Well, this was supposed to be a one-shot, but I've gotten good feedback and I realize I have a few more ideas. Not sure exactly how long this will be, so just sit back and enjoy.

Special thanks to reviewer BoukenDutch for pointing out a rather big point I had missed last chapter.

Green Reality

Lincoln sighed as he again walked into Dr. Savino's office. Apparently his dad and older sisters were still worried about him, so one therapy session wasn't enough. He hopped into the same chair he had sat in last week, and waited for Dr. Savino to enter.

As he was waiting, Lincoln thought over how his last two therapy sessions had gone; namely, how his therapists were taking his "case". Dr. Savino was more nurturing to him, willing to hear him out about both realities, despite his skepticism. In contrast, Dr. Lopez was a bit harsher; she was willing to listen to Lincoln about his two realities, though she clearly didn't believe him and tried at every opportunity to convince him the other reality wasn't real.

In all honesty, Lincoln wasn't sure if he believed all of this himself. A part of him wondered if he was in the hospital in a coma, and ALL of what was going on was one big dream.

"Greetings, Lincoln," Dr. Savino entered the room, taking a seat across from Lincoln and taking out his notebook, "Sorry for the delay, was just finishing a few things up from my last patient. Now," he paused and took a deep breath, "I'm gonna be straight and to the point with you: I believe this other reality you are living in is just a dream to help you cope with the loss in your family. However, my grandpa is a vet, and every month on the 12th he listens to the last recording of his brother, who died in battle on the 12th. So I perfectly understand needing to cope with loss, and have no plans on making you give this other reality up."

Lincoln's eyes were wide in shock, "Th…thank you, sir."

"Of course," Dr. Savino nodded, "Now, because of this, I would like to talk to you more about these two realities you're living in."

"Ok," Lincoln nodded, "Anything in particular you wanna talk about?"

"Yes," Dr. Savino nodded, looking over his notes "I noticed that for the past couple years, since your sister Lisa was born, you've been the middle child in your family. Not ideal, but all in all ok, right?" Lincoln nodded, and Savino continued, "But based on what you've told me, I realize that, technically, you're now at two opposite ends of the spectrum."

"Come again?" Lincoln asked, slightly confused.

"I'll just say it like it is," Dr. Savino leaned back and clasped his hands together, "In this reality, you're once again the youngest sibling, the baby of the family, if you will. In the other reality, you're now the oldest, and also the man of the house. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk about these two differing points of view from your perspective."

Lincoln nodded in understanding. Truthfully, he thought about that a lot. In the Green Reality, his sisters babied him even more than they used to, especially lately since they were worried about him. In contrast, in the Pink Reality he had to look after his little sisters, and he was starting to get as bad as his older sisters sometimes. There were so many elements that crossed over to each reality in different, yet similar ways, it was honestly getting hard for Lincoln to remember which reality he was in at times.

"Ok," Lincoln shrugged, "How about…um…Oh! How about we talk about what happened this past Friday? It had some moments, but for the most part was what a normal day has been for me lately."

"Ok, what happened?" Dr. Savino asked, getting ready to write down what occurred in the Loud house this past weekend, having one page for the Green Reality, and another for the Pink Reality.

"Well, as I've said, I go through the Green Reality first, so we'll start there…"

Lincoln woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. In all honesty, he wondered how he was functioning, seeing as when he fell asleep in one reality, he immediately woke up in the other. He figured he had to have two bodies, meaning one slept while the other was up and about. But that didn't explain how his mind was still functioning.

He shook his head, tired of thinking about that (as it was a thought that crossed his mind nearly every time he woke up). Looking to the side of his bed, he saw Leni slumped over in a chair, her eyes shut as she snoozed. Every once in a while, one of the older sisters would come in to check on him at night, and would usually end up falling asleep. It made him feel good to know they were watching out for him, even if they did baby him.

Getting out of bed, he reached over and shook Leni's shoulder, waking her up.

"What?" she shot awake, looking around in confusion, before remembering where she was, "Morning, Linky." She gently caressed his face, "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"I think so," Lincoln smiled at her, as he got up and the two made their way out of his room, beginning the daily routine of the Loud house.

"Alright, everyone!" Lori called out, exiting her room, "Shower and business in 10 minutes each, then downstairs for breakfast and ready to go by quarter to 8!"

After they had all showered and eaten breakfast, Lori drove them to school. Getting out, Lincoln bid his sisters goodbye. He sighed as he watched Vanzilla 2 (the new van they got after the accident) drive away. He stared at its retreating form, before heading inside to join up with his friends.

School went pretty much the same as it always did. On his way home from school, Lincoln stopped at Gus' Games and Grub, where both Lori and Leni worked part time to bring in some extra money for the family.

"Hey, guys," he said, smiling at seeing them working hard. Lori was manning the register, and Leni was cleaning tables.

"Hey, twerp," Lori said, smiling at her little brother. Since the accident, Lori had started referring to Lincoln as "twerp" in an affectionate way on a regular basis. "Have a good day at school?"

"Yeah, I did," Lincoln nodded, "You?"

"Yeah," Lori sighed, "Got a ton of homework though. And of course my counselor's been breathing down my neck about…ya know."

Lincoln nodded, understanding. Originally, it was gonna be hard enough for the Loud kids to go to college, seeing as there were 11 of them. But now, things were even more difficult. While in the Pink Reality Lincoln had a good 6 years before college, the Green Reality was the opposite, seeing as Lori was a senior in high school. Sadly, it didn't look like she would be going to college any time soon.

In both Realities, their parents had started taking double shifts to keep a steady flow of money, and the kids had all done what they could to help out. First of all, they all gave up things that cost money, like Luna's concerts and Lana's multitude of pets.

In the Green Reality, Luna had started playing guitar at kids' parties and got a license to street perform, Luan started charging to perform as a clown at parties (which she hated to do, as she believed laughs were a good enough paycheck) and started making some of her own props, Lynn had started something of a training course for out of shape kids which was a big hit with parents in town, and Lori had helped Leni get a job at the arcade. Leni had also taken to selling some of her homemade outfits online, which proved to be rather successful.

In the Pink Reality, Lisa had started taking on more classes at the community college, Lucy had started doing a "pet funeral" service, Lola had started entering as many pageants as she could, due to the prizes often including cash, and Lana had started a lawn care service. Lincoln wasn't TOO thrilled about his little sisters working, as he believed they should be allowed to have time to be kids, but that had insisted on helping out however they could.

The extra help, as well as both parents having had life insurance, had helped tremendously. For the most part, the Loud house's financial situation hadn't changed too much in either reality. But Lincoln had to admit he felt guilty that he wasn't doing anything to help out. At least, not in the Green Reality.

Pink Reality

Again, Lincoln woke to the sound of the alarm clock right after his head had hit the pillow in the other reality.

Looking to his left, he saw Lucy; on his right was Lisa. This was the norm in the Pink Reality; at least two sisters slept with him each night. Made it kind of pointless to have their own rooms, but still, as long a they felt comfortable and safe, he was fine with it.

Gently shaking them awake, Lincoln slid out of bed and exited his bedroom, right as Lola and Lana were exiting their rooms.

"Alright, everyone!" he called to his little sisters, "Shower and business in 10 minutes each, then downstairs for breakfast and ready to go by quarter to 8!"

They all nodded and got their supplies, while Lincoln went into Lily's room. Immediately, he could smell she needed a diaper change. He walked to the crib and gently pulled her out of it, taking her to the changing table. Once Lily was changed, Lincoln put her in her little outfit, and carried her downstairs.

After everyone was showered and fed, Lincoln made sure they were all ready to go and ushered them out the door.

They made their way towards town, stopping by the daycare to drop Lily off, then Royal Woods Community College where Lisa would be teaching, and then to school. Lincoln made sure Lucy and the twins had everything they would need, before sending them on their way and heading off to find his friends.

On their way home from school, the kids stopped at Gus' Games and Grub. Lincoln sent his sisters to the employee room, which was essentially a big janitor's closet with a microwave and a mini fridge, and told them to do their homework while he did his job.

Yes, in the Pink Reality, Lincoln had convinced Lori's old boss to let him have her shift, so he could help his family with money. He worked two hours a day after school, and four hours on Saturdays. After work he would stop by RWCC to pick Lisa up, and then head home where Mom would have dinner ready.

Also, in both realities, everyone ate at the grownups table. In the Green Reality, Dad and the sisters saw no point in Lincoln sitting by himself in the kitchen, and in the Pink Reality, Mom didn't want to eat dinner alone in the dining room. Thankfully, everything was fairly steady, as both parents had allowed a bit more leniency at the grownup table, such as the occasional joke and more topics to talk about, as well as a bigger variety of food.

All in all, everything was steady, and Lincoln didn't mind. Of course, he missed the free time they all had had together, but that was a small price to pay. Plus, they had made sure they had Sundays off, so at least there was one day a week that they all had together (more or less).

Dr. Lopez nodded, writing down what Lincoln was telling her, "So, based on what you've told me, it's obvious that the other reality is a dream."

"Please, tell me why," Lincoln sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Think about it, Lincoln," Dr. Lopez said, looking at him seriously, "You're now the oldest sibling AND the man of the house. You're not even a teenager, and yet you've had to get a part-time job. Obviously this is weighing on you, hence why you dream this other reality where you're the "baby" of the family, where you don't have to grow up."

Lincoln frowned. That actually made sense. He didn't MIND his job, but it still wasn't ideal to have to go to school all day, work for a couple hours, and then spend the rest of the night doing homework until bed. But still, it was a little extra money for his family.

And if that wasn't enough, there was the fact that any free time was spent with at least one of his siblings. Because Mom had started working double shifts to make sure they still had enough money, he was the full-time babysitter. At least in the Green Reality, it was Lori's responsibility to look after all of them; but at the very least she had a license so she could DRIVE them to school. Lincoln was stuck walking his little siblings to school.

"Look," Lincoln sighed, "I'll admit neither reality is ideal, but this way I get to keep all of my family. I don't care how many sessions we have, how much you try to convince me the other reality is a dream. I'm not giving it up." At that, Lincoln stood up and made his way towards the door.

Dr. Lopez watched him go, muttering, "Most stubborn kid I've ever dealt with. I admire that." At that, she started writing some more in her notes, "Very certain Mr. Loud will become one of my most interesting patients."

We get to see a bit more in the life of the alternate Loud Houses. So much different, yet still the same in a way.

Also, I know you guys want it, so expect "Burning Secret" to be updated in the next couple of days.

R&R