Not much to say currently. Had this chapter planned, but work on it had to be delayed due to work and cleaning up in town because of the flooding we had. Moreover, this week we begin our summer hours at work and they prove to be pretty tight so chapter updates may be a little sporadic.

So it's time to stop stalling and get to the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Loud House or it's characters.

Some time later, Reese was sitting at a desk back in the basement. He had made sure to apologize to the kids and their parents about his little incident and to assure them that he was alright. That what happened was simply an overreaction and that all he needed was some time alone and he would be fine. Suffice it to say, the kids were disappointed but understood why he'd want to be left alone. Lana and Lola had apologized to him and he tried to assure them that he wasn't mad. Regardless, the two felt really guilty about what had happened and wanted to rush downstairs to talk to him. But in a rare move for them, the two respected his wishes and let him be for now.

So now he sat in the basement by himself and pulled a video camera out of his duffle bag. Without a word, he set it oh his desk and switched it on. He stared into the camera for a full minute before finally addressing it.

"This is Sergeant Reese Kreeg, former US Army. Well I've been back in my sister's place for about ten hours now. Things have been a little... interesting to say the least. My sister was happy to see me, as was her husband and their many kids."

Reese paused and took a moment to chuckle at himself.

"I was hoping that my time here would be a bit more peaceful, well peaceful enough for a house with thirteen people living in it. Anyhow, the reason I'm recording this video right now is due to a recommendation from a doctor at the hospital that I stayed at. I've been doing this every time I have one of my little... episodes."

He used air quotes to emphasize the word "episodes".

"It's been a while now, but I just had one earlier tonight at dinner. It wouldn't have been so bad except that it happened right in front of the entire family."

Reese buried his face in his hands and remained quiet for a full minute. He could feel himself shuddering as he kept his face concealed. He let out a sigh and removed his hands and looked back into the camera.

"I know I scared them pretty bad, but I tried to assure them that I was okay. Pfft... I really doubt that I am. Not since that last trip."

With that, Reese looked over at a framed picture on the desk. It was of him and his old driving buddy, Bobby, with their arms draped over each other's shoulders somewhere in the desert. They were both smiling and giving a thumbs up to the camera. Reese chuckled to himself as he tried to remember it fondly.

"Bobby, I wish you were still here buddy. I know I could really use your guidance right now. For the time being I'm going to have to be more careful around the family. I don't need them to know about my time in the hospital. Especially the girls. I've seen how they get when my nephew, Lincoln, gets just a tiny wound. They have enough to worry about without my episodes."

With that, Reese reached towards his camera and placed his finger on the power button.

"This is Sergeant Reese Kreeg, signing off," he said right before he switched the camera off.

As Reese recorded his video, all of the Loud kids were a little occupied themselves. They had all (with the exception of Lily) met in Lori's room that night as they did some nights for one of their sibling meetings. This was the time where the kids normally met to discuss things about the family be it plans for something like vacation or a problem that the siblings are having that impact each of them. The one rule was that you never went into anything too personal.

Tonight however they were meeting over a common thing. Their uncle's little episode had left each of them a little shaken, especially Lola and Lana who were still blaming themselves for his freak out. Despite reassurances from their siblings and uncle, the two still felt anxious to make it up to him. But for now they each need to have their say about the incident.

Lori stood before everyone and said, "Okay everyone I need you to listen up."

She was interrupted however by the sound of chewing and she quickly spotted Lynn chewing something and blowing a bubble which promptly popped.

Lori scowled and said, "Lynn, spit out the Big League Chew right now."

Lynn kicked back, continued chewing and said, "Aww come on Lori. I just started chewing it a second ago."

Lori growled and some steam rose from the top of her head.

"In the wastebasket... now! We have something important to discuss and I won't let your chewing disrupt it," Lori said as she went red in the face.

Lynn, finally getting the hint, picked up Lori and Leni's wastebasket and slowly let her wad of chewed gum fall in the basket full of papers and a few other items. Lori was still glaring by the time Lynn had set the trash back on the ground and resumed her up right posture.

Lori sighed and said, "Anyway as I was saying, we all know why I called this meeting right?"

"Because of Uncle Reese's outburst right?" Luna asked already knowing the answer.

Lori tapped the tip of her nose to confirm what Luna was saying.

Luan laughed and said, "Can't blame him really. Being hit with chicken soup like that was just fowl. Get it? Fowl."

She continued to even as everyone, instead of sighing like usual, just frowned and glared at her. The only exception being Leni who didn't quite get the joke or why everyone else seemed so mad at Luan.

"I don't get it. And why is everyone so mad suddenly?" Leni asked out loud.

Leni's question reached Luan's ears and as her laughs began to die down, she quickly noticed the looks everyone else was giving her and that's what caused her to end her laughs completely.

Her smile dropped and she asked, "Too soon?"

"Far too soon," Lori answered.

It was here that Luan began to frown as the realization hit and she took her seat right next to Luna.

"For what it's worth Luan, thanks for at least trying to brighten up the mood," Luna said as she tried to cheer her roommate up.

That made Luan smile just a little bit. She and Luna weren't the closest siblings, but they had lived together long enough to know how to keep each others spirits up. They weren't trying to be mean to Luan, they just wanted her to know that her joke was not appropriate right now.

Lori cleared her throat and everyone returned their attention to her.

"With that out of the way does anyone have any thoughts on what happened?" Lori asked.

To Lori's surprise, everyone had an idea about the incident as each of them raised their hands.

Lori sweat dropped, rubbed the back of her neck and whispered to herself, "Okay I didn't expect this. Who should I start with?"

She peered around and decided to go with Lincoln first.

"Okay Lincoln, what are your thoughts? You have the floor."

Everyone lowered their hands as Lincoln addressed, "Well mom said that he's had a long trip and he didn't sleep much during it. Know how grouchy we all get when we don't get enough sleep?"

The girls knew what he meant. Just like anyone else, there had been times in the past when they all had had hadn't been able to get much sleep either because of school like Lincoln's project on them or through something else preventing it like the time Lynn had bunked with him. Lincoln had a negative attitude each time that happened and he was normally the tame one. If it were Lori who was that tired or if it was Lisa burning the midnight for one of her experiments then god have mercy on your soul if you wake them afterwards.

Lori thought over what Lincoln was saying and said, "Good theory, but he wasn't acting like that at the dinner table or when I was doing the laundry earlier so I doubt it."

Lincoln groaned and looked down.

Lynn, who was sitting next to him, patted his shoulder and said, "Don't feel down. I thought the same."

"Anyone else?" Lori asked.

This time only half of them raised their hands as clearly the rest of them had the same thought as Lincoln. Leni kept her's up and tried her best to get Lori's attention. Lori decided to ignore her for now and instead chose Luna.

"Okay Luna. What you got?" she asked.

"Well I get the feeling that he's angry inside. I mean who knows what he went through while he was away? Maybe he saw something or something happened that made him mad. Maybe he's still mad about it and doesn't want us to see it," Luna suggested.

Almost everyone nodded in approval this time, including Lori.

"If that's the case then we should get him to open up. Clyde has told me some of the things he discusses with his psychiatrist. According to them, the best way to deal with anger is to face it head on. Get him to open up about what happened would be a good place to start," Lincoln offered.

"Hey that's not a bad idea bro," Luna responded.

"Makes sense to me," added Luan.

"I can totally see that," Leni said not really understanding Lincoln's idea. She just wanted to be included.

Even Lori thought the idea was tantalizing and figured it was the best idea yet. But she still wanted to know what everyone else was thinking and decided to carry on with everyone else's thoughts.

"Okay that not a bad idea. But does anyone else have anything?" she asked.

Leni stuck her hand in the air again and once again was desperate for Lori to call her.

"Ooh ooh Lori, I have an idea. Lori... Lori," Leni called out multiple times.

Lori had finally had enough of Leni's pestering and said, "Okay Leni. What's your idea?"

"Maybe he's just cranky and needs sleep," she suggested.

This time Lori was not alone in groaning as everyone else there let out their own groans as well.

"Leni we literally just went over that two minutes ago when Lincoln said that. What were you doing during that time?" Lori asked as she glared at Leni.

Leni thought for a moment to try to remember what she had been doing. In the end though she simply shrugged.

"I can't remember," was Leni's response.

Everyone rolled their eyes and Lori decided she'd had enough of Leni's airheadedness right now and decided to continue.

"So anyone else?"

This time, only Lisa raised her hand. Lori figured Lisa may have the right answer and allowed her to speak.

"Well as I observed Uncle Reese's behavior this evening I noticed a couple of peculiar things that do fit Luna's idea but also run against it. As mother and father said he has a fondness for chicken and dumplings. Even an angry individual would partake in their favored cuisine, which he clearly did not. He even seemed to be in some kind of trance, as you will, at the table that prevented him from consuming dinner. It wasn't until he was addressed that he was pulled out of his stupor and began to eat. And it wasn't until the spill that he proceeded to act erratically. First with heavy breathing and then with him running from the table. In my expert opinion there is something amiss on the psychological scale. To put it plainly, there's something wrong inside his brain," Lisa explained as best she could without overwhelming their brains.

Leni was the only exception as even with Lisa's simplified explainaition she still couldn't grasp the whole psychological aspect.

"You mean... his brain is sick?" she said and began to tear up.

Lori facepalmed and said, "Leni, go stand in the corner until the meeting is over."

"But-," Leni began to say until Lori interrupted her.

"Corner... NOW!" Lori finished indicating that she wasn't kidding and pointed at the nearest corner.

Leni was aghast, but didn't want to invoke Lori's wrath any more than she already had. Drooping her head, she walked to the corner and stood there with everyone else watching.

"So what do we do to help him?" Lana asked.

"Well I like Lincoln's idea of trying to get him to open up about his time away. Knowing Uncle Reese though that will be difficult to do," Lori said while trying to think up an idea.

"Why don't I talk to the spirits of his fallen brothers-in-arms?" Lucy said as she randomly appeared behind Lori.

Lori jumped and screamed at Lucy's sudden appearance behind her.

"Lucy? How did...? I could have sworn...," Lori stammered.

She knew Lucy had been on the other side of the room a minute ago, hiding under one of the beds to sit in the shadows. She wanted to question it, but knew it would be pointless to ask. Lucy would have just given her some confusing explaination anyway.

Lori kept her cool and said, "Okay you can try that if you want, but I just want to see if we have any PRACTICAL ideas."

Lucy kept her emotionless look and said, "Nothing is more practical than contacting the dead for wisdom."

She slinked back down with a sigh as Lori began forming an idea in her head.

"Okay so here's what I think we should do. First Lola and Lana," Lori began.

The twins suddenly perked up when Lori stated their names.

"First the two of you need to apologize to Uncle Reese about the chicken and dumplings incident. A REAL apology and not a simple 'I'm sorry'. Got that?" Lori said sternly to the duo who both gulped and nodded their heads.

"And what about the rest of us?" Lynn asked.

"Just act normal as usual. Knowing him he'll still want to take part in our usual activities with him. During that time try to act normal, ask questions about what he's been up to while he's been away. Maybe he'll give us bits and pieces about what's upsetting him. Then maybe we can try to piece it together. Understood?" Lori instructed everyone.

Everyone nodded and stated their approval. Luan however felt a little down since she felt that this meant that she couldn't pull pranks on him like she had planned to. Guess telling jokes to him would have have to suffice.

"I like it," Leni said from the corner.

"Alright. Meeting adjorned," Lori stated and everyone prepared to leave.

But before they could, Lori turned back to everyone and said, "Oh and one more thing. Lucy, absolutely NO SEANCES!"

"Sigh," was all that Lucy had to say about that.

I know it's a shorter chapter, but at least now the kids have some ideas on how to approach their Uncle's problem. The next chapter is mainly going to be about Reese and the twins, but I'll see if I can give some of the other girls a role in the chapter.

Because of my clustered work schedule, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'll try to get as soon as I can.

Luna's song reference in this chapter is called For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield. It's a very interesting song about a turbulent time in the US.