Through Their Eyes


Fourth Year

Leni

Leni knew, instinctively, that it was so totes a bad idea from the get-go. This didn't deter her, but it did at times make her wonder things as she drove along.

Things like, was there a better way? Would she do them better by thinking of such a thing? Or worse?

And did she even care?

But as she pulled her preowned lime green SUV into their parents' driveway, right behind Luan's own used repainted yellow BMW sedan her little sister bought all that time ago and could barely use now, she shrugged and smiled.

Ultimately, Leni knew in her heart it was the right thing to do.

"Hey, Luan!" the peppy blonde burst forth through their family's front door, grinning ear to ear while holding a pair of car keys. "Let's get going! I've got such a great idea where to shop today!"

Her younger sister, belly a bit bigger now since the reveal that last week of December, groaned just a tad as she stood up from where she'd waited on the couch. "Hey, Leni," her hand shot out, balanced herself on the couch's arm. "Just a moment, I'm walking for two."

"You are?" Luan bit her lip as her elder sister began seriously studying her, face perplexed. "I didn't know you were twins, Luan! When did that happen?" then, when Luan looked about to say something, Leni grinned wide and gently pulled her into a hug. "Just joking!"

Luan just stood there, mouth hanging slightly open as she mumbled, "Did I just get outplayed by Leni?"

But her sister just laughed, "Seriously, though! We should get going, we're keeping someone I know waiting!"

"Who?"

Leni looked about to say, but then her face creased, her eyes darting about the room while she stuck her tongue between her pearly whites in thought. Then, after about three minutes of this, she gently knocked her fist against her head and laughed. "Just a friend!" and with that she led her younger sister out of the house.

As Leni and Luan got into the car, a blast of heat washed over both ladies as Leni gave one last glance across the front of the house. "Is Lori out with Bobby?"

The car began pulling down the driveway as Luan answered, "Yeah. He took her to a job interview, though I think she's still a bit depressed after failing to get into school again, so hopefully she gets the job."

"Aw," Leni pouted as they started along. "She shouldn't be. I mean, it totes took me until this year to get in!"

"Speaking of," Luan gave her sister a wry glance. "How is carpentry? I never wood have guessed you'd enter a trade school!" she couldn't help giggling lightly at her own pun, though that's all she did.

"Omigosh, Luan!" Leni practically sparkled upon hearing Luan make a pun as they talked on the drive. "It's so totes awesome! You should come over to the apartment, all my furniture is handmade now!"

Luan looked at her askance. "You made all your furniture!"

Leni only grinned and nodded rapidly in reply.

As they went, the two sisters enjoyed their conversation, Luan's demeanor changing so rapidly from the, quite frankly humorless creature Leni had happened upon that morning to an almost veritable bucket of cheer by the time they pulled into one of Huntington Oaks' newest shopping locales, the Oaks Mega Mall.

"Okay," Leni started as they walked through the mall's glass sliding doors. "We need to go up to the eating thingie-"

Luan arched an eyebrow, then smiled. "Food court?"

"Yay! That's the one!" Leni snapped her fingers, then hugged her little sister. "See, I knew three heads are better than one!"

"Don't you mean two heads?" then Luan looked down, saw Leni pointing at the quite obvious baby bump, then bit her lip a second time that day. "Really? Twice?" she sighed then laughed.

But as they reached the top of the escalator, Leni took her phone out ostensibly to check if the person had texted, then said, "Um, hey, Luan?"

"Yes?" her sister said as soon as she stepped off the escalator.

Leni sighed, bit her lip. "Uh, looks like I might have to bail for a bit. I must have missed a text on the way over, and, well…" she looked up into her sister's eyes. "But don't worry! You two totes go have fun, I'll be back in a bit and I'll even text when I am, okay?" Luan opened her mouth to say something, but Leni's eyes practically sparkled as she said, "Great! See ya soon, I'll so be right back! Like I said, have fun!"

"Wait, Leni!" Luan called out as her older sister just dashed off, leaving her standing there. Not wanting to cause a scene, Luan held her hands up in frustration. "What the heck was that about?"

"Luan?"

She paused, her throat constricting while her chest grew tighter. She didn't dare turn around, not now, not here.

"Is something…" that all too familiar, too long missed voice paused for way too long in her opinion before finishing with, "wrong?"

Leni watched from off in the distance as both lovers reunited, expecting the bad feelings to grow within her at the sight, knowing they should.

And was all too happy when they didn't.

That night, as Leni drove Lincoln back to their aunt's place, he nearly broke down when he said, as they parked out front, "Thank you, Leni."

She just beamed before wrapping him in one of her patented Leni hugs and waving him inside.

Soon the meetings grew more often, sometimes over at Leni's apartment where Lincoln would often cook dinner for the three of them. Sometimes she'd even invite them over for the night without telling their parents, though that was always risky for so many reasons.

It was Lincoln who realized it first, however.

"Um, Leni?"

"What's up, Lincy?" always happy, the girl had to admit it was a godsend to have Lincoln there cooking and cleaning as they stood at the sink while Luan was in the bathroom.

Lincoln paused scrubbing the dishes, now nearly as tall as her as he looked her in the eye and said, "Maybe we should stop doing this."

"Why?" she genuinely looked worried. "You and Luan didn't get in a fight, did you?"

"No!" he hurried to dispel that thought, then explained, "It's just that, what if Mom and Dad or the others come over and one of your neighbors mentions us being here?"

It took a while, but Leni understood after a time. Even she had to agree that was a real possibility. And Lincoln had to firmly shut down any thought of moving just because of them.

Luan agreed with him.

But as the baby's due date grew closer, another event would shake the Loud family once more.

And Leni, despite her own feelings, was all too glad to help the two lovebirds at its epicenter when she found out.

"Um, excuse me!" Leni called out as she stood in the dingy little office on the edge of town.

When the manager, a black man, possibly in his forties and wearing a pair of denim coveralls with the name, "JONAS" on a grease covered name-tag perched upon his chest came out, he asked, "What can I do for you, miss?"

Leni lifted up the little card she was holding, "Um, I was looking for a part."

Of course, while the man led her about the place, Lincoln took that time to switch license plates out on a sedan in the parking lot outside the view of the camera.

Maybe not the most perfect idea in the world, but necessary to the plan.

Later, Leni took Luan to the bank. When they walked in they'd gone practically empty-handed. Leaving, they carried a small fortune. It was the same with Lincoln a few days later.

"And that closes out my account," Lincoln said as he counted out the money in the passenger seat. Then, after a moment, he looked at Leni, his eyes filled with sorrow as he said, "Thank you, Sis. For everything you've done."

Leni just smiled perkily. "Oh, totes no prob! Besides," she wrapped him up in a surprise hug then, buried her face in his hair while it was just the two of them, "I'm just, like, way glad to see you two happy again."

Despite knowing it impossible, Lincoln did his best to try and return her hug as strongly as she could dole them out.

He failed.

But not for trying.

"So," Leni said as she and Luan stood beside the girl's car with some of their siblings nearby, "you need me to follow you?"

Luan nodded. "If you would. I didn't want to bug Lori or Luna, they're both busy. But I need to get the car checked out before the baby arrives, make sure it doesn't break down on me."

"Sure thing!"

Of course, the plan nearly fell through as Lana came about at the worst possible time, overheard and said, "I can take a look at it for ya, Luan. It'd save you money, at least."

Leni's eyes went wide and she began to panic, but Luan caught herself in time and said, "D-don't worry, Lans!" then, thinking fast, she started laughing. "One of my friends, their boyfriend is a mechanic and they could really use the business. Besides," she shrugged then, "I have the money and don't you have a date to get ready for?"

"A date!" Leni squealed, practically forgetting her original reason for being there as she rushed over and swooped down on Lana, the younger girl crying as she begged Leni not to go too wild on her and please have mercy Sis no not the perfume! Anything but the perfume! No, no, no! Not a manicure! Please no mani-pedis! Please, Leni! Have a heart, Sis!

Leni knew Luan felt bad, but only for a minute. The past four years hadn't been any easier living with Lana.

Also? The snake ate the rabbit.

Even Leni knew Luan was a mite peeved over that event.

A few nights later, after they'd gotten the now repainted white car back and parked it outside Leni's place and during a sleepover Luan and Leni had vocally planned, they shared their last dinner with Lincoln together.

The next morning, Leni was the only one there.

"What were you thinking!" Rita demanded of her second oldest when the girl arrived later that same morning.

But Leni sat there calmly, though morosely, at the table in 1216 Franklin Ave's dining room and said, "A lot of things."

A few of her sisters wanted to laugh at that; she really had been hanging out with Luan a lot, hadn't she?

"Leni, this isn't a joke!" her mother took her hands and stared into her eyes. "Luan and the baby need medical attention!"

"No. What they really need is Lincoln," she corrected, and before her mother or father could say anything, Leni shook her head and cut them off. "I know. I really do. It was bad, what they did. It was bad, what happened. It was bad, what I did to help them.

"And I don't care anymore." This shocked the whole family. But she wasn't finished. "All I saw, every time I came over, was something that looked like Luan, but wasn't. She never laughed, never told any funny puns-" she had to catch herself before she cried at that thought, of all those times looking at the thing that was Luan but wasn't whenever she came over.

Seeing the chance and hating the oppressive silence, Lynn Jr. quipped lowly, "When did she ever tell a funny pun?"

Leni sighed at that, but she persisted once again. "And when I went to see Lincoln, it was like he wasn't there. I mean, he was there. He wasn't, like, a ghost or anything. Although at times he almost felt like one," then she realized she was getting sidetracked, shook her head, and looked at her parents once more. "But when they were together? When we all ate dinner at my place, or went out somewhere? It was like nothing had happened. Like they were back. Almost like before all of that stuff happened."

Her parents wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't.

Try as they might, Leni was still one of the most honest and uniquely perceptive of their girls.

"But I didn't and still don't care anymore," Leni continued. "Because my brother and sister were hurting, and I was just so sick of it. You taught me to take care of family, no matter what.

"So I did."

It was her father who spoke up finally, his face crestfallen as he looked Leni in the eye and said, "Leni, you don't understand-"

Then, looking her parents in the eye, she made her siblings gasp when she said, "No, I totes do understand. I know what I did, I know what they did, and I know why you're angry. But maybe it's time someone tried to understand them, their side, and what they've gone through.

"Not just because of that jerk face back then," she swallowed hard, stared her parents down now, "and not just because of all those other jerk faces afterward, but also because of their family here and now."

In a way, Leni was proud of herself. For the first time ever she'd left nearly her entire family speechless for a darn good reason!


Rita

Ever since the reveal that last December, Rita wanted nothing more than to cry.

Not that she didn't. No, far from it. She cried often, wept hard and long over the news, about her husband's and her reactions, about nearly everything since then. But it didn't help.

It never did.

Not only had her (she could barely even think the words) teenage daughter gone and got pregnant, the father was her own younger brother!

And, in their haste to think of something, anything to do to repair the situation, she and Lynn had screwed up. Again.

"Why?" she asked that as she sat in the van, parked outside the grocery store as part of her wondered whether she could put off going in a while longer. "Why me? Why us?"

Of course, the answer was obvious. She just didn't want to look at it, didn't want to consider it, ever since that awful week way back when.

Her husband had said it best then; if only they'd been thinking more. If only they'd understood the consequences of their actions, a life would have maybe been saved, and her babies wouldn't have done what they did. Felt like they needed to do so.

Yes, felt. It had to be why they did what they did. It had to be!

She was certain of it. It wasn't love, it was just grasping. Proving they could trust someone, that they'd always be there for each other, even when nobody else was. It had to be. It was what she swore it was every time she allowed herself to honestly appraise Luan's tortured state or talked on the phone with Lincoln while he stayed with Shirley.

It wasn't love.

It was just nearly four years of not healing, of being allowed to heal. It had to be.

It couldn't be love.

But the looks on their faces as they were separated, pulled apart from one another? The strained sound of each of her babies' voices whenever they spoke? The tears she knew both cried, and openly at that?

When she was finally willing to be honest with herself, she saw the truth.

If what she saw and heard wasn't love, even if so very twisted and disturbed, then what was? It was the same look, the same sound, and probably the very same feeling she'd have if she were separated forcefully from her husband!

"What's the point of separating them, then?" she leaned back, looked at the van's beige interior. "Once they're both old enough, they can do whatever they want, pretty much."

Her husband said nearly the same thing. He'd said some other things, too.

"We've really screwed this up, Rita," he'd sat there on the bed almost right after they'd dropped Lincoln off with Shirley after that first week. "If they even manage to make it that far, once they're old enough we might never even get to see them or our grandchild again. Our first grandchild, at that!"

"Then what do we do, Lynn?" she'd been grateful not to have lost control in front of her children all that day, but all that restraint finally wore off, her words coming through thick sobs. "If we don't do something, then they'll think this is alright!"

But as soon as she said it, she didn't believe it. She knew they knew better; it was why they'd hidden it as best they could. And apparently for a lot longer than any of the family suspected, at that.

And then, after a time, she thought maybe, just maybe things were getting better. When Leni started taking Luan out and about, the girl pepped up. Sure, not like she used to be, but at least she started making a pun or two within earshot of her parents, smiled if only a little one here and there.

And Lincoln? When they'd talk over the phone or whenever she spoke with Shirley it was the same thing; Lincoln's mood had improved, too. And at about the same time.

All thanks to Leni.

At first, she couldn't believe it. Where she and her husband and even some of the siblings and other family had tried and failed these past weeks and months, Leni had succeeded. She truly knew what everyone really needed, Rita realized then as she brought Luan back from their Huntington excursion that first time.

Rita was so very proud. She and Lynn both were.

And maybe, just maybe, things would get better from that point on.

Of course, she couldn't help that niggling little question of just how Leni had improved their moods so well and so quickly. Her daughter wasn't exactly helpful on that score, but it didn't matter to Rita or her husband then and there. It was enough to think that they might get their babies back finally.

Looking back, she truly should have known.

Leni knew, after all, what everyone really needed. Even if it wasn't what her parents thought was right.

"Not just because of that jerk face back then," Rita was nearly knocked off her feet when Leni said those words, "and not just because of all those other jerk faces afterward, but also because of their family here and now."

Rita wanted to argue. Her husband wanted to argue. Maybe even one of their daughters wished to argue, she wasn't sure.

But nobody could.

And Rita was certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was because they all thought the same thing.

Leni had just called them all jerk faces, hadn't she?

And if she had, she was absolutely right to do so, Rita realized then.

"She's right," Rita finally allowed herself to say as she and her husband laid together that night in their bed. "We've really been the big jerks here."

While her husband tried to mount a defense then, nothing came of it. Even he agreed ultimately that what Leni had said was true, even if she didn't mean for it to be.

After the first year, when everything calmed down a bit and they got further from that hellish week, everyone had retreated. Luan could handle Lincoln, they'd decided. He seemed closest to her, after all, and would open up so willingly to the girl. And Lincoln could handle Luan. Their daughter confided in and spent time with him so deeply and often after that horrid event, so it just seemed wisest at the time. They'd never meant for it to become permanent, just temporary, until they were ready but… well…

But it was really just running away. They'd put the onus of healing their children's wounds on the very same children who were themselves wounded, stepped back and out of the ring, and here they were angry at how it all turned out?

That was why they'd thought twice about calling the cops.

"I just want my babies back," Rita said as she sat there alone at the dinner table. It was only two nights since they'd learned their children had eloped together, and she wondered for a long time after her husband fell asleep whether they were frightened or happy, scared or saddened at what they'd done to be together once more. "If I could go back, do it all over again differently, I would. My pet issues, my… just everything be damned! I would throw them away in a heartbeat right now to do right by you kids! I wish I'd done that earlier, trust me! I should have been aware, should have done more, should have realized all that sooner, but I wasn't and I didn't.

"But I don't care anymore," she broke down then, shaking as she tried desperately to stifle the sobs issuing forth, hands clutching and pulling at her hair. "About any of that, any of those things. I just want my babies back here, in my arms, where they should be!"

She remembered then the looks on all the sisters' faces when they'd heard Leni's news, then bit her lip and laid her head on the table face down where she whimpered weakly.

"We all do. I promise."


Bobby

Bobby, when he heard that Luan was pregnant, was shocked. As in, he dropped the pitcher of water he was holding level of shocked.

He recovered though and swore he'd help Lori's family if they needed it. She was his Babe, after all. And he knew he wanted to take care of her the rest of his life when they first met.

Even if that was the one thing he hadn't told her straight to her face, primarily due to Ronnie-Anne's insistence. She said it might scare the love of his life off if he started proposing to her the day he met Lori.

She'd also said such behavior reminded her of a certain monk, but he didn't get that. What was that about?

"Yo, Babe! What's up?" he opened the door that night in December wholly surprised to find Lori so pale she looked like a ghost. "Babe? Something wrong? Lori, is everything okay? Need a doctor? I can get my mom, she's the next best thing, and don't worry about paying, I'd cover it if needed and Lori? Speak to me, Babe, what's wrong?"

Lori looked about to say something at that moment as he half led, half dragged the blonde inside his family's abode. Then Lori laid eyes on Ronnie-Anne as the girl came out of the kitchen to see what the problem was, and whatever she was about to say died before a word ever left her lips.

All she did was lay her head against his shoulder and start to cry.

He didn't know why, she wouldn't say. All she'd said was that she'd been so stupid, why hadn't she done something, why this, why that, why why why?

It scared Bobby.

Of course, a great deal scared Bobby Santiago, if he were being honest. Sure, maybe not haunted houses, but even he knew he wasn't the bravest in the bunch.

But this? To see the love of his life as she was right then?

It scared him worse than anything.

Honestly, it scared him worse than when he'd heard about her little brother and that absolute asshole of a bastard that Bobby swore when he was alone and out of earshot of his family and Lori he'd kill if he found him on the street, terrified what the guy would do to Ronnie-Anne if he ever targeted her up until Lincoln took care of that problem. What that guy could have done scared him more than Lincoln's bout with hepatitis, though he kept that fear to himself.

It was partially that fear that kept him from going off to college like he and Lori had planned.

The other reason was how often Lori seemed to fail her entrance exams.

And only her entrance exams.

"Hey, Ronnie-Anne, how was my man, Clydesdale?" he asked as his sister came in after being called over to her boyfriend's place. From out of the window he saw Lincoln with Ronnie-Anne's boyfriend walking off, Clyde's arm around him and pulling him close. "Is that Lincoln? What's up with the Little Loud?"

Ronnie-Anne paused at the mention of Lincoln. Bobby noticed, arched an eyebrow, then realized she was probably wondering what to say. "Is everything alright, Sis?" then, after a moment, he said, "If you can't say, you don't have to."

His little sister apologized, but then, as she turned to head for her room she looked over her shoulder and said, "Bobby? You should go see Lori. Just..." she considered her words carefully now, "say you saw Lincoln and Clyde, ask her what's up. And trust me," she cracked her neck, looked down at her feet, "she really needs you to listen and understand. Okay, Bobby?"

Now Bobby was truly scared.

So scared that, before he hurried over to the Loud's house, he slipped the pistol he'd bought recently from under his bed, checked the magazine, then pulled the rifle he also bought and checked it thoroughly, too.

Just in case.

Because nobody, he swore, nobody would hurt his or his girlfriend's families like that again and get away with it for even a day.

Nobody.

But when he went over, found Lori otherwise safe and sound, he was just a mite confused.

Then, in the cab of his pickup truck, for the third time of his life, he was shocked. First was that week so long ago, then Luan's pregnancy, and now?

Now the revelation of just who the father was.

"Holy…" he was at a loss. Ever since he and Lori had parted ways earlier that night, he'd been unable to even form more than two syllables of thought at a time.

Lincoln? And Luan? They actually did that? Seriously? And they were having a kid together!

Yet this didn't deter Bobby even once. And when he next saw Luan a few days later when he came to pick up Lori to go to a job interview, he made sure Luan knew she could count on him if she needed.

"Don't worry about calling me if you need a ride or anything, okay?" he smiled as he gave her a one armed hug, did his best to convey he was there for her. "You don't need to be walking all over the place, especially not now."

"Thanks, Bobby."

Soon after, he and Lori began seriously talking about moving in together.

"I mean, not to complain," Lori said as she did just that, much to Bobby's amusement. "But if I'm literally gonna get woken up by an infant's crying again, I'd at least like it to be mine."

Bobby paused. So too did Lori, both of them looking at each other over a basket of fries and their shakes after Lori had her interview with a local bank. Then, without even a moment to consider if it was the right time, if it'd been long enough, if Ronnie-Anne and his mother would even approve, Bobby threw caution to the wind and said, "Hey, Babe? About that?"

Maybe it wasn't the best time, or the best place. Bobby could agree that such a thing was possible.

Of course, the look on Lori's face as he asked that question, that one question she'd finally told him she'd been waiting to hear for so long, and from him and only him?

He was sure that he'd made the right choice then.

Then in May of that year he got the call.

Man, Little Loud, what have you gotten yourself into? Bobby held his little sister close as the reality set in, the fact that Luan and Lincoln had actually eloped together.

Around the end of the second week of searching alongside Lori and Ronnie-Anne and even at times on his own, Bobby began thinking something else.

Something that he was sure his fiancee was thinking too, even if she didn't say it.

I just want you to know, my man, Bobby walked out of the gas station with a soda in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, sat on the tailgate of his truck as he looked around the area, Ronnie-Anne and I are just hoping for the best for you both. Don't worry about your family, though. The two of us, my sis and me? We got it under control, we'll look after 'em. Us and my man, Clydesdale. Just, you know, if you don't mind?

Come back soon, okay?

End of Fourth Year