Without Sin: All Star Edition

by Catspeaker

Lincoln Loud struggles to make ends meet as a comic book artist. His sisters have all gone on to better things, all except Lisa, just released from Prison. An experiment designed to get her back into the limelight sends him to a dimension where he has children with his sisters. These unthinkable circumstances are his new reality. Inspired by Red Herald's story.

4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey folks! Cat here and it's time for an author's note to address some of the comments in the review section! First off, I'm going to be doing some trimming of the unregistered reviews. Now, now, I'm not going to erase any negative reviews, everyone has their opinion and I'm not one to hide from criticism. That being said, I'm going to erase the redundant ones and the arguments both attacking and defending me. To those of you who love this story and feel a need to defend it, I'd like to say thank you, but it's alright. I've got a thick skin.

Now onto some of those criticisms I feel are important to address.

On the subject of "It's the same story." I have this to say.
Helsing and Helsing Ultimate. Full Metal Alchemist and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Hunter x Hunter 99 and Hunter x Hunter 2011. The goal of this story was never to tell a completely different story from the original. After all, Fic and I originally just wanted to finish the original before we decided it would be better to just do our own version from the beginning so we could better integrate those plot elements we wanted to add. That means there's going to be some of the same plot points covered and that's intentional.

Red Herald's story was good. We like lots of the plot points of it, and we want to keep them. Lola the sex worker, Luna the recovering alcoholic, conflict between Sin Lynn and Safe Lincoln. Of course we've been trying to present it in a new light, with a focus on different characters where we could in order to present something fresh for those who've read the original. The devil is in the details where the differences show up, and some very astute readers have already noticed that.

On the subject of "It's boring/there's too much filler."
Nothing I have written in this story has been filler. None of it has been to fill space. Everything is deliberate and is a reflection of my writing style. If you find this story boring, well, then I don't know what to say except I'm sorry you feel that way. Not every story is for every person, and it may be just what I find interesting to write about is boring to you. You'd probably find my other stories "The Shadow of his heart" and "Why can't we be like this forever?" boring too.

And that's okay! There are plenty of other wonderful fics on this website for you too enjoy!

For the rest of you who've come along, thank you so much. Your insight, your reviews, they are much appreciated and invigorate me to keep going!

SAFEVERSE

Lisa Loud Teleportation Research Log #48

"It's often in the highly experimental pursuit of science that happy accidents occur. When one is trying to discover or create one conclusion and ends up discovering another. Sir Alexander Fleming was experimenting with the Influenza virus when he accidentally discovered Penicillin. Percy Spencer's attempts to create a new energy source for Radar Equipment led to the creation of the Microwave. Even Pfizer was trying to create a medicine for Angina when they realized their test subjects were all getting erections.

And like those researchers and scientists I've named, I too have had one of those Accidents.

I've been attempting to crack the quantum science behind moving matter from one place to another while bypassing the intervening space, Street name Teleportation. But what I've been doing this whole time is cracking the dimensional barrier between parallel worlds. This is the type of breakthrough that would have the likes of Einstein, Feynman, and Hawking, forgive the vulgarity but, cream their pants.

And normally this would be cause for me to celebrate as well! A breakthrough of this magnitude is world changing!

Just as much if not more so than my research into teleportation. All this time I was sending objects to parallel world without realizing it. All this time I thought I was moving matter I really was, just far far farther than I accounted for. It seems in my experimentation, the reason I assumed I was teleporting objects successfully was due to the nature of Quantum entanglement.

Every time I was sending an object through the gateway, and seeing them come out the other side, what was really taking place was the object switching places with its dimensional counterpart. Case in point, the man laying upon the makeshift examination table I have here in my lab.

The first human test subject of the experiment, my elder brother, Lincoln Loud.

Only the man in front of me is not my Lincoln Loud.

I understand the nature of that statement may be confusing for some, so allow me to elaborate further.

I shall recap the events I witnessed and how I came to this conclusion, recorded here for Posterity.

At exactly 20:15 Lincoln stepped through the gateway and…

No, it doesn't really start there.

Let me back up a little further.

Today was the day I was supposed to step through the portal and test it myself. As my previous logs covered, see 46, 46.2 and 46.7, I had made all the proper preparations, had ran numerous tests on inert objects, created several fail-safes and mentally prepared myself to step through and potentially not make it to the other side.

I was also prepared for the experiment to be a complete success and a reestablishment of my good name in the scientific community.

In hindsight I realize now I was rushing things and cutting corners. To say nothing of the subpar equipment I've been working with. But it was the rushing that probably made things the worst.

I was in a hurry because I was ashamed.

Not ashamed of my status in the scientific community, but for something far more personal.

I was ashamed for being a burden on the rest of my family and in particular my big brother.

My brother is not in a good place mentally nor emotionally. I became very aware of this within days of being remanded into his care after being released from incarceration. I wasn't told why it was Lincoln I was being sent to stay with, my assumption was that he volunteered himself.

He was always the sibling most willing to give his help when things were rough for any of us. I had been out of contact for some time with him, but it made sense to me at the time. Lincoln, of all my family, would be the most willing to take me in.

What I hoped would be a warm family reunion, a chance at making up for years of estrangement, turned into the cold realization that our family has failed one another.

Suffice to say, Lincoln was not happy with being 'stuck with me' as he put it. He made his displeasure of the situation clearly known to me when I arrived. I can't say I blame him now.

I largely blame myself for letting things between all of us degrade to this point. I had been out of contact with the family the most. I didn't see how bad things were, I didn't know until after I was out of Prison.

But then, there's blame to go around everywhere I see.

Some of that blame falls upon Lincoln as well. The home I grew up in, the one where I was surrounded by family that cared for one another and made an active effort to be in each other's lives, reminds me more of a tomb these days. A tomb haunted by the shell of my elder brother.

I don't know what I expected if I were being fully truthful with myself. I had expected the rest of the family to be disappointed with me, but I held out hope my beloved brother, the most understanding and kind person I could recall from my childhood, would be the one family member that would embrace me with open arms.

What I found instead was a very bitter man who feels abandoned by his family, and perhaps rightly so. I don't know the full story however, I'm guilty of neglecting the family too. I let myself become consumed with my research position, and my fear of appearing immature from contacting them and letting them know how much I missed them. Better to put on the strong front, Lisa Loud, successful scientist and researcher, the genius always mature for her age. The genius who wasn't going to disappoint her family by letting them know just how much she missed them. She was successful after all, she was a shining bright star, one bright star among many in the Loud family.

Success is the watchword for the Louds.

Our family is successful, and with success comes responsibilities and the nature of our own lives. I shouldn't be too surprised Luna hasn't had time to check in on Lincoln while doing her international tours, or Leni hasn't called him when she's busy living in Paris handling her own family.

This means I'm unaware of Lincoln's relationship with the rest of the family and how aware they are of his situation. Outside of an occasional message here and there or comment from our sisters on social media to him, the only family members I've observed that make regular contact with Lincoln are Lily and our Mother.

Our mother phones Lincoln at least once a week to ask after him and myself. Lincoln keeps these conversations very short and only reiterates we are doing 'fine' in his words. Lily also seems to phone our elder brother at least once a week, Lincoln mostly forwards these calls directly to his voicemail. The few occasions I've seen him respond he keeps the conversations short and deflects when she asks to come over.

Shamefully I must admit I dreaded Lily coming over as well. I can only look back and see this as a personal failing on my part, and another way I have failed my brother. Lily's presence would do well in terms of boosting Lincoln's overall mood and feeling of connectedness, but I theorize much like myself, Lincoln was too embarrassed to have her visit over his perceptions of his personal failings.

And given what I know of my brother's personal life I can see why he feels this way. I've done my observations on my brother. I've examined his health and wellbeing. Without his knowledge of course, I know he'd never let me give him a real examination, at least not in his current mood and state. I'm aware of the anti-depressants he takes. I'm aware he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and that our mother and Clyde have been attempting to push him to go to therapy. I'm aware he consumes far too much alcohol and seems to be growing a dependance on it. I'm aware he smokes too much.

I'm aware of the self-harm marks under his forearms.

I'm aware of all of these things, and I…I…I…

I just want…

Oh Lincoln…

Pause Log.

Lisa Loud Teleportation Research Log #48.1

Getting overly emotional is not going to solve the current issue before me. It's enough for me to say that I failed my big brother. In my haste to try and prove myself to him, to make this technology work, and to turn a profit so I could use that money to pull myself and Lincoln out of our current situation I cut corners, and I did shoddy work. More, so desperate for his approval, and for him to smile at me the way he once did when we were younger, I agreed to let him be the first to go through the portal.

After Lincoln stepped through the portal the entire system experienced a cascade failure that overloaded the primary power supply and fried the circuits. I miscalculated the difference in mass between myself and Lincoln, and how much more power a living organism would draw from the gateway in order to be sent through. Suffice to say, the Portal is to put it in layman's terms…Kaput.

I'm going to have to rebuild the entire thing again to get it in working order, and it was already difficult enough to procure the necessary parts in the first place.

Which is what makes this all the more frustrating.

But back to the results of the experiment.

After I recovered from the explosion I immediately ran to where Lincoln was supposed to arrive if the test had been successful…only to discover my brother was not there. What followed was an intense bout of searching on my part through the house and the immediate environs, and yet Lincoln was nowhere to be found.

I feared the worst.

I returned to my lab to try my best and recover what I could from the gateway, analyze the data and see if the math would give me the results I was looking for. Perhaps I had miscalculated the coordinates, put the decimal point in the wrong place and now my brother was in say China, rather than the Yates front yard. I feared of having sent him somewhere like the middle of the ocean, or space. I was so, so very foolish. All my tests up to this point had been successful though, I had no reason to believe anything could have gone wrong!

When I think of all the different ways I could have hurt him or worse I…

I…

I…

Pause Log.

Lisa Loud Teleportation Research Log #48.2

At 21:10 I heard the voice of what I assumed to be my brother coming from the Kitchen as he entered through the back door. I was unprepared for the sight that greeted me when I reached the top floor.

It has been…awhile since I've seen my brother's nude body. On some levels that is to be expected, siblings of the opposite gender don't normally witness one another's naked bodies on a regular basis. However, when I was younger, I made it a habit of keeping track of all my siblings' health and biology out of scientific curiosity and concern. I understand this isn't normal for most siblings, but being frank, I wasn't a normal child either.

In any case, I hadn't seen my brother's body as a full-grown adult, and it was…a unique experience.

Honestly, I'm surprised by my brother's lack of confidence with women, with the equipment he's carrying he should feel more than capable of satisfying any partner.

But I digress.

My shock over his current lack of clothing probably also accounted for why the initial words he said didn't alarm me right away. It took the kiss to make me realize something was deeply wrong.

Yes, the Kiss.

My first ever romantic kiss now belongs to my elder brother in a certain sense.

While I'm sure this is the same for a handful of other girls in the world, I can't precisely say I'm comforted by that notion, or by the knowledge it was probably completely normal for this particular Lincoln Loud.

In isolation, being kissed by a handsome man such as Lincoln, with the level of experience he demonstrated, made it, not so terrible. It certainly felt different from how I pictured it after seeing it so much in movies and…other forms of entertainment. I had always wanted to be kissed like this by a handsome man of course. I'm a perfectly normal biological woman in that regard, wanting to experience love and physical pleasure. I've simply lacked the opportunity and haven't found any suitable partners.

I can say the experience in isolation, IN ISOLATION, was quite pleasurable. The wet, soft, and warm feeling of his tongue running over my own was an experience in terms of physical pleasure I greatly enjoyed. I find myself hoping one day I'll run across a man who can kiss me like that once more.

Preferably one that I'm not related to.

But outside of the physical pleasure I experienced in that moment, the reality my older brother was sticking his tongue in my mouth was enough to shock me into realizing something was terribly wrong. His insistence he was in a relationship with myself and our sisters and had children with all of us only horrified me further.

My first thought was the teleporter had somehow scrambled my brother's neurons or had some other effect on his brain. That the memory he had experienced was a vivid hallucination. Perhaps some deep-seated ID driven fantasy that was an extreme reaction to the atomized status of our current family structure.

But after he became hysterical looking for children, I was quite certain didn't exist, I had to tranquilize him and had Clyde assist me in bringing him down to my lab. Which is where my physical examination began, and the differences started to assert themselves.

This Lincoln doesn't possess the self-harm marks I have observed on my own brother. This Lincoln doesn't have traces of SSRIs in his blood stream indicating a daily anti-depressant. This Lincoln weighs less than the one I know and possesses more muscle mass in general indicating regular exercise. His lungs sound far healthier, and he doesn't smell like cigarettes. His teeth are cleaner. His hair is shorter.

Everything points to this Lincoln being both physically and mentally healthy outside of a certain mental predilection. He is the way I wish my brother was. Someone who cares after his own health and reminds me so much of the cheerful optimistic spirit he carried in his youth.

The next theory one might posit is that this Lincoln is a clone, but…

I already knew he wasn't a clone.

I would have had to have been the one to clone him, and I know I didn't. There was of course the possibility I cloned him without knowing so. The fugue state I entered after experimenting with the intelligence enhancing drugs back at my old position at the black site is still full of memory gaps for me.

But my examination of this Lincoln affirmed to me he wasn't a clone. No, after I confirmed he physically differed from my brother despite possessing the same DNA and given the nature of the experiment we were conducting my mind jumped to the next conclusion. A conclusion I quickly confirmed after measuring his Quantum signature.

This Lincoln is from another universe entirely.

A Universe where if he is to be believed, has a consensual relationship with his sisters that has produced multiple children. Eleven of them if going by the names he listed.

A part of me admires the symmetry of it with our own family.

There is always the possibility he's crazy back in his own dimension and has dreamed all of this up, but for some reason, I feel inclined to believe him.

My intuition or 'gut feeling' on this is that he's telling the truth.

Which both horrifies me and intrigues me.

When he wakes up, I believe we're going to have an interesting conversation. While I don't believe him to be violent, I'm taking all the precautions just in case. Hopefully his Lisa is just as worried about him as I am about my Lincoln and is working on a way to get him home. If I'm lucky, she'll have been working on a similar device herself, as I believe it's going to take me months to rebuild my own.

If I'm even able to.

In the meantime, after I've established he's safe and discussed things privately with him I'll call Clyde down and the three of us can discuss where we go from here.

End of Log.

Safeverse: 10 years ago, Dorm room Lincoln Loud, Visual Arts College, New York

Lincoln's room at the Vis Arts school was small and cramped but nothing he wasn't used to. His previous room after all was the linen closet back home at his parent's house in Royal Woods. In many ways, living in a small room, in a hall filled with other people that was constantly noisy just reminded him of home. Hell, sharing one bathroom with everyone on the same floor wasn't even an issue for him.

No, the only issue if anything Lincoln had living in New York was that he occasionally got homesick and missed his friends and family. Well, those friends and family that still lived back in Royal Woods.

Which at this point was only four of his sisters. Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lily. The others had all moved out of state by this point and were out conquering the world in their own ways. Much as Lincoln missed them, he had to live and follow their example. He'd done so much to help them all, encourage them, push them to chase their dreams and succeed one after the other it was now his turn to do the very same thing.

Far be it for him to set a bad example for his younger sisters and just rot away at home after he'd help push all the others out the door and onto the road to success!

He was in his second year and had only been home a small handful of times, but his number was always open for his family. In particular his younger sisters. But he'd noticed as of late, they called less and less.

Which he had to remind himself was a good thing. It meant they were becoming less and less reliant on their big brother Lincoln, and more reliant upon themselves and each other. Still, he could admit he missed hearing their voices and learning what was going on in their lives.

Ah well, it was all part of growing up. Every bird must leave the nest and fly on their own sometime. Besides, most of his attention directed anywhere 'back home' wasn't even really back home. It was all directed at his girlfriend Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne Santiago, his childhood sweet heart. They'd been friends since 5th grade, and even after she moved three hours away to Great Lakes City, they'd managed to stay in contact and keep hanging out. Enough she had become his girlfriend. It probably helped Ronnie's big brother and his big sister were married, but Ronnie was a big part of his success and future, Lincoln was sure of it. It was why he tried to visit her when he could.

It was expensive, and it wasn't ideal, but Lincoln did his best to scrimp and save and hold onto the money his parents even occasionally sent him and use it to buy a Bus ticket to head out to Great Lakes City and see Ronnie Anne every other month. He'd won a full scholarship to Vis Arts, something so rare and precious, and which spoke to all the hard work he'd put in, but even with his dorm and a food card, money was still hard to come by.

But he told himself again and again it was worth it. Even if he only saw Ronnie for a couple days every other month, they still talked when they could, and knowing he had a 'girlfriend' was a sense of pride. When his classmates were out partying, he was able to knuckle down and work, secure in the knowledge he had a girl waiting for him. They'd been doing the long distance relationship thing since they were 14.

It was tough at times, and things were so much easier when he was living back in Royal Woods and was so much closer.

Back then they'd made weekend trips, and had been each other's dates at so many school dances. As they got older and both started working in their last couple years of High School things had become tougher, and even tougher as Linc started college in New York, but he was certain it would all turn out for the best.

After all, their older siblings Bobby and Lori had made it work.

As he sat at his drawing table, sketching on the tablet in front of him in the little room, with its orange and blue walls, covered with posters and illustrations of his favorite Heroes and Villains from Timely comics, Lincoln's mind was at ease.

Lincoln was focused on nothing else but the work ahead, the ways he could further improve his art, and how he'd have to go about trying to make his career. After all, New York was the comic book capital of the world. Timely and its competition had their offices here. Many of his favorite illustrators and writers lived here. Many pointed to California as the entertainment capital of the world, but Lincoln was in it for the Comic Books!

Lincoln didn't care about California and it's 'Cal Arts' style. He wasn't in this to be an animator or cartoon creator. Besides Visual Arts was for REAL artists like him. They did serious art, not just that cartoony stuff. Lincoln was capable of doing life like illustrations, not just bean mouth cutesy pie drivel. Once he finished his degree, he planned to live here, in the greatest city in the entire world. Far away from the little humdrum kitschy city that was Royal Woods!

His phone rang.

He looked over, saw the picture indicating it was Ronnie Anne calling. A picture of him and Ronnie Anne, her lips at his cheek, a smirk on his face. There she was, hottest and coolest girl in the whole world giving him a call.

Lincoln picked up the phone and slid his thumb to the answer button, leaning back in his chair. His birthday was coming up in a couple months, maybe she wanted to discuss that. With a grin on his lips, he answered.

"Sup Ronnie Anne? How's the hottest girl in the Norther Hemisphere?"

Usually Ronnie Anne responded with a smile, a laugh, calling her his Lame-o or made some sort of smart comment to him.

She didn't this time.

Her voice sounded calm, and measured and she used his first name.

"Hey, Lincoln."

There was a pause and an uncomfortable breath before she continued.

"How are you doing right now? Classes okay? I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

Lincoln frowned to himself as he cradled the phone to his ear. The 19 year old beginning to feel an uncomfortable drop in his stomach. This was very untypical of Ronnie. This type of small talk. He sat up fully as he put his stylus down.

"No, no you're not interrupting. I can talk. Yeah, yeah, classes are great Ronnie, they're great. What's going on?"

There was another long pause, and the seconds seemed to drag on like minutes. He could tell Ronnie Anne was upset. Something was wrong and she was having difficulty speaking to him about it. She seemed to be having trouble just forming words. More uncertainty began to fill Lincoln and he started to clench his free hand without even realizing it.

"Lincoln, we need to talk."

More of that uncomfortable nausea coiled in Lincoln's stomach. He wasn't dumb, he already knew where this was leading to. Your girlfriend didn't call you and say she'd been thinking about something like this and tell you because it was good news. No conversation with your girlfriend that started with 'we need to talk' was ever good.

He began to hope and pray in his heart that he was wrong.

"Lincoln, I want you to know. I really want you to know, I didn't come to this decision easily. I thought about it for weeks Lincoln. It's taken me weeks to think about this, and come to this conclusion."

No.

God no.

Please don't let it be this.

Please don't let it be this.

Don't let her break up with me.

Don't let her break up with me.

Even as Lincoln repeated that phrase like a mantra in his head, over and over again, he did his very best to keep the façade of the happy go lucky young man he was, up and on the phone.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, it's okay. I'm here for you. We can talk about this, what ever this decision is, we can talk about it. You know I'm always going to be here for you."

He suddenly heard Ronnie Anne choke up. He heard her sniffle. He heard her tears falling and then her doing her best to hold them back.

He swallowed uncomfortably.

"No Lincoln, that's just it. No, you're not. You're not here for me. I love you Linc, I've been in love with you since I was 11. But you're not there, and you're never going to be there. I realize that now."

Lincoln felt the equivalent of a punch to his stomach. It felt like the wind was being taken out of him. Not there?! Not there?! He was always there! He was always there for anyone and everyone! That's who he was! So what if he was taking some time for himself, he had to make sure he was successful if Ronnie and he were going to have any kind of future together! Was that what all of this was about?!

He tried to remain calm, even as his heart was racing, as he responded.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, please, you know that's not fair. We knew a long distance relationship was going to be tough, but we're both tough! We love each other and that's what matters! We've been making this work! We're still making it work despite the difficulties!"

Lincoln wasn't prepared for the response that Ronnie hit him with.

"Lincoln. Where were you when my Abuela died last year and we had the funeral?"

Lincoln suddenly felt the bottom drop out from underneath him.

Last year, Ronnie's grandmother Rosa had a sudden stroke and passed away. Ronnie had called him in tears, said she needed him now more than ever. He was the person she needed most in the world.

And what had happened?

He couldn't be there. He told her she needed to wait, needed to understand. He had an important project coming up, but as soon as it was over, he'd be there for her. As soon as he was finished with it, he'd be right there for her.

He didn't go to see her until three weeks later.

"Ronnie… I, you know that I couldn't just-"

And then Ronnie cut him off again.

"Yes, you could have Lincoln."

Ronnie's tone was calm and measured, and that's what kept hurting him the most. There was clear pain in her voice. She was holding back the occasional tear, but she was speaking like a girl who was just so very tired.

She went on.

"It hurt me so much when you put that school project ahead of me. At the time, I lied to myself and told myself I had to be reasonable, I had to understand what you were doing was important. But Lincoln, you don't think your professors and teachers wouldn't have understood that your girlfriend's life was completely upturned by a death in her family?! To ask them to give you an extension!? You didn't even want to ask them for it!"

Lincoln flinched, flinched and felt both anger and guilt coil up in him. Anger at Ronnie asking him to put his academic career in danger for her, a righteous anger that wanted to argue about his needs and goals being important for the future…But the guilt smothered that flame like ocean waves hitting a campfire.

She was absolutely right. He hadn't been there for her. He could have asked for an extension. He could have done any number of things to be there for her, but he had genuinely put his class work ahead of his girlfriend in one of the worst periods of her life.

But that had happened last year. Why was she bringing it up now?

"Ronnie…Ronnie, you're right. You're right. I know, I know. I'm sorry. I messed up when you needed me most. I know I did. I don't know how much more I can apologize for that though. I messed up! I messed up bad, I know, but come on, we're worth getting through these mistakes! You know I'll never let that happen again!"

Ronnie's anger and righteous indignation passed just as quickly as she had released it. Instead, her voice came soft and sad as she went on.

"Lincoln, it's not just that. It's everything. We don't have a real relationship anymore. We haven't in the last two years. You're not my boyfriend, you're just a guy I fuck every other month."

Those last words hit Lincoln worse than any of the others had. He felt his heart beginning to squeeze up in his chest, and the weight of what was happening began to really hit him. Ronnie Anne was in the process of breaking up with him. The girl he'd loved since he was 13, the only girlfriend he'd ever had, was now in the process of closing the book on them.

He felt himself starting to tear up, even as he did his best to maintain control of his emotions.

"Ronnie, that's not fair. That's not fair Ronnie. We knew this was going to be hard! We knew it was going to be difficult! But we're young, we're only 19! We have so many years together ahead of us! Ronnie we're just trying to get through school together, we know it'll get better after that!"

"No it won't Lincoln!"

Ronnie's voice resounded with anger and hurt again. She was serious, dead set on this action.

She continued.

"No, it won't. That's not the way you Louds are. I thought you'd be different from your sisters, but you're not Lincoln. Success and fame, it's what matters to you more than anything else."

Once again, Lincoln found himself wincing, flinching at the words fired off at him. He tried to scratch at anything, grasp anything he could to change her mind. To stop this from happening.

"Lori and Bobby make it work. They make it work Ronnie, Look at them!"

Ronnie fired right back again with that anger. An anger born of so much hurt and pain, the type of pain only someone you love so much can cause you.

"I don't want a relationship like Lori and Bobby's Lincoln! Lori spends half the year away on her stupid Golf tours! My idiot brother waits up by his phone all the time like an eager puppy waiting to hear from her! You know there are people who don't believe he's married to her!? When he has her on tv in the Mercado and says 'that's my wife' some people think he's a deluded asshole!"

Lincoln could only flinch more as he listened. He knew Lori was often busy with her touring, she had to keep putting in appearances for her merchandising and licensing deals. She had to keep competing to make sure she was bringing home the bacon. Lori would never settle for being second best.

None of the Louds would.

But he'd never really thought about how doing all of that would impact her marriage with Bobby. The two of them didn't even have any kids together, and he remembered how Lori used to go on about wanting 11 children just like their mother Rita.

What had happened there? Was she just to busy? Was the reality of being pregnant and her sports career not one she could reconcile?

Ronnie interrupted his thought process, her voice soft and sad once more.

"Some people think he's a deluded stalker fan with that little shrine of hers he keeps. They think my brother is an idiot fantasizing about some blonde golf pro whose never home with him."

Lincoln tried to respond.

"Ronnie…we won't be like them, I promise Ronnie! I promise, we'll be better! We just have to get through this period together!"

He could hear the tears in Ronnie's voice as she responded.

"I want to believe that Linc. I do. I want to believe it so much. But I know it's not true. I need a partner. I need someone with me. I don't want to live in New York, I don't want to live in California, or Washington, or Oregon or any of the places you mention you need to be in order to be close to the action. I want to be near family. That's what gives me purpose Lame-o. I thought one time that's what gave you purpose too."

Lincoln felt a little angry as he heard that. Live near family?!Was she being selfish? Had she only expected him to live in Great Lakes with her?! What about his family?!

"So that's what it is Ronnie? It was always supposed to be near your family? Not near any of mine?!"

Ronnie's voice came so gentle and soft even as he responded so ugly to her. The tone she took was like a parent trying to gently explain there was no Santa Claus.

"I would have loved to live in Royal Woods with you and your family Lincoln, but in a couple more years none of your family will be left in Royal Woods. My family is still here in Great Lakes, and I thought… maybe you'd be happy here with me and them, after your own separates completely. I thought it would make you happy, remind you of how things were when you were younger. But I was wrong, I see it now. Family just isn't important to the Louds, it's their success that is. It's true for your sisters and your parents, and it's true for you."

Lincoln was still angry, still upset, and even more hurt. Almost a decade of his life was being closed up right before his eyes. The girl he'd lost his virginity to, the girl he'd wanted more than any other. The girl he was never truly tempted to cheat on ever, was now casting him away, telling him she didn't want him anymore.

For what?

Because he didn't want to be poor?!

"Ronnie! Ronnie please, think about this! I'm just trying to make sure we have a good life! Are you saying you'd rather be poor?! You'd rather I, what, work at the Mercado as some glorified cashier like your brother for the rest of my days?!"

Lincoln winced even as the last words left his mouth and what he was implying. That her brother wasn't anything special, that he was just some grocery store employee with no great ambition and therefore Lincoln was better than him.

"Nobody wants to be poor or struggle Lincoln, but it's not about that anymore. It's about so much more, and a pattern of behavior. I love you Lincoln, and I think a part of me will always love you. But it's not meant to be. You have to chase your stars and I need to be with my family."

Ronnie Anne was sniffling again, and Lincoln found himself doing the same. Both were trying their best to maintain their composure through tears. Lincoln's voice came, choked up, practically begging.

"Ronnie…please… Ronnie, I love you. I love you with everything I have. I want this to work…Please Ronnie.."

But Ronnie seemed unmoved.

"This is goodbye Lincoln. Please don't try to contact me again, I'm going to be blocking you. Respect my wishes, I just can't keep hoping you'll see how important I should have been to you. I hope you find your success. I really do."

She breathed out for what seemed one last time, and paused before saying…

"Goodbye, Lame-O."

She hung up on him.

Lincoln dropped his phone and buried his face into his hands as he started to hitch and sob. As he wondered how he had messed things up so bad. How he lost the girl he was certain was his true love. This was supposed to be the start of his great life, the beginning of his adventure, and Ronnie was already bailing on it. Why!? Why!? It wasn't fair! Didn't she see he was doing everything for their future?!

He picked the phone up again, quickly went to the redial screen and hit call.

They couldn't end like this. Not like this! No, they were both so young, there was so much the two of them could do still! He just had to convince her, he'd tell her he'd hop the next bus out there and they could spend some time together again.

'The number you have called is out of service, please hang up and try a different number'.

His heart fell even further than he thought it could.

The pre-recorded voice let him know it all.

She had blocked his number.

He jumped to his social media account, swiping through it like a mad man…

All the pictures that he had with her no longer had the tag mark to her account. When he tried to search for her account it was invisible to him.

She had really done it.

She had completely removed herself from his life.

Just like everyone else he loved.

Lincoln spent the rest of the day sobbing into his pillow.

Sinverse Now

Lincoln slowly came to wakefulness and frowned to himself.

Ronnie Anne.

It'd been a while since he'd thought about her and their breakup. He only ever saw her one other time after it all had happened. At Bobby's funeral, and she had a new boyfriend with her. She didn't even glance at him at the wake.

After the funeral, Lori took her and Bobby's son and moved to Florida. He lost track of all the Casagrandes in general after that. He didn't think Lori had much contact with them either, even with her son being related. He always did think of Ronnie Anne now and then, but for the most part he'd put her firmly out of his life. He was a little tempted sometimes to try and look up her profile, just see what she was up to, but he never did.

When he was honest with himself, it wasn't out of respect. He knew it was because he didn't want to see how much she had moved on. It hurt too much to know he was probably just a blip in her life and probably made something of herself while he had stagnated.

So why was he thinking about her again?

Probably because of this whole crazy situation.

Lincoln opened his eyes and took a look around.

Yup, he was still in his old bedroom. Not HIS old bedroom, but the other Lincoln's old bedroom. Which effectively looked the same as HIS old bedroom so he was really just splitting hairs by this point. Fuck this stuff was confusing.

He was still stuck in the other universe, he hadn't woken up back home, and he knew it all wasn't a dream. That was the important part.

Furthermore, he knew he wasn't alone in his bed right now. There was a small warm little shape snuggled up in the crook of his left arm. Looking down he caught sight of the Lulu, the toddler who seemed to be sleeping peacefully against him with her pacifier in her mouth.

A warm sensation came over him and settled in his heart.

A sensation he hadn't felt in years.

It made him feel so uncomfortable even as it made him feel so good. Lincoln wasn't completely self-deluded. He knew why he was feeling like this. It was because it reminded him of the old days when he was younger. It reminded him of Lily. Not just Lily, it reminded him of Lisa too.

It reminded him of his youngest sisters, when they would seek comfort from their big brother, and curl up in his arms and be so happy to sleep against him. Safe and secure in the knowledge, the understanding their big brother would never let anything bad happen to them.

And right now, looking at Lulu he saw the same sense of peace and security. She was asleep, blissful in the arms of the man she thought was her father. That was the truly surreal moment of all of this. The little girl asleep in his arms was on some levels…technically his daughter.

Or from what he understood this universe's Lisa had told him, she was his daughter genetically. He had the same DNA as their Lincoln, this little girl had that DNA (she also had Lisa's DNA, something he didn't really want to think about at the moment), so biologically this was his kid.

It was a confusing morass of emotions. He'd known this little girl for only a handful of hours, but he already knew he'd do everything in his power to protect her.

Man, where the hell did those paternal feelings come from?

Was it just because he was related to her? Was it because she was the first person in this universe to show him honest open affection?

That wasn't completely true, his sisters…that Lincoln's sisters, had tried to show him a level of welcomeness as well. But honestly, they were all a bunch of sick, weird freaks who had something seriously wrong with them.

Most likely they were just being friendly to him so they could potentially use his body as some kind of fucked up replacement sex doll. At least until their pathetic servile brother returned to them and they could get back to what ever unholy and sick shenanigans they liked to perform together.

Lincoln was just happy they seemed very firm and adamant they kept their corruption and sickness away from their children.

But this little girl here? She was pure, untainted.

She also didn't see him as an interloper like the other kids did. In her innocent little eyes, he was just her Dada, and Lincoln knew for her sake…at the very least, he needed to hold it together.

If he could keep it together for this little girl, then he wasn't an entirely bad guy, he could tell himself that.

Instinctively he reached into his pocket for his phone, before frowning and realizing it wasn't there. Right, good job Linc, you didn't just leave your phone in the other room, you left it in another damn universe.

As he gave a little sigh of frustration, he felt a gentle poking at his side.

Looking down, he saw Lulu was awake. She had shifted to sitting up, and was holding a phone out to him. It looked just like his phone, same Ace Savvy protective case and everything. Well, his double certainly had the same tastes and interests as he did…

Outside of sister fucking that was.

The baby girl looked up with her big blue eyes, holding the phone in his direction with her stubby little hands, pacifier in her mouth.

That was a little weird. How did she know he wanted his phone? For that matter, how did she even have the phone?

"Uh, thanks kiddo."

Lincoln simply said as he took the phone from her. Lulu only gave a smile from behind her pacifier.

Lincoln opened the phone and checked the time. It was a little after noon.

He'd slept with Lulu for a few hours then. He'd been barely awake before when he met everyone and had retreated to the safety of the bedroom in the first place.

He looked at the lock screen of the phone. Same Ace Savvy wallpaper he had on his own phone. Part of him wondered if his double was looking at his phone and thinking the same thing right now…

Do we use the same number for our passwords too? He mused to himself.

There was only one way to find out.

Lincoln quickly typed in the numbers, 1962, the year of Ace Savvy's first appearance in Timely's 'Detective Fantasy' series.

The phone opened.

The similarities between himself and this other Lincoln were slowly beginning to annoy him. Ah well, he didn't want to think too much about it. Almost every Lincoln across the multiverse was probably an Ace Savvy fan.

What greeted him on the opening screen, however, was not what he'd expected. There was one big difference right away. Instead of the racy picture of Lady Ace that he'd drawn himself, there was a picture of all the Kids Lincoln had met earlier.

Lincoln's kids.

Of course they were his home screen, he remembered his Mom and Dad used to keep pictures of him and his sisters as their own home screen. It was only more surreal to see what was clearly the same way he liked to organize his phone apps, and for that matter the very same fucking phone apps, on what looked like the same exact phone he had, only instead of Lady Ace in her boob window costume showing off the goods, it was a picture of 11 kids that were his but not his.

(He really wanted to push Lady Ace as Savvy's love interest, but the editors and previous writers had made a romance between Savvy and High Card years ago. Linc didn't want to admit to other professionals and fans in the comic industry it was because High Card was based on his sister Lori.)

He'd have to change that soon. Looking at the family photo was just too weird, and he was going to need a phone anyway while he was here.

Before he could really get lost exploring the other Lincoln's phone he felt a gentle tug at his sleeve, followed by Lulu speaking up.

"Dada?"

Lincoln looked down to see the little girl sitting next to him still, her pacifier in one hand, her other holding his sleeve as she continued to tug so very cutely.

"Hungry Dada, Hungry…"

Lincoln's heart melted.

It was damn unfair.

He already thought babies were cute to begin with.

He knew it was popular among childless adults like himself to talk about how ugly babies were, and how they felt nothing when they saw babies. How they thought it was weird so many other people thought babies were cute.

But that wasn't Lincoln. He honestly thought babies were cute.

And Lulu here was a dang cutie pie.

Maybe it was just his genetic relationship to her, some primal instinctual pheromonal sense that was unconscious that let him know this was his kin. So somehow he should be even more protective of her. But he also knew that couldn't be completely true with how many deadbeat and abusive parents there were out there.

Regardless, this wasn't the time to start navel gazing and thinking hard on genetic heritage, parenting, and other universes right now.

There was a hungry baby, and the old instincts of Lincoln Loud, the boy who took care of everyone in the family started to make themselves known again. Dust and cobwebs fell from those old sets of gears. Gears that felt like they hadn't moved in ages, suddenly sprung to life and were turning again.

He had a purpose, a small one right now, a responsibility. Lincoln did well with responsibilities, and as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, this little purpose was everything he needed right now. A way to force some order and sense on an insane world.

The little girl pouted as she spoke again.

"Hungry Dada, want food."

Lincoln slipped both of his arms around the little girl's waist and lifted her up as he stood from the bed.

"It's alright kiddo, we're going to get some food. Don't you worry, I'll make you some lunch."

As he spoke those words, he felt his own stomach begin to growl in protest as well.

"And myself some too. I could eat. Let's see what your kitchen has."

With the little girl in his arms, Lincoln stepped out of his room and into the hall. Most of the other bedroom doors up here were also closed, but Lynn and Lucy's old room was open, as was Luna and Luan's old room.

Lincoln wasn't about to go snooping anyway and decided to see if he could just sneak by. He knew he was going to run into some of the other residents anyway, it was just that way in a house full of so many people.

He just hoped Lulu would act like a shield of sorts that would protect him from any kind of danger or interrogation.

As he made his way downstairs, he heard the TV on. Stepping down, Lulu sat up happily in his arms as she sucked on her pacifier.

Sitting on the living room couch, he spotted both his sister (not his sister he reminded himself) Leni, and two of the kids. Lyle, who he understood was Leni's son, and Leia who was Lola's. The three of them were watching some sort of fashion program together.

All three turned to look at him as he descended. Leia and Lyle glared at him warily, and the two even scooted closer together. Leni, however, just fixed him with a bright warm smile that reminded him of home.

"Hey Lincy!" She called out with a wave, "I can't wait to spend the week with you and the kids! I totes promise you it's gonna be fun and you won't be sad you're stuck here anymore!"

Lyle was the first to react with a snarl, "Mom, you don't have to be so nice to him! That jerk doesn't care about us!"

Leni turned to regard her son, a frown coming over her cute pink lips, "Lyle Loud that is not how you speak to your father! We raised you better than that!"

Leia looked annoyed, rolling her eyes and scoffing, "Aunt Leni! He's not our Dad! He's some other Dad from another universe, we don't owe him squat!"

Lincoln frowned in return at the two kids, still feeling that strange surrealness over everything. This entire conversation was like something right out of the strangest drug induced dreams he could ever have had. Leni chastising their son for being rude to him.

Leni continued, "I know that Lyle, but like, your Aunt Lisa said he's your Dad in totes every way just being from elsewhere, so you need to respect him like you do your own father. You too Leia."

Leia looked incense, balling her hands into fists, her large curly pigtails bouncing as she swung her head in anger towards her aunt. There was no doubt she was Lola's daughter.

"Ugh! But he's not Aunt Leni! He's some imposter that just looks like Dad! He doesn't even like any of us, why do we have to be nice to him?!"

Leni put her foot down, the pretty platinum blonde's green eyes and button nose scrunched up into a frown as she even rested the back of her palms on her hips.

"Leia Loud! Do I need to call Lola and tell her you're not listening to your Aunt right now?"

For some reason, that caused Leia to shirk back in fear. She winced, and gave a sigh, before she looked away, "No, no, calling mommy won't be necessary Aunt Leni. I'm sorry for not listening. I won't be mean, but I don't like him!"

Lyle seeming to also be in slight fear of his mother's serious expression, backed up his sister in his own passive-aggressive way.

"I'm with Leia on this Mom."

Leni gave a soft reassuring smile to the two as she responded, "You don't have to like him, but like Aunt Lori said, we're not going to be rude to him, and he's still part of this family." Leni turned fully and flashed Lincoln with her beatific smile, "And I think in time, he'll come to see all of us as family too."

Lincoln watched the exchange with large amounts of uncertainty on his part. He didn't exactly want to say, one of the reasons he didn't like them so much was because they looked and seemed like his family.

Just the most perverse, fucked up, and horrific version of his family he could imagine.

At least they weren't serial killers, but he wouldn't put it past them. They were already some sort of deranged sex cult, who said they didn't kill people too?

He remembered his own promise though, he wasn't going to cause any more scenes in front of the kids. It just, bothered him how much this Leni reminded him of his own, or at least, his own from years ago. He hadn't seen his own Leni in three years now. But she lived in Paris.

Still holding Lulu in his arms, he put one hand up in an apologetic manner.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry about earlier. I just, want to get along and not bother you all before I'm able to get back home and you can have your father and brother back."

Leni only continued to smile, "You're Lincy, my brother, no matter where you come from."

Lincoln was taken aback by that statement, and the complete sincerity behind it. Simple minded and sweet Leni. Of course she would think that way. He couldn't completely hold it against her. She probably didn't understand everything that was going on.

Lyle and Leia had tuned him out, and had returned to watching the TV as if they were actively ignoring his presence. Leni was still focused on him though.

"Lulu crawled into bed with you? She totes loves napping with her Dad. She's a daddy's girl through and through, so adorbs!"

Lyle quipped from his position on the couch, "I'm surprised he didn't throw her out the window when he woke up with her."

Leni's rebuttal was quick as she looked to him, "Lyle!"

Lyle winced and hunched his shoulders, "Sorry mom, sorry."

Leni returned to gazing back at Lincoln with her ever present smile, "You're good with her. I can see that already."

As if to punctuate Leni's statement, Lulu reached over and wrapped her tiny arms around Lincoln's neck in a hug, pressing her cheek against his own as she piped up from behind her pacifier, "Love Dada!"

Lincoln found himself blushing slightly in embarrassment, before he cleared his throat, "Yeah well, old habits die hard. It's been awhile but I still remember how to do this stuff. Anyway, so you'll be staying here this week Leni? Does that mean Lynn is gone?"

Leni shook her head, and then she nodded, then she shook her head again before she nodded, then she looked confused, "Yes, I mean No, I mean yes I mean uh, like—"

Leia spoke up, helping her Aunt out, "It's Aunt Leni's turn this week, but Aunt Lynn hasn't left yet. She won't leave for a few more hours."

Leni smiled and wrapped her arms around Leia, pulling the girl in a tight hug, "Thanks sweetie! So helpful!"

Leia's eyes went wide as she was pulled into a crushing hug by her Aunt. That was one of the things about Leni, she was freakishly strong. Lincoln had memories of how easy she could lift him even when he was 12. Seemed this Leni was no different.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up." He replied.

Lincoln decided not to hang out here any longer than necessary. Leni's complete openness contrasted with Lyle and Leia's cold disdain was weird enough to handle.

"I'll let you guys get back to your show."

Leaving them behind, He walked towards the dining room and into the kitchen, only to spot a few more of his new housemates already present.

Sitting at the dining room table and finishing what appeared to be lunch and homework together was Lyra and Lemy. They were Luna's kids from what he could remember and the two seemed pretty close. Not that he had reasons to believe any of the kids weren't close, but they seemed to be each other's favorites.

Once more Lincoln found himself hit with a strange wave of Nostalgia. His sisters and he were close around that age, but they had their favorites to hang out with too. As the middle child, he'd been closest to both Lynn and Lucy.

He remembered the last conversation he had with Lucy last year.

It didn't end well.

He put that old memory out of his mind.

The two of them looked up as he entered and for a split second, he thought he saw a smile of recognition cross Lyra's features. As if she thought she was really seeing her Dad. Until it seemed she remembered the situation and gave a polite nod instead.

"Good afternoon…" Lyra spoke and then looked like she was trying to think of how to properly address him, before she added, "Mr. Loud."

Lemy for his part, just looked at him curiously. It wasn't with disdain, it wasn't with fear, it was an honest curiosity, like he wanted to ask him questions but wasn't sure how to just yet. When Lincoln caught his eyes, the boy seemed to quickly look away, like he was feeling guilt about something.

Lincoln responded to Lyra.

"Just call me Lincoln…" He trailed off trying to remember the girl's name…

"Lyra." She responded.

Lincoln nodded, "Right, Lyra sorry. It's probably going to take me a day to keep all your names straight. I don't know if it hurts or helps we kept the family tradition of giving you all L names too."

Lyra gave a soft polite nod again as she responded, "That's understandable Mr—Lincoln. I see you've met Lulu now. Is she bothering you any? I can take her for you if you'd like."

The teen brunette stood up slowly from her chair, as Lincoln looked to Lulu.

"Oh no, no she's not bothering me any. She's hungry that's all. I came down here to get her something to eat."

Lyra slowly approached Lincoln, holding her hands out towards Lulu as she did so, "I understand this may be uncomfortable for you Lincoln, I'm more than willing to feed Lulu for you if you'd prefer."

Lincoln looked a little uncertain as he glanced at the brown haired baby in his arms. A part of him feeling a little guilty that he'd more or less been using her as a surrogate emotional blanket since he met her. Maybe it would be best he stop pretending to be Daddy and give her to her real family.

Slowly he started to try and ease the little girl towards her older sister, "Yeah, it's probably better you handle her. I don't want her to get confused."

But as he began to try and pull her away, Lulu clung to him with both arms, turning away from Lyra and shaking her head, "No! No! Want Dada! Want Dada!"

Lyra looked a little confused, brow furrowing with concern as she put a hand gently on Lulu's shoulder, "Now, now, Lulu, it's not polite to do that. I'll take care of you."

But Lulu shook her head and clung to Lincoln all the harder, frowning as she did so.

Lemy spoke up from his seat at the dining room table, "I don't think she's going to let him go Lyra. She thinks he's Dad, she doesn't understand any of this."

Lyra gave a sigh and folded her arms, as she regarded them all, "That does seem to be the case. Lincoln, do you know how to care for a baby?"

Lincoln gave a slight smirk in response as he looked towards the teen girl, "I grew up with five younger sisters, trust me on this, I know what I'm doing."

Lyra stepped back, giving another nod as Lemy only continued to watch. Lincoln made his way into the kitchen with his little bundle in his arms.

Inside the Kitchen he found Liena, Leni's daughter, and Lupa, Lucy's daughter, looking like they were cleaning up the dishes from today's lunch. Liena flashed him a warm and welcoming smile that reminded him so much of her mother's, while Lupa flashed him an evil grin with teeth that reminded him so much of her mother's.

Liena was the first to speak up, "Good afternoon Mr. Loud, good afternoon Lulu!"

Lincoln gave a little sigh as he replied, "Mr. Loud is my Dad's name, and no really, he doesn't go by that either, just call me Lincoln."

Lupa was the one who responded, "You got it Mr. Loud! Oh yeah, Aunt Lynn made lunch for you! But we're under strict instructions from her not to give it to you until she returns."

Liena gave a slight frown in Lupa's direction, Lupa only grinned, and Lincoln just rose his eyebrow.

"Okay…weird, but uh, when is she do back, where is she at?"

Liena answered, "Her and Lacy went to the park together. Usually, Dad goes with them both before Aunt Lynn has to go." Liena gave a little frown. It was clear the unspoken knowledge of her father being lost hit her in that moment.

But she quickly recovered and smile again, "Did you and Lulu want something to eat? I'll make you something anyway…despite what Aunt Lynn said."

Lupa gave an exaggerated sigh, "Awww, but you're going to ruin all the hard work and care Aunt Lynn put into his lunch!"

Lienea frowned at Lupa again.

Lincoln wasn't sure how he felt about anyone here taking care of him. For one, he was mostly used to taking care of himself these last few years. For two, even before that, he had been one of the head caregivers in his own home. For three, he really didn't want to get more entangled with these kids and their parents than he had to. Best he acted like one of his own borders, keep to himself, try not to make any disturbances, try to keep his distance.

"No, that's okay. I'll make myself something to eat later, right now I'm more interested in getting Lulu here something."

Liena looked a little concerned as she put her drying cloth down, "Oh, do you want me to take her? Lulu can be a little picky when it comes to eating, and a little different too…"

Lincoln rose his eyebrow, but gave a slightly soft smile in return, "That's okay. If I could handle Lily in her cheese phase, I can handle this girl. Besides, it'll be nice to make it fresh, I remember…" Lincoln stopped, trying to figure out what to say here, before he just went with the obvious, "Your grandfather teaching me how to blend and puree fruit and veggies into Baby food. He always insisted on us making the stuff ourselves."

Liena looked a little worried as she put her hands forward, "Uh, I really think you should-"

But then Lupa was cutting her off, putting a hand up in front of Liena and grinning again, "No, no Liena, he said he wants to feed Lulu himself, we should let him!"

Liena took on a worried expression as she looked towards her younger sister, as if she wanted to say something, but Lincoln spoke up.

"It's alright, trust me, I've seen it all, I've done it all when it comes to babies."

Lincoln turned towards the fridge, even as Liena winced, and Lupa only continued to give that creepy grin.

What was with that girl? He had a constant feeling of danger around her, like all the inner sadisticness he knew Lucy carried was on the outside with her.

Shifting Lulu to one arm he opened the fridge, noting it was a newer model than the one he had in his own home, and began looking through the crisper for some veggies. Lulu seemed happy at this turn of events and clapped her hands while giggling.

How could she be so damn cute?

Careful Lincoln, it's one thing to care for the little girl, but don't get too attached now. She's not really yours.

Lulu popped her pacifier from her mouth and began to speak up again.

"Carrots! Carrots!"

She certainly was a talkative little girl, smart for her age too, but then she was Lisa's daughter, it stood to reason she was so bright.

He rooted around and easily found a bundle of fresh carrots, taking them in hand and lifting a few up by their stalks, "Alright kiddo, we got your carrots right-

And then suddenly a long, pink wet tongue had wrapped around the middle of the carrot bundle and began to pull them from his hands. As Lincoln turned and looked, he saw the long, wet appendage lead back to the mouth of Lulu.

Or the horrifying beast that was once Lulu.

Because when Lincoln looked at the baby girl in his arms, what greeted him was a nightmare.

Where once there had been a pair of cherubic little cute cheeks and a tiny nose, was now a giant maw with four interlocking flaps filled with what looked to be razor sharp fangs lining the interior. The long tongue pulling the carrot bundle back towards the abyss in the center of the maw.

Lincoln screamed.

He screamed and, in his panic, dropped the little girl, which made him feel a strange sense of guilt and horror at his own actions, even as he was terrified of the little monster that was once in his hands.

"Ace Savvy's Cock! What the Fuck?!"

Lincoln had fallen on his butt, and then watched in further horror, as two fleshy, long, bony, leg like appendages sprouted from the little girl's sides, and planted on the kitchen tile, preventing her from falling.

Lincoln noted her little onesie even had openings on the sides which seemed to accommodate these extra appendages. He hadn't noticed them earlier.

The carrot mass vanished into the tiny monster's giant fang filled maw as the mouth flaps began to close around them. What almost sounded like a meat grinder or blender could be heard, as the carrots were clearly crunched and pureed within the Toddler's mouth.

Liena was covering her face with her right hand.

Lupa was laughing hysterically.

Lincoln crab walked backwards on his hands and feet until his back hit the kitchen wall.

Lupa had wrapped her arms around her belly by this point, doubling over as she guffawed. Liena was putting her hands up, rushing to Lincoln's side and placing them on his shoulder, gently trying to reassure him.

"It's okay, it's okay, Lulu just does that sometimes. She's not like normal little girls."

Lincoln looked back towards Leni's platinum haired daughter, wild eyed, his heart still racing, "Ya think?!"

Lupa continued to laugh hysterically, finally managing to get a little more control of herself as she pointed at him, "Oh my god, oh my god, you should see yourself! I think I peed a little that was so funny!" She laughed some more, flashing him that evil grin, "Aww, you don't like our little monster Mr. Loud? What is she too much for you?"

Lincoln found himself angrily glaring at Lupa.

Yup that girl was pure evil alright.

He looked back towards Lulu whose mouth was now slowly beginning to shrink back down, flaps closing together more firmly. There was a strange organic zipping sound as they did so, and Lincoln now noticed very, very fine lines across her cheeks where he now knew her mouth extended and unfurled itself. Even the little girl's two extra spider legs were shrinking back into her as he saw her big blue eyes look at him with concern.

Moments later, there was nothing but the sight of the sweet and cute little baby girl with the mop of brown hair on her head. She crawled forward towards him, speaking with a concern that matched the one in her eyes, "Dada?"

Lincoln didn't know what to think of the tiny beast in front of him. She'd gone from being the cutest little thing in the world, to a Lovecraftian horror in the span of seconds. Lisa told him she wouldn't hurt anyone with Loud DNA but Lisa made a lot of promises when it came to her inventions.

It was then the door to the basement flew open, and Lisa stepped out with a look of worry, her labcoat practically flapping like a cape behind her.

"I heard screams! Is everyone alright?"

Before her eyes shifted to the scene before her, and she seemed to realize what had happened.

"Oh, I take it you've become acquainted with some of Lulu's extranormal abilities? Perhaps I should have been clearer on what she's exactly capable of, it can be a little shocking for those unprepared."

Lincoln looked back to Lisa, wide eyed still, "You said she had superpowers Lis! I was thinking like, flight or or Heat vision!"

Lisa rolled her eyes, it reminded Lincoln of the exact way she did so in his own universe.

"Please Lincoln, do you know of any natural way for a human being to fly without the aid of wings? Or for that matter any species on the planet capable of…Heat Vision? Lulu's enhanced abilities are rooted in science, not your comic book fairy tales. Her body is capable of rapid adaptation and evolution, but again I assure you she's harmless."

Lincoln pointed at the toddler, heart still racing, "Those teeth didn't look harmless Lisa!"

The little girl gave a slight pout and seemed to shrink back as he pointed at her.

Lisa only continued to give him the same condescending look she did all her siblings when she was explaining something she thought should be as completely obvious to them as it was to her.

"Lincoln, Lulu is a perfectly safe baby girl. She's never shown any aggressive tendencies towards anyone in the family."

Lupa chimed in, "Except, he's not really family. Are you Mr. Loud?"

Lisa gave Lupa a stern look, but the white haired little gremlin only smiled back at her Aunt.

Lincoln sighed, and put his hands to his face, still sitting back against the kitchen wall. He didn't know what he was supposed to do or say right now. That damn Lupa seemed to have it out for him, Lisa here was completely insane just like his own Lisa, and the Liena girl was looking at him with the same fucking pity the sisters gave him earlier.

He felt the anger, the frustration beginning to rise in him again. The feeling of powerlessness that made him want to rage at the world. Another outburst was going to come from him, he just knew it. But before he could explode, he felt a familiar poking against his stomach.

Removing his hands from his face, he noticed Lulu had crawled her way right up to him, and was poking him, a look of worry in her eyes.

Lincoln could recognize that look.

It was fear, fear of rejection.

Rejection from a parent no less, the worst type of rejection a child could ever receive.

Lincoln felt guilt self-loathing fill him once more. He almost lost it in front of the little girl.

Lincoln resolved he wasn't going to fuck this kid's development up, no matter how much she scared the shit outta him.

He forced a smile, even if it was a weak one.

It was for her. He reached forward and gently pat her head, "It's okay Lulu, you just surprised me is all. It's okay." He hesitated, he didn't know if he should say the next word or not. All of this was so new for him, but he took a deep breath and told himself he was putting on the act for the little girl.

The little girl who was innocent and didn't know any better.

"Dada still loves you."

Lulu put on the biggest smile he'd seen from her yet, and then pressed her little head against his chest, hugging him.

He noticed the three other people in the Kitchen were watching him very closely.

Lisa seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Liena seemed to give a smile of approval, while Lupa just looked away, an irked expression on her face.

Lisa turned towards Lincoln and gave him a small smile, "Thank you Lincoln. I can't express enough gratitude for you taking on this role for Lulu. I promise to get you home as soon as I'm able, but it means so much to me you're going out of your way for my little girl."

Lincoln closed his eyes and sighed.

He picked Lulu up in his arms as he stood up from the floor. The little girl moving to cling to his neck again.

"Not her fault for what happened. She shouldn't suffer for my stupid mistake."

Lisa adjusted her glasses as she looked up to him, "You still have my deepest thanks elder sibling. But back on the topic of getting you home. Now that you're a little more settled in, I'd like you to tell me everything you can about the experiment your Lisa and you were conducting. Can you tell me anything about this gateway you remember, anything at all?"

Lincoln gave a nod of his head as he bounced Lulu idly in his arms, "Yeah Lis, it was metal, the inside surrounded by all these spokes, a bunch of-" He trailed off before he frowned and looked back to her, "You know what? How about I just draw it for you."

Carrying Lulu in his arms he made his way towards the dining area, with the other three occupants following behind him.

Lyra and Lemy looked up from their seats at the dining table as Lincoln entered and addressed the two.

"Lyra, Lemy, do you have a piece of paper and pencil or pen I could borrow?"

Lemy was the first to respond, reaching down into the blue backpack covered with heavy metal music pins next to him as he nodded, "Yeah, yeah sure thing."

A moment later he'd torn a sheet of paper from his notebook and placed a pen next to it and looked up expectantly.

Lincoln became aware all eyes in the room were on him again. Holding Lulu he looked around, before Lisa approached him.

"Here, I'll take her. Come along Lulu, your father is going to be indisposed for a few moments."

She reached her hands up towards the little girl, who turned and moved towards her mother. Lincoln handed off the precious cargo while she giggled and laughed, "Mama! Mama!" then proceeded to wrap her arms around Lisa's neck.

Now free, Lincoln pulled out a dining room chair and took a seat, pen in hand.

"Okay, so as I was saying, it had a metal oval frame like this, and let me start filling in the spokes here…"

Lincoln's hand began to move swiftly, sketching in what he could remember from the portal his Lisa had made. The eyes of everyone in the dining room, even Lulu's, watching his hand fly across the page and create art.

There was a slight gasp from Lupa, her mouth falling open, and a "Whoa!" that came from Lemy.

Lyra even spoke while watching Lincoln draw, "I've always said father has a knack for art, but you really seem to elevate it even further."

Lemy scoffed, "You mean he makes Dad look like a pre-schooler. Lupa's not even as good as him."

Lupa frowned and glared at her brother, "Hey!"

Lemy only shrugged, "What, he's like way older than you Lupe, don't get angry."

Lincoln found a small measure of pride filling him as they watched, a slight smirk on his lips, "Yeah well, I'm what your Dad would be if he honed his natural talents instead of wasting away at a burger joint."

Lupa sneered, "So a self-centered asshole Mr. Loud? Wow, you know I think even as good as your art skills are, I still prefer my real Dad."

Lincoln realized he'd just disparaged the kid's father right in front of them, and inwardly winced. Much as he thought the other Lincoln was a pathetic nobody made deviant by his older sisters, only to carry on the same deviancy with the younger, he didn't want to insult their father in front of them.

He ignored the comment, even as the air became a little uncomfortable around him as no one seemed to want to correct the girl.

Lincoln continued sketching, adding a few more separate items he could remember, sketching them in great detail for the next few minutes in silence as the others watched. After he had drawn everything he could think of, he pushed the finished page towards Lisa and sat back.

It was good, very good, and the speed at which he had accomplished the drawing was what seemed even more impressive. Even as a sketch, the fine detail work stood out, and despite her earlier comment, even Lupa looked impressed.

Lisa took the page and looked up at Lincoln, still holding Lulu against her with her other arm, "Thank you Lincoln. This should be enough for me to start with. If you remember anything else…"

Lincoln nodded as he looked back towards her, "I'll make sure to let you know."

Lisa gave a small nod as she pulled away from the table, drawing and daughter in hand, "I'll see what I have of my own that can compliment or match up with what you've drawn here Lincoln. In the meantime I'll take Lulu with me, it's time for her bath anyway."

Lulu frowned at her mother and shook her head, "No bath Mama! No bath!"

Lisa only replied with a smirk as she headed out of the dining room, through the kitchen door and what was most likely the basement, "I'm sorry my adorable little off-spring, but mommy is going to make sure to wash you nice and clean until you sparkle."

Lincoln had just enough time to look towards the kids who were still around him before the Kitchen door swung open again and Lynn walked through with Lacy following right behind her.

Lynn was wearing a red track suit that seemed to match the very one her daughter was wearing. She was carrying a plate in her hand as she made her way towards Lincoln, and simply dropped it in front of him.

"Made you Lunch Lincoln."

Before she continued right past him towards the living room.

Lincoln looked down at the plate in front of him. He could tell what looked like a burnt brick in front of him was at one time supposed to be a grilled cheese sandwich.

"Thanks Lynn!" He called back towards her passive-aggressively.

Lynn only looked back at him before she entered the living room, an antagonistic smile on her lips, "Oh no problem Linc! Happy to make up for all the wrong I did to you!"

Lincoln frowned at her, yelling back, "Oh thank you!"

Lynn replied, "No, thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

"No, you're welcome!"

Then she was out of sight, the sound of the master bedroom door slamming behind her.

Lincoln had no fucking clue what that was all about, or why he had given in to that childish argument with her. He gave a frown and lifted the charcoaled grilled cheese up. It began to crumble to bits in front of him.

Lacy who had stayed behind, looked at Lincoln with a bright smile, "See, Mom likes you, she still made you lunch even after your fight yesterday!" Before she hurried after her mother.

Lupa grinned, "Yeah, see Mr. Loud, Aunt Lynn's already one of your biggest fans!"

Liena gave a weak smile, "I'll make you something edible Lincoln, just wait here."

Lincoln thought possibly to object, but just resigned himself to it all at this point.

"Thanks Liena."

He looked between Lemy and Lyra sitting across from him.

Lemy gave something of a shrug, "Look at it this way, at least she didn't throw it at you?"

Lincoln sighed.

He really needed a fucking cigarette.

Later in the Day Lemy and Lyle's room.

Lyle sat quietly on his bed alone in the room he shared with his younger brother Lyle and waited. It was after Lunch, and after Lincoln had retired back to his own room for the time being.

Lemy's half of the room was covered in posters from his favorite bands, accolades from school science and math competitions and pictures of him and his sister with their mother and Aunt Sam.

Lyle's half on the other hand had a shelf filled with his favorite fantasy novels, a poster of the 'King of the Ring' films, and pictures of himself with his sister and mother.

Lyle and Lemy couldn't be more different from one another, and yet for the most part they got along well with very little disagreement or arguments. It was as if they were united by their solemn masculinity in the sea of estrogen that surrounded them. Sometimes they just needed 'guy time' and that's when they were there for each other. Even with Lyle having a few traits that might be considered feminine, his younger brother was still quite insistent on being a boy. Their Dad made sure to take them out on special 'Father/Sons' trips now and then to talk to them about what it meant to be a man, what those responsibilities entailed.

Mostly it was protecting those less powerful than you, and above all else, protecting the women in the family.

Their father had let them in on a secret. One he made them promise to never tell their mothers and sisters. He had told them he knew he was stronger than all of them. He knew if he wanted, he could push any of his sisters around physically, even Lynn, even Lori.

But a real man, a good man, never abused that power when it came to women. No matter what his sisters put him through, he never, ever, responded with violence. That just wasn't what a man did. A man protected women, he didn't hurt them. He told them both, they needed to understand they would get stronger than their sisters, and one day they would have the ability to overpower any of them, but that it was their duty to protect them, and never to hurt them, ever.

Lyle seemed to take those lessons to heart more than Lemy did lately. Not that Lemy was thinking of hurting any girls. Far from it. He was just as protective of the women in the family as his brother was.

It was just…as of late, Lemy began to think his father was full of shit.

Because there were ways to hurt people that didn't involve physically hurting them, but it certainly involved touching them. Lemy began to wonder if his father had hurt his younger Aunts in that way, and that's why the family was as messed up as it was.

But now, because of that kernel of disrespect, of distrust, and disdain that had grown in him towards his Father, certain events had transpired he had no idea how to handle.

Lyle wasn't present at the moment. Most likely he was off spending time with his mother now that she was over, which was good because Lemy needed to talk to his sister Lyra, alone. Lyra's room wasn't an option because Loan practically lived in it, even if she slept for upwards of 12 hours a day. So when ever they needed to talk, they spent time alone together in his room. He would switch off and do the same for Lyle if he wanted to spend time with his sister Liena.

It was important for Lemy to talk with Lyra. He had stressed that. The boy needed to confess something to her. He needed to unburden himself from the guilt he was carrying. He remembered the lessons from the church they went to, confession was good for the soul. Lemy and Lyra's particular branch of Christianity didn't command confessing to a religious figure of any kind. Confession between the Sinner and God was more than enough, but he still felt compelled to tell someone, someone who would seem to understand more than anyone else… And when it came to who he trusted more than anyone else in the world, it was his big sister Lyra.

Even with as much of a wet blanket as she could be at times, and how she hounded him about his homework, and behaving and not getting in trouble, Lemy loved her dearly. She was the one who had looked after him, took care of him the most in the darkest period of their life. Before their mother had gotten clean.

Which meant in some ways, Lyra was more of a mother to Lemy than Luna was. Not completely, Luna was still his mommy, but Lyra was stricter than Luna herself was with him, and for some reason, Lemy felt compelled to obey her most of the time.

When Lyra entered the room, she closed the door behind her, and fixed her little brother with a soft smile.

Lemy wasted no time, he was up and off his bed in moments, running forward and throwing his arms around his taller sister. He squeezed her waist tightly before he buried his head against her chest. Lyra reacted with a little surprise, placing both of her arms around him reflexively.

"Lemy, what's wrong, what did you want to talk about?"

Lemy looked up at his sister, and already tears were filling his brown eyes as he began to cry softly and babble at the mouth.

"It's my fault Lyra, it's my fault! It's my fault Dad is gone! I'm the reason he isn't here anymore!"

Lyra looked down at her little brother in shock, her freckled cheeks upturned in surprise, brow furrowed as she shook her head back and forth, "Lemy, that's nonsense. You can't be responsible, it was one of Aunt Lisa's experiments that caused it to happen, and not even the Aunt Lisa from our own world."

But Lemy was unmoved, he continued to shake his head back and forth.

"No, Lyra, you don't understand, you don't. Last night, after I yelled at Dad, I came back up here and I prayed. I prayed harder than I ever had in my life. I prayed and I asked God, begged him if we could have a normal Father. One that wasn't a weird pervert. And, and, and of all the infinite universes he could go to, this Dad appeared in our home! A completely normal one who hasn't done anything wrong with his sisters!"

Lemy buried his head against Lyra's chest again as he began to cry softly once more, his shoulders hitching. Lyra looked down in shock as she considered the possibility, as she thought about what her little brother said.

Lyra believed the Lord worked in mysterious ways, she believed there were no true accidents in the world. Did God grant Lemy's prayer as some kind of test? She looked down at her little brother, trying to think of what she should say, how she should reassure him, but nothing came.

And then her brother continued.

"And I saw how sad it's made everyone, I see how upset it's made the rest of our family…But the worst part is Lyra, the worst part is…I'm happy! I'm happy we've got a normal Dad, and I don't want our other one to ever come back, and I feel so guilty and don't know what to do!"

He went back to crying against her once more. Lyra pulled her arms more tightly around her little brother, and did her best to soothe him, even if his words horrified her and made her more concerned for their family than ever.

10 Years ago, Great Lakes City, Ronnie Anne Santiago's room.

Ronnie Anne Santiago let the phone drop from her hands after she finished the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life, blocking her now ex-boyfriend Lincoln Loud.

It wasn't that she'd stopped loving him. She was still just in love with him as she had been when she was younger, it was just…things were different now. Things had changed and she had to face the reality. As much as she loved him, Lincoln was never quite fully 'there' in the relationship.

He had taken advantage of her, he had made excuses to put his work, his studies, and his own success ahead of their relationship. She'd made enough excuses for him and lied to herself saying some day Lincoln would put her first again. Some day he would realize what they had was more important than anything else.

But in the face of her new circumstances, she knew that wasn't true, and she didn't think it would ever be true.

She turned and looked at the Pregnancy test sitting on the little fridge that was next to her bed. The positive sign on it clear as day.

She picked it up and sighed, before her other hand came to rest over her belly and she grit her teeth as more tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"Stupid Lame-o. Stupid, Stupid Lame-o. What do I do now?"

A/N: That's it for now! Hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter, Safe Linc starts work and spends a week with Leni, hijinks ensue! We meet Sin Flipp as Lincoln tries to buy booze and cigarettes while Lyra contemplates the possibility this is all a test from God! See you all then!