Here's the second upload in 48 hours. I'm glad I decided to turn this into two parts, because it allowed me to get some new followers and advice. Special thanks to Your Saving Grace is Here for the thorough analysis thus far. Still don't own The Loud House, I just think it's very cool.

Nobody said anything. The entire table couldn't help but stare at the guest who forced the issue to come up.

Suddenly, a phone went off at the table and Avery immediately reached for his coat pocket. "Ah, sorry. I forgot to put this on mute." He eyed the caller and was hit with a wave of confusion. "It's Maurie, he wants to Facecall me."

"At 1 AM Central European Time?" Lisa questioned. Avery didn't respond, and got up from his seat and headed for the front door. He opened it, then stepped outside. After pressing the green button on his device, the face of a tanned middle-aged man appeared.

"Maurie? Everything OK?"

"Everything is fine," he assured his husband. "I just couldn't sleep, I can't shake the feeling something is going on back in Michigan." Maurie's eyes darted around the landscape Avery was occupying, a look of confusion came to his face.

"Are you back at home? I don't recognize the architecture."

The doctor sighed before admitting his whereabouts. "I'm back in Royal Woods honey. I decided to pay a visit to my brother Lynn." A look of shock permeated the farmer's face, before dissolving into a teary smile.

"Oh, Avery. I'm so proud of you," he said joyously. "I hope things are going well." Avery glanced to the side as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, it could be going better to be honest."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked supportively. "My sleeping pills aren't working, so I'm all yours."

Avery sighed. "I think our nephew needs our help."

Meanwhile

The rest of the Loud Family continued to sit in silence. Deep down, they all knew they played a part in Lincoln's decline. Finally, Rita spoke.

"Everybody take your plates to the sink," she ordered as she picked up her own and entered the kitchen. "We'll be serving the cake after your uncle is done with his phone call."

"Somebody should go upstairs and get Lincoln," Lori spouted. "He doesn't want to miss having some cake."

Without a word, both Leni and Luna stood up at the same time and rushed towards the stairs, almost pushing the other to the ground in their haste. When they reached the top of the stairs, they turned to see the door to Lincoln's room was closed. Cautiously, they stepped towards the abode that belonged to their brother, and knocked.

"Linky?" they both said in low voices. There was no response. "Lincoln?" a little louder this time.

"What do you want?" a weak voice replied.

"Can we come in, please?" Luna asked sweetly.

There was silence for several seconds... Then... "Door's unlocked, as usual."

Both sisters entered the converted linen closet to the sight of Lincoln lying NOT on his bed, but instead on the hard floor. He was curled into a ball again, staring off into oblivion.

"Linky, this is no time to practice for your internet challenge," Leni said in a scolding manner. Luna couldn't help but sock her older sister in the arm for her flightiness. "OW."

"C'mon Lincoln, stand up and get on the bed so we can talk." Lincoln didn't budge, so Luna motioned to Leni to grab his arms while she herself handled his legs. Lincoln struggled a bit, but his energy was clearly spent. Both sisters propped the boy into a sitting position with either of them sitting on one side or the other.

Lincoln continued to stare at nothing in particular, but small tears began to fall down his cheeks and into his lap. Noticing this, Leni and Luna, arguably his closest sisters out of everybody else, planted a kiss on the cheek to which they were closer. They embraced their warm brother, surrounding him in a firm hug.

"We're so sorry bro," Luna said softly into his ear. "You're right, you do so much for us and we can never find a way to properly repay you."

"I hate him," a solemn reply came. Confused, Luna asked for clarification.

"You mean Uncle Avery?"

"No," he answered, shaking his head. "Ace Savvy."

"What?" There was a loss for words from the guests he had in his room. "But… that doesn't make sense, you've loved Ace Savvy ever since you were just a baby."

"Look around you Luna, notice anything?" Both girls did as they were told, and understood what Lincoln was trying to say. There was no longer an Ace Savvy poster hanging on the wall, instead there was a pushpin that once held it up. That wasn't all, as above the desk in front of them, the figurines of 'Card Shark' and 'Snake Eyes' had Lincoln's face glued onto them.

"Wh-Where are your dolls of Ace Savvy and One-eyed Jack?"

"Probably at the landfill, buried," he said with no emotion.

"Oh Lincoln," Leni began to weep. "I didn't know it was that bad," she said as she practically tackled him in a bear hug.

"Leni, get off of him, you're not helping," Luna stated in anger.

"But I want to, I can't fail him again. Mom and Dad said to leave him alone until he got over things, but look at him, he's so sad."

Luna didn't have to look at her brother to agree. She had seen and heard enough today to know that the damage had been done.

"Lincoln? Do you even want to be in the movie anymore?" Luna asked nervously. Lincoln buried his head in his arms, his words almost inaudible.

"I don't know, I mean, I don't want people to see me as some kind of janitor instead of in a positive light like you guys."

"Well, what if we called the judges and demanded that you took on some kind of… consulting role? That way, our characters are done just as you created them, and you even have more power than us?"

Lincoln raised his head, his face bright red. "You're welcome to try, but I can't help but feel me scooping cat crap is only a punishment, and nothing else. I doubt they'd go along with it."

Leni spoke up next. "You never know, people surprise me all the time."

"C'mon Lincoln," Luna said encouragingly. "Come downstairs with us and eat some cake, you can have TWO corner pieces if you want." The news did little to reignite a fire in Lincoln's soul.

"Listen, I know we haven't been the best sister's a lot of the time, and we totes let you down recently," Leni began. "But believe me Lincoln, we love you more than we'll ever be able to put into words." Leni then poked Lincoln's nose lightly. "You're every-bodies favorite person whether you feel that way or not."

"But… what if I don't love myself?"

Luna and Leni gasped at this bit of news. "Wha… What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he shrugged weakly. "Could it be that in my quest to make you all happy, I forgot to keep myself happy?"

That was the million dollar question. It was true that Lincoln's favorite hobby might not have been video games or reading comics, but instead keeping his many sisters happy.

"Listen to me Lincoln, I can't let you throw yourself away," Luna replied.

"Wow, that's got to be the most recent musical reference you've ever made," was his reply.

"Luna! Leni!," Rita called from upstairs. "Uncle Avery is done talking on the phone, come on down so we can cut the cake."

"You heard mom, Lincoln. Now let's go downstairs before your chances of getting those two corner pieces get dashed," Luna recommended.

"Yeah, we can talk more about this later, and we will talk about this with everybody," Leni added.

Slowly, Lincoln slinked off his bed and opened the door. Looking back at his sisters, he still held a look of contempt that felt so foreign that he could have been an alien disguising itself as their brother. Without another word, the trio headed back to the dining room, with the two sisters placing their hands on the shoulders of their brother.

A bit later

"Wait, this cake isn't mint flavored. Why did you tell us to keep it in mint condition?" Leni said confused. Everybody at the table, except for Avery and unsurprisingly, Lincoln, face palmed. Avery only chuckled at the supposed joke, while Lincoln just continued to stare at his cake. As promised, the table allowed him to have two corner pieces of the treat, but both lay untouched aside from a few scrape marks in the frosting. Both Lynn Sr and Rita took notice of this.

"Sweetie? Are you not hungry?" Rita asked.

"C'mon son, you don't want it to get dry," Lynn Sr added.

Lincoln responded with a grunt, an almost sad grunt.

Lynn Jr then stood up. "Well if he doesn't want his corner pieces he should've just said so," she said snidely as she walked over to where Lincoln was sitting. "More frosting for the less moody among us, SCORE."

Before she could claim another two pieces of cake, she was pulled aside by her mother. "Lynn Junior, don't you dare touch your brother's food!"

"WHY?" she asked defensively, pulling away her body. "If he doesn't want cake, he shouldn't be forced to have cake," she reasoned. "Especially the best parts of a cake like this one."

Suddenly, the family athlete dove in between her father and brother in a last ditch effort to get Lincoln's share. Lincoln quickly responded by shoving the plate right into his sisters face and onto her jersey.

She lay on the floor, face and clothes smeared with chocolate frosting and devils food. She didn't say a word, too startled by her brother actually fighting back. The rest of the table just looked at the downcast face of Lincoln Loud. Lincoln looked directly at his fallen sister, who was slowly starting to get up.

"I'm sorry Lynn," he said in a voice that could only be described as both snarky and sad. "Was that your 'lucky' jersey?" Lynn just stared at her brother, her emotions unreadable by the amount of brown sweet stuff on her face. "Did I make it 'unlucky' by doing that?"

Then, Lynn did something she would live to regret. She grabbed as much ruined cake on her shirt and face with both hands as she could, and in one clean leap…

"AAUGGGH"

She tackled her brother out of his seat and to the ground, pinning him with her knees on his legs. She then proceeded to smear what was in her hands all over his face and cleaner clothes. Throughout the whole ordeal, Lincoln didn't struggle or even utter a word.

It was Luna who grabbed Lynn from behind off of the now brown stained boy. Lincoln did not move, but was still breathing from what everybody could see.

"LYNN LOUD JR," her parents yelled simultaneously. "Get upstairs and change your shirt, you're grounded for at least the rest of the night," her mother demanded. Lynn didn't hesitate, stomping around the table and towards the stairs. Before she could traverse to the second floor, a voice weakly piped up.

"Hey Lynn, since your lucky jersey is ruined, does that mean you're unlucky now? Can we kick YOU out of the house this time?"

There were gasps throughout the room, as they all knew who had said it. Leni had already walked over to pick her brother off the ground when he uttered those words. "Dangit Lincoln, get behind me."

"No, no need," Lynn said through gritted teeth as she ran up the stairs and slammed the door to her room.

"What's wrong with you Lincoln?" Luna said waving her hands wildly. "You're 'Flirtin with Disaster,' bro." When Lincoln didn't reply, his mother filled the silence.

"OK, everybody listen to me," she commanded. "Lincoln, go upstairs and change your shirt too; the rest of you, including you Avery, are to wait in the living room for Lincoln when he returns. Is that clear?" Even though he was a grown man, Avery raised his hand.

"Actually, could I speak to you and Lynn in private? I have something to bring to your attention." Rita pondered for a moment before looking at her husband, who shrugged. "Alright, new plan. You kids clean up the table, except you Lincoln, you still need to change. Avery and Lynn, meet me in the bedroom so we can have some privacy."

With new instructions, nobody hesitated to do as they're told. It was clear where the pants went in the family.

Later

Once Lincoln had a fresh shirt on, one that was still orange and looked somewhat like the old one, he joined the rest of the house in the living room. Even Lynn was there, though she was sitting between her parents as daggers were stared at her. She took a quick glance at her brother before snapping back to face right in front of her. Lincoln took his seat in the empty chair next to Avery, and the family meeting begun.

"First off," Lynn Sr explained. "Somebody would like to say something to their brother." He looked at the daughter who bore his name, arms crossed. "Well Eljay?"

Lynn slowly looked at the chromed boy, venom in her stare. "I'm sorry Lincoln..." She was nudged by her mother. "For going for your cake and then painting you with it. THERE I SAID IT."

"And Lincoln? What do you say back?"

"Thanks for not killing me afterwards."

If her parents weren't holding her back, Lynn Jr would most certainly have pounced on Lincoln to finish the job.

"Alright fine, we should probably move on to the main reason for this meeting," Lynn Sr explained. His wife stood up to address the room.

"Look everybody, I'm ashamed at what I've seen tonight." Her voice then turned morose. "And I also know that I could have done so much more to stop it from getting this far." Rita looked at her only son, wide eyed and clearly not caring what was being said.

"So Lincoln, why don't we finish your thoughts right here and now, BUT, we're going to do it as a Q & A so you only say what people want to hear, is that fair to everybody?" she asked the room.

Nobody shook their heads, while only a few people actually nodded.

"Good!" Lynn Sr confirmed. "Then I'll ask the first question."

"Lincoln," he said loudly at his son. "You mentioned before that Ace Savvy was all that you had; What did you mean by that?"

Lincoln sighed. "When I wasn't doing homework or helping you guys, I was reading comics. It's the only thing that truly defined who I was as an individual."

"Oh thats a loa-" Luan started to say before being shushed by her mother. "There also won't be any interrupting or follow-up questions unless approved by me, understood?" When nobody had any objections, Lincoln continued.

"He became my role model, he was everything I wanted to be." He then turned down again. "That is until I let my jealousy get in the way of my duty to be heroic. I don't deserve to be called a hero, and now I don't have a role model."

Lynn Sr was a bit baffled by this revelation. Wasn't a father usually a son's role model?

"Well, what about me sport? Can't I be your role model?"

Lincoln froze at what his dad had just said. He looked to his mother for permission to ignore the question, but received no relief.

"I would answer your father, honey."

Taking a massive gulp of air, Lincoln proceeded to pull no punches.

"I'm not going to assume it's easy having to care for eleven children without coming off as playing favorites," he said gently. "You know that we know that. However, even though I'm the only boy in the family, I feel like you haven't really taught me much in terms of being a man. You know, other than 'be good to your sisters, or else.' Don't get me wrong, NOBODY can top your cooking from what I've had, but still..."

Lynn Sr had a look on his face like the time he discovered his 'cabbage casserole' was unpopular with his family.

"I'm sorry dad, but when you kicked me out of the house, I lost a lot of respect for you. That's not even including how scared you are of Halloween."

Upon hearing that, Avery tried his best to hide the smile forming on his face. Still, heh hehe.

"Alright son, I'll admit that I've let you down when you needed me the most. But seriously, there's got to be a few fun things we've done?"

Avery got up from his place and headed towards the kitchen to search for some remaining grape juice. He saw that two of the opened bottles still had liquid in them, so he poured what was left from both bottles into a glass he fetched from the kitchen pantry. He then returned to his seat.

"Ok, I've got a question for him," Lynn Jr spoke next. She whispered it into the ear of her mother before receiving a nod. "Don't you think you're overreacting Lincoln? It's not the end of the world or anything, just pick your ass off the ground and stop whining." Rita turned to her daughter with a deep frown.

"Lynn Jr, that is not what you wanted to ask him." Nonetheless, Lincoln had a response.

"I just want some kind of indication that I won't spend the rest of my life being your caddy, your dress dummy, your roadie, your comedy assistant, your… practice dummy, your rhyming dictionary, your test monkey, and especially your pageant coach," he said as he pointed to each applicable sister. "I need to find my own path in life, NOW."

"Are you saying you don't enjoy being with us, Linky?" Leni said sadly.

Lincoln sighed and waited several seconds before choosing his words carefully.

"It's not that I don't love you guys, or even enjoy your company, but you have to admit that those activities are not exactly… 'career sturdy,' if you know what I mean."

Lori raised her hand next. "I don't have a question, but I think something needs to be said before we go any further with this.

She then stood up from her chair and slowly walked over to her brother. She placed both of her hands on his shoulders and leaned her blonde head against his bald one. "Lincoln, you're not the only sabatour here, and you certainly aren't the villain you think you are." Lincoln didn't bother turning his head, but instead looked down at his hands. "We've all done things we aren't proud of, either because we're scared, or jealous. Just ask Uncle Avery why we haven't heard of him until today," she said while looking at the man in question.

Lincoln didn't respond, so Avery spoke for him. "If you don't care, I won't tell you," he said, taking a sip of his glass of sparkly grape juice. He almost spit it out after hearing what Leni said next.

"You mean where you kissed mom at her own wedding?" she asked in her typical naive demeanor.

"LENI!" the room erupted in anger. Lincoln raised his head slowly at the breaking news, and stared at the man in the suit. "Is that true?" he said in a voice that seemed to want to exude anything other than indifference, but failed miserably.

Carefully setting his glass down, Avery nodded sadly at his nephew. "It's kind of a long story, but I can explain."

Flashback: 20 Years earlier

Everything was so different back then, and I'm not just talking about the hairstyles. It was the day of your parents wedding, and I was supposed to give the best man speech. Your father and I were still as close as siblings could be.

"Looking good Lynnster," a younger Avery Loud told his brother. "Thank you, Avery!"

I was still in medical school at that point, so my stress levels weren't exactly at their lowest.

"Uh, Avery?" the young IT specialist said as he waved his hand in his brothers face. "You OK? You're shaking something fierce. You didn't spend the night drinking again did you?" he asked accusingly.

"What? No!" he said defensively. "Here, why don't you smell my breath to be certain?"

"No, NO. I'll take your word for it. Just promise me you won't overdo things at the reception, OK?"

Avery nodded before leaving his brother to finish getting ready.

At the reception

Luckily, the ceremony went off without a problem. But… things have a way of getting worse before they get better.

"Congratulations son," an older gentleman told Lynn Sr. "Thank you Dad."

"Your mother would… have loved to have seen you so happy." The man then stared off into the distance and walked away without another word.

On the other side of the banquet hall, Avery Loud was talking with old friends of the family, many of them were curious as to why he didn't bring a date.

"C'mon, there has to be a special lady in your life," prodded an older women.

"Weelll," Avery hesitated. "My original date had other plans this weekend, so she couldn't attend."

There was a bit of truth to that. Sarah Carlyle, with whom I went to college and was currently enrolled in medical school with, did in fact have plans that same weekend. She was… the first and at the time only person who knew I was gay, and she and I were best friends.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have kept looking," another older man said.

"Listen, don't make this about me. Don't you agree that Rita looks absolutely beautiful in that dress," I said pointing to her.

When nobody let up on their criticisms, I had to change my tactic.

"Well, well, well. Is this the way to Amaretto?" I said as I walked over to the bar for a drink. I thought I was going to be fine.

"One drink," I told myself. But as I thought more about how happy your dad was, the booze was starting to cloud my judgement. I thought I needed to convince everybody that I wasn't queer.

"Barkeep? Another LIT." It turned out to be my first of many that night.

Things got sorta fuzzy from there. When I was loose enough, I remember walking towards the closest person in a dress, turning them around, and planted a kiss right on their lips. And I made it count.

Next thing I remember hearing was…

"AAAAH, Avery what the hell!" Even in my stupor I knew that voice, and could barely make out the face of your mother. Soon, people began to rush over to investigate, including your father, both grandfathers, and one of dad's friends.

"What happened sweetheart?"Albert asked.

"I...I...I WAS KISSED BY THIS DRUNK LUNATIC," the bride screamed in reply for the whole hall to hear.

After that, I couldn't say a word, I didn't know what to say. How could I explain that I didn't mean to kiss 'Rita' of all people, I just, wanted to get people off my back. It was a different time then, and looking back, I've hated myself for not being brave enough to weather the storm just a little longer. But… the damage had clearly been done.

Back to the present

"What hurt the most wasn't that I was beaten and thrown to the curb by both of your grandfathers, but mostly it was… after that day, I never saw dad again. He… vanished not too long after that, and even then me and your father didn't come together to help look for him."

Avery was able to hold back his tears this time, but Lincoln looked like he had little interest in what he'd just heard.

"Ya'know," Avery said quickly in an attempt to cushion the tension. "I always figured your IT specialist father found a way to block any mention of me from getting onto your electronic devices. That's why a quick search of your own name would've yielded nothing about me."

Everybody ignored Avery's attempt at humor, turning their attention back to Lincoln.

"Yeah, let's talk about how much of a villain you really are," Lola said with a grin. A grin which slowly dissolved into a grimace. "What about all of the times you came to bail me, Lana, and Lucy out of trouble?"

"Well, I'll be going to school with Lynn soon, so I can't protect you guys anymore. You'll just have to use your strengths to fend them off, whether it's blackmail, disappearing, or, I don't know, hitting them with your hammer."

Lisa raised her hand when nobody else had anything to say. She walked over to her mother and whispered her question. "Try to put it in simpler terms sweetie," was the only response she got. Lisa nodded, then turned towards her brother.

"Please Lincoln," Lisa said in her typical snark. "You think you're the only person who has bad days?"

"Well I've had way more bad days than any of you!" he screamed in reply. "And now, 'sniff' I feel so lost."

"Lincoln, you made the honor roll; Remember?" his father stated. "You keep up those kind of grades and the world will have nothing but opportunities for you."

It was at that moment that Uncle Avery stood up to address the room. The parents looked at him before nodding and allowing him to share some news.

"In fact Lincoln, I just got off the phone with your Uncle Maurice about an hour ago, and he seems to believe that you'd be well advised to leave the house for a while, your parents also agree that it's a good idea."

Lincoln and his sisters were awestruck at this revelation, some more so than others.

"WHAT? But he just got home."

"You're not serious about this are you mom? Dad?"

Finally, Lincoln said something in shock. "Wha-What did you have in mind? A mental hospital?"

Avery tried to stifle his laugh at the asinine assumption, but had trouble breathing it was so difficult. When he retrieved his composure, he continued.

"You know, Lucy asked me earlier if I was here to help you. I didn't come here with the intention of doing so, but after today, I've changed my mind. If you want to come stay with me and Maurie at our farm for a month, we'd be happy to have you."

Upon hearing the word 'farm,' images of his sleepover at his friend Liam's farm came back to him. Lincoln would have rather attended a pool party thrown by a group of popular girls than sleep in a barn and partake in other 'farm life' stuff.

"I'm, not going to be sleeping in a barn, will I?"

His uncle chuckled with a wide grin. "No my boy, you'll be in one of the guest bedrooms of our villa."

Then the doctor's face turned serious. "I do want to make it clear though that if you come along with me tonight, you'll be doing farm work to keep your morale up. Still, you'll get some money out of the experience, and… maybe a few surprises along the way."

Lincoln still seemed unsure, so he looked to his family for their reactions. His parents were giving him small smiles.

"You're actually OK with this?" he asked.

"Sport, I'll admit, I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of you being away from home for so long."

Rita finished the thoughts of her husband. "But then we realized that, frankly, we don't have any other ideas to get you better, and..." Her face turned down. "It's mostly our faults."

"Avery has promised me he knows what he's doing; And besides, we'll see each other again for Independence Day. Avery says I can cater an event he's holding up at the farm if I'm interested."

Lincoln didn't smile, but he could feel his mood lifting just slightly.

His sisters on the other hand…

"Linky don't leave us," Lana said with tears in her eyes as she ran up to trap her brother in her small frame.

"Uh, Lincoln, what about the plans we had this summer as a family?" Luan added. "Plus, you're pastier than sour cream and will probably burn up like a match in the summer heat."

Luna stood up to answer her roommate. "The thing is guys, Lincoln just admitted he's sick to death of comics." The entire room filled with gasps, including from Leni, who'd been in Lincoln's room just a while ago.

"He's perfectly fine with dropping out of the Ace Savvy movie, but I told him to hold out for a consulting gig," she explained sadly. "I think... he should go with Uncle Avery."

"But… But…?" Leni tried to argue before getting a better look at her brother. She might not have been the smartest student in her class, but Leni was far and away the most emotionally intelligent Loud sibling. Underneath the blank expression on her brothers face that stared at her, she could feel just how broken her brother felt.

"You know what?" she said with a change of tone. "I promised Linky that I would help him, and I guess the only way to do that… is to let somebody else help him." She looked at her roommate Lori for clarification, as though she had answered wrong.

"Guy's, I don't think we have a choice here," the eldest daughter said sadly. "Mom and dad have already made up their minds..."

"Then I'm going with him," Lola said as she rushed to join her twin at her brothers side. "I don't want you to stop being my pageant coach, you're the only person who gets me." The tears were starting to flood down her face and soak into Lincoln's newly clean shirt."Ah, C'mon," he thought annoyed.

"If you can't be my coach, what will happen to us?" she cried with everything she had. The old Lincoln would've rushed to comfort his sister in a heartbeat. But, the Lincoln she was currently weeping into didn't see her as a little girl, as memories of her scary side returned to him.

"Could somebody help me here?" he askedwith only a twing of sadness breaking through. The room looked at one another, until at last, Lori and Luan stood up and grabbed Lola and Lana respectively into their arms.

"NO… NO… NOOOOOO," they both squealed at being wretched from the orange form. Both older girls grasped onto their younger twin sisters with intent, while tears of their own started to fall. In fact, the entire room (except Lincoln) seemed ready to break down.

"Honey," Rita said sadly to Lincoln. "Why don't you get your overnight bag from our room, go upstairs and start packing?"

"OK Mom," he said with resolve. The shiny headed boy walked behind his family and into the master bedroom to get his bag. He then rushed upstairs to his room to get his things together.

A while later

Lincoln sat in the living room with his newly stuffed overnight bag. Uncle Avery sat next to him on the couch.

"Ok, so what are we missing from here?" the gentleman pondered.

"Well, I still don't have work boots, or a hat to beat the heat," he said lacking profound excitement.

"How about a Bandana?" he replied inquisitively. "If not, your Uncle Maurie can spare one of his."

To their left, in the dining room, a few of Lincoln's sisters were comforting each other regarding the eventual departure of their brother.

"Y'know, he's never even been to summer camp, where you're supposed to have fun," Luna surmised. "How will he cope with 'A Hard Day's Night?'"

"We were supposed to work on prepping for the Lil Miss Michigan Pagaent next year, but now..." Lola wondered sadly. "Those days might be over."

"To be fair Lola," Lori told the younger twin. "The older you get, the more, 'complicated' things become. Plus, his advice wasn't enough to place you in the top 3 of that one regional pageant, so maybe it's time to find a coach with experience on that level."

"It was just one pagaent, and I'm still cute, right? I have to find a way to convince him to stick with coaching me, even if I have to..."

"Do I even want to hear you finish that thought?" Lori said as her arms were crossed.

Without another word, Lola rushed up the stairs to her room, where her twin was sitting on her bed, surrounded by her many reptile pals in sorrow.

"I'm gonna miss having Lincoln around all the time. 'sniff' Nobody else likes catching bugs like I do, not even Lynn."

Suddenly, Lola felt a sense of, bewilderment. Lincoln hadn't even walked out the door yet and Lana was already acting like he was dead. She would have leaped onto her twins bed and started one of their famous arguments, but then she recalled some words her dear brother imparted to her.

Listen Lola, not everybody gets to have a twin. The older you get, the harder to kick bad habits becomes. Try asking for her advice on matters that you care about, and you might just be surprised.

Where was that Lincoln? The one always willing to help others. "I hope he comes back soon," Lola thought.She approached the snake girl on her bed, and asked her question.

"Hey Lana?" The young tomboy glanced over at her 'prettier' twin.

"Whuh?"

"I have a question, and I know it's not something you really care about, but I need to ask somebody."

"What is it?" she said as she slowly sat up, her pets slithering/skittering away at the disturbance.

"Well, do you think my dress is a bit, childish?"

"But, you are a child, why would it be a problem if it looked childish?"

"Because I want Linky to continue to be my pageant coach, and I don't think he sees me as mature enough to get his help."

By now, the rest of Lana's scaly friends had retreated to other parts of the room, allowing the red capped girl to jump off the bed and face Lola inches from her face.

"If you want my honest opinion, I think the dress is the least of your problems. Although seeing you wear pink all the time is kinda... sickening."

Lola didn't have time to retort for such a silly misunderstanding, she had bigger issues on her mind.

"Do you remember," she began to say in a distant voice. "When he spent a whole two hours getting me to read a book? And how he no longer cared about that stupid contest to get pizza, he just… really wanted me to be able to read?"

"Well, duh, it wasn't that long ago," Lana replied, breaking whatever tender atmosphere was built up.

"He's such a great big brother, I wish he knew just how important he is to me, to everybody in this house."

"GIRLS," a mature feminine voice called out from downstairs. "Come say goodbye to your brother, he's about to leave." The twins didn't hesitate to head for the downstairs to be the first ones there.

When they both found their places in the living room, the entire family was already gathered outside for the farewell. Lincoln was now sporting a baseball cap to hide his 'accident.'

The boy didn't appear to be depressed anymore, but still seemed nervous.

"Well son," Lynn Sr broke the silence. "You ready for this?"

"Maybe," was all he said.

"Lincoln, why don't you place your bag in the trunk," Avery recommended. He took out his car remote and hit the proper button, popping open the back. Lincoln shuffled over to the open compartment, and lifted it up the rest of the way, only to be met with…

"Hey Lincoln!" the gloomy voice of Lucy said in the darkness of the trunk, her face barely visible. "Don't let anyone know I'm here, I'm coming with you and there's no room in the front for me to sit."

Lincoln sighed. "C'mon Lucy, take my hand and let's go join the others." The small girl hesitated to extend her hand, but complied when it was clear she was fighting a losing battle. After helping her out of the black sports car, the two walked over together.

"Lucy? What were you doing in the trunk of my car?"

"Uhm? I wanted to come with Lincoln, it won't be the same without him."

"I know sweetie," Rita said, her emotions boiling up again. "But this is something Lincoln needs to do. We're just going to have to make the best of things until July 4th, OK?"

"Sigh, alright," the emo said, defeated. She then gave her brother a rare hug before joining the rest of her family in front of him.

"Well Lincoln, it's getting late." Avery hurried. "So say your goodbyes quickly so your parents and eldest sisters can go to bed and get up for work tomorrow."

Lincoln would have run right into the arms of his family if he wasn't still skeptical that they wouldn't drag him back inside. So, he stayed put.

Lori caught onto his hesitation and lingering trust issues, so she stepped forward. She got down on one knee and spoke for the family.

"Lincoln, I hope you find what you're looking for. Because… if you don't, you'd've wasted a whole month of your life when it could have been spent with your family, with… me." She then hugged her only brother as the tears started to run down her face slowly.

"Don't know what you've got, till it's gone," Luna said morosely.

With that, Lincoln walked over to the passenger side of the Portofino and got inside, after checking that he still had his wallet. Avery closed the back, and entered his vehicle. Lincoln just sat there, buckled and ready to begin his summer adventure.

"Isn't there anything else you'd like to say to your family, Lincoln?" his uncle asked. The boy thought for a moment, then shook his head. "OK, then, off to Hazeltucky we go."

The engine was started, the stick placed in reverse, and with that, the fancy car backed out of the driveway with the passenger door now facing the house.

Anything else I want to say? I'll be gone for a month, probably too tired to talk to anybody after a long day's work.

Before he regretted his decision, Lincoln rolled down his car window, raised his head outside of it, and yelled…

"I LOVE YOU ALL."

The rest of the Loud's watched as the black sports car disappeared into the summer night, with tears in their eyes.

"We love you too… Linky."

Everybody remained outside for another five minutes, in complete disbelief that the 'prince' of their family was no longer on the premises.

"Alright fam," Lynn Sr said to his family. "We've got a lot of things to discuss going forward, but I know it's late, so we'll get to them after we get a good nights rest."

The Loud Family shuffled back into the house, where for the first time in forever, it felt… dead.

AN: I apologize if this chapter feels rushed, I just really wanted to get this out so I could move on to the really interesting stuff.

So as of the completion of this chapter, I'm in the middle of my last class of college. Due to the amount of work I have ahead of me, my upload schedule will be hard to define, at least until May. I have the 'skeleton' of this story mapped out, I just need to put some meat on it, if you know what I mean.

Although, I do have a couple ideas for one-shots running through my head, including one about arguably the most hated character in Loud House history. So... yeah. Are you excited to see where this all goes? I can promise you this won't just be about Avery, there are a few more OC's we've yet to meet. And of course, Summer is only just beginning.