Hey, finally this second and final part has come about!
Compared to the first part, this one puts a much heavier focus on Lynn, with Lincoln in a secondary role and Luna and Luan's roles being much more tertiary in nature.
Oh, and there's an insane amount of symbolism with this being posted today. When this story was originally published, it was my thirteenth overall fanfic, and now this second part is being put out there on Friday the 13th (which I also learned just yesterday marks the three year anniversary of "No Such Luck" airing) thirteen days after the first part...oh, and Lynn herself is 13 years old, too.
...what the hell? O_o
Okay, in all honesty, once I learned all that yesterday, I deliberately waited until today to put this out there, but still, amazing how all that lined up!
Well, with all of that said, let's us delve in.
The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.
As the morning went on, Lincoln had gotten a shower and dressed up for the day. During that time, the barricades that were stunningly installed on his bedroom door were removed so he could return inside. He was relieved to be back within the walls of his room and wanted to take in the solitude that came with it for a little while.
While relaxing within, he recapped in his mind the past several hours of events that all but completely reversed what transpired since the beginning of the week. From Luna and Luan's overnight stay, to Lynn admitting to her wrongdoing and him clearing his own conscience by confessing to his own misdeed, he was far and away in better spirits compared to before. Add in wanting to support Lynn in her baseball game that will take place in a couple hours time and he felt like nothing could go wrong from here on out.
Well, almost nothing.
Speaking of the game, there was this small remaining worry inside of Lincoln that could emerge and get stronger should the worst happen, but he didn't want it to override him for the time being.
For the next two hours, Lincoln went on with some much needed quality time with some comics and games on his laptop. Then, he heard knocking on his door and his father speaking.
"Hey, Lincoln, it's time to get going for the game!" Lynn Sr. said.
"Okay, I'll be on my way!" Lincoln answered back.
Taking a deep breath, he smiled and suppressed whatever worries had tried to materialize earlier on before leaving his room, stepping out of the house and joined with his family who were all waiting near Vanzilla. Right as he came closer, he was practically tackled to the ground rather suddenly by his twin younger sisters while they were hugging him.
"We're so glad you're coming with us, Lincoln!" Lana said.
"Yeah, and we're sorry for thinking you were bad luck, too." Lola added.
Lincoln smiled and put his arms around both of them, "Don't worry about it. Let's just focus instead on the game and being there for Lynn as a family, okay?"
As he was helped up to his feet by the twins, Lincoln shared a look with Lynn, all clad in her uniform, where she showed an approving smile of her own in thanks for those words.
"All right, let's get going, everyone!" Lynn Sr. said.
With that said, the family piled into inside Vanzilla, with Lincoln in his case sitting in the first row of passenger seats in the back along with Leni, Lucy and Lily, while Luna, Luan and Lisa took up the second row and finally Lori, Lynn, Lana and Lola occupied the last row at the very end.
The drive to the ballpark was largely uneventful, though everyone was in high spirits in the hopes that the game will go in favor of Lynn's team.
However, Lincoln again had that strange creeping sensation within him similar to what he felt a couple of hours earlier. He had an uneasy look on his face, one that didn't go unnoticed to those sisters he was seated with, and also Rita as well when she looked at the rear view and turned over to him.
"Lincoln, is there something wrong?" She asked.
"Huh?" Lincoln uttered, looking up to his mother, "No, everything's good, Mom."
"You sure about that? Because I'm getting this sense that you are dispirited." Lucy said.
"Yeah, and you looked kind of sad, too." Leni added, perhaps unaware that's pretty much what her younger sister just said.
"No, I'm good, I'm telling you all." Lincoln insisted on, "I guess I'm still a little worn out from everything that's happened particularly since last night and this morning is all. So please, I insist that everything's good."
"Inkin?" Lily babbled curiously.
Lincoln turned to his baby sister and smiled, "Really, it's okay, Lily. Don't you go worrying on me, too, okay?"
Though there was that small spot of skepticism, no one else chose to press Lincoln further and let the matter be dropped for now.
A few minutes later, the Louds, all thirteen of them this time around, had arrived at the ballpark. While most everyone headed filed out together, Lynn ventured out on her own to join up with her team, though she did turn around and gave some last minute parting words.
"Well, this is it, guys, the playoffs. Wish me luck." She said.
Although she received a whole assortment of encouragement from her family, one line coming from Lincoln struck a poignant chord to her.
"No need for luck, Lynn. You have all the natural talent and drive in the world to lead your team to victory." He said.
So appreciative of those words was Lynn, she came back over for a second, lightly jabbed her brother on the shoulder, then she smiled and winked at him.
"Thanks for that...and thanks for coming, too, Lincoln. This really does mean so much to me." She told him in earnest.
Without further delay, Lynn marched off with an added confident stride in the hopes to turn Lincoln's words with matching action.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family went along with getting snacks, drinks and other goods before taking their seats in within the stands. It was arrangement of them taking up two rows with six of them occupying seating, with Lori, Leni, Lynn Sr., Rita with Lily on her lap and Lola in one row, and Luan, Lisa, Lucy, Luna, Lincoln and Lana taking up another row just in front.
Finally, following the final moments of preparation, the playoff game between the Royal Woods Squirrels and the Beaverton Soaring Chipmunks was about to commence.
The first inning was largely unremarkable, but there was a curiosity raised among the Loud family, namely the position Lynn had taken up in the field.
"Uh, honey, is Lynn supposed to be out there?" Rita asked her husband.
"Not typically from what we usually see, no." Lynn Sr. replied, being just as perplexed, "Usually she's supposed to be the pitcher, not over in the outfield."
Indeed, in a deviation from the norm, Lynn Jr. had been positioned as a center outfielder for this game. Though different, the family didn't make that much further of deal over it and simply watched the game as it proceed.
The second inning had a little more action than the first, though said action didn't benefit the Squirrels. Lynn was at bat while a pair of her teammates were on first and second base, and thought she made solid contact, the ball was quickly caught by the Beaverton shortstop and then those aforementioned teammates were picked off in short order.
By the third inning, things really started to get cooking. Though Beaverton scored a pair of runs, Royal Woods answered back in a big way. When it was Lynn's turn at bat again, she managed to rectify the rapid events of the last inning by hitting a home run, plus scoring a pair of RBIs in the process and putting the Squirrels ahead 3-2.
"Whoo hoo, yeah!" Lana shouted happily.
"Yay! Go, Lynn!" Leni cheered.
"Hooray..." Lucy tried her best in showing verbal approval, though she really was happy for her older sister's efforts.
The fourth inning was pretty much a repeat of the first, with was to say it didn't have much to write home about and the score remained the same.
But that changed in the fifth inning. Beaverton climbed back and took the lead at 4-3. That lead would widen to 5-3 thanks an RBI as a result of a stunning moment of misfortune on Lynn's part. At one point when a fly ball was coming in her direction, she assumed that she'd have this one in the bag easily. But somehow, the ball simple bounced and rolled right out of her glove, and the momentary pause of her being befuddled over how that happened before she picked it up and thrown it allowed for a runner from second base to make it all the way to home plate, in addition to the batter also to arrive at second base.
"Hmm...as someone who admittedly doesn't dabble in or even so much as give such recreational athletics a passing glace, even I can say that it boggles the mind how a so-called 'fly ball' like that could easily slip out of Lynn's grasp just now, given her proven acumen and track record." Lisa observed.
"Yeah, you'd think with she of all people would catch a fly ball no problem if it was buzzing towards her!" Luan joked and laughed in typical fashion afterward, "Get it?"
Judging by the disinterested looks from her family, they didn't get it nor did they approve.
"What? Am I not allowed to joke at sporting events all of a sudden?" She inquired.
"I think it's more of a case of it literally not being the best of ideas to make jokes at the expense of Lynn if she slips up." Lori posited to her.
"I don't know about that..." Luan disagreed, but then she sighed, "But seriously, that did seem odd that she didn't catch the ball like that. I really thought she had it."
That curiosity was something Lincoln paid attention to as well, though he chose not to say anything himself. He simply wrote it off as a one off and believed his sister's usual sublime sporting skills will reveal themselves again in due time.
The sixth inning saw Royal Woods claw back from the deficit of the previous inning and tied the score up at 5 all, though Lynn herself didn't contribute to it.
But then came the seventh inning, where one of a pair of horrific blunders occurred that changed the course of the game, as well as the morale for some for the worst. As Lynn once again stepped up to the plate, something seemed really off about her. First she swung and missed the ball by a good several inches for strike one. Then for strike two, she swung so wildly that she spun herself around a pair of times, leaving her disorientated for a moment. But worst of all, strike three came about when she swung so hard, she carelessly forewent maintaining a grip on the bat and dangerously had it slung out of her hands, causing it to hurtle over to the stands and nearly at her family had it not narrowly banged against the lower wall instead. Not wasting a second in the aftermath, she dashed close over to them.
"Oh no, I'm so, so sorry, guys!" Lynn said to them hysterically.
"Uh...it's...it's all right, LJ..." Lynn Sr. said, short on breath and chuckling nervously, "At least no one got hurt, right?"
"Just...keep a….better grip...on that bat...please?" Rita added, holding on to Lily for dear life.
Lynn Jr. tried smiling and keeping an upbeat posture again, "Uh...right, of course."
As she went back over to rejoin the game, the family released one big sigh of relief to quell their nerves from what could've been nearly been a potentially serious accident.
For Lincoln's case, though, he wasn't actually that much better. Aside from the obvious hair-raising incident of just now, that feeling he'd been getting twice before today had been ramping up significantly and he had to voice a concern.
"Hey, guys?" He inquired, "Was Lynn like this at all during those couple of games I missed?"
"Not that I can remember, bro, no." Luna replied, "She had a couple of flub ups, but nothing close to what's been going on today."
That response didn't help in tamping down Lincoln's mood whatsoever. He gulped and only hoped things would improve from here.
But what came next diminished that hope a little more. Though what happened next was certainly less dangerous, it may have been significantly more embarrassing.
As the eighth inning rolled on, the mind boggles at what befell Lynn next. When another ball was sent her way, she tried a diving catch, but missed by a couple of inches. She went to pick it up, but inexplicably she took one step too far before stepping and slipping on the ball, falling down face first. After that, she bolted back up to her feet, retrieved it and threw it hard enough for her to fall down again. By the time she looked up, Lynn realized she threw the ball to the wrong teammate at second base, while the batter who it had already rounded past third and made it home, resulting in an incredibly rare inside-the-park home run, plus an additional RBI from another player from first base who made it just in the nick of time, increasing the tally in favor of Beaverton to 7-5.
"What the…?" Lola uttered in a rare loss for words, but something did come to mind momentarily, "That was...kind of graceless of Lynn."
"Lola, that's not really a nice way of putting it." Rita said with mild disapproval.
"What? Sometimes the truth isn't pretty." Lola tried arguing in her defense.
"I know, but maybe this isn't the right time, sweetie." Rita said, putting her hand on her daughter's head.
For what it's worth, Lola acquiesced and groaned uneasily, sharing in the growing concern of Lynn's shockingly bad run of plays.
But her reaction might've been nothing compared to that of Lincoln. The series of mishaps on the field for Lynn appeared to seal his building worries since the morning to the point he started breathing shakily.
"Hey, what's wrong, little bro?" Luna asked him.
"This was a bad idea..." Lincoln said between breaths, "Maybe I shouldn't have come after all. I'm clearly not helping Lynn out by being here."
Lynn Sr. reached out and put a hand on his son's back, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up there, sport. Don't try suggesting you being here as anything to do with your sister's performance. This is probably just a huge coincidence and nothing more."
Lincoln laughed derisively, "Yeah, it's a coincidence, all right. She's doing bad right as I'm coincidentally attending this game. And Luna said it herself earlier that Lynn wasn't this bad the last couple of times around, and oh yeah, I wasn't around for them. What should that tell you?"
"Absolutely nothing!" Luna emphasized to her brother, "Dude, you're overthinking this. If you are even trying to imply or dredge up this bad luck insanity again, rid yourself of that right now! We all agreed this morning that it's total bunk like Lynn herself said, so just relax, okay?"
He wish that he could be optimistic and push such thoughts out, but Lincoln seemed to suddenly become a total believer in something he himself not only didn't buy into from the start, but used to his advantage. All of this combined for him to pull his knees up and buried his face into them, all as he groaned distressingly.
"Lincoln, please don't let something like this get to you. I'm sure things will get better for Lynn before the game is over, you'll see." Rita said to him reassuringly.
Hoping to relieve him a little more, Luna put an arm around Lincoln and Lana on her end held on to her brother's left arm and leaned her head on his shoulder.
At long last, the ninth inning arrived and once more, Royal Woods made something of a comeback, bringing the score to up to 8-7 in their favor. But on the other side of the coin, yet another mystifying error on Lynn's part came about, although at least this one could be excused as mere chance than poor performance. When a Beaverton batter knocked a long one down her direction, Lynn seemed primed in catching before the ball could fly out of the park. She leaped up and everything appeared to line up for a spectacular game closing catch...until the ball simply bumped off the tip of her glove and barely over the wall for a home run and tying the score up to 8 runs each. By this point, Lynn couldn't contain her frustrations anymore as growled and banged her fist against the wall. The game in regulation ended in such, necessitating extra innings.
"Whoa, good gravy, this game!" Lynn Sr. said in disbelief.
"I know, right?" Lori added, "Normally I'm not into baseball, but even I'm literally on the edge of my seat for this!"
Most everyone in the family was also hyped about the incredible back and forth nature of the game and though he was disappointed over the fact that his sister couldn't make that last catch, even Lincoln seemed to be getting enthralled, believing now there was still a chance things could go the Squirrels' way.
After some respite, the teams returned to action for a tenth inning. Not a whole lot of note happened at first, though Beaverton scored one run that brought up the score 9-8 in their favor. Then a while later, when the Squirrels' were on offense, Lynn would be at bat again. Right as she did, some added encouragement began to come her way.
"Come on, Lynn! You can do this!"
She looked over to the stands and saw Lincoln standing up on his seat throwing his arms up and pumping his fists in the air.
"Lynn! Lynn! Lynn!"
He lead his family in a group chant of her name, even getting several additional attendees to join in, too. Though her confidence was a bit shaken thanks to the blunders on her part, Lynn had a big smile on her face and steeled her nerves.
However, she would fail to make contact twice and racked up the corresponding number of strikes. But when the ball was pitched a third time, Lynn blasted it hard down field and it looked like a home run, and the victory, was guaranteed. She began rounding the bases as the crowd was going nuts. She felt positively elated as if the botches from earlier were a distant memory.
When she made it to home plate, Lynn roared victoriously and proceeded to display one of her many different victory dances. But she quickly noticed that something was off. No one else from her team was rushing in to congratulate her and the crowd had become deathly quiet.
"Huh? What's up?" She asked out loud.
"You're out, that's what's up!"
Lynn couldn't believe her ears, but her eyes soon confirmed that stunning claim. She looked downfield and saw that the center outfielder, that very same position she's been struggling with all game long, had somehow caught the ball and based on the dazed sitting position, perhaps had done so in a similar manner like Lynn failed to do one inning earlier. Not only that, she only just realized it was the last out of the inning, and for that matter, the game as a whole. It appeared to finally dawn on Beaverton themselves and as everything was sitting in, they began celebrating raucously as they had won the playoffs.
In a complete loss of words, Lynn's face became blank. She silently took off her batting helmet, dropped it casually on the ground and walked off.
Over at the stands, her family was likewise in complete shock over the preceding turn of events. They had little time to discuss what happened, though, when a bloodcurdling scream rattled their eardrums. Such a bellowing outcry emanated from the Squirrels' dugout and they knew that it belonged to Lynn. The scream was sustained for close to ten seconds before it ever so slowly transitioned into several hysterical sobs. Though they didn't have the best view from where they stood, the Loud family could see all of Lynn's teammates huddling around her, likely trying to console her.
A short time later, as the crowd dispersed and made their way home, the Louds stuck behind for a while, hoping that Lynn would rejoin them on her own volition. But a couple of minutes passed on and she didn't return, nor could they see her in the dugout where she last was. Concerned about her whereabouts, the family commenced a search.
It didn't take took long, as Lynn was found all by herself in a small wooded area just beyond the parking lot scrunched up and her head buried into her knees.
"Kids, let us handle this, okay?" Rita advised them.
Handing Lily over to Leni, she and Lynn Sr. walked on over to their devastated daughter. Both crouched down next to her and she looked up upon sensing their presence. Her face already stained in tears, she resumed in weeping softly just as her parents pulled her into a joint embrace.
"It's okay, honey, don't beat yourself up like this." Rita soothingly said.
"You gave it your absolute best like you said this morning and that's all we ever want out of you." Lynn Sr. added.
While this was going on, the siblings watched from a distance feeling absolutely crestfallen for their sister. Never had they witnessed her so broken up about a loss in a sporting event, both now and just moments after the game wrapped up.
When she finally felt like she was ready, Lynn rejoined with everyone else. As she did, Lincoln attempted in trying to talk to her, but his efforts were rejected with half-hearted waving and bats of her hand.
"Don't talk to me...or be near me for that matter..." She told him.
Her voice carried no hostility or malice, but still made for a dejecting feeling for Lincoln. It was becoming apparent at least in his mind that his mere presence today must have something to do with how out of pace Lynn's performance was, and her advising him to stay away began sealing that idea, despite again the lack of spitefulness in saying that to him.
The drive back home was done almost entirely in silence and the seating arrangement was largely the same as it was from before. Midway through, Lincoln chose to peer over from his seat and look back to the end of Vanzilla. He could see that Lori was trying to console Lynn, and the second the latter took a moment to look around to see her brother, she immediately and tearfully averted her gaze, burying her face into Lori's chest. Once that happened, Lincoln slumped back down on his seat and sighed.
The moment the family returned home a little bit later, Lynn was the very first to get out of Vanzilla, head on inside the house and made a break for her room. Lincoln tried following along and tried in vain once more in talking to her, but again to no avail. With not that much hope in him for now, he too simply went to his room, where he flopped onto his bed face first into his pillow and groaned.
"Lincoln?"
A gentle knocking on his door and the concerned voice of Leni weren't enough for him to sit back up. Regardless, his second oldest sister still let herself in and sat down by his side.
"What are you doing here, Leni?" Lincoln asked as he turned his head just enough to face her.
"I wanted to check up on you, because you looked so sad on the way back home. I wanted to say something then, but maybe I wanted to wait until I could talk to you alone." Leni answered.
She reached out and tried gently in encouraging him to sit up and come closer to her. He did after some hesitance and no sooner then when that happened did Leni bring Lincoln right into a soft, comfortable embrace. He didn't hug her back, only letting himself be taken in by her tranquil touch, something he likely needed following what just happened at the ballpark and how his morning worries were coming to fruition.
"Are you sad about Lynn losing?" Leni asked, though that seemed more than too obvious.
"Yeah..." Lincoln replied listlessly, "Aren't we all, though? This was such an important game for her..."
Leni nodded and embraced him a little more, "I know, but something else must be making you sad, too. You looked that way earlier when we were on our way there and even though you said nothing was wrong, I know you better than that, Lincoln. What's going on? You can tell me."
He didn't say anything for a little bit, only sighing in a prolonged manner. Eventually, he did let in on what's been bothering him just recently and really since the morning before leaving.
"Well, there's a chance you might've overheard me saying this at the game, but if you didn't, I said out loud right as Lynn really started faltering near the end that me being there couldn't have been helping. After all, Luna told me she didn't mess up that badly in the two games before this most recent one...and before I go any further, can you confirm that was the case?" Lincoln wondered, pulling away just enough to face his sister.
"Um...yeah, she did play, like, really, really well and stuff." Leni answered, "But that's not important right now, because I really wanna know what's making you sad besides Lynn losing."
Lincoln groaned anxiously, "Actually, knowing that for sure now is pretty important, Leni. Just as I said, it makes me believe attending the game today didn't help her chances, and I know you must've seen this, then when I tried talking to her just before we came back home, she straight up told me to stay away from her. Granted, she didn't say it with any hostility, but that moment made me think...after today, maybe there really was something to this bad luck stuff after all."
"No, please don't think like that, Linky..." Leni assured him, bringing him back fully into her arms, "You're not bad luck, and speaking of which, I've should've know better than to believe that earlier this week..."
As Leni had said that, she started sniffling lightly. Just as if Lincoln needed any more reasons to feel bad, those heartrending sounds made his eyes tear up. He tried in saying something, but Leni had more to say herself.
"Lincoln, I know that I have this...you know, thingy where I..." She tried saying, taking a deep breath to collect herself, "Okay, I'll just say it...I know sometimes it's hard for me to understand certain things and that I might not be the smartest girl around. But still, I never should believed you ever had bad luck in the first place."
"But it wasn't your fault, Leni. Almost all that happened this past week would've not occurred if I hadn't so stupidly played along with everything..." Lincoln said distressingly.
Leni pulled back and looked into her brother's eyes, "Don't call yourself stupid, Lincoln! I can't believe you'd say that!"
"It's the truth, though..." Lincoln insisted on, "I acted so irresponsibly and lead our family into the way they behaved. What else other than stupidity and selfishness can explain that?"
He shut his eyes as more tears were pooling up. Reliving his poor choices of the week on top of all that's happened today was really doing him in.
Though words weren't materializing to her, all Leni did was again hug Lincoln and held on for a while, doing what she could for physical comfort.
"Lincoln…" Leni spoke up after some time passed, "I don't want to hear you call yourself stupid again, okay? And no matter what, I still think I've should have know better about believing that whole bad luck stuff and such. Also, you had nothing to do with how Lynn played today and I don't want you to think she blames you in any way. She wanted you to come so badly and maybe in a way that actually helped her, you never know."
For the moment, Lincoln really didn't think that very last thought was possible at all. But in any event, he had to try looking in any sort of bright side. Like he mentioned earlier, Lynn didn't react to him with anger or intent of passing on blame and perhaps what she meant by her telling him not to talk or be near him was only that she needed some space for a while.
As he began coming to that conclusion in his head, Lincoln saw Leni pull back from her embrace and kiss him on his cheek, smiling at him afterwards.
"Well, I don't know what else to say on my end, but maybe I do feel a bit better now, if just that much." He admitted with his own small smile, "Thanks, Leni."
"Aw, you're welcome, Linky. I try to do my best." Leni said sweetly.
She briefly hugged Lincoln one last time, with him actually doing the same this time around, then she left him alone.
After giving himself some more time in his room, Lincoln chose to step on out, but once he did, he saw Lucy sitting near the door to her and Lynn's room.
"Uh, Lucy? What are you doing?" Lincoln asked as he came over to her.
"Sigh...I tried talking to Lynn about the game, but she wouldn't say a thing except for telling me to leave her alone." Lucy explained, "She even locked the door on top of that."
Upon hearing that, the slightest feelings of betterment Lincoln felt after Leni's visit were disappearing. He sat down alongside his sister and sighed.
"While you're here, though, I do want to apologize for my contribution in all that's happened about the bad luck mess, Lincoln." Lucy added.
"It's all right, Lucy." Lincoln said, "I don't blame you one little bit. In fact, I'd argue in your case, and with all our younger sisters as well, is that you are still young enough to perhaps easily buy into something you may not entirely understand yourself."
Lucy looked directly at her brother, "I don't know if I agree with that. I know a thing or two about bad luck charms through lots of reading and I should know better than to have ever thought you could be one of them. You and the rest of our family as well shine a good amount of light in the darkness I sometimes bring on to myself."
She shuffled over and gave him a hug, all while resting her head on his shoulder. At the same time, Lincoln put an arm around Lucy and brought her just that little bit closer to him.
"Well, thanks for that, Lucy." Lincoln stated proudly, "But again, you don't need to beat yourself up over this. A lot of this was my fault like I said this morning and I'll work on being better than how I was before earlier this week."
"Sigh...okay, if you say so, Lincoln. But what do we do about Lynn?" Lucy asked.
"Well...maybe what's best is that we leave her alone and hope she'll possibly want to open up more later on." Lincoln suggested.
"I guess so." Lucy agreed, albeit with some reluctance.
Coming to that agreement, Lucy let go of Lincoln and went on her way, though he still stuck around for a bit. Despite what he just said, there was a temptation within to try talking to Lynn right this moment. He almost went about with it by standing up and raised his hand like he was going to knock on the door.
"Lincoln?"
However, the arrival of Lori coming up the stairs put a stop to that.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Oh, I was thinking about trying to see how Lynn is doing, but since Lucy just told me she wants to be left alone, I guess it's not the best thing to do right now." Lincoln answered with a sigh.
"Yeah, I'd recommend that for the time being." Lori said, "But anyway, on a similar note, I was on my way to see how you were holding up. I know that Leni already did the same literally not too long ago as she's told me, but it never hurts to have another sister to check up on you, right?"
Lincoln shrugged, "I guess not."
Smiling a little, Lori gestured to Lincoln that he follow her over to her room, where they both sat down on the former's bed.
"So, if I'm understanding things right based on what Leni told me, you actually think you being at the game today was the reason Lynn's team lost?" Lori wondered.
Lincoln sighed and nodded very gently, "Maybe? I don't really know for sure, but it's hard not to think something like that. Of the four games Lynn played this week, her team won the ones I wasn't at, and lost the other two that I did go to. Even if I really didn't want to, how can I not see some sort of connection here?"
He lightly groaned and lowered his head down. In her part to soothe him, Lori softly rubbed her hand down his back.
"I think you're looking far too much into this, Lincoln. You really can't or shouldn't try to gleam too much from those experiences." She said.
"I know, and you are likely right, but I guess it's something that I can't help but wonder. Plus, it's not just today's game that bothered me, but how Lynn reacted right afterwards and how she didn't want me to even be near her. Maybe she wanted to simply be left alone for a bit, but in that moment...I feared that she came awfully close to calling me bad luck again." Lincoln said, getting more and more disquieted with every word.
Lori brought her arm up around him, "I doubt that's the case at all. I mean, think about for a moment. Would Lynn go through all the effort to confess she was wrong to call you that in the beginning, all the effort to remind me and all our family about how we acted because of it and even gave you the forum to explain your own wrongdoing, only to retrograde back to how she was at that start of the week just like that? Look, Lynn can be a lot of things, but I think we can both agree that going back on her word is literally not in her character."
Lincoln had to admit to himself there had to be quite a bit of truth to what his oldest sister just explained to him, even though he still wasn't feeling the most optimistic about how Lynn must be handling things.
"But in case you need an actual example to back all that I said..." Lori continued, "I did catch you trying to see what was going on with Lynn on our way back home in Vanzilla, and when I was trying to get her to say anything at all, she did mention something about how fearing that she disappointed you more than anyone due to today's loss and because of it, she might think you'll start believing yourself in that bad luck nonsense when you never did like you admitted this morning. I hate to think based on what you said that there's the slightest chance you've considered this possibility."
Once more, as if Lincoln needed more reasons to feel bad. Now learning that Lynn had almost the same worries about how he'd feel had things gone badly at the game lowered his spirits yet again.
"Well, she's totally right..." He said wistfully.
Lori sighed and pulled her brother closer to her, "Lincoln, there's absolutely nothing to this bad luck farce and I do believe deep down inside you know that's the case. It's not true now, and it wasn't true before, either. Would Lynn really want to see you like this, thus making her feel literally more guilty than she already is?"
Lincoln sighed, then shook his head, "No...probably not."
"Of course, and neither would anyone else, too. So it's best that you don't beat yourself up too much about the game and hope for the best for Lynn when she does feel like finally talking more about it, okay?" Lori emphasized with finality.
"I guess so..." Lincoln responded, trying to sound the slightest bit hopeful, "Thanks for that, Lori. Had Leni not already drilled that into me not too long ago, you doing the same probably will give it that final needed push. And while we're at it, since I didn't say it this morning, I really want to apologize for any damage I caused to your golf clubs. Knowing obviously that since I played along with the bad luck charge, I dropped them on purpose as opposed to on accident, though you would have been upset at me regardless and understandably so. But I want to take this time to tell you that I'm willing and able to do whatever I can to make it up to you. I could pay for any of the damages or for replacements, but that'd clear out all the money I have and it likely wouldn't be even close to covering everything. If that can't work, then maybe I can be your caddie for the next several games, but that's assuming you have golf clubs that are usable, so I don't know. Or maybe I could-"
"Okay, okay, settle down, Lincoln." Lori told him while putting her hands on his shoulders, "Perhaps we can talk and figure something out later. Right now, I don't think you literally need any more things to stress out over about after today."
Lincoln took a breath of air and then looked up to his to sister, "All right, if you say so...and thanks again, Lori."
Finally, he showed a small smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and she drew him close again toward her with her own embrace, too.
"It's no trouble, Lincoln." Lori said to him softly.
Several hours later, dinner was almost ready. In the time beforehand, no one else had tried in talking to Lynn, as it had been universally agreed upon to leave her alone and wait until she was prepared to discuss things on her own time and pace, assuming she even wanted to at all.
By the time the call had been put out to gather around the table, most everyone arrived promptly, but Lynn took her time in coming on down and when she did, there was an uncharacteristically though perfectly understandably sullen look on her face.
While dinner did roll on as usual once it began, Lynn was largely kept out of any small talk for the initial duration. However, she drew attention to herself when she used her fork to practically stab every portion of her meal in a more increasingly frustrated mood. By this point, someone felt the need to finally broach the subject.
"Uh, listen, LJ, I know you might not be in the mood to fully talk about what happened at the game today, but there's a peculiarity that's stuck out to me all day long and haven't asked until now. Why were you positioned as center outfield instead of the pitcher like you usually are?" Lynn Sr. asked.
The pace of Lynn Jr.'s fork stabbing gradually got slower until it came to a halt. She took a deep breath to release the short lived frustration that came about and finally, perhaps she was about to open up.
"The player who's normally there was benched due to spraining her wrist just an hour before the game and the manager made the split second decision to have me act as the replacement believing I'm a good all around player who could handle anything." She said, finishing that sentence with a scoff, "Well, today debunked that flat."
With that curiosity solved, nobody else chose to press her any further than necessary and went on with their meals. A short time later, though, came an absolutely shocking claim from Lynn.
"I'm not the best..."
Those choice four words coming from her froze up each member of her family, some even letting their utensils clang onto their plates.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Come again?"
"I said I'm not the best..." Lynn reiterated.
"You what now?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Say that again?"
"Has everyone gone deaf?! I'm…not….the...best! I'm. Not. The. Best! Have I made it clear enough for you now?!" Lynn shouted angrily.
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, Lynn..." Rita told her daughter calmly, "You don't need to be like this..."
Lynn banged her fist on the table, "Dang it, why not, Mom? After today, don't I have a right to feel this way?!"
"Lynn, get a grip on yourself! There's literally no need to lose it like this!" Lori said in a mix of firmness and compassion.
"Oh, don't you get on my case, too, Lori!" Lynn fired back.
"But she's right, dude. It's just a game! It's not life or death that we're talkin' 'bout here!" Luna tried in emphasizing to her sister.
"'Just a game'? It was the friggin' playoffs, Luna! The game that each and every other one was leading up to all season! And guess what? I completely blew it! Why? 'Cause as I just got done saying four times, and here comes number five, I'm not the best!" Lynn said, at least this time dialing the aggression down a notch.
"But it's not entirely your fault, LJ, and for that matter, don't let such a loss question your talents as an athlete." Lynn Sr. assured.
Lynn Jr. scoffed contemptuously, "You don't get it, Dad. None of you do! You don't realize how often I hype myself up again and again about being the best. Ask any athlete, be they professional, collegiate or amateur, and most any of them will say at some point they've convinced themselves they are indeed the very best in their field. What's the point of competing if you don't tell yourself that? And what happens when you fail miserably and it dawns upon you that you're not as great as you really are? What about those who've become so convinced you're untouchable only to then see that illusion get shattered into a million little pieces? I've let everyone down! My teammates, the crowd in attendance, my whole family..."
Right as she was about to finish her thought, she blinked her eyes hard, then opened them again while shifting her sights over to her only brother.
"And worst of all, I've let you down the most, Lincoln..." Lynn said, not even hiding the cracking in her voice anymore, "I am completely ashamed of my performance today, because I wanted to impress you more than anyone. When you lead everyone in cheering my name, I thought that would give me the extra little boost to pull through, since my confidence was all but shot by then. When I cracked what I thought was a guaranteed homer, I figured everything was in place to at least tie things up and keep my team in contention. But no, I failed...and when we lost...I became so scared that you would think coming today had some part in it. Then...when I told you to keep away from me..."
Any semblance of holding things up for Lynn vanished, as tears freely began falling down. She brought her hands up to hide her face from view and sobbed.
"I can't do this...I need to be excused." She choked out.
Lynn moved off from her chair and tried to leave, but just as she almost headed up the stairs, she felt someone grab onto her hand. She turned to see the one whom she thought had been most disappointed in her performance staring back at her with his own set of tears in his eyes.
"Lincoln, please...I can't deal right now...I..."
Whatever she'd try to say couldn't come through when Lincoln rather suddenly yanked her into an embrace. At first, Lynn struggled to get out of his grip, but he would not let go. After a few more tries, she gave up and broke down into several more sobs while weakly hugging him back.
"Lincoln...I'm sorry…!" Lynn hysterically proclaimed through heavy cries.
"Lynn, don't apologize!" Lincoln emphatically stated, "Just...don't! I'm not disappointed at all! The only thing that worried me was exactly what you just said a moment ago. I too was scared that my being there affected you in some way to the point that...that...that you'd call me bad luck again!"
Lynn tightened her end of the embrace, "No! No, I wouldn't dare do such a thing again after all we've been through! You being there today meant everything to me and more! I'd never stoop so low in blaming you for a loss again...because I love you too much to do so, Lincoln! I love you…!"
"And...and I love you, too, Lynn!" Lincoln tearfully returned in full.
By the time those proclamations of renewed platonic feelings between siblings had been reinforced, both Lynn and Lincoln were down on their knees and clinging on to one another like nothing else mattered in this moment. Eventually, the rest of their family left the table and joined by their side right as they finally did let go.
"I'm sorry again, everybody..." Lynn said while wiping down her eyes.
"Don't be, Lynn..." Luan told her, gently turning her younger sister over to face her, "And about something else you said earlier, you shouldn't obsess with being the best, which is something no one is demanding of you. Rather, it's all about trying your best and nothing more."
"She's right, Lynn, but you're always going to be the best in our hearts no matter if you lose." Leni said as she lightly hugged the sports girl from the side.
"You make for a great athlete...but for an even better sister." Lucy added, creaking a smile on her lips.
"'ynn fo' in!"
That very odd and broken sounding declaration caught the whole family's attention coming from Lily just after she crawled over onto Lynn's lap.
"What...what did you say, Lily?" She wondered in her baby sister's direction.
"I don't proclaim to be the foremost expert in our infant sibling's burgeoning dialect, but I'd guesstimate she may have been formulating 'Lynn for the win'." Lisa theorized, "If such is the case, I must wholeheartedly endorse that sentiment. But why settle for mere words…?"
As an action to back up their youngest sibling's likely statement, Lisa followed what Leni had already started by also hugging Lynn, which in turn initiated a whole gaggle of hugs from her family.
"Lynn for the win!" Lana and Lola happily shouted.
Though she couldn't exactly do much on her end due to being sort of overwhelmed by the sheer loving force of the familial group hug, Lynn did at least wrap her arms around Lily for her infant sister's small part in the larger effort of her family making her feel better. She let out a shuddered breath of air and smiled.
"Thank you..." Lynn simply said, but underpinned with such undying appreciation for all surrounding her.
Into the late evening hours, Lincoln took in some final minutes of watching TV before he would head off to bed. It made for a soothing end for the highly emotional yet cathartic events of just a couple of hours ago. All the worrying loose ends both he and Lynn held on to throughout the day since her devastating loss had at last been mended and tied up, plus knowing that such events have very much strengthened the bond he shared with his fifth oldest sister.
"Hey, Linc."
Speaking of older sisters, Lincoln turned over in the direction from where the call out of his short form nickname came from to see Luna and Luan having come on downstairs.
"Mind if we sit in for a bit, bro?" Luna asked.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Lincoln answered while grinning.
With him giving them confirmation, the third and fourth oldest sisters sat alongside their only little brother while he turned off the TV.
"So how are you holding up, Lincoln?" Luan wondered.
"Good, certainly a lot better than before after coming home from the game." Lincoln replied, sighing contently.
"Well that's nice to know, bro." Luna said, lightly rubbing his shoulder, "And speaking of which, we did think about talking with you just as we did arrive back home, but Leni insisted on tackling things instead as you now come to know."
Lincoln smiled, "Yeah, her doing that did help out a little, as did talks with Lucy and Lori, too. Then came what happened at dinner and to finally clear things up with Lynn after several hours of fearing the worst between us was such a relief."
"It must have been, and on that note, we're really proud of what you did during that time, Lincoln." Luan said as she came over closer and put an arm around him, "I really do think you helped out Lynn a great deal."
"Well...thanks. To be honest, I wasn't sure if it even was the best thing to do at that moment, but I hated seeing her be so sad and self-loathing that I just couldn't help myself and felt the need for someone to be there for her." Lincoln explained.
"I'd say you did do the right thing, dude, and like Luan just said, doing that I bet gave her that much needed moment of release to finally completely let everything out. So yeah, good on you, Linc." Luna said, now joining in putting her arm around him, too.
Soon enough, a full blown hug enveloped Lincoln from both of his sisters, something he savored while returning the favor from his side of things as well.
"Thanks, you guys and similarly, I want to thank you both again for what you did for me last night." Lincoln told them upon separating from the hug, "Though I will say the setup was a tad uncomfortable, being squeezed between you two within an air mattress that likely wasn't made to hold three people at the same time."
"Yeah, I don't blame you one bit for thinking like that, little bro, though I did say at the time that it was going to be a tight squeeze and that we'd try to make the best of it anyway." Luna said, "And on a related note, Luan and I did get to talking before we came on down and thought maybe at some point we could do something like that again, only just for fun and in a better setting than the garage."
Lincoln liked the sound of that, "Sure, I'm in favor, but actually, why wait until some other time? We could try doing it now if you like, and as an on the spot idea, maybe what I can do is bring a sleeping bag and stay in your room this time around."
Both Luna and Luan looked at one another, gave their brother's idea a second of thought and voiced their approval.
"Sure, why not?" Luan said.
"Yeah, we can be down with that if you are willing." Luna added.
"Well, great! How about you guys head on back and I'll join you in just a minute?" Lincoln suggested.
His sisters nodded and both headed on upstairs to their room while Lincoln did the same. He rummaged around and was about to bring out the sleeping bag he kept stored away underneath his bed, but then he heard a knocking on his door.
"Who is it?"
"Me."
The simple answer made Lincoln immediately know who it was. He got back up and opened the door to see Lynn standing before him.
"Oh, hey Lynn. Was there something you need?" Lincoln asked.
"Yeah, just a quick talk with you if it's not too much trouble." Lynn answered.
"Uh, sure, of course." Lincoln said with a grin.
He stepped aside and allowed his sister entry to his room and both took a seat on the bed.
"So what's up?" Lincoln inquired.
"Pretty simple really..." Lynn started out with.
Before going on, she flung her arms around him and tightly held on.
"I can't thank you enough, Lincoln, for everything. Coming to the game, doing what you did at dinner...just everything." She said with the utmost sincerity.
Lincoln grinned more widely and hugged her back, "It's no problem, Lynn. It's the least I could've done in return after how sorry I felt for you for losing today."
"Yeah, guess I'm pretty lucky for all that." Lynn said with a little laugh, "And speaking of luck, let me remind you again that I will never do something as stupid as calling you bad luck ever again, I swear to you on that."
"And similarly, I'll swear in being upfront on whether or not I want to come to any of your games or whatever other events that our sisters have, nor will I use dishonest means to avoid attending them." Lincoln promised back.
For a little while longer, neither of them did anything else other than remaining in their shared embrace of each other, again reinforcing a stronger bond that has come about the whirlwind of events that has come between them.
"Well, maybe I should finally let you get ready for bed, Linc." Lynn said, finally letting go, "I should do the same as well."
She hopped off her brother's bed and almost headed out the door, only to stop when he asked something of her.
"Actually, hold on, Lynn..." Lincoln began, "Just as you came along I was gathering up my sleeping bag because I was gonna stay with Luna and Luan in their room sort of like what they did for me last night, and if you're perhaps willing, maybe you could come along as well?"
Lynn thought about it for a moment, and sure enough, the idea sounded like something worth doing in her mind.
"Um...sure, but why?" She asked.
"Why not? Just thought it be a fun idea is all." Lincoln responded.
It took another couple seconds, but Lynn showed him a smile, "All right, okay, if you insist. Just let me tell Lucy about it and I'll snag my sleeping bag while I'm at it."
With that decided on, Lynn made a quick stop to her and Lucy's room while Lincoln resumed retrieving his sleeping bag and walked over down the hall. He waited for Lynn to come along and once she did, he knocked on the door leading to Luna and Luan's room before seeing himself in.
"Hey guys, sorry it took a little longer than expected, but there's a good reason for that." Lincoln said, "I was wondering if you possibly had room for one more?"
He walked further into the room and stepped aside to show Lynn tagging along with him.
"Oh, hey there, LJ." Luna greeted her, "Did Lincoln ask you to come join us?"
Lynn nodded, "Yeah, something like that. I was simply having a brief talk with him and then he out of the blue asked that I perhaps come along, too. So...is that okay?"
"Sure, I'd say so. In fact, I'm totally four having a quartet of us having such a little sleepover!" Luan jovially joked around.
Three pairs of eyes were rolled, but regardless, Lynn and Lincoln unfurled and set up their sleeping bags side by side before settling in while their older sisters did the same in their beds..
"Hey, Lincoln?" Lynn said.
"Hmm?" Lincoln uttered in response.
"Thanks again."
Lynn moved closer so she could show some serious and rare sisterly affection by kissing Lincoln right on his cheek. He blushed and chuckled nervously, but was nevertheless very appreciative. As a return gesture, he reached out and took a hold of her hand, keeping a grip on it all the way until they went to sleep.
In all, it had been an incredible 24 hours for Lynn and Lincoln. First, Lincoln felt a sense of solidarity thanks to the three sisters that were present in the room that help fix and resolve everything that came about between them and their family. Then soon enough, Lynn got to feel that same feeling during dinner when everyone came to her side thanks to Lincoln taking the lead in consoling her following today's heartbreaking loss. Both also vowed to never repeat the mistakes of the past week and though there's a chance both will try to say they're more personally responsible than the other, what's most important is that they did admit to their respective wrongdoings and were able to set things right between themselves and their family as a whole.
Truly, no mistakes could ever be enough to break them and they will always come together and become closer than ever before.
And with that, another one of these types of fanfics has reached its end. The only other thing I'll mention is that the name for the Beaverton team is one I came up with on my own, and is a reference to a real life minor league baseball team, the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
That's all I'd like to say, so thanks for reading!