The next day, Carol and Lincoln were walking down the street, heading over to meet Whitney, Mandee, Jackie and Carlotta. For obvious reasons, Carol had Lincoln concealed in a hoodie, so if they pass anyone of his family, he wouldn't be instantly recognized...for a few seconds. At the moment, they were nearing the forest, as they thought it safer to talk here on what they were gonna do with Lincoln next. Within moments, Carol and Lincoln saw the four girls waiting for them near some tall shrubbery...
"Hey girls.", said Lincoln.
"Hey Lincoln. How was your day with Carol?", Mandee asked.
"She's a blast.", Lincoln complimented. "I like hanging out with her."
"Aww. You're sweet Lincoln.", Carol said happily.
"You too.", Lincoln replied. "So, who am I gonna go with next?"
"That's what we're hear to talk about, but we need to talk fast.", explained Whitney.
"Why?", Lincoln asked.
Mandee answered, "Well, your sister, Leni might be looking for you...since last night."
"What?! How do you guys know about this?!", Lincoln asked them.
Jackie brings out her phone to show him, She tweeted about it."
"...Oh.", Lincoln said sheepishly.
Carlota added, "Now, she's looking all over town for, so need to think fast."
Carol tilts her head, saying, "Uh, have you not lost the extra weight, Carlota?"
Everyone then looks over to Carlota, who starts to glow red after Carol brought that up...
"Can we please not talk about-", Carlota said before being interrupted.
"Yeah, actually.", Whitney continued. "You look like you gained a little more weight."
"...Okay, yes.", Carlota groaned. "I haven't lost the extra and I can't explain it. I hate that it's making my dress feel tight. And, (points to Mandee and Jackie) these two won't stop teasing me about it!"
"Well, can you blame us?", Mandee asked.
"You're kinda making it easy for us.", Jackie added. "I mean, just look at-"
Not. Another. Word.", growled Carlota. "Anyway, let's just get back to the subject at hand."
But before the could continue on with their conversation, they heard footsteps coming their way. Carol looked as closely as she could, and was shocked to see that it was Leni, and she was heading over to where they were at right now.
"It's Leni! She's coming over here right now!", Carol said panicking.
"Aw, crud.", said Lincoln. "All that trouble to get away from my sisters and one of them happens to come close to finding me already! What am I gonna do?!
"Um...behind the bushes!", panicked Mandee.
Lincoln asked, "What?"
"It's all I got!"
"Just go with it, Lincoln.", said Carol. "I'll hide with you too."
"Okay!", Lincoln accepted.
And with that said, the two of them hide behind the bushes while is close to coming. It was then that Carol notices a hole in the ground and thinks of it as a great hiding spot for them.
"How about in there, Lincoln?", she asked.
Lincoln replied, "I don't think it looks too big."
"Come on.", argued Carol. "What's the worse that can happen?"
As she tried to crawl in, she realized Lincoln may have had a point as she was now struggling to push herself inside and soon got stuck.
"Little help, Lincoln?"
"Sure thing.", says Lincoln, cracking his knuckles.
It was then that Lincoln to try and push Carol deeper into the hole, as she even tried to make space for him as well. Going deeper into the hole, they realize the hole goes further into the side of a bush, making the space even more uncomfortable.
"Come on, Carol. Try to move over."
"What do you think I'm doing?", she complained.
As they struggled to get themselves situated, Mandee thought that they may have been making too much noise.
"Hey, try to keep it down.", Mandee told them.
"No problem. Just gotta...make...more...room.", Lincoln said, straining himself.
"Hmph. I could watch that all day.", Mandee remarked.
As Lincoln and Carol continued to get themselves situated the best they could, the other girls went over to see Leni and keep her distracted. But once Leni was now in view, they saw that she wasn't really looking too good. Her legs were wobbly, her hair was un-kept and there were heavy bags under her eyes.
"Um, Leni?", asked Jackie
"Hey, Jackie, Mandee, Whitney, Carlota.", Leni yawned. "Funny seeing you girls here."
"Jeeze, Leni.", said Carlota. "You looked like you haven't slept at all."
"I haven't. I've been up all night", Leni stretched out. "...I'm not giving up on finding Lincoln."
"That doesn't mean you should keep yourself from sleeping.", complained Mandee.
"I'll be fine.", Leni argued. "I just gotta get some energy going."
It was then that they noticed that Lily was with her, sleeping.
"You took your baby sister with you?", said Whitey.
"She wanted to find Lincoln too, and I didn't want to go alone.", said Leni.
"Leni, I really think you should go home and rest.", said Jackie, sounding concerned for her.
"I'm fine.", Leni said, before beginning to lose consciousness. "Just gotta...keep...walking..."
Seeing that Leni was about to fall down, the girls quickly caught her before she could hit the ground. The sudden catch was enough to make Lily wake up and see the four girls above her.
Lily waves happily at them.
Mandee, Jackie, Whitney and Carlota all wave back, "Hi, Lily."
They made Lily giggle.
"That's just cute.", Jackie said. "But, what are we gonna do with Leni?"
"We should try to wake her up.", answered Mandee.
"Anybody have any ideas?", Carlota asked.
Whitney thought about it for a second before slapping Leni across the face.
"WHITNEY!", yelled out Mandee, Jackie and Carlota.
"What? That usually works.", remarked Whitney.
Jackie then said, "Is that poof of yours weighing your head down?"
"Oh! Give me a break here!", complained Whitney. I'm just trying to help."
Apparently, the slap did work since Leni was now starting to wake up again. But the first thing she noticed was...
"Hey, is it me, or does Carlota look a little-"
"Don't say it!", Mandee shouted.
"Not right now.", added Jackie
"Okay. But, why?", Leni wondered.
"She's just a little sensitive when it comes to it being brought up.", explained Mandee.
As Leni got back on her own feet, everyone of the girls looked over at Lily, who seemed to be reaching out to Mandee, swatting her arms, the girls had found adorable.
They all went, "Awww."
"Yeah, isn't she cute?", says Leni as she got back up. "Welp, I better get back to searching."
"By the way, Leni. Where have you already looked?", asked Jackie.
"I started by looking in Lincoln's favorite spots, like Gus's Games and Grub...but that's about it." Leni explained. "I haven't really gone too far."
"Well, just don't try to stress yourself.", Mandee said to Leni."
"And please, try to get some rest.", Jackie added."
"Yeah, you guys are right.", Leni agreed. "Thanks for the advice."
"Good luck, Leni.", Carlota said.
"See you later."
As Leni began to leave, the girls could see Lily reaching out to them. Understanding what the little one wanted, Mandee stopped Leni for a second.
"Hey, Leni?", Mandee said. "I think Lily wants a little more time before you head off."
"Is that true, Lily?", Leni asked her sister.
Lily replied, "Uh-huh."
"Okay, here you go.", Leni agreed, giving Lily over to Mandee.
"Aw, you little sweetheart.", Mandee says, as she hugs Lily. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll see each other again real soon, okay?"
Lily giggles with joy.
"Okay.", Mandee gives Lily back to Leni. "See you guys later."
"Bye!", Leni says to the girls.
After hearing his sister leave, Lincoln took this as his chance to come out of hiding. And as he saw his sister disappear from view, Lincoln was starting to have some mixed thoughts and feelings about all this, and the girls could see a hint of concern on his face.
"Lincoln? You okay?", Mandee asked.
"...I don't know.", Lincoln said. "To hear that my sister was going this far just to find me and take me home, it's making me feel a little bit...conflicted."
"So...what?", asked Jackie. "Are you gonna rethink everything?"
"...No.", said Lincoln. "At least, not yet. I gotta-"
Before he could finish, Lincoln noticed that Carol was having trouble getting out of the hole they were just in...
"Uh, Lincoln?"
"Need some help?", Lincoln asked her.
"Yeah.", said Carol.
Taking Carol by the arm, Lincoln begins to pull and slowly bring Carol out of the hole.
"Well, that was embarrassing.", said Carol, as she dusted herself off. "Thanks for the help, Lincoln."
"No problem.", said Lincoln. "So anyway, I gotta stay away until I'm ready to go home."
"You should take as much time as you want, Lincoln.", Whitney said. "If want to stay, that's your call."
"Thanks."
"Now that that's settled, I guess we better get to what we were talking about at first.", Carlota said.
"Right, so...who am I gonna go with next?", asked Lincoln.
Carol replied, "That's your choice to make, Lincoln."
Jackie added, "And any choice you make, we'll be fine with."
"Hmm...well actually, I was thinking to Dana's next.", decided Lincoln. "She was so persuading into wanting me to go along with the plan. So, why not her next?"
"Hmm, I think I actually heard that Chaz was staying over at her house.", Mandee said.
"Chaz? Isn't he another one of Leni's friends?", Lincoln asked.
Jackie answered "Yep."
"Well, I guess that won't be too much of a problem.", assumed Lincoln. "What did he look like again?"
"You'll see.", said Carol.
"Okay... he's not annoying, is he?", Lincoln asked.
"No, no, no.", Mandee explained. "he's actually lots of fun sometimes."
"If you say so."
Back to where Leni was, she was actually heading back to her house. She was willing to take whatever sort of punishment she would get for sneaking out. upon arriving at her house, she was about to open the door, only to have it opened by her mother, who wasn't looking to happy right now...
"Mom?"
"You mind explaining yourself for last night?", Rita asked, unamused.
"Okay, yes.", Leni stated. "I sneaked out, but only because I just wanted to find my brother so badly."
"You could've told us first.", Rita stated, "We need to be in this together, Leni. And on top of all that, you took Lily with you. You can't just bring a baby to go searching in the middle of the night. You were putting both of yourselves in danger."
"I know. I'm sorry.", Leni said.
"I'm just glad your okay.", Rita sighed.
With that said, Rita hugs her daughters as she lets them into the house.
"So...any luck finding Lincoln?", asked Rita.
"Not really.", Leni explained. "I searched all night, and I felt like I was getting close earlier, but I was too tired to keep going."
Hearing this made Lily about to cry and Leni did the best to comfort her as she keeps Lily close to her shoulder.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Lily.", Leni told her sister. "I wish you didn't have to deal with this either."
"Oh, Lilly..." Rita says while comforting her daughter. "It'll be okay, we will find Lincoln. I promise you that. (turns to Leni) Now Leni, you know what you did isn't going to have to go unpunished."
"I know.", Luna accepted. "I deserve to be stuck in the window again."
"Wait, you went through the window?", asked Luna, coming in with Luan and Lana.
"Lincoln did it. Seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Talk about going through the looking glass.", Luan said jokefully.
"Yeah, except she didn't end up in Wonderland.", Lana said as a comeback.
"Hey, it wasn't entirely my fault.", Leni explained. "At least I managed to get out of there with the help of Lily."
"Wait, what?", Luna asked, confused.
"Yeah. She just started pushing on me and I popped right through.", explained Leni.
It was then that her sisters were looking at her with a "Really?" expression on their faces, which left her a little confused. Even Lily rolled her eyes a little without Leni noticing. Soon after, Lola showed up and she didn't look like she was in a good mood.
"If you guys are done talking about the stinky baby, can we please focus on finding Lincoln?", she remarked.
Hearing that made Lily more upset, burying her face into her mother's chest. Rita held her baby daughter close as she too was offended by what Lola just said.
"Hey, there's no need to talk about Lily like that!", Lana said.
"And why would you even care if we find Lincoln?!", said Luna. "You're probably one of the reasons he ran away in the first place!"
"Whoa, Luna, that's a bit going too far.", said Rita.
"How would I even be a reason for him running away?", argued Lola. "Lynn's the one that called him dead weight!"
Lynn comes down, saying, "Yeah, I but regret what I said. And I would give nothing to apologize to him right now."
"Yeah? Well, I still don't see how I'm a reason for him leaving.", said Lola.
"You've given him plenty of reasons to leave.", Lynn remarked.
"Really?! Like what?!"
"The blackmailing, the bratty attitude.", explained Lynn
"I DO NOT HAVE A BRATTY ATTITUDE!", Lola yelled out.
"Doesn't seem that way to me.", remarked Lynn.
"Oh, whatever! No one can put this whole thing on me!", Lola said. "We had a perfectly good reason for treating Lincoln the way we did!"
"...Well? We're waiting?", Rita said, waiting for an anwer.
"Uh...", Lola had nothing.
"Shut it, Lola. There is no good reason at all to bully our brother. I learned that the hard way.", said Lynn, pointing to her eye.
"Ugh! Well, if anything, Lynn, you're right!" Lola yelled. "Lincoln is dead weight! That's all he's ever been!"
Everyone in the room gasped when Lola said that, and Lynn could tell that she meant it...
"...I was wrong, Lola.", Lynn explained. "I should never had said to him and if anything, I deserved the black eye he gave; I clearly had it coming! Lincoln is not dead weight! He's part of what holds our family together and keeps us from screaming at each other. And you, making what I said an excuse to not take the heat for what we did, then you're obviously the real dead weight around here!"
"ENOUGH!", Rita yelled out. "Would you listen yourselves?! Now is not the time to be fight amongst themselves. The only way to find Lincoln is if we work together!"
"Guys, mom's right.", agreed Leni. "You can kill each other later."
"...Fine." Lola and Lynn said, facing each other with such hate in their eyes.
"But let's leave Lily here this time.", Rita said. "I don't want her put into any danger."
"But who are we gonna get to look after her?", asked Luna.
A few moments later, Rita was talking to Ronnie Anne, Girl Jordan, Kat, Mollie and Renee about how to take care of Lily.
"Here's all the number, food's in the fridge, oh, and Lily tends to be a slippery one. So, don't let her get passed so easily." Rita said as she hands Lily over to Kat.
"You can relax, Mrs. Loud.", Ronnie Anne says. "Lily will totally be safe with us."
"I hope so. I'm counting on you girls.", Rita told them.
"You guys really think we can do this?", asked Kat.
"Yeah, she's just a baby.", Girl Jordan explained. "How much trouble could she be?"
In Kats hand, Lily looks up to the older girl and starts to grab hold of her long black hair, and snuggles with it. The sight of it made all the other girls find it adorable, including Leni, Luna, Luan and Lana.
"Wait, not the hair! Not the hair!", screamed Kat.
The girls all went, "Awwww!"
Except for Ronnie Anne, saying, "Hmph. That's adorable."
"Girls, come on! ", Rita called out. "We gotta get moving!"
"Oh, right! Come on!", Leni said.
"Now, I'm counting on all you girls to make sure that nothing goes wrong while we're out.", Rita told the girls.
"You got nothing to worry about, Mrs. Loud.", said Girl Jordan. "Your daughter is in safe hands."
"I'm just hoping you find Lincoln soon.", said Ronnie Anne. "Hate to see if anything bad happened to him."
"We will find him, Ronnie Anne.", Rita said, holding onto hope. "I know we will."
Little does anybody know that Ronnie Anne actually does know where Lincoln is. Despite keeping a promise to Lincoln, Carlota had shared the news with her cousin, now forcing Ronnie Anne to keep the secret as well.
"Do you girls think Lincoln is okay?", asked Mollie.
"I hope so.", Girl Jordan said. "I could only think of how he's doing right now."
"He's got to be okay.", Renee added. " What do you think, Ronnie Anne?"
All the girls' eyes had turned to Ronnie Anne, who uncharacteristically quiet right now.
"Um...I don't know...All I know is who to blame."
"What, his sisters? You can't blame all of them, Ronnie Anne.", Girl Jordan explained.
"It's still them, regardless.", remarked Ronnie Anne.
"Yeah, but it's mostly, uh...Lori, Lynn and Lola's fault.", Girl Jordan said. "So if you wanna blame somebody, blame them."
"I would want to punch them right now, but Lincoln already but me to Lynn, so...One down, two to go.", Ronnie Anne thought.
The girls laugh at Ronnie Anne's joke. Well, all except Kat, who wasn't too comfortable at the moment with Lily holding her hair.
"Can someone else hold Lily for a while?", she asked the others.
Back to Kat, though she didn't like the thought of people messing with her hair, looking down at Lily merely snuggling it, it made her feeling more comfortable...
"Well, I guess this is a little better than having it burnt.", sighed Kat, having some relief.
Rita sees the girls head upstairs, and is feeling relieved to know that her daughter is in safe hands.
"Alright. Let's get going."
In the van, all of the sisters stayed quiet as their father turned on the engine and began to drive. Their son was out there somewhere, and the Louds won't stop until they find him...