At breakfast, thanks to his musical sister's antics, Lori was clinging to him while glaring at her. This combination of actions caused Ronnie Anne to glare at him. She knew. He knew she knew. But he had a tactic for situations like this, ignore it and hopefully it would go away. He felt like talking about it would definitely only make it worse at this point.

"So Lori, how's my brother?" Ronnie interjected, "You know, the one you're married to?"

Was it hot in here?

"He's good, he wanted to come down and see you but he had someone quit at the bodega last week. The expansion's really been working him to death," Lori looked off to the side happily, "Boo-Boo Bear is such a hard worker."

"Yeah," she narrowed her eyes, "Sorta like Lincoln, huh?"

"Well, when he was working," she leaned her head on his shoulder, "But he does great at the whole house husband thing."

"Yeah," Ronnie got close to him, "The real house husband of Detroit."

It was definitely hot in here.

Thankfully he made it through breakfast without bursting into flames, or Ronnie's glare burning a hole directly through his skull, and saw Lori off with a hug, and a sneaky kiss, as did Loan, minus the kiss. Lincoln smiled seeing is oldest daughter getting along with her mother.

"One month," Lori reminded him as she walked out the door, "Keep that stamina up, little bro."

"Gross," Loan gagged.

"Says the girl who tricked her younger brother into letting her feel him up with a massage," Lincoln reminded.

Loan blushed when he reminded her of her mother and him barging in to a half naked BJ getting his calves rubbed, "I told you... he said he hurt himself playing soccer with Reina."

"Yeah, and you were drooling, because?" he crossed his arms and leaned on the doorway.

She averted her eyes from her father, "I-I'm g-g-going back up to my room."

Up the stairway, two spies were watching the departure from behind the doorway. The bigger of the two picked the little one up and hid within the closet behind the stair change, waiting for the eldest sister to pass. When she had left, they too ran up the stairs to their unit, skipping a stair at a time, the youngest of the three siblings watching their mother from the doorway.

"She gone?" Bed asked her two siblings as they approached her.

"Yep, left on time as planned," Lyle noted, Liena nodding behind him.

"Good," Bed sighed as her head turned to her adoptive mother in her room, "Any longer and I'm afraid mom would've lost it."

Lyle peaked in to see Leni, his mother, where he had left her, face down in an orange polo that she had sewed herself... sighing longingly, "Lincy..."

All three siblings looked at each other... until Lyle realized his sisters were staring at him and sighed, "All right... fine... I'll tell her."

He entered the room causing his mother to look up, "Lyle!" she excitedly giggled as she rushed to him and embraced him, "How's mommy's beautiful boy?"

He felt his back pop as she picked him up, it astounded him how strong a woman so slight could be, "Mother! You're hurting me!" he coughed.

"Oh!" she eased up a little, "Sorry baby... I guess I'm just... a little starved for affect-"

"Aunt Lori's gone home," Lyle interjected causing her to freeze, "Dad's alone right now."

She looked around and put her finger to her mouth, "Are... are you sure?"

he nodded, "I came up here directly..."

"I... I just remembered... I have... this thing... I have... oh dang it," she sighed as she embraced her son again, "Thank you..."

He smiled a rare, warm smile from the usual cold, analytical front he puts up, and responded with a warm, "Anything for you, mother."

Leni turned her head in time to notice her daughters in the door, and quickly moved to them. She planted a kiss on both Liena and Bed's head as she rushed past. She was a simple girl, but not simple enough to recognize her kids recognizing her. She hadn't exactly made her emotions secret, she was bad at doing so after all. Her designs over the past few days had drifted from a periwinkle that she was obsessed with over the past month to a light orange, the color her brother had always wore due to her influence. Eventually she couldn't stop from making the replica of his shirt that she was laying on, an obvious sign that she was going through her own form of withdrawal. She knew her children were smart, much smarter than her, something they got from their father she was certain, so she knew eventually that they'd recognize the signs. Had she expected them to do something about it? No. But was she happy that they had? Immeasurably.

She loved her children more than anything, but even she, like her sisters, was greedy. She didn't have a vicious bone in her body... but she did have several jealous ones. She was the second born of 11 kids, after all. She was doted on by her older sister, but looked past by all her younger siblings. Especially him... or so she thought. She had her eldest in her arms currently, the second youngest of her brother's children overall... but the first he had as a real daughter... the first he got to raise... but once again, while Lori was there, she felt looked past. She didn't hold it against him. They had, after all, only recently reconnected, so it went without saying that when she was there Lincoln was going to exclusively focus on her... but it didn't stop her from feeling... neglected... as neglected as all her other sisters did. But it was more than that. As the second born sister, she felt like she was losing something to Lori again. Looking at Liena... looking at Lyle... even looking at Bed... she knew she couldn't be mad at him. Her love for them was and expansion of her love for him, after all. An unconditional love reserved for the people closest to her, including her other sisters. But that didn't stop her from wishing a selfish wish every so often. The wish that she could monopolize him.

She hadn't even realized she had begun sprinting down the stairs, wanting to be the first to seize him. Her other sisters grossly underestimated her quite often, seeing her as a variable more than an actual problem... but sometimes she asserted her dominance... times like this. She stood in the hall behind the object of her affection, currently wasting time on daytime gameshows. A familiar orange hue graced her eyes, causing her to react before she thought as she often did. Her embrace caused him to smile as she rubbed her face into the back of his shirt, taking in his scent as she did... the one thing she couldn't weave into her work.

"Morning Leni," Lincoln greeted as he leaned back into her, wrapping her in his right arm.

"Lincy... are you busy?"

"Never too busy for you, Len," he answered aw he rubbed his cheek against her.

She smiled at this, "Then... can we spend time together... just me and you?"

She felt him nod and she took this as an okay to climb over him and mount him, laying her head on his chest as her legs wrapped around him, "Leni, it's Sunday, the kids are still around!"

"So?" she asked as she rubbed her face into his chest, "we're clothed... I just... Lincy... I'm bad."

He ran his hands through her blond hair, "Leni, you couldn't ever be bad," he stood up holding her against him, "Come on... let's go back to your room."

Leni smiled as she clung on to her brother... he was so trusting... so pure... so wrong.

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Lincoln had noticed something new about his second oldest sister over the past few weeks. She had become more possessive, more, 'aggressive'... more emotional. She used to only ask for sex every once in a blue moon, but now she was asking for it every night they spent together. She would ask him to be on top, lock her legs around him, and force him to finish deep inside of her. The reason, though, was obvious. Every picture Lori sent, every video of Loan happily cooing at her mother, every selfie Lori sent snuggling against the baby stoked 3 flames in her.

The first was the most obvious, general jealousy. Leni wasn't immune to it, nobody is, and while she didn't have a mean bone in her body, she still felt a deep knot in her stomach every time she saw the joy and love in her sister's eyes towards her niece. She wanted that too. She craved it. And, not only did Lori have it, she had it with the boy that she had come to love. Ever since that conversation months and months ago she had began noticing all of the sweet things Lincoln did for her. All the times he protected her. All the meaningless moments they wasted together. She was feeling emotions she hadn't felt prior. She was starting to understand what her father meant all those years ago.

The second was a little more subtle. A fear that the reason she wasn't a mother yet was her fault. The fear that something was wrong with her. She had made her concerns known withing the group, along with her want to go to Lisa for help, but she was stopped by Lynn, Luna, and Luan every time. Lucy was on her side, but refused to say why. So she was left to fear, to worry, to wonder. Her fears were quickly alleviated when he was near though. A gentle back rub, a few kind words, occasional light kisses on the back of her neck, and unexplainably she's wanting to try again... and again... and again if necessary. Leni was a simple girl full of complicated feelings.

Finally the third was anger. Leni wasn't an aggressive person unless it came to her siblings. She was more likely to be mad on behalf of one of them than on behalf of herself. And from where she was sitting, she had a lot of reasons to be mad. Lincoln, in her eyes, would be the perfect father. She saw it every time he looked at a picture of Loan. Every time she'd show him a video of her eating or playing that Lori sent her, thinking she wouldn't share it with him. Even every time he played with Lily. He would sit her in his lap, watch her draw, give her pointers, and try to guess what it was she was drawing to mixed results.

"That's an interesting looking dog."

"It's a bird, you dork!" Lily laughed.

"Oh, so it is!" he chuckled nervously.

Leni couldn't help but smile on the couch, watching him play with the youngest Loud sibling, "Lincy?"

"Yes Leni?"

"Are you... upset?"

He tilted his head, "No, why?"

"No... not right now... I mean... the whole Lori not bringing Loan to meet y... I mean us."

"I am!" Lily crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks, "It's not fair that Lori won't bring baby Loan to play with me..."

Lincoln smiled and ran his hand through Lily's hair, Leni could see the sadness behind his smile, "I'm sure you'll get to one day Lils... But I'm not."

Leni tilted her head, "Lincoln... why are you lying to me?"

Lincoln looked up at her, never once losing the smile, "I'm not though. Lori and Bobby are trying to set their life up out in Great Lakes. If that means we don't get to see Loan for a while... we have to respect that."

"It's still dumb," Lily grumbled.

Lincoln laughed, "Don't worry Lily, you'll understand one day. Life is difficult. Sometimes people have to make difficult decisions for the ones they love. That doesn't mean Lori doesn't want to see you guys."

"Okay," she finally sighed as she went back to drawing her bird.

But this didn't satisfy Leni, "What about you?"

Lincoln looked away and sighed, "Leni... I want what makes my sisters happy."

Leni didn't say anything after this, just curled up in a ball on the couch, watching Lincoln play with Lily. She knew she couldn't replace Loan, nor did she want to. Loan hadn't done anything to Lincoln... she didn't deserve Leni's ire. She wasn't even certain if Lori did. Leni knew she'd never make it right... but she wanted to make it better. She would give Lincoln the baby he deserved to raise... no matter what. But she had to hurry. She had to be next... not any of the others. She had believed in Lori as much as much as she did the rest of her sisters, but Lori had abandoned them, abandoned Lincoln, after getting what she had wanted. No. No one but her could make him happy.

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She had him to herself, once again. She was laying face down in his chest, taking in everything. The orange polo she had sewed to lay her head on was now replaced with the real thing. She took in his scent, the softness of his chest, the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat as she lay on him. Outside the door their children peeked in, happy with their success... and one in particular with his plotting. Lyle was only as intelligent as he was usually apathetic, as in the opposite of empathetic. He was generally bad with emotions and how to react to them, but he was excellent at recognizing patterns. He also wasn't emotionless himself, being his mother's child, and deeply felt love for his family, so seeing his mother in the shape she was had stirred him in a way that made him uncomfortable. It was obvious what she was craving, so he knew he had to be fast to help her. Coordination with his sisters was paramount. One to keep an eye on their mother, as she had a habit of wandering and getting lost when she was depressed, which was an obvious task for their adoptive sibling who was excellent at minding their mother, and Liena would be his lookout as the second quietest member of their house, behind Aunt Lucy, and the third strongest, behind their mother and Aunt Lynn, so she could pull him out of the way if one of their aunts or siblings took notice of them sulking around.

It had to be the moment Aunt Lori left, because if one of their Aunts was waiting for their chance too, it would only be a second or two before he was incapacitated. Thankfully due to his long legs he could run nearly as fast as Lacy when he needed to. The rest fell into place. None of his aunts seemed to bother when his mother was with him, seemingly unable to break the good natured woman's heart. Lyle looked up at his elder sister who was smiling, then down to his younger adoptive sibling who was doing the same, and he too cracked a rare smile.

"Well," he whispered, "I think we should give them some alone ti-" He was cut off by both of his sisters wrapping their arms around him, "Um..."

Bed looked up to him, a pleased look on his face, "You did good, big brother."

He cocked his eyebrow and pushed lightly against her shoulders, "T-Thank you? Y-You two know I don't do PDA!"

"Deal with it," Liena demanded in a light whisper as she wrapped her arms around him tighter and kissed his cheek causing his face to flush, "You're a good brother, Lyle."

"L-Liena!" Bed repeated the action, "Quit it you two!"

"Let's drag him into the living room and force him to accept affection!" Bed offered and Liena nodded.

"C-Come on, guys! Not funny!" He began thrashing as Liena hooked her arms under his and began carrying him to the couch, "Damn it!"

Eventually they both wrestled him into submission as Liena had her legs wrapped around his back, holding him in place, running her hand through his hair and cuddling into his head with her cheek, and bed had her arms around his midsection cuddling into his chest. While he tried to remain temperate, the heat in his face progressively rising, he began thinking. He heard his mother say she was bad. How could his mother ever be bad? Jealous and needy, sure, but no where near as much as his other aunts. In a strange situation like his family had it was no surprise she would feel those feelings occasionally. The only thing he could think was it was a perspective thing on his mother's side. Some one who had only ever been self sacrificing their entire life would probably see craving attention as nothingbut greed. But she was human. Part of him felt like, given how much she had done for the whole family, that she deserved the attention more than any one else in the family. He still couldn't figure out one thing.

Why were they all so possessive and doting on his father?

He knew that his Aunts at one time had a system worked out to spend time with him, Liena had told him she remembered a daily schedule back when she was around 5... but she wouldn't tell him what happened afterwards. Just that dad had left for a couple years back when they still thought he was their uncle. His Aunts were all wrecks at this time, especially Lynn and Lucy, and his mother's sleeping issues had begun around then. Some day, when they were alone, he'd have to confront his fa-

"Eh?!" a blow of air in his ear made him scream out as Liena mischievously smiled and stuck out her tongue, "Liena?! What the hell?! What did you do that for?!"

She shushed him as she cuddled back into his head, "It's your fault for being cute."

He heard his little sister giggle at his discomfort, "Why are you two like this..."

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Lincoln and Leni were locked in another round of passion, another fruitless attempt of conceiving a child. Lincoln for his part had noticed the changes that Leni had been going through, and he knew what the point of her new found sexual appetite truly was. He felt like they were lucky, so far, but didn't want her to know it was probably better if she just held on to that hope for her happiness. It had been alright with Lori, after all, so he wondered if lightning would strike twice for the sweetest of his sisters... although he's not certain if she would care how the child came out. He had to admit though, she felt tighter, the faces she was making were more lewd, and the sounds... you couldn't fake those. He was gently sucking on her nipples earning little gasps.

"Lincy..." she moaned as he held her in his arms thrusting wildly into her.

Was this the third time or fourth tonight? Luan was perverse when she was in the mode, Leni was insatiable. He didn't know if she actually had this kind of appetite or if she was gritting her teeth and taking it all for the sake of a pregnancy that, by all accounts, was a terrible idea. But... no... that look on her face wasn't one of discomfort. It wasn't one of forced pleasure either. No, that smile, those eyes, were of pure ecstasy. Thankfully too... he wasn't certain he'd be able to see Leni in pain. But those eyes, looking down at him... it was enough to keep going.

"Oh! Lincy!" She gasped as he picked up his pace.

He felt as she wrapped her legs around him, restricting his moves again. She was cradling his head up against her large, perky breasts while running her hands through his hair. He tightened his grip as his movements became more frantic and feral as he neared his climax. She felt him tense up, felt as he moved his hands to the bed to grip the cover, heard his gasps, then felt the warmth spread through her body once again. It was always about child bearing... until it wasn't. She couldn't explain it, didn't even understand it, but once it started she never wanted it to stop. She wanted these feelings to last forever.

She wrapped her arms around him and lifted his chin so he was looking at her and came to a conclusion with a smile, "It's your fault for being so cute."

It was a two way street, the alleviation the two felt from each other, now even into the future. When Lincoln had a problem or a worry she could almost effortlessly chase them away with her optimism and simple, yet contagious, cheerfulness that warmed his cold soul. Every problem or worry she had seemed pointless when enveloped in his protective and assuring arms. Their embrace was a safety blanket for each other, and so it would remain.

On the other side of the house a young bespectacled girl was running her hand through her messy hair as her other held a pen that she was chewing on as she wrote notes on the scene that had unfurled before her. She had made her decision that after her niece took her first steps and spoke her first words it would be time for phase 2 and she had 3 criteria for the remaining subjects.

1. Not Lucy

In her mind one of her morbid sister running around was bad enough, on a selfish note. On a more analytical one though the power imbalance was very obvious. Lucy had been the catalyst for the situation before her so she had more sway in the relationship than she obviously deserved. Why? Because it was Lucy. That's really what it had amounted to at the end of the day, the only reason Lisa needed.

2. The eventual control would have to be out of school

Sure this automatically disqualified Lucy anyway, but Lisa was nothing if not thorough... though some lesser intelligences would call this petty. This only left Leni and Luna, possibly Luan given Loan's developmental abilities, which led to the most important of the 3.

3. Subject must be adequately prepared to suffer the consequences of their own actions

This one was the tricky one. She had laid out a few Vin diagrams of her sisters and began listing pros and cons but felt she needed more data to proceed. So she ramped up her surveillance efforts in order to decide what and when needed doing. For now all she could do was annotate and add to their files for the inevitability. An inevitability that both excited and terrified her.