He knew he shouldn't even be out here. It was late, it was cold, and he had school the next day. He shouldn't be out on the balcony, sitting on a metal chair and replaying the day's events in his head. Yet, Chase couldn't help himself. He had too many thoughts, and they were affecting his urge to sleep. Evidently, they just made his fatigue inexistent.
As he studied the stars, he couldn't help but ponder on how nice they were. For once, he didn't let his mind wonder over to his logical side. He didn't think about how stars were created, their purpose, how long until they burned out. He just thought about how pretty they looked in the dark background; how they looked so bright.
Chase sighed. How he wished he could feel that bright. But how can he feel anything but glum after his brother did what he did? Chase couldn't even face Adam right now; he had no tolerance for him.
Chase knew that was the reason why he was thinking in the middle of the night. Chase couldn't even bare to be in the same room as his brother, even if the oldest bionic was asleep.
Chase just couldn't express his emotions in words. He knew it was incredibly cliché; but yet, everything he felt was genuine. He was angry, he was upset, and he was hurt. Chase just couldn't put it any other way. Rage circulated his body; Chase couldn't help but secretly blame Adam for all of this. If Adam had a better handle on his feelings, they wouldn't be in this mess.
A mess that chances are couldn't be fixed so easy.
The actual mess that was created earlier in the living room was -thankfully- cleared up, even though the trashed area was the last thing on his mind. Chase was more focused on the following; Adam, Spike… and Sabrina.
He winced; boy, would he have a lot of explaining to do. His head spinned just thinking about it. He felt like punching something; remembering the expression Sabrina had before she dashed out of the household. Her eyes filled with shock, horror and disgust.
''You are so not who I thought you were''
He couldn't bare to think past that point.
His mind then wondered off to his alter ego. Chase winced a second time; even though he didn't remember anything that happened while he was Spike, he knew it hadn't been good. A broken project, a destroyed living quarters and a missing girl didn't exactly scream 'everything's okay!' Plus, he had seen the footage from Eddy's cameras. It hadn't been pretty.
Adam was the one who came into his mind with full force. Anger was replaced with resentment; and then annoyance came into play. He was extremely annoyed with Adam's behavior. Completely fed up. Adam always threw him around, teased him to a point where it was hurtful, embarrassed him in front of the other family members. But now, he made his own brother look like a monster in front of the only girl who showed interest in him- Ever.
For his own amusement.
Well, Chase didn't find it very amusing.
"That was really low Adam, even for you…" Chase muttered. His anger returned and before he could stop himself, he stood up, and let his voice shout out into the darkness.
"That wasn't cool Adam! Why would you even do that!?"
"Maybe you should ask him."
Chase whipped around, making his eyes face Mr. Davenport's. The first thought that occurred to him was if his shout awoke him, but that wasn't the first thing he said.
"What are you doing out here?"
"I could say the same for you, young man."
Despite the 'young man' part, Mr. Davenport's voice didn't sound angry or annoyed. It sounded, at the very least, intrigued. There was also a hint of knowing, which showed that Donald already knew the answer to Chase's late night 'outing.'
But Chase was already working on his escape.
"Well… this was fun. How about I just head back to my capsule? Yeah, that sounds like a plan. See you-"
"Sit down Chase."
Chase wasn't in the mood to protest. And maybe a sliver of him wanted to vent to his father-figure. No matter the reason; he did as told.
Mr. Davenport sat down on the wooden chair opposite of him. The forty- something year old man was wearing only a robe over his pajamas and a pair of slippers, but Chase didn't focus on that. He just darted his eyes towards the bricks that made up where he was.
The silence between them was ironically deafening. This ended up having Mr. Davenport speak first.
"So what are you doing out here, Chase?''
Chase frowned, "Like you wouldn't know."
"Well, yes in fact, I do know."
Chase sighed; here we go.
"How did you even find out?"
"Well, I could come up with some elaborate tale about spies who report your every move to me, but the truth is, I watched Eddy's footage after I saw a broken chair in the corner."
Oops. Must have forgotten that one.
Chase had no comment. For once, he didn't know what to say.
"Look," Donald started "I want you to tell me the basic idea of what went on today, even though I got the general idea. I just want to help."
Chase shot his eyes towards him after the last statement. He decided that he wouldn't make things hard for the guy. After all, he was pretty much staying up at one in the morning for him.
"You want the basic idea? Well, fine then. Sabrina- that blonde girl you probably saw- wanted to be partners with me for a project. When I agreed, Adam wasn't too happy with that. Well brother 'dearest' decided that while she was here, he would bring Spike out to make a fool out of myself! Now Sabrina hates me, I don't want to talk with Adam, and I ended up out here."
Davenport just kept on a poker face "Chase… I don't think Sabrina hates you."
"Oh yes she does. Did you not see the footage?"
"She may be a little upset-
"She's more than upset. She's furious."
"- but you can probably fix things between you two."
Chase pursed his lips, trying to settle down his fury. "No, I can't. She'll probably avoid me like the plague, and it's all because of Adam."
Now it was Mr. Davenport's turn to sigh "Look Chase. We all know Adam isn't the best at these things-"
That made him snap. Chase couldn't contain his anger anymore. He shot up, his voice calm, yet dangerous and deadly "Are you honestly defending him? He always does these things, and I always forgive him. Yet, he never bothers to do anything about his behavior towards me. This time, when I've done nothing wrong, I still get in trouble?! This is completely irrational!" His voice rose at the last few words, and then he deflated, collapsing back into his chair.
Mr. Davenport is the one without comment this time.
Chase just kept muttering to himself.
Donald snaps out of whatever trance he was in and puts a hand on the bionic's shoulder. "Chase… I wasn't going to blame you for this."
Said boy's head shot up. "Really? You truly weren't?"
"Of course not. But… I don't really know what else to say. Just… just try to look at things from Adam's point of view. He was probably really jealous that Sabrina unofficially picked you over him."
Chase stayed quite. No, his brother couldn't be jealous of him. That wouldn't be natural, Adam was always pointing out his flaws. Why would he be jealous of him? He shook his head; deciding to think about that later.
"Maybe he felt like you were betraying him. Did you know he had a 'thing' for Sabrina before you two became partners?"
Looking back, Chase realizes he did know about Adam's interest in the blond. Yet, he went ahead when the opportunity presented itself. Well… now he felt like a jerk.
After that thought, everything just hit him like a tidal wave. Was this his fault? His fault that he didn't have a handle on Spike? His fault that he went ahead with Sabrina, despite his brothers feelings? Was it his fault that he and his brother were practically at war?
"Chase? Chase!"
Chase brought back from his thoughts by the tech mogul's voice.
"Chase, are you alright?"
Chase wordlessly got up and ran a hand through his hair. He walked in a circle before he whispered a sentence barely audible.
"… This is my fault"
Donald's eyes widened as he stood up from his chair "Chase, I didn't mean it like-"
"No, you're right! This is my fault. I'm the one who caused all this-"
"Chase listen to me," Davenport snapped, causing the youngest to freeze. Then, in a softer voice, he placed his hands on the young boy's shoulders "Listen, this is in no way, shape or form your fault-"
Chase interrupted the interruption "You don't understand… Spike got out and created this mess, and who's in charge of keeping Spike under control? Me!"
Mr. Davenport's features soften "Is this… is this what it's all about?"
The brunette sighed "Not all of it…"
"Chase, you letting Spike out isn't your fault-"
"But-"
"No Chase. Just listen to me, and then you can talk."
The youngest bionic frowned, but did as told.
"Every time you let Spike out, it isn't your doing. Especially this time, Adam knew what was going to happen. Yet, he did it anyways. So I repeat, you did not cause this mess because you couldn't control Spike. How about we just put the blame on Spike, hm?"
"You still don't understand… if Spike's a monster, then so am I."
Confusion ran over Donald's features.
"Chase… what do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said!" Chase exclaimed "Spike's a disaster just waiting to happen. He's dangerous, and all he needs is to be provoked. He's part of me, and if I can't keep him on a leash, everyone's going to suffer because of it! If Spike's a part of me and if he's a monster, than so am I!"
"Alright! That's enough!" Donald exclaimed in a tone that left no room for discussion. Chase saw the red flag and shut his mouth instantly. At least he knew when to push it and when to not.
"Chase, you need to stop. I need you to listen to me; I am only repeating this once more. I don't want to hear another word about it. You are not a monster, you are not responsible for this, and this is not your fault. Are we clear?"
Silence.
"Are we clear?"
"Yes sir…" Chase muttered half-heartily.
Donald could tell Chase was lying, but decided to move past it. He sighed as he sat back down. "What are you going to do now?"
This time, Chase responded with full honesty "I don't know."
Donald smirked "The great Chase Davenport doesn't know?"
Chase matched his expression "Despite what many think, I'm still human, remember?"
Donald seemed to sober up slightly at that. "Yes, you are. And you have feelings. And you make mistakes. If Sabrina can't see past that, or can't return those feelings, is she really worth it?"
It suddenly all connected for Chase. If Sabrina couldn't give him the time of day to just explain what happened, was it worth chasing after her? The damage was done, and he couldn't change that unless he spoke with her. But if he happened to fix things with her… wouldn't that just be more chaos between him and Adam? Wouldn't he practically be betraying his brother? He didn't like the feeling, and no matter how angry he was with his older brother, he couldn't bear to cause him that much pain. As far as he saw it, he had two options.
If he fixed things with Sabrina, he would be in a horrible position with Adam. If he fixed things with Adam and left Sabrina behind… he would lose her.
Chase still didn't know what to do. He had two options; two plans. Which one to choose…
Chase commented before thinking "But I would lose Sabrina, wouldn't I?"
"Did you ever really have her, Chase?"
The youngest bionic raised an eyebrow "I believe I did."
"Just think about who's worth the most; Adam or Sabrina."
He was already trying to figure it out himself.
The tech mogul grinned. "I know you'll figure it out. You're the intelligent one for a reason, you know."
Chase smiled tiredly "Thanks."
They sat in silence a few more moments until Chase looked up at the sky.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?"
Chase nodded "Yep."
"Stars are surely something." His father figure continued "Those wishes everyone makes on them don't really come true, but it's nice to dream, you know?"
Chase smiled lightly "I suppose."
"Don't you wish for something?"
"I wish this would all just blow over."
Donald put a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry; it will. But I think you're long overdue some sleep Chase."
"I could say the same for you, old man."
Donald rolled his eyes "Hilarious" he said deadpanned.
Chase gave a genuine laugh for the first time between them and Donald couldn't help but give a small smile.
Chase stood up from his chair and walked over to the door to get inside. Donald couldn't help but say one last thing to his non-biological son.
"Chase?"
The brunette turned, facing his 'father.'
"Yes?"
"I hoped I helped."
Chase smiled "You did more than that. Thanks… dad."
I'll leave that last part to your imagination :3
So before any of you ask for a second part, I already got that planned out. (Hence it being a two shot…) I got it semi-finished, so no promises for when it's coming. Shouldn't be anything drastic though. And for those who are waiting for an update on 'Reflections', that's going to take a little longer than I thought. I got everything planned out, but when I put it into words… I have like this natural hatred for it. Don't even ask.
I feel like I owe some character explanation here so… if you're confused about somethings that when on, here's your chance to understand:
-So When Chase was blaming himself for everything that happened, he thought that it was his fault because he knew about Adam's feelings for Sabrina, yet he still went along with her. Now we know that it isn't Chase's fault, but it would seem like something he would do. Put the blame on himself, just because he knew that Adam had whatever-it-was for Sabrina, and 'ignored' it. (Even though he got all defensive when he thought he was being accused… Chase is a weird guy, isn't he?) Same thing with the whole Spike thing. Even though Spike is -almost- his own person, Chase blames himself just because he's 'in charge' of Spike and 'let him off his leash.' Though in this case, Chase has no blame for this. But Chase seems like that kind of guy to pin this on himself though. It just who he is :3
-When Mr. Davenport got extremely firm, it was because he was tired of discussing something ridiculous. If you still don't understand, think back to 'you posted what?!' When Donald got sick of the bionics' pointless arguing he laid down the law, got extremely firm and left no room for arguing. It's like he snaps when he's tired of discussing something.
- Chase thinks it's practically impossible for his brother to be jealous of him because, as we all know, despite his cocky moments, he's an insecure guy. Also because of Adam's constant teasing, he focuses on his flaws. He doesn't realize there is a lot to be jealous of him for ;)
- Chase can't easily decide between Adam and Sabrina because… well, think of it this way. If you had a brother/sister who teased you every day, put you down constantly, literally threw you around and a person who was attractive, sweet and possibly interested in you too, who would you choose? Consider this is Chase's first possible girlfriend; and it also wouldn't be easy to choose in a matter of hours, would it?
- Last one, promise. Chase calls Mr. Davenport 'Dad' out loud because I feel like that would be a deal breaker for him. Mr. Davenport has done so much for Adam, Bree and Chase, but the one thing I don't really remember seeing on the show was him helping them out or giving advice. So I feel that Chase would be all like; 'You just acted like a dad… I'll call you that out loud, just to let you know I consider you that way.' Even though Donald knows the bionics consider him to be their real father, it would be nice to hear it bluntly out loud, wouldn't it?
*looks up* Dang it… I hate it when I ramble too long. Sorry for this gigantic authors note, but I won't be any longer. Let me know if these long notes bother you, I gotta know. Okay I'm done; I'll see you all around!
Review?
