The Loud House: Future Love Run Amok!

by TotCall720

Three years into the future and things are going to be shaken up, big time. New forbidden relationships emerge as Lincoln struggles to find out what's going on with the nature of the older Loud sisters still at home, and with himself. The ball gets rolling with Luna, and spirals from here. Potential Harem in the future. Reviews, PM feedback and critique strongly desired. Thank you!

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Reunion, Ultimatums, and Latent Upheavals

Sunday, October 27th, 2019

7:32 PM

As the three were walked into the house in the huddle, Leni, Luna and Lincoln had their various cuts, gashes, bruises and bumps treated, gauzed and rubbed with ointments. The tasks were lead by Rita with the help of Lori, Luan, Lucy and Lynn. Lori took Leni, Rita and Luan took Luna, and Lynn and Lucy took Lincoln, all placed onto the couch and tended to. At first Lincoln was surprised that Lynn would be able to help, but apparently a lot of minor sports injuries she's had made her a pro at on-the-spot medical aid and injury analysis. With Lucy, it was obvious she just wanted to help as best she could, and probably read a fair share of books on anatomy for the purposes of her research into vampire physiology. Lisa supervised the care and tending of all three while messing around with her laptop. After a laborious period of intense keyboard typing and huffs on her part, she gave a reserved smile to Lincoln.

"Well Lincoln, that comet is now catalogued as DM-10-5-13-9-19-15-14, and colloquially designated as Mary's Comet, per your request. Now I think we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief and head to our various-"

"Thank you Lisa…that means a lot…and it might be conciliation for them…me…I hope," Lincoln said lowly, before reaching over and giving her a tight hug. Lisa seemed to return an extremely meager but still valid hug in return.

"Yes indeed…uhhh….there there older brother; and the good news is that it'll be visible again in 3.59 years from now. It's a short-periodic comet type, so whatever reason you requested to name that comet "Mary" you'll be able to gaze up on it again…and…I can see you're still in a mental menagerie of melancholy…no matter. Back to the medical attention."

Luna was given several 800 milligram Ibuprofen pills on recommendation from Lisa to reduce a killer headache she began developing. Lincoln and Leni followed suit in taking the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pill since their bodies suddenly began aching very, very badly.

With patches, band aids, extra stinging hydrogen peroxide, pharmaceutical blunting of pain and a various other assortment of chemicals and such, Leni, Luna and Lincoln were finalized into repair mode. As the three slunk back upstairs to change, Lily came flying right out of the corner.

"Leni, Lincoln, Luna…watch Wizards of Ozzes with me….please? I promise to fash-forward the tomato."

"Awe….little dudette, I'm a bit sore right now and need some Z's," Luna began saying, before Lily looked sadly into Luna's eyes with huge, wanting puppy dog eyes, glossy and begging to keep these three down with her to be near. They were worse than Lynn's.

"Well…awe heck, I'd love to…how about you bro? Leni?"

"I…I can fall asleep to that. I'm up for it," Lincoln said, his energy slowly wafting down to utterly nothing, eyes near shutting.

"I like, so love those ruby red slippers. I wish I could get those. And those little munchkins are so adorable…I so wanna watch Ozzes with my little baby sister," Leni said with a cutsey expression, picking up Lily and throwing her up lightly before catching her and snuggling with her, Lily giving a tight hug to Leni too.

"Hey guys! Like, literally a slumber party down here tonight?" Lori asked with a big, sheepish smile, "…you know, for old time sakes? So we can be together?"

"I like Lori's idea…stay together tonight, as a big old family," Lynn said with a confident smile as the twins ran upstairs, came back five seconds later and had their sleeping bags and themselves changed into their specific pajamas, Lana in a long green shirt, Lola in a fancy little night gown.

"You can sleep next to me boo-boo bear," Lori whispered to Bobby as he gave an awkward face, Rita and Lynn Sr looking at the both of them with furled brows.

"You don't think Lori and Bobby would…in the house, right?" Lynn Sr asked nervously in a whisper to Rita.

"Good lord I hope not. That's supposed to stay out of the house…"

Luan suddenly ran into the kitchen and brought a platter of deviled eggs out to everyone.

"Get comfy everyone. This is family living room slumber night, and those three are the eggcellent stars, get it?"

"Is it really a good time for a sleep over?" Lincoln asked openly from the base of the stairs, everyone seemingly taken back by how troubled his inquiry was, and not only that, but by how unenthusiastic he reacted to the sleep over idea.

"What…I mean is…I think it's just a sleep-out in the living room, with…you know, whatever is going on outside, may not be appropriate. Doesn't that feel a bit…weird?" Lincoln asked in a muddled, somewhat incoherent fashion. They could feel that he was trying to be mindful about how thankful his family was still together, but deep in his mind was feeling sorry for the thousands of families out in the destroyed landscapes not anywhere near as lucky as him, or even most probably finding out entire generations were wiped out. And yet, they were going to have a sleep-over in the living room like nothing happened. This sort of depressed Lincoln's mood a bit…till Luna came up to him.

"Yo bro…if ya need to call it a night, I'm good. But how about we spend just a bit of time with the others?" Luna asked him softly in a whisper as they both headed for their rooms to change.

"I'm…I'm good with that Luna. It's just…I'm happy for us as a family still being together throughout all this…but I can't help at feel sorry for all those other families out there. Is, is that strange Luna? To feel guilty about how we got out scott-free-"

"Scott-free dude? You feel my head yet? Your hands? Leni's foot? Not to mention how traumatized we're probably gonna be for a while?"

"Yeah…but we all survived the twister, and we can still walk…some people I know…weren't so lucky Luna. I don't know…"Lincoln trailed off as he walked Luna to her room, Luan walking up the stairs slowly, unintentionally getting some of the conversation.

"Bro…you still got that flower with you, right?"

"Yeah…she was a sweet old woman," Lincoln said, hanging his head down low.

"Was? Old woman? Lincoln…we…we can talk about this if you want…or not, it's up to you. And you're not the only one to see death today. It was a really messed up day today…you can talk to me about anything dude, anything."

"I figured Luna. And that's kinda my thing. I feel like I'm…we…are being…I dunno…selfish? Like even after all we went through, we should have died more times than we survived, but we're still here. And that tells me something…at least why I would want to still be here, more than ever," he said warmly as he held her hand before she left into her bedroom.

"I think its survivor's guilt bro. We might have it for a long time…"

"Maybe…I just hate the feeling of being bliss and ignorant, while tens of thousands out there are mourning the loss of their home, or loved ones, or more likely, both. We're fortunate…especially you, me and Leni."

"Yeah…I still wanna know how the hell she survived running straight into the tornado. I thought she was a tank before, but this is something else. Ya think fashion-diva's from Krypton dude? Ya think if we called her crazy we'd still call her superwoman?"

"Nah, she's a Loud. But more to the point Luna, I…I never wanna put you guys through anything like that again," Lincoln said, staring into her eyes intently, his own getting hot and glossy. "I promise, I'll never hurt you like that again Luna."

"And I'll promise…along with the others, to not hurt you like that again either. Now let's get ready cutie," she said, pinching Lincoln's cheek softly with the door jarred, "as much as I'd like you to wait with me in my room while I change, we can't do that yet."

Luan suddenly popped around the corner and waived over to them, giving them thumbs up…Luna and Lincoln getting a feel for what Luan meant. Luan then mouthed, "Coast is clear."

"Killer…she's always gonna have our backs dude…so…how about a little something to take the edge off," Luna said as she pulled Lincoln's head behind the door, Luan seeing Lincoln's body squirm, before going limp for several seconds. Luan smiled big when she saw this, imagining in luscious detail what it looked like behind the other side of the door. Then, her eyes twitched suddenly, once in the left, then once in the right.

"Huh…that was weird…eye don't know what that was about; guess the sight had me in twitches…hehehe, get it?" Luan punned to herself.

Lincoln popped back out while the door closed, wobbling in a goofy-grinned stupor to his room to change. He passed up Luan, who was trying as best as she could to hold off a giant blushing grin.

"Th…thanks for calling the all-clear Luan."

"No problem Lincoln," Luan said, internally fan-girling from the obvious quick make-out they just did behind the door from view. But before Lincoln totally passed her spot, she quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Lincoln?"

"Yeah Luan?"

"Uh…you're probably gonna hear this for a while, but, I'm really sorry for my part in all of earlier. You didn't deserve any of what we put you through. I know we messed up, and we all huddled and forgave, but…just letting you know, I'm gonna make up my part in this personally to you."

"That's okay Luan, I know-"

"Lincoln…I thought you died out there today. I tried keeping as cheerful and goofy and punny today as possible, hoping Luna and Leni found you…but the news…the footage," Luan said, suddenly choking in her own throat, Lincoln catching this detail and wrapping Luan in a sudden, quick, firm hug, even if his head mashed into her big breasts. Luan cried into his hair.

"I thought I was never gonna see you again, or Luna…or Leni. We left each other on bad terms…I never want that again. You, you know what I mean, right?"

"Of course Luan. And I don't want that either. Tell you what? How about we plan something in the future, just the two of us, a fun hit-up at a comedy club?"

"Really Lincoln?"

"Why not? Now more than ever people around town are gonna need the legendary Luan Loud to bring in the laughter back. No one I know is better at making me laugh, so why not you?" Lincoln said, giving Luan a kiss on her cheek. Luan didn't seem to be expecting this at all, her body temperature violently skyrocketing.

"We need you Luan, and you're the perfect one. I know over time when things get less crazy people are going to wanna lift up their spirits with some laughter…maybe even music and a good show. Get me clown-girl?"

Luan giggled in the midst of her radically raised temperature. Lincoln could sure charm Luan, being among the few in the Loud family to actually love her comedy and routines and not consistently groan at her usually bad puns. He still liked them, more than anyone she knew. Lynn was becoming a close second, Luna a good third.

"Thanks Lincoln. And please…be who you are…don't change…and don't go flying around and making dangerous twists…get it?"

Lincoln smiled and gave a slight laugh, nodding, before Luan unconsciously kissed Lincoln's forehead gently and gave him another warm hug, her body slightly shaking from some weird sense of revitalization…Leni was back…Luna was back…Lincoln was back. Not a half hour ago it seemed comedy was going to be a thing of the past, but with their return, and Lincoln's words…this both renewed and denuded the depressed, bitter feelings she had accumulated…all with the simplest thing of a kiss from her younger brother. The strange feelings remained, with a tinge of somber reality. It was a mixed, muddled bunch of feelings, but it was better than being purely depressed on the inside, using her comedy and acting skills to create a façade recently.

"I know you weren't dealing with what I'm dealing with, but was the turmoil…the depression the same? Robin? Was the suffering that bad?" Luan asked internally, looking upwards. She didn't typically have a tic for the heavenly, but occasionally seemed to have a one-sided conversation with one of her no longer living favorite comedians. For a while it seemed to frighten her how she was approaching the path of one of her favorite comics, wondering if he was internally suffering turmoil, maybe not like hers, but turmoil all the same…just before taking his own life.

Luan let go as Lincoln said he'd be down in a little bit for the movie. He was going to get his pajamas on…among the very few items of clothing he had left.

"Oh shish-kabobs…I need to let him know not to tell mom or dad about the washing machine…after this blows over, there's no telling how much trouble we're all gonna be in."

Luan kept her eyes on Lincoln's door, internally wishing their reunion would be even more meaningful, more bountiful and strong like she imagined it was with him and Luna...she realized it was a fool's dream.

"No...not in a million years...even if he wasn't with Luna, I couldn't put that giant weight of stress on him. He looks like he's gone through way too much...like hell. And besides…what if it was one-sided? That'd be horrible and uncomfortable for both of us… it might be best if I...watch from afar. I can still be close without jeopardizing my relationship with him. Him and Luna got lucky, so quickly in so short a time finding out they really really like…ah hell, they love each other...if either one found out about me…I might not be so lucky."

Luan tried smiling to herself. As ecstatic and rejuvenated she was to have them back, all of them, her thoughts still seemed to gel to this fanciful pipe dream, to be like Luna...closer than normal to her only brother. While craving this degree of intimacy, she also wanted to stay as far out of the loop as possible, at least enough to stay as a weary, on guard protective force for Lincoln and Luna. They'd need all the protection they could get to re-bond after the terrible fight today, after whatever they did left them in the physical condition they were in. If she was privy to any form of above-average intimacy, this could sabotage her want to keep them safe, never mind the possibility of this being tantamount to her causing Lincoln to cheat on Luna with her. Torn between desires and intimacy, versus the want to protect those same people; it felt worse than the time she lost control of her unicycle down a steep hill going 50 miles an hour.

Luan gave a defeated sigh, cracked her neck and started for the stairs.

"Well...at the very least, he's back, they're all back, and in a way...maybe I can be with Lincoln, through Luna...which reminds me. When Luna's feeling better, we can plan out Halloween and get everything set for them...assuming they're a thing still...or they even wanna do-"

"Sup Luan," a soft voice said along the first few steps down to a tunnel-visioned Luan. It was Lynn, doing minor leg exercises on the stairs.

"Hey Lynn...what's up?"

"Workin on getting my mojo back and pumped. Gotta get my mind psyched back into game mode. The big playoff is soon."

"Isn't that in two Fridays away?"

"You can never be too prepared," Lynn said with a wild smirk. "Truthfully though Luan…I'm just trying to distract myself, but…you know. Also...is Linc ready? Lily and everyone else are gung-ho on getting cuddled around them."

"Hmmm...competition," Luan thought to herself with a thoughtful smile, jumbling through the various possible combinations one could have on the couch huddled around Lincoln. "I'll have to strategize my way to Lincoln…somehow…"

"Uhh…Luan?" Lynn asked as Luan drifted into her thoughts.

"Oh…crap…was daydreaming Lynn, whoopsy-doopsies! Anyway, he'll be down in a few, just getting changed, him and Luna."

"You mean, they're changing together?"

"WHAT? NO! WHY...why on Earth would you think they-"

"Oh crud Luan, I didn't mean like...like that. I just meant like Luna was helping him since his hands...I mean, you know when Luna use to help dress him when he was little. He...both were really dinged up all to hell when we were patching them up. I'm not sure if they need any help getting dressed."

"Well well worry-wort, someone's growing into a big old soft ball, get it?" Luan said with a small chuckle and smile, getting a low groan from Lynn.

"I ain't turnin into no softy, banana-cream pie-girl. I just...I think I gotta do a bit more growin in, changing…I don't wanna be so stubborn anymore, even if I have rough nights...I wanna be less...pigheaded, more consci…consiouen…caring, ya know?"

"Conscientious Lynn?"

"Yeah, that one!"

"Yeah… I know what that's like. I'm stubborn too Lynn," Luan said, trying to redirect some of those self-depreciating feelings off of Lynn onto herself.

"No Luan...I'm...I'm really, really stubborn, like football helmet stubborn, like, stupid-stubborn. We could'a worked everything out. I'm tough, I could a managed...but I was too wrapped up in my own bullcrap to realize what I was doing. I got a thick head Luan...I'm sorry-"

"Quit that Lynn," Luan said, wrapping up Lynn in a hug, unintentionally smashing Lynn's head in her bust, before Lynn struggled trying to wiggle out.

"Oh...sorry Lynn...but I want you to stop thinking like that. We all agreed; we're all to blame for what happened today. We all had our own bullcrap. We all forgive you and each other. And Lincoln's forgiven you too."

"...I still owe him a personal apology. I think I was the one who threw him against the wall earlier...twice," Lynn said, holding her head in her hands. "Why am I so god damn stubborn? Why can't I think before I do something? DAMN IT!"

"Lynn, come on girl. You're doing fine. So what if you're a little cocky and bold, that justs-"

"Luan…I don't have one of those."

"Those what Lynn?"

"You just called me cocky, so…"

"Good lord Lynn….way to pull a Leni….cocky is another word for brash, you know? Self confident? Brazen, irreverent, audacious…I'm getting off track, Point is, what happened to the girl who was tougher than anyone this whole evening, even when we didn't know what happened to Leni, Luna and Lincoln?"

"...she snuck out to the front porch while no one was watching...and balled away in her knees like a tiny little girl."

"I don't think any less of you for that…and that's some stellar honesty on your front girl."

"I wasn't talking about myself," Lynn tried lying, her rippling tenor betraying her.

"Uh huh…sure you weren't Lynn," Luan smirked.

"Thanks Luan. Keep...that between us, okay?"

"No problem toughie, will do...hey, when this all blows over, you could take Lincoln down to the mall and do that rock climbing thing again. You gotta kick his butt at it again, right? Or you could be competing for that stair climbing competition you got going on right here. Guess you better step up your game...get it?" Luan said with a cute stinker face.

Lynn's quick laugh and smile got warm as she gave a cuddle-hug to Luan, before thinking how fun it would be to go against Lincoln again...and maybe have him wear that heavy shirt...so he could take it off. Lynn suddenly blushed.

"Whoa...Lynn, you look like you're overheating...want me to turn the thermostat down?"

"What? Oh...no...just thinking..."

"Oh...well in that case...mind if I ask if you had bad dreams last night?"

"Uhhhh...yeah, in a way they were bad...really bad...but in a way, really...really epic and awesome. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, it does. I'm gonna guess you, me and Leni had either really bad dreams or a rough night...didn't help any that we ran out of...you know what."

"...tampons?"

Both busted out in a hoarse laugh for a moment.

"Wow...maybe we were all on our periods at the worst possible time, ain't that something Luan?"

"Hey! There's nothing funny about menstruation...period..."

Lynn fell right on her butt hard on the stairs contorting in laughter while Luan had a huge grin on her face.

"...still got it," Luan thought triumphantly.

"Oh man. Thank god we got a comedian in the family."

"I'll take that as a complement. So, Lynn?"

"Yeah Luan?"

"How about you go make sure Lincoln's doing good, huh? I'm gonna go check up on Luna and make sure her she hasn't passed out. Those two both owe us a little couch and movie time, right?"

"Totally...and I don't like saying this much as you know...not really in my genes...but I am sorry Luan."

"Me too Lynn...all's well, so let's keep it well. And tell Lincoln to keep mum about the washing machine…you know, Leni?"

"Got it. Killer."

Lynn and Luan gave each other another hug, before they broke off to their respective paths, Luan to her and Luna's room, Lynn to Lincolns.

Lynn watched in the corner of her eye as she saw Luan delicately open her door and lock it behind her. Lynn refocused on Lincoln's room. The noises down stairs became less frequent and more relaxed as everyone seemed to be finalizing a spot in the living room.

As she was about to knock, Lori and Leni came up the stairs. Leni suddenly broke off from Lori and ran straight to Lynn, looking as though she was about to lovingly hug the living crap out of Lynn. As strong and athletic Lynn knew she herself was, Leni somehow had the genetics of a Polar Bear infused in her naïve, air-headed being. She remembered reading a book back in middle school...Of Mice and Men. She wondered if their parents had any idea how ironic that both characters, named Leni, would have near bear-like strength while also being as intelligent as a wet match in a dark cave...but in an endearing, sweet way. Leni was easily the sweetest girl in the house...more so than Lynn could consider herself to be…and had way, way more body packaging than Lynn did. Lori in the corner did possess a rack that could quite easily rival Luna's and their mother's …Luan was still by a wide margin though, way out of all their ballparks.

"LYNN!" Leni screamed happily as she ripped the jock off her feet into a polar-bear hug. Lynn could take it, but it was a huge rushing wrap. Even after the day she must have had, it seemed Leni could call upon this strength at will.

"JESUS LENI! I GOT IT! HOLY-"

"Down Leni. Lynn's not going anywhere," Lori called out with a small grin seeing Lynn mauled. Leni still held Lynn in a big nurturing hug, just not as tight.

"Lynn, like, I promise. I'm gonna buy us a huge supply of...you know whats...so that never ever ever happens again...and I'm sorry. I should have been the bigger sister."

"You are the bigger sister," Lynn said, subtly meaning this in more ways than one...Leni's height, physique and chest.

"Hey sports-star, how ya pullin through," Lori asked, putting a hand on Lynn's shoulder and looking down with a motherly look. Lori, as tough as she was, could always mother the others when it seemed the time was right. Now seemed sufficient, as it made Lynn feel happy seeing Lori again as a supportive older sister, the once matriarch that left terror in her wake, now mellowed and relaxed a bit on her own.

"I'm...better now that I know Leni, Luna and lameo are safe and sound," Lynn said, trying to give Leni an equally powerful hug. Leni just smiled happily, not feeling a thing.

"Dang it...still like a frickin tank," Lynn thought in comical disappointment. She looked down and saw Leni's foot bandaged up.

"Does…does it hurt bad Leni?" Lynn asked tentatively. Leni just wiggled her toes on the cut foot.

"It comes and goes…but like, where does it go is a good question," Leni thought out in a question, Lori and Lynn looking at each other ready to laugh.

"W...what?" Leni asked innocently.

"Nothing Leni," Lori said, wrapping Leni's arm into her own, "come on girl, show me what you've done since I moved out."

Leni squealed loudly as she grinned like a goofy cartoon character, pulling Lori a hundred miles an hour into their old room, leaving Lynn looking at the scene a little befuddled.

"Dang…glad I ain't in that whole thing…and how long has it been since Luna and Lincoln went up here?" Lynn asked to herself, wondering if they had turned in. Luan seemed to be still locked in the bedroom with Luna. Lincoln was still in his. As Lynn stood out in the hallway, it seemed unusually quite.

She looked into her shared bedroom with Lucy. She noted the clothing from last night that got certain…substances on it from last night.

"Oh crap…nightmares sure are gonna be hittin me I bet…better not think of that. Gotta check up on Linc and make sure he hasn't fallen in that space between his bed and wall again."

Back at Lincoln's front entrance, Lynn took a deep breath, getting prepped to personally face her brother…and bury the combination of strange and deeply confusing thoughts, and the trickle of memories and images of her dream from last night. She walked up to Lincoln's bedroom and delicately knocked on it several times.

"Yo bro? You good in there?"

Lynn waited a few more seconds, rubbing the back of her neck and using one foot to scratch the other.

"Lincoln…you good in there? You okay?"

"….hey…Lynn," Lincoln weakly called out from the other side of the door.

"Can I come in bro?"

"Yeah…come on in," he replied back, sounding very weary and tired.

Lynn jostled the door open; it was unlocked.

"Guess he's too tired to care about his privacy…that's new," she thought curiously as she walked in and closed the door. She saw Lincoln lying on his back on his bedcovers, limbs spread out; he was wearing nothing but a hand-me-down pair of red and purple boxers Lynn gave him a few birthdays ago. Otherwise all the clothing, socks and shoes he had on were thrown into the overflowing pile that was his laundry basket.

"Crud Linc, ya need to do some laundry," Lynn said with a chuckle, Lincoln just giving a weak nod while his eyes lazily hung open.

"Man…you must have forgot, no big deal, although we're not gonna be able to do any laundry for a bit…by the way, don't mention anything about the washing machine…Leni said she'd take the fall for that, okay?"

Lincoln again grumbled, nodding off, looking extremely exhausted.

As his eyes shut on themselves, Lynn refocused on the form that was Lincoln…namely his whole exposed body; everything on and about him looked damp and pruned, like he just spent time at a swimming pool and jumping in with the clothes on his back.

"He's really pruned from head to toe," Lynn thought, wondering just what the hell happened to him, Luna and Leni. She'd figured they might not want to talk about it.

"Hey Lincoln. You doing okay?"

"Yup," he said, more like whispered, "…just trying to dry out a little and recharge before I head down."

"Psyching yourself, awesome," Lynn said awkwardly. His eyes were just barely holding on from trying to close up. It looked like he was drifting in and out sporadically. Lynn thought she might have interrupted a power nap he may have been trying to do.

As she stood in an unusually awkward slant near his bed, trying to observe his room, her eyes wandered over to him, observing his figure again. Then it hit her.

"Oh…he's only wearing boxers…the ones I handed down to him," she thought as her eyes drifted to his ab-filled stomach and trimmed waistline…then down to his boxers again.

Lynn quickly turned around to avoid letting Lincoln see her blush should his eyes become more animated. It seemed the only thing of extreme animation and activity in the still room was Lynn's rapidly reddening face and increasing body temperature from blushing. She tried fidgeting with his cabinet and randomly strumming through Lincoln's collection of anime, Godzilla and Sci-fi monster and alien movies, a collection spanning from the 1950's to present day.

"Uh…I, I'm glad you're finally wearing those boxers I gave you bro. Thought you didn't like them."

"You know, it's funny. I never gave boxers a chance before. They are actually much more comfortable than I originally thought."

"Good…so you thinkin of switchin from briefs to boxers?"

"Maybe…I use to like the confining nature of briefs, but not anymore, at least in the last few months…they're riding up more on me."

"Ah, come on. It can't be that bad Linc."

"It's…a little discomforting. They just aren't comfortable, not like these anyways."

"Well, it's not like you got an elephant trunk down there, right?"

Lincoln seemed to wake up now, his eyes blown wide open as Lynn turned white, then rose red from realizing what she just unwittingly said.

"…I gotta watch my fucking mouth," Lynn thought as she mentally kicked herself.

"…that…was awkward…way outta line dude…sorry," she mumbled, unsure how to carry on.

"…let's just chalk this to the list of awkward things to forget," Lincoln said with a minor blush.

"Agreed. So…are you gonna come down and watch that old movie with us?"

"I am Lynn…just working on getting my body to feel less sore…ow….ow….oww…and my back less kinked….ow."

"You know Lincoln, I can crack your back if you like?"

"I'm a take you up on that proposition. That actually sounds awesome," Lincoln said with a tinge of Leni-like airy and dreaminess.

He slowly leaned up and hobbled out of the bed. Lynn wrapped her arms around Lincoln's waistline. She hesitated, letting her hands and arms drape down along his sides by his lower waistline. As she got a bit redder, her skin glowing red hot and beginning to sweat, her breathing became forcefully reserved. She slowly pulled her hands and arms up along Lincoln's flattened stomach, very subtly caressing his sides and stomach area.

"HEY!" Lincoln yelled out, Lynn freezing in pure dread and fear.

"I know what you're doing Lynn..."

"Oh fucking shit," she thought.

"...you're trying to tickle me, aren't you Lynn!?"

Lynn sighed heavily as she realized Lincoln wasn't thinking of another reason. She played along.

"Noooo…maybe," Lynn said devilishly, seeing this as her escape from Lincoln getting wise to what she was trying to pull, more accurately, caress. She began wiggling her fingers and giving a few tickles to his belly button and lower stomach, Lincoln now squirming and starting to break out in muffled laughter.

"HA! STOP! HAHA! THAT TICKLES!"

"Ha! Sorry, couldn't resist doofus, I just had to take the bait. Now I'll do it-"

"Before I tickle you in revenge," he said with a retaliatory smirk.

"In your dreams, little man."

"Uh-uh, I'm an inch taller than you now, remember?"

"Actually I just grew two inches...so I'm back to being taller than you, "little bro," Lynn cooed with a heavy emphasis on "little bro," before giving a quick cackle.

"...dang it."

Lynn quickly wrapped her fists together just under the center of Lincoln's chest, pulled and picked him up, cracking nearly all of his strained bones in his back.

"WHOA! HECK YEAH!" Lincoln roared out in pleasure, Lynn making a somewhat smirking, lustful grin as her eyes got half-closed momentarily, before lowering him back to his feet as he twisted his back for any other strenuous parts, then wiggled his body to catch his nervous system again.

"Damn...awesome job as always Lynn, thank you!"

"That's because I'm just that awesome," Lynn said in her typical self confident tone.

"You'd give Leni a run for her money."

"Yeah...that's not gonna happen. I'm strong, but she's like, cartoon-strong. It's a little freaky sometimes."

Lynn suddenly wrapped her arms around Lincoln again, this time more gently but with a degree of firmness to keep close, laying her head against the back of his neck and left shoulder.

"What's up Lynn? You just cracked my back...beautifully I might add."

"I know...I just wanna give you a hug...don't tell anyone I got a soft side or I'll surprise karate-chop your nards off."

"Awe...you are a big old softy Lynn."

"Shut up," Lynn weakly said as she snuggled into the back of Lincoln's neck, just around his baggy, semi-wet white hair, then nuzzling her face into his right shoulder. She tried burying her blush.

Lincoln suddenly unwrapped Lynn's arms and rotated around to face Lynn. Lynn instantly turned to face the wall, trying to keep her blush out of Lincoln's view.

"Lynn?"

"Yeah Linc?"

"I...I didn't mean any of it...what I said to you earlier. I just...I lost it...in the heat of the mom-"

"It's okay Linc. I'm just happy you and your dumb white hair's back with us," Lynn warmly said, turning around with her blush gone, giving a big smile and a gentle punch to his shoulder.

"...ow."

"Oh...dang it, sorry man. You gotta be sore as hell right now."

"It sucks, but I'll manage," Lincoln replied, before letting his focus drift to his cabinet, looking at a false flower lying on it.

"What's that for Lincoln? You getting into flowers now?"

"It's somebody's...somebody I know...somebody I knew..." Lincoln said, before trailing off in thought, sighing heavily and looking down, his eyes looking somber and still trapped in a vicious cycle of replaying a clip in his mind. Lynn was disturbed by his expression, like someone had just died in front of him.

"L...Lincoln? Did something happen while you were out?"

"A lot happened Lynn."

"...wanna talk about it?"

"I...if it's alright...I don't really wanna talk about it."

"No problem Linc. If ya need to rap or vent though, let me know, kay?"

"Kay Lynn."

"Good. Now get ready. They're probably going stir-crazy down th-" Lynn paused as she looked down towards Lincoln's lower extremities.

"Lincoln...do you know you've got shards of glass sticking out of the tops of your feet?"

"What? Really?" He asked, looking down and seeing a small jagged piece of glass sticking out of each foot, a small trickle of blood flowing from the spots.

"Well...what do ya know? I didn't even feel those. I did pull some metal out of my shoulder ten minutes ago. That sucked."

"Lay down for a sec," Lynn said in reserved concern, Lincoln listening and proceeding to lay back down on his back on his bed. Lynn sat down by his feet, put them in her lap and pulled out a box of band aids of varying sizes and shapes with a boat load of alcohol wipe pads.

"Let me know if it hurts, okay?"

"Okay."

With all the extreme surgical finesse and smooth delicacy she could muster, Lynn pulled the pieces of jagged glass out one by one. The left foot piece came out with no pain to Lincoln, while the right foot one must have generated a rapid, intense bit of pain as Lincoln winced and teared up.

"Shit! You good?"

"I'm good," he said, wiping a tear out of his left eye. Lynn wiped the openings with the alcohol wipes and placed large square Band Aids on them.

"I think we need to take you three to the doctors."

"Fat chance in hell of getting me or the others an appointment anytime soon. I bet every doctor in the tri-county area is busy."

"Well…maybe when all this blows over-"

"Besides, I think I'm getting awesome medical attention already sis," Lincoln said with a warm wink.

"You're too sweet for your own good dude," Lynn replied, padding the tiny Band Aids to make sure they were firm and tight on the tops of his feet.

"Don't move them too much."

"I won't as long as no one tickles me."

"And you shouldn't need the Band Aids for any longer than two or three days. The cuts aren't as deep or bad as I thought."

"That's good."

"Yeah Linc, hopefully now we won't have to amputate."

"Oh hush you," Lincoln said as he leaned over and gave Lynn a minor punch, before leaning all the way over and embraced her into a surprise hug.

"You really are an awesome person, you know that?"

Lynn, looking past Lincoln's shoulder inadvertently gave a lustful, giddy grin, before snapping back to reality.

"Hey…you need any clothes bro?"

"I don't wear girl's clothing Lynn."

"I ain't talkin girly stuff. You know half my clothing is from the men's section. Girly stuff sucks in general and is way too frickin expensive."

"Well it's not so bad."

"What's not so bad?"

"Girl clothing."

"Wait…what?"

"Don't you remember when I tried sneaking out with you and the others that one time for "Bring Your Daughter,"…..in this case, daughters, "To Work Day?"I tried sneaking out with you guys in that blue dress and blonde wig?"

"…HOLY CRAP!" Lynn roared, falling off the bed and laughing her butt off, tears of the memory's absurdity filling her. Lincoln gave a pouty smile.

"Lincoln! You don't know how long we busted up laughing in vanzilla on the way to Dad's office."

"…ha ha…very funny."

"We all knew it was you bro, though strange enough, we thought if we didn't know you, you coulda passed for a…wait a minute."

Lynn paused as she looked at Lincoln with an alert expression.

"Linc…that was a onetime thing, right?"

"Wearing a dress? Mostly, until I get roped in being a manikin for Leni or Lola. Why? You think I'm a crossdresser or something?"

Lynn looked at him with a deadpan expression for a moment.

"…I mean…"

"Oh come on Lynn! It's not like I dress up like a girl all the time. I live with nine girls in case ya forgot."

"Yeah…at least you're not a meat head like the guys on my teams. You got charisma and character."

"Uhh…thank you?"

"I mean that as a complement bro. I don't think I'd even care if you were secretly wearing girls clothing. You'd just be number elev-"

"LYNN!"

"….w…what?"

"I think this conversation just rolled off the tracks and got really awkward. Just imagine me as a mostly masculine guy with traits of his sisters, including you, okay?"

"Oh…okay. Me and my stubborn nosiness. Sorry for that derailment."

"It's cool, now let me get ready."

"Okay," she said, quickly leaving and closing his door as her skin boiled hot from how uncomfortable she made that conversation go.

"….WHY THE CRUD DID I JUST ASK MY BROTHER IF HE WAS A CROSSDRESSER!?"

She slapped herself in the face and punched the side of her head several times hard.

"BAD LYNN! BAD LYNN! WHY!? Why do I gotta be so awkward with him sometimes?"

Lynn headed for the bathroom to splash some cool water on herself; more appropriately, immerse herself. She locked the door and turned the sink's cold water on full blast, putting the sink drain stopper in and letting it fill up. A minute later she put her face right in, letting her ears stick out to hear if anyone needed in.

"I really, really gotta watch myself around him. It can't be like I dreamed. This…this has got to be a phase…for crying out loud, I promised I'd drop this if he came home safe and sound…and I just try and feel him up? Fuck me I'm fucked! My mind's wandering into territory it should never have let go…FFUUUUCCCCKKKKK!"

She pulled her face out for a moment to take another breath, before putting it back in the water.

"…although…if I…admit…he might look cute in a bunny costume…with long fuzzy white socks with pink toes…a headband with large snow-white floppy ears…a little orange choker bow tie…black shoulderless arm socks and stockings…and a sparkling…orange…tight legless server dress one-piece with a little ball of fuzzle-fluffy on his tight little butt,-"

Lynn paused as she gulped hard under water, the sound from her throat reverberating the ceramic in the sink quite intensely.

"….and a pouty blushed face…I might need to see if I can get Lucy to draw something like…..FUCK! FUCK LYNN! STOP IT! LUCY'S ELEVEN YEARS OLD! AND WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM!? WHY THE FUCK AM I THINKING OF LINCOLN IN BUNNY LINGERIE!?"

Lynn now dropped her entire head in the sink, getting her entire head soaked, pony tail and all. Slowly but surely she pulled her head out, letting the ice cold water fall off, pulse by pulse, dribble by dribble, then finally, drop by drop. It felt good to let the water cool her off physically, even though emotionally…things were frothing like a clichéd witch's cauldron, big time.

"He's your brother for God's sake. He shouldn't be on your radar at all…like no where even near the frickin radar. He shouldn't even be considered in combination with my radar….WHY DOES HE KEEP POPPING ON MY RADAR!?"

She grabbed a towel, dried her hair and face, and undid her ponytail to let her hair dangle in an unusual non-Lynn like move.

"This can't be why…thinking he was gone…letting lose my inhibitions…maybe my ponytail's been constricting the blood in my scalp to my brain…I gotta get back down and distract myself. Maybe that Oz movie will sap me out into boredom. At least I can distract myself that way from…him…that's messed up; get him, Luna and Leni back, and I'm already thinking…things, and trying to ignore him. "

She drained the sink's water, used a Q-tip to dry out the water that trickled in her ears, and left for downstairs, hoping the cold waters helped any. It seemed like a coin flip proposition for the athlete.

As Lynn left the bathroom and ran down the stairs full speed, she made a last ditch jump over a very drained and moody looking Lisa Loud, quietly mumbling to herself in her trademark incoherent, lispy fashion as she went up the stairs.

"Goodness that jock needs an overhaul and recalibration of her cerebral cortex," Lisa mumbled with annoyance after having to duck under Lynn.

With methodical precision and exact certainty in her walking rhythm, she walked to her bedroom and closed the door, locking via several laser-based devices and old fashioned chains.

"What a horrible, horrible day. The mesocyclonic disturbance in our region has been nothing less than unparalleled...its affects more so…it did not need to be."

She walked over and grabbed her small clipboard from earlier with her various drummed out differential equations and derivations on the little information she had at the time much earlier.

"So many...didn't have to have their lives cut so short, so unnecessarily."

Her small fingers gripped the clipboard tighter and tighter, feeling a growing sense of shame and anger on her part for not keeping up on the local weather like she typically did. Even though in any particular random day she juggled north of a thousand personal investigations and analyses, her primary focus as of recent, constructing algorithmic codes to duplicate societal development, socio-political-economic systems and overall human behavior in its many varied forms, overtook her more typical bent for the natural sciences...and she regretted it.

"If...I allocated just a few hours of study to the weather this morning, I could have contacted them...they'd listen...wouldn't they?"

Lisa wondered if they would listen to her. She was known as an anomaly in the science community...being the only known seven year old Ph.D. holder in Biochemistry and doctorate level knowledge in a veritable multitude of areas, a regular polymath of the millennium. And yet, today's tornadic disaster, especially in her neighborhood of all places, felt like the biggest failure of her life, and not the failure of a hypothesis to be rejected, falsified or unsubstantiated. Failure in her abilities, gigantic as they were, to keep people safe…to keep her family safe, and three of them flirted with death's cliff.

"This is my knowledge, my skill set, but...I failed...I almost lost three of my siblings...the reasons were asinine, yes, but if this fight occurred absent of an outbreak of tornadoes, we wouldn't have been so...so wrought in emotional turmoil over the proposition that Leni, Luna and Lincoln might not be coming back...no...NOOOOOO!" Lisa roared out, throwing her clipboard against her wall, knocking down several random beakers and test tubes full of benign chemical solutions...a new for Lisa, just to freak out her parents in shrewd amusement.

"I put too much faith in our society's storm tracking and emergency response abilities...too much focus on my own pursuits...and most of all; I severely overestimated the capabilities of the storm research community's capacity to understand a storm like this without the proper equipment and budgetary necessities...it's that asinine executive administration. I knew when my colleagues at the NOAA storm center had their research and employment terminated we'd be losing invaluable extreme weather research. Most of all...research and tracking of storms and meteorological phenomena has been at a record low...all thanks to that orange faced invertebrate's misguided reallocation of monetary resources."

Lisa angrily walked over to her desk and accessed her laptop. She pressed a button, and a small force field activated all around her in a round clear bubble.

"I don't need my family to know what I'm about to discuss. Computer!"

"Yes Professor Loud?"

"Patch me over to the White House. I have a few words to exchange with our commander-in-chief...charlatan."

Several minutes passed. Lisa decided to put on a blue tooth and have the conversation reverberate only her words in the interior force field space should the field potentially be flawed in any of the various particular physical parameters. She doubted it, but wanted absolute privacy, and so erred on the side of caution.

She tapped her foot repeatedly against the ground, faster and faster impatiently.

"...come on, come on...Yes, good evening. This is Professor Lisa Loud...yes, the seven year old, but my credentials precede my age...yes, I'm contacting the President on a matter of the utmost importance, it regards the day's events in the Detroit Metro region...thank you for your faux pas concern for myself and family, now please miss, transfer me to the commander in chief...I realize he is busy...no I will not call another time...nor leave a message! If he can put us on the verge of World War Three, permit orders that cause the death of innocent infants and children in the Middle East, and golf, he can allocate a minimum ten minutes to me...let him know if he rejects my request for a conversation it will mean the immediate ceasing of any theoretical contributions to his quote, unquote "incredible, tremendous" deep space program he's been pushing for, and he knows full well he can't have that failure under his presidency at this point...thank you very much, I'll hold."

Lisa waited with a morose sense that she might not get anything out of the conversation into action...but she had to try, if not for the sake of her family, for the sake of all the families affected in Detroit. They needed some kind of justice…some kind of aid, if not for them, then for all subsequent families theoretically at risk from extreme meteorological phenomena.

"Every decision has some degree of effect...be it minute or full blown fractal Mandelbrot states...he probably will have no idea what I mean by...

Lisa heard the all too familiar voice of the once T.V. celebrity.

"Ehm...hello?...Yes, good evening Mr. President...yes, thank you for your condolences and concern, but I am of sound mind and being, along with my family now...many others were not so fortunate as you know, and that is exactly why I am contacting you at this hour. I presume you are in the middle of dealing with this disaster...yes, I know statistically speaking this scale of disaster is unprecedented in the country. Which is why...no sir, this is not why I'm contacting your administration and you specifically. My interests are now squarely on the situation in my state and surrounding counties as it stands…..well…..well sir, it seems surprising you had not allocated the proper response measures to the governor in time...yes, I keep a multitude of varied sources and processing data engines at my disposal regarding the broadcasted emergency alerts. Now, I think we both know why our storm prediction and tracking abilities in the Metro Detroit area had such colossal failures. In fact, it is astounding that I should be contacting you as opposed to our local officials on this matter. As it stands, you have an enormous amount of sway at your disposal."

Lisa paused to let the other end continue on a jumbled proposition.

"I'm a scientist Mr. President. And as much as I am a nihilist about our species as a whole and the governing bodies across the world and at home in maintaining basic educational and subsistence standards of living, I still find myself in the position of caring for humanit- no….no Mr. President…no, I will not let this go by. You realize the death toll from this disaster has soared past the 15,000 fatality marker, right? That's unheard of for a natural calamity in the United States of America. This…your cabinet will get those designs and blueprints when I'm gosh darn ready to give them. But as you might be suspecting, we need to make a new deal."

Lisa halted her conversation, now hearing a far more petulant, temperamental tone emanating from her blue tooth.

"…alright, fine. I'm sure South Korea or Norway would be more than willing to accept a technological donation to their people and governments, free of charge…I could and I would, and at our current conversation's rate and degradation, I will at any moment. So are you ready to deal Mr. President?...Mr. President?...Good."

Lisa smirked slyly, ready to put forth her strong-armed requests on the table. She turned her laptop and feverishly typed up something intensely with extreme determination as she continued speaking.

"First and foremost, you're going to fire your EPA Administrator…yes…yes you will, and you will appoint an actual scientist to the position. The fact you appointed an attorney of all people, especially one who rejects the overall consensus of climate change is nothing less than spectacularly asinine…you don't want to play your cards this early Mr. President. I suggest you view a list of possible replacements I'm sending to you right now in three…two…one-"

Lisa paused, waiting for a response.

"…it doesn't matter which…how dare you Mr. President. I hate environmentalists! That much we have in alignment; they give ecologists and climatologists a horrible reputation…no sir, environmentalists and environmental scientists are not the same thing..."

Lisa paused again and grabbed the bridge of her nose, "good lord…this is going to be overly strenuous and painful to walk him through."

She bucked up.

"…good. Glad we can agree on that. The second is a reallocation to the budgets of NOAA and NASA…out of the question you say? Fine. I'll just call up Iceland's President and…try me, I dare you….if…please listen, if you can cut other government body spending to increase the military budget by 54 billion dollars, you can easily reverse that…yes you can Mr. President, I'm sure Tomahawk missile R&D can stand to lose a few billion if it means getting a better gauge on weather phenomena over your country….if you want me to find a monetarily neutral way of re-allocating the funds while still being well able to fund your frivolous, pointless foreign escapades, then so be it, I have no issue with this…do not worry, I won't be touching any of your corrupt economic advisors or neoconservatives. They matter little to…..absolutely unacceptable Mr. President, absolutely unacceptable. This will need to take effect within the next week…Mr. President, recanting any deal we are making right now….hello…hello….dang it."

Lisa huffed like a raging bull.

"Our president…hanging up on a seven year old girl…no matter, I have other ways," Lisa said with malicious intent as she accessed her laptop again, going through algorithm after algorithm, until finally a dreadful smile crossed her face.

"Ah….that's better…glad I could contact your office again Mr. President. You may be wondering why you can hear me through the various pieces of equipment in, around and all over your office. I have full control of every technical piece of equipment able to transmit and project audio. You can hear me, I can't hear you, a win-win for me. And I wouldn't bother trying to fiddle with the volumes or batteries…totally not in your best interest to even remotely attempt to cut me off…an extremely painful static shock will follow as I presume you and several of your other cabinet and ill-placed family members have found out moments ago. Now, let's get down to business, as you would put, the art of the deal. Brilliant title I must admit. Now, as stated, you will terminate the current EPA administrator for one of the scientists I put forth in a sample list, you will increase funding to the agencies I previously mentioned, and add to it specifically hire back on the Climatologists and Storm researchers you had personally fired for their critiques of your administration decisions…this must be tough, but you're a big man, you've faced worse. Lastly, you will be allocating every material and financial resource accessible to the United States government to help in the relief and rebuilding of the metro Detroit region, along as a bonus, finally taking care of Flint's water supply crisis and all subsequent water supply issues in the US. That last one should have been resolved ages ago, and I have blue prints for the Environmental Engineers struggling to resolve these situations."

Lisa paused to re-check her course.

"And in return for all these activities I should not have to be strong-arming out of you Mr. President, as it happens to be in your job description, you will get everything you and I agreed to; all the technical assistance for your deep space program and weapons systems you need, at the standard rate I charge. I hope this has been an enlightening, one sided deal…and a quick addendum. Should you fail to meet any of the following objectives within the next fourteen days, by the latest for requests one and two by November 24th, and instead pursue the following actions; threaten my family or myself in any way, any fashion, to any degree I find suspicious to fallaciously weasel out of your duties…I promise you, the ramifications to your administrations would be most…severe."

Lisa's tone dropped from calculative to cold and brutal.

"All assistance and technical expertise for your deep space program I poses would be given to other countries for free, as would all my weapons systems knowledge and re-discovery of Tesla's Teleforce, with which I would give to every legitimate democracy on Earth...but that would not be the last. And it would be made more than public to the American people that your decisions to cut the budgets to agency departments responsible for funding of extreme weather research, prediction and tracking, and the indirect local ramifications that has on city-wide emergency preparedness, were the indirect reasons why this storm killed so many of our fellow Americans so senselessly. And you and I both know Mr. President that the Russian government had nothing to do with the election like the Democrats keep prattling on about so obtusely, but as it stands your relationship with them and the Chinese is on unbearably shaky grounds…we wouldn't want you to become a bigger laughing stock than you already are. Wikileaks and Snowden would become the least of your problems. Most importantly, you wouldn't like a visit from a certain individual I have connections with, and still owes me a solid….does the phrase, "C-137" ring any cerebral bells?...It should….it should strike fear in your souls, colloquially speaking. So in conclusion, I hope you take my requests into consideration Mr. President, and I hope to see the results of our discussion really soon. Have a pleasant night. I'll be in touch."

Lisa turned off her Bluetooth, de-programmed what she had running a moment ago, then turned her laptop off, followed by the force field, then calmly walked over to her door to unlock it. She had a blank expression, until finally taking a huge breath of air.

"….that actually turned out better than I expected. Now…we wait and see…and as much as I hate to say this…hope."

Lisa walked back down stairs and joined the family. She saw Lily waiting on the couch looking towards the stairs, presumably hoping Lincoln, Luna and Leni would be coming down soon. Lisa curled up down on the floor directly under her.

"There there Lily. They'll be down in any moment. And pray-tell what part we're beginning at. I myself am partial to the Wizard of Oz being exposed from behind the emerald curtains."

Lily smiled and pressed the play button on the remote, showing a minor sequence. They were around the mark Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and The Cowardly Lion were being told to knock on the doors to the Emerald City. Bobby suddenly walked out of the kitchen with Rita, Lynn Sr and Lynn, all holding large amounts of TV dinners.

"Glad I made our home energetically self-reliant. I really should teach Lana how to maintain the plasma coil in the sub-basement."

Lola and Lana walked out holding small macaroni-noodle cup packs, both scarfing them down, Lana in typical fashion, Lola in untypical fashion. Lucy walked up and sat on a corner part of the couch as Lynn settled next to Lisa, messing with her t-shirt excessively, Lisa noting her hair was down and not in a pony tail, it slightly drench wet still along the sides of her scalp.

"…that'll do too…this will all do," Lisa said, her expression plain, yet her mind still euphoric from being surrounded by her still intact family…and from mind-mauling and hard-balling the most powerful human being on Earth at the moment.

---

Earlier back in Leni and formally Lori's room, Lori was gushing at how Leni redecorated, loving Leni's new bed, telling her she wanted her to design a wood frame for her and Bobby's bed.

"Sure Lori, so totes gonna do...he...hey...Lori?"

"Yeah? Oh...hold up...let me take a quick look to make sure I got it good," Lori interrupted, pulling in Leni's right leg and inspecting her bandaged foot.

"It doesn't hurt still, does it?"

"No...it didn't hurt really when it happened. I just didn't like all the blood that came out. It was icky and not cool."

"Hemophobic still...some things never change," Leni said as she gently rubbed the bandaged part of her foot, before giving a few of Leni's toes a quick wiggle.

"And this little piggy went wee wee all the way home," Lori said with a jolly smile and squeaky voice, Leni giggling, before pulling her foot back.

"Hee hee...that tickles Lori!

"I know."

"…and what's homophobic?"

"…Hemophobic Leni, it's a fear of blood."

"Oh…so I'm homophobic?"

"No….no Leni, not homophobic. You're as far removed from homophobia as one could get...I bet you don't even know what that means."

"Well…" Leni said, pausing to think for a solid ten seconds, "…..no…I don't."

"That's probably a good thing."

"So...Lori...can I ask you about something?"

"Almost literally anything anytime sis."

"Have you ever...turned off?"

"Turned off?"

"Like...you're on at one point, then you sort of off the other. Does that make any sense Lori?"

"Are you talking about having a blackout Leni?"

"A blackout? Like when the power goes out in the house when I'm trying to use the hair dryer?"

"Something like that, but imagine instead of the house turning off, it's your mind. Why do you ask? You being forgetful again or something?"

"It happened before we got home. It's like...like I lost time for a little while. Is that normal?"

"I can't even remember the last movie I saw. I wouldn't worry about it too much Leni. We all let time slip on us one way or another."

"Yeah...I guess…I didn't know you could slip on time; I'll have to watch my step a bit more," Leni said with an airy sigh as both her and Lori laid back in Leni's bed.

"Wow! This is really comfy," Lori said, wiggling back and forth on the comforters. "My bed was never this cozy and cuddly. How long did it take you to do this?"

"About two days with Lana's help. She's really good at wood crafts and power tools."

"And you're a master at wood carving and wood work, and you never even took a class for that."

"Awe, gee, thanks sis. Can...I ask you something else?"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever felt like, your tummy was telling you that you did something...something bad, without even knowing what it was?"

"...you're kidding, right Leni?" Lori asked in a furled brow.

"I'm like totes serious Lori."

Lori just rolled off the bed laughing away.

"LORI!?"

"I'M...I'm sorry Leni...oh man...but the idea of you doing anything bad intentionally...oh geez, that was a good laugh," Lori huffed out with a big grin, retaining her breaths with a big grin, slapping her knee and hitting her chest with her fist to prevent a coughing spell.

"...I take it you don't think I'm able to do anything bad Lori?"

"Leni, nearly all the mistakes you've ever made were mistakes of the head, not the heart."

"Uh...I don't get it."

"Kinda my point. You and probably Lily are the angels in the family...though we gotta give Lily a few more years before we can say she's gonna be as sweet and nice as you...that running of hers is a nightmare, and those impression skills might mess with her mind...point being, you're not bad one bit Leni."

"You...you really mean that Lori?"

"You're like my polar opposite Leni. Of course I do. I've never known you to do anything mean spirited...or, as you just put it, bad, at least intentionally."

Leni suddenly leaned over and hugged Lori tightly.

"I miss being roomies with you."

"I know you do Leni...and I do too. Bobby might be my soulmate, but I miss our girl time and girl nights together...and Bobby can't paint finger or toenails for crap, see?" Lori said, wiggling her toes, showing the horrible paint job Bobby apparently did the night beforehand.

"I didn't tell him...I couldn't break my boo-boo bear's heart."

"I mean...it looks about the same as you paint them," Leni said with a small smirk.

"Oh hush! Anyways...it's fun being with Bobby and moving on, but I miss the old days too...in fact...how about next week you come by?"

"You mean it Lori?" Leni asked with a big happy smile.

"Absolutely...and I'm sorry I haven't been keeping in contact as frequently as I promised. There's like, a literal ton of stuff I got going on at once...literally a ton."

"I understand Lori. You're moving on, and someday you're gonna be a big, successful loiterer."

"...lawyer Leni."

"Isn't that what I said?"

"...well that hasn't changed," Lori said lowly with a small smile.

"What hasn't changed?"

"Nothing...now come give your big sis a big hug."

Lori grappled Leni in a tight hug, like the ones they use to give when they were little girls telling each other stories in bed took keep their minds off the stormy, scary weather. Leni's heart felt a bit at ease now she had some bonding time with her older sister...but last night's dream, the events today and especially something that's been nagging her in the back of her mind...something about herself...her body, seemed to worm its way into Leni's usually fragile focus. It perplexed her how the body could react to her dreams like that, even when she woke up from it…how her body responded to what dream Lincoln was doing to her.

"I can never…never tell anyone about that," Leni thought as she stared at her wall while Lori broke from the hug and kept curiously pressing at the comforters, amazed by how soft and cozy Leni fashioned them to be.

"L…Lori?"

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you a really…really personal question?"

"Uh…how personal are we talking about Leni?"

"It's…about my body."

"Well…okay…what's up?"

"I…was like, hoping you could tell me if it's normal to have dreams that cause you to…well…dreams that make your body do things."

"Like sleep-walk Leni?"

"Nuh-uh…dreams that make certain parts of your body really…really tingly and feel…really, really good."

"Oh boy…wait, Leni, are you talking about your funny bone, your elbow? Cause with you, ya might be talking about a potentially wide variety of sensations."

"No Lori…I mean…right…down…here," Leni tepidly said with an utter look of shame planted on her face as she pointed directly at her groin area.

Lori's eyes grew wide in shock, now realizing what Leni was going on about.

"Oh….ooohhhhh…..oh crud," Lori sighed, prepping her mind to explain to Leni as easily and simply as possible.

"Lori…is that normal for our bodies to do that? All from dreams?"

"Oh Leni, it's perfectly natural and normal. What you had was called a wet dream. Most girls have them, and I'm gonna bet all guys have them…like literally every guy in all of history. In fact, I totally caught Bobby having one of me a week ago. I couldn't believe he was cranking it to me in his sleep," Lori said with a goofy, slightly lustful expression. Leni just looked at her uncomfortably with confusion marred all over her face.

"Lori…what's cranking it mean?"

Lori laughed in her hand harshly.

"LORI!?"

"I'm sorry Leni…you're just so innocent and naïve sometimes…it's literally so adorable, even when you're the oldest in the house now, you're so pure."

"Well…so anyways…I gotta go back to this wet dream-thingy again."

"Oh…and I'm really surprised you didn't know about this stuff. You took Sex-Ed too."

"I barely got by without really understanding too much stuff. But…yeah…this isn't cause it's like, not just the fact that I had…have them-"

"And he's gotta be a hunk to be doing that to you," Lori said with a grin and a nudge, Leni instantly popping a certain white haired young man in her thoughts. She began blushing nervously.

"He is a hunk, isn't he?"

"He's…really cute…a real gentleman that doesn't treat me like property or a prize…instead, like I'm a person…with feelings…more than just an air head or a body to look at."

"I'm sure he'd be real lucky to have you sis…you should go for it."

Leni's eyes went wide from that idea…go after him she says.

"If only you knew how much and how why that is such a bad idea," Leni thought in disappointed guilt.

"Well…so what's with this wet dream thing Leni? Seems pretty self-explanatory to me. Just go to Lover's Lane or Noir Leather in downtown and pick up a vibra...no…no, that's a bad idea. You'd have no idea how to….never mind Leni."

"So…the wet dream thingy's…I have them…but it's how I have them…does that make sense?"

"Good lord…I'm gonna regret asking….okay…how?"

"It's like…when it happens…it happens back to back, in different spots."

"Different spots?" Lori asked, legitimately in pure confusion.

"Yeah. It's like I get two of them…one here," Leni said, point to a spot in her left area of her groin by her left thigh, "…and then, right after that, right here," she added, pointing to a spot identical in distance from her groin area from the left, but just by her right thigh.

"They both happen below my belly button, one to the left first, then to the right…sometimes both happen at once. So…Lori…is that normal?"

"…holy crud Leni…this is a first for me," Lori said with a bewildered tone, perplexed by what Leni tried articulating about.

"So…Leni, how long do each last?"

"Uhhh…the first is like, nine or ten seconds…the second is twelve or fifteen seconds. But…another dream…I couldn't really move my body for like…minutes…the tingles last for two…maybe three minutes. Is that something that happens to most girls?"

"Good lord Leni….two…literally two of them…and one for that long? What the hell is he doing to you? And why the hell are you so late blooming into this? Most girls get these when they turn thirteen!"

"Wait…two wet dreams Lori?"

"No…huh…-"

"And Lori? When each happens…it's like when I'm drinking milk and laugh, and it comes out of my nose…only from down there…twice," Leni winced the last word, curling up in a ball, looking even more shameful and embarrassed about what she articulated to an utterly speechless Lori.

"….Lori? Uhhhh…Lori?" Leni asked a stoic, thinking and reflecting Lori. Leni waived her hands in front of her face.

"…wow….I've only been gone a few months…things escalated quickly."

"It's been happening since before you left…what…do you think I should do Lori?"

"Well…I don't suppose you wanna involve mom on this one? Or Lisa?"

"No…she's got enough to worry about right now, and I think Lisa might use me as a pygmy pig."

"…guinea pig…well…I can help schedule an appointment for you to my gynecologist…probably in two or so weeks from now when things settle down a bit from the disaster."

"O…okay Lori…I don't know how a guy in college can help me, but if you trust him-"

"Not "guy in college," Gynecologists are doctors who specialize in looking at and making sure your….um….down there's," Lori said with a cough, pointing to hers and Leni's regions, "…are all nice and healthy. If anyone could tell you what's going on, it's her. How about it?'

"Okay Lori…thank you big sis."

"Anytime Leni."

---

Meanwhile back in the room of the rocker and the comedian, Luna had spilt the beans on the major events that happened to her and Leni, and with great trepidation, under a painful admission, told Luan about those extra sensitive and still disturbing details…how her and Lincoln nearly took their own lives under the false assumption that the other was killed. Right now Luan was profusely tearing up in a curled upright ball, crying into her knees on her bean bag chair while Luna tried comforting her. Luna regretted telling Luan the honest truth.

"You…and Linc…were gonna leave us…all of us…and me…forever…," Luan croaked, before completely falling apart into Luna's chest with painful sob after painful sob, so painful they seemed to have been ripping her heart and mind out.

She was stuck in this cycle so intently she began coughing and choking on her own sporadic sobbing pulsations and saliva. Luna ran up momentarily and snatched a bottled apple cider from their closet, proceeding to delicately hold Luan in an embrace, dribbling the carbonated drink down her throat to counteract the stinging, painful sensations in her esophagus with a bubbling, soothing an active counter sensation. As Luna teared up silently, she wiped away Luan's tears finger by finger, then gently caressed Luan's cheeks in boundless personal shame.

With a few more recovery coughs, a few more drinks of apple cider and the eventual reeling of her rapid lament, Luan got herself back under control…relatively speaking.

"You…you and…Linc…forever….even Leni…forever…if she really did that for you two…running out in the to…torn-"

"I'm sorry Luan! I don't know what the hell came over us! I-"

"I…I unders….understand Luna."

"W…what?"

"You two care for each other that much…so much, that you'd risk everything you got in this world…just on the off chance you'd be together…it hurts, really badly in my heart and throat knowing you'd leave us…but in a strange…dare I saw…funny way, it's tragically romantic and sweet," Luan mumbled, before hiccupping several times, brushing her non-ponytailed hair from her face. Luna leaned in and pulled it back gently to help expose her sister's face. Luan gave a small, depressed smile to her.

"…and Leni did the most powerful form of sibling concern and care I've ever heard…I didn't know she had it in her," Luan mused with a tiny crooked grin, gaining a new scale of respect and admiration for her older, slightly airy sister.

"She's…so beautiful with her hair down," Luna thought randomly while looking down on Luan, seeing how Luan had not put on a ponytail yet. It seemed to have a glossy, shiny appearance Luna's lacked, with tiny erratic hairs poking sporadically in a static-like fizzle. Then Luna got her mind back on track; her younger sister was damn-near close to falling apart on her, and Luna was goggling her person.

"We…we totally acted out of line Luan. I'd never wanna intentionally leave you and the others. It's…it's just…I wasn't thinking…he wasn't thinking…" Luna said with a self-loathing whimper.

"You both may have acted out of line," Luan began as she held onto both of Luna's hands, playing with them softly, "but…both of you acted on your feelings…your emotions…your love for each other…and you weren't thinking Luna, nor Linc…cause you really do love each other…that's beyond regular thinking."

"I…I guess I really do," Luna said tepidly. Even after everything, Luna still couldn't believe how paradoxical her mind acted today, thrown into chaotic, muddled tracks into being both selfish and yet simultaneously self-sacrificing, all for the sake of Lincoln, and it seemed he had those potentially self-sacrificing feelings as well.

And even though Luan was trying her damndest to find justification in her mind and be on her sister's side and Lincoln's, Luna telling this tale not only disturbed her on an emotional level, but on a personal level; it was the symbolic final nail into the coffin that were Luan's secret hopes and dreams to try and have anything remotely intimate with Lincoln like Luna did. There'd be no way she could pursue anything with him now, even if in the near-impossible chance with Luna's permission. Luan was not about to jeopardize her relationship with her. No matter how much she'd try, she'd never have the same kind of bond Luna and Lincoln built out of this ordeal.

"You two just got infinitely farther away from me…Linc…goodbye bro," Luan mumbled incoherently to herself as she looked away towards the ground.

"What Luan?"

"…nothing…nothing at all," she weakly said, before she curled up into Luna's frame, sitting in her lap like they were little again, keeping as close as she possibly could, holding her like a pillow while breathing in and out slowly.

"Luna…I think you two really were destined for each other," she whispered, trying to come to grips with losing any hope at all, trying to move on in that moment…trying to be happy. Luan gold-plated the axiom in her head "You were not meant for him, but you can help them. They need your help now, more than ever."

"It feels like that in my heart sis. I've never felt that much so strongly."

"This has been on hell of a weekend, huh Luna."

"Sure has, for us…and a lot of others."

As Luan bathed in the body warmth and presence of Luna, her mixed, troubled mind doubled-down on her own promise and axiom. More so than ever before, she would do everything in her power to keep the both of them safe, emotionally and physically from threats, and most of all, safe from society.

"You…wanna go down now? Or hold off a few?" Luna asked, Luan now smiling warmly, ready to take on this new goal.

"Just a few," Luan said while nuzzling into Luna, her eyes closed and her soul attaining some peace and acceptance.

"Just a few more minutes...need to cool down a bit…and I wanna be in my sister's arms. Gotta….wait a sec," Luan said, getting up and leaving Luna questioning what she was doing. Luan fuddled with a couple of drawers in their cabinet, before pulling out a few white packets.

"…gotta "relish" the moment, get it?"

"You silly thing," Luna said with a chuckle, seeing Luan's face brighten up with a pun.

"I want my punny sis to hang out with a little tonight, cause I wanna see if we can still plan the Halloween thing…if you're still game."

"…I'd like that. And…I have a couple of Halloween costume ideas for you two, if ya wanna hear about them later."

"That's rockin spectacular sis."

"Thought so. I'm gonna be on a roll tonight…get it?"

---

Outside the house along the sidewalk adjacent to Mr. Grouse's house, Mr. Grouse walked slowly outside towards his 1958 Packard Hawk, eating his big bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"Well babe, what kinda hell did they put you through?"

He opened the driver door and inspected the interior, noting any abnormalities in the seating, potential rips, ect.

"Well good golly, not a bad rip in here at all, though some leaves, all over the carpet floor. That ain't no big deal, but these youngins need ta learn to wipe their shoes before going into classic beauties like you."

He placed his hand on the seats, and found them a tad moist still.

"What the…what in baloney-lovin pumpernickel did they do? Fall in a pool or something? Well…it's mostly dried out anyways."

He closed the door and looked over the exterior of the Packard Hawk.

"Good thing that musical-Loud knows how to drive. For a while I thought they'd be goners. Glad I didn't let the blonde one drive."

He kept looking in all the details.

"Some scratches and dents, but, comin from downtown that ain't so bad. Well, I better call it a-"

He looked towards the back trunk area around the right back wheel; a 2x4 piece of wood and a pole with the American flag were sticking right out of the metal exterior.

"…LLLLOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU…ah heck…they went through enough. I'll let this one pass."

Mr. Grouse hobbled over and pulled the 2x4 out, then the pole with the American flag on it, tattered and ripped, but still waving on strongly.

He threw the 2x4 next to his door, then placed the pole in an angled metal slot, deep enough and wide enough for him to insert the pole in so the American flag could waive still.

"Good on ya Old Glory, good on ya. Need all the patriotism, prayers and support we can get for them folks that got hit head on."

---

9:34 PM

The entire family was crowded around the couch and floor downstairs. Rita and Lynn Sr were snoring away loudly in their foldout chairs as Lola was sawing logs in Rita's lap, Lana in Lynn Sr's. Lisa was nodding off, trying to stay focused, but was now feeling the effects of stress and last minute thoughts perturb her. Bobby was in the single sofa chair with Lori curled up on him. Both of them were sawing away logs too.

A nodding-off Lincoln was situated in the center of the long couch, with a still fully awake Lily curled up on him, Luna to his right with Luan next to her, and Leni to his left, with Lucy and Lynn next to Leni. All their heads except Lily's were slowly gyrating back and forth, eye lids sporadically shutting and opening.

As everyone else began losing focus, Leni opened her eyes again, seeing the near-ending of the classic Wizard of Oz, the scene where Glinda the Good Witch of the North was telling Dorothy to close her eyes, tap her heels together three times and think "there's no place like home."

"There's no place like home," Leni repeated too, watching the sequence…until she saw the moire pattern of rippling black and white circles in the background. Leni's body suddenly got rock-hard and rigid, petrified in space as her eyes drifted to that lifeless zone. In those few seconds Dorothy's house flew in the air, her fingers gripped the fabric of the couch and made several large holes, her body shaking now. That intense, deadpan gaze springing with no life, fazed back in that short time period.

Only moments later Leni snapped out of whatever took her over when the scene progressed. Lucy seemed to notice.

"Leni, are you okay?"

"Oh….huh….yeah. I am. Must have slipped on time again. Mental note; can slip on time when sitting too."

"…..ooookay….sigh," Lucy huffed, wondering what just happened to Leni.

A few minutes later the movie finished up. Everyone got back up defiantly and begrudgingly from their comfy spots. Lincoln wanted them all to have a bed to sleep in…mostly himself since he was still so very sore, so they all complied.

Leni escorted Lori and Bobby to her room, pulling out a back-up inflatable mattress out, and in several large huffs, blew the bed up for them. Lori and Bobby collapsed on it, all nuzzled together as Leni threw a blanket on them.

"Awe….too cute."

Lily took the DVD out and placed it back into its case, then proceeded to fall asleep right on the carpet floor. Lisa came over and clumsily carried her up the stairs, insisting she could do this until Luan picked both of them up and carried them to their shared room.

Rita and Lynn Sr were about to carry the twins upstairs, but Luna and Lincoln doggedly insisted they carry the twins to their beds; it was the least they could do.

As they were about to break off to bed, Leni came over, coming from down stairs and carrying up Lucy, who was astoundingly sleeping.

"She never usually falls asleep in the open like that," Lincoln opinioned.

"Awe…spooky little Lucy is actually quite cute when she's like that," Luna said.

"Hey…where's Lynn?" Lincoln asked.

"Right here," Lynn said, pulling her body up the stairs with virtually no energy left in her body. Everybody looked at her curiously.

"…what? Shut up! It's so my legs get plenty of sleep tonight."

"More mysticism and luck nonsense I presume," Lisa opinioned openly from her door, before closing it quickly.

"Here," Lincoln said, pulling Lynn up and carrying her bride style.

"I can walk bro."

"You're not walking right now."

"Whatever white-hair. Thanks."

Lincoln gently plopped Lynn into her bed.

"Good night sis."

"Night Lincoln."

As Lincoln left, Leni went in to place Lucy in her bed, coming out moments later with an alert face.

"Has Lucy always had pet bats guys?"

"Ever since she was younger. She's always been batty like that…get it?"

As Luna yawned powerfully and rubbed her head, Luan feeling them herself when checking Luna's head, she noticed several large…very large bumps on Luna's cranium under the bandages. She placed her hand gently against Luna's head.

"Crimeny Luna! Knob that I've heard of bumps to the head, but this is ridge-diculous…hahaha, get it?"

"Luan…puns right now? Really dude?"

"Sorry sis…nervous reaction."

Luan suddenly ran back downstairs to put the platter of devilled eggs away in the fridge…the two or three that were left from earlier from Lana engorging on them, along with the glasses used by Leni for all their shakes. The shakes were probably better for dinner than the TV dinners they all ate.

Luan stacked the huge mess adjacent to the sink.

"We'll worry about that tomorrow. Dish won't be easy work without Lucy to help. Hehe."

As Luan walked back upstairs, she saw Luna hanging out by Lincoln's door. Everyone seemed to have tucked in now, exhausted, relieved, bodies still stunned from the potentiality that three of their own may not have been returning after today's events. Both seemed to be talking personally, very quietly to one another. Luna then closed the door, followed by the lock clicking on.

Luan suddenly got an idea. She pulled her laptop out and turned on the audio to Lincoln's room, omitting the want to watch the live footage.

"It's enough that I'm listening in on them…good lord I hope they won't find this out. So…..alrighty...Lincoln and Luna radio broadcast going live," Luan whispered, putting her headphones on and carrying her laptop to their door, cracking it just enough to peek at Lincoln's door, "...in three...two...one..."

"I just wanna be snuggled like this forever dude; you're my white-haired cuddle bunny plushy. Want me to stay the night with you? We could have...a rockin time?"

"As awesome as that sounds Luna, I'm about ready to fall asleep. And you just said you were gonna hang with Luan the rest of the night, doing girl stuff. Besides...it's not safe, especially with Lori and Bobby just across the hall in Leni's bedroom."

"Yeah, ya got a point bro. And I did promise her."

"Gotta keep promises Luna."

Luan's heart inadvertently fluttered at how Lincoln was looking out for her. Not in a directly intimate way, but in a caring, conscientious sort of sense.

"Thank you Linc. I understand how Luna wants to be with you right now after the day you had...but I just don't wanna be left alone tonight," Luan said quietly to herself still peeking at Lincoln's door.

"You should get back to her. She's probably waiting."

"Yeah...or maybe me and her can stay with you tonight."

"What?" Lincoln said in surprise.

"Wha wha what?" Luan unintelligibly blurted out.

"Yeah dude. Think of it as a clean threesome."

Luan's nose suddenly shot some blood while saliva drooled profusely out of her mouth in one large spurt on the carpet.

"Whoa Luna! Easy girl...hell, easy me!" Luan said with slobbering tongue. The audio stayed silent for a moment, Lincoln seemingly shocked as well.

"... damn bro. I'm kidding. Just messin with ya cutie."

"Well knowing you Luna, I'd probably wake up to find you messing with me in my sleep…doing things," Lincoln said with an audible snicker.

"…maybe you will bro…maybe you'll find me in your bed, sooner than you think."

"And that's our cue to go to bed now," Lincoln announced urgently.

"Awwww, come on amigo? How about a little-"

"What the hell? Luna, what are you…..aahhhuueeee!...ha…huuhaha…..Luna? Wha….wha-"

"Relax dude. Ever heard of a foot job before?"

"….WHAT!?" Luan mouthed as her mind screamed in shock and awe from hearing about this…exchange seemingly to take place as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, her face now royally blushed in many red hues.

"Ahh….haa…Lu…Luna….this is a…little strange…maybe-"

"Really dude? Cause you're rockin one hell of a hard on under my arches right now, and I already feel…oh….am I feeling some pre-ooze bro? Even through those boxers? That's a lot before the finale."

"Ha ha…" Lincoln weakly squealed in a stuttered laugh before letting out several softer groans.

"….holy crud…Luna's jerking Linc with her feet…I'm fucked listening in on this…but…if the shoe was on the other foot…haha, get it," Luan struggled with a pun in the situation, before sensuality seemed to take over her body, receptive to the audio, using whatever discipline and sanctity to not view the footage, just staring at the door, holding her laptop in her left arm and listening with heightened hearing as she let out several weak moans herself. Her legs became weak and gyrated back and forth inwards on themselves; sweat poured down from her pores on her forehead, arms, upper body, and her large bouncy chest. She was getting extremely moist, tender and turned on, especially other parts of her person that began…lactating.

"Holy hell…they're doing it again," Luan said astounded, using her free right hand to caress her boobs one by one in equal turns, feeling her tips as they seemed to trickle out diminutive streams around her nipples. She suddenly found herself throwing off her right foot her white bunny slipper, energetically rubbing her right foot back and forth profusely on the carpet while shifting most of her weight to her left, fueling the waving tingling sensations the nerves in her foot, boobs and mid-section seemed to be ensnarled in. Nearly her entire nervous system seemed lost in these sensations.

"Luna….Luna I-"

"Ooooh…you're throbbing a hell of a rock concert in them boxers under my toes big time bro."

"I…I can't help it."

"I didn't say I didn't like it, and don't stop…keep that microphone stand up dude…those pulses it's doing, that's hot," Luan heard Luna say seductively, Luan herself now quickening her own foot's rubbing pace against the carpeted floor near their marginally jarred doorway.

"Oh man…..aaahhh…..this is weird….and I'm…so totally into it right now," Luan moaned in a trembling voice as she heard Lincoln breathing heavier and faster, Luna doing a growling purr-like rumble in her voice.

"Lun….Luna…I…I can't hold out for much-"

"Ssshhhh….let her rip bro, blow that chord," Luna lustfully whispered before Lincoln groaned loudly over the audio for several seconds.

"Ahh….aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh," Luan winced in a pulsating, restricted but powerful moan to herself, the rippling sensations locking her in bodily contractions for a good ten seconds, causing her to nearly tip right over and drop her laptop on the ground. She caught it mid-air at the last moment on the ending of her body's physical response to the events in the room down the hall.

"Huuuuhhh….uuuhhhhhaaaaaa…..sploooooosh," Luan muttered weakly with a giddy grin.

"Huuuuhhhhhh…..Luna…that was without a doubt…one of the strangest ones I've ever had yet."

"Glad I could rock your world with nothing but me feet."

"This…doesn't mean I have a weird fetish now, right?"

"Dude, all I'd have to do is just stare at it, and you'd still cream yourself. Guys are funny and simple like that. Don't worry…if anything, worry about what you're gonna do for me when Halloween…comes around, get it?"

"Hey! That's my Schick," Luan said while trying to catch her breath.

"W..what do you mean?"

"The way I figure, we're gonna have fun, relax, chill…go see that Godzilla movie again…with no interruptions from me, hehe, and then…I'm going to show you the most awesome secret I know of the haunted house by the theater."

"The most awesome secret of the haunted house by the theater…Luna, what the heck are you talking about?"

"It's a surprise bro. I'll tell you a tiny bit later, but Luan's gonna help us have all the time we need in the evening. For now…for the next few days, till Halloween night, we gotta go back to being cool, covert, cautious…and regular siblings."

"Yeah…I get that and totally agree Luna. Things around here are gonna be…I don't wanna say weird, but you think they're gonna be waiting on us and Leni, hand and foot?"

"…I got the foot part down," Luna said with a smart aleck manner.

"Besides…we owe each other some serious fun and recovery time up ahead…think of what just happened as a tiny little prelude to the main show I got brewing in my noggin…the things I'm gonna do…show…pump out…of you…"

Luan, still dripping hard all over, managed to get red-faced again. She noticed how when she orgasmed, her breasts shot out a large amount of milk, coating and soaking her shirt.

"…yes, I got milk, heheheh….well that's something new with me…but…awe hell, now I gotta change…everything."

"Well Luna, thank you for the wonderful…if not weird and kinda confusing time-"

"Don't be a dork you cutie."

"What? You want me to say you just rocked my world or something?"

"…couldn't hurt."

"Okay. You rocked my world."

"And you think I'm good with my tootsies, wait till you get a load of my tongue skills," Luna paused, before a wiggling, flesh-slapping sound lightly pierced the audio over Luna's microphone.

"Damn…that tongue of yours again Luna," Lincoln said in simultaneous nervous concern and animalistic lust.

"Wait till you get a load of this…and maybe I'll get a load on it next time...HOLY CRAP DUDE! HA! You should see yourself! Roses are red, violets are blue, you're turning into a whole other burgundy hue," Luna snickered-sang to him.

"...now's a good time for me to go to bed, before every fluid drains from my body."

"Challenge accepted….nah, you're right dude. Just a blooming deviation, then yeah, time for bed...and get your endurance up bro."

"Endur...al...alright."

"And one more thing bro."

"Uh oh….what's that?"

"What's with all the French Vanilla creamers on your cabinet? You got like fifteen up here. Are you a coffee drinker now?"

The line stayed deadly silent. Luan could also feel the nervous tension in the background noise.

"…no….I don't like coffee, and…it's a little embarrassing. Can I tell you another time?"

"S…sure bro."

"Okay, cool. Well goodnight rocker girl. I love you."

"Love you to Lincoln. If...you have any bad dreams, you know where to find me...and don't just crawl into the first bunk you see. You might freak Luan out."

"Oh my god, please freak me out! Freak me out!" Luan pleaded unintelligibly under her breath.

"Same to you Luna."

"And don't forget to change out of those boxers...I hear they might be sticky."

"Ha ha ha. Goodnight Luna."

Luan heard a tiny bit of rustling outside Lincoln's doors. It quietly popped open, Luna in partial view. She began to walk forwards, about to close his door, until she stopped in her tracks and back-tracked into Lincoln's room. Luan refocused on the audio feed again.

"What's up Luna?"

"I forgot dude...reprise time."

"Reprise?" Lincoln and Luan asked in unaware unison.

"…more of a repeat really, love," Luna said before she coughed a little, clearing her vocal cords, then started softly singing.

"…ehm…..Don't lose your way…"

"Again Luna? Come on…you're gonna make me cry….and stop smiling. It's making me blush!"

"With each passing day…You've come so far, don't throw it away."

"….damn it Luna…these aren't tears! And I'm not smiling! This is an upside down frown!" Lincoln seemed to choke out in a watery chuckle.

"Live believing…..dreams are for weaving, wonders are waiting to start."

"Whoa! That's that dinosaur movie...I love that...and I actually know the song," Luan whimpered, finding herself drifting along, secretly singing with Luna.

"Live your story….faith, hope and glory, hold to the truth in your heart."

Lincoln then started singing along with Luna too.

"If we hold on, together…I know our dreams, will never die," Luna and Lincoln sang softly while Luan followed quietly. It was a duet on one side of the doors, and a secret trio on the other. Luan herself slightly teared at knowing the last lyrics, feeling like they meant something for her, maybe not in reality, but, in a way, she'd be close to her heart's want, and could alleviate the melancholy pain that still seemed to defiantly course through her body; she could go on in her dreams.

"Dreams see us through to forever….. where clouds roll by…for you and I."

"Goodnight bro," Luna said.

"Goodnight Luna," Lincoln replied.

"I love you Lincoln," Luan weakly said as she smiled, feeling warmth in her heart from covertly connecting with them.

Suddenly her mind did an instantaneous read on her body's current condition...and her clothing.

"...holy shit! I gotta change quick!"

Luan hobbled over to her laptop's power cord, took her earphones off, turned her off her video-audio feed program and plugged in her laptop.

She clumsily attempted to rip off her saturated clothing in a panic, comically bumping and colliding with their shared cabinet, then almost caving in Luna's speakers on her Sterrett amplifier. After one final awkward tug, the milky adhering shirt's chest area still pungent and melding with her breasts; she was now completely in the nude, still smelling of warm milk with a tinge of coconut in her odor. The door started to swing slowly open.

"SHIT! THINK FAST! THINK FAST! WHAT WOULD...THAT'S IT!"

Luna tepidly walked in.

"Hey sis, sorry I took so long. Wanted to spend a bit of time with Lincoln before be-" Luna paused, now seeing Luan on the floor with a yellow towel with white strips draped over her as she seemed to be trying to do clap pushups, struggling through several already.

"Whoa...what'd I walk into?" Luna asked in reserved surprise, noting that besides the towel, Luan was completely naked.

"Oh, hey...huh...Luna. Just getting some last minute exercise in before we hit the plan and hay."

"...bare naked with nothing but a towel on sis?" Kinda risky, don't you think?"

Luan stopped mid-struggle and stayed dead silent, trying to drum up a reason to the surprised and inquiring eyes of Luna.

"Uhhhh...Lynn recommended this to me."

Luna looked up at the ceiling, processing Luan's substantiation while Luan's arms buckled; she wasn't used to these kind of pushups.

"...makes sense. Lynn's a bit barmy like that with her work outs. But why would you need to exercise Luan? You look in a mirror lately?"

"Some of us weren't born with hummingbird metabolisms like you, Linc and Leni Luna. I gotta work hard for my figure."

"So...if that's the case, what exercises do I gotta do to get watermelons like yours?"

"Haha Luna, keep it up and you'll be the butt of your own asinine jokes, haha, get it?"

"You're an utter boob Luan."

Both started laughing as Luna closed the door and locked it, Luan collapsing on the carpet in a fit, while Luna fell back into their bean bag chair.

"Getting better Luna, much better."

"That's cause I got the best punner around. So...get yourself clothed up. We got some things to jimmy out."

Luan wrapped the towel around her bust and mid section as she got up and headed for their closet, dropping the towel and looking for a few articles of clothing bent down. Luna couldn't help but take a glance over to her…finding herself stare at Luan's rolling chest for longer than should be appropriate…then fixating on Luan's rump.

"Whoa…"Luna whimpered quietly as she began refocusing on the task at hand tonight. She always seemed to be in awe of Luan's bust, but gave it a bit more…time on her mind than she normally did.

"Hey, Luna? Mind if I ask a favor of you?"

"Oh…..yeah, what's up?"

"Would you mind…sleeping with me tonight in my bed? I'm….I just want my older sister with me if that's-"

"Sure, no prob dudette."

Luan threw on a random pair of yellow plaid shorts and a white sports bra that also doubled as a shirt. She then went through a drawer and fixed a false pink flower to it. Both then pulled the covers and blankets from Luna's top bunk and draped them on Luan's still bare spot on her bed; her blankets still needed to be re-dried out with some coconut scents. With Luna's purple and UK anglophile bed covering on Luan's lone wooly yellow blanket, along with Luna's UK flag pillow, they cuddled up together in Luan's lower part of the bed, déjà vu in some sense, but this time there being no gigantic revelations or vomiting.

"Oh…damn, need to check me cellphone if class was cancel-damn it."

"What's wrong Luna?"

"My cell phone's destroyed. I forgot the water short circuited it, along with Lincolns. And I don't even know if we'll ever find Leni's again.

"Don't worry. I already checked. School's been cancelled for the next two weeks, along with college classes throughout Metro Detroit. That means you don't have to go to your Geology class in the morning."

"That's about the only other good thing from this fucked up day. I…told ya about what we saw when we drove home by the college in downtown, right?"

"No…not really."

"…never mind. You don't need to know how fucked up it was. God…..I can't believe this happened today. And I hope that baby is still okay."

Luan wrapped her arms around Luna.

"I'm sure those officers are keeping good care of her."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Still…it's not fair…that little girl, now is gonna have to grow up without a momma. It's…it's just not fair, ya know? And Lincoln won't tell me what's up with him. I ain't gonna badger him, but Luan…I think something really, really fucked up happened to him today."

"How bad Luna?"

"We saw footage of him hauling half an old black woman from a destroyed People Mover."

"Oh…..jesus…"

"And he still has that flower he picked up from the tunnel with him. It's like he's guarding that with his life right now. I…I just dunno Luan. I'm worried about him."

"I know you are. We all are, and we're all worried about you, and Leni."

"Good fucking God….poor Leni. No one should have to see what she saw, her brother and sister both being pulled out into it. At least me and bro got a little metal in our stomach, but Leni…she saw us get taken by the twister. I can't imagine what that may have been like for her…what trauma she has from that now…and she goes and runs out into it to try and save us…fuck she's a spectacular sister."

"That…is something you don't hear every day, especially with her fear of storms. But that might bite her in the butt if you're right about the mental trauma thing."

"What do you mean Luan?"

"I've read a lot of Psychology books in my spare time in learning how to read crowds. One section I came upon talked about how people who go through some serious trauma themselves, or see loved ones die, they change. Something clicks in their heads…whatever that click is, there's not a lot of consensus on what that is. We…might wanna watch Leni for a while."

"You're probably right….but she tanked it, you know, tanked a giant tornado head-on; she somehow tanked it in that mother of a twister. You know we found Leni in a giant pile of ripped up trees? She came out thinking she was in heaven when she saw us…FUCK! Why didn't me and bro get in the tunnel quicker? We stood out nearly exposed like a couple of fucking idiots…for fuck sakes!"

"It was probably the shock of seeing each other in such a circumstance Luna."

"Dude…I gotta feeling me, her and Linc are gonna be a little fucked up for a while. But…ya know, at least Leni's taking it like a champ. She still held it kinda together when we saw those bodies in the bus…god that's gonna leave scars…"

"Which is why you got your family to be there for you," Luan said, nuzzling her face into Luna's.

"I can always count on you funny girl."

"Yup…."

"What's strange though is that…seems like mom and dad are kinda letting this whole thing go, like we're off the hook."

"Well…they were distraught. They're probably happier that you three survived that bull more than anything. I don't think they're really into the idea of grounding you, Leni or Lincoln right now."

"Yeah…remind me to take the heat if they do go postal on bro though. I was in charge after all."

"We didn't help any…but yeah, I'll remind you Luna."

"Okay…the world might be going to shit out there, but I wanna spend some time with my punny sister. Let's drop this whole "depressing trauma tornado" bull. I wanna be happy!"

"Okay Luna...and you know the costume ideas we're gonna brainstorm?"

"Yeah, what of it love? I wanna be in range of Linc's Ace Savvy costume; he always wears it, but he slipped earlier he might change it up to something classic."

"That's good to know...so, how do you feel about DC Luna?"

---

Monday, October 28th, 2019

12:00 AM

Several hours into the night, and it seemed everyone in the house had a bad dream about the other, or about Leni, Luna and Lincoln not coming back. For two hours straight virtually all the siblings, Lori, Luna, Luan and Bobby, Lincoln, Lynn, Lucy, Lily, including Rita and Lynn Sr rebounded up and down, back and forth, crossing the stairs, down the hallway repeatedly to make sure everyone was okay. Lori, who had a bad dream, was now cuddled up with Leni while Bobby went solo on the inflatable mattress, understanding of her want to spend the night next to Leni. Lynn was still sawing logs in her sleep, though not as loudly as she usually did. She curled up with Lucy when she had a bad dream of the family going to hell for some reason or another, and Lynn found that a bit eerie. Lily ended up cuddled Eskimo-style between Rita and Lynn Sr, and the twins were now cuddled next to Lincoln from two simultaneous bad dreams they had of him, each about a tornado getting them all. Lincoln scooted to the wall so they could cuddle under his sheets and sleep huddled together in the safety of their big brother's bed.

Lisa herself had a particularly nasty dream of trying to warn everyone of a worldwide disaster, including her family, only to be scoffed at, then ride a plane and see the world crumble, megatsunami flooding the world's cities with millions of people falling into gigantic chasms like in the movie 2012; she saw her whole family down below in vanzilla on a freeway overpass falling with dozens of cars into a gigantic forming crack in the Earth, disappearing out of sight among the thousands of people down below tumbling down into it as well.

Luckily for Lisa her knowledge of geology negated any legitimacy in these dreams, but she still checked out the USGS website. It wasn't a fear of mother nature per say, but she hated, loathed, and felt terrified of the prospect of trying to warn people of incoming danger and being ignored, unable to save the lives of her family and those around her. What was worse was that in her dream, she was unusually cold, lacking any empathy for seeing the bulk of humanity die so horribly in gigantic worldwide disasters, including her own family.

"They were warned. They were all warned, and now they're paying for their willful ignorance and ignoring my warning," is what she said in her dream, staring down, then turning a cold shoulder as the Chicago skyline was collapsing into an enormous forming chasm while massive waves from Lake Michigan swamped building after building, presumably with the tens of thousands people down into it. It seemed to align with her rather cold, calculating and nihilistic attitude of humanity; doomed to blissful self destruction.

And yet, in spectacular contradiction to her own cool standards, she found this logical conclusion of her perspective utterly revolting and disgusting, not at an empirical or rational level, but at an emotional level. As faulty as humanity seemed, she still wanted in all her power and mental capacity to save it.

She quickly scanned NOAA's weather prediction sensors and long term weekly weather report for the Detroit region. It was going to be clear, sunny days for the next few weeks based on a high pressure system coming in from Canada, with few, high latitude clouds. And she had the delightful surprise of seeing one of the storm researchers originally terminated from NOAA back on the website's staff section. It was a very tiny sign in the right direction that her ultimatum to the Cheetos guy and his administration might be working, that he might actually have some mental capacity and humanity to follow through on this. Only time will tell she thought, not holding her breath.

Minutes later, after briefly checking on the news for details on the emergency response still ongoing throughout much of the area, she found herself nodding back to sleep in her bed, hoping she wasn't nearly as cold as her dream version was. Several more seconds of contemplating whether she could modify thunderstorm activity and artificially negate the possibility of tornadoes with the proper technological advances, she drifted off to sleep, seemingly coming up with a multitude of ideas in her dream landscape, quietly inventing and thinking, and far away from her bitterly cold persona.

The only one who didn't hustle and bustle about the house in the middle of the night from a bad dream was Leni.

1:58 AM

In Leni's room, Lori still curled up against Leni, Bobby still sound asleep by himself under the covers, Leni lightly breathed in her sleep with her mask on with a cute, small smile on her face.

All was still and warm, happy and serene in the room...then Leni's face went plain...then started expressing a very minor amount of distress.

Minutes rolled by. Low, cool winds from outside slithered across the glass window. A tiny wispy-like moan wafted from outside, even though the clouds in the atmosphere above all but disappeared, Leni seemed to respond to that tiny amount of wind. Even with the sleeping sounds of Lori and Bobby's breathing, Leni's ears seemed to have detected that faint little howl. Her expression went from diminutively concerned….to extremely frightened. Her breathing seemed to get more erratic in her sleep, her arms, legs, head and body sweating more and more. Her body began to shake a little…then a little more….then she stopped. Still for moments….

"…LLLLLIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCYYYYYYYYYY! LLLLLLLUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNAAA!" Leni screamed in ungodly fright out of her bed, ripping her aqua-green mask off, her face terrified beyond belief with tears streaming like rivers down her cheeks. Lori and Bobby were shocked awake as Leni rocketed out of bed and slammed open her door.

"LENI!" Lori yelled out in concern from the covers, seeing Leni nearly pulverize Luna and Luan's bedroom door across the hall.

"Wha….WHOA! DUDE! WHAT THE!-" Lori heard, seeing Leni terrifyingly haul a shocked and surprised Luna out. Leni ran down the hall fast, blasting open Lincoln's door, only seconds grabbing a sleepy Lincoln and running them both around like crazy.

"WHAT THE HECK IS UP?!" Lynn roared out, her and Lucy trying to see what was up.

"LENI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luan yelled out in fear.

"It's Leni…something's wrong with her!" Lori screeched in concern, Bobby now running over next to Lori. Leni seemed to scramble all over the place holding Luna and Lincoln in a vice grip, spine-breaking embrace, her eyes manic, filled with horror and dread. She was smashing into the walls back and forth, only letting her own person smash into everything while keeping Luna and Lincoln tucked into her polar bear-like embrace.

"LENI! CALM DOWN! PLEASE!" Lori yelled out. Lola and Lana, with terrified faces of their own, saw the scared giant that was their sister Leni panicking, her eyes dilated, red, veiny, teary and possessed, as though she was trying to outrun something.

"LENI! DUDE! PUT US DOWN GIRL!" Luna roared out weakly, Lincoln trying to choke out something himself.

Leni suddenly booked it for the stairs, running right through a partly made-up perimeter that Lucy, Lynn, Lori, Luan and Bobby tried making. Lola and Lana ran over to them, trying to help tackle down Leni, but it was useless; Leni was in terrified berserker mode.

"HOLY HELL! LENI? LUNA? LINCOLN? WHAT THE!-"Lynn Sr roared out, it looking as though Leni almost ran over her father running down the stairs.

"FOR THE LOVE OF TESLA, WHAT IN BLAZES IS GOING ON OUT HERE!?" Lisa yelled out.

"IT'S LENI!" The remaining siblings yelled out, before Lynn Sr, including everyone else ran down stairs, seeing a path of manic, fearful destruction in the living room. They all got downstairs, seeing Lily lightly crying while staring out of their parents room with Rita holding her nurturingly.

"Honey? What's going on?"

"It's Leni! She's flipped out…Lori, you know what happened?"

"I…I heard her yell out for Lincoln and Luna….daddy…she sounded so horrified, I think she had a horrible dream," Lori croaked, crying a little as she ran with him, everyone with them as Bobby had her flank.

"Dreams don't do this to people," Lucy said in plain urgency. Luan was getting a horrific pit forming in her stomach. Perhaps, she thought, she may have been to right in her suspicions about Leni's experience.

They heard a door bang through loudly with whimpers and choking from the kitchen. They all ran to it.

"The basement!" Lynn Sr yelled, openly concerned what in goodness was happening to one of his older daughters.

They approached the opening, and heard Luna and Lincoln trying to talk to Leni with what felt like constricted lungs.

"Leni!...Say something….come on girl!"Luna pleaded, still sounded like she was constricted.

"Please Leni! Please tell us, what's wrong!" They heard Lincoln ask gently under his lungs being pressed down hard.

All except Rita and Lily hustled down stairs in the pitch black darkness that was the basement. They could hear the slight struggling of Luna and Lincoln, and the tiny wet sounds of whimpering, hard, stressed animalistic breathing.

Lori flicked on the lights; only one flicked on, the closest to them. Lynn ran over to the basement window and pulled the tiny shades away, revealing a brilliant moon in view.

Following a path of destruction all around them, they found wedged in the tight corner, Lincoln and Luna being held tight and close by Leni. She was sitting with her back against the corner, her body shaking like a colossal earthquake, her own body movements causing the concrete walls around her to rumble and crack a tiny bit.

Luna and Lincoln stopped pleading, now looking at their older sister. Leni's eyes glazed forwards, filled with loss, grief, anguish, like she had just witnessed unspeakable heartbreak.

"Leni! Leni! Come on and say something sis!" Lori pleaded, all huddling around the pile that was Lincoln, Luna and Leni.

Leni closed her eyes and scrunched her face inwards to her body.

"Luna…Lincy….I lost you…I lost you to the big ropey thingy…I…I couldn't….I couldn't save you in…in…in…" Leni tapered off, before her eyes refocused onto Luna and Lincoln each.

"What…is she talking about?" Lynn Sr asked, the only one knowing what Leni meant was Luan.

"We….dad…we got sucked up by the tornado…bro and me…the big one in downtown…Leni saw us both get sucked up."

"Good lord…no…no no no….my children…" Lynn Sr croaked with tears coming on, strained to hear his children had to go through such an experience.

"My dr…dream….the t….tunnel….I tried….I really tried…but I couldn't…Luna….Lincy…I….I….I saw you di…die….both…die…the ropey thingy…it took you…I couldn't save…."

Then Leni began what was easily for all the Louds the most traumatic, agonizing breakdown anyone, including what Lincoln, Luna and Luan went through, had ever seen. Leni pulled into her Lincoln and Luna's frames and sobbed like there was no tomorrow, loudly lamenting, crying oceans of tears all over herself, Luna and Lincoln, quivering while re-tightening her hold.

The rest of the Louds could only watch and cry themselves, before a teary-eyed Lynn Sr came in and hugged all three, Lincoln and Luna now tearing up from seeing Leni so traumatized by the events in the tunnel. She must have dreamt them again they both thought. Even if they were all alive, the experience itself marred Leni's aura, and that mental scaring seemed to have shattered her more than they thought.

Lily came running down the stairs running and hopped over the pile, trying to wrap Leni into a tight little hug as she too began crying, seeing her bright, bubbly sister reduced to nothing but lamentations.

Rita came running down stairs after Lily and saw what was going on; she began sobbing herself seeing Leni in such a state and came in the huddle. Lori came in next, followed by everyone else in a supportive embrace to try and siphon away the wailing state Leni was in; it didn't help, no matter how much they all pleaded and tried to snap her out. Leni Loud screamed, bawled, sobbed, choked and gasped uncontrollably, and all the consolation from her family wasn't mending what they tried mending as best as they could.

"LINCY! LUNA! DON'T DO IT! DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN LIKE THAT!"

"We promise Leni! We promise we won't leave you like that!" Lincoln quivered out.

"DON'T DIE! P…P…PLEASE DON'T DIE!"

"We promise dude! We won't," Luna croaked out.

"ALL OF YOU! DON'T….DON'T-" Leni stuttered before shouting in lament again.

There were no ifs, ands or buts about it; Leni Loud was traumatized from seeing both Luna and Lincoln get pulled up into the tornado…seemingly flying to their deaths right before her eyes.

Suddenly the quick, exact pitter-patter of footsteps came down the steps methodically, before a quick snapping sound echoed over Leni's wailing. They all looked towards the steps to see a distressed Lisa Loud holding a tranquilizer gun.

"Stay calm, it'll only be a few more seconds…fifteen….fourteen…..thirteen…" Lisa said then began counting down.

Leni suddenly cooled and got quieter, still tenderly sobbing, much softer than before; a dart was sticking out of a vein around her neck. She looked wantingly with grief engrained in her eyes, her manic focus slowly waning with the coming rapid sleepiness.

"Don't….leave…..me…please…"

"We're never gonna leave you…we promise," Luna said in warmth in her voice, though her tone noticeably shaken and sad.

"…ten….nine….eight…..seven…"

"Like literally always," Lori added on in a restricted sob.

"Leni…I want you to know…we all love you…I love you," Lincoln said with a watery quiver.

"Lincy…" she said with a tinge of recovery, still sobbing but taking in her surroundings with the fazing out of her conscious.

"Leni….I'll still always believe in you," Lincoln added as he hugged her tight.

"….four….three…two….one."

"….my family…..L…Lincy…" Leni mumbled, before her body went limp, her breathing now much more relaxed and regulated. Lincoln and Luna were free, but still stayed huddle with Leni, themselves mortified by Leni's breakdown, holding on to her.

They all looked at Lisa, unsure how to respond.

"I…apologize, but she could have broken Lincoln and Luna's rib cage in the process of her lamenting anxiety attack. I know Leni's weight, so I gave her the proper dosage of a particularly powerful, fast acting sedation variety. I suggest we take her upstairs. The basement is no spot to house a traumatized family member. And she should be awake and fully rested by 11:00 AM," Lisa said, before heading back upstairs.

"B…Bobby…give me a hand, will ya," Lynn Sr croaked.

"Su…re thing Mr. Loud," Bobby replied, breaking off from the group. Everyone, including Luna and Lincoln cleared off of Leni, letting the patriarch pick up his now tranquilized, traumatized daughter as he tried to restrict his crying chokes. Bobby and Lori grabbed her legs and Lynn Sr grabber her upper body. For how delicate, trimmed and brimming her physique looked, she seemed to weigh as much as a tank.

Rita followed closely as Lily cried hard into her shoulders, Leni's carrying party heading up stairs.

"She's staying with us," Rita said to Lynn Sr.

"I know," Lynn Sr replied,"…I'll get the extra comforters."

Along the stairs Lisa looked down and saw Leni being carried into Lynn Sr and Rita's room. She couldn't help but start gently tearing up, before running upstairs and slamming her door shut, not wanting anyone to see her crying like this.

"She…she of all of us….doesn't deserve that," Lisa croaked cuddling behind her door.

Back in the basement, the remaining siblings looked over to Luna and Lincoln, with mortified, devastated expressions, but Luan's expression being the most reserved since she anticipated this and new the details…but she never dreamed a reaction as concentrated or drastic from Leni like this. Lola and Lana ran up the stairs to go try and be with Leni.

"Is…is this true?" Lucy inquired. "Did you really-"

"Yeah," Lincoln replied weakly as he looked down towards the hard cement floor. Luna nodded in confirmation. Lucy just put her head down and sighed heavily.

"I…I don't know what to say…" Lucy mumbled, sighing again, locked frozen, her toes cold on the hard cement…everyone's toes, everyone's bodies cold, yet warm, flushed and awash in hot tears. Lynn suddenly walked over to them, squaring on Lincoln.

"….what happened out there Lincoln?" Lynn asked quietly. Lincoln didn't respond.

"…I SAID WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE LINCOLN!" Lynn roared out in a cry, punching him hard in the shoulder.

"DON'T HIT HIM LYNN!" Luna roared at her.

"DID YOU BOTH ALMOST DIE TODAY! YOU SELFISH ASSHOLES!" Lynn cried out, before falling to her knees and weeping at the ground. Lucy knelt down and held her.

"I….I'm sorry Linc…I didn't…didn't mean it. I…just don't wanna lose you…or Luna…or Leni," Lynn quietly cried in her throat.

"Sh….she…she," Lincoln stuttered.

"What Lincoln?" Lucy asked calmly.

"She….L..Leni…she said…she said she ran out for us…when Luna and I got sucked out of the tunnel…she ran…into the tornado…to try and save us…she thought we died…right before her eyes…." Lincoln trailed off, Lynn looking back up, both her and Lucy unable to cry or say a word.

Lincoln suddenly turned around and started smashing his forehead into the cement wall.

"LINCOLN!" They all shouted in horror. He kept doing it several times before Luna tried pulling him from the wall. His forehead had blood streaming down, and now he was starting to punch the wall, bloodying his bandaged hands even more so than they were before, opening his wounds and creating newer ones on top of the scabs from punching the wall earlier.

"THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! EVERYTHING! I ALMOST TORE THE FAMILY APART!" Lincoln roared out in a sob.

"No Lincoln! It's not! It's-" Luan tried saying before he lamented again.

"I COULDN'T SUCK IT UP! I COULDN'T TAKE SISTER FIGHT PROTOCOL! I ALMOST GOT YOU AND LENI KILLED! AND NOW LENI'S TRAUMATIZED BECAUSE OF ME! GOD DAMN IT! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Lincoln wailed, before Luna pulled him into her frame as he cried in guilt and shame. Luna caressed his head and hair, shushing him gently before humming softly as he broke down from his own conclusion; Leni was like this because of him, and they all almost died today because he unintelligibly stormed off in the worst natural catastrophe in US history.

As he sobbed silently in Luna's arms, the remaining sisters bucked up and wrapped themselves around him and Luna.

"We got you Linc…we got you," Luan said warmly.