Years later…January 31, 2026
After that long pep talk, Lori and Lincoln (carrying Lily on his back) step out of the kitchen and in to the dining room. Lori serves the main course for the dinner: a Mediterranean-style turkey.
The rest of the sisters have already assembled in the dining room, doing their usual business while escalating it to ruckus, just like the good old days. Leni is doing funny faces at Abe. Luna is still on her headphones, listening music from her phone and ignoring the rest. Luan and Benny are throwing food puns at each other. Lynn Jr. and Lucy arm-wrestle on the table. Lana feeds her iguana first. Lola keeps rambling about the updates she gathered from her phone. And Lisa is too focused on reading her physics book. Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. and Rita retrieve a wine glasses and red wine, respectively, for the occasion.
The family patriarch spots Lincoln and Lori having finished their talk. This prompts him to pour champagne in his glass and catch everyone's attention with tapping it. "Family, settle down now. Settle down."
At that sound, the sisters rowdily go back to their seats, and Lori places the turkey to the center of the table, much to everyone's amusement. "Oooohhh…"
"Family, settle down," Lynn Sr. tells them all. "Good. Now, I just want to give a toast to the reason why we are all here. Lily, can you come here?"
With that, Lily gets down from Lincoln's arms and approaches her dad.
"Now, I know it may be hard for sweet Lily to gather you for this occasion, even though it's just celebrating her spelling bee victory. But still, she made an effort to bring you all together once more. So, here's to Lily!"
While the younger sister are stuck with iced tea on their wine glasses, the older members of the family lift their glasses filled with red wine and toast for Lily. "To Lily!"
Lily then takes the center stage. "Also guys, before I say anything, thank you all. But besides my spelling bee win, I just want to say that most of all, I'm happy that Lincoln got home finally after a long, long time."
As his younger sister acknowledges him, Lincoln leans to the wall, uneasy with the welcome.
"We missed you, big brother. And we're so happy to see you." Lily then embraces Lincoln as part of her gratefulness towards him. "To Lincoln!"
"To Lincoln!" Only Lynn Sr., Rita, Lori and Lana give a toast to him.
"Come on, Linky! Say something," Lily encourages him.
"It's okay, Lily. I'm good," Lincoln replies.
"Come on, big brother! You came all this way Speech!"
"Lily, I'm okay with this. Let's just eat…"
"We won't eat unless you do speech! Come on!"
After so much insistence, Lincoln finally gives in. "Alright, alright. For you." He then takes the spotlight near his father's chair on the table. He tries to come up with words to say to his family. His hands are shaking, and his head is zoning out briefly from reality. He quickly looks back to himself: with whatever that lead him to this point, from his family and friends, he could only be grateful for them for making him go this far in his life.
He finally has his words to say: "Okay, so, thanks to Lily for keeping on inviting me. It was…hard to get on my own feet and then get back on it, again. But I could not help it. But then again, I was too stubborn to understand from my own mistakes. And I failed to realize how important all of you are. Back then, I loved you all. But later then, I was disillusioned. So, I'm sorry for everything, guys. I'm sorry for not getting back to you, or making myself visible to you all. Now, if anyone wants to accept my apology, you just tell that to me. I don't expect any of you to forgive me. But…"
Upon saying that, Luna suddenly interrupts him, dropping her headphones and her phone in the process. "Just shut up bro and come here!" She then grabs his shoulders and embrace him.
Lincoln is surprised that his rocker sister, whom he observed to be rather hardcore and tough in her adulthood, embraces him wholly at this moment. "Luna, I…"
"I'm sorry too."
Hearing those words, Lincoln's heart softens. His arms could wrap around his older sister to express his care for her.
Lori approaches them both and embraces them.
Lily cannot help but feel so emotional, seeing her brother making amends with her sisters. Seizing the moment, she comes between them and share them a hug. "My brother and sisters are back again! Such a dream come true!"
The three of them just chuckle over Lily's childhood innocence. They pull her in.
Lana also joins in. "Oh well, might as well get into it."
"Me too," Luan follows.
"A group hug! Yey!" Leni cheers on and leaps over them, much to their shock. Nevertheless, they let her join in their embrace.
Lynn Jr. then bugs her former roommate/younger sister Lucy. "Hey Luce, $50 says if you have the guts to say you like hugs."
"You know I'm not much a hugger, you know," Lucy replies.
"Well, if you need to be tough, you have to know how to hug."
"You mean how you hug your opponents, then slam them to the ground?"
"Yep!"
Lincoln then drags them to the group. "Come on guys! Join in!"
Lola eventually complies. "Might as well not get left behind from the bandwagon. You Lisa?"
Lisa condescendingly replies, "Negative. I perceive close human embraces as toxic, contrary to what current psychological studies dictate."
Leni then pops in. "You're just so negative, you two." She then drags them both to the pack.
Even with her intelligence, Lisa soon feels comfortable with the group hug. "Well, I could get used to this all day."
Lily finally tells to her one and only brother, "Lincoln, thank you for making it back. We missed you."
"Us too!" the rest of the sisters agree.
"Thanks guys!" he expresses his gratitude for this one beloved moment that he will store in his heart forever.
An overly emotional Lynn Sr. and Rita captures this moment in a photo.
Years later…February 1, 2026
On that very night of the reunion, Lincoln walks away with Paige. However, as they step away further from the vicinity, Lincoln stumbles upon a good view overlooking the homecoming reunion. "Kind of amazing, ain't it?"
"What?" Paige utters.
"The view. I just kind of like it," Lincoln expresses. "You know, when you're a photographer, you have to seize every good view before you capture it in your camera."
Paige understands Lincoln's point. "Yeah, I see."
Lincoln then squats to the ground, expressing his artistic perception to Paige. "You know the contrast of something grand looks smaller in comparison to the darker parts surrounding the party? That kind of feeling…it's just breathtaking."
"I see you learned a lot in photography when you left Royal Woods."
"I did. It took a while to be an actual expert."
Paige is also one of the people affected by Lincoln's eventual absence in Royal Woods. Thus, she experienced the fallout of losing contact from Lincoln. She only expressed this to a few of her peers. But in the end, she kept that burden. That burden is being lifted now.
"I really missed you…"
Lincoln is enamored by her words that he smiles secretly at her. "Me too. Missed you too."
The two just exchange smiles that light up the dark terrain that they find themselves in. Out of their post-grad youth, they still feel the innocence of puppy love from each other.
"Say Paige, I know this is abrupt, but can we stay for a little while? I kind of want to dance…"
She then quickly takes his hand and drags him back to the reunion grounds towards the floor. "That's the spirit! Let's go!"
Right on time, the DJ begins to play "YMCA" by the Village People, which majority of the guests still recognize. "Party people, still remember this jam? Better ready your arms and your bodies!"
"Is he playing…?" Rusty asks the gang.
As the song plays, many of the guest return to the dance floor and dance along.
"Oh yeah! This my jam!" Liam expresses.
"I kind of got fed up of this song," Rusty reacts.
"Come on, Rusty! You still like to dance for the ladies!" Clyde insists, dragging Rusty in the process.
The song is at its chorus: "It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A./It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A."
Lincoln and Paige arrive just in time for the rest to do the dance's signature moves. The atmosphere is infectious, and even those staying at the sides tap to the beat. They try to squeeze in to the crowd but end up separated.
"Paige, are you…?"
"Meet me at the middle of the dance floor."
"Got it!"
After Paige moves to the side, Lincoln try to find his way out of the crowd. Yet he encounters Clyde and company.
"Dudes!"
"Lincoln! My man!" Clyde greets him with a fist pump. "What you still doing here? I thought you're off with Paige."
"We were. We just want to stick around for a while," Lincoln answers.
"Well, stick around, buddy!"
The crowd yells "Woohoo!"
Sooner the gang moves to the center of the dance floor. Lincoln never expects this, but at least he does not need to squeeze his way there.
But as he moves backwards, he suddenly bumps on somebody. "Sorry!" He looks behind to see one of the loves of his life, Ronnie Anne Santiago. "Ronnie…Anne…"
"Lincoln…"
The two just look at each other, speechless after all these years as the crowd continues to jam until the next song. Their worlds stop as they catch each other on the eye. It is breathless.
"I…"
"I…"
"It's good…You're here…"
"Yeah. Uhmmm…you too…"
"Look Ronnie Anne…"
Their speechlessness gets interrupted when the DJ suddenly plays "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. The crowd goes wild, but the two are still.
Unable to keep up with his words, he just randomly says, "I still love this song."
"Yeah still good. Love it," Ronnie Anne agrees.
Lincoln is just overwhelmed with how she reacts. He cannot help but lay a perfect beam on his face.
A shyer and blushing Ronnie Anne tries to keep her emotions to herself. But the song is too powerful for her to hold it. She knows that even though after all he had done, she still loves him.
Likewise, deep inside of Lincoln, he still loves her.
And in that moment, they share one glorifying and emotional bond that lasted for the entire night.
Tomorrow…February 2, 2026
Lori is the first to get up among her family. She walks downstairs to the kitchen. But upon passing by the living room, she spots her brother in a tuxedo, sleeping on the couch. She shakes his shoulder to wake him. "Lincoln…Lincoln…"
He eventually wakes up. "Lori…what time is it?"
"It's 8. Why?"
"Nothing…just got invited for a wedding. Chaperoning someone."
"Does that explain the suit, wearing it in the morning?"
"The wedding is at lunch."
"Oh. So, who are you chaperoning?"
"Someone special. I think you already liked her before."
"For real, literally? Tell me who it is."
Suddenly, they hear a honk from a car stopped on the side of their house.
"I think that's her," Lincoln assumes. He then looks to the window to confirm. "Yep it is. Gotta go." He then takes his bag and his camera.
"Wait, Lincoln," Lori tells him. She then embraces him. "We're proud of you."
Lincoln wraps his arms around her in return. "Thanks." He then walks out to the door and to the car.
"Here for dinner?"
"I will!"
Lori looks at the window, seeing Lincoln meeting with his special someone. She immediately recognizes the girl that her brother was talking about. Her feeling is anything but disappointed.
The oldest Loud sister then sees him wave back at her, which makes her wave goodbye at him. For the first time, Lori feels happy that Lincoln finally found his special someone as they ride off joyfully.
THE END