Leni sat on the bench for what felt like forever. She wanted a way out, and it seemed the universe saw fit to give her one, albeit in a cruel way. She wanted to quit to honor her promise to Lincoln, and now it looked like she would have to break her promise in order to keep it, which made about as much sense to her as someone needing to rob a bank so they don't have to rob banks anymore.

The streetlights were beginning to come on, and she knew if she didn't get home soon, her family would begin to wonder where she'd gone. She forced her shaky legs to lift herself off the bench and made her way to the road to hail a cab back home. The rest of the evening was a blur, before she found herself seated at the dinner table. She simply pushed the food around on her plate, her appetite long since evaporated after her meeting with Ken.

Her head was swimming, thoughts and debates raged inside her head as her mother pulled her from her thoughts.

Leni looked up towards the head of the table. Her sisters and father had all already eaten and left, leaving just the two of them.

"Sweetheart, you haven't touched your food and hardly said a word all day. What's the matter?" Rita asked.

"Nothing..." Leni replied softly. It wasn't like she could let her in on what was really going on.

"C'mon, you think I can't tell when one of my kids has something on their mind?"

She glanced up from her plate at her mother. What could she really say? 'Mom, I promised Lincoln I'd stop killing people for money but I have to do it one more time to save our family and get out for good?'

"I..." Leni began, before a phone began ringing.

Rita groaned, fishing her phone out of her purse. "I swear, how is it possible that people know to call me when I'm eating—" Rita began, stopping mid sentence as she looked at her phone. Her brow furrowed as she stared at her still ringing phone.

"Hang on, dear, it's the lawyer," RIta answered it and left the room.

Secretly, Leni was grateful for the interruption. She took her plate to the kitchen and headed back to her room. Friday would be here before she knew it, and she had packing to do.

She had done it all before. She told her parents she had to head out of town for her internship. It was short notice, but they had grown used to it, so they of course, thought nothing of it. Everything was the same as it was before, except for one thing.

Lincoln knew what she was really going to do.

She put on her happy face and said goodbye to her family at the door, the cab waiting for her outside. She had stashed her 'guitar' in the garage so no one would see her load it into the cab. The other Loud siblings were exceptionally happy about her trip. Not to see her leave, but because they knew Leni always came back with the best souvenirs. As she said her goodbyes, Lincoln was the last in line.

She could tell there was something he wanted to say to her, but both knew he wouldn't dare in front of the whole family. They paused before Lincoln wrapped himself around her waist. She gladly returned his hug. They held each other for a moment before releasing. His words echoed endlessly in her head as she smiled at him.

"Be safe, and hurry back, Leni," Lincoln said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The ride to the airport was nothing special, but it did give her time to review her target. Some oil sheik with an unpronounceable name. She'd get a more detailed dossier on the plane, but for now, she didn't care. She couldn't even look forward to her favorite part of these missions; the jet ride.

She thought back about the giddy excitement she would feel on prior missions. She knew killing wasn't nice, but she also knew that the people she targeted weren't nice either. In that way, she rationalized it to herself. But after Lincoln discovered her secret, her actions and the realities behind her job became much more real.

Maybe this was the way she was supposed to feel. Perhaps this was all the guilt she had done so well to ignore finally catching up with her.

Her arrival at the executive airport was met by the same pilot, who took her same bags, who handed her the same envelope with a more detailed description of her target. She was heading back to New York City, only this time she had no desire to shop, see the sights, or enjoy the hustle of the city.

She checked into her hotel and made her way up to her room. The bed looked incredibly inviting as she dropped her bags by the door and flopped onto her belly. The plush sheets and mattress delivered on their promise as she lost herself in them. She raised her head from the face-down position on the bed and looked out of her window. She had a stunning view of Central Park, and ordinarily she'd be happy as a clam to be in such opulence, for free, no less.

Leni rolled onto her back and found herself completely worn out from the trip over. She sighed and raised herself to the sitting position and rubbed her eyes.

"C'mon, Leni, get your head in the game!" she said to herself. She HAD to complete this assignment, then all her problems would be solved. Well, minus the broken trust of someone she loved. Desperate to clear her head, she wandered into the bathroom. If there was one thing that sounded phenomenal right now, it was a long soak in the jacuzzi tub.

Once the bubbles got to work, she felt herself relax. With her guard down, she lit a few scented candles and let the stress of her coming day melt off her back.

Just as she was about to doze off in the tub, her phone rang; it was home. She answered the call and put it on speaker.

"Hello?"

"Hey Leni, how was the trip?"

It was Lincoln.

"Good, it was like, totally boring."

"Oh, well I just wanted to make sure you made it okay."

Leni smiled. It was just like him to worry about her now that he actually knew what she was doing.

"Yeah, I made it. How's everyone else?"

She heard Lincoln sigh.

"Empress Lori is in charge," he moaned. "Dad's been in meetings all day and Mom said she some lawyer thing to do and wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

Leni cringed. They all knew how Lori could be, and especially with all the stress of what had been going on with their father, probably only made it worse.

"Just hang in there, I'll be back soon."

"We'll try. Love you Leni."

"Love you too, Lincoln."

Leni hung up the phone and sank back into the tub. This was it. Her last job, and her family would be safe, and all of this business would finally be behind her. She soaked for an hour before getting ready for bed. Unfortunately the restful sleep she needed and usually received before her missions would not come.

Everything about this mission seemed off. Before she knew it, her alarm was blaring. She rolled over and slapped at it. She found a bit of inspiration as she woke and got dressed. This was nothing she hadn't done before, and this was the last time. Her little siblings could enjoy being kids, and wouldn't have to work to scrape together money to buy lunch at school. All she had to do was finish her job.

She gathered her weapon and headed out the door. She wore her normal clothes, just as she always had. Doing nothing out of the ordinary, she found herself on the rooftops she had grown accustomed to on these trips. She positioned herself at the ledge and took out her binoculars. The car would be arriving right down a narrow alleyway, giving her a clear shot. Flags near where he target would appear gave her the wind direction as she knelt down and opened up her guitar case.

Her rifle gleamed back at her in the morning sunlight. It was the last time she would see her old pal in this situation. That knowledge comforted her as her heart rate began to increase. She had never gotten the jitters before, and now was not the time to start. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"This is for Linky. For Mom and Dad, and for like, everyone else," she whispered to herself. Leni began assembling her rifle and set it on the ledge, bipod extended and scope and suppressor mounted. She put the butt against her shoulder and welded her cheek to the stock, looking down the scope. Her sight picture seemed a bit unsteady. She raised her eye from the scope, wondering if she hadn't tightened her optics enough.

However, it wasn't her mount that was the culprit; it was her hands. They were shaking.

'Not now, not now!' she thought, taking her hands off her weapon and rubbing them together.

'Just breathe, Leni,' she thought, trying to calm herself. This was nothing she hadn't done before, what was wrong with her now?

Flashes of Lincoln ran through her head. She had to do this. It was for her family, her nerves couldn't get in the way!

"C'mon Leni! You have to do this, there like, isn't any other option!"

Leni stepped away from her setup and tried to shake off her nerves, but nothing seemed to be working.

After a few deep breaths, she stepped back up to the ledge.

The motorcade was coming!

Time was up. She reset behind her rifle and tried to calm herself. She fed the magazine into the weapon and chambered a round. Leni had managed to calm her hands as she peered through the scope. She followed the center car until it came to a stop. The seconds seemed to drag by as she became aware of her sweaty palms. She hated being sweaty, and it seemed like just one more distraction to keep her from completing her mission. She felt her heart pounding inside her chest as she waited for her target to leave the car.

"I can do this," she said to herself.

'Promise me that you'll never kill another person again.'

Her sight picture began to blur as she remembered Lincoln's words.

'You're a good person Leni, you're my sister and I love you, and I know you aren't a murderer.'

She blinked, flushing a stream of tears down her cheek as her sight picture came back into focus. The target exited the car.

It was now or never.

Leni lined up her shot, placing her perfectly manicured finger on the trigger.

'I can do this, I can do this I'm...'

She took her finger off the trigger.

'I'm not a murderer.'

She wasn't sure how to feel about herself. By keeping her promise, she doomed her family to wage slavery. Why couldn't she just pull the damn trigger?

An loud gunshot startled her, stealing her breath. Had she accidentally fired?

She felt no recoil, and checked her weapon. The safety was still on.

Leni looked down the scope to see her target, face down next to a wall splattered with blood.

Someone else had taken the shot!

Leni grabbed her rifle off the ledge and sat behind it, cradling the weapon in her arms as she nearly hyperventilated. Her heart was racing as she fumbled for Ken's phone. Before she could dial him with her unsteady fingers, it began to ring.

It was Ken.

Did he know it wasn't her that took the shot? Was he on his way up the stairs to terminate her like he said he was going to?

She just stared at the screen, tears running down her face as she pressed the answer button and held it to her ear.

"Mike Charlie. Your services are no longer required," Ken said, before hanging up.

His call was followed shortly by a text message with instructions for meeting.

Leni was terrified. She sat on the rooftop as the sirens wailed towards the scene of the shooting. Ken was surely going to kill her. She considered not going, but knew if Ken wanted to find her, there was nowhere she could run. She broke down into sobs. All she wanted to do was help her family, and now she would receive a bullet for her efforts. It wasn't fair. All because some corporate jerks framed her Dad, she was going to die.

She wasn't sure how long she spent crying on that rooftop before finally gathering the strength to put her weapon away and try to dry her tears. Her mascara was running down her face, and she tried to dry it the best she could.

Thankfully, the building she had used was abandoned, so there would be no need to fast talk any security guards on her way down. Her meeting with Ken was in an hour. It was tentatively the last hour of her young life. She slowly made her way off the rooftop and back down to the street, heading straight to the train station. As the cab made its way into the city, Leni pushed all the sad thoughts out of her mind. Nothing drew more attention that a beautiful crying teenage girl. Gathering all her courage, she at least knew that if she were to die, she would do it after keeping her promise. She pulled out her personal phone and opened the text chain between herself and Lincoln. She looked at the picture of her family he'd sent her and smiled. She sent him a short text, and turned off her phone.

"I love you Lincoln, I kept my promise."

She left the cab and entered the train station, sitting on the same bench as the last time, and waiting for her executioner to arrive. Would he kill her right then and there, in public? Would he turn her in to the police? Would he drive her out to the middle of nowhere? Morbid questions raced through her mind before being brought to a halt. She spotted Ken walking towards her bench, wearing the same enigmatic clothes he always had, a newspaper tucked beneath his arm. Leni lowered her sunglasses. If she started tearing up again, she didn't want him to know it.

He may as well have been the reaper himself walking towards her as he calmly took his seat next to her, nonchalantly opening his newspaper.

"Barbie," He said softly.

This was it. He was going to pull a gun on her, force her to his car and drive out of town to a field in the middle of nowhere.

"K-ken," she managed, barely hiding her terror.

"Excellent work as always."

Leni flinched at the words before processing them.

"W-what?" she asked.

"You completed your contract. Your employment with us is no longer needed. Your final payment is here."

He slid a small envelope towards her.

She stared at it. No gun, no cops, no long car rides to a shallow grave. It was the same way she'd been paid five previous times.

"You mean, you aren't gonna, like, literally terminate me?" she asked softly.

"Why would I do that? You completed your contract. Killing successful employees would be bad for business."

Leni broke all manner of protocol and threw her arms around him.

"Oh my gosh, thank you Ken!"

The startled handler took a moment to process the act, before gently returning her hug. After he released her, he stood up, leaving the envelope.

"Goodbye, Barbie," he said, standing up and walking down the platform, just as stoically as he always had.

Leni couldn't believe her reversal of fortune. She quickly grabbed the envelope and took out the key, making her way to the locker and claiming her family's salvation. She was positively giddy as she made her way back to the hotel. The bath she took was one she was sure she would never get a chance to take a scant few hours ago, and coming that close to death made all the difference. She reflexively glanced at her phone and realized it had been off this whole time!

'Lincoln must have been worried sick!'

She turned it back on, and as soon as it established signal, it flooded with texts from her little brother. She quickly texted him back that she would be home tomorrow, and for him not to worry. Putting herself at ease, she sank back into the bubbling water before another shocking realization hit her: She hadn't gotten gifts for everyone!

She jumped out of the tub and got dressed, high tailing it out of her room and into a cab for some last minute shopping.

The day passed without incident and before she knew it, she was touching down at the airport in Michigan. She felt so good to be home, and she couldn't wait to see her family. Once she arrived back home, her siblings flooded out of the house to greet her, all happy to see her, and all happy to get their souvenirs.

None more so than Lincoln. They hugged as Leni lifted him off the ground and swung him around for good measure.

"Leni, I was so worried!" he said, not wanting to let go.

"I know, I'm sorry Lincoln. Things got like... a little crazy out there, but everything is gonna be okay now."

Once all the others had gone back inside, Leni and Lincoln sat on the steps of the porch, watching the sunset.

"I kept my promise, Linky," Leni said proudly.

"I know, I'm glad you did," he replied, hugging her once more.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Lincoln spoke up.

"I've been looking for jobs, and I think I can get my old job at the game and grub back to make some money for the family."

Leni smiled at him. "I don't think you'll have to do that. Unless you like, want to," she said.

"What? Dad's still on the hook for all those fines and stuff."

Leni got up and headed towards the garage, with Lincoln in tow. During the commotion of her siblings enjoying their gifts, she had managed to stash her payment without anyone else seeing. She dropped the bag at his feet and opened it up. The young boy gasped at the amount of money threatening to spill out over the sidewalk.

"But... you kept you promise... right?" he asked.

Leni nodded, zipping the bag back up and quickly writing a short note on it.

"You didn't rob a bank or something for this, did you?" he asked.

"No! Now c'mon," she motioned as the two headed towards the porch. Leni left the bag on the doorstep. "Okay, when I ring the doorbell, we have to run into the backyard!" Leni said, ringing it and dashing off the porch as Lincoln followed closely.

Lynn Sr. answered the door as they watched from around the house. He stuck his head out and looked around. "Darn neighborhood kids and their—" he stopped as he noticed the bag on the ground. He picked up the note and read it aloud to himself.

"To Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud."

He unzipped the bag and nearly fainted on the porch. "Rita, RITA!" he shouted inside the house as their mother joined him. She too was just as shocked as they hugged each other and nearly cried. "I don't know who you are, but thank you so much!" Lynn Sr. shouted into the empty street. Leni and Lincoln giggled before heading in through the side door.

By now all the Loud children had gathered in the living room to look at the giant bag of cash that had appeared mysteriously on their doorstep. Lincoln spotted Lisa in the crowd and she shot him a knowing look. He nodded, and winked. Lisa removed herself from the crowd and joined him in the kitchen.

"Well, looks like it was your turn to solve a family crisis for once," she said to him.

"It wasn't just me, Leni did all the work, and she kept her promise," he replied happily.

Lisa opened her mouth to reply, knowing full well the nature of Leni's former hobby, but, for once, decided not to question it. After all, look how much trouble that had brought them all in the first place.

"Then congratulations on a job well done."

The morose atmosphere that had permeated the Loud house in the past few weeks had disappeared in an instant, and it seemed everything was returning to normal. With the fines paid and the extra money going towards filling the gap until Lynn Sr. found a new job, everything seemed right with the world once again.

To celebrate the end of hardship, the parents ordered pizza, only this time they allowed the kids to pick any toppings, and any size they wanted. Once everyone had eaten their fill and gone off to their own devices, Rita and Lynn Sr. sat alone at the kitchen table.

"What a day," Lynn Sr. said, slouching in his chair. "How about some coffee, hun?"

Rita got up. "Sounds good dear," she said, heading towards the fridge. "Oh darn, we're out of vanilla creamer. I'll just run to the Quik Stop and get more. Be right back!" Rita found her purse and keys and headed towards the car. In no time she was heading down the road. However, instead of turning into the store, she drove past it, heading towards Ketchum Park. She parked the car and got out, walking down the well lit jogging path and found a bench beneath a street light.

After a few moments, a mysterious man in a hat and baseball cap joined her, his newspaper tucked beneath his arm.

"Muerta," he said.

"Ken," She replied. "I held up my end of the deal."

"Yes you did. And as for mine, your husband will have an interview for a new position at a fortune 500 company next week, please make sure he doesn't miss it."

"And my other conditions?" Rita asked impatiently.

"Right, your family is off our books for good," he said, folding his newspaper and laying it across his lap. "You know, I wasn't sure I could get an old pro like you out of retirement so easily."

Rita gave a half smile. "Don't flatter me. You know just as well as I do that if that job wasn't completed, your neck would have been on the line just as much as my daughter's."

"Yes, well, she was one of the best we've ever had, though I guess I know where she got it from. Still hard to believe she had operated right under your nose without you knowing until I called. I suppose motherhood dulls the senses a bit?" he asked.

"Yeah, calling in the middle of dinner, thanks. Honestly, she was the last person I would have thought to be involved. And another thing," she turned to face him. "I don't appreciate you getting my daughter involved in this business. You're lucky I'm committed to my family... and my retirement," she replied threateningly.

Ken nodded, unshaken by her threats. "We all have a job to do, Muerta. Morals can't come into play in this line of work. I trust you've already received payment?"

Rita stood from the bench. "I have. One more thing: If I ever see you near my family again, I'll kill you," she said in a disturbingly motherly tone.

"Now if you'll excuse me, we're out of vanilla creamer, and my husband is waiting."