It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Royal Woods. The sky was a brilliant blue, the grass shimmered with dew, and the Loud house stood tall and bustling as always. Inside, chaos brewed—a standard weekend for the Loud family.

From one of the bedrooms came a high-pitched wail that echoed through the halls.

"LINCOLN! Where are you!?" screamed Lola Loud, her voice piercing enough to rival a fire alarm. "You promised to come to my tea party!"

Lincoln, the only boy among the ten siblings, dashed into Lola and Lana's shared room, skidding to a stop by the miniature tea table. "I'm here, Lola! No need to worry!" he said, taking a seat and picking up one of the dainty toy teacups.

But as soon as he looked up, he noticed Lola glaring at him, her expression one of sheer disgust. "What's wrong, Lo—"

"WHERE ARE THE COOKIES!?" she shrieked, her voice reaching a new octave.

Lincoln bolted upright. "Sorry, Lola! I'll get them now!" he stammered, sprinting out the door and heading downstairs toward the kitchen.

As he rifled through the pantry for the box of cookies, another voice called out to him.
"Lincoln! Where are you?" Lana yelled from the backyard.

Sticking his head out of the pantry, Lincoln replied, "In the kitchen, Lana! What's up?"

"Why are you in the kitchen? You promised to help me upgrade my bike today!"

Groaning, Lincoln abandoned his cookie quest and ran outside. "I'm coming now!" he shouted. Minutes later, he was holding up Lana's bike as she replaced the chains. Just when he thought things were under control, a familiar shriek pierced the air.

"LINCOLN! WHERE ARE THOSE COOKIES!?"

Lincoln sighed, setting the bike down. "Sorry, Lana! I'll be back in a few minutes!" He raced back into the house, grabbed the cookies, and headed upstairs.

But before he could reach Lola's room, another figure emerged from the shadows.

"Lincoln," said Lucy in her usual eerie monotone.

"Ah!" Lincoln yelped, startled.

Lucy's expression shifted—slightly. "I need your help with a poem. It's an absolute emergency."

"Lucy, can this wait? I have to—"

"No, it can't," she insisted.

Resigned, Lincoln followed her to her room. "Let's make this quick," he muttered.

What followed was a relentless montage of Lincoln running between Lucy's poetry crisis, Lola's tea party demands, and Lana's bike project. Snacks were delivered, chains were adjusted, and verses were reviewed. Up and down the stairs he went, his energy draining with every step. By the time he collapsed on the living room floor, he was a panting, sweaty mess.

Lifting his head, Lincoln addressed an unseen audience. "Ever wonder what it's like to have younger siblings? They're great to have around, but sometimes they can be... a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love my little sisters, but with Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn out today, it's just me holding down the fort. And Mom and Dad? They're off with Lily at that new baby amusement park. So, yeah, it's just me taking care of Lola, Lana, Lucy, and Lisa. Normally, I do okay, but today... well, today's been rough."

Before he could say more, Lisa's voice rang out from her lab.

"Elder brother! I'm hungry! Can you make me a PB sandwich?"

Lincoln groaned. "Sure, Lisa! Just give me a few minutes!" He got up and trudged toward the kitchen, mumbling to himself, "You can pretty much see what I'm dealing with."

Five minutes later, sandwich in hand, Lincoln stumbled into Lisa's lab. He was so tired he could barely stand. "Here's... pant... your sandwich... pant... Lisa," he gasped.

Lisa inspected it critically. "What took you so long? Your usual efficiency is lacking. Hmm. Perhaps my watch is malfunctioning."

Before Lincoln could respond, a deafening chorus erupted from the hall.

"LINCOLN!"

Lola, Lana, and Lucy burst into the room, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of complaints.

"How long does it take to bring cookies?!" Lola shouted.

"This poem is a disaster!" Lucy added.

"My bike's ruined thanks to you!" Lana wailed.

"And you didn't cut the crusts off my sandwich," Lisa declared, taking a bite.

Lincoln couldn't take it anymore. "ENOUGH!" he roared, his voice silencing his sisters.

But the quiet didn't last long. Lisa's machine began to beep ominously.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Lisa's eyes widened. "It's going to blow!"

Panic erupted as the machine's alarm grew louder.

"There's no time!" Lisa cried.

Thinking quickly, Lincoln herded his sisters into a corner and shielded them with his body. "Stay behind me!" he commanded.

"Beep! Beep! BEEP!"

"KABOOM!"

The explosion was small, but it sent a strange liquid splattering all over Lincoln. Drenched and bewildered, he turned to Lisa.

"Lisa, what was in that tube?"

Lisa picked up a shard of glass and read the label. Her face turned pale. "Lincoln... you're covered in my youth potion."

"Your what—" Before Lincoln could finish, a bright glow enveloped him. His sisters shielded their eyes. When the light faded, Lincoln was gone.

In his place sat a baby boy with white hair, giggling in a pile of oversized clothes.

Lucy stared in shock. "Is that... Lincoln?"

Lisa groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Oh no."

Baby Lincoln clapped his tiny hands. "Goo. Tee-hee."

Lana's eyes widened in confusion and concern as she pointed at the tiny white-haired baby sitting in a pile of oversized clothes. "Lisa! What have you done to Lincoln?!" she demanded.

Lucy, standing nearby, added in her signature monotone but with an unusual edge of urgency, "And why is he a baby?"

Lisa adjusted her glasses with a huff, her calm demeanor slightly strained. "If everyone could just calm down, I'll explain what we're seeing at this very moment."

Lola, meanwhile, was still staring at baby Lincoln with wide, sparkling eyes. She clasped her hands together. "Well, there's definitely one thing you don't need to explain to me!" she said, her voice high-pitched with excitement.

Lisa turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, would that be, Lola?"

"HE'S SO CUTE AND ADORABLE!" Lola squealed, practically bouncing on the spot.

Lisa's expression turned faintly exasperated. "Um… okay… Anyway. Have any of you ever heard of the Fountain of Youth?"

Lana tilted her head, confusion etched on her face. "What's the Fountain of Youth?"

Lucy answered, her tone low and eerie as always. "It's a legendary fountain, said to have magical water that makes anyone who drinks it young again."

"Oh," Lana said, her brow furrowing further. "But what does that have to do with Lincoln?"

Lisa produced a remote from her pocket and pressed a button. A white screen descended from the ceiling, and a projector rose from the floor, clicking on to display a film. The footage showed Lisa in her lab, meticulously working with chemicals.

"Allow me to enlighten you," Lisa began, narrating as the film played. "For the past few weeks, I've been conducting extensive research to create the perfect formula that could keep humans—and all life as we know it—young forever."

The film shifted to a scene where Lisa tested a potion on an old lab rat. As the rat drank the potion, it began to glow. Moments later, the glow faded, revealing a tiny baby rat in its place.

"As of yesterday," Lisa continued, "I, Lisa Loud, became the first scientist to create a functional youth potion. Unfortunately…"

The footage cut to hours later, showing the baby rat glowing again. When the light subsided, the rat had returned to its original age.

"As you can see," Lisa explained, "the effects of the potion are temporary. After this test, I decided to take a break from the youth potion and work on other projects."

The film ended with Lisa tinkering with the machine that had exploded earlier. She pressed another button, and the projector disappeared into the floor as the screen retracted into the ceiling.

Lucy turned to Lisa. "So how long will Lincoln stay a baby?"

Lisa took out a calculator and began tapping on it furiously. "Let's see… factoring in the experiment with the rat and the amount of potion Lincoln was exposed to…" She paused, her eyes narrowing at the screen. "According to my calculations, Lincoln should revert to his original age by 5:35 p.m. That's well before Mom, Dad, and the rest of the family come home tonight."

Lola, now holding Lincoln in her arms, cooed at the giggling baby. "So, when will they all be home tonight?" she asked.

Lisa adjusted her glasses. "From what I overheard, Lynn and Lori have team celebrations after their games, and the rest of the family plans to stay out late. Mom and Dad expect heavy traffic coming back from the baby amusement park, so they won't be home with Lily until at least 7:30."

Lana crossed her arms. "So… who's going to take care of Lincoln until then?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "The more pressing question is… who's going to take care of baby Lincoln?"

Lisa nodded. "A valid concern."

Lola, now beaming as she carried Lincoln to Lily's changing table, shrugged. "Come on, you guys. We can totally handle this. We've watched Lily before, and it was easy. Taking care of Lincoln will be a piece of cake." She tickled Lincoln's belly, eliciting a series of delighted giggles. "Isn't that right, Linky?"

Lincoln responded with a bubbly, "Ha-ha-ha!"

Lisa sighed. "Well, I can't argue with that logic."

Lucy gave a small nod. "Neither can I."

Lana grinned. "I'm in!"

Lucy raised her hand. "Me too."

Lisa hesitated for a moment before raising her hand. "I'm in as well."

Lola clapped her hands together. "Great! Don't worry, little brother," she said, rubbing Lincoln's soft white hair. "Your new big sisters are going to take good care of you."

Lucy glanced at the others. "We should discuss who'll watch Lincoln first."

Lisa nodded. "Agreed. To keep things fair, we'll take turns watching him, one hour each. That way, we'll all have time for our regular activities." She gestured toward the lab. "I need to clean up and rebuild my machine."

Lana chimed in, "I have to finish upgrading my bike."

Lucy held up a sheet of paper. "And I still need to finish my poem."

Lola grinned as she cradled Lincoln. "Guess that means I'll take the first shift! We're going to have so much fun, aren't we, Linky?" She tickled him again, and Lincoln erupted into another fit of laughter.

The four sisters couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Aww!" they chorused.