Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Loud House or other franchises you might recognize.

Linka awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside. She had woken up rather early today. Yes, rather early, rather early, 6:00! On a Sunday! Linka turned over and plopped into her pillow, but she just couldn't get back to sleep. Linka grabbed her drawing pad and colored pencils, put on her leg, and climbed down the stairs to the living room.

The Sunday morning was rather uneventful. Linka mostly stayed upstairs, playing video games and sketching in her pad. She did agree to listen to Luan's new comedy material as Luna was practicing with her band, and she did agree to sample one of Lola's teacakes, but other than that, she stayed in her room with Lincoln. That's how her morning was, at least.

In the afternoon, she was reading a book on her bed with Lincoln reading the newest Ace-Savvy on his (Linka drew the curtains as soon as Lincoln started to take off his clothes), when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Lucy's monotone was heard by virtually no one as the young mortician opened the door. Linka had come to the top of the stairs (shutting her eyes when she had to pass Lincoln to get to the door), curious as to who it could be.

"Hey, Lucy. Is Lame-o here?" A raspy voice, followed by a Latino girl looking to be around Lincoln and Linka's age in a purple hoodie.

"Yeah. He's upstairs reading. Why my brother succumbs to the futile pleasures of life I will -"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Ronnie-Anne cut off Lucy. Lincoln had joined his twin at the top of the staircase. The moment he saw Ronnie-Anne, he ran down the stairs.

"Ronnie-Anne! What are you doing here?"

"Well, Lame-o, Lori and Bobby were kissing and being really disgusting on the couch, so – "

"Lori?" Linka was confused. How did Lori have a connection this Ronnie-Anne girl?

"Yeah. Sorry, I forgot. Linka, this is my good friend Ronnie-Anne. She's Lori's boyfriend Bobby's younger sister. Ronnie-Anne, this is Linka. She's my twin sister." Linka cautiously stepped down the stairs to greet Ronnie-Anne. From what she had just seen of the other girl, she was quite bellicose and rather rude. She was just like someone Linka knew at the orphanage...

"Don't listen to Lincoln, they're dating." Lola yelled from inside her room. Linka jumped.

"No, we're not dating!" Lincoln and Ronnie-Anne both shouted. Linka had reached the living room and was slowly approaching the other girl.

"Hey, Lame-o! Or, I guess you would be Lame-ess. Or would you be Lame-a, since…" Ronnie-Anne trailed off. Ronnie-Anne had the most unfortunate habit of punching when calling someone Lame-o. Linka was curled up in a ball, silently crying.

"Maybe I shouldn't have punched her. Are you alright?" Ronnie-Anne was kneeling down next to Linka.

After 5 minutes of Ronnie-Anne apologizing over and over, Linka was able to express herself clearly.

"Sorry. I was just bullied a lot at the orphanage, I guess. I'm not really wanting to ever go back to a place like that, and I don't want this place to become like that."

"Yeah, I can imagine. My uncle and aunt and grandparents live in a place where there is a vicious gang of street cats. I never like visiting."

"Gang of street cats?"

"Well, I was actually about to head of to Clyde's. But why don't you two hang out and play video games or something. I told Linka the password to my Steam account." With that, Lincoln left the two 10 year olds and walked to Clyde's.

The two girls headed upstairs into Linka's room. Linka was still wary of the belligerent girl, but after an hour, she had warmed up to her. This girl was much kinder than the other girl she knew at the orphanage. Ronnie-Anne had also learnt her lesson, and even when she called Linka lame-o, she refused the urge to punch, however lightly, the troubled girl. They were having such a good time that Luan, whose one might think would be used to noise due to her rather boisterous roommate, actually came to shut them up (I'm trying to watch my comedy videos, and that's no game. Get it? But seriously, shut up.).

Linka now had made her first friend in Royal Woods outside of her family.

…

Linka woke up on Monday not too early nor too late, but a manageable 8:00. After breakfast, she remembered that this week was the week of bonding with her sisters.

She started off Monday morning with Leni. Linka helped Leni design a dress using her favorite colors of orange, blue, and white, which Leni then made for her with Linka's help. Linka was surprised that Leni was actually rather good with her hands, despite being such a stereotypical blonde. The artwork and on the dress came out spectacularly. Linka was allowed to keep the dress, which she wore that evening to dinner with Lori and Bobby. Linka saw what Ronnie-Anne meant – the older couple was intolerably disgusting. Linka also noticed that Bobby's idiocy was a near match for Leni. But she also that Bobby was a hard worker and a very caring person. She felt happy for Lori, even if she couldn't stand them. She made a mental note to never be in a place where Lori and Bobby were at the same time.

On Tuesday, Linka spent the morning with Lucy. They wrote poetry together, although Linka's (That the bright sunny day transforms Spring to Summer, the frogs are peeping, the woodpeckers pecking their lumber) was considerably cheerier than Lucy's (Heat. The red devil's favorite weather. Not even spirits can help more than a mere feather). Linka had to leave that one early, as she was starting to feel depressed. That afternoon, Luan took her to a comedy movie's matinee showing. To get around Linka's fear of crowds, Luan decided to pick an older movie that had already been out for a month or so. Luan hadn't yet seen it. 8th grade might not have many tough finals, but Luan had still been occupied by the ending of school and preparing for her freshman year of High school. Luan and Linka showed up so early to the movie that they were forced to wait outside theater 10. When the crowd laughed out of the theater at the end, Linka felt another panic attack coming on, but felt Luan's reassuring squeezing hand on her shoulder and calmed down. The comedy was very funny, too. Linka was giggling the whole rest of the evening, much to Lincolns annoyance.

On Wednesday, Linka started with Lisa. Linka helped the younger girl in a number of studies on how twins relate to things. She gave Lisa her DNA sample (learning later from Luna that that wasn't a good idea), and Lisa ran a bunch of tests on it. Linka didn't really enjoy it, she had done absolutely nothing all morning. The only good thing to come out of it was that Linka now knew that she was the younger twin by 9 minutes. Lincoln took note of that. When Linka felt part of the family, he would need that information to win arguments. That afternoon, Ronnie-Anne came over, and the 2 girls continued their game of Civilization. In the evening, Luna took her to see her first concert. Learning from Luan, she made sure to take Linka early. They beat the line, and got middle row seats. Linka would be having a panic attack, but she was too caught up in the songs to really notice. Whenever Linka looked panicky, Luna would gently reassure the younger girl that "everything little thing is gonna be alright."

On Thursday, Linka found herself attending Lola's tea party in the morning. She had a little fun. The younger girl's maniacally manipulative manner managed to make Linka magnificently frightened. The cake and tea were excellent, though, and Linka enjoyed herself. Linka found that the dress that she and Leni made had held up quite well to the occasion. The afternoon found her helping take care of Lana's high pet count. She was apparently one of the few sisters who didn't find her lizard Izzy scary or annoying. Linka enjoyed feeding Lana's pets. In many ways, she felt animals were better than humans. Animals, she felt, would never judge you. She voiced her opinion later to Lincoln, who said that she just hadn't been acquainted with Charles properly.

The Friday morning found her in the backyard with Lynn. Lynn was keeping her promise of finding a sport that Linka would like. They were having trouble balancing Linka's prosthetic, Linka's general contempt for sports, and anything that Lynn would call remotely fun. That day mostly consisted of Linka and Lynn playing catch with a Frisbee and a baseball. Linka was not in a very good mood by the afternoon. Unlike the rest of the week, when she had been half-projecting a façade of being mostly bubbly and cheerful, she was back to being reclusive. During lunch, she talked to no one, not even Lincoln. The sisters noticed this and tried to engage her, but she refused to be a part of the conversations. The afternoon saw a grumpy Linka sitting on her bed, reading, when Lily toddled in holding a book. She yelled "Poo-poo!" Linka still didn't quite know what the baby meant by it. Sighing, she obliged to read to Lily. She found herself calmed down by reading such books as "The Rabbit Who Jumped Over the Barn". By the end of reading to Lily, she had relaxed again. After putting the baby back in her crib, she got up and went downstairs, where Lincoln was playing console games with a black kid wearing large circular specs.

"Oh, hey. You must be Linka. Lincoln's told me a lot about you. I'm Clyde" The hand extended seemed to be of genuine, good-hearted intent. Linka shook it. She was, after all, trying to be more outgoing to make up for her inward state earlier that day.

"You know, if you're still having trauma or whatever, I can recommend a great therapist. Dr. Lopez is like a miracle worker."

"Ok, thanks, but I think I'm fine." Lincoln shot her a look, but Linka just shook her head. She was fine, she thought. She had some issues, but those could easily be ironed out.

Linka stayed downstairs and hung out with Clyde and Lincoln until 5:30, when Clyde had to head home. Linka and Lincoln headed upstairs, and played some board game something until it was near time for dinner. At dinner, the Louds noticed a significant improvement of Linka's overall demeanor from lunch. She was interacting with Lincoln and the Louds.

Throughout the week, she found herself getting close to some of the sisters. She had found that the closest sibling in the Loud house was Lincoln, naturally. Next would have to be Luna and Luan, followed by the younger twins, then Leni and Lily. The others, to her, were just there. She didn't mind their presence, but she wouldn't think that she knew them well at all (though living there for a week, she wouldn't say she knew any of them exceptionally well). She didn't have a good time with her activities with them that week.

After dinner, Linka and Lincoln were generally chatting in their room, when Luna and Luan came in.

"I'm glad I don't have to keep this visit brief! Get it?" Luan was pointing to Lincoln's jeans which were firmly on his legs.

"Oh, yeah. Linka won't allow me to read in my undies unless the curtain is drawn."

"Cool, bro. See, you two don't really have any summer activities, right?" Lincoln had refrained from signing up for summer camps in order to spend more time with his twin. They would have signed up for one together, but Lincoln didn't know what type of thing Linka would be into.

"Yeah…"

"Well, my friend Benny -"

"I thought you asked him out, dude!" Luna was shocked.

"I would've, but I was nervous and I didn't know what to say."

"Use love, dude. All you need is love, love. Love is all you need."

"Anyways, my friend Benny and her girlfriend Sam are counselors at an arts day camp. It covers writing, visual arts, and performing arts like music, and acting." While Luan was more about comedy, her crush Benny was into acting as well comedy.

"And they have an opening for a 2 week session in a month. We think that you dudes should join."

Linka and Lincoln, shocked, immediately stood up, the pair the picture of nearly identical twins. The same scowl and outraged expression could be found in both faces. If not for the hair and clothes, one might have said that they were the same human, cloned in that very instance, that powerful was the resemblance.

"Linka is good at art, I guess, but I can't draw at all!"

"Are you kidding? I suck." Upon hearing this, Luan grabbed Linka's sketching pad and flipped through it. Finally, she held up triumphantly a sketch of Linka and Luan in the comedy film, and another of the poem she had written with Lucy.

"Well, would you like to withdraw your previous statement? Get it? But seriously, your drawing is great." Linka bashfully agreed.

"I am?" Linka was hesistant.

"Trust me. I'm four years older than you, and I've - "

"3 and a half!" Lincoln interrupted.

"Whatever. I'm 4 grades higher than you, I've taken 4 years more of art classes. Most people can't draw nearly as good as you can. I don't think anyone else in this family could, either."

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty good." Linka bashfully agreed.

"Lincoln, your Ace Savvy comic was great too. You could join for literature. It'd be right up your alley, plus you could team up with Linka to create a comic book together. I doubt that Linka would want to go alone." Luna was right, of course.

Linka, her mind changed, turned to her brother and pleaded with puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine. I'll go." Lincoln yielded. Linka kept that in mind.

"Great! Go get Mom and Dad, get them to sign the forms, and we're good!"

And so, Lincoln and Linka found themselves looking at an art camp in the near future. Linka, exhausted from a long week, fell asleep near immediately after the departure of the musician and comedienne.

The Saturday came quickly. Linka found herself at home alone with Mr. and Mrs. Loud. They took this as a chance to bond with their new daughter. Linka was going to turn herself into a real daddy's girl if the signs from that Saturday were to be believed.

That evening, Linka went to sleep peacefully. She had a nightmare, but was able to once again convince her brother that it was no big deal. But now, Lincoln was suspicious. After what his twin had said nearly a week ago about the orphanage, Lincoln was not quite sure. He promised himself that even if the sky falls on his head, he would figure out why his sister was having so many nightmares.

I know nothing of how anxiety attacks or amputations and prosthetics work, so apologies if what my description of what happened in the past two chapters is a bit odd or off.