Lucy pulls out three invitations from her bag and hands them to her sisters, "The wedding is in less than month. Let me know if you know if you plan on inviting any guests as soon as possible."

Lisa looks at the date on the invitation, "Rather short notice for a wedding, don't you think seventh-eldest sibling?"

Without thinking, Lynn and Lily quickly ask, "Are you pregnant?"

Lucy and Lisa are not amused.

"Really?" asks Lucy, "That's the first thing that both of you think of?"

"What?" Lily shrugs her shoulders, "You've been engaged since forever, and now that you finally pick a date, and it's in less than a month. I'm just saying, it's a little suspicious," she teases.

"Well I say about time," Lynn says with a cheeky smile, "I thought that you and Rocky were never going to get hitched. Doomed forever to be in eternal engagement," Lynn adds.

For years, the soon-to-be newlyweds have been putting off their wedding; first, it was due to school, then she launched her writing career, he tried to continue onto medical school, then they wanted to be financially set, then a nice house, and now they have run out of excuses.

Lily, feigning hurt, asks, "You didn't want us butting in, did you? Is that why we're getting the invitations as late as we are?"

Lisa, not concerned about the date of the wedding, asks, "May I ask if a certain someone is seeing someone romantically?"

Before Lucy could respond, Lily starts, "Does it matter? You know how he says yes, and then at the last minute he shows up without a date and we're stuck hearing him boast about his dating life."

The him in question is Rusty. All the single female Louds know that the unfortunate one that doesn't show up with a date runs the risk of having Rusty's attention all night long. The sisters made a pact to divide the unwanted attention evenly amongst all of them, but the pool of single sisters that can participate has been getting smaller as the years pass.

"So who can we count on to be a part of our pact for this family event?" Lisa asks Lily.

Lily sighs, "Well Luna's a wild card, and Lana and Lola haven't mentioned anyone recently, but you know them; they'll find a way around it."

Lisa mentally notes the sisters that could handle this task. With only four non-committed sisters available to handle the unfortunate task of bearing the groom's brother's romantic interests, the sisters will ensure that they show up with someone regardless.

"And you better not bring that barnyard scientist friend of yours to get yourself out of the running," Lily tells her sister, who is getting a knowing look in her eyes. "Are you serious Lisa?!"

Lisa shrugs her shoulders at the idea, though she isn't sure if she is actually going to go through with it, "What can I say? His research in biotechnology is fascinating, and if it means enduring the smell of animal waste, it's worth it."

Lily turns toward Lynn, "And you just had to get a boyfriend."

"Quit exaggerating, you act like it's the end of the world. Besides, Francisco's isn't guaranteed to show up," Lynn mentions as she looks at the date on the invitation. "It's a Saturday, and I doubt that he's pumped to bring his ten-year-old to a wedding taking place 'as the sun sets'? Seriously, Lucy?"

The sister in question shrugs her shoulders, "I wanted a dark betrothal."

"So how the heck do we know what time to arrive?"

Lisa takes out her phone, "Might I suggest an internet search or at least arriving early to ensure your presence for the ceremony."

Lynn rolls her eyes, "I guess…but yeah, I'm not sure if Francisco if going to want to come or bring Elena with him too."

"The invitation is extended to them as well. Just let me know in advance so that I can let dad and my wedding planner know," Lucy mentions.

Lynn flatly asks, "Gee, I wonder who your maid of honor is gonna be?"


In the cafeteria, Lynn looks around for her friends. Halloween is just around the corner and with the preparations being made, Lynn wants to invite her friends to see the haunted house that she and her family are setting up.

She takes a seat next to Margo and Francisco, "Hey guys," she greets her friends before taking a big bite of her meatball sandwich. With her mouth full, she asks her friends a question, but neither one can figure out what she's saying.

"Lynn, we can't understand you," Francisco complains. "Finish eating, then talk to us."

She swallows the bite of food, "I said. What are you guys doing for Halloween?" she asks again, before taking another bite of her sandwich.

Margo and Francisco look at each other, and while they don't say a thing, they both know what the other is thinking – nothing, they are doing nothing for Halloween.

Margo, knowing that Lynn is probably inviting them out for the night, asks, "What do you have in mind?"

"This," Lynn says, as she takes out her phone and shows the group a photo of a hockey mask-wearing menace wielding a giant chainsaw. "What do you think?"

"Aren't we a little old to be trick-or-treating?" asks Francisco.

Lynn scoffs, "I didn't mean trick-or-treating, I meant this," she shows the two a different photo, "A haunted corn maze. My family and I did it last year and we're doing a haunted house if you guys are interested. I mean, we don't have everything set outside yet, but I can tell you that we're gonnna have monsters, and blood, and spooky decorations – you know, the whole shebang! Let me show you some other pictures that we have."

Francisco looks at the photos that Lynn is showing him and Margo. Each picture is filled with either a different sibling each in a scary costume, bloody decorations, or piles of candy. If you asked either one, the Louds definitely know how to celebrate Halloween properly.

"So what do you say? Do you guys want to come over and celebrate?" Lynn asks.

"It does look fun," Margo says, "sure, I'll see you there."

The girls both turn to Francisco, "What about you?" Lynn asks, "Ready to experience the best Halloween of your life?"

Francisco lightly chuckles, "Sure, why not? Take a few years off of my life," he says, noticing the scared look on Lynn's dad's face.

Lynn laughs, and pats their backs, "That's what I love to hear!" she happily exclaims, before taking out her packed lunch.

"Seriously? You're still hungry?" the two ask Lynn, who is taking a bite of another sandwich.


Francisco looks at the wedding invitation, "October 28th? I'm surprised that Lucy didn't want to wait until the 31st."

Lynn takes a seat next to him, "She wanted to, but we all convinced her that a Tuesday wedding would be stupid." He looks at her in the eye, "Alright, she knew that we would object before we even told her…" He continues to stare, "Okay! She planned it herself. Heck, we didn't even know that she and Rocky were getting married until a few days ago."

He smiles after getting the truth from her, "Well, have fun at the wedding," he tells her, before turning the tv on to watch the Red Wings game.

She grabs the remote from him, and mutes the game, "Are you serious? Don't you want to go? It says here, plus one and I have it circled," she says putting the invitation in his face for him to see.

"I don't know. I don't exactly want to use one of my only days with Elena going to–" Francisco stops talking as he notices Lynn's eyes drift towards the screen.

He turns to see her face better and notices her eyes following the puck. He leans in closer to get her attention and suddenly she screams in delight as the Red Wings score a point over the Predators.

"Wooo!" she screams, before turning back to a surprised Francisco, "How about you go for a few hours? C'mon it's got to be better than sitting around here bored on Saturday night. Plus Elena's invited, I'm sure she'd love to see a gothic wedding."

Francisco looks at her, confused, "What makes you think that? She's never shown an interest in the occult or any of that spooky stuff."

"How do you know? Besides, Lily said something about her wanting to know about Lucy's fortune telling and c'mon! How many kids can say that they've seen a vampire get married?"

"No one! Lucy's not a vampire, no matter how convincing she can be on Halloween," Francisco says, as he recalls the first Halloween that Lynn invited him to their haunted house; he still shudders if he thinks about it for too long.

"Fine! But just for a few hours," she asks, as she pulls out her famous puppy dog eyes.

Francisco tries to look away towards the game, but she manages to snag him in her trap, "Fine, but I'm not making any promises when it comes to Elena, if I can't convince her to go or get Caroline to watch her, then I can't go."

"Deal," she says before pulling him in for a kiss.

He returns the gesture, before feeling her take the remote and turn the game back on. He pulls away from her, and asks, "Seriously?"

"Do you want to miss the game?" she asks before he pulls her back into the kiss.

He gently pushes her onto the couch, and ignores the game in favor of the woman under him, who was wrapping her arms around him. He breaks the kiss and begins to brush his lips against the curve of her neck.

"Don't you dare," she quickly tells him, as she feels his teeth lightly graze her skin.

He chuckles, but ignores her request.

Lynn's phone begins to ring, "Are you gonna answer that?" asks Francisco.

She shakes her head; whoever is calling can wait.

The phone continues to ring, and after six calls, Lynn groans. She has no choice, but to answer to get the nuisance off their backs. She looks at the caller ID, and snaps at her sister, "This better be good Lily," she complains as she gets up from the couch.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

"No," Lynn responds, despite the clear frustration in her voice.

"If it's a hassle I can just call back."

"Just tell me what you want already!"

Lily is quiet for a second, "You don't have to yell. Look, I was wondering if you could call one of Francisco's brothers and see if they would be interested in going to the wedding."

Surprised by the request, Lynn immediately says, "What? No! I'm not going to ask them that! What the heck makes you think that I would even go along with that stupid idea?!"

Francisco gets up to get a bottle of pop, knowing that Lynn is getting too frustrated to continue what they were starting.

"Why not?"

"Lily, no matter what you think Rusty will do, it can't be so bad that you'd be desperate enough to ask a man twenty years older than you to be your date!"

Lily is stunned; she forgets sometimes how much older Lynn and Francisco are, but to know that his brothers are that much older than him, well, that's just more shocking.

She shakes her head, "It doesn't matter, I mean, c'mon! You and everyone else always used to complain about Rusty and his attempts to woo and I've heard enough stories to know that I don't want to risk it."

"No! I don't care. Find someone else!"

"You're being so unfair!"

"I don't care. Lily, unless this conversation is going anywhere, I'm not interested in talking right now," Lynn says through her teeth.

The sound of the buzzer from the tv let Lily know that her older sister was watching a game, and is too busy to hear from her. "Fine, I'll leave you alone. Enjoy your game."

Lynn takes a deep breath, and looks at the screen in hopes of getting her younger sister's stupid idea out of her mind. She can't believe that her sister would suggest such a thing, but she hopes that Lily doesn't make an attempt at going through with her outlandish idea.

"So what was that about?"

"Nothing!" Lynn snaps.

Francisco doesn't say a thing after that; he figures that she will talk when she is ready.

As soon as the commercials came on, "I just can't believe that she is that desperate that she'd want to take Chuy to the wedding than to deal with Rusty! I mean seriously! What the hell? She's capable of getting a date with someone her age, but here she is wanting to get together with a man old enough to be her father. It just feels wrong."

Francisco lets her continue her rant. He knows that sometimes it's easier to let Lynn cool down on her own than trying to change her mind, and based on what he overheard, he knows that Lynn is probably jumping the gun on this wedding date.

He places an arm around her, and she rests her head on his shoulder, "Relax, you already said no, how else would she be able to get a hold of him?"


Francisco looks at the front door of the house. From what Lynn told him, the family has a different theme each year, and from the look of the shadow hiding what he assumes to be a cardboard castle, Francisco guesses that the family is going with haunted Dracula castle.

He pulls out his phone, and looks at the time; he's a little early, but he figures that ten minutes isn't going to cause any harm. He rings on the doorbell, which sends a small shock through his arm.

Lynn, who is dressed in all black, opens the door, "Hey! You're early."

Francisco, who was still grasping his arm, "Cool effect with the doorbell." She raises an eyebrow, unaware of what he is talking about, "So what are you supposed to be?"

Donning a mask, a tricorn hat, a long flowing cape, and a pair of fake guns on her side, she says, "I forgot what Lucy called it, I'm just going to go with an old-timey renegade."

"It looks cool," he compliments.

She smiles and looks at him, "So where's your costume?" she asks, surprised that he showed up in his normal street clothes.

"Oh, I didn't think that you wanted us to dress up, so I didn't," he slowly admits.

At home, Halloween wasn't a big deal, so he wasn't accustomed to wearing any sort of costume, and despite seeing the photos of Lynn and her family dressed up for the celebration, he never put two and two together to actually make an effort in getting a costume.

"Seriously?!" Lynn lightly kicks the floor, before the light bulb goes off in her head, "I can probably find you something in the attic," she pulls his arm, "C'mon let's see if you fit into any of our hand-me-downs."

Surprised, Francisco tries to stop her, "Wait, what about Margo?"

Lynn continues to pull on his arm, "She said that she was running a little late, and will meet us in a bit."

Francisco takes his arm from her, "Lynn, I don't want to dress up. I'm fine. You can have fun without some elaborate costume. I mean, your dad isn't wearing a costume, so it's fine," he tells Lynn, while pointing at her dad.

"He hates Halloween. C'mon! Please," she asks, as she pulls out her puppy-dog eyes.

He tries to look away, but he can't, "Fine…I'll wear a cape or a mask or something, just please stop with the eyes.

"Deal!" she says. "C'mon! I'll find you something upstairs."

"What about Margo?"

Lynn stops before deciding, "Let me text her and then we can go on ahead. Besides, we aren't even open yet."


Francisco parks his truck in the spacious driveway. He is stunned by how secluded and large the venue was for the wedding; a forest in the back, and enough room to have plenty of guests park without it being difficult to maneuver out after the ceremony.

"Nice wedding venue."

"It's Lucy's house," Lynn corrects.

"Wow," Elena says, impressed by the size of the home, "All this from being an author?"

"It probably helps that she's marrying a doctor," she jokes. Lynn knows that at the moment, the lavish home was due to her books, after all, Rocky is still in medical school at the moment.

"It feels weird, being at a wedding ceremony so early in the day," Francisco says, as they walk up to the front door.

Lynn nods and knocks on the door, "She wanted to ceremony to take place 'as the sun sets,' so yeah, I figured that it was easier to just show up early and wait, rather than run late and miss the whole thing."

"I thought that it was to help out," Elena assumes.

"Probably, but Lucy has been planning this day since she was a little kid, so I doubt that she hasn't already hired the best people that she can afford, but it never hurts to lend a helping hand."

Lola, with a terrible vampire accent, greets the visitors, "Welcome to Lucy's castle," she jokes. She clears her throat, "Oh good, fresh eyes! I need someone to tell me if my smoky eye makeup looks good."

The three nod in agreement.

"So did Lucy make you say that greeting?" asks Lynn.

Lola scoffs, "When you take a look at the décor you'll know why, besides the least I can do is play the part."

Lynn can believe it and knowing Lola's love for the dramatic, it's easy to see why the younger sister played around a bit when greeting new guests.

"So does Lucy need help?"

Lola scoffed and pouted, "I wish. Instead, she has her fancy wedding planner who has been here for hours handling everything. Does she not know how long I've been waiting for another wedding to help at?!"

For nearly every wedding ceremony that Lola has been invited to, she has made an effort to play a role in making the big day special; whether it's through picking out the dress, decorations, or planning. However, with Lucy hiring a professional staff, Lola and the rest of the sisters are left to pick up any little task.

"Well there's always next time, Lols," Lynn says in a weak effort to comfort her sister.

"I got to decorate the altar, but that's not enough!" she complains. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go double-check my makeup. I refuse to be one of those bridesmaids that looks terrible in the wedding album."

The trio step out into the backyard stare in awe at the décor as the walk down the stone path. There are lanterns, dark colored bouquets, candelabras on every table, and a myriad of candles at the altar; it truly is in Lucy fashion.

"I can't wait to get some lunch," Lynn says.

"I can't believe your dad was willing to make two meals just for a wedding."

"I can't wait to see everything when the ceremony starts," Elena says as the group walks to their table.

"The décor seems a little creepy, but it seems like it'll work out later tonight," Chuy says as he takes a seat next to Francisco.

Lynn, Francisco, and Elena look at him in surprise, wondering what he is doing at the wedding. As far as they were concerned, they were expecting to see Lucy and Rocky's friends and family members, not Francisco's older brother.

"Chuy," Francisco starts, "What the heck are you doing here? You weren't invited."

"Yes I was. Lynn's sister invited me," Chuy says, pointing at a group of Lynn's sisters.

Elena asks, "Which one?"

"The blonde one," he responds, despite not narrowing the field too much.

"The one in the pink?" asks Elena.

"The one in the blue?" asks Francisco.

Realization dawns on Lynn, "Did Lily ask you?!"

"Yeah, she told me that she was looking for a date, and that she figured that since Francisco was coming to the wedding that I would be a good choice, plus I wouldn't have nobody to talk to," Chuy tells her.

She sighs. She is frustrated that Lily actually went through with this stupid plan of hers, "I'm going to go look for her," she says as she gets up and looks around the backyard for her youngest sister.

"Lynn! I thought that you were waiting for the food?" Francisco asks.

Without saying a thing, Lynn walks towards a caterer, and grabs his tray of hors d'oeuvres and walks off as she searches for her youngest sister.


Francisco walks through the makeshift castle. The sounds of moans, creaks, and wails follow him with nearly every step; he's thoroughly impressed with the amount of work that the family put into the haunted house.

"You guys do this every year?"

Lynn shakes her head, "Nope, our mom barely gave Lucy permission last year. Honestly, I'm happy; Halloween has never been this fun!" She stops in her tracks, "Be careful…this place is booby trapped," she warns him as they finish ascending the stairs.

He whispers, "What sort of traps are there?"

In a normal voice, "Nothing that Lucy or any of us want to put back because we accidentally trip it. There are light sensors, wires on the walls that activate when you touch them, and monsters hidden behind every room. The only safe one is mine and Lucy's but don't tell anyone."

Francisco nods his head and tries to focus on his surroundings. He rarely visits Lynn's home and combined with her warning, he tries to be cautious. He keeps his eyes firmly on the floor to not activate a sensor, but he doesn't notice the pair of eyes staring at him.

A little girl stares at him, "Be careful…there are monsters everywhere…"

He turns around, but doesn't see anyone.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Okay…"

He doesn't know why he feels like he's being stared at, but he figures that he's just paranoid.

Luan, who is harnessed, slowly descends from the shadows and lightly bites Francisco in the neck. He jumps from the shock, and Luan laughs as she disappears into the shadows, "I guess another one bites the dust. Get it?" she laughs until she starts coughing, "I can't stop coughing!"

Lynn yells at the ceiling, "Not funny, Luan!" but all she hears is a menacing laughter. She turns to Francisco, "Sorry about that. What's wrong with you?" she asks him.

Francisco, who is currently on the ground with his knees to his chest, shakes his head, "Nothing, but can we wait here for a bit?"


Lynn walks up to her youngest sister, "Can I talk to you, alone?"

Lily complies and follows her sister. She sees Chuy sitting next to Francisco and Elena and she knows what Lynn wants to talk about. While Lynn made is clear that she wasn't going to help her ask Francisco's brother to accompany her to the wedding, it didn't stop the young Loud from finding him and asking him herself.

The two sisters, hidden away from the other guests, stop at bench in Lucy's backyard garden. Lynn turns to her sister and asks, "What the hell is wrong with you? I tell you not to ask an older man to bring you here and you still go and do it behind my back."

Annoyed, Lily responds, "Excuse me? I'm not your daughter, you can't tell me what to do. And what exactly is so bad about me inviting Chuy to the wedding; he has people to talk to, he's approachable and we know that he's not some weirdo who'll rob Lucy and Rocky blind."

"That's not the point! I said no and you still went and asked him anyway!"

"Because, I didn't want to deal with Rusty," Lily explains, as she points to him, who is flirting with a bored bridesmaid. "None of us like dealing with a single Rusty, so excuse me for striking up a conversation with Francisco's brother and then paying him to come."

"You paid him?"

"Well I wanted to be sure that he'd think about it!" Lily crosses her arms, "I'm an adult, I don't need your permission, and I can invite whoever I want because there's nothing you can do about it."

Lynn watches Lily walk away. She doesn't like not being able to do anything, but there isn't anything that she can do; she can't kick out Chuy, and her siblings will look at her like a madwoman despite her best efforts. She sighs, and decides go back to her table to sit down.

The three family members see Lynn approaching with a scowl on her face and are tempted to ask what happened.

"I take it you didn't find Lily or you couldn't convince her of whatever it is you're trying to convince her of," Chuy said.

She glares at him, "No, I couldn't. She insists that I can't tell her what to do, but she won't listen to what I wanted to say."

"Well she is an adult," Chuy mentions, "and based on the conversation that we had, I can't imagine that she enjoys being told what to do by her older sisters who still see her as an immature child."

"You know what, Chuy, stay out of this…and when the heck did you two talk?!" she snaps.

"On the way over, and the day she asked me to be her plus one," he says innocently.

Noticing the tension in the air, Francisco asks, "Hey Lynn, you've been here before, can you help me find the bathroom?"

The angry glare in her eyes is slightly defused as she looks at him confused, "Why do you need my help?"

As Francisco gets up, he shrugs his shoulders, "I don't want to waste a lot of time searching and it seems rude to ask Lucy when she's busy."

Lynn sighs, "Fine, let's go."

The couple quietly walks into the house and Lynn leads him to the bathroom, "There it is," she tells him and begins to walk away.

He places his hand on her shoulder, "Wait…this isn't why I asked you to come inside. What's going on with you? You're acting weird, now I get that Lily asking Chuy to be her date was strange, but she is twenty, and–"

"She's nineteen, and it still doesn't mean that it's okay!" she interrupts.

"That's still an adult, whether you like it or not! Lynn, you can't tell her what to do, she's going to do stupid things at that age, we've all done it."

"And that's what I'm trying to tell her!"

Francisco stares at her, "It's just a date for a wedding, and chances are nothing is going to come from it."

Lynn folds her arms and glares at him, "I know that Chuy is a nice guy, but I don't want Lily to start this sort of thing. You know what, forget it. I'm going back to hunt down another caterer."

"Is the sort of thing, something you want to talk about?"

Lynn stops in her tracks. She doesn't want to talk about this with him, not now, but rather than leaving him in the dark, she says, "Look…I did some things that I regretted and I don't want the same thing to happen to my baby sister."

Francisco stops and wonders what happened to her. His mind begins to imagine a variety of different things that could derive from a small 'date' with someone significantly older, but he isn't sure what Lynn actually had in mind or endured.

"Lynn, you know that Chuy isn't going to–"

"I know that! But one nice guy doesn't mean that they all are! Even if it is some stupid play date," she says with tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

He hears footsteps approaching, and he pulls her into the closest door that he could open. Her breathing quickens and Francisco holds her close.

"What are we doing in the closet?" she asks, as he has her wrapped around his arms.

He whispers, "I thought that I heard someone coming, so I thought that I save you the trouble of explaining it to them, especially since we both know that you don't like showing these sorts of things to others. Look, you don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to; heck, you can even just stand her and cry–"

Lynn scoffs as she wipes her eyes, "I'm not crying. I just got dust in my eyes."

Francisco kisses the top of her head, "Alright then."


Lynn waits as Francisco stays seated in the corner. For the last few minutes, she has been staring at him, but all he keeps doing is looking down on the floor with his legs drawn up to his torso, muttering to himself. She isn't sure what he's doing, and she is getting tired to just sitting around waiting for him to get up.

"Francisco, do you plan on just sitting there all night?"

He shushes her, and goes back to muttering.

She didn't appreciate him ignoring her, and then something finally dawned on her; was he scared?

She walks up to him and places a hand on his back, "C'mon, you're not scared are you?"

He looks up at her confused, "What? No, I'm not scared. I just wanted to take a break."

Lynn doesn't believe him. They've been waiting long enough and she is ready to continue to get his makeshift costume.

"Well I guess you can catch up to me, you know, when you're not scared," Lynn says, before she gets up and tries to walk away. When Francisco doesn't move, "Are you serious!? What the heck!? We've been sitting here forever!"

"No we haven't, you just can't wait more than three minutes," Francisco says, "Look, you can go on ahead and I'll catch up."

She sits down next to him, "Fine, we can wait; besides, Margo hasn't texted me that she's coming, so I guess we still have some time."

Francisco nods, "Okay, then."

Lynn places her legs against the wall, and looks up at the ceiling, bored as she pretends to throw a ball into the air. She turns over to Francisco and he's still sitting his eyes closed. Lynn begins to hum and she notices that she grabbed his attention. With a sly smile, she speaks up, "Sorry, but I can't just sit around."

"I know. It's like torture for you isn't it?"

She nods. She's sick of sitting around, and no matter how little time has passed; she can't help but feel like it's been an eternity.

"You're the one who said we can wait, so what's wrong?" he asks.

"That's what I should be asking you, Mr. Too-Scared-to-Even-Walk."

He rolls his eyes, "Well, excuse me, Miss Too-Impatient-to-Wait-More-Than-A-Minute, but some of us like to be considerate."

Lynn scoffs, "Yeah, right! I'm the one who suggested waiting for Margo, not you."

He looks over at her, "Well, then don't complain if we're waiting longer because of you."

She looks back at him, with a small smile on her face, "Fine. But we're going in the next two minutes, whether you're ready or not."

"Can you actually keep quiet for that amount of time?" he jokingly asks.


Chuy looks around as guests begin to walk into the backyard. The couple has been gone for some time, "They sure are taking a while," Chuy says out loud. "I mean, I understand that the house is large, but I didn't think that they would be taking so long."

Elena nods in agreement.

"So how's school going so far?" Chuy asks. "Your dad mentioned something about you starting French lessons."

"Oh yeah, I just started," Elena perks up. "Although, I don't think he's happy since I'm still taking piano, ballet, and art lessons."

"I don't see why? He played a lot of sports as a kid, although not all of them at once. Anyway, remind me to tell your uncle to see you when he gets back from Orlando," Chuy laughs.

Like Elena, Kiké has a knack for performing and language hobbies, and because of his travels, it's easy for him to pick up the skill while he runs around the world with his 'interesting' foreign friends doing odd jobs.

Elena is confused, "He's not in Orlando, he's in London."

Chuy raises an eyebrow, "What? How do you know that?"

He isn't sure where Elena got this information from; Kiké rarely calls the family and he is sure that Francisco wouldn't tell his daughter anything about her uncle's 'work' but he isn't sure how else his niece would know where her uncle is.

"Elena, mija, where was the last thing you remember about your tío Kiké?"

Elena tries to recall, "I don't remember much, just Richard Kingsley and people calling it a cat house."

Now, he's a little concerned. Richard Kingsley is the fake name that Kiké likes to use when he's doing shady things, and Chuy knows that his brother would not tell his daughter anything about her uncle's life. However, there was only one other person who knew about that name without ever being told.

"Okay…" Chuy says unsure of what to think. "You know what; maybe you should find a classmate to practice with, you know your uncle, he's never really around." He looks around to see if anyone is approaching the table. "Elena, how do you know about Richard Kingsley?"

Elena nervously bites her bottom lip, "I don't know…I think I heard it once…"

Chuy nods his head and decides to ask, "Can I ask you something? Were you really surprised when you found out about your dad and Lynn?"

Elena isn't sure why he asked that, but tells him, "Yeah, why?"

With a soft expression on his face, he nods, "Just curious, but I promise that this can just be between the two of us."

Elena is confused by her tío, but decides that not ask him anything. She doesn't know how she knew the information that she gave him, she just knows that it happens sometimes and now always with her tío Kiké.

The sit in silence as they watch more and more guests arrive, Elena turns to her uncle, "Alright, now it's my turn to ask you something; is there a reason that you agreed to being Lily's date to this wedding?"

Chuy coughs out his water, "Date? It's not a date," Elena believes the flustered man, "She found me online and we started talking and then she brought up the wedding."

"But you don't know her, why would you agree?"

Chuy looks over at Lily, who is currently taking photos with her oldest sister, he isn't sure why he agreed either. He debated on whether it was because of what Lily said about her sisters and that rusty-haired man or because of the money that she offered him, or because she said that Francisco was going to be attending as well.

"She mentioned that you and your dad were coming, and I figured, why not? I could use a night out."

"I don't think that most men choose a wedding for a night out."

The two notice Francisco and Lynn walking up to the table.

"What took you both so long?" asked Chuy, who notices the wrinkles on Lynn's dress and a smidge of red lipstick on the corner of Francisco's lips.

The two take a seat and Francisco rubs his knee, "My knee was acting up, so we waited until it felt better."

"Yeah, and I needed to reapply some makeup and somehow we took an hour to find Lola to help me out," Lynn complains.

The older brother nods, pretending to believe Lynn and Francisco's lie. He turns to Elena, "Hey, can you do me a favor and get me some water?"

Elena nods and walks away, Chuy turns to his younger brother and hands him a napkin, "You're lucky that it's getting dark out and the décor is black," he whispers to the two.

Francisco isn't sure what his brother means until Lynn gestures him to use the black napkin to clean the lipstick mark.

Chuy smiles, and thanks Elena as she returns with a water bottle.


The two friends walk into the attic and Lynn retrieves a cape, a wolf mask, and a lantern from a box, "To guide you on your journey this evening," she says in a somber voice.

In the same voice, he says, "Okay…" as he puts the costume items.

Lynn's phone rings, "Alright, Margo's here! Let's go meet her downstairs."

Francisco follows after her. As the two head down into the second floor hallway, he looks up to make sure that Luan doesn't surprise him again.

"Don't worry," the jokester says, "I never tell the same joke twice."

Lynn turns to him, "Don't believe her. She keeps telling the same joke until she's sure that she's happy with it."

"Be careful…there are monsters everywhere…"

Francisco points the flashlight on his phone at Luan, "Al-bright, al-bright, I won't bite you in the neck again."

He can't believe how much his heart is racing from just walking upstairs to the attic; he will definitely give points to the Louds on producing a quality haunted house.

Lynn runs up to Margo, who is dressed as a witch, "About time you got here!"

"I had to take my cousins trick-or-treating before they went to bed."

"You should've brought them here," Lynn suggests. "They would have loved it, right Francisco!"

He nods, "Hey Margo."

"Hey. Nice costume," she compliments.

Lynn wraps her arm around his shoulder, "Can you believe that he didn't bring a costume? I mean, who celebrates Halloween like that?"

"Teenagers," Francisco responds.

Lynn scoffs, "Boring ones."

Lucy walks up to her sister, "Lynn, Lori wants a picture before we officially open our haunted house."

Francisco and Margo stare a Lucy's costume; her Victorian clothes are somewhat torn, her teeth are sharp and her skin is splattered with realistic-looking blood. As Lynn heads towards her family, Lucy turns towards the teenagers and stares intently at them before turning heading in the direction of her family.

"Did you feel her eyes staring into your soul?" he asks Margo.

She nods. Margo turns and asks Francisco, "What happened to your neck?"

His cheeks turn red as he places his hand on the spot where Luan bit him. He mumbles to himself as he walks away, but Margo can't hear him.


The sun is about to set and Lisa calls all the guests to take a seat so that the ceremony can commence. The lights turn off around the guests, prompting the young children to cry and the bridesmaids to turn on all, but one of the candles at the altar. The organ music begins to play, lanterns turn on, and while Rocky waits for Luan's daughters run down the aisle tossing black flower petals, so that Lucy can follow after them with her father in arm.

"I'm not ready for my little girl to get married," Lynn Sr. sobs.

All Lucy can do is smile. Despite having walked three daughters down the aisle and seeing four of his children get married, he is always an emotional mess as his children enter another stage in life.

Rita clears her throat and begins. In the past, Pop-Pop was the one who officiated the weddings, however, after he passed, his daughter took over his role.

Lynn stares at her family members; Luna playing music, the twins and bridesmaids smiling next to Lucy, her dad still crying his eyes out, Lily taking photos, Lisa counting down the minutes for the sun to officially set, and Lincoln, Lori, Leni, and Luan with their respective families.

Rita continues to talk while Lynn looks out at the sun to see if Lisa was right about the time and if her mom could finish everything so that the couple could get their sunset kiss. The couple each takes a lit candle from the maid of honor and from the groomsman, and light the last candle left untouched by the bridesmaids.

Lynn's eyes wander towards the candles, and stay fixated until a pair of bats swoops in carrying a ring box. Rita slowly takes the box from the bats and reveals a pair of wedding rings for the bride and groom.

She hands the couple the rings, "Rocky, do you take Lucy, as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do."

"And Lucy, do you take Rocky as your lawfully wedding husband?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife, Rocky, you may kiss the bride."

The sun sets and the couple seal the ordeal with a kiss.

The guests cheer for the newlyweds, as they walk down the aisle together. The younger children play around with the flower pedals, and DJ Lisa heads to her computer to play music for the guests as they enjoy their meals.

Caterers begin handing out meals for the guests and Lynn happily licks her lips, "Alright, I'm starving."

"You just ate a few hours ago," Francisco reminds her.

"So? I can get hungry again."

Everyone begins to laugh, until Lily takes a seat. The two sisters quietly utter pleasantries before focusing on their meals. The three family members quietly eat as well, afraid of rocking the boat. All around them they can hear the other guests enjoying themselves, and soon they can hear Rusty talking one of Lucy's friend's ear off. He mentions that his last 'relationship' was a girl from Canada, he embellishes his job, and how he has been on this new workout regiment, despite still being lanky.

Hearing all that reminds Lynn of how annoying Rusty can be when he tries to woo women. While she doesn't approve of her sister's antic to invite Chuy to the wedding, she figures that it's a happy occasion and they shouldn't be souring the moment because of a fight.

Lynn looks over at Lily, "I just needed the reminder."

The younger sister laughs, "How could you forget?"

As the guests begin to finish their meals, the lights are dimmed and a spotlight shines down on the newlyweds. Lisa announces to everyone, "Ladies and gentleman, young humans and various supernatural forces, may I present, Mr. and Mrs. Spokes."

The guests cheer as the couple walks onto the dancefloor for their first dance. Everyone watches the couple as they move along to the song, and when Lisa transitions to another song, the rest of the family joins the couple.

Francisco offers Lynn his hand, "Do you want to dance?"

She snickers, "Since when do you dance in public?"

"One-time offer, take it or leave it. I'll give you ten seconds to decide," he warns her, as he sets the timer on his watch.

Lynn stares at him, and keeps count of the time. As time runs out, she takes his hand and says, "Sure. I'd love to."

The timer goes off and Chuy and Elena laugh. The two head to the dance floor, and Lynn grabs one last appetizer before the two begin dancing.

"How many years did you say they were engaged?" Francisco asks.

Lynn shrugs her shoulders, "I forgot. I think since they finished undergrad or after she sold her first book. All I know is, after years of dating it's nice to know that they were actually going to go through with it."

"There's couples out there that take it nice and slow, nothing weird about that."

"Yeah, I guess, but to be engaged for so many years. I got the dating, but still," she jokes.

He laughs, "Alright, that's enough. Don't be rude. It's their wedding day."

She playfully rolls her eyes, "Alright."

He notices Chuy and Lily talking at their table, and he pulls Lynn closer to whisper in her ear, "Are you okay?"

She turns to see her younger sister at the table. Lynn takes a deep breath, "Yeah…let's just have a little more fun, some food, and then we can go."

As the night wore on, the celebration began to draw to a close. On their way out, Lynn finds an unguarded tray of bacon-wrapped scallops, "Alright! Snacks for the road!"

"Lynn, put the tray back," Francisco tells her.

"Fine, the tray can go, but where's my purse?"


Look at that! Lucy finally got married, and it only took over twenty chapters since I first mentioned it, that took me long enough. Anyway, the jumps are about to get bigger in the upcoming chapters (I wonder if I should start dating these chapter to help you guys out?), but nothing too dramatic.

As always, thank you for the read, and I look forward to the next chapter.

To answer Pedroxmv97, while the chapters are usually planned and outlined, sometimes a better idea comes along, and can shift things around a bit. I try not to shift things too much, because it can mess with the what I have planned, however the letter was always meant to be found by Lynn, but Francisco repeating the whole leave something important behind in his room was an add-on due to wanting to have some things that happened in the past happen in the present scenes.