This is an idea I've tried to do before in a big way, and I do have a future idea for it. But for now, I thought I'd try to go smaller. It also gives me an excuse to use two sisters who I feel don't interact a lot, but are really good when they do.

Enjoy this two-shot :)

In the dark woods of Transylvania, a full moon rose over the foggy land. A castle sat upon a hill, giving the area a true "creepy" vibe. A young woman, no older than 18, walked up the path to the castle. Wearing a long black dress and black high heels, with her jet-black hair covering her eyes, the woman gave the true appearance of "dark".

"Edwin," She called out, "My love, I have returned for you. Rocky the Valliant has failed to woo me, and my father has finally stated I may marry whom I please."

At that moment, a vampire bat flew up to her, hovering around her a moment before transforming into a young man. He was dashing…at least to the young woman. He had jet black hair, pale white skin, and was wearing a nice suit. He smiled a dull smile at the young woman.

"Lucy, my dearly beloved, it is wonderful to see you again," Edwin said in a monotone voice, "As you can see, I am bursting with excitement and joy."

The two were silent for a moment, simply gazing at each other, before Edwin started leaning in. Lucy felt her heart flutter as she also leaned in. Nearly an eternity of betrayals, suitors, and many other things that got in their way, the two star-crossed lovers would finally be together.

As Lucy and Edwin kept leaning in, a slow flowing sound made itself heard. Lucy ignored it at first, continuing to lean forward. However, the flowing sound became as loud as a rushing river, and Lucy could no longer ignore it

"Nooo…" She whined in her monotone voice.

Lucy opened her eyes to see herself in her bed in her and Lynn's room. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she could tell it was still dark. Looking at the clock confirmed it was only 3AM.

As Lucy lay in her bed, she tried to ignore the feeling. Tried with all her might to imagine that the flowing river had been in her dream. But she couldn't. She could tell the second she woke up…that she was wet.

A tear rolled down the Goth's face. This was the TENTH TIME that she had wet the bed! Why, why was this happening? Of course, the first time it happened, Lucy suspected Luan had put her hand in a bowl of water, but the joker just so happened to be sleeping over at one of her comedy friend's houses. She suspected maybe Lynn, because the two of them had had an argument earlier that day, but the jock was still recovering from a broken ankle from field hockey; and while Lynn was an expert at moving around in sports, she was super clumsy when it came to dealing with injuries, so Lucy likely would have heard her is she stumbled around to get the bowl, fill it with water, and then try to place her hand in it.

Not knowing if it was a prank or a legitimate accident, Lucy simply balled up her sheets, slipped into a spare pair of pajamas, and headed down to the basement, where she tossed the offending sheets into the washing machine. She then headed back up to her room, where she used some cleaner and paper towels to wipe down her mattress. Lynn almost woke up at one point, and Lucy panicked, knowing her roommate would question the lack of sheets on her bed. At the last second, Lucy started humming a light tune, and Lynn drifted off again.

Luckily, Lucy made it through the night without anyone finding out; also, it was Saturday, so she didn't have to worry about the fact that she missed about an hour of sleep.

Figuring it was just a fluke, Lucy made sure not to drink anything after dinner, and used the bathroom right before she went to bed. It didn't help. For over a week this continued, and Lucy was beyond worried about her siblings finding out; this would be worse than the Princess Pony book.

Sighing lightly, Lucy slipped out of bed, changed her pajamas, and got to work balling up her sheets, starting at the corner by the door.

"Mmm…Luce?"

Lucy froze as she looked over to the other side of her room and saw Lynn raising her head, looking at her little sister through her half-closed eyes. "What are you doing?"

Lucy froze in terror. Not only could Lynn discover her secret, but their house's paper-thin walls would surely wake the rest of the family. She had to act fast. Then, she noticed her sister was clearly struggling to stay awake.

Lucy took a deep breath and whispered, "What do you mean? I'm not here."

Lynn looked at her, confused, "You're not?"

"No," Lucy shook her head, saying the first thing that came to her mind, "I'm on the Moon, training to become the king of Nebraska and cheese puffs."

"What?" Lynn asked, as she started rubbing her eyes. Thinking quickly, Lucy grabbed her wet pajama bottoms and held them behind her, making sure to hold them so one pant-leg was hanging off her side.

"Yes, Lynn," Lucy said, walking over to her sister, pausing just out of the window's moonlight, so that Lynn could barely see that she had three legs, "You remember: you won the skleep ball tournament with your team…" Lucy thought over the general sports celebrities she knew, "Consisting of Peyton Manning, Jeff Gordon, Babe Ruth, and Michael Jordon, your team won, and the winner got to choose one person to go to the moon to train to become the…" Lucy was tired and making this up on the spot, so she had already forgotten half of what she was saying, "King of something."

"King of something?" Lynn asked, her eyes drooping shut as she lay her head back down and turned to the side.

"Yesssss, kiiiiinnnnnggg of soooooooommmmmethiiiiiiinnnnnnnggg," Lucy said slowly, walking right in front of Lynn as she started swaying side to side, Lynn's eyes following her as they slowly closed. A second later, Lucy could hear some light snoring from her roommate.

Smiling, Lucy went back to her bed to get her sheets, only to pause. Double checking, she slowly opened her door and peeked out, looking to make sure that no one had woken up from her and Lynn's hushed conversation. Seeing the hallway empty, Lucy quickly balled up her sheets and hurried down to the basement.

After tossing her sheets and undies into the washing machine, Lucy hurried back to the first floor, where she grabbed some cleaning spray and paper towels from the kitchen. She then ran up the stairs and into her room, where she sprayed her mattress repeatedly. She let the spray set as she ran back downstairs, where she added fabric softener to the washer. Then back upstairs to wipe down her mattress.

40 minutes later, everything was done. Lucy retrieved her laundry from the dryer and headed back upstairs. As she exited the basement and made her way towards the stairs, she heard, "Hey, Lucy. What are you doing up?"

Lucy froze, looking to her left to see Leni sitting on the couch, looking rather tired.

"Um…what are YOU doing up?" Lucy asked, slowly setting her wad of done laundry down. Hopefully Leni didn't notice it.

"I just woke up to go to the bathroom, and was craving some milk," Leni said, holding up her glass, "What are you doing with your blankets?"

Lucy almost freaked out, before calming down at remembering this was Leni. "I had some chocolate milk in bed last night and accidentally spilled it. I was worried Mom would be mad, so I set my alarm to wake me up so I could wash them in the middle of the night before anyone found out." Lucy then quivered her lip a little, "You're not gonna tell Mom, are you, Leni?"

Leni smiled and got up to hug her little sister, "Of course not, Lucy. We're sisters, and sisters stick together. Now, you'd better get back to bed. We gotta get up for school in a couple hours."

Lucy nodded and picked up her bedsheets and headed up the stairs, her older sister right behind her. Leni offered to help Lucy make her bed, but she politely declined.

After getting her bed made, Lucy sighed; not her normal emotionless word sigh, but an actual tired sigh. She couldn't keep this up. Tonight there had been TWO close calls. And sadly, there was only one real permanent solution, and Lucy didn't even wanna THINK about that.

Crawling into bed, taking a moment to kiss her Edwin bust goodnight, Lucy figured MAYBE it was time to talk to her parents about this. Maybe.

Two hours later, Lucy awoke to the sound of her and Lynn's alarm. Of course, missing an hour of sleep in the middle of the night didn't do the 8-year-old any favors. She was honestly considering playing sick so she could stay home and sleep in. But she decided against it, remembering how messed up the house could get when one (or usually more) of them got sick.

Groaning, the Goth sat up, noticing her roommate was up and stretching her joints.

"Morning, Luce," Lynn tiredly said, as she tossed her blanket off and hopped out of bed, "How'd ya-?" Lynn paused, noticing she was standing on something. She looked down, and Lucy did the same…and her heart stopped.

The thing Lynn was standing on was Lucy's pajama bottoms. She froze as she remembered absentmindedly dropping them after using them to fool Lynn into thinking she was dreaming.

"Luce, why are your pajama bottoms on the floor?" Lynn asked, as she slowly reached down to pick them up.

"Ow!" Lucy cried, purposely slamming her hand against her bedframe. Lynn paused what she was doing when she heard her sister cry out. She raised her eyebrows in confusion as she walked over to Lucy and took her hand and started rubbing it between her own hands. "You need to be more careful, sis. When you stretch, whether it's actual workout or just waking up, ya need to make sure ya got room."

"Thanks, Lynn," Lynn said, taking her hand back and hopping out of bed, walking over and picking up her pajama pants, making sure to leave them in a ball to conceal the wet crotch, "And sorry about my pants being on your side of the room. My legs got hot in the middle of the night, so I took them off and tossed them aside."

"But…you're wearing pants now," Lynn pointing out, looking at the black pajama pants Lucy was currently wearing.

Lucy started lightly sweating as she mumbled, "Um…shortly after I took them off, my legs got cold, and I didn't wanna get out of bed to find them, so I just put my backups on."

"But…weren't your backup pair in the closet?" Lynn asked, still confused, "You had to have gotten out of bed to get them."

Now annoyed along with being worried, Lucy's eye twitched as she replied, "I had my backup pajamas under my pillow, for just this situation."

"You had your backup pajamas under your pillow, just in case you got hot and took off your pjs in the middle of the night, only to get cold later on?" Lynn asked, finding the idea rather ludicrous.

"Tell me, Lynn, when was the last time you played a sport without doing your dozen superstitious good luck routines beforehand?" Lucy deadpanned.

"Touché," Lynn said, shrugging as she headed out to get in line for the bathroom.

Lucy sighed in relief, having dodged a bullet yet again. She frowned as she walked over and put the pajama bottoms in her hamper (they had had a couple hours to dry, so she figured they'd be fine to put in the hamper for laundry day tomorrow); how could she have been so careless? Sure, it was late and she was tired, but she always made sure she had her blanket, sheet, pants, and…

"ALRIGHT!" Lori yelled from the hall, "WHO LEFT THEIR UNDIES ON THE STAIRS? REAL MATURE, LADIES!"

Lucy blushed deeply. Not only were they hers, but they were also…

"Hey, Luce," Lincoln opened her door quietly, "Um…there's a pair of Princess Pony panties on the stairs. Just thought I'd let ya know." Red-faced, her brother closed her door.

Lucy sighed again. They must have fallen out of the wad when she set it on the stairs to try (and fail) to hide it from Leni.

Was it too late to pretend to be sick?

Lucy sighed as she looked over the math assignment her teacher was discussing. How she wished she had friends in her class to whisper to. But alas, while she had many Goth friends throughout the school and town, none of them were in her grade. There were a couple in first, third, fourth, and fifth grade (her closest friend Haiku was in this grade with her brother, yet the opposite class), and a few in middle and high school, but none in second.

As her teacher droned on and on, Lucy felt herself getting tired. She loved the nightlife, but she knew very well that she was only 8, meaning she needed eight-to-nine hours of sleep a night, and these accidents were interrupting that. Several times in the last week, Lucy had come close to falling asleep in class. She was usually able to stay awake until lunch, when she would go to the library, eat her food, and then set her phone's alarm for 2 minutes before lunch ended, allowing her to take a 15-minute nap.

But today, as she listened to the times tables, Lucy felt herself drifting off. The teacher's voice was almost melodic. Lucy sat in the back of the class, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to rest her eyes for just a minute.

"3x3 is 9, 3x4 is 12, 3x5 is 15, 3x6 is 18…"

Lucy felt herself start to drift off as she pictured herself in a dark, yet peaceful meadow, with sheep jumping over a fence, the times tables on their sides instead of numbers.

3x7 is 21

3x8 is 24

3x9 is 27

3x10 is 30

3x11 is 33

3x12 is 36

As Lucy lay back on the soft grass, her head turned to the side to count the sheep, she felt at peace, more so than she had in the last couple of weeks.

Lucy wasn't sure how long she laid in the meadow, just that she got to 7x7 is 49 when a SLAP was heard, startling her awake.

Lucy jolted up with a yelp, looking around at all her giggling classmates, and her teacher standing in front of her, frowning down at her. She had slapped Lucy's desk, which was what woke her.

"Having a nice nap, Miss Loud?"

"Um…yes?" Lucy blushed sheepishly.

Lucy frowned. She was no super nerd like Lisa, always wanting to have a clean, spotless record. Yet even she was a little upset at being sent to the principal's office for the very first time. All 5 of her older sisters and Lincoln had each gotten detention at least once, as had Lola and Lana, but not her. And yet now here she was, getting ready to enter Principal Huggins' office, having to explain herself or risk staying an hour after school.

"Lucy Loud!" The secretary yelled out the door. Lucy sighed and walked into the front office, past the secretary's desk into Principal Huggins' office.

"Miss Loud," Huggins said, looking at her over the file he was reading, "Aside from your prodigy sister, each of your siblings has been sent to see me at least once in the decade I've worked for this school. I figured it was only a matter of time before you came here as well, especially considering your…life style." He gestured to Lucy's dark apparel before continuing, "Now, your teacher tells me you fell asleep in class. Normally that would warrant detention and a call home, but since this is your first offence, I can let it slide…" Lucy let out a sigh of relief. "So, no detention, but I still have to call your parents and inform them of this."

Lucy groaned. Of course she had gotten her hopes up for nothing. Well, there was one trick she had up her sleeve. She looked at Huggins with a quivering lip and clasped her hands together as she lamented, "Please, sir, do not inform my parents of this. They will be very sore at me. I promise it won't happen again. I just did not get enough sleep last night because…" Lucy paused, wondering what would be a half-decent excuse, "Well, it's personal, but important." It was a lame excuse, but Lucy was desperate.

"Lucy," Huggins sighed, "I'm an elementary school principal. Do you know how many times I've had kids, especially little girls, try to use the "sad face" routine on me? As for your reasoning, while I understand personal issues come up from time to time, that's no excuse for missing sleep. I'm sorry, but I have to call your parents."

"PLEASE!" Lucy jumped up onto his desk and clasped her hands together, her eyes peering through her hair as the tears started to fall, "I promise it won't happen again! I made a mistake, and I've learned my lesson. I'm begging you, sir. Just this once look the other way! I swear I won't have to come back here again. I know how to prevent what happened from happening again, so now I can get more sleep at night. Please!"

Huggins looks at the distraught child in front of him. Many times he had had similar scenarios play out before him, and many times he had always shot the kids down. But equally as many times, he could tell they were being genuine and would let them off the hook. And luckily for the little Goth girl, this was gonna be the latter.

"Fine," He sighed, before giving the girl a stern look, "However, whatever personal issue is disrupting your sleep, I would suggest you talk to your parents about it." He sighed again, "That's all, you may go."

"Thank you, Sir," Lucy sighed in relief as she exited the office. She was so relieved that she managed to get off scot-free. But sadly, she knew that to avoid this happening again, there was only one solution, and she REALLY didn't like it.

That night was chaos as usual in the Loud house, everyone excited for the start of the weekend. Lucy, however, kept to herself all night. At dinner, she ate only a little of her food, along with very little to drink. She was somewhat depressed by what she had to do later, and as such was lost in her own little world.

"Yo, Luce," Lynn tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump in shock. When she looked up, she saw everyone was looking at her.

"Yes?" She asked, embarrassed that her sporty sister of all people had managed to startle her.

"Um…" Dad cleared his throat, "I asked who wanted the last piece of my home-made cherry pie. Everyone looked at you when I asked, but you, uh, didn't seem to be paying attention."

"Is everything ok, Sweetie?" Rita asked, looking at her Gothic daughter in concern, "You've seemed a bit off these past few days."

"You dealing with bullies teasing you because you're a goth again?" Lynn cracked her knuckles, "Just tell me who they are, and I'll make sure they stop."

"No, I'm fine," Lucy mumbled, looking down, "May I please be excused?"

The rest of the family looked at each other in concern. While they were used to Lucy's normal lifestyle, even they had to admit the way she had been acting these past few days had been a bit much.

"Sure, kiddo," Lynn Sr. shrugged, "Ya sure you don't want the pie?"

"I'm good," Lucy said, pushing her plate aside and getting out of her seat, heading upstairs. When they heard her start to walk up the stairs, the family shared glances with each other.

"Is it me, or does Lucy seem a bit more down than usual?" Lincoln asked.

"No, I noticed it, too," Rita said, frowning.

"We all have," Luna said, "Anyone got any idea what's going on?"

"Did that vampire show she likes get cancelled?" Dad asked.

"No, it's still on," Lori spoke up, "The new season premiers in a couple of weeks." At that, she paused and let out a dreamy sigh, "And I can't wait. There's this new character that's going to be played by Blake Bradley." She and Leni squealed in excitement, only to pause when they saw the dull looks that the family was sending them. Blushing, Lori cleared her throat and mumbled, "So anyway, whatever she's sad about, it's not that."

"Lynn, you're her roommate, you notice what's GOTH her down?" Luan asked, causing everyone to groan.

"Well…" Lynn paused, "Ya know, I had the craziest dream about Lucy last night, but honestly, I'm entirely sure if it actually was a dream."

"What happened?" Rita asked curiously.

"Well, it started when I woke up…"

When Lucy got to the top of the stairs, she nervously looked over her shoulder. No one was following her, so she was in the clear. But she knew she had to act fast. She didn't want to get caught, and she also wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Tomorrow, she could head to the dollar store a couple blocks away and get what she needed long term, but for tonight, well, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Carefully tiptoeing to Lisa and Lily's room, Lucy quietly opened the door and made her way to Lily's changing table. Taking a deep breath, Lucy closed her eyes…and grabbed one of Lily's diapers. Part of her wished it was too small for her, but after 5 kids, Mom and Dad learned that their babies could FILL their diapers, and as such always bought a brand that could stretch pretty well without ripping.

Holding it to her chest, Lucy peeked out the door. Seeing the coast was clear, she hurried to her room and reluctantly put the diaper under her pillow. She then sat and her bed and let out a long moan. She knew that if she wanted to stop waking up every night, then she needed to stop having wet sheets. This meant that diapers at night would become a regular thing for her.

Tomorrow, she would say she was going to hang out with Haiku, when instead she would go to Pete's Dollar Store (the only place close enough that she could walk to). She had been with her siblings sometimes, and on one trip had been left to watch after Lily. Her baby sister toddled off to the baby aisle, and Lucy remembered that while she watched the little tyke play with some of the toys, she had seen they sold packs of diapers, including bedwetting ones, for ridiculously cheap; she could get a two-week pack for just 5 bucks. And everyone in town knew that Pete was an honest business man (unlike a certain owner of the local gas station), so Lucy knew they would be durable and leak-proof. Every 2 weeks, she would go there and buy a pack, while also swiping as many plastic bags as she could during check out. Each morning she would wait until after Lynn left the room to put the wet diaper in a plastic bag, which she would put in her backpack so she could flush it down the toilet when she got to school. And then she could repeat this every day for the rest of her childhood and probably teen years. Yeah, not a great plan, but a plan nonetheless.

Later on, as everyone started getting ready for bed, Lucy pondered over just how to do this. She could wait for Lynn go out in the hall to use the bathroom, before changing into her pajamas. But…she had to use the bathroom, too, and the diaper might crinkle, which her siblings might hear. Then again, she could just wait a few minutes for the line to die down, hurry and use the bathroom, then hurry back to her room and crawl in bed. Ok, easy peezy, lemon squeezy.

As soon as Lynn went to get in line for the bathroom, Lucy changed into her pajamas. The diaper felt so wrong, but she sighed and figured she could deal with it. Better than waking up in the middle of the night again. Heck, look what happened in the last day because of it: she almost got caught twice, and then she fell asleep in class. Clearly, wearing a diaper to bed was the lesser of two evils.

Lucy waited 20 minutes as she heard her brother and sisters get ready for bed. She sat on her coffin and read one of her Princess Pony books. She didn't really care if her siblings caught her with this; heck, a part of her wondered if the Pony book would be a good distraction in the future, in case any of her siblings came close to discovering her bedwetting.

Finally, Lucy heard everyone leave the bathroom and head to their rooms. She placed the comic back in her coffin as her roommate entered their room.

"Hey, Luce," Lynn greeted, stretching as she headed towards her bed, "Didn't see you in line out there."

"I figured I would wait until the rest of you had cleared out before taking my turn in the bathroom," Lucy said, as she headed for the door.

As she left, she was unaware of the frown her sister gave her. Lucy NEVER waited until last in the bathroom. She was usually one of the first ones there. Heck, Lynn couldn't remember the last time the two of them hadn't fought over the toothpaste.

"What's wrong with you, sis?" The sporty girl muttered, as she crawled under her covers and stared at the ceiling, deciding to think things over until sleep claimed her.

The next morning, after breakfast, everyone left to do their own thing, with Lucy telling her parents she was going to Haiku's house. She walked to the end of the block, before turning left instead of right. She got to PDS in about 10 minutes. As she walked in, she looked around, making sure no one she knew (other than Pete) was there. Luckily, other than a lady with her toddler, the store was empty.

Lucy crept over to the baby aisle, casually swiveling her head around, making sure no one saw her (she was aware if someone DID see her, they would probably think she was getting ready to shoplift). Finally, she got to her aisle, and looked over the displays of diapers. Obviously she needed size small, and preferably a brand specifically for bedwetting. After a moment, she saw them: Goodnites: Nighttime underpants for growing kids. They had 3 rows: boy, girl, neutral, in small, medium, and large. Looking them over, Lucy realized what differentiated them:

Boys' were blue, with 2 prints: Ace Savy and race cars.

Girls' were pink, also with 2 prints: Princess Pony and flowers.

Neutral were green with no print, obviously for the kids who had to wear them, but were past the age where prints on their undies mattered.

Lucy WANTED neutral, but the small and medium spaces were empty, and she knew large would be too big for her (and there was NO WAY she was gonna ask Pete to check in the back). She looked at the boy and girl packs and sighed. Of course she was slightly drawn to the Princess Pony packs, but getting those felt like she was just…giving up.

"Sigh," Lucy muttered. Taking a step out to look around past the aisle, she saw that the store was still fairly deserted. She grabbed a small pack of Princess Pony Goodnites and made her way to the check lanes. There were 2 self-checkouts, and one manned one; of course, Lucy would be using the self-checkout. Lucy may have been a little short, but she had seen her parents use self-checkouts dozens of times, so she figured it would be a piece of cake.

Needless to say, the second she thought that, the doors opened, and Rocky Spokes walked in with his older brother Rusty. Lucy panicked and tossed the package out of site and quickly picked something out of the bargain bins.

"Hey, Lucy," Rocky said, walking over to her, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Rocky. I was on my way to Haiku's house to hang out for the day, but first I just had to stop here and pick up some…" Lucy glanced down at the item she blindly picked up, "Mexican Horseradish."

"Really?" Rocky looked at the bottle in his friend's hand, "Did Haiku want it for some recipe or something?"

"…yes," Lucy answered after a minute of silence.

At that moment, Rusty walked over to them, "Hey, Lucy. What's up?"

"Just doing some shopping," Lucy held up the bottle of Mexican Horseradish.

Rusty looked at the bottle curiously, "I thought that was recalled for making people go color-blind?"

"Um…" Lucy was nervous as the two looked at her, "I think that was Jamaican Horseradish."

"Hmm…" Rusty thought for a moment, before shrugging, "I don't know, I just watch the news with my dad occasionally, and I thought I heard about some regular condiment trying to go "international" and going horribly wrong. Don't remember the exact details."

Lucy merely shrugged. The two thankfully bid her goodbye at that moment as they walked towards the toy aisle. Waiting until they were out of sight, Lucy tossed the bottle back where she got it before going and picking up her Goodnites. She quickly ran to the check lanes and purchased them, stuffing them in at least a dozen plastic bags before heading out of the store.

Lucy made it to the end of her block before she ran into Huck. Huck was the younger brother of those two hooligans who trashed their street this past Halloween, and he loved picking on smaller kids. He especially liked to pick on Lucy and her friends, due to them being "vampire freaks" as he called them. Lynn had had a "talk" with Huck a few weeks ago about him bullying her little sister, and he had thankfully stayed away from her since. But now, she was all alone.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little mistake," He smirked as he saw Lucy, who tried to make her way around him. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, "Where do you think you're going? Back to your family that doesn't want you so you can cry to your sporty sister about someone telling you what you need to hear?" Huck may have been a third grade boy, but he was already getting skilled in physical, verbal, and mental bullying.

"Please leave me alone," Lucy begged, "I don't want any trouble." Fearing he may look in the bag(s), Lucy added, "I'm just picking up more diapers for my baby sister. She's feeling really sick."

"Awww," Huck sarcastically cooed, "Did you parents send you to pick up the diapers because they know your baby sister is scared of you? They probably figured she'd get better without you around."

Lucy frowned. She knew Huck was a loser and liked to pick on weaker kids to feel better about himself; even so, his words were getting to her. She jerked forward, pulling her shoulder out of his grasp as she continued home. Huck, of course, ran in front of her and blocked her path, glaring down at her.

"Ya know, after your sister got the drop on me a while back, people have started acting like I'm not a big deal, and that's got me pretty ticked," Huck snarled, glaring down at the Goth girl with venom in his eyes.

Lucy gulped and took a step back. She didn't wanna deal with this right now. Or ever, really, but it just so happened at the moment she had something with her that would make for great blackmail material. So, a butt kicking followed by being this meathead's servant? Yeah, definitely not something Lucy wanted to deal with.

Huck grabbed Lucy by the top of her head and pulled her so their faces were inches apart. Lucy cried out in pain as she dropped her bag. She also shuddered in disgust as she smelt his breath; clearly, it had been a few days since Huck last brushed his teeth.

"Now, I'm not gonna repeat myself: I'm going to hurt you very badly, and if you tell anyone, especially your jock sister, it'll be worse for you next time. Got it?"

Lucy whimpered as she nodded. Her eyes darted around, but she couldn't see anyone on the street or in any of the yards. She was at this jerk's mercy, and she resigned herself to the idea that maybe if she didn't fight back, this would be over quicker.

As Huck reared his fist back, ready to give her a black eye, he was suddenly knocked to the ground. In his shock, he let go of Lucy, who stumbled backwards. Looking up, Lucy saw who had saved her.

"Luan?" Lucy was surprised to see her comedian sister standing there, a cold look on her face as she looked down at Huck, who was starting to get to his feet. Lucy noticed Luan was in her clown getup, likely on her way to a party.

"Are you ok, Lucy?" Luan asked, not taking her eyes off the bully.

"I…I'm fine," Lucy said, reaching down and picking up her bag, "Thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it," Luan nodded, kicking Huck in the shin when he was fully standing, causing him to go down again, "I thought my sister Lynn already dealt with you, punk. Leave Lucy alone!" She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up, glaring at him like he had done to Lucy not 5 minutes ago. She barred her teeth at him and growled, before pushing him away, giving him a kick on the butt as he ran off, mumbling apologies.

As the two girls watched Huck run off, Luan turned to her little sister, "What are you doing here, Lucy? I thought Haiku's house is in the other direction from our house." Looking down, Luan saw the bags in Lucy's hand, "Did you go shopping?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, suddenly remembering that she was holding her bag, "Haiku asked me to get something for her mother before I came over, so I stopped at Pete's Dollar Store. I was just on my way to her house now."

Luan frowned, "Lucy, you know Mom and Dad don't like us doing things like that. What if the store had gotten robbed while you were there? Mom and Dad wouldn't even know because you weren't supposed to be there."

Lucy sighed, "I know, I just figured it would be only a few minutes out of my way."

"Yeah, well look what almost happened," Luan placed her hands on her hips and looked at her little sister sternly, "I'd be more than willing to bet that you wouldn't have run into that thug if you had gone straight to Haiku's house."

Lucy frowned nervously, "You're not gonna tell Mom and Dad, are you?"

Luan stared at her sister's quivering lip and pleading face for a moment before sighing, "No, I won't. But please don't do this again. Anything could have happened to you and we wouldn't know about it. I don't even wanna think about what would have happened if I hadn't come along when I did." Luan pulled Lucy into a hug, before letting her go, "Now, go straight to Haiku's house, where you're SUPPOSED to be. No detours, got it?"

Lucy gratefully returned the hug as she thanked Luan, before hurrying off.

Luan sighed as she watched her sister go. She briefly wondered if Huck had anything to do with Lucy's recent spike in depression, before dismissing the idea. Huck was a jerk, just like his older brothers, but he knew better than to mess with one of Lynn Loud's siblings. At least, he usually did. He likely just happened upon Lucy alone and figured she would be an easy target. Whatever was bothering Lucy, Luan knew she had to help get to the bottom of it.

As the comedian turned and continued on her way, she briefly thought to the bag she had seen Lucy holding. Whatever was in it, she couldn't tell, because Lucy had clearly multi-bagged it. This realization caused Luan to pause, "Could it be…? Nah, Lucy would have talked to Mom about it, and Mom would have told us not to worry."

At that, Luan hurried to her party, figuring she would at least tell Lynn about this, so she could be on guard for Huck in case he decided to mess with Lucy again.

So, does Luan know what's bugging Lucy? Maybe.

I was gonna use Lincoln, but let's be honest, between the actual show and the hundreds of fanfics out there, the poor boy suffers enough as it is, so I figured Lucy would be better suited for this story. Plus, it really plays up the fact that despite her being a loner Goth, she's still just a little girl.

R&R