Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And Muchas gracias (many thanks) to everyone who is supporting this story. I really appreciate everyone who does. This chapter is going to be an interesting one. You may have noticed how I've done a perspective of almost all of the sisters. After this chapter I will only have one more to write about before finally finishing the story. This chapter is not going to be too exciting, and I really don't expect it to be the best, but I do hope you still like it anyway. Thanks for reading and Enjoy Chapter 13 of "Kidnapped."

Chapter 13

"Lincoln get up, it's time for supper!"

Lincoln sluggishly sat up and rubbed his eyes, stretching his legs across the bed as he did so. He needed that nap. It had been a long while since he had an afternoon slumber like that one. Why did he fall asleep in the first place? Oh yeah. Leni came into his room and told him all about what had really happened the day she was kidnapped. They cried and eventually he fell asleep on her shoulder. She must have slipped away and tucked him in before leaving his room.

Lincoln's sense of guilt was no longer plaguing him. It was a burden that had been lifted off of his shoulders for sure, but now, a new one took its place. After hearing that Leni saved him from being kidnapped, he felt like he owed her. He couldn't just not do anything for her, that was unthinkable. But what could he do? Take her to the mall? The movies? A fancy dinner? None of those seemed like the right thing to do for her at the moment.

Truthfully, he felt like he wasn't going to be able to pay her back, no matter what he did. No amount of shopping with her, or being her dress model, or even cooking or buying her dinner would make him feel different. Thinking more about it, he realized that even saving her life wouldn't have made him feel any different. He was still going to feel this way. No amount of things that he could do for her would ever make him feel like he could pay her back for what she did.

"Well bro, you coming?"

Lincoln realized that he was still sitting on the edge of his bed. He got up and slowly started walking towards the doorway. Lynn turned around and made her way downstairs, sliding down the railing. The boy stumbled across the creaky floor, slowly making his way down to the dinner table where everyone was waiting for him. It was the same Wednesday night meal as always; weinerschnitzel. No variety, as usual.

"Hey there Sleeping Beauty! Get enough rest?" Their father joked. "You were out for three and a half hours."

"I think so," Lincoln groggily said, rubbing his eyes. The boy then took his seat and they all began eating.

Lincoln was sitting on the couch playing one of his console video games. It was doing absolutely nothing to help his situation, but then again, was there really anything he could do at this point? He was always going to feel like he was indebted to Leni regardless of what he did. Not to mention there was the conflicting thought that he didn't really believe he could pay her back. What was wrong with him? Why did he feel this way? Was there really no other way to go about this? He could talk to Leni about it, that would help. But what would she tell him? She would say, "Oh, it's fine. Don't worry about it," or something along those lines. Lincoln gave an audible sigh. Why did Leni have to be the nice one?

"Hey Lincoln!" Speak of the devil.

"Hey Leni! What's up?" There was still so much that he needed to tell her. He thought that her telling him everything would ease his mind, but what happened was quite the contrary. Each time that one of his questions was answered, it only made him feel worse. He now felt a nagging need to pay her back for what she did, and he needed to tell her that. However, whether or not he was actually going to was a different story.

"Nothing, just hanging out with my little bro!"

"Okay," Lincoln replied with a slight hitch.

Leni sat there in silence for a minute, then asked him, "What game are you playing?"

"It's called creature crossing," he responded. "I know it looks like a little kids game but it's actually a ton of fun. The whole point of this game is that there's no specific goal. You can just set your own goals. Right now I'm trying to complete all the exhibits in the museum."

"Oh," Leni said. "It looks like fun! Can I play?"

Leni playing a videogame? It was like a dream come true! None of his other sisters except for Lori ever wanted to play videogames with him. And even she only did it that one time because she felt bad for being such a bossy sister. Leni was not only watching Lincoln play, but was also interested and she wanted to play the game herself. But was he going to let her? Of Course!

"Sure Leni! I'll let you play for a little bit!"

He handed her the controller and watched on as Leni started figuring the game out. She got a grasp of the controls pretty quickly, but to Lincoln, it seemed like she was still struggling with the whole idea of doing whatever you wanted. Leni, having seen Lincoln play tons of videogames before, was expecting there to be some kind of storyline to follow, and she was trying to look for it, and yet, she couldn't find it. After almost fifteen minutes of playing, Lincoln took the controls back. Maybe starting her own profile would help her figure everything out better. With that idea in mind, he started a brand new game, calling it "Leni's game" and then handed the controller back to her. Once she started the new game, it took her less than fifteen minutes to figure out what she was doing and was a pro after just thirty minutes. Lincoln was impressed. The two of them played the game together for a good long while in the living room.

Lynn wasn't too happy. She finished her supper and watched for a moment as Lincoln and Leni played that game on the couch. To her, it was perplexing that anyone could enjoy sitting down to play some stupid game that had no real purpose. After all, what was the point if you can't win? But that wasn't why Lynn was upset. Her mood was sour well before Leni and Lincoln started playing that game.

Lynn dragged herself up the stairs and shuffled into her room. She picked up a tennis ball, holding it tightly in her hand for a moment, and then threw it violently against the wall, denting it just slightly. "Oops..."

She forced herself up onto her bed and started throwing the tennis ball against the wall like she would if she were trying to fall asleep. What had happened that made Lincoln want to hang out with Leni more often? It was like he was totally ignoring his other sisters now. Lola hadn't had a butler for her tea party since Sunday morning, Lisa hadn't had someone to test out science experiments on, and Luna didn't have anyone to jam with. Of course to Lynn, all of that paled in comparison to the fact that she didn't have anyone to practice with now. Her sparring partner's attention had now been taken by her bemused, yet skittish older sister. Why?

Her mind wandered back to the day that Leni was kidnapped. Lincoln was the one who had rushed back with tears in his eyes, telling everyone what had happened. He revealed to them that he felt responsible for what happened to her, even to the point of putting all of the blame for it on his own shoulders. It did make sense that he would want to do things with her considering that, but to completely ignore his other siblings? What was suddenly so different about Leni that made him want to exclude everyone else? Why was he doing that?

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe Leni was the one who was hogging Lincoln, keeping him all for herself, not even thinking about how any of his other sisters would also want to hang out with him. Thinking some more about it, she realized that Leni didn't even give Lincoln a chance to hang out with anyone else. What if he really did want to, but didn't want to tell Leni no?

Lynn's anger made her yell out for just a second, just as the dynamic duo happened to be passing by. "Wow," she thought. "Great timing Lynn..."

She had hoped that maybe the other noise in the house drowned out her own scream, but she knew that she didn't have that kind of luck. She tensed up, hoping that nothing would happen and that Lincoln and Leni would just ignore it. But sure enough, after hearing some mumbling coming from behind the door, there was a knock, followed by Lincoln asking to come in.

"Dang it," she whispered to herself. "Whaddaya want?"

"Lynn, are you okay?"

No beating around the bush, huh? He got straight to the point.

"I'm fine," she responded. "I just uhh... stubbed my toe jumping into bed."

Despite the fact that she had so many problems with Lincoln and Leni right now, she still tried to avoid telling them anything about it. It would have been so much easier for her to just say, "yeah, something's wrong. I wanna talk to you." But of course, Lynn had to do things the hard way as always. She had to keep up the charade that she had kept up for so long now, that she was the tough one, that nothing ever bothered her. Besides, it was too late for her to change plans anyway. She told him a lie, now she had to at least try to follow through with it. But Lincoln saw through it in less than a second.

He stepped into the room with a quizzical look on his face. "Lynn, what's going on?"

"I told you, it's nothing," she said, then stuffed her face into her pillow. Why was she acting like this? He only wanted to help her out. Why wouldn't she let him?

Lincoln crossed his arms and started tapping his foot. The look on his face now one of annoyance. Lynn's stubbornness was eventually going to get the best of her and Lincoln was determined to exploit it. He could be stubborn if he wanted too. "Lynn..."

"Just go away, okay? I don't know why you're so worried about me anymore when you could just be hanging out with Leni. Clearly she's your favorite."

Lincoln was admittedly a bit surprised by this. The last thing he expected of Lynn was for her to be envious of Lincoln's attention. But he understood now. "So that's what this is about."

Lynn sighed and flipped herself over on her bed, then sat up and faced her little brother. "Yeah, you got me. I'm jealous or whatever. Just go away."

The boy had no such plans. He strolled towards Lynn's bed and sat down next to her. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you jealous that I'm hanging out with Leni instead?"

"Ugh..." Lynn didn't want to answer that question. Instead, she just face planted on her pillow again. Why couldn't he just go away? What was it about their little brother that made him feel like he had to resolve every single issue? Sure, they all agreed that the sister fight protocol was a bad idea, especially after Lisa's dream experiment, but shouldn't he have learned his lesson by now?

Lincoln remained steadfast. He kept himself planted on the edge of her bed, waiting patiently for her to respond. It was already after dark, but he was prepared to wait there all night or until their parents made him go to his own room. Based on how their parents had been treating all of them recently, it seemed like the former was more likely. Lincoln was a rock, nay, a boulder, only to be moved by a genuine response from Lynn. "I'm not moving until you answer my question Lynn."

"Fine..." she quipped as she sat up. "You really wanna know why I think that way? Because ever since Leni was kidnapped, she's the only person you want anything to do with. First you felt guilty for her being kidnapped, then you threw her a party, and now, she's even playing videogames with you. If I were a complete moron and didn't know any better, I might've thought you had a crush on her like Clyde has a crush on Lori."

A bit harsh, but it wasn't something he couldn't work with. The entire time she was ranting, Lincoln's mind was processing the information and determining the best possible response for it. For a moment he considered joking about how it was possible he had a crush on her since she's adopted, but he quickly threw that idea out the window. When she was finished, he waited for a second, then nodded his head before replying.

"Everything that I did before this afternoon was because of the fact that I felt responsible for what happened," he started. "I mean, if you thought that you could have prevented it if you had done something, wouldn't you feel the same way?"

Lynn stayed still for a moment, pondering the question. Then, as if admitting defeat, she nodded. "Yeah. You're right."

It was true. If she were in the same situation that Lincoln was in just a few days ago, she would still be beating herself up mentally if she hadn't done anything. If anything, she would be feeling worse than Lincoln did. Her coaches would sometimes tell her that she had to focus. It wouldn't be very often, but there were times when they had to remind her. If something happened while she wasn't focusing on what was important, it would tear her apart. Especially if one of them was kidnapped.

But there was something about Lincoln and what he said that stood out to her. He looked like he was feeling significantly more energized. All that week so far he had been walking the line of depression, but now, there was nothing. No hint of any kind of sadness. It didn't take her long, but she eventually remembered what he said. "Everything that I did before this afternoon..." What happened this afternoon?

"Wait a minute..." Lynn started before giving Lincoln a chance to speak. "What do you mean 'before this afternoon?'"

"I'm actually really glad you asked." Lincoln responded confidently. "Sit back. I've been wanting to tell someone since I knew about it."

Lynn adjusted herself to where her back was against the wall and she was sitting cross legged. Lincoln was sitting opposite of her the same way. He clapped and rubbed his hands together before he finally started talking. "I say that because it was this afternoon that I stopped feeling guilty for Leni getting kidnapped. She really opened my eyes on the subject and made me feel totally different about it."

Lynn was starting to take more interest now. She knew how he felt about the situation that Leni had been in. Up until this afternoon, apparently, he had been feeling immensely guilty for Leni's kidnapping, despite even Leni herself trying to convince him otherwise. But now all of a sudden he didn't? Just like that?

"What did she tell you?" Lynn asked, almost immediately regretting it. She hadn't noticed, but even before she asked that question, his face had turned more somber. Not to the point of completely breaking down however, at least, not yet.

Lincoln took several deep breaths, his whole body becoming more nervous and shaky with each breath he took. Wasn't breathing like this supposed to ease nervousness? It only seemed to be making it worse. His face was starting to get red too, eliciting even more guilt from Lynn for even asking the question. But eventually, he decided to speak up, "She told me that she had gotten kidnapped because..." he paused for just a second, and took another deep breath. "Because she was protecting me."

Lynn was now even more confused than before. She was protecting him? She was the one that got kidnapped, not him. She should have been protecting herself. Maybe there was something more to what he was saying. She was abput to ask, but he continued with his story.

"You see, the guys who kidnapped Leni, they were... actually trying to kidnap me."

The pieces of the puzzle all started coming together now. It explained everything. It explained why they were hanging out together. It explained why Leni was so insistent about Lincoln's well being. Even after all of the things that she went though, being beaten, sent to the hospital and other unmentionable things, she still insisted on making sure that he was okay; that he was safe. Why was she like this? Why did she go to such extreme measures to guarantee his safety?

Wait. Why wouldn't she? Wouldn't they all do that? Not just for Lincoln, but for each other as well?

Rita and Lynn Sr would do the same for sure. Lori? Despite her bossy attitude sometimes, she still loved them to death. Luna? Oh, without a doubt! If anything, she was Lincoln's favorite sister; maybe even everyone else's favorite sister too. Luan? Even with all her pranks that get them hurt sometimes, it was always in good fun. Not to mention that every time someone got hurt from one of her pranks, she was the first one to respond, trying to make them feel better by any means possible. Lynn? She was the strongest out of all of them, not only would she be able to do something, she would be able to prevent herself from getting into a situation like that in the first place. Lincoln? The way he was constantly beating himself up over it, shows that if he had known what was going on, he would have done something. Lucy? As dark as she could be sometimes, even she would not stand by idly. She always was the first one to go get help. Lana? While she may not be the strongest, she could annoy just about anyone half to death by pelting them with acorns and mud pies. Lola? She was without a doubt the most selfish one; the most likely to not do anything. But even she had her moments, she would probably scream and yell to no end until the problem was resolved like she always did. Lisa? With her genius, she would find out what was wrong and remedy it in an hour, maybe even less. The only one who wouldn't do anything was Lily, and that was only because she couldn't. Leni?

Leni had already shown what she was willing to do to protect not just Lincoln, but all of them. Had someone asked her, she would without a doubt do the same for any of her sisters. Not only that, but she would do it over and over again. As long as the rest of them were safe, she would be more than willing to endure such suffering.

Lynn had been so deep in thought that she didn't even notice tears start streaming down her brother's face. Without skipping a beat, she reached out, closing the distance between them and hugged him. He quickly returned the favor and they held each other like that for at least a minute.

They both broke the hug at the same time. Lincoln rubbed his eyes as Lynn sat back against the wall again. She wanted to ask him why he started crying, but decided against it for fear of making it worse. Besides, he began telling her why just a few seconds later.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. It's okay."

"I just... ugh..." Lincoln was struggling to look for the right words. Lynn was sitting there patiently, waiting for him to talk. "I don't feel like it's my fault that she got kidnapped, but, now I feel like I have to repay her somehow. Only, I know that there's nothing I can do to do that. Nothing that I could possibly give her would ever be enough to make me feel like that."

"Listen Linc," she started. "Even if you could find a way to pay her back, or whatever, she wouldn't let you."

He knew that. Deep in the back of his subconscious mind, he knew that she wasn't going to let him do anything in return. Despite all his thoughts about having to pay her back and not being able to, he knew that even if he could, somehow, get something so amazing that it would be considered a good enough repayment, she wouldn't accept it.

"But why not?" he asked.

"I don't know to be completely honest with you. But I do know this. I would do the same thing. As would Lori, Luna, Luan and the rest of our sisters. Even if you wanted to be given something in return, would you be able to accept it?"

"Well... no..."

"I think that answers that question then. Good talk bro." Lincoln didn't move a muscle. He didn't even consider it like that. Leni had saved his life and even if she did want something in return there was nothing that he could do to recompense. But if the situation were reversed, and Leni was the one who felt this way, he knew that he wouldn't let her pay him back, no matter how much she tried. This whole time he thought that it was about what she did for him. But he didn't even consider that it might have been what she wanted. She wanted to protect him, and Lincoln being safe was her reward for it. And if that was enough for her, then it was enough for him too.

Lincoln thanked Lynn for the talk and got off of her bed to go back to whatever he and Leni was doing. It was funny. The whole reason he went to Lynn's room in the first place is because he thought that something was wrong with her and wanted to help. But in the end, it was her who ended up helping him. He chuckled at this revelation and continued on to Leni and Lori's room.

He opened the door and Leni immediately perked up. "Hi Linky! Were you able to cheer Lynn up?"

"Oh, I did more than that!" Lincoln then walked into the room and sat on the opposite side of the bed from Leni.

"Ooo, really? What did you talk about?"

Lincoln began to tell her about everything that happened. From the point that she told him what she was bummed about to the end of it where she ended up helping him. Leni sat and listened attentively to every single word he said. When he got to the part where Lynn told him that Leni wouldn't let him pay her back, she jumped in. "She's right."

"I know. And I would even do the same thing. But I don't know why."

"It's cause I love you Linky. I didn't do that to get anything out of it. I did it for you. Kind of like a present. You don't give someone a present and then expect them to give you one too, do you?"

"Of course not, that's the whole point! You don't give someone a gift because of what they did, you give it to them because you wanted to!"

"Exactly."

Lincoln was now surprised in two ways. For one, he had no idea that Leni was even able to process those kinds of thoughts, just like Lori thought the previous night. Second, he finally realized that she didn't protect him for any reason other than the fact that she wanted to. He may have known that before now, but it took until right at that moment for it to click in his mind.

"Wow, I can't believe you did that Leni!"

"Did what?"

She was back to her normal self. Lincoln still loved his older sister, regardless of what she did or how simple minded she was. The ditsy blonde had her moments though, and it was in those moments that he came to love and appreciate her even more than before, which he never thought was possible.

The two siblings could have talked all night about anything and everything, but the time did come when they had to go to bed. They bid each other goodnight and Lincoln strolled back to his room and Leni picked up one of her various fashion magazines to read.

Lincoln was always surprised at how much Leni could talk, even though he really shouldn't have been. He was even surprised that he was able to keep up with everything she was saying. Every time she said something, it was almost like listening to one of those disclaimer recordings at the end of radio commercials. You always knew that what they were saying was important, and you always caught the gist of it, but you never really heard what they were saying. With Leni though, Lincoln tried his best.

The boy got to his room and fell asleep rather quickly, getting a peaceful slumber that night without distraction.

As always I thank you for reading this chapter. The next one will for sure be the last one of the story. Please review it, even if you don't have any criticism for me. I do ask that if you do have some kind of critique for me, don't just tell me how awful I am without telling me how I can improve. Thanks again to everyone for reading this story. If you liked it, please favorite and follow it.