Author Notes - As mentioned prior, a common tactic used by abusers is to cut off their partner from other people. Bella has already demonstrated this by cutting Lincoln off from his friends. But what if she tried doing it with more familiar people?

CHAPTER FOUR - WORST FAMILY EVER, APPARENTLY

Spend more time with her. That was the piece of advice. So, he followed it to a T. Every time Bella asked for a date - no matter what he was doing - he gave it to her. Which happened to be every time he wanted to do literally anything else. But who was he to doubt his sisters' advice?

'Hey, I have a good idea for a date. Maybe you should come and visit my place! I have a lot of sisters, so you're bound to get along with at least one of them.'

When he suggested this idea to her, she looked at him like he just suggested going skinny dipping in a garbage can (something that Lana was sure to offer if and when the two met). While not many knew just how many sisters Lincoln had, most people knew he had a lot and that they were all completely insane. In fact, something like this could easily lead to shenanigans where he tried to keep her away from his sisters.

But then he realised that was stupid, as Bella would find out about his sisters sooner or later, and it seemed like a better idea to get it out of the way first.

'So, before I open this door, I'd recommend that you cover your ears.' He said, leading her up the steps. 'Because if you don't, your ears will be ringing for months. Just ask Lisa.'

Bella noticeably cringed as he brought her to the front door, and did as he said. She probably would've done it anyway, for she could already hear them yelling and doing crazy stuff from the outside.

'Okay, let me give you a quick lowdown.' Lincoln said. 'The one on her phone all the time is Lori. As long as you don't get in her way, she won't hurt you. Lynn likes to play sports inside, so stay away from the girl in the jersey. Unless you like sports, I guess. If you see a little girl in a sparkly pink dress, STAY AWAY FROM HER. If you get that dress dirty, you'll be feeling it for weeks. Now-'

Bella groaned, loudly. 'HOW MANY SISTERS DO YOU EVEN HAVE?!'

He backed away, just a little. 'Ten.'

It wasn't a surprise to see her eyes twitching. He got that from a lot of people when he told them how many sisters he had.

'Do we have to?' She asked.

'I suppose we don't.' He replied. 'But they'll want to meet you sooner or later, so I think we should just bite the bullet now.'

She took a deep breath. 'Alright. Open the door.'

He gave her a couple of seconds to ready herself, before he opened the door slowly like it was Pandora's Box. And as soon as he did… Bella had never known 'sensory overload' until that very point. A massive cacophony of insanity burst through the open door, and she was met with the sight of at least five girls doing wildly different things all at once.

'LYNN GOES FOR THE TOUCHDOWN!'

'AHHH!'

Bella screamed as a jock charged down the stairs and dived right over her with a football in her hands. The jock crashed into the front yard, seemingly no worse for wear. The new girl grabbed Lincoln for dear life.

'THREE POINTS!'

Well, Bella certainly wasn't going to stay outside with her, and stepped inside the house with so much caution that you'd think she walked into a minefield. That didn't help. At. All.

'GIMME THAT REMOTE! I need to watch the new episode of Precious Stones, cos today they're talking about the SUPER RARE musgravite!'

'Nuh-uh! I can't miss out on Gross-Out 101. They're gonna do a special on pus!'

'EWWW! What is wrong with you?! … Why am I asking that? GIMME THE REMOTE!'

Bella cringed - only partially because of the gross habits of that pigtailed one - as the identical twins suddenly broke out into a full-on brawl over that TV remote. Suddenly, her eardrums were exposed to incredibly loud rock music coming from upstairs, with an electric guitar so powerful that she could feel the vibrations in the floor beneath her.

'LUNA!' Lori yelled from her room. 'I'M TRYING TO CALL BOBBY!'

Lincoln saw Bella giving him the mother of all 'what the hell is going on' looks, with both of her eyes twitching quite a lot.

'Is… is this your family?' She asked.

'Eh, you get used to it after a while. And this isn't even the worst part.'

Her eyes widened. 'What?! What could possibly get worse than…? Wait, NO NO NO!'

Her attempts at stopping a jinx were all for naught, for right at that very moment…

*KA-BOOM!*

A mighty explosion suddenly went off upstairs. Green smoke burst from a room above and billowed into the hallway and even down the stairs before it fully dissipated.

'W-WHAT WAS THAT?!' Bella cried.

'Three,' Lincoln said, seemingly ignoring her question. 'Two, one…'

*THUD!*

'AAHHH!' Bella screamed and flinched so hard her skeleton nearly jumped out of her skin.

After just a few seconds, a lispy little voice piped out.

'I'M STILL ALIVE!' Lisa yelled from her bedroom. 'JUST ADDED A FEW TOO MANY DROPS TO THE SOLUTION!'

By this point, Bella's jaw was practically on the floor.

'W-WHAT WAS THAT?!' She yelled again, hoping for an answer this time.

'Oh, that?' Lincoln replied, very casually. 'That's just Lisa. She doesn't have much regard for lab safety, so sometimes lab explosions go off. Sometimes, the roof goes flying.'

'WHAT?!'

'That's what that loud thud sound was.'

'WHAT?!'

Bella couldn't stay in this room for another moment. Grasping her pounding head, she made her way into the dining room instead. It seemed a little quiet, though only in comparison to the rest of the house, and she worked on returning her heart rate back to normal.

'Who are you?'

'AH!'

Then her heart rate spiked when someone suddenly showed up right behind her. She jumped so hard that she fell to the floor, and found what could only be described as a pale-faced demon looking down upon her.

'VAAAMPIIIIIRE!' She yelled, backing away as fast as her poor legs could carry her.

It took Bella a few seconds to realise that she was not looking at a pale-faced demon or a vampire, but instead a (relatively) normal eight-year-old girl with a poetry book tucked under her arm.

'Sigh… I'm not a vampire yet.' Lucy said. 'But thanks for the compliment.'

Bella looked to Lincoln pleadingly, only for him to just smile. When she looked back at the pale girl, she had disappeared completely.

'W-Wha…?'

'Yeah, Lucy does that a lot.' Lincoln said, helping her off the floor. 'That is something you will never get used to.'

'So she's just a walking heart attack?!'

He shrugged. 'Something like that, yeah.'

Bella couldn't believe it. Was he throwing her own techniques back at her? She felt like she was going nuts! How could he be so chill around a family this utterly insane? Lincoln, however, was not unaware of her stress. It was kinda hard to miss, since her eyes were wide open, her teeth were gritted, and her skin was so pale it made Lucy look tanned.

'You're not so keen on my family, are ya?' He asked.

She shook her head, unable to say much more.

'Yeah, that's cool.' He said. 'Even my friends don't visit because of them. Clyde's the only one who can handle them at all. So as long as we-'

'Oh. Em. GOSH! Who is she?'

Bella tensed up again as yet another sister entered the room, though she relaxed slightly when this girl wasn't running around or screaming or jumpscaring people. This teal-clad teenager just seemed happy to see another friend of Lincoln's.

'That's Bella.' Lincoln replied.

'Oh, Bella!' She said, before she paused. 'Who's Bella?'

Lincoln rolled his eyes. 'I've talked about her a lot. She's my girlfriend.'

Leni gasped. 'You have a girlfriend? EEEEE!'

Before Bella could comment on this girl's obvious, erm, ditziness, the house went silent for just a second. In that second, she found herself surrounded by nine (Lily was napping) other girls, all grinning at her like crocodiles.

'Uh… h-hi?' She said, waving slowly.

Lincoln sighed. 'Oh no…'

And, well, you can guess what happened…

'You are literally even cuter than I imagined you would be! Mind if you and Lincoln pose for some cute wedding photos?'

'Oh, I love that bracelet. It just screams 'passion'. Mind if I borrow it for my next pageant? The theme is red, and apparently pink isn't red enough.'

'Normally, I wouldn't care for inane human emotions, but… oh, what the heck? EEEEEEE! Oh, I'm already imagining punnett squares for your children!'

'Okay, I know I already used this joke, but… you really are the Bella the ball!'

'Now this is a love that will live on eternally.'

And you can also guess how Bella reacted to being surrounded by so many people saying so many random things at her.

'AAAHHHH!' She screamed. 'I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!'

She charged through the crowd - accidentally pushing the bespectacled child to the ground in the process - and ran out the open door while screaming her lungs out. It was the only thing that could bring the Loud sisters to silence.

'Was it something I said?' Leni asked.

Lincoln sighed. 'I'll go and talk to her.'

He found Bella on the sidewalk, in the fetal position and rocking back and forth. It should've made him feel bad for her, but it actually gave him a feeling of satisfaction, which he knew wasn't right. He was all but certain by this point that he didn't truly love her - at best - but he stuck to his sisters' advice and said nothing about it. By the time he made it to the sidewalk, she was already glaring at him.

'Your family is INSANE!' She yelled, getting to her feet. 'How do you put up with them?!'

'Because they're my family.' He said. 'You'd be surprised with how much we've gone through and still love each other, but that's just how it is in the Loud House. If you can't handle them, that's fine. Like I said, Clyde's the only guy I know who doesn't go crazy in their presence. But we can make this work! Maybe I could introduce you to them one at a time, and in the meantime I'll just visit your place and-'

'NUH-UH!' She said, cutting him off. 'I'm not dealing with that goddamn insane family a second longer. You gotta stay away from them as much as possible.'

Lincoln went dead silent. He could hardly comprehend the 'request' that Bella had just thrown at him. Bella, on the other hand, noticed his sisters watching them from the living room window. Since she was well aware of how crazy this discussion could potentially get, she took advantage of his stunned silence by grabbing his sleeve and dragging him away from their leering eyes. As Lincoln wasn't exactly known for his strength, there wasn't much he could do to fight back.

'I'm sorry…' He said, trying to recover from the shock. 'Did you just tell me that I had to stay away from my own family?!'

She nodded. 'Yep. Your sisters are a bunch of maniacs, and I won't be hanging out with someone so close to them.'

Bella was in for quite the shock when Lincoln, for once in his life, tried and succeeded to fight back. It was only for a second, but he tugged against her grip hard enough to make her stop walking. They were still quite a distance away from the Loud House, but now Bella was so astounded by his fighting back that she didn't even try to drag him away any further.

'What did you just say about my family?' He demanded.

'I don't want you hanging out with them anymore.' She replied. 'They'd be a terrible influence on you, Linky.'

'What?! Oh, heck no! They're my family, Bella. I know my sisters are crazy, but that's the way I love them. I can't just leave them like that. For one, my parents would probably have some questions. Second, and most importantly, I love my sisters way too much to just trade them away like that. One boy, ten girls, wouldn't trade it for the world.'

She groaned. 'Sounds like a line in some cheesy theme song. Look Linky, it's either me or them. Choose wisely.'

Lincoln could hardly believe this 'ultimatum'. Not the choice itself, but the fact that she seemed to think that it would be a hard choice. The only reason he didn't answer right away was simply because he struggled to believe that she had really asked him this.

'You really think that was supposed to be some big, difficult question?' He said. 'I choose 'family', over anything else. I'd trade away all my Ace Savvy comics. Every. Single. One. If I had to so I could keep my family.'

She scoffed. 'Are you serious? Linky, I'm your girlfriend. Boys are supposed to do everything in their power to make their girlfriends happy. Why won't you do the same thing?'

'Because that isn't love, and only crazy girls and lonely boys think it is! I'm not convinced that it's a 'scientific fact' that girls really do know more about romance than boys, and it's because of you. First, you wouldn't stop bullying me, even after we became a couple. Then you forced me to spend no time with my guy friends. Last time I saw them, there was a girl among them. Which is fine, but I wasn't there to be a part of the fighting for her. She just wanted to be friends, but that's beyond the point.'

She interrupted his speech with an eye roll. 'Are ya done yet?'

'No, I'm not. I could put up with all of that, like my sisters told me to do, but you have officially crossed the line. I love my sisters, and they'll always mean more to me than some random girl. Maybe if you had treated me right, I might have considered it. But even I know you haven't treated me right. So, if I have to choose between you and my amazing sisters…'

He tossed his arms and turned away from her, not caring one bit for those puppy-dog eyes.

'Then our relationship is officially over.'

Even as the words left his mouth, he worried. He didn't dare turn around to look, but he could already sense bad vibes emanating from her. For a moment, he regretted saying such words. But only for a moment; no one tried to separate him from his sisters.

'What?'

He cringed. Her voice came out so bitter and angry. His heart nearly leapt out from his chest when she grabbed him and spun him around, so he saw her face directly in his own. Her breath came out red hot.

'Listen, Linky.' She muttered. 'That was not a choice. You better put me above your sisters, like a good boyfriend would.'

He gulped. 'Y-Yeah? What are you going to do about it?'

Her eyes narrowed to slits, and her grip on his shirt tightened.

Then, without a warning…

She punched him square in the face.

'AH!'

Lincoln fell to the floor and rubbed his eye. He could already feel the swelling beginning to set in.

'That's why.' Bella said. 'You're just my little boy, and you will do what I tell you to do it.'

He really didn't want to do it. He fought back with all his might. But his eyes were already stinging, and he simply couldn't hold it back. The impact had hurt so, so much.

Bella groaned, for several seconds. 'And now you're crying about it? UGH, you're so weak!'

He clenched his fists. 'O-Of course I'm crying. You just punched me in the face! Oh god… I thought I was used to it because of Lynn, but… s-she must've been holding back this whole time.'

'Well, I don't hold back. I'll be back tomorrow to see how you're faring. I hope you make the right decision.'

With that, she walked away like she hadn't just punched his lights out. He struggled to his feet with his hand over his eye, trying hard not to cry even if it was only just a couple of tears. Minutes upon minutes went by, but he didn't leave his spot.

What am I going to tell my sisters?

Author Notes: The problem with a LOT of domestic abuse PSA's, if it isn't perpetuating the stereotype that it's always male-on-female, is that they always show the physically abusive side without showing anything else. Which can end up sending the message that we should only step in and stop it once it gets to that point. Even though emotional and psychological abuse can be bloody terrifying. But a broken mind isn't as dramatic as a broken nose, is it?

So, if we only step in once it gets to that point... guess what? The 'victim' (god, I hate that term) will think they're not being abused unless it's physical, and we wait until people get beaten up to actually do something about it. It may seem like I'm doing the same thing, but I'm gonna break down this entire mess next chapter.

(On a random note, I had accidentally spelt 'jinx' like 'jynx'. You know, like the Pokémon. My god...)