A/N: Welcome back everyone. First things first, I want to thank everyone for the responses I got. I'm glad to see so many people want to keep reading this. The favorites and follows were encouraging, and the reviews were informative.

Which brings me to my second point. Originally, this chapter was a lot shorter, and it was merged with Chapter 3. But, based on some suggestions, I decided it would be better to slow down a bit and take some time to character-build, so I separated the two and expanded them.

And now, without further ado, let's continue with our story.

Now that she was back inside, Lana took the time to reflect on what had just happened to her.

It was mainly flashes and blurs, almost incomprehensible. The first thing that she could remember was a loud screaming of her name, her mother's voice… a bright pair of lights speeding towards her… her body being tackled suddenly, and thrown to the side by a heavier weight… a man jumping out of his vehicle, audibly apologizing… her siblings looking at her, with expressions of fear and concern… her mother, hugging her tightly as she did her best to reassure her daughter, while sobbing uncontrollably out of fear…

It was like she woke up from one dark nightmare to end up in another.

Now all the family members were gathered in the living room, with the exceptions of Lynn, Lisa and Lily. They were all in Lisa's room; Lily sleeping and Lynn getting her injuries treated by Lisa. The remaining family members all stared at her, either giving her nervous and feared looks, or an attempt at a reassuring face, before quickly looking away to someone else. They had all been this was for a while, as everyone waited patiently for someone to break the ice, eyes darting from one family member to another. But the shock of what had just happened made it hard for anyone to loosen their tongues, until they heard an audible sigh coming from the patriarch of the house.

Guess it's up to me to start, thought Lynn Sr. to himself before he lightly coughed, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Everyone," he started lightly, "I know what just happened has left you all shocked and scared... but it's not going to help if everyone stays awake and worried, and it's a school night…"

"Dad, do you think school matters right now?" interrupted Lori her father, tone slightly aggressive, "We almost had our sister literally run over in front of our eyes, why the hell should we be worrying about sleeping for school?"

"Lori, listen to your father!" snapped Rita back, frightening Lori. Her nerves had been completely shot earlier, so she was in no mood for argument. Still, seeing the shock on her daughter's face softened her tone a bit, "We'll know how to handle this. You kids should just go back to bed."

That was a lie, of course. The Loud parents had no idea of how to handle this situation. Being the parents of eleven kids, each with their own distinct personality, had left them well prepared for a wide variety of incidents and scenarios. But this was something more severe than a twisted ankle or a failing grade on a math exam. If they were honest with themselves, they couldn't care less about school. All they wanted right now was for their children to go back upstairs so they could discuss what to do next between themselves.

But the children had different plans.

"Mom, Dad, please, be reasonable," started Lincoln, "We'll go to school tired and sleep-deprived, if that's what it takes to make sure our sister is alright."

Lynn Sr. sighed. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't help but feel a little proud of his children, putting their family before anything else.

"Alright, fine. I want all of you to go back to Lana's room and keep her company. Don't worry about school tomorrow; none of you are going."

"Yaay," cheered Leni, before everyone else's stares reminded her that she shouldn't cheer.

Lynn Sr. smiled a bit at this. His wife, on the other hand, did not…

"Lynn, you can't be serious. This is their education…"

"It's just for one day," he tried to reassure his wife, "After that, I don't care if the moon falls into the planet, I will march them down to their schools myself. But just for one day, I think they can manage without learning about dead kings from five hundred years ago."

He turned to his children. "I'm proud of you all, for putting your sister's safety first. Now go. Your mother and I need to discuss what we're going to do."

The kids all nodded and went up the stairs. Lana was the last to go up. She took one last look at her parents before giving them a small "Good night."

"Good night, Lana," responded her father, "And honey…"

Lana looked back at him.

"None of this is your fault. We'll work this out together. All of us. I promise."

When Lana entered her room, she found all of her siblings, with exception of Lily, waiting for her. Evidently, Lori had gone to retrieve Lisa and Lynn while her father was speaking to her. Lynn gave her sister a friendly wave, and Lana saw that Lisa had bandaged her arm, meaning that the scratches and bruises she had suffered were worse than the usual ones she recieved. Lana felt guilty that her sister had been hurt because of her, and opened her mouth to speak, but Lola quickly cut her off…

"Lana," she said as she hugged her twin, "Are you alright? Are you uninjured?" Her voice was filled with concern, which only made the tomboyish twin feel worse.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she patted Lola on the back, "I'm not… physically hurt, at least."

"Good," said Lola, as she stepped out of the hug.

"Yeah, thanks for being conc…"

SLAP!

There was a tingling sensation on her cheek, Lana noticed, as she fell to the floor, not because her sister hurt her (her strength wasn't exactly her best suit) but because of the shock. Everyone else gasped and quickly ran over to Lola to restrain her as she jumped on her fallen twin and started smacking her viciously. Luna and Lincoln made sure to grab her arms and drag her away from Lana, kicking and screaming. Lynn made a motion to stand, but Lisa stuck her hand in front of her, encouraging her to sit back down.

"Stupid… stupid… STUPID!" shouted Lola as she flailed uselessly in her older siblings' grips.

"LOLA! WHAT THE LITERAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" shouted Lori in rage. Not even two minutes since they had left their parents and things were already falling into chaos.

"What's wrong with me? WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?" Lola shouted. She looked back to her shocked twin, tears begging to form in her eyes, out of frustration and anger. "Why didn't you tell anyone you were having problems when you slept? Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I wouldn't have helped you?"

The girl stopped wrestling for a second. "I… I would have helped you…" she said, almost despondently. But it was only for a second, as she immediately started trying to break free from Lincoln and Luna.

Lana felt some one try to pick her up, but she couldn't see who it was. Her eyes were firmly locked with her feminine sister's. She heard Lori's voice behind her say "That's enough, Lola," firmly, so she guessed it was Lori picking her up.

"No. It's not enough. Why didn't she tell us?" Lola demanded angrily.

"Maybe she just couldn't dream of worrying us?" interjected Luan with a laugh.

Groans.

"Or maybe she just wanted to put her problem to bed? Ha-ha. Get it?"

Even Lola had to stop her struggling, just to groan at the lame jokes.

Lori flashed a smile at Luan. Nice job calming everyone down, the look said.

Luan smiled and made a sailor salute. It's my duty.

At this point, Lola had stopped struggling and squirming, so Lincoln and Luna felt safe with putting her down. The pageant princess dusted herself off ("How dare you handle me like some sort of runaway lamb?" she muttered) before she sat down on her bed, looking to Lana. Lana knew that her twin, and probably most of her other siblings, still wanted an explanation. She summoned all of her courage, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked back to her twin, and began:

"The reason I didn't tell you isn't because I thought you wouldn't help. Believe me, I know that if I ever have a problem, I can come to you. You've always helped me out, Lola."

Lola just snorted in anger and looked away.

Lana sighed, and started addressing the rest of her siblings. "The reason I didn't tell anyone was because I didn't think I had a problem. I thought they were just run-of-the-mill regular old nightmares. I mean, we all have nightmares from time to time, right?"

"Totes," agreed Leni, "One time I had a nightmare that I was in Hell, and the Devil was torturing me with his pokey stick. But then I asked him why I was there, and he told me it was because I wore lime green with orange-red, so I realized I deserved it."

"My God, Leni. What do I even say to that?" responded Lincoln.

"Maybe it's something you eat?" suggested Lucy, "One time I ate one of Lynn's spicy meatball pizzas, and I found myself being chased by a horde of vampire-werewolf-zombies. Sigh, I still have that dream from time to time."

"Don't you mean 'nightmare?'" asked Lynn.

"I know what I said."

Lana shook her head. "No, I don't eat anything before bed. I do have a little piece of months-old gum that I stick to my bedpost…"

"Forget it," Lucy interrupted quickly.

"Maybe it's the bed itself? Do you feel it's uncomfortable?" asked Leni.

Lana shook her head again.

"Well, what could it possibly be?" asked Lincoln. While he might not have meant to, his head turned to the only person he thought would be able to give a good answer: Lisa.

Lisa had been silent the entire time, watching her siblings interact and listening to their conversation, hoping to mine some nuggets of useful information. However, now she felt it was time for her to contribute, rather than remain a passive observer.

The only problem was that she didn't have any solutions or explanations.

She rubbed her chin, thinking about what angles she could approach this from. Dang it. Why is it so hard for me to think of something? thought Lisa to herself. I'm supposed to be the genius, and I can't even think up of a resolution to my sister's nocturnal tribulations.

Wait a minute… I think I see my problem.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room, getting the healthy doses of REM rest," said the young scientist, as she turned to leave the room.

"I thought you had a scientific experiment you were doing on yourself?" Lori asked her.

Lisa paused, and turned to give her sister a serious look. "I can resume my experiments at any time. But right now, I need to be in my top mental state in order to help out with this problem, and I can't if I'm sleep-deprived," she then looked to Lana, "Elder female sibling, I highly encourage you to get some sleep as well. I know the thought of returning to sleep might terrify you…"

Lana silently nodded in agreement.

"…but it will do you more harm to remain in the waking world."

And with that, the young genius left to her room.

"Eerie," whispered Luna, to the nodding of others. After that, the room fell silent. None of the siblings knew what to add, so they just hoped someone would give them something to react to.

"Alright, everyone," Lori said suddenly, clapping her hands together, "I want you all to take Lisa's advice and go to bed."

The other Loud kids made it quickly known how little they agreed with this.

"Come on, Lori. What was the whole point of us arguing with Mom and Dad if we're just going to go to bed anyways?" argued Lincoln.

"Look, you guys literally got a day off from school. Be happy about that."

"But we wanna help Lana (rhyme intended)" said Luan.

"If you want to help Lana, then you'd want her to sleep," responded Lori sternly, "And I don't think she can sleep well if she's being interrogated about her sleeping habits or listening to everyone acting as stupid as usual. Go to bed, and don't worry about Lana. I'll take care of things."

Lori's younger siblings all made their own arguments, but they saw that Lori was not going to budge on this issue. So they all got up to their rooms, wishing Lana a good night and giving Lori the stink eye. She responded to each nasty look by sticking out her tongue. A bit childish, she knew, but she was functioning without decent sleep, thinking in a million different directions and dealing with people whom she felt were acting like children, so she allowed herself a little slip of maturity.

"Wait," Lana called out suddenly as she saw Lynn and Lucy leave the room. The two paused for a second to look back at their younger sister.

"Lynn… I just wanted to say thanks. For rescuing me."

Lynn smiled at her. "Come on, Lana. What was the other option? Leave you to get run over?"

"Lynn!" Lori sharply reprimanded.

"Look, I was just saying that I couldn't have left her there. I mean, who else would I play fetch with?"

"You two play fetch with the dog together?"

Lynn gave Lori a poker face. "Yeeeaaahhh… you could say that."

"But still… your arm…" Lana protested.

"I've had worse," Lynn said as she waved her hand dismissively, "Come to think of it, I've done worse to myself. Remember that time, on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, when I accidentally did a back flip down the stairs?"

"I remember that you grabbed me and took me down with you…" growled Lucy.

Lynn ignored her and patted Lana on the head. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on getting better yourself. You're going to need all the energy you can get."

"But just know we're always supporting you in spirit," added Lucy, "And, speaking of that, how would you like me to summon you a guardian spirit, to protect you in the astral realms? Like an archangel? Or maybe the ghost of one of our ancestors…"

"N-No thanks," said Lana with a bit of a nervous laugh, "Good night you two."

"Good night Lana," they both said.

And with that, the only people that remained in the room were Lana, Lola and Lori. Lori looked at the two twins, and saw Lola sitting with her arms crossed on her bed, staring daggers at Lana. She knew automatically that there was going to be a problem between the two if they were to remain together. So she decided to activate a mini-Sister Fight Protocol.

"Lola, I'm going to stay with Lana for the night. If you want, you can take my bed to sleep in."

"Fine by me," Lola said. Before she left the room, she took one last chance to give Lana a nasty look. Lana shrunk back a little under the intensity of the glare.

"Goodnight, Lola," said Lori firmly, hands crossed.

After Lola had left, Lori sat down on Lola's bed, and gave a deep sigh."Don't worry about Lola. She's just upset because she loves you. She'll get over it eventually," She then gestured with her hands for Lana to go to bed. The younger girl understood, and tucked herself into bed. "Lori, are you going to stay with me tonight?"

And there it was. Between the shock of Lana's running, the argument with her parents and her attempts to maintain order and stability between the siblings at their little gathering, Lori had completely forgotten how she was supposed to tell her parents about Lana's issues. But that small question brought back all the guilt that Lori had pushed out of her mind.

"Oh my God… Lana, I completely forgot to tell Mom and Dad about your night terrors. Oh my God, oh my God… I'm so sorry. I'm literally such an idiot," said Lori, as waves of guilt flooded her mind.

"It's okay, Lori. Really," said Lana, trying to reassure her distressed sister. "What's important is that you're here for me now, doing your best to take care of me, like you always did when I had nightmares."

"Yeah, but, I let you down. I was supposed to make sure Mom and Dad knew about it, and look what happened now?" Lori said. The sense of disappointment and guilt began to eat at her, as she felt a sudden weight in her body. She looked back at Lana, to see her reaction to her growing sense of guilt.

Lana shrugged. "Doesn't bother me that much," she said, sounding a bit like her old self again, "Plus, what were Mom and Dad going to do? Tie me to the bed like that old horror movie?"

Hearing that, Lori gave an amused smile, and even laughed a little. "Lana, you literally can't watch those movies."

Lana flashed her a mischievous grin. "And yet I did."

Lori laughed a little harder, then wiped a little tear away from her eye. "Come on, Lana. Let's try and get some rest. And don't worry about a thing; I'm going to stay here the whole night with you."

Lana nodded, though still reluctant to go to sleep. Even if Lori was there, who knows what terrifying things she would see in her sleep. Worse still, since she could now act those out in the real world, what horrible things could she do, both to herself and to others? The smile faded from the young tomboy's face, and Lana visibly grimaced at the idea of falling asleep, and the terrors that had now come to haunt her with every night.

Lori noticed that. She got up from Lola's bed to grab a small chair from Lola's tea party table. She pushed the chair right next to Lana's bed and sat down it, putting her hand on Lana's shoulder. "Lana… I'm here for you," she said with a comforting smile.

Lana gulped a little, but gave a weak smile in return. "Thanks, Lori."

"No problem, Lana. Good night."

Though Lori had encouraged her younger sister to go to sleep, she did not practice what she preached. She spent the whole night lying in Lola's bed, awake, making sure that Lana didn't do anything too out of the ordinary. As noble as it was, Lori couldn't help but find it to be the most boring activity in the world, as she watched her tomboy sister roll around and occasionally let out a snore or a fart. She wished that there was something, anything, to entertain her. She couldn't leave the room in case something happened with Lana, she couldn't do anything with her phone for fears the light would wake Lana up, and, to in addition to the mind-numbing boredom, Lana's pet snake El Diablo was looking at her funny. Lori did not like it at all.

Come on, Lori. Consider this your redemption for screwing up before. At least Dad gave us a day-off tomorrow. I can just sleep during the day, let someone else look out for these twerps for once.

Who would, though? I guess Luna would be the best choice. Still, I guess anyone would be better than leaving Leni in charge… Or maybe no one can be charge? Maybe everyone will literally be responsible enough to look after themselves and not wreck the house.

…

Nahhhh…Someone needs to be in charge. But what if Luna can't do it? Who else could?

Lori was six hours into her debate with herself when she realized that the sun was already up. Deciding that it was finally safe for her to leave Lana, she got up from Lola's bed, put on a comfortable pair of slippers, and did a few stretches for good measure. Once she was done with that, she looked over at Lana one last time, just in case. Fortunately, the girl seemed to be slumbering peacefully, giving Lori the go-ahead to leave the room.

The young woman descended the stairs into the kitchen, looking to make herself some breakfast, where she found her parents, drinking coffee and nodding in agreement.

"Good morning," Lori greeted.

The two looked over at her. "Lori, good, you're exactly who I wanted to see," said her father.

"Oh, good. Why's that?"

"Well, your mother and I have talked all night, and... well... we decided the best thing to do is to take Lana to the psychiatrist and have her checked out."

Lori looked baffled at her parents. "It took you all night to come up with that?"

"No. It took us all night to figure out what the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist was."

Lori did her best to look neutral, but couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Our point is," interjected Rita, "we gave you and your siblings a day-off from school today, but we can't be here to look after everyone and make sure they don't cause too much trouble. So what we wanted to ask you is if you could look after your siblings while we're gone?"

Lori was about to say "No, get someone to do it," and stubbornly refuse as only a grumpy, sleep-deprived pers on could. But then she was suddenly reminded of how she forgot about Lana's issue before, and how, by refusing her parents' request, she wouldn't just be negligent, but actively standing in the way of her sister's recovery. Lori sighed. That comfortable sleep had eluded her yet again. By this point, she sardonically remarked to herself, she was having more of a sleep issue than Lana.

Of course, she would never say that out loud.

"Yes, Mom. I'll look after everyone. Just make sure Lana gets the best help she can."

Rita smiled at her daughter. "Thanks, sweetie," she said as she kissed her daughter. "Now me and your father are going to go get your sister. Do you remember what to do if Leni forgets how to drink water?"

"Yes, Mom."

"And what to do if Luna tries to stage dive off the tree again?"

"Yes, Mom."

"And what to do if Luan…"

"Yes, Mom. I remember all the potential situations we discussed."

"Alright then. Just making sure," said her mother with a smile. She got up, grabbing her purse, and walked out of the kitchen, before turning to Lori again. "Thank you, Lori."

Lori watched as her parents walked out the front door, Lana following them. Once they got outside, Lynn Sr. and Rita got in the car, while Lana lagged behind for a second. She looked back to Lori who was watching them through the window. Lori mouthed "It's fine" at Lana. The young girl beamed, enriched with a slight confidence boost, and got in Vanzilla. Lori smiled a bit herself.

But that sweet moment was swiftly interrupted with a door loudly swinging open upstairs. "Good morning, Loud House," came the voice of Luna, followed by a loud barrage of guitar playing. Slowly more and more doors opened, and the voices of all of the Loud siblings began to pour down to Lori.

Great. Now they're all awake. What do I do?

Then Lori remembered what to do in cases like this. She quickly ran over to the small storage room and pulled out a whistle and a familiar green sergeant jacket.

"When Lori Loud isn't enough to maintain order," she said to herself, putting on a pair of sunglasses, "God save the Queen of No."

Wooh! 4.2k words. Longest I've done so far. Of course, some of that is Author's Notes, but I'm still counting it.

Hope you all enjoyed. Given that this fic is a bit of new territory for me, I'm wondering about the tone of the story. Do you think the tone is fine the way it is? Do you think I should try and make it darker? Lighter? I'm still experimenting a little, so please, let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts.