For the first time in a long while, longer than Lynn Sr. and Rita could remember, the Loud house was filled with almost complete silence. The loudest thing to be heard was the occasional gust of wind outside. Winter was slowly receding, the snow melting gradually and sun beginning to show itself again. The worst thing outside was the wind, which felt like a slap to the face on a particularly bad gust.

It was through a series of coincidences that the almost all of the Loud children were not home: Lori had gone ice skating with none other than Bobby, Leni and Lola were at the mall, taking advantage of an unexpected sale due to a shipping mix up. Luna was out attending a winter concert (a normal concert but outside in the cold, which didn't deter her in the slightest). Luan was working a Winter-themed birthday party, having planned the whole routine around as many Winter puns as possible. Lynn had gone to play ice hockey with Lincoln and Lana. Lucy had left the house to find dark inspirations from the cold and dead outdoors. Particularly the leafless trees. Finally, Lisa had a lesson to give at the Royal Woods university.

The only sibling left was the youngest, Lily, who was swaddled in her crib. Rita was on the couch, bundled up in a warm and fuzzy blanket, waiting for her husband to return from the kitchen with hot chocolate.

It was what they did whenever the majority of the children were gone: bundle up on the couch, slowly sip hot chocolate, and watch a movie together. It was what they had tended to do when they had first started to date, and had tried to continue whenever possible over the years, although family matters often got in the way. It was a throwback to simpler, easier, and significantly less stressful times.

Moments of calm like these helped her put everything into perspective, allowed her to fairly judge, sometimes even question the fairly insane lifestyle she led. It made her think of all the other places she could've ended up. Not like they were serious thoughts, her family was, in her eyes, undeniably her greatest achievement. Despite the high maintenance, she wouldn't trade it for the world. But still, she felt it was a good thing to relax and call back to those roots. God knows she could use a break from time to time.

She shut her eyes, raised her head, slowly inhaled through the nose and exhaled out the mouth. She could feel the calm in her chest. Oh yeah, a break was most certainly needed from time to time.

She heard footsteps coming from her left and tracked them to directly behind her. She opened her eyes, an amused look on Lynn's face greeting her, although a little more upside down than usual.

"Don't tell me you're falling asleep already, we haven't even begun the movie!" he teased, a sly grin on his face.

"I don't know Lynn, if this movie is as bad as the last one you chose, I might not be able to help it…" she teased back, a grin forming to match his.

His grin went into a full smile. "Hey, you and I both know that you loved Jack and Jill, whether you'll admit it or not!"

She chuckled at his joking accusation. Even though he was a little right in an ironic way, but he didn't have to know that. "Lynn, you and I both know that the only love I have is for you and the children."

He chuckled at statement. "Well don't you have a heart of gold."

He leaned in and met her lips with his, one of countless kisses, but just as meaningful. The kiss ended, perhaps a little too soon for the both of them, but that could always be corrected later. Maybe they shouldn't, they already have eleven children.

"Lynn? Rita asked. "Do you have any regrets?"

"What do you mean?" Lynn asked.

"I don't know, I've just been thinking about how we ended up. With eleven children and all. I don't mean it in a bad way," she assured " I was just wondered how different things could've been."

He held his chin in his hand, rolling over the question in his head. Regrets? He re-ran his life in his head, analyzing the highs and lows points. The worst thing in recent memory was the skinny dipping incident at the hotel, but other than that, nothing. Thankfully the kids never learned about that.

"Well, that's a toughy. There are some embarrassing moments I'd rather forget," he awkwardly smiled, the confrontation at the hotel forefront in his mind, "but on the whole I think everything has worked out wonderfully, I don't really have any regrets!" The awkward smile less awkward.

Rita nodded in agreement. She had come to that conclusion multiple times, but it felt a little relieving to hear it from someone else. Although she'd take back the skinny dipping incident if she could. Thankfully the kids will never learn that happened.

"Although if there was one thing I sort of regret, it's that we never were able to give Lincoln a brother."

Rita's eyebrows raised as she remembered again. She didn't think about it often, so often she forgot that Lincoln was the only male sibling out of eleven children, leaving him the odd one out of his siblings. It was weird out of the eleven children, only one had been a boy. How did that happen?

"Thankfully he doesn't seem to mind much, but he could've used the backup." Lynn Sr. chuckled to himself.

Both of them knew how it often fell upon Lincoln to resolve tensions and problems within the siblings. He was essential to keeping the house as relatively peaceful as could be allowed. The couple joked that role was why Lincoln's hair was white at such a young age, and another son could've helped prevent that.

"Oh well, we have all the children we'll ever need, anyways. Any others would just be cherry on the sundae!" Lynn Sr. declared, hands on hips with pride on his smile on his face, and Rita smiled in return.

Suddenly, a loud beep was heard from the kitchen."Ooh, hot chocolate's done! I'll be back in a moment!" Lynn Sr. said as he walked out of the room.

Rita relaxed again as slowly inhaled and exhaled again. She yawned, and realized she might actually fall asleep, which would defeat the purpose of watching the movie and drinking hot chocolate. Maybe she could wait until the half hour mark, then she could…

She suddenly heard her husband gasp, and the heard the back door slide open.

"Lynn? Honey?" She called out, but he must've been out of earshot

What was her husband doing? She begrudgingly rose from the comfort of the couch and began to walk to the kitchen when she heard him panting as he ran into the kitchen.

She turned the corner to see her husband out of breath, holding in his arms what looked like a… teenage boy?

"Lynn, what-?"

"I-walked-into-kitchen-to-get-the-hot-chocolate-and-I-looked-out-the-window-and-saw-something-in-the-snow-and-I-realized-it-was-a-person-so-I-ran-out-to-bring-him-inside-and-I...and I…", he coughed as he tried to catch his breath.

Rita reached out to put her hand on his shoulder when she noticed his arms begin to shake intensely.

"Lynn, you need to put him-" his arms gave out, and the teen fell to the ground.

Both of the adults froze, staring at the teen now on the floor. The boy groaned in pain, but remained unconscious.

"-down."

Rita slowly knelt down to the teen. She reached for his neck and checked his pulse. It didn't feel abnormal, but she could feel how cold his neck was, which was little concerning. Otherwise, he didn't seem to be in too bad of a shape. She got up and placed her hands on her hips, trying to figure out the best course of action.

Lynn Sr. spoke up in-between breathes."I...I didn't mean to-".

"I know, honey." She reassured him, finally placing her hand on his shoulder. He was hunched over, eyes closed and shaking his head. She hoped he wasn't beating himself up over it for whatever reason he may have conjured up. He was the more emotional one, so that wasn't out of the question.

She looked down at the boy. He was wearing a thin gray zip up hoodie, with a pair of mostly black jeans. His generic white sneakers were fairly dirty. His dark brown hair was unkempt and flat, fairly unclean. He was pale, almost as pale as the snow that covered parts of his body.

Who was he? Why was he unconscious outdoors in this weather? In their backyard nonetheless? She shook her head: questions could wait, they needed to act.

"He's fine, but he's cold, we're going to need to warm him up." She said

Lynn was breathing almost normally now. "Let's bring him to our room, he can use our bed until he wakes up". Rita nodded, and leaned down to begin dragging him. Lynn Sr. raised a hand. "One more minute...I'm still a little winded." Rita's eyebrows furrowed.

After a minute, they both dragged him from the kitchen through the dining room and living room into their room. The boy's clothes weren't clean, so Rita stripped him down to his white t-shirt and boxers, and placed his glasses on the night stand, along with the phone and wallet that were in his pockets. It wasn't the first time she had undressed an unconscious child, but normally it was her own children and not a mysterious boy who appeared in their backyard. It was weird, but motherly instinct made it second-nature, so it didn't really affect her.

"Lynn, put his clothes in the wash, please?" Rita asked as she held out the boy's clothes.

Lynn Sr. nodded, taking the clothes and exiting the room, closing the door behind him. Rita looked upon the boy. He was under the sheets, and an ever faint smile had formed on his face. She smiled back in relief. He muttered something in his sleep, but she couldn't hear what was actually said. It was almost like he wasn't just outside unconscious in the cold. Speaking of which, the question of "why were you taking a nap outside in our backyard' was foremost in her list of questions. But that'd have to wait until he awoke, and that could be a while given the cold outdoors and being dropped to the floor didn't wake him.

She thought about what else she could do, given the essentials were out of the way. And then she remembered the hot chocolate: there should be enough for more to be made. The boy would probably appreciate the warm beverage upon waking up, she knew she would.

She walked to the door and opened it, looking back at the sleeping boy. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself. So much for a peaceful, stress-free afternoon.