Rita and Lynn Loud Sr. were watching TV in bed Monday night, neither looking forward to the long struggle for sleep. Since Lincoln and Luan left, they were lucky if they'd gotten five hours between them. Had it really only been two days? Rita wondered as the Channel 5 news came on. It felt like it had been years. She was so sick with worry that she could barely function.

Well...worry and regret.

In the hours and days since her son and daughter ran away, she had prayed a thousand prayers, and cried a thousand tears. Please, God, let them come back...

On TV, two anchors read the day's news with an officious calm. A twister here, a flood there, election coverage. Ten minutes in, the camera zoomed in on the female half of the duo (wasn't it always a man and a woman?). "A shooting at a Nebraska rest area this afternoon has left three people, including one of the gunmen, dead."

Video rolled of a parking lot, crime scene tape fluttering in the wind. A green Jeep Grand Cherokee, its driver door standing open, was parked across the foot of a service road connecting the interstate to the rest area. Police officers walked back and forth.

The camera cut back to the anchor. "State police officials say a gun battle erupted shortly after three this afternoon following an apparent road rage incident in which one vehicle tried to run another off the road. The occupants of the two vehicles pulled into the rest stop and exchanged gunfire. Police say one of those killed was 57-year-old Wayne Vincent DiRosario, a former Detroit police detective and alleged gunman with a long history of paranoid schizophrenia."

When a black-and-white photo of Wayne DiRosario appeared on screen, Lynn Sr.'s stomach dropped. "Jesus Christ!"

"What?" Rita asked.

"That's him! The private investigator!"

"Police are still looking for the occupants of the other vehicle, a green and white van with Michigan tags." She read the license plate number, and Rita's heart blasted. Next to her, Lynn's face drained of color.

All the pain, all the fear, all the regret and sorrow was like Coca-Cola in her soul. The news of the shootout was a single Mentos candy. She whipped her head around, her emotions boiling over: "That's who you sent after our children? A crazy-person?"

Lynn gaped at the TV.

"You stupid bastard! What if that son of a bitch hurt one of them?" Her anger suddenly turned to tears, and she wept as she thought of Lincoln or Luan (or both!) somewhere on the road, hurt and bleeding.

Lynn wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his heart aching. What have I done?

When Rita had herself under control, he picked up the phone and called the police, already knowing that the bullets they took from Wayne DiRosario would match his gun.

He didn't give a shit about that though. Were his kids okay?

Not knowing made him sick, and when he was done on the phone, he went into the bathroom and threw up.

They found the van abandoned on the side of I-76 east of Sterling, Colorado the next afternoon. Its back window was shattered and bullet holes pockmarked the rear paneling. Lincoln and Luan were not found; the police hypothesized that they heard a radio report about the manhunt and decided to ditch it. A Ford pick-up truck disappeared from a nearby farm that same night, and the going theory was that they stole it. A town cop in Green River, Utah with nothing better to do during a long graveyard shift but run plate numbers in the parking lots of local hotels found the truck...or rather its plates, which had been switched with those of an Altima. The owners of the Altima had never heard of Lincoln and Luan Loud.

News coverage ensured that by the middle of June, many people had; Lynn and Rita went on TV and begged them to come home; stories ran in national papers. Bigger and more glamorous things came quickly along, however, and they dropped out of the news cycle before the end of the month. Did Lincoln and Luan see any of this? Did they know? No one's sure.

Sightings were reported for months afterwards. They were seen in New York, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon, and Alberta, Canada. One tipster said they saw them in San Francisco on July 6th. They were sitting outside an ice cream parlor and enjoying double-dipped cones (topped with sprinkles). Probably just another false alarm. There were so many.

So, so many.

Leni left for Chicago on August 8th, two days after Lori returned to Boston. Leaving her family was sad, but mom was right, she had to see this through so she could have a good career. Just one more year, she told herself as the plane to Chicago took off. One year and she could come home and be with her family. Until then, the special memories she made with her sisters over the summer would have to suffice.

Luckily, there were lots of them.

"You up for round 2?" Amber asked. She, Clyde, and Lynn were walking through the park and enjoying the day. The previous week, Lynn and Amber tagged along with Clyde and his buddies on their monthly paintball excursion: They made camp in the woods and then stalked each other for two days straight. It was awesome. Lynn was actually impressed by how good Clyde was...he came up behind you quieter than Lucy.

"Sure," Clyde said. "No condoms, right?"

Lynn and Amber looked at each other.

"Nope," Amber said.

"Condoms are overrated," Lynn said, then punched Clyde's arm. "Just don't get one of us pregnant."

"Don't worry, baby," he said with a grin, "I'll pull out. I promise."

Lynn laughed. "How many times has someone said that only to not pull out?"

He pulled out, and Lynn was actually kind of disappointed. His warm, fleshy, throbbing dick felt good...she could only imagine how good it would feel if he actually finished in her.

But while she liked the feeling of dick in her, she liked the feeling of her girlfriend's lips on her even more.

And so did Amber.

Lincoln and Luan held hands on a bluff overlooking the crashing surf, the sun gradually sinking into the Pacific before them, its blazing light spreading across the horizon. The warm, salty sea breeze blew over them, Luan's long hair and white dress fluttering.

"It's beautiful," she sighed.

"Not as beautiful as you," Lincoln said, giving her a coy sidelong glance.

"And you're corny." She leaned in and they kissed, their tongues meeting and – yep – still sparking. "But I love you with all my heart, Lincoln."

"And I love you, Luan." He gazed into her eyes, and she touched his face.

The future for them was not sure, and it would certainly be fraught with hardships, but as long as they had each other, nothing else mattered.

Because love, as they say, conquers all.