Hello all! First let me say thank you all for the follows and favs. Glad this story got off to a good start.

That Engineer: First off, love your stories. Secondly I always felt like Lynn being the overprotective one works the best honestly. As for Leni, well I'm still working out some of the finer details in the story but I do have plans for her. (And no she will not be dim-witted).

DreadedCandiru: Well you wouldn't be wrong, Lynn is definitely nowhere near ready to entertain the idea of forgiving Lori...yet.

Now I was gonna have a longer chapter but I felt this was a better ending spot than I was gonna end up at so hope you all enjoy! Next time I'll try to make the chapter a little longer.


First Step

The alarm clock on Lori's phone started beeping, alerting the eldest Loud girl that it was time to get up. She groaned as she stretched out her arms, yawning for a moment before reaching for her phone and setting the alarm on snooze.

After seeing the time was seven in the morning, Lori moaned in annoyance. She had only managed to get three hours between all the nightmares and cold sweats.

It was going to be a long day, Lori thought.

Taking a moment to really look at her phone since it was taken from her upon her incarceration, Lori started scrolling through her old photos. Since her old plan was far beyond cancelled at this point there was only so much she could actually do with the device. She felt a warm nostalgia wash over her as she looked at pictures of her friends, the rather large amount of selfies, and pictures she took with her family. But that feeling quickly dissipated, leaving only guilt and shame in it's place.

As Lori stared at the pictures of her family, she finally realized all that she lost. She couldn't go back home again, none of her sisters wanted anything to do with her, and her brother was still scared of her. The only thing Lori had left was Bobby, and their relationship was barely what it used to be anymore either.

Lori backed out of her photos app and noticed the large number of unread messages she had. She knew it was a bad idea but Lori opened the app and began to look through her messages anyways. Other than the few hateful messages from Lynn, a couple from Luna, and one long-winded message from Clyde, the bulk of the messages came from her friends.

It seemed that even though the police kept his name out of the news reports, and the family did their best to hide it, word got out of who Lori assaulted that night. Lori could only imagine how much more difficult things got for Lincoln after the details of what happened back then were made public.

Messages from her rival turned friend Carol, and some of her friends from school such as Whitney, Becky and Dana were filled with disbelief, hurtful remarks, and much more.

Carol: Lori, please tell me the news has some spelling error or something. I can't believe you'd do something like this!

Whitney: Lori is this crap online really true?

Carol: Lori I don't know who you attacked but I don't think I can call someone like you my friend anymore. I thought I knew you…

Dana: What the hell did you do? You seemed so normal, how could you do this?

Becky: Lori you are a disgusting freak! I hope you're seeing this message. Screwing your own brother!? He's a fucking kid and you assaulted him! I hope you rot in jail.

Whitney: Lori...I don't even know what to say. Why Lincoln? How could you hurt your own brother like that? I hope you die in prison bitch.

Carol: I know you're most likely in jail already and probably won't see this...But I just wanted to say that You're a real piece of work Lori. I mean, your own brother? Lincoln deserves a better sister than you Lori. If you ever get out, just stay away from him.

Lori's tears fell on her phone screen. She didn't realize the whole town knew about what happened.

The eldest Loud girl hated herself even more now. "Maybe I should've just died in prison". She thought to herself.

"Now you're thinking on the right track again. Just make everyone's lives easier and go away. It's what's best for everyone".

Lori held her head in pain. "No. I didn't make it through six years in jail just to die as soon as I got out". She declared. "I'm going to fix things the best I can. Maybe none of them will forgive me for that night, fine. But if I can at least get on civil terms with everyone else then I'll consider that a success". Lori thought to herself, determined to repair the situation the best that she could.

Lori knew that it was going to be an uphill battle, she just didn't know how steep the slope was going to be. But that didn't mean she was going to throw in the towel just yet. Lori wiped her eyes and gripped her phone tight, she was going to make a plan. And it was going to work.

The eldest Loud grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and began writing down her plan of attack for rebuilding her bonds with her family, and maybe even her friends if at all possible.


Later that day

Lori stood a few feet from the front door of the two story house. Her nerves only slightly more steady than her attempt from yesterday. "This isn't going to be the same". She told herself.

The Loud woman gathered her thoughts, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. After a moment of nothing, Lori knocked again. "Just a minute". Someone called out from the other side of the door. A minute later and Lori could hear the lock turning and the door quickly opened. Before her stood a young blonde woman, only a couple years younger than herself.

It took a minute but after studying the girl for a moment, and noticing the teal streak in her hair, Lori remembered who she was. "Sam?" She sheepishly asked with an awkward smile on her face. Sam Sharp, soon to be Mrs. Sam Sharp, stared wide-eyed at the woman before her. There was a couple minutes of silence before Sam found her voice. "Lori?" She asked.

Lori nodded before meekly waving at the girl. "Is, uh...I-Is my sister home?" Lori asked.

"She is. But I don't know if she'll be willing to see you". Sam replied while crossing her arms. "Luna mentioned you were getting out yesterday but from what she said, it didn't sound like she was super excited. I wonder why?" Sam in faux bemusement.

"I know I'm literally the last person she'd want to see right now but could you please just ask her to come out? I'm wanting to do better Sam but I...I need my family behind me again. I don't know if I can handle the isolation anymore..." Lori sighed out, already feeling the tears forming in her eyes.

"Sam. It's alright". Lori heard from further inside the house. Sam looked behind her and Lori could hear the footsteps as they grew louder. A few seconds later and Luna Loud walked into view from behind the door, appearing behind her betrothed with an unreadable look on her face.

Luna gave Sam a quick peck on the lips before addressing her again. "Why don't you head upstairs for a couple minutes babe, Lori and I need to have a little chat". She said.

"You sure?" Luna nodded in response. "Alright". Sam said, sounding slightly defeated. She passed Lori a threatening glance before turning and heading upstairs to her and Luna's room. "Come on in Lori". Luna said as she opened the door wider and showed Lori the way to the living room.

Lori took a minute to look around the house, she didn't know how long Luna and Sam had been living here but the place was well furnished. In a way, she was envious of her younger sister, it looked like she had her life all together, Luna had her own home, a soon to be wife, she was stable. But Lori on the other hand, had lost everything she had, once upon a time it looked like she would be the first Loud child to have everything they wanted.

And now here she was on rock bottom, barely any family to speak of and no real place of her own to call home.

Luna cleared her throat, bringing Lori's attention back to the Loud rocker. "S-Sorry, I was just admiring your home. It's very nice Luna". Lori complimented her. "Thanks, me and Sam got this place only a few months back. We only recently got everything set up how we want it..." Luna's face fell as she got lost in her thoughts.

"So...Things didn't really go well yesterday from what I heard. You freaked Lincoln out again". Luna scolded. "I-I didn't mean to I just...I didn't realize what I was doing". She replied, defeated. "I-I'm still trying to figure everything out Luna but I just...I just wanted to come here in person and tell you that I want you all back in my life". Luna raised a brow at her.

"You guys barely visited me in prison, not that I blame you guys or anything. But ever since I got locked away...I knew that I lost all of you as my sisters. I lost that right when I hurt Lincoln, and by extension all of you. But I'm going to regain that trust I lost, I'm going to do what I can to earn you back as my siblings". Lori declared in front of Luna.

"I wanted to come here and apologize to you first. I wanted to say I'm sorry, not just for what happened that night...But for everything that happened after. Basically forcing you to step up and be the big sister, the public backlash that I'm sure came from being associated with someone like me...and for-" Luna held her hand up to stop her sister.

"Lori I don't want your apologies, they aren't going to change how I feel or how I've felt since that night. But I will say I am glad to hear you're trying to do better and make things right". Luna said with a small smile on her face before it twisted into discomfort as she reminisced. "That night...it changed things, for a lot of us. I'm not sure how much mom and pops told you about everything while you were inside but it hasn't been a great time since you went away".

Lori opened her mouth to speak but Luna held her hand up again. "I'm not done. I'm sure you know how the others feel about you already, Lynn especially, but as for me...I'm willing to give you the chance to make amends".

Hearing those words gave Lori a small spark of hope when she needed it most. "T-thank you Luna. I swear I'm going to do right by all of you. The help I've been getting while I'm inside, it's gotten me to a better place...for the most part". Lori started. "I have a better Handle on my emotions, learned a few techniques to help me deal with the...anxiety among other things. I'm a better person now and I'm going to prove it to you all". Lori declared to her younger sister.

"Well I can't wait to see it Lori, and for what it's worth I'm sorry I never really visited you". Luna said. "So, when's the next time you're gonna see Lincoln? When I was checking on him last night he said he still wanted to talk to you". Lori's face fell when Luna mentioned their brother. "I uh, I'm not really sure yet. I think I'll just text and call him for the next couple days before trying to meet face to face again. I planned on the next time for us to talk to be in a public place, like just getting lunch somewhere or something". Lori said.

Luna wondered how much Lori knew about Lincoln's condition. About just how much their brother had changed over the years.

"So Lori, you know the reason why Lincoln didn't visit you in jail after the first couple years right?" Luna asked. "Mom and Bobby simply said it was so he didn't mess up the progress he was making in therapy...why is there more to it?" Luna grimaced slightly before nodding. "Yeah, just a little".

"After that night...It's been hard for Lincoln to put his trust in anyone, even us sometimes. He's been distant with all of us the past few years, it was obvious that he was doing it on purpose too. Just drifting away from us and his friends". Lori could feel the tears burning in the corner of her eyes. "And anytime we do hang out with the dude and try to ask how he's doing...he just deflects or puts on a fake smile. He tries to act like nothing's wrong but we all know something has been up, only problem is Lincoln won't accept any help from us".

"I don't even know how it happened. He was fine for the first year or so, wanting to hang out with us all the time. And then he just...I don't know". Luna said. "Hell it got to the point that we actually did a intervention thing of sorts. The results were...not positive. He just acted like he wasn't hurting, and it honestly looked like he believed it". Luna sadly commented.

"It sounds like he doesn't want to get close to any of you anymore...I have a feeling I know why too. God I really fucked things up Luna. I was too blinded by my own selfish desire to see just how much and how far into the future this would destroy him". Lori lamented. "I really am the worst sister on the planet. His therapy hasn't been helping him? How much does he even see them? Or is he even seeing them anymore?" Lori questioned.

"Lincoln hasn't been to her in months. We tried to find out why but he just said "I'm in a better place. I don't need her". We could tell he was just saying that so we didn't worry". Luna answered.

"He hasn't...he hasn't been hurting himself though right?" Lori hoped. "No, no, nothing that far. But that doesn't mean I can say the same mentally or emotionally. I've had the feeling that he puts himself down a lot. And I can see it in some of his work".

"His work?". Lori asked. "Oh yeah. Since all this began, that Dr. Lopez that he'd been seeing tried to get him interested in a hobby, a, uh, outlet for his feelings I guess. He's pretty talented Lori, even got a couple awards for his drawings". Luna sounded really proud as she talked about her brother's hidden talent. "So that's what those were for...I saw them when I visited yesterday". Lori commented.

"Well at least something good came from all this". Lori happily thought to herself.

Lori spent the next few hours reconnecting with Luna, finding herself on amicable terms with her sister by the end of her visit. She bid farewell to Luna and Sam before heading out to her next destination.

"I know she's your sister and you want to be close again, but I just don't know if I can trust her Lunes". Sam said to her fiance as they watched Lori walk away from the house. "I know babe, but I really believe that she's better now and just wants to be a part of everyone's lives again". Luna replied. A small smile spread across her face.

"At least I hope she is...". Luna thought in the back of her mind.


Even if their relationship is now a little rocky at best, at least Lori has one sister back in her corner. But will the rest of their sisters be so easy to leave the past where it is and give Lori the chance she so desperately wants? And just how bad off is Lincoln? Only time will tell.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and if you haven't done so yet feel free to check out my other works, always look forward to any feedback, good or critical. Until next time, have a good one!