This story was much inspired by Glow of the Blue Moon's story "My Baby Brother," TheMeepyFreak's spinoff story "My Elder Sister," and their collab. story "My Younger Siblings." If you haven't read those yet, I would recommend them; they're super sweet one-shots! This story isn't related to those or a continuation, but their stories definitely inspired this one. You could call this one-shot a future version of those stories.
Random Fact #1: I listened to sounds of thunder and lighting storms on iTunes while writing this. It really helped me develop Chase's emotions. I hope he didn't come off too OOC. He's not as independent in this story, but it makes for some good family fluff.
Well, that's all I have to say. See you on the other side (aka the end of the story.) Enjoy!
I do not own Lab Rats.
Boom!
Chase flinched at the explosion; it was accompanied by a bolt of lightning that illuminated the dark living room. This storm was the very reason he was awake at one o'clock in the morning. Nothing bothered his bionic hearing more than belligerent eruptions of thunder. Storms of this magnitude have been scaring him since he was a kid.
But, he wasn't scared! Chase was well over 16 now. Rainstorms didn't frighten a mature person, such as him. He simply couldn't sleep because of all the noise and decided to come upstairs for a cup of tea. Or, so he tried to convince himself.
Boom!
Another lightning strike seared the late night sky making the anxious teen jump. Deciding it best to sit, an unnerved Chase sat on a bar stool and rested his mug on the kitchen island.
"It's just a storm… It's just a storm…" Chase coaxed himself in an attempt to remain calm. He wrapped his arms around himself and rocked back and forth in a calm motion.
Just as his heart had acquired a steady pace, the elevator doors dinged open, startling Chase once more.
Chase's frazzled looking siblings scurried out of the elevator. They came to a stop when they recognized the dark silhouette that was their brother.
"Chase?!" Bree said in hope and relief.
"Adam, Bree, what are you guys doing up?" Chase inquired.
Bree walked over to the kitchen wall and flicked on a light switch. The youngest bionic was fully revealed sitting at the island.
"Looking for you!" Bree exclaimed. "When I woke up and noticed you weren't in your capsule, I got worried."
"Yea, and then she had to come get me up to help search for you," Adam explained. "So, thanks a lot for disturbing my sleep and scaring us to death!"
"Adam!" Bree scolded.
Bree turned back to Chase, "Are you alright, Chase? Why are you awake so early?"
"I'm fine, Bree. Sorry I scared you. The storm woke me up, and I couldn't go back to sleep, so I came up here."
"Aw, Chasey, you're afraid, aren't you?" Bree cooed, approaching her brother. Adam did the same.
"No," Chase stated firmly.
Boom!
"AHH!" Chase screamed, jumping up from the bar stool. With one hand he gripped the counter for stability, and with the other he held onto his chest.
Chase turned to his siblings who were giving him looks that said, "We knew it."
"Fine," Chase caved, "I might be the slightest bit on edge."
"Slightest bit?" Adam repeated cocking his eyebrow.
"Come on, Chase," Bree started slowing leading him toward the couch. "Adam and I will stay here until you feel safe enough to go back to sleep. How does that sound?"
Chase shook himself from his sister's grasp. "Bree, I'm not two. I don't need my siblings to look after me because I'm afraid of a storm."
"You don't have to be embarrassed, Chase. We all need help once in a while," Adam said trying to ease his brother.
"Yea, well, mission leaders and geniuses don't need help, and I'm both of those things," Chase cockily pointed to himself.
Boom!
This time Chase didn't flinch. Instead, he pounced on Bree and tightly wrapped his shaky arms around her. Adam and Bree shared a knowing glance.
"Fine. You guys can stay. But, let the record show it's only because you wouldn't stop pestering me about it," Chase insisted with a trembling voice.
Adam and Bree rolled their eyes at Chase's stubbornness but didn't argue. All three siblings proceeded to sit on the couch.
"Oh, I know what'll make you feel better. We can watch that show you loved so much as a kid: Shark Man and Flipper Boy," Adam offered.
"If you insist," Chase replied nonchalantly. But inside, he was pretty happy with that suggestion.
Chase got comfortable resting his head on Bree's shoulder. Adam brought the T.V. to life with the remote and then spread a blanket over the three of them.
Outside, the thunder antagonized, the rain saturated, and the lightning glared. But inside, the bionic siblings paid it no attention. The temporary flash of the lightning was replaced by the constant glow of the T.V. screen, the thunder was washed-out by the sound of Chase's favorite program, and the nervous teen was calmed by the presence of his older siblings.
The next morning, Donald descended the stairs to find an interesting sight. On one end of the couch was Adam, head tossed back, snoring like a bear. On the other end was Bree. Chase's head lay in her lap while she stroked his hair.
"Uh, Bree, what's going on here?" Donald whispered to his only conscious child.
"Chase got scared by the storm last night, so Adam and I stayed up with him," Bree replied in a low volume.
"Chase still gets scared by thunder? Like when he was a kid?" Donald asked.
Bree nodded her head, "Yea, even though he did everything to deny it."
She looked back down at her sleeping brother. "But, his secret's safe with Adam and me."
Chase suddenly started to stir. Bree watched as his eyes slowly slid open.
Chase turned to look up at his sister. "Bree?" he spoke groggily.
"Morning, Chasey," Bree greeted softly.
"I wish you'd stop calling me that. I'm not a baby," Chase pouted.
Bree smiled down at him, "No, but you are my baby brother."
Did you catch the Lab Rats reference?
I didn't plan for the last line to turn out that way. But, after I wrote it, I was like, "Oh, that's the title of 'Baby Brother.'" So, I guess that worked out, because that story inspired this one a lot.
Random Fact #2: Originally, "Story Nights" was going to be the first one-shot of a collection called "Baby Brother." All the one-shots were going to be times Adam and Bree helped out Chase and stuff. But, I couldn't come up with enough ideas, and I thought the name was too similar to Glow of the Blue Moon's story. So, Stormy Nights became a one-shot on it's own.
I tried to make Chase more like himself by fighting Adam and Bree on looking after him. I think that somewhat balanced him out from being scared. I sure have him drinking tea a lot, huh? That's my influence... I love tea. So, I figured, "Chase could like tea, too."
Thanks for listening to me babble. See you next time!