Aftermath
by May-December

"DONALD!" Tasha's shrill voice nearly shook the Davenport home as she slammed the door behind her. Eddy appeared on the nearby wall, but a quick "Don't even think about it" from Tasha sent him back to sleep immediately.

"Tasha!" Donald came running down the stairs while Leo and the others spied cautiously from the nearby hall. "So, how was your first big broadcast?" He attempted to sound casual. "I bet you were amazing," he tried flattery, but her face remained stern. "Look! I bought you flowers," he held a bouquet he had picked up on his way home.

"Save it," she said angrily and moved past him. "I was not amazing. I made a fool of myself the entire night. And, then, I finally find the train and end up looking like an even bigger idiot because of my complete shock at seeing Leo. WHAT were you thinking?" She turned around and faced him with a look that made Donald cower a little as he set the flowers down. "How could you let my baby go on such a dangerous mission?"

"Okay, first of all, Tasha. He's not a baby. He's 14," Donald echoed Leo's point from earlier. "And he's a lot more capable than I think any of us give him credit for," there was a small sense of admiration in his voice as Leo's eyes widened. "He's a bright kid. He came up with some pretty clever things on the train." Adam, Bree and Chase all took turns patting Leo on the back in agreement.

"That's just it, Donald. He shouldn't have even been on the train in the first place!" Tasha didn't back down.

"I know that. Do you actually think I would deliberately put Leo in harm's way?" He hadn't been Leo's step-dad for too long, but he was trying his best even when it didn't seem like it.

"Well, what am I supposed to think?" Tasha challenged. It wasn't that she didn't know better than to assume the worst from Donald, but her motherly instincts as well as the stress from her night were making it hard to see things clearly.

Before Donald could respond, Leo hurried into the living room. "Mom, it's not Big D's fault so don't be angry with him. He wouldn't let me go, but I hid myself in a duffle bag and went anyway. When he found out he was furious and did his best to make sure I got off the train first, but I refused." There was silence for a few moments as Tasha looked back and forth between her husband and son.

"Thanks, Leo," Donald smiled appreciatively, but then the smile fell as he shook his head a little. "But your mother's right." He looked at Tasha soberly. "I should have tried harder. Truth is, I didn't even notice Leo was gone until it was too late. I'm sorry, but not as sorry as I would have been if anything had happened." He wasn't great at showing that he cared, but deep down he did.

Tasha's face finally softened. "And you're not just saying that so I don't make you sleep in the guest bedroom, now are you?"

"Of course I'm not," Donald responded seriously, but in typical fashion couldn't resist the urge to add, "but it would be really nice if it worked anyway." He smiled hopefully, causing Tasha to laugh a little in spite of herself.

"Alright, alright, you're off the hook," Tasha forgave him before turning toward her son. "Leo, you're still grounded for two weeks, but I'm just glad you're safe." She hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you're all safe," she said loudly, knowing the others were still listening. In response, they came and quickly joined the hug.

"You know, maybe it should be three weeks with no access to the lab," Donald teased as he came over to stand beside them.

"Really?" Leo pulled away from his mom and looked up at Donald skeptically. "I get you out of the dog house with my mom and you push me in front of the train like that?"

They all grimaced at his choice of words. "Ugh, nuh-uh, I do not even want to hear that word again," Tasha fell back onto the couch in frustration. "I spent the whole night chasing that thing and looking ridiculous on television. It's a miracle the station didn't fire me after the mess I made. Stupid thing was going so fast."

"Stupid?" Donald was somewhat offended. "More like awesome. I'd like to see other trains go 400 miles an hour."

"Wait a second," Tasha's eyes widened a little and she looked at Donald in disbelief. "That was your train. And you knew it when I told you about my broadcast didn't you?" The look of panic on his face proved he was guilty.

"Yeah, I don't know why he wouldn't let me tell you earlier," Adam shrugged in a clueless manner as they all looked at him.

"Why didn't you let him tell me?" Tasha was clearly becoming hostile again as she looked back at Donald.

"Um, you know what, I think I'm just going to go read a book or something…somewhere that is anywhere but here," Leo excused himself nervously before things could get worse. This was a battle Big D would have to handle on his own.

"Us too," Chase said as he, Bree and Adam hurried after Leo.

Donald watched them, wishing he could bolt too. "Look, Tasha, I uh, I uh…that is I…" he obviously didn't have any viable excuses for his keeping it secret from her. "I'm sorry?"

"I don't know if that's good enough this time around, Donald," the anger had dissipated and in its place was a wounded expression that made Donald want to kick himself for having betrayed her trust.

He sat down next to her on the couch and she crossed her arms as if to distance herself from him. "I shouldn't even have to say I'm sorry." His words caused her to look at him in shock, but before she could protest he added, "But that's because I shouldn't have kept this from you in the first place. This just wasn't my day, I guess. Too much human error on my part," he finished sincerely, although his pride was clearly wounded.

Tasha looked at him empathetically. She knew how much admitting to any mistake wasn't easy for him and his genius-sized ego. She gave a deep sigh and shook her head. "It just hurts because it feels like you don't trust me. I want to support you in your work, Donald. Even when it's not so pretty…like my literal trainwreck of a broadcast," she added the last part more playfully, the change in tone proving she had let go of the previous argument.

"It wasn't so bad," Donald shrugged, but couldn't make eye contact as he lied. He had made it a point to watch the internet stream of the broadcast when he'd made it back home.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't have been if you'd told me about the mission and gave me some heads up so I could stay on top of the story," she poked him a little in the chest.

"Okay, you're right. I should have helped you," he nodded before a mischievous grin broke out on his face. "But then we wouldn't have been able to see that masterpiece train drawing of yours," he teased as Tasha's mouth dropped. "Do you still have it? Think maybe I could get an autographed copy?"

"Oh that is it, mister," Tasha wore an equally mischievous grin as she shook her head slowly and stared him down. She picked up a nearby throw pillow and began hitting him with it as he continued to make jokes in between laughs. This eventually turned into a full on pillow fight as Donald picked up another pillow to defend himself.

In the midst of their childish behavior, neither one of them seemed to notice Leo. He had decided to take his chances in order to get something to snack on from the kitchen. However, he had stopped at the sight of his mom and Donald and stood there with a slightly disturbed expression on his face as they goofed off. "On second thought, I think I'm going to go get started on that whole 2 weeks locked in my room thing now," he muttered to himself before turning on his heels and leaving quickly.

The End

A.N. Just a poorly written, rough around the edges, oneshot I came up with after rewatching the latest episode. It's probably OOC since Tasha and Donald are kind of all over the place characters at this point (they're adult characters on a kids show so...). Donald is especially hard to write. Still, I have kind of been in love with Donald/Tasha since the first few minutes of the pilot xD I like how different Donald is around Tasha, for one. And I have so many questions about them. It's like, part of me wonders why a guy like Davenport was even on a dating site to begin with, you know? Anyways, this is just me wondering what might have happened after Tasha found out that Leo was on the speeding train. The timeline here is probably way skewed because, rewatching the episode, I noticed it's pretty skewed there too. It's clearly day time when Donald finds about the train and yet it's night when the mission happens. Hmm. So, this was meant to take place after Tasha gets home since I'm assuming she had to return back to the station first. And clearly I need Davenport's Auxiliary Deaccelerator to stop this needlessly long author note.