19. Road to Recovery: Part 6: Closure

Sigh, we all knew that this was unavoidable. The scene that wasn't easy to write. So that is why it took so long. I would like to thank TormentedRanven2000 for helping me think of Lincoln's last name. Now, um here we go. The last chapter in the Road to Recovery arc. I hope you enjoy it.

(Lucy's voice) The following is a non-profit fanbase fanfic. Loud House and its characters are all owned by Chris Savino and Nickelodeon. Please support the official release.

Chapter 19

2 years ago

Lincoln Freeman sat on the couch waiting for his parents and sister to return home from Liberty's ballet recital. He couldn't go because he got a nasty cold and couldn't go. Not that Liberty would want him to go. Things were still tense between the twins since their argument and since Lincoln told her that he wished she was never his sister. Since he said that, Lincoln had felt nothing but guilt. He had to admit, he went too far with that statement and he wanted to make things right. So, after some thinking and soul searching, Lincoln decided that he needed to apologize to his female twin. She was his best friend after all. And he hated when they fought. As he sat on the couch, he didn't notice his sitter walk in the room.

"Lincoln, honey, I brought your soup and medicine." said the sitter.

"Thanks Miss. DiMartino." Lincoln said while taking the soup and medicine.

"You're welcome sweetie."

As Lincoln ate his soup, someone knocked on the door.

"Who could that be?" Miss. DiMartino asked herself. As she walked to the door to answer it, she saw flashing lights outside. When she answered the door, she saw two police officers standing outside. First thing that DiMartino noticed was that both officers had somber expressions on their faces. "Can I help you officers?"

"Miss, I am Officer Sullivan and this is my partner, Officer Lorenz." The first officer said. "Is this the Freeman residence?"

"Yes." DiMartino answered. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not." Officer Lorenz answered. "Is Lincoln Freeman here?"

"Yes. Please come in." DiMartino told them. The officers walked through the door and saw the nine year old boy in question.

"Hello Lincoln. I'm Officer Sullivan and this is Officer Lorenz." Officer Sullivan said.

"Um, hi. Why are you here?" Lincoln asked. The two officers exchanged a look as it seemed as they were determining who was to give the young boy the news. After a few seconds, Officer Lorenz spoke up.

"Well, about an hour ago, there was an accident involving a black SUV and a pickup truck." Officer Lorenz started. "The driver of the pickup only suffered a broken arm, but the three people in the SUV however didn't survive."

"That's really sad and all, but why are you telling me this." Lincoln asked.

Officer Sullivan took a deep breath. "Lincoln, the people in the SUV was your parents and sister." Sullivan told him. "I'm sorry, Lincoln but your parents and sister have died."

Lincoln sat in silence taking in the information. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. His family wasn't dead. They were still alive and they were going to walk through that door any minute.

"You're wrong." Lincoln yells. "They aren't dead! They are still alive and they are going to be home soon and everything is going to be fine!" With that, Lincoln ran upstairs to his room.

1 year ago

Lincoln sat in his room at the foster home looking out the window. He was waiting for his family to come and pick him up to take him home. As he sat there, he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He turned around and saw Lyle and Luke standing in the doorway with Lyle holding a tennis ball in his hand.

"Sup loser." Luke said. "Whatcha doing?"

"Waiting for my parents to come pick me up." Lincoln answered.

"Aww, little Lincoln still thinks his parents are coming to pick him up." Lyle mocked.

"Hate to break it to you dude, but your family is dead." Luke scoffed. "And they ain't coming to pick you up. So get over it Stinkoln." With that, the two boys left the room.

"They're wrong." Lincoln said to himself. "My family isn't dead and they are going to come and get me out of this evil place. I just know it."

3 weeks ago

Lincoln stood in his room at Chris's house getting his stuff together. He was getting ready to go to his new foster home. He looked on the bed and saw his dog Charles staring at him. Lincoln gave the dog at scratch behind the ears and continued to get his stuff together. As he gathered his stuff together, he heard a knock on the door. Lincoln turned around and saw a nineteen year old girl with short brown hair.

"Hey Linc, Dad want to know if you're ready to go yet." the girl told him.

"I'm almost ready Lyra." Lincoln told her. Lyra looked at him with narrowed eyes. She could tell from the look on his face that something was bothering him.

"You ok Linc?" Lyra asked.

Lincoln looked up at her with eyes filled with sadness. The minute Lyra saw his eyes, her heart broke. For almost three years, Lincoln had been in denial about his family's deaths. He didn't even go to the funeral because he didn't believe that they were dead. But now, she was starting to believe that Lincoln was starting to break out of the denial.

"They aren't coming to pick me up, are they?" Lincoln asked sadly.

"No, they aren't Linc. I'm sorry." Lyra told him. With that Lincoln dropped to his knees with Lyra quickly grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. Lyra hoped that this new family that her father found would help Lincoln move on and finally find peace.

Now

Lincoln woke up to silence. And this surprised him for two reasons. For one, their last name was Loud and being loud was their thing. And second off, it was the weekend and that's when the girls go crazy. So Lincoln decided to go and figure out why it was so quiet. His sudden movement woke up Charles who was in his normal spot on his left. The dog gave him a concerned look. Lincoln looked down at the pooch and gave him a quick scratch behind the ears.

"Sorry buddy." Lincoln told him. "Just wondering why it's so quiet on a Sunday."

Charles could only let out a sigh. He knew why everything was so quiet. It was days like this that he wished that Lincoln could understand him. He really wanted to tell him what the family was doing today. But sadly, he couldn't.

"Well, I guess I should go see why it's so quiet." Lincoln said as he got off his bed and made his way to the door. Charles got off the bed and followed him. As he walked out the door, he saw Cliff resting on the railing for the staircase. From what he could tell, he was keeping a close eye on Lincoln. As Charles approached the steps, Cliff jumped off the railing and joined him on the floor.

"Does he suspect something's up?" Cliff asked him. Charles shook his head.

"Even if he did suspect something, he wouldn't know for sure." Charles told Cliff. "Besides, I don't know how he would react if he found out." Cliff nodded and the two made their way downstairs.

When Lincoln made it to the bottom of the steps, he noticed that the living room was completely empty. And this made Lincoln nervous. He hated being home alone. They promised that they would never leave him alone. As Lincoln was about to panic, he heard voices coming from the dining room. As he walked over to dining room, he saw the Louds sitting at the table talking quietly to each other. None of them noticed that he walked in the room.

"Um, morning." Lincoln said. The family looked up from their breakfasts and looked at the white haired eleven year old.

"Morning, bro." Luna greeted. "I got your breakfast all set up. Hurry up and eat, we're all going somewhere today." Lincoln shrugged and took his seat next to Luna. Luna stared at the boy with concern. She knew that what they were doing was risky. Something like this could either help him or make him worse. But Lincoln needed this closure. And she knew that what they were about to do would hopefully do that.

After everyone was finished with breakfast, they all went out to Vanzilla. They were actually surprised that Lincoln didn't hesitate and stop and stare at the van. The family couldn't help but smile. Lincoln's fear of vehicles seemed to be getting better.

The ride was quiet to say the least. The girls were quiet as they were anticipating what was about to happen.

"Luna, are you sure this is a good idea?" Lori whispered. "I mean, this could literally backfire and cause him to go back to the way he was when he first moved in or make him worse."

"Yeah, like, this could be bad." Leni agreed. "Are you sure we can't tell Linky what we're doing?"

"Dudes, we have to do this." Luna told them. "He needs this."

"Dear sisters, I do believe that Luna is correct." Lisa tells them. "The only way that Lincoln can finally be settled is to give him closure."

The sisters all exchanged glances because they knew Luna and Lisa were right. Lincoln did need this. While they were talking, they didn't notice Lynn Sr. stop in front of a flower shop.

"Dad, why did we stop here?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, this isn't where we need to be." Lana agreed.

"Aren't we supposed to be going to Detroit?" Lola asked.

Lynn Sr. sighed in response. "I know kids. But I feel like we need to pick up a few things from here first." Lynn Sr. told them.

"Your father is right." Rita said. "It wouldn't be right if went without a few flowers."

"Well flower we waiting for!" Luan punned. "Let's violets some flowers. Hahaha! Get it?"

"The first one was good, but the second one could've been better." Lincoln said quietly. Luan looked at him with wide eyes. This was actually the first time he said something about her puns. So she honestly didn't know how to respond.

The Louds got the flowers that they needed and left. However, the family knew that Lincoln was possibly getting suspicious. But they didn't know for sure. But, they had to do this.

The second that Vanzilla pulled into the cemetery, the mood immediately changed.

"Sigh, normally I love coming to the cemetery, but I wish that it was on better terms." Lucy lamented. However Lincoln was confused.

"Um, why are we here?" Lincoln asked. Lori put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sad smile.

"We're here to give you closure." Lori said. With that, they got out of Vanzilla and the family of thirteen made their way through the cemetery. After five minutes of walking, they found the gravestones that they were looking for. Lincoln looked up at his foster family with surprise and sadness. He finally understood why they were being so secretive. And he wasn't so sure how to respond. Lincoln then felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Luna flashing a sad smile. She then handed him one of the bouquets of roses that they bought. He then felt a hand on his other shoulder and he looked up to see Luan with another of the bouquets that they bought. He then felt a tug on his vest-hoodie and he looked down to see Lana and Lola handing him the last bouquet of roses.

After he was given the bouquets, Lincoln made his way to the gravestones. When he walked over to them, he saw the names of people that he hadn't talked about for the longest time. When he got to the graves, he read each headstone from left to right.

Here Lies

Michael Freeman

1972-2014

Beloved Son, Husband, and Father

Here Lies

Samantha Freeman

1974-2014

Beloved Daughter, Wife, and Mother

Here Lies

Liberty Freeman

2005-2014

Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Friend

Taken from this world to soon.

As he read each gravestone, Lincoln placed a bouquet at each grave. As he stared at each grave, Lincoln decided that he needed to say some words.

"Hi Mom, Dad and Liberty." Lincoln said with a sad smile. "It's been a while. Um, I know that I haven't come and visited you and I'm sorry for that. I guess for two and a half years I've been living in denial I guess. I didn't want to believe that you guys were gone. I wanted to believe that you would come home and we could be a family again." Lincoln pauses as he stares at the gravestones. "I know that a few days before you died, Liberty and I had that argument and I said some things that I shouldn't have. The day that you guys left was the day I was going to say that I was sorry." He turns his attention to Liberty's grave and he drops to his knees. "Liberty I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said! I was just so angry and I didn't know what I was saying!" Tears begin to fall and Lincoln's voice begins to break. "You were my best friend. I loved you and when you died, it broke me. I love you guys and I miss you."

Meanwhile, the Louds looked on as they saw Lincoln at the graves of his family. And they were having trouble keeping it together. Lana and Lola were clutching Lori's legs, tears rolling down their faces as they watched everything go down with Lori doing her best to comfort them. Lynn had her arm wrapped around Lucy as they tried to keep each other from breaking down into tears. Each of the sisters were doing their best not to tear up while the parents did their best to keep a strong face. Luna could only smile as she watched Lincoln finally get closure.

"I have a new family." Lincoln told the gravestones. "This family isn't normal, but I like them. And I know that you guys would probably like them." Lincoln then just breaks down. "I miss you so much. I wish that you guys were still here, but I know that you guys would want me to move on. But I promise I will never forget you." With that Lincoln stood up and made his way to where his family was waiting for him. When he finally stood in front of them, they all flashed him sympathetic smiles. After a few seconds, Lincoln broke down. As soon as he broke down, the girls immediately engulfed him in a group hug with the parents joining in.

Lincoln's Road to Recovery finally reached the end.

It was late when the Louds finally returned home. The girls decided to have another sleepover because they didn't want him to be alone. And this was something that all eleven kids agreed to. Rita sat in her and Lynn's room in her bed reading a novel while waiting for her husband to enter the room. She thought back to how far Lincoln had come since moving in with them. He had shown so much improvement. Yes he was still shy and he still hated being in big crowds. But he has gotten better. She thought about how well he got along with the girls and how much they liked him. She liked having a son for a change and she knew that Lynn enjoyed not being the only man in the house. As she was lost in her thought, her husband made his way into the room.

"Honey, I need to talk to you about something." Lynn told her.

"What do we need to talk about?" Rita asked.

"Lincoln."

Thanks for reading. See you soon. Farewell.