The second chapter update of the day!

Chase walks into the lab. Mr. Davenport sees him when he looks up from the circuit board under the magnifying glass. He sees the expression on the bionics face. "You seem to be going through mood swings, Chase," Mr. Davenport says, standing up. "This morning you were all steamy. Now, you look just put down, like a lost puppy that got kicked-"

"I get your point," Chase says.

"Is someone finally going through puberty?" Mr. Davenport teases. Chase glares at him for a second, not amused in the slightest. Then he sets his bag on the glass table and sits down.

"Mr. Davenport? Is anything Spike does because of something I feel, or think?"

Mr. Davenport sighs, "Chase, you shouldn't blame yourself for anything Spike does. If he hurts someone, it isn't your fault."

"No, I know," Chase says, "But.. is there anyway that what he does could be, influenced, by me."

Mr. Davenport thinks on this, "That's possible. He's basically an extreme version of your emotions. If you get angry, his aggression feeds off that anger, and anymore that he acquires while active. If you get embarrassed or nervous, he comes out to protect you. It's the reason he was created."

Chase sits there a moment, analyzing the information. "..Is there anything else that could trigger him?" He asks, with a wave of his arm.

Mr. Davenport gets back to his project. "Well, jealousy could be another thing. Since Spike has a testosterone level of-"

"Tasmanian devil wolverine shark lion hybrid that's mad," Chase finishes, "continue."

"..Then he probably has instinct to be territorial. Step into his boundaries, and you'll have problems. But I don't see that happening. As the 'smartest man in the world,' you may not get jealous too often. Unless you are looking at armwrestling Adam."

Chase nods to himself, 'That must be what triggered it. But.. why would I be jealous of Marcus?' He drops that train of thought. 'I do not have a crush on Astrid.' He says, trying to convince himself, 'I don't.'

Astrid walks up the rest of the driveway and knocks on the front door. Chase opens the door. "Astrid," he greets, a little surprised.

"Hey Chase," she says, trying to be polite. But the conversation in English still has her uneasy. "..May I come in?" She asks.

"Oh, yeah." Chase opens the door wider, allowing the girl to come in. She walks in with her backpack. "I'm not trying to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

Astrid walks to the counter, "Bree asked me to come over to work on, homework.." she finds a note addressed to her on the counter. She picks it up and opens the paper.

Hey Astrid! I'm off to an art show with Owen. I kinda scheduled something with him first. But don't worry, I'm sure Chase knows the material! ;) -Bree

Astrid groans aloud. "What?" Chase asks. Astrid holds up the note and Chase walks over. He takes the note and reads. He too groans to himself. 'She won't leave my personal life alone.'

"Well.. do you mind helping?" Astrid asks, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Yeah, sure. I mean- no no not at all," Chase states. 'Why is that question is hard to answer? Do you mind? No, no I don't.'

Astrid puts her backpack on the counter and takes out a textbook. "I guess last time this happened wasn't too terrible," she admits. Chase thinks back and smiles.

'No it wasn't. It was pretty fun. A new bionic ability to show her and.. Whatever movie we watched.' He stands on the other side of the counter, "Exactly."

"Okay.. so," Astrid looks at her worksheet and then points at the text for the answer. Chase watches her.

'I pledged to always be there for her. The incident with Marcus is the elephant in the room. We know we should talk about it, but neither wants to bring it up. I never forgot her, no way. But.. I haven't kept up on my pledge.'

"Chase?" Astrid asks. He looks at her.

"Yeah?"

"..Something on your mind?"

Chase hesitates, "N-Not a thing." He chuckles weakly. She has a look that says she doesn't believe him. "Where are we?" He looks at the book, his intelligence flipping the words in his mind so he can read them.

Astrid looks back at her worksheet and they get through half of it, Chase being pulled from explaining the time period with his Google like memory a few times. But the longer they stay there, the thicker the tension is.

"Astrid," Chase says, diverting her attention. "About yesterday-"

"Chase, focus on this," Astrid says, trying to avoid the question.

"No, I just.. I just want to know when? When it happened," he says.

Astrid stops what she's doing, "..Oh.. Well, it was right before you came back."

Chase tilts his head, "Meaning.. you were pinned against the wall.."

"Yes," Astrid says.

"And you were flustered-" Chase continues.

"Let's just get back to this," Astrid says quickly, blush gracing her cheeks.

Chase sees the blush and smiles. "Okay, next question. How long was.." They work on the material for her class. Chase leans forward over the counter and involuntarily decides what her shampoo scent is. 'Must be my sense of smell glitching,' he thinks to himself, smiling a little more, '..Sorta..?'

Bree did it again. ..Not that they are complaining.

Right, Chase, blame it on a glitch.

What do you think is coming up tomorrow for the update?