"Lori Lou…sweetheart, you can't just forget Bobby existed," Lynn Sr. said gently.
"I concur with father, it is scientifically impossible to inflict amnesia on such an influential part of your life, though perhaps with the right ray gun-" Luan put a hand over Lisa's mouth.
"Well I'm going to try! He clearly wasn't thinking about me when he…" Lori's eyes began to fill with tears, but she pushed them down.
"The point is, the sooner I can forget about him the sooner I can move on with MY life!" she said as she placed the bag in the trashcan.
"Lori…that's not how grief works…" Lincoln tried explaining.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GRIEF LINCOLN! WE COULDN'T EVEN TELL YOU WHEN YOUR GOLDFISH DIED!"
"You told me that Lord Finnington swam away!" he said looking at his parents with a hurt in his eyes.
"Anyways, that's not the point Lori! The point is that I don't think that you should just-"
It was too late as the door to her bedroom slammed.
The family looked crestfallen at each other.
"We just have to find some way to help her!" Lincoln said desperately.
"She's got to want our help first Lincoln," Rita said placing a loving hand on his shoulder.
Later that night, Lincoln couldn't sleep so he wandered downstairs to get a glass of water. He was surprised to find Leni curled up sleeping on the couch.
"Leni? What are you doing down here? Did you forget which bed was yours again?"
"No…I just figured maybe Lori could sleep a little bit better if she had more space, so I'm going to sleep down here until she's feeling better."
Lincoln sat down on the coffee table, content to talk with his sister one on one for a little while.
"You really are a good sister…to all of us."
"Thanks Lincoln…I try my best to help everyone, but I wish I knew more about how to help Lori."
"You're doing all that you can Leni, right now none of us really know how to help."
"But I should know Lincoln! Lori and I are the oldest, we've been around this family…heck been around each other for so long! I feel like I should know exactly how to make her feel better, but I don't…I'm just clueless."
"No Leni, you're not! Half the time you have more of a clue than anyone in this family," Lincoln encouraged.
Leni forced a half smile, "I just wish she would tell us that she wants help, so we could start getting things back to normal."
"Things may never be totally normal again Leni, and we have to be okay with that."
"Would you think less of me if I said I was mad at Bobby for taking our normal away?"
Lincoln hugged his sister, "never Leni, you'll always be the most caring person that I know."
Leni appeared to think for a moment, "you know, I probably wouldn't be as caring if Lori hadn't cared for me first."
This got Lincoln thinking. He knew that Lori took special pride in being the oldest, and while sometimes she used this power to be bossy, deep down Lincoln knew Lori had poured a little of herself into all of her younger siblings.
Now he and his family just had to figure out how to return the favor.