Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Restored Image: A tale retold

Chapter twenty-five: Deserving what was given

Lily Loud, the baby of the Loud family, woke up in her crib in the bedroom that she shared with her older sister Lisa one well enough morning. Looking around as she sat in her crib, Lily saw that Lisa was not in the room. Curious, the youngest Loud sibling climbed out of her crib (it was not all that difficult a task for her, as she had figured out the right trick ages ago), stood a little shakily on her feet, and proceeded to waddle out of the bedroom, intent on figuring out where her smart big sister had wandered off to.

Luckily for Lily, the bedroom door was open by a crack, so she was able to open it up enough for her to slip out her and Lisa's bedroom. However, the moment that Lily waddled out of the bedroom, she was scooped up by Lincoln who, at that moment, had coincidentally left his own bedroom to head downstairs to get something to eat.

"Whoa there, Lily," the white-haired boy said, a bit of amusement in his tone, as he held the youngest Loud sibling, "What are you doing out of your crib? Your parents really ought to look into getting a new one that you can escape from less easily, if at all." Lily whined a bit in an upset tone, partly because she was scooped up when she wanted to have the freedom to move about as she pleased, partly because someone had made the suggestion of getting a new crib for Lily that she would be less able to escape from.

But the youngest Loud sibling whined mostly because she understood Lincoln enough to tell that he referred to their parents as not being his. Many may not realize this, but despite her young age, Lily is more intelligent and aware of things than the average person would give her credit for. Lily was aware that a while ago, her big brother was nowhere to be seen, and that ever since her big brother was found, he was very much upset with how the rest of the family had treated him, prior to him trying to become the hide-and-seek champion.

Granted, Lily's big brother has been coming to reconcile with their family members one by one; as a matter of fact, Lily was the first person in the family who Lincoln had reconciled with. When the youngest Loud sibling realized that she was the first person in her family that her big brother considered as his family again, she was very happy. However, Lily was thrown for a loop when she understood the exact extent as to why Lincoln forgave her first over anyone else in the whole of their family.

She's the baby.

Lily, at first, honestly thought that she had done a sufficient effort to have earned the right of having Lincoln refer to her as one of his family members, just like some of her older sisters as of late. But then she heard Lincoln explain to some of their older sisters that he forgave her because she's the baby of the family, thus she can't be held accountable for her actions. Lily wanted to earn the right for Lincoln to consider her as his family, just like how the rest of the Louds have to earn it. And yet it was given to the baby of the family because she's a baby.

Believe it or not, Lily actually has a degree of pride; with how some of her older sisters have been known to show pride in their own ways, it should not come as a surprise that Lily herself can be prideful. And although Lily knew that her big brother did not mean to, the fact remains that he had stung her pride by reconciling with her instantly because, by his actions, he had shown that he didn't think Lily was capable of properly earning the right to be considered as his family, unlike what some of their sisters have done, and what the rest of their sisters and both of their parents have yet to do.

Lily hated how, by virtue of her being a baby, she was constantly underestimated. The youngest Loud sister wanted to show that she was just as, if not more so, capable of action as her older siblings. If that chance would only rear its head, then Lily would seize it by the horns. She would prove that she ought to be given the chance to show that she can properly earn something that she wanted, rather than just have that something she wanted simply handed to her, as if it was an automatic response.

But that would be a task that would have to be settled later. For now, Lily figured that she ought to settle down and allow her big brother to take her to wherever it was that he was carting her off to. As it turned out, he took her down with him to the ground floor and over into the dining room, where most of their sisters were already eating at the dining table. Lily was placed in her highchair by Lincoln before he turned around to head into the kitchen to grab some of whatever was available for breakfast.

Lily did not have to wait all that long until her mom came over, a spoon in her right hand and a jar of baby food in her left, and proceeded to feed her breakfast. Rita remarked as she fed her that Lily was not being fussy in the least. Indeed, the youngest Loud sibling was not being a fussy eater. But little did the Loud matriarch know that the reason why her youngest daughter was not being a fussy eater was because she was feeling troubled by what her family as a whole was going though at the moment.

And that she was (seemingly) powerless to play any part in trying to rectify matters.

After breakfast, most of the sisters that were younger than Lincoln wanted to go to the park, and Rita, not wanting them to go alone, asked the older sisters if any of them were willing to go and keep an eye on the younger girls. None of the five oldest Loud sisters were able to do so, either due to not exactly being in a position to do so due to other obligations (Lori was one of the older sisters to claim this but was actually lying as she simply did not want to do it), they weren't actually around when Rita was asking, or (in Luan's case) was actually sick and in no shape to keep an eye on the younger sisters.

To Lily's surprise, Lincoln ended up offering to be the one to do so, despite the fact that out of the five youngest Loud sisters, he has only come to re-acknowledge two of them. And the baby Loud sister knew that, as one of those two, she was an expected given, a status that still stung at her pride. All in all, Lily ended up sitting on a bench in the park next to her big brother while the twins were in a sandbox, Lucy was sitting in the plentiful shade of a tree, and Lisa was off doing who knows what.

The baby Loud sister looked around to where her older sisters at the park were. Over in the sandbox where Lola and Lana were playing, Lily was able to notice that there was a hint of resigned guilt in the tomboyish twin's expression whereas the princess twin looked to be in far better spirits. Lily knew that this had to do with the fact that Lincoln did not consider Lana as one of his family yet. Lily couldn't see the looks on either Lucy's face or Lisa's, given that the gothic Loud sister sat under a tree too far away and that Lily couldn't even see Lisa period, but she had little doubt, if any, that they wore expressions similar to that of Lana's.

Lily couldn't help but wonder if Lana, Lucy and Lisa were all trying to figure out how to get back into their big brother's good graces, just like how Lola was able to do so and what Lily herself was trying to figure out how to deserve after that privilege had been handed to her on a silver platter.

Despite wondering what she could do to prove herself, despite the sense of mildly gnawing guilt eating away at her, Lily was still overall happy. After all, she was at the park, and seated right next to the best big brother in the world, no less. The baby Loud sister allowed her attention to wander for a bit, looking up at the tall trees overhead, their abundantly leafy branches providing ample shade that allowed only trickles of sunlight to cast down upon her. Although this would be a mildly pleasing sight to older people, to a baby like Lily, it was nothing short of breathtaking.

Right as Lily began to doze off, she was snapped back to full attention when her older brother scolded to someone, "Hey, what was that for?" Curious, Lily looked over and saw that there was now some yellow-haired boy with glasses standing next to the end of the bench where Lincoln sat. Lily could not quite see her older brother's face, given that his head was turned to face this newly arrived boy in his age group, but the baby Loud sister got the feeling that this boy aimed to cause trouble that Lincoln didn't want any part in.

"I saw that Astrid Ace was looking at you last time everyone was at school, Loud," the blonde boy sneered, his tone clearly unamused, "Care to explain?"

Scoffing in an indifferent tone, Lincoln said, "Why do you even care that she was looking at me, Ross? It's not like I'm actually interested in Astrid."

"That's still no excuse," this other boy, apparently called Ross, said as Lily saw him shove her big brother in his left shoulder. Oh, no he did not! How dare that mean Ross boy shove the best big brother in the world! Lily was not just going to stand by and put up with someone treating her big brother like that! Ross moved to shove his hand against Lincoln's shoulder again, only for the white-haired boy to quickly grab Ross by his right wrist, getting up off of the bench in the process, and looking the blonde-haired conceited boy right in the eye.

Quickly, Ross pulled his arm back, freeing himself from the sole Loud boy's grasp. "The hell do you think you are?" Ross snapped, his temper rising, "Trying to take away from me what should be rightfully mine!"

"First off," Lincoln said, his brow furrowed as he proceeded to tell the conceited blonde-haired boy off, "I am by no means interested in pursuing any sort of romantic relationship with Astrid, so quit thinking I'm planning to whisk her away on the back of a white stallion or whatever the hell it is you think I'm going to do. Two, I'm pretty sure that Aggro-sensei has already made it clear to you that he doesn't want you anywhere near Astrid, given that she's his younger sister and you've been bothering her to the point it's made her uncomfortable. Three, that last bit that you said just now is part of your problem; you're treating Astrid as an object, as a prize to be won. She's not a thing, she's a human being. And fourth and finally…" The sole Loud boy paused and widened his eyes a bit, keeping his gaze, which now carried a significant amount of the Killing Intent that Lincoln has been known to exude as of late, locked right onto Ross.

"…You are forgetting your place," Lincoln growled, catching Ross by surprise and making him take pause out of fright. Lily, who could sense her brother's aura despite not being the target of said aura, was so scared of her brother being that mad that she peed her diaper. Lily soon got over her fright, however, when she saw that her brother's scary aura was all aimed at this mean boy who was trying to bully him.

Lincoln began calming down, releasing the aura of Killing Intent that he was giving off, and allowing Ross to gather himself up a bit. "…So then, Ross," the white-haired boy growled, "How is this going to go down?"

Baking up a step, Ross snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why can't you just let me have anything? How would me scoring the cutest girl at school do anything to hurt or otherwise affect you? It's not like you're wanting for female attention since Santiago has you in her eyes!"

Lily could tell, as Ross was snapping at Lincoln, that Lincoln himself was rolling his shoulders a bit, a sign that, should Ross try to bring things to blows, that the blonde-haired conceited boy will undoubtedly regret it. Regardless of that, of the fact that Lincoln would without doubt send that Ross boy packing with his tail between his legs, the baby Loud sister still feared that her big brother would get hurt. It almost made Lily forget that she peed her…

…Wait, she had a pee-soaked diaper.

…

Ross was staring down that bastard Lincoln Loud, raising his fists in preparation to fight him. Regardless of the fact that Lincoln was not only the scariest kid at school, as well as one of the toughest since he can tussle with the likes of Ronnie Anne Santiago and he's being personally trained by Astrid Ace's older brother, there was no way in hell that Ross was simply going to put up with the sole Loud boy constantly being in the way. Not without a fight, at least.

Lincoln, for his part, only raised a wry eyebrow in amusement, the only sign of any emotion that he was feeling in this whole situation. He could very easily beat Ross in a one-v-one fight, even without having to exude his Killing Intent. The sole Loud boy didn't want to use that anyway, given that Lily was less than five feet away, and that he could already smell the acidic plume of urine coming from-

Everything came to a screeching halt when the inner side of a pee-soaked diaper smacked against the side of Ross's right arm, not only staining Ross's long-sleeved shirt but also making him jump back a bit, mostly out of disgust. Both Ross and Lincoln turned to see a naked Lily sitting on the bench, glaring angrily at Ross as she babbled in a none-too-pleased tone while waving her arms up and down at her sides.

"Uhhhhg!" the conceited blonde-haired boy exclaimed in disgust, "That baby just threw a dirty diaper at me!"

Lincoln, for his part, could not help but snort back a laugh. Right before Ross could move to take any action, however, both fifth grade boys heard an older boy's voice call out, "Hey, what do you think you're doing with the bro?" Lincoln and Ross, as well as Lily to a lesser extent, saw Bobby Santiago come running over. Lily did not know who exactly Bobby actually was; all that the youngest Loud sibling knew was that she saw him a lot, and that he was in some capacity associated with Lily and Lincoln's older sister Lori.

Long story short, Lincoln told Bobby everything, then Bobby turned to Ross and told him to buzz off, then Ross begrudgingly left. Seeing that mean boy who was trying to be mean to Lily's big brother put a smile on the baby Loud sister's face, as well as draw some giggles out of her.

A few minutes later (Lincoln had to put a clean diaper on Lily), the white-haired boy and the five youngest Loud sisters were walking away from the park with Bobby, who was called by Lori to go to the park to pick the kids up. Lincoln was pushing the stroller that Lily had fallen asleep in as he and the others walked alongside the Santiago teen.

"…She threw her diaper at that boy?" Bobby asked, amusement in his tone as he talked to Lincoln about what had happened.

Nodding a few times in the affirmative, Lincoln said, "It wasn't all that necessary, given that I could have handled Ross on my own just fine." With a gentle, appreciative look on his face, the white-haired boy continued, "But from what I figure, Lily was just trying to show that she didn't want anyone trying to bother me."

"Someone else who doesn't what that Ross prick to bother you is Aggro," Bobby said as he fiddled around with his phone, "I just texted him about what happened, as well as what you had told me. I think it's safe to say that Aggro will not be putting up with that Ross prick."

"Yeah, Aggro-sensei acts swiftly and decisively when incidents like what happened at the park occur," Lincoln remarked in agreement. By that point in the conversation, Bobby and the Loud kids he was escorting reached the area of the neighborhood where they lived. The Santiago teen took Lori's younger siblings over to their house, and they saw Bobby off as he took his leave. With little else keeping them, Lincoln and the five youngest Loud sisters made their way inside.

Up in Lisa and Lily's room, Lincoln walked over to Lily's crib while carrying the baby Loud sister. Gently setting Lily down in her crib, Lincoln reached over to her head and gave her a bit of a ruffle, even though there wasn't much hair on Lily's head for Lincoln to ruffle in the first place. "Heh," Lincoln chuckled a bit as he gave a mildly amused smirk, "That was a pretty bold move that you made back at the park, Lils. Do didn't really like how that other boy was treating me, did you?"

Lily babbled a bit in a tone to show she was not happy with 'that other boy', and followed that babbling up with blowing a raspberry. This drew another chuckle out of the white-haired boy. Reaching forward again, Lincoln gave Lily's right cheek a gently pinch, wiggled it a bit. "It's great to know that I have a sister who's willing to back me up," Lincoln remarked, "Thanks for wanting to look out for me, Lils."

Her big brother's tone, as well as him gently playing with her, made Lily happy. But what really sealed the deal was that Lincoln had referred to her as his sister. Granted, Lincoln had technically accepted Lily as his family again, pretty much right away after he had returned home after being gone for so long. But now? Now Lily feels much better about having that privilege.

Now Lily feels like she's actually earned it.

END, RESTORED IMAGE: A TALE RETOLD CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Author's notes:

It seems from what all I have seen that I am one of the very few people, if not the only person, who has ever given any thought to what Lily would think in a situation such as what the Louds as a whole are going through in this story. Just to make sure that I am clear here, I am NOT saying that Lincoln should expect Lily to work to prove she deserves forgiveness from him; I, in fact, agree with the logic that Lincoln shouldn't hold a baby accountable for anything. I'm just trying to show how the characters themselves might feel in the situation they find themselves in.

For all we know, Lily may want to prove herself just as much as the other Louds.

Anyway, this chapter is unique in the sense that, rather than a sister reconciling with Lincoln, a sister that Lincoln has already accepted proves to him that he was not wrong to do so. No need to worry, though; we'll cover a sister trying to reconcile with Lincoln next time. It's actually going to be something that I've been wanting to tackle for quite some time, especially considering what has occurred in previous chapters.