Lynn

The next day came and it was now 10:25 A.M. I was leaving the hospital, and mom had come to pick up all three of us. I laughed as Lincoln checked the car seat seatbelt for the fifth time.

"Uh, I think she's good Lincoln…" I mentioned.

"Just making sure she's secure! You can never be too careful Lynn! Never!" He hissed playfully.

In the car, it was pretty quiet. Lacy was napping, mom didn't speak and Lincoln and I kept quiet. We held hands, hidden from our mother's eyes in fear that this could possibly be the last time we can.

Once she parked, no one moved. We just sat in the car, on our driveway. It stayed like this for a good minute and a half before she turned around and looked at us.

"Before anything gets said inside, I just wanna say that things… things are gonna change. We'll let you get situated inside, but as soon as you get done, we are gonna talk in our bedroom to keep privacy. Just go in when you're ready." She then unbuckled her belt, and got out of the door, and closed it behind her. We stayed in the car for a bit more while she got inside the house.

"If… if we're separated… I promise I'm gonna look for you…" I breathed out, trying to keep my voice stable.

"Lynn…" he spoke softly, reaching out to hug me. I hugged back, still trying to contain my emotions. This felt like a goodbye. It really did and I don't want that. This should be a happy moment, but instead, although I gained a daughter, I'm losing my other half. "It's gonna be okay. If they can't support us together, we'll have to leave, that's it."

"With what money?!"

"The saved-up money,"

"…no… it's not enough… not yet…"

"It's not as much as we initially wanted, but we can make it work—"

"Our plan with that money was to use it when You turned 17 in February so that we could accumulate it. We are a year short Lincoln; it isn't going to work!" I breathed sharply, frustratingly.

"…we'll figure it out. We still don't know what they're gonna say yet…" he sighed.

"Yeah but you know what they probably will…"

"Come on, let's go…"

"Wait—!"

"Yeah?"

"Come here…" I sighed, pulling him in for a soft kiss. "Just… just in case…"

"This isn't goodbye. Don't worry. Let's think positive…"

"I'll try…" I mumbled under my breath. He then got out of the car and I followed. He unhinged the car seat and took Lacy inside with him.

Once we opened the door, it felt weird. Like… like we no longer belonged here. The only people in sight were Lisa and Lana. They were watching tv, but their eyes caught ours as soon as we walked in. They stayed silent and gazed at us as we made our way upstairs. Once up there, Lucy came out of our room and quickly closed the door behind her.

"Hey, guys. I know you guys have to talk to mom and dad, so meanwhile, I can watch Lacy for you guys. She's sleeping anyway, so it should be no trouble," she smiled sweetly.

"Are you sure?" Lincoln asked her questionably.

"Yeah! It's no problem at all!" She assured.

"Okay, well Lincoln, can you please bring her inside the room, and put her in her crib?" I asked him. As he was about to do it though, Lucy quickly blocked him.

"No! It's fine, I got it. You guys really need to talk to mom and dad. It's urgent. I got this!"

"Lucy, I—"

"Trust me! I've taken care of all of our younger siblings plenty of times! Now go! Shoo!" She brushed us off, taking Lacy's car seat from Lincoln. We exchanged a look, then sighed.

"Alright then…" I hesitated. We then left my bag outside room, seeing that Lucy would keep brushing us off from being inside, and made our way downstairs.

We stood in front of mom and dad's door for a few minutes before finally deciding to knock. Once they gave us the okay to come in, we slowly entered the room. Inside, mom was sitting on the chair in their room and dad was sitting on the bed. They told us to sit, but we stayed standing.

"How are you feeling Lynn?" Mom asked me.

"…okay so far…" I utter.

"That's good. You shouldn't overdo it today. Make sure you give yourself the opportunity to rest," she spoke blandly. She was dancing around the topic and it made me even more anxious than I already was.

"Okay. So, the situation at hand." Dad unexpectedly urged. You could tell he was here to just tell it how it was. He wasn't a patient person.

"Yes," mom added.

"We have been talking since we left you yesterday. We stayed up last night and this morning. We have made our decision, but it doesn't come without hesitance. You two have been incredibly irresponsible and have broken laws! People see this repulsively, which I'm sure you already know."

"What your father is trying to say is, we are incredibly disappointed in your choices, but they are already done, and they lead to big consequences! You are our children, and we love you, but you need to understand where we come from when we say, you messed up big time!"

"Yes mom… we know… we don't go about this carelessly though. At least not as much as before. We understand that our actions came with consequences, but we are willing to accept them and go about them accordingly. Lacy, she's a baby. She didn't ask to be born, nor did she ask to have us as parents. Because of this, she shouldn't have to pay for our mistakes!" Lincoln worried.

"Yes. I agree. She is as innocent as they come, so she shouldn't be punished in any format. That is why we decided that you two will stay here until you can move out. Not every child has the opportunity to grow up with a mom and dad in their lives, so the fact that she can, shouldn't be taken away by us," mom spoke. My heart skipped a beat at this. They… they're actually letting us stay? Together?

"But there will be some changes. Although it's completely wrong and I disagree with it, you too will be moved into your and Lucy's room and Lucy will go to Lincoln's room so that you two can properly care for her together. This is all on your own. No help will be given. Under the idea that you two will stay in the same room, NO FUNNY BUSINESS EVER AGAIN UNDER MY ROOF! Got that?" Dad exasperated, eyeing mostly Lincoln. We were speechless. On top of letting us stay in the house, we will be sharing a room now? Something has to be up. We were just scared to mention it in case they would've changed their minds. We nodded in understanding.

"Yes. Of course, dad." Lincoln politely spoke.

"The minute we catch you doing anything wrong though, you're both out! Got that?" Mom threatened. Once again, we nodded in fear, yet gratitude. "Staying here is a privilege. This means that any and everything we don't approve of is an immediate kick out! There are no 3 strikes! This isn't a baseball game! Understood?!"

"Yes, understood," I spoke, soft, yet assuring. What's considered "not approved of" in their eyes anyway? Let me tell you, although we got to stay here, together, raising Lacy, I was scared as hell of messing up and getting kicked out. I don't want to be here any longer than planned, but I don't want to go prematurely either. This by itself was its own reason to stress, but as of now, I'm deciding to take it one day at a time. One moment at a time. And at this moment, I wanted to be with my daughter.

When we left the room, there felt to be such lightness to the air. A huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders, and it immediately lifted our moods. We stayed silent as we made our way upstairs. Once we were all the way up, we paused. It felt too good to be true. We glanced at each other, then back at the door. Remembering the fact that Lacy was sleeping, I softly knocked on the door. Lucy opened with a small smile.

"She's still asleep, and I managed to get her in her crib." She spoke.

"How?" Lincoln uttered to her.

"How what?" She questioned. He then looked around to make sure our parents weren't near, and urged us all inside the room, closing the door being us.

"How did this happen? You're always snooping in the vents and hiding and stuff. Did you hear?" He desperately asked. Her small smile fell into confusion and sadness.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know. They were very quiet about it all. All I know is this morning, they gathered us and told us the deal— that you two would have this room and that I'll be taking yours. I was then told to help move furniture with the others. As you can see, both of your beds are here, dad made sure they were separate with the crib in the middle. My bed and stuff are all in the other room already. I wish I knew more information, but to be honest, I'm just as lost and confused as you two. I'm happy they made this decision though. I think it's for the best." She smiled softly. I then went over to her and hugged her softly. She was a bit taken back at first, but she then hugged back.

"Thanks for always being there for us Lucy. You truly are the best of friends!"

"Uh… no problem… Lincoln, is she okay" she questioned. This made me laugh.

"Ha-ha, yeah, she may still be under some pain meds though," he chuckled, placing his hand in his back pockets, the other reaching up to swipe his hair back with a sigh. We were both exhausted and the bed? It looked mighty fine alright.

"Well I'm gonna go now, let you guys situate yourselves."

"Alright then, thanks again Lucy, for everything," Lincoln spoke.

"Yeah, of course," she smiled. She then made her way out the door and closed it behind her. I looked over at Lincoln and he looked over to me. I walked to him and hugged him, my head resting on his shoulder, giving a sigh of exhaustion.

"We should try to rest before she wakes up," he noted as he made circles on my back. I nodded, backing away from him, both my hands running down my hair that was placed in a low ponytail.

"Yeah, I agree, but this, this isn't gonna work," I pointed out, motioning both beds.

"It's not my ideal way of being but you heard mom and dad. If we make any mistakes, we're out."

"What are the odds of them coming in here with the rest of their children that need their attention and their 7 jobs that they seem to have?"

"First of all, they never paid attention to their children, and second, it's only 4; 2 jobs each." He noted with a chuckle.

"Ha-ha, thanks for the correction Lincoln. Now come on. Help me push them together."

"Okay, but how and where? This isn't exactly the biggest room and Lacy is sleeping in her crib, which is in the middle, therefore it would have to be moved enable to even think about moving anything else in here."

"Ugh! You're right… then let's just sleep on one until she wakes up. When she's awake and out of the crib, we'll move it. Good?"

"Yeah that works I guess." He shrugged. We then went to go lie down on his bed since we were always so used to that one. Like always, I slept on the inside, closer to the wall. I faced him and he faced me. He gently brushed a strand of hair out of my face and behind my ear as he smiled heavenly. I gripped on to his waist and drew in closer, to the point that my face was in his chest. I took in his smell as he stroked my hair. Things felt better, but not where they needed to be, and that made me even more anxious for the future. Can you just imagine?! Our own pace where we don't have to hide or feel the need to respect the rules of our parents! Just one more year…

A/N: Hey guys! So Yeah, I bet you're confused. Probbally thinking "That makes no sense! Why would they let them stay? WHY ON EARTH DID THEY ALLOW THEM TO SHAE A ROOM?" Well, there is a perfectly well explanation to that! Unfortunately, I can't tell you yet… sorry, but it's for the sake of the plot! Don't hate me! If I told you, the whole surprise I had for you would be revealed! Oh! And also, sorry this took so long to go up. I have been taking this time, since the uploading of the last chapter, just writing this one. I had no idea where to go about this chapter. This was the best version of my drafts. So I hope you enjoyed it!