Authors note: yeah sorry for this chapter being short, there was a lot of fat that got trimmed during all three proofread run through's, honestly this fics chapter was basically rewritten. And I'm not happy with it whatsoever, the assistants say its fine but I feel like this is honestly our worst chapter. And I am sorry for that, this is Fallen pens, dropping out.
Lincoln had run all the way to the hospital, almost passing out on the entrance. His heart beating out of his chest, ready to explode. His mind was more scattered than his own family half of the time. He leaned against a wall outside of the E.R, trying to catch his breath. He had run so fast that he did not even realize he had lost Ronnie Anne and Clyde, who had been trying to follow behind him.
"I guess no one else is here yet," the teenager looked in the parking lot. He could not see his family's car Vanzilla anywhere, though there were three parking lots around this hospital, so he hoped that he was simply having a terrible case of tunnel vision. Lincoln made his way inside, not caring for his body's demand for rest. He made his way into the emergency room, dodging past the dozen sick people waiting around, and went right for the receptionist's desk.
"E-excuse me! I'm looking for Luna Loud," Lincoln's clear tone of mixed emotions was obvious to the worker.
"Alright… Name and relation with Miss Loud?"
"Lincoln Loud. I'm her brother. She's supposed to be here," Lincoln begrudgingly answered, trying to keep calm, but his inner terrors made that rather hard. He would not calm down remotely unless he was at least a foot near Luna.
"Ah, yes… she arrived fifteen minutes ago. She's on the seventh floors maternity ward, room 8," the nurse barely finished her sentence before the teenage boy vanished in half a second for the staircase, despite the elevator being open and ready to be boarded.
"Come on… Come on… damn it!" An irritated Lori stomped, she had Luna's cellphone in her hand. She had been trying to call their family ever since they first arrived to the hospital. She had barely gotten the call out to two of her siblings in the first place. The oldest Loud mentally hoped that one of them would inform the rest of their family.
"Lori!"
Lori saw Lincoln come to a screeching halt in front of her, looking to have lost his sense of balance. "Lincoln! Are you okay?"
"Forget about me! What about Luna? What happened?" Lincoln did not even try to hide how panicked he was. His oldest sister pointed to the door behind her, where their pregnant sibling was currently.
"They're trying to get her ready for everything, so they wanted me out of the way… Me and Luna were just talking while we were about to have lunch, but before I knew it, she started having cramps and her water broke," Lori explained. She tried, and couldn't motion her little brother to calm down. She purposefully excluded the fact that Luna had most likely been having early signs of labor since last night, she did not want to make her little brother feel guilty for something he could not control.
"They haven't said anything?" Lincoln looked mentally broken. The oldest Loud could take some reassurance in the twos relationship that he would be a caring father, from how he acted so worried for his loved ones well being.
"They said that Luna was too far along for any painkillers… She has to do without them, and the doctors said they won't allow more than a few of us in the room at a time," Lori explained. This hospital was all too familiar with the Loud family. It was where most of them were born after all. Some of their mother's friends worked here as well.
"And… Lincoln, I want you to hear this from me, instead of Luna or a doctor, okay?" Lori looked her only brother in the eyes, it was like staring into a pair of cracked mirrors reflecting her own internal guilt for how immature she had acted these last few months.
"What? I don't care if it's twins," Lincoln may not be showing much more than anxiety, but he was very eager. If Luna was giving birth to a surprise second child, it changed nothing in the matters of how he felt.
"No, it's not twins… it's that… 'sigh,' your baby could be underdeveloped. The doctors said that they'd need to be taken for immediate testing to see if anything's wrong, if there is something wrong they could... They could die." Lori could see the tears forming quick in his eyes from shock at the mere news that his baby could be in danger, of any form. Even after all of the build up to its birth.
"N…no no no no…" Lincoln held his head. His sister pulled him into a hug and let him cry into her chest. She couldn't look at him while he was like this. Most adults would not be able to keep it together upon hearing this news. She couldn't imagine what someone at his age of barely sixteen would possibly be feeling like right now.
"It's okay, Lincoln. Don't get worked up. It's only a twenty percent chance that the baby could have any problems," Lori tried to comfort him by rubbing his back and repeating what doctors had said. But Lincoln still wasn't reassured. He just wanted to wake up from this nightmare, anything above 0 percent was too much to him.
"Lincoln!" They heard down the hallway. They could see Clyde and Ronnie Anne coming, exhausted after the ridiculous length his friends went to follow him.
"What are you two doing here?" Lori asked since her little brother was too distraught to even acknowledge their presence. His emotional state was a hard sight for them to witness.
"It's a long story," Clyde panted. "We saw him run off and his boss told us what was going on. We tried to keep up, but he's really hard to keep up with when he starts running."
"Guessing no one else has shown up yet?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Nope. And I'm kind of glad because as far as I'm concerned, soon enough, there's going to be a lot of screaming, and then more when they do show up," Lori murmured. She could hear Luna's pained groans from the other side of the door, which seemed to worsen as time passed.
"A lot of screaming," Clyde agreed. They all knew how labor worked, they doubted the Louds would make it any less noisy too.
"All we can do is wait until they're ready, whoever they decide to let in is going to be Luna's choice," the oldest Loud stated. Due to the size of the Loud family, they were not going to allow more than two people in at a time, if they were lucky. It only seemed right for Luna to choose who would be with her through the birth once things were ready to begin. Lincoln could barely listen. His own thoughts had overtaken him.
"I should have done more to make her take it easy… This is all my fault…"
The next short time span that passed felt like an eternity. It did not take long for the rest of the Loud family to arrive. It was a nightmare for Lori to explain the whole situation and the doctors orders to the whole family, and twice so they could understand. Lincoln barely responded to any of the family when they attempted to converse with him. At this point, he was ignoring everyone in trade for his own thoughts.
"Oh my," a nurse stood at the door for Luna's room. Nothing could be seen beyond the doorway due to a privacy curtain. Instantly the doctor's assistant was mobbed by the majority of the Loud family.
"Is Luna okay?!"
"Is the baby alright?"
"Has she given birth already?"
"Can we see her?"
"For a maternity ward. it sure feels like the adults are the ones 'crying' right now."
"Not now, Luan!"
"GIRLS!" Lynn Sr. stopped them, and things instantly calmed down.
"Sorry. They're all very worried," Rita apologized to the nurse.
"I-it's alright... Families always look bigger when they're together, but this is kind of an extreme case," the nurse commented while regaining her composure.
"So far everything is going fine. Luna is about ready to begin pushing, and there are no signs of distress from the baby from what we can tell," the nurse claimed. However they would not really be able to tell how the baby was faring up until they were born. They did not have time to run several tests on Luna, and the few they already had run so far came back fine.
"Oh, thank goodness," Leni let out a relieved sigh. She had Lily in her arms, who was tired from being awoken in the middle of a nap for this.
"Can we see her then?" Lynn requested.
"Well, we can only have two in at a time, and Luna already told me who she wanted in there," the nurse replied. The Loud parents stepped up, assuming it would be them.
"Kids," Rita breathed, "Please try and be patient while we're in there."
"And please behave. I've had enough hospital bills in my life already," Lynn Sr. ordered while trying to make a light hearted joke. Only Luan chuckled, and nobody else.
"Uh... sorry," the nurse stopped the two parents, "But unless you two are named Lincoln and Lori, you can't come in."
"What?" Rita was surprised along with her husband, "But we're her parents!"
"Mom! It's Luna's decision! There really isn't any time to fight over every little thing," Lori countered. Everyone was surprised to really hear her saying anything about this.
"I anticipate that today is going to be yet another chaotic nightmare..." Lisa murmured, rubbing her head. They watched as Lincoln got up and just headed into the room silently with the nurse. Lori followed shortly after. The door shut tight behind them.
"What is going on?" Mr Loud asked. All of their children did not know what to say. Their parents were hurt by this minor motion.
"Did we upset Luna...?" Rita wondered aloud. No one answered her. There was no good way for them to answer since they did not know if they had upset her recently or not, but the Loud siblings knew why Luna wanted Lincoln with her, but did not know not why she also wanted Lori since their relationship had been in shambles these last few months.
"We'll explain after the child's born... we'd rather not watch you both have a heart attack," Luan promised. They did not want to put up with their parents. They already had enough anxiety for their siblings health.
"Neither of you are going to be happy with any of us after this, too," Lucy mused. The Loud parents seemed already upset enough. They looked afraid to even hear what could make them flippant at the whole family.
Lily was subtly glaring at their parents. She had a bad feeling overwhelming her body. If they did try to do anything to hurt Lincoln or Luna, the youngest Loud would be more than happy to do what she planned for Lori to them, the old plan that she now did not need to do to Lori since she was being friendly again. All Lily cared about was the happiness of those she loved.
"Lily is going to be a good aunt... She'll be the best aunt... I need Leni's makeup box thingy," Lily mentally told herself, promising to make sure that the parents would be happy, no matter what it took.
"Luna! A-are you okay?" Lincoln worriedly approached his older sister. She was in a hospital gown. To see them both gave her a happy look. Otherwise, she was trying to tolerate the escalating agony.
"Not at all... I feel like I'm dying..." Luna groaned. Even if she was exaggerating the pain, they did not like hearing that at all. Lincoln put his hand in hers. She needed his support right now, and he knew he had to give her that support every step of the way.
"Why'd you want me here? I thought you hated me," Lori asked. The doctor was getting his gloves on. Luna was practically crushing their hands already by merely holding them.
"I know how you really feel... Sorry for acting so bratty these last few months," Luna answered. Lori patted her head to reassure her she did not do much wrong to her. They both had made mistakes and made up already. Lincoln was happy to see the two getting along again.
"Alright, Luna," the doctor took a seat in front of her, the two nurses on standby in case there was something wrong with the soon to be mother or the baby.
"Are you ready?"
"A-as ready as I think I can be," Luna gulped, feeling both of her brotherly lover's hands on one of hers.
"I promised I'd be there, no matter what. After this is dealt with, we'll treat you to a lot of apples," Lincoln joked. His talk really went a long way to making his sister gain a big smile. He only hoped to whatever force left on Earth that everything would be fine.
"Please, I'll give anything to just hear that crying as soon as possible..."