Chapter 5

The next morning, Lincoln was sleeping in. His door opened, revealing a much better and dressed Luna. She smiled cutely at her sleeping brother. Aw, almost makes me not want to wake up, but the rents asked me to. Luna entered the room, sat down beside him on his bed and gently shook him awake. "Morning, little bro."

Lincoln wearily woke up, smiling upon seeing his big sister. "Hi Luna. Morning." He sat up and regained his vision. He received a surprise cheek kiss from Luna to which he laughed a bit. "Looks like you're over your cold."

"You know it," Luna then noticed her brother's left hand, still bandaged. "How's the hand?"

"Better I think. It's not as painful as yesterday."

"Mind if I take a look?"

"No, go ahead."

Luna carefully unwrapped the gauze and inspected where he got hurt. "Hmm…I see the bruise marks, but they're faded, so I'd say you're on the steady road to recovery. "

Lincoln let out a small sad sigh, "It may be healing, but yesterday really took a toll on me."

"Not gonna disagree with you on that one. That bomb of anger must've really blown up inside of you, bro."

"It did. After three weeks of holding it in, I just couldn't take it anymore."

"Umm…Linc?"

"What is it?"

"I hate to dampen the mood as is, but I got some bad news to share."

"Go on."

Luna explained, "Well, when the rents' came to check my temp this morning, they asked me if I heard voices last night."

It didn't take long for Lincoln to figure it out. "And let me guess, you told them about last night's talk and my injury."

"Sorry, brah," Luna said sheepishly.

Surprisingly, Lincoln wasn't really annoyed and smiled a bit. "That's okay. The good news is I've been sleeping on it, and I've decided to open up to the whole family."

"That's rockin' you considered, because…our sisters overheard me and the rents talking, so they got word on it too," Luna said with a hint of guilt.

Lincoln calmly sighed and shrugged, "Well, what can you do? They're our family."

Luna laughed at the remark. "Too true, bro. Too true."

"Right. Now can I have some privacy to get dressed?"

"Don't have to ask me twice," Luna got up and left the room. After 5 minutes, Lincoln came out and met up with his sister. "Ready to go? The whole gang is waiting downstairs."

"Let's go," he responded.

The siblings made their way downstairs to see their whole family waiting in the Living room. The parents stood to the left side of the couch while the siblings either sat or stood around.

Luna and Lincoln took their seats on the couch as everyone exchanged 'good mornings'. Lincoln started talking, "So, Luna told me that all of you know about my situation at this point. Is that right?"

"Yes. We know about the whole thing, including your hand," Rita answered, pointing to Lincoln's hand, "May I see it?"

Lincoln complied and showed her. The mother inspected it closely, "Oh, definitely some bruising on the knuckles, but they're faint, so that means it's healing."

Lynn was left confused, "That's weird, because yesterday at dinner, I didn't see any bruises."

"That's because after the comic book store, I went to the Mall and-"

Leni interrupted, "You went to the Mall without me?! Lincoln! How could you?!" She reacted appalled.

"Leni, I didn't go there to shop," Lincoln told ditzy blonde and continued, "Back to the point; I went to the mall, basically pulled a 'Luan' and bought some makeup samples to cover up my hand" Lincoln sheepishly said.

"Sneaky, but clever," Luan remarked.

"Back track," said Lynn Sr., "So you've been sad and anxious for three weeks, Lincoln?"

"Yeah, I was," Lincoln replied.

Lucy asked next, "And to this day, you still don't know what's been causing your despair?"

Lincoln frowned, "Unfortunately, no I don't. And I'm sorry for the way I've been acting towards all of you…and for not coming to you for help. Not gonna lie, I was really uncomfortable with the idea of opening up about my issues."

Lynn goes over to him and messes his hair playfully. "Ah no worries, bro. No one really likes to talk about what really pains us on the inside."

Lori went next, "But it's literally okay to ask us for help, Lincoln. Especially if you know if you need it from the bottom of your heart."

Rita agreed with her eldest daughter. "Lori makes a very good point, honey."

Lincoln perked up a bit, "Yeah, you're right. I promise I'll try to open up more if something's bothering me."

"But for today, no more sneaky acts?" Lola asked

"Not today, Lola. And after what happened to my hand, I doubt I'll ever do that again for a long time," Lincoln stated.

"Good. Don't push us away that like, understand?," said Lana.

"Understood," he got the message.

"Lincoln, I know you said it already, but are you sure you don't why you've been having those feelings?" Luan asked.

"I'm afraid that's still a mystery," Lincoln answered, "No recent fights with my friends or you guys, and it's not School related."

"Lincoln, perhaps I can provide you with a potential hypothesis," Lisa offered.

"I'm listening," Lincoln was ready to hear the genius' thoughts.

"Based on your past events, my conclusion is that the emotions you've been experiencing could very possibly be just a part of your human development."

Lincoln thinks for a bit. "Lisa, do you mean growing up?"

"That is correct."

"I mean I knew I was in for some changes as I get older, but I didn't think whatever I've been feeling would be a part of it."

"As new hormones develop, it's common for them to trigger sudden emotions inside your brain. Feeling sadness, confusion and anxiety is typical, as well as decreased appetite and irregular sleep patterns."

Lincoln took another minute to consider, "Well, I know I haven't been eating much, but I don't think I'm losing sleep." He took a deep breath and smiled, "But you know what? Today is Saturday and the weather is nice. Right now I kind of want to put all this aside, and spend time with you guys."

Luna was the first to smile and pulled him in for a brief one side hug, "Now that's a good attitude, Linc." The rest of the family soon agreed at the thought. Luna then noticed Lily trying to climb up the couch, "And looks like Lilster wants a cuddle from her big bro."

Lincoln picks the baby and gives Lily the aforementioned cuddle. The family went awed as they looked at the cute sight. "Inky back?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, I'm back, Lily," Lincoln simply told her. Then something came to him.

"What's up, bro?" Luna asked.

"I got an idea," he said, "Has anyone eaten breakfast yet?" The family responded negative. "Well, how about we go to the park and have a brunch picnic at the park?" Without second thoughts, the whole family was happily on board.

"Literally the best idea!"

"Sounds cool!"

"Rad!"

"Wicked."

"Perfect!"

"Totes fun!"

"Aw yeah!"

"Picnic it is. Everyone in vanzilla," Rita announced.

Once the family got to the park, the parents wasted no time, setting up on a large picnic table.

Meanwhile, the kids were doing their own activities. Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lisa were playing a friendly game of duck duck goose. At the moment Lola was chasing after Lana. "You can't catch me, Lols," the latter taunted.

"We'll see about that, Lans," Lola said with a smirk and continued to chase after her tomboy twin.

The four oldest girls and Lily were sitting at individual tables. At one table, Leni was painting her nails, and Lori was on her phone, texting Bobby.

At another table was Luan and her ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Coconuts. The latter made a whipped cream pie and threw it at the former in the face. "Well, I guess all pies are on me now," Luan joked and laughed.

At another table to the left of Luan, was Luna strumming her acoustic guitar with Lily sitting next to her. Luna looked up for a moment to see Lynn and Lincoln playing.

"Hey yo Lincoln! Go Long!" Lynn yelled, tossing a football.

"I got it," Lincoln managed to catch the ball. "Your turn!" He said, throwing it back and Lynn tracking it.

Seeing the two play made Luna smile as she continued to watch from a distance. "Good to have you back, Linc," she said to herself, pleased to see that her favorite little brother was having fun.

"Kids! Lunch!" Lynn Sr. called. The whole family gathered around at the table as they enjoyed eating sandwiches, and drinking lemonade and root beer.

Lincoln suddenly felt his shoulder being tapped. He turned around to see his mother. "Lincoln, since you suggested this picnic, want to propose a toast?

"Tempting…" Lincoln considered.

"Come on, you know you want," Lori said with a playful smile.

"Do it, Linky!" Leni encouraged him.

"Come on, bro!" Luna added.

Then everyone joined in, "Do it! Do it! Do it!"

Lincoln gained the confidence and smiled, "Okay," he raised his cup of lemonade, "To a great Saturday!"

"To a great Saturday!" His family repeated and clink cups and/or root beer bottles. With the toast done, everyone continued to enjoy the rest of their picnic with the white-haired boy they know and love.

The End

Author's note: The "pulled a Luan" bit is a reference to the episode, "A pimple plan"