Lynn paces back and forth around the living room; it's almost time again for her dad to call. For the last couple of weeks, her dad has called every Friday and asked the same question; even all her siblings have been asked too, but no one seemed to be interested last time she checked.

'Thinking about retirement…thinking about retirement…thinking about retirement…'

Those words kept bouncing around Lynn's head. She can't believe that after all these years, her father is ready to step away from the restaurant and enjoy his golden years. 'What would he do?' Lynn shakes her head, that isn't important; the important thing is who is going to take over.

Lynn knows that she doesn't want to do it, but it's not like anyone else wants to either.

Lori is off doing her thing in Great Lakes City and probably won't quit her job, even if she used to help dad with some of the bookkeeping. Leni is always running around and is really happy as training specialist for Reinenger's. Even as she thought about all of her siblings, she knows that none of them have shown interest running a restaurant.

Her phone rings – it's her dad.

"Hey Dad."

"LJ, I was hoping to know if you made up your mind about the restaurant."

For the last couple of weeks, she would tell her dad that she would think about the prospect of taking over the restaurant, but in reality, she hasn't put much thought into it. In fact, she isn't even sure if she even really wanted to take over; she doesn't have much restaurant experience and while going from zero to one hundred is normally in her wheel house; that does not mean ruining her dad's dream.

"Well…"

"Cause I talked to your siblings and none of them seem interested. I mean, Lisa I knew wouldn't want to leave science, Lincoln is enjoying art, Lily is starting to devote some time to her video game coding, Luna–"

"Dad, I get it. So there's no one else left?" her heart pounds as she say that.

"Just you, my little namesake."

She knows that he is trying to pull at her heartstrings, but she isn't going to let it work. She doesn't know the first thing about running a restaurant; there's no way she can just take over without screwing it up somehow.

"I'll think about it…"

That is all she can say. She can't bring herself to say no just yet, but saying yes is definitely not something that is going to be happening.

"Oh…" That's all Lynn hears from her father, until he speaks, "Well, let me know if you change your mind."

"Yeah…I'll let you know," she says before hanging up.

She can't believe her siblings; all of them already told him no, and now she's the one stuck with her dad constantly asking if she wants to take over.

Lynn takes a seat and pulls out her phone; she searches for the sibling group chat to message her siblings about what she just learned.

Francisco walks in the room and sees her texting with an angry look on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just my dad asking if I want to work in the restaurant and inherit it or something; he asked all my siblings, and apparently I'm the last one left to ask."

That isn't a surprise; Francisco is well aware of Mr. Loud's impending retirement after noticing the occasional phone calls that Lynn received from her dad, though he didn't know that he was going to just hand the restaurant over to one of his children. Francisco knew that Lynn has been dodging giving him an answer, and by the sound of her voice, he can tell that she forgot to answer her dad, and is now forced to bear his constant pleads.

"Wait a minute, your dad is offering you a job at the restaurant, maybe inherit it and you don't want it? Why?"

Lynn crosses her arms and pouts, "I don't want to work at the restaurant. I'm fine with what I'm doing now."

"Really? You like working a part-time job and gambling better?"

As soon he finished asking, he realized what he said; Francisco knows that he doesn't bring up her gambling as a way to supplement her income, and while he still dislikes it, he stays quiet to maintain peace.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying that maybe it would be nice to have a better job, and your dad is nice enough to help you; you should take it."

She scowls, "Maybe it would be nice for you to mind your own damn business!"

He is surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, "Look, I'm just being nice and pushing you to do better for yourself. I doubt you want to be whatever the hell your current job is for the rest of your life, and I sure as hell don't want to see you gamble at the casino whenever the mood strikes you!"

There he said it; it has never been a secret that he dislikes her gambling, but he feels as though he has to remind her about it. Also, she's getting a nice opportunity and he would hate to see her blow it just because she's happy with how things are now.

"I'll fucking give it up, when I feel like giving up!"

Lynn slams the door as she takes a seat in the backyard. She is fuming and doesn't want to deal with Francisco or even see his face or hear his voice at the moment. She knows that it's a better opportunity, but what's the point in changing what isn't broken in her life; she's doing well financially and she has plenty of free time to whatever she pleases and she's happy with it.

"I knew that he hated me gambling…" she mutters to herself as she crosses her arms and taps her foot incessantly.

"What's that neighbor-ette?"

Lynn turns around to see Jackson with a scythe in hand, "It's a little early for Halloween, dontcha think?"

He smiles, "No, no neighbor. I'm just trimming my grass. What has you so upset at the moment?"

"Nothing…"

Jackson steps closer to the fence and looks at her, "Lynn, I know that we haven't talked for long, but you know that you can come to me for anything, right?"

She stays quiet, but realizing that staying silent isn't doing her any good, she gives in and tells him, "My dad is thinking about retiring."

The old man stays quiet. He isn't sure what is bothering her about her father's retirement, and he waits patiently before she continues, "And he wants one of us, my siblings, to take over the restaurant."

"That's sweet; he wants it to go onto the second generation."

"Yeah, yeah, it's sweet and all, but all of my siblings backed out."

"All of them? So no one is interested?"

Lynn shakes her head, "No. One's an author, another's a writer for some tv show, another is a crew member on a professional pit crew, and another sister is taking a stab at going into politics. Of course none of them are interested in running a restaurant."

"So what's stopping you from taking over?" he asks as he cuts the long grass beneath him.

She goes silent. She doesn't have a good reason for why she doesn't want to take over, other than just because, "I don't know…" She takes a deep breath and looks into the house before turning back to Jackson, and in a whisper, "Can I tell you something?"

He nods, "Of course," he whispers back.

"I haven't has a stable job for as long as I can remember," she admits.

Jackson is confused, "Hold on, I thought that you were Elena's coach a few years ago?"

"I was, but the only reason I stuck around is mostly because I thought, 'Hey! This is my favorite thing as a kid. It's perfect!' that and Francisco. If not I would have left much sooner."

"So why have you been leaving your jobs?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Boredom. Hate them. Not what I really want to do. Something! I mean I barely keep a job for more than a couple of weeks before leaving."

Jackson can see her getting frustrated, "So I can assume that you're hesitating on taking this job because you think that you'll quit as well?"

Lynn nods her head, "Yeah. I mean I don't want my dad to just hand me the place and then I don't even bother hanging onto it. At that point, he might as well just sell the restaurant instead."

"Well, there is a way for you to see without a commitment."

"How?" asks Lynn.

"Ask to try it out for a week, or whatever your usual employment time is, and if it doesn't work out then at least you tried."

It isn't a bad idea, but she doesn't want to commit to something with her father; she can already imagine him going overboard and trying to hand her the restaurant as soon as she makes the proposition.

"That's not a bad idea…I'll think about it, thanks Jackson."


The girls step outside into the backyard; it's the weekend, not that it mattered, considering that it was summer, but the sisters still treat it just as special as they did during the school year. They grab some of their toys and begin their afternoon of merriment; Lori and Leni set up a tea party, Luna and Luan grab their puppets and cardboard stage, and Lynn runs straight to the tree in an effort to climb it.

The youngest sister tries to grab a hold of the tree, but she continues to slip off despite her best efforts. She makes another attempt as she clutches to the loose bark, but she tumbles back onto the grass.

"Lynn, sweetie," Rita calls out from the garage, "Stop trying to climb the tree, you're going to hurt yourself again."

The toddler isn't a stranger to injuries; everyday, the three-year-old makes a habit of climbing onto something, jumping off of said thing and, if the parents aren't attentive, breaking something; however, she still doesn't seem to learn her lesson.

Lynn doesn't listen to her mom and keeps attempting to climb the tree until Lori yells out loud, "Mom! Lynn's trying to climb the tree again!"

Rita steps out of the garage, and heads towards the tree; grabbing the toddler before she falls and breaks her arm again, "What are we going to do with you?" she asks the girl, before setting her down. "Why don't you go play with your sisters instead? That'll be fun."

The girl runs off and goes to see Luna and Luan's puppet show. Rita heads back to the garage, the two girls are laughing amongst themselves, and Lynn decides that she can have fun with them, "Can I play?"

The girls don't have enough puppets, but Luan has the bright idea to make Lynn an audience member instead, "Look, Luna! We have someone to try out our act on."

"But I wanna play with the toys!"

"They're puppets," Luan corrects, "and we don't have enough," she tells her little sister. "Just sit down and enjoy the show."

Lynn complies. She watches as her two older sisters hide underneath the cardboard stage; a bunny and musician puppet pop out from under the stage, the bunny starts, "Hey Mick Swagger! What sort of music are balloons afraid of?"

The musician shakes his head, "I don't know, luv. What sort of music are balloons afraid of?"

"Pop music!" the bunny laughs and Mick Swagger joins in.

When neither sister hears laughing from the audience they try out another joke, "What makes pirates such good singers?" the Mick Swagger puppet shrugs his shoulders, "They can hit the high C's!"

The puppets laugh again, but neither girl underneath the stage notices Lynn as she runs towards them and tries to pile on top of the puppets. The youngest one laughs, but her two older sisters aren't amused as they notice that their stage is now bent out of place because of Lynn.

The two complain and Lori runs over to see what has the three fighting and yelling at one another. Lori whistles loudly before she breaks up her sisters, "What's going on?!"

Luan, who is clutching tightly to her puppet, "Lynn broke our stage!"

"And she jumped on us," Luna complains as she tries to massage her wrist.

Lori scowls at the toddler, "You need to apologize."

"Why?!"

"Because you broke their stage."

"I didn't mean to!" Lori scowls at her youngest sister, and Lynn complies, "I'm sorry," she says with her eyes facing the grass.

Lori turns to the other sisters and waits for them to accept the apology; neither one is convinced that Lynn actually means it, so they begrudgingly accept in an effort to get things back to normal.

The oldest sister walks away, but she notices Leni staring behind her. Lori turns around and sees Lynn following her, "What are you doing?"

"I wanna play!"

Lori is hesitant to let her join; she and Leni are having a nice tea party with one another, but delicate teacups combined with Lynn's history of roughhousing and she can already imagine that their tea party is going to end up like the cardboard stage.

"You can't, you're too little," Lori says in an effort to keep Lynn away.

The youngest sister scowls, "No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are," Lori notices that Lynn is beginning to ball her fists, "Alright, I'll let you in, if you can…" she tries to think of something that Lynn can't do, "hop on one foot for a minute."

It isn't nice, but she knows that Lynn isn't able to do so, and at least it looks like she's being nice by giving Lynn a chance to earn her way into the tea party. The youngest sister attempts to hop on one foot, but she falls; she keeps trying over and over again, but fails each time.

After the last fall, Lynn gets frustrated, "I can't do it!"

"Sorry," Lori says, "That means you can't join us," she mentions before turning around to take her seat.

Lynn is angry, and growls as she charges at her sister, "Let me play!"

Lori tries to get Lynn off of her, "No! You're gonna break something!"

The two go back and forth as the other sisters watch, none of them wanting to get involved until they hear Lori yelling that Lynn has a hold of her hair. Rita hears the sounds of yelling, and looks at the backyard, where she spots her five daughters fighting.

Rita runs over, "Break it up! Break it up!"

She takes a hold of Lynn, and turns to the other four, "What's going on?"

The five girls begin telling their mother what happened, and while Rita can't get a complete sentence out of any of them, she is able to piece together what happened, "Girls, that's enough," she looks down at Lynn, "I think it's time for you to apologize and then you're going upstairs to take a nap."

"But I'm not sleepy!"

"I'm sorry, but you're not playing nice, so you can't play with your sisters," she sets down the toddler, "Do you have something to say?" Lynn shakes her head, and Rita sighs before scooping her daughter back into her arms, "I'm sorry, Lynn, but you until you learn to play nice, you have to go back inside."

Lynn squirms in her arms, "I don't wanna! I wanna play outside!"

Rita takes the toddler back into the house, leaving the older girls to play peacefully.


"Oh, I'm so excited," the Loud patriarch says to himself as he stirs his soup.

The other employees in the kitchen look at their boss, for the last couple of days he has been so excited about Lynn Jr. coming to take over the restaurant; even if his employees have to constantly remind him that it is a trial run and that nothing is set in stone yet.

"Now I know that it may be a little rough in the kitchen for the next few weeks, but I know that I can count on you guys to keep things running smoothly."

Rob, one of the kitchen's cooks, asks, "Does Lynn happen to have any professional experience?"

Lynn Sr. doesn't answer. However, Rob is right, he can't just toss his daughter into the kitchen with almost no professional experience, "Don't worry, she's a quick learner," he assures his crew.

The three look at each other, but can't speak up before he hears the door bell ring.

Lynn walks into the restaurant; she is nervous about messing up, "I can do this," she tells herself, but her heart is still pounding. "It's just a trial run. If it doesn't work out, then Dad finds someone else; that was the deal."

She asks one of the busboys where her dad is, and he points her to the kitchen. She walks through the door, where her dad quickly spots her.

He gives her a hug and proudly wraps his arms around Lynn's shoulder, "Everyone, can I have a minute?" The crew stops what they were doing and look at their boss, "I'd like you all to meet my daughter, Lynn Jr."

The men all stare at her.

Lynn Sr. begins introducing the men to his daughter, "That's Greg, he's my right-hand man," he points to the man by the dishwasher, "That's Pete and over there," he points to long-haired man, "That's Rob, our cook."

Pete speaks up, "I thought Lynn Jr. was your son."

"Hey!" Lynn says offended at the comment.

Rob raises his hand, "To clarify what Pete is probably trying to say, we thought because of the Jr. that you were his son." He turns to the elder Lynn, "No, offense Mr. Loud, but you once called Lincoln your daughter, so we weren't sure anymore."

Greg looks at Lynn and turns back to his boss, "So she has no experience in a professional kitchen?"

"Well, the were a few stints when she was growing up, but she can learn," Lynn Sr. says confidently.

"I guess…"

Lynn scowls at that. She understands that not having experience is a hindrance, but he doesn't need to act like a snob just because he is a professional cook.

Rob and Pete whisper and snicker to each other, and Lynn ask, "What? Do you guys wanna say that I'm not worthy of being in this kitchen with you guys either."

Pete flatly responds, "No, Greg wasn't a real cook when he started, but now he's teasing you."

Greg rolls his eyes and Rob continues to snicker.

"Well," Lynn Sr. says, "I'm glad that we got introductions out of the way, but LJ we should go into my office, so we can finish talking."

Lynn sighs and follows her dad to his office, "Are they always like that?"

"Oh, they mean well, LJ. It's just like when you kids were little and you used to tease each other."

"I guess, so what did you want to talk about?"

The elder Loud hands her a book and a variety of binders, "These are all the recipes for everything that we make in the restaurant. I'll need you to get started learning those before I let you in the kitchen."

"What?! Are you serious? I have to study?!" Lynn questions as she grabs the book and skims through the pages, "There's got to be like a hundred recipes."

"I have you make sure that you know what you're doing. I can't just send you in with no prior knowledge. There's recipes, ordering guides, the numbers of some local repair companies, and some extra info that you'll might need."

Lynn stops on a page, "I think I know how to make mac and cheese bites."

Lynn Sr. takes the book from her, "What sort of cheese goes in the cheese blend? How hot is the oil to fry them in? How many bites are in an order?"

Lynn doesn't know how to answer any of those questions, "Okay, you made your point."

"LJ, please, I want you to take this seriously. Now I know that you only wanted to try this for a short time to see if it would be a good match, but I don't want to send my little bird in without a 'game plan'," he chuckles at his attempt at an athletic pun.

Lynn gives a weak smile, "Alright, how long do I have to learn everything?"

He pulls her into a hug, "See how much you can learn in a week, and then come back so I can test you."

"Alright, I guess…wait, what kind of test is it?"

"Oh, nothing big, just a general kitchen skills test where you make one appetizer for me and all of the employees," he says somewhat nervously say.

"By myself?!"

"No, you'll have the help of the others, but you'll also need a…"

Lynn stops paying attention as she stares through all of the words in the numbers; her eyes begin to drift away from the pages and towards a speck on the floor.

"Got it?"

She looks up, "Uh…yeah…just a few questions."


Lynn Sr. gathers the ingredients for his famous chocolate chip cookies. He figures that a nice day deserves a treat for everyone. He hears footsteps behind him; he's sure that his wife and daughters are outside and Lynn and Lincoln are napping upstairs, but he can't ever be sure with his youngest daughter.

He turns around and his suspicions are confirmed when he sees his youngest daughter trying to climb onto the counter using the drawers, "Lynn Jr. what are you doing down here? It's nap time."

She doesn't listen and opts to continue climbing, but her dad grabs a hold of her. Lynn Sr. sighs as his daughter squirms in his arms, "Lynn Jr. I know that you don't like napping, but it's for your own good," he tells the toddler, who is currently facing away from him. He brings her up to his eyes, "Are you gonna be a good girl?"

She bops him on the nose; giggling as he yelps a bit.

He wants to be upset, but it isn't going to do much for a three-year-old that barely likes to listen. Unlike her older sisters, Lynn is a ball of energy all by herself; she climbs, refuses to sit still, and has a hard time playing with other kids, "What are we going to do with you?"

Lynn Sr. takes her back upstairs to her room and sets his daughter down in her bed, "Let's try this one more time, okay?" He waits for her to close her eyes, but all she does is stare at him with a big smile. "I mean it. You have to take a nap," he tells her.

"No!" she yells.

He slowly steps backwards away from her, but Lynn hops out of bed and follows after him. Lynn Sr. closes the door, and sighs in relief, deciding that she'll be fine, and can eventually wear herself out.

"Dad!" she screams as she bangs on her door. "Dad! Dad!"

She continues to yell for his attention until he gives in; deciding that keeping her next to him is easier than risking her waking her baby brother.

"Okay," he sighs, "if you aren't going to sit still maybe you can just join me in the kitchen until you're ready for a nap."

He grabs Lynn and places her in a chair that he can see her from, but once again, she squirms as she attempts to escape her seat. Lynn Sr. turns around and sees her about to fall off of the chair. He quickly jumps to catch her and sighs in relief as he keeps his daughter from injuring herself.

Lynn Sr. sighs in relief, "Well, maybe I should sit here with you," he suggests, as he places her on his lap. He places the bowl from the mixer in front of them, "First, we need butter," he tells her as he hands her the softened butter sticks.

Lynn tosses them in, wrapper included.

He takes out the butter and unwraps them in front of her, "See, like this." The girl nods, "Then we need brown sugar," he shows her the box, and empties the contents into the bowl, "and regular white sugar," he pours the measured sugar in.

He gets up from his seat and takes her and the bowl to the mixer. He leads her hand to the lever and they move it to start the mixer. Lynn watches in amazement as the paddle moves the ingredients, while her dad adds the vanilla and eggs.

Before Lynn attempts to stick her fingers into the mixer, he asks, "Do you want to add something?" he asks, showing her a small bag of chocolate chips.

"Yeah!" she screams as she takes the chocolate chips from him.

Lynn Sr. quickly adds the flour and baking soda, and he measures out some chocolate chips for her to add, but rather than wait for her dad, Lynn adds the whole bag's contents into the mixer.

"Well…I guess we'll have extra chocolatey chip cookies then."

He turns off the mixer and grabs his daughter to take her to the oven, "First we have to set it to the right temperature," he tells her. He point at the knob that controls the oven's temperature and she turns it as far as she can.

Lynn Sr. sets it back to the correct temperature, and begins to scoop out some dough balls onto the baking sheet, "See you can do it too," he says as he hands her the scoop. Lynn grabs the dough with her hands and smashes it down onto the baking sheet, "Or that works too," he tells her as he gives her a kiss on her nose.


Lynn rolls out the dough for the pie. She has done this before, but she has never had to cook so quickly before. Usually, she would take her time, cooking may have been something that she doesn't mind doing, but she never thought that she would be doing it professionally.

The soft sounds of sizzling are in the air and Lynn looks over to see her cherries are still cooking in the sauce pan, "Crap!"

Elena and Jackson are sitting at the dining room table, as they create notes based on Lynn's culinary creations. For the past couple of hours, the two have been seated trying every dish that Lynn has presented in front of them.

"Why did we agree to do this?" whines Elena, who is stuffed after sampling so many different dishes.

"To be supportive. Now would you say that the Lynn-ger chicken is a little rare or is your's properly cooked?"

Elena looks at Lynn, who appears to be frazzled, "It is a little rare," she says, distracted by Lynn's anxious energy.

Lynn goes back to rolling the pie crust, when a drop of sweat falls on the crust, Elena whispers to Jackson, "We may not want to eat the pie," she says as she points Jackson in the direction of Lynn.

Jackson nods and continues to write down his notes; for the most part, the flavor is there, but she makes avoidable mistakes due to her carelessness.

Lynn places a slice of pie in front of Elena and Jackson, and both groan; neither one wants to continue, but Lynn isn't showing signs of letting up anytime soon.

"Well? Aren't you guys going to try the pie?" asks Lynn.

"Well," Jackson burps, "I think that Elena and I have long passed our recommended caloric intake for the week."

"Oh C'mon! It isn't that bad," Lynn complains while her taste-testers groan.

It has been a long day of watching Lynn set small fires in an effort to cook at the perceived speed of a kitchen, serving undercooked and overcooked food, and hearing critiques while cursing herself for not doing well. Regardless, Lynn perseveres, no matter how much Elena and Jackson should wish that she would call it a day.

"Well, I do have some notes," Jackson mentions as he takes out his comment cards.

"Great, what are they?"

He points at the excessive amount of pans scattered throughout the kitchen, "I believe that cooking in such a mess is difficult, the pie crust is uneven, also I recommend slowing down a bit, not to complain, I just think you may make more mistakes if you go too fast."

Lynn complains, "Oh C'mon, it's not that bad. What about you Elena?"

"Your pan is too hot, and my chicken is under cooked on the inside, the macaroni and cheese bites are good, but were too salty, and Jackson is right, you need to slow down a bit."

Jackson nods in agreement, "Lynn, I understand that as a former athlete, speed is sometimes the name of the game, but maybe not when cooking foods that can make us ill."

"Alright, alright I get it!" Lynn complains.

Francisco walks into the house and sees how pots and pans all over the kitchen, the sink is filled with dirty dishes and the smell of smoke is permeating in the air.

"What the hell, Lynn?!"

Upon seeing him, she calls out, "Hey! I made pie do you want some?"

"Lynn, I thought that your dad was just making you learn the recipes, why did you need to make such a mess in my kitchen?"

"To practice. How else am I actually going to do well in the kitchen if I never get any practice?"

Francisco sighs heavily. He doesn't mind a few dishes a day, heck, he has been a willing participant in her daily multi-course meals, but the constant messes in the kitchen are pushing him.

"And can't you keep the kitchen clean? It's not that hard to do while your 'judges' eat."

"Maybe I just wanted to keep going! If I do end up taking this job, which you wanted me to take; I'm going to have to keep moving!"

Jackson turns to Elena and leads her outside; he can sense the two are going to fight and he doesn't want her to witness it.

"But you still have to keep it clean! Don't you notice that at Romano's they do the same thing?!"

Upon hearing that, Lynn sees red, but walks away from him. She punches the countertop in anger, which accidentally knocks over some stacked dishes.

Francisco sighs as he hears some dishes break and Dutch's engine as she drives away in anger.


The three-year-old boy runs to keep pace with his older brothers, but his short legs can't keep up, "Wait!" he yells, but they still keep running until they reach the end of the apartment complex's parking lot.

The nine- and the twelve-year-old wait for their baby brother, who is currently walking after getting winded from the run.

Kiké turns to Chuy, "I liked it better when he didn't try running after us yelling, 'Wait! Wait!'" he says in his best Francisco impersonation.

"You liked it better before mom had him, besides, it's not like you didn't try keeping up with me when you were little."

Kiké scoffs, "Like it was hard," he teases as he pokes Chuy's belly.

As Pancho gets closer to his older brothers, Kiké walks towards a wooden fence that separates the apartments from the houses. He looks through the cracks, "Hey, I don't think they're home."

"So? Who cares?"

"They got an orange tree," Kiké tempts his brother, "and we can cut through to go to the park."

Chuy doesn't want to jump the fence for a short cut, but he knows that that won't stop his brother from trying, or Pancho, in an effort to keep up with his older brother.

Kiké doesn't bother to wait for Chuy's answer, when he hops the wooden fence and lands on the other side. "See you at park, loser!"

The older brother rolls his eyes.

Francisco finally arrives, "Where's Kiké?"

"He jumped the fence," Chuy says, before he is hit by an orange from over the fence. "Kiké!"

The middle brother laughs as he runs away. Chuy attempts to jump the fence and go after him, but is stopped when he hears his baby brother telling him to wait.

Chuy sighs and goes back to Francisco, he lifts up the little boy so that he can jump over, but Francisco holds on tightly to the wooden fence; afraid of letting go and falling to the ground. Chuy looks through the small cracks and doesn't see Kiké, "Pancho, I'll catch you, just fall back."

The younger brother shakes his head; refusing to let go. Frustrated, Chuy jumps up and reaches Francisco's foot; forcing the boy down.

Chuy watches his younger brother cry as he was dragged off the fence, the older brother looks down at him, "Pancho, go home."

"But–"

"I don't care. You're too little, now go home."

Chuy watches as his younger brother hangs his head and drags his feet back to their apartment. He didn't want to send his brother away, but he didn't want to spend his afternoon babysitting his baby brother; besides, he's better off not getting involved in Kiké's shenanigans.

Once his little brother is out of sight, Chuy goes on ahead to chase the troublemaker.

Francisco arrives at his apartment and knocks on the door; Alicia opens the door, and asks her son why he's not with his brothers.

"They didn't want me to play…uh…me dijo Chuy…"

"¿Que te vengas para atrás?" she finishes his explanation for him.

The boy nods his head. He hates not being able to play with his older brothers, but they don't like slowing down for him and he's too young to keep up, so unfortunately for the young boy, he's always behind or forced to leave them alone.

Francisco notices his mom wearing an apron, it's almost time to eat, and he figures that helping her is at least something he can do, "¿Te puedo…ayudar?"

Alicia nods her head, and leads her son to the kitchen.


Lynn drives, but she has no idea of where to go; Raffaelina isn't a choice and she doesn't want to bother her family, but she doesn't have any choice, and it is getting late. She pulls into the driveway of her childhood home and knocks on the front door.

"Lynn," her dad asks upon seeing his daughter at such a late hour, "What are you doing here?"

"I had a question about a recipe and I thought who better to ask than the man who created it," she lied. "It's not that late is it?"

It isn't, but he doesn't expect guests on Sunday evening, "Come on on in," he invites her inside. He notices her bruised knuckles, "What happened to you?"

Lynn isn't sure what he's talking about until she sees him looking at her hand, "Oh…just angry cause I messed up a recipe."

"You shouldn't punch the wall because you're angry, you're going to hurt yourself real bad one day."

"I know…"

"So what did you want to ask me?"

Lynn hesitates to answer, "Uh…your cookies, I wanted to know how you made them."

He's curious as to why she wanted to know that recipe, especially since he told her that desserts weren't necessary to learn at the moment, "Uh, sure. I think I have some ingredients to make them right now."

The two head into the kitchen. Lynn Sr. is taken back to when she was a little girl and how she would sit in the kitchen as she tried to avoid napping.

"Do you know what you need for the recipe?" he asks.

Lynn heads to the fridge and grabs the ingredients that she remembers, including a sandwich that someone left behind, "Here you go," she says in-between bites.

He chuckles, "Still have that healthy appetite, huh?"

She nods, "Yup. So what do we do?"

He steps back, "You tell me, I'm your assistant tonight."

"Seriously?! But I always help you when we make these."

It's nice that he wants to let her take the reins, especially since he's so particular in the kitchen, but she was hoping that for old time's sake that he would lead while she helps.

"I think you can do it. It's for the Lynns to switch!" he happily says.

They head towards the mixer and begin adding the ingredients. The two are quiet as they prepare the dough; they've made this recipe a bunch of times together, and they are able to work well together.

Lynn Sr. speaks up, "You know, the first time you helped me, I had you on my lap because you kept trying to jump off the counters," he laughs.

Growing up, Lynn has heard plenty of stories about her 'daring' adventures as a toddler, "Yeah, I can't remember how many times I've tried jumping off of the mantle."

"More than enough," he answers, "we definitely learned our lesson after you broke your arm," he sighs, "I think the nurse lectured both of us, but she quit trying after you kept going back to the emergency room so many times."

Lynn somewhat remembers the nurse that he dad was talking about, but as the injuries became less frequent, she didn't see her around as much, "Yeah, I was a troublemaker, wasn't I?"

He doesn't want to admit it, but she was definitely a challenge growing up. It seemed to have gotten easier as she got older, and became more capable of handling herself without their help, but he'll never forget the highly energetic child that she was growing up.

As he sets the oven to start preheating, Lynn begins to scoop out some cookies onto the baking sheet. He's sort of sad to see that she isn't doing it like when she was a little girl, but in the spirit of keeping things somewhat the same, he heads to the pantry and grabs some red course sugar and sprinkles it onto the cookies.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

Lynn Sr. continues shaking the colored sugar, "I used to do this so that you could find your cookies."

"Why?"

"Because you liked to grab the dough with your hands when you made cookies as a little girl."

The two laugh.

Lynn didn't know about that habit, but it definitely sounds like her, "Well, how about one for old time's sake?"

Before he could tell her no, Lynn already tossed a dough ball onto the sheet. She placed it in the preheated oven and the two wait as the cookies finish.

"Are you nervous about the restaurant test?" Lynn nods her head, "I know that it's scary, but I think that you'll be fine. After all, you're Lynn Loud Jr.!" he proudly professes.

Lynn laughs, "A fun-sized powerhouse!"


Alicia sets Francisco down by the table; it's not often that she gets her sons to help, so she was more than happy that her youngest was willing to do so. As the afternoon goes on, she gives him simple instructions, and she begins to realize how behind the boy is on his Spanish; simple requests for ingredients or kitchen tools are met with blank stares or questions about what it is she's requesting.

"Pancho, tráeme el repollo."

Francisco runs to the fridge and looks around, but he can't find the chicken that his mom asked him for. Deciding to take initiative, he drags a chair so that her can check the freezer for the chicken.

Alicia notices her son dragging the chair and asks, "¿Qué estás haciendo?"

He stops in his place, "Garrando el pollo."

She groans and moves the chair out of the way, she pulls out the cabbage and shows it right in front of him, "¡Esto es repollo! ¿Entiendes?"

Francisco nods his head and takes the chair back to the table. He takes a seat and silently watches as his mom chops the vegetables.

Alicia pulls out a plastic lettuce knife from the drawer, some potatoes and a cutting board and places them in front of her son, "¿Puedes cortarlos?" she asks him, as she makes a chopping motion for him to understand."Cortalos en cuatro," she instructs him. She grabs his hand and counts out the fingers so that he knows how many pieces she wants.

Francisco nods and begins cutting the potatoes. Alicia heads to the stove to check on the food; leaving the boy to the simple task.

When she turns around, she notices the haphazard way that he's cutting the potatoes; instead of cutting them in fours, Francisco cut the potatoes four times and made smaller pieces than intended and the cuts are uneven.

Alicia walks over, "¿Qué estás haciendo?" she asks as she takes everything away from him. She complains out loud, "Ay Pancho eres pendejo," she tells him as she takes the potatoes he cut and throws the unusable ones away.

She shakes her head, annoyed that he can't understand such simple instructions. This isn't the first time that he's seen her cook, and while it is the first time he's 'helped' her, she didn't picture him making mistakes the way he did.

Francisco looks in the trash at the potatoes that his mom threw away, "Mamí, ¿porqué tirastes las papas?"

"Porque no sirven."

He doesn't see what she means, so he begins to dig out some of the potatoes from the trash to see why they didn't work, but Alicia immediately stops him, "¡Ya vete!" she yells at him as she raises her hand; frustrated with his actions, mistakes, and the way he constantly slowed her down with his questions.

Francisco flinches as he waits for the impact, but his mom walks away from him, and goes back to tending to the caldo. He sets down the potatoes and runs away from the kitchen.


After Lynn left, Francisco, Jackson, and Elena helped clean up the kitchen. None of them knew why Lynn behaved the way she did, but they have noticed that it has been becoming a more common occurrence over the last few weeks.

"Thanks for helping me clean up," Francisco tells the two.

Neither one says anything, but they are curious if he knows what has been going on with her lately. While this is the first fight that the two have had in front of them, Jackson has noticed that Lynn has become more short-tempered than usual. He would see her angrily pace back and forth in the backyard as she mutters to herself, she looked as if she was ready to punch whatever got in her way, and every time that he asked, she would say that she was fine.

"Of course, neighbor. Let me know if you need anything."

Francisco nods and Jackson heads home.

When their neighbor is gone, Elena takes a seat next to her dad, "Is Lynn okay?"

"Yeah…why?"

She knows that he's trying to keep her from knowing the truth, but she's not a little girl, and she can handle more than he's giving her credit for.

"Dad," she whines, as she pulls out the puppy dog eyes that Lynn taught her.

"No."

She's surprised that it didn't work, considering that it always works when Lynn does it.

Francisco grabs a piece of the pie that Lynn offered him earlier, and Elena quickly warns him, "Lynn accidentally sweat into the pie."

He tosses the pie into the trash, "Such a shame, it looked good too."

"Are you going to apologize? You know, for what happened?"

He's surprised that she would suggest that. As far as he's concerned, he didn't do or start anything that would warrant Lynn's reaction, so he doesn't see the point in apologizing; besides, he knows that it's just going to sound insincere coming for him.

"What for?"

"I don't know, whenever I fight with my friends I say it to get things back to normal."

Francisco doesn't blame the girl; he used to do that too, even when he wasn't the main person at fault, "When she comes home we'll talk."

'And maybe I can figure what has gotten her so out of it lately,' he thinks to himself.

"C'mon we have a few more hours before I have to get you back to your mom's," he says as he leads her to the living room.

Time flies as they watch the screen, and every time Francisco hears a noise by the front door, he turns his head, but there is nothing. It's been a few hours since their argument, and he hoped that Lynn would have cooled down by now and come home, but she's still gone.

"Has she called?" Elena asks.

Francisco checks his phone, but there aren't any messages, "Nope, not yet," he sighs, "but I think that she'll call soon."


Hooray! We're half way through the story (assuming everything goes as planned) Regardless, I'm still happy to have gotten this far, and I want to thank you all for continuing to read.

We're about to head into another little arc in the story, as we catch up with some old friends, bring back unresolved problems, and maybe see how even the parents and their little interactions led to the decisions made by Lynn and Francisco.

As always, thank you