Greetings, my readers. Time to engage with my number five alive entry in the 5G1B AU Age Progression Saga.

For this one, it centers around Lynn and Lincoln's relationship and how a little rocky it can be. But the hope is that by the end things can be mended in due time.

Man...I really don't have much else to say this time. But on the upside, you can get straight to reading in no time, so there's that at least. Enjoy!

The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.

Year 2012
Ages:
Lori - 14
Leni - 12
Luna - 10
Luan - 8
Lynn - 6
Lincoln - 4

On what is considered typically standard fare for a day in the Loud house, everyone was keeping to themselves for the moment. Most members of the family where within the walls of the home, all but one notable exception.

Right now, Lynn Loud Jr., young sports enthusiast of the family, kept herself busy out playing in the backyard with her signature red rubber ball. She did everything from bouncing it, rolling it, kicking it and all that in between. That is, except for doing anything truly foolish like accidentally having end up on Mr. Grouse's property again. She absolutely did not need a repeat of that from the previous year and did everything in her power to keep it strictly in the confines of her family's backyard. But other than that, she could be said to be having a whole lot of fun...or maybe if her fourth oldest sister was present, having a ball on top of that.

Eventually though, Lynn had her fill of fun and opted for going back into her home. With her ball at hand, she returned inside through the backdoor of the kitchen and was planning on going back upstairs.

However, she thought that she heard some quiet, indistinct talking. Curiosity getting the better of the six year old, she chose to investigate further.

Lynn arrived in the living room whereupon she realized the door leading to her parents' bedroom was left open just mildly ajar. The closer she got, the more apparent that their room must be where the voices were coming from.

At first, Lynn didn't want to risk finding out what was being discussed or if she really was being honest with herself, neither did she really care either way. But her ears could've sworn she heard her name being mentioned. However, since it was her mother she heard speaking just now, there was an equal chance that it was her father being referenced instead.

But just as quickly as that theory came to mind, Lynn did hear her father speaking next and this time for certain she heard her name being said from him. Now figuring she's the subject of conversation, she wanted to hear more and to conceal herself enough, she laid down across the couch.

"So, you're sure that you think LJ's ready, honey?"

"Oh, I bet on it for sure. My bigger concern is actually with Lincoln. How's he going to deal with it?"

"Well, I don't blame you for worrying about him. He's been around in the same room with both her and Luan even since he was born, so it will be a bigger adjustment for him."

"Yes, it will be and not to mention there's going to be a good amount of work to be done when it comes to converting the linen closest into Lincoln's new room."

"I can agree to that. Plus there's the fact we'll need to get a few new things for him, too."

"Yeah, and despite what will likely be a long adjustment period, I think Lincoln will grow to like having his own room. I know Lynn we be ecstatic to finally say she'll have the same."

Though she didn't saying anything lest she give away that she's been eavesdropping, Lynn was indeed very happy to hear this piece of information. She has been longing to get her own room for some time now and to know that her wish was soon about to come into fruition was indeed a delight to learn.

Lynn's happy thoughts about getting her own room did come to a halt when she heard her parents speaking as if their conversation was wrapping up and they were potentially also going to exit from their room, too. Thus, she made a quiet break for it and headed on upstairs. She opened the door to her and Lincoln's room, or what was soon to become just only her room, and tossed her ball to the side.

"Lynn…!"

She heard a startled calling out of her name which belonged to Lincoln as he nervously sat on his bed.

"Lincoln, what's going on?" Lynn asked.

But she would get the answer to her own question almost immediately when she looked back around and saw the basketball hoop that hung over a portion of the wall next to the door had been snapped completely in two.

"My basketball hoop! What happened?!"

"I'm sorry, Lynn! I was trying to do one of those dunky slam thingies and…"

"Wait...you did this? You?!"

The initial shock and sadness of having one of her sports toys broken gave way for anger. In a way, Lynn should have seen this coming.

"Lynn, I'm sorry! I just wanted to do a dunky slam like you do, so I…" Lincoln again tried explaining.

"First it's called a slam dunk, you dummy!" Lynn cut him off, "And second, why do you keep doing this?! You popped my first football, snapped my first hockey stick and now my basketball hoop? Can't you keep your stupid hands away from my stuff?!"

As Lincoln reared back in terror, Lynn grumbled and paced the floor. However, based on the news she just overheard seconds ago, she paused and relaxed.

"But I'm glad it won't have to happen anymore, since you won't be here anymore."

"Huh? I'm going somewhere? What?" Lincoln confusedly said.

A wicked grin arrived on Lynn's lips, "Oh, you don't know? I just head Mom and Dad are gonna give us separate rooms and you're gonna move into the linen closest!"

While Lincoln tried to process this startling new piece of information, Lynn began performing something of a gloating, celebratory victory dance.

"Oh yeah! Yes, finally, I get to have my own room! In fact, let me get a head start…"

She opened up the door, pulled Lincoln off his bed and carried him by the back of his shirt collar and shorts.

"So how about you and your grubby little hands get out of my room!"

And with that, she chucked him right on out and he landed face first on the floor.

"Oh, and take your stupid bunny rabbit with you!"

As he tried lifting himself off the floor and curious as to what Lynn meant by that, Lincoln looked on in horror when he saw Bun-Bun, his beloved stuff rabbit toy, have its head ripped off by her with relative ease. A bit of a tear having already formed on the neck of the toy from earlier on likely did most of the job, but Lynn's strength for a girl of her age couldn't be discounted, either.

"There, now we're even!"

That rather sadistic claim having been made, she casually dropped the now torn in two remnants of Bun-Bun near Lincoln's side before she went back inside what she declared to be now solely her room and closed the door.

As for Lincoln, he was heartbroken on many fronts. The unexpected news that he's moving into the closet whatever that meant, the glee that Lynn had over that and also by tearing up the one thing he's had by his side since his birth amounted to the some of the most despair he has ever felt in his young life. It all lead him to one unfortunate conclusion.

"Lynn doesn't love me…"

Sniffling, he picked up the head and body of Bun-Bun, hugging them close to him as tears flowed down his eyes. He sat up from the floor and walked down the hall over to the room where he remembered one of his sisters just went into a little while ago.

He reached up and opened the door just enough so he could peer his head in, showing the room he went to was the one belonging to his oldest sister, Lori.

"Lincoln, you know what you have to do before coming into my room, right?" She said, knowing who it was even without having to look.

With a sad little whimper, he knocked lightly and drew her attention.

"Okay, what's so important that you…"

But right as Lori was speaking while she turned her head, she saw the pure look of sadness that her little brother had on, causing to soften her tone considerably.

"Lincoln, what's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

Believing her tone from just seconds ago meant she wasn't in the mood for visitors, Lincoln began to pull away.

"Wait, Lincoln, don't go anywhere! Please, come in." Lori implored to him.

At her insistence, he gradually worked his way inside and approached where she was on her bed.

"Hey, what do you have there with you?" Lori asked.

Reluctantly, Lincoln opened his arms up and placed on her bed the remains of Bun-Bun, causing her to gasp.

"Oh no, what happened to Bun-Bun?"

"Lynn…"

"Lynn? Lynn did this? Why?" Lori asked, stunned by such a thought.

He tried to say more to answer her inquiries, but he just couldn't. With a strained whimper, he completely broken down into a series of painful sobs.

"Aw, come here, little guy…"

Lori sat up from her bed and moved over to sit on the edge of it. Upon doing so, she stretched her arms out, brought Lincoln onto her lap and tightly held on, with his face buried into her chest and crying hard.

"It's okay, Lincoln. Let it all out…" She said soothingly.

Lincoln cried for a good few minutes, while Lori gently stroked his hair with one hand and patted his back here and there with the other in her part to calm him down.

Eventually, there came a point where Lincoln's sobs got a little more slower in pace until they came to a halt and only sniffles remained. Next, Lori pulled away and made him look up at her.

"Hey, I know how sad you must feel about Bun-Bun and you have every right to be, but it's going to be okay. Besides, I hate to literally see that adorable face of yours all saddened up."

Despite how heartbroken he felt, Lincoln did feel that slightest bit better, if for any other reason as he saw the smile on the face of Lori. Speaking of which, he marveled over how markedly different and for the better she looked since the conclusion of her awkward stage a few days earlier. Gone were the glasses, braces and acne, and all that remained was such a pretty smiling face, one that did in its small way help in trying to make him feel better.

Unfortunately, one glace back over Bun-Bun's remains and Lincoln went straight back to full-on despair rapidly. He found his face back against that of Lori's chest and began sobbing again, which in turn made her hold him close again.

"Lynn...Lynn…" He tried saying between sobs.

"What about her?" Lori asked.

"She...does….doesn't...love me…"

There were fewer combination of words Lori hated to hear than that. But from Lincoln's perspective, with all that's happened, he unfortunately thought that distressing conclusion could very well have some merit to it.

As she kept on consoling her little brother, Lori's attention was diverted when the door to her bedroom opened up again, this time with Leni being the one doing so who seemingly wandered right on in without realizing it due to her eyes being closed.

"Uh, Leni?" Lori called out to her.

Leni opened up her eyes, "Huh? Oh, sorry Lori. I didn't mean to…"

But whatever she wanted to say next was put to the side when she saw Lincoln crying in the arms of her older sister.

"Aw, what's wrong with Linky?" She asked, kneeling down closer to his level.

Lori gestured with her head to the left a couple of times. For a second, Leni was totally confused as to what that was supposed to signal. Eventually though, she caught on and looked to Lori's left side where what's left of Bun-Bun laid.

"Oh, Bun-Bun's all torn up!" Leni said distressingly following a gasp, "What happened?"

"Well, Lincoln didn't say much, but based on what little I can gather, Lynn may something to do with it." Lori replied.

Leni gasped again, "What?! Why? That sounds, like, so mean of her!"

"Yeah, and in fact, I might as well have a talk with her over that. With that in mind, could you maybe handle Lincoln for me?" Lori requested.

"Oh sure, of course I can." Leni answered.

Standing up, Lori handed over Lincoln to Leni, who then carried him off with her and down the stairs.

"Aw, it's gonna be okay, Linky…" She told him on the way.

Meanwhile, Lori went on over to the door leading to what is still technically Lynn and Lincoln's room and knocked on it. Soon after, Lynn opened up.

"Lynn, we need to talk." Lori said rather bluntly.

"We do?" Lynn wondered.

"Yes, and it's all about what you just did to Lincoln." Lori responded.

"Uh...no we don't." Lynn said.

She tried closing the door, but Lori planted her hand on it and got her foot inside as well.

"Uh-uh, no, you're not ducking out of this one, Lynn." She said.

Lynn tried in shutting the door again, but clearly with her oldest sister not going anywhere, she grumbled and very much reluctantly let Lori inside who closed the door herself inside so she could give herself and Lynn complete privacy.

"Have a seat, Lynn." Lori instructed.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Lynn sat on the edge of her bed and Lori joined alongside with her.

"Okay, I'm going to get straight to it...did you rip apart Bun-Bun?"

Lynn remained silent, pouting her lips and folding her arms.

"Lynn…" Lori said sternly.

"Okay, yes, I did." Lynn admitted.

"And why did you do that? You know that was Lincoln's favorite toy, right?"

"Because look at what he did to my basketball hoop!"

Lynn pointed over to the broken hoop in question.

"Really, now? You sure he did that?" Lori asked.

Lynn nodded, "Yes, he did! He did it by accident while trying to do a slam dunk. That's what he told me when I came in after I heard Mom and Dad saying they're going to give me and him separate rooms."

"Wait, hold up, you know that? You aren't supposed to know yet." Lori said, which hardly improved her mood.

"I wasn't?" Lynn asked.

"No, that was supposed to be a surprise for both you and Lincoln for later on tonight…"

"But how did you know?"

"Because Mom and Dad told me, Leni, Luna and Luan about that a few days back and again, we were all going to wait until tonight to reveal that."

Now with this spoiler having become knowledge to Lynn, Lori sighed in annoyance.

"But we'll put that to the side for the time being. Now if Lincoln did break your basketball hoop accidentally by your own admission, that in no way excuses you tearing up Bun-Bun."

"Well, that wouldn't have happened if he kept his hands off my stuff. He's broken some of my things before, you know!" Lynn brought up.

"Unfortunately, yes, I do remember hearing about that before. But you're dodging the point, Lynn. While Lincoln has broken a couple of your things in the past and also now your basketball hoop, they've each been accidents. You on the other hand intentionally ripped up Bun-Bun as you've just admitted to." Lori said.

"Yeah, well, maybe he had it coming for being such a big baby dorky butt!" Lynn growled.

Lori shook her head and sighed again, "Lynn, what's going with you? I know sometimes you and Lincoln haven't gotten along, but this is something else here. Why do have difficulties in that area from time to time?"

"He's the problem, not me!" Lynn fired back petulantly.

"Okay, first off, I don't appreciate you calling our little brother a 'problem'…" Lori said, trying to keep her cool, "And secondly, you're far from the only one who's had to deal with any issues with Lincoln in recent times. Myself, Leni, Luna and Luan can attest to that, but we try not to hold it against him because he's only four years and will learn to know better eventually. But at the end of the day, we all love him and can work around his issues. I can only hope you can do the same."

Lynn did not follow that up with anything of else of her own, only instead seemingly maintaining her unrepentant attitude for the moment.

"All right, I think for now it's best you stay here and think over what you've done. Hopefully you'll realize that you literally went about it wrong." Lori said.

Giving her younger sister a brief touch of her back, Lori sat up to leave Lynn alone and closed the door to the room.

A little bit of time passed and Lynn was still in her room. Her parents had found out about the whole incident with Bun-Bun and they told her as punishment that she must stay in her room for the next while, pretty much similar to what Lori had told her earlier. She didn't exactly see it as much in the way of a punishment, as she had most of her sports things to keep her amused in that time.

Speaking of amusement, Lynn heard the faint sounds of giggling coming from outside. She looked out the window overlooking the backyard to see what was going on.

In the backyard, Lori and Lincoln were playing together, the former having what looked like a set of light green papier-mache dragon wings and the latter wearing a small knight's helmet and wielding a little wooden sword as he playfully tried to ward her off. If Lynn had to guess, this had to be Lori's attempt in cheering up Lincoln by playing with him.

Eventually, Lincoln gently poked Lori in the chest with the sword, resulting in her performing a highly over the top and drawn out pretend death sequence until she collapsed on the ground.

Because of how she dragged out her "death" and how long she laid on the ground, Lincoln came over to her side worried she might actually be hurt. However, she figuratively and literally roared back to life, pulling him into her arms as both laughed.

On the other hand, Lynn wasn't quite as amused. Instead, she turned away in a huff.

A little more time had passed on and Lynn was allowed to leave her room. The moment she did, though, a commotion coming from two doors down to the left caught her attention. She found that the noises were coming from Luna's room and curiously enough, the door was left open just ajar.

Peeking though, Lynn could see Lincoln inside as well as he sat down and watched Luna showing off with a drum kit she'd recently gotten. It was part of her continued evolution on her music tastes which had moved decidedly more in the direction of rock within the last year and that wasn't the only thing about her that evolved. Her attire again saw some changes as any sense of formality was ditched. The skirts she started wearing the year before stuck around, but she now also wore shirts with a skull design on them plus she traded buckle shoes for some boots as well. On top of that, after much begging and pleading to her parents, she even got her ears pierced and curiously enough chose to use a pair of paperclips as earrings.

As Luna wrapped up playing on her drums, Lincoln stood up and happily clapped.

"Wow, Luna! You're so good!" He said.

"Aw, well thanks for that, bro! Say, do you wanna try it a little yourself?" Luna offered.

"Can I?"

"Sure you can! Come on right over."

At her behest, Lincoln walked around behind the drums where Luna would help him up onto the seat and then handed the drumsticks to him. When he started playing, he had no real sense of rhythm or structure, only banging around in a haphazard fashion. His style or lack thereof would soon result in him losing his grip on the drumsticks as they flew up out of his hands and one of them even bopping him on the head.

"Ow!" Lincoln exclaimed.

"Oh, are you okay, dude?" Luna asked.

Lincoln didn't respond, as he instead only whimpered in pain and rubbed the top of his head.

Placing the drumsticks away, Luna helped Lincoln over to her bed.

"I'm bad at that…" Lincoln said defeated.

"Aw, it's okay, Linc. I'm still learning myself if that means anything to you. And besides, you looked like you were having fun and that's all that should ever matter." Luna assured him.

She gave his head a little rub, then she brought him into a brief hug that he also gave back.

Again, like with what happened with Lori outside, Lynn wasn't so pleased and she left disgruntled.

More time had passed and Lynn had gotten using the bathroom. As she passed by the hall halfway through, something caught her eye.

For the second time today, she noticed a door being left open ever so slightly. This time around, it was the door to Leni's room. Though she didn't want to, she sighed and peeked inside.

Here, Lynn saw Leni using Lincoln like a miniature model to put on some older clothes she used to wear when she was younger.

"You look so cute, Linky!" She said, very much pleased with her handiwork.

"I look like a dork…" Lincoln said less than enthused.

Lynn resisted the urge to laugh out loud, lest she reveal her presence. Still, she didn't disagree with that self-assessment, probably because she'd say something similar to him.

"Aw, don't say that. You are cute, with or without these clothes on." Leni told him.

Lincoln groaned, "Please, I don't wanna do this anymore, Leni. Can't I take these off?"

Even perhaps admitting to herself she's put him through enough, Leni acquiesced and helped remove said clothes off. But as that was happening and was watching on, Lynn again resisted the urge to even so much as chortle, because apparently Leni had made Lincoln take off his normal clothes before being dressed in her old ones, which explains right now why he was in his underwear briefly.

After getting his own clothes back on, Lincoln immediately felt himself being brought into a loving hug by Leni.

"Hey, thanks for doing this with me, Linky. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in any way, though." She said.

"It's okay, Leni. I know you weren't trying to." Lincoln said.

He hugged her back and by this point, Lynn had seen enough of this sappy scene and went on her way once more.

Following a period of respite in her room, Lynn headed on downstairs where halfway down yet another scene involving Lincoln and one of their sisters. She backed away enough not to be seen and observed, all as cynicism ran deep within her.

Right now, Luan was standing on the coffee table while using a hairbrush like a microphone performing a stand-up set with Lincoln watching on as he sat in the couch among a gaggle of stuffed animal toys and dolls acting as an audience.

"...And that's when the peanut was a-salt-ed with a pepper mill, and that's nothing to sneeze about!"

It took a second for it to set in his mind, but then Lincoln trailed into a giggle fit that eventually became full-on laughter.

"Luan, you're so funny!" He said between laughs.

"Aw, you don't have to be so kind, Lincoln...but go on anyway." Luan said.

So happy and pleased with her performance was Lincoln, he got off from the couch and hopped up onto the table to try hugging her, but in doing so, Luan stumbled backward and fell off landing butt first.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, Luan! I didn't mean to do that!" Lincoln said apologetically, going over next to her.

"Heh...it's okay, Lincoln. I know it was only an accident and you didn't mean it." Luan reassured him, "I might've become the butt of my own fall in a way."

Both shared a little more laughter between them and got around to that hug Lincoln tried getting at just seconds ago on top of that.

Meanwhile, Lynn didn't want to stick around much longer and stomped her way back to her room.

Back inside, Lynn sat down on her bed, scanned around and looked at the broken up basketball hoop. She got a touch more angry seeing it, but as she looked around more, she saw that what remained of Bun-Bun had suddenly found its way on top of Lincoln's dresser.

She didn't know when it was placed there, but no matter what, Lynn for the first time since the incident when she tore it up started to feel guilty. Between that and seeing all those instances of Lincoln having fun with the rest of their sisters, the remorse really started to kick in. The earlier words from Lori about how whenever Lincoln broke something of hers it being accident compared to the intentional ripping apart of Bun-Bun likely also did the trick.

But if that wasn't enough, one memory coming back into her mind sealed her guilt. She could barely recall the day Lincoln was first brought back home days after his birth that when she and her sisters looked inside his crib, right there by his side was Bun-Bun. That little stuffed rabbit had been with him since the very early days of his life and Lynn for reasons of on the spot vindictiveness destroyed it.

Sighing sadly, she went over to Bun-Bun's remains and took them into her hands. Perhaps it might not be too late to fix things.

Dinnertime was seconds away and most of the family had gathered around the table for the occasion. However, one was conspicuous by her absence.

"Huh, where's LJ at?" Lynn Sr. wondered.

"Probably still in her room. Let me go get her, Dad." Lori offered to do.

The eldest sibling headed on upstairs and knocked on the door to her youngest sister's room.

"Hey, Lynn, you coming on down?" Lori inquired.

Though she didn't get a response, Lori could faintly hear what sounded like little sounds of weeping coming from the other side. Without giving it another thought, she let herself inside.

The moment Lori was inside, she saw Lynn laying down on her bed facing away and additionally, she looked to Lincoln's dresser to see Bun-Bun's head seemingly attempted to be put back on with some bandages and pieces of tapes. If Lori had to guess, this must've been Lynn's rudimentary effort in fixing the damage she caused.

"Lynn?" Lori again inquired.

She moved closer to her younger sister, sitting down on her bed. She encouraged Lynn to sit up and look to her, frowning upon seeing the tears in the younger girl's face.

"Hey, did you try to fix Bun-Bun?"

Lynn sniffled and nodded, "Uh-huh...but it's no good…"

Lori sighed, "I hate to disagree with that, but that's pretty much the case. I'm not talking about what you specifically did, but just in general. I talked it over with Mom and Dad and at first they said maybe Bun-Bun could be sewed back up. However, he might be too damaged to be fully be put back together, plus he'd probably wouldn't be the same anyway even if he were sewn back up."

"You mean...I killed Bun-Bun for good?"

Those heartrending words hurt Lori to hear them every bit as much as they did Lynn to speak them. Guilt completely overriding the latter, she burst out into complete sobbing.

"I'm the worst sister ever…!"

No less after she commenced sobbing did Lynn feel herself being drawn into the arms of her oldest sister and cried into her shoulder.

"Shh...don't call yourself that, Lynn." Lori said.

"But...but…" Lynn tried choking out.

"Lynn, please...just let it out and we'll try talking it over afterwards, okay?"

Lori held Lynn closer and rubbed her sister's back as she poured all the pent up remorse over her transgression against their brother down from her eyes.

A couple of minutes later, Lynn appeared to start calming down enough so that she could perhaps talk more.

"Lynn, I want to tell you right now that I don't literally take any pleasure at all in seeing you like this. I hoped that you would eventually feel sorry for what you did to Lincoln, but not for you to beat yourself up to the point of seeing yourself as a bad sister." Lori told her.

"But why not? I wrecked his favorite toy all because I was so mad at him for accidentally breaking my basketball hoop. Plus seeing how much fun he had with you and our sisters today, I must be bad somehow." Lynn posited in despair.

"Lynn, no one is perfect. None of us are ever going to be perfect sisters to Lincoln. We're all capable of doing something to him on rare occasions that are questionable to say the least. May I remind you of how awful I was to him and you for that matter a couple of years back during the time Mom and Dad went away on vacation?" Lori reminded her.

"Yeah…" Lynn answered with a nod.

"Sure, it was inexcusable what happened and for a moment I felt the same as you did feeling like I was the worst sister ever. But that's not the point, because I realized how wrong I was with a little help from Leni and most importantly I made things right, which I'm hoping you want to do with Lincoln yourself." Lori said, frowning a little shortly thereafter, "Unfortunately, I don't think that will be happening tonight."

"Huh? Why not?" Lynn asked.

"Well, I really hate to tell you this, but Lincoln's still not exactly comfortable with the situation at the moment to the point we had the dinner table set so that he sits far away from you. Not only that, he wants to stay with Leni for the night if for any other reason because she offered that to him not long ago."

As if Lynn needed any other reasons to feel awful about today, she whimpered and let a new smaller set of tears bubble up in her eyes. In response, Lori put her arm around her little sister and brought her close again.

"I'm really sorry, Lynn, but if that's how Lincoln wants it right now, I guess we might have to roll with it. However, I do have an idea. Tomorrow Mom and I are planning to go find and buy some sort of new stuffed toy for him, maybe even one very similar to Bun-Bun if we're lucky. Perhaps you'd like to come along and help us? If so, maybe then you can give whatever we find to him and use it as an opportunity to apologize." Lori suggested.

"Can I? I want to!" Lynn said, hopefulness returning in her voice.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. And hey, maybe we can also get you a new basketball hoop at the same time." Lori said.

"Really? But do I deserve it after what I did?"

"I don't think it's a case of if you 'deserve' it, Lynn. That was one of your favorite things to play with and there's nothing wrong at all with getting a new one all the same."

Lynn smiled as she hugged Lori in thanks, and after the latter hugged her sister in return, they both headed on downstairs to join their family for dinner and make the best of it given the situation.

The following day, the shopping trip had been fulfilled and was a success. A new basketball hoop for Lynn was purchased and would be installed later on, but the bigger success story was what had been gotten for Lincoln.

As she walked back inside the house along with her mom and Lori, Lynn went up the stairs assuming Lincoln was around there. But once she made it to the top, she felt a slight sense of hesitation.

"Hey, it's okay, Lynn. Go ahead."

She looked back around saw Lori patting her shoulder and giving her a reassuring smile. It gave Lynn just that last remaining bit of confidence to go through with everything.

Going into her room, she saw Lincoln sitting around minding his own business.

"Hi, Lincoln…"

As soon as he saw his sister, Lincoln tensed up a little. He couldn't help but react in such a manner with all that's happened recently.

"So...me, Mom and Lori went shopping and, uh...we got you this…"

Noticing Lynn had a bag with her, Lincoln's curiosity was raised to a degree. She reached inside and pulled out the item within.

Upon seeing what was in Lynn's hand, he gasped and widen his eyes.

"Is that…a new Bun-Bun?"

His specific choice of words seemed apropos as what he saw looked almost exactly like his original stuffed rabbit. This one Lynn had with her had a very similar look to it right down to the little purple shirt the toy had on. The only real difference was with the eyes. With Lincoln's original toy, they eyes were little beady ones. Here with this new one, it had big wide eyes with small pupils in addition.

Hopping off his bed, Lincoln came closer to get a better look.

"Is this for me?" He curiously asked.

"Uh-huh." Lynn answered, "Got it specifically for you."

She handed the rabbit to him and he very slowly took it into his own hands. But this new toy was far from the only thing he was about to get from her.

"Lincoln...I'm sorry for tearing up Bun-Bun. I should have never done that and I hope you like this new one."

To wrap it all up, Lynn approached him and gave him a gentle hug.

"I love you, Lincoln."

And those four words are what sealed the deal for Lincoln. He could've gotten a whole truckload of new Bun-Buns, but those would have been irrelevant. Instead, those four words meant the world to him. Clutching his new toy at hand, he returned the hug.

"I love you, too, Lynn...and I like my new Bun-Bun."

"You don't know how happy I am to hear that."

As the day was drawing to a close, a huge occasion was about to commence. Getting a new rabbit toy and having his sister apologize and reaffirm her love for him would've been enough to cap off Lincoln's day, but there was one other thing that would sweeten the deal.

All day long, work had been done to convert the linen closet into a bedroom for Lincoln and by the evening's start, everything had come into place.

When his bedtime arrived, Lincoln was accompanied by everyone in his family for this big moment.

"All right, son, here it is, your new room!" Lynn Sr. declared.

He opened the door and showed off the handiwork within.

"Wow!" Lincoln said.

He couldn't help but have a sense of wonderment as he stepped further inside. Here was easily the biggest new change of his young life so far and though he did naturally have some nerves, he nonetheless was excited.

Lincoln wished he had more time to take in everything, but a yawn showed he was ready for much needed sleep. He climbed up into his bed and got under the covers.

"Good night, sweetheart." Rita said to him, kissing his forehead.

After tucking him in, she and his father left the room while his sisters stayed behind for a moment.

"So, how do you like having a room to call your own, little bro?" Luna asked.

"It's nice...but it might be a little scary…" Lincoln answered somewhat nervously.

"Aw, but I think you'll like it soon, Linky." Leni said.

"Yeah, I was a little nervous myself when I got my own room last year, too." Luan added, "But as Leni just said, I bet you will like it."

"That's all true, but rest assured that if you ever need anything, you know where we are, Lincoln." Lori rounded out with.

Lincoln grinned a little, "Okay. Thank you. Good night."

After getting a kiss on his cheek by Lori, she, Leni, Luna and Luan went off to their own rooms. However, Lynn stuck by for just a few more seconds.

"Here, Bun-Bun will keep you safe." She said.

She went over to the dresser and handed her brother his new rabbit toy, which he chose to still use the Bun-Bun name to designate it.

"Thank you, Lynn." Lincoln said.

"You're welcome, Lincoln. I'm sorry again for everything." Lynn said, rubbing her arm.

"It's okay, Lynn. I forgive you, and thank you for getting me my new Bun-Bun."

Having a big smile come on her face, Lynn came closer to him and gently kissed his cheek.

"Thanks…"

She turned around, opened the door and almost made it out of her brother's new room, but he requested one last thing.

"Wait, Lynn…" He said.

Lynn looked back over, "Huh?"

"Can you...stay with me tonight?"

"Really? Why?"

"'Cause I felt bad that I stayed with Leni last night and left you alone. Plus, I feel a little scared still. So...please?"

Lynn thought it over for a moment, and with the symbolism of closing the door, she made up her mind and grinned.

"Move over."

Lincoln did what she said of him and scooted over to allow her to join alongside her.

"Thank you, Lynn. I love you." He said.

"I love you, too, Lincoln." Lynn said back.

She placed her arms around him and he in turn snuggled up close to her. Slowly but surely, both found themselves in a deep sleep.

For Lynn, she was glad to have been able to patch things up with Lincoln after all that went down yesterday. As for Lincoln, for as much as he loved his new Bun-Bun and will learn to adjust to his new room, he was relieved that Lynn truly did love him and that this whole experience has made both of them become closer in the end.

Heh...this story I'd say is the typical encapsulation of sibling relationships. Yes, there can be testiness involved, but at the end of the day, they're truly some of the most close and loving bonds there is if I do say so myself.

So besides everything between Lynn and Lincoln, we also saw some additional physical evolution. Lori is out of her awkward stage and Luna is all but complete in the physical aspect of her rocker persona. However, there is one final crucial component of her that's clearly still missing and it will indeed come about in the next entry of this AU, and just as a small teaser, it's going to be a whole bunch of short seasonal scenarios over the span of a calendar year.

Now, the final thing I'll emphasize is that since Lynn and Lincoln getting their own separate rooms was a big plot point in this story, I can now explain the overall room arrangements for the siblings in this AU. So, Lori, Luna and Lincoln have the same rooms they have in the original canon while the remaining three are different. Leni takes up residence in the room best known as the one Lynn and Lucy had in the proper canon, Lynn has the one that Lana and Lola had and Luan gets the one that is Lisa and Lily's. Just thought I bring that up so that's all clear.

Anyway, that's it for now. Thank you once again as always and we'll see each other again soon per the usual!