A new idea I had.

Lincoln sighed as he turned off his tape recorder, "Well, that was exhausting. But at least it's done."

"KIDS, DINNER!" Dad called up the stairs. Lincoln smiled and hopped out of his chair and headed out the door. Before exiting his room, he made sure to leave a note on the tape recorder: LINCOLN'S AUDIO DIARY. DO NOT TOUCH! (ESPECIALLY LOLA!)

At that, the white-haired boy exited his room and headed downstairs to dinner.

After dinner, Lincoln had gone to Clyde's to watch ARGGH! His parents, knowing the show ended at 8:00, stated his curfew was extended 10 minutes so he could get home.

While he was out, the rest of the sisters were doing their normal Sunday night routines: Lynn was hurrying to finish her homework that she had put off all weekend, Luna was getting one last jam session in, Luan was practicing some of her comedy routine that she'd use in the cafeteria tomorrow, Lisa was going over her lessons for her lecture, the usual.

Lori was busy frantically searching her room for something, something very important to her. "Where is it?!" She whisper-yelled, needing to find it but not wanting her sisters to hear her.

"Whatcha looking for, Lori?" Leni asked, looking up from the fashion magazine she was reading.

"My diary!" Lori snapped, "I can't find it anywhere! Have you seen it?"

"Yeah," Leni nodded, and Lori smiled…until Leni continued, "I saw you writing in it yesterday. It's a nice yellow book with pink trim along the edges, and a silver lock."

Lori sighed, "I meant, have you seen it RECENTLY?"

"Oh!" Leni said, getting it, before quickly shaking her head, "No."

"Ugh!" Lori groaned, continuing to search through her room, even going so far as to lift her mattress, "Do you think anyone would have taken it?"

"I don't see how," Leni said, flipping through her magazine, "You never let that thing out of your sight. The only way someone could take it is if they wait for you to leave your room for an indefinite amount of time, like dinner."

Lori paused as she thought over what her roommate had said. She knew she had it earlier in the day, and she had hardly been out of her room. But she WAS one of the last ones to go down for dinner. She thought back to 40 minutes ago, when the majority of her siblings had already headed downstairs for dinner. She had been in the middle of a conversation with her Boo-Boo Bear, and had had to wrap it up. As she exited her room and closed the door, she absent-mindedly looked down to the end of the hall, where she saw Lincoln pausing at his open door, doing something at his desk. She had thought nothing of it as she headed downstairs.

"Lincoln!" She growled. Despite it never happening to her before, Lori had seen more than enough TV and movies to know that little brothers ALWAYS stole older sisters' diaries.

Lori knew Lincoln had gone to Clyde's, so she couldn't confront him at the moment. But she COULD search his room for proof. Then, it would just be a simple decision: turn him into a human pretzel and THEN rat him out to Mom and Dad, or rat him out BEFORE turning him into a human pretzel. Either way, she was gonna enjoy the end to her weekend.

As she stomped out of her room and down the hall, Leni turned another page in her magazine, and one of those ads fluttered out. She tried to grab it, but missed, and it fell to the ground. Leaning over her bed to grab it, she noticed Lori's diary under the night stand in between their beds.

"Huh, this is that book Lori was looking for," She said, grabbing it and placing it on her sister's bed. She would have called after Lori, telling her Lincoln didn't take the diary, but she was distracted by an article about eye liner, "Ooh!"

Lori stomped down the hall and threw open Lincoln's door. Of course, being just a big closet, she was able to instantly scan the room and notice that Lincoln hadn't left the book in plain sight. Quickly closing his door, lest one of the sisters or parents were to enter the hall and notice that she was going through Lincoln's room, Lori began doing a thorough search. The drawers were a no go, and it wasn't under the covers, mattress, or in the pillow.

"UGH! He must have taken it to Clyde's so they could look at it while they watch their dumb show. Little twerp!" Lori groaned as she flopped back on her brother's bed. She had the only key to the lock, but she knew that didn't tend to stop snoops. Looking at his clock, she saw it was 7:30, meaning his show just started, and it would take a couple minutes to get home after it ended at 8:00, so that meant she had to wait. Unless, of course, she wanted to go there herself and confront him now, but she wasn't sure she wanted to deal with Clyde getting a nosebleed and fainting in her presence AGAIN (honestly, she needed to sit him down and explain what he felt for her was just his first real crush and that they were NEVER gonna happen, but that's a story for a different day).

Figuring she would go talk to Mom and Dad about what Lincoln had done, Lori sat up and turned so she could stand up…when she spotted the tape recorder on Lincoln's desk, right in between his laptop and backpack. Curious, she got up and saw the note, and a devious, Grinch-like smile formed on her face.

"Well, little brother," She chuckled, picking the tape recorder up and eagerly flopping back down on Lincoln's bed, "You wanna try to find out my embarrassing secrets, then I get to return the favor." Smirking, she picked Bun-Bun off the edge of the bed and stroked his head, acting like a supervillain with her pet white cat.

She pressed the PLAY button…

As the sisters did their usual evening antics, getting that last bit of weekend in before bedtime at 9:00, the door to Lincoln's room slowly opened. No one noticed as the eldest Loud sibling slowly shuffled out, a look of unease and dread on her face.

Lola and Lana fought over one of Lola's dolls that Lana wanted to destroy, their fight cloud rolling past Lori, who didn't even notice. Lynn threw a football down the stairs, barely missing Lori's head as it flew past her. Lori got to her room and pushed open the door, not even flinching when Luan's bucket of water fell on her, drenching her. She simply walked over to her bed and plopped down, ignoring the fact that she was laying on her diary and the fact that her sheets were getting wet.

"Lori, is everything ok?" Leni asked, noticing her sister's oddly calm and distant behavior.

Lori was silent for several minutes, during which Leni grew more and more worried as she tried to get her BFF to say something, anything.

"Leni…" Lori finally muttered, "I…I know we mess with him sometimes, and we girls usually stick together, even during the times when we were obviously the ones to screw up, but…do you think…do you think we're good sisters to Lincoln?"

Leni was taken aback by the question. "Well…" She said after a moment of contemplation, "I guess for the most part we are. Like you said, there are times we've ganged up on him, but some of those times he's deserved it."

"Right," Lori nodded numbly, "But still, he…he knows we all love him, right?"

"Well, yeah," Leni said, smiling, "After all, he's our only brother, so he's gotta know we love him by how overprotective we are of him."

Lori said nothing at this, instead choosing to stare straight up at the ceiling. Leni was growing a bit nervous. The second-eldest Loud sister may not be very bright, but she could tell when something was bothering one of her siblings.

Leni slowly got off of her bed and shuffled to Lori's bed, plopping down next to her sister (making sure not to sit on a wet portion of the sheet) and placed a hand on her shoulder. Lori looked up at her, though there was a glossy, uneasy look in her eyes.

"Lori, what happened? I found your diary, so why were you in Linky's room for so long? Did you…did you find something bad?" Leni hoped her brother wasn't in trouble, yet the look on Lori's face seemed to imply he was.

Lori said nothing as she stared at Leni for a good few minutes, before finally sighing, "Tell the others to get in here for an emergency sibling meeting. I'll be right back." At that, the eldest sister got up and made her way out of the hall, back to her brother's room. Leni frowned at this odd, evasive behavior, but simply did what Lori asked and went to fetch the rest of her sisters.

5 minutes later, the sisters were all seated in Loir and Leni's room. They were confused as to why Lori had called an emergency sibling meeting, especially since Lincoln wasn't home. However, Leni had told them that Lori seemed off, and that they would have to wait for her to tell them what was going on herself.

Finally, Lori entered, looking worse for wear. "I just put Lily down. She didn't need to hear this." She sighed as she looked at Lucy and the twins, "Honestly, you don't need to, either. I think you guys should go to your rooms and let us talk this over."

"No fair!" The twins cried, while Lucy muttered a sigh.

"I assume that you think as a toddler I do not need to hear this," Lisa said, adjusting her glasses, "Yet as the smartest person in the household, you think I should."

"Yeah, that's about right," Lori sighed, before looking at the other three youngsters in the room, "I really don't think you need to hear this, but in all honesty, it's a family thing, so that's the only reason I'm letting you stay. But if at any point you feel upset or…worse, then you are free to leave."

By now, each of the girls was beginning to get more and more worried. Finally, Luna built up the courage to ask, "Lori…is something wrong with Lincoln? Is he ok?"

Lori sighed again, looking at the floor for a moment before turning to her sisters, "No, he's not. He's in a lot of trouble."

"Is this something we should get Mom and Dad for?" Lynn asked nervously.

"Yeah, we should," Lori sighed, "But I think it's best we keep them out of this for the moment." At that, the oldest pulled Lincoln's tape recorder out of her pocket, before turning around and locking the door. She then walked over to her bed and sat down in between Luna and Lucy. She sighed again as she looked all around the room at her sisters' worried faces, "Girls, prepare yourselves. We're entering some seriously mature territory here."

They all nodded, and Lori pressed the PLAY button.

"Lincoln Loud here. 11-years-old, middle child and only son of the Loud family with 10 sisters. All my life I've felt…like I don't belong, like I'm meaningless. On the rare occasion I've brought this up to my sisters, they assure me I'm one of a kind, and there's no one else like me.

Looking at my sisters, though, it gets hard. Each of them pretty much has their life planned out. Each of them is sure to be a big success in the future. But what about me? What am I good at? Where am I going? Luna is an aspiring rock star, Lynn is an amazing athlete, Luan is a great comedian, Lisa is a genius, etc. I…am my sisters' brother.

In all honesty, I think about ending it more than once a day. Usually while I'm getting ready for school in the morning I think about taking the toaster into the bathroom and dropping it in the bathtub. On the weekends when we go to the park, I imagine either climbing the tallest tree and jumping off of it, or cutting through the park to the road and just waiting for a big truck to drive by so I can jump in front of it. Sometimes at night I think about sneaking into my parents' room and taking a bottle of their sleeping pills and just chugging them all down in one gulp.

When am I ever truly happy? For about 5, maybe 10 if I'm lucky, seconds right after I wake up, between awake and asleep, before I remember who I am and what my life is like. No dreams, no realizations. Just a short period where I exist, and that's it.

And then there's my pal Rusty. This one day we were hanging out at his place, and he was showing me his dad's collection of vintage movie posters in the guest bedroom. I noticed the safe in the back of the closet, and he told me his dad kept a handgun in there, in case anyone ever tries to break in. Chatting with his dad over dinner, I deduced the safe combination. I excused myself to the restroom and snuck into the guest room, opening the safe and taking out the gun. I'm no gun expert, but it's the kind that you jam a cartridge in, and ya got seven shots before you need to reload.

I stared at it for a good minute, before I put it in my mouth and just kept it there for a moment. I've done that at least half-a-dozen times since then. After all, if that gun is the last thing I'm ever gonna taste, then I wanna make sure my tongue enjoys it.

I truly think the only reason I haven't pulled the trigger yet is my sisters. We don't always get along (heck, there's usually at least one argument in the house per day), but I love them and I know they love me. And I guess…I guess I don't wanna end it because I know they'll move on. Sure, they'll be sad at first, but their lives will continue. That's kinda sad, but completely true. When a person dies, those around them mourn, before they immediately pick up where they left off. And even if my sisters seem mad at me almost on a daily basis, I just can't accept the idea that they could function and live their lives without me around. Does that make me a bad person? Does that make me selfish?

I guess I'll just wait and see. At the time I'm making this, I'm more than certain I won't be alive at this time next month. So…um…I guess, Lincoln Loud, out."

By the time the recording was done, most of the girls had shocked looks on their faces. Lola and Lana were clutching each other in fear, Luan had tears in her eyes, Lucy's eyes were so wide with shock that they were peering through her hair, Leni and Luna were sitting where they were, dumbstruck, Lori was clearly upset at having to have heard the whole thing a second time, Lisa was staring at the tape recorder with her jaw dropped, unsure of what to even think at the moment, and Lynn was clutching her head and staring at her lap, not even sure if what she just heard was real.

It was a good five minutes before any of them spoke.

"All this time," Luna sighed, "He's been hiding these feelings all this time. How could none of us have known?"

"Depression is…it's very dangerous," Lisa spoke up, still staring at the tape recorder, "Most people who suffer from it don't wish to be helped (or in their eyes, pitied), so they learn to hide it with ease. Plus…" The genius paused, looking at her Gothic sister, "With someone around who is regularly depressed about one thing or another, it would be easy to ignore hidden depression."

Lucy frowned at Lisa, yet said nothing, instead choosing to turn away, knowing now was not the time to start an argument.

"All those times Lincoln called himself "the man with the plan" and did something to make himself stand out," Lynn sighed, "We thought they were cries for attention. But they were cries for help. And we were so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we ignored him."

"We have to tell Mommy and Daddy," Lola said, trying not to cry.

"Yeah, they'll know what to do," Lana said, for once completely agreeing with her twin.

"But, dudes," Luna shook her head, "If we tell them, they'll just put Lincoln in therapy. And if this is as bad as it sounds, they may check him into one of those homes for mentally unstable kids."

"We can't let that happen to Lincoln. That would be totally messed up," Luan forced a chuckle, "Get it?" A couple of the girls frowned at their comedian of a sister, somewhat appalled she would try to make a joke at a time like this.

"Look," Lori sighed, realizing tensions and fears were rising between her sisters, "I think we shouldn't tell Mom and Dad about this, at least not yet."

"Lori's right," Leni nodded, "We made this mess, now we need to fix it. We'll show Lincoln just how loved and appreciated he is around here, and then he'll HAVE to not blow his brains out."

A couple of the others recoiled in disgust at the ditzy blonde's casual mention of their brother's possible gruesome suicide, but they all nodded.

"From now on, this isn't the Loud house," Lori said, determination in her eyes, "This is the Lincoln house!"

At 8:07, Lincoln entered his house, slightly out of breath due to jogging to get home on time. He was slightly bummed that he and Clyde couldn't talk about the newest episode of ARGGH! right after it ended, but at least they could talk over the walkies, so it was only a minor bummer. As he headed upstairs, he noticed it was oddly quiet in the house.

"I'm home!" He called out, heading into his room. He noticed that Bun-Bun was on the floor, so he bent down to pick his toy up, "Odd, don't remember you being on the floor before I left, buddy." Shrugging, Lincoln tossed the stuffed rabbit back to his place at the foot of the bed before jumping on it himself, relaxing as he grabbed his walkie.

"Man-with-a-plan to Nosebleeder, come in," He said as he grabbed his walkie, "Come in, Nosebleeder."

At that moment, there was a knock at Lincoln's door. "Yeah?" He called, somewhat surprised that one of his sisters had actually knocked instead of just barging in.

"Linky?" The twins poked their heads in, looking at their big brother with smiles.

"What's up, guys?" He asked, still waiting for Clyde to respond.

"We were wondering…" Lana began.

"If you could help us with our homework, big brother?" Lola finished, batting her eyelashes.

"Um…" Lincoln was a bit taken back at the request, "Wouldn't you rather ask Lisa?"

"We would but…um…" Lola looked to Lana for assistance.

"Lisa is too…snooty and…big mouthed," Lana said, looking somewhat nervous, "We want someone who will help us and not act like we're idiots just because we don't get it."

"Oh," Lincoln thought it over for a moment, and realized that made sense. Lisa did have a massive superiority complex, which was the main reason Lincoln himself hardly ever asked for her help with his homework. "Sure," he said, shrugging. At that moment, Clyde finally picked up, but Lincoln replied he had to help the twins, and they could talk about ARGGH! at lunch tomorrow.

While Lincoln was by no means a genius, he was more than capable of helping Lola and Lana with their homework, seeing as they were merely in First Grade. Once he was done, the twins gratefully hugged their brother and told him he was the best.

"Just happy to help, guys," Lincoln said, smiling as he tussled their hair.

As Lincoln exited the twins' room and headed back into his room, he heard, "Hey, bro!" He turned to see Luna exiting her room and making her way down the hall to him.

"Hey, Luna, what's up?"

"I just wanted to tell ya I love you," Luna said, wrapping her brother in a hug.

"I love you, too, sis," Lincoln said, returning the hug. While he was a bit surprised by his sister's seemingly out of nowhere declaration of love, he wasn't gonna reject it. He loved his sisters, and honestly thought that they all needed to say it more often.

At that, Luna released her brother and headed downstairs, while Luan exited her room carrying her laptop. She grinned upon seeing her brother.

"Linc!" She exclaimed, happily walking over to him, "Look at all the hits my page has gotten." She showed him the page, which was had a significant increase in views since the birthday party the two had performed at the previous day. Just as he was about to congratulate his comedian of a sister, he noticed something.

"Lincoln Out Loud?" He looked at the title, which was the LOL text, with Luan's name substituted for Laugh, "Why'd you change it?"

"Oh," Luan casually shrugged, "You've just been doing such a great job as my assistant these past few weeks that I figured you deserved more credit. Don't worry, all my subscribers know it's the same page, and there's still a link to Funny Business."

"Wow, thanks, Luan," Lincoln said, touched that his sister would do something like that for him.

"Don't mention it, Linc," Luan said, pecking him on the cheek before heading back to her room. Lincoln smiled as he entered his room, glad to have had a peaceful night with his sisters, as opposed to the usual drama of the household.

As soon as Lincoln's bedroom door was closed, the sisters all poked their heads out of their rooms. Lola, Lana, Luna, and Luan nodded, and the rest of the sisters smirked, with Lori giving a thumb's-up.

When Lincoln exited his room the next morning, he got in line behind Lynn. Just as he was about to ask her if she wanted to thumb wrestle to pass the time, the sisters all stepped aside, telling Lincoln the bathroom was all his. Lori exited, telling him she made sure to save him some hot water. Confused, yet mostly grateful, Lincoln hurried and took his shower.

Upon entering the kitchen for breakfast, Lincoln was surprised by the aroma of an actual cooked breakfast, rather than the usual cereal and toast. Laid out at the adults table was bacon, eggs, hash browns, French toast, and orange juice. Lincoln felt his mouth water at the sight of it all.

"Dig in, Bro," Luna said handing him a plate.

"Thanks, Luna," Lincoln said, eagerly piling his plate. However, he stopped suddenly and turned to his rock-loving sister, asking, "Is it someone's birthday?" He didn't THINK he had forgotten anyone's birthday, but in such a big family, one couldn't be too sure.

"No," Luna shook her head casually, "We just thought it seemed like a big breakfast type of day."

"Oh, ok," Lincoln said, shrugging a he finished piling his plate. He then sat at the table and waited for his sisters to get their food.

"Don't worry about waiting for us, Linky," Leni said, "Go ahead and dig in." The rest of the girls nodded their heads, so Lincoln went ahead and started chowing down.

The sisters smirked at each other as they watched their brother eat, glad their plan to make Lincoln feel special seemed to be working.

As they ate, the siblings let Lincoln lead the conversation, and he told them about his show last night. They all made sure to listen carefully, nodding and voicing their own thoughts. It made Lincoln feel good knowing his sisters were so interested in one of his hobbies.

After breakfast, everyone got ready to leave. As they exited the house, Lori nodded to the girls, who all hung back as Lincoln headed to Vanzilla. Upon opening the back door, Lincoln paused as he noticed he was alone. Turning around, he saw his sisters walk up to the van and act like nothing unusual had happened. Lincoln was about to hop in the shotgun, but Leni beat him to it. Slowly, the rest of the sisters filled up the van, until the only seat left…was the Sweet Spot.

No one said anything as Lincoln hesitantly slid by Lynn into the Sweet Spot. He was a little on edge, wondering if they were waiting for him to take the best seat so they could pounce on him to each try and claim it for themselves. Thankfully, that did not appear to be the case. Once he was buckled in, Lori asked if everyone was ready, to which they replied they were. Lori started up Vanzilla and pulled out of the driveway.

"Hey, Lynn?" Lincoln tapped his sporty sister on the shoulder, causing her to look up from her phone, which was playing a sports real, "Did I…uh…did I forget my birthday again?"

A couple of the sisters chuckled at that, recalling how when Lincoln was 7, he had gotten the mumps and had to lay in bed for a few days. Because of this, he missed about a week of school and had to spend the whole weekend catching up on his homework. Then, after an exhausting Monday at school, he just wanted to take a nap before dinner. But Lori told him that Mom and Dad were both working late and she was in charge of dinner, and made him be her special helper in the kitchen. While Lincoln was sprinkling some spices into the pasta sauce, Lori said she had to go take care of something else and for him to just keep stirring the sauce. Then, after dinner was ready, Lincoln tiredly walked into the dining room to eat, only to be shocked when all his sisters, Mom, Dad, Pop-Pop, and Clyde all yelled out "SURPRISE" while standing under a banner reading "HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY LINCOLN!" Since then, the girls would occasionally tease Lincoln about having forgotten his own birthday, but it was all in fun.

"Nah, bro, we're just all in a really good mood, and since you're such an awesome brother, you're the one we're choosing to aim those positive feelings towards," Lynn said, smiling at her brother, who returned the gesture, "Hey, after school, ya wanna hang out? We can play football, baseball, basketball…" Lynn noticed Lori glaring at her through the rearview mirror, "Or play some video games or read comics." She forced a large smile onto her face, which Lincoln found a bit odd, but didn't question.

"I appreciate the offer, Lynn," Lincoln said, a small smile on his face, "But I've got plans. Another time, maybe?"

"Sure," Lynn nodded, "Whenever you want, bro."

At that, the two went back to their own devices, Lynn watching her sports real, Lincoln just staring out the window.

As they pulled up to the elementary school, Lincoln couldn't help but wonder what was going on with his sisters; sure, he wasn't against this nice treatment they seemed to be giving him, but it was just so…out of place for them to be doing so.

"Eh," he muttered, grabbing his backpack and exiting the van, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess."

School went pretty much the same as it always did. Towards the end of the day, Lincoln was actually feeling a little nervous. The homework that he had been assigned over the weekend had been pretty tricky, and he was sure he had gotten a bit of it wrong. As the class was waiting for the final bell of the day to ring, Mrs. Johnson began passing out the now graded homework. Lincoln could only hope he didn't flat-out fail.

As Mrs. Johnson placed the papers on the students' desks, she made small comments on how they did. Most of them were along the lines of, "Good job, maybe go over the material again if you get a chance." When she got to Lincoln's desk, however, she smiled, "Great job, Lincoln, you got the highest score in the whole class."

"Way to go, buddy," Clyde said, flashing him a thumb's-up. Lincoln was surprised that he apparently did better than everyone else; he sure didn't think so when he was actually doing the work.

However, upon taking a look at his seat, Lincoln instantly understood how he had gotten a perfect score: he hadn't actually done any of the problems, Lisa had. He could easily tell that she had forged his handwriting, and he was kinda ticked off. Lisa had explicitly stated she would only help her siblings, after Mom and Dad had forbidden her from "doing everyone else's homework because she was bored".

"Mrs. Jonson?" Lincoln raised his hand, annoyed he would have to come clean and probably end up failing (and maybe even getting a detention) if Mrs. Jonson wouldn't fully let him explain he had not known his sister had done this.

"Well, class," Mrs. Jonson addressed the classroom, not having heard Lincoln, "I'll admit I'm a little disappointed in the final scores of this weekend's homework. As such, there will be a test over the material this Friday, to make sure you fully understand it." The class groaned. "However, Lincoln, as the only student who got a perfect score on the homework, you will be exempt from the test."

Lincoln slowly put his hand down, simply muttering a thanks to his teacher as the final bell rang. The students began filing out of the classroom in a hurry. Lincoln trailed behind, a little guilty about taking credit for the perfect score, but figuring one time wouldn't be such a bad thing. He would just have to talk to Lisa about it when he got home.

"Yo, Linc, ya ready to head to my place?" Rusty appeared beside his white-haired friend as they exited the building.

Lincoln smiled a nervous smile, "Sure am, Rusty. Gotta get ready for the big day, after all. I gotta tell ya, I'm nervous as heck."

"I am, too," Rusty nodded, throwing his arm around Lincoln's shoulders, "But hey, by the end of this week, everyone will know you're not just your sisters' brother. You'll be known as Lincoln Loud, the kid who doesn't take nothin' from nobody!"

"Right," Lincoln nodded, pausing as he spotted someone rather familiar through the crowd, "Ugh, it's Chandler. I'm definitely gonna be happy when Friday comes. Then I won't have to deal with him anymore."

"Right," Rusty nodded, "Did you talk to him at lunch, let him know you're not gonna let him push you around anymore?"

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded, "But I don't think he took me seriously."

"Well, with what you've got planed, he'll know that's a mistake he shouldn't make," Rusty said, chuckling darkly, "I can't wait to see the look on his face when it happens."

"Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people will be surprised when they see what I've got planned," Lincoln chuckled.

As the two boys walked out the door, neither noticed Lana pop her head out of the garbage can she had been digging through. She had a look of unease on her face as she stared after her brother.

"I gotta tell the others!"

"Slow down, dude!" Luna said, as all the sisters looked at Lana in concern, "You're SURE you heard Lincoln talking like he's gonna do something serious?"

"Yeah," Lana nodded fearfully, "He and Rusty were talking like they didn't want anyone to hear, and they said things like Lincoln would be remembered as more than just our brother, and that Chandler would know that it was a mistake messing with Lincoln. And Lincoln even said he was extremely nervous about what was going to happen."

All the girls looked at each other, worried about what their brother was apparently going to do at the end of the week.

"We gotta tell Mom and Dad," Leni spoke up, "They'll know what to do."

"No!" Luna cried, gaining her sisters' attention, "If we do that, they'll just force Lincoln to get help, and he won't take it."

"Luna's right, guys," Lori nodded, "We need to make sure Lincoln feels comfortable enough to come to us for help. We just gotta keep making him feel loved." Though hesitant, the rest of the girls slowly nodded in agreement.

At that moment, the front door opened, and they all heard Lincoln yell out, "I'M HOME!"

"Huddle!" Lori commanded, at which all the girls gathered around her, "Ok, we need to make sure Lincoln feels appreciated, but not smothered. He's our brother, and we love him." The girls all nodded, and Lori continued, "Also, I don't have a problem with him, but whether or not he knows exactly what's going on with Lincoln, we need to keep our brother away from Rusty for the time being. Or at the very least, make sure he Lincoln doesn't go to Rusty's house."

"Should one of us go there?" Lynn asked, "And take the gun so Linc can't find it?"

"I could do that," Lisa spoke up, "Send Lucy with a pair of my surveillance spy glasses and my code cracker. Using her ability to go unnoticed and my genius, we could get the safe open and hide the gun where our brother would never be able to find it: under one of our mattresses. Preferably yours or Leni's, since Lincoln isn't allowed in here unless invited."

"No," Lori shook her head, "We'll save that as a last resort. For now, just keep him from going there after school, and Lucy and the twins can run interference AT school. The rest of us will make sure that his after-school hours are booked. Got it?" The rest of the girls nodded, and they broke up the huddle.

Carefully, Leni went to her door and peaked out. She noticed Lincoln clutching his backpack and nervously looking around, before darting into his room and closing the door.

"We're good," The ditzy sister nodded, and they all quickly entered their own rooms, with Lynn going and knocking on Lincoln's door.

"Hey, Linc, ya up for hanging out now?" Lynn asked as she knocked, "I wanna see if I can whoop your butt at one of your video games."

After a moment of silence, Lincoln opened his door and smirked at his sports-loving sister, "Sorry, Lynn, but you're going down!" At that, the two headed downstairs, Lincoln eager to finally beat his athletic sister at something.

So, looks like Lincoln is having some serious depression issues. Hopefully his sisters can help him before something drastic happens.