Relationships

by Masterob

A sequel to Companionship. The blooming relationship of Lincoln and Stella have been going on for three years, but they had to endure quite the wacky adventures and some hardships. How had Stella adapted to getting to know the Loud Sisters more? Plus more how the two have grown closer to Ronnie Anne, and how the girl has done what she could to help Stella through the awkwardness.

11. The Test of Loyalty

What started as a day where everyone would have fun and hopefully a good time has turned into some major drama between the kids of Royal Woods and Great Lakes.

The Loud Siblings, the Casagrande-Santiago cousins, as well as the two teens Stella and Sid were all found in a very awkward and precarious position.

"Would someone mind explaining what just happened?" Ronnie Anne asked, getting the attention of everyone there. "What's this about Lincoln kissing Sid?"

"I can explain!" Sid frantically insisted.

"Get to it then, I want answers," Ronnie Anne demanded. "Where and when did you and Lincoln kiss?"

"When we took our sisters to the park," Lincoln said. "So just a little while ago."

"So mind telling me why you kissed a girl that wasn't Stella?" Ronnie Anne asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.

"We'd all like to know," Lori said, looking very curious and worried, same with her sisters. "Just tell us what happened in your own words."

"I...I really can't explain," Lincoln said. "It's like this, see..."

"Lincoln shouldn't be taking the blame here, I should," Sid said. "I kissed him, he didn't come to me, I went to him."

"What does that even mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"It means I made the first move, I basically seduced him and I kissed him, even though he wasn't fully on board," Sid said. "He tried telling me it was a bad idea but, well, you know how hormonal I can get."

Ronnie Anne turned to Lincoln, "Care to tell your side?"

"I think Sid explained it quite well," Lincoln said. "But, don't be too mad at her, I shouldn't have went along with it, I mean I kissed her back, so I'm just as much to blame here."

"Oh don't you worry Lincoln, I'm blaming both of you equally for this," Ronnie Anne said. "Sid, I'm disappointed in you, I mean I knew you had a crush on him, but I didn't think you'd act on it. You now he has a girlfriend...that you seem to have a crush on as well."

"Well maybe not 'crush', but I do find her attractive and I wouldn't mind experimenting a bit with her," Sid said, getting a weirded out reaction from Stella.

"Yeah, I doubt that's ever gonna happen," Ronnie Anne said, then turned to Lincoln. "As for you, I can't believe you actually kissed Sid! How could you do this to Stella!?"

"It's fine, it was just a mistake," Stella insisted. "Lincoln didn't mean any harm."

"Yeah, what she said," Lincoln said. "It was something that just happened, a kiss that didn't mean a thing to me, wasn't really that enjoyable either."

"Hey!" Sid protested, though quickly changed her tune when she noticed all the glares, "...That's a great point, a kiss is nothing if it meant nothing to the other person.." Sid began to mutter, "Even if I enjoyed it."

Ronnie Anne turned her head away in shame, "I can't believe this, all this suspense, all this worry for Stella and how you'd react, to know you did the exact same thing is just mind blowing."

"Easy cuz, it was a mistake, I mean Stella did the same thing and Lincoln's fine with it," Carlota said.

"Though it does beg the question, did Lincoln forgive her only because he made a similar mistake or was it genuine love?" Lisa asked.

"I'd like to think I would have forgiven Stella regardless, if anything I would have been more mad at Luan for kissing my girlfriend," Lincoln said. "Which is strange since of all my sisters, I thought I had to worry about Luna stealing Stella away from me."

"Hope you monitored her like I monitor Leni around Bobby," Lori said.

"Lori for the last time, I don't like Bobby that way!" Leni insisted.

"Let's just forget this, I made a mistake, Stella made a mistake, we're even now," Lincoln said.

"It shouldn't be about being 'even' Lincoln, it's about this happening in the first place," Lori said. "If I'm being honest, I'm a little disappointed in you right now."

"You're disappointed in me!?" Lincoln asked in disbelief. "You seemed to be on Stella's side when she confessed to kissing Luan but when I kiss Sid suddenly I'm the disappointment?"

"Hey, watch you tone Lincoln," Lori warned. "Don't compare the two since what Stella did was three years ago, and I already expressed my disappointment in both her and Luan. You did something similar so of course I'm disappointed in you too!"

"But Lori, I kissed him, not the other way around," Sid said.

"I get that you're trying to cover for him Sid, but he still allowed the kiss to happen from the sound of things," Lori said. "Regardless, it's up to Stella on what she thinks of the situation, and it sounds like she's forgiving."

"It'd be hypocritical of me not to be forgiving, since he forgave me first," Stella said, then turned to Lincoln. "But I do want to know, if you didn't kiss Sid, would you still have forgiven me kissing Luan?"

"Of course, I mean I would have been disappointed at first but the last few years have shown me that you really do care about me," Lincoln said. "I mean, it sounded like an accident, and you said you're not into girls that way so I don't have to worry about you leaving me for a sister that's also not into girls. Honestly I'd be more worried if it were a boy."

"So if it was one of your friends, what would your reaction have been?" Lola asked.

"Does it matter? I would have forgiven Stella, I mean I'd like to think I would," Lincoln said.

"I think he would have," Leni said. "Lincoln's a kind boy and he's very understanding, he's also very patient with us, I think he's able to use that with his friends, and especially Stella."

"I can vouch for that," Lucy said. "Lincoln's too kind hearted to hold a grudge and not give someone a chance to redeem themselves, or in some cases, just let them off with nothing."

Lucy glared at Lynn briefly upon finishing her sentence, something the jock didn't take kindly too. "Is this the 'Bad Luck' thing again!?"

"You said it, not me," Lucy commented.

"What Bad Luck thing?" Sid asked.

"You don't wanna know," Ronnie Anne bitterly said.

"It was over three years ago, Lincoln's over it, right little bro?" Lynn asked, though her answer was simply that of a glare from her only brother. "Uh, bro?"

"I never got an explanation from you Lynn, what's this about you taking pictures of Stella and using them as leverage over her?" Lincoln asked.

"Hey she's the one who kissed Luan, in comparison what I did wasn't that bad," Lynn said.

"You blackmailed my girlfriend, that's pretty bad!" Lincoln angrily shouted. "I can't believe you would do that! Has that been going on for all this time!?"

"No, I stopped doing that a long time ago, I got bored of it honestly," Lynn explained.

"That still doesn't make what you did right, I told you to not mess with my girlfriend! I don't care if you mess with me but leave Stella out of it!" Lincoln again shouted. "Of all the underhanded things you could have done!"

"Hey ease up bro, what you want me to apologize? Cause I will," Lynn said. "Plus if I know you like I do, I know you can't stay mad at me forever, I mean one little picture shouldn't be enough to separate the special bond we have."

"Oh right, Linky never saw the other picture," Leni said, gaining Lincoln's curiousity and Lynn's worry.

"Oh shit..." Lynn muttered.

"What other picture?" Lincoln asked.

"Before I tell you...remember that you're a kind and forgiving brother, who knows his big sister cares about him more than anything," Lynn said, hoping to butter Lincoln up a bit.

"Lynn, what picture?" Lincoln repeated.

"Would you even believe me?" Lynn asked. "I mean the pictures are gone, I got them off my phone."

"I have them," Lori said, to Lynn's concern. "I transferred them to my phone, just in case Lincoln ever needed to see this with his own eyes."

"Show me," Lincoln requested.

"Wait!" Lynn called. "Those pics are pretty...private."

"Don't try to get out of this Lynn," Lincoln said, then turned to Lori. " Please show me the pictures."

Lynn frantically turned to Stella, "Hey, you know those other pictures I took? Yeah do you really want Lincoln to see that side of you?"

Stella turned away, a huge blush on her face. She didn't want Lincoln to see those pictures, but at the same time, she did want Lincoln to know exactly what Lynn did to her. What makes this worse is that the other sisters are here too, along with Ronnie Anne, Sid and Carlota. Granted Ronnie Anne knows, Sid and Carlota do not, and she was a bit worried about how they might react.

Lincoln noticed that Stella looked a bit uncomfortable, so turned his attention to her, "Is it embarrassing? I won't look if it's too embarrassing, but I do want to know what Lynn did. If she tells me then I won't have to look, or you could just tell me, it can even be in private."

Stella thought this over, trying to consider the best form of action. She quickly made her way over to Lori, holding her hand out, "May I see your phone quickly?"

"Uh, sure..." Lori said, hesitantly handing her phone over to Stella, and action that surprised many of the Loud sisters given that Lori trusts almost no one with her phone, not even Lily, though the latter gave good reason not to.

Stella searched through Lori's phone, and when she found what she wanted, she showed it to Lincoln, "That's what she did."

Lincoln's eyes widened in shock, a blush taking over his face as Lynn's heart sank. She couldn't believe this, it sounded like Stella just showed him her underwear pics, but she also had to wonder if Stella really would do that, or maybe she just showed off the kissing picture, the poor girl really grasping at straws with that.

Lincoln turned away from the phone, still very much surprised and trying to quell his blush, "I'm sorry, I wish I knew what she did, I wish I knew of such a terrible thing!"

Stella handed the phone back to Lori, "It's fine Lincoln, I should have told you sooner, it was just embarrassing."

"I get that...now, I have a few things to say to Lynn, so if everyone can give us a little privacy, I'd really appreciate that," Lincoln said. What alarmed some of his sisters, especially Lynn, was the sound of patience slipping away in his voice.

"Sure thing Lincoln," Lori said, then gestured to her sisters. "Come on everyone."

As the sisters began to follow Lori, Ronnie Anne made her way over to Sid, looking a bit displeased at her friend, "You, me, my room, now."

"So we can plan a super fun night of fun?" Sid asked, not realizing she said 'fun' twice.

"Not in the mood Sid," Ronnie Anne warned, and pointed upstairs. "Get marching!"

Sid nervously nodded and made her way upstairs towards Ronnie Anne's apartment while the Loud Sisters, as well as Stella and Carlota went downstairs, leaving Lincoln alone with Lynn.

"Lynn, I try to be patient with you, I try to be understanding of you, over the years I try to accept the fact that you are wild and eccentric, but that deep down you're not a bad kid, and that you're a pretty great sister, you play rough but you're always dependable when I really need you," Lincoln said, in a voice that's calm yet to Lynn, intimidating.

"Well what can I say, I do things because I care about my family," Lynn said.

"That's nice, but honestly, it also sounds like a load of bullshit!" Lincoln shouted. Lynn flinched a bit, not used to hearing her brother say such words. "Lynn, I'm sorry but today was the last straw, I warned you years ago not to mess with my girlfriend! I gave you many warnings and a lot of chances to back off, but you didn't! You invaded Stella's privacy in one of the worst ways possible! I can't believe you took pictures of her in her underwear! That's weird and creepy Lynn! I mean were you always planning to blackmail her or did you have 'other' reasons?"

"Uh if you're trying to suggest I find her physically attractive, then you're really off," Lynn said. "I just took those pictures because it would have been such a wasted opportunity."

"When was that picture anyway? Why was Luna there?" Lincoln asked.

"She was changing in Luna and Luan's room, it was the day I squirted you both with water, you know, as a joke," Lynn said.

"Yeah, real funny joke," Lincoln sarcastically commented. "So, in addition to violating Stella's privacy, you did so by going into our sisters' room without them knowing about it!"

"Hey not like that's foriegn to this family," Lynn commented.

"No, maybe that's not foreign, but sneaking around taking embarrassing pictures of my girlfriend is defintely something unusual!" Lincoln said. "You really crossed the line Lynn, I'm very disappointed in you."

"What can I do to make it up to you then?" Lynn asked.

Lincoln shook his head, "I don't know if you can make it up to me, this was just...I don't even know. I used to wonder why our sisters seemed to hate you, now I understand how they're feeling."

Lynn's heart started tugging, "Y-you don't hate me, do you Linc?" Lincoln's silence was more telling than an actual answer, "Come on little bro, we're family, you can't hate family."

"Lynn, I just don't know how to answer this," Lincoln said, looking away from his sister. "I'm just really angry right now."

"Then hit me!" Lynn said. "Get the anger out and things can go back to normal!"

"No," Lincoln said. "I'm not letting you off that easily. Plus, if I hit you, I'm gonna make it hurt, do you really want me to make it hurt?"

"If it'll help you forgive me," Lynn said, giving off a hopeful smile. "I mean come on, I've done worse to you and you forgave me."

"Yeah, because it was me, but you messed with Stella," Lincoln said.

"Hey I should take priority over her, I'm your sister! We grew up together! We did everything together!" Lynn said. "I was your best friend before you met Clyde, even after you met Clyde I was the one there for you, I was the first sister to bond with you! Remember all the games we played? Remember how we used to take baths together? I'm probably the only sister who won't get mad if you see me naked, that's how much I trust you, that I don't feel shame around you!"

"Lynn, you could say all that, you could brag about how close we are or all the things we used to do, but the fact is that you really broke my trust with this," Lincoln said, his patience wearing thinner each word. "I've endured a lot of your nonsense because I'm your brother and I just wanted to be there for you like I would with any of our sisters, and not just because we're family, but as a guy I like to pride myself in taking care of the girls I care about the most, whether it's my sisters or my girlfriend." Lincoln got in close, his presence intimidating Lynn. "What you did Lynn was put my girlfriend in an awkward position that you held over her for three years! How do you think I feel knowing that my girlfriend was bothered by something and I never even knew because my own sister had intimidated her to the point where she couldn't even tell me what was wrong!"

"I mean...was it really a big when you think about it?" Lynn asked.

Lincoln grew increasingly frustrated to the point where he stomped over to the stairs and punched a railing, hurting his hand in the process, but he was too upset to care, "I clearly can't get through to you, I feel like I wasted so much of my time comforting you when you felt isolated from the others, because I'm starting to think you deserve that isolation."

"Wait, you're not gonna just ditch me are you?" Lynn asked. "Come on bro, you're better than that, you've always had more patience than the rest of us, do you really want to be like them?"

"Just don't bother me Lynn, I'm done with you," Lincoln said, making his way toward the stairs.

"Lincoln?" Lynn got no answer, so in a hurry she rushed over and grabbed his shirt, "Please, don't just go!"

Lincoln yanked himself away and clenched his fist, looking ready to punch Lynn. The jock braced herself for impact, but nothing came. She opened her eyes to see that Lincoln had loosened the tension on his fist, but was clearly still angry, "Lynn, go away!"

"I...I can't let you leave me bro!" Lynn pleaded.

"GO!" Lincoln shouted. "Now! Before I really get mad!"

Lynn backed away a little, not wanting to further invoke his anger. As Lincoln made his way downstairs, Lynn pressed herself against a wall, holding herself tightly, almost shivering. It finally happened, the one sibling she could rely on has given up on her. Especially the one sibling who wanted to be with her, who wanted to stand by her. Lynn knew this was her own fault though, for the first time she started to realize how badly she messed up. All because she refused to utter the words that Lincoln constantly says to her. She has to wonder if her brother even still loves her now.

Lynn wasn't the only one feeling crummy, back with Sid and Ronnie Anne, the two were seated in the Santiago girl's room, Sid turning away from her friend, very intimidated by her glare.

"Sid, do I even need to tell you how badly you messed up today?" Ronnie Anne asked. "I mean between eavesdropping on Stella's confession to Lincoln, to finding out you actually kissed him!? What were you thinking!?"

"In my defense, Carlota convinced me to keep tabs on Lincoln and Stella, she said it sounded serious and thought we should be there for Lincoln," Sid said.

"You actually believed that?" Ronnie Anne asked. "You should know better, you know how much Carlota basically ships me with Lincoln, same with the rest of my family."

"I didn't want to but she kept saying how I needed to be there for him and make sure he wasn't too heart broken if it was bad," Sid said. "I mean I do care about Lincoln so I guess part of me wanted to make sure he would be alright and it wasn't anything he couldn't handle."

"Alright, props to you for looking out for Lincoln, I mean I know how much you like him and how you consider him a friend," Ronnie Anne said. "Of course you proceeded to break that boundary when you kissed him! Can you explain that!?"

"I got curious," Sid said. "I just wanted to know what it was like to kiss him, I've always thought he was a cool kid, and very attractive. Plus those stories Stella tells, hearing how their dates go, that he listens, he always thinks about her, it just made me a little jealous. I just wanted to experience what it would be like to be his girlfriend, but just for a few seconds."

"But he already has one, what makes it worst is that you're friends with his girlfriend, didn't you think about Stella's feelings?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Of course I did, I was never going to take Lincoln from her, Stella's my friend too, I could never do something so crummy!" Sid said.

"Even if it was just one kiss, that was not your call to make," Ronnie Anne said. "That one kiss could have ruined his relationship with Stella, I mean it's only lucky that Stella happened to kiss Luan so now they're even." Ronnie Anne thought about it a moment, "Though I'd like to think she would have forgave him eventually, still suppose you did break them up?"

"We were gonna keep it a secret," Sid said. "I mean if Stella doesn't know, she won't get hurt."

"That's not any better, they shouldn't be keeping secrets like that, I mean suppose you keep getting curious and you want another kiss?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Suppose it gets intense and then next thing you know you're waking up together, with you probably being pregnant because no offense, but I can't see you prioritizing protection."

"Harsh..." Sid said, though she has to admit, protection wouldn't have been the first thing on her mind.

"My point is, you really could have messed up," Ronnie Anne said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Uh...accidents happen?" Sid said, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Ugh, Sid, you can't just brush this off as an accident!" Ronnie Anne said, shaking her head. "You're so hopeless sometimes."

"Just tell me what I can do to make this up to you," Sid said. "I'll do anything."

"I'm not the one you should be making things up to! You need to apologize to Stella for kissing her boyfriend," Ronnie Anne said. "Honestly you'll be lucky if she forgives that, she could forgive Lincoln for his mistake but she might not forgive you, especially after how weird and perverted you've been all day!"

"I can't help it! Puberty sucks!" Sid said, some tears filling her eyes. "I don't mean to be a pervert, but Lincoln's so handsome, and Stella, wow she's amazing. But, you're right, I shouldn't perv on them, in the end they're not the ones I really want, I'm still working towards the one person who I do want to be with, the one person I care about the most."

"Wait, you have a crush on someone?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Is it a real crush or is it just more physical attraction?"

"It's real, I just know it's real," Sid said. "This person's really great, always looks out for others and really makes me feel good about myself, despite how stupid I can be."

"Who is this? Do I know them?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Y-yeah, pretty much," Sid admitted. "I want to tell you but it's too embarrassing, and after everything I did today..." Sid wiped some tears from her eyes. "I don't even think I deserve this person anyway, so there's no point in saying anything.

"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself," Ronnie Anne said, kneeling to her friend. "Look, you messed up, but I know you. I know that behind that weird, eccentric and perverted personality is a great girl who's probably the most amazing person I've met in my life."

Sid looked to Ronnie Anne, tears filling the corners of her eyes, "Wait, so you don't hate me?"

"Sid, I could never hate you, I was just disappointed in you, despite how unusual you can be, even though I really like that about you, I know you're a great person and I know you care about your friends," Ronnie Anne said.

Sid wiped some tears from her eyes, "Thanks, man what would I do without you?"

"I don't know, but I'm glad I don't have to know," Ronnie Anne said, then found herself in a hug from the strange yet loving girl. She happily returned her friend's hug, "You're so great."

"So are you, thanks for always being by my side," Sid said, wrapping around a bit tighter.

"Wow, someone's feeling affectionate," Ronnie Anne said. The two pulled apart eventually, Ronnie Anne wiping a stray tear from Sid's eye. "So, who's the person you're crushing on?"

"I...I'm too nervous to say," Sid said.

"Hey it's just us, I can keep a secret," Ronnie Anne said.

"I know you can, I trust you more than I trust anyone, but right now, I kind of want to make sure things are square between me, Stella and Lincoln," Sid said. "I want to make sure they're able to move on and stay together, if they broke up because of me, I could never forgive myself."

"I don't think they will, Lincoln's a great guy, of course you know that, hence your little crush," Ronnie Anne said.

"It's weird right? Crushing on someone that's taken," Sid said. "I mean sometimes I crush on Stella but I usually lean more towards Lincoln."

"You're not alone on the crush on Lincoln," Ronnie Anne said. "I have a small crush on him still actually."

"Whoa really!?" Sid asked. "Uh, I take it he doesn't know that."

"No one does, except Lori," Ronnie Anne said. "She won't match-make us though."

"Oh good, man imagine if she and Carlota knew three years ago," Sid said.

"That would have been a nightmare," Ronnie Anne said. "Well let's go find Lincoln and Stella, make sure things are square between them."

As they left to find the couple, even further down at the first floor, Stella waited with The Loud Sisters and Carlota, thinking over everything that happened. She's happy that Lincoln forgave her, though was a tad bit disappointed that he kissed Sid. Of course she felt like she had no right to be mad about that if she made the same mistake.

"How are you holding up Stella?" Luna asked, getting the girl's attention.

"I'm good," Stella said. "What a turn of events huh? I confess one of my biggest mistakes and Lincoln just so happened to make a similar one, talk about Karma."

"Yeah I really hope Ronnie Anne straightens out her friend, though it still seems weird that little bro would do something like that," Luna said.

"Sid acts on her emotions a lot and she tends to do things without thinking or even assumes things will," Carlota said. "It's how she and Ronnie Anne get into so many mishaps."

"Do you think she really would have backed away from Lincoln if we didn't find out about this?" Luan asked.

"I can't say, maybe she would have," Carlota said. "Thing is she and Ronnie Anne did have similar struggles, like the time they found money in a purse and kept spending it, thinking a few bucks wouldn't matter, but those 'few bucks' flew by quickly. Sid might have struggled in a similar manner, so I guess it is a good thing you all found out about this."

"Isn't Sid suppose to be a friend of Linky and Stella though?" Lola asked. "Why would she do something that could upset either one of them?"

"Again, she really doesn't think," Carlota said. "Sid's a good kid but she doesn't make the best decisions, it's only gotten worse recently, but she tries to make an effort, she just needs a little more guidance."

"I might need to have a word with Sid honestly," Stella said. "I mean it's great that Ronnie Anne is probably speaking on my behalf but I need to hear it from Sid's mouth that she won't do something like that again."

"I just hope this behavior doesn't rub off on Adelaide," Carlota said. "I mean while she's not as impressionable as Carlitos, she can still be pretty negatively influenced by her sister."

Stella thought about that briefly, wondering if the young girl could go through the same trouble that Sid goes through. She then heard footsteps and saw Lincoln making his way downstairs. "Oh, you're back."

The sisters all turned to their brother, Lori being the first to speak up, "Hey, how did it go with Lynn?"

"I had to get tough with her," Lincoln said. "Things are gonna be a little different between us after this."

"Now you know why we've all been uncomfortable around her," Luna said.

"Honestly, I kind of wish someone said something sooner, I mean if Lynn had pictures of Stella, those types of pictures at least, I really should know since she's my girlfriend and I don't want anyone taking advantage or bullying her, especially not someone in my family," Lincoln said.

"We wanted to but, if you found out about those pictures, you might have also found out about Luan, which would have made it much more difficult," Lori explained.

"Yeah, I guess I see your point," Lincoln said. "Still, it just infuriates me that Lynn did that to Stella. I would have been more mad at that than the idea that Luan kissed her."

"Wow really?" Lori said. "So you really do forgive them?"

"Yeah Lincoln, if there's anything else you want to get off your chest, especially to me, then feel free to do so," Luan said. "I want to make sure this doesn't affect our relationship."

"I'll take you up on that," Lincoln said. "But don't worry about it for now. I just want to go to this concert and take my mind off my troubles."

"What about your backstage pass?" Luan asked. "Are you still gonna bring Lynn? Or are you gonna change your mind?"

"I'll worry about the passes soon, depending on how things go with Sid," Lincoln said. "I just hope they finish up soon, Luna when do we need to leave?"

"They just texted me and said they're running late so we got time," Luna said. "Don't worry too much, I'll let you know when they're ready."

Lincoln nodded and turned back to Stella, the two moving somewhere a little more private to talk "So, you're really alright with forgiving what I did?"

"You forgave me, and honestly mistakes happen, I never meant to kiss Luan and you never meant to kiss Sid," Stella said. "I just want to move on from that and continue being a couple."

"Same here," Lincoln said. "I mean, we might need to talk more about this though, figure out ways for us to avoid temptation like that again. I don't want to risk hurting you."

"I don't either, we'll work it out, together," Stella said.

"I like the sound of that," Lincoln said, stroking her hair. "But still, I really hate what Lynn did to you. If I knew she did what she did, I don't think I would have even bothered with her at all these last few years."

"It's fine Lincoln, it was annoying but it could have been worse," Stella said.

"It was just chores right? Like she didn't make you do anything too degrading or anything uncomfortable, did she?" Lincoln asked.

"No, not at all, I mean she did ask me if I would kiss her, of course I told her 'no', I even threatened to punch her," Stella said. "She did apologize, bit half-heartedly but I think she knew she was getting carried away."

"She never asked you to...you know, like did she want to see more of you?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, no nothing like that," Stella said. "She knew not to get too carried away, she even told me straight up she would never ask me to do that, mainly since she's not interested in me in that way, which has me wondering what she would have asked me to do if she were, and what I would have done because I definitely would have hurt her if she even joked about it."

"Well just know that I won't let you go through that again," Lincoln said. "Just try to keep me in the loop about this stuff, no matter how bad it seems. I know you can take care of yourself but I still want to protect you like a boyfriend should."

"Don't worry, I won't let there be any more secrets," Stella said.

"Same here, I'll try to be more honest," Lincoln said.

"Alright, since we're being honest now...what did you think of my underwear pictures?" Stella asked.

Lincoln immediately started to blush from this out of nowhere question. "Uh, those pictures? Of you? In your underwear?"

"Yes Lincoln, those pictures," Stella said.

"Is that really a good question to be asking right now?" Lincoln asked. "I mean after everything that's happened?"

"I'm just curious, I mean I took a huge risk showing you those pictures, it was actually kind of embarrassing," Stella said. "I just want to know what you thought of them."

"I mean, those pictures were from three years ago, it's not like I can compare it to now," Lincoln said.

"Can you at least tell me how you would have reacted back then?" Stella asked. "I mean, what do you think of my body?"

"Stella, is this really important?" Lincoln asked. "I mean, my interest in you doesn't have anything to do with your body at all, I like you for you."

"Even so, the day will come where you get to see much more of me, more than others have seen," Stella said, blushing a bit. "I just want to make sure it's a pleasurable thing for you, so when that day comes, you'll be completely satisfied."

"Stella, even when that day comes, I'm still gonna enjoy it, not for your body, but because it's a day where we become closer," Lincoln said. "I just care about the bond, you don't need to have a super model body for me to enjoy it, just being with you is enough."

Stella seemed very satisfied with that answer, if anything she actually felt really flattered that he felt this strongly about her. "My sweet Linky, I appreciate that so much." She then brought her boyfriend in for a kiss, "I love you so much, and while I do find relief in knowing that you're not concerned about my body, I still plan to make sure it's in tip top shape for our day...which I hope comes soon."

"Soon? Like how soon?" Lincoln asked.

"As in..whenever you want," Stella shyly suggested.

"Stella...eager as I am to have that moment with you, I don't know if I'm gonna be ready in the near future," Lincoln said. "That's a big moment and I don't think I can make it special for you, not yet."

"Is there any reason?" Stella asked. "If it's your own body then don't worry, I won't think much about it either."

"It's not that," Lincoln said.

"Uh...is it your size?" Stella bashfully asked.

Lincoln angrily blushed, "No, it's not that either, I just don't feel ready." Lincoln rubbed his head, "Look, I do think about this too, it's actually very nerve wrecking because I want our moment to be really special, but even though we've dated a while, I still don't want to rush into it. I mean we just started getting more 'intimate' with our make-out sessions, and sometimes it feels weird whenever I start 'appreciating' your body, because it's still hard to believe what started out when we were kids has blossomed into what we are now. I want our first time to feel completely natural to us."

Stella was very impressed with what Lincoln had to say, it sounded like he put a lot of thought into this. Of course he is the 'Man with a Plan', and it would apply even to something like this it seems.

"Well I'm happy to now you take the idea seriously," Stella said. "And I agree, our first time should be special, because you're special to me Lincoln."

"And you're special to me Stella, I promise the day our moment comes, it will be an epic one," Lincoln said.

"I look forward to it," Stella said.

"Just give me an advanced warning," Lucy said, startling the two.

"She still gets me," Lincoln angrily muttered.

"Uh, how much did you hear?" Stella asked, blushing quite a bit.

"I heard enough, but don't worry, I won't exactly blab this out, but this is something I should now since Lincoln and I share a room," Lucy said.

"Question Linc, when Luan and Luna had their moment, do you know how they went about it?" Stella asked.

"Since Luna is usually busy with her band that's usually when Luan and Benny...put on a show," Lincoln said. "Same when Luan has a birthday gig, Luna sometimes brings Sam over to...make music," Lincoln explained, a huge blush on his face as he discussed his sisters' private moments.

"Let's reunite with the other sisters before they notice we're not there and get curious themselves," Stella suggested.

"Good idea," Lincoln said, making his way back to his sisters with both Stella and Lucy in tow.

"By the way Lincoln, what did you say to Lynn?" Lucy asked.

Lincoln grimaced at the mention of his sister, "I told her how I felt, that's all. She won't be bugging me or Stella now."

Stella noticed the tone on Lincoln's voice, there seemed to be a venom to it, like if he were holding back some anger. This wasn't a side to her boyfriend she was particularly used to, and she didn't know if she liked it much. Scratch that, she knew she didn't like it, but she can't blame him for being angry. Lynn can bring out that feeling in a person, even to someone as patient as Lincoln.

"Hey, Stella," Carlota called out, getting the girl's attention. "Would you mind coming over a moment?"

"Uh, sure?" Stella said, not sure what to think. Carlota obviously isn't someone she's gotten along with either. She made her way over to the older girl, "What is it?"

"Let me start by saying, I'm sorry for how unkind I've been," Carlota began. "I haven't been nice to you since I met you, and for years I've kind of disliked you because I thought you took Lincoln away from my cousin. I just always thought those two looked cute together, and with Lori dating Bobby, I thought it'd be cuter if their little siblings fell in love too, especially since they just happen to be the same age, I thought it would have been a wasted opportunity if they didn't get together. But the main point is that I'm really sorry, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you, just name it and I'll see what I can do."

"You don't have to do anything, just promise you won't pry me and Lincoln apart," Stella said.

"I won't, promise, he's all yours," Carlota said. "Lucky you, a boy like that is a girl's dream, he's got the looks and personality. Almost makes me wish I were his age, Ronnie Anne and I would have been rivals, and if you thought I was bad trying to help her, imagine what I would have done to make sure he was mine."

"I am the envy of some of my classmates, especially nowadays," Stella said. "Obviously I need to keep a closer eye on him so girls don't sneak in kisses."

"I almost can't blame Sid for that, what she did was bad of course but still," Carlota said. "It's easy to understand."

"I guess so," Stella said. "Hey, maybe you can help me with one thing?"

"Sure, what is it?" Carlota asked.

"You're good with make-up, think you can help me look pretty for tonight?" Stella asked. "After everything I want to really make things special for Lincoln in any way I can."

Carlota rubbed her chin, "I think I have what you need. But I can't make you look pretty Stella, that's something you already are."

"Oh, thanks Carlota," Stella said, blushing a bit. "I'll be honest, I never expected you to think that."

"If I didn't think you were pretty, I wouldn't have tried so hard at Dairy Land," Carlota said. "Girl, you're beautiful, Lincoln's a lucky boy to have you."

"Thanks, uh so are you Carlota," Stella said.

"You're so sweet, I don't know why I ever tried ruining life for you," Carlota said, making her way to the stairs. "Be back soon." Though as she ascended, she passed by Ronnie Anne and Sid. "Oh, you're back."

"Yeah, me and Sid are done talking, and she's very sorry," Ronnie Anne said.

"Really sorry," Sid emphasized.

"That's nice, now I gotta get my make-up," Carlota said.

"Gonna look pretty for tonight?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"I'm always pretty," Carlota reminded. "But this is for Stella, turns out she's a sweetheart."

"Wow, took you three years to figure that out?" Ronnie Anne sarcastically said.

"Cute, well I'm off," Carlota said, going upstairs as the two best friends made their way downstairs.

"We're back," Ronnie Anne greeted. "What did we miss?"

"Nothing much I can tell you," Lola said. "How did things go with your nutty hormonal friend?"

"Hey I don't have to take that from you!" Sid said.

"You kissed my brother and nearly ruined his relationship, you'll get nothing but sass from me," Lola said.

Sid gritted her teeth, "Honestly, I don't know what Adelaide sees in you. Speaking of which I should go find her since we're leaving soon."

"Hold it," Stella said. "Not until I have a word with you."

"Oh boy..." Sid said, dreading this. Stella did not look happy, the difference between an upset Stella and upset Ronnie Anne is that Sid's used to seeing Ronnie Anne's temper, but she rarely sees one from Stella.

"Go easy on her Stella, I already let her have it," Ronnie Anne said.

"I won't be too harsh, I just want to make sure we have an understanding," Stella said, then turned to the other girl, "Well Sid?"

Sid made her way over to Stella, looking to the ground, almost afraid to look Stella in the eyes. She slowly turned her head up, coming into Stella's gaze, which was not a very pleasant one. "Hey Stella..."

"Sid, what do you have to say for yourself?" Stella asked.

"Uh...that you'd look a lot prettier if you were smiling?" Sid said. "I mean, you're always really pretty but that smile of yours is breathtaking."

"Stop trying to sweet talk me," Stella said. "Tell me what else you have to say for yourself."

Sid began to frown, that frown turned into complete sadness, and that sadness turned into watery eyes, and that turned into Sid falling to her knees, hugging Stella around the waist as she balled. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to do anything so heinous as to kiss your boyfriend! I really do ship the two of you really hard! I just got too curious, I mean can you blame me! Lincoln's really attractive! I just wanted a taste of that! Please don't hate me Stella, I couldn't bare the thought!"

Sid continued to cry and ball over her own foolishness as Stella patted her head in pity for the poor girl. "Alright Sid, pull yourself together, I accept your apology and forgive you."

Sid was overwhelmed with emotion and crushed Stella tightly in a hug. "Thank you so much, you're the best!"

"Hehe, no problem Sid, now can you please loosen your grip?" Stella asked.

Sid backed off, "Sorry about that. I'm just so relieved that you were so cool about me making out with your boyfriend." Stella's deadpanned and annoyed glare caused Sid to rethink her words. "I mean, you're just really forgiving, and it's very admirable."

"That's what I figured you meant," Stella said. "It's fine, I mean it was only a kiss. Plus I can't blame you, I do have an attractive boyfriend. Just avoid kissing in secret like this again and we'll be all good."

"Sure thing," Sid said. "Wow, glad that's over with. Now it's just smooth sailing until the concert."

"Speaking of which, Stella, Ronnie Anne, do you think I should still let Sid have one of the backstage passes?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not," Ronnie Anne said.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it too," Stella said.

"Great, that just leaves the fifth pass," Lincoln turned to Lucy. "Hey Luce, do you want it?"

"No thanks, I don't see the thrill of it," Lucy said.

Lincoln shrugged and turned to his older sister, "How about you Lori?"

"I'm gonna be spending time with Bobby," Lori said. "But I appreciate the offer."

Lincoln turned to his second oldest sister, "How about you Leni? You do like Boyz will be Boyz too."

"Wow really? You're so sweet Linky," Leni said. "But, I really think you should let Lynn keep it."

Lincoln's smile faded instantly, "I don't think so, I'm still kind of mad at her. What she did to Stella isn't anything I can really let go. She really crossed the line there."

"I know she did something bad but you've forgiven her for worse," Leni said.

"Blackmailing my girlfriend and making her do shameful things for as long as she did is a bit worse to me than Lynn telling everyone I'm bad luck and being forced to sleep in the backyard for two days," Lincoln said.

"Lynn did what!?" Sid asked, then turned to Ronnie Anne. "What's he talking about?"

"Sometime before I moved out here, Lynn convinced her sisters that Lincoln was bad luck, he went along with it, they took it too seriously and he ended up sleeping in the backyard because they were afraid he was gonna put a curse on the house or something," Ronnie Anne explained.

Sid was amazed by what she had just heard and how low the Loud sisters stooped. She turned her head to the siblings, glaring at them, "That's just terrible of you all to do!"

"It's fine Sid, it was a long time ago, and they've apologized for it, so I forgive them," Lincoln said. "I played a part of it and my acting skills were way too convincing."

"Are you seriously using this to brag about your acting skills?" Lola asked.

"Hey I fooled you didn't I?" Lincoln said, smirking a bit. "Gotta find a bright side somewhere. Plus I did get a lot of 'Me Time' during that, which is something I desperately needed, if that was the price I had to pay then so be it."

"You know if you wanted alone time you could have just told us," Lola said.

"Can we not get back into this?" Luna said. "We all made mistakes, no use dragging this on and on."

"Oh face it Luna, we're never living that down," Luan said. "Let's just be happy Lincoln forgave us."

"Still, that sounds pretty rough," Sid said. "Yet Lincoln still chooses to forgive that over what Lynn did."

"It bothers me more when something happens to people I care about than when something happens to me, and the fact that one of my sisters could stoop so low makes me even more angry," Lincoln said. "I just can't forgive Lynn for this. I mean, how could she do this! To think I spent the last few years wasting my time trying to comfort someone who didn't deserve it! I should have just let her rot in her own self pity! Ugh, sometimes I just hate her so much!"

Lori's heart sank when she heard Lincoln say this, her normally tolerant brother feeling this much rage. Very rarely would Lincoln say such things about one of his sisters, even when they deserve it.

"I don't blame Lincoln for feeling this way, Lynn really screwed up this time," Lola said. "You don't mess with someone's relationship."

"I know Lynn did something bad but, are we really going to stay mad at her forever?" Leni asked.

"Leni's got a point," Lori said. "Lynn did something stupid but, I don't think it's worth isolating her. We just need to get her to understand that what she did was wrong."

"We've been trying to get that through her thick skull for years!" Lola said. "The girl can't learn a lesson to save her life!"

"Come on, we've gotten through to Lynn before," Lori said. "It takes a while but it's worth it in the end, she is family. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty mad too but I didn't think any of you would hold onto it forever. Truth be told, the reason I wanted Stella to confess to Lincoln is because I just had a feeling in my gut that Lincoln would be forgiving, and thankfully that feeling was right...even if possibly influenced by a certain girl's eccentric nature."

Sid shrunk a bit from Lori's sudden glare, the girl sheepishly smiling, "Least it worked?"

Lori turned away, wanting to get back to what she was saying, "My point is that I hoped that if you all saw how forgiving Lincoln was about Stella that maybe you'd all lighten up. Granted maybe I should have considered how Lynn would have reacted, I was hoping she'd take the moment to finally apologize and admit her wrong doings, yet she made things worse by trying to brush it off. Typical Loud sister reaction honestly."

"That includes you too Lori," Lola reminded.

"Fine, I'll take fault in that," Lori said. "Look, the point is we've spent most of our lives brushing things off or trying to dodge responsibility for our mistakes, or on occasion, shoving them on Lincoln due to his passive nature, plus worst of all, we tend to hold petty grudges."

"Hey any grudge I've held was never petty," Lola said.

"Lola I seem to remember you convincing the sisters to prank me just because I bought noise canceling ear buds," Lincoln said.

"Oh, right..." Lola said. "But you forgive me, don't you?"

Lincoln's deadpanned stare at Lola's puppy eyes sent quite a picture to Sid, Carlota and Ronnie Anne. This family really was a bit strange.

"Of course I forgive you Lola, I just wish you told me how you felt," Lincoln said.

"You had noise cancelling ear buds, how else was I suppose to get your attention?" Lola asked. "Least I didn't do anything that bad, I don't know what the other sisters did."

"Let's not get into it," Lincoln said.

"Alright in regards to that, maybe we should have conveyed our message a little better, pranking Lincoln might have been going to far, but Lincoln, you should have known we would find out, and that it would upset us," Lori said. "Not because you weren't helping us, but because you shut us out, we're yours sisters, believe it or not, we do love you and it hurts us when you act like you want nothing to do with us. That's why we overreacted with the ear buds. Again, I'm sorry for handling it that way but you shouldn't have done that in the first place."

"You're right, I should have dealt with it," Lincoln said.

"Plus you should also know if you have a problem, you could tell us, that's something else we wanted you to realize," Lori said. "We help each other when we have problems, it's when we keep things from each other that leads to stuff like this. That's why I now believe that keeping this secret from you was wrong, we should have told you right away."

"Yeah, then you'd understand why we were so mad at Lynn for so long," Leni said. "Maybe we could have resolved it faster."

"Then you wouldn't have had to waste your time comforting her," Lola said.

Lori started to grow frustrated, "Lola! That is NOT something you say about your sister!"

"No, she's right, if I knew I wouldn't have wasted my time, I would have just been done with her then," Lincoln said.

"Lincoln, I know you don't mean that," Lori said. "I know you, I know you get angry but you don't stay angry."

"Linky please, we don't like seeing you like this," Leni said.

"Leni if you believed that Lynn was worth forgiving then why didn't you stay in your old room with her last night!?" Lincoln asked.

"Because she wanted you there," Leni said. "Lincoln, you know me, I would never abandon my sisters when they need me, even if I wasn't happy with them. Lynn was sad, I could tell, and it broke my heart. I wanted to help her but she told me she felt more comfortable around you. Couldn't you tell how bothered she was?"

Lincoln rubbed his head, "Well, I guess...I mean she even slept next to me, something she hasn't done since the first time we shared a room."

"She needed you Lincoln, because she was sad, she told me how you were the only one who really talked to her the last year," Leni said. "I mean, it's partially my fault she felt this way, even when I stopped being mad at her, I just didn't know how to help her, then when I moved out, I felt so bad because she would be extra lonely. The only thing that gave me comfort was that I knew you would be there for her."

"What Leni means Lincoln is that despite the stupid stuff Lynn does, she really does care about her family deep down, and it hurts seeing them so isolated from her," Lori said. "You are very likely her last bit of that family, the last one to show her that unconditional love. I mean aside from Lily, though I don't know how Lily's been around Lynn."

"Lily's caught on to our animosity towards Lynn, so she doesn't really spend too much time with her either," Lucy confessed.

Lori looked very ashamed of her sisters, "That's just awful. We're fixing this, today."

"Might be hard since I still have to get ready for that concert," Luna said. "They might text me any minute to start heading over to the stage."

"Then I suggest you all work fast!" Lori said. "First thing's first, let's go find Lynn and get this whole thing wrapped up."

Lincoln turned to Ronnie Anne and Sid, "Did you see Lynn when you were coming down?"

"No, we might have missed her," Ronnie Anne said.

"Doesn't she have a phone?" Sid asked. "Someone call her."

"I'll do it," Lori said, pulling her phone out and dialing. She got no answer, only a voicemail. "Well she's not answering. But I'll keep trying, and expect everyone else to do the same."

"Let's just search the building," Luna said. "Be quick, I don't want anyone to miss the concert."

Everyone began to spread out in their search for Lynn, Lincoln in particular walking out of the building and toward the Mercado. Luan had followed after him, "Hey Lincoln wait up!"

"Sure thing," Lincoln said, letting his sister catch up. "Here to help me look?"

"Sort of, but there's another reason I'm here," Luan said, feeling a bit awkward. "Lincoln, are you really alright knowing that I kissed Stella?"

"I'm fine Luan, it was an accident," Lincoln insisted. "Let's not worry about that, we gotta find Lynn."

"But Lincoln, what I did was kind of a big deal, it just seems weird to me that you're letting me off the hook like that," Luan said. "I expected you to be mad."

"Luan, I made the same mistake you and Stella did, I can't hold that against you," Lincoln said.

"Well, let's say you didn't make that mistake, would you have forgiven me anyway?" Luan asked.

"Of course, you're my sister," Lincoln insisted.

"Lincoln, I would love to believe that," Luan began, her mood dampening a bit. "But given how reluctant you are to forgive Lynn, what's to stop you from doing that to me?"

"Well, that's because..." Lincoln tried thinking of a reason. "Well Lynn bothered Stella and you never did. You've been nice to her and that's all that matters to me."

"Lincoln, can you really tell me right now that you're really ok knowing that your sister kissed your girlfriend!?" Luan asked.

"I'd be more worried if it was Luna honestly," Lincoln said. "I mean, do you find Stella attractive? At least enough to want to kiss her again?"

"Well, I do think she's attractive, but I don't want to do that again, not only was it wrong to you, it was wrong to Benny," Luan said. "I would never want to hurt my two favorite boys like that, this guilt's been eating at me for years like an All You can eat buffet for my conscious, each day wondering how mad you'd be if you found out, how I might have ruined your relationship, how-"

Lincoln shushed Luan with a finger to her mouth. He then leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek, much to her surprise, "Stop worrying so much Luan, you'll get the same stress marks under your eyes that I have."

"Lincoln...why aren't you mad at me?" Luan asked. "You can be mad, I know I deserve it."

"You know why I'm more forgiving of you than Lynn?" Lincoln asked. "When you make a mistake, you don't take forever to apologize, you own up. The fact that you've felt this guilty shows me how much you care, and I can tell you're really sorry. Look, I will admit I am disappointed you kissed my girlfriend, and I might be a little more cautious about leaving you two alone together, but I also know that you'll do what you have to to prove that you won't do something like that again."

Luan felt some relief, hearing her brother's kind words did a lot to soothe her worries. She leaned in and brought Lincoln in for a hug, "You're an awesome brother, thanks."

"Sure thing sis," Lincoln said, hugging Luan. "Now let's hurry and find Lynn."

"Right," Luan said, following after Lincoln.

Elsewhere at the back part of the building complex, Lori was searching with Lucy and Luna, hoping to find out where Lynn had gone.

"How would she even get back here unnoticed?" Luna asked.

"She may have found a way, just keep looking," Lori ordered. "I just hope she didn't leave the area."

"Better not have, I don't want to search all over the dang city," Luna said.

"Come on, I know Lynn isn't exactly your favorite sister but she's still our sister regardless," Lori said. "We have to find her and make things right again."

"Why are you even so concerned about that?" Luna asked. "So little bro can't forgive her, what's the big deal? I've barely forgiven her."

"That's the issue, we're a family, forgiveness should be a priority," Lori said. "We fight a lot, sure, but we always make up, because in the end, we're all each other has."

"Kind of exaggerating a bit, i mean we have friends and stuff," Luna said.

"Well family takes higher priority than friends!" Lori shouted. "I just want things to go back to normal, where we got on each other's nerves, but loved each other anyway. I don't want Lincoln or any of you hating Lynn."

"I don't think he hates her, he's just super mad," Luna said. "I mean think about it, Lynn really violated Stella's privacy, and technically mine and Luan's since it was in our room. Like Lincoln said, Lynn crossed a line. He has a right to be mad."

"Duh, of course he does, but I don't want this to stay unresolved," Lori said.

"Lori, I get you're worried but you gotta know when to back off," Luna said. "Lincoln needs to deal with this at his own pace and Lynn has to do her part to earn his forgiveness. Just because he won't forgive her now doesn't mean he won't ever."

"Luna's right, why are you so worried about it being done now?" Lucy asked.

Lori sighed in annoyance and some despair, "I'm just worried, that's all. I know how Lynn might be feeling right now, it might be similar to how I felt at Dairy Land 3 years ago."

"You mean after Lincoln busted you for how you treated Stella?" Luna asked.

"He said he hated me, you can't imagine how I felt when he uttered those words," Lori said, still thinking of that moment. "I felt so scared, worried that I drove him away forever. I was worried about all of you hating me as well."

'Oh no way, we could never hate you," Luna assured. "We just felt more...disappointed."

"That about sums it up," Lucy said. "When you did it, we were more surprised than anything since we expected better from you. Lynn, we've grown to expect this behavior, and honestly it's wearing at our nerves."

Lori was growing a bit frustrated, her sisters could not listen to reason it seems, though she shouldn't be surprised, her sisters have always been hard to communicate with, even for her. It was easier when she could boast her older sister status, but not living at home does affect her status since she isn't there to ensure they follow through with her orders.

"Times like these I really start to understand why Lincoln gets so frustrated," Lori said, rubbing her temples. "You girls can be so thick-headed, you hold onto petty grudges, you get way too sensitive about certain things, plus it seems like at times you share one brain because if one of you thinks something, the rest of you do. I should know because I've been on both sides of all that."

"First off, what petty grudges do we hold?" Luna asked.

"Let me answer your question with one of my own," Lori said. "What are your feelings on Ronnie Anne?"

"Ronnie Anne? What about her? She's your boyfriend's little sister," Luna said.

"Yes, that she is, but what else is she?" Lori asked. "Who do we personally know that has a connection to her?"

"You mean Lincoln?" Lucy asked. "He's her friend, by a miracle considering her past."

"Right, her 'past' as you say, when she bullied him for just a couple of weeks at most," Lori said.

"Well yeah, we don't like it when someone messes with our brother!" Luna said.

"When we all first found out about it, that certainly wasn't our first thought was it?" Lori asked. "You, like me and all our others sisters thought it was a crush. Now what she did was bad? Which one is it Luna?"

"Kind of hard to see this as a crush when she punched him in the eye!" Luna said. "You know how awkward that was for me and the others? Ronnie Anne really made us look bad! Then I hear that you're forcing him on dates with her just because he called her a few bad names. A girl who's been relentlessly bullying him for no reason, I mean it's not like you could blame Lincoln."

"All she's done was probably call him 'Lame-O' and put some sloppy joes down his pants, I wouldn't call that relentless," Lori said.

"It's still bullying! Ronnie Anne had no business messing with Lincoln like that!" Luna said. "I only wish I knew sooner and not let you convince us it was nothing, all because you care more about Bobby than you do us!'

Lori nearly lost her cool there, but she knew if she did that, it wouldn't do any good favors for anyone, "I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way, Luna." Lori did her best to swallow her anger, "Maybe I should have listened to Lincoln more, or at least teach him a better way to deal with bullies."

"To be fair, he had a plan, that we messed up," Lucy said. "Maybe we should have just listened to him, and not let our overprotectiveness get in the way."

"Where's this going anyway Lori? I thought this was about Lynn, or are you still hung up on our bro not choosing Ronnie Anne?" Luna asked.

"You know that's not true, I love Stella, she's a great girlfriend, aside from her kissing Luan but that was one mistake and she hasn't done anything bad since, least I hope not," Lori said. "My point is that you've held a grudge against Ronnie Anne for so long, even when Lincoln not only forgave her, he became her best friend. They really care about each other, when she moved he helped her through it and tried making her feel at home with his video chats, he's come up here to visit her many times to make sure she still had friends, even now he still cares enough to come see her and spends time with her, even with his own friends and girlfriend, even with her own friends, they still make time for each other, Lincoln wouldn't do that if she wasn't worth the effort."

Luna sighed in annoyance, "Alright fine, so maybe she's not so bad, but what does this have to do with Lynn?"

"I'm showing you what a grudge can do, I know from personal experience that holding a grudge wasn't worth it in the end, I lost many years of friendship with Carol Pringry because I was so jealous of her, if we hadn't made up, we wouldn't have had all the fun times we've had recently," Lori said. "I don't want any regrets with Lynn, even if she is a lousy sister, she's still our sister, we owe it to not give up on her. Besides, let's say we just ignore Lynn, how long before it's you or Lucy one of our siblings start to hate? Suppose one of you get on Lincoln's bad side?"

"Me? I've never done anything bad to Lincoln, on my own at least," Lori said.

"You have, I've seen you!" Lori said. "I see a lot of things Luna, you've been mean to Lincoln for no reason."

"Maybe Luna's done terrible things to Lincoln," Lucy said, getting an offended reaction from the rocker. "But I haven't, not on my own at least."

"Really? You have never told him 'I have no brother'?" Lori asked.

"...I never meant any of that," Lucy said, turning away in shame.

"You still said it, how do you think that made him feel? Inadequate? A failure? Like he doesn't belong?" Lori asked.

Lucy shook her head, "That wasn't my intention, maybe I was mad but I would never feel that way about Lincoln."

"Well he probably didn't know that, ever since Lincoln was young I've noticed that he always got worried if he thought we hated him or were mad at him, being the only boy is tough on our brother, so his insecurities were probably really high, you maybe have added to how useless he felt, think about that," Lori said. "Suppose you slip up again? What if he starts to hate you like he's starting to hate Lynn? Do you really want that?"

Lucy shook her head, "No! Never! I'd rather die!"

"Coming from you, I don't even know how dire death is," Lori said.

"You know what I mean Lori!" Lucy shouted. "Lincoln means more to me than all that stuff! That's why unlike Lynn, I try to make sure I don't drive Lincoln away."

"To be fair, Lynn didn't think she was driving anyone away," Lori said. "Believe it or now, Lynn was being the best sister possible in her own way."

"That's a load of bullshit," Luna said.

"...You better not talk like that in front of Lily, Lisa or the twins!" Lori warned.

"Please, like Lisa would say words like that, and it's already too late for the twins, Lana's already got a mouth to match her hobby," Luna said.

"...I'll have a word with them later," Lori said. "But to your point, it's not 'bullshit', it's her actual feelings. Lynn might out of her mind but everything she does is what she thinks is the right thing."

"But we've told her it wasn't!" Luna said. "She never wants to listen to us though, her head's way to far up her own ass!"

"That could be said about all of us, but it's easier to see the fault in others then yourself now isn't it?" Lori said.

Luna grew frustrated, "You know what? To hell with this! I'm going, I have a concert to get ready for and I'm not gonna miss my big moment just because Lynn's being a total bitch!"

Lori groaned, "It used to be we had to worry about one of us saying 'Dammit' in front of Lily, now I have to worry about every other bit of foul language."

"I'm kind of with Luna, besides Lynn will turn up later, and we can resolve this later," Lucy said. "You don't have to go back to your dorms until tomorrow night correct? We'll resolve it before then, but even if we found Lynn now, Lincoln might not be willing to listen to reason. He's really upset by this and he probably just needs time to get used to things."

"Maybe, but I'm just worried, I want things to be settled as quickly as possible," Lori said.

"Lori, you can't control everything," Lucy said. "The less you try to control things, the better things will be, because they can happen naturally. Haven't you realized by now your controlling nature can get the better of you?"

"I'm not controlling!" Lori shouted, though even under her bangs she could tell Lucy was giving a deadpanned stare. "Fine, maybe a little. It's hardwired into me though, I have to keep all of you under control, don't I?"

"Lori, you're not the only teenager, we have five others who can step up, Lincoln at least has, he's trying to maintain order in the house because he wants to be as great of a leader as you are," Lucy said. "It's no secret that Lincoln looks up to you, the difference is that he tries not to be as controlling. Of course he's not lenient like he was the first night he tried babysitting us."

"Well yeah, I taught him to be a little tougher than that," Lori said.

"And he's learned, but incorporated his own style," Lucy said. "He's stepping up so you don't have to worry as much. So you have to trust that we can settle our own problems."

"I guess..." Lori said. "But it's been so long. I mean did you end up using the Sister Fight Protocol? I know we talked about it but since I had to leave we never finished our conversation and I assumed things were fine again during my Holiday Visits, though I still had my suspicions."

"We opted not to because we didn't want Lincoln to get suspicious, or paranoid since the last time ended really badly for him, so we pretty much faked it, Lincoln being the only one genuine about it," Lucy said. "But now that he knows, I expect it might get used, granted things might have to change to incorporate Lincoln into it."

"Well, as long as it eventually gets resolved, maybe Lincoln knowing can help things patch up, he gets mad, but never holds a grudge," Lori said. "I just don't want to take any chances, it's not easy living away from home knowing that things might be chaotic while I'm not around."

"Things are always chaotic with us, it can't be helped," Lucy said. "Look, if you want we can keep searching for Lynn, if at least to make sure she's doing alright and that she doesn't miss the concert."

"Sure, alright," Lori said, walking off with her gothic sister.

With Stella, she along with Ronnie Anne and Sid were checking some of the upstairs apartments, asking the neighbors if they've seen Lynn, but unfortunately none of them had any contact or know any whereabouts.

"Where could that girl be?" Stella wondered. "She was only a couple floors above us."

"Maybe she's on the roof?" Sid suggested.

"Carlota and Leni are checking there, so at least we'll know once we meet up again," Stella said. "I am a bit worried though."

"Why? I thought you hated Lynn?" Sid said.

"I don't hate her...I mean, maybe a little, but she is Lincoln's sister, and even if he's mad at her, I know deep down he still cares about her, he can't really hold a grudge," Stella said.

"I just don't get her, three years ago she did everything she could to make me look bad compared to you, then she pulls this stunt on you?" Ronnie Anne said. "It's like she can't even decide if she hates someone or not."

"Lynn's just a complicated girl," Stella explained. "Too complicated actually, probably hormones, or maybe she took one too many hits to the head during her many sports."

"It's just a shame that she acts the way she does," Sid said. "To think that Lincoln has to put up with it, I feel so bad for him. Though I suppose it's thanks to Lynn that I've learned to appreciate my sister, who isn't nearly as bad, even if she can be annoying."

"Adelaide doesn't' seem that bad," Stella said.

"Bet you thought that about Lola and Lana, and look how they turned out," Ronnie Anne joked.

"Yeah, somehow I get the feeling those two really don't like me much these days, Lola's still a little untrusting of me since I kissed Luan, and Lana hates that I don't let her do anything gross," Stella said. "The thing is she does these things that can't be good for her health."

"What's the grossest thing she's done?" Sid asked.

Sid had to resist the urge to gag, "I don't want to talk about it, she can do really gnarly things. That's why I've made it my goal to prevent her from doing this stuff."

"So like a protective older sister?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Stella nodded her head. "Pretty much, I know it's too soon to think about this, but there are times I wondered what it will be like being married to Lincoln, to one day be Mrs. Stella Loud. I've already begun to see Lincoln's sisters as family, like sisters of my own."

"Even though you made out with one of them," Sid joked.

"Sid, I may have forgiven you, but don't think I'm fully over you kissing Lincoln, so you really don't want to tick me off right now," Stella warned.

Sid backed away, holding up her hands in surrender, "I'll back off."

"Still can't believe you two kissed," Ronnie Anne said. "Did he even like it?"

"Uh, I'm not sure, he did seem very uncomfortable, then he chased me," Sid said.

"Wait, is that why he tried beating you up?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Actually it was because my sister made a perverted comment about Lola and Lana, and Lincoln thought she learned it from me," Sid said.

"I hope you tune down the comments yourself Sid, might be hard to get someone yourself," Stella said, gesturing her eyes toward Ronnie Anne.

"I'll do my best," Sid said. "I just can't help it sometimes, I mean first with Ronnie Anne and Carlota, then you at Dairy Land Stella, then my fantasies about what Yun Kwan would look like in tight pants, even Lincoln from time to time, I just have that fascination. I mean don't you have those fantasies? Don't either of you?" Stella and Ronnie Anne began blushing, neither wanting to comment on it. "Heh, your faces speak volumes."

"Least I don't try sneaking a feel," Ronnie Anne said. "Gotta learn boundaries."

"Yeah, it helps to ask," Stella said. "Believe it or not, Lincoln once asked to touch my hips, I mean of course since he's a gentleman, but overtime he's gotten used to it, and I normally don't mind, he's got a gentle touch."

"He sure does," Sid fantasized, then snapped back to reality when she noticed the glares. "Uh, so it looks like, since his hands look so soft, must use a lot of lotion."

"He does," Stella confirmed, still somewhat suspicious of the pervy girl. "Sid, question, if you got a someone to date you, like if you confessed to your crush, would you tone down on your comments about others? Especially their butts?"

"Well yeah, I mean I'd be more focused on my girlfriend to notice anyone else," Sid said.

"Girlfriend? That's specific," Ronnie Anne said. "So you are into girls? I mean you like commenting on them but I thought it was experimental."

"Well, I like both," Sid said. "I just said 'girlfriend' because...well all I see are girls right now."

"So your talks about dating Lincoln and Stella, they were serious?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"I mean, kind of, they're both attractive," Sid said. "But I wouldn't go for them."

"I'm flattered you find me attractive, I can't return your affection, even if I was single, but I'm very flattered," Stella said. She then turned to Ronnie Anne, "So, tell me, boys or girls?"

"Uh, boys," Ronnie Anne said. "I think I prefer boys."

Sid pouted in shame and disappointment, "Yeah, that makes sense, you used to like Lincoln...I think."

"I'm not getting into that, but yeah, I'm more into boys," Ronnie Anne said.

"What if a girl asked you out?" Stella asked. "Would you turn her down?"

"I never saw girls that way, then again I've never experimented," Ronnie Anne said. "I've only kissed Sid out of a dare, or rather she kissed me. Wait, how much did you enjoy that kiss Sid?"

"Uh...well I was mostly goofing around so it wasn't really much to think about," Sid nervously said. "I mean it would be neat to find out but if you don't want to that's fine."

"Sid, you're acting strange, is there something you're not telling me?" Ronnie Anne asked, glaring suspiciously at Sid.

"Uh...what could I not be telling you?" Sid was starting to sweat a bit. "Don't mind me, it's just my weirdness, nothing new."

That wasn't really enough to quell Ronnie Anne's suspicions. She seemed to remember that Sid had a crush, but she wouldn't say on who. Then Sid mentions wanting a girlfriend, while she knew Sid would comment on girls, and occasionally perv on Stella, she chalked that up to curiosity more than anything romantic, especially since she made her move on Lincoln. Granted they were alone together, which might be why, leading Ronnie Anne to wonder if Sid would have done the same if she were alone with Stella. But now this talk about their old kiss from a couple years ago seems to have brought out a suspicious reaction from Sid.

Now she has to wonder, if it was possible that she was the center of Sid's affections.

"Sid, I can tell you're hiding something, you can tell me," Ronnie Anne said. She had to know if what she was thinking was true.

"It's nothing Ronnie, don't mind me," Sid said. "Come on, we're suppose to be looking for Lynn."

"Sid, you don't even care where she is, are you dodging my question?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Sid grew nervous and desperate, "Ronnie Anne, I don't have anything I want to tell you right now."

"Wait, anything you want to tell me? You saying you don't want to tell me what's on your mind?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Sid was getting really nervous, almost on the verge of tears. She still wasn't ready to tell Ronnie Anne, at least not like this. Not in a topic related to her pervy antics.

Suddenly Stella grabbed Sid's hand, the girl taking note of her Royal Woods friend, feeling at ease from her friendly smile. Stella turned her attention to Ronnie Anne, "I know you're curious, but can it wait? I think this is overwhelming Sid."

Ronnie Anne was a bit annoyed, but she did see that Sid was very much bothered, resulting in guilt from pestering her friend. While Ronnie Anne had her suspicions, even if they were true, she doubts that Sid wants to talk about them right now.

"Sorry Sid, I didn't mean to upset you," Ronnie Anne said. "I don't know if you do have anything to say, but you can tell me whenever you're ready to."

Sid nodded in agreement, "I will."

As Ronnie Anne walked off, Stella pulled Sid into a hug, hoping to calm the girl down, "Just so you know, maybe I was wrong. If I were single, I think I would have considered returning your crush."

"Aw, thanks," Sid said, returning the hug. "You're so nice, I could totally kiss you right now."

"Yeah, but I'd rather you didn't," Stella playfully said.

Sid looked down, seeing her favorite part of Stella. She considered reaching down, but now was not the time for that. She just wanted Stella's friendship right now, nothing more.

"Lynn!?" They heard Ronnie Anne shouted from the stairs. The two girls broke their hug and rushed over to where Ronnie Anne was, finding Lynn sitting on the steps.

"What are you doing here?" Lynn asked, though judging from her cracked voice and some tear stains, they could tell she had been crying.

Stella felt really concerned when she saw this, seeing Lynn look so broken was a bit troubling given how she is quite used to seeing her all confident.

"Lynn, your family is worried about you, so you should really come downstairs," Stella said.

"What for? So they can tell me how much they hate me!?" Lynn asked. As they got a better look at her eyes, they could see they were bloodshot, she really must have been upset. "Just go, I don't want to be bothered!"

"Didn't Carlota and Leni come by here?" Ronnie Anne asked. "How did they miss you?"

"How could they not? They were talking fashion when they passed by, it was easy to slip past their sights," Lynn said.

"Well you're not so lucky with us, now stop messing around and come downstairs," Ronnie Anne ordered.

"Shove off, I'm not going anywhere!" Lynn shouted. "Just go to your stupid concert and leave me be. I gotta move again now just in case my idiot sister comes down this way."

"Don't say that about Leni, she cares about you," Stella said.

"Bullshit, my siblings hate me, all because of you three!" Lynn said.

"Hey don't blame us because you started to-" Sid's rant was interrupted by Stella.

"Hold on Sid, now's not the time to get angry," Stella said. "Look you two let everyone know that Lynn's been found and...Lynn!" The jock had gotten up to leave with Stella chasing after her. "Lynn get back here!"

Sid groaned annoyance, "Why were we trying to find her again?"

"Because Lori asked us to," Ronnie Anne said, pulling out her phone. "Plus, pain in the butt or not, it was the right thing to do."

Lynn was trying to go upstairs even further but Stella was right on her tracks. Lynn eventually stopped, glaring at Stella, "What do you want from me!?"

"I want to bring you back to your siblings," Stella said. "They're all looking for you."

"I don't even get why, I'm willing to bet Lincoln already told you that he pretty much hates me," Lynn said.

"Lincoln's mad but he won't hate you," Stella said. "Look let's just talk about this with everyone, we'll come to a rational decision."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Lynn said, her tears returning. "Just go! I don't want to see you!"

"Lynn, come on, we've known each other for years, why don't you trust me yet!?" Stella asked.

"I did!" Lynn shouted, getting close to Stella, the girl getting a closer look at the jock's bloodshot eyes. "I did trust you! That's why I tried hooking you two up! Once you got your hands on my brother you took him completely away from me!"

"Lynn, I didn't take Lincoln away, you drove him away by acting spoiled," Stella said. "You spent so much time trying to force a connection between us!"

"Hey it worked didn't it? You fell in love with my brother," Lynn said, her fury rising. "Then you tell me off at the park, after that you came to my home and made a fool out of me!"

"Was it that kiss? I told Lincoln to kiss everyone, I just wanted you all to be closer," Stella said. "Lincoln told me that you rarely vocalized your love for each other, I wanted to change that, and make all of you happy. Weren't you happy when your brother told you he loved you?"

"Of course, it meant everything to me, it's just that...Ugh!" Lynn angrily punched the railing, which she almost regreted since she injured her hand. At the very least she was able to calm herself a bit. "I'm just not good with emotions alright! Maybe I overreacted, but you're the one who put me in that spot! What was I suppose to do?"

"Anything but punch your brother," Stella said. "It hurt him, not physically, but emotionally, like you didn't care about it."

"I do care about my brother, I just don't care much for that type of affection" Lynn insisted.

"Do you really feel that way?" Stella asked. "Can you really tell me that you don't like it when your brother hugs you? Or gives you a kiss? Lincoln loves you Lynn, even if it was awkward you could have handled that better."

"Well next time make sure everyone's alright with that, not everyone is good with emotions Stella," Lynn said.

Stella sighed in defeat, "Alright, fair point. I shouldn't have made Lincoln do that, I'm sorry."

"Good," Lynn said, turning away. "To answer your question though...I didn't hate the hug or kiss, I actually liked it. I just got embarrassed, I should have returned the affection."

"Aw, that's cute, why don't you try that now?" Stella suggested.

"Don't be stupid!" Lynn snapped. "There's no way any of them will forgive me after what I did to you! I know how precious you are to them."

"Lynn, I am not precious to them, they hated me for a while too," Stella said. "After my kiss with Luan, things changed, I wasn't the dear, sweet and innocent Stella to them any longer. Even after they forgave me, they held onto the grudge for a while. The twins haven't seen me as the same since, Lisa became a little less trusting of me, Lori checks in on my every once in a while to make sure I haven't repeated my mistake, Luna gets uncomfortable whenever she comes home to find me in her room with Luan, I've gone through a lot too."

"They still at least tolerate you, for the last two years they treated me like garbage, honestly I almost felt the same way Lincoln did when I called him 'bad luck'," Lynn said, wiping her nose. "Ironically Lincoln was the only one who actively tried to look out for me, he still treated me like his sister. Even after all the bad things I've done, I could see the love in his heart for me. I felt so crappy because of it, maybe because deep down I had a feeling he would find out." Lynn wiped her eyes. "I've actually wanted to tell him, but I was so scared, I knew he would hate me, but in the end it happened anyway. Maybe if I told him then he would have been less mad, I don't know honestly."

"I take it you really value your relationship to your brother?" Stella asked

"Don't act surprised!" Lynn shouted, causing Stella to flinch. "I love Lincoln, I love him more than anything, he's my little brother, he was my best friend, before you, Clyde or those other losers came along, I was everything to him. The other sisters were too old to hang out with him or too young, but I was the right age. I always stuck by his side, maybe I was tough on him, maybe I messed with him, but it wasn't because I hated him, it's just how I show affection. Maybe I do it more with Lincoln because I have a softer spot for him. He's my only brother after all. He's the only boy that I really love right now, he's the only boy I have in my life."

"If you love him that much, wouldn't it be easier to tell him so he knows?" Stella asked.

"Well, I tell him that I appreciate him," Lynn said, getting a deadpanned reaction from Stella. "Come on, that's good enough! I told you I'm not good with that type of stuff!"

"But Lynn, maybe if you just said 'I love you' like all your sisters do then he'd believe it more," Stella said. "You did like your brother's affection, didn't you?"

"Of course I do, but I'm also trying to make my brother tougher Stella, my 10 sisters have girled him up for years," Lynn said. "It takes a toll, he was so bothered that he decided to go camping in the woods and that went wrong in so many ways."

"Yeah he mentioned that to me. So I take it you worried about him?" Stella asked

"Duh, of course, I mean thankfully he's a smart kid and was able to get out of danger," Lynn said.

"Thanks to the 'girly' stuff he learned," Stella said. "But not all it was girly, I mean he remembered your tips on how to move heavy objects."

"Of course, I look out for my brother," Lynn said. "That's all I've been trying to do, I just want him to be happy."

"No offense Lynn, but forcing him to play sports and being rough with him doesn't make him happy," Stella said.

"It used to, Lincoln loved spending time with me, we used to play together a lot, we were really close," Lynn said. "I just miss those days. It's almost at the point where I have to basically strong arm him into doing things with me, these days he just focuses on his comics and video games, stuff I really can't get into."

"If it's any consolation, he can get competitive at video games, just like you do with sports," Stella said. "You may have rubbed off on him a little."

"Yeah, good point, he's always so focused when he's playing," Lynn said. "I remember a few months ago I saw him playing this game, I don't remember what it was, but he had to fight some alien cyborgs. He seemed so focus on always beating whatever score he previously had, like he's trying to better himself. I kind of admire that about him really, he's got that competitive edge."

"You two spent a lot of time together the last year, didn't you?" Stella asked.

Lynn nodded, "Yeah, he kept me company, pretty much all the time, except when he was with you. I loved it, it reminded me of the old days, it was what I always wanted. But it felt so shallow, I only had those moments because he didn't know what I had done. Deep in my mind I was afraid he would find out. Now my fears are realized, I don't even know what to do."

"It's simple, just tell him that you're really sorry and that you love him," Stella said. "I know you have it in you Lynn."

"It's not gonna be that simple," Lynn reminded. "Stella, my sisters hold grudges, you said it yourself that some of them are still mad that you kissed Luan."

"It's a process but they are at least on talking terms with me again," Stella said.

"Gee, lucky you," Lynn sarcastically replied. "Be grateful they're acknowledging you after the crap you pulled."

"May I ask how you felt when that happened?" Stella asked.

"Pretty pissed since you cheated on my brother," Lynn said. "After all that work to get you two together."

"You shouldn't have been controlling, I mean wasn't it bad enough Lori was? You weren't acting any better," Stella said.

"Uh, I think we agreed that you were controlling yourself when you made Lincoln hug and kiss all of us," Lynn reminded.

"But that...ugh fine, I'll let you have that one," Stella said. "Still, you were upset though."

"Yeah, I wanted to tell Lincoln, I was just afraid, not only because it was bad for Luan, but I also know you make him happy," Lynn said. "Understand this, even when I messed with you, I didn't want to do anything that would break you up. I don't think Lincoln would have handled it well and I didn't want him sulking and moping around the house."

"So, you cared about our relationship, even if you didn't seem to like me," Stella said.

"If Lincoln broke up with you, I would prefer if it were on his own terms," Lynn said. "Plus like I said, I didn't want him going for Ronnie Anne."

"Wow, you really don't like Ronnie Anne," Stella said. "I don't know why, she's a really nice girl."

"Hey she made us look bad the day she punched Lincoln in the eye right after we convinced him to kiss her, all because we thought her bullying was her sign of affection," Lynn said. "It took forever to get Lincoln to trust us about girls again. Thankfully he did, just in time too, because he almost left the house one day looking like some wannabe cool kid."

"That was the day he first talked to me, wasn't it?" Stella asked. "If not for you girls, I wouldn't have known the real Lincoln Loud right away. I'm really grateful for that just so you know."

"Our mistake the first time was making him think we were right, but this time we let him be himself," Lynn said. "Guess that's the only time we let him fly free. But then we heard about his rivalry with his friends for your affection, and figured he still needed some girl help, hence why we all tried helping Lincoln in our own way. That's why I led the charge on helping him because while he was good at talking to girls, he wasn't so good at the romance part yet. That's why everyone got so excited when you came over without Clyde and the others."

"You tried making the evening romantic," Stella remembered. "It was cute I'll admit, if that was your planning then I think you did a great job, even if it was a bit awkward."

"Heh, my plans rule. Thankfully things worked out in the end, but my sisters did want Lincoln to try this on his own, but my competitive nature got the better of me," Lynn said.

"Well, you just care about your brother, but you need to find a compromise." Stella said. She placed her hand gently on Lynn's shoulders, giving her a very gentle gaze "It's good to help Lincoln, but sometimes you gotta let him try things on his own. Now granted I was the one who made the first move but, he might have felt more comfortable doing so if you weren't hounding on him the way you were."

"Alright fine, maybe I can try to ease up," Lynn admitted.

"Remember, part of helping someone is giving them the confidence to succeed on their own, think of it like being his trainer, give him tips, help him with things he's struggling with, but trust him to do fine when the moment comes," Stella said.

"Huh, finally speaking my language, you're actually alright Stella, I knew you'd be cool, even if it took three years," Lynn said, holding her fist out. "Don't leave me hanging." Stella fist bumped Lynn, finally bringing a smile to the jock's face. "Thanks Stella."

"You can call me 'Stells'," Stella said, winking at the girl. "So does this mean we can be friends?"

"I think I can squeeze you into my list of many friends," Lynn joked, getting a giggle from Stella.

"Well come on, let's go find the others, hopefully you can make peace with Lincoln," Stella said. Before leaving however, Lynn pulled her into a hug.

"I'm really sorry by the way, for how mean I've been to you, I shouldn't have done any of that," Lynn said.

Stella was surprised, but gladly returned the hug. "I completely forgive you Lynn."

One step closer, all that was left was the confessions of an apologetic sister and a friend who yearns to confess her love.

---

The end has at last come, just one chapter left in this story. Hopefully gonna be a satisfying one, still got some stuff to resolve after all.