"Lincoln..." Leni regained her senses to find herself crushed in his embrace, mumbling his name as he rubbed her back and stroked her hair. "Linc?"
The abbreviation of his name shook him out of his own reverie, and he looked at Leni with panicked eyes. "Leni, w-what happened? You fell over and just, just started babbling and saying my name over and over..." She hoisted herself up, setting Bub-bun off to one side as she shook the loose memory into place. "Are you alright? Do you want me to get someone?"
"N-no, no. I'm fine, Lincoln, really." She assuaged him, smiling warmly at his concern. "I'm fine now, thanks to you." She drew him into a hug, one he fiercely returned and loosened up on when she yelped from the pressure on her injury. Another comfortable silence blanketed them in the wake of her episode, the rain outside growing slightly more insistent as if in protest. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It's, like, another side effect of going off the medicine."
"The way you fell over, though...is that what happened to your back?"
She grimaced at the speed with which he put these things together. "Well, yeah. But it's alright. I'm willing to take a couple bruises to get back those lost memories."
Lincoln pondered a moment before asking, "what did you remember just then?" She told him about gifting him the rabbit, and their sisters trying to take it for themselves and ruining it. "Aww, we were all just little kids back then. I know they didn't mean it."
'Them not meaning it isn't the problem.' Leni thought bitterly, that telltale bile souring her good mood. "Doesn't it bother you, though? That they treat you the way they do?"
"Well, with nine-no, make that eight pushy and nosy sisters, you've just gotta roll with it, right? At the end of the day we all still love each other, even if we get on each other's nerves." Saint Loud didn't quite roll off the tongue, but he was definitely gunning for it, she decided.
"Oh, Lincoln...you're too good for us..." Not giving him a chance to question her, she hung a hard left. "So, what exactly are you looking to buy at that comic shop?"
A double-take followed at the abrupt change of topic, but as he'd mentioned Lincoln decided to roll with it and answered, "at the one in Royal Oaks I'm going to pick up Musclefish, Glob Man, and of course I'll be looking for the new Ace Savvy! But I don't expect to see that one until I get back here to town. Plus, I've only got enough money to pick up two of them, so I'll miss out on the third." He sounded discouraged, but it was a level-headed approach that she thought deserved to be rewarded.
"Actually, you could afford all three, and then some." As he looked on in bemusement, she produced from some invisible place on her person a familiar set of paper bills. "This is the money we got from selling that bedframe I made. I need, like, two hundred of it to replace something of Luna's that I broke yesterday. On accident," she quickly saved as his eyes widened. "But," she continued after taking her share, "I think you deserve the rest of it that I've got to give. You were the one who really made the sale, and you ought to have something nice for yourself for once."
As she handed him the remaining fifty-one dollars, she would have sworn that his eyes were replaced by dollar signs. "Leni, this is too much, I can't-"
"You can, and you will. Like, this isn't just a gift, Lincoln; you EARNED this." Thinking of it that way, he reconsidered the princely sum, pride welling within him as he tentatively accepted it. "Now, I don't know if you plan on spending it all on comics, but whatever you do just remember to be careful with it!"
"Y-yeah, totally. Best. Sister. EVER, by the way." They grinned at one another, and spent the rest of the morning discussing their plans and what all they'd be able to plan for the future now that she could be more involved in that process. During the conversation, Leni asked to use his laptop to look up something for her own plans, and he gladly allowed it. As he regaled her with tales of his previous exploits, she hummed a little tune as she researched foods — particularly fruits and vegetables — for a very particular purpose.
Immediately adjacent to them, another Loud was setting a plan into motion, and this time Leni was the target. Lori didn't bother knocking as she entered Lisa and Lily's room, the acrid stench of chemicals and 'poo-poo' spilling into the hallway. Waving a hand in front of her face and closing the door, she focused her vision on the wall as her second-youngest sibling spot welded two objects to one another. Luckily there was a thick visor separating her work area from Lily's crib, and as the blinding arc light died down the child genius lifted her mask to acknowledge the intrusion. "Lori. What can I do for you?"
Lori had the distinction of being the only one besides their parents who could make demands of Lisa and know they would be fulfilled. Opting for a more even approach this time, the eldest Loud requested, "I need your help with something extremely important. It can't wait." Nervous energy drove her to fidget as Lisa sighed and powered down her equipment. Placing her personal protective equipment back in its proper place, the four-year old took a seat near her desk and motioned for her to continue. "I need you to get me all the records you have on Leni's recent activity. Bathroom logs, diet adjustments, literally everything."
"Of coursthe. Might I asthk what the sthensthe of urgencthy is for?" The occuapant hopped up and waddled to her file cabinet, sorting out all the relevant datasheets.
"Well, you're going to find out anyway, so make sure to keep this a secret." With a nodded head in the way of an oath, Lori informed her, "we need to make sure whether Leni is or isn't...pregnant."
Lisa stopped flipping through the folders for a fraction of a second before resuming. "Really? That'sth cthertainly...sthomething."
"Uh, yeah, it certainly is." Lori pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed before traversing the room to the crib. She looked down at her sleeping youngest sister, the baby swaddled in her blanket and oblivious to the world. "I still can't believe this might really be happening."
"I can. Leni isthn't exactly the mostht prudent persthon in this housthe." Lori fixed the toddler with a warning glare, to which Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "Thisth type of thing is more common than you think, justht be careful you don't get into the sthame sthituation tonight."
Lori had begun to turn back to Lily, but whipped back around at the knowing tone in her sister's voice. "Wh- how do you know about that?!" She'd apparently raised her voice too much though, as the youngest Loud began to stir. Lori set aside her confusion and leaned down to pick the baby up, patting her on the back. "Well good morning, little miss sunshine. Did I wake you up?"
"Ma-ma!" Lily implored, trying to escape her comfy prison. Lori shifted her in her arms and lifted a finger up to boop her on the nose, earning a big smile in return.
"Well, I'm not mama, but I think I know what you want and I can do something about it. Let's go get you some formula." Laying her sister back down long enough to unwrap her from her cotton cocoon, she picked Lily back up and slowly spun, eliciting a delighted giggle from her. On her way to the door, she stopped to address the other baby. "I'm counting on you, Lisa. And I'll make sure to get you back for it."
Waving the offer off, Lisa coolly answered, "no worriesth, Lori. I sthupposthe I've got a vesthted interestht in finding out if I'm going to be a four-year old aunt." When she put it in perspective like that, the significance became a little more pronounced. "I'll watch out for her." She said it with a serious tone to match the seriousnes of the issue, and Lori offered her a grateful smile before heading with Lily to get the baby some nourishment.
Left to her devices, Lisa finished collecting all of the meaningful information and took it back to her desk, moving her chemistry set to either side and laying the documents out on the table. Perusing them, she quickly established some of the patterns Lori was after. "Much more frequent bathroom usthe over the previousth week...no sthignificant changesth to diet...highly divergent sthleep cyclesth. Hmmm..." This would require some field observations. With her work in her room mostly finished, she afforded herself the luxury of a break and embarked to begin her fact-finding mission.
Opening her door, she was startled to find her subject staring down at her from their brother's doorway. Leni stared at her for an awkward moment before closing Lincoln's door behind her and strolling down the hallway and stopping halfway. The blonde looked to the ceiling toward the entrance to the attic, and Lisa took the opportunity to move past her and to the bathroom, where Lana appeared to be scavenging for something.
With many of the sisters preoccupied, Leni pulled the drawstring to deploy the stairs to the attic. Carefully scaling the steps, she sneezed as the disturbed dust filled her nose. Waving the cloud away, she began to search for any relics dating to her troubled past. Lots of old junk, from Luan's first dummy to stacks of old books no one would read again. She stumbled upon a box full of misshapen clay sculptures, probably someone's ill-fated attempt at picking up a new hobby, and chanced upon what she'd come in search of; old clothes. Intended as hand-me-downs for the younger children, they too had been lost to time amongst the other minutiae accumulated over the years.
Rifling through the contents of several boxes, she found some material that would suffice for her purposes. If she was going to secure Lola's help, it seemed she would have to create something truly unique for the demanding little runt. As she organized the various dresses and fabrics into piles, her thoughts lingered on the twins, and how little she really knew about them beyond appearances. Lola was the archetypical spoiled princess, and Lana was the down-and-dirty tomboy. Beyond that, she couldn't recall any notable interactions she'd had with them beyond holding and helping take care of them as infants.
If the past two days were anything to go by, then Lola was definitely a manipulator like herself and Lincoln; she was the ringleader of the anti-Lori brigade. Lana, on the other hand, appeared to be down to earth figuratively as well as literally, content to pursue her own interests unless something provoked her to act. 'I can work with both of those, just have to be careful handling Lola. Like, Lori may be stupid, but she's persistent, so for the kid to get under her skin so easily...' Then again, Leni herself had a part in that. Either way, she definitely had some work to do as far as that duo went.
Pulling up an empty box and gathering her selections into it, she could even hear the older of the two all the way from what sounded like the bathroom. "Give it back, Lisa! Finders keepers!" That was weird, she hadn't figured Lisa for the type to outright fight with anyone. Some reply followed, too quiet for Leni to catch, before Lana argued back, "you can't tell what it is just from looking either! It's blue, it's small, it tastes sweet; it has to be candy!" What the hell? Candy in the bathroom?
...
"SHIT!" Leni cried, rolling around and diving over to the stairs before righting herself and descending as fast as she could. Whirling toward the bathroom door, she found Lana barring Lisa's exit from the room, the younger of the two clutching one of her pills. 'Damnit, I should have made sure there were none that got loose!' There'd be time to beat herself or one of them up over it later.
"Lotsh of thingsth are sthweeet, Lana, and the color has nothing to do with it." The bespectacled sister disagreed, having a familiarity with pharmaceuticals. "Thisth is sthomebody's-"
"Like, hold on, girls!" Leni called before jogging over to them. "Lisa, can I see that for a second?"
That deadpan stare answered her, glancing back and forth between the pill and her older sister as Lisa replied, "that'sth alright, Leni, I have thisth under control. With no container we can't be sthure of what it isth. I'll run thome teststh on it and return it to it'sth PROPER owner." She glared at Lana, who didn't budge as she watched the object with an eagle eye.
"Leni, tell her that since I found it, it's mine," Lana pleaded, "I went to all the trouble of scrounging around here, that oughta count for something!" She either didn't notice or care about the disgusted looks she earned from both of them.
Setting her hands on her hips, Leni declared, "there's, like, only one way to settle this." Stretching out her left hand, she requested, "hand it to me, Lisa." When the four-year old didn't comply, she demanded more forcefully, "come on, give it to me."
"Aww, what?! No way, don't do it, Lisa!" the other child insisted.
Leni wasn't about to let them gang up on her like they had on Lori, however. She marched into the room, hustling Lana along the way, and closed and locked the door behind her. Leering down at them, she thrust her hand directly in front of Lisa. "Last chance." Her voice was acid in their ears, and the two honed in on it instantly. For the first time, Lisa stopped to consider the force and confidence with which Leni was asserting herself, completely uncharacteristic of her normal personality. There was no way she should let her...less equipped older sister have this pill, but she had nothing to gain by fighting for it either.
After weighing the rest of her options, including all of them that accounted for Lana's assistance of or against her, she slowly deposited the medicine in Leni's palm. The blue capsule vanished into the elder blonde's fist, and without another word the teen unlocked the door and opened it, departing immediately for her room and slamming the door shut. Lisa and Lana each looked to each other, then the door, and quietly retreated to their own rooms. While Lana would quickly get over the lost 'candy', the confrontation with Leni had shaken Lisa more than she let on.
"Markedly aggressthive behavioral shift, increasthed environmental awarenessth...sthomething hasth definitely changed, and it doesthn't sthound like a baby." If she hadn't been hooked to the mystery before, she was now. The scientist-turned-investigator returned to her room, intent on drafting a plan to get to the bottom of the case. That pill had triggered something in her sister, and finding out why would be a critical objective.
As she pored over the information available to her, just on the other side of the wall her target was trying to deal with her own crisis. "I can't believe that just happened," Leni lamented as she glared at the fist containing the object of her suffering. "So stupid. Why didn't I make sure? And of course LISA had to find out about it...I've gotta do something about her, and soon." She considered just throwing the pill out the window and hoping it would dissolve in the rain, but knowing her luck, someone would probably find it and recognize it for exactly what it was.
"No...no, I have a better idea." A maniacal grin split her face as she looked at the wretched thing with new inspiration. "If Lisa knows what you are, I'm sure she could appreciate what you're capable of..." She'd have to be careful with this one, as what she now had planned for Lisa would be the most obvious of what was in store for her sisters. Placing the pill amongst her long-forgotten clothes in the closet, Leni spirited from her room and went in search of Lori, whom she found in the kitchen playing with and feeding Lily. "Hey, Lori?"
"Oh, hey Leni. Is your butt feeling any better?" Leni became slightly flustered at the casual use of 'butt' and nodded quickly. "Good. So, what's up? Did you talk to Lola yet?"
Gathering her thoughts, Leni answered, "yeah. Give her a day or two, and I think things'll be, like, right as rain!" The rain outside pelted against the glass with renewed fervour at her phrasing. "Uh, we might need to, like, run to the store at some point today. Between that stuff getting ruined this morning and us having to make dinner tonight we're a little strapped."
It briefly occurred to Lori that Leni was being unusually forward-thinking today. 'No, not just today, ever since Friday.' With her attention divided though, she chalked it up to all the excitement that had been going on. Thinking on the past couple nights, she agreed. "Alright, we can do that. Let me just finish up with Lily." After making sure their littlest sister was well-fed, she took her back up to her room. Leni followed, and waited outside as Lori had a brief conversation with Lisa before returning. "Let's knock it out now, I've got a lot more running to do later on."
As they began to step away, Leni heard a whispered 'psst!' from behind her. Lola beckoned her to lean down, and as she did her co-conspirator informed her, "that's the second time today that Lori talked to her about something." Leni smiled gratefully at the information as Lori came back, having collected the keys and soon the two of them were on their way to the market.
Their shopping trip was a fruitful endeavor, with Leni collecting the items she would need to put Lynn out of commission. Rhubarb and nutmeg would suit her needs, along with some various smoothie staples, and by way of explanation she informed Lori that her intent was to bake a pie with Lincoln's help upon his return to try and expand on the work they'd done yesterday morning. Plus, who didn't like a good smoothie now and then? Unable to find any fault with the idea, her sister offered no objections. Leni was giddy the entire trip back with thoughts of the poetic justice she'd be serving to her sisters in the next twenty-four hours.
Arriving back at the house, they were met by Lana, who was taking full advantage of the rain to build a mud fort in the front yard. As Lori grabbed several bags and called for someone to get the door, Leni approached the older twin. "Hey, Lana, you got a second?"
The mud-caked young girl eyed her warily as she approached, having already had two hostile encounters with Leni in one day. "Uh, yeah."
Putting on a contrite mask, Leni fished around in one of the grocery bags as she explained, "well, I felt bad about how I acted earlier. Like, I should have asked more nicely for that pill, but it was dangerous for you to have it." Hand grasping what she'd been searching for, she pulled out a bag of assorted candies and offered it in apology. "Do you think we can call it squaresies?"
Hands shooting up to her cheeks, Lana squealed, "EEEEEEE! Thanks, Leni! Yeah, we're good, this is totally sweet!" All offenses forgotten, she snatched the bag and darted back to the front door, ignoring Lori's protests to wipe her shoes and everything else off and fleeing up to her room. Satisfied at having secured her good graces with both the twins, Leni helped Lori get the rest of the groceries and put them away, intent of putting the last parts of her plot into place.
After the goods were safely put away, Leni paid a visit to Luna and Luan, who had been spending the rainy day working on their material. "Yo, Len, what's up mama?" Luna greeted as she appeared in the open door. Luan was curiously absent, and she made a note to investigate that soon afterward.
"Oh, not a lot, today's been a total drag." Leni sighed as she entered, plopping down on the beanbag chair. "It's raining, there's no soaps or fashion on t.v., and I've gotta figure out what to do for dinner tonight with Linc and Lori gone."
"Huh? They're both leaving?" Luna hadn't heard of the situation yet, and Leni affirmed with a nod. "Oi, that's just great. I'm not too shabby for a cook, but those little runts are about as picky as they come." She cocked her head to indicate the younger half of the family. She smiled as she considered Leni, though. "If you can fix dinner as good as you did breakfast yesterday, though, I think we're in the clear."
Waving her off, Leni denied, "I don't think I was THAT good, but thanks. And if you could help me out, that'd be, like, double the fun!"
"I think I could get behind that. You got it, sis." Luna agreed.
Leni noted with some satisfaction that Luna still seemed to be moping over the drum, which had been covered with a white shroud at some point. "There was another reason I stopped by, though. I wanted to talk about that," she announced, pointing at the busted instrument.
"That old thing?" Luna tried to put on a brave face, but it was obvious she was still as torn as the cover on it. "Eh, that's history. Like I said, it was an accident, I'm not mad at you guys about it anymore."
"Maybe not, but we're still, like, responsible for it." Producing the rest of her funds, Leni offered the ten twenties to her incredulous sister. "I broke it, so I want to make up for it. This ought to cover it, right?"
Eyeballing the money, Luna's first instinct as to ask where it'd come from, but she thought better of questioning this kind of generosity. "Yeah, that's enough, but...but I can't just take two-hundred bucks from you!"
Rehashing her assertion to Lincoln from before, Leni insisted, "you can, and will. I want you to, like, be able to rock out with your friends, Luna, even IF they don't appreciate just what a great guitarist you also are. Besides, I'd forgotten I had it for this long, so I'm sure you'll totes put it to better use."
Luna's mouth fell open at her words, and she carefully accepted the money, eyes closing and a smile replacing her slack jaw as she stood and pulled her sister up into a hug. "This is the coolest thing anyone's done for me, Len. Thank you." Leni returned the hug, trying all the while to keep Luna's arms from brushing her bruised back. Their embrace was followed up by an awkward cough from the door.
They both looked over to find Luan standing in the hallway, camera conspicuously in hand. "Am I interrupting something?"
The two of them jumped apart, and Luna confirmed with some aggravation, "a little bit, yeah. But it's cool, we were just talking about what we're gonna do for dinner." Her lie of omission immediately caught Leni's attention.
"Wow, that must be one heck of a dinner date you're planning then, eh?" Luan chuckled as their faces lit up red and she moved to her drawers, unaware of their frustrated scowls. She placed the camera on its stand, and turned back to address them. "For real, though, what's going on?" The three of them chatted into the late afternoon, and as early evening rolled in Lori summoned them to the living room. As they exited, Leni hung back and grabbed the camera, tossing it to one side of the room.
With Lincoln at her side, Lori addressed the assembled siblings in her drill sergeant voice. "Alright, Louds, LISTEN UP! Lincoln and I are going to be out of the house tonight, and that means you're to listen to Leni and Luna while we're gone!"
"MA'AM, YES MA'AM!" They sounded off, except for Lana, who'd managed to call her 'Sir' again.
"If anymore disputes come up, Luan will fill the third seat." The comedienne beamed at the unexpected measure of power, and Lori returned her smile. Focusing on the two to be in charge, she asked, "are you up to the task?"
Luna raised her fist, and Leni bumped it as the former answered, "we got this."
Satisfied that the house could handle itself for one night, Lori finally turned to Lincoln. "You ready to head out, twerp?"
"WAIT!" Leni cried, bringing back flashbacks for Lincoln. "It's still kind of early, you two should stick around for dinner!" before they could turn her down, she rushed up to them and whispered to Lori, "I think it would, like, help Luna and Luan feel a little better about what's been going on." She then knelt down to Lincoln's level and implored him, "and I need some help, like, getting the laundry ready. Not completely done, but just started. I figured I could do that so Lori doesn't have to worry about it."
The two of them considered carefully, especially Lori, who'd been planning on dining at Casa Santiago. "Well...I guess it would put me a little more at ease to know there's not going to be literal anarchy as soon as I leave." Looking down to the two of them, she asked her brother, "what do you think?"
Surprised at being given a choice in the first place, he answered, "I've got all night to hang out, so a little longer here wouldn't hurt. I'll help you out as soon as you're ready, sis." Leni showered him with affection in the form of a kiss on top of his head and some ruffling of his hair. "Ah, cut it out!"
It didn't take long for Lori and Lincoln to craft a dinner of leftover liver and onions with some fresher vegetables for themselves and the other teens, while Luna and Leni prepared a balanced meal of fish sticks and fries for the younger kids to enjoy. "A pretty cheap spin on fish and chips, yeah, but it's still pretty dang good!" Luna had assured. Leni finished first and had taken the opportunity to begin preparing dessert while the rest of them ate and talked. In particular, she didn't need Lisa seeing this next part.
Taking the rhubarb she'd purchased that afternoon from the refrigerator, she carefully cut the leaves off and placed the bulk of them into the blender. She chased it with nearly the entire container of ground nutmeg, added a generous amount of sugar and strawberries, and drowned the concoction in milk and ice before setting the machine to go. Normally she wouldn't dream of adding sugar to her drinks, but then, this one wasn't meant for her. 'This ought to show you what you've been putting Lincoln through and what you helped put me through, Lynn.'
She prepared more moderate drinks for the rest of them, although each contained at least a small portion of the debilitating contents aside from Lincoln's, and after they'd finished their meals she invited all of them to enjoy her signature product. "Who's ready for some super-healthy and tasty treats?"
The teens looked somewhat dubious, but the twins were quick to take her up on the offer. "Wow, this is actually really good!" Lola exclaimed, to Leni's pleasure. "Normally they look really grody, with all that green boogery stuff in them!" And there that pleasure went again.
"What's wrong with boogery stuff?" Lana asked as the rest of them gagged. "Still, I really like this too. Thanks!"
Spying an almost-black drink on the counter, Lucy slowly took it in her hands. Leni informed her, "I call that one the 'Black Plague.' Blackberry, mulberry and blueberry with a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg." The goth set aside her suspicion of the blonde to sample the drink, and after a suspenseful moment she indulged in a rare smile. "Just make sure you're quick later on, it'll really clean you out."
Wading into the fray, Luna took the one meant for her, apparently a blend meant to mimic the taste of Irish cream. "Woah, wow, that really packs a punch!" She admitted as it scratched at her throat on the way down. "I didn't know you knew how to fix so many different kinds!"
"I'm a woman of many talents, fashion and cosmetics are, like, just two of them," Leni preened, watching intently as Luan and Lisa finally partook of her bounty. Lily crawled to her after being released from her high chair, and she picked her youngest sister up, blowing a raspberry on her tummy and laughing along with her as she got ready to prepare some more formula. Last up was Lynn, who simply stared at the drink made especially for her. "Is everything alright, Lynn?"
"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking...I don't really think I'm still hungry. Err, thirsty." She was trying to get out of drinking it, and that just wouldn't do. Leni summoned up the best puppy dog eyes she could, and it was clear that the last time they'd been in this situation still weighed on the athlete's mind as she reconsidered. "I guess just a little bit couldn't hurt."
'You might be right about that, but most or all of it will.' The youngest teen taking a sip of her drink became Leni's entire world, and her heart hammered in her chest in anticipation. "I think you'll really like it, Lynn, I know how you felt about it last time. Plus, it has lots of electric lights in it, which I know you need for your sports!" It had taken her a bit to come up with that one, and she hoped the jock wasn't as stupid as she often acted.
A bewildered look on her face, Lynn repeated, "electric lights?" Comprehension dawned on her, and she reasoned, "oh, you mean electrolytes!" Leni nodded enthusiastically, and she looked at the drink in a new light. Finally deciding to dive in, she took a big gulp, and her world was blown away. "This is completely different from what I had before! It's kind of sour, but also sweet, and also SPICY!" She consumed the beverage in record time, and Leni had to stop herself from letting out a cheer as the girl sealed her fate for the next several days.
Lori and Lincoln looked on from the sidelines, glad that the unease over the past few nights had finally given way to the antics they were all familiar with. Everyone in the room still held onto their own thoughts about what they'd seen during that time, but it seemed decided that it all would be forgiven and forgotten for now.
Grabbing hold of a slip of paper, she used her other arm to welcome them all in. "Like, I'm so glad you all liked them! C'mon, everybody get in here for a hug!" She gathered them all up and squeezed as hard as her back would allow. As everyone returned it, she slipped the paper into the hem of Luan's skirt, moving just enough to be noticed.
As the mob broke up, the fourteen-year old spun around and grabbed at the note, backing up to read it in semi-privacy.
~Lincoln doing laundry in 30 mins, be there for some comedy gold~
She scanned her sisters for any sign of who'd given her the tip, but no one had a guilty conscience, it seemed. Stashing the note, she worked with Lynn and Lucy to clean the dishes as fast as possible. She broke for her room as soon as they finished, going straight for the camera. "Wait, where is it?" As she fumbled around, downstairs Lincoln was already showing Leni the ropes on the washer. Getting everything ready was simple enough, and he started it on its incredibly loud cycle before they returned to the living room.
"You sure you two have got this, Leni?" Lori asked, willing to order Lincoln to stay if necessary. He might not have held down the fort effectively when they mutinied against her, but Leni and Luna were no safe bet either. Still, she needed this night.
"We can handle it, just you wait and see!" More seriously, Leni insisted, "we can do it. I can do it. Trust me, Lori." There was a great deal of weight and history behind those words, and Lori's pulse quickened at what it would truly mean to place trust in her sister again. She was doing so well, though, had come so far...
Placing a hand on Leni's shoulder, the oldest sibling affirmed, "I trust you, Leni." Lincoln's heart swelled at the exchange, and his worries were also cast to the wayside as he and Lori finally made to leave. As soon as the door had closed, she went directly to her room for a fitting change of clothes. Making her way back to the kitchen, she waited by the basement door until she heard a door slam in haste upstairs.
"Showtime."