My thanks goes to everyone who reads this story. I tried to make this chapter just as exciting as the last one and hopefully, I was successfully able to do just that. Originally this chapter was going to have over 6,000 words and probably would have gone on to 7,000 if I had kept going, but as I read through it, I realized that the place I stopped at in this chapter was the best place to stop for now. That way I could make the next chapter longer and more interesting, because technically, the next chapter is going to consist of nearly half of what I originally planned for this one. Okay, I'll shut up until the end now. I hope you like this chapter of "Kidnapped."

Chapter 6

"Whoa..."

Leni? Adopted? There was no way! Never in a million years did Lincoln ever think those two words would ever be used in the same sentence. But now, after it had been said and done, he was forced to think about it. In retrospect he assumed it was probably possible, given how Leni was so different from the rest of them. Even Lincoln, who was the only boy, and the only one with white hair, shared the same eyes with at least three of his sisters and the same freckles as two of them. He even shared a cowlick with Lisa and Lola. Leni though, she wasn't just different in her personality or the way she thought or the things she liked. Her eye color was drastically different from anyone else's. Leni had the brightest blue eyes whereas the rest of them had either Brown or Hazel. Neither of their parents, nor their grandparents had blue eyes. Not only that, but Leni's blonde hair was brighter than everyone else's blonde hair. And the more Lincoln thought about it, the more he realized that there was actually a surprising amount of other things that were different about Leni. Her face had a longer shape to it, her nose was smaller than the rest of theirs and she seemed to be the only one who didn't struggle with acne, just to name a few things. It started making more and more sense. Leni didn't look as much like the rest of them as he thought she did. She had tiny characteristics about her that made her subtly different from the rest of them, but they were just similar enough to the rest of them that no one would notice.

"When you think about it, it's not that hard to believe, is it?"

"Wow..." Yeah, no kidding. "I don't know if I want to believe it..."

"Neither did Luna, Luan, or Lynn."

"Wait, they all know too?"

"So does Leni..."

"Leni knows that she's adopted?"

"Uh-huh."

So not only did Lori and several of his other older sisters know about Leni's beginning, she knew herself too. So why didn't it ever bother her? Was there something else that he didn't know about? Something that would explain why she not only knew, but would also explain why she seemed so cool about it? Leni never seemed to be bothered by the fact that she was adopted. And that was something that Lincoln just couldn't wrap his mind around. She had to have been devastated when their parents broke the news to her, or was it even their parents?

"Why? When was she told?"

"She always knew. Our parents insisted on making sure she always knew when she was little so that they wouldn't have to go through the pain of breaking the news to her."

"But, didn't she feel left out? Didn't she ever feel like she didn't belong?"

"Heh, so many questions, but I don't really blame you," Lori began. "Leni has never felt left out. Despite the fact that she knows she's adopted, mom and dad did a really good job of making sure she felt like family. They made sure we included her in all our activities and even insisted that we don't treat her any different than anyone else. If anything, they seemed to favor her more often than the rest of us."

"Whoa..." Lincoln couldn't help but wonder what it could have been like if Leni had never been adopted. How different would the Loud House be? More importantly, how different would Leni be? Would she be the talented fashionista that they knew? Would she even like clothes at all? What if she wasn't as social? What if it was because of the fact that she grew up in a big family that her social skills were so well honed? What if Leni never had those social skills? Would she even have any friends? All of these things and more plagued Lincoln's mind, bothering him to his limits. He had to force himself to stop somehow.

Lincoln, still distressed from wondering what life would be like without Leni, looked over at the picture that Lori had just put back on her bedside stand. Now more curious about the significance it held, he reached over Lori's waist and grabbed it, looking at it, studying it. The two year old Leni was sitting on the ground, staring at the camera with a bleak curiosity. Luna was waddling on the grass behind her and Lori was looking down at her new sister with a half smile/half grimace.

"So, this picture..."

"...Is from the day mom and dad brought Leni home with them." Lori finished. "I'm gonna be honest with you Lincoln, I didn't really like Leni at first."

"Yeah, I can tell..."

Lori glared at Lincoln for a moment before continuing her story. "At first I thought that Leni was just going to stay for a little bit, then go back, but then mom and dad told me that she was my new sister... I wasn't very happy. I thought that Luan, Luna, and I were more than enough for them and, you know, only being three and a half I got upset because I thought that they didn't like us anymore." Lori wiped a stray tear from her eye as she looked down at the photo Lincoln was holding, "But as we grew up, I came to my senses and realized that they still loved us just as much as they always did, and having Leni around didn't change that."

"Wait, so you remember when Leni was adopted?"

"Barely... but yeah, I do."

"hmm..." Lincoln started thinking again. "Do... did mom and dad ever tell you why they adopted Leni?"

"They never told me anything... I'm not that worried about it though to be honest with you."

"What? Why not?" Lincoln asked a little harshly "Haven't you ever wondered why they adopted Leni? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like if they never adopted her? Haven't you wondered if any of us would be any different? Haven't you..."

"Yes Lincoln, I have!" she suddenly burst out, giving him a decent scare. For some reason, those questions in sequence struck a chord inside her. "Other than mom and dad, I'm the only one who remembers the day that we got her! Yes, I have thought about how different it would be! I have thought about what it would be like if she was never adopted! I know that whatever you're thinking of, I promise you, I have thought of it!"

Lori exhaled and then looked back at her little brother who now had tears in his eyes. She suddenly felt terrible for blowing up at him like that. He had just found out that one of his own family members, isn't actually related to him, so of course he was gonna have thousands of questions. "Oh..." her own eyes began to water some more now. "I'm sorry Linc..." She wrapped her arms around him and gently stroked his back, doing her best to comfort him as he sobbed into her shoulder. What was she thinking? He wasn't nearly old enough to react reasonably. As macho as he may have tried to be sometimes, he was still only eleven. She was in no position to be yelling at him for anything, especially since the whole reason he came into her room in the first place was to figure out what was wrong with her.

"I didn't mean to blow up at you like that... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay..." Lincoln said, his voice still wavering a bit. "I do kind of want to know why you're not worried about it though..."

"Of course..." Lori responded. She cleared her throat as she pulled off of him and began to speak again, "I did at one point, wonder what it would be like if Leni was never adopted and... all those other things. But there was something, I don't remember what it was, that helped me realize that none of those questions matter... None of them ever really will matter..." Lori was being careful not to accidentally raise her voice again. "Because she's here, right now, and she's part of our family right now. Because of that, none of those 'what ifs' matter. We shouldn't be worried about what could have happened and we need to be worried about what is happening. Because what's happening right now is what's important. And what's happening right now, is that Leni is in the hospital because of some Low-lifes who were looking for trouble. It's not about what could have happened, it's too late to change that now. It's about what's happening right now. And right now, our sister, whether she has the same mom as us or not, needs us now, more than ever before, right?"

Lincoln audibly exhaled, and then looked up at his older sister, and started nodding. She was right. None of those things mattered anymore. It was too late to know what could have happened. All that mattered at the moment, was that it happened, and there wasn't anything they could do to change that. "Good. Now you should probably go back to your room and try to get some sleep."

"Actually Lori? Can I stay here?"

Normally, Lori wouldn't even consider the possibility of letting anyone other than Leni even stay in the same room as her. But not only was Leni still not here, but Lincoln had been through a hell of a lot more than any eleven year old should have to go through in less than twenty minutes. So, reluctantly, she let Lincoln stay. As he got himself situated under the covers, Lori got up out of her bed, painfully figuring out her legs had fallen asleep, and walked over to close the door to her room. She wasn't going to say it, but as she looked back, she couldn't help but notice how cute and innocent Lincoln looked. She went back to her bed and laid down on her back, trying to get some sleep. As she laid herself down, Lincoln moved himself closer, snuggling himself up against his sister's shoulder. She couldn't help but smile as she slowly drifted off to sleep herself.

"How long did they say she had to be there?" Lynn Sr. asked his wife over the phone.

"She said they're not going to have any definitive results for an estimated two to three days and even then, they said it could still take longer than that. Maybe even a week."

"A week!? Oh man... Okay... Have you been able to work things out with your job yet?"

"Not yet. I called them about it after you left and they asked me to come in tomorrow to see if we could work out some kind of agreement."

"Then who are we going to get to watch Leni?"

"Honey, I'm sure the doctors and nurses are more than qualified to take care of her."

"Yeah... but..."

"What?"

Lynn Sr sighed. His wife was right, but he didn't want to leave Leni alone with people she didn't know. It wasn't that he didn't trust them to do their job, if anything, he trusted them more than some of his own family members, not the ones he lived with though. He just wanted to make sure Leni didn't feel lonely. If she had someone there with her that she knew, he wouldn't be so worried about it.

"I got it! Do you think you could ask your dad to come out and keep an eye on Leni?"

"Lynn, you know he would love too, but he can't, he's on that senior cruise remember?"

"That's right... Forgot about that..."

Leni would have been excited to see her pop-pop too. It was too bad he couldn't come watch her. Lynn Sr couldn't really think of anyone else that he wanted to keep an eye on Leni, except aunt Ruth. He shuddered at the prospect of having her come over. She probably wouldn't have done it anyway, even if they offered money. She would have made the excuse that they should have been keeping a closer eye on her if they didn't want her in the hospital. Then there would be quite the argument followed by barging out of the house. The only other way they could get someone to watch her is if they took one of the kids out of school to keep an eye on her. "Wait! That's it!"

"What's it?"

"We could take Lori out of school for a day. If something happens, she would just need to text us and I'm sure Leni would love to have her older sister around."

"I was thinking about Aunt Ruth, but you're right. If you insist on someone being with Leni, then taking Lori out of school is a much better idea."

"Yeah. I thought of Aunt Ruth too..." That comment earned a chuckle from rita. "I'll make sure she knows tomorrow morning."

"Okay. I love you, I'll be sure to keep you updated."

"Love you too sweetheart. Bye-bye." And with that, their conversation ended. "Man, I'm glad that's over with."

He let out a sigh as he flopped back down on the bed. He looked over to the side where the lamp was and started reaching over to turn it off. As he fumbled around, he knocked one of the many pictures out of it's place. This one happened to be the same picture that Lori had in her room. He grabbed the picture to set it back up, but as he did, he became distracted by the memories it brought. All of them came flooding back at once. He remembered Rita and himself going to see her for the first time in the orphanage. She was such a cute baby. He didn't even know about the car wreck until after she was adopted. Even if he did know beforehand, it wouldn't have changed his decision. He remembered the day that they finally took her home to stay. Lori's reaction to finding out that she had a new sister was priceless. She was happy to have another sister, but she didn't want to admit it. Now, almost fifteen years later, not only did the two share a room, but they were the best of friends too.

He set the picture back down on the night stand and stared at it for a few minutes before turning the lamp off and trying to go to sleep. Knowing where his daughter was certainly helped him rest easier, but he still had a feeling that there was more bad news to come, especially after what the doctor had told them earlier that day. He wasn't happy with what he heard, that's for sure. "Oh, man... what am I gonna tell the little ones?"

"Are you doing alright Leni?" Rita asked as she came back in the room.

"Yes mom, I'm fine. What did dad say?"

"Well, dad and I agreed that since I have to go to work tomorrow, we're going to take Lori out of school so that she can stay with you."

"Lori's gonna be here!?"

"Yeah, your dad didn't want you staying here without someone you knew."

"But, like, I know the doctor, and some of the nurses."

"Yes Leni, but I was talking about someone that you know really well."

"Oh..." Leni had such an innocent look on her face. She was still just as cute as she always was, never having a care in the world. Even now, Leni still seemed happy and carefree. Rita didn't know what it was that made her like that, but she was thankful.

Leni got up out of her bed and walked over to the bathroom to get a glass of water. Rita shot up and ran over to her, "Leni! Let me get it for you! You still need to rest!"

As carefree as Leni was, she did still get annoyed sometimes, "Mom, I'm fine. I just needed to stretch my legs for a little bit. The doctor didn't say I had to stay in the bed all day."

"But..." Rita stayed frozen in place for a moment as she watched Leni's every move. It was so nerve wracking to see her do anything but stay in the bed and do what the doctors told her to do. But after a while, she sighed, relaxing a little bit as her daughter shuffled back to her bed, putting the glass of water on the side table. "I'm sorry sweetie. I'm just so worried about you. I've been worried ever since you went missing last night. I just don't want anything else to happen to you."

"Mom, don't worry. The cops shot those guys that kidnapped me..."

"That's not what I'm talking about... I'm worried that they might have done some permanent damage. What if there's still something we don't know about? What if..." Rita's rant was disturbed when she took a close look at Leni. Her eyes were glassy and she was sitting up, staying completely still. There was something going on that she didn't know about. "Leni?"

She looked over to the screens that were monitoring her breathing rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. The last time she caught a glance of them, they weren't nearly at the level they were at now. Rita was hoping that it was just a glitch in the system and waited for it to return to normal, but it never did, it stayed high and kept increasing at a rather alarming rate. Leni's face was nearly completely pale now and her breathing was rapid and shallow. Rita rushed over to her and shook her shoulders to try and wake her up, but to no avail. Then, as if right on cue, the blood pressure and heart rate alarms started going off, gaining the attention of nearby nurses and doctors. "Oh my God... Leni!"

Leni had nearly forgotten about those dreadful moments. She was only trying to make her mom feel better about what was going on, but then she mentioned her kidnappers. When she did, it was like a switch was flipped in her brain and all she could think of was those eyes. The eyes of pure evil, lust, greed, and any other sin imaginable. There wasn't anything else in the world that could have distracted her from that. It didn't help at all that her mom continued with what Leni had said, but at the same time, it wouldn't have made anything any worse. It was a venom that made its way through the veins. Once there was one bite, another one wouldn't have made a difference. The end result would have ended up being the same. First, Leni started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. It was so disorienting and it made her want to throw up, but she couldn't. The next thing she noticed was that she couldn't move anything, all of her muscles were completely locked up. No matter how hard she tried, there wasn't a single muscle that she was consciously able to move. It was this moment that she realized it was happening again. If she could move, she would have sighed in annoyance. When she woke up in the hospital after having this happen to her the first time, she knew that it was bound to happen again. She just hoped it wouldn't be while someone she knew was around, but unfortunately, that kind of luck didn't exist for her, or any of her family. Once her vision started leaving her, she fell backwards onto the slightly inclined bed before completely passing out.

By now, Leni's doctor had rushed to the scene to try and figure out what was going on. If it was what she thought it was, then that was one more thing that they didn't have to wait for, and one more thing that she could cross off of the list of things to figure out. The visible symptoms that Leni had, seemed to only further confirm the doctor's suspicions. When she woke up, they would ask her how it happened, but until then, all they could do was speculate. If the doctor remembered correctly, it didn't take long for her to wake up the first time, so it should't take long this time.

Of course, Rita was hysterical. After what seemed like a pretty severe nosebleed, her daughter had passed out in front of her for what seemed like no reason at all. And despite many attempts from nurses and doctors, she didn't seem to be letting up. It wasn't until the doctor said she would have to leave that she calmed down. When the doctor told Rita what she thought about the situation, it didn't exactly seem to please the now distressed mother, but it did help with calming her down, knowing to some degree what was going on. Leni wasn't in any immediate danger, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Ugh... what happened..."

"Leni!"

"Huh?" Leni's gaze shot in the direction of her mother, making her remember what was going on. "Oh yeah, that's right."

"Oh, Leni. You scared me half to death young lady..."

"I'm sorry mom." Leni wasn't sure what else to say.

"Leni. Now that you're awake, can you tell me what happened."

"I don't know if I want to... I'm afraid it will happen again."

"You don't have to worry Leni. We gave you some medicine to make sure it doesn't happen again. So..."

"Hmm... okay..." Leni took in a deep breath, and explained what went on. From the moment she realized she was thinking about those guys, which did still bring a sense of fear when she thought about them, to the moment she passed out. As she was recalling it, the doctor scribbled furiously on her notepad. When Leni finished, the doctor briefly looked over her notes, then with a smile, turned to Rita.

"It's just as I thought Mrs Loud. Leni had a severe anxiety attack from recalling the memory of her attackers. Not only that, but I've also noticed that her blood pressure has remained abnormally high since she came in today, even when she was more relaxed. It explains why her blood pressure got high enough to cause a nosebleed." Rita let out a sigh of relief upon hearing the doctors words. "Once these results are finalized, we're going to prescribe Leni with some Beta Blockers to help with that."

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your help."

"It's not a problem Mrs Loud. I should also let you know that having this happen actually helped us out significantly. If what Leni just went through had never happened, it would have taken us two or three days, maybe even a week to figure out what was going on. With that being said, there are still a few other things that we need to confirm regarding Leni's reproductive health, and we also still need the results of the blood test, but I can now safely estimate that she should be able to go home tomorrow evening."

"Really? Oh, thank you so much. Did you hear that Leni?" But when Rita looked over to her daughter, she was sound asleep. All of this excitement made her more tired than listening to one of Lisa's presentations.

The doctor chuckled for a moment before speaking up again, "One more thing. Does your family or your husband's family have or have had any medical complications in the past?"

"Oh, neither of us are Leni's biological parents so I don't think it would matter."

"Ah, I see. Well thank you anyway. I hope y'all have a restful evening."

"Thank you."

It wasn't until Rita heard the woman say, "Y'all" that she caught the doctor's slight southern drawl. Having lived in central Texas for a couple years, Rita was no stranger to that accent, and it even occasionally slipped when she was scolding her kids, but it did make her curious as to where she was from. Rita remembered how hot it got down there during the summer, and how she was surprised to find that it actually got pretty chilly during the winter. It was funny how something so seemingly insignificant could trigger so many memories. Despite the crazy weather down there, she remembered liking it a lot. Everyone was so friendly. She had to admit, just like everyone else does when they live in Texas that it was the greatest state in the country. However, with all of that being said, as much as she loved Living down there, it just didn't feel like home as much as Royal Woods did. Texas was amazing, but Royal Woods was where home was for her.

As Rita sat down on the chair in the corner of the room, she got her phone out and dialed her husband. She figured he was probably trying to go to sleep, but she couldn't wait to tell him the news. It was just as she thought, but he was still excited anyway. Having Leni home before they were expecting at least gave both of them and the rest of the kids something to look forward to tomorrow. Lori would still need to come and stay with Leni, but they were now in a much better situation both emotionally and financially. Of course, Lynn Sr was worried about his daughter, but he knew that when she got out of the hospital, the bill wouldn't exactly be something to just brush off to the side. And then there was the very likely possibility of further treatment. They would have to spend even more money on medicine and other doctors visits to make sure she stayed healthy. But, with all that being said, he was ready and more than willing to do whatever it took to make sure Leni was okay. Even if she had to stay for a few more days, or a week, or a month, or even longer than that, there was not anything that made him doubt what measures he would take to ensure the safety of his family. No amount of money, possessions, or even wacky ties would ever change his mind. Lynn Loud Sr was willing to go to the grave, not just for Leni, but for his wife and the rest of his children as well.

I'm from Texas so of course I have to say something about the great state I live in. Anyways, thanks for reading, and as I have said before, please leave a review. I want to know how I'm doing as a writer and I want to know how to improve in the future. And again, I ask for constructive criticism only. So basically, I don't want you just bashing me without telling me how I can improve. Thanks again, and I hope to have the next chapter out soon.