Nobel gases, bonds nearly unbreakable

Lincoln was relaxing just as usual with a nice comic and in his underwear. This honored tradition always made his afternoon just all the better. "There's always something about being able to stretch out with no restrictions at all that just makes everything worth it, being in the house of ten loud siblings. I can just kick back, relax, and recharge." But just out the corner of his eye scurried a small frame making her way up the stairs. It was Lisa, probably off on her way to start on another crazy experiment resulting in a huge explosion. "Y'know, as much as I love all of my sisters, Lisa i've probably really talked to the least. Lori is always commandeering and her presence is felt everywhere; Leni always needs some kind of help and has good fashion tips; Luna plays music aroud all of us, so we can't really ignore her; Luan always tries to get me with her latest prank; Lynn is always active; Even Lucy, Miss gloom and doom will pop out of nowhere with her poems; The twins tag team me, and I even tried to connect with Lily who's only a baby! I know I should leave her to do her thing, [Savino] knows I can barely relate to her on smarts alone, but I don't want to seem like a bad big brother and leave her alone."

After that rather lengthy monologue, Lisa was already well in her and Lily's room, doing who knows what. And then came that slowly sinking feeling, that you want to help someone, but don't want to seem imposing. But the boy's been through worse, and it wouldn't hurt to check on her. He manages a gulp and starts his way up the stairs and down the hall. "Hey Linc, wanna play some-" Lynn tried to get in, messing around with cleats, a lacrosse stick and a baseball. "Oh, sorry! I can't, uhhhh... Lisa needs me for something." She looked incredulous that Lisa would have called for anyone with how often she's holed up in her room, and was about to pin Lincoln down and make him say Uncle before she just dropped it. "Well, alright. But you owe me!" Lynn retreated back into her room, met with the sound of tripping over a basketball.

Lincoln, hesitant to interrupt whatever she was doing, knocked on the door softly. No one responded. It was unusually quiet, given someone must have been in there. Did she go to sleep? Sound proof the room? Make a portal to another dimension? He knocked one more time, to make sure if he was heard. Oh well. He turned around and tried to make a plan of attack for the next time she was free, when the creaking of a door caught his attention. "You needed my services?" He wasn't sure how to really respond to the familiar lisp, but gave a nod. "Well, come on in."

Lincoln made his way inside and noticed that everything seemed pretty normal. Lily wasn't in her crib, so Lori must have her. No glowing machines, dangerous chemicals, mutants. Everything was calm and Lisa was equipped with nothing more than a book on applied physics and a notebook and pencil. "So Lisa, ummm.... up to anything important?" Smooth move. "Well, actually that pretty much is the case. One of the companies for this serious of college level material wanted my input on how to make their chapters and lessons much more efficient, while looking it over for any errors in typos or the concepts themselve. Basically, I'm cleaning up all their stuff in my downtime. I've... been lacking materials to do my experiments anyway." As much as it burned through his skull the thought of where she gets all this stuff and why they supply it for a 4 year old, that wasn't why he was here.

"Oh that's nice to hear, but I really wanted to ask..." Stumbling on the question at hand, he fully caught Lisa's attention. Lincoln wasn't one to really falter when he really had something on his mind. "Are you by any chance lonely?" Lisa went back to serious mode, put on her scientist face and answered Lincoln in earnest. "Well if you must know, it isn't that unlikely for people with advanced intelligence to feel that way. You give youself to a world of seeking higher knowledge, with no real idea what ever around the corner. We're as much dreamers and thrill seeker as an artist or traveler. There's no telling if anything we do will ever have any real pay off. You're always held up to any standards set by others before you who set up the bulding blocks of everything we know, and the idea you will never be able to move beyond them and yourself in great breakthroughs. There's always some kind of bittersweet disconnect to enlighten oneself while remaining ignorant of those who you give your teachings to. You're held neary by your merits alone. I've come to understand this. There are some thing you need to sacrifice for the sake of science."

"... Y-you don't really mean that, do you? You're really going to throw away your sense of self for the sake of science?" Lisa tried to respond, but Lincoln wasn't done yet. After hearing her spiel he had something he needed to get off his heart. "I KNOW that deep down inside, you know that isn't fully the case. Sure, you're four. You have a phd. You won a nobel prize. Sure, well before any of us you'll already be set to find a place of your own and do what you really want to do, but not at the expense of your happiness. Lisa, you're a little girl who likes to do little girl things. You squeal, you play with food, you still have a fear with the dark! You've done a lot of things so far, and will do many more in the future. Hey, we're all proud of you. But I don't want you to grow up in the adult world thinking that you have to make some self sacrifice for the good of everyone."

Lincoln poured that all from his heart, hoping his words would sink in. "W-well, that's kind of you Lincoln, but I don't think I need to show you a pie chart that I won't fit in with too many kids because of how smart I am. Also, it wouldn't be so unusual for you to care so much b-"

"Don't you dare say I only care just because we're family." The buck toothed boy put on the sternest face he could muster, mimicked by the very few times their dad ever got really mad, which made a difference. "Lisa, i've known you for as long as you've been alive. I've seen you grow from what lily is now to a super genius. As a big brother, it'd always be my duty to look after and care for you, not because I have to, but because I could never live with myself if I saw you sad, alone, or helpless. All of my love for you comes from within, and nothing would ever change that. From myself, or every other Loud. We're all a unit. Don't think that because we're family my feelings are forced, but rather that just makes it that much more real. Sometimes we may never say it enough or laugh it off as a joke, but we all love each other and love you."

Lisa was rather speechless, not that she didn't want to say anything, but couldn't. There's no easy way to play off a declaration like that when someone looks you right in the eyes and say what they really mean. But much to Lincoln's surprise, she gave a chuckle. "Oh Lincoln, you really didn't need to say all that. I was really only talking theoretically about giving myself away to science. I couldn't seperate myself from the world, and especially you guys, even if I tried. Seriously, the portal to another demension still needs to bugs worked out. And I wasn't going to say because you're family, but because you try to follow Lori's lead and look out for everone, even if it can turn out a bit selfish." Lincoln turned a bit red at his own realization, and what all he had said. A wandering thought brought up if anyone else may have heard it. Lisa scratched at her head, hesitant to ask her own question. "Hey bro... brother, do you really think I'll be able to make a lot of friends my own age?"

"Of course. It doesn't even have to be a lot, but I'm sure you'll be able to find kids that can appreciate you for you, and in time your smarts as well. And you'll always have us. Once a Loud, always a Loud." Lincoln stretched out for a hug, which she returned. It lasted for what felt like minutes before he assumed he overstayed his welcome and tried to excuse himself out. "Uhhh, hey! If you ever need some help for your experiment or just want to take a break from it and need some company, I'll always be around. hehe."

"Thanks Lincoln. Well if you excuse me, I need to use my own personal lavatory, if you don't mind." After Lincoln made his way out the room to the applause of all his sisters for what a heartwarming thing he did, Lisa excused herself for making up having to use the bathroom in an attempt to wipe away the tears in her eyes for having such a wonderful family.