The more Lynn Loud considered Amber's proposal, the more she liked it.

It was Sunday morning, after breakfast, and Lynn was lying in bed, her hands crossed behind her head. Bright sunlight flooded the room and warmed the bare flesh of her arms and legs. Normally, they would have been in church, but given the circumstances, mom and dad were letting them skip, which was fine with Lynn. Then again, she had at least an hour and a half of nothing to do until Amber and her grandmother got done at their church and she could go over. Thus, she alternated between thinking of what Amber had said and worrying over Lincoln and Luan. She preferred entertaining the former rather than the latter.

She and Amber had used toys in the past. Strap-ons, dildos, vibrators, and a host of other things. Lynn was perfectly content with these...but the more she imagined a real penis, the more she wanted to try it.

Clyde McBride though? He was...he was a goofball! Totally not the type of guy Lynn would go for if she was straight: She liked the pretty boys, the kind you saw and couldn't tell if they were a man or a woman. Leonardo DiCaprio was hot when he was younger. She'd admit that in a heartbeat. Clyde McBride wasn't. Then again, he was a nice enough guy, and the point wasn't to find someone hot and sexy but just to find a dick, and Clyde had one...she assumed.

"What rhymes with "cold soul"?" Lucy asked. She was sitting in the middle of her bed with a notebook open on her lap.

"I don't know," Lynn said. "Bowl?"

Lucy shook her head and sighed. "Lincoln would know."

Lynn started to point out that Lincoln hadn't exactly been in the mood to help her with her poems in a long time, but didn't. He was really good with that kind of thing. She felt a sharp pang of loss, not unlike the pangs she'd occasionally felt over the past three years when it occurred to her that even though her brother was right there in front of her, he was gone, like a coma patient. Now he (and Luan) were really gone, like coma patients after dying. She heaved a sad sigh and sat up. It was 9:58 by her phone. Amber usually got out of church around 10:45. If she took a shower and then took her time getting dressed, she could kill at least half an hour, then leave and get to Amber's right after she got home. She didn't particularly like the idea of showing up instantly like that, because it made her feel desperate and clingy, but right now she didn't really care. Sitting around the house was starting to get to her: Lincoln and Luan's absence hung heavy in the air.

In the bathroom, she stripped naked and turned the shower on, getting the temperature just right before stepping under the spray, the hot water hitting her bare skin and sending a shiver down her spin. She wet her hair and turned, letting the stream pound down on her back, beads sluicing from her prominent shoulder blades to the dimples at the base of her spine.

Clyde McBride. Yeah, he was a nice guy. At least he was. She didn't know much about him now. When he hung out with Lincoln, she actually kind of liked having him over. Now that she thought about it, he reminded her a lot of Lincoln...

Okay, maybe that's not the best thought to have about a dude you're thinking about banging. She loved her brother, but she wasn't Luan. Or Lincoln, for that matter.

How can two siblings be attracted to each other like that? Not...how dare they...but how? To her, it simply wasn't possible. In general, when it came to women, she liked the more feminine types (Amber was a perfect mixture of both feminine and masculine, and Lynn was happy with that). Leni was feminine. Thinking of her, however, sparked nothing inside of her but intense sisterly love. She called up a vision of Leni in her mind and slowly undressed it, shivering with disgust and pushing it away when its dream-tits popped out. What could have drawn Lincoln and Luan together?

She didn't know, but if that's what made them happy, great.

After lathering and rinsing, Lynn cut the water, grabbed her towel, and dried off, dressing in a fresh change of clothes. In her room, she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her shoes on. She checked her phone. 10:20. Not enough time, but oh well. She didn't have much time to spend with Amber anyway. Leni and Lori would be home by three, one from Chicago and the other from Boston. She was excited to have them back, even if it was only for the summer. Though there were still plenty of people in the Loud house (well...before Lincoln and Luan left, but even now), it felt kind of empty without them. She wasn't looking forward to Luna leaving. Another one gone, another empty spot at the table. God, things were changing so fast.

Shaking that thought away, she went downstairs, told her parents she was going out, and walked to Amber's house, her hands in her pockets. She was just turning onto Amber's street when she bumped into someone. Clyde? You again?

It was Amber.

"Hey, Lynn Loud!" Amber said. "Where were you going?"

Lynn shrugged. "Just for a walk. Where were you going?"

"Just for a walk."

They held hands and started toward the park. "So I was thinking about what you said yesterday," Lynn said, "and I wanna do it."

Amber hissed through clenched teeth. "I don't know. I'm having second thoughts."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, I was thinking about it, and...it seemed to really upset you and I feel bad. I don't want you to think..."

"No, it's fine, really," Lynn said, telling the truth. "You were right, I have thought about it and I do want to try it."

"You sure? I mean..." she stopped and looked into Lynn's eyes. "I love you, Lynn, and I don't want to hurt you."

"I love you too," Lynn said. "And, hey, I'm gonna be fucking him too. Maybe we can turn it into a competition." Her eyes narrowed and a wicked little grin spread across her face.

Amber raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"

Lynn nodded. "First one to make him cum wins."

Amber laughed. "And just what exactly are we winning?"

Lynn shrugged. "Bragging rights?"

"Oh, you're so on. Bitch."

"So...Lincy and Luan are gone?" Leni asked. She was sitting in the back seat of a rented Prius, her parents in the front and Lori next to her in the back; her sister wore a pained expression.

"Yes," dad said lowly, "but we're working on getting them back."

Bitter disappointment flooded Leni. She was looking forward to seeing all of her family, and now they weren't all going to be there. They would be incomplete. Broken. She told herself she was just as upset about Luan being gone as she was Lincoln being gone, but deep down she knew that she wasn't. She loved Luan (even more after what she had done to her...a crime for which Leni would never forgive herself...a crime which haunted her sleep), but she felt a special bond with Lincoln. He was her loyal little puppy dog. And...though she wasn't in love with him anymore and never had been (she was mistaking feelings of familial love for feelings of romantic love, her doctors pointed out), he was...well...he was the only boy she had ever been with. How much more connected can two people be?

"I'm not surprised," Lori finally said.

No one replied. No one had the energy for another argument.

"Do you know where they are?" Leni asked.

"No," Lynn Sr. said, "but we have a private investigator looking for them. He's one of the best in the business and totally professional. They'll be home in no time."

"I hope," Leni said, "I want to see them." She hugged herself.

"Me too," Lori said, looking sadly down into her lap.

They pulled into the driveway fifteen minutes later, and Leni got her bags from the trunk. The house and neighborhood looked the same as it had the last time she visited...except for that chain-link fence between yards across the street; that was new, and it threw Leni. It was such a small thing, but for some reason, it gave her a strange feeling. Call it deja vu in reverse: The uncanny feeling that you've never been somewhere or done something before even though you have.

Shaking her head, she carried her bags into the house, where all of her sisters were waiting. When she walked in, they mobbed her, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Wow, it's like I've been gone for years."

"We missed you!" Lana said.

"It's hell not having another fashion-sensible person in the house," Lola said, hugging her leg. "How was the trip?"

"Okay," Leni said, patting Lisa on the head and kissing Lucy's forehead. "There was a lot of turbulence though. I thought I was totes gonna puke."

"Here, let me take your bags," Luna said, snatching Leni's bags out of her hands.

"Well, okay then," she laughed. She scanned her siblings. "Where's Lynn?"

"She's out with her girlfriend," Lucy said. "She'll be back soon."

"Alright," Leni said and sighed contentedly. All of the stress and anger of the past week left her, and for the first time in a long time, she felt good...truly and totally good. She looked from one of her sisters to the other, her chest swelling with love. That love was tinged with sadness because Lincoln and Luan were not here, but it was warm and nice nevertheless.

Later, after unpacking her bags and putting her clothes away in her old dresser, she flopped onto her bed. In the next bed over, Lori was lying against her pillow. "I'm so tired," she said. Her flight left Logan Airport at 6:45am, which meant she was awake at 3:00 and sitting in the terminal at 5:00. She'd learned a lot of things in her three year college career; the benefits of being safe rather than sorry one of them. If you weren't safe, you might miss a class and almost flunk a semester.

"I'm not," Leni said. Her mind was flying at a mile a minute. There was so much she wanted to do this summer, so many precious moments she wanted to spend with her sisters (and, hopefully, at some point, her brother). She wanted to do Lola's hair and make-up, she wanted to help Lucy with her poems, she wanted to listen to all of Luna's new music. "But I'm so comfy I could fall asleep."

"It is nice being home," Lori said. "I miss it a lot."

"Me too."

Lori turned her head and faced her sister. "So, how are you doing? How's school going?"

"Good," she said. She didn't mention that cheating asshole Dave Benson. This was a happy occasion; he had no place in it. "I'm doing really well. I'm, like, one of the best in my class. You?"

"Getting by," Lori said, and chuckled sardonically. She was studying to be a lawyer; she figured she liked arguing, so why not get paid to do it? Law was a lot harder than she thought it would be, but the more she learned about it, the more certain she became that she had picked the right career path. "I'm not flunking, so that's something, right?"

"Yeah," Leni said.

Though Lori hated to admit it, she was kind of jealous of Leni. She seemed to be floating through school with grace and ease. Meanwhile, Lori felt so overwhelmed sometimes that she could literally cry, and had. She didn't know that Leni secretly envied her as well, because she didn't fight a constant battle against demons in her head. For Leni, even the good days weren't exactly easy, but she got by because she (and all of her siblings) had been raised to never give up and to fight for what they wanted.

She thought of Lincoln and Luan. They wanted each other, and they were fighting for that, weren't they?

She just hoped they were doing okay out there. Wherever they were.

If there is really a wrong side of the bed, Lincoln and Luan both woke up on it that Sunday morning. The first indication of trouble came when Luan couldn't find her underwear, and got so frustrated looking under the bed and the nightstand that she literally shook. "Where's my underwear?" she asked. Lincoln pulled on a pair of jeans and a white tank-top which exposed his arms. He admired them in the mirror over the dresser. They weren't as weak and puny as they once were. "I don't know," he said.

"Well, I can't find them."

Was she implying he took them? His neck flushed. "I don't know," he repeated.

"Could you help me look?"

"Alright," he sighed.

He got down on his hands and knees, checking behind the dresser, under the table, and beneath the A/C unit under the window. He found a red bottle top, but no underwear. "I don't see them," he called.

"Damn it!" she spat, getting to her feet, placing her hands on her hips, and looking around, as if she expected them to walk into sight on their own.

"You gonna put dirty underwear on?" he asked, getting up.

"No," she said with an edge, "but I don't want to leave them."

"Buy some more."

"We don't have that much money, Lincoln."

"We have enough to buy a pack of underwear for ten bucks. You expect us to wear the underwear we have now until it rots?"

She held up her hand and went into the bathroom. Lincoln's brow furrowed. She was really getting on his nerves, and it wasn't even 6:30 yet. Sighing, he sat on the edge of the bed and put his shoes on. He went to get up, but spotted Luan's underwear tangled in the sheets, white with yellow smiley faces. They were cute. And she was cute in them.

She came out of the bathroom. "I don't..."

"Found them," he said. He balled them up and tossed them at her. She caught them.

"Where were they?"

"In the sheets."

She nodded and went back into the bathroom. No thank you, no sorry, nothing. How do you like that?

She poked her head back out. "You gonna join me?"

Lincoln thought about it. He was awake at 5:30 and showered then, letting Luan sleep. He looked down at himself. He was fully dressed.

What the hell?

"Yeah."

"Great," she smiled, and went into the bathroom. Lincoln stripped naked and followed. Her naked body was blurry behind the curtain, and he stopped to admire it. Even if she made him mad sometimes, she was so fucking beautiful, and he was lucky to have her.

He pulled the curtain back and ducked in behind her, his eyes going instantly to her tight butt and then slowly crawling north, to her shoulder blades and her wet hair clumped against her shoulders. He put his hands on her hips and drew her close.

"Be careful," she laughed. "You almost made her slip."

"Sorry," he said, kissing her neck, beads of water breaking against his lips. He ran his hands down her stomach, and she leaned her head back into the crook of his neck. His fingers brushed the spot between her legs, and she sighed. With his fore and middle finger, he traced it, the skin smooth and silky. With his other hand, her cupped her breast and squeezed. She let out a yelp and looked at him with big eyes. "That hurt...I like it."

He squeezed again, harder this time, and the tip of his middle finger slipped into her. They kissed, the water pounding against their faces; she reached back and took him in her hand, stroking the top of his shaft with her thumb.

He slid another finger into her, her moistening channel tightening around him, her inner walls slick, soft, and hot. He broke the kiss, and nipped her shoulder. "Ooooh," she said. "That's nice."

"You like?"

"I do."

He did it again, increasing the speed of his strokes. She increased her speed too. In minutes, she started to shake, and he felt himself beginning to cum. He buried his tip in the crease of her butt and came, his hips instinctively thrusting.

"Alright, now to get to get clean."

She used a tiny bar of motel soap to lather up, Lincoln admiring the way the suds coated her supple body. Cut off from the spray of the water, he was starting to get cold. He crossed his arms and waited his turn.

And waited.

And waited.

Anger welled up within him. Damn, this bitch was taking forever, meanwhile his teeth were literally chattering. "Can we hurry it up?" he asked. "I'm cold as shit."

"Be patient."

"I've been patient for the past fifteen minutes. I want my turn under the water."

"Wait."

He did.

Was she purposely taking her sweet ass time? He thought she was. Reaching over her, he angled the shower head away.

"Lincoln!"

She slapped his arm away.

"Are you almost done?" he asked as she pointed the head back at her.

"Yes! Goddamn!"

Five minutes later, she switched him spots, and the warm water against his cold body made him sigh. "Happy now?"

"Very."

Shaking her head, she got out and toweled off while Lincoln warmed his skin. After a few minutes, he got out, grabbed the other towel, and dried himself. In the room, Luan was stepping into a pair of underwear. Lincoln liked the way they clung to her butt. She turned, her breasts still free, and put her hands on her hips. "Like what you see?" she asked with a grin.

"I do."

She dressed in a white summer dress that stopped half way to her knees, showcasing her bare legs. Lincoln licked his lips, and got dressed himself while she put her hair up in a ponytail and then slipped her shoes on.

On their way to the van, a black guy was loading the open trunk of a maroon Intrepid with suitcases; he stopped to openly stared at Luan, and Lincoln flushed with anger. He reached out and squeezed her butt just so the asshole knew she was his.

"That was some good sex we had last night," he said loudly.

She glanced at him, her eyebrows arching. "True," she said, "but do you really have to tell the whole world?"

Lincoln glanced at the peeping tom. He slammed the trunk and disappeared into his room.

She's mine, Lincoln thought, and no one's ever going to take her away from me again.

They got breakfast from a McDonald's drive-thru and ate on the road. It was a clear, sunny Sunday, and traffic was light until they started getting closer to Chicago. Lincoln grabbed the Rand-McNally road atlas from the glovebox and flipped to the Illinois section; he already knew Chicago would be a congested nightmare.

"We should take Route 6," he said, "avoid Chicago. We can pick the interstate up at Coal City."

"How much time will that add to our trip?"

Lincoln looked at the map. "I don't know, but it'll probably wind up saving us time. The city's going to be a madhouse. Traffic's already getting heavy and we're still fifteen miles out."

Luan shook her head. "I'm not getting off the highway. That's how you get lost."

"We won't get lost, it's..."

"No."

Lincoln shut the atlas and tossed it onto the floor. Fine. Whatever.

Two hours later, they were halfway past Chicago, traffic moving at a crawl, Lincoln's teeth grinding and his arms crossed. The city skyline rose against the blue heavens like a collection of gravestones. Honking, yelling, and cursing salted the air. He knew he shouldn't be getting angry, it's not like they had anywhere to be, but it sat heavy in his chest anyway.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Luan moaned, throwing her head back.

"I told you we should get off the highway," he said. "You didn't listen."

"I'm not getting lost, Lincoln," she said harshly. "Sorry."

"We're not going to get lost," Lincoln snapped, gesturing to the atlas on the floor. "We have a map. The road's a loop. Only an idiot would get lost on it." His voice was rising.

"Lincoln, shut up; your little girl voice is getting on my nerves."

"Fuck you, bitch!" He shook his head and fought the urge to smash out the window. He already felt emasculated enough, having lain in a pool of tears for three years and letting Luan, the girl he loved, do the same, without her fucking digs. Each one, even in jest, grated on him a little more than the last.

She sighed and shook her head. For a long time, neither of them spoke, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive. They finally made it past Chicago, and road opened up before them.

Luan felt bad about what she said. He just...he got on her nerves and the first thing she went for was what she knew would hurt him most. Why? What kind of fucking monster was she? Why was she still full of anger, and why was that anger turning on Lincoln, whom she loved with everything she had? She was a bitch.

She reached out and put her hand on his leg. He stiffened under her touch. "I'm sorry," she said, and looked at him. His arms were crossed and he stared out the window. "I just..." she sighed. "I get mad sometimes and...I don't know why. I guess it's leftover from being so mad for so long at mom and dad, and eventually our sisters. I love you, Lincoln. You're the most precious thing in the world to me."

He looked at her, his angry face dropping, and put his hand on hers. "I-I get angry too."

"We're going to have to work through this together," Luan said, looking back at the highway. "We're all we have now."

He smiled wanly and squeezed her hand. "I love you."

She flashed him a beatific smile.

Even at her worst, Lincoln was happy to have her.

And he would never let her go.