Making his way back just as fisticuffs were about to begin, be put Lori's drill whistle to his mouth and blew it as he sounded off Luan's airhorn several times in quick succession. The conflict almost immediately paused, long enough for him to spit out the whistle and shout, "look at yourselves! Listen to the things you're saying! You're both acting like...like a couple of children!" Despite how it sounded, the aggressors quickly picked up on what he meant and had the decency to look ashamed. Everyone began to settle down, and they retook their seats; rather, Lori slumped into hers and Lola brought her knees up as she crouched, looking anywhere but at her oldest sister.

Taking a place at the opposite end of the table from the judges, Lincoln sighed and scratched at the back of his head. Maybe that comment about 'splitting this family apart' was more accurate than he'd realized. "We can save the room inspection for later, as a last resort. I think I can make THIS case without it, though." There was no other option now, he had to put Leni to the test. "Lori, I'll start with you." She motioned with a hand for him to proceed. "Why are you sure it was Lola who took the phone?"

She started to answer his question before snapping her mouth shut. 'Uh oh...if I say that Leni told me, then it'll look like I went after Lola all this time literally just on someone's word. But Leni wouldn't lie to me...would she?' Lori stopped to consider her roommate out of the corner of her eye. It didn't take her long to reach the same conclusion as her brother, that Leni had the most opportunities to have done something with it. 'But why would she? Lola had a reason, the whole debt thing-'

"You're stalling, dude." Luna had things she wanted to do besides sit on a kangaroo court all night, like figure out how to replace her drum. Leni opted to remain silent, though a telltale bead of sweat was beginning to form on her brow.

"I'm getting to it." The blonde was going to have to tread carefully here. "This morning, I received...an anonymous tip. That Lola had been in our room." Just as she expected, Lola's head whipped up, her face a portrait of furious indignation. Lincoln's hand landed on her shoulder soon enough to prevent her from blowing her top, though, and he fixed Lori with a stern look. 'Wait, crap, CRAP. Lincoln was there when Leni told me what happened!'

The instigator of this whole fight realized the trap Lori had just fallen into as well, and she began thinking of a way to save her from it. 'Thinking ahead was never your strong suit, Lori,' Leni grimaced as she plumbed for a way to handle this travesty, 'or thinking at all, really. And people called ME the dumb blonde.'

Their brother wouldn't give them the chance. "An 'anonymous' tip? As long as peoples' privacy is on the line here, I think it's fair that you tell us who could have possibly seen something like that." He offered an apologetic look to Leni, mouthing 'Sorry.' much the same way she had before. As angry as she was becoming at the situation, she couldn't fault him; she'd approved him for this, and allowed it to come this far.

Now that the case was coming together, he was proud to see that everyone was actually getting into the mood, practically on the edge of their seats after that display earlier. Leni, on the other hand, was picking through every word he uttered, and had finally discovered a way to derail the investigation. She would just need Lori and Lincoln to oblige her. And oblige her they would.

Lori kept her mouth shut, knowing that anything more she had to say would implicate Leni, and Lincoln pressed his advantage. "Come on, Lori. I was up this morning, and there was only one other person up at the same time."

Leni's blood surged as the chance to cut a path to victory presented itself. She would have to handle this delicately, as they both knew it was her who had implicated Lola. "Actually, Lincoln," she corrected, "there were, like, three of us up when you came out of your room." His confident stance deflated as she informed him, "Lucy came into the bathroom right after me, and right before you and I came downstairs." Ten pairs of eyes locked in on the now-critical witness.

Lucy met each of their stares in turn, before fixing her unseen gaze on Leni. Lincoln rubbed at his brow at the momentary setback. "That's right, I completely forgot," he admitted. She'd even spoken to him just earlier about it!

"Shocker." Lucy's stoic reply didn't help to alleviate his unease. "I was awake. What of it?"

While Lincoln reconsidered his approach, Luna asked the question on several peoples' minds. "So, Luce, did you see Lola at all before you came down to breakfast?" Leni tried not to look too obvious as her eyes shifted between the two of them. The statements and questions always seemed simple enough, and came so few and far between, but every time the punk opened her mouth it led to a new turn in the case. Was it just dumb luck, or could she really be that perceptive? Either way, perhaps Lincoln wasn't the only one she should have been worried about...

"No, after I met Leni in the bathroom I took my turn and went back to my room. Her and Lincoln were the only two I saw up at the same time."

"So, that proves that I couldn't have taken it!" Lola gloated, only to be shut down by Lori raising her finger to interject.

"Not quite. All that means is that neither of those three was responsible. Assuming that Lily didn't do it, there are six other potential suspects, and only three of them," she lowered her finger to point at Lynn, Lana and Lola in turn, "had any reason to mess with me since yesterday."

Lynn wasn't prepared to accept that, though. "Make that two. Lucy can vouch for me having nothing to do with this." Her roommate nodded in affirmation, and that left the burden of proof on the twins, who realized their predicament and huddled together defensively.

"Maybe Lucy is just covering for you so you can put all the blame on us!" Lana declared.

"Like I have any reason to get involved in something so petty," Lucy fired back, adding, "and Lynn isn't as much of a criminal mastermind as you're giving her credit for."

Lynn nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's tr- HEY!"

Making notes of the argument and setting aside the cards with the least likely sisters on them, Lincoln narrowed his choices. "The question of why Lola in particular was accused still hasn't been answered." His narrowed eyes lingered on Leni for a moment, but he grudgingly accepted the opening she'd given him to save Lola from a fate worse than death: grounding. "Lori," he implored with a sense of finality, "are you at least willing to admit that there's a shadow of a doubt that Lola is guilty?"

Gritting her teeth, the eldest sister conceded, "I suppose it's...possible. Given the circumstances, though, I personally have literally no reason to doubt it was her." Leni had to turn slightly to hide her smirk at the faith Lori had placed in her.

"Then I'd like to make my closing arguments." When he heard no opposition, he took up his seat next to Lola once more and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Over the course of this late afternoon and early evening, a great many facts have been brought to light, but there are still some unanswered questions. Chief among them, who actually took Lori's phone, and what are we going to do to find it?"

"Naturally the answer to that second question will lead into the first. But before we go trawling through people's rooms and belongings, I'd like to put a motion to the judges." Both Lori and Leni seemed reluctant, but Luna was receptive; none of them disagreed. "Allow the thief to come forward now, and admit what they've done. In exchange, they'll be let off with a day's grounding, rather than an entire week." The spectators expressed general agreement, it certainly sounded like a fair deal.

"As if," Lori spat, unwilling to even consider leniency after coming this far. "This theft has literally caused more trouble than an entire month's worth of drama, much less one week. Whoever did the crime is going to do the time, ALL of it."

Kicking her feet up on the table and kissing her night goodbye, Luna countered, "c'mon, Lori. Your entire deal here was to get your phone back, and here's a golden old- I mean, opportunity! Maybe they'll fess up if you stop puttin' the fear of, well, YOU in 'em." She simply shrugged at the venomous glare directed at her by her peer.

Following Luna's lead, Leni agreed, "it can't, like, do any more harm than it's already done, right?" She had nothing to worry about with this one, as she had no intention of turning herself in.

Nostrils flaring and breaths becoming deeper, Lori seethed as she found herself outvoted again. When Lola had accused her of packing the bench, she honestly hadn't been far off the mark; while not exactly a dark pact of any sort, she counted on Leni to back her up. But whatever understanding her roommate had come to with Luna had apparently jeopardized their alliance. "Alright," she allowed, "the motion carries."

"Thank you," Lincoln said. "Now," he turned to address his audience and defendant, "is there anything anyone would like to tell us?" It had been a last ditch effort to avoid more trouble down the line, but he was still disappointed when no one spoke up. "Anyone? Anything at all? Going once, going twice!" Nothing. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying."

"Is there anything else, Lincoln?" Lori asked, a hint of weariness seeping into her voice.

His overbite catching his bottom lip, he mulled his options for a moment before finally answering, "no. For the time being, I rest my case." He looked over to Lola, her angry visage finally giving way to a mournful, pleading face as she looked to him. It was easy to forget when she was trying to arrange the destruction of his home and social life, but she was still just a child, if oddly mature for her age. Well, that seemed to be a theme in the Loud House at any rate, but it lent itself well to someone who used their gifts for evil, like she did.

"Then it's time we rendered judgement." Lori declared, capturing everyone's attention; even Lily had quieted down and observed with uncanny intent. "On the charges of theft in the first degree and obstruction of justice, how do we, the judges, find?" She paused a customary moment before answering her own question. "Guilty." Lola had been expecting it, so she managed to keep her mouth shut. The other two, however..."Luna?"

Planting her feet on the ground once more, the rocker looked to consider the case pretty hard before coming up with an answer. "I think Linc made a pretty good case that it isn't absolutely her. And a girl's gotta fight for her right to party!" She allowed that buildup to hang in the air for a few seconds before declaring, "not guilty." The defendant and defence counsel offered her a grateful look, but this too was all but assured; whether out of actual consideration of the law or just rebelling against Lori, Luna almost always voted the opposite of her.

And then there was one. Leni considered the possible consequences of letting Lola off the hook, versus the possibility of pressing Lincoln to pursue the case even more aggressively. He knew that she had ulterior motives now, so either way she would have to try and manipulate his investigation to her advantage. Freeing Lola might look like an act of compromise and allow her to influence him long enough to move the phone, but it would definitely set her against Lori, who would wonder why she voted against punishment after accusing her and already looked to be at the end of her rope. 'Which, by the way, is pathetic. You can't go for, like, two days without your precious phone?'

A third option presented itself when she noticed the way Lola was looking at her. The desperation, the spark of hope that Leni had the power to extinguish. 'She totes deserves it, but...' But this could be her opportunity to gain another ally, one she wouldn't even need to convince to work against Lori. She closed her eyes and bit her lip both to give the appearance of deep concentration and to stop that mad grin from appearing again. This whole time she'd been taking risks, she'd be remiss not to do so now.

Opening her eyes once more, she put on as grave and serious a face she could as she stared at the sister whose fate was now in her hands. "Lola, before I decide, I want you to do something for me." She intoned, causing a great deal of commotion on the sidelines.

"OBJECTION!" Lincoln shouted over the din, "there's to be no bribing of defendants by the judges or vice versa! Right, Lisa?"

The moderator checked the charter before answering, "that isth correct."

"Like, it's not a bribe, Lincoln," she attempted to assuage him, "it's about family. In fact, I want Lori to agree to this too." His rebuttal died down at the odd turn of events. Lori seemed just as confused, as did Lola. "I want the two of you," she pointed to the participants in the feud, "to apologize to each other."

Silence reigned for nearly a full minute before two simultaneous, defiant cries of "WHAT?!" rose up.

Setting her face into a stern mask, Leni scolded them, "you two have, like, never said such horrible things about each other like you have today! Whatever happens, whoever took what, whatever took who, we're, like, all family! You two love each other, and we all love you, and I think it'd make everyone feel better if you both let each other know you're sorry!" It was a win-win situation; either forgiveness would ease the shock of her incoming decision, or hatred would keep them occupied long enough for her to act.

After what seemed like an eternity, as everyone had given up hope of any reconciliation that evening, a small noise emitted from Lola. "s...ry..."

"Everyone, pipe down!" Luna ordered. "Lola?"

All eyes were on the six-year old as she muttered, only somewhat louder, "...sorry..."

Lori could hardly believe she'd heard right. Maybe Leni was right. The whole ordeal had taxed them to an unusual degree, and she would prefer to try and maintain some kind of peace over the coming week. With a heavy sigh, she joined in, "I'm sorry too." Lola was significantly worse at hiding her disbelief, but as the two locked eyes, it seemed that there was at least some desire to make things more civil from that point forward.

"Aww, I knew you two could do it!" Leni clasped her hands together before settling them again to issue the verdict. "Lola, while I think there's still a lot we don't know, or at least that I don't know, what I DO know is that I know I think you're telling the truth. And so," Lori snapped her head to Leni in shock as she knew what was coming, "I vote not guilty."

Anarchy erupted at the announcement, as Lynn handed Lily off to Lucy and joined Lana in picking Lola up and tossing her up into the air before catching her, repeating several times. Lincoln collapsed into his chair, mentally exhausted but thankful at having won the hard-fought case. Luna seemed to be as surprised as Lori was at Leni's last-minute reversal, and Luan tried to get every second of it on camera while Lucy, Lisa and Lily tried not to get caught up in the chaos.

Lori remained numb in her chair, shell-shocked at the unprecedented turn of events. 'But Leni...SHE was the one who told me it was Lola...why let her GO?' It all reeked of sabotage; Lincoln failing to question her, her constant agreement with Luna, and everything leading up to this. 'She was involved in this, if not literally responsible for it.' She'd been strung along with nothing to show for it, not her phone or a thief to make an example of. Kicking the seat back, she flew from the table as fast as her legs could carry her and retreated up the stairs to her room, not noticing Luan calling after her. She closed the door and locked it. 'She's so friendly with Luna now, I'm sure they won't mind sharing a room.'

There was no justice. She had given everyone the benefit of the doubt, gone out of her way to worry about them and help where she could. And in return, she received nothing. 'No, less than nothing. They're mocking me.' Casting herself onto her bed, she buried her face into her pillow and willed herself to sleep. Surely something better than this would be waiting for her when she woke up.

As the trial gave way to an impromptu after-party, everyone split into their usual cliques, though a concerned Luan opted to review the footage while Leni and Luna discussed Lori's reaction to the verdict. As Lincoln gathered up his courtroom aides, he felt a tug on his shirt. Turning around, he found Lola a step behind him. Drawing back, she folded her arms behind her as she struggled with something. "What's up, Lola?"

"Go on, sis." Lana pressed, earning a pink-gloved hand waving her away.

"I know, I know! Lincoln," Lola managed after a moment, "...thanks." She grabbed his leg in a quick hug, releasing him again before he could even think of returning it. Brushing herself off, she continued, "I know you didn't have to stand up for me as well as you did, that you probably shouldn't have to begin with." She looked up at him — no, looked up TO him — and extended a rare olive branch. "I guess I could consider this as making us even. A couple tiaras and some torn fabric are pretty easy to deal with next to an entire week being grounded."

The gratitude and offer completely floored her brother, who'd never dared to entertain a fantasy where one of his sisters let him off the hook for some wrong they'd perceived. "W-wow, Lola. Uh, you're welcome! And, even though you're letting it slide, I still plan on making yesterday morning up to you. To everyone." He included Lynn and Lana for good measure. "Things may be kind of tough right now, but your big brother's always gonna look out for you." He cemented that statement by drawing her into a hug of his own, one that she returned more quickly than she'd intended. The two of them were unexpectedly joined one by one as the other sisters moved in to congratulate him on his victory.

"Not bad," Lynn snarked as she made to punch him in the shoulder, causing him to jump. "For a lawyer, that is. Two for flinching."

"Way to roll with the punches, Linc!" Despite her worry, Luan was next, but with everyone in a celebratory mood she actually got a few chuckles. "Let's hear it for our resident devil's advocate!" She cheered, this time garnering actual laughs from both the joke and Lola's red-faced reaction to it.

A somewhat heavy weight landed directly on his back, a pair of legs wrapping around his stomach and arms around his neck as Lana's head poked over his shoulder. "That'll do, pig. That'll do. Guess we've got a truce for now."

"You mean 'pig' in the police sense, right?" Lincoln asked, earning another round of laughs.

"I don't know, do the police squeal when they get the spurs?" Not giving him time to wonder what she meant, she repositioned herself to kick him in waist with her heels. "Giddyup!"

"Ow! Hey, cut it out!" He began hopping about, trying to shake her loose, but the mirth between them was proof enough that they'd simply taken horseplay, or rather pigplay, to a literal level.

With debts and crimes forgotten for the time being, the unruly mob soon disbanded to carry on with their nightly activities. As Lincoln returned to his room to begin crafting a strategy for finding the phone, Leni made to return to her own room, only to find her entrance barred. 'What the...' She tried again. Sure enough, it was locked. "Lori? Did you lock the door?" With no reply, she knocked several times, each time becoming progressively harder until she was hitting it with a clenched fist. "Lori, open up! I need to, like, do my nightly routine!"

She considered picking the lock when Luna ascended the stairs to witness her plight. "Oh man, you're not in the doghouse 'cause you voted with me, are you?"

Leni nearly answered in the negative before a wicked idea flitted through her head. "Seems that way...like, I could probably get in, but who knows what she'll do if I do?" The guilt writ on Luna's face was like a work of art. 'Time to bring it home.' She sluggishly sulked toward the bathroom and lamented, "guess it's the bathtub for me tonight."

Luna chewed on her lower lip as she thought of the spat she, Leni and Luan had had that afternoon. It might be a little awkward if the three of them shared a room for the night, but she couldn't just let Leni squat in the bathroom, could she? "Len, wait," she rushed to lay a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "I can't leave you hangin' like that. C'mon, we'll put you up for the night." She used her other arm to direct Leni toward her room.

"Really?" Upon Luna's confirmation, Leni threw her arms around her sister and hefted her clear off the ground. "Oh, thank you Luna! This is totes gonna be, like, the best slumber party EVER!" The way her voice cracked at the end reminded Luna of the last time they'd had a real slumber party, the bittersweet memory going down somewhat easier now that she had a chance to reconnect with her sister.

The pair entered the room across the hall as Luan was reviewing the case log. While Luna marvelled at the mess that had appeared since she'd last been in there, Leni worked to get a look at just what Luan was watching. 'This happened, like, less than an hour ago. What is there to review?' Shuffling ever so slightly around, she managed to reach an angle behind her sister where she could see the view on the recorder. At first it just seemed like what she would have expected, simple footage of the proceedings complete with zoom-ins and panoramas for effect.

As she continued to watch, however, ice filled her veins as she noticed a common element across the shots: many of them had captured her reactions to the various twists and turns of the case. In fact, about halfway through it appeared as though that had become the film specialist's intention. With a slight yelp she realized her nails were digging into her palms, her knuckles white as the topic of her sister's tapes bubbled back into her surface thoughts. Luckily, she was well positioned to act on that issue now. "Hey, Luan?" She would have to make a careful course correction here, from splitting people apart to bringing them together.

The youngest of the occupants started as she heard her name being called, before realizing just who'd asked after her. "Yeah, Leni?" She was put further on edge when the oldest plopped down next to her.

Idly scratching at her cheek, Leni didn't quite meet her eyes as she said, "about earlier..." Luan had been dreading this, and she prepared for the worst. "Like, I don't even know what to say, other than that I'm sorry." The brunette blinked dimly at her, an apology having been the least of what she'd expected; even Luna seemed mildly surprised. "I've been pretty tense these past couple days, but, like, that's no excuse for taking it out on you. Can you forgive me?"

Luan was completely at a loss for how to handle this situation. The way Leni had towered over her earlier, fists clenched and eyes aflame, she'd been a vision of the beast that had preyed on them for an entire year, all that time ago. Now, though, she saw the wide-eyed, well-meaning older sister she wished the blonde had always been, the same one she'd come to accept and love again over the past four years.

"Yeah...y-yeah, of course I forgive you," Luan answered, "and I'm sorry too. From now on I'll keep the pranks to a minimum. Speaking of which," she turned to face her roommate, "I wanna apologize to you too, Luna. I didn't treat you or your stuff the way I wanted myself and mine to be, so I understand if you're still mad at me..."

Luna considered her for a moment before a lopsided grin signaled that things had been patched up for the time being. "Aww, it's alright, Lu. I'm sorry too, I could've handled it better than just blowin' up like I did." With the hatchet buried, she grabbed her guitar and snagged herself a seat, strumming a short tune as she switched gears. "Now, is this a pity party we're havin', or are we gonna make it a house party?" Her companions seemed to lighten up to the idea of a lightened mood, and a night of music, poor jokes and mini-makeovers began as the three of them set aside their differences to bond with each other.

It was a valuable opportunity for Leni, learning just what made them tic, plying for as many secrets as she could without fishing too far, and planning just how she'd get a hold of those tapes she'd had to abandon. The opportunity represented itself when eventually Luan couldn't manage to keep herself awake anymore, sprawling out on her beanbag chair to a lullaby-like song played by Luna. The musician, normally no stranger to late nights, had seen her energy depleted by the whirlwind of drama that day, and she too turned in.

When Leni was sure both of them were fast asleep, she recreated her entry into the closet and collected her ill-gotten gains, employing as much stealth as she could to secret them out of the room. She carefully scanned the hallway before creeping to and down the stairs, turning on the living room lamp just long enough to arrange her trophies on the coffee table. 'Wait, there are a few more I need to see, just to be sure...' Returning upstairs, she entered the room again to find Luan stirring slightly. Her heart threatened to beat its way out of her chest as the girl's eyes flickered once, then twice, before she curled up further into her makeshift bed and drifted back to sleep.

Letting out a breath, she delved back into the closet to pilfer a few more choice selections. 'Lincoln Crying (3 hours)' — 'Lincoln Breaks Tailbone' — 'Lincoln :(' — 'Lincoln Humiliation.' She had to bite down hard on her vitriol, wishing nothing more than to inflict some of the summaries she was seeing on the one who had filmed them. Baring her teeth at Luan as she drifted to the door again, she closed it one more time behind her.

Putting in the tape of Lisa's purported activities, she made herself comfortable on the couch as the video began to play. She was promptly assaulted by scenes of herself having her head inflated and filled to bursting with fluid-filled sacs by one of her sister's concoctions; her skin turning blue, and nearly being blown up again by a duo of vials as they all prepared for school one day; her voice being deepened to the point that a jazz singer might be jealous of her smooth tones. With each viewing her blood worked itself up further and further. By the end of that particular tape she realized her chest was heaving with furious breaths.

Having had enough of that particular topic, she moved on to the tailbone video. It was as bad as it sounded, but it revealed some details she would need to know. It had scarcely happened more than a year ago, in an athletics-gone-wrong incident between a twelve-year old Lynn and ten-year old Lincoln. Her sister had thought it was a good idea to turn their brother onto skateboarding, even constructing a crude half-pipe in the backyard.

Egging him on to perform increasingly questionable tricks, it was only a matter of time before he went too high, lost the board and came crashing down hard. Lynn had had the decency to look frightened and ashamed at what she'd let happen, but it was no excuse. 'Lincoln may be a boy, but he's not built for that kind of abuse. Not that it ever stopped you, Lynn, even when we were younger.' She had some research to do to show the jock just the type of pain their brother must feel on a daily basis.

The humiliation video was a standard compilation format, a montage of the various ways in which his sisters had either caught him making a fool of himself or gone out of their way to tease and berate him. That familiar sickness in her stomach reared its ugly head, and she ripped the tape from the player, gathering them back up. As she made to climb the steps once more, she stopped dead in her tracks. 'I know I saw something move up there...' She made her way up carefully, but upon reaching the top there was naught to be found. Giving the dark hallway one last once-over, she spotted a silhouette against the wall between Lynn and the twins' rooms. Crouching low and stalking toward it, she prepared to pounce...only to find Cliff curled up in his typical spot.

Fixing the feline with a deadpan stare, she spun to make for her original destination, and found herself face to floor with a waist-high apparition. Her voice failed her, but the clattering of tapes on the floor more than made up for it. Lucy slowly took a few steps back from her, head drifting down to observe the payload that had just been unleashed. "What are you doing with Luan's tapes?" The goth asked, her voice like a knife against fine china to Leni as she regained her ability to breathe.

"W-what are you doing out of bed?" The blonde challenged, swearing internally at the stutter in her voice. She recalled seeing the clock read somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00 AM downstairs. 'Looks like some pest control might be in order after all.'

"I always wake up around this time, to write down the horrors that haunt me in my darkest dreams." Leni's lip curled in disgust at the effort her sister put into looking and sounding like a wounded soul. "Now it's your turn. What is this?" Lucy demanded, pointing to the pile of plastic and film.

This was the last thing Leni needed right now, and she considered blowing the eight-year old off completely, before remembering that the child had nearly revealed her role in the phone case before. 'Loose lips sink ships.' Rather than answer outright, she leaned down to sort out the Lincoln videos, and pushed them toward Lucy as an offering. "If you want dark material, take a look at what she's been filming." Picking up the rest of them, she marched past the other girl without waiting for a response. With her last trip to that damned closet complete for now, she considered making herself at home on the bunk bed before thinking better of it.

'Best not to get trapped in enemy territory.' With that in mind, she stepped back into the hallway. Lucy had vanished, and the tapes with her. Her distaste replaced with a somewhat morbid curiosity, she descended the stairs to find the young girl in much the same position she'd occupied, huddled on the couch and taking in the awful treatment their favourite sibling had been subjected to. "It's something else, isn't it?" Though her voice was low, it somehow resounded through the room, and Lucy tuned into it immediately. "Like, just what could Luan get out of seeing Lincoln getting hurt, physically and emotionally?" It occurred to her, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she wasn't even trying to hide her new attitude.

She couldn't bring herself to care.

Lucy didn't speak, but she watched as Leni entered into their parents' bedroom, the door sealing shut with a decisive 'click.' The house had become immeasurably darker in the scant hours that their mother and father had been absent. It troubled the misunderstood girl, then, that it was a kind of darkness she couldn't bring herself to take any pleasure in….

[As she walks through the bright red front door, tired after such a long time away. Waiting on the other side are an older woman and seven children. They're holding up a banner that reads 'Welcome Home', followed by a name. But she can't make the name out. The girl in purple — Lula? — is the first to come and meet her, but the others seem reluctant. Scared, even.

The girl who came in with her, the only one bigger than herself, tells them to come see their sister. Did she have this many sisters before? It's so hard to remember, but the adults take each of her hands and lead her into the cramped living room.

She's home now, or so they say, and yet it feels the same way as the bad place — "The hospital, sweetie..." — did. Not safe. Not comforting. She doesn't belong here, and she knows it. Then the boy, the only one aside from the man, dashes up to her and hugs her. It's the first time she feels secure since entering the house.

'Lincoln...'

Is that his name? It sounds pleasing to her, so that's what she's going to call him. She returns the hug as the others look on in fascination.

They're smiling at her, hugging her, talking to her like she'd never been gone. They're starting to warm up now, they seem so happy. Happy for her.

Why can't she feel happy for herself?]