I cannot believe how long it's been since I last updated this story. All I can say is…enjoy! hahaha

"How can you say that?" Leo asked in disbelief, staring up at Adam as they stood by the lockers. "Everyone knows that Batman would totally beat Spiderman in a fight!"

Adam scoffed. "Please! Sure, Batman has the cool gadgets and gismos, but Spiderman is crafty. He'd be able to dodge anything Batman sent his way!"

The young Dooley crossed his arms in stubbornness. "You're crazy."

Adam opened his mouth to say something back when he witnessed Chase across the hall. He quickly patted Leo's shoulder and gestured to his bionic brother. They exchanged glances and made their way over in a hurry.

"Hey, Chase," Leo said as they both approached said lab rat. "We were waiting for you by your locker."

Chase looked at them and they could tell right off the bat that something was different about him.

"Leo!" He exclaimed, an uncharacteristically large smile spread across his face. He then noticed Adam and, somehow, his smile got larger. "And Adam! How are my favorite brothers?"

"We're your only brothers." Adam commented.

Leo disregarded it and said, "Chase, are you okay?"

"What?" Chase gasped. "I'm totally fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, uh…"

"I mean, just because Bree left me out to dry and ran away with my enemy, it doesn't mean I'm going to be any different! Easy come, easy go." Chase shrugged, seemingly nonchalant, and began to walk away. But Adam pulled him back.

"Okay, what is going on with you? Something's off…" He said as he started examining his brother.

Chase's eyebrows rose. "Wow, Adam, you're getting smarter!"

"He's sarcastic, at least that hasn't changed." Leo muttered.

But Adam was too busy staring at his younger brother. "Chase, say that again."

"Oops, I was wrong." Chase retorted, looking at Leo. "He's still dumb enough to have to have everything repeated to him like a little kid!"

Adam's eyes got wider. As Chase spoke, he had leaned in and smelled his breath, which held a mixture of peppermint and alcohol.

"You're drunk." Adam snapped as he let go of Chase, causing the latter person to stumble a bit. At this, Leo's eyes grew too sizes.

"Wait, what?"

"No I'm not." Chase waved them away, scoffing as he did so.

"Oh yeah? Then why does your breath reek of alcohol?" Adam questioned, corking an eyebrow.

"Because you're too paranoid that I'm gonna fly off the handle and do something stupid." Chase stated. "Which I won't."

By this point a small crowd of curious onlookers had formed around the three of them. But they were too wrapped up in their own conversation to notice.

"If you haven't noticed, Chase, you already have flown off the handle!" Adam said in a volume louder than his usual tone.

Chase scoffed again as Leo stepped in. "Adam, hold onto him."

"What are you-"

Adam followed Leo's order and grabbed Chase's arms, cutting his question short. He struggled to break free, yelling "let me go!" and "get your hands off of me!" but Adam kept a firm hold on him, pinning his arms behind his back.

Leo quickly dove in and grabbed Chase's book bag off of his back. Once it was in his grasp, he unzipped it completely and searched inside. It wasn't long before he pulled out a bottle of Smirnoff vodka, which was empty save for a few drops at the bottom.

"Well," Leo sighed, throwing the book bag to the ground but holding on to the bottle. "you were right, Adam."

Adam looked at Chase, who had an expression similar to that of a deer caught in headlights, before letting him go with a small, forceful push. Chase nearly fell but caught himself just in time, saving himself of any more embarrassment.

"Really Chase?" Adam asked, staring at him wide eyed. "Vodka?"

Chase could only shrug. "Okay, I had a few drinks to get the edge off. So what?"

"So what?" Leo repeated in disbelief. "Chase, this is illegal! You're only eighteen!"

"Oh please, Leo, nobody cares if I'm underage! Everyone in this school drinks!" Chase defended himself.

"That's beside the point," Leo took a step toward him. "You are not handling this situation well at all."

"Oh, and you are?" Chase chuckled humorlessly. "You two act like nothing even happened!"

"At least we're not making ourselves sick over it!" Adam shouted.

Chase suddenly got a furious look in his eyes. "You know what? I'm tired of everyone getting on my back lately! I'm dealing with the situation in my own way, so leave me alone!"

"You're acting childish!" Adam shook his head.

"Oh that's rich, coming from you!"

Adam let out a deep breath before lunging at Chase, sending them both to the floor. Everyone, including Leo, could only watch as the two went at it, throwing punches at each other any chance they got. It was finally interrupted when Principal Perry came storming in.

"Dooley, what's going on in here?" She demanded angrily.

Leo had to think a moment, trying to find the best way to put the situation into simple words. "Well, we've been having some family troubles at home and Chase has been taking it the hardest. So when he came to school today drunk he-"

"Wait, squatmug over there is drunk?" She repeated. When Leo nodded his head, she turned to the fight and, somehow, broke the two up.

It always amazed everyone just how strong the short principal was.

She let Adam go but held onto Chase. "You're coming with me, and don't expect to go anywhere anytime soon." She then looked at Adam. "I'll deal with you later. Right now call your father and get him down here." With that she led Chase away, who looked like he was about to kill someone.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked as Adam brushed himself off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded. Then he glanced once more in the direction that Perry took Chase away, letting out a small sigh. "Now come on, let's go call Mr. Davenport."

.

.

.

Chase sat by himself in an empty classroom, having nothing to do but stare down at his hands. The silence surrounding him was almost deafening – he assumed it was the hang over that was starting to form.

Either way, it hurt like hell.

Suddenly the door bust open. He jumped at the noise and looked up, meeting the gaze of a very furious Donald Davenport.

Chase hesitated, in slight fear, before saying, "I can explain-"

"Don't talk." The forced calmness in the billionaire's voice struck even more fear into Chase's veins. He knew he was in trouble, he just didn't know if he was prepared for it. His eyes fell back on the hands in his lap as he heard the door slam shut.

He couldn't look up as Donald paced back and forth, trying to fathom his anger into sensible words. "I was going to wait to talk at all until we got home. I wanted Tasha to be with me when I did." He stopped and stared at the youngest lab rat. "But now, just looking at you, I don't think I can."

Chase heard the scraping of a chair's legs on the concrete floor being pulled to rest directly across from him at the table. Then he saw Donald sit down through his peripherals.

Still, he couldn't look him in the eye.

There was another moment of silence between them before Donald said, "I don't know just when you decided to get so stupid, Chase, but it's time to knock it off."

Chase continued to stare into his lap. He didn't know it, but it was angering Donald further. "Look at me!"

Their gazes met again, but Chase automatically regretted it. The fury in the inventor's eyes was bad enough, but the worst part was the disappointment. Besides Bree, Mr. Davenport was the most important person that he wanted to be proud of him.

He felt like all the good that he had done in the past was going to be washed away with what happened only an hour prior to their meeting.

"When Leo called and told me what happened, I didn't believe it. When I got to the school only minutes ago and Principal Perry told me what happened, I still didn't believe it. But now?"

Chase swallowed nervously. "Start talking."

"What's there to say?" He asked quietly.

"You know very damn well what!" Donald shouted, getting to his feet again. Chase flinched as his father's chair fell to the floor, but that didn't stop anything. "Why in the world were you drunk when you came to school today?"

"I felt like I needed it." Chase shrugged, staring at the table in front of him. "I thought that it would help-"

"And did it?" Donald asked, cutting him short.

When Chase didn't answer, he took that as a no and started pacing again. "Today you acted like a child, do you know that? And that surprises me, because you're usually the one who's so level headed and calm about things! Then you pull this stunt and…" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Meanwhile, Chase mentally cursed. He felt like a child, that's for sure. The way Donald was yelling at him as he hung his head in shame; similar to that of a little kid who had just drawn on the wall in marker. He was eighteen now, he didn't need to be treated so inferiorly.

But he knew that, deep down, he deserved it.

"Explain yourself."

Chase sighed and looked him in the eye again. "I wanted to numb the pain."

"What?"

"The pain of losing Bree!" Chase suddenly shouted. "After we got back from seeing her last week, I just…I just cracked! I was desperate to find a way to stop what I was feeling, so I turned to alcohol. And, I gotta admit, it kind of worked. Then it began to wear off and I drank some more."

Donald stared at him with an unreadable expression etched in his face. "I knew you were in pain, that's why I kept my distance from you the whole week. That's why anyone kept their distance! We didn't know that you-"

"Were out drinking? Well I was!" Chase finished for him. "And, yes, I know that it was stupid and dumb and immature but you know what? I'm glad I did it! I helped me forget about reality for a little while!"

"Exactly! For just a little while!" Donald chuckled humorlessly. "But then, when it wears off, reality comes crashing back and you become even more depressed than you were to begin with! Drinking is no way to solve your problems, Chase."

"Then what is?" Chase asked desperately, standing up. "What is a way to solve my problems? Bree is gone and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Donald was quiet before saying, "You can move on."

Chase only stared at him. "You want me to move on?"

"Yes, I do." Donald nodded. "Obviously this is killing you inside. Why suffer more than you need to?"

"..Screw you."

"Chase-"

"No!" Chase took a step back. "No, screw you and everyone else, okay? I know I said I was done, but I'm not! I can't be!" His breathing came out in rapid breaths as he leaned against the wall, hanging his head. He could feel the threat of tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

"You're not the only one who lost her!" Donald shouted. "She was like my daughter, Chase. I loved her, but she's not the same girl anymore. She's different. And if her place is with Marcus now, who are we to stop her? You've got to face facts and realize that she's not coming back. Ever."

The silence came pouring back into the room again, bringing with it a tension that was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"I have realized that." Chase said, his head still down. "I'm the one who broke her capsule apart, remember? But, every day it gets harder. Every day I realize all the things I won't get to share with her from now on and I..I've never felt this kind of heart break before."

Finally he looked up again. "I love her, Mr. Davenport."

Usually that would sound like a normal response. But Donald knew that it meant much more. The love that Chase felt for Bree was beyond siblings, beyond friendship even. And, in a way, he had a feeling that he had always known.

He knew that he was still angry with Chase for everything that had happened that day. But that didn't stop him from crossing the room and embracing the teen in his arms, knowing that what Chase was feeling was real and hard for him.

"I know." He said after a while.

Chase was stiff against him. But then he cracked and wrapped his arms around the father figure in his life, closing his eyes to keep the tears that clouded his vision from falling.

He held on tightly to Mr. Davenport, almost as if his life depended on it, because he was afraid that he might slip away like Bree did. He was aware of how ridiculous the idea was, but at this point, he wasn't going to take any chances.

If he did, he would surely break for good.