So, here's another request that I had sitting on the backburner. It's just a short story requested by cradfordbrian17. Credit for the idea and the title go to him. And as always, honest reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Lily's out the window mystery.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Loud House and I make no profit from this story.

The Louds were gathered inside of Lori and Leni's bedroom. The eleven siblings plus their mother and father were all seated throughout the room, save for Lisa who was standing by a table next to the open window. On top of it was something covered with a sheet, it's odd shape drawing the attention of the family. Lisa stood before them, a modest smile on her face as she took hold of the sheet with one hand.

"Family, I have gathered you all here today to show you my latest invention." she said just before pulling away the sheet and revealing said invention. "Behold! The Handy-bot Mark I."

With the sheet now gone, an odd machine is now in full view for the Louds. It looked like a polished steel dome with a pair of arms attached. The arms consisted of a pair of steel cylinders connected by a ball joint, also made of steel. And at the end of the arms was a metal hand which was coated with a rubber material that made them seem like they had big, cartoon gloves on them.

"So, what does it do?" Lincoln asked.

"It can do virtually anything dexterous with the utmost ease. Observe."

Lisa placed a stack of fifteen plastic cups onto the table by the robot before pushing one of many little buttons on the dome. The arms came to life, the mechanical hands grabbing the cups and separating them out in a three by five pattern. Then the arms moved swiftly, collecting the cups and stacking them together again. Next they started to make a pyramid out of them, stacking them easily within record time. From there they collected them again and then restacked the pyramid upside down, the cups maintaining perfect balance.

The Loud family 'oohed' at the sight, easily entertained by it. The arms then arranged the cups into an arch before collecting them into two separate stacks of seven and eight. Then the cups were quickly set up in five little pyramids which where again collected to stack into a tower starting with two cups, then one, then two again, then one again, and so forth.

As the machine came to a stop, the family applauded. The arms collected the cups one last time and then returned to their initial position from when they had been inactive. Lisa allowed her family to finish clapping and then addressed them again.

"And that's just the beginning." She said. "Once I've done some upgrading, the Handy-bot Mark I will be able to do so much more! It will be able to wash dishes, sort the laundry, and perhaps even change dirty diapers!"

"Are you sure that would be a good idea?" Rita asked. "I don't know if I want to trust that thing with Lily. No offense, Sweetie."

"None taken. And as for how well the Handy-bot Mark I does with a child so young...I believe another demonstration is in order."

Lisa activated her machine again after bringing Lily over to it. The arms gently took hold of the baby girl and carefully lifted her up. Lily giggled and clapped her hands, enjoying the experience. Rita watched apprehensively as the arms tossed Lily up and then caught her with no trouble whatsoever. After doing this a couple of times, they set Lily back down...seating her on the windowsill.

"Oh no, no, no!" Rita cried out in panic. "Get her down from there!"

"My apologies Mother." Lisa said. "The Handy-bot is not fully aware of its surroundings just yet."

"Hey, what are all of these for?" Lana asked, beginning to push the many buttons on the device.

"Lana! Do not do that!" Lisa exclaimed.

Suddenly, the machine's arms flung out, startling everyone. Then they spun around wildly. Lana backed away, as did Lisa and a few of the others. However, Lily was still seated on the windowsill, right beside the haywire machine. But before anyone could go to get her, the flailing arms began making the whole machine teeter back and forth. This ultimately resulted in Lily being smacked by them, knocking her right out of the window.

"LILY!" The family collectively screamed in terror.

Rita rushed over to the window and looked outside, sticking her head out of the window. She was joined in the next couple of seconds by everyone else, each of them looking for Lily somewhere out in the yard.

"I don't see her anywhere!" Rita exclaimed woefully.

"Lisa, look what your stupid machine did!" Lori spat.

"I beg your pardon? I did nothing to cause this misfortune!" Lisa defended.

"Lisa's right! Lana was the one who made Lisa's doohickey go crazy!" Lola pointed out. "It's all her fault! GET HER!"

Lola tacked Lana, resulting in a dust cloud forming as the two tussled. The other siblings jumped in, all of them angry with the dirty twin. The dust cloud grew in size and moved around the room as the brawl continued. It even ended up pulling in Rita and Lynn Sr. the two having little time to react before finding themselves within the fray. Lana managed to weasel her way out of it and started to crawl away. But the dust cloud followed and she was once again consumed by it, letting out a cry of fear as her family got a hold of her.

-A few hours later-

The Louds sat around the living room, an air of melancholy filling the atmosphere. Rita was in tears, leaning on Lynn Sr. for support. The husband and father patted his wife's back consolingly, doing his best to hold back his own sorrow. The children were faring no better, many of them crying quietly over their missing baby sister. Lana, who looked roughed up from earlier, was stuck in the corner as punishment for her carelessness.

"I just can't believe this is happening!" Rita sobbed. "Where did my baby go?!"

"Now Honey, I know it's been a while, but she has to turn up sooner or later." Lynn Sr. said, doing his best to stay optimistic.

"I'm sorry." Lana mumbled from the corner, her head hanging in shame.

"No talking while you're in the corner!" Rita snapped, anger suddenly rising up within her before it turned back into sorrow. "I'm sorry, but I'm just so upset right now! I know it was an accident but...but I..."

Rita trailed off, a new burst of tears coming forth as she buried her face into the crook of her husband's neck. By this point, Lynn was unable to contain his own tears and let them fall while he held his wife tight. Lana whimpered, feeling worse knowing how badly her mother had been upset by her mistake.

Suddenly, a creaking noise sounded and gained the attention of some of the siblings. Lori looked around and noticed that it came from the front door which was slightly ajar.

"Who forgot to close the dang door?" She asked irritably.

She went over to the door to close it properly. Then it swung open, slamming against the wall and startling her and the rest of the family. Their eyes all locked onto the doorway and they let out a collective gasp.

Lily as standing there. She was covered in scratches, there were some leaves sticking out of her diaper and she had a bump on her head, but she was there. And she seemed downright cranky too.

"MY BABY!" Rita cried out with pure joy, rushing over to scoop Lily up in her arms. "Oh, thank goodness! Mommy was so worried!"

By this time, the rest of the Louds had also rushed over, each and every one of them grateful to see the youngest of their family was back with them. Lana even left her timeout, not caring if it got her in more trouble.

"Oh, you poor, poor thing! You must have been so scared! And look at all these boo-boos you got!" Rita said.

"I'm sorry Lily!" Lana said, working her way through the rest of the Louds to face her baby sister. "I didn't mean to get you knocked out of the window! Honest!"

Lily glared at Lana and squirmed out of her mother's grasp. The next thing Lana knew, Lily had pounced onto her and they were suddenly enveloped in a dust cloud. Lily's tiny fists flew wildly, striking her older sister over and over again. Lana struggled to fend off the angry tot, but was surprised to find herself at a loss. She couldn't even bring herself to fight back since it was her baby sister who was attacking her. That and the guilt of what happened still present in her mind. So she just decided to take her lumps and be done with it. After it cleared up a minute or two later, Lily crawled off of her big sister, who was now even more roughed up and even had a black eye.

"Okay, I deserved that." Lana weakly admitted from her place on the floor.

Lily returned to her mother, holding up her arms. Rita picked her up again and looked at the bump on the baby's head.

"Lynn, get your keys, I want to get Lily to a doctor right away to get this bump looked at." The mother said, worry returning to her voice.

"It may also be wise to have the scratches tended to while you're there." Lisa suggested. "From what I can tell, it would appear that Lily landed in the bushes growing in the front yard."

Lynn Sr. slapped his forehead. "Dang it! Why didn't we think of that?!"

"We can kick ourselves later, Honey." Rita said. "But for now we need to get going!"

The father nodded and the two left with their youngest child. As they left, Rita announced that Lori was in charge until they got back and that they would call once they had Lily checked by the doctor.

Once the parents had left, the remaining ten siblings began to relax. It was a huge relief to know that Lily wasn't lost and they slowly went about returning to their normal activities. Lana had to go back into the corner where she sat and rubbed her aching head. Lisa and Lynn approached her, Lynn snickering at the sight.

"Wow, Lily really kicked your butt." The jock pointed out.

"She certainly did." Lisa added. "And I sincerely hope that you've learned something from this experience, Lana."

"Yeah, I learned two things." Lana said. "One: I shouldn't use machines if I don't know how they work."

"Well said." Lisa noted, giving a short nod. "But what is the second thing you learned today?"

Lana gently touched the swollen area around her eye. "That Lily has a mean right hook."

The End.