Rita Loud came slowly awake in a spill of early morning sunshine, the sound of her kids (or some of them) talking outside her door worming its way into her head and prying her eyes open. Why were they being so loud? It was Saturday, and they knew that she and Lynn liked to sleep in. Usually they were quiet as mice...such respectful and considerate children. Today, however, it sounded like they were actually in the room.

She rolled away from Lynn Sr., who slept on, oblivious, and looked at the door.

It was standing open.

That was strange. She knew for a fact that she closed it before getting into bed, the way she did every night. You never knew when the mood would strike and you'd want to mount your husband, after all. Lynn could have gotten up in the night and, half asleep, left it open. She searched her mind and could not find an instance of that happening in the past, but there's a first time for everything.

She glanced at the closet door, which also stood open, and that's when she realized something was wrong. Sitting up, she saw the safe door hanging open as well, the suitcase they used to hide it pushed aside, and her heart dropped.

"Lynn," she said sharply, shaking her husband. "Lynn, wake up!"

He muttered and stirred. Goddamn it, wake up! She slapped his arm. "Lynn!"

"What?" he asked, his eyes fluttering open.

"I-I think someone robbed us."

"What?" he asked again, sitting up.

"Look," she said, pointing at the closet. Lynn craned his neck, and his eyes widened.

"Shit."

He got out of bed and went over to the closet door, where he dropped to his knees. Rita got up, threw a pink robe over her nightie, and walked up behind her husband just as he reached into the safe's metal guts. "Son of a bitch!" he hissed.

"What?" Rita asked, horror rising inside of her. She already knew what he was going to say before he sat back and threw up his hands. "It's gone! All gone! The money, the gun...everything!"

Rita put her hand to her head. This was bad. Very bad. They had 5000 dollars in that safe, some of it for Luna's college, some of it for emergencies. 5000 dollars! That was a lot of money!

Lynn shook his head, his jaw set and his eyes flashing.

"Oh," Lynn Jr. said, leaning into the room, her brow crinkled, "you both are here."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Rita asked, suspicious.

"The van's not in the driveway."

"What?"

Lynn suddenly looked frightened. "Y-Yeah, it's gone."

"Goddamn it," Lynn Sr. said, jumping to his feet. He bounded down the stairs, Rita right behind him, her holding her robe closed at the throat.

The front door was standing open. Lynn hit the bottom of the stairs and shot outside, pausing on the porch, his hands lifting and falling in a display of impotent rage. "They took the fucking van too!" he growled.

Rita stood next to him and looked at the empty driveway, his stomach rolling. Sometime in the night, someone had come into their house and robbed them; she imagined an intruder moving around her home (her home!) as she and her family slept, unware, and shivered.

They could have been murdered.

She felt faint.

"What else did they take?" Lynn asked angrily as he spun and brushed past her. The kids were gathered at the bottom of the stairs, all of them looking nervous. Lynn looked them over, his anger tinged with gratitude. None of them had been hurt, at least. None...

He noticed something, and his heart clenched. "Where's Lincoln and Luan?" he asked.

"I don't know," Luna said, "Luan wasn't in bed this morning when I got up. I thought she was down here."

"Jesus," Lynn muttered, his stomach dropping. He pushed past his kids and shot up the stairs. Lincoln's door stood open, and he went in, his heart pounding. "Lincoln?"

The bed was empty, the sheets rumpled. Starting to really panic, Lynn dropped to his knees and looked under the bed; his son was not there, though a lot of smashed-up junk was.

"Lincoln!" He grabbed ahold of the bed for support and started to stand, but his fingers brushed something. Still kneeling, he grabbed it and held it up: A thin white nightdress. Like the kind Luan wore.

"Are they here?" Rita asked from behind him, terror in her voice.

"No," Lynn said over his shoulder, "but this was on Lincoln's bed." He tossed her the nightdress, and she held it up, looking confused.

Lynn stood and glanced down at the bed, not knowing what he was looking for until his eyes happened upon it. A damp spot.

"What does this mean?" Rita asked.

Lynn put his hands on his hips and sucked in his bottom lip, fury welling up from his stomach like lava. "They did this."

"What?" Rita asked.

"Lincoln and Luan. They ran off together."

Rita blinked, her husband's words like a brisk slap. She opened her mouth to argue, but she knew deep in her heart that he was right. She'd seen it in their eyes over the past few weeks, a mocking light that she didn't recognize then, but did now. They were both still unhappy that she and Lynn made them break up, and at some point, they must have decided to elope.

She leaned against the doorframe, her knees trembling and her chest tight. They were gone. Her two babies...

"I should have known something like this was going to happen," Lynn said. He turned to Rita. "I should have fucking known!" he shook his head and sighed through his teeth.

"We-We have to – " Rita didn't know what they had to do. Call the police? Lincoln and Luan were out there somewhere, one seventeen and the other fourteen, alone in the world, confused and...

"We should have just let them fucking do what they wanted," Lynn raged, pacing. "They've both been miserable for three goddamn years."

"Lynn..."

"They barely come out of their rooms! They won't even look at us! They're strangers to their sisters!"

The remaining Loud girls had gathered in the hall. As soon as Lynn realized that Lincoln and Luan were gone, she knew what they had done, and why. She thought back to that day long ago when she saw them share a kiss, and then to the mysterious argument Luan had with their mother a couple days later. Lynn always suspected that something had happened between Lincoln and Luan, but now she knew for sure. What other reason would they run away together?

"What should we have done, Lynn?" Rita snapped. "Let them have sex!"

All of the girls save for Lynn flinched. "What?" Lucy muttered.

Instead of replying, Lynn Sr. shook his head again. "Well, now they're gone, and we have that to deal with. Perfect. Just perfect." In a rare show of anger, he lashed out and kicked Lincoln's nightstand, knocking the alarm clock onto the floor.

"We just call the police..."

"I don't want the police involved in this," Lynn said. "The last thing they need is a criminal record and a stay in jail."

"But, Lynn..."

"No cops."

"Then what are we going to do? Hitchhike after them? Guess where they went?"

Lynn sighed and raked his hand through his hair. "I don't know," he said, his anger suddenly leaving him and cold, restless fear replacing it. "I don't. Right now just...leave me alone. I need to think."

Rita shook her head and went into the hall, where her kids were standing wide-eyed, Lola in her pretty pink dress, Lana in her overalls, Lisa in her sweater...they had grown so much over the past three years, but like the saying went, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Go downstairs," Rita said. "We need to have a talk."

She looked over her shoulder. Lynn was sitting on the edge of Lincoln's bed, his head in his hands. Her heart ached for him. It ached for Lincoln and Luan too. Many times over the past years she'd wondered if they'd done the right thing about their...situation. She knew they weren't happy, and it upset her, but what could she have done? Not only were they brother and sister, they were also kids! Knowing that their attraction was strong enough to have led to sex, she couldn't just let them sleep in the same bed every night and play house.

"Are you going to tell them?" Lynn asked. He was looking up at her, his hands together before him as if in prayer, the tips of his index fingers touching his nose. Rita was struck by how much he seemed to have aged over the past...what, twenty minutes? Fifteen?

"Yes," Rita sighed.

Lynn nodded. "We owe it to them."

He wanted to tell them sooner so they understood what Lincoln and Luan were going through, why they had become so distant and withdrawn. Rita shot him down. 'If Lincoln and Luan want them to know, they'll tell them.' Lynn saw her point; something like that might not be the kind of thing you took it upon yourself to tell everyone else. On the other hand, he saw Lincoln and Luan pulling away, and he saw the hurt and confusion in the others' eyes. There was a time, and not that long ago, when his children were as close as siblings could humanly be. Now, his two oldest daughters were gone (both due back home for summer break...tomorrow, actually), his third oldest was preparing to head off to college in September, and Luan and Lincoln were so consumed with their own misery that they weren't even part of the equation anymore.

And now they were completely gone, poof, just like that, fled in the night to be together. He was no happier than Rita about their relationship. He did, however, hate to see them suffer, and he'd broached the subject with her many times over the past few years. Surely they could allow them something. Keeping them apart was not going to make them stop loving each other, it would only make their love stronger. He couldn't really blame Rita for not backing down, though. Hell, how do you handle something like that? He didn't know, she didn't know. No one did. No one expects to be faced with this sort of thing, so they never prepare for it. He imagined they might catch one or more of their children playing doctor, but falling in love? A love whose absence ached even three years later?

Rita was just as lost as he. She held out hope that they would get over it, and so did he, but he didn't think they would. Not after all this time.

God, we blew it, he thought. Shame and heartache filled him. He couldn't even be mad about them leaving, could hardly be mad that they took the van and the money. It was his and Rita's fault. They brought this on themselves.

In the living room, the seven remaining Loud kids settled onto the couch while their mother sank onto the coffee table across from them with a sigh. Her face was pale and doughy, and her eyes were sunken. The shock of what had happened aged her just as it aged her husband, adding a decade in minutes.

"Where's Lincoln and Luan?" Lana asked.

"Didn't you hear?" Lola spat. "They ran away!"

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"It doesn't make sense," Luna said.

Lynn said nothing, nor did Lisa. Lilly quietly played with a doll, seemingly unaffected by the proceedings around her.

"They did run away," Rita said. She opened her mouth to continue, but words escaped her. How could she break it to them that Lincoln and Luan were in love?

"Lincoln and Luan," she started and paused. "They're...they think they're in love with each other."

Shocked silence filled the room. Lola's brow furrowed and Lana gaped. "I suspected as much," Lisa said calmly, "given the way they've been acting recently."

Lynn started to say she already knew, but stopped. It was probably best not to. Mom might get mad.

"Forbidden love," Lucy said, tasting the concept like sweet wine, "nice."

"No," Rita said, "it's not nice. They're confused. You don't fall in love with your brother or sister."

"Well, they did," Luna said, crossing her arms.

"No, they..."

"There would have to be a deeper emotional component than simple hormone driven infatuation," Lisa pointed out. "One does not sink into despair for three years over a crush. Or confusion."

"They –" Rita started, but Luna cut her off.

"That's what that argument was about, wasn't it? That night you were screaming and yelling?" The girl watched her with intense eyes, her jaw set.

"Yes, I –"

"Forced them to break up, leaving unresolved emotional issues that manifested in the form of depression and withdraw," Lisa finished. She too crossed her arms.

Rita was starting to get angry. "They are brother and sister. What they did was not right. It was disgusting."

"And making them break up wasn't?" Luna demanded. "I've been sleeping in the same room with Luan for the past three years, I know how many times she cried herself to sleep. I never got it. I tried to talk to her but she kept turning me away. Now I know."

"How dare you..." Rita started.

"I don't think it was right either," Lucy said. "If they were that serious."

"They're brother and sister!" Rita roared, standing. "It's not right!"

"Some people say being gay isn't right," Lana said. "But you're okay with Lynn being gay."

Lynn sank into the couch, wishing she could disappear.

"That's different," Rita said tightly.

"I remember your exact words," Lola said. "'Love is blind.'"

"GO TO YOUR ROOMS, ALL OF YOU!" Rita screamed, pointing up the stairs. "NOW!"

One-by-one, her kids stood and left the living room, each one (save Lynn and Lilly) giving her dirty looks. She was trembling with rage; when Luna passed with a tiny pfft, she almost grabbed her by her hair and slapped her across the face.

When they were gone, she sank heavily onto the couch and put her face in her hands, hot tears welling in her eyes. She felt like shit enough without them adding to it. She was wrong, okay? She should have done something different. If she did, Lincoln and Luan would still be here, and the last three years of their lives wouldn't have been so miserable.

She saw them in her mind the way they'd appeared last, their eyes dark and their mouths tight, and she broke down, weeping bitterly, her body shaking. She didn't know Lynn had entered the room until he put his arm around her shoulder and drew her close.

"It's my fault," she sobbed. "I was too hard on them."

"Shhhh. It's not your fault. You did what you thought was right."

"But it wasn't!"

"Maybe not, maybe so. It doesn't matter now. What matters is finding our kids and bringing them home."

Rita wiped her eyes. "If they want to be together so bad, I won't stop them, Lynn, I promise. I swear to God I won't."

He hugged her.

"What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea," he said. Pulling out his phone, he went to a website. "There's a private investigator here in town."

"I still say we should call the police," Rita said. "It'll be easier that way."

"You know the court system, Rita. They'll get ahold of this case and prosecute it whether we want them to or not."

Rita sighed.

"And I don't want that."

"Neither do I."

"I'm going to call this guy. He comes highly reviewed."

Rita looked down at the phone again. The background was yellow with white text. Across the top was the legend WAYNE DIROSARIO, PRIVATE EYE next to a little eye shaped logo.

"Do it," she said miserably. "I just want them back."

"So, where are we going?"

Lincoln was sitting in the passenger seat, his legs crossed. Outside, dawn colored the eastern sky, a fiery red slash across inky black.

They'd been heading west on I-94 for nearly three hours, one of the only vehicles on the highway aside from tractor trailers and the occasional RV. For long stretches, they held hands across the center console, neither speaking, both simply enjoying the presence of the other, a presence that each had sorely missed. Every once in a while, they would glance at each other and smile. At one point, Lincoln drew Luan's hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too."

He ran his tongue over her knuckles. "You taste better than I remember."

She laughed. "Wait until we stop. I'm gonna fuck your brains out."

Presently, they were skirting the dense suburban growth between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, closer to the latter than the former. More cars moved along this length of highway. Lincoln checked the clock on the dash: It was almost 6am, when most people would be starting for work.

"Any place in particular you want to go, love?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Other than down on you?" he asked with a grin. "Not really."

She giggled. "You're so dirty. When did that happen?"

She meant it as a joke, but it wasn't: She'd spent so little time around her brother over the past three years that he was basically a stranger. Well, maybe not a stranger, exactly, but he'd changed, grown, and she missed it. Lincoln probably felt the same about her. That made her sad, a sadness that turned to anger when she thought of her mother.

Lincoln shrugged. "I dunno. I guess you just bring it out in me."

She glanced at him and flashed a seductive smile. "I'll bring something out of you alright."

"Yeah?" he asked, his eyebrows raising.

She pursed her lips and nodded. "Um hm. With my mouth."

"Oh, yeah."

"And my pussy."

Lincoln winced. "Damn."

"And maybe even my ass!"

Lincoln's shocked laughter quickly devolved into a coughing fit. She grinned.

"Don't make promises you can't keep now," he said when he'd recovered.

"Oh, I'm serious. We haven't done that yet."

"Look at you," Lincoln said with a smile, "you're kinky as hell. What else are you into?"

"Hmmm." Luan cocked her head and thought as she zoomed past a silver minivan with a roof rack. She thought of all the fantasies she'd had over the past three years, the images of her and Lincoln that came when her despair momentarily turned to desire. "Well, I haven't actually done anything other than with you, but I'm open to it all."

In her fantasies, Lincoln choked her, hit her, and smacked her ass until it was raw. The pain, she imagined, would make the pain in her heart go away, and that was the most appealing thing of all. Now that she had him all to herself, she wanted to actually try them. All of them. Pain in her heart or no.

"What about you?" she asked. "What kind of things do you want to do to me?"

"I wanna tie you up," he blurted, and blushed.

"Oh?" she asked, glancing at him.

He nodded.

The thought of her being immobile and him being in complete control made him weak in the knees. It was a fantasy he had cultivated and nurtured over the past three years.

"What if I want to tie you up?" Luan asked. She was being serious. She had also fantasized about dominating her brother, about being in charge and calling the shots. God knows she couldn't do it in real life. Rita the cunt proved that.

Lincoln considered. Having her dominate him did sound kind of hot. "We can't both be tied up."

"We can take turns."

Lincoln shrugged. "Yeah, that works."

For a while neither of them spoke, then he realized that she hadn't answered his question. "Where are we going?"

"Oh. Right. Well, remember that time we went to Disneyland when you were eight?"

"I do," Lincoln said fondly. When he was eight, mom and dad packed the family into the van and took them to California for a week of fun at Disneyland. The trip was mainly covered by one of dad's work bonuses; otherwise they wouldn't have had enough money. Lincoln recalled every moment of those seven glorious days. The sun. The sky. The heat. He remembered the leg of the trek that brought them through the Mojave Desert, a vast, arid expanse sloping away to craggy mountains rising like frozen waves against the dusty sky. He also remembered the palm trees and terra cotta roofs so prevalent in Anaheim.

"California's beautiful, right?"

"Yeah, yeah it is."

"Why not go there?"

"Sounds good to me."

She smiled at him. "Great. Sun, surf, and sand."

"You in a bikini."

"You naked."

"You bent over."

"You fucking me in the ass."

Lincoln snickered.

"I'm dead serious, I wanna try anal."

"Totally, but how about we try breakfast first? I'm starving."

"Let's get out of Michigan," Luan said. "Then we can eat."

"Yeah, I'm hungry now."

"You just have to wait."

During the journey toward the Indiana state line, Lincoln counted the money from the safe. 5000 dollars. Added to what Luan had, it was 5500. Add what he had, it was 5800. That was a lot of money.

Things are looking up, Lincoln Loud, he thought.

And they were.

For the moment.