title: bionic babysitting
summary: "So, you need to tell me that your invention turned Logan into a grown up six year old child?" leo/taylor, post-On The Edge/And Then There Were Four
notes: I thought of this when I was shoveling snow...enjoy.
It was around noon when it happened.
"I can't do this anymore!" The former bionic soldier resigns. She turns around and storms out of the training area in frustration. Ever since she was blinded a few weeks ago, she couldn't get the hang of using her other bionics. It was frustrating her to the point where she was lashing out at her mentor, friend, and crush.
"Taylor," Leo chases after her, finding her in the main area where an array of inventions were on the table. "I know it's hard, but—"
"You don't understand," Taylor argues. "I don't think I can do this. I can't see anything."
"You can do this if you use your other senses to your advantage," he reasons, refraining from touching her shoulders in case she wants to flip him again. "We just have to work on it a little more."
"I'm tired of working," she growls, and smashes the table. An invisible surge touches the nearest person that decided to follow the arguing couple to the main hall, and the person drops with a thud. Taylor hears everything, and turns her head towards the right direction. "What was that?"
"It was Logan," Leo replies, and runs towards the younger bionic student. He lays there, unresponsive. "What did you break?"
"I don't know, I'm blind remember?" Taylor responds sardonically. She folds her arms across her chest. "What are we gonna do?"
Just as he was about to reply, Douglas walks in the main area, humming soft jazz go himself until he sees a broken invention of his on the table. He drops his tool box, and runs towards the broken invention. "My invention!" He turns around to see his nuisance nephew with two of the bionic students, one of them unresponsive on the floor. "What happened here?"
"No time for that!" Leo snaps. "Logan is unresponsive. We need to get him to the in—" Before he finishes his sentence, Logan starts to wake up and stare at the nearest face. "Logan! You're okay!"
Logan stares at the voice, but a pain on the back of his head makes him forget it. His face scrunches up and he starts to cry. "My head hurts!"
Leo raises an eyebrow, and stares at Taylor. "What did you break?" He repeats.
"Oh no, she broke my age regressor," Douglas sighs angrily. He picks up the remnants of his recent invention that the former bionic soldier broke with a simple fist. "This was my recent invention too! I was going to introduce it to Don but…it looks like it's already been broken in...and that he may have the mentality of a child...unless i'm wrong."
Taylor angrily whips her head towards Douglas' direction, while Leo uncomfortably tries to comfort a crying Logan. "So, you need to tell me that your invention turned Logan into a grown up six year old child?"
"Correction, he's five," Douglas corrects quickly, ignoring Taylor's angry expression. "And, you were the one who broke it," he says, pointing accusingly at the girl.
Taylor scoffs, knowing that the older man is pointing at her due to her glasses. "Who cares! You're still to blame!"
"Why must this be my fault? I just invented it!"
"Stop yelling!" Logan screams, causing both Taylor and Douglas to stop and turn their heads at the grown up child whose face is covered in tears and snot. "I don't like people yelling around me."
Taylor, while greatly annoyed at the situation at hand, couldn't resist reacting to that. Logan was already childlike, but this was basically his personality times ten. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not, but she couldn't deny that it was somewhat cute. "I'm sorry, Logan. We're not yelling at you."
"Don't baby him," Douglas rolls his eyes.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Taylor argues again. "He's five, for God's sake."
"I'm this many!" Logan cheers, holding up five fingers to prove his exact age. "I feel like a big boy."
"Hold up...is he potty trained?" Leo questions, almost ready to push Logan off his lap if needed.
Everyone suddenly looks at Douglas, which triggers his guilty conscience. "What? I don't control that! The better person you should ask is Krane. He practically raised the army on his own after I turned on him."
"I can use the potty! Honest!" Logan exclaims happily. "I don't have to use it now, but when I do have to, I will." He wipes his face with Leo's mentor jacket sleeve, causing the seventeen year old to snarl in disgust. Logan gets up from the floor, and bounces on his heels. "Ok...maybe I need to use it."
"Not it!" Both Taylor and Douglas yell in unison, causing Leo to splutter in surprise. "Oh, thanks guys." Logan pulls Leo by the hand and drags him to the bathroom. Even though Taylor couldn't see anything, she can tell that Leo is less than amused. It made her temporarily forget about a few minutes ago...temporarily being the key word.
/
As soon as the next day comes, Logan was still five, and Leo was still scarred after helping a grown little boy try to get his compression pants off…several times. Most of the students were on their way to the museum in Mission Creek since it was the weekend. Logan couldn't go because...well, reasons. Taylor had to stay back, not because she couldn't see anything, but because Logan's been hugging her legs since this morning.
"I still can't believe you managed to turn a fourteen year old guy's mentality into a five year old," Bree laughs. "Out of all the things you could've done…"
"Yeah, well, just be lucky you didn't have to help a five year old teenager to the bathroom," Leo says, frowning.
"That's so cool!" Adam chuckles, with his usual amused smirk. "Reminds me of the time we accidentally turned Mr. Davenport into a sixteen year old just so we could go to the movies."
The seventeen year old narrows his eyes at the older mentor. "Yeah yeah. Whatever. It's no fun how you three can go to the amusement park."
"Well, someone has to watch over Logan," Bree points out. She watches as Taylor drags herself to the main area, with Logan latching on her left leg like a true little kid. "Ok, I have to admit, this is really adorable."
"Ha ha ha," Taylor mocks, slowly feeling the brunt of Logan's weight on her legs.
The hydro loop doors open to reveal Douglas with his son Daniel. Right after the lies surfaced during Daniel's visit, and since they promised to admit all of the lies, they started with going to the amusement park on this particularly hot day. However, Leo couldn't go this time around because of the Logan situation, which was fair, because it is sort of his fault.
"Hey guys!" Daniel greets.
"Heeeey!" the three siblings cheer in unison, and hug the thirteen year old. Leo watches them with jealousy, and some admiration. Now that they have a little brother, they are warming up to the new addition very fast...even faster than the time they warmed up to him. He was the one who saved their lives when they were going to be sent to a waste park, and he took them to school, and he warned them about Marcus...but it wasn't until the next year after he met them when he found out that Chase hated him for a while.
"Hi Leo," Daniel waves at the seventeen year old.
Leo waves back sheepishly. "How's it going Little D?"
Daniel suddenly lays his eyes on the bionic student still holding on Taylor's leg. "Um...do I even want to know what is going on?"
"We'll explain on the way there," Chase replies, placing a hand on Daniel's back. "It's a very long story."
"Have fun without me," Leo shouts at them with restrained jealousy. The Davenport five wave back at him, and enter the hydro loop. It closes shut, and a sudden whoosh signals that they are away from the island. Leo turns around to see that Logan is still holding onto Taylor for dear life, even after the 'scary adults' left for the park. He did not really want to pull him off because he might start wailing, but he can sense Taylor's distress from where he was standing. He slowly untangles Logan's arms off the girl's legs, but he reclaims her legs.
"Don't even try," Taylor sighs, resigned to stay like this to Logan's discretion. "I've already tried...many times."
"Well...at least I tried," he replies. Taylor didn't seem amused in the slightest, so he keeps his mouth shut. What was he going to do now that everyone is gone from the island? Even Perry was gone, saying that she was going to spend some time with her niece Kerry at the juvenile detention center for the day. That was a blessing, because he doesn't think he can deal with that woman, let alone a mentally age-regressed fourteen year old.
Logan finally lets go of Taylor's legs. She sighs in relief, but she suddenly feels wobbly, since the added weight causes her leg to fall asleep. Leo acts quickly and catches her in mid-air successfully, with his bionic arm. His other arm lazily holds her upright. "Don't you just hate it when your leg falls asleep?"
"My bionic leg locks up when it rains," Leo responds.
Taylor opens her mouth to reply sarcastically, but a sudden whine stops her. Both Taylor and Leo stare at the frowning Logan. "What's wrong, Logan?" She questions.
"I'm hungry," he pouts.
Taylor grimaces a little. "Ok, uh…" She realizes that Leo is still technically holding her. She scrambles to her feet and moves her head towards Leo's direction. "What do we have here to eat?"
"Protein bars?" Leo replies, sounding more like a question than a statement. "I'm not kidding. That is all we have."
"So, that means the mentors also eat it?"
Leo sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine fine. I'll see what we have at the mentors' quarters."
"Yeah, that would be a great idea," Taylor chides, in a sardonic way that makes the seventeen year old sneer a little. Taylor notices that Leo is still standing there, so she playfully jumps in a threatening way, causing the younger mentor to run towards the mentors' quarters. It makes her smirk wildly, with an age regressed fourteen year old watching knowingly.
/
"That would be a great idea," Leo grumbles mockingly. "Who does she think she is, bossing me around like that?" He checks the secret compartment refrigerator that is hidden behind the rocks, just in case Perry goes in one of her 'scavenger hunts' at night. He finds a few things like yogurt, several sandwiches, day-old chili, fruit salad, a clearly obvious pot pie in a tin container, and some juice boxes. He blindly picks up the sandwiches, the boxes and the fruit...kids like fruit, right?
However, when he checks the bowl, the top of the bowl is covered in white, meaning that the strawberry mold has overgrown to the point where he couldn't see the other fruit chunks. "Ugh…" Leo groans. He throws the bowl away in the garbage.
After closing the refrigerator, he makes his way towards the main hall. He stops once he sees Taylor on the floor with Logan, playing a hand game that he recognizes. It seems odd that they would know something so simplistic, but they were clean slates back when everyone was still living in Mission Creek. None of them had any recollection of their old lives. Leo did not even know if they were kidnapped from their families or genetically engineered from Krane's DNA...and he isn't sure if he wants to know. They defeated Krane over a year ago, and they aren't digging another grave to find out things that did not matter.
"I found some things," he announces, feeling a little bad that he ruined a tender moment.
Logan gets up and runs towards Leo with wide eyes. "Dad!" He affectionately calls out.
Leo literally chokes on air. What did he just say? "Um...I'm not your dad, Logan."
Logan's face starts contorting to a frown. Leo knows that if he doesn't say anything to rescind his statement, the boy will start crying again. However, where did he get the idea that Leo was his dad? It wasn't even possible...and that isn't even covering the age difference. He really is just a few years younger than the mentor...three, to be exact. Leo turns to Taylor, who takes a sandwich from Leo's clutches and shrugs in response. "I don't know. He started calling me mom a few minutes ago."
"But...why? And how?"
"I don't know? Maybe he thinks we're his parents because he doesn't have any other parental figures at the moment?" She explains.
"So...if he thinks we're his parents, then does he think that…" Leo stares at Taylor, and they both shudder at the same time. "No, of course not."
"Nope...that would be gross, right?"
"Not to mention, illegal," Leo scoffs, even though he knows it isn't following through. He knows perfectly that he has a crush on Taylor. "I mean, a mentor and a student?"
"Right?" Taylor scoffs back in false disbelief.
Logan finishes his lunch in the next minute, and walks over to the mentor and student to hug them both. "I love you," he says, ignoring the coldness of his body. Leo and Taylor stiffen, not sure if they are ok with the sudden display of affection, or just the way he said 'I love you' like he was their actual child. It's weirding the both of them out. "I wanna play a game."
"Uh, what kind of game?" Taylor questions, trying not to struggle under Logan's grip.
"Hide and seek!" Logan answers cheerfully. He lets go of the bewildered bionic teenagers, with a malicious smirk. "I will hide, and you two have to find me."
"I don't think that's very fair Logan," Taylor frowns, but Logan geo leaps as quickly as she finishes the sentence. Even though Taylor couldn't see anymore, she can definitely guess that Logan had something up his sleeve. "He geo leaped, didn't he?"
"You guessed it," Leo sighs, frustratingly.
"Should we—"
"Nope," Leo says firmly. "It would only make it worse. Let's just find him before the guys get home or something." He grabs the student's hand and runs over to the student dorms.
/
"Where is he?" Leo wonders out loud after checking each and every crevice of the student dorms and mentors' quarters. Leo was actively looking for the bionic student, while Taylor couldn't really help much due to her disability, and since the mischievous little boy geo leaped, she couldn't really use her super senses either. She mostly followed Leo for the whole scavenger hunt for a bionic teen. The seventeen year old sighs in distress, and stares at Taylor, who stands against the wall. He couldn't get mad at her, because she couldn't see. This whole thing started because of her frustration of using her other bionics while blind. However, he couldn't help that her inability to help is making the situation even more stressful than it already is.
"We've checked the student dorms and the mentor quarters," Taylor retraces. "We haven't checked the training area, the hydro loop, the dining area…"
"The weapons area!" Leo blurts out panickingly. The weapons area was one place that any and all students were barred from, especially after the bionic rebellion, but it wouldn't be uncommon that a student accidentally geo leaped over there, especially a fourteen year old with the mentality of a five year old. "We have to check the weapons area."
"Alright," Taylor nods in response. The mentor mindlessly takes Taylor's hand and rushes over to the weapons area. Taylor tries to ignore the shivers and sparks just by the mindless contact, but it is hard to do. Leo finally stops and lets go, and she sighs in relief. "Too bad I can't see anything."
"Eh, it's just standard weapons," Leo waves off, right after putting the secret passcode that only the mentors, his father, Douglas, and Perry know to access the weapons area. "I just hope he's not in there."
"Me neither…" She agrees. "Just...one question…why didn't we look here first?"
"Because no one besides mentors are allowed here?" Leo replies. "What? Did you think right after we told you about the bionic rebellion, that we wouldn't put harsher security on certain rooms, much like this one? It was mostly Perry's idea, but still."
"Yes, but did you forget that Krane designed all of us to geo leap any time we want?" Taylor retorts, with a suggestive smirk and makes a cautious step forward.
"Are you implying something?" Leo inquires, with a flirty smirk of his own. He realizes how close they are, but he makes no effort to move away. Instead, he moves even closer.
"If you think that I was gonna go evil on you guys again, you are totally wrong," she replies. "Being evil is way too much work. Plus, you guys kind of saved my life...and several others."
"Yeah," the mentor shifts from left to right, temporarily forgetting that an age regressed bionic student was hiding somewhere. "I guess."
They were so close at this point that they were within breathing range after leaning in subconsciously. Just as soon as Leo was about make the first move, a giggle and a shuffling noise breaks the small, comfortable silence. Leo breaks away from the contact and looks outside of the weapons area. "Did he just…?"
"It sounds like he went to the training area," Taylor comments, using her enhanced hearing to follow Logan's exact steps.
"When I find him he's going on a time out!" Leo growls, finally feeling the fatigue and frustration of handling a grown child. "And for the record, I'm never having kids!" He grabs Taylor's hand again and leaves the weapons area.
/
They quickly find Logan behind some training equipment.
"Logan!" Leo lets out a breath of relief. "Why would you do that?"
"Do what?" Logan asks, feigning his innocence.
Leo rolls his eyes. He can definitely see past the charm. "You know that's not how the game works!"
"I just wanted to make it fun," he says, with a childlike pout. "I'm sorry for making you run around the island. I will never do it again, I pinkie promise."
Taylor, who has stayed silent for the most part, speaks up. "It's ok, Logan. Just...don't do it again. Ok?"
"Yes, mom," he says. He watches closely as he realizes that both of them were still holding hands, almost like they couldn't let go (and if they did, they would be lost). He also saw them flirting in the weapons area, even if he couldn't understand what exactly they were talking about. He couldn't hide his excitement anymore. "Do you two like each other?"
The random question makes Leo splutter and for Taylor to blush wildly. They couldn't figure out why he asked a question like that, and how someone could be so blunt with it either. It was after a few seconds that they realize that they are still holding hands. Leo drops her hand so quickly, almost like hot lava touched his skin. "Um...we're friends…" He tries to explain to the five year old, who was having none of it.
"I think you two like-like each other," he states firmly.
"No, no, we don't," Taylor lies. "We are just fine with being friends."
"But you two were holding hands." His eyebrows furrow, wondering why the only older people around him were being so complicated. "Aren't two people who like each other normally hold hands?"
"Yeah, but Taylor is blind," Leo explains. "She can't exactly see anything in front of her, or behind her...or anywhere."
Logan raises an eyebrow. "Uh huh."
"Sometimes I need someone with sight to guide me to places," Taylor chimes in, continuing the blatant lie in front of the child. "I may end up bumping into walls...or people...or other items in my path." It wasn't like Logan knows the technology around here...right? He doesn't know that Taylor really didn't need another pair of eyes, right? "I know you think of us as your parents, and...that's fine, but we aren't together."
"Why not?"
That's a good question. "Well...I already have a girlfriend." Lie. "And...even if we were together, some people may not like it." Another lie.
"Why not?"
Leo pinches the bridge of his nose and stares at Taylor, hoping that she could take it away. She sensed the seventeen year old's distress, and sighs deeply. "Some people may not like it because...uh, he's my teacher. Some people aren't very comfortable with mentors having more than friendly relations with their students."
"Why not?"
"Oh jeez," Taylor resigns. Leo rolls his eyes in amusement, and chuckles a little. Taylor turns her head in Leo's direction, and she wished she could see so that she would glare at the lovable idiot.
"If people can see that you two like each other, then they will understand," Logan explains, which is a little uncharacteristic for a five year old.
"Yeah, well, it isn't that easy," Leo mumbles, but both Logan and Taylor can hear him perfectly.
Taylor's face softens, still looking at her mentor's direction. She places a hand on Leo's shoulder (or what she assumes is his shoulder) in a reassuring way. Leo stares back at Taylor, and gives a sheepish smile. He removes her hand from his shoulder, and holds it with both hands. "Maybe it can," she says.
Leo lets go of her hand, and wraps his arms around Taylor in a romantic hug. Taylor doesn't hesitate and hugs back, with equal amount of affection. None of them were ready to separate, especially after hearing a squeal and an extra pair of arms around them as well. It takes a minute for them to finally pull away, and the sudden rush of the hydro loop signals the both of them.
"Well..we're never allowed back to that amusement park," Leo hears his sister's deadpan voice from the other room. "All thanks to you two."
"I didn't know that the costume was flammable!"
"Of course you didn't!" Douglas responds, sounding even more annoyed than Bree. "We created a ruckus so big that they may never open again. Being banned is the least of our problems."
What happened, Leo mouths to himself. He turns around and runs to the main area, seeing all three of his mentors and Douglas sitting apart from each other. "So...what did I miss?" He asks innocently.
"Adam used heat vision on a mascot...again, and Chase attacked several workers, so we're banned from the amusement park...forever...if it opens again," Bree explains, with a death glare towards her older and younger brother. "Enough about us, how did your day go?"
Leo shuffles a little, looks back to see Taylor once again holding Logan close, and he smiles fondly to himself. "Uh...it was boring, for the most part."
Bree and Douglas look at him suspiciously, but decide not to comment on it. "Cool! Everything's in pink!" Adam laughs, and everyone in the room looks at him with a face covered in over chewed bubble gum.
"Are you sure we're related to him?" Chase inquires, both annoyed and amused at the same time.
/
It was later in the day when something different happens.
After a long nap, the fourteen year old wakes up in his capsule. "Ugh, what happened?" He asks himself. After stepping out of the capsule, Logan makes his way to the main area, where he sees his best friends and fellow team members together, in a hushed conversation. "Hey guys! How's it going?"
"Logan?" Leo raises an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Logan replies, suddenly turning confused.
"Well, you were five for like, 24 hours," Taylor adds in, with the same amount of confusion.
"Oh, oh yeah!" Logan laughs a little. He remembers the whole day, almost like a distant memory or some sorts, but he is completely fine now. "Good times, good times."
"Wait...so, you remember everything?"
"Yup, and I definitely remember blacking out during that argument you guys had, and waking up with my head hurting a little," he replies, with an assuring smile.
"Oh, ok then," Taylor shrugs, feeling a weird sense of relief. "Well, we're glad you're back."
"It's glad to be back," he says back. He notices both of his friends holding hands, but this time they look way more comfortable. "So...did I interrupt something?"
"Kinda, sorta," Leo replies, earning a sharp pain in his left hand. "Ow ow ow ow! You got it!"
The smirk on Taylor's face says it all. Logan watches them with a proud grin. While he barely understood why he was a five year old for 24 hours, he knows that his younger counterpart caused a positive rift in their lives. "So you guys are actually together."
"Yes, we are," Leo replies, blushing even harder as soon as he feels Taylor kiss him on the cheek.
"Awwww!" He cheers, almost like his younger self. "You two are so cute!"
Leo rolls his eyes. "Shush."
Logan laughs, and throws his arms around his best friends. "So...mom and dad, what are we doing on our first date?" He ignores their collective groans and follows them out of the main area.