'Oh, Lincoln, what could you possibly have gotten yourself into this time?' Lisa thought to herself as she read the letter that had been slipped underneath her door. Lincoln had requested that she meet him in his room as soon as possible to discuss what Lincoln's letter referred to as "a crisis of such magnitude that only the most sound of mind should attempt to diffuse." Lisa sneered at the foreboding urgency of his plea for two reasons.

One, any crisis on that level were mostly the results of her own scientific blunders which, if you asked her, were far and few between and caused by variables that no one, not even a genius such as herself, should be held accountable for.

Two, the letter also mentioned that Leni had been invited to this meeting of the minds and in her opinion, the last thing Leni Loud should be called is of "the most sound of mind".

Regardless of her cynicism, Lisa decided that nothing Lincoln was troubled with would be difficult enough for her brain to figure out and that his dilemma might invite a worthwhile challenge. Locking away all of her chemicals and dangerous lab equipment, in order to prevent anyone from tampering with them, Lisa headed to Lincoln's room, ignoring the umpteenth squabble between Lana and Lola that apparently demanded the middle of the hallway to settle their dispute.

'Such children,' Lisa condescendingly remarked to herself as she finally made it to Lincoln's room, opening the door and shutting it behind her. She found Lincoln sitting on his bed, looking rather somber, and Leni, seated right in front of him on a chair and an empty chair placed next to her. She looked over to Lisa and waved cheerfully at her but Lincoln didn't even give her a passing glance.

"Have a seat, Lisa," Lincoln instructed as he pointed to the empty chair next to Leni.

"If you insist, Lincoln," Lisa complied rather disinterestedly and went to take her designated spot. She was beginning to feel more and more disappointed with this turn of events. Everything seemed rather mundane and lackluster, no volatile elements ready to explode, no incoming danger that needed quick wits to surmount. It was just so drab and Lincoln doing his best to retain an air of gravitas was beginning to tire Lisa's thinning patience.

"Now then, you may be wondering why I called you two in here," Lincoln solemnly proclaimed. To no surprise of her own, Lisa found Leni was on the edge of her seat, gripped with anticipation and wonder as to where Lincoln was going with this. Lisa, on the other hand, was not in the least impressed and made sure to let Lincoln know as sarcastically as she could.

"Oh, yes. The suspense is killing me. I can hardly contain my restlessness."

That earned a quirked eyebrow and slight frown from the white haired preteen, "Restlessness or sarcasm?"

"Touché."

That remark snapped Leni out of her slightly dazed stupor as she let out a sharp gasp. She turned her attention to Lisa, arms folded and eyebrows slanted in order to show off her disapproval.

"Lisa! You shouldn't be using such dirty language! Didn't our parents teach you better?"

Lisa was quick to understand the source of Leni's indignation and rolled her eyes as she explained, "'Touché', Leni, not 'tushie'."

At the second mention of the "naughty" word, Leni reached over and clamped her hand over Lisa's mouth.

"Stop saying that! You keep that up and I'm telling Mom and Dad!"

"Guys! Focus!" Lincoln exclaimed. It was clear that his plan wouldn't work under the pretense of some life changing, earth shattering event if Lisa and Leni were at each other's throats so he decided to get to the heart of the matter quickly. Both girls turned their attention back to Lincoln after muttering out a brief apology, though Lisa's was muffled under Leni's hand previously being over her mouth.

"Okay, look, I need the two of you to help me out with..." Lincoln looked back behind him and reached under his blanket to pull out the object of his anxiety. In his hands were a torn up pair of dress pants. A few spots of saliva were drabbled all over the remaining fabric. Tiny little holes were patched in several areas. Half of one of the legs was completely torn off. "This."

Both girls remained silent as they absorbed the scene in front of them. Leni looked rather disturbed while Lisa looked on in her usual stoic, indifferent attitude.

"I know. It's pretty shocking. Now, I realize that this is nothing short of…"

"…a social disaster just waiting to happen?" Leni finished for him.

"The utter neglect of an inattentive mind?" Lisa chimed in.

"A misguided attempt at subverting fashion trends for something unique but impractical?" Leni suggested.

"A severe letdown of what I expected to be a somewhat interesting revelation?" Lisa asked dryly with little intent to be courteous. A pair of torn up pants? Was that really the best Lincoln had to offer? Lincoln shot down all four conjectures in record time.

"No, no, no, and no. This is what you're going to be focusing on helping me out with as long as you're willing to get me out of a jam," Lincoln handed Leni the pants before he spun his woeful tale "Ronnie Anne and I are going out to eat with her family in a few hours and I saved up just enough money to get some new dress pants for the occasion since it's the first time I've really gotten to see them outside of Bobby. Unfortunately, Charles got in the shopping bag and tore them up when I wasn't looking so I figured that with the sewing of Leni and the brains of Lisa, I could get the pants looking as good as new before Ronnie's parents show up to pick me up at 6 o'clock."

Lisa finally understood her brother's peril. The last time she checked the time, it was a quarter after one and with how much time was winding down on him, she figured that this was a last ditch effort to make a good impression with his girlfriend's family. She mulled over possibilities on how to deal with this disaster while Leni looked over the pants from all angles. After a few minutes, she sighed in defeat and handed the pants back to Lincoln.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln, but there's not a lot I can do with this in just a few hours. For a renovation like this, I'd need to knit one, purl two, knit three, purl four, knit five, purl six, knit seven, purl e…"

"I get it, Leni," Lincoln softly interjected, getting how hopeless his situation was. He'd just have to go with his usual casual wear, even though he knew that he'd stick out like a sore thumb and he'd probably be sore after Ronnie Anne gave him a thrashing for seemingly not attempting to make a good impression. "Thanks anyways. Guess I'll just have to call it off and…"

"Wait a second, Lincoln. Theoretically speaking, I may have an idea that could help you out." Lisa was not about to see her brother forlorn over matters of love and although she passed over that one idea in her head before, perhaps, there was a chance that it could work.

"Really? What is it?" Lincoln asked with a glimmer of hope in his voice. Lisa sensed this and wanted to quickly cut off any chance of frantic hope sprouting.

"I can't tell you yet because I don't want to get your hopes entirely up but I don't see why my proposition should end in total calamity." Lisa calmly explained.

"You think you can get it done by 6 o'clock?" Lincoln knew that this task would be painstakingly difficult, even for Lisa and Leni's talents, and wanted to be sure that this wasn't something that she wanted to do out of obligation.

"An effortless endeavor such as this? It shouldn't be much of a problem. But I will need Leni's help for this. Leni, do you mind?"

Leni, who was upset about feeling helpless just a few seconds ago, perked up immediately when she realized that maybe all hope wasn't truly lost after all.

"Of course not! Anything for Lincoln!" Leni chirped.

Lincoln, overcome with emotion, ran over and hugged both sisters tightly.

"Thanks, you two! You're the best sisters eve…" Before Lincoln could continue singing their praises, he had a feeling that Lisa would want something out of this. "Wait a second…there's no way that you're doing all of this for free, Lisa. What's in it for you if you help me?" Lincoln pulled away to see Lisa looking as though she was contemplating Lincoln's words.

"Hmmmm…I suppose helping you out with your dilemma in favor of delaying my own scientific pursuits could be morally gratifying…" Lisa began, rubbing her chin as she looked up at the ceiling. Perhaps Lincoln was wrong to judge her so quickly…

"…buuuuuut I'm afraid I'm far too pragmatic to allow my efforts to be wasted on pure sentimentality. I'll need some compensation for this undertaking. How about you agree to be my test monkey for all of experiments and you object to absolutely nothing that I ask of you? That seems rather reasonable, wouldn't you agree?"

And there it was. Lincoln figured that it was too good to be true but then again, she had a tall order ahead of her, no matter how much aplomb she expressed in dealing with it swiftly.

"Okay. How long do I have to do that?"

"A month." Lisa sharply demanded.

"How about a week?" Lincoln bartered.

"Three weeks."

"Two?"

"Three. Take it or leave it."

"Okay, okay, fine. Three weeks," Lincoln turned to Leni. "I suppose you want something out of this too, Leni?"

Leni shook her head and flashed him her sunshine filled grin. "Helping you out is a reward enough, Lincoln. Don't sweat it…whatever 'it' is."

Lincoln wanted to tear up but knew that now was not the time for waterworks. He handed his ruined pants back to Leni and looked on as both sisters left him to get to work. Lincoln reached out and grabbed Bun-Bun and held him close to him for dear life. He needed all the moral support he could get as the clock ticked down and his future with Ronnie Anne hanged in the balance.


Lincoln paced around outside of Lisa's room as soon as he realized that the time had reached 5:54 PM. He saw Leni and Lisa leave Lisa's room a few times to go off and do something related to the task at hand but he didn't dare get in the way of progress by asking them for updates. Had he done that several times, who knew how much closer it'd be to 6'o clock than it already was? Finally, the door opened and before him, stood a triumphant Lisa Loud, a pair of pants that resembled what he had before Charles had chewed them up. He grabbed them hastily and shuffled out of his pants he was already wearing in favor of trying the repaired pair out. Too his amazement, they felt even better than the original one that he had picked out.

"Amazing! You actually did it!"

Lisa smugly pushed her glasses up her nose and chuckled at Lincoln's glee.

"Of course. Did you honestly doubt me and my ingenuity? Well, that and Leni's sewing skills. Seriously, that girl could sew a leak in a dam under an hour if she put her mind to it."

Leni! How could Lincoln forget about her?

"Oh yeah, where is Leni anyways?"

Lisa pulled the door back further, revealing Leni wiped out on the floor. Lincoln cringed as she saw empty cups littered around her and her fingers wrapped up in several bandages.

"She tuckered out shortly after she was sure she was finished. She drank at least five caffeine boosted smoothies to keep up with the demand of the job. Gotta hand it to her, Lincoln, even I didn't know she had it in her."

Even though Leni told him that he didn't have to worry about getting her anything, Lincoln promised to himself that he'd make this up to her somehow.

"Thanks a lot, you two. I really owe you both," Lincoln reached out and embraced Lisa in a hug. Lisa wasn't one for physical signs of affection, she figured that this was one of the few times where it was warranted. She hugged him back but quickly pulled away when she remembered on last detail she had yet to disclose to him.

"Pleasantries aside, I must warn you that…"

They were both interrupted by the sound of Lincoln's phone vibrating. Lincoln quickly retrieved it and looked at the screen. He jumped a bit after reading the message that was sent to him just a few seconds ago.

"Shoot! Ronnie Anne's outside with her parents! Sorry, Lisa, but I have to get going!"

Lincoln bolted down the hallway to reach the stairs, leaving Lisa behind.

"Lincoln, wait!" she called. It was no use. Lincoln was on his way out the door, her warning not being able to reach out to him in time. She sighed in irritation and realized that rather than worry about it, she would just text him later. She went back in her room and realized that Leni was starting to wake up.

"Lisa, what's…" Leni's sentence was broken by a yawn and her need to stretch her arms over her head. "…what's the matter?"

As Lisa went to go grab all the empty smoothie cups that littered her floor, she explained herself.

"It's the synthetic fibers I created for you to sew into the tatters. I tested the integrity of their stability under the exposure of common elements and for the most part, they're very sturdy. However, I came across a discovery that something amiss will happen if the fibers come into direct contact with water."

"Like what?"

"Well…"


For the most part, Lincoln could confidently say that his experience with Ronnie Anne's family was one to remember. After picking him from his house, they all unanimously voted to eat at the Beijing Bistro. After they arrived, Bobby met up with them a few minutes later in their own car. As they sat around their table, Lincoln instantly became the center of attention from Mr. and Mrs. Santiago, both parents wanting to know more from the boy that was dating their daughter. To Lincoln's relief, both of her parents gladly accepted Lincoln and Ronnie's relationship, although the constant doting from them over how cute they supposedly looked together was a bit too much and more than embarrassing. Sensing this, Bobby couldn't help but butt in to make a few teasing comments of his own. The only tense thing that occurred was when Lincoln felt a text come in on his phone and before he had time to check on it. Mr. Santiago put a stop to it, fervidly insisting that he not play around with his phone while they were all trying to get to know each other.

All in all, Lincoln was happy that he was able to get in Ronnie Anne's parents' good graces and sighed a breath of relief once he was pulled up in front of his house again. Instead of returning with Ronnie's parents, Bobby had decided to take them by himself while his folks went off to meet some relatives that had come into town recently. Lincoln went to get up and leave but as soon as he was out the car, Ronnie Anne stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Mind if I come inside? I need to thank Lori in person."

"About what?" asked Lincoln, confused by both her request and the small little smirk in the corner of her face.

"About the dress she picked out for me. You couldn't stop staring at me," she responded coquettishly, taking great pleasure in the way that Lincoln's entire face took on a shade of bright red, almost matching the same color as her dress.

"Y-yeah well…h-how's that different from usual?" Lincoln fired back, still embarrassed but at least happy that Ronnie Anne was taken aback by his remark about her.

"Weirdo," she mumbled under her breath and walked ahead of him to his front door, hoping that he didn't catch a glimpse of her own blush. Before they could even reach up the stairs, the door bolted open and a screaming Lola ran out, away from a cackling Lana, who had a water gun locked and loaded.

"Get away from me! Moooooom! Daaaaaaaaad!" Despite her yelling and call for help, Lola still couldn't get Lana off of her tail, who was gaining on her fast, a result of Lola's tight, pink dress not allowing her tiny legs to carry her off as fast as she wanted.

"No escape! No forgiveness!" Lana fired back as she moved in on her sister. To her chagrin, Lola took a sudden turn back around, while avoiding a stream of water she shot out. That didn't stop her from returning to her objective as quickly as possible and turned back around immediately to give chase again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Instead of trying to outrun Lana again, Lola decided to take shelter behind Lincoln, looking out from behind his back to noticed a grinning Lana running towards her at full speed.

"Get back here, Lola! You still gotta pay!" Lana declared in wild abandon, looking to get behind Lincoln to get to Lola. Lola noticed this and took to running around Lincoln to avoid her maniacal twin's malicious intent. Although Ronnie Anne found the spectacle amusing, Lincoln was more than fed up.

"Guys enou…" A sudden wave of ice cold splashed him below the belt. Both twins paused as what just happened occurred to everyone; Lana had accidentally blasted Lincoln trying to get to Lola. Although it was a fruitless effort, Lana quickly tossed the water gun away and smiled sheepishly at Lincoln.

"Oops. Uhhhhhh…sorry, bro," Lana profusely apologized, rubbing her arm up and down with her other hand and doing her best to look more remorseful than she actually was. It seemed to do the trick since instead of chewing her out for being careless, Lincoln simply bent over to retrieve the water gun off the front lawn.

"Just please get back inside. Both of you."

"But she started iiiiiiiiiiiit," Lola whined, not liking how Lincoln seemed to group her with Lana's reprehensible behavior. And all because she used one of Lana's frogs as practice for proper make-up application, too. Was that so wrong?!

"Now."

The twins knew they had better get going before they incite Lincoln's irritation to full blown wrath so just as quickly as they ran out the house, they ran back in. Lincoln looked back down at the giant wet stain in the front of his pants and growled.

"Great. I just got these today. Ah well. Nothing like a quick wash won't be able to…" once again, he found his words being cut off as the sound of loud tearing pierced his ears. "…fix."

Lincoln froze in place. No way. There was absolutely no way that…could it be? A quick glance at Ronnie Anne's face, which was being halfway concealed by one of her hands covering her eyes, suggested that it he was indeed about to confront the worst possible outcome. Gulping, he slowly looked down and blanched at the realization that his pants had partially dissolved and the only remains that were left were what Charles had left behind, which were now dangling around his ankles.

In a scream that was almost as high pitched as Lola's from earlier, Lincoln ran inside as well and shut the door behind him. Once she heard that, Ronnie Anne dropped her hand from in front of her face and stood there for a good couple of seconds as she let what she briefly saw settle in her head.

She knew that Lincoln Loud was full of surprises but wearing bunny boxers topped the list by a huge margin.

A/N: Would you believe me if I told you a similar incident happened to me before? What? Don't believe me? Good. That means you're not gullible. :D Share this story with your loved ones and let them know about the dangers of no checking your phone at the dinner table. It can save lives.