Lynn stares up at the ceiling. Her mind keeps replaying the same words, 'Be careful when you get emotional. You make stupid decisions.' Raffaelina isn't wrong; she knows that she has made some pretty dumb decisions whenever she got emotional. Off the top of her head, she thinks about school, Pop-Pop, and even her old teammates and how they drove her to do something stupid. Before, when she was younger, she would blame the thing that riled her up in the first place, but the older woman reminded her that only she could decide how she handled things.

Now as she looks down at Francisco, she wonders if maybe he has done the same thing; not that she stopped him, and not that she cared for at the time. She isn't sure if the two of them together in his bed is a good idea. She doesn't know what happened between Francisco and Caroline, and seeing him so out of it and her upset, made her feel something that she couldn't describe too well with words.

Lynn thinks about the events that transpired after walking through the door; Francisco walked to his room and she follows after him. His steps weren't as strained, but he was still walking stiffly and she could sense the tension from the car ride. She remembered that she asked him something, and before she knew it, he pulled her into a kiss and they ended up under his sheets.

'What the heck happened?'

She wonders. She doesn't know why Caroline wanted to talk to him in person, she doesn't know what they talked about, and she doesn't know why he was tense, but for now she decides to focus on him for a minute as she holds onto him. Her eyes softened upon looking at his sleeping face; he was worried, but he will stubbornly refuse to say anything to anyone. Lynn pulls him closer so that she press his head towards her heart and hoped that the steady beats would calm him down.

His eyes begin to open to look at his surroundings, and notices that he's resting on Lynn, "What time is it?"

Her stomach rumbles, "Almost dinnertime," she laughs. She gets up from bed, "Let me just get dressed and I can probably go get something to eat."

"There's probably pizza in the fridge or something," he tells her.

Lynn shakes her head, "Nah…who even likes cold pizza?" she says, making sure that he can't see her eyes.

When the pizza arrived, the two sit down at the table and silently eat until Lynn asks, "Can I ask you something?"

With a cheeky smile, he says, "You just did."

She laughs sarcastically, "I'm serious," he gestures her to continue, "What happened to you at Caroline's place today?"

He swallows the bite of pizza and looks down at his food. He doesn't want to talk about what happened, especially after hearing what Caroline planned on doing if he didn't 'get his act together'. He couldn't believe that she actually thought that something was wrong with him. For years, things haven't been perfect, but he likes to think that he has been doing a good job as a dad to Elena and as a good friend to Caroline, and now because she insists that he's slipping up, she wants to take Elena from him; he isn't happy.

"Not much, she just brought up the idea of helping me financially after Elena said that she was worried that I didn't have a steady job."


Francisco glances over at his watch as he writes down his notes. The numbers on the digital watch are fading, but he can somewhat see that there are only a few more minutes until the bell rings and he can go home. After a day of quizzes and a short presentation, he is ready to go home and relax before hockey practice continues later in the week.

The bell rings and the students get up from their seats. The hallways begin to fill with students and Francisco heads to his locker where he sees his girlfriend waiting for him with a smile on her face.

"Hey, how was class today?" he asks as he opens his locker.

"Not bad," she starts. She notices Francisco placing his book in his locker and decides to ask him, "Do you have anything planned for Thursday?"

He stops to think about what is so special about Thursday, but nothing is coming to mind. He's sure that her birthday isn't for a few more months, and his birthday already passed, and he knows that it isn't a silly monthly anniversary that she insists on celebrating.

Francisco notices that his silence is beginning to bother Mary, "Of course," he lies.

"Great!" she says happily, almost afraid that he has forgotten the date, "I can't wait to see you then."

He nods his head, "Yeah…I'll text you the details," he tells her; hoping to remember why Thursday is so special.

Mary is aware that Francisco isn't the most affectionate boyfriend, or even the most willing to go along with romantic gestures, but she is still happy to know that he has still planned something for the two of them. She happily pulls him into a hug and gives him a brief kiss, before heading out to catch the bus.

He watches her leave and asks himself, "What's Thursday?"

"Valentine's Day," Margo responds.

Francisco turns around and sees Lynn and Margo, who has knowing look on her face. He can't believe how quickly Valentine's Day snuck up on him. Normally, the holiday was just another day for him, but with a girlfriend this year, he knows that he has to think of something for her.

Lynn, surprised by the revelation, "Already? Yes! That makes Friday even better!" she declares. "Wait…you forgot, didn't you?"

The girls both stare at him until he cracks, he whispers, "Yes, I forgot." He looks around to make sure that Mary isn't within earshot, "It's not like I celebrated it much before."

"But you have a girlfriend and she may want to celebrate it, right Lynn?" asks Margo.

The two friends turn to Lynn and chuckle as their chocolate-loving friend stares at the lockers while dreaming of discounted chocolate.

With Lynn still distracted, Margo asks, "So do you have any idea of what you can do at the last minute?"

Francisco closes his locker, "I don't know. I can't imagine that there's a lot I can do with only a few days before Valentine's Day, and now–"

Lynn interrupts, "Do you think the skating rink will be giving out hot chocolate again?"

"Will you forget about–" the light bulb goes off in Francisco's head. The skating rink! It's not personal, but it's a decent place for a teenage date and with a dinner at a sit-down restaurant, he's sure that the whole thing can work out.

Lynn notices the relieved look on Francisco's face, she asks Margo, "What's with him?"

"I think you gave him an idea on how to save his night."

Francisco begins to think of some other ideas that can be done on the fly. A movie? Easy, but crowded; luckily tickets can be bought early. A stroll through the park? Wait, no, it's too cold.

"Also, my dad is doing a whole thing for Valentine's Day at the restaurant. There's supposed to be flowers, and music, and a lot of other gushy stuff that my sisters suggested to him. If you want, I can tell him to reserve a table for the two of you," Lynn offers.

"Really? You can do that?" he asks, happy that she brought up her dad's restaurant.

Lynn nods her head, "Yeah, just text me the time, and I'll let him know."


Over the next few days, Lynn decides to stick around and help Francisco around the house. For most of the day, he quietly spends his time reading or keeping track of Lisa's charts, however Lynn's constant presence is beginning to bother him. He knows that he has some difficulties moving around and doing things with his right arm, but he doesn't need her almost hovering around him whenever he moved. Before, when his brother was around, he could tell him how annoyed he was, but there's no win with telling her the same thing.

Francisco's eyes are on Lynn, who is currently snacking on a bag of cheese puffs; the crumbs and her cheesy fingers are staining the recliner, and he can feel a headache coming on as he holds his tongue.

Lynn offers the bag to him, "Do you want some?"

Through his teeth, he tells her, "No…"

The soccer game continues on tv and Francisco's head feels as if it's swelling from all the noise around him. Annoyed, he asks, "Aren't you planning on going to work any of these days?"

She stops biting her snack, surprised by his tone, "Excuse me?"

"You've been here every day for a week and you've never left by yourself, except to go to the grocery store, don't you have a job to go to?"

Lynn scowls. Despite not telling him that she hasn't had a steady job since last year, she doesn't like the tone in his voice. She understands that he's frustrated with her constant presence and possibly annoyed that he isn't at one hundred percent physically, but that isn't a reasonable excuse to be upset.

"So you don't want me around to help? If you don't remember, your house was a mess when I came in a week after your accident, and you're telling me that you don't want someone around to help you?"

He takes a deep breath and thinks of his words carefully, "I mean, I don't want you to get in trouble at work for missing days because of me. I can handle a few hours alone."

Lynn isn't sure to believe him. She knows that he'll lie in an effort to save his ass and avoid making things worse, but she doesn't have an actual reason to not believe him. She opens her mouth, and remembers the state of his home, his broken phone that was found in the hallway, and the stare that he refuses to tell her about.

She decides to push him a little, and sarcastically says, "Yeah, right. Do you actually think that?"

Offended, he responds, "I'm serious! Do you think that I want to see you get in trouble just because you're so damn thick-headed and can't leave me alone!"He immediately realizes what he says, "Lynn, I di–"

"Fine! I'll get out of your damn hair!" Lynn interrupts as she gets up from her seat and stomps outside, "Jeez, what the hell is bugging him?"

The sound of a buzzing from her phone grabs her attention; she doesn't recognize the number, but she opens the text.

Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to privately message to you about Francisco


He looks around the house for his parents, but he can't find either one. He opens the door to the backyard, where the sound of a nail gun grabs his attention. He runs towards the noise, and sees his brothers working in the garage.

"Hey Chuy," the eldest brother looks up, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Is there any chance that you can let me borrow your truck on Thursday?"

The older brother looks at his little brother, he's never asked him to borrow his car, so he doesn't have much reason to say no, but at the same time, he's still a new driver with less than two full months of experience.

"Dang Pancho, you don't think that Chuy may have a date on Thursday?" Kiké asks.

Francisco doesn't respond. He honestly didn't think that his brother would, considering that he rarely talks about his romantic life. Both older brothers are staring at Francisco, waiting to see what he would say.

"That's not why I need the truck. I've got a hockey practice and it's going to run late and you know how mom is about picking me up late in the winter."

"¡Mentiroso!" Kiké declares. "If you're going to lie, at least make it a good one."

"I'm not lying!" Francisco declares. "I really do have hockey practice that's going to run late, and you know that mom hates leaving the house when it's really cold outside. So I'd rather just borrow somebody's truck and drive myself home."

Kiké rolls his eyes; while most of what his brother said was true, he knows that it isn't a coincidence that his younger brother wants to borrow a truck on Valentine's Day.

The two older brothers stare at each other, and Chuy asks Kiké, "¿Quéfé pifienfensasfas?"

"Nofo se fe. Afalofomefejorfor sifi tefe sufupliflicafarafa," Kiké snickers.

Francisco begins to grow frustrated; even after all these years, he still hasn't picked up how to understand his brothers when they speak in code.

Chuy shakes his head; there isn't any point in making his brother beg him just because he wants the truck to go on a date, "Alright, but clean up the inside," he tells Francisco, as he tosses over the keys.

Francisco catches them and quickly runs to the truck. When he opens the door, he is surprised by the fast food wrappers, receipts, loose tools, and the smell, "What the hell did you do?"

Chuy chuckles, "Sorry Pancho, but I didn't think that you would want to borrow my truck for Valentine's Day."

The youngest sternly tells his brother, "That's not why I'm borrowing it." The look on both brothers' faces made it clear that he can deny all he wants, but they aren't going to believe it, "Fine! It is for Valentine's Day. Now leave me alone so that I can clean this pigsty."

When he was younger, Chuy would normally get his dad chastising him for keeping a messy truck, and he's almost snickering at how Francisco has picked up the same trait from him; although he can't blame his younger brother, the truck cab is messy.

He grabs a trash bin and places it near Francisco, so that it can make his job a little easier, "So where are you and Lynn going?"

Kiké makes a gagging sound, and the younger brother tosses a Burpin' Burger bag full of trash at him, "I'm not going with Lynn, I'm going with my girlfriend," Francisco corrected.

Even after months of dating Mary, his brothers insist that he's dating Lynn or Margo; after so many years, he goes along with it, but with an actual girlfriend, he wishes that his brothers would acknowledge her.

Kiké leans on the truck, "Well we never see your girlfriend, and at least we know what part of your harem looks like."

Chuy lightly shoves him, "Stop messing with him. He's bigger and almost taller than you now and I doubt that he hasn't learned a thing or two from hockey."

The middle brother rolls his eyes, "All I'm saying is, he doesn't really talk about his 'girlfriend', but he definitely mentions Margo and little sweat monster."

Chuy grabs Francisco's shoulder, "You can get him later. Just finish, so you don't have much to do on Thursday."

Kiké asks, "So where are you taking your girlfriend?"

Francisco shrugs his shoulders, "I'm not entirely sure, but Lynn offered a reservation at her dad's restaurant and she suggested the skating rink."

Both older brothers look at each other. They know that Francisco isn't the type to talk much about his personal life, but even with a girlfriend, he mentions his other friends more than the girl that he's dating. For years, they expected him to start dating one of them, but he instead went with a random girl whom he never spoke about.

"You really don't hang out with a bunch of guys, do you?" the eldest brother starts, "There's a bunch on your teams, but it seems like you only hang out with the girls."

Francisco groans, "It's always the same thing with them; girls, baseball, and…" he murmurs the last part.

"What?" the two brothers ask.

Francisco pulls out his house keys from his pants pocket and shows them the little baseball bat keychain attached. Kiké laughs, "Are you serious? We're all guys. I think you can say–"

The youngest brother tosses his keys at him and goes back to cleaning.


Lynn wakes up to the sound of her alarm. She spent the night on the couch under the guise that she was still mad at Francisco, but she wants to talk to Lisa before he gets up. After texting with Caroline and living with him for a week, Lynn was beginning to wonder what is going on with him. He's moodier than usual and despite his best efforts to find out, she's sure that something else is going on with him.

She steps outside and scrolls through her phone; looking for Lisa's name.

"Salutations, fifth eldest sister, how are you doing this morning?"

"I-I'm fine," she's beginning to feel regret about calling Lisa, but remembers that all she wants is for Francisco to get some help, and her less emotional sister is probably the best route to get him to open up.

"I need to talk to you about Francisco."

There is silence on the other line until Lisa speaks, "Is he okay?"

"I don't know," responded Lynn on the phone. "He's been off lately."

"I'm going to need a more detailed response than just 'off', you understand that, right?" Lisa said over the phone. Typically the second youngest Loud wouldn't be so concerned about the details of her siblings and their emotional woes, but she did have to keep some sort of tabs on her employee.

"I think she said that he was really tired and confused, and he's moodier than usual."

Lisa notes the information that her sister, "Who's she?"

Lynn wonders why Lisa cares, "His ex. She said something about him now knowing what day it was, he was disoriented, and he seemed to be tepre-metal."

"Temperamental," Lisa corrects, she nods her head, "I see. Has he been displaying these symptoms for long?"

"I don't know. Caroline just said that she noticed last Friday, but that he's been hurt since the Saturday before that."

"Hurt? How?"

"A broken arm and leg and some stitches, you know, nothing too big."

Lisa jots down the notes, "What caused the injuries that he sustained?"

"A dune buggy accident. Look, is it going to interfere with his job, I want to know before we both waste our time heading to the lab."

The scientist has an idea about the sudden symptoms that Francisco was exhibiting, but she can't blindly guess based on the word of her older sister; she has to see it for herself.

"Lisa, are you still there?"

"Affirmative, I need you to arrive at the university lab tomorrow at 8am. I will need to keep track of these changes for my study logs."

Lynn groans at the thought of having to be up and ready early in the morning for something that could easily be done over the phone.

"Study logs? Why do you need study logs for?" Lynn asks, "I thought that he was your assistant."

Lisa's heart races, neither she nor Francisco knew the true nature of his job, and she doesn't want to risk losing him, "The projects that my colleagues and I work on risks exposure to pathogenic microorganisms and we need to keep track of the health of any employee that works inside the facility."

Lynn isn't sure whether to believe her or not; if her childhood had taught her anything, it is the Lisa was prone to lying and using those around her as experimental guinea pigs. At the moment, Lynn wished that the two were in talking in person, so that she could hopefully read her sister, but she settles with waiting until tomorrow morning.

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow," Lynn sighs, not only is she stuck having to wake up early in the morning, she has to worry about what, if anything, Lisa will find to be the cause of his sudden issues.

Lynn looks through the window and sees him stumbling a bit in his steps, and she tells herself that she is doing the right thing by having him see Lisa.


Francisco pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant. Lynn told him that her dad arranged an early reservation that they could use almost immediately after school, so that they can avoid the crowds.

Mary looks at the restaurant. The last time that she ate here, she and her family saw Lynn working at the front counter, and she is a little nervous about possibly seeing her. She knows that Francisco and Lynn have been friends for years, but she wonders why he would bring them here when she has given him hints that she's not comfortable around the brunette athlete.

"So, have you been here before?"

He nods, "Yeah, I usually come here after a baseball game in the summer. Personally, I think Mr. Loud is a little generous with his friends' discount, but Lynn insists that he won't take our money, so long as we're here together."

She grows silent and hopes that he can see it on her face.

Kotaro walks up to the table with water and to take the couple's order, and when he walks away, Mary asks, "Do you want to exchange gifts now or wait until later?"

Francisco chokes a bit on his water. He forgot a getting her a present! He spent the last couple of days getting things ready for the date that blanked on getting her a gift in return.

"Um…we can wait until later," he slowly tells her.

Francisco looks around and hopes to see if there was anything in the restaurant that he could quickly buy, but he scolds himself for thinking that a last-minute gift would solve his problem. He looks over at her, and notices that her gift can't be large, if she had it hidden in her purse.

"Are you okay?" she asks, concerned with his fidgeting.

"Yeah," he assures her, "I'm just looking at the artwork over on the wall," he says pointing to a small framed sheet of paper that Lynn and her siblings made for the restaurant opening. She told him that it was a secret at first, and that the siblings wrote a good luck message on a misprinted flyer, which was framed to blend together with the décor. According to Lynn, it took their dad days to notice, and he happily keeps it up to remember his large family.

She turns around to see the note, but turns around when their food arrives, "Wow! This looks delicious," she declares.

Francisco looks down at the food, "Wow, when I was told about the Valentine's Day special here, I didn't know what to expect, I'm glad we came."

She smiles and offers him a bite from her plate, but he begins to eat from his own plate; no noticing the gesture that she was making.

"So how did you find out about the special?"

"On their website."

After they finished their meal, Francisco drove her to the skating rink and noticed the abundance of cars in the parking lot.

"The skating must be really fun here or these people really like free hot chocolate," he jokes.

Mary laughs and two walk inside. The rink is playing slow music, and is decorated with cheesy decorations, such as red and pink hearts and little cupids hanging from the rafters. This is isn't what Francisco has in mind, but he knows that this is the sort of thing that she enjoys.

After getting their skates and going around the rink for a few laps, the couple heads towards the stands to sit down and drink their hot chocolate.

Mary looks around at the other teenage couples, most are holding hands together, sharing snacks from the concession stand, and lovingly staring into each other's eyes; meanwhile, Francisco is just looking around at the other rink patrons. While they skated together, he didn't initiate much contact with her, but assumes that he was shy around all of the other skaters.

She makes an attempt at holding his hand again, but he jumps a bit and moves his hand away from her's, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else," he says.

She sighs. He's so unaffectionate, even when no one is looking right at them and it makes her wonder if he really is as interested in their relationship as she is, "Francisco, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he tells her, "why do you ask?"

"Well, you're just a little distant," she admits.

He's surprised that she is saying that. He thinks that he's been behaving the same since the beginning of their relationship, and the only change that he's aware of in his life is that he and his friends don't hang out as much like they did before he started dating.

"Well, I don't think that I'm being distant, I think that I'm acting the same."

"Really? Francisco, look around us, look at all the couples, and how we're the only ones who look like a pair of friends instead."

He looks at all of the couples. Growing up, he never saw much physical affection from the adults around him, and he assumed that it was normal, unlike the teens who behaved like the stereotypes on tv or in the movies, "It's not a big deal, and you knew from the beginning that I'm not the type to show a lot of physical affection," he tells her.

"I bet if I was Lynn you would," she whispered.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I don't want to fight."

Both sit quietly, until she continues, "Tell me the truth, do you think of me as a romantic partner?"

He's surprised by the question, but he stops to think about her question and when she notices the hesitation in his response, she gets up, "I'm going to call my mom to come pick me up."

"Mary, wait!" he calls her, but she doesn't turn around and continues towards the exit.


Francisco limps down the hallway towards Lisa's office alone. Lynn wanted to accompany him, but he insisted that he is able to handle a simple meeting with her younger sister. He isn't sure why Lisa wants to meet in the office instead of the laboratory, but before he could ask on the phone, she hung up on him. He tries to put it behind him; after all, Lisa isn't necessarily known for her warm and inviting nature.

He knocks on the door, and hears Lisa say, "Enter."

He walks in, and she closes her laptop; she has a stern look on her face as she gestures him to take a seat.

"How are you doing today?" she asks; the sound in her voice unnerved him.

Francisco doesn't know how to respond, and swallowed as he tried to speak, "Things are well."

She looks at his casts, and stands up from her seat. Without saying a word, she approaches him and gets uncomfortably close to him. He doesn't know what she is looking at for, if anything, but she writes down notes in her note pad, and continues her inspection.

"What happened?"

"A-A dune buggy accident. I was trying to avoid some–"

"What did the doctors say about your broken bones?" she interrupts.

Francisco tries to recall what the doctor said, but he couldn't remember all the details, "Just to get them removed in a few weeks."

Lisa sighs. Lynn mentioned that he was rather forgetful these last couple of days, but at the moment, she decides that the shock from the accident and possible head injury made him forget anything that the doctor may have mentioned to him.

"Did the doctor prescribe you anything?"

Francisco swallows, and shakes his head.

Lisa doesn't believe him. She grabs the side of his face and stares at him, waiting to see if he would crack, "You know that I can test your blood and determine if you are lying to me, right?"

"He gave me some pain medicine," he said. "It's different from what I usually take though."

Lisa stares into his eyes before letting go of his head, "Do you happen to know the name or have the prescription on you?"

Francisco pulls out the amber bottle and hands it to her. Lisa takes note of the name and dosage of the medicine that he is taking.

She retrieves a bottle of water from a mini fridge, "And that is combined with?" she continues.

"The medicine that you gave me."

He isn't sure what she has her so concerned, but all he could do at the moment is focus on the water bottle in her hands.

"Would you like one?"

He nods. Lisa hands him a bottle and he swallows the contents as quickly as possible; which stuns her.

"Well," she starts. "The reason for the questions was due to Lynn's concern over your behavior changes. She–"

"What behavior changes?! When did she say anything about that?"

Lisa raises her eyebrow and mentally makes a note of his reaction.

"I swear, I'm a little off and suddenly I'm the bad guy! Yes, I'm frustrated, but only because everyone around me acts as if I'm helpless and frustrated because I can't have an off week without people around me assuming that I'm mentally descending into chaos!"

Lisa notices his fingers slightly gripping his hair, she pulls down an eye chart, "Can you read the chart for me please?"

"What?"

"Just close your left eye and read to me the smallest line that you can," she commands.

He complies, "I can read is L-I-L-E-I-Z-K-E-W-L…wait, is that supposed to say 'Lily is cool'?"

Lisa looks over at the chart and confirms that his sight is fine and that her younger sister has been tampering with her eye chart again.

She pulls out a stethoscope, "It isn't intentional, but I will reprimand her later today." She presses the diaphragm by his heart, "Take a deep breath," she instructs him. His heart rate is slower than usual, but she doesn't disclose that to him.

"Is there anything wrong?"

She shakes her head, "No, but as of today, consider your employment temporarily terminated."

Francisco's heart stops, "What?"

"It's temporary, but I can't risk you presenting any sort of danger until we can get this sorted out."

"All because of a few casts? You can't be serious!?"

It isn't because of the casts, but she doesn't want to mention what her real motives were, "Your dominant arm is broken, and you struggle to walk while your leg is in the cast, and aside from the hazard, you will have greater difficulties performing your duties, and I can't risk you or any of the other personnel facing harm based on your current predicament. When you are no longer in casts and consuming the medicine that the doctor prescribed to you, then we can reinstate your employment."


He looks over at the patrons by the concession stand enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. The couples are clearly enjoying themselves and he's sitting around, upset at what happened minutes earlier.

Francisco looks at the skating on the rink. There's no point in him being around anymore, but he doesn't have anywhere to go; he thinks about taking a drive into the city, but he knows that he's just going to be driving around without a destination in mind.

He's disappointed that his relationship is probably ending, especially the way it did, but he's sort of relieved that he doesn't have to worry about her jealousy towards Lynn. Since the beginning of the relationship, he noticed that she can be a bit insecure around her, but he didn't think that it was so bad that she would end it because he got some suggestions from Lynn and because he's not as affectionate as she would like him to be.

"It's not like Lynn is interested in me anyway. Why did you have to be jealous of something that isn't even there?" he asks the empty space next to him. "I'd understand if Lynn didn't respect our relationship or tried to even sabotage us, but she didn't. I should be mad at you, but I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about you pulling my arm, randomly kissing me, or being the reason that my friends didn't talk to me as much," he closes his eyes, "Maybe I am better off not being in a relationship."

"Who are you talking to, mister?"

Francisco turns around and sees a little girl staring at him. He was saying his frustrations and everything that he wanted to say to Mary's face out loud, but to other people, he just looked like some weirdo talking to himself.

"Um…just practicing my lines for a play," he lies to the girl.

He gets up and grabs one last hot chocolate before heading towards the truck. He still doesn't know where he wants to go, so he settles for sitting in the truck and listening to music on his phone.

"I guess this is what I get for having friends," he complains. Francisco groans, "Why am I blaming her? Because I'm mad, and why am I even mad at a girl for a relationship that I barely even wanted," he sighs. He knows that he could have been a better boyfriend or at least told her the truth sooner instead of leading her on for months in a relationship that wasn't going anywhere.

He realizes that he shouldn't be blaming her; she didn't do anything wrong, all she wanted was a boyfriend, and he definitely wasn't that, "I'll apologize to her tomorrow or after she cools down for a bit…"

Francisco sets down the drink and turns on the truck. He pulls out of the parking lot and decides to head home for the night, "There's no point in moping or being out anyway…"

A girl's voice calls out to him from the street, "Hey! Francisco!"

He turns his head, looking for the source of the voice, and he sees Lynn, who is clad in hockey gear, smiles at him and waves at him.

He can't believe that she is out walking in the streets alone. Francisco pulls up next to her, "Do you want a ride?"


Lynn pulls into the parking lot of the casino. She doesn't like coming here unless it's absolutely necessary, but she is the reason that Francisco is currently out of work.

'Me and my big mouth,' she thinks.

Her intention, when she called Lisa, was just to see if she could see what was wrong with him, not temporarily fire him for an undisclosed period of time. Clearly he was angry since he lost his temporary means of financial stability, but she knows the perfect way to fix it.

She steps out of the car, and walks towards the front door. The bright lights and sounds of humans and machine overtake her, Lynn pats her front pocket, telling herself to play until she has enough money to help Francisco and pay her own bills.

As she walks around the casino floor, Lynn tries to calculate how much she will need; it doesn't matter if she is a bit short, she can always come back, but she wants to ensure that she has his money first. Lynn sits down in front of a slot machine, and takes out a quarter. She checks the back to ensure that it isn't her lucky 2004 quarter, and after her brief inspection, she puts the quarter into the slot and pulls on the lever. The reels are spinning, but Lynn tries to not focus on that; all she needs is just the few coins that would come out of this machine to get started.

The slot machine flashed and coins begin to fall into the coin tray. Lynn grabs her coins and walks to another machine; there is no science or thought process in her game playing, just get up, walk around and play whatever strikes her fancy.

She pulls a coin out of her cup and pulls the lever on another slot machine, and once again, coins fall into the tray. Lynn jiggles the coin cup and plays another round before making an attempt at one of the larger games.

Two women step into the casino; one in glasses and one with a large wig. The one in glasses and a large hat keeps her eyes to the floor, as she tries to avoid eye contact with the casino personnel and the woman with the wig struggles to keep up with her partner.

"So explain to me why you do this?" asks Lily as she arranges her wig properly.

Lisa sighs, "Science is underfunded and to ensure proper funding, I sometimes need to take advantage of my knowledge of probability and games of chance."

Lily shrugs her shoulders. She understands her reason why; after all, Lisa can't always count on earning grant money to pay for her experiments and for her well-paid test subjects. Although, the idea that Lisa would actually go into a casino to win a large amount of money rather than write grant proposals is hilarious to the youngest Loud.

"Should I ask about why we need to be in disguise?"

Lisa struggles to think of the right words to tell her younger sister. In the past, she's been accused of counting cards and taking advantage of her knowledge of probability to ensure that she wins, a practice which casinos don't take too kindly of, especially from someone underage. However lately, Lisa has taken to the practice of disguising herself to keep staff from discovering her identity.

"It's a long story, younger sister," Lisa assures her.

The two sisters take a seat and recognize Lynn sitting at the same table. The older sister has a decent stack of chips and has a blank expression on her face as dealer deals out her cards.

"Sixteen," says the dealer.

"Hit me," Lynn says as she hears a snicker from a woman hiding herself in a big hat.

"You've got twenty."

"Hit me."

The women gasp; clearly shocked that Lynn would do such a thing when the dealer was showing a nine. They are both aware that their older sister can be reckless, but she's wagering a lot of money when she can easily win with the cards that she currently shows.

"Twenty-one," said the dealer, shocked by Lynn's luck.

"Yeah!" she screams excitedly.

Lisa is ready to chastise her older sister for her juvenile antics, but she doesn't want Lynn to expose her and Lily.

Lily, in a fake debutant accent, asks, "My, aren't you lucky? Are you gonna play again?"

Lynn stops to think about it, "You know, I wasn't, but why not, you two old ladies are probably good luck charms."

Lily bites her lip, "Of course…"

The three are dealt two cards, and while Lisa tries to think of the possible outcomes when the dealer is showing a king.

"Hit me!" Lynn declares, as she places a one hundred dollar chip on her five and seven."

The dealer raises an eyebrow and hands Lynn her two cards, "Nineteen."

Lily goes along Lynn's confidence and asks for another card, despite showing a sixteen, but she is immediately busted when she is dealt the next card.

Lisa stares at her cards and keeps an eye on the dealer's hands. She has studied all of the techniques, and even taken an online class to learn the tricks of the trade. Unlike her older sister, she doesn't plan on making a large wager for the time being, and instead chooses to focus on the decks in the shoe.

"Hit me!" Lynn declares.

Once again, Lisa is surprised by her sister's reckless gambling habit, but is even more surprised that she dealt a two.

"Alright!" Lynn smiles, and happily takes her winnings from the dealer. She turns to the women, "You gotta play with no fear, that's how you win," she tells her disguised sisters, as she walks away.

The woman in the big hat snorts and continues paying attention to her own cards. The woman in the wig said out loud, "And here I thought she was only good for sports and board games."

"Silence younger sister! I can't focus with you babbling on about our fifth eldest sister."

Lynn walks to the window to exchange her chips. As she receives her money and counts it, she double-checks it to be sure that she didn't accidentally make a mistake, '3500 dollars!? What the hell am I going to do? Nope. Nope. Nope. This is not happening again, Lynnsanity!' She panics. She doesn't need this much money, and she sure as hell isn't going to walk out with an extra thousand dollars in her pockets.

She walks around the casino trying to think of what she could do, and she remembers the mad woman who sat next to her at the blackjack table.

"She was pretty pissed off at me for being lucky and winning, who knows, maybe she'll appreciate it," she convinces herself.

Lynn runs through the crowds of people, machines, and tables and is able to spot the same woman at the same spot, who is angrily slamming her fist on the table.

She taps on the woman's shoulder, "Here," she hands her a thousand dollars, "you seem like you need some luck today."

The woman hesitates to take the money, but her younger friend happily takes the money, "Thank you!"

Lily looks at the money and counts it, "Wow! A thousand dollars!? Why the heck is she just giving this away?"

Lisa growls as the blackjack dealer set down a card and she busts once again. She grinds her teeth, and takes a deep breath before walking away from the table; hoping to calm her head after witnessing her older sister's shenanigans.

"C'mon let's go hit the buffet or something, it's on Lynn."


Woo! The arc is over!

When I planned this, I didn't realize how many chapters were based on just a short time period, especially considering that I usually have the short time jumps in the modern story, but it had to be done to keep the story moving forward.

Throughout the story, I was trying to make it clear that Francisco is not the mushy romantic type that we see with Bobby and Lori, and considering that Lynn is not interested in that sort of stuff either, it works for this pair, but unfortunately for sixteen-year-old Francisco, it just ended with a breakup. Which is fine, but keep this chapter in mind when part two pops up.

There is a story there with Lisa and the casino, and even some of the other sisters and their individual lives as they grew up, but none are planned as extensively as this story. However, those tales are for another day.

Until next time!