A/N: Oh, guys, I am so sorry for the wait. I feel so bad.

But I hope you like this. I know it's on the short side but I hope it's still fun for you guys. For those of you who have seen Frozen, there's a Do You Wanna Build a Snowman tone to it. I hope you like it!

Chapter 17

"Cartoons"

July, 1968

Two-Bit was at home already by the time Lucy got there. He heard the truck pull up outside, heard her door slam shut, heard the truck pull out, but couldn't make himself move from the couch. It wasn't until she came in the house that he finally wrenched his gaze away from the blank tv.

He knew instantly by the look on her face that Scott had told her everything. He slowly got to his feet, not averting his eyes for even a second. For a second Lucy didn't move but then she was in his arms, hugging him as tightly as she could manage. "I don't want to go," she whispered.

"You won't," he managed to whisper back. He knew it was true. She wouldn't go. He would fight, he'd do anything he had to, sell anything he had to. She wasn't going anywhere.

"What if we can't fight him? What if it messes us up too much? I don't want you to lose everything-"

"Hey." His voice sounded stern, steady. Silently, he wondered how it got that way. He didn't feel steady at all. "Listen to me. We won't lose it all. We won't be messed up. We are in this together. This is our home, Luce. Our home, our friends, our family. Don't let him split us up from that way of thinking. This is our life and we're going to protect it, okay?'

Lucy looked up at him with big, desperate brown eyes. Suddenly, Two-Bit was lost in a memory, a memory of Lucy staring at him with those same eyes as they waited for news of their mom. He felt an overwhelming urge, an overwhelming need, to protect her. He would stop Scott, no matter what. He would not let her be uprooted and dragged away from her home and friends, away from him.

"Two-Bit?" she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I wish he didn't come back."

"I know." He hugged her tightly again.

She was quiet for a few minutes before letting out a sudden noise of anger and frustration. "What the hell is he thinking? How is this fair? You know when he could have come back? Eight years ago! Not now! Not now that we're settled and we don't need him! Because we don't! We don't need him!"

"I know," he whispered soothingly. "I know, Luce…"

"He ain't a good person, Two-Bit! He's a monster and I wish he'd just leave us alone! We don't deserve this! We don't need him to try to replace mom! He can't! He can't just expect that he can pick up where he left off, he can't just uproot everything! It ain't gonna happen! Tell me it ain't gonna happen!"

"It ain't gonna happen," he said softly. "You know that."

"Face it," she said in a quiet, furious tone. "Neither of us know that. He always gets what he wants."

"Not this." Two-Bit forced her to look at him. "Not this, Lucy."

She dissolved into tears of anger, hurt, and fear. Two-Bit hugged her close and sat with her on the couch. Eventually, she was all cried out and they sat, neither of them knowing what to say but neither of them wanting to move. Emotional exhaustion kicked in not too long after and they both drifted in and out of sleep without moving an inch.

"Get up…." Lucy tugged at his arm hopelessly. Two-Bit fought a smile as he turned his face into his pillow more. "You moved!" she gasped. "Come on, please? I know you're awake! Please, watch cartoons with me? Oh, please!"

Two-Bit slowly turned his head to her with a small smile. "Is Mom home?"

"No, she had to work." Lucy stuck out her lower lip, a trick that she normally didn't try anymore except that it worked on Two-Bit every time.

"Then pancakes first," he said, stifling a yawn.

"Really?" Her brown eyes lit up.

"Really. Go down and get the stuff out."

Lucy vanished out of his bedroom and Two-Bit chuckled to himself as he swung himself out of bed and stretched. It had been about a year since their father had left them and it was only recent that Lucy had started waking him with a spark in her eye. For a while, she'd been so down that he and his mom had started getting concerned. Then his mother would get concerned about him and say, "This isn't your problem, Two-Bit."

"But she is my problem," he'd mutter to himself as she walked away.

Now, he headed down to the kitchen, dressed for the day. "Hey, kid." He ruffled her hair. "What are you doing?"

Lucy was on the floor of the kitchen, rag in hand, trying to clean spilled flower. She looked up with wide eyes. "I came in and it had fallen," she told him. If he didn't know what a good little liar she was, he might have believed it.

"Liar," he told her and crossed his arms as if he were angry, as if he could ever be angry with her. "Now why would you lie to me?"

Lucy stuck out her lower lip again and looked at him with wide eyes. "I didn't want you to be mad at me…"

Two-Bit smiled to himself and knelt down beside her. "I'm not. But next time, just tell me okay? I'll help you clean up any mess, any time. Okay?"

"Okay…"

"Chin up." He grinned and dabbed a couple of fingers in the flour, tilting her chin up.

Lucy grinned at him mischievously and stuck her hand in the flower then hit him on the arm. She then covered her mouth with her hand, leaving a flower patch over it. Two-Bit laughed and shook his head. She realized her mistake and groaned, pulling a "darn it" face that she used constantly.

They made breakfast together and Two-Bit wondered what would happen when she got older. He wondered what would happen when she decided that she didn't need him this much. What would he do when he wasn't her hero? He brushed the thought aside. That problem was a good few years away, he shouldn't worry about it yet.

"Now can we watch cartoons?" Lucy asked eagerly, taking a last bite of pancakes.

Two-Bit pretended to inspect her plate then nodded. "Okay."

Lucy grinned at him and bolted to the living room. "Mickey Mouse! Let's watch Mickey Mouse!"

Two-Bit laughed. "Why ain't I surprised, kid?"

"Don't call me a kid." She scowled at him.

Two-Bit grinned. "You can't stop me. I'm bigger than you."

Lucy stuck out her tongue and crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a huff. Two-Bit grinned and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed loudly, laughing as he ran around the living with her before letting out an exaggerated, "Too heavy!" He tumbled to the floor, Lucy shrieking the whole way. "Man, you are getting too big for me to pick on. It's a problem."

Lucy glared at him but she couldn't stop a small laugh. "You're such a freak."

"You would miss me."

"Yeah."

Two-Bit slowly came back to reality, blinking restless sleep out of his eyes. He rubbed his face lightly. Lucy stirred at his movement and groaned lightly, opening her eyes.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"No, I wasn't really sleeping anyway. Just dozing." She was quiet for several minutes, wearing a look that he quickly had pegged as a not happy look. "Two-Bit?" she finally whispered, in a quiet voice that once again showed her vulnerability.

He roared into big brother action. "Yeah?"

"Will you please watch cartoons with me?" she asked quietly.

Two-Bit felt a small smile play at his lips. "Yeah." He got up and turned on the tv, settled on a Mickey show, and joined her on the couch.

He watched Lucy more than the show, thinking about that time when she was a kid. They used to watch cartoons together a lot and somehow the tradition had gotten lost, just like their relationship for a while.

When he was a kid, he used to worry about the inevitable time when she stopped needing him. For a while over the past year, he'd thought that that time had finally come. But he was now realizing that the time would never come. Lucy was still a little girl underneath it all and when it came down to it, she would always need him. And he would always be there. Scott could not stop that. He wouldn't let him.