(The Loud House! and/or other related titles are rightfully owned by Nickelodeon)

(This is a work of fanfiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer's imagination or are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information, and material of any kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.)

I would like to take this quick little time to apologize first hand in advance if I happen to get anything that's medically inaccurate in this chapter, for I know almost next to nothing of how anything medical related actually works, and only wrote what I simply thought would sound appropriate.


Chapter Six:

Whatever the Cost

The next day...

Friday afternoon, 2:36 P.M.

The thirty minute ride to the Royal Woods Hospital was near deathly quiet. Not a one of the Louds had spoken a single word from out of their mouths as they drove the family van down across the neighborhood and right into town to the hospital until it had finally come into view, not even as they drove up into the parking lot and parked in one space that was close to the entrance. Lynn Loud Sr. turned the key in the ignition counterclockwise, shutting Vanzilla's engine completely off.

He sat there for a brief moment in contemplation before him and Rita turned around to face the eleven of their children. Nobody had gotten out yet, nor had they taken their seatbelts off. Mr. Loud could see it all in each and every one of their faces. They all felt it. The feeling of uneasiness, the anxiety, the unsureness. The level of nuance of this entire situation. He and his wife looked at each other, before he took in a deep breath through his nose.

He looked up at the rearview mirror and used it to spot Lincoln, who sat quietly two rows back next to Lori at the left side of the van.

"You sure about this, sport?" he asked. All attention had now been reflected towards him. Lincoln turned to meet all of their gazes before meeting his father's and then he nodded his white-haired head.

"Yes, dad," he said definitely. "I am sure."

"Lincoln, you don't actually have to do this," Lori said, gently placing her left hand on his shoulder. Her little brother gazed up at her dead in the eyes.

"Yes I do, Lori," he said assertively in a calm tone. "It's not that I'm doing it because I have to. It's also because... well, I want to." He turned around to face the rest of his sisters throughout the van.

"I want to be here for the Pingreys," Lincoln explained. "I want to help them in any way that I can... Especially Conner."

"You seriously still want to help the kid who tried to steal your cereal?" Lola asked, perturbed by what she was hearing. Lincoln nodded his head at the seven-year-old pageant queen.

"I know it sounds hard to believe, Lola," he confirmed. "But it's true. Yes, I admit that he did try to steal my Zombie Bran back at the store. But again, that was only a year ago. Right now, his family is hurting very badly, and we should all be there for them. And let's not forget, I was the one who helped Conner in that alley. So, that technically makes him my responsibility now. I have to see this whole thing through to the end."

Lori looked down at her little brother, taking notice of the serious and concerned expression deep within his blue eyes. He meant every single word of it. With this, she sighed through her nose. She turned to face the rest of their sisters.

"... Lincoln's right," she said. "Carol and her family need our help. Now more than ever. So, let's not stay here and keep them all waiting." And with that, all of the Louds climbed out of Vanzilla, with Luan unbuckling and carrying Lily out from her little car seat, and they all walked inside of the Royal Woods Hospital until they came upon the lobby, where the desk was located at the other end in front of them.

They turned to the far left side of the lobby and noticed a small waiting area with wooden rectangular coffee table filled with old magazines dating to the early 2000's. Rows of over ten chairs were up against the thick glass windows, and seated rather anxiously on four of the chairs in the area were the Pingrey family, Carol, Cassy, Leslie, and Walter.

The Louds noticed that Leslie appeared as if she had been crying non-stop, her eyes nearly bloodshot, her husband and two daughters sitting closely to her doing the best they could to help comfort the Pingrey mother. With what was going on, it couldn't be any more truer. The four of their faces lit up a bit when they had noticed the Louds approaching in their direction. Carol shot up from her seat, walked up to Lori and hugged her good friend tightly.

"How is everything?" Lori asked, after she and Carol parted. "Did the doctor's say anything yet?" Carol solemnly shook her head at her.

"Not yet," Carol said grimly. "They told us to wait out here until they came back with the results."

"Is Conner going to be alright?" Lucy asked, strong hints of worry in her dreary tone. Cassy walked up to the nine-year-old goth, placed a hand on her shoulder, and the emo tween lowered her head for a moment.

"I really hope so, Lucy," she muttered worriedly. "I really hope so."

"No offense to any of you," Leslie asked curiously, "but why exactly are you guys here?"

"Well, we figured you all could use some of the company," Rita explained. "With what has happened and everything."

"Yeah," Lynn Sr. agreed. "And it's also because our son, Lincoln, insisted on coming. He says that Conner is his responsibility, since he saved him and all." The married couple eyed Lincoln who simply stood next to his father. The twelve-year-old boy simply gave them a small smile and he rose his hand up a bit as a way to say hello. Walter knelt down to his level and he gently clamped both his hands on the boy's shoulders.

"Lincoln," he said. "I... I really don't know what to say. Though I guess what I could start by saying is... well... thank you. Thank you so much, for saving our son's life." Lincoln flashed the man a kind smile.

"I only did what anybody else would do," the twelve-year-old Loud boy explained. "And because it was the right thing to do."

"Pingrey family to the front desk please...!" a woman's voice suddenly spoke from the intercom. The two families turned their attention around to face the direction of the front desk and they all noticed a young woman, a nurse, dressed in the typical blue nurse's outfit, and her hair was tied into a ponytail. They had all walked on over to the front desk and the nurse looked up at them, acknowledging their presence.

"Yes?" the Pingreys asked in unison.

"Dr. Wagner would like to see you now," she said, standing up to her feet. "If you will all just kindly follow me this way."

And with that, the young nurse led the Pingreys, as well as the Louds due to their insistence on coming as well, through a pair of double doors that was located just next to the left side of the front desk, and the two families followed after her through a widened, sea-green painted hallway filled with doors on each side. There were small groups of seats here and there, and a couple drinking fountains and a few water dispensers and waste baskets.

Once after they had all reached closely towards the end of the hall, they stopped at one door, Room 023. The nurse knocked on the door three times and then a man's voice beckoned her inside. The nurse carefully opened the door nice and slowly and she stuck only her head inside.

"Dr. Wagner?" she said. "The Pingreys are here to see you."

In less than a minute, a grown man had walked out of the patient's room for the Pingreys and the Louds to see. The man appeared to be around in his mid-thirties, with brownish-black hair combed into a generic-looking, 1940's styled haircut and he had a recently clean-shaven face. He wore a white doctor's coat and a stethoscope hung down from his neck like a necktie. Leslie and Walter looked at each other and then faced back at the man.

"Thanks, Trudy," The man said in a rich baritone voice, nodding his head to the nurse. "I'll take care of it from here." With that, the nurse nodded her head back to the doctor and she walked down back the other end of the hallway, returning passed through the double doors to the front desk in the lobby. The man held his hand out the Pingrey family.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Mike Wagner," he introduced himself, shaking Walter's hand first. "Thank you so much for coming. You must be the Pingreys."

"Y-Yes, that's us," Leslie said, the doctor shaking her hand as well. He then eyed the Louds.

"And if you don't mind me asking, you guys are...?" he addressed them curiously. Lynn Sr. stepped forward to him.

"Oh, we're the Louds," he explained simply, shaking the doctor's hand. "We're family friends." After the introductions were finished, they all got back down to the matter at hand, with Conner being the main subject.

"Well, doc? How bad is it?" Walter said anxiously, his hands tightly folded together. "Is our son going to be okay?" Dr. Wagner hesitantly tightened his grip around the clipboard he held in his hands, trying to figure out what the appropriate words were for him to say without wanting to sound like he was being bluntly insensitive. Once after he could not find any, he took in and then exhaling out a slow and steady breath, and he began his explanation.

"Well, I've got some good news, and also some bad news," he stated. "The good news is, Conner is indeed going to be alright. Although, some of his ribs were quite bruised, but nothing terribly severe than that. His nose was a little bit broken, a very easy fix. His black eye, though despite being swollen, was easily treatable and it should be normal again within the next two weeks tops. But, aside from all that, he's going to be just fine."

"A-And what's the bad news?" Carol asked worriedly. Lori and Leni walked up next to her and placed a comforting hand on each of her shoulders. Dr. Wagner sucked in his lower lip as he eyed down at the floor, hesitating for a second. The families have seen that look before.

This was one of the hardest parts about being a medical professional like him, when one has to explain the bad news. And nobody ever wants to hear about the bad news. For Dr. Wagner, it was quite an understatement. He hated telling people the bad news as much as he hated seeing young kids like Conner in such a terrible state, whether it was minor or major. The doctor took in a another deep breath, steeled himself, and he gave them his answer.

"Well... the bad news is, there are still some things that need to be fixed," he explained as he rummaged a bit through the written down pages of his clipboard. "Such as, his right ankle had been badly sprained. We found that two of the ligaments in his foot were stretched out a bit. Thankfully, nothing had been torn. But despite that, it's still pretty bad."

"... Is there more, doctor?" Rita Loud asked, moving up next to the Pingreys. "If you don't mind me asking." The Loud mother wanted to slap herself in the face for asking that. Dr. Wagner rummaged through his clipboard again.

"Well, we found a couple of nondisplaced oblique fractures, one of each at the metacarpal bones of his left hand's ring and pinky finger." he continued. "Basically, what that means is the bones have broken in a certain angle, but are still perfectly aligned with each other, thank goodness they still are." Dr. Wagner paused for a moment as he gulped down a sized lump that got stuck in his throat. Now came the embarrassing part. Or at least he believed it to be so.

Still, a doctor had to do what a doctor had do to. He hesitated for a second before opening his mouth again.

"And, uh... well... His genitalia area is a little bit bruised as well," the doctor explained further. Walter, Lincoln, and Lynn Sr. cringed when they heard that and instinctively and protectively grabbed for their own private areas. "Which means he will feel a certain level of discomfort whenever he has to use the bathroom. Thankfully, there is nothing a frozen ice pack won't help with."

"How is he right now?" Luan asked as she held Lily in her arms. Dr. Wagner eyed her for a moment.

"Well, we gave him some anesthesia early this morning to help him sleep better." he stated with an assuring smile. He then frowned a bit as a curious thought suddenly popped up in his brain. "Now, if you guys don't mind me asking you this question. Do any one of you know exactly, or have any idea at all, how this entire thing came about? I've been wondering about that since yesterday when he came into the Emergency Room."

"He was mugged, sir," Lincoln said suddenly. All eyes, including the doctor who looked at him curiously, were upon him now. The young boy rubbed the back of his head almost nervously.

"I-I found him inside an alleyway over at the northwest side of Grover Street," Lincoln explained. "He told me as best he could as I was trying to patch him up with a first aid kit a good friend of mine gave me about a week ago. He said that he was mugged, sir. They stole everything from him; his backpack, his money, they even took his clothes." Lincoln's closed hands had now tightened until they were now fists. His lower jaw tightened against his upper jaw until it was almost sore, anger beginning to take a hold of him.

"And if that wasn't bad enough," the white-haired boy went on now becoming exasperated, "they went so far as to beat the ever living snot out of him, and they just left him there all alone to die." Lynn walked up to her brother and placed a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Lincoln relaxed from the gesture and his boiling anger dropped back down to zero.

"So, anyway," he continued on but calmly now. "There was nobody else around in the area. It was practically a ghost town. So, I basically had to carry him over to my house. My family and I did as best we could to try make him feel as comfortable as possible, at least until the ambulance would arrive." Dr. Wagner turned to face the rest of the Louds, who only nodded their heads in confirmation of Lincoln's words.

"Not to sound like I'm being intrusive or anything," the doctor asked inquisitively, "but may I ask as to why you didn't have the chance to call an ambulance when you were there?"

"Well," Lincoln said, crossing his arms over his small chest and then flashed his mother a sour look. "It just so happened that somebody thought it was a good idea to take my phone away as part of me getting grounded." Rita simply rubbed the back of her neck and she looked away while smiling nervously. Carol and the rest of the Pingreys looked at the Louds with raised eyebrows.

"It's a long story," Lori stated. "But, we'll explain that later. So let's try and keep our focus on Conner right now."

"... Is it alright if we go in and see him?..." Walter asked. The doctor smiled at the Pingrey patriarch and nodded his head.

"Absolutely," he said. "But try to be as quiet as possible though. He's still asleep from the anesthesia." Dr. Wagner opened the door slowly and quietly, allowing the Pingreys entry into Conner's hospital room. As they began to walk inside, Carol turned around and noticed that her mother was still standing where she was. Leslie looked at her daughter and motioned her head for her to go on ahead inside.

"I-I'll be in there soon, sweetie," she said. "I... I just need a moment." Carol smiled and then nodded her head in understanding. With that, the eighteen-year-old Pingrey girl walked inside, and Dr. Wagner carefully closed the door back shut. Leslie allowed her shoulders to slump down, and she almost hung her head low, a guilt-ridden expression now all over her face. Lori and the other Louds noticed this and they all looked at her worriedly, as did Dr. Wagner.

"Mrs. Pingrey...?" Lori said with concern. Leslie did not answer her. She stood there silently, almost as still as a statue.

"Mrs. P?" Luna added, as the Pingrey mother finally turned around and walked over to the small rows of five cushioned chairs that were next to a half-emptied water dispenser across from them, and she sat square right in the middle seat.

"Leslie...?" Rita said, as she sat down next to her, putting a gentle hand on her right shoulder. "... Are you alright." Leslie closed her eyes and lightly shook her head.

"It's all my fault," she muttered above a whisper. All of the Louds caught what she said and looked at her confusingly.

"What...?" Rita asked concernedly. Fresh tears cropped up from Leslie's eyes and trickled once again down her face.

"This is all my fault!" she said in a trembling voice. "Conner is here in the hospital because of me!"

"But how can any of this be your fault, Mrs. Pingrey?" Leni asked now very curiously. The Pingrey mother wiped some tears off from her face with her left arm and she made a hard sniff. She looked up at the Louds, eyeing each and every one of them, afraid of how they would all react to what she has to say, but what they would think of her if she told them everything. Again, she lightly lowered her head down.

"...T-Two days ago," she began almost hesitantly, "I grounded Conner, because he did something really foolish."

"What did he do?" Lola asked curiously, placing her hands on her hips. Leslie looked down at the seven-year-old pageant queen gravely.

"He started a prank that caused a massive food right over at a restaurant," she said. Upon hearing that, Lana thought curiously until it finally came to her. She looked up at the Pingrey woman, surprised.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" the seven-year-old plumber/mechanic exclaimed. "You don't mean the Great Food War of Giovanni Chang's, right?" Leslie looked at her oddly.

"Y-You know about that?"

"Dudes!" Luna mildly exclaimed. "There's a recorded vid of the incident that went crazily viral all over MyBook! Almost everybody at our school was talking about it!"

"You're saying Conner did all of that?" asked Lori, a little surprised to hear such news. Leslie nodded her blond-haired head at the eight-year-old Loud sibling. Lincoln furrowed his brows and frowned a bit. Knowing who and what her son was, it wasn't exactly that much of a surprise to him. A little bit, but not a whole lot.

"And it got all four of us kicked out of the restaurant as a result," Leslie continued to explain. "And quite possibly everyone else in the bistro as well. My husband Walter wasn't there because he was working late that day. I was just... I was just so angry and upset with Conner, that I told him he was grounded for two and a half weeks and I gave him the usual procedure; no TV, video games, that sort of thing."

A choking sob had suddenly escaped from her throat, and more tears came pouring down until they fell to the floor.

"I even went so far as to force him to walk home from school as part of his punishment!" she cried. "Don't you all see? I'm the reason Conner is in the hospital! I'm the one responsible for why he's here in the first place! If only I hadn't have gone so far, if only I hadn't done that to my little baby boy, this entire mess would never have happened!"

Leslie buried her face into her trembling hands, sobbing almost uncontrollably. The Loud family gathered further around her, and they did what they all could do to try and comfort the grieving mother. Lynn Sr. sat down on the seat next to Leslie's left and positioned a comforting hand on her shoulder to match Rita's.

"Leslie, it wasn't your fault." the Loud father said consolingly.

"You can't blame yourself over something you didn't know about," added Rita, tears of her own beginning to crop up. "There was no way on earth you could have known this would happen."

"Our mom is right, Mrs. P," said Luna, her voice just beginning to tremble with emotion. "Everybody makes mistakes. We all do."

"Believe us, Mrs. Pingrey," Lynn added, her voice now laden with a strong dose of regret. "We all know too well what making a mistake feels like." She then turned to look at her brother with a guilt-ridden countenance that now took shape on her young face. Lincoln noticed this and then came to gently pat his sports fanatic of a sister on the back.

In that very moment, memories from just one year ago came flooding through her head like a tidal wave, when she and the rest of the Loud family had falsely believed that Lincoln had somehow brought about bad luck, all because Lynn and her softball team, the Royal Woods Squirrels, had humiliatingly lost to their opponent. It did not help that she went and spread that little rumor to the rest of the family, making it even worse for her brother. And Lincoln had to wear the costume of her team's squirrel mascot just to try and prove that he wasn't, which he had succeeded in doing so.

That was an incident that they all would soon rather leave behind in the past and forget about as much as possible.

"But it was my mistake that nearly got my son killed!" Leslie wept on, sniffling while her head continued to hang low in shame. "I... I don't deserve to be his mother! In fact, I don't deserve to be a parent at all! And maybe... Maybe it would be for the best if... if... if I was completely out of Conner's life!" All of the Louds looked at her in complete shock from what she had just said. She could not be serious. There was just no way at all that she could be.

"It's the most he deserves," she added. "After what had happened, I... I don't think I'm cut out to be a part of the family anymore, let alone be a parent." And Leslie continued to sob into her hands while the Louds tried to figure out as best they could to make her change her mind about that. There was nothing in this world that was more terrible than a parent who blamed themselves for the awful happenings of their loved ones.

"Mrs. Pingrey?" Dr. Wagner spoke suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. The good doctor walked over and got down to one of his knees so that he could meet Leslie's gaze, a somber yet sympathetic look written all over his face.

"I know exactly how you are feeling right now," he said almost slowly. "I have seen hundreds, if not thousands of people, walk through those doors and almost all of them have experienced the exact same level of pain that you are going through, where they would sometimes blame themselves for what had happened to the people that they care about and love so much. Especially if the patient in question was a young child, just like Conner."

Dr. Wagner took a short moment to take in a deep, near trembling breath.

"I'm not just saying this to you as a medical professional," he continued. "I'm saying all this to you because... well... I happen to be a parent myself. I have a five-year-old son who is at home right now with his mom, and he is never away from my thoughts when I'm here at work. Not a single day goes by where I don't see a young patient like Conner and just think about how something like this could very well happen to my little boy, at any time, at any place."

It was now at this point that his face had begun to slowly turn red, his bottom lip quivering with emotion, and his eyes becoming watery with tears.

"And I pray to God above almost every single day that that situation would never come to pass," he said, a single tear streaming down his reddened face. He unorthodoxically placed a reassuring hand on Leslie's hand, though he noticed that she didn't seem to mind the kind gesture at all, considering the emotional support that she desperately needed right now. Dr. Wagner continued to look her straight in the eyes.

"So please, do this good doctor a huge solid. And for the sake of your friends, your family, and especially for Conner's; please, don't ever blame yourself for what had happened. Okay? Don't ever put yourself down over something that was out of your own control. Just because you've made a mistake does not mean that you should give up and throw in the towel. Conner doesn't need your guilt. What he needs right now is you, Leslie. He needs his mother's love. When you are good and ready, go in there and be the parent that he deserves to have. You think you can do that for me?"

Leslie sniffed really hard, and she pulled out a handkerchief from her back pants pocket, wiping away a few tears with it from her face. She nodded her head at the medical professional who stood back up onto his feet.

"Thanks, doctor," she muttered with a small smile, before putting away the handkerchief, and then turning back to the Louds. "And thanks, you guys. I-I really needed this little pep talk."

"It was the least we could do in this tumultuous time, Mrs. Pingrey," Lisa said, nodding her little head at the grown woman.

Lincoln stood by and watched with a relieved and kind smile on his face. He then frowned when something popped up into his mind. Something that made him quite worried a little bit. Did the Pingreys have any health insurance to pay for the bill? Something in the pit of his gut told him that they actually didn't, or at least maybe little of what they had of it. With this, Lincoln turned to the doctor who wiped the tears away with a fresh handkerchief from underneath his coat, and the boy tugged on his white coat.

"Dr. Wagner?" said the middle Loud boy.

"Yes? Er, it's Lincoln, right?" the good doctor wondered. Lincoln nodded his head.

"Um, listen," he began. "There's something I want to say to you. It's kind of important." Hearing this had grabbed everybody's attention, including Leslie. They all stared at him confused, wondering what it was he was doing. Dr. Wagner nodded his own head at the boy.

"Sure thing," he said. "What can I help you with?" Lincoln beckoned him down to meet him at his level. The doctor did so, and he knelt down to one knee.

"Listen... I'm not quite so sure if the Pingreys have any insurance or not," Lincoln said. "But I still want to help them in any way that I can. So, basically, what I'm saying is whatever the cost their medical bill is... please, let me be the one to pay for it." Hearing this caused everyone to gasp in surprise, completely taken aback by what they had all just heard. Even Mrs. Pingrey found herself completely bewildered by what the Loud boy had said.

"What?" Lynn Sr. muttered, staring flabbergasted at his son.

"Lincoln..." Rita added, dumbfounded. Lincoln turned to face his family.

"No, guys. Please," he insisted, before turning back to face Dr. Wagner. "Whatever how much money the bill will cost, please put it on my tab. I'll help pay with all of the money that I currently have with me." To emphasize his point, Lincoln reached into his pocket and pulled out his leather wallet. He opened it and drew a large bundled up wad of cash and held it out to the good doctor, who took it and examined it with a surprised whistle.

"How much is this exactly?" he asked curiously. Lincoln hesitated for a second or two.

"Roughly about eight hundred and fifty dollars," Lincoln explained. All eyes of the Louds and Mrs. Pingrey, even Dr. Wagner, bulged in astonishment, completely gob-smacked upon hearing that large of a number.

"Lincoln," asked a very surprised Lynn. "Where in the world did you manage to get that kind of money from?"

"I was originally saving up almost all year to buy a new game console," the twelve-year-old Loud boy explained. "The rest of it was just a little bonus I got from doing some extra work around the neighborhood; mowing the lawns, trimming the hedges, that sort of thing. But now, I clearly see that Conner and his family need it a whole lot more than I do." Lincoln turned back to face the good doctor, who still held the wad of cash in his hands.

"But if the bill runs higher than this," Lincoln said, "please, give me some time to earn a little more cash, and I will pay you the difference the next time I am here."

Lincoln's family stared completely speechless, not at all believing what they had just heard. Where in the world was this form of generosity coming from? Lincoln was always known to be a good-natured kid and someone who would gladly help anyone in need. He was not perfect, but always did try to do the best he could to help his sisters out with their problems as well as others. But this was something of him his family had never seen before in their lives.

Mrs. Pingrey was especially the most shocked out of all the Louds. She couldn't believe that this small boy was willing to make a sacrifice for her family's sake. She just did not know how exactly to react to hearing any of this. Would she jump down and give him a tight hug? A simple handshake? Decisions, decisions. Lynn Sr. got up from his seat, walked over to his son and knelt down to his level. He placed one hand on his shoulder.

"Son, you know you don't have to-"

"No, Dad," Lincoln said, interrupting his father. "Like I said back at the van, Conner is my responsibility. It's the least I can try and do to relieve the burden off from his family's shoulders."

Lynn Sr. smiled down at his little boy, feeling a growing sense of overwhelming pride that he did not remember feeling before in his long life as a parent. Mr. Loud was always proud of his son. But what he felt now simply dwarfed that feeling down. His hand gently squeezed around Lincoln's shoulder.

"I understand, son," he said. "And I am just so ding dang proud of you, that you're more than willing to go out of your way to help Conner's family like this. But you don't have to do all this all by yourself, you know. Conner may be your responsibility, but that doesn't mean that it's yours alone to bear. If it's all the same for you, I would gladly pitch in some of my own money to help pay for the bill."

"You would do that, Dad?" Lincoln asked, looking up at his old man with a surprised smile.

"Pfft, of course I would, sport," Lynn Sr. said, patting his son's white-haired head. "What kind of father would I be if I didn't?"

"Me too," Rita suddenly added, standing up from her seat and walking next to her husband, a sense of inspiration now overwhelming her being. "What do you all say, girls?"

"I say, count me in," Lori said.

"Anything to help Conner get back on his little feet," Leni chimed in eagerly.

"I was saving some money of my own to buy a new amp for my guitar," Luna added. "But I think that can wait just a little longer."

"I think I can spare a few bucks from my pocket," Luan said, still holding Lily in her arms.

"No way is Carol and her family gonna have to worry about some dumb old bill!" Lynn proudly stated. "Not on my watch!"

"It would give me great joy to see Conner back into full health again," Lucy murmured monotonously.

"I've got a couple quarters I found under my bed," said Lana. "It ain't much but it's better than nothing."

"I've got a few of my old dresses in my closet I could sell," Lola added. "They're kind of outdated, and I'm a little too big for them anyway."

"I still have quite a few connections with the science committee over at Royal Woods Community," Lisa spoke. "I might be able to pull some strings and have them send me a loan."

"Connew!" Lily cooed in Luan's arms with a big smile.

"We will all pitch in with you, bud. You can be sure of that." Lynn Sr. said to Lincoln, who smiled gratefully up at his father and surrounding family.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "I really do appreciate this." They all turned their gazes over to a still seated Leslie Pingrey, who continued to stare at them utterly dumbfounded. She then slowly stood up from her chair and held her hands close to her chest.

"I... Guys, I... I-I really don't know what to say about any of this," she stated.

"Don't say anything at all, Mrs. Pingrey," Lincoln said. "It's the least we could do to help." In that moment, Leslie burst out crying again, but the Louds, save for Leni at first, could easily tell that these were not tears of sorrow and pain, but instead of joy. Pure, relieved, and unsurmountable happiness. The feeling of a huge wait being lifted off of her shoulders. She smiled at the Louds, as more tears poured down her face.

"Thank you," she said tremblingly. "Thank you. Thank you all so much. You guys have no idea how much this means to me and my family. I swear, I will never forget about this." Dr. Wagner walked up and offered the Pingrey woman a box of tissues, which she gratefully accepted, and she cleaned away her face with a few strips of tissues.

"Would you all like to go see Conner now?" the good doctor asked kindly. Leslie smiled big and nodded her head.

"Yes, doctor. I would love that very much."

And with that, Dr. Mike Wagner carefully opened the door to Conner's room. One by one, Leslie Pingrey and the Loud family walked inside through the door in a straight-line formation until Lincoln was now the last one to enter, and Dr. Mike Wagner closed the door after walking inside with them.


Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as I had writing it. Oh, and a little fun fact about Dr. Wagner. I named him after two doctors over at YouTube. If you had already guessed what they were, then you have guessed correctly.

I named him after Doctors Mikhail "Mike" Varshavski and Jordan Wagner. I did that because I thought it would be very fun, and to help create a character that would help out the Louds and the Pingreys and hopefully identify with them.

Well, that is about it for now. I will see you all in the next chapter. Until then, have a great weekend, and God bless.