For Lincoln Loud, time stopped when he saw Luan lying limply on the floor, Lori and Luna bent over her, Luna worriedly rubbing her face and Lori shaking her shoulder, her eyes wide with panic. A crowd of sisters blocked the door, and Lincoln had to push his way through, freezing as his eyes fell upon the girl he loved, an icepick of horror piercing his heart. The world fell away until only her face remained: Her fluttering eyelids, her parted lips, her flushed cheeks. He was aware of stumbling forward, of pushing Lori out of the way and dropping to his knees, but he was not aware of his brain sending commands to his muscles: He might as well have been a video game avatar controlled by someone else.

Someone was crying and hitching Luan's name; it was only when he felt his lips trembling that he realized it was him.

He touched her face, and her lips quivered. She turned her head slightly, and her eyes came open. They were distant and faraway.

At that moment, the world rushed in on him in a tsunami of light and sound, and he reeled.

"What is going on in here?" mom asked, moving through the crowd. When she saw them on the floor, her face dropped and she flew over. "Oh my God, what happened?" She dropped to her knees and lifted Luan's head up. The girl's eyes were darting around the room, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Leni strangled her!" Lori said.

"What?"

Lincoln glanced over his shoulder, his narrowed eyes softening when he saw Leni, her arms wrapped around her chest, her eyes vacant; she rocked back and forth like a pendulum. Her lips moved silently, forming words that would make no sense even if they were audible. Lincoln heard a murmur of sound from his sisters. "What's wrong with her?" someone whispered.

"I came in because I heard yelling and Leni was choking her," Lori explained. "I yelled at her to stop but she didn't listen so I-I hit her."

"Luan, honey, are you alright?" mom asked, taking Luan's head in her lap. Luan blinked and looked up at her. "I-I'm fine," she muttered sleepily, "I-I don't know what happened." She tried to up but swooned drunkenly, her hand fluttering to her forehead.

"Take it easy, baby," mom said. She looked up at Leni, a stricken expression on her face. She reminded Lincoln of a little girl lost in the woods: He didn't know why that image came to him, but it struck him with such force that his heart staggered, and terror filled him. Mom, the one woman in the world who always had all the answers, was just as discombobulated as he.

Looking down at Luan's upturned face, mom stroked her cheek. "Does anything hurt? Can you breathe okay?"

Luan nodded. She seemed to be coming back to herself. "I'm fine."

"Can you stand up?"

"I can try."

With Lori and Luna's help, Luan got to her feet. She was shaky, but her sisters held her up.

"Take-take Luan..." mom started, and then stopped, rubbing her forehead, looking so overwhelmed that she might collapse, "...just go, I need to talk to Leni."

Luna and Lori led Luan out of the room, Lincoln following. His sisters crowded around Luan in the hall, grabbing at her the way the faithful might grab at the Pope and talking over one another. Lincoln glanced over his shoulder and saw his mother sit stiffly next to Leni, her hands on the tops of her thighs. For one terrible second, he was sure she was going to hit the girl, but instead, she put her arm around her shoulder and drew her close.

"What happened in there?" Lana asked excitedly.

"Did you attack her first?" Lucy asked.

"What's her problem?" Lola. "She's been a total weirdo for days."

"Guys, give her some space!" Lori said sharply.

Lincoln followed as Lori and Luna helped Luan to her room. "Here," Lori said as Luan sat on the bed. "Rest."

She turned, and favored Lincoln with a withering gaze. "Lincoln...go away!"

"No," Luan said, "he's fine."

"Are you sure?" Lori asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright," Lori said. "I'm going to go find out what the hell's wrong with Leni." She left the room. Luna sat next to Luan and put her hand on her sister's leg.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She looked up at Lincoln, and he recoiled inwardly at the look of misery in her eyes. "Can you leave me and Lincoln alone for a minute?".

"Yeah, sure," Luna said, patting her sister on the back. When they were alone, Lincoln sat next to her and took her in his arms. She hugged him and he hugged her back. Hot tears welled in Lincoln's eyes, but he blinked them back. He had to be strong for Luan. He kissed the top of her head, the sweet smell of her hair filling his nostrils, and then pulled her even closer as if to draw her into himself, where she would be forever safe.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice steady...to his own ears, at least.

Luan didn't speak for a moment. He could feel her tears soaking through the front of his shirt, and he almost lost control himself. "I went to talk to her," Luan croaked. "About you."

"Me?" Lincoln asked.

Luan nodded against his chest. "Lincoln...she's in love with you." She looked up at him. "Just like I am."

Lincoln's heart skipped a beat. Luan was in love with him? He swallowed hard. Wasn't he in love with her too, though? Yes, he thought he was, but to put it into so many words...

"She wasn't making any sense," Luan said, "she said I wasn't Luan and I was using you and something about kids. Then..." Luan trailed off.

"It's okay," Lincoln said, stroking her hair. "It's okay."

He said it...but he didn't believe it. Staring straight ahead, his lungs constricted, he believed it was anything but okay, because two of his sisters loved him and one of them hurt the other because of him. He remembered the distant look in Leni's eyes, the way she rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed. He did that to her. It was all his fault.

Misery swept through him like a cloud of gnawing locusts, and he rested his cheek against the top of Luan's head. He told himself he wouldn't cry, he told himself he had to be strong, but when the tears started to come, he could not fight them back, and he broke down, crying into her sister's hair. She hugged him closer, and together they sat that way for a long time.

Dad got home that evening at six, his face drawn and his eyes pooled with worry. It had been an hour since mom left in the van with Leni. "I'm taking her to see a doctor," mom explained, her eyes shining with unshed tears. They were standing by the front door, Leni hunched and hugging herself, looking small and fragile. "Lori, you're in charge."

After they left, the remaining Loud kids sat around the living room, the mood having darkened over the past half hour. No one spoke, no one moved. Lincoln sat with his arm around Luan's shoulders. Lori stared blankly at the TV, Lucy read, but not once in sixty whole minutes did she turn a page, Lynn sat on the floor, her back against the couch. She was texting someone, setting her phone on the coffee table and then retrieving it every minute or two. Luna bounced Lilly on her lap, looking for all the world like she'd rather be anywhere than in the Loud house. Even Lisa was present: She had an arrangement of tubes and beakers scattered across the surface of the coffee table, but she touched none of them.

When dad came through the door, he went immediately over to Luan and knelt. "Are you alright, sweetie?"

"Yeah," Luan said heavily. "I'm fine."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I went to talk to Leni and she started yelling and choked me."

Lynn Sr. sighed and looked away. The look of despair on his father's face turned Lincoln's stomach. "Leni's...Leni's sick, baby. She didn't mean to do it."

Nodding, Luan whispered, "I know," but she didn't, not really.

"Your mother will be home soon," he said, "and then we're going to have a talk about what happened." He stood and looked around at his children, the tension hanging above them palpable. "We'll order a couple pizzas. How does that sound?"

Everyone nodded, shrugged, or voiced their consent in monosyllables. "It's going to be okay," he told them. "Leni's just not feeling very good. She's been under a lot of stress and it got to her. It happens."

"Why did she hurt Luan?" Lola asked.

"She didn't mean to," dad said quickly. "She...she didn't know what she was doing."

"She was suffering a psychotic break," Lisa said. "A psychotic break occurs when a person experiences an episode of psychosis, generally for the first time, psychosis being an abnormal condition of the mind characterized by a loss of contact with reality. People experiencing psychosis may exhibit personality changes and thought disorder. As our father suggested, stress may have triggered the recent episode, but there is certainly an underlying mental issue. The good news is that psychosis is relatively easy to manage and episodes such as the one we just witnessed are, generally speaking, very few and far between even without adequate treatment."

Everyone looked at each other, fear in their eyes.

"Well," dad said, holding up a hand, "we don't know anything yet. We have to wait for the doctor's diagnosis."

"I assure you my diagnosis is just as well-informed as any doctor's."

"No, because you're basing your diagnosis on simple observation," dad pointed out, "and not even very close observation at that. The doctor will actually talk to Leni."

Lisa sighed. "You're right."

"So...Leni's crazy?" Lucy asked.

"Absolutely not," dad said, his tone harsher than he apparently meant, because when he continued, his voice was softer, "she just isn't feeling well. It happens to a lot of people and it's not something to be ashamed of, and it doesn't make her crazy or bad or anything else. Now I want everyone wash up. I'm going to order the pizzas. Anyone want anything special? Toppings? Breadsticks? Anything?"

Given the size of the Loud family, special items were not often allowed when ordering out. Pizza was always plain cheese because it was the cheapest and breadsticks, hot-wings, brownies, and any other sides were never even considered. The fact that dad was offering them "anything" made Lincoln even sadder than he already was. He was trying to raise their spirits with the promise of extra goodies when all they really wanted was for their sister to be okay.

Everyone got up and went upstairs, no one taking dad up on his offer; Lincoln doubted any of them would even eat.

Mom got home five minutes before the pizza arrived.

She was alone.

Normally, eating in the living room was strictly forbidden in the Loud house, but tonight that rule was broken: The pizzas were laid out on the coffee table along with a stack of paper plates, and each sibling helped themselves. Mom sat stiffly in the armchair, shaking her head when dad offered her a slice.

"The doctor said Leni suffered a psychotic break," mom explained, "which means..."

"I already explained it to them," Lisa said, casting a sidelong glance at her father.

Mom nodded. "They're going to keep her for a few days, but she's going to get better." She placed emphasis on going either because it was an absolute truth, or because she desperately wanted it to be. Which, Lincoln couldn't tell. "He said that she must have been under a great amount of stress and that's what triggered the episode. We all remember last night, right? She looked very stressed. Does anyone know why?"

No one spoke.

Lincoln glanced at Luan, and she met his eyes, a knowing spark between them.

We have to tell, Lincoln's eyes said.

We can't, Luan's replied.

If they told, God only knew what would happen to them. At the very least their parents would both be furious and they would be punished, probably severely. Lincoln imagined that he and his sister would be separated, held back from one another, their hearts forbidden to beat in time ever again, their bodies no longer allowed to couple in the spiritual dance of lovemaking. These thoughts and more flashed through Lincoln's mind, and his stomach turned. Leni's health, however, hung in the balance. And Lincoln would do anything for his sisters, even if it meant denying himself love and happiness. Luan would be hurt too, he suspected, but in the hierarchy of needs, her heartbreak was beneath Leni's mindbreak. You can exist with a broken heart. You cannot exist with a broken mind.

We have to be honest. For Leni.

But I love you.

I love you too.

I can't do it, Lincoln.

Then I will.

He turned away, feeling his soul crumble inside of him, and said, "I think I know."

Luan's hand crept into his and squeezed.

Mom looked at him. "Well, what is it?"

Lincoln's heart was pounding so hard he could barely breathe. He glanced at Luan, who watched him with wet, miserable eyes, then back at his mother. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. "What is it, Lincoln?" Lori demanded.

He swallowed. His throat was dry and tacky. He never imagined that simply speaking, putting thoughts and emotions into words, could be this hard. "I-I..." he looked down. "I don't want to say in front of everyone."

Mom sighed. "Alright." She got up. "Come with me."

Lincoln stood and pulled Luan up.

"Just us," mom said.

"This...this involves her, too."

Mom's brow furrowed, and everyone else looked at him strangely.

"Alright, come on."

Hand-in-hand, Lincoln and Luan followed their mother and father up the stairs, if not to their doom, then to the doom of their love.