62

"Well, what if we go home now?" Lincoln wanted to take Leni's hand, but Leni pushed him away and walked away on her own with her eyes lowered. This is strange to Lisa and Lincoln, but they don't take it too seriously. They assumed she just needed to be on her own; after all, she had shed a huge weight off her shoulders. A weight she's been carrying for over a year.

-At Loud's house-

Lincoln was on the lap of his mother, who showered him with kisses as they told her what had happened in the garden and what was happening to Leni.

"My little hero," Rita said, hugging Lincoln so tightly that her family feared it would split him in two.

"Rita, calm down; you're hurting him." Mr. Lynn is worried about his son.

Rita released her son. "My baby has already saved his sister twice; I'm so proud of you."

"I would do anything for my sisters." Lincoln rubs his arms in pain from that embrace.

Luna approached Lincoln and hugged him as tightly as his mother, and her other sisters followed. "We will do anything for you, brother, anything." In the crowd, Luna jumped at the opportunity to fondle Lincoln's buttocks, but she wasn't the only one; Lynn caressed her fingertips at Lincoln's crotch while Lucy smelled her brother's hair. No one noticed this except for Lincoln, who only sensed what Lynn was doing to him.

"Okay, enough of brother's love." Lori was carrying a bag of clothes. "We have to go to Great Lakes City, remember?"

"Oh, that's right, girls and Lincoln, pack your things; your father and I will do the same, and someone help Lincoln pack." Rita ordered.

Lucy, Luna, and Lynn soon offer to help Lincoln, but since Lucy is faster, she wins the right.

"But Mom, if we're not here, how is Santa going to deliver our presents?" Lily asks worriedly, her eyes sparkling.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Santa will leave the presents, I promise." Rita patted Lily on the head.

While the other sisters packed up to spend Christmas with the Casagrande, Lucy was downstairs with Lincoln, helping him pack his clothes.

"Thank you for helping me, Lucy."

"No problem, Lincoln." Among Lincoln's things, Lucy notices a duffel bag full of wrinkled clothes with the words Laundry etched on a square piece of leather, written in plain script and Braille. Among the clothes that emerged from the bag, Lucy noticed that the garment that stood out from the rest was a black boxer. Lucy took the dress and fondled it with her thumb, and Lincoln was only busy sorting out what he was going to take because all his clothes were dirty. Lola could not wash all the clothes. Lucy took advantage of it to bring Lincoln's underwear up to her nose and sniff them; it had a strong but pleasant scent, and suddenly she came to herself and noticed what she was doing. Lucy threw the underwear into the bag, which she later regretted. She wanted to go on smelling it; she wanted to be able to please herself with her brother's scent. She was lost in her own thoughts when Lincoln caught her attention as he spoke into her ear.

"Do you like my scent?"

which made Lucy jump. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lincoln."

Lincoln hugged Lucy from behind. "I'm talking about you smelling my underwear like a pervert."

The normally pale skin of Lucy's face turned pink from the blood pooling underneath from embarrassment. "How did you know?"

Lincoln tapped his finger on his ear three times. "My hearing is sharper now; I already told you. And it's not the only thing that's increased." Lincoln began rubbing Lucy's intimate place above her skirt with his middle and index fingers. "My sense of touch has also improved." Lincoln lifted Lucy's skirt to begin stimulating her in her underwear.

Lucy started to get wet there when she felt her brother's touch. "Lincoln, stop. Please stop." Lucy tried to lock her legs, but Lincoln pulled them apart.

"Come on, Lucy, you can't fool me. You want this. No?..."

"No, that's not true." Lucy was trying in vain to gather her legs together.

"So why are you so wet?" Lincoln ripped off Lucy's clothes. "Don't lie to me; you want it, and I'll give it to you." Lincoln put Lucy to bed in his sleeping bag, unzipped the zipper, and settled down to start moving. "Oh Lucy. Oh Lucy. Lucy. Lucy... Lucy?... Lucy wake up!"

Lucy awoke in Lincoln's arms, her pants intact. "What happened to me?"

"You passed out." Lincoln touched Lucy's face and noticed that something came out of her nostrils—a liquid with a metallic smell. "Oh my God, Lucy, you're bleeding!" Lincoln turned over an unpacked backpack and fumbled with his hands until he found what he was looking for—a white bag with a red cross emblazoned on it. It was a first-aid kit.

The boy opened it and took out two cotton rollers and a packet of wet towels. Because it was so perfectly organized, he could find what he was looking for more easily.

Lincoln proceeded to clean his sister's nostrils with the towels and put a little cotton wool in each nostril. "Are you okay, Lucy? What happened? Why did you pass out?"

Lucy can't tell Lincoln why she fainted—not alive, not dead, not walking dead. So she decided to lie to him. "I think I'm just low on sugar."

Lincoln could hear the rapid beating of his Gothic sister's heart but attributed it to her fainting Show. "Then sit down; I'll finish packing." Lincoln puts Lucy in his sleeping bag and gives her store-bought candy on the way home with Lisa and Leni after Robert's arrest.