about what kind of punishment Rita would dole out.
While Lincoln walked down the stairs, the other sisters opened their doors and walked quietly to the landing to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Lincoln noticed Lynn looking rather annoyed as he entered the living room.
"Lincoln please sit down," Rita requested.
He sat in the armchair. Rita was sitting between her father and Lynn.
Silence filled the room for five seconds before Rita spoke. "Lynn, I believe you have an apology for Lincoln."
First, she cleared her throat before speaking.
"Lincoln I apologize for turning off your program. I knew you really wanted to watch it but I decided to spite you," Lynn blurted out.
Lincoln sat in the armchair sporting an aloof expression on his face.
"Okay I accept your apology," the boy said decisively.
Lynn turned to Rita. "All right I've apologized, I'm going to my room."
"Not yet. Dad, a few months ago, she wanted Lincoln to attend one of her baseball games but he wasn't interested so she forced him to go by threatening him with her baseball bat," Rita revealed.
Albert was taken aback and gave his granddaughter a look of disbelief.
"Junior is that true?" he finally blurted out. Lynn nodded.
His voice changed to anger. "That is totally unacceptable Junior," he said crossly.
Upstairs, the girls who were listening exchanged quick glances. They weren't used to hearing their beloved Pop-Pop raise his voice.
Rita gave her father five seconds to compose himself before turning her attention back to her son.
"Lincoln, I'm not going to punish you."
Lynn looked at Rita with an expression of disbelief. Meanwhile, Lincoln sported a bewildered look on his face.
The girls who were eavesdropping upstairs looked at each other in surprise.
"Are you serious Mom? Look at what he did to me," Lynn protested.
"Hold on a minute," Rita said, "He's not getting punished for hitting you because you disobeyed the no TV rule. As punishment, you're going to Aunt Ruth on Saturday morning and helping her with chores. She called me yesterday and said her back was acting up," Lynn groaned in despair.
"But Lincoln while your sisters are still under punishment, I'm unplugging both cords from the TV and DVD player to prevent another incident, you can watch TV on your laptop. You're sleeping on the couch while Pop-Pop sleeps in your room," Rita continued.
"Yes Mom," Lincoln replied.
"Both of you can go upstairs," Rita said.
Upon hearing that the other sisters disappeared into their bedrooms.
As Lynn glumly ascended the stairs, Lincoln who had remained silent finally spoke.
"Mom thank you," he said before heading upstairs too.
Albert and Rita remained quiet for a few moments until Rita spoke.
"I'm sorry about what happened dad, you see Junior tends to be rather aggressive with Lincoln," she explained.
"Rita, I'd like to have a serious discussion with you and Lynn about her behavior, Lincoln mentioned some unpleasant things she's done that I'm not pleased about," Albert remarked.
Rita sighed, "Okay dad we'll discuss it on Sunday. In the meantime I need some coffee and something to eat. Can I get you anything?" she asked.
"Yes Rita I could do with a warm glass of milk and some cookies," he replied.
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"I can't believe he's getting away with it," Lynn complained bitterly as she walked into her bedroom. She was about to slam the door in a rage but decided against it and flopped on her mattress.
"He must have some guardian angel protecting him," she ranted.
Lucy had remained silent for quite a while before speaking
"Why do you have to pick on Lincoln anyway?" she asked.
"Because it's fun," Lynn retorted smugly.
"But it's unfair he shouldn't get bullied by his own sisters," Lucy declared
"Lighten up Luce, it's what older siblings do," Lynn told her.
"If you were Lincoln you wouldn't like it if someone surprises you with a wrestling hold or covers you with a blanket after passing gas in your face," Lucy continued.
"He's a boy, I'm not having tea parties with him or painting each other's nails," Lynn defended.
Then Lori and Luna entered their bedroom.
"Lynn I can't believe you threatened Lincoln with a bat, you're lucky mom didn't ground you for another month," Lori stated heatedly.
"You were eavesdropping?" Lynn answered scowling, then scoffed, "Why are you so concerned about how I treat him, you have treated him way harsher compared to the way you treat us? I mean kicking him out of Vanzillla because Lisa refused to answer a question so you could win a trip to a spa because she told you he convinced her to stop acting like a brain."
"I realize that now and I'm regretting it, As the oldest I should have set a better example by not pushing him around," Lori said ruefully.
"I have to confess, I felt guilty every time we ganged up on him," Luna admitted.
Lucy looked surprised at Luna's revelation.
"We should have allowed him to have the sweet spot and even though we bought the Zombie cereal for him l felt guilty for three days about grabbing it away from him and threatening him when Luan told him because my fog machine melted Mr. Coconuts face that I should pay for the damages."
"Well I think I'll do some reading Goodnight," Lori said then walked out with Luna.
Ten minutes later while Rita and Pop-Pop were eating at the dining table, Rita was deep in thought about something.
"Dad remember when I told you about that argument some of the girls had with that boy at the block party," Rita began.
Pop-Pop looked at his daughter quizzically.
"I didn't tell you that Lola pushed the boy aside for a piece of cake and when he started arguing with her, Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Junior, and Lisa confronted him. Anyway he insulted them and they jumped on him except Leni."
"What," Pop-Pop exclaimed with shock
"After the fight was broken up, Mr. Winters, the President of the Association said the entire family are uninvited to any more functions, the girls are being punished until further notice," Rita admitted
"I must say I'm pretty disappointed with the girls," Pop-Pop remarked after shaking his head.
"There have been other incidents involving mainly the girls," Rita admitted.
"One time Lincoln wanted me to buy a certain cereal but I said the grocery budget wasn't enough to buy treats so he offered to do the shopping. The girls insisted on going but misbehaved in the store and the management banned the family from shopping there for a while. Another time Lynn and I had to reschedule a family trip to the Grand Vista Gorge because they destroyed the van by fighting over a seat Lincoln called the sweet spot, I grounded them including Lincoln to the living room for the weekend so they could learn to get along better," Rita confessed.
"The reason I never told you about those incidents is because I didn't want to you to think Lynn and I were bad parents," Rita admitted.
"It's okay sweetheart, you and Lynn are trying your best," Pop-Pop reassured her.
"There's also a problem with the other girls bullying Lincoln sometimes we don't know how to address the matter," Rita added.
Albert gave Rita a concerned look, then said, "Honey you can call me so I could helped both of you with any problem sometimes."
They continued eating in silence until they were finished.
"Excuse me dad," she said. Rita picked up the mugs and plates and headed to the kitchen while Albert returned to the living room to rest on the couch.
Meanwhile Lincoln who was reading a comic decided to put on his pajamas and get some sleep until Pop-Pop was ready to turn in. Someone then knocked on the door.
"Lincoln could I speak with you for a minute?" Luna asked.
"Come in," he responded. Luna hesitated a little before speaking.
"I just want to apologize for the times I treated you badly, grabbing the cereal from you in the grocery store and demanding you hand over the quarter you found in the couch cushions and beating you over the sweet spot."
After Lincoln gave her a little smile he replied, "Luna you don't have to apologize, I have actually forgiven all of you for those things."
Really Luna replied, "Thanks bro."
"Well I'm going to read for a while before bed, tomorrow Mom is sending us to the community center day camp Goodnight bro," Luna said.
"Goodnight Luna," Lincoln responded. Once she closed the door Lincoln removed his pajamas from a drawer before showering. After putting on his pajamas Lincoln fell asleep.
A/N: Rita decided not to punish Lincoln because Lynn Jr. caused the fight in the first place. I believe when a bullied child fights back only the bully should be punished. I know there's going to be complaints about demonizing the sisters for treating Lincoln badly. I'm not pretending that he doesn't subject his sisters to emotional blackmail and manipulations. Lincoln is the reason why Vanzilla was totaled. He could have spoken with his parents about having to deal with their horseplay and violent games like Auto Attack on road trips and ask them to have a stern talk with his sisters to behave themselves during the trip instead of spending months figuring out the perfect spot in the van where he wouldn't get bothered by any of his sisters.
