Chapter Text
As it turned out, Cookie wasveryclingy when she got frightened. One of the things she needed to be able to calm down was close physical contact with someone she trusted; normally, she'd go to either of her adopted parents, but Lincoln fit the bill just fine under the present circ*mstances. Thus, she huddled close to his chest while sitting on his lap, with his wiry but superhumanly strong arms wrapped around her, until the mental strain finally lulled her to sleep. At which point, he got up from his resting place under a tree and carried her bridal-style to the address given to him by Ronnie. Ronnie's mother had texted her to come home for dinner, so she had to leave early.
Seeing that his hands were full when he arrived at Cookie's house, Lincoln used his foot to knock on the door. Her parents were understandably worried, but Lincoln used a text-to-speech app on his phone to explain who he was and what had transpired. Eternally grateful to Lincoln for saving their daughter yet again, Cookie's parents invited Lincoln to stay for dinner. After shooting a quick text to his parents, Lincoln accepted.
Cookie eventually woke up on her family's couch to find her dad in the kitchen cooking and her mom and Lincoln having a conversation at the dining room table. Lincoln, being mostly mute, typed his half of the conversation into his text-to-speech app. Cookie joined in the conversation herself for a while, then the four people ate. Lincoln and Cookie then watched TV while her parents washed the dishes and did other housework (Lincoln offered to help, but they wouldn't let him), and Lincoln struggled to figure out how someone so timid and mousey could be such a big fan ofARGGH!, a popular show presented by the "Academy of Really Good Ghost Hunters" (hence the title). That is, until Cookie explained thatARGGH!was so low-budget that the special effects that they used for their "paranormal activity" were blatantly obvious. Thus, she found the show to be amusing rather than scary.
The doorbell rang, causing Cookie to get a confused look on her face as she walked over to answer it. Standing on the porch was Jordan and her mother (Cookie's family had the misfortune of living in Jesse's HOA). Jesse looked furious, while Jordan looked embarrassed.
"The rulesclearlystate that the grass of a lawn can be a maximum of two inches long. Yours istwo-point-fiveinches," Jesse growled without even waiting for a proper greeting from the girl.
"Mom, just drop it! It's not that big of a deal!" Jordan protested. "And why doIhave to get dragged into this?"
"You're going to be taking my place someday, so I'm showing you how to properly deal with consistent rule-breakers," Jesse told her daughter before turning back to Cookie. "This is the third time I've had to warn you. Idemandthat you mow this lawnright nowbefore I fine you for unkempt grass!"
"Hey! I'll have you know that half an inch isnotenough to bother with!" Cookie said, matching Jesse's glare with her hands on her hips. "Furthermore, my parents work hard all day, and I medically can't push a mower by myself, so you can't expect us to perform around-the-clock lawn maintenance!"
Lincoln couldn't see the porch from the couch, so he was curious what all the yelling was about and went to investigate and possibly back up his new friend. The moment his and Jesse's eyes met, he scowled and made a menacing sound in his throat. His mood was lightened when he noticed Jordan standing behind her, though. Cookie recapped the situation to him, and he responded by offering to mow for her.
"Absolutely not!" Jesse screamed. "She has to do it herself, or else it doesn't count and they still get fined! So get to it! Chop chop!" Seeing that Cookie's parents were still occupied, Lincoln disregarded what she said and shouldered past her, marching to the small shed where Cookie's parents kept their landscaping tools. He had just started the lawnmower when two police cars pulled up in front of the house with their lights flashing. "THERE HE IS, OFFICERS! THERE'S THE THEIF!" Jesse hollered, waving wildly and pointing at Lincoln.
"Huh?!" Lincoln exclaimed the only word in English he could say without struggling to pronounce it. The animalistic hunter in him sensed danger and wanted to flee, but his rational side knew that would only sway the officers in Jesse's favor.
Unexpectedly, Jordan, Cookie, and even Cookie's parents put themselves between the police and Lincoln until both sides of the story could be heard. He didn't catch all of it due to his fight-or-flight response still being on high alert, but the gist of it was that Jesse was so angry that she called the police and falsely accused Lincoln of attempting to steal the lawnmower he had been about to use, as well as being seen using "gang signs" in public. He gradually allowed himself to relax and pulled out his phone to text his parents at the advice of Jordan.
That was when Jesse, hopping mad from being interrupted and contradicted for the last fifteen minutes, ran up to Lincoln and clobbered him with her heavy purse. With a loud grunt of pain, Lincoln grabbed his face in both hands and staggered backwards several steps, dropping his phone in the process and breaking the screen. Jordan and Cookie both ran to his side to see if he was alright, only to freeze in their tracks, along with everyone else. The blood that gushed from Lincoln's nostrils when he pulled his hands away was bright green and faintly glowing. Jesse, in the process of being shoved into the back of one of the police cars on charges of falsely calling the police, assault, and the destruction of property, was the first to react.
"I KNEW IT! FROM THE MOMENT I FIRST SAW HIM, I KNEW HE WAS A FREAK! SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM NOW!" The police were shaken out of their shock and slammed the door in Jesse's face, effectively ending her tirade. They apologized to everyone present and drove away, Jordan declining their offer for a ride home. Instead, she and Cookie escorted Lincoln inside, made him sit on the couch, and shoved a wad of tissues into his hands.
"Lincoln...why is your blood green?" Jordan asked while Lincoln stopped his bleeding nose. He was ashamed that his secret was revealed like this, yet at the same time relieved that he could finally be a little more open with them. What remained of his phone had been successfully recovered, but was unusable, so he had to force himself to talk in order to answer, since neither of the girls knew Sign Language. His voice was harsh, raspy, and phlegmy, like a blob of mucus being rubbed between two pieces of sandpaper.
"Yoo...hoo-mann," he began, pointing at the two girls. "Mee...haff...hoo-mann."
"You're only half human?" Jordan asked, and Lincoln nodded. "Well, what's your other half? Were you adopted?" Lincoln shook his head.
"Mom...hoo-mann. Reel...dad...ay-lee-ann. Frum...nuh-thurr...plann-att."
"Oh, I see," said Cookie. "Mrs. Loud is your biological mother, but your real dad is an alien!" Lincoln grinned and gave a thumbs-up, signifying that Cookie was correct. "Have you ever met him? Your real dad?" Lincoln shook his head.
"Mom...neh-vurr...mett...heem...ee-thurr. Dad...wuzz...doh-nurr. Mom...part...uv...ex-purr-ih-munt." Neither Jordan nor Cookie knew how to respond to that.
Once Lincoln managed to get his nose to stop bleeding, Cookie's dad gave him a ride home, where he was once more dog-piled by his younger sisters. Upon extracting himself from the pile of affection, he made his way to Lisa's laboratory. He healed a lot faster than ordinary humans (as in, a bad cut from trying to chop vegetables was gone in an hour), but he still wanted her to check that nothing was seriously wrong with his nose.
"You have nothing to fear, Lincoln. Your nose is just fine," Lisa reassured him. "However, I'm glad you came up here for another, unrelated reason. I have something that I think you would be interested in." She walked away and came back with a small tube of black plastic about the length of Lori's thumb and about three times as thick. The walls of the tube were as thin as Lincoln's T-shirt and moderately flexible. Lincoln looked at it in curiosity when she placed it in his palm. "This device, once surgically implanted in your trachea, or windpipe, will allow you to communicate more effectively with fellow humans without having to strain your vocal cords. I specifically designed its dimensions so that it will not obstruct your breathing. Furthermore, it is telepathically controlled. Should you encounter a member of your biological father's extraterrestrial species, you will be able to mentally switch it off to speak in your native tongue." Lincoln smiled and sniffed before unexpectedly lunging forward to wrap his arms around Lisa, something that would have been difficult to do given Lisa's shorter stature had Lincoln not been sitting on a stool. Lisa felt a damp spot form on her shirt where Lincoln's head was pressed against her stomach. "Am I correct in assuming that you approve?" she asked with a smile, patting the top of Lincoln's head. Lincoln nodded. "Are you willing to consent to the surgical procedure? With your capabilities, you should have a speedy recovery." He nodded again.
...
Three days later, Lincoln was at his first day of working for the Hunnicuts. Just as Lisa had predicted, he recovered remarkably fast from the surgery on his windpipe. His main task that day was tuning up the tractors and other machines for the quickly approaching summer months.
He was usually modest about it, but Lincoln had a head for engineering. When his older sister Lana wasn't available, Lincoln was the go-to person for fixing things like cars and lawnmowers. His long, bony fingers were especially useful for delicate repairs where a slip of the hand could make the problem worse. He was currently crouched at the back of one of the Hunnicuts' tractors, replacing the old, cracked fuel line.
"Lincoln! Lunchtime!" he heard Liam's mom Gladys call out.
"I'll be right there!" he called back. The new voice Lisa gave him was higher pitched than when he usually tried to speak, and occasionally cracked like a typical boy his age in the throes of puberty. He had conveyed his concerns about this to Lisa, and she told him she had specifically programmed it to deepen as he aged, just like a normal human's voice.
Lincoln ensured that the replacement fuel line wouldn't pop loose without warning, then made his way back to the farmhouse, where he was served a hamburger and baked beans for lunch. His alien heritage may have been to blame, but Lincoln liked his meat on the rare side. Notraw, of course, but definitely bloody.
"Didja get that fuel line fixed?" Glenn asked him while they ate.
"Yessir. I put some more air in the tires, too," Lincoln replied between bites.
"Good. Tell ya what, I'll keep goin' on the tractors if you'll help Meemaw milk the cows this afternoon. When you're done with that, sweep out the chicken coop and call it a day," said Glenn.
Before Lincoln could reply, his recently repaired smartphone rang. After Lisa fixed it while he was still anesthetized from his surgery, he'd told all of his friends about his new voice, so now they could call him instead of waiting for him to text back-and-forth. Lincoln was startled to see Ronnie's name on the caller ID, as she was supposed to be in the middle of class right now. He answered it, and the voice on the other end sounded like it was crying.
"Ronnie? What's wrong?" he asked.
"H-h-hey, Linc. I'm fine, but I, uh...I could really use some moral support right now," Ronnie said between sobs.
"Why? What happened?"
"For starters, I stayed home from school because Bobby got sick and Mom and Dad both had to work. I just got a call from the hospital saying Mom and Dad got in a bad wreck. Mom's okay, but Dad took the brunt of the damage. They don't know if he's gonna make it. Can you come give me a hand?"
"Sure. Where are you now?" Lincoln asked.
"Bobby and I are both at the hospital."
"Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes." Lincoln hung up and looked at Glenn, who smiled.
"Well don't just sit there! Get outta here! Don't keep her waiting!" he said.
