It's Time to Tell Them

It stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity; Luna still hugging Lincoln tightly, Lori staring on with concern and Lincoln just burying his head into the crook of his sister's neck, it appeared that the fear that Lincoln was starting to overcome was slowly reigniting. Luna knew she didn't mean to scare Lincoln, and it appeared that Lincoln didn't hold any anger towards her, but she still felt horrible for scaring her brother when he was already in a broken state. Lori didn't know whether to scold her sister or comfort her brother, maybe she could do both, she knew Luna didn't mean to scare her brother and was only playing around, but she knew very well the state Lincoln was in and should've thought twice before acting. She understood what Luna was trying to do, trying to lighten the mood and maybe get him to laugh a little, but she may have just made things worse. This did show one thing though; Lincoln was still very volatile, even joking around, like how Luna did, can send Lincoln into a downward spiral of fear and completely shut him down. Lori needed to make sure her and Luna were on the same page about this, this can't happen again, from what Lori could gather, it didn't seem like Lincoln was scared too bad, but just imagine if it were Lynn trying to wrestle with him or if Lucy snuck up on him. She needed to get a handle on this, and fast.

"Hey, Luna?" Lori called out for her sister.

Luna looked up at Lori, "Yeah sis?" Luna asked.

"Could you meet me in the kitchen for a second?" Lori requested.

Luna looked down at Lincoln and then back to Lori, "Do you think it could wait till morning Lori?" Luna asked.

"It will only take a few minutes, I promise." Lori exclaimed.

Luna was still confused, but Lori seemed insistent on speaking with her, "Okay, Lori, I'll meet you in there in a sec." Luna responded.

"Okay, this won't take long I promise." Lori responded and headed off into the kitchen.

Luna looked down at Lincoln, who was still holding on to her tight, "Hey, Lincoln? I know you're still probably shaken up, but sis really needs to talk to me. You okay if I step away for a quick sec? I'll be right back dude, I promise." Luna explained.

Lincoln looked up from his embrace, "Yeah, I'll be okay." Lincoln responded.

Luna moved her hand up and caressed his cheek, "You sure bro?" Luna asked.

Lincoln leaned into Luna's hand, he didn't want her, or Lori for that matter, to leave him alone, but he knew it wouldn't be for long and they'd both be back soon, "Yeah, I'll be okay." Lincoln answered with a sad smile.

Lincoln gave Luna one last tight squeeze before finally releasing her, Luna, who still had her hand on her brother's cheek, gave him on last smile before removing her hand and walking towards the kitchen. Luna was moving as fast as she could, without trying to make too much noise, to meet up with here sister to see what was so important that she had to leave their brother on his own, though, she did have a feeling she knew what Lori wanted to talk about. When Luna finally reached the kitchen, she saw Lori leaning against the fridge, with her head directed to the floor, waiting for her sister's arrival. Luna didn't need to see Lori's face to know she was probably wasn't very happy, after her small mishap with Lincoln only minutes earlier, Luna couldn't blame her sister for being upset.

Luna stopped in the middle of the kitchen, "Hey, Lori, you wanted to talk?" Luna asked her sister.

Lori pushed herself off of the fridge and made her way towards Luna with her head still pointed slightly towards the floor, when she noticed Luna's feet and shot her head up as quickly as she could, "Okay, Luna, just what the hell were you literally thinking?" Lori fumingly asked.

Luna was somewhat expecting Lori to snap at here for scaring Lincoln, but that didn't keep her from getting slightly scared when Lori snapped at her. Once Luna got over her initial shock, she lowered her head slightly, "I…I just thought I could lighten the mood a little and cheer Linc up." Luna explained.

"Okay, but did it occur to you that maybe he is still shaken up after what he went through today and that maybe you shouldn't push any boundaries?" Lori fumed.

"I…I…I guess I didn't" Luna admitted while rubbing her arm.

"And because of that Linc is terrified and potentially back to where he started before, he spoke to either of us: shut-down and closed off to everyone." Lori explained.

"I didn't mean to sis; honest I didn't mean to." Luna exclaimed.

"Well, you did." Lori pointed out.

"I know." Luna acknowledged.

Lori didn't go into this conversation with her sister with the intention to make Luna feel as bad as she did, but sometimes we let our emotions get the better of us and we cause more damage than we intended to or cause damage we didn't have any intentions of causing. Once Lori was able to calm down and recompose herself, she noticed Luna still had her head down and Lori was able to make out a faint sound, was Luna crying? Well, now the situation went from bad to worse: instead of having one upset sibling, now Lori had to deal with two siblings who were in a wrecked state, one of which she caused. Lori felt lower than the ground for making her sister cry, she was so mad, but Luna didn't mean to scare Lincoln and was only trying to have some fun. Looks like a big sister's job is never done.

Lori walked over and wrapped her arms around Luna, "Luna, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Lori apologized.

Luna opened her arms and returned the hug her older sister was giving her, "I'm sorry Lori, I didn't mean to scare him." Luna apologized as she buried her head in Lori's shoulder. "I just wanted to cheer him up." Luna continued

"I know Luna, and I'm sorry I went off on you like that, I just saw red when you told me you scared him. He's been through so much today and I still can't get over what that…that monster did to him." Lori expressed.

Luna looked up at her sister, "Why did it have to happen to him Lori? Why did it have to be our baby bro?" Luna asked through her sobs.

Lori looked down at her sister, "I don't know Luna, and I wish it never happened. But one thing I do know, is that she will pay for what she's done to him." Lori answered with determination.

Luna gave her sister another sad, but hopeful look, "Yeah, she will." Luna expressed.

Luna buried her head back into Lori's shoulder and hugged her a little tighter, even though she didn't show it very often, Luna had a very emotional side and when she was ready to let it out, she let it out, "I got you Luna." Lori reassured her sister.

Luna looked back up to Lori, "Thanks, sis, I love you." Luna responded.

Lori gave Luna a soft smile, "I love you too, little sis." Lori retorted.

"Hey, I'm not that much younger that you dude." Luna responded with a small laugh.

"You're still younger, which makes you my little sis." Lori explained.

It looked like Lori was able to wrangle in her, and Luna's, emotions for now, but they couldn't guarantee they'd still be able to contain them when Lincoln finally told everyone what happened to him in the morning. That would be a problem for in the morning though, for tonight, they still had to take care of their brother and make sure he'd be able to make it through the night without suffering from any more trauma than he already has. They had a feeling it was going to be a rough night, but both girls were determined to make sure that Lincoln knew he was going to be protected tonight and that nothing else would hurt him, now or ever. After the two girls broke from their embrace, they gave each other one last smile and made their way back to the living room where their brother was waiting for them. Once Luna and Lori made it back to the living room, they saw Lincoln lying down on the couch, fast asleep, either they were talking for longer than they thought they were, or Lincoln was more exhausted than they thought. Either way, Lincoln was asleep and it was about time for Luna and Lori to get some sleep as well, so without wasting anymore time, Luna picked up Lincoln and carried him to the air mattress and gently placed him on the mattress, while Lori covered him up with a blanket she had brought down earlier.

"Kinda cute when he's asleep, isn't he sis?" Luna asked Lori.

"I'm the oldest, all my siblings to me are cute when they're asleep." Lori responded.

Luna turned and gave her sister a curious smile, "How often do you watch us sleep sis?" Luna asked while crossing her arms.

Lori turned to Luna and gave a soft smile, "When you have ten younger siblings, you're always worried about them and checking on them. I might not be your mother, that doesn't mean I don't worry about each of you like a mother would, but I do check in on you guys when I can, which means, yes, even when you're sleeping." Lori answered.

Luna unfolded her arms and looked back towards Lincoln, "I think I know what you mean sis. When Lincoln told me what happened to him, something clicked in my head and all I wanted to do was protect him." Luna responded.

Lori walked over and placed her hand on Luna's shoulder, "Welcome to the world of being a big sister: that feeling never goes away, but it's a good feeling." Lori reassured.

Luna looked up at her sister with a smile, "You're right sis, it is a good feeling." Luna responded.

Lori removed her hand from Luna's shoulder, walked over to lamp in the living room and turned out the light, "I think it's time we follow suit and get some sleep Luna." Lori expressed.

Luna walked over to the left side of Lincoln, "Couldn't agree more sis, let's hit the sack." Luna said as she lifted the blankets and lied down on the air mattress next to her brother.

Lori walked over to Lincoln's right, lifted the blankets and lied down next to her brother, "Good night Luna, and good night Lincoln, I love you." Lori said as she leaned over and gently kissed Lincoln's forehead.

"Night Lori, and good night Lincoln, I love you more." Luna said as she too leaned over and gently kissed Lincoln's forehead.

"Really?" Lori asked to Luna's obvious attempt at trying to get under her skin.

"I only speak the truth sis." Luna answered with a mischievous smile.

Lori rolled over facing away from both of her siblings, "Bitch." Lori playfully insulted her sister with a small laugh.

"Luna rolled over and faced away from her siblings as well, "Love you too Lori." Luna responded while flipping Lori off.

If you were to walk in and see the very image of all three siblings in peaceful slumber, you'd think these were carefree kids who weren't worried about anything and nothing could bother them, but that was far from the truth. All three of them were strong willed but were suffering internally over one of the worst tragedies that has ever fallen over the Loud family and they were all still trying to process everything that has happened. Their only goal was to get a decent nights sleep, so they could be well rested for the events that would take place tomorrow: revealing to the rest of the family what has happened and filing a report with the police, two things that sound so simple, yet would take more energy than any of them my have. Lincoln was struggling with this the most: it was hard enough telling his parents and two of his sister, he was terrified of telling seven others, Lily would be too young to know what's going, but he figured she'd be able to pick up on everyone else's emotions and reactions. The only thing Lincoln wanted was to have all the images and feelings left after his encounter with his teacher wiped from his brain and never think about it again, but the only thing he could do was work at getting past it and regaining everything his teacher stole from him. Most of us can preoccupy our minds with a good nights sleep and think about something else, but sometimes our minds have other plans and, from what it seems like, torture us until we just want to give up. Just ask Lincoln.

Lincoln opened his eyes to a dark and empty room, "Huh? Where…where am I?" Lincoln asked himself.

"Oh, you're in a special place." A sinister voice answered from behind Lincoln.

Lincoln turned around as quickly as possible, "Who…who's there?!" Lincoln timidly asked.

"Oh, me? I'm just a friend Lincoln, a very special friend." The voice answered.

"How…how do you know my name?" Lincoln demanded.

"Like I said Lincoln, I'm a friend and I know more than just your name: I know how old you are, how many sisters you have and even where you live." The voice answered in a menacing tone.

Lincoln's eyes opened wide, "How?" Lincoln asked in a very scared tone.

"I told you, I'm a very special friend." The voice answered.

Lincoln began backing away from where the voice was coming from, "Please…please just leave me alone." Lincoln pleaded.

Footsteps started sounding in the room, "Oh, I would never hurt you Lincoln, I only want to take care of you." The voice answered.

Lincoln continued to back away until he bumped into a figure, "Who are you?" Lincoln asked as he looked up to see what, or who, he bumped into.

The figure lowered their head from the shadows, "I'm the one who loves you the most Lincoln." The figure responded.

Lincoln's eyes started to well up with tears, "Please…no more! Just…just please leave me alone!" Lincoln begged.

The figure grabbed Lincoln my his arms and got closer, "We're going to have some more fun, just like we did earlier." The figure responded.

Lincoln tried to pull away, "No! Please Mrs. Johnson!" Lincoln pleaded with his teacher.

Mrs. Johnson dragged Lincoln into the darkness of the room, "You'll love what I have in store for you Lincoln." Mrs. Johnson responded with a sinister smile.

"NO! DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Lincoln begged.

"We'll have fun just like last time." Mrs. Johnson responded, ignoring Lincoln's plea for mercy.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lincoln yelled out.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lincoln yelled out as he snapped out of his nightmare and sat up.

Lincoln had broken out in a sweat and started frantically looking around the room, "It…it was just a dream?" Lincoln asked himself.

When it finally sank it that everything Lincoln had just gone through was a nightmare, he hugged his knees to his chest and started sobbing, "When…when will it end?" Lincoln asked out loud.

It hadn't been twenty-four hours and Lincoln had already suffered two night terrors and, from the looks of it, it didn't appear that moving past what happened would be an easy task, and Lincoln was starting to think he wouldn't even be up for the task. This wasn't something that everyone experiences, this wasn't something that everyone could understand, and this wasn't something that everyone knew how to deal with. It's the one experience that almost seems impossible to overcome and regain your own peace mind and who you are as a person, so you can stop feeling like a victim and become the strong person you were before everything happened. Almost impossible, but entirely impossible. The one thing Lincoln needed to remember was that he had people around him that were going to help him through this and help him regain who he once was. There was a whole house full of people, as well as a neighborhood full of people, have his back through everything and will always be there for him, something he will soon be reminded of.

Lincoln hugged his knees tighter to his body, "I…I just want this to be over." Lincoln said to himself between sobs.

"It will be Lincoln." A voice answered from behind Lincoln.

Lincoln looked up and turned around to see his sister, Luna, sitting up, "Luna? How…how long have you been awake?" Lincoln asked while whipping his eyes.

"Long enough you had another nightmare bro." Luna answered as she moved closer to her brother.

"I'm sorry if I woke you." Lincoln apologized.

Luna put her hands on each of her brother's shoulders, "You have nothing to apologize for dude, you're scared and need help. I'm here to help you through anything bro: always and forever." Luna responded.

Lincoln looked up, tears still streaming down his face, "Thank you Luna, I…I…I love you." Lincoln responded.

Luna smiled softly, "I love you too bro." Luna responded as she wrapped her arms around Lincoln and pulled him into a tight hug.

Luna started gently rocking Lincoln and softly humming in the hopes she would be able to calm him down, something she use to do for him when he was younger, and it always seemed to work. Luna didn't think it was possible for her heart to break anymore than it already had, but life tends to find humor in beating us down when we're at our lowest and think we can't go any lower, things can always go from bad to worse. All Luna wanted to do was take all of Lincoln's pain away, so he could go back to being her happy, fun and loving baby brother instead of the broken and scared child that this monster turned him into. All Lincoln knew right now was how to be afraid: he was terrified to tell anyone what happened, he was terrified to go to the police, he was terrified to go outside, and he was even terrified to fall asleep. His teacher had taken everything from him, but he would get it all back with the help of his family and his willingness to become his old self again, he would be back to normal. That was a guarantee.

Luna lowered her head to Lincoln's ear, "I know still probably scared bro, but do you think you might be able to get some sleep?" Luna asked

Lincoln looked up at his sister, "Yeah, but please…please don't let go." Lincoln begged Luna.

Luna looked Lincoln in his eyes, "I won't: not now, not ever." Luna promised.

Lincoln buried his head in the crook of Luna's neck, "I love you sis." Lincoln responded.

Luna slowly started to fall to her back, taking Lincoln with her, "I love you too Lincoln." Luna responded after giving Lincoln a kiss on his forehead.

It didn't take long for either sibling to fall asleep; Luna was exhausted from everything that had transpired today, and, in Lincoln's case, he just wanted to be able to not think of his teacher or what she had done to him, all he wanted to do was be at peace in his mind and it looked, with some help from Luna once again, Lincoln was going to get his peace of mind. It looked like it would be impossible, but Lincoln was finally able to fall asleep without experiencing any nightmares for the rest of the night, if he was lucky, he wouldn't dream about anything. Most eleven-year-old kids would be embarrassed about being seen occupying the same bed as their older siblings, but right now Lincoln didn't care about embarrassment or what anyone would think of him, all he wanted was to feel safe and right now, wrapped in Luna's arms, he felt safer than he had been all day. He'd have to face his first test of embarrassment when he woke though, he wasn't ashamed of his decision to stay the night with his sisters, but that doesn't mean there weren't others who wouldn't try to make him feel that way. Even if they were joking around.

Normally, Lori was the first one up in the morning, mainly to make sure all her siblings were also awake and getting for school, but, because it was Saturday, a different Loud child was the first to wake this morning. Lynn Loud Jr., the most athletic and outgoing member of the Loud family, was the first of the Loud children to wake up on this Saturday morning and, unfortunately for Lincoln, was making her way downstairs to the living room. Lynn was use to being the early bird, like most athletes, Lynn trained whenever she got the chance: in the morning before school, after school and all throughout the day on the weekends. Lynn's goal this morning was to check out the updated scores from any games she missed throughout the week and then go on her morning run like usual, but this morning she would be met with an unfamiliar sight.

"Alright, gotta check on my teams and then get in some cardio and a shower before breakfast." Lynn said to herself as she made her way downstairs. "Alright boys let's see how you did…" Lynn trailed off as she reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed the sleeping situation Lincoln Lori and Luna had set-up the night before.

"Why are they down here? And is Luna hugging Lincoln?" Lynn asked herself as she walked over to the sleeping trio. Seeing the trio sleeping in the living room made Lynn ponder why they would be down here, but it wasn't long into her pondering that a mischievous grin began to creep across her face. Lynn was notorious for giving her siblings a hard time, she had started to ease up on them over time, and when she saw an opportunity to do so, she couldn't resist getting a rise out of them. Unfortunately for Luna, Lincoln and Lori, they were in the perfect position for a good-natured teasing from Lynn, something she should've thought twice about before doing.

"Oh, this is too good." Lynn stated as she took her phone out of her pocket and opened her camera app.

SNAP!

Lynn took a picture of the sleeping trio, purposely with the flash on, and waited for one of her sleeping siblings to stir and eventually wake up from their slumber, fortunately, for her, she didn't have to wait long. Not five seconds after taking a picture of her siblings, Lynn noticed Lori begin to move and eventually opened, and rubbed, her eyes to see her younger sister, Lynn, standing over her, Luna and Lincoln with her phone out. Lori may have been still feeling the affects her deep slumber had on her, but she was lucid enough to wonder why Lynn was downstairs with her phone pointed at them. If only Lynn were aware of the ramifications of her actions.

Lori, after clearing her eyes, stood up from the air mattress, "Lynn? What are you doing down here?" Lori asked her younger sister.

Lynn put her phone back in her pocket, "Oh, I was just up and wanted to check on some scores. That was, until I saw this adorable site right here." Lynn answered while holding back a small laugh.

Lori looked back at the mattress and then back to her sister, "Why are you laugh-…" Lori almost asked before she cut herself off. It didn't register at first, but after a few seconds of thinking it occurred to Lori why Lynn would think this scene is funny.

Lori looked down at Lynn with a worried look, "Lynn you don't understand." Lori managed to get out.

Lynn gave Lori a skeptical look, "Understand what? That Linky got scared and need his big sisters to stay with him for the night." Lynn responded in a mocking tone and letting out a smug laugh.

Lori clenched her fists and gave Lynn an angry scowl, "Lynn Loud Jr.!" Lori let out. Lynn stopped her laughing and gave her full attention to her older sister.

Lori walked closer to Lynn and looked down at her, "That is not what is happening and don't make fun of your brother!" Lori said as she scolded Lynn.

Lynn put her hands up in defense, "Hey, I'm just joking!" Lynn defended

Lori folded her arms, "Well, before you start taking shots, you should literally know the whole story." Lori responded.

Lynn put her hands down and an annoyed looked formed on her face, "Geez Lori, you never get this upset when I tease Stincoln. Is it your time of the month or something?" Lynn mockingly asked her older sister.

Lori's eyes went wide, "First of all, not that it's any of your business, but it's not that time for me! And second, this was mine and Luna's idea!" Lori said as she raised her voice to Lynn.

Lynn gave Lori a confused look, "What do you mean it was yours and Luna's idea?" Lynn asked.

Unfortunately for Lynn and Lori, the volume of their conversation had started to increase, and this wasn't going unnoticed, they had startled Luna and Lincoln enough to wake them up from their deep slumber. Luna was the first of the two to wake, when her eyes finally focused, she noticed Lori glaring at Lynn with anger and Lynn looking at Lori with a bewildered look on her face. Lincoln had rolled over, out of Luna's embrace, and began rubbing his eyes to get all the sleep out of them, when his eyes finally adjusted, he noticed Lori and Lynn standing over him and Luna.

Lincoln turned his head towards Luna, "What's going on Luna?" Lincoln asked his older sister.

Luna turned and looked at Lincoln, "I don't know bro, but I'm gonna find out." Luna answered with a determined look.

Luna stood up from the mattress and steeped closer to Lori, "Hey, dudes, what's going on here?" Luna asked Lori and Lynn.

Lori turned to Luna, "Well, I was asleep, and Lynn decided she would take the opportunity to poke fun at Lincoln." Lori explained.

Lynn looked towards Luna, "I was just joking!" Lynn said in defense.

Luna stepped in between here sisters and put her hands up to separate them, "Wow, dudes, let's just start from the beginning. Lori, what did LJ do?" Luna asked her older sister.

"Well, she…she…" Lori tried to answer Luna's question, but it occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea what Lynn had done. She heard a loud noise and thought she saw a flash of light while she was sleeping, but other than that she didn't know what it was Lynn had done.

"I…I literally have no idea. I heard something that woke me up and when I opened my eyes, Lynn was standing over us." Lori answered.

Luna looked over to Lynn, "Okay, LJ, what were you doing that woke Lori up?" Luna asked her younger sister.

Lynn reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, "I came downstairs to check on some scores and then I noticed you guys on the air mattress." Lynn answered.

Luna gave Lynn a skeptical look, "Go on." Luna instructed her sister.

Lynn looked down at her phone, "When I saw you guys sleeping, I decided to take a picture." Lynn continued.

Luna looked down at Lynn, "And what were you going to do with that picture?" Luna asked

Lynn looked down at the floor, "I was gonna use it to joke around with Lincoln." Lynn answered.

Luna folded her arms, "You mean you were going to make fun of him?" Luna corrected Lynn.

Lynn let out a sigh, "Yeah, but I wasn't trying to be mean. I was going to delete it, honest." Lynn responded.

Luna looked back at Lori and the two exchanged looks, "Well, I think you should delete it now dude." Luna instructed.

Lynn let out another sigh, "Okay." Lynn responded. Lynn unlocked her phone and scrolled over to her saved photos, once she was in her photo library, she located her most recent photo, the one of Lincoln, Luna and Lori sleeping, and deleted it.

Lynn looked back up at Luna, "Okay, I trashed it." Lynn responded.

Luna reached out and put her hand on Lynn's shoulder, "Good and thanks sis. I know you didn't mean any harm by it, but right now isn't the best time for joking around." Luna exclaimed.

Lynn gave Luna a curious look, "Why? Did something happen?" Lynn asked.

Luna looked back at Lori who gave her a concerned look, "Well, yes, but it's…it's kinda hard to explain." Luna said as she looked back at Lynn.

Lynn looked at Lori, "What's she talking about Lori?" Lynn asked.

Lori looked over at Lincoln, who put his head down and started rubbing his arm, "It's…it's not easy to say." Lori explained.

Lynn looked back at Luna, "Guys, you're starting to worry me, what's going on?" Lynn asked more forcibly.

"It's about me." Lincoln answered.

All three of Lincoln's sisters turner to him, "Lincoln, you don't have to right now." Lori exclaimed.

"Have to do what right now?" Lynn asked more frantically.

Lincoln looked up at Lynn, "Something happened at school yesterday." Lincoln expressed.

Lynn looked over to Lincoln, "What happened?" Lynn asked.

"Mrs. Johnson, made me stay after class to retake a test, but I didn't end up taking a test." Lincoln explained.

Lynn developed a concerned look on her face, "What happened Lincoln?" Lynn asked

Lincoln looked down at the floor, he wanted to answer his sister, but it was still painful to recall everything that had happened. Lori was able to pic up on this, "Maybe we should wait for the rest of the family to get up." Lori suggested.

"Lincoln, what happened?" Lynn demanded as she started moving towards Lincoln.

Luna intercepted Lynn, "Wow dude, just calm down for a sec. Lincoln will tell you what happened, but he's going to do it with all of us." Luna explained.

Lynn looked up angrily at Luna, "What happened?" Lynn asked once more.

It didn't appear that Lynn was going to let this go anytime soon, but luckily Lori was able to think quick. Lori walked over and crouched down to meet Lynn's eyes, "Lynn, look at me." Lori instructed.

Lynn turned her head to meet Lori's eyes, "I want to know what happened to Lincoln." Lynn demanded.

Lori gave Lynn a serious look, "Lincoln is going to tell you, he going to tell you and the rest of our sisters. We were going to wait until after breakfast, but right now seems to be as good a time as any, go wake up Leni and you two, nicely, wake up everyone upstairs. Me and Luna will wake up mom and dad." Lori instructed.

Lynn gave Lori a fierce look, "I want to know now." Lynn responded.

Lori stood up and gave Lynn an even fiercer look, "Lincoln will tell you once everyone else is up and downstairs, now go get our sisters." Lori commanded.

Lynn was about to continue her protest until she took a closer look at Lori's face and realized Lori wasn't going to budge on her decision, so she let out a sigh of defeat and made her way upstairs to fetch the rest of her siblings. Lori let out a sigh of relief and looked at Luna who just shrugged in response, they both knew Lynn would give them some resistance, but they held out hope that just this one time she would go along with what they were telling her. Lori looked down and saw Lincoln still sitting on the mattress with his head down, everything that just happened probably stressed Lincoln out more than he already was, Lori knows it stressed the hell out of her, but they were going to have move past this for now because more stress was on the way. Lori decided to go ahead and not prolong the inevitable and wake her parents up, hopefully they wouldn't be too upset, but, given the circumstances, this is something that needed to be done sooner rather than later.

Lori looked over to Luna, "I'm going to go wake mom and dad up, you and Lincoln wait on the couch for the rest of us." Lori instructed, to which Luna nodded and went over to the mattress to check on Lincoln.

Lori walked over to her parent's bedroom door and opened it slightly, when she peeked in, she could see her parents still fast asleep, "Wow, I literally thought we would've woken them up. We weren't very quiet." Lori said to herself.

Lori opened the bedroom door just enough to sneak into her parent's bedroom and crept her way over to the closest side of the bed, which happened to be her mother's side, and lightly tapped her mother on the arm. Rita took in a deep breath and rolled over towards Lori, blinking a few times to wake her eyes up, she focused on her daughter and gave her a soft smile, "Good morning honey." Rita responded to her daughter.

Lori gave her mom a shy smile, "Morning mom. I know it's early, and we said we'd do this after breakfast, but we're going to have to talk to the rest of the girls sooner than we thought." Lori told her mother.

Rita slowly sat up and hung her legs off the edge of the bed, "Wait, what's going on Lori?" Rita asked as she continued to wake herself up.

Lori sighed, "Long story short: Lynn came downstairs earlier and now she wants to know what happened to Lincoln yesterday." Lori answered.

Rita let out a long yawn and, like a semi-truck going full speed, reality hit her, "How much does she know?" Rita asked worriedly.

Lori looked at her mom, "Only that something happened to Lincoln, nothing specific." Lori answered.

Rita let out a sigh and lowered her head, "I guess sooner is better than later, I'll get your father up. You go and wait with your sisters and Lincoln and make sure they stay calm." Rita instructed her eldest daughter.

Lori nodded and made her way back to the living room, when she entered the living room, she noticed all of her siblings downstairs on the couch talking amongst themselves and, mainly the younger ones, complaining about being up this early on a Saturday. Lori steeled her nerves and walked over to the front of the couch to face everyone, she could tell they were irritable and still tired, but this was important, more important than anything any of them have experienced. Once Lori was in front of her siblings, she noticed her parents leaving their bedroom not to long after, she expected her dad to look more tired than he was, but if could see him, he looked like he hadn't been asleep at all. Looks like it was time.

Lori clapped her hands together to get her sibling's attention, "Hey, guys, I need to you to quiet down." Lori instructed.

All the Loud children focused on the eldest, "Okay, I'm sure you guys are literally wondering why you're down here this early." Lori pointed out.

Lola was the first to speak up, "Uh, duh, Lori, it's Saturday! Why on Earth did you have Lynn wake us up?" Lola asked in annoyance.

Leni was the next to speak, "Yeah, like, the Sun isn't even awake yet Lori." Leni added.

"It's about Lincoln." Lynn added abruptly.

Everyone turned their head to the center of the couch, "What does our only male sibling have to do with the sudden exodus of our slumber?" Lisa inquired.

Lynn stood up and walked over to Lori, "Something happened to him yesterday at school." Lynn stated.

All the Loud girls, sans Lori, Luna and Lynn gasped, "Wait, what happened to Linc?" Luan asked.

Lori looked down at Lynn, "Well, I was hoping to ease into everything, but since Lynn has decided to take the wheel of this conversation, we may just have to tell them." Lori said.

Leni developed a confused look on her face, "How can a conversation have wheels?" Leni asked out loud.

Ignoring Leni's question, everyone turned towards Lincoln, "What happened big bro?" Lana asked very concerned.

Lincoln looked down, away from everyone's eyes, "I…I…I…" Lincoln tried to get out.

Luna wrapped her arm around Lincoln, Lincoln looked up to her, "It's okay bro, you can do it, just like you did with me and Lori. We're all here for you." Luna reassured her brother.

Lincoln gave Luna a small smile and took a deep breath, "I…I was attacked at school."

Okay, so I'm going to say this from the safety of Lisa's bunker, I am so sorry that it took this long to put out a new chapter. I didn't intend for this to happen, between being an uncle, working and my computer trying to die on me, it's been hard to get this one done. And I had a performance to get ready for; one of my hobbies, other than writing, is rapping. They set-up a talent show at work and I signed up to perform, I spent a lot of time practicing and trying to get everything right to put on a good show. I think it went well, no one so far has told me I did a bad job, so maybe I'm not as bad as I think I am, but anyway I am really sorry that this took so long. I promise the next one will be out sooner, and, as an added bonus, there will be two guest stars making an appearance in the next chapter, so be on the look out for that. As always please favorite, follow and review and thank you to everyone who has been rocking with me for over a year. Thanks everyone.