Well guys here is the last part of this Lincoln and Kat story. I will save my long winded notes for the end.

Chapter 4: The Talk

It was a wonderful day in Royal Woods. The temperature was a nice seventy-four with a decent breeze that made it feel just a few degrees cooler. The sky was a nice crisp and clean blue, clear of any clouds. Lincoln arrived at the park a few minutes before noon. He walked around the path that coiled around the park, looking for any sign of Kat. He told her to meet him near the pond at the center of the park where all the ducks sat and waited to be fed by old ladies and little kids. He passed buy a picnic area where a family larger than his all sat around and grilled hotdogs and ate potato salad while talking and played games of tag and tossed the old pig skin around. It was indeed a wonderful day, and it was about to become a perfect day.

Not to far away was a park bench that was close to a tall older man selling ice cream from a little cart. He wore a paper hat and an apron with a white and black pattern like a cow. He jingled a little bell and sang a song about ice cream that Lincoln imagined he wrote with his gray haired wife he probably called Ma. Sitting on the bench was Kat, a mint chocolate chip cone in her hand. Lincoln knew it would be mint chocolate chip, even before he saw the green scope of ice cream that sat on the brown waffle cone. She looked to Lincoln and smiled and waved, appearing to be very eager to see him. This made Lincoln smile back as his heart drummed a beat that sounded like Luna going to town on a pair of bongos. Lincoln picked up the pace and stopped at the bench.

"Hey." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey." Kat said back, her eyes darting from the ground to the cute white haired boy that made her heart pitter patter beneath her chest.

Both kids smiled and looked at each other for a moment, their eyes slowly moving from their shoes, up until they locked each others gaze. There was a brief awkward silence between the two of them, neither one really knowing how to say what they both had wanted to say. The words were all there, stuck in a jumbled mess in their heads, like puzzle pieces scattered in a box and shoved way to the back of the closet.

"So uh, I'm glad you decided to come." He told her.

"I'm glad you texted me."

"Yeah I am to." He said, catching her eyes again.

"So how did you like the comic?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, well to be honest I haven't read it yet."

"Oh." Kat sounded a little hurt.

Lincoln immediately took notice, feeling a small twinge of guilt that he had still not looked at the present she got him. Sure he had a good reason, but he could have at least taken the time to flip through it.

"I plan to, I am actually looking forward to it." He quickly commented, trying to recover from his verbal stumble. "And it was really cool of you to do that. I just have had something else on my mind lately."

"Oh." She said. "What was that?"

"Well … you." Lincoln reached out and took hold of Kat's hand, smiling at her.

Kat fought the urge to scream at the top of her lungs. She knew that if Jordi were with her there would be lots of screams and frantic dancing around. They hated the fact that they acted like this around boys, but they could not fight their basic instincts. Kat was fighting hard to hold hers back.

"I've been thinking about you alot to." She confessed.

They shared a smile and began to walk around the park holding hands. Kat noticed a few people looking their direction, mainly adults and older people. She imagined they were talking among themselves, remarking how adorable the two of them looked together. She could not argue the fact, as she thought they were dang cute together as well.

The feel of Lincoln's hand in hers made her heart swell and her spirit sore. She felt like she was on cloud nine, whatever that had meant. It also help calm the shaky nerves and butterflies that came with the thought of trying to talk to Lincoln about her feelings. She was worried she would spoil this moment that felt so right and so natural.

"So I guess it's safe to assume that we both like each other." He said.

"Seems like a safe bet."

"So, I guess now we just have to figure out what we are." He said.

Kat noticed the change in his voice. There was a hint of sadness there, like he was worried about what was coming. She was not sure what brought it on, but she did not like it. The thought of Lincoln being sad tugged at her heart strings and made her frown just a bit.

"Guess so."

"Mind if we sit while we chat?" Lincoln motioned for her to take a seat on another park bench. They had walked a good ways away from the old man selling the ice cream. Kat had finished her cone, and they were now near a rocky area where a flock of birds played and pecked at the seed left by an anonymous feeder. A fat black crow kawed and chased off a few smaller birds that were looking to get at a few peanuts that someone had dropped.

"Sure." Kat said, taking a seat. Lincoln sat down next to her, so close she could feel the warmth of his leg against hers. She liked being that close to him, it made her feel safe and special.

"Kat I really like you." He said.

"I feel a but coming." Kat said, getting a chuckle from Lincoln.

"I'm uh, I'm not sure that I'm really ready for a girlfriend yet." Lincoln confessed. His breath went short and his heart beat like a jackhammer trying to burst through his chest. His nerves were ablaze as he waited for Kat to tell him he was a jerk and she never wanted to seem him again.

"Oh." She said.

As much as Lincoln was glad that she did not rip into him, the simple word she spoke in the heart broken tone, had stung him much worse than the slap to the face he imagined he might have gotten.

"I'm not lying when I say I like you a lot." He told her, trying to reassure her that he did in fact have feelings for her. "I feel like there is something really special with us. I feel comfortable with you, while at the same time you make the butterflies in my stomach get butterflies in their stomachs."

Kat giggled.

"I just think that I am kind of young to be in a serious relationship." Lincoln made sure to take a firm grasp of Kat's hand as he talked her, looking her in the those beautiful green eyes of hers. "That does not mean we can't be friends, get to know each other better and work our way up to being boyfriend and girlfriend."

Kat looked away from Lincoln, her eyes settling on a couple of birds with blue and gray feathers that squawked at each other. It looked like they were having an argument over which one would get the remaining peanut that a crow had left behind. What Lincoln was telling her hurt, but she had to admit that it made some sense. In the end she felt the same kind of potential with him. And she knew that if she rushed it, things could just end up ending badly for the both of them. It would infact, almost be another Chandler situation all over again.

"I understand if you don't want to be friends after this." Lincoln told her, starting to loosen his grip on her hand.

Kat quickly turned back to Lincoln and smiled at him. She squeezed his hand gently. "Lincoln I really like you." She told him. "I have not stopped thinking about you since we hung out at Burpin Burger. And more then once I have thought about kissing you."

Lincoln could feel his cheeks going flush as she mentioned kissing him. The thought had actually entered his mind on a couple of occasions as well.

"So ... I have no plans of going anywhere. I think that you're worth the wait." Kat said. "That we are worth the wait. So if you want to take it slow, then we can take it slow."

Lincoln smiled, a great weight having been lifted from his shoulders. He had tossed and turned in his little twin sized bed all night as his mind was filled with thoughts and concerns as to just how Kat would handle the talk he knew he had to have with her. He was more than relieved to know that she willing to take things slow for the time being.

Kat held on to Lincoln's hand, scooting closer to him on the bench. She rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the birds and looked out over the pond. She was a little sad that she would not be getting the kiss that she had been thinking and dreaming about. Still, she knew it was only a matter of time before she would get what she wanted. He was right, there was something magical between them, she thought that she felt it that day at Burpin Burger. With him now at the park, the way her heart fluttered and her mind was in a sort of fuzzy and warm kind of calm, she could feel it again. They would be in love, they would be together, and eventually she would finally get to kiss the boy that stole her heart.

End

So I hope you guys liked how this ended. I will admit that the first draft had them getting together as a couple, but the more I thought about it the more it felt like Lincoln would want to wait and go slow. And it felt right for Kat to decide to go along, despite the fact that she appears to already be in love with the poor boy.

Now if the ending was not to your liking because you want Kat and Lincoln to be together, well I can only say this. While working on this story a thought struck me, a single word. Trilogy. I mean they are all the rage in Hollywood. And with Christmas coming up, well I feel the need to starting giving out presents, even to those within the Loudverse.

Mike The Red Engine - Glad you enjoyed the story up until this point. I hope the end was worked for you.

Codymitchell1 - Hope you enjoyed the story.

J-Russ - I have never once ... (eyes dart back and forth) ... thought of REALLY hurting anyone within the Loudverse ... (nervous whistling) ...

And finally I am about eighty percent done with my next story. I hope to have it out either next week or the week after.

As always thanks for reading and hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have a good one. Those that don't ... well have a kick ass regular Thursday.