A/N's: In regards to who Lila's mother is, although I have the story for her mostly planned out, I'm still not sure to whom I should "Assign" that role (The mother) to. It could either one of the girls from the show (Besides the Loud sisters, of course.), a pre-established OC or I could just make an OC of my own. Admittedly, the former 2 options would hold more… Meaning, I guess.

I'll decide eventually, since I do intend to make the story behind Lila and her mother be eventually revealed.

(A little tidbit, Lucy's name initials, as shown in the last chapter, are "L.P.H" which in reverse is "H.P.L" – as in, H.P Lovecraft, Hence why I gave her the last name 'Howardson'. Yea, I'm funny like that.)

XXXX

The night went by well enough, as somehow even the city's abyss of noises ended up dying down. Lincoln would awake himself twice in the night however, to check on Lila each time. An Instinctive habit at this point, though probably not the healthiest in regards to sleep. Lila was more important though.

Eventually day began to break and the city steadily came back to life. The sun started to rise and shine its light through Lincoln's bedroom window - his only means to help him get up, as he hadn't setup an alarm yet.

The sounds of the city came back to full volume, birds, dogs, cats along with garbage trucks, cars, a couple of sirens and some yelling, and more cars - in fact Lincoln may have vastly underestimated the amount of cars that existed in the universe, the most cars he remembers passing by his old neighborhood in a single day numbered probably less than a dozen.

There was also some incoherent screaming by someone in the streets about some government conspiracy about pigeons. But Lincoln, still groggily in slumber, just quite couldn't make it out exactly.

Eventually, Lincoln started to get up and start pulling him away from his dreams that helped him sleep and that helped him get away from some of his troubles in life…

Most of the time.

I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes…

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes…

I see a White door and I want it painted Black.

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away…

Like a newborn baby it just happens ev'ry day…

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts…

I could not foresee this thing happening to you.

No colors anymore...

I see a White door and I want it painted Black.

Lincoln hadn't realized, but he was already up and sitting on his bed.

Lincoln snapped out of his… trance. His eyes reached their maximum length as he momentarily widened them. He took a deep breath and brought himself back to reality.

His Imagination always got the better of him.

Lincoln yawned and looked around his still relatively barren room - the boxes containing his things still pushed off to the side of the walls, he knew he'd have to unpack them today, but he wasn't complaining.

Checking the time, he saw that it was 06:03 AM, a little later than he would usually wake up but he figured he could be lax about it for now.

Lincoln then turned his head to his daughter, Lila, and a familiar smile adorned his face again. One his needed right now.

Lila, now hugging her blanket as if for dear life, was still slumbering away. She would wake soon enough though; she had been sleeping for quite a while now. It was a bit of a blessing that she was a heavy sleeper, though Gods forbid if she woke up in the middle of her sleep, worse fate still, if she were to be awakened during her sleep.

Maintaining his faint smile, Lincoln got up - did his morning stretches and made his bed. He was hoping to get ready quick, before Lila woke up.

After finishing with his bed, he glanced over at the lamp table next to his bed and a saw a rectangular, orange object. His phone. Bought last Christmas.

He realized he hadn't seen the thing since he walked off to the roof yesterday, and he hadn't called or texted any of his friends. To be fair, he didn't really want to- he wasn't in the best mood and was for one reason or another somewhat nervous.

He knew it wasn't fair to his friends but he didn't want to end up being rude to any of them. Of course he ended up talking to Lucy just fine, someone he didn't even know till yesterday. Maybe it was the near-death experience he had when she sneaked up on him that mellowed him out.

Sighing, Lincoln then slowly realized that he didn't remember receiving any phones and texts, either. At least, not before he went to the roof and he hadn't checked his phone when he got back either. Maybe he received some while he was on the roof?

"Oh good, they moved on quick." He jokingly said out loud, to no one in particular but himself, but with only a faint trace of sarcasm in his voice.

Lincoln picked up his phone and pressed the power button - to no avail. He then pressed the home button but the device still only showed him a black screen.

It was out of battery.

Duh. During the last leg of the drive to Great Lakes City, he had spent most of the battery life playing some game where the player runs away from a giant, crushing boulder made from candy. It really shouldn't have been as entertaining as it turned out to be. Lincoln loved video-games and all but phone games weren't his thing - heck, phones weren't even his thing.

Although he had heard of people who spent nigh onto forever on them, He personally hadn't met, or could even imagine, anyone who could spend more then maybe fifteen or so minutes on the thing.

With a roll of his eyes and some mild annoyance he went about plugging it in and let it charge, though still not bothering to turn it on. He could wait.

Taking another glance at his little girl and readjusting his modest smile, he went towards to door to leave, so to do his business in the bathroom. As quickly as he could.

He entered the bathroom, which was to the immediate right of him when exiting his room, to his left slightly further up was Lily's room. Down the hall were the other rooms, His parent's room and a small closet towards his right, and a second, smaller bathroom as well as a small guest room next it, both to his left. All leading down to the living room, kitchen and the front door.

It was a spacious enough apartment, not luxury but around upper-middle class, one could say.

Lincoln opened the door to the bathroom on his right and went in, turning on the lights inside.

It was a decent sized bathroom, you could probably get away with squeezing in 6 or 7 people in here, although Lincoln wasn't sure what the context of a situation like that would be. Towards the end was a big enough bathtub, a shower head with a hose, besides that there was an average sink and mirror.

Meanwhile, toilet was made into a nook in the wall, where one could pull a small curtain at the side facing the door, to ensure some last-ditch privacy in case of any "wandering" accidents. Like the one with Lily a year ago.

Lincoln walked towards the sink, opened the tab and splashed his face with water and then stared into the mirror as if to see if any cosmological change had befallen him.

His hair was still pure white, still somewhat long. Going down to the back of his neck but not entirely, just a little lower than halfway. As he preferred it. Along with this he had his short side bangs, which went down his cheeks, stopping just before hitting his jaw line. His long-standing cow-lick was still there, though far less noticeable than it used to be when he was younger.

He wasn't going for any particular look, just something that looked good enough.

His freckles on his face were almost gone, one or two very faded ones remained.

His slightly chipped front tooth was all the same. He should probably consider getting that filled or something when he gets older. At least it didn't stick out his mouth like when he was younger.

Lincoln wanted to say a witty remark to his mirror self, but could only let out a disappointed sigh. With another heavy breath he took one last long look at himself.

He noticed the bags under his eyes, they used to be quite worse than they are now, but he had started getting some normal amount of sleep since last year and they had faded somewhat. Though for the last few months they had stayed the same. He assumed sleep would only help him so far.

As to why they had been even worse prior, Lincoln had a few reasons - namely Lila.

He didn't care though, if she needed him, she needed him. He appreciated any help with her but in the end, she was his daughter, his responsibility and she was his….

Lincoln stopped his train of thought, before he could start to regret it.

After a pause, he continued with his morning shower business, brushing his teeth, using the toilet and finally, the shower.

He stepped towards the shower, almost in an automated, emotionless manner he took off his clothes and stepped in, stroking his fingers across his hair on the top of his head, he let the bliss of hot water raining down clear his mind.

He hoped.

He eventually stepped out of the bathroom, his clothes a little wet. He had spent a little over 20 minutes in there, although the shower felt like it went on for hours.

Going back to his room, he changed his clothes quickly, a slightly loose, plain army-green, short sleeved shirt, followed by underwear, grey jeans with white socks and orange sneakers.

He wanted to keep it rather simple; it wasn't like he was going on a date or something.

Just as he was about to finish up he suddenly heard faint and familiar crying coming from behind him, snapping his head back as fast as a bird of prey, he turned back to see that Lila had finally woken up. It was very likely she was hungry, after all the time she spent sleeping.

For the first few seconds Lincoln stood frozen, before walking towards Lila's crib in a very brisk pace, fighting off the urge to sprint there instead.

He got to her, carefully picked her up and softly cooed at her to calm her down, it took several seconds but she stopped her crying, although still faintly whimpering with somewhat watery eyes looking straight at her father.

"Still not a morning person, huh Bun?" he playfully inquired the toddler, receiving some slightly distraught but calm mumbling in reply.

"Tu-Tummy" Lila added, gesturing towards her stomach by rubbing it.

"I know, Cotton, but let's first get you prepped up a little first" with a soft kiss on her forehead, causing a modest smile to appear on Lila's head, Lincoln went on to fix up her hair and followed by changing her diaper - regardless if he needed to or not, he figured it had been since yesterday so he a fresh one would be a good idea. Thankfully, helping raised Lily her first few years gave him more than enough experience to handle this properly.

Lincoln lastly adjusted Lila's clothes- but didn't bother to change them as he decided he'll give her a bath later and then do it.

After all that was settled Lincoln stepped of his room, Lila on his arms with her head buried by the side on his chest. She had a small smile on her, although she was indeed very much hungry.

Walking down the hall towards the kitchen, Lincoln ended up running into his mother who was just exiting her bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She took notice of her son and her granddaughter and adorned a sincere, pleasant smile of her own as she waved them morning.

"Morning dear, and Morning to you too, sweetie-bun~" Rita softly spoke to Lincoln and Lila, respectively.

Lila replied with some soft giggles, while Lincoln gave a warm smile before speaking; "Morning mom, I got up a little while ago and finished getting ready, was about to go feed Lila. You sleep well?"

"Mhmm" was Rita's reply as she nodded.

Lincoln then glanced down the slightly open bedroom door of his parent's room, at his mother's side, and saw his father, Lynn, still out like a rock, presumably still tired from yesterday.

Lincoln blinked for a moment before turning to his mother; "Jeez, dad still out?" receiving a nod his mother, he spoke again; "Yikes, I know he isn't a strongman but it's not like he was up building a huge wall or something… It was just…"

"It was a lot of stuff and boxes, Lincoln." Rita spoke with a sigh, while also interrupting her son. After a pause she continued; "Plus, it was also the drive- your father isn't used to long drives like that, though I guess none of us are. Combined that with all the lugging and carrying… Your father isn't that young anymore."

A similar trickle of guilt, same as last night, went down Lincoln's spine again as he looked down at the floor. Thankfully, he was knocked out of his stupor by a small nuzzle of Lila's head into his chest, bringing back a smile small on both him and his mother.

Following a brief pause, a door opened behind them, soon enough followed by a slow walking Lily, still rubbing her eyes while holding her own "Bun" - that is to say, Bun-Bun - her little stuffed-toy bunny, as well as her favorite toy, formerly her brother's.

Looking at her mother, brother, and young niece, she greeted them while still maintaining a facade of a freshly-awakened, young, adorable little zombie.

"Morning" she said, with a long yawn and stretch at the end.

A smile returning to both Rita and Lincoln, they greeted back at the little girl;

"Aw, Morning there sweetie~" Rita spoke with a bit of cheerfulness.

"Up and at 'em Lil'Bug." Lincoln softly giving off a two finger salute.

"Lil!" Lila softly cried out lastly, with apparent excitement.

As Lily smiled back at all three of them, Lincoln turned back to his mother to speak some more; "Well uh, mom, I was gonna go feed Lila… Do you want me to make breakfast for everyone?"

Rita gave a warm smile to her son, sure he made his mistakes here and there, but he did try to make it up each time. Nobody's perfect.

"Its fine sweetie, just make yourself, Lily and Lila breakfast, I'll handle mine and your father's." she paused for a second before she looked at Lily and spoke;

"Lily honey, I'm gonna use the bathroom on the left to freshen up, you don't mind taking the other one, do you?"

The still somewhat tired Six-year old, still adorning a smile nodded and started walking down the hall to the smaller bathroom, she stopped however as Lincoln ruffled her hair as she passed him, while gesturing her to stay for a moment.

Rita meanwhile took one last look at her husband through the door of their room; he was still essentially knocked out. After a few moments she started hearing him mumble, out of curiosity she leaned through the doorway to see if she could make out what he was saying.

Although at first little more than soft grunts and snores, the sleep-talking Lynn eventually started making...some...sense…

"Ung…..uh….no...no..not the Celery...anything but the Celery….gah….uh…Crabs...buh….we….agah…..health inspector...we…..ah...need to hide him…...uuuh…how are we breathing underwat-..."

Lynn didn't quite finish the last sentence in his sleep-driven episode, after which there was a momentary pause and then suddenly a wide smile adorned his face. All the while he lay still as a dead horse.

Rita blinked several times, and stood in the doorway for a little over 15-seconds, her face looking as if she had just transcended omnipotence and then descended back to mortality.

She leaned back from the doorway eventually, closed the door and then just simply shrugged. She smiled at her two children and granddaughter and made her way towards and then into the bathroom down the hall.

Although a little confused themselves, both Lincoln and Lily simply shrugged as well, while Lila continued softly nuzzling into her father's chest.

Lincoln then turned his head to Lily before speaking;

"So, Lilster, excited about going back to your game today?"

Within that moment, any grogginess or tiredness vanished from Lily's face, replaced entirely by a bright, wide grin showing off her front bucktooth and her face itself showing a fresh aura of excitement and brightness.

"You better believe it! I mean, I'm finally gonna hit level 65, then finish up that Assassin-Hood quest line!" Lily spoke loud and excited, before she paused suddenly, as if coming to a realization.

"That means…. That means I'll finally get the huge bounty payoff for killing the emperor!"

Before anything else could be said, Lily made a beeline for the bathroom up the hall, but then suddenly made a 180 degree turn, and returned back to her brother. Stopping in front of him she looked up at a smiling Lila in his arms.

Lincoln simply smiled and brought Lila down to Lily's height all the while firmly holding onto his baby girl.

"Lee-Lee!" The toddler squeed happily.

Lily's grin only widened even more and her so did her energetic aura around her, she gave her little niece a kiss on the cheek and just like that, bolted back to the door of the bathroom. Needless to say, she loved being an auntie.

She also either really wanted that level up for her videogame character or that bounty payoff. Or maybe she was just excited to kill the emperor guy.

Settling Lila back into his chest, Lincoln simply gave a soft sigh and a slight roll of the eyes, once again thanking the gods his parents weren't up-to-date on video-game age rating standards. He himself would have missed out on a lot of fun games growing up if they had just known...

Lincoln turned towards the living room and started walking down the hall, turning to the right and taking a few steps he was now inside the kitchen, it being separate from the living room by a counter that served as the dining table and also as a low wall of sorts. The apartment came with a few dining chairs, enough for the family but Lynn and Rita made a note to go out and buy some more comfortable ones.

The Kitchen had everything one would expect, Stove, oven, sink, and a couple of empty counters - a small window behind one of them, Kitchen cabinets both above and below. Lastly, a fairly large fridge that came with the apartment left of the entrance of the kitchen. The overall space inside the kitchen wasn't much however; maybe you could squeeze in three, four people at absolute most.

Lincoln put Lila down in her baby-chair next to the eating counter, and decided on the breakfast for himself, his daughter and his sister.

A couple of minutes later he decided he'd make himself a few, simple ham sandwiches and an apple-puree for Lila, as for Lily, he first instinctively opened one of the top cabinets of the kitchen, only to remember that newly-bought apartments do not in fact, come with pre-stocked cereal. He decided to make her eggs and bacon instead, throwing in a couple of glasses of juice for both of them.

Soon enough Lily came out of the bathroom, and sat herself up on the counter next to Lila, playing with and helping her niece eat her food, as Lincoln had made Lila's apple sauce first.

Lincoln finished cooking his and Lily's breakfasts, He didn't really do anything fancy with them, he was fairly good at cooking but he left the passion aspect of it to his father.

As the three started eating, Rita came out of the bathroom, waved and smiled at each of them and then entered back into her room with Lynn, a look of slight worry and confusion appearing on her at the last moment, for whatever reason, as she stared and went inside with a sigh.

As the three ate their food, Lila occasionally making a bit of a mess on her face followed by either Lily or Lincoln cleaning it up, though neither seemed to mind, Lincoln turned to his little sister, wanting to talk;

"So Lily, after you kill off the emperor and finish your, uh, Assassin's quest, will you be done with the game?" he inquired the six-year old, supposedly aspiring contract-for-hire killer.

"Huh? Of course not!" came her sudden response as she continued;

"I still have one whole huge DLC questline to complete!" she paused for a moment before continuing again; "It's a long one… though I guess I'm not sure after that."

Lincoln rolled his eyes with a small smirk, as the two continued discussing about Lily's planned virtual adventures, apparently the aforementioned DLC quest line involves traveling to a whole different island with giant mushrooms dotting it, while looking for 8 dark and magical books with the help of a semi-sociopathic sorcerer, all the while a now happy and full Lila looked on.

Eventually however, Lincoln shifted the topic of discussion to one related to real life;

"So Lily… After summer is over this time, you'll finally be starting school, are you still feeling nervous?" Lincoln calmly asked his little sister.

The energy and smile on Lily's face slightly faded, and she made a quick to the floor before looking at her brother again, fidgeting a little, she eventually spoke;

"Yea I guess… a lot less nervous than before… I mean I guess moving to the city doesn't matter, since it'll be my first time in school but… I guess I was more … comfortable with the idea back home?" Lily finished, the uncertainty in her voice being obvious, and seemingly unsure if the words she spoke properly conveyed what she felt.

Lincoln simply smiled back, with a comforting look in his eyes and after a few seconds replied to her;

"It's gonna be fine Lil'bug, your feeling like that because back home is where you grew up so it's alright to feel… kind of weirded out here…, just remember that school is pretty much the same anywhere and I'm sure mom and dad will put you in a good one, plus it's only the first grade, it won't be anywhere near hard for you, you've always been pretty smart - I'd say smarter than most kids your age." He paused to give a reassuring smile to her, Lily returning a modest one in kind.

Lincoln continued after a couple of seconds; "I figure you'll be Acing lessons that you'll probably end up getting bored there, but I'm sure you'll be making mom and dad proud by bringing home plenty of A's" There was a brief pause as Lincoln briefly looked down at the floor before darting his eyes back to Lily's before speaking again; "And I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends there too, just uh, be careful, okay?"

Lily simply nodded and smiled wider, her nervousness almost entirely washed away, for the moment.

After a brief moment she got up from her dining chair and simply hugged her brother, burying her head into his stomach, to which Lincoln simply gave her a few head pats.

"Thanks Linky" Lily spoke softly; "I'll try… but hey, are you gonna make some friends at your new school too?"

Lincoln's smile slightly wavered slightly and he darted his eyes again to the side, before looking back down at Lily; "Uh yea….I'll try." after which a slight smirk started to appear on his face before speaking again; "And you still have to clean your dishes"

"Dang it." was the deadpan reply the little blonde gave to her brother, with a giggling Lila observing the scene.

After that, they dispersed, cleaned and put away their dishes and went about their day.

Lily of course, finally sat on the couch and started the game she had been so longing to continue, with a very wide and toothy smile.

Eventually both parents came out of their room, giving another of greetings to the kids and fixed and ate their breakfasts.

Among the small talk they had, Lynn made a mention of a sudden and spontaneous apprehension towards burgers, fishes, crustaceans, and sponges. He did not give any proper explanation as to why to his very much confused family, however.

After their breakfasts and cleaning their plates the parents went back to their room, likely to further plan and schedule things for their ongoing 'settling-in', they only had roughly 2 weeks before they started their new jobs.

Lincoln meanwhile did whatever he could to pass the time; either playing with Lila, watching Lily play her game, with Lila watching along as well. Besides that he would be watching TV when Lily took breaks during her gaming session. He even decided to do a little cleaning here and there, anything to help distract him.

Eventually after a while, Lincoln headed back to his room, leaving an intently-looking Lila beside her aunt as Lily continued her game with an unwavering face of excitement and focus.

Lincoln couldn't help but think how much Lily was enjoying playing an assassin character. Honestly, a six-year old should not be this into, or this proficient in the profession of murdering people from behind, even if it is a video game. Sure that wide grin she's had while playing the game for several hours was cute and all at first but now it was getting considerably unnerving.

Lincoln stared back blankly at his little sister before finally letting out a chuckle before continuing his walk back to his room.

Entering, he unplugged his charging phone, now full battery as it showed. He however turned to his still unpacked boxes and put the still powered-off phone back down, deciding now was the time sort his things out.

After a couple of hours, Lincoln had unpacked and setup most of things minus his drawing supplies, he needed a proper desk for those and his parents had decided to leave his old one, along with a few other 'heavy' furniture behind, promising him that they'll buy him a new one.

Lincoln gave a slight smirk at the memory, as he agreed but told them he'd be picking a better and bigger one than his old one, if he was going to get a new one it might as well be an upgrade. The memory of the slight wince they both gave making his smirk grow slightly wider.

"Honestly, you'd think I'd told them that I was gonna buy a desk made out of diamond or something, as if that would boost my efficiency… that'd be kinda cool though." He said to himself, seemingly.

"You'd think all this talk about better jobs would make them a little more… giving but honestly, even now…. It's like their managing a budget for a family of dozen or something."

A sudden shiver went down Lincoln's spine, as he shuddered at the very concept of such a family life.

Lincoln turned to his fully charged, but still off phone again and stared at it for a few seconds, before he could do anything else however he heard his father call him from outside his room, after which he went to see what he needed.

Walking back into the living he saw his father and his little sister standing to left, in front of the apartment's door looking ready to go outside, meanwhile little Lila being looked after by his mother.

"You guys headin' out?" Lincoln asked his father.

"Mhm" Lynn replied and then continued; "I'm wanting to show Lily around the city park and any other sights that catch our eye, after that we'll be stocking up on groceries, mostly for kitchen."

"Like Cereal" Lily chimed in.

"Yea like cereal" Lynn replied to his daughter with a slight roll of his eyes and a hint of sarcasm as well.

"We'll be back by around say… 8:30 I think."

Lincoln simply nodded before turning his attention to his little sister and speaking; "So you enjoy your game I take it?"

With yet another wide smile Lily gave out her reply; "Heck yea! Got my level up, took care of the emperor, finished the Assassin-Hood quest, got a 50,000 gold piece bounty and even got a whole new Assassin's Lair as a home!" She paused briefly showing off the smug and pride on her face as she listed off her newly added accolades.

"Gonna wait a day or two to gather up some energy and start then DLC quest about the magical books, almost can't wait!" she further added, not a drop in her excited demeanor.

Lynn simply looked confused and perhaps slightly dazed, As if he was listening to some foreign language but eventually got some assurance from Lincoln that Lily was simply happy about her video-game, to which Lynn simply nodded with a smile and gave Lily congratulations. Even if he had pretty much no idea what she just talked about.

A minute later Lily and her father went out for their little tour and shopping in the city, giving their farewells to Lincoln, Rita and Lila, all of which replied in kind, with Lila's goodbye consisting of her waving both her hands wildly.

Lincoln simply went on the couch to pass the time on the T.V while his mother sat on a sofa chair to his right side, carrying Lila on her arm while reading one of her favorite novels.

A short while went by as Lincoln watched whatever was on the television, making a quick glance towards the clock on that wall, the time being 04:03 in the late afternoon.

"Lincoln" Rita suddenly spoke, causing her son to turn his head towards her as she continued; "Since your father and Lily went to look around town, why don't you go take a walk as well? You know, get familiar with the streets and sights… You don't have to go far, and not for long either, Maybe two or three hours at most." She said with the sincere kindness one would expect from a mother.

Lincoln briefly considered his mother's request, then taking a quick glance at his daughter in her arms before replying. He knew his mom had a point, but still...

"I uh… I have to give Lila a bath."

"Lincoln, I can give Lila a bath perfectly fine." Rita replied with a somewhat unimpressed look at her son, a smirk appearing on her face as she went on to speak again; "And If you doubt that, I can pull out the album with the pictures of me giving you a bath…. You really did hop around like a rabbit."

Lincoln shot his mother a slightly disdainful look, pursed lips and narrow eyes while she simply continued to give a satisfied smirk.

She softened a moment later before further speaking to her son; "Lincoln, You're not going to move on by just staying up here… I know you still haven't entirely accepted the idea, but this is your, our, new home now and you need to start getting to know your way around…. summer won't last forever for you to use as an excuse stay in, either." she finished, giving her son a hopeful smile.

Lincoln's look softened as well, he tilted his head to the side and rolled his eyes, giving out a soft sigh before giving his reply; "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"No." was his mother's swift, rather cold reply.

With another sigh, Lincoln agreed to his mother's request for him to do some exploring of the city block, as he got up he went up to his mother and Lila, giving Lila a playful rub on her belly, causing her to let out some soft laughter.

Lincoln went ahead to freshen up first with a quick shower after which he grabbed his old, slightly worn white and orange-striped bomber jacket from his room and then headed towards the front door, his mother cheerfully giving him a wad of dollars for him to spend if he wanted while outside, Lincoln replied with a faint, sarcastic smirk.

"Remember sweetie, familiarize yourself, not too far, not too long and above all else stay safe." Said Rita, giving her son last-minute instructions.

"If you want me to be safe, then why not just let me stay?" Lincoln retorted with obvious sly.

"Lincoln." was his mother's stern response, following which he gave his mother a 'calm-down' gesture and headed towards the front door.

Lincoln stood in front of the door with his mother standing behind him, still holding Lila, before venturing out however; Lincoln took a hold of a half-sleepy Lila wanting to give his daughter one last soft hug.

Pulling her away after the hug, he held her steady in her arms and took in his little girl's features, just like he had what felt like an infinite amount of times before.

She had his white hair, obviously. She had inherited his freckles and even his front tooth. Minus the chipped part.

Lincoln started rubbing his tongue against the chip on his own tooth and started reminiscing on its origins. Yea, that was the last time he'd ride down a staircase railing. Why did he think that was ever a good idea?

He then set his eyes upon hers, taking in every detail...they were big, full of life and you couldn't find a single shred of stress or woe in them…. they looked... familiar.

Lincoln tried to fight it, using all the internal willpower that he could muster without changing his demeanor.

His left eye twitched rapidly and almost profoundly. Thankfully neither Lila nor his mother took notice.

In the end, He couldn't stop it. Never could.

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue…

"Lila… you have her eyes…."

It's not easy facin' up, when your whole world is black.

"She's just as beautiful as…"

With flowers and my love…

"Beautiful as her…."

Both never to come back.

It stopped after a few, seemingly eternal seconds. Just like always.

Still maintaining a small smile he put Lila back in his mother's arms gave a quick kiss on the cheek to both of them and with a final farewell exited the apartment, taking one final, quick glance at the clock and seeing that it was 4:25 as he left.

Lincoln, with his smile now gone, stood outside the door of his apartment for several seconds; he took a quick glance towards the elevator then just stared blankly upwards.

Tilting his head back and closing his eyes, he let out a long sigh, after which he started to rearrange his thoughts before continuing on.

"I really wish I had a cig-"

He then heard a door loudly open to his left, followed by a voice.

"Alright mom, I'm headin' out for some B-Ball! I'll be back before, uh, 9!"

A female voice, Lincoln realized as he slowly started to turn his head.

"And don't bother with dinner; I'll be eating a few Subs on the way home!"

With the sound of the door closing, Lincoln turned to see a girl, who then quickly looked straight at him. Both of them almost instantly looking intently at each other.

They had seen each other before, yesterday, when Lincoln and his parents were still moving into the apartment, she looked like she was heading out for the jog or something, from what she was wearing.

They'd only shared a passing glance; he didn't really get her name…

She was a brunette, a short ponytail behind her, wearing a red and white jersey with red shorts that covered her thighs and stopped before her knees. She had what looked like sports sneakers on and was also holding a basketball. And she was shorter than him.

Lincoln couldn't help but notice the freckles on her face, more noticeable than his faded ones.

He couldn't help but notice…

"She's kinda cu-"

Oh for Christ's sake, Lincoln.

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(The song lyrics used are from "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones. I slightly changed them however; where I wrote 'White Door', it is 'Red Door' in the actual song.)

A/Ns : Yea, I know this chapter was 'uneventful' but my mind really just wanted to build some… substance around Lincoln and his family, especially since it's an AU rather than the Cannon setting. Sure, I could go straight to making the girls jump on top of him because he's a dreamy teen daddy by the fourth or fifth paragraph but eh….

None the less, if you found this chapter boring then I sincerely apologize, but with it off my head, the next few chapters are going to involve revealing the remaining Loud Sisters (I mean they're not the Loud sisters in this story but, uh….), and thus those chapters should be a bit more….Zesty. Yea. Additionally, I plan on releasing the next chapter (Chap. 3) soon after this (hopefully), since I originally planned for this and 3 to be a single chapter.

And Yea, I tend to be exposition heavy. Blame Lovecraft as an early influence. Not going for an excuse but it's been a hard habit to kick off ever since.