Once again, thanks for all the support in this chapter. I really do appreciate everyone reading my story. Now over 10,000 views, seriously! Thanks so much! In this chapter, The party is coming on! And even more! I hope you enjoy this chapter of "Kidnapped"

Chapter 9

The last text she got from Lincoln was at three-forty-five. It was now four-thirty and they had already picked up Leni's prescription and she had nearly picked out a dress. It hadn't taken very long for her to do this at all, to both Lori and Rita's surprise. There had to be something else to keep them distracted, but what? The dress that Leni had picked out really did make her eyes pop and it highlighted her hair really well. She may not have been the smartest, but she knew what she was doing when it came to clothing; that was one thing, of many, that Lori had to admire about her immediate younger sister.

"This is it! This is for sure the one!"

"Alright Leni! Let's check out and get going!"

Already? No, it was too soon. Lincoln hadn't given them the okay yet!

"Wait!" she exclaimed, probably a bit too loud. The two girls in front of her swiveled around and stared at her in confusion. "Leni! OMG, it would literally be a fashion disaster if you didn't get matching shoes!"

"I don't know, I think Leni would be fine..."

"OMG! Lori, you are so right! Ugh, I can't imagine what would have happened if I got home and found that none of my shoes matched this dress!"

Score. That gave them at least fifteen more minutes. And that wasn't even including the time it was going to take for them to get home from the mall. More time for Lincoln to get ready. Lori looked closer at the dress that Leni decided on. The teal color really did look great on Leni, and the light grey, diagonal streaks, which narrowed to a point as they climbed up the dress a few inches, lined the bottom of the dress. And then to top it all off, combining all of that with the flowery lace design made for an amazing flutter effect when Leni twirled around. Leni even chose the perfect length right above her kneecaps, keeping herself modest enough, yet not taking away from the raw beauty of it all. As a matter of fact, Lori was so intrigued by how well Leni pulled off that dress, that she totally lost track of time.

"These are the perfect shoes to go with this dress. I want them!"

"Okay Leni, lets go check out now. Lori, ya coming?"

"Huh?" Lori wasn't paying attention so she let out a response that was almost automated. "Yeah, I'm coming." Then she remembered what her mission was. Her mind broke away from Leni's gorgeous dress and rapidly started generating ideas as quickly as she could.

"Leni, don't you think you should get just a small snack?"

"Hmm, now that I think about it, I am kind of hungry."

"We're going to have plenty to eat when we get home, save your appetite."

"Oh, okay. I guess not Lori."

"But mom, I'll pay for it!"

"As generous as that is, I'll have to decline. Now come on! We have to hurry home!"

"Ugh..." Lori's efforts were at the point where they were proving to be fruitless. If only she had told her mom that Lincoln wasn't finished setting up yet, this would be a walk in the park. But the suddenness of their mother arriving at the hospital made Lori go straight into panic mode, and she wasn't able to get out of it until it was already too late. She could tell her mother right now, but what would be the point, Lori had already tried nearly everything from trying to convince them to search every single store for the perfect outfit, to getting them to have a quick bite to eat, even to the point of walking slowly in front of them so that they would be forced to go slower as well. They were practically finished and Lori had nearly run out of ideas.

"Mom, wait. I gotta use the bathroom!"

"Ugh, fine. You've got three minutes. We'll wait here and if you're not out by that time, then we're leaving."

"Okay! I'll be right back! I promise!" Three minutes to use the bathroom? That was unheard of in the Loud house, even for their own mother. Why was she expecting Lori to do any different? Whatever the case, it didn't matter that much to Lori. That was going to be three more minutes towards Lincoln setting up as best as he could, as quick as he could. Lori didn't even actually need to use the bathroom anyway. So in the spirit of burning as much time as possible, she got her phone out and started a timer. She would walk into their line of sight right at the three minute mark, then would take her sweet time strolling back to her mom and Leni, hopefully exhausting at least fifteen more seconds in the process. At this point, every second mattered.

Lori, curious as to how long she had just been standing in the bathroom, looked back down at her phone to see how much time had passed. To her surprise, only thirty seconds were left. Wiping her brow, she opened the door wide and left, then searched for the ideal place to walk out at where she would most likely be seen so that she could stall them further. Five seconds now. Taking a deep breath in, she started walking down the hallway where the two of them were waiting. Lori successfully came into their line of sight right at the three minute mark, but Rita wasted no time. As soon as she saw Lori, she grabbed Leni, got up, and started walking towards the exit. So much for fifteen more seconds.

Knowing it would be useless to stay behind, Lori caught up to them, then started forming a text message to Lincoln. By the time she sent it, they were already out the door of the mall and nearly to the van. The time was now Four-Fifty-Five.

"I cant stall any longer, mom insists we come home now! We'll be there in literally 5 minutes..."

Lori instinctively climbed into the front seat of the car with Leni sitting right behind her, flaunting her new dress and shoes. If Lori was being honest with herself, she was actually kind of envious of Leni. It really was a beautiful dress, and as usual, Leni did a marvelous job choosing the right shoes to go with that dress. Lori was distracted by a buzzing in her pocket. She took her phone out and read the message that Lincoln had sent.

"ok, ring the doorbell when you get here, then ill send you another text saying its ok to come in."

Vanzilla was already speeding down the road when Lori got the message. Five minutes may have been too generous. Rita was more than excited for Leni's surprise, which in turn, gave her a lead foot, and Leni was bouncing up and down in her seat she was so excited. Normally she would be lightheaded and feeling sick to her stomach, but her excitement was getting the better of her. Thinking more about it, Leni was always nervous about getting in the car. Every time they drove somewhere she would start off being really nervous and then it would eventually turn into being lightheaded and dizzy; but not this time. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had that car accident when she was two. If that was the case, then Lori thought that maybe she should start letting Leni ride in the front, especially since her blood pressure was even higher now, it was going to be even worse when she got in the car.

Time flew by and before they knew it, they were back at Casa Loud. Leni zipped out of the van and rushed to the door. Lori was barely able to get out of the car before she blurted out to her sister, "Leni! Wait!"

Her hand froze right above the door handle and she looked back at Lori. "What is it this time?"

"Allow me!" Lori then stepped in front of the door, gently moving Leni out of the way and then rang the doorbell. The shock that came with ringing the doorbell was still there, but Lori had done it so many times by now that she was used to it.

"What was that for?" Leni asked. Their mother had an equally confused look on her face.

"For... dramatic effect?" Lori shrugged. Leni still had a look of confusion in her eyes and Rita slapped her own forehead. But before either of them could do anything, Lori's phone buzzed once again, signaling to her that they were ready inside. Lori slowly reached out for the handle and twisted it counter-clockwise. The door flung open and Lori moved herself to the side, allowing her little sister to enter first.

"Welcome home Leni!" The chorus of Loud kids rang out through the neighborhood. Leni stared in awe at the sight that was before her. Teal and blue balloons were scattered across the ceiling as well as streamers of the same color stretching along the top of the wall. The aroma of chocolate cake filled the air and everyone's nostrils, pleading them to come try some. Then there was the centerpiece. It took Lincoln seven bottles of paint and almost thirty minutes to finish, then he had to wait another thirty minutes for it to dry was well. The thing that Lincoln was the most ecstatic for Leni to see, was a giant hand painted banner that read, "Welcom Home Leni!"

Lori saw the banner and was trying so hard not to laugh, with quite the strained look on her face. Rita was in a similar position, although more able to resist the urge to chuckle, but none of that really mattered. Leni was so overjoyed to see everyone welcoming her home. Everything, to her, was so perfect. From the smell of chocolate, to her favorite colored balloons and streamers, everything was perfectly planned out. The fact that Lincoln had accidentally misspelled "welcome" was far from Leni's mind right now. All she could think about, was how great of a family she had. The more she thought of it, the less she held back. Leni fell to her knees, still looking up at the sight before her. It was so amazing what they did, that Leni couldn't help herself, and tears started rolling down her face.

Rita began to become concerned, thinking Leni might be having another panic attack when Lincoln immediately rushed to her side, wanting to figure out what was wrong. But when she felt him come close to her, she wrapped her arms around him. The suddenness of it made Lincoln throw his hands up, but when he realized what was going on, his expression softened and he wrapped his arms around her. Leni always gave warm hugs, and Lincoln was no stranger to this, but the effect never dulled. Leni's hugs were always welcoming and pleasant, and Lincoln was always more than receptive to them. He loved it, and he loved his sister.

"Who did this?" Leni asked the group, beginning to break way from Lincoln.

"We all pitched in, but ultimately, it was Lincoln's idea dude," she heard from in front of her. "He was the one who planned all this out."

"Aw, Linky!" She grabbed hold of Lincoln once again, even tighter this time, but to the boy, it wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. He welcomed the embrace yet again and returned the favor, more than willingly. Leni's hugs were like those of angels, or at least the closest thing to it. No matter what kind of variables there were, maybe tighter or softer, happy or sad, they always felt so amazing. Even when Leni wasn't feeling that good, she still gave the warmest hugs ever. Luckily, this wasn't the case, making her hugs feel even better.

Lincoln briefly opened his eyes and happened to gaze up at Lori. It really was sweet to her that Lincoln planned all this out, but she wouldn't be able to control herself until Lincoln knew about the banner. As soon as he made eye contact with her, she pointed at it. Still holding onto his sister, he turned his head and looked at what she was pointing at. His face completely tensed up and he cringed, mentally slapping himself for making such a rookie mistake. Why didn't anyone tell him he misspelled "welcome?" Did no one else notice it either? There was always some kind of flaw in every plan he had. Whether it was something as small as this, or completely forgetting a crucial detail. The plan itself went off without a hitch, so it was considered a success, but he just couldn't get over the fact that he misspelled one of the more well known words in the English language. Oh well, it's the thought that counts right? Besides, it wouldn't take more than thirty seconds to fix.

"Thanks so much guys!" Leni said as she broke away from Lincoln. "I can't even, like, begin to thank you enough!"

"Leni! Your dress looks so pretty!" Lola exclaimed.

"Thanks I just got it, like, today!" Leni replied, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"Based on the type of fabric, the tightness of the stitching, and well planned color scheme, I would have to estimate this dress costing, hmm... $159.99"

"Actually, it was on sale! It only cost $72.95!"

"Those are some rockin' shoes too mate! They look expensive. How much were they?"

"Okay guys, listen to this! On the rack, the price tag said that these heels were $65.99, but the lady at the front counter of the store we went to, said that they looked so good on me, and that they went so well with the dress, that she let me have them for Fifteen dollars!"

Everyone except Lori and Rita gasped at that revelation. Only fifteen dollars for a pair of high heels that nice? Even Lincoln knew that was a big deal. He didn't know much about clothing, but if he didn't know anything else about clothes, he could at least tell when something was expensive, and those shoes looked quite expensive to him. Even his own classic orange polo cost more than fifteen dollars.

"Can we have cake now?" Lana complained.

"Normally, I would scream for Ice cream! But this time, I-cing for cake! Haha, get it?" The collective, yet satisfying groan, echoed throughout the room. From the kitchen could be heard a resounding hearty laugh from Lynn Sr.

"Good one Luan!" He yelled out.

"Let's eat before we have any cake!" Rita told them. Lynn responded with, "Supper's on the table in five!"

Leni was sitting on her bed reading one of her fashion magazines, having just finished a piece of cake. The night they just had was amazing. They started off with an amazing meal that consisted of roast beef and vegetables with some amazing gravy that went with it. After that they dug straight into the cake and tore it apart in a matter of minutes; Leni was barely able to salvage that one piece she just had. Then they went on to play some party games, which, of course, Lynn won every single one of them. Then to close off the night, they watched a short movie. Overall, it was tons of fun, and so far, Leni wasn't having any problems. But Lori was.

Leni needed to know about what the doctor told her, and Lori was the only one who could tell her. Mom and dad would be informed eventually, but Leni had to be the first to know. She deserved to be the first to know about her rare condition. But Lori just wasn't able to bring herself to do it. How could you deliver news like that to anyone, let alone Leni? News like that would be devastating to anyone, not just her. She didn't want to tell Leni what happened, but she had to. She was going to find out eventually, so why not tell her? But, if that was the case, then why tell her?

Lori's mind raced as she walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Dozens of different thoughts popped into her head about how she was going to break the news; about if she was going to break the news. It was so difficult making the decision to do so. It would have been so much easier if there hadn't been any hesitation. But the doctors orders were that Leni had to be home first. And then she found out about the party, she couldn't have told her during the party, it would have ruined the mood. She had to do it as soon as possible now though.

Fifteen minutes in the shower turned into twenty, twenty turned into thirty, and thirty turned into long enough for the water heater to stop working. It was a good thing there wasn't anyone waiting for her or they would be disappointed to find only cold water running. But even though it wasn't hot, Lori still stood underneath the cold water emerging from the shower-head. What was she doing? Stalling? Staying in the shower so that she didn't have to divulge the big secret? As soon as she entered her's and Leni's room, she was going to have to say something. Best case scenario was that Leni would ask and then she wouldn't feel as bad as if she just dropped it on her all of a sudden. For some reason though, maybe it was the fact that Leni was a bit forgetful, she didn't think that she would get that lucky.

Goosebumps were covering Lori's body now and she was nearly shivering. Despite her current situation, she forced herself out of the shower. The water got very cold, very quick when they ran out of warm water and Lori was not about to let hypothermia set in. It happened to Lincoln once because he was desperate to take a shower before school started, despite the fact that he was already running late. The freezing cold water, combined with the fact that it was already winter, gave him a mild case of hypothermia. He was taken to the doctor who told them what happened and he ended up being out of school for a week.

Lori dried herself off, then wrapped a towel around her torso and another around her hair and, with shivers still running down her spine, made her way to her room. With each step she took, the floorboards underneath the carpet creaked and moaned. Nobody was asleep yet so it's not like she was trying to be quiet, but rather, it was the fact that the sound indicated that she was moving forward. Of course, nobody seemed to care what she was doing at the time. Nobody knew about the terrible clash that was going on in her mind. They only cared about themselves for the time being, a creaky floorboard meant nothing to them. Lori was still shivering, but now, it was partly for a a different reason.

The door to their room had been left open. The reason? Lori had no idea, but that wasn't even on her mind right now. "Hi Lori."

"Hey Leni..." The silence lingered between them for a couple seconds. The silence bothered Lori more than she cared to admit. There should have been something, rustling pages, moaning in the walls, but no. There was nothing. Lori couldn't stand the silence anymore. "When I'm finished getting ready for bed, I have to tell you what the doctor said."

Too late to put it off now.

"Okay..." She didn't even look up. Her eyes remained glued to that fashion magazine. Lori watched Leni's eyes as they scanned across the page, then watched her fingers flip the piece of paper to look at the next page. It was strange, yet intriguing how into fashion Leni was. She wasn't even kind of a jerk when it came to fashion, unlike some people she knew, but at the same time, Lori didn't think there was anyone in the entire city of Royal Woods that could even hold a candle to her knowledge and skill when it came to fashion design. There wasn't anyone that Lori knew personally that could out-do Leni if it came down to a dress making contest or something like that, Lori was convinced that nobody she knew would even come close.

As Lori slipped on a loose fitting t-shirt and some underwear, she started wondering about Leni. Yes she was going to be different from the rest of them in some aspects because she was adopted, but what was it about that girl? She always seemed so laid-back. Wasn't there anything that ever bothered her? Who doesn't ever worry about themselves from time to time? What kind of mindset did Leni have that gave the impression of being so peaceful? So at-rest? It even bothered Lori how she was able to do this so easily. Even when it really hit Leni that she was adopted, when she really realized that fact, she wasn't even fazed by it. How?

Lori, still being freezing cold from the end of that shower, threw on some pajama pants as well and strolled over to her own bed and fell on it, laying back perpendicularly. Her hair flowed across the side of the bed closer to the wall, creeping its way down to the floor, and her legs fell nearly to the floor on the other side, which was facing Leni's bed. She was sprawled out in such a way that made her shirt come up just enough to show her belly button. Not bothering taking a moment to fix it, Lori closed her eyes for just a moment, thinking some more about Leni. It wasn't too long before realizing that she nearly drifted off in this position. Luckily, when she woke herself up, Leni was still staring intently into the pages of that magazine. They needed to start talking now. If they didn't, Lori would keep finding excuses not to and Leni would undoubtedly forget.

"Okay, Leni." Lori stated, her eyes now completely open and her hands visibly shaking more. "We need to talk."

"Oh yeah. I like, forgot. What is it we need to talk about again?"

"I need to tell you what the doctor told me, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Leni was still exactly the same as before. Did anything even change? "What did the doctor say?"

"Are you sure you're ready?"

Saying that, Lori finally sat up and adjusted her shirt, shooting a brief glance at Leni in the process. That was all she needed to see. Leni knew exactly what that look meant. She didn't want to hear what the doctor said anymore, if Lori was this upset, then there was no doubt in her mind that Leni had to prepare herself to hear bad news. She didn't know what Lori was about to say. But the look that crossed Lori's face, the one that was still imprinted on it, was not one that she used very often. That face never meant something good. So Leni, bowed her head a bit, and prepared herself for the worst.

Leni nodded her head slowly at first, tightening her lips. Then, her head nodded faster. "Yes. I am."

"Okay..." Lori looked up at her sister briefly and noticed that her expression was much more somber now, much more serious. It only made Lori's job that much harder, knowing that she was going to have to tell her such terrible news. "I'll tell you the good news first."

There was good news? With Lori's face being like that, how could there possibly be good news? It didn't really matter, so Leni decided to just roll with it. "Right."

"The good news is that, for one, you're not pregnant, and two, you didn't get any... um... They didn't give you any... diseases from... well... you know."

"Um, do you mean STDs?"

"Yeah... they didn't give you any."

"Okay?" Leni was a bit more confused now. If she didn't have any STDs and she wasn't pregnant, then what was the bad news? Was it something even worse than that? What could possibly be worse than that? Wait. Is it possible that she could... no way... If that was going to be the case then they might as well have done it themselves. The only difference between her kidnappers doing it, and finding out now is that it wouldn't be sudden. Everyone would know what was going on, and they would all be scared, sad, maybe terrified. It would be the same thing that happened a few months ago, except this time it would be real. It wouldn't be the same person, but it was still going to have the same effect on everyone.

That was what she was worried about. She wasn't worried about herself, but rather about how everyone else would feel about it. She remembered how she felt the last time that happened. It wasn't real that time, but it still had an effect on them. Something that impacted them, even to this day. But if this was happening for real, then there wasn't going to be anything changing it this time, no waking up from a dream. Leni was hoping that she wasn't going to say it, but the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. It seemed like the only option left if there was nothing else wrong, and she didn't think that Lori would be so upset if it that wasn't the case.

"Okay... so what's the bad news?" Leni was now expecting the absolute worst possible scenario. There was nothing that she wanted less than what she thought Lori was about to say.

"There's more than one part of the bad news," she started. Leni was trembling now, scared to death of what the doctor may have had to tell Lori. "Do you remember the medicine you had to take in the hospital?" Leni nodded before Lori continued. "Well, the doctor said you might have to take that for the rest of your life. But that's not the worst part."

Here it came, the big message that Lori had to tell Leni. Lori was on the verge of completely breaking down, and Leni looked like she was about to fall into tears as well. Neither of them were looking forward to this moment and both of them even tried to avoid it completely, and yet, here they were at the end of the day, finally at the point of no return. Leni didn't know what the news was, and Lori didn't know how Leni would react to such news. However, neither of them could have even come close to predicting what would happen next.

"Leni, the doctor said that you're not going to be able to have children, ever."

"Wait..." Leni started with a slightly confused look on her face. "Really? That's it? That's the worst thing the doctor said?"

Well, I think we're getting close to the end of the story now. I think just two or three more chapters and we'll be finished.

Warning, this may include spoilers depending on how deep you read into it.

A self-imposed rule that I try to abide by when writing, is that I try to write most of my stories as if they're all in the same universe and as of now, I don't have any exceptions to this rule, at least when it comes to Loud House fanfics that I have written. Yes, that includes my "Requiem for a Loud" fanfic. You'll see that it says it's a Fan-made, AU ending, so that means that both stories are in the same universe. I kind of hinted at that close to the end of this chapter. Maybe you noticed that all of the Loud kids are generally nicer to each other, and to be completely honest with you, the slight OOC of them was an accident. BUT, I used that to my advantage. It wasn't originally the case that this story and my Requiem story were in the same universe, but after re-reading almost the entire story (this one I mean), I only found two places where this rule made the two stories inconsistent with each other, so I went back and changed those two things very quickly. I doubt you will even notice the difference if you go back to check yourself because my changing things in these chapters didn't affect any part of the story at all. I don't even remember anymore what those two things were, that's just how inconsequential they were to the story, at least I think so.

Once I am finished with this story, I do have another one planned that is more obviously in the same universe as it has to do with the fact that Leni is adopted. I hope you will tune in for that story, but before I start that one, I would like to finish this one first. Like I said, there's only like two or three more chapters left so hopefully I can keep spitting out chapters as quick as I have been recently, that way I can get started on this other fanfic.

As usual, I thank you for reading, and I apologize for making this note so long. I do ask that you would leave a review, even if you don't critique me. I do ask as always that if you do critique my story, that you would not just hate on me, and give me something to improve upon. Thanks again for reading, and I hope to have the next chapter out soon!