Lynn lays down on the floor and stares at Victor, who stares back at her. It's her day off from work and she doesn't have anything to do. No clients, no restaurant, nothing! She and Vic have had breakfast, went on a morning run around the park, and the house is clean enough, but now there's nothing to do. At the moment, she's been rolling the ball around on the floor while Victor chases after it, and while it's entertaining enough for him, she needs more excitement.

"What are we going to do today?"

Victor throws the ball back towards his mom.

The ball bounces off of Lynn's torso. She's been rolling the ball long enough, and she needs something else to do.

She sits up and pulls out her phone to look for something going on in town, "Jeez, there is nothing to do. All the good stuff's for the weekend and we're a long way from that. And I can't take you to do anything that I used to like to do."

Lynn taps her fingers trying to think of anything worth doing that she can take Victor to, "Can't go swimming, I have to watch you. Can't go rock climbing, I can't strap you to me, not to mention if I fall and something happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself. Running? Meh. Can't keep doing that. What do you think, Atomweight?"

Victor over at his mom, then back at the ball.

"I can't wait 'til you're able to play catch with us outside. I promise to go easy on you, and I know you're my son, so I know that you aren't going to like it, but it's for your own good. God, I sound like my parents."

That gives Lynn an idea.

"What do you think? Wanna go see Grandma, Grandpa, your Aunt Lisa, and Aunt Lily?"

Victor whacks the ball back to Lynn.

She picks him up and asks again, "What do you think? Wanna go see your aunts and grandparents?"

The boy doesn't react.

"Yeah, you do see them a lot. But who else can we visit?"

Victor attempts to reach for the ball on the ground. Lynn takes the hint, "Alright, alright, you can go chase the ball," she says, kicking the ball before letting him back down.

While Victor chases the ball again, Lynn thinks about what else they could do today. Before Vic and work came along, she'd run around doing whatever popped into her head. Once her days became more limited, she squeezed in whatever she could in that time, but with Vic, she's even more limited because of his schedule, assuming she can remember everything on it and if he's cooperative. He's fussy when it comes to naps and mealtime is only a hassle because he wants more food than he should eat.

Then there's getting out of the house with his things.

When she and Francisco take him to her parents, it's not usually a big deal since they know they can send him over with a few things and they'll be fine. Luckily, her parents still hung onto some of their old baby things, probably because they expect their kids to visit with their young grandchildren, but Lynn's not sure. However, when it comes to carrying Victor around themselves, they have to take more stuff into consideration - nap times, feedings, and toys to keep him entertained.

It definitely isn't fun when they forget something, Vic gets fussy, and she and Francisco sometimes snap at one another, especially if they can't calm their son down, but they've gotten better about it. Francisco tends to make a list in advance and she's pretty good at soothing Vic whenever she forgets to bring a toy for him.

Like that rattle underneath his crib.

A rattle?

The ball bounces off of Lynn's torso, but she doesn't notice as she stares at the rattle under Victor's crib. She can't remember the last time that she saw that rattle or how it ended up where it is right now. She doesn't remember buying it, 'Was it a birthday gift? Wait, no, Vic didn't get a rattle for his birthday. Christmas? No, that doesn't sound right either. It was warm the last time I saw it. Wait, maybe it was when the air conditioner went out. That sounds right, that's probably when we lost it. Wait, so who gave it to him?'

Victor whines and Lynn focuses her eyes on her son, "Right! Something to do… something to do… something…" she can't think. All she can focus on is that silly rattle hidden in the shadows under the crib. She crawls over to the toy and pulls it out. "Now what do we do?" she asks her son.

Victor raises his arms and Lynn picks him up. He reaches for the toy and Lynn hands the dusty toy to him. Vic notices the large piece of dust and he leans in to take a bite, but Lynn blows it away before it ends up in his mouth.

"Didya miss your rattle?"

Victor doesn't react. He's too entranced by the toy he hasn't seen in months. He shakes it a bit, then throws it on the ground, where it rolls back under his crib.

"Seriously?" asks Lynn. "I just got it back and you're already losing it again." She bends down to pick up the toy, "Huh? I just got an idea." Lynn ignores the rattle and starts getting Vic ready for his little excursion.


Lynn Sr. pulls on the string to let the ladder down. He climbs up the ladder into the attic and notices all the dust and boxes. He can't remember the last time that he or anyone else cleaned up here, but that can wait for another time; he has something else to worry about. The recent rainy weather broke a hole in the roof, and while it didn't cause much damage, anything under the hole is likely drenched. He isn't sure what could be in the wet boxes, but he's going to check and see what the damage is and probably fix that hole in the roof.

As he searches around for the chain to turn on the lights, he accidentally trips over a box in front of him. Lynn Sr. groans, "I'm okay…" he tells himself. He tries to get up, but is scared at the sight of a large shadowy creature lurking behind him.

He tries to run away, but he ends up bumping into a large pile of boxes. The wet cardboard lands on top of him, trapping him under the weight of boxes, "Kids!" he yells. "Rita! Anyone! Help!"

Rita and the kids run up to the attic and find Lynn Sr. trapped under a large pile of wet boxes. Everyone runs to his side, tossing boxes off the pile in order to free him. When the last box is removed, he takes a deep breath to calm himself after his near-death experience.

Lynn Sr. gets up, "Thank you! I don't know what I would have done if I stayed there for one more minute."

Rita pats his back. She's sure that he would have been fine, but she lets him have his moment. She leads him towards the ladder, "Let's go get you some fresh air."

"That sounds like a good idea. Kids, can you clean up this mess?"

The kids look around. All over the ground, there are boxes with their contents littering the floor after they helped their dad. Some of the kids try to talk their parents out of cleaning up, but neither one listens. None of them are happy about giving up a beautiful spring day to clean and after what happened last time, none of them are eager to ditch all at once. They each take a small section of the attic and begin to clear out the boxes.

"Eww!" whines Lola, as she tries to pick up a scarf off the ground. "There's dust everywhere!"

Lana sneezes and giggles when she feels a booger drooping from her nose, "Yeah, and it's awesome!"

The other siblings disagree as they watch their sister move her head back and forth while playing with the dangling booger.

Lori shakes her head to get herself back on track, "Let's do this! The faster we finish, the faster we can go back to actually having fun."

Between eleven kids, it shouldn't be a difficult task, but wanting to clean is a whole other story. Some of the siblings are getting distracted by the contents of the boxes, some are struggling to move them without the cardboard disintegrating, and some aren't even doing a thing.

"Lynn! Stop looking inside the boxes."

"But this one has my rock-climbing helmet. I thought I lost it," she says excitedly as she tries to put on the helmet, which is far too small for her. "I guess it's been a while."

"You think. Lisa!" starts Lori, "what are you doing?"

The younger sister looks up from the blueprints she's drawing up on the dusty floor, "Considering that none of us enjoy partaking in this chore, I have taken it upon myself to design a robot that can clean up this mess."

Leni runs in front of the two, over Lisa's work, while Luan laughs as she chases her with a hairy dust bunny in her hands.

"My blueprints!"

"Oh c'mon! It's just a dust bunny," says Luan as she continues running after her older sister.

Leni doesn't know if she can trust her. It could be a prank, and she is not going to risk dealing with an icky spider. The two sisters continue running around the attic, bumping into their other siblings, and creating a bigger mess.

Lori is about to yell at them to stop, but Leni ends up stopping when she notices her once missing floral pump. Luan, who isn't able to stop herself in time, ends up running into her and they crash into a stack of boxes, creating a big mess all over the floor.

"Seriously, Luan? Did you literally have to make our jobs harder?"

"I saw an opportunity and I dust had to take it," she jokes.

The siblings groan and go back to cleaning the now bigger mess caused by Luan and Leni. Lori looks at her phone, unaware that some of the others are also subtly doing the same. It's almost mid-afternoon and they still have lots of boxes to clean up.

Lola picks up a dusty box and after sneezing in frustration, she kicks the box towards the dark. The other siblings watch as the box rolls into the dark, away from their sight. They all look at one another, all of them silently agree that hiding them in the dark will be the best way to finish and save the rest of their afternoon.

One by one each box was moved, kicked, or thrown into the dark corner. They figured that so long as Mom and Dad didn't come back up or if nothing sounded like it broke, they should be fine. Besides, they all know that none of them will tattle on each other, well maybe Lola, but she's gotten better about that.

"Does it look clean enough?" asks Lori.

The kids look around. With everything pushed into the dark corner, they figure that their parents will be satisfied enough, so they nod their heads.

As they head down the ladder, the siblings complain about how the mess upstairs interfered with their plans. Some are upset at missed appointments at the salon, others complaining about delaying their plans with their friends and then there's Lynn who was laying around bored in the backyard.

With no games going on and her friends busy with other stuff, she was trying to find something to do, but nothing seemed to do the trick.

As Lynn climbs down the stairs, something starts to feel familiar. Then she looks up at the attic and remembers the box of old gear that she once used. Granted, she can't fit into it anymore, but it gives her an idea of what to do today.

"I'm heading to the rock-climbing gym," she tells her siblings.


Lynn knocks on the front door. She doesn't know why she didn't think of this before, if there's anyone that she can hang out with, it's Lucy. With Rocky working nearly every day of the dang day of the week, she's probably lonely without another adult to talk to, plus she probably needs some help with her kids, especially, since they outnumber the couple.

She looks down at Victor in her arms and reminds him of what it's like at Lucy's, "Now this side of the family likes the real spooky stuff, but remember, it's mostly plastic rats, bats, and spiders. Ghosts aren't real, but they insist, so go along with it. And if they offer you a glass of blood, it's usually blood orange, but that's fruit, though we could use a boost of Vitamin C. There's a lot of tourists running around, and I don't want you getting sick when your dad and I take you to the lake. Though I guess we could take you to that private lake of ours, but there's no sand, so you're gonna miss out on that part of the fun, and it is deeper, and you can't swim. Now no son of mine isn't gonna know how to swim, you'll get there, but first we gotta get you walking."

Lynn knocks on the door again, and Rocky opens the door. He isn't expecting company, so having his sister-in-law visit on one of his few days off is a surprise.

"Dang! They actually let you out of the hospital? Well, that's good, 'cause I'm sure that you two could use some help," says Lynn as she walks into the house.

"Hello, Lynn," he says, keeping his eyes on her as she starts to make herself at home. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," she says. "Vic and I thought we'd pop over and see how you guys are doing. It's been a while since we last saw you guys."

Rocky nods his head, "Yeah, I think it was Victor's birthday."

Lynn thinks back. It didn't feel like it was that long ago, but considering how rarely she sees her brother-in-law, it might not be that hard to believe. They're halfway through the summer and Lynn hasn't seen Rocky or her niece and nephews since April.

"Dang, I guess it has been a while."

Victor looks around the house. It's different from what he's used to seeing and he wants to explore the new environment. He leans forward so that he can reach the floor, but he's constantly stopped by his mom's hold on him. He tries again, even adding a few grunts in hopes that he'll be successful in overpowering his mom. Soon, the boy feels himself moving forward, squealing in delight when his hands make contact with the floor.

Lynn chuckles as she lets go of her son, "There you go. Knock yourself out, Shortstop. Just don't go too far."

Rocky notices Victor crawling away from his mom, "Vic looks like he's grown a bit since his birthday."

"Tell me about it," sighs Lynn, "it's like he outgrew his clothes in a week. Nowadays, it's a hassle to keep him from trying to gorge himself on more food."

That has Rocky curious, "Hey Lynn, when Vic was younger, did he have trouble feeding or latching on?"

"Nope. Why?"

He shakes his head, "I thought that maybe this whole excessive eating thing could be something new."

"How does that make sense? Like if he struggled to eat why would he suddenly want to."

"The human body is a weird thing."

"I guess…"

"By the way, when it came to muscle tone-"

"He was fine," she quickly answers. "Is Lucy around? I sorta thought that she would be here."

Well, that didn't go how Rocky envisioned, not that he was sure how he was going to bring up the subject without drawing ire from his sister-in-law. He could have thought it out better, but with how rarely the two see each other, it was either now or never. Although at least he's happy that he got one answer out of Lynn.

The two hear Lucy ask, "Who was at-" she starts, before noticing her nephew passing by her in the hallway.

Lynn turns towards her sister, then briefly notices her son crawling out of the room. She runs after him, "Oh no, you don't. Get back here, Rookie!"

Lucy watches as her nephew quickly crawls away from his mother. It doesn't take long for Lynn to catch him and force him back to the living room, though the couple notice how badly Victor wants to free himself from his mother's grasp.

The younger sister sighs. She notices Lynn making herself comfortable on the couch and she knows that this isn't going to be a short visit. Lucy was hoping to use today to write some poetry, which was hard enough with her four children vying for her attention, as well as Rocky calling out to her occasionally when he needed a bit of help. Now, she has her sister and nephew to entertain, so today is definitely going to be a write-off.

Lucy quietly takes a seat next to her husband and stares at Lynn, who is unaware of her younger sister's stares.


Lynn walks into the climbing gym. It's been a while since she's had a chance to climb, but between school, homework and her other sports commitments, it's hard to find the time. Not to mention, it's not like other sports. She prefers having a team around her, points to score, not just trying to get the best time or climb higher than ever before. However, at least it's something to do, especially after cleaning up some of those boxes from the attic and seeing her old climbing gear.

She walks over to the free climb wall. As she approaches it, she looks up at the top of the wall. It never looks that tall from a distance, but it's definitely hard to ignore how high the wall goes when she's right in front of it.

Either way it doesn't matter - she's conquered walls before, this one isn't going to get the best of her. It may have been a long time since her last climb, but she knows the best way to get to the top while getting the best time.

She takes a deep breath and takes hold of the first foothold to begin her ascension. Soon, the gym grows quiet. Lynn isn't focusing on whatever is going on around her, all she cares about is reaching the top of the wall. It feels that with each hold that she grabs onto, her line of vision grows smaller until all she sees is a few holds above her head.

Lynn places her foot in the foothold and stops to briefly look up. She's almost there, only a few more feet until she reaches the top. She wipes away the sweat from her brow and with a renewed sense of vigor, she continues climbing.

She can see the fluorescent lights hit her as she approaches the top. Her breathing becomes a little more ragged, but she doesn't care - she's almost at the top and nothing is going to stop her, not even herself. It doesn't matter that she's feeling a bit tired, her rock-climbing muscles definitely need the workout, and this is proof of it.

As she grabs the next grip, she feels her foot slip. However, it doesn't register in her brain until she feels the extra weight on her hands. Lynn's heart skips a beat. The sudden slip startles her, but this isn't the first time that it's happened. She looks down to see where she can place her foot, however, her grip starts to give out.

Soon, she can't keep herself up anymore and she starts falling down to the ground. Lynn wonders what could have happened and why she couldn't keep herself up. She'll definitely have to work on her grip strength when she gets home, because there is no way that she's going to be some weakling that can barely hold her own weight after climbing who knows how many feet.

Speaking of that, how far did she end up-


The twins notice their aunt and their cousin from the hallway. Their parents didn't tell them that they were going to come over, and now they're worried that they're going to have to play with Victor. Catherine still hasn't forgiven her cousin when he bit her at the Christmas party and she and her brother are already in charge of their baby brothers, they don't want to have to worry about another baby.

Catherine quietly gestures to her brother to tiptoe out of the room before their parents make them go up to their aunt and cousin and say hi. However, before they are able to turn around they hear Aunt Lynn call out to them.

"Hey, there you are! C'mon, you two, bring it in,"

The two walk over to her to greet her and give her a hug. They're expecting her to hand over Victor so that they can go play with him, but she doesn't do it. Shortly afterwards, the adults go back to talking, and the two think that they can go ahead and leave them alone.

However, before they leave, they notice their cousin squirming around in his mom's arms. Lynn lets him down so that he can crawl around a little, and he ends up going straight to his cousins. The twins take a step back, but their cousin follows them, and it continues until their aunt goes to pick him up.

The twins sigh in relief, thinking that they won't be forced into babysitting duty, but then their aunt lets him down again and Victor crawls in their direction. They try not to engage the boy, and he even crawls past them further into the house. The two figure that Aunt Lynn will run after their cousin when she gets up again, but their dad stops her, then asks them to keep an eye on Victor, so that he can wear himself out.

The two try to argue back, saying that they're already busy with their other brothers, even if Chris is napping and Edward is probably exactly where they last saw him. However, their parents refuse to hear their excuse and their mom suggests taking Victor to their playroom so that he can play.

As the twins drag their feet to the playroom, the two quietly glance at one another. They're both thinking about how their day is ruined since they have to take care of their baby cousin.

Then an idea pops into Catherine's mind, "Mom! Dad! Aunt Lynn! Victor won't play with anything!" she yells out to the grown-ups.

Aunt Lynn said that if he gets too fussy, she'll take him off their hands, so the girl figures that she can try now to salvage her day.

"Try harder," she hears her dad respond.

Arthur snickers at her failed attempt. She should have waited longer, but it isn't a bad idea to try in a few minutes.

After locking the gate and setting Victor down on the floor, the twins stare at their cousin. He may be a year old, but the boy looks like he'd still be boring to play with. A few weeks ago, when they were at his birthday, he barely started crawling, so they can't imagine that he's going to be any more fun than he was then.

"Does he look bigger to you?"

"Still looks smaller than Edward, so does it matter?"

"I guess not. Well it doesn't matter, I could always use someone else to play dolls and practice makeup on."

Arthur shudders at the thought. At one point or another, all three brothers have had to endure putting on makeup for their sister, who 'only wants to practice'. Arthur has made efforts to fight back, but his younger brothers tend to sit around and don't even bother to do so, not that Chris can anyway, but Edward sits around like nothing is happening.

He looks down at Victor. Sure, they aren't brothers, but his little cousin shouldn't have to suffer just because Catherine wants to force them to play dollies with her.

"He doesn't want to wear makeup," complains Arthur, as he picks up Victor to get him away from his sister. "We're gonna go play with cars."

Catherine pulls on Victor's arm, "He can tell me no if he doesn't want to."

"Nuh-uh," says Arthur as he pulls his cousin back from his sister.

Rather than focus all of her energy on their cousin, Catherine approaches him with a knowing smile. Arthur hesitates for a second. He's sure that she wants to give him a makeover now instead of Victor, but he's had enough of his sister trying to get her way.

Arthur steps towards her and stares Catherine in the eye. For years, she was used to him backing down and following her lead, but a boy can only take so many makeovers before he is driven insane. He places his arm around Victor and tugs the infant towards him.

"We're gonna play cars," he repeats.

Catherine tries to pull her cousin away from her brother, "You can play with Edward. I'll play with Victor."

Both kids try to pull in their direction, unaware that Victor begins to squirm in their arms. He doesn't like this feeling and wants the twins to let go of him. He thrashes around a little and smacks them both right in the face. The twins are shocked by the hit and immediately let him go, forcing Victor to fall right to the ground, hitting his head on the hardwood floor.


Lynn slowly opens her eyes. Her body hurts - her back, her head, her legs, but that should be expected. She tries to think of what happened, but she is getting distracted by the sound of the other patrons and the sweat sticking to her pants.

"Dang it, Loud. Rookie mistake!" she says to herself, pounding the floor beside her. She remembers that she beefed the foothold and fell who knows how many feet to the ground.

It's happened before, but usually she's harnessed, and goes down much slower. Of course, she had to be in the mood to free solo and she had to slip and fall. She's climbed these walls harnessed multiple times before without falling, she thought that if she remembered the path that she had then she would have been fine. Of course, she got ahead of herself and tried to make her way up the wall so that she could beat her old record.

It's a simple mistake, but she should be fine.

"Do not tell Mom and Dad," she tells herself.

Her parents have warned her plenty of times not to free solo or do other more dangerous versions of her favorite sports, but like any other idea that pops into her mind, she dives in headfirst and worries about the consequences later. She's gotten some cool experiences out of it, as well as a bunch of broken bones, but she tries not to think about that.

Every time that she breaks a bone, she is bedridden or kept away from playing a 'lighter' sport. She tries to convince her parents that she's fine, but all they tell her is that they don't want her to get worse.

Lynn chuckles, thinking about the time she tried to play baseball with a broken arm. She wasn't bad, but she could barely get the ball to the batter using only her left arm. It took a lot of work to get good, then she strained her muscles too much and her parents forced her to stop.

If you asked her, she would have been fine, except to write, and use utensils, or go to the bathroom, but she's sure that she could have managed.

An employee runs over to Lynn, when she looks at her leg, she gasps, "Oh my goodness! I think I'm gonna," she turns away from Lynn, feeling sick at what she is seeing. She takes a deep breath and looks Lynn straight in the eye, "I'm going to call you an ambulance."

Lynn, who is still laying on the ground, is confused, "Why? I'm fine. It's not like this is the first time I've fallen down or anything."

The employee ignores Lynn and calls out to her coworkers, who begin to keep the crowd of patrons away from her. That confuses Lynn, but she tries not to make much of it. All she needs to do is get up, get back on that wall and that should convince everyone that she's fine.

Lynn tries to stand up, but her leg isn't cooperating with her. She looks over and notices her tibia sticking out through her skin. It takes a second to process what she is seeing and for her brain to realize the immense pain that she is in.


The twins look down, afraid of their mom and aunt's wrath. They didn't mean to drop their cousin, and it was an accident, but now he won't stop crying and their dad is looking at his head to see if he might need to go to the hospital. None of the adults said that, but they've heard from their mom that when she was young, Aunt Lynn would fall and had to go to the emergency room.

"I'm sorry," the twins say.

They've been repeating that since the adults ran into the room. None of them are saying anything to him, but they hear their mom apologizing to their aunt, who isn't answering her. She isn't even looking at the two kids either, focusing her attention on her wailing son.

The twins are sort of relieved that Aunt Lynn isn't looking at them, since they're sort of afraid of what might happen when she does.

Rocky inspects Victor's head. It wasn't a bad drop, especially considering how tall the twins are, but it definitely was a shock to the crying infant.

He moves over some of Victor's hair for Lynn to see, "He's got a bruise, but I don't think that he's going to need anything other than an ice pack and a gentle massage. But I think that he'll be fine in a few days."

Lucy looks at Lynn, wondering what is going on through her head. She remembers her mom and sisters mentioning how protective Lynn could be when it came to Victor. While it looks like she's been stepping back from that, this fall might send her right back into the protective mother role.

"Okay…" says Lynn, as she keeps rocking Victor.

Lucy tries to comfort her sister, "This happened all the time to us. Especially when the twins were little, and I'm sure if Victor is anything like you, he'll be fine before you know it."

Rocky looks over at his wife and sister-in-law, while Lynn focuses on her son, he turns to his kids and asks, "So what happened?" curious to know how Victor fell.

The two start talking over one another, trying to explain their side of the story. From what Rocky and Lucy can understand, Catherine wanted to play makeover with her cousin, the twins fought while holding Victor, who didn't take it well and started thrashing in their arms. He ended up smacking them both in their faces and from the shock, they dropped him onto the floor, assuming that the other was still holding their cousin.

It's a simple accident, but with how Lynn isn't really talking, and how Victor won't stop crying, it's hard to gauge what's really going on through her head.

The twins slowly approach their aunt and apologize one more time. However, when she doesn't say anything, they try again.

Lynn can feel all four of them looking at her and eventually mutters, "It's fine," to get them off her back.

The kids look over at their parents, and Rocky eventually tells them, "Guys, that's enough, you can go play."

The two quietly sit in the corner. Neither one is picking up a toy, and instead are looking down at the floor. Rocky and Lucy are aware that the kids are feeling remorseful for what they did, not that they won't get some sort of punishment later, but Lynn's tone has them wondering what's going on. Rocky isn't sure what to expect, but Lucy has more experience with Lynn's moods.

Lucy looks over at her sister. She understands that Lynn is upset, but it was an accident and being standoffish isn't going to do anyone any good. Before she is able to say anything, Lynn walks out of the room.

Lucy follows after her sister, but she isn't able to catch up with her until they reach the living room. Lynn is sitting on the couch, staring intently at her son. He seems to be okay, but she keeps staring at the back of his head.

Lynn isn't aware of her sister's presence until she takes a seat on the couch, "I know what you're gonna say, and I know it was an accident, but I just wanna be upset for a minute. Is that really such a bad thing?"

Lucy isn't sure how to answer.

"I know that he'll shrug it off, but I'm allowed to be a little worried about Vic getting hurt."

Lucy nods her head. She was the same way with the twins whenever they got hurt, so she understands her sister's frustration, especially when there's nothing she can do aside from wait. She decides to let her sister have her moment, trusting that she isn't going to hold it against her two oldest for this little incident.


Rita looks over at her daughter and sighs. She wishes that this broken bone would be enough for her to learn her lesson, but she knows that it won't be. Over the years, she's broken plenty of bones and each time, she's gotten back up as if the plaster wasn't attached to her body. She only hopes that with age, Lynn will stop this reckless behavior, but that day isn't coming soon enough if you ask Rita.

The doctor walks into the room with x-rays in hand, "How's our little extreme athlete doing?"

Lynn scowls, "I'm not little, John. I've had a growth spurt recently."

Rita looks over at the two. With all of Lynn's injuries, the family has gotten to know the staff on a first name basis. It's not something that Rita would be proud of, but it does help to keep some of the tension down in the room.

"So how many more visits before you guys buy my family a trip to Hawaii?"

The doctor laughs. It's turning into a bit of a running joke with the Louds that their excessive visits to the hospital bring in a lot of extra funding to the hospital. They can't prove it, but there are plenty of new machines after a couple of visits.

"I think you have a few more punches to go, but we do appreciate the new MRI machine."

"Since we bought it, could I give it a try?"

"No," the doctor immediately says. "But let's look at your x-rays instead." He turns on the machine and all three of them look at the images. The doctor turns to his patient, "Well the good thing is that there doesn't appear to be any injury to your head. Now I am curious, how did you end up with an open fracture on your leg?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "Well, I was free climbing at the climbing gym, then I beefed my foothold and fell. That's pretty much all I can tell you."

That doesn't tell the doctor much, although he can assume that Lynn probably fell at a weird angle. He looks over at Rita, she knows what he's going to tell her, they've gone over the do's and don'ts when caring for the kids in casts. However, it still doesn't stop him from trying to explain it to Lynn.

Rita glances over at Lynn, who has a blank look on her face, while the doctor talks to her. She quietly sighs to herself, knowing that her daughter isn't really listening to what she's being told. Maybe it's because she's been told plenty of times in the past, not that it matters, she and her husband are going to be the ones to keep Lynn in line while she's recovering.

After the doctor finishes talking to the two, Rita tells him, "If I have any questions or concerns, I'll let you know."

"Great! Let's go get you the discharge papers so you can head out. Hopefully, the next time I see you, you're here to remove your cast, not put on another."

For most people, that should be a silly warning, but for Lynn it's meant to be taken a little more seriously. In the past, the parents have had to bring their daughter in because she broke another bone while waiting for another injury to heal. It was definitely not a fun conversation for the parents to have, but it made them more vigilant with their rambunctious daughter.

"One time!" argues Lynn, as she follows the doctor out of the room. "It only happened one time, I think…"

Rita follows the two, then turns around, "C'mon, Lynn, we're going. The hospital needs this bed for other patients."

Lynn Sr. mutters as he wakes up, trying to remember where he is, "What…? What're we-" he notices the x-rays the doctor left behind and remembers the sight of the broken bone sticking out of his daughter's leg.

He passes out again, and Rita sighs, "Not again."


The twins watch as the grown-ups leave the playroom. Their parents were pretty nice, but they don't usually get yelled at in front of company, so they're probably waiting until Aunt Lynn leaves. The two look at one another and agree that they have to keep their aunt and cousin around for as long as they can.

Catherine pulls her brother away from the door and whispers to him, "We have to be good and if Aunt Lynn stays until bedtime, then Mom and Dad won't yell at us. But how?"

Arthur shrugs his shoulders, "Are you sure? She looked mad."

That is a concern, but right now she's more worried about her parents than her aunt who can't do anything to her. There's still a long way until bedtime, but she figures that Aunt Lynn will eventually forget about Victor getting hurt and they can possibly get them to stay if they pretend to have lots of fun with their cousin.

"It's fine. Remember, if she leaves, then Mom and Dad are gonna yell at us."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And if we play nice with Victor that might help too."

"What are we supposed to play with a baby?"

She stops to think about it. Edward was sort of like a statue at that age, well, even now he still is, and Chris is too little, so they don't have too much experience playing with kids much younger than themselves. Either way, she figures they can come up with something.

"Get your toys out, stuff that you don't mind Vic playing with."

Arthur does what his sister tells him, but then realizes that his sister is standing there looking at him, "Hey! How come I have to take my toys out? What about you?"

"You offered earlier to let Vic play with your toys. What's the difference now? Besides, he'll like your stuff better."

"He could like your stuff."

"Look, we'll do that if he doesn't like your things, for now just take something out and we'll go from there."

The younger brother angrily mutters to himself. As he looks through his toy chest, he hears his stomach growling. The boy looks around at the toys that he's laid out for his cousin and declares it enough to entertain a one-year-old. He closes his toy chest and walks out towards the kitchen to get something to eat.

Catherine notices her brother leaving the room, "Where are you going?"

Arthur turns around, "To the kitchen, I'm hungry."

"What about our plan to play with Victor?"

"We can do that after lunch, besides, Mom and Dad said that Aunt Lynn's a cook, maybe she can make us something," he says as he continues walking towards the living room.

Catherine isn't sure about that, especially after they dropped their cousin, but she isn't going to stand around pretending that she isn't hungry too.

The two walk into the living room. It seems like everything is okay; Aunt Lynn is talking to their parents, who don't even seem to notice that they're there, and Victor is bouncing around while holding onto the coffee table. With all of them busy, Catherine figures that they could probably get away with sneaking into the kitchen to get a snack, but then her brother blurts out to everyone, "Can Aunt Lynn stay for lunch?"

Before either Rocky or Lucy are able to answer, Lynn agrees.

The parents notice the time and are surprised that it's already mealtime. Rocky pulls out his phone, "I can order us some takeout, if you want."

Lynn picks up Victor and starts walking towards the kitchen, "What? Why are you going to do that?" she asks as she looks in the fridge to see what her sister has, "I can whip something up in a flash, besides, who wants to pay those jacked up prices?"

Lucy tries to stop Lynn, but she already starts placing ingredients on the counter.

"You're all good with spaghetti, right?"

"Yup!" says her nephew, as he takes a seat at the table.

Lucy looks over at her son, who quietly starts sliding under the table to avoid his mom's stares. He can tell that she's not happy about making Aunt Lynn cook, but he's hungry and if she's willing to make food faster than delivery, he's not going to pass up on it.

While Rocky goes to gather the rest of the boys, Lucy heads into the kitchen to help her sister. Catherine takes a seat next to her brother. As they watch their mom and aunt cook, they're almost tempted to get in the way to delay the meal, but it is getting late and they're hungry.

Lynn runs back and forth around the kitchen looking for what she needs, misplacing what she has in her hand, and focusing on the food. Lucy struggles to keep up with her sister. Eventually, she realizes that it's easier to get out of the way and set the table instead. Even with one arm holding Victor, Lynn's still better off than with Lucy helping her.

'And she said that the restaurant was tough?'

"Edward, stop reading. It's time for lunch."

Lynn turns towards her sister, "The kid can read? Isn't he like two or something?"

Lucy nods her head. At first neither parent believed that he actually could read the words on the page, but then they heard him muttering the words to himself one day, and they matched what was on the page.

"Dang, you think he's gonna be a genius like Lisa?"

The younger sister wonders for a second, but then she hears her son bump into the end table. He doesn't react, instead, he takes the opportunity to sit down and continue reading his book. She walks over to Edward and takes the book from him.

The boy blinks for a minute and looks around the living room, confused and wondering how he ended up in the dining room.

"It's time for lunch," Lucy tells him, as she takes his hand and leads him to the dining room table.

Edward looks around and notices his cousin sitting in his little brother's highchair across from him and his aunt running around the kitchen. He has no idea when they arrived or why they're here, though he doesn't care to ask; instead, he looks around for the book that his mom took from him or anything to read.

Lynn starts serving plates for everyone and Lucy takes them to the table. She notices an empty seat, and spots her son walking away from everyone, "Rocky," she calls out, moving her head towards their wandering son.

He quickly runs after Edward, carrying back to his seat. It's a rather frequent problem from what Lucy tells him, but he didn't think that their son wouldn't be able to last a few minutes before wandering off in search of something of a book.

Lucy places a bowl in front of Victor, who starts to scarf down his food, and before Lucy is able to finish serving the rest of the family, he's done eating. He pounds his fists against the tray. The little, empty bowl bounces back and forth, and the boy grunts to get his mom's attention.

"Dang! You're already done?" asks Lynn as she takes the bowl away. However, Victor whines, reaching out for the bowl. "Hold your horses, I'm getting you a refill."

"If Victor gets more, I want more!" complains Arthur.

"Me too! I want more."

"No one is getting more until they finish eating," says Lucy.

The twins take that as a challenge and try scarfing down their meal, but eventually get a case of the hiccups before they are able to get halfway done with their meal. The two try to continue at the same pace, but they can feel their mom staring at them, reminding them to not rush through their meal.

Lynn sets another bowl half a serving of pasta in front of her son, which he happily consumes.

After finishing the second serving, the family looks as Victor keeps trying to reach out for more pasta. He's already had his serving, and even another half serving on top of that, but he's still craving more. Lucy looks over at her husband, wondering if he's seeing what she's seeing. They noticed it at his birthday party, but they didn't think much of it since it was mostly sugary snacks. Now, it's getting hard to ignore.

Rocky looks over at Lucy. She's mentioned that Lynn was always a big eater when they were kids, and even as an adult whenever they go for their Saturday morning breakfasts, so it is possible that Victor got that from her. However, at his size and age, he doesn't recommend it.

When Lynn gets another serving ready, Rocky decides to say something before she places the bowl in front of him.

"Are you sure you want to give Vic another bowl? Aren't you worried he might get sick?"

Lynn sits down in front of her son, "I was, but this kid can keep his food down. I mean, he gets a little sick from warm tomatoes, but Francisco and I have fed him a normal serving and he'll still be begging for more, so we just give him some more until we think he's had enough."

Lucy asks, "Doesn't that strike you as weird?"

Lynn shakes her head, "Yeah, I mean, I ate tomatoes and tomato sauces when I was pregnant with him, and it seems like they aggravate his stomach. Trust me, you don't want to be the one changing his diaper after he eats 'em."

That wasn't what Lucy was referring to, "No, I meant, eating as much food as he does without getting sick. Isn't that weird to you?"

"Well yeah, but we're not exactly worried about his eating compared to the whole not walking or talking thing."

That's also a bit concerning. However, after seeing that she doesn't seem too overly concerned, they figure that Lynn and Francisco have brought up the concerns to his doctor and they've likely been reassured that their son will be fine.

Regardless, it is strange to see a baby eat more than the other kids around him. The twins finish up their serving and despite their earlier desires for extra food, they decide that they'd rather go play.

As Lucy and Rocky start cleaning up after their children, Lynn gets Victor cleaned up, "I guess, we should get going."

"Well, it was nice-"

Catherine offers, "We can take him. He's lotsa fun."

Arthur looks at his sister, wondering what is going on through her head. They already got in trouble once and he does not want to risk it happening again. Hopefully, either his parents or aunt will say no.

Lynn is hesitant this time to hand him over. She'd rather get Victor home for a nap, but she will admit that she doesn't mind spending a little time with Lucy and Rocky. After noticing that Victor is reaching out for his cousins and noticing her niece's pleading eyes, she decides to let Victor out of her sight, "Just be careful with him."

Cat takes her cousin in her arms and agrees to look out for him before running off with her younger brothers. Once they get in the playroom, Edward walks over to his bookshelf and picks up a book, while Art watches his sister set Victor down on a foam mat.

Catherine happily turns towards her cousin, "Okay, now you can play, and Aunt Lynn can stay longer. Art give him something to play with."

Arthur whines, "Why does it have to be my stuff?"

"Because your stuff is already out."

The boy angrily mutters and places some toys near his cousin. Victor doesn't seem too interested, until he notices a car near him. He moves it back and forth, but a short minute later, he tosses it away. He repeats the process, waiting for one of the older kids to bring the toy back to him so that he can throw it again, but his cousins never bring the toys back to him.

"See, he's having fun," Cat assures him, while dodging the action figure thrown near her.

"He's making a mess!"

"It's fine."

Victor throws a squishy ball at his cousin's face and Catherine takes a deep breath. She quickly turns her head towards the laughing baby. She can't believe that she felt bad about dropping him earlier. Now she wishes that they didn't try to keep him and Aunt Lynn around longer. Victor is about to pick up another toy, but before he is able to grasp it, Catherine takes it from him, upsetting the boy.

Cat crosses her arms, "Don't start crying. You deserve it for throwing toys at me."

Tears start to form in Victor's eyes, and soon, the boy starts crying. Despite the wails of her cousin, Cat refuses to give him back the toy; he'll quiet down eventually. He has to learn that he can't go around hurting people and now is as good a time as ever. However, Victor doesn't stop and that starts worrying the twins.

Cat offers him the toy, but Victor refuses it and she picks him up to rock him, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

"Get him quiet. If he cries too loud, Aunt Lynn'll take him, and we get into even more trouble."

"I'm trying," Cat snaps at her brother, "What do you think I'm doing?! Why does he have to be such a crybaby?"

"He's a baby, isn't that what they do?"

"Edward didn't."

"He's weird, look!"

The twins look at their brother. Whenever Edward buries his nose in a book, he doesn't tend to pay attention to anything other than the words and pictures in front of him. Heck, they're pretty sure that if the house was on fire, he probably wouldn't notice either.

Edward raises his hand; his usual sign for 'no interruptions'. Cat is getting annoyed with all the boys and is almost ready to steal that book from her brother, but eventually the crying gets to him, and he sets the book down.

Edward turns his head and notices his brother, sister, and crying cousin, and asks, "Why's Vic crying?"

"Because Cat stole his toy."

"Yeah, well he was crying earlier because Art dropped him."

"You dropped him."

"You dropped him first."

"Only 'cause you were gonna play makeover with him."

The two eventually notice that during their squabbling, Edward has gone back to staring at another book. Catherine takes the book from her younger brother, and he glares at her, upset that she interrupted his reading.

"Hey!" he complains, as he attempts to reach for his book. "That's mine!"

Arthur looks over at his sister. She can't help herself sometimes to mess with them, "That's why we're gonna get in trouble - 'cause of you."

Catherine looks back at her brother, "At least I'm thinking of something, instead of just sitting around blaming others."

"At least I didn't throw a tantrum over a fake bruise that isn't going to appear."

"Yeah, meanwhile, I'm the only to have an idea about what to do about the real one on Victor's head," she sets her cousin down and glares at her twin brother, who is also glaring back at her. It's the start of a classic Spokes twin fight.

"Bruise?" Edward asks himself. He looks up at his sister. Her hair looks a little messier, but not much more than usual.

Edward walks over to his little cousin, who is starting to quiet down, to see what his siblings are talking about. Maybe it's because of all the black hair, but he doesn't see a bruise. He leans in closer, but nothing. Then he decides to press his hand on Victor's head. The siblings see what their little brother is about to do, but before they reach him to stop him, he presses down on the back of Victor's head.

They stop in their tracks when they notice that Victor isn't reacting. The twins walk over and attempt to poke their younger cousin where he fell, and like Edward, Victor isn't crying or anything. They figure that it probably isn't as bad as it was when he first fell, but it should still hurt, they think.

Rocky walks into the room to check on the crying when he spots his children poking their cousin, "What are you doing?"

The three kids are startled, frozen as they look at their dad staring at them from the door. Edward has his finger right on Victor's head, but regardless won't let go.

"Dad, Victor's bruise is gone."

"See! He didn't hurt himself."

Rocky doesn't believe his kids. He walks over to Victor and picks him up. He moves some hair out of the way and is surprised that there isn't a bruise on Victor's head. His skin isn't yellowing, there's no tenderness to the tissue, and he's not even reacting either to the touch.

"That's weird."

He knows that he saw a bruise earlier. He touched it and Victor cried because of it too, but now it's as though it was never there. Like his kids, Rocky becomes a little curious and touches where the bruise once was, but Victor remains silent.

Catherine looks up and asks, "Were you seeing things, Daddy?"

"No, there was a bruise."

"So, where'd it go?"

"I don't know…"

He can't explain it. Bruises don't magically heal after an hour; it should still be there. Victor should still feel it, and he should be reacting. Instead, he's trying to swat at them after having four people touch his head.

Rocky continues to observe the spot where the bruise was and tries to think of an explanation, but nothing comes to mind. Sure, there are ways to get rid of bruises quickly, but unless the one-year-old got a hold of medications and ice, there's no way that the bruise should be gone.

Soon, he hears his wife's calls, and he remembers why he came in, "Say goodbye to your cousin, kids."

Cat quickly asks, "What? Why?"

"Your aunt has to go home."

"Victor can stay, we can have a sleepover," she suggests.

Art looks at his sister wondering if she's gone crazy. One minute, she was mad about Victor throwing a ball at her, now she wants him to stay. Granted, he doesn't want to get in trouble either, but he'd rather take the loss and be done with their cousin for the day.

"No, you can't have a sleepover with Victor," Rocky responds.

Cat doesn't accept that, "Why not? Why not? Why not?" she whines.

"Because he has to go home, his home, with his family," argues Rocky as he walks the boy back to his mother.

"That's not a good reason."

Lynn is quickly handed Victor. Her niece tries to plead with her aunt to let him stay longer, but Rocky won't have it anymore. He knows what she's up to, but enough is enough, she can't keep Lynn and Victor around just because she doesn't want to get in trouble. He places her over his shoulders and carries her away.

Lucy watches as Cat tries to fight off her dad, but she isn't able to overpower him. Both women look at one another, but don't say anything about the sight, knowing that the girl was up to something if Rocky had to resort to carrying her away from them.

The sisters walk out to the driveway. Lucy watches as Lynn straps Victor into his car seat. "Sorry about today."

"What? Why? I'm the one who barged in unexpectedly."

Lucy is confused, almost wondering if her sister actually forgot about what happened earlier today, "You can be upset for a little longer if you want." She was actually surprised that she was serious about being upset for a minute. "I know they apologized plenty of times…"

Lynn stops listening to her sister. She sighs as she buckles Victor into his seat, unaware that she's tightening the straps around him. She wants to put the incident behind her, so she tries to change the subject, "It's fine…besides, it happens when you have a buncha little kids," she says as gently as she can.

Lucy nods her head. She recalls plenty of times in their childhoods where they've caused mishaps like these to one another. Of course, looking at it as a child and as a parent are two different things. She's sure that if their parents knew about every little thing all the time, their parents might have become as overly cautious as the McBrides.

"It can be pretty difficult, especially since Rocky is always working."

"Doesn't help that you're outnumbered and trying to work from home."

"I don't know how Mom and Dad did it."

"Right…you know, if you ever want another adult to talk to, or a helping hand with the kids or with something, I can swing by. Plus, it'll be good for Vic to hang around with kids instead of just adults."

Lucy appreciates the offer. She didn't think that she would have offered so easily after today, but she isn't going to say no to her sister's offer. Besides, one bad day isn't the end of the world, there will be plenty of times that their children will be around one another and they'll have a fine time together.

She looks over at her older sister, "That'd be nice…you know, the twins wanted to try their hand at little league, would you mind helping me out during their game in a few weeks?"

Without hesitation, Lynn nods her head, "Yeah, no problem."


Lynn and Francisco walk around the store. The idea of being in a near-empty sporting goods store, should be fun for the two, but after two hours, it's lost its appeal. Regardless, they're stuck waiting around, so that the family can go for a late dinner.

"What time is it?" asks Lynn.

Francisco looks down at his watch, "Nine-twenty."

She sighs, "This whole thing should have been over twenty minutes ago, instead, we're still waiting. You know this wouldn't be a problem if someone didn't give him that little speech years ago," she teases.

"Little speech? It was a small suggestion at best, besides look," he says, pointing towards the crowd of people lined up and the smile on their son's face.

Lynn smiles, "Why does he have to have your goofy smile?"

Francisco flashes her with that so-called goofy smile.

"I'm gonna go see how he's doing. I'll be back soon."

"Fine, I'll be here alone with the staff."

Victor sees his mom approaching him. He knows that she's hungry, he is too, but there aren't many people left getting autographs, so he figures that she can wait, "One more person then we can go."

Lynn pats his shoulder, "I know, but just in case, I'm sticking with you now."

The store employees are getting ready to close up and usher the last couple of people out of the store. They're all happy to get their autographs and post their photos online, and she doesn't blame them, she's done the exact same thing before. However, that does mean that they aren't leaving the store as they stand around, likely driving the employees nuts.

Victor looks over at the young woman in front of him. Despite her smile and her soft stance with her hands behind her back, he feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Regardless, he chooses to remain silent. She pulls out something from her purse, then suddenly, the world goes silent. It didn't matter that there were people running and screaming, all that matters is the body on the floor trying to inch away from the woman, who is being apprehended by security.

She doesn't even put up a fight.

Before everything goes dark, he looks at his mom, who is looking back at him with a soft smile on her face.

"You're going to be okay…"


Merry belated Christmas and an early Happy New Year

Boy the days pass by too quickly. It doesn't feel like the year would be almost over, but it has passed by faster than anticipated. I'm glad I was able to get this chapter out for you guys to enjoy during your time assuming you're not like me who still has to go to work. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the bit of attention placed on Lucy's kids. Unlike The Champ, I'm hoping to use the extended family a little more to flesh out our main family's life, so there will be chapters where Lynn and Francisco will be used more sparingly in favor of the others.

Anyway, I'm rambling, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you next time.