Things at the Loud house had never been this quiet or depressing. There had been fights, arguments, you name it. But never before had there been such a melancholy feeling (save for Lucy, but even she knew when there was too much).

The girls spent their every waking moment planning for when Lincoln would wake up. They tried to decorate his room, bought several comics for his collection, put a couple video games on hold so he could get them as soon as he woke up, you name it.

Also, after a long talk, the family decided NOT to give Lisa the cold shoulder. They acknowledged that as they were already minus one sibling, they didn't need to lose another. Lisa herself stated how sorry she was, and that she would NEVER look down on her siblings again. The others stated they were still MAD at Lisa, yet were willing to keep her included. Mom and Dad reiterated that she was grounded until Lincoln awoke. Lisa stated she understood and was perfectly fine with that (she even stated she felt she should be grounded TWICE as long as Lincoln was in his coma, yet her parents stated that they did not feel that was necessary).

Things were awkward, as could be expected. Lincoln's classmates at school were shocked to hear what had happened; Mrs. Johnson had them all make cards to send to Lincoln that he could read when he awoke. Clyde was, understandably, the most distraught. Luckily Zach, Liam, and Rusty were there to calm him down. Ronnie Anne was also understandably ticked; even though Lisa was only a toddler, the tomboy wanted to punch her into next week.

Everyday the girls were asked how their brother was doing, and everyday they had to reply that he showed no signs of waking up. After school, the sisters visited their brother. They would each do their own things for him: Luna sang to him, Luan told him jokes (thankfully she had the decency to avoid any coma jokes), Lucy read him her new poems, Lynn and Lola talked to him about their competitions, Lana told him about the new pets she helped rescue, Leni read from some of her fashion magazines, Lori talked about some events going on at school (namely how Carol Pingrey had started flirting with Bobby), and Lily cuddled up to him. They had insisted Lisa do something for him, too, but she said all she had was science, and didn't feel that Lincoln needed any of that at the moment.

Each night was quiet at the house. After getting home from visiting Lincoln, the family had dinner; afterwards was homework time. Lisa usually stayed in her room, alone. Lily tried consoling her, but the genius always rebuffed her attempts. In her own opinion, Lisa felt she didn't deserve to be comforted after what she had done.

Despite her parents only grounding her as long as Lincoln was out, Lisa had called the university and stated she would not be coming back any time soon. She hadn't told this to anyone, as despite what happened, she was sure they would try to talk her out of it. As such, Lisa resigned herself to being a four-year-old, going to kindergarten, followed by trying to make up to her brother. Then, she would consider a hobby in something besides science.

Even though the family was mad at Lisa, they were growing worried for her; they could tell she was the most depressed out of all of them; a couple of them, like Luna, agreed she should feel like garbage, but most of them were worried her guilt would cause her to do something she would regret. So of course, they kept a close eye on her.

Finally, after 3 long, agonizing weeks, the family got a call from the hospital…

Upon being discharged from the hospital, Lincoln was notably acting different. He was a little cold to his sisters, which they understood completely. That first night back, the family ordered pizza, and Mom and Dad explained that SFP was completely done, and that they would take a more active role in helping the kids sort out their issues in the future.

"Good to hear," Lincoln nodded, as he munched on his pizza. He didn't seem excited at the news, seeming to think more along the lines of, 'About time.'

After dinner, Lincoln went up to his room; he was going back to school tomorrow, so he knew he'd have a lot of make-up work to catch up on. For now, he decided to check out the newest issues of Ace Savvy and Muscle Fish his sisters had gotten him. As he entered his room, he noticed the door to Lisa and Lily's room was open just a dab, and someone was clearly peeking out of it. Lincoln took a deep breath before turning to the door, "What do you want, Lisa?"

The door quickly closed, and Lincoln sighed. He entered his room and plopped down on his bed, grabbing his comics and reading them (for once, he ignored the urge to strip down to his undies while doing so). As he read them, Lincoln thought back to his coma. While out, he dreamt he had gone back in time and never interfered with Leni and Lori's argument. Other than the time traveling part, it had felt so real that he believed it was actually happening.

Of course, some things happened that were slightly out of the ordinary: Cristina said she forgave him for the video incident and fought Ronnie Anne over him, ending with him deciding to date them both, which they actually agreed to. Chandler said Lincoln was cooler than him and begged to hang out with him, claiming he wasn't worthy. Despite it not being that time of year, Mrs. Johnson announce that Lincoln was the new student body president and would get special privileges, all without an election. Through all this, Lincoln had never batted an eye.

Then, it ended suddenly. Lincoln was hanging out with Clyde and the girls at the park when he heard someone calling for help. Without thinking, Lincoln jumped up and ran towards the call, noticing it sounded oddly like himself calling for help. When he got to the pond, the call stopped. Before Lincoln could look around, he was pushed into the pond. He felt himself start to get dragged under, but gave a big push and pulled himself to the surface, and right out of his coma.

Obviously he was confused at first, but he slowly calmed down as a nurse explained what had happened. After checking him over, the nurse left Lincoln to call his family. As he sat in his hospital bed, he thought things over, trying to remember what the last real thing that happened was. As he did, he started stewing as he remembered his sisters giving him the cold shoulder because he screwed up.

Because he screwed up during their Sister Fight Protocol! It was their fault he had lost almost a month of his life, their fault he felt unwanted. And Lisa's fault for all of this! He had been depressed, so she had obviously tricked him into testing her "time machine" so he wouldn't bother her with his moping. It obvious he wasn't wanted in the family.

"Fine, they wanna give me the cold shoulder, I can do the same to them," Lincoln muttered angrily, as he continued reading his comic.

Despite Lincoln being awake, the next couple of weeks didn't really feel any different.

Anytime any of the sisters asked Lincoln to hang out, he gave a reason why he couldn't. At first they figured he just needed to catch up on his school work and was still wary from the coma, but slowly they all pieced together that he didn't want to spend time with them.

"Hey, Linc, wanna shoot some hoops?" Lynn asked, twirling her basketball on her finger.

"Maybe later," Lincoln said, "I promised Lucy I'd help her with some poems."

Lynn nodded and headed outside. As soon as she was gone, Lucy came out of the bathroom. Upon seeing her brother, she asked, "Lincoln, would you be able to help with some poems I'm having trouble on?"

"Dang," Lincoln said, looking down, "If you had only asked me sooner. I literally JUST told Lynn I'd shoot some hoops with her. Maybe later?"

"Ok," Lucy nodded, heading into her room.

Lincoln smirked to himself as he headed downstairs to the living room where he turned on his game station.

Later that day, Luan approached Lincoln in her clown gear, "Ready to go, Linc?"

"Go where?" Lincoln asked, not looking up from the TV.

"To the party I've got scheduled," Luan said, a little confused that Lincoln didn't seem to know what she was talking about.

"Well, Luan," Lincoln sighed, looking at her with a tired look on his face, "If you had told me sooner, I would be ready. But I was actually thinking about taking a short nap."

"I…I told you the other day at dinner," Luan said, "It's a big party for some rich people who, rumor says, like to tip big. I told you I'd need you and you said ok."

Lincoln thought for a moment, before shaking his head, "Sorry, Luan, I really have no recollection of that. And like I said, it's last minute, and I'm exhausted. Sorry again." Lincoln gave his comedian sister a pat on the shoulder before heading up to his room, where he turned on his laptop and put his earbuds in so he could continue watching his show in peace. Luan, meanwhile, sighed, hoping she could do a good enough job on her own to impress the party.

After dinner, Luna asked Lincoln if he wanted to come with her to a little rave she and her friends were playing at; it was at a cute little place that would maybe hold 50 people total, no alcohol allowed.

"Thanks, sis," Lincoln said, giving his sister a fake smile of gratitude, "But I got one last homework assignment I gotta go over. Maybe next time."

Luna nodded and headed out with her friends, while Lincoln headed to his room to merely relax by himself.

As Lincoln headed upstairs, Lisa sighed to herself. She knew Lincoln was doing to his sisters the same thing they had been doing to him…right before the incident. Lisa knew it was up to her to set this all straight. But this time she had to actually THINK her plan through. And because she had given up science (she would still help her family with their school work and such, but other than that, she was done), she needed to think outside the box.

The next day, Lincoln got up a little early so he could get in the shower before everyone else. As he was getting his loofa and shampoo ready, Lisa crept across the hall to the twins' room, knocking quickly three times. She then darted back into her room right as Lincoln exited his.

"It's MINE!"

"No, it's MINE!"

Lincoln paused, turning to the twins' room as he heard them obviously getting in another scuffle. For the briefest of moments, Lincoln thought about heading in and stopping the argument. However, that thought immediately passed as he recalled how Lori and Leni had seemingly taken over that responsibility. Knowing that the fight would wake everyone else up, Lincoln hurried down the hall and entered the bathroom.

As soon as the bathroom door slammed shut, everyone poked their heads out of their rooms. They looked towards the bathroom, then the twins' room. Lola and Lana looked upset as they realized Lincoln had not tried to help them, and Lisa sighed miserably at realizing her plan had failed. The other girls shot their genius sister a sympathetic look; unlike with the time machine, this time around Lisa had included her sisters in the plan. And they were all, understandably, upset that it had failed. But at least it proved Lincoln really was PO'd at them.

"We can fix this," Luan said, as they all hurried to Lisa's room to try and come up with another plan.

Another week and another dozen failed plans passed. Lincoln continued to ignore his sisters, while spending more time with his friends. He had dinner at Clyde's almost every night, and hung out with Ronnie Anne over the weekend. The sisters grew more and more upset, though none more than Lisa.

As what would be the two-month anniversary of the start of this whole mess was coming up, Lisa knew she had to fix this. After spending a long night thinking it over, she came up with an idea. Was it perfect? No, but it was better than nothing.

On Sunday, when everyone woke up, Lisa asked them all to leave. When they asked why, Lisa pointed out that while Lori and Leni started this with the dress, followed by Lincoln making it worse, it was ultimately HER that broke up the family, and now she had to be the one to fix it. As such, she asked for some time where she could confront Lincoln with an idea to fix everything. Though the others were wary, they agreed.

Lisa had snuck into Lincoln's room and turned off his alarm, so he ended up waking up later than everyone else. Thus, when he walked into the kitchen for breakfast, he was greeted by only Lisa.

"Good morning, Lincoln," Lisa nodded, to which her brother replied with a mumble. As he reached into the pantry to grab his Zombie Bran, Lisa spoke up, "Please only be mad at me."

Needless to say, Lincoln froze in his tracks, standing on his tiptoes with one arm reaching into the pantry. He slowly turned to look at his genius sister as she continued, "What happened with Sister Fight Protocol and with the time machine were my fault and mine alone, so please stop giving the rest of our sisters the cold shoulder. Be as mad as you want to at me, but the others miss spending time with their brother." Lisa took off her glasses as she felt tears coming on, "Lincoln, I know I've been a lousy sister ever since I found my love of science. All I see when I look at you guys are test subjects, and that's wrong. As such, I've made a vow to change. The rest of our family is adamant I not give up my passion, to which I have agreed. However, I will start acting my age as well. Not sure if you've noticed, but I've actually been enrolled at your school, where I'll be attending from now on. And my experiments will now be focused on solely bettering mankind (even gonna talk Dad into maybe using more natural power for the house). But above all else, I will be a better sister. However, I understand if you cannot forgive me, Lincoln. But please, forgive the others. After all, remember how miserable you were when we were giving you the cold shoulder? That's how they feel now."

Staring at his little sister in shocked silence, Lincoln sighed before looking at the ground. He knew very well his sisters felt miserable; that was the whole point after all. But still, hearing one of them actually SAY that only made him feel…crummy. He didn't like what he was doing, but he had just had enough of all the nonsense. Looking back towards Lisa, Lincoln sighed as he saw she was still trying not to cry.

He walked over to her and pulled her in for a hug, saying nothing as he rubbed her back. She started bawling at that moment, and the rest of the sisters, who had merely been in the backyard listening by the door, came rushing in. Lincoln merely looked at them, before opening his arm and inviting them in. They all gathered around in a hug, saying nothing as Lisa continued to sob.

They all knew it would take time to heal from what had happened, but at the very least, they were on the road to being a family again. There would always be tough times in the Loud house, but if they kept their heads high, they could always have a happy ending.

I didn't wanna drag this on. Honestly, this is one I felt obligated to make. But then thinking to my failed, "Lincoln's Fun Day Out" and "Week at Aunt Ruth's" fanfics, I figured I would finish this up so I could at least please my readers. Anyway, hope you enjoyed.