15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15) Loud-Sitting Part 1

"Are you sure that you don't want some advice?" Lori asked.

"Positive." Luna replied. "I can handle things, Lori. No sweat. It's not like you guys are going to be gone for that long."

"Okay, if you're sure. I'll see you later. Try not to let them get to you."

Lori gave her sister a wave as she left through the front door. Their parents followed, Rita handing off Lily to Luna as she passed by. The mother then gave her third and eleventh child each a quick kiss on their foreheads, eliciting a giggle from Lily.

"Bye-bye sweetie. You behave for your big sister, okay?" Rita cooed at the baby before looking at Luna. "See if you can get her to take a nap before lunchtime please. And do not hesitate to call if you have any problems."

"Don't worry about it, Mom. Everything will be alright. Trust me, I've got this."

"I have complete confidence in you, Luna." The mother said, placing her hand on Luna's shoulder. Then she raised her other hand near her mouth as she called out to the rest of the house. "We're going now, kids! We should be back in a couple of hours at the most. Luna is in charge! Love you!"

With that she turned to leave, closing the door behind her as she left. Luna carried Lily over to the base of the stairs and let out a loud whistle. A rumble sounded within a few seconds of the noise. Then Leni, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lisa all rushed into place from the various places they had been in the house previously. They all lined up like they normally did while Lori was in charge.

"Dudes, chill." Luna told her sisters, giving them a relaxed smile. "You don't need to stand at attention for me. Things are gonna be a bit different while I'm running the place."

"So why did you call us over here?" Luan asked.

"Just wanted to let you all know that even though I'll be in charge for a little while, you should feel free to bug me if you need anything. Other than that, just enjoy yourselves."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Lynn said, making her way to the kitchen. "I'll be out back."

"And I'll be working in my room." Lisa informed the others, heading up the stairs. "Please do not disturb me for anything other than something of the utmost importance."

The other sisters followed suit, all off to do their own things. Luna took Lily into the living room and set her down. Then she checked the time, thinking over her options.

"Alright little dudette. We still got a couple hours until lunch. And Mom wants you napping before then."

Lily blew a raspberry.

"I hear ya sis!" Luna laughed. "But Mom knows best. And you can get pretty cranky when you skip your nap. So here's my plan. You and me, we're gonna play for a little bit. Try to get you nice and sleepy. I'll put you in your crib and after you wake up, we'll eat some lunch. Then we can go right back to playtime. How does that sound?"

The idea of playtime definitely seemed to appeal to the youngest Loud. Her little blue eyes lit up with excitement and she clapper her hands while letting out a happy giggle. Luna took a quick look around the living room for something that Lily could play with. Her eyes fell on Lily's toy xylophone near the window. She walked over and grabbed it, bringing it over to her sister. Lily eagerly began to play with the musical toy, instantly amused with it. And as the little girl made her noise, Luna went for the stairs so she could go up to her room to retrieve one of her own instruments.

Lily watched her big sister leave the room. She didn't know why Luna had suddenly gone away like that, but she didn't like it. Luna had said that it was playtime. But she wasn't playing with her at all. This wasn't fun. Playing all alone rarely ever was.

Meanwhile, Luna had made her selection upstairs. Instead of going with her axe, she had picked out a set of bongos. That way Lily could try her hand at playing those too if she wanted. And Luna was more than willing to bet that Lily would. She began to consider picking out a couple of other instruments for Lily to try. But that's when a very strange noise caught her attention.

It was a little difficult for Luna to know exactly what it was that she was hearing at first. The best way she would've described it was a low rumble combined with a gurgling sound. Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed the odd noise to its source at the other end of the hall. It was coming from the room on her right side.

Lisa.

Luna opened the door and took a look inside. The source of the noise became very obvious to her right away. One of Lisa's experiments was going out of control. A massive, green blob was slowly expanding across the desk. And Lisa was struggling to keep it contained. But the mass was already too much for her to handle and she was trying just as hard to not let it overwhelm her.

"Dude! What the heck is going on in here?!"

The sound of Luna's voice distracted Lisa. And as she looked towards her elder sister, the blob overtook her. Luna watched in shock as Lisa was instantly swallowed up. In the next moment, Luna rushed forward to rescue her younger sister. She plunged her hands into the goop, finding it to be thicker than molasses. Fortunately, Lisa wasn't so far in that it required much time to free her. Although it did take a lot of effort.

"Gotcha!" Luna exclaimed as she extracted Lisa from the still growing mass. "What is that stuff?!"

"I-It is an..." Lisa coughed and sputtered a little. "It is an organic containment gel. Quickly, shut the shades! Natural light accelerates its growth!"

Luna set Lisa down and hurried to the window. She had to press against the wall in order to reach around the goop and close the window-shade. Then she got away from the dangerous substance, grabbed Lisa and left the room. Once the door was firmly shut behind them, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, so that just happened. Why did that just happen?"

"I was attempting to create a compound which could be used to restrain an organism without impairing its need to respirate." Lisa explained. "There is still much I need to do to achieve the latter."

"Well you got that first part down. You're covered in whatever that slime was! That can be washed off, right?"

"In theory, it should be easily removed with hot water. But there is a small probability that I will need to wait for it to dry, at which point it should simply break apart with some effort."

"Right. So bath time it is. Let's go little dudette." Luna said.

Luna carried Lisa over to the bathroom. She set the messy genius down and started to run the water in the tub. After waiting for the temperature to get warm enough, Luna plugged the drain. And while the tub filled, she got a few things for Lisa that she'd need. These included a clean towel, a wash cloth, her prescription goggles and some bubble bath.

Lisa removed her glasses, the goop that coated them causing them to stick to her face a little. She set them aside so they could be thoroughly cleaned later on and then she accepted the washcloth from Luna. The older girl had soaked it in the water that was filling the tub so Lisa could begin wiping her face clean before she would put her goggles on.

"I need to rush back down and check on the Lilster." Luna said. "But I'll be back to check on you in a few. Okay?"

"That won't be necessary." Lisa said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I am more than capable of handling things on my own from here. But thank you for your consideration."

"Alright, if you say so. The tub's almost full enough for you to start soakin'. And I put a little extra bubble bath in there for ya."

Luna turned off the water and put the bottle of bubble bath on the edge of the tub. She left Lisa alone to clean up, heading back down to the living room. Lisa finished washing away the goop from her face and put on her goggles. With her vision clear again, she inspected the bath that her elder sister had drawn for her. And it did not meet her expectations.

"Hmph, extra bubble bath indeed." She mumbled, grabbing the bottle in her hands. "This isn't even close to the optimal amount. I'll just have to rectify that."

Back downstairs, Luna had found that Lily wasn't where she had left her. The teen looked around the living room really quick before moving onto the dining room. But Lily wasn't in there either. From there Luna moved into the kitchen where she at last spotted the mischievous tyke. She had somehow gotten up onto the counter by the sink. And she was just about to take a sip from the bottle of dish soap that was kept by the faucet.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no!" Luna blurted out, rushing over to Lily and taking the soap from her tiny hands just in time. "This isn't what you think it is, little dudette!"

"Ba-ba." Lily said, pointing to the soap.

"No, not a ba-ba." Luna corrected, setting the soap back where it belonged and picking Lily up. "You thirsty, little sis? You want some juice?"

Luna went over to the fridge and opened it. She easily spotted a bottle of juice right away, sitting beside the jug of milk. Lily also saw it and reached out for it, flexing her fingers in a grabbing motion. Taking the hint, Luna grabbed the bottle of juice and closed the fridge. She then set Lily into her high chair and filled up a bottle for her to drink.

"There you go Lilster. Yummy grape juice."

Lily happily accepted the juice and began to guzzle it down. Luna went to return to juice into the refrigerator and then turned to face the counter. She scratched her head, her mind striving to figure out something important.

"How the heck did you get up there anyway?"

"How did who get up where?" Came a voice.

Luna turned and saw Luan entering the kitchen. The younger brunette walked over to the counter and opened one of the cupboards, removing a package of gingersnaps from the middle shelf. She pulled one out and took a bite, the sight of the tasty treats gaining Lily's attention. She set her bottle down and reached towards Luan, or to be more specific, the cookies her big sister was eating.

"Would Lily like a cookie?" The comedian asked, holding out one for her. "It wouldn't be a big deal if she had one, would it Luna?"

"Nah, one wouldn't hurt. Mom never said she couldn't have any snacks."

Luan gave Lily a cookie, which she greedily took and started gnawing on. Then Luan offered one to Luna as well, which the older teen accepted. But before she could take a bite, something struck the back door. Luna went to check it and found Lynn on the other side, a baseball bat in her hand. The athlete was in the middle of retrieving her ball, the cause of the noise they had heard.

"Hey Luna, wanna play?" Lynn asked. "I need to get a little practice in before my next game. My fastball needs a little work."

"Sorry sis." Luna said. "Not trying to play favorites, but I already told Lily that I'd play with her for a bit. And I also gotta figure out what to do for lunch."

Lynn rolled her eyes. "Two words dude: any leftovers. There, problem solved. So now could you please just help me out for a few minutes? It makes more sense if I practice against another person. Otherwise I'm just tossing a ball into the air and trying to hit it. Lily isn't going to mind if you aren't the one playing with her. She'll be happy as long as anyone does. Just have one of our other sisters do it."

Luna took Lynn's suggestion into consideration. The younger teen had a fair point. Luan was still in the kitchen with Lily and there wasn't any reason that she couldn't entertain their littlest sister for a while. Not any that Luna could think of anyway.

After taking a moment to check with Luan, Luna left Lily with her and she closed the back door. Lynn passed her bat to Luna and she took position in the middle of the yard. Luna moved over to the side of the yard, wanting to avoid having Lynn throw the ball in that direction. She didn't want to chance having to explain any broken windows to their parents. Especially not while she was the one responsible.

Lynn allowed Luna a moment to relocate and ready herself. Baseball may not have been Luna's thing, but she knew enough to be able to take a decent batting stance. She kept her feet spread slightly more than the width of her shoulders and bent her knees a little. Her hands gripped the bat firmly and she locked her eyes onto Lynn, awaiting the pitch.

She blinked and missed it entirely.

In the brief time her eyelids shut and then opened again, Lynn had taken the opportunity to throw the ball, which had whizzed through the air without Luna even noticing it until it was too late for her to hit it in time. She tried anyway, acting on a reflex. The bat swung through the air, just after the ball had passed by, making Lynn smirk triumphantly.

"Swing and a miss!" Lynn taunted. "It's too bad my team doesn't have it as easy as this. Maybe you should try keeping your eye on the ball next time."

"I had my eye on the ball. I saw it just before it shot past me." Luna joked, going to pick the ball up. "Are you sure that you need to practice? You seem to be doing pretty good."

"Yeah, but I can do better." Lynn said, catching the ball as Luna tossed it to her. "Now get ready for the next one!"

Luna took her batting position again, this time mentally preparing herself for Lynn's move. Lynn gripped the ball tightly, her eyes narrowing a bit. She threw her pitch, the ball speeding forward just like the previous throw. But now that she knew what to expect, Luna was able to react with better timing. She swung the bat and managed to make contact.

Both Luna and Lynn craned the heads back as the ball flew up into the air. It arced up and over the fence that separated their yard from Mr. Grouse's, landing on the roof and rolling down. It got stuck in the gutter where it sat on dead leaves that had collected there.

"Dang it. Looks like I can forget about getting that ball back." Lynn said, letting her shoulders slump slightly. "Guess we should call it quits for now. Mr. Grouse isn't gonna be happy when he finds that."

"We don't know that, sis." Luna said. "He's been a lot more chill about these things lately. Let's just ask him. It looks like he's coming outside now."

The back door to Mr. Grouse's house opened. The elderly neighbor of the Louds stepped out into his yard and began to look up at his roof, seeking out whatever had created the noise he had heard. By the time his eyes fell on the baseball stuck in his gutter, Luna had reached the fence.

"Hey Mr. G!" She greeted. "Sorry to bug ya, but could we get our ball back?"

"What do you mean by 'we', Loud?" Mr. Grouse said, turning to face his neighbor. "I don't see anyone but you over there!"

Luna looked over her shoulder and discovered that she was by herself in the back yard. Lynn had taken off shortly after Mr. Grouse's back door had opened, leaving her alone.

"Really?" Luna deadpanned, before shrugging it off and facing Mr. Grouse again. "Anyway, about the ball. May I have it back? Please?"

"Well, I don't see why not. It's not like you broke a window or anything. But try not to let it happen again or I'm keeping it! At least until your parents get back, that is."

Mr. Grouse fetched his rake and used it to reach up to the gutter. After a few moments of trying he got it out and let it drop to the ground. Then he picked it up and gently tossed it underhanded to Luna. She caught it and thanked him before heading back inside, finding Lynn waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Oh, hey! You got my ball back!" She said, stepping closer to Luna and reaching over to grab her belonging. "Thanks!"

"Uh, hold on a sec there dude." Luna responded, holding Lynn's ball up and out of her reach. "You mind explaining why you bailed on my back there?"

"Because I didn't want to get busted, duh." Lynn bluntly answered. "I got stuck doing chores over his house for a week on top of being grounded after I accidentally hit him with my football last month. Not something I want to repeat."

"Then just be more careful. Maybe save baseball practice for when you're in a field instead of the yard." Luna suggested. "It's not like you can't find something else to do. There are other sports you can play, right?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I do need to get in some soccer practice today too!" Lynn thought out loud. "Good idea, Lunes! You know where to find me if you need me!"

Lynn bolted out of the back door, brushing by Luna on the way out. Luna almost called her out for nearly bumping into her, but she decided to let it go. Her sister was just eager to go and do what she loved to do. And Luna didn't want to get on her case for that.

Luna left the kitchen and made her way into the living room. There she found Luan playing with Lily. The teen was using her sock puppets to entertain the baby girl and succeeding with ease. Lily giggled at the silly show, her joyous reaction fueling Luan to keep her tomfoolery going for as long as Lily wanted.

Lily picked up her bottle to take a sip. After a few seconds, she pulled it away and shook it, finding there was no more juice for her to drink. She held up her bottle to Luan, letting out a soft cooing nose to get the teen's attention.

"What's up Lilster?" Luan asked. "You want some more? Okay, let's go get you some more."

Luan removed her sock puppets and picked Lily up. She spotted Luna as she turned towards the kitchen, greeting her older sister with a smile.

"Oh, hey Luna. Just heading to get Lily a refill. What did she have in her bottle?"

"I gave her some grape juice earlier." Luna answered.

"Grape juice?" Luan repeated. "We don't have any grape juice."

"Uh, yeah we do." Luna countered. "It's in the fridge by the milk."

Luan went to check the fridge and a moment later Luna heard her burst out laughing. Then she poked her head around the corner to see what could possibly be so funny. Luan, holding the bottle of juice in her hand, was still cracking up. Luna approached her younger sister, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"What are you laughing about, Lu?"

"This isn't grape juice!" Luan exclaimed, struggling to stop her laughing so she could speak. "It's prune juice!"

Luna's eyes widened with realization when she heard that. Her eyes went from the bottle of prune juice down to Lily and back. But what she saw next is what truly surprised her. Luan was filling Lily's bottle up with more prune juice. She gave the refilled bottle to their baby sister, who began to happily drink it down.

"Dude! Why are you giving her more?!"

"Because she wanted some more." Luan stated frankly. "And I just couldn't say 'no' to that cute, little face! Besides, you're the one in charge right now. That means you're the one who has to change Lily's diaper. I guess you could say that it's your doody!"

"Real mature, sis." Luna commented. "And if I'm the one in charge, then what's to stop me from just making you the diaper changer?"

Luan shrugged. "Sorry, but I'm going to be a bit preoccupied for a while. I have some business to attend to. So I'll just be on my way now. Good luck!"

She took off, leaving Luna alone with Lily. Luna picked Lily up, the little Loud still drinking down her juice. At the rate she was going it wouldn't be long until she finished it again. And Luna could only guess how long she had until the inevitable occurred. She was not looking forward to that.

Of course there was still another problem as well. The not so little matter of the blob that was still inside of Lisa and Lily's bedroom. Luna didn't want to risk bringing Lily anywhere near that thing. Her best option would be to quickly get everything she would need to change Lily and bring it back downstairs.

Luna took Lily to the living room and sat her down on the couch. She turned on the television, finding something age-appropriate for the one year old to watch.

"Okay, Lily. Hang tight here for a sec. I'm just gonna pop up to your room and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Blankie?" Lily asked.

"Sure, I'll get your blankie for ya while I'm up there. You just stay here and watch your show."

Luna hurried up the stairs and over to Lisa and Lily's room. She slowly opened the door...and her jaw dropped. Things had gotten significantly worse in there since earlier.

The blob was now massive. It had overtaken nearly half of the room, including the changing table. Even if Luna dared to reach into the mass of goop, she really doubted that the diapers would be of any use. Maybe if they had been kept inside of the package that they had been bought in, but that wasn't the case.

"Dang it." Luna muttered. "Now what do I do?"

Luna started to close the door. But then she remembered she was also there to get Lily her blankie. Luckily Lily's crib had yet to be touched by the still expanding slime. Luna grabbed her baby sister's favorite thing and left the room.

'Okay, so I can't get diapers from in there. No biggie.' Luna thought. 'I can just get what I need from Lily's diaper bag. But what am I supposed to do about that thing?! Mom and Pops are gonna freak when they see it for sure! Lisa said water could wash if off you, but will it get rid of the whole thing? There was something else too. What was it again? I had better go and check with her.'

Dashing to the other end of the hall, Luna grabbed the knob to the bathroom door. She opened it and rushed inside, her gaze going straight to the tub. A mountain of bubbles obscured anything inside of the fixture from sight. Luna became so distracted by this that she was completely unaware of the water that was on the floor.

"Hey, I need to talk with you Lis-AHH!"

As Luna set foot onto the spill, she quickly found herself losing balance. The next thing she knew, she was landing butt-first right in the middle of the water. She nearly let out a foul word, but managed to hold her tongue. She slipped a bit more as she tried to get back up, grabbing onto the toilet for support.

"Do you require assistance, elder sister?" Came Lisa's voice from the bubbles.

"Nah, I'm good. But why is the floor so wet?"

"My apologies. I am the one responsible for that hazard. But please understand that it was not my intention to put your physical well-being at risk."

"It's fine, Lis. But we got a bit of a sitch in your room though. That slime is taking the place over! I thought you said that it wouldn't grow without sunlight!"

"Correction. I said that natural light accelerates its growth. That does not imply that a lack of natural light will cause its growth to cease."

"Okay, fine, whatever." Luna said. "So how do we take care of it? You said hot water and something else, right?"

"You need not worry, Luna. I will tend to the matter just as soon as I have finished bathing. Please permit me five more minutes."

Luna nodded. "Sure thing. I'll just take care of the wet floor for ya."

"Thank you, that is very much appreciated."

Luna grabbed a couple of clean towels. She used the first to soak up the bulk of the puddle on the floor and then the other to wipe up the remainder. During this she discovered that she had dropped Lily's blankie and it too had gotten wet. It would need to be put into the dryer along with the towels before she could give it to Lily.

On her way back downstairs, Luna took a peek into the living room to check on Lily. The baby girl was still on the couch where Luna had left her, mesmerized by the television. Luna started to sneak by, figuring it best not to let Lily know she was there. If she saw her walking by with her blankie, she'd want it for sure. And Luna didn't want to upset Lily by keeping it away from her since it needed to be dried off first. There was no doubt that doing so would make Lily cry and Luna didn't want to do that.

The rocker moved swiftly once she had made it to the basement door. She stuffed the towels and Lily's blankie inside of the dryer and turned it on. Now it would just be a short while until they be done and Lily could have her favorite thing back.

Luna went back upstairs and checked the time. it was getting closer to noon. She'd need to start getting lunch ready for everyone. And she still needed to try and get Lily to take her nap first.

'Maybe she'll fall asleep watching the tube.' Luna thought. 'I'll just go and sit down with her to keep her company after her blankie is dry. And when she nods off I can take the TV while she snoozes. Then all I gotta do is make sure she eats her lunch and soon enough Mom, Pops and Lori will be back. This babysitting stuff isn't so hard. Sure I hit a couple of snags, but I still don't see why Lori was making such a big deal about it.'

Luna entered the living room and went to take a seat on the couch by Lily. But she found something awaiting her when she had arrived. A great big mess had somehow been made while she had been downstairs in the basement. The DVDs by the television had been scattered all over the floor and a few of the cases had been opened, the discs inside laying here and there. There was also a box of crayons that had been dumped out onto the floor as well as the contents to a board game that had been sitting on the coffee table, adding to the mess. And Lily was nowhere in sight.

"Oh come on!" Luna groaned. "Where did you go now, little dudette?!"

She did a search of the living room really quick, just to be sure Lily wasn't in fact still in there. Then, like she had done earlier, Luna went into the dining room to continue looking. She stepped on something soft while on her way, her eyes looking down to the floor. That something she had stepped on was the diaper that Lily had been wearing, leaving Luna with just one thing on her mind.

"Uh-oh."

End of Chapter 15.