It was springtime in Royal Woods. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and schools everywhere were out for spring break.

With the burden of homework and stress of looming report cards thankfully off their minds for an entire week, the children of Royal Woods were free to enjoy the benefits of this seasonal shift, whether it be by fishing at the lake, riding bikes down the streets…

Or in the case of the Loud family, just hanging around and doing nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. On the insistence of their parents, the siblings had left their rooms and settled in the backyard. Lori Loud was posing in a sunhat and dress on a beach chair, taking springtime selfies, Leni was reading a fashion magazine, Luna was listening to the radio, Luan was playing with her doll Mr. Coconuts, Lynn was bouncing a kickball, Lucy was huddled under a tree writing poetry, Lola was riding around in her jeep, Lana was fixing up Charles's doghouse, Lisa was working on a wind machine, Lincoln was playing on his handheld GameBot…and the youngest member of the Loud family was scooting down the back porch stairs, eager to explore the new world that lay in front of her.

It was only Lily Loud's second spring in her lifetime after all. The tiny tot had having been only a few months old during her first, so very little of it remained in her growing mind. She was now at the age where the world was slowly starting to make sense to her (at least on a very basic level) and like all babies, it fascinated her. She didn't understand where all the white fluffy snow had gone or why it wasn't so cold anymore, but if it meant she could finally ditch those big heavy parkas for just her diaper, then she didn't really care. If her family was happy at this change, then it obviously had to be good.

Scooting off the last step, Lily giggled as she felt the crisp, green grass tickle her bare feet. The warm air felt good on her sensitive skin and her tiny tuff of blonde hair danced in the light breeze. She waddled forward, the crunching of the grass with every step only adding to her amusement.

Nearing the fence, she stopped and looked around, trying to figure out what to do next in her exploration of this new environment . Behind her, the lawn lead to the front yard and the road, but Lily knew better than to get too close to the street, having seen her mommy scowl the twins for doing so. Her siblings were all too caught up in their activities to notice her, but this was nothing new. Her eyes finally fell on a bunch of freshly grown flowers along the side of the fence.

"Oooh," Lily starred in awe at their brightly colored petals gleaming in the sunlight. They reminded her of the big, red, sweet-smelling ones Daddy had bought Mommy back on 'Vawenine's Day.'

Suddenly, an idea popped into Lily's head. She could take the flowers inside to Mommy and surprise her. That would make her smile. Maybe she'd even give her a cookie before dinner. Waddling over, Lily bent down to grab them when a strange sound entered her ear.

Buzzzzzzzzzzz.

"Bee," she said to herself. Indeed, hovering around one of the flowers was a fluffy, yellow and black honeybee. Lily knew what they looked and sounded like due to countless story times, but she'd never actually seen a real one before. This was something she should show Mommy too. Ooh, she would be so proud of her little explorer. Might even reward her with another cookie!

Raising a chubby hand, Lily waited until the bee had landed on one of the flowers and then lashed out, catching the tiny critter in her fist. The baby laughed in success…until she felt something sharp puncture her skin.


"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Lily's cry cut through the air like a siren. Lori fell out of her seat, Leni tore her magazine in half, Luna twisted the dial off the radio, Luan jumped and sent Mr. Coconuts flying, Lynn Jr kicked her ball out of the yard, Lucy stabbed her pen through her poetry book, Lola crashed her jeep, Lana hammered her thumb, Lisa broke the top of her wind machine, and Lincoln threw his GameBot into the air. Shock was quickly replaced with panic as they all recognized the all-too familiar sound.

"LILY!" All ten voices cried out.

"LILY?!" Two more voices came from the house.

The Loud siblings all simultaneously spotted their sister and rushed over to her. Poor Lily was lying on her back, kicking her legs wildly in the air, clutching her left arm with an unbreakable grip, and screaming her tiny little lungs out. Her eyes were closed and her pudgy face was twisted in pain.

"MY BABY!" Rita rushed through the crowd and scooped Lily up. "Sweetie, what's wrong?!"

"Her hand! Look at her hand!" Lincoln pointed out. Rita yanked Lily's arm out of her grip and everyone gasped. Her tiny little hand was red and swelling, with a tiny little stinger poking through the skin.

"She got stung by a bee!" Lori cried.

"What do we do?!" Leni wailed.

"How did she even get out here?!" Rita yelled. She turned to her husband with a furious gaze. "Lynn, you left the back door open?!"

"I had to air out the kitchen!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Lily drowned them all out, her mouth stretching open wider than it had ever before as her face began to turn red.

"Everyone get inside!" Rita said, tearing up as well. "Lynn, get the first aid kit!"

They all ran inside and Rita placed Lily on the counter. Lynn frantically searched for the small box while the kids looked on, petrified by the sight of their youngest sibling in such agony.

"LYNN!" Rita cried.

"MOVE!" Lisa shoved past the others and climbed onto the counter, a tiny pair of tweezers in her grip. Snatching Lily's arm, Lisa carefully tightened the lips of the tweezers on the stinger and, with a sharp pull, yanked it out, resulting in an even sharper cry from her sister.

"LISA!" her siblings yelled.

"What? It had to come out!" Lisa retorted.

"But she's still crying!" Leni said, tears starting to form in her own eyes.

"It's okay," Rita said, trying to stay calm. "Lori, come help me."

Carrying Lily over to the kitchen sink, Rita handed her to Lori and turned on the sink. Once again wrestling Lily's stung hand from her, Rita gently ran it under a stream of cold water and began gently cleaning it with soap. Lily was now thrashing in Lori's arms like a wild animal, her cries evolving into high-pitched screams and threatening to deafen everyone in the room.

"I know it hurts baby, I know." Rita could barely stop herself from crying. It was every mother's worst nightmare to see their child get hurt, let alone the youngest and most vulnerable. "It's okay, it's okay."

"Oooh, let me up!" Lana pulled herself up onto the counter and began rummaging through the shelves.

"THIS IS NO TIME FOR EATING, LANA!" Rita yelled.

Ignoring her, the junior mechanic pulled out a box of baking soda, poured some into a cup, and began filling it with water. Realizing what she was doing, Rita patted Lily's hand dry and handed it to Lana. Stirring the mixture up into a nice thick paste, Lana gently slathered it over Lily's sting with a spoon and everyone waited. After a few tense seconds, Lily's deafening screams slowly died down to low wails and she stopped pummeling Lori. Huge steams of tears ran down her bright red, pain-wrecked face as she looked around at her family, searching in desperation for some sort of relief or comfort.

"Oh, baby girl!" Rita took Lily from Lori and hugged her tightly to her shoulder, rocking her in an attempt to calm her. "It's okay, it's okay. Mama's got you, Mama's here."

With the ruckus dying down, the Louds all let out a long collective breath of relief. Their ears were all still ringing with the sound of their sister's cries, but at least she was doing better now.

"Good call on the paste, dude," Luna said, giving Lana a light arm punch.

"Thanks, learned it in the Bluebell Scouts," Lana said proudly.

"Yeah, when you weren't eating worms," Lola muttered.

"Awww, poor Lily!" Leni was tearing up, though this thankfully distracted the twins from starting a fight. "I've never seen her in so much pain."

"That sting must have really hurt," Luan said.

"Thankfully, I got the stinger out before too many toxins could infect her," Lisa said. "Now, assuming she isn't allergic to bees-"

"Allergic to-?!" Panic spread across Rita's face again. "Oh no."

"It's okay mother," Lisa assured her. "All I have to do is perform a simple test and-"

"No one's performing any tests on anyone!" Rita declared. She turned to her husband. "Lynn, go start the van."

"But honey-"

"GO!" Rita demanded. "I should have been paying more attention to her instead of my stupid novel. I'm not taking any more chances today!"

Gulping, Lynn Sr grabbed his keys off the wall and headed for the door, his other children following him.

"No," Rita said, fetching Lily's diaper bag from the living room. "I can't watch over all of you with Lily like this."

"But Mom-"

A stern glance from Rita hushed them all up. As Lily's wails began to increase again, Vanzilla roared to life.

"Lori, you're in charge," Rita instructed. "No leaving the house and no going outside until we get back." Her children nodded and she headed for the door.

"Mom, we're sorry," Lincoln called after her. "We should have been paying more attention to her."

Rita turned to give her children one final glance. "Just please stay out of trouble."

She turned and the kids all caught one final look at their baby sister's pitiful face before the door closed.


Minutes earlier, the Loud kids had all been enjoying their spring break. Now, they were all cooped up inside, slumped across the furniture in the living room while the cries of their helpless baby sister still echoed in their heads. Aside from a few quiet sighs from Lucy and the faint ticking of the clock, the house was silent, a far cry from it's normal state, let alone in the middle of a holiday.

After an undisclosed amount of time, Lori finally broke the silence.

"I'm sure she'll be alright, guys. I mean, it was literally just a simple bee sting. We've all gotten stung before."

"Yeah, but Lily's a baby," Lynn Jr said from her spot on the floor.

"And we were right there," Luna added, her hands digging into the arms of her chair.

"What kind of sisters are we?" Leni sniffled.

"Buttheads, that's what we are," Lola sighed.

"Shortsighted buttheads," Lucy's voice came from inside the chimney.

"Ugh, why do we even have bees?!" Lola scoffed in frustration. "All they do is fly around and sting."

"Bees are a necessary part of our ecosystem, Lola," Lisa droned.

"Well, they stink." Lola muttered.

Hoping to lighten the mood, Lynn Jr chuckled. "You guys know I once got stung sixteen times in the butt? Some jerk dared me to scale a tree when I was nine. I ended up slipping and landed on a branch with a huge hive."

The other siblings all shuddered at the thought. This however, prompted Lincoln to sit up.

"Wait…"

"No, I still got the scars, Stinklon," Lynn Jr said.

"No Lynn, a hive," he stood up. "If there's bees in our backyard, then there's got to be a hive nearby. If we can get rid of it…

"Beeeeee gone," Luan chuckled, "but seriously, I think Linky's right."

"Lincoln, there are millions of Apis mellifera in this country alone," Lisa said. "Disposing of a single hive will not rid them from our area."

"But it will decrease our chances of getting stung?" Lincoln said. "Even a little?"

Lisa paused to think. "Theoretically."

"At the very least, we owe it to Lilly," Luna said, rising from her spot.

"Totes," Leni agreed.

"Yeah, I guess we do," Lori admitted. "But Mom said not to get into trouble or leave the house."

"I think our sister's well-beeing can take priority," Luan said, amidst more groaning.

"Then it's settled," the kids all got up and huddled around Lincoln. "Guys, it's time for Operation: Buzz Off!"