Here's the third and final chapter! Trent will make an appearance, and the rest of the family will find out about all of the bullying. To be honest, I was going to put completing this off until later, but I was in bed at one o'clock in the morning feeling completely overwhelmed by all of the ideas floating around inside my head. I hope you guys don't think I rushed it too much. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: This TV show doesn't belong to me, doo-dah-doo-dah. I'm not making any money from this, oh-dee-doo-dah-day.
Previously on 'I'm Okay'...
Chase and Leo weren't just step-brothers anymore. They were something more than that. They were friends. Chase had finally gained his first friend. And he was happy it was Leo.
Chase felt like he was being suffocated... by nothing but air. Strange, isn't it? What a foreign concept to feel as if you're dying merely from breathing in oxygen.
Nevertheless, that was precisely how he was feeling. Every punch and kick Trent presented him with began to feel less and less painful. He was losing consciousness, and fast. Did this kid do anything but bully people almost half his size?
All Chase could think of as he was lying down on the bathroom floor while Trent beat him to a pulp was how he was going to explain this to his family.
"Where the heck is Chase?" Donald Davenport thought out loud as he checked his wristwatch. It was 6:20. Training was supposed to start twenty minutes ago, but his youngest never showed up. He decided against cancelling it, though, so Adam and Bree began training without Chase, much to their dismay.
Leo was distraught. The last time Chase was late, anywhere, was about a month ago when Leo found out about Trent's abuse towards his older brother. Chase hated being late anywhere. Everyone knew it. It was just a fact.
"He probably ditched you guys. I knew the guy couldn't be trusted. You should've listened to me, Donnie," Eddy's voice rang out. "Eddy, not now. This could be serious." Eddy huffed in annoyance before disconnecting himself.
"I'll go look for him," Leo shot out of his chair. Donald looked at him, clearly startled by his step-son. "No, you don't have to. He's probably at the library and forgot about training, or something."
Leo frowned. Donald knew as well as he did that Chase didn't just 'forget about training, or something'. He couldn't believe that his step-father was acting so absent-minded. Then again, it was Mr. Davenport. Leo shook his head in disbelief.
"Fine, but if he's not back by the time training is over, I'm making Bree help me look for him."
Training ended at seven o'clock. Chase was still yet to show up. Leo had resorted to munching on carrot sticks as a way of calming himself down. They were doing nothing to help, however. Leo was still as worried as he had been half an hour ago.
Bree looked at Leo and laughed as she sat down next to him before sighing from exhaustion due to having to train non-stop for a full hour. "Why are you eating carrot sticks?" Leo glared at her. "Chase still isn't back. You know who I'm talking about, right? Your little brother?" He paused for a moment, hoping they were at least feeling a tiny bit ashamed. "And you know I'm a stress eater!"
"Did he get lost again?" Adam joked. Leo tensed up at the mention of Chase's last incident. Bree turned to him, noticing how rock-solid he appeared to be.
"Leooo," she drug out his name. "Do you know something?"
"Of course not, Bree."
She looked at him through squinted eyes. Leo sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to stay silent for long. He tended to crack under pressure. But he made a promise to his older brother! He swore that he wouldn't tell anyone about the little bullying mishap, as long as nothing like it ever happened again.
Leo sighed again. He knew that he had made a promise to Chase, but Chase could actually be in danger, and Leo knew it wouldn't matter if he broke the promise, as long as they could find Chase and be sure that he was okay. Chase would forgive him eventually; he always did. It was another flaw in Chase's system - he could never hold a grudge against someone he loved.
"Fine," he finally said, groaning in reluctance to tell them. "Adam, Big D, get over here. You'll need to hear this."
He began the story, explaining how Chase was being bullied by Trent and talked about how that one particular day when he said he got lost was just a lie to cover up the fact that Trent had physically hurt him for the first time ever. Leo told them about how close the two of them had gotten the past month because of the incident. He, in all actuality, spilled his guts.
Everyone seemed too shocked to say anything. The first to speak after about ten minutes of pure silence was Adam. "I'm going to kill Trent," he growled. Bree nodded, feeling the exact same way. No one picked on their little brother but them.
"Okay, I think we all give you permission to kill him, but can we find Chase first? I'm worried about him. Like, really worried."
Donald turned to Leo, pushing away every feeling, every thought, every worry. "I'm going to get on the computer and track his chip; find out where he's located. When I do that, I need you and Bree to go get him." Leo nodded, ready to find his step-brother.
It took Mr. Davenport a grueling five minutes to find Chase's location; a task that, before, took about thirty seconds to do. "That's bad, right?" Leo asked. Donald could barely even nod. "Yeah. That's bad. It means that Chase is most likely unconscious." He waited a few moments to let that sink in before preparing to put their plan into action.
"Okay, Leo, I need you to do what I told you before, okay? I need you and Bree to go to this location..." Donald stopped to look at the screen. "Okay, Mission Creek High School, it is. Go find Chase," he said with a determined look on his face.
Leo hopped onto Bree's back. She made sure he was holding on tight before super-speeding to their school. A minute later, they were back with a bruised and bloodied Chase in tow.
"Oh, my God." Donald lifted Chase in his arms and laid him on one of the tables, immediately checking his vitals and getting bandages, ointment, and gauze ready for cleaning up his injuries. He even prepared himself for stitching Chase up, if needed; a task that he disliked doing, on account of his extreme hatred of needles.
"He seems to be breathing just fine. That's definitely good news," Donald said happily, turning to Bree and Leo. They looked like they were about to burst into tears. "Look, I need you guys to leave for now. Adam is waiting upstairs in the living room for you guys. Please leave me to work on him, okay?" They nodded, reluctantly walking to the elevator and pressing the button to take them upstairs.
Bree and Leo stepped out of the elevator and were immediately pulled into a bone-crushing hug by Adam. Leo began to gasp for air and Adam let go with a sheepish look on his face.
"Do you think Chasey's gonna be okay?" Adam asked sadly, walking over to the couch and sitting down. Bree and Leo sat down with him. "Mr. Davenport said he was breathing okay, but I don't know. He looked awful," Bree said, beginning to tear up again.
"Let's just hope he'll be okay, alright? Let's try not to worry about it," Leo said, trying to instill confidence and assurance into his older step-siblings.
Donald entered the living room about an hour later, happily greeting his children. "He's okay. Broken wrist, broken leg, and a sprained ankle. He also had to receive five stitches." He stopped to shudder a little bit. "But, other than that, he's as good as new!"
Adam, Bree, and Leo sighed in relief. "Can we see him?" Adam asked. "One at a time. Don't overwhelm him. He seems to be slightly shaken up, but that's to be expected, of course."
Adam volunteered to go first and walked off to the lab.
"You did a good thing, Leo. Thanks for telling us," Donald talked, vaguely looking in Leo's direction. Leo nodded slightly before leaning back into the couch. "I just hope he doesn't hate me," he muttered. Donald immediately shook his head.
"He doesn't hate you. I'm sure of it. You could've potentially saved his life. If he'd been there for another couple of hours by himself in that condition, he might have lost too much blood. You guys got to him just in time. That Trent kid is definitely going to be in trouble, though. I wonder what drove him to do something like that to Chase."
Adam came back, appearing much happier. "He asked for you next, Bree," he said, plopping down on the couch in Bree's previous spot. Leo turned to him. "Is he mad at me?" Adam chuckled. "No, silly. He's excited to see you. Wanted to save you for last, in fact."
Leo sighed in relief and relaxed a little bit. When Bree came back about five minutes later, she had the same grin as Adam plastered on her face.
"Okay..." Leo said uncertainly as he walked over to the elevator and stepped on. "Good luck," Donald called to him just before the elevator closed.
He walked into the lab, wary and nervous. Chase finally came into view, lying down completely if it weren't for the pillows stuffed underneath his head in order to slightly elevate him.
"Hey, Chase," Leo said. Chase smiled at him. He didn't look so bad in Leo's opinion. He had a black eye and a couple of bruises plastered on his cheeks and forehead, and you could see that his arm was in a sling and his leg in a cast, but other than that, he looked like himself.
"Hey!" Chase said. Leo sat down on top of the table at Chase's feet. Chase moved over to make some more room for his brother.
"How are you?" Leo asked, looking down at his brother. He didn't want Chase to think he was pitying him, though. Chase hated any sort of pity.
"I'm okay. Besides the fact that I don't think I've ever slept using one of these things before," he said, gesturing to the pillows underneath his head. "I mean, how can you stand them? They're really annoying." Chase chuckled a little, obviously trying to lighten the mood.
Leo didn't feel like laughing. He felt like throwing up. "How did this happen?" Chase stopped laughing and looked at him seriously. "I tried to stand up to him. Dumb move on my part. He wanted me to help him cheat on an exam - a really important one; one that he said he didn't have any time to study for, or whatever - and I wouldn't do it."
Leo nodded, understanding that Chase would always do the right thing. And, besides, if they'd gotten caught cheating on that exam, both Trent and Chase would get expelled. He shook his head, remembering his broken promise.
"I'm sorry that I broke my promise!" Leo blurted. "I told the others about Trent bullying you before I knew if you were actually hurt."
Chase smiled. "You did what you had to do. If it weren't for you, I would still be at school, possibly dead. Just... thanks. Thanks for having my back. It means a lot."
"I'll always have your back, Chase. That's what brothers are for. Even more importantly, that's what best friends are for."
The two brothers shared a hug. When they let go, Leo suddenly remembered something and started laughing.
"What?" Chase asked, clearly confused at Leo's sudden burst of happiness. "I just remembered that Adam said he was going to kill Trent. So, I don't think we have to worry about Trent ever bullying you again. Or anyone, for that matter."
Chase chuckled. "Adam didn't mention that. But, hey, Trent deserves it. I'd kill him myself if I weren't so injured right now."
Leo agreed. "Yeah, and I'd kill him if I weren't so puny." The boys continued laughing.
Chase learned something very important that day. He learned what it was like to truly have somebody care about him unconditionally. He couldn't help but think that he had the best family in the world. They would always be there for him, no matter the cost. And he would always be there for them back.
Fini.
I'm no doctor, but I tried my best when it came to how doctors act and all that jazz. I know Mr. Davenport isn't a doctor, but he's pretty much a genius, so I'm sure he knew enough about bandaging someone up. By the way, I'm fully aware that I didn't include Tasha in this story - don't know why, but I'm just going to go with she had some sort of news coverage in another town/state. But, anyways, this is the end of my first story! I really hope you guys enjoyed. Review, send feedback, let me know what you thought!
