I'm quite impressed by this piece and its length. I know I've written longer items, but I thought this was going to be a 1500 word project and nothing more. Than it turned out to be 3500 words. Wow. Didn't see that one coming.

Anyway, I've been working on this for a few days, and I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go on and finish this.

EPISODE: TAKEN

Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

You say don't act like a child

But what if its a father I need?

Its not like you don't know what you got yourself into

Don't tell me I'm the one who's naive

Do you know how hard I've tried

To become who you want me to be?

Take me

This is all that I've got

This is all that I'm not

All that I'll ever be

I've got flaws, I've got faults

Keep searching for your perfect heart

It doesn't matter who you are

We all have our scars

We all have our scars

-"Scars" by Allison Iraheta

Leo wiped the buckets of sweat from his brow with an already drenched towel.

After hours in the captivity of Krane, him and his mom had returned home, to Mr. Davenport's house, but the struggle was far from over for Leo.

The punishment Krane had used on him and his mother was painfully familiar to him.

Leo sighed and stripped off his soaked white shirt, and without the fabric hiding his history of shame and fear, he could stare at the marks that screamed his hurt and betrayal with a volume that was earth shattering.

Burns covered Leo's body. Ugly, pink ovals and lines stretched their fingers over his upper arms and perfectly circular ones painted the skin of his forearms. A jagged oval stained his chest, and white lines dragged across his dark skin. The worst burns were on Leo's stomach and back, but Leo avoided looking at those for the time being.

Every burn had a story, none of them good.

Leo focused on his upper arms, the pink ovals and lines and hideous patches of missing skin.

That had been the day he'd interrupted his father when he was on the phone.

*FLASHBACK- LEO AGE 6*

"Daddy!" Leo chirped as he held out the drawing he'd made in art class. It was of him and his daddy holding hands; they were both smiling, even though Leo's daddy never smiled anything but a fake grin nowadays. Leo hadn't seen his Daddy's real smile in a very long time.

His father held up a single finger to silence his only child, a cellphone pressed to his ear. Six year old Leo was persistent, though. He didn't quite understand why you shouldn't talk when someone was on the phone quite yet, so he continued trying.

"Daddy," he hissed, tugging on his father's sleeve.

His father shoved him, and Leo's back connected with the counter.

"Yeah, Janet, I understand," his father was saying into the phone.

"Dad!" Leo said, impatiently.

"Janet, could I call you back?" his father said. "Great. Talk to you soon."

His father hung up the phone and whirled around, smacking Leo across the face.

"How many times have I told you not to interrupt me?" his father said, shaking Leo's shoulders.

"I didn't mean-" Leo began.

"You didn't mean to? You made a mistake? Just like your mother and I made a mistakes having you!"

His father was outraged. Leo had never seen him so angry, and for a second, Leo thought his father might kill him, but no. Death at six years old would've been more merciful than the six years that followed the Incident, each one of those years filled with abuse and scars and insults.

His father grabbed a pot off of the stove, and at first, Leo thought he was going to hit him with it. He didn't know there was anything in it.

A gallon of boiling water connected harshly with Leo's upper body. He felt the heat through his clothes, and burns began appearing on his bare shoulders and his upper arms. The pain was excruciating.

Leo screamed, and his father froze as he realized what he had done. At that point, he still had a soft spot for his son. By the time Leo was twelve, that soft spot would've long since become hard. By the time Leo was twelve, his father's heart would've gone from gold to frost to ice to stone. And Leo would be there for each stage, even though he wished he didn't have to see each stage develop.

Leo whimpered as the pain dulled to an almost numbing ache. It still hurt, but it hurt so much, he was quickly becoming numb.

His father dropped the pot and fell to his knees. Leo flinched as his father's huge hands landed on his shoulders, and he turned his head away, awaiting the next blow.

"None of that," his father stressed, grabbing Leo's chin and turning his face toward him. "Leo, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. I-you just made me so angry, and I freaked out. I'm sorry."

Leo wiped the tears from his eyes. His daddy was right. Leo had provoked him, not the other way around. He deserved the pain for breaking the rules and interrupting his father when he was on the phone. He deserved the pain for making his father angry…

Didn't he?

"Please don't tell your mother," his father begged.

Leo blinked before taking a deep breath and murmuring, "I won't. I promise."

His father smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you," his father whispered.

Little did Leo know, with that single promise, he sealed his fate.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

Leo turned his arm over to stare at the perfectly circular ones on his forearms.

Those all occurred at different times, but they were all for the same reason: he'd disobeyed or angered or annoyed his father or simply gotten in his way. Essentially, he'd done something wrong. In his father's eyes, anyway.

*FLASHBACK- LEO AGE 8*

This time, Leo had gotten in his way.

Leo had been walking to the kitchen when he'd accidently passed in front of his father's arm chair while he was watching the football game.

"Get out of the way, moron!" his father yelled. After the boiling water incident, his father had fallen apart. Any remorse he'd had for hurting Leo was long gone, as was any mercy or any sense of control.

Leo tried to scamper out of the way, but he wasn't quick enough. His father grabbed his arm and extinguished a cigarette on Leo's forearm.

Leo cried out at the burning sensation, and his father released him. Leo raced into the kitchen and turned on the cold water tap, allowing the water to flow over the burn, cooling the painful feeling skittering across his arm.

That was the sixth time this week his father had burned him with a cigarette. It was only Thursday.

Would Leo ever be good enough for his father?

He doubted it.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

His eyes zeroed in on the lines stretching across his torso and pelvic bone. They were mostly hidden by his pants with a few around his lower stomach. Some others marred the skin near his rib cage and one traced down his sternum. From far away or even at first glance, they actually looked like stretch marks, but upon further inspection, you'd notice that the scars were in strange places and that the scars had a pinkish tint to them. If you looked closely, they were obviously burns.

That story is a frightening one, but it's far from the most horrifying. I'm not sure if you'll be able to stomach that one.

*FLASHBACK- LEO AGE 10*

"Daddy, please stop!" ten year old Leo begged.

He hadn't meant to ruin dinner. He hadn't meant to spill hot Mac and cheese all over his father's brand new shirt. He'd only been trying to help by stirring the mac and cheese. All he'd done was mess up. As usual.

Daddy had gotten really mad. Even madder than usual. Leo expected a cigarette burn, but he hadn't expected the hot poker.

His father tied him to his bed, and Leo was beginning to panic (before, he'd tried to convince himself that his father wouldn't really hurt him- it's sad that he'd gotten so used to the cigarettes and burning that he didn't consider them to be true injuries- but as time drew on, he failed to convince himself any longer).

The door opened, and his father stepped into the room.

Leo began screaming.

A red hot poker was in his father's hand.

A sock was forced between Leo's lips, and his father pressed the poker to Leo's pelvic bone, dragging it across his skin.

It was more pain than Leo had ever experienced, even more than the boiling water four years ago.

Leo wailed into the sock, his howls muffled.

Multiple burns were delivered to his torso and pelvic bone before his father removed the poker from his skin and the makeshift gag from his mouth.

"Daddy, please stop!" Leo sobbed.

His father chuckled, as though he hadn't just tortured his only child. "I'm done, boy. Remember: don't tell your mom."

"But this wasn't an accid-" Leo began.

"No, but if you tell your mother, I'll tell her you're lying, and this," his father said, gesturing to Leo's burned and bleeding torso, "will seem like nothing compared to what I will do to you."

His dad stood, and Leo stared at his back.

"Daddy, untie me!" Leo pleaded, but his father didn't even glance back. "Daddy!"

Leo thought things couldn't get any worse. Oh, how wrong he was.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

Leo's shaking fingers grazed the oval shaped burn on his chest, and he almost vomited as that particular memory arose (and it wasn't even the worst memory).

*FLASHBACK- LEO AGE 11*

"Mmmph!" Leo cried, shouting through the duck tape over his mouth and struggling against the ropes binding his wrists to the wooden pillars/vertical support beams in the basement. His legs were free, but his father was too far away to kick, and even then, that would result in more trouble for Leo.

"Oh, shut up," his father muttered as he held a cattle prod in his hands with an oval shaped end (Leo didn't even want to know where he'd gotten the cattle prod).

Leo begged for mercy with his eyes and muffled words, but his father refused to give it.

His father smiled, sadly. "Remember, Leo, you brought this on yourself."

The oval was pressed against Leo's chest, burning the flesh and sending waves of white hot agony racing through Leo's body.

His father was right. He'd brought this on himself. He'd almost let their little secret slip when talking to his mom. When his mom spoke to his dad about it, the man brushed it off, utilizing a well put together lie, before getting Tasha out of the house and punishing Leo.

Leo knew the rules. No one was supposed to know their little secret, especially not Leo's mom. If he hadn't broken the number one rule, this wouldn't be happening. This was all Leo's fault.

The prod was removed from Leo's chest, and the pain dulled after several minutes, but in a way, the agony still remained. Just not in the way you think.

All Leo wanted was to be loved.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

Finally, Leo came to the worst and final scar.

His fingers brushed over the collection of scars on his stomach and torso, tracing the letters of the words that had been engraved there.

The bottom of his stomach, near his right hip bone- freak.

His left rib cage- mistake.

The center of his stomach- screw up.

Right above screw up- disappointment.

And of course, his back… the worst insult of all.

Unloved.

*FLASHBACK- LEO AGE 12*

Leo wailed, his howls muffled by the rag between his lips.

He didn't know what set his father off. Leo had done something wrong, obviously, but for the life of him, Leo couldn't figure out what.

His father had been carving the words with a hot sowing needle (he ran the tip over the flame of a lighter until it was basically a sharp match). He'd gone through most of them; he'd already carved freak, mistake, disappointment, and unloved (he also made Leo lie on his back after the last one, which made the wound hurt even more-physically. Leo wasn't sure if it could hurt any more emotionally).

He had just finished engraving the p at the end of screw up when the basement door opened.

"Hey, David, what do you- DAVID!" Tasha screeched as she noticed what the man was doing to their only child.

"Tasha," David said, his voice shaking with panic. "This isn't what it looks like."

Tasha didn't even bother to reply. She shoved him away, untied Leo's hands from the vertical support beams on either side of him, and tore away the gag. Leo could barely stand, he was in so much pain, but with his mother's help, he managed to stumble up the stairs.

"Mom," Leo whimpered as she helped him into the car.

"I know," Tasha said as she placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "It's going to be okay now. Daddy will never hurt you again."

"Don't be mad at him," Leo murmured, "It's my fault."

Tasha frowned. "How so?" she said, but it was more in confusion than curiosity or accusation. She wanted to know why her son would blame himself for her husband's dangerous and awful behavior.

"The first time-"

"Wait," Tasha said, horrified. "This happened more than once?"

Leo nodded. "The first time I interrupted his phone call. One time I walked in front of the TV when he was watching sports. Then, I ruined dinner. Then, I almost told you about our little secret last year. I don't know what I did this year, but it must have been really bad," Leo said before breaking down into sobs.

"Leo," Tasha said, wiping tears from her eyes. "This is not your fault. Your father is a bad man, and no matter what you did, it doesn't excuse this. It is not your fault."

Leo nodded, but he didn't believe her.

…

The police arrested his father the following day, and just like that, his father was out of his life. Shortly after that, a new man would come into his life and try to fill the hole his biological father had left, but Leo didn't know that yet.

"It is not your fault," Tasha repeated as the police officer exited Leo's hospital room after giving them news of the conviction and future sentencing hearing.

To this day, Leo still doesn't believe her.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

"Hey, Leo, you okay? You've been in here-" Bree trailed off after opening the door and seeing the multitude of scars crisscrossing Leo's body. "What…"

Leo didn't know how, but it just came out. Maybe he trusted Bree more than he originally thought or maybe he'd just been holding it in for too long.

"My… father…" Leo struggled to say, but he didn't need to complete the statement. Bree understood.

His sister embraced him, and they didn't need to exchange words for Leo to know that Bree would always be there for him.

That was how Bree found out. By a chance encounter in the bathroom.

Adam and Chase were a little more interesting.

"Give it back!" Leo yelled, chasing after Adam, trying to retrieve a stolen action figure (yes, Leo still had those, but they were more like collectibles now).

"Chase, catch!" Adam laughed, tossing the figurines to Chase. Leo went to run towards him, but he hadn't taken two steps before Chase tossed it back to Adam.

Leo made a mad grab for the action figure, but when Adam threw out his arm to stop Leo from retrieving it, he accidently ripped Leo's shirt.

Leo froze. The cattle prod scar had been revealed. He was lucky it was only that one. At least this one he could lie his way out of.

"What is that?" Chase asked.

Leo shrugged. "Got too close to a hot stove when I was seven. Left its mark."

Chase shook his head. "That's a scar from a cattle prod. Did you forget I could analyze it? Cough it up. What happened?"

Leo hesitated.

"You can trust us," Adam said.

Leo still stayed silent.

"Leo, I want you to trust me," Chase said. "I can look up your history, your medical records, but I won't do it unless I don't have any other choice."

Leo sighed before rattling off the tale of him and his father. He'd been planning to just tell them the one about the cattle prod, but before he knew it, he was telling them about the boiling water, the engraved words, and everything in between. It was like he couldn't stop himself from talking.

By the end, Adam was crushing Leo in a hug, and Chase was allowing Leo to cry into his shoulder.

"Weak," his father used to say when Leo cried during punishment.

Crying doesn't make you weak. It means you've been strong for too long.

For the first time since his father was arrested, Leo let himself cry.

Mr. Davenport was the biggest victory.

It took Leo two weeks after Adam and Chase found out to muster the courage to even consider talking to Mr. Davenport. It took another week to muster the courage to walk up to Mr. Davenport and ask to talk.

"Did my mom ever tell you about my dad?" Leo asked as he sat beside Mr. Davenport's desk in the lab (which was empty besides them. The Bionic kids had agreed to stay out of the lab that day, and even Eddie had agreed to stay out after overhearing Leo tell the story to Adam and Chase. Believe it or not, Eddie knew when to be respectful).

Mr. Davenport frowned. "Um, all I know is they split. She didn't go into detail, and I never asked because I didn't think it mattered."

Leo shrugged. "They did split, but not for the reasons she told you. They divorced because he got arrested."

Mr. Davenport blinked. "For what?"

Leo sighed and swallowed. The saliva got caught in his throat, and it reminded Leo of trying to gulp down a bitter pill. That's what this conversation always felt like.

"Child abuse," he finally replied, and Mr. Davenport froze. "He'd been abusing me for years, and I didn't tell my mother. When I was twelve, she walked in on him… burning me. Branding me with words."

"Leo," Mr. Davenport said, but he didn't seem to know what else to say.

"You don't need to say anything, Big D," Leo assured him. "I wanted to thank you for being a better dad than he ever was. After Krane kidnapped us, the burning cell reminded me of all the times my dad would burn me with boiling water or cigarettes or something else. Bree found out the same day. Adam and Chase found out a week and a half later. After that, I knew it was time to tell you."

Mr. Davenport still didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything.

He drew his son into a hug and refused to let go.

After all, his children- all of them, even though none were biologically related to him- were precious. He couldn't imagine hurting them.

"Why?" Leo murmured, and somehow, Mr. Davenport knew what he meant.

"I don't know why, Leo," he admitted. "I look at you and Adam and Bree and Chase, and I think… how could anyone ever hurt their child?"

This hug meant more to Leo than anything else in the world- even money or bionics or anything other people would kill for.

The following week, Leo called Big D Dad for the first time.

Just an idea that popped into my head while watching the episode Taken. Hope you enjoyed. Goodbye, everyone!