The boy with the black hair testified at the Asian-American Airlines Trial on January 29, 2023. The papers printed his name as "Frederick Karen, 20, an associate of the Los Angeles Crime Family." He and Bob Gato were the prosecution's star witnesses. The boy was afraid to face Donny and the others, but he made a deal: This is how he would provide for his family. On the morning he testified, he took the stand and looked out at the sea of faces in the gallery. He spotted his sister and she smiled weakly. She sat in-between their parents. His two oldest sisters were there as well, Lori having flown in from Boston and Leni from Chicago. When he saw them for the first time in two years, he could do nothing but hold them and cry; they did the same. It wasn't until he saw them that he realized just how much he missed them. He hadn't seen his other sisters yet, since he wasn't allowed to leave L.A. and was under the protection of the U.S. Marshalls, and there was no guarantee that he would, because after the trial, he and the girl would be placed in the Witness Protection Program. The government would decide where they went and whether or not they could see their family.

His eyes fell on Donny DeMartini's face, and his heart staggered in his chest. The old man watched him with eyes that blazed with hatred. His lips were tight and bloodless. If looks could kill, the boy thought, I'd be dead on the floor.

The prosecution and defense cross-examined him for the majority of the day, breaking for a lunch time recess and then picking back up where they left off. The defense painted him as a nobody with a grudge against their client over pay. Freddie Karen was employed as a dishwasher and our client fired him. End of story. The boy didn't think the jury was buying it. The circumstantial evidence alone was damning.

Even more damning was when each of the four people who had been taken hostage (not counting Warner, who was bound just to keep up appearances) picked the boy's and Donny's voices out as the ones they heard that night.

The trial continued for three weeks after that, and by the time the jury returned a guilty verdict, the boy and the girl had entered the Witness Protection Program. They were settled in a small town in Michigan, and given new identities. He became Lincoln Loud, and she became Luan Loud.

When they came through the door of their new home at 1216 Franklin Avenue, they were greeted by their siblings; as soon as they stepped across the threshold, nine excited girls mobbed them, nearly knocking them to the ground. Well...they nearly knocked him to the ground. They were easier on Luan, whose stomach had gotten big. Lincoln didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he did both. "We missed you so much, bro," Luna said as she swept him into a hug that nearly cracked his spine. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, and he could feel her tears on his cheek.

"We missed you too," he said through his own tears.

"Don't ever do that again, Lincoln Loud," Lola said as he bent to hug her. She broke down. "Never leave us again."

"I won't," he said. "I promise."

"I oughta kick your ass," Lynn said, but instead she pulled him roughly into a hug. "How was the mafia?"

Lincoln uttered shocked laughter. "It's not all it's cracked up to be."

"Hey, Linc," Lucy said nervously, "I..."

Lincoln grabbed her and hugged her tight.

"...missed you..." she said breathlessly.

"I missed you too," he said, and laughed. He had never been so happy in his entire life, not even the day he and Luan left and committed their lives to the other.

"When are you due?" Lana asked Luan excitedly. "Is it a boy or girl?"

"March 27th," Luan said. "And we don't know what it's going to be. We want to wait to find out."

"Until it's born?" Lana asked, her eyebrow lifting. "That's strange."

"It's exciting," Lincoln said.

Lana shrugged. "If you say so."

"How about we all go out and celebrate?" Dad asked. "Pizza?"

"Yeah!" Lana cried.

"Alright, come on."

Outside, Lincoln breathed in the fresh air of a new day. Lynn came up beside him and put her arm around his shoulder. "It's good to have you guys back," she said.

"It's good to be back," he said, then glanced at her. "Race you to the sweet spot."

"Oh, it is on."

Life moves on. Donny DeMartini spent five years in federal prison in Kansas, hating Freddie Karen, before he suffered a fatal heart attack: They found him slumped across his bed, his hand clutching his chest and his face twisted in agony. The guards like to say his ghost still haunts A-Block, looking for the 'rat' who sent him to jail.

David Stone married again and his kids came around; no amount of invective can truly extinguish a child's love for their father. By 2030, he was head of a successful private consulting firm and he owned a house in Malibu. Every once in a while, he spoke to Lynn Loud on the phone, and every Christmas, Stone got a card, usually one of those Shutterfly deals with a family picture on the front. Over time, those pictures got more and more crowded.

Lynn and Amber both settled for SUNY and got back together. Young love doesn't always last, but sometimes it does. What each felt in their heart for the other was love full stop, and love full stop never dies, it only grows.

Luan bore Lincoln a son on March 20, 2023. He was a healthy baby, which surprised everyone, including Lincoln. He knew the risks involved in reproducing with his sister. He fully expected their baby to have something wrong; he was prepared to love it anyway.

Lincoln decided not to make his son a junior. He wanted him to be his own person. They named him Lawrence. Lincoln always liked that name. It reminded him of Lawrence of Arabia, the dashing 20th Century adventurer. Each one of his sisters had a cute pet name for him. Leni's was his favorite. She called him "Little Lincy."

"Leni," he explained, "his name isn't Lincoln."

"I know," she chirruped, "but you're Big Lincy and he's Little Lincy."

Leni doted on her Little Lincy. She wanted a family of her own, and while she talked to Kevin about starting one, they mutually decided now wasn't the best time. That made her sad, but it gave her something to look forward to. It would happen sometime, she figured, and she was right: Their son was born on May 18, 2025. They named him Chase Lynn after both of their fathers.

Lori was next. She and her husband Bill (Lincoln had no idea how expensive their wedding was, but he was there and he suspected somewhere between "very" and "insanely") had a son on November 15, 2026.

"Looks like the next generation belongs to the boys," Dad said. Lincoln didn't notice until then, but they all were having boys. Of course, there would probably be siblings, so the dominant gender was yet to be determined. He and Luan wouldn't have anymore; they were young and stupid and took a hell of a risk. They weren't going to do it again. They could always adopt; Little Lincy did need playmates, after all.

Over the coming years, the Loud family grew, and always remained close.

The End.