A/N: Hey folks, chapter ten is now up! Lisa continues her work on constructing the C.N.I unit in the basement, but faces a bit of a setback. As for Luan, well, read on to find out.
Disclaimer: My OC characters are all that I own.
Chapter 10: Setback
Lisa was the first one up around 9:00 AM; it was Tuesday.
"Has it really been just three days since Lincoln's accident? It seems much longer than usual" Lisa muttered to herself as she quietly slid out of bed, eager to continue working on the C.N.I units construction.
Lily was still asleep, so Lisa quietly got dressed to avoid waking her up. Once she was fully dressed, Lisa quietly exited the room and saw someone entering the bathroom just as she left the room. For one brief moment, Lisa was able to catch sight of Luan entering the bathroom, so she quickly rushed down the stairs in case Luan decided to come back out. The last thing Lisa needed was Luan finding out about what she was doing. The C.N.I unit still had quite a way to go until it was fully complete, so Lisa couldn't waste anymore time. She thought about maybe calling her friend Darcy over to assist her with the machines construction, but quickly decided against it.
While Lisa knew that Darcy was always eager to help her out, she did not possess the same intellect and intelligence as Lisa did, and letting a naive six year old like Darcy have access to such a highly advanced and complex piece of technology like the C.N.I unit could prove to be disastrous. If Darcy did just one thing wrong, like install a vital component incorrectly, Lisa's one chance to save Lincoln would be lost. Another thing Lisa hasn't considered was that Darcy might go off blabbing about the machine to the rest of her friends, family, and the other Loud siblings. If she did that, Lisa would have no alternative but to reveal her purpose for constructing the machine, and this was something Lisa wanted the least.
She didn't want to let her other sisters find out about Lincoln's brain hemorrhage until the C.N.I unit was fully constructed, otherwise they'd all start to panic, and that was the last thing Lisa wanted. The fact that Lucy knew about everything put Lisa a bit on edge, but she was fairly certain that Lucy wouldn't go off revealing Lincoln's condition to the rest of her sisters. She had sworn not to say a word about it, so Lisa could only hope she lived up to her word. As Lisa began to continue working on the machine, she heard scuffling over by the washer and dryer and turned to face whoever it was. For a moment, Lisa was afraid that one of her sisters might have been spying on her, but sighed in relief when she saw that it was just Charles the dog snoozing on a pile of towels in the corner of the basement.
"False alarm" Lisa sighed in relief and continued working on the C.N.I unit, hoping to complete more of it before the day ended.
...
...
Luan stood near the window of her room, recalling the heartwarming dream she had the other night. She never thought she'd get to see her brother again in his original state as he had been before his accident, even if it was still only a dream. Luan wasn't exactly sure what to call it, but whatever it was, it had all seemed so real even though deep down she knew it wasn't. Lincoln's words continued to echo in her mind as she remembered everything he had said at the beautiful fountain, the forgiveness, everything. This had filled Luan with hope for the future, and she had a feeling that things would eventually turn out fine in the end, yet there was one thing that had been on Luan's mind all this time since waking up from the dream. Just what did Lincoln mean by telling her that Lisa had something interesting in store? She couldn't figure that one part out, but Luan wasn't going to let it bother her. Lincoln had urged Luan to move on and not let her guilt get in the way of her life, otherwise, she'd never move on.
"Hey Luan, you hungry? Lori made breakfast" Luna called out from the entrance to her's and Luan's room.
Luan snapped out of her trance and turned around to face Luna.
"Oh! Yeah, I'll be right down" Luan nodded as she proceeded to change out of her night clothes and into her normal clothes.
"Okay" Luna replied, then headed back downstairs.
The other Loud siblings weren't as active as they normally were due to everything involving Lincoln, but they still talked amongst each other about various other things going on in their daily lives. Rita and Lynn Sr had already informed all of them earlier that Lisa was working on a very important project for school inside the basement and that no one should enter it unless they knocked first. If they violated this demand, they'd be in serious trouble. Luan hadn't been made aware of this yet since she had been in her room the whole time, but her other sisters made it a priority to let her know about it ASAP. Once Luan was downstairs and in the dining room, she found all her other siblings there eating calmly, making Rita and Lynn Sr feel relieved. Before the April Fools incident, the Loud sisters were always making a loud racket over who would be served first and various other nonsense, yet they all seemed calmer and less active due to their brother being in the hospital.
"Hey guys," Luan greeted casually as she sat at her place where she found a plate of bacon and eggs waiting for her. "You'll never guess what happened last night. I the strangest, yet most wonderful dream ever".
"Can't see how that's possible. All I see in my dreams are dark shadows of doom" Lucy commented in her usual gloomy tone.
Rita and Lynn Sr just glared at her briefly, but said nothing as they continued eating.
"Uh, what kind of dream are we talking here?" Lana asked curiously.
"Well, I was in this large shallow lake with a fountain in the center of it, and Lincoln was there" Luan answered.
This perked up the attention of her other sisters and parents.
"Oh really?" Lola asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, and the best part about it was that he was just like he was before... before April Fools" Luan answered, hesitating near the end as she recalled the reasons for Lincoln's injuries.
"Like that'll ever happen" Lynn Jr scoffed.
Ignoring Lynn, Luan said, "Lincoln told me that he forgave me for everything I did, and also thanked me for fixing Bun-Bun. He also told me that I shouldn't let this affect the rest of my life and that Lisa will help heal his injuries somehow".
Luan was cut off when Lynn Sr suddenly put his foot down, silencing her.
"Luan, that's enough," he ordered firmly. "No more about Lincoln. He'll get better, so just be quiet and stop talking about him for once!".
"Lynn!" Rita scolded.
All of the girls turned to face their father in confusion. His expression was that of both sorrow, anger, and a look of slight pity.
"Dad, you okay?" Lori asked in concern.
Lynn Sr glanced at all of them, then felt a strange wetness on his face and realized that they were tears. He quickly wiped them off his face and sighed.
"I'm fine, I just...," Lynn Sr paused with a sigh and stood up. "I'm not hungry right now".
As Lynn stormed off, all the girls looked at each other in concern. They hadn't seen their father act like this since seeing Lincoln in the hospital after his surgery, and they also noticed that their mother looked a bit on edge as well, not as emotional as Lynn Sr, but with a look of uncertainty and concern. Lucy was the only one who knew the reason as to why their parents were acting like this, but she didn't dare say a word about it while her sisters were present.
"Mom, what's wrong with Dad?" Luan asked in concern.
"He's...," Rita paused, trying to think of the right words to say without revealing what Lisa told her and Lynn the other night. "He's just worried about Lincoln a bit more than usual, so don't be too hard on him".
Luan could understand that everyone was very worried and on edge about Lincoln, but for some reason, Lynn Sr was taking it much harder than usual all of a sudden. This seemed slightly odd given that everyone had pretty much accepted the fact that Lincoln would be impaired for the rest of his life, yet Lynn Sr seemed to be having an emotional breakdown over it. Luan and her sisters suspected that maybe it was because Lynn Sr and Rita were taking it much harder since they were his parents, but something about all of it seemed off for some reason.
"Is Lisa going to join us?" Lola asked curiously, noticing that Lisa was absent from her table space.
"She's busy with her project right now. She said she'll eat in a little while," Rita replied. "And remember what I told all of you; no entering the basement without permission from me or your father".
Luan looked over at Rita in confusion and asked, "Why do you want no one in the basement?".
"Because Lisa asked me to inform you all that she's working on a very important project for school after spring break, and she wants no one else going down in the basement until it's complete" Rita replied.
"A project? What type?" Lynn Jr asked.
"Must be something big" Lana guessed.
"Girls, it isn't important as to what it is. Just understand that I don't want anyone entering the basement until Lisa completes her project" Rita informed them in a stern voice.
"Um, okay," Lori said, confused. "How long will this project of hers take to complete?".
"Lisa isn't sure yet," Rita answered. "Just do what I say and don't bother Lisa or go down into the basement unless I say so".
"Who's gonna take the laundry down there then? I got a lot of sports clothes to wash" Lynn Jr wondered.
"Me and your father will handle the laundry, so you all will be spared from doing laundry for the time being. That doesn't mean your excused from doing your other chores though" Rita replied.
"We understand, Mom," Leni said. "By the way, when can we go see Lincoln again?".
"Maybe tomorrow," Rita replied."The dentist office called me in, so I have to work today until around 5PM. Your Dad will be here in case you need anything".
"All right," Leni answered, then glanced over at Luan. "What about Luan?".
Rita glanced over at Luan with a frown, then said, "She is to remain in her room until further notice. Luan may only leave her room to do her chores, use the restroom, go to school, and to eat. She is still grounded for what she did".
"Mom," Lori said. "I know that what Luan did was very serious, but keeping her away from socializing around other people doesn't seen right".
"I'm sorry Lori, but as harsh as it may seem, Luan will remain in her room for the remainder of this year. She needs to understand the severity of what she has done. Because of Luan and her pranks, there's a chance that Lincoln might..." Rita instantly stopped herself from blurted out that last sentence.
"Might what?" Lori asked.
The other Loud siblings looked just as concerned as Rita tried to make an excuse to save herself from revealing everything that Lisa was doing, but she had no alibi. Rita's expression also turned from serious to sorrowful as she thought of everything that Lisa had told her. As tempted as Rita was to reveal everything to her daughters, she knew that doing that now would be a very bad idea, especially with Luan in the room.
Instead, she stood up from the table and said in a saddened voice, "It's nothing... never mind".
The girls all watched in confusion as Rita walked out of the dining, all bothered by the way she was acting. Luan was especially concerned as to why her mother suddenly went from being casual to depressed when she mentioned Lincoln. It might have seemed rather obvious as to why Rita would act like this whenever someone mentioned Lincoln, but this was a much different type of emotion than that. Rita was acting as if all hope had been lost and Lincoln was on his death bed, and this got Luan very worried. Did her mother know something that she wasn't telling the rest of the family? The other girls had their suspicions as well, but didn't know what to think at the time. Once Rita made it back up the stairs and into her room, she thought about Lincoln in the hospital, and about Lisa's plan to save his life. Could this plan of her's work? Could that machine really save Lincoln's life?
Rita knew that Lisa wasn't prone to making mistakes when the situation was deadly serious, yet there had been many times in the past when Lisa had tested out new experiments and inventions out on her siblings, and they didn't end that good. Those past incidents made Rita very uneasy about the idea of such a machine like the C.N.I unit being used on her son. Although Lisa had repeatedly stated that the test simulations of the machine had been successful, there was still that fear of what might happen if the machine didn't work the way Lisa intended. Would it kill Lincoln? Would it cause more damage to his brain than there already was? The fear of the unknown gripped Rita like a steel vice, and she didn't know what to do. While Rita knew for a fact that Lincoln would eventually die once the brain hemorrhage in his brain grew large enough, she was still worried that the same thing might happen if Lisa's invention didn't work like she intended it to. But either way, Lincoln would still die if Lisa didn't at least have a shot at saving his life with this machine of hers. The only thing Rita could do was put all her faith in Lisa and hope that she'd be able to save Lincoln's life.
Sighing sadly, Rita gazed up a picture of Lisa on the wall above her bed, then said, "Lisa... please don't let me down, my little genius. Your Lincoln's last hope".
...
...
A few hours had passed since Rita left for work, and Lisa was still busy constructing the C.N.I unit. Darcy had called her earlier and asked if she had time for a play date, but Lisa told her that she was very busy with an "important project" and had no time for playing around. Darcy was disappointed, but wished Lisa luck and left her at that. Lisa had to admit to herself that having some assistance on constructing the device would definitely speed up the progress on completing it, but she knew that doing so would mean exposing her reasons for building the machine in the first place, and Lisa couldn't do that. Lucy was the only one who knew of Lisa's plan to save Lincoln, but Lisa wanted none of her other siblings to know about it yet, and Lucy wouldn't be of any help to her. She had no knowledge on advanced technology like Lisa did, and having Lucy assist her could cause unwanted problems. Lana was the only one who had some experience with building, but Lisa couldn't risk letting Lana know why she was building the C.N.I unit, or else she'd let the rest of her sisters know.
The lower part of the C.N.I unit had been fully constructed by this point, which was the dragster shaped portion of the machine. The navigational headlights had also been installed along with the wheels and the wheel covers, but there was a problem, something that Lisa had failed to consider in her hast to construct the machine. It was how to get the C.N.I unit out of the basement once it was fully completed. There was no way to successfully maneuver the machine up the stairs, and carrying it up the stairs would be hard to do since the machine would be so heavy. Lisa sighed in frustration at the realization of the problem she now faced, and she knew now that fully constructing the C.N.I unit in the basement wouldn't be possible. The only other place that Lisa could successfully maneuver the machine around in once it was fully constructed was the garage, but then Lisa remembered that Luna sometimes used the garage to practice her guitar solo's. This would pose another problem since Luna's instruments would be in the way, and Lisa would need as much space as possible to construct the C.N.I unit. The main problem Lisa faced right now was getting the now half completed machine up the stairs and into the garage along with the other parts needed to finish it. There was no way she'd be able to move everything into the garage with her sisters out and about, so Lisa figured that she'd request help from her parents once her other sisters went to bed that night.
Since constructing the machine was out of the question until then, Lisa figured she'd take the time to relax for awhile since she had been working on the machine non-stop since she had told her parents everything she had found out at the hospital.
"I could use a rest for now," Lisa said to herself. "Better make sure no one comes down here, except for Lucy and my parents".
Lisa made her way up the stairs and into the hallway, then closed the basement door and locked it with a dead bolt key to ensure that no one entered. Afterwards, she headed down to her room to relax and prepare for the long days ahead to come. Lisa found it strange that the house wasn't as noisy as it usually was, but not that big of a surprise. Ever since Lincoln ended up in the hospital because of Luan, everyone was on edge and perturbed, fearing for his life. Lisa couldn't imagine how Luan was feeling, but she remembered the dream simulator she had used on Luan and could only hope that it helped ease her stress and fear. Once Lisa was in her room, she saw that her bedside clock read 3:43 PM, making her eyes widen in surprise. Lisa had no idea that so much time had passed since she resumed work on the C.N.I unit that morning. Time seemed to really fly since Lisa had started working on the machine to begin with. Nothing else seemed to matter other than saving Lincoln's life, so Lisa had needed as much time as possible to complete it, and she was quite amazed that she had managed to complete so much of the device in the last several hours.
However, Lisa couldn't afford anymore setbacks like this one. She needed to ensure that the machine would be able to leave the house once it was complete in order to be delivered to the hospital to be used on Lincoln in order to save his life. Lisa would be sure to let her parents know about needing to move the machine and its parts to the garage once Rita arrived home, then she'd continue working on it the next day. But for now, Lisa decided to rest up and maybe eat something since she hadn't eaten in several hours since she had started working on her invention, and felt a bit peckish all of a sudden. Lisa got off her bed, then exited her room and headed downstairs, finding the house a bit quieter than usual. Once Lisa made into the kitchen, she found Luan in there fetching a pepsi can from the fridge, catching her by surprise.
"Lisa! I didn't know you were still here" Luan said in surprise.
"Forgive the intrusion, but I was feeling a bit famished from some... important work. Mind me asking where our other siblings are at this present hour?" Lisa asked.
"They're hanging out at the mall, trying to get their minds off everything, and Dad's been alone in his room for the past several hours doing who knows what," Luan informed. "What have you been working on in the basement all day?".
Lisa wasn't sure how to answer that question without revealing too much, so she had to think up something very quickly.
"I assume mother informed you earlier that it was a project for school. Have you not yet been informed?" Lisa answered casually.
"Yes, Mom told us all that. What I want to know is why you don't want anyone seeing this so called project of yours until its complete. What's so secret about it that you can't let any of us see it?" Luan demanded suspiciously.
"I simply do not wish to be bothered, and I don't want anyone attempting to mess with it, so that is why I require complete solitude while constructing it" Lisa answered.
"Stop playing games with me, Lisa! You think I'm that stupid? Is that it?!" Luan suddenly snapped. "I KNOW for a fact that whatever it is your doing down in that basement isn't school related. You've never been this serious before when it comes to your so called inventions and experiments. You've practically secluded yourself away from the rest of the family, and on top of that, you absolutely refuse to let anyone know what it is that your building. Something serious is up, and I'm pretty sure it has to do with Lincoln! Am I right?".
Lisa said nothing; she had no idea how to answer Luan without revealing her purpose to building the C.N.I unit. While Lisa knew that it wouldn't take very long for her sisters to figure out that whatever it was she was working on in the basement had to do with Lincoln, Lisa still tried to figure out how to answer Luan without revealing the part about the brain hemorrhage in Lincoln's brain.
"Answer me, Lisa! Am I right?!" Luan practically yelled.
"You are correct, Luan" Lisa answered calmly.
"Then why are you keeping whatever it is a secret down there?! Don't you think that we all have a right to know?!" Luan demanded.
"Mom and Dad already know about the machine, and Lucy overheard me discussing the plans to build it, so she also knows about it as well" Lisa answered, trying not to anger Luan even further than she seemed to be.
"And what does this machine do? I want to know, and I want to know now!" Luan snapped.
"It will take a lot of time to explain, but I might as well show you the machine itself since it would be difficult to explain in words," Lisa replied. "Also, I'd appreciate it if you'd calm your temper. I've done nothing wrong, and if anything, I am attempting to help our brother recover from the mess you got him into in the first place".
Luan wanted to argue, but she knew that Lisa was right about Lincoln's condition being her fault, so she said nothing.
"If you wish to see what I have accomplished so far, then follow me to the basement" Lisa instructed Luan, who began following her to the basement.
As Lisa headed towards the basement with Luan following behind her, she made a personal note not to so much as even mention anything about the brain hemorrhage in Lincoln's brain to Luan. Instead, she'd simply tell her what the purpose of the machine was and how it would save Lincoln's life, but she wouldn't reveal anything else until construction on the machine was complete. Upon realizing this, Lisa felt a bit stupid for not thinking this through sooner, but she couldn't really blame herself for being so seclusive. Her brothers life was on the line because of a hemorrhage forming in his brain that would kill him at the end of the month, and as a result, Lisa had panicked and didn't think things through carefully. In the process, she ended up secluding herself in her work and didn't even at least explain that she was inventing a machine that could save Lincoln's life. Lisa had feared that Luan and her other sisters would know that Lincoln would die, and so she had planned on keeping her invention a secret, which she now knew would've proved to be impossible. Lisa planned to let the rest of her siblings know about the C.N.I unit once they returned home, but she would make absolutely sure not to reveal what she had learned from Lincoln's X-ray. With her new plan in mind, Lisa lead Luan down the stairs and flipped on the basement light, ready to lift some of the heavy weight off her chest by showing Luan what she had accomplished so far.
A/N: So, it would seem Lisa is finally thinking things through more clearly, but how will Luan react to seeing Lisa's invention? And how will her other siblings react? Stick around to find out.
