Chapter 25

"Can you believe it's been a year already?"

"I can't believe I survived the year without any broken bones or bruises." I admitted. I was packing the last of my clothes in the dorm room. The Warblers were due to come get Thad and I for an outing before summer starts since some of the other kids lived abroad.

"But you did faint on us." Thad pointed out.

"That is totally different."

"Still counts, Bas." Thad said.

There was a knock on the door but our friends just barged into the room like it was their own.

"Hey guys!" Nick exclaimed a bit too happy. "Are we going to the amusement park or not!"

"How do you have that much energy?" I asked. "I know you're excited for this trip everyone is but seriously. This is just ridiculous."

"That would be because of the dare." Trent said. "Jeff dared him to drink five cups of coffee."

"And I dared him to go skinny dipping into the Dalton pool last night!" Nick said ecstatic. "And he lasted for twenty minutes in the cold water!"

"It was a dare!" Jeff claimed. "I could still feel cold. I wore five pairs of socks to bed last night."

"And how are you both not in the health center?" I asked. "That could've cause Jeff hypothermia. Not to mention that he went in naked and you do know too much coffee not only keeps you up for way too long but the calcium in your bones get drained and…"

"Okay, Bas." Thad interrupted placing a hand over my mouth "You're worried."

"Aww, we didn't know you cared so much!" Nick exclaimed and both he and Jeff wrapped their arms around me as soon as Thad let go. The both of them were much larger than me muscle wise and they were much heavier than me. So I was basically squashed in a Niff sandwich.

"Get off!"I squirmed as they pinned my arms to my side.

"No!" they whined and I was squash between the two boys.

"Help!" I gasped. "These guys are going to crush my ribs!"

"Alright guys," Thad said. "We're going to be late."

"Okay." Nick said. He and Jeff released me from their hug of death but both had an arm around my shoulder. "This is going to be great! The Annual Warbler Outing."

~()~

I was home at Central City for the summer. While Stacy and my adoptive dad goes to Paris to meet and greet some relatives. I was invited to come with. But I was a bit home sick. Ten months in a dorm room I miss not having a roommate. And my space consuming experiments.

I was looking through some old news paper clippings I gathered from when I was still a kid. I can't forget the yellow blur. I don't think that that I am the only one who experienced something like this.

So far, all I have was the disappearance of the Queen's gambit. The Queens were a very wealthy family on Starling City. And the model of boat they used are known to withstand even the strongest of typhoons.

There was a knock on the door and I shoved the clippings into my folder.

"Barry?" Joe opened the door.

"Hey, Joe." I said. "What's up?"

"Well, Iris is in her date." Joe said. "And I just got called into the precinct. And some of the other guys were asking about you. You know after the whole broken arm, then Jonny thing. I wonder if you want to come."

"Sure." I said. "Just let me get changed first."

I was known around the precinct after what happened to my parents. And of course with Joe being in the force. I always had an interest in forensics. Joe sometimes bring his work home and I take a peak and leave him some sticky notes on the case. It's interesting. I feel like Sherlock Holmes.

Though of course, Joe knows it was me. Iris is hopeless at all this science stuff.

"Hey Barry!" Detective Chyre greeted as soon as we entered the precinct.

"Hey Fred!" I teased. He didn't like me calling him Fred.

"Just this once since I haven't seen you since finding you in an alley with a broken arm." he said. "How are you kid? I heard you're now a prep school boy."

I chuckled. "I'm great! Dalton's great! The subjects are much more difficult than the ones here."

"You must feel so much at home."

"Yeah. It's great!" I exclaimed "And I finally joined a sport!"

"Wow, congrats kid." Fred said. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Well they have a no bullying policy…"

"That makes so much more sense." Fred said. "You still look twelve though."

"Haha" I said sarcastically. "So what are you guys working on?"

"Homicide." Fred said. "The woman was killed. There her daughter was in the house too. We've been trying to contact the dad. He's in the military so it's not going so good."

"Where's the kid now?"

"With Marc upstairs." Fred said. "I'm sure you could go up there and keep her company. You'll probably get to her better than any of us."

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"Well, I doubt that you have anything better to do here."

"Sure." I said. I started climbing up the stairs to the lab. Marcus Armstrong is the current forensic scientist in the Central City police department. He's in his late fifties but is as sharp as when he was still in his twenties. He's great with kids. I remember going to him when I was younger. I was a young nerdy kid and he let me rant and talk about my little interests and quirks like how my parents did. He was probably one of the only ones who thought that what I saw was possible.

"There is a saying by Arthur Conan Doyle. 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter improbably must be the truth.'" he said. "When you prove that the impossible is wrong. Then they will believe whatever remains. No matter how improbable."

I knocked on the large metal door.

"Barry"

"Hey Marc" I said as I was greeted by scientist. Behind him was a little girl with brown hair and these big blue eyes. She looked no older than Stacy. "Who's this?"

"This is Jade." he said gently. "Jade, this is Barry."

"Hi Jade." I said gently. "It's nice to meet you."

She looks from me to Marc, "I want to go home. I want my daddy."

"We'll get your dad soon." Marc reassured. "But for now, why don't you play with Barry for a while. I hear he's really good at singing like you are. I'm sure he would even teach you some of his top secret dance moves."

"And how do you know that?" I asked Marc.

"I've seen the Warbler perform. My nephew used to Dalton. Don't think I haven't heard of the famous Warblers. I knew you wouldn't pass off a chance to perform again." he said. "So was I right?"

I smiled. "Yeah. I'm sure I can figure something out."

"Thanks Barry." Marc said. "Joe needs me to do something and I couldn't bear leave her downstairs with the other cops."

"Sure thing."

~()~

I managed to find some old Disney DVDs. So Jade and I spent the day with Mulan, Belle and Jasmine.

"What was your dad like?" Jade asked

"I actually have three dads."

"You have three gay dads?"

"No." I said chuckling. "There's Joe. Who raised me from when I was young when I lost my mom. My uncle who adopted me, then my real dad."

"Where's your dad now?" she asked. "Why are you adopted?"

"Something happened years ago, and he couldn't take care of me anymore." I said. "So I lived with my best friend's dad for a while then I got adopted by my uncle."

"My dad would never leave me." she insisted. "He won't let anyone else adopt me. He comes home every time I need him."

"My dad loves me, too. He's my dad." I said. "He just can't be with me all the time. But every day I remember that both he and my mom love me. And that's what gives me the drive to keep going."

"I wish my mom loves me like yours did." Jane said a bit down cast. "She doesn't want to have anything to do with me half the time."

"I'm sure she loves you." I said. "Why wouldn't she?"

"She thinks I'm mad." She said. "Just because I want to be like my dad when I grow up. I want to be able to save people. To help them. I want to be in the Navy like he is."

"There are more ways to help them people you know." I said. "You could be a scientist. Like Marc. He helps people all the time."

"I want to learn how to shoot a gun."

I paused. I spent a few months with my seven year old cousin. And I have never heard of something like that from her. But then again, Stacy is probably one of the sweetest kids I know.

"Well then." I said. "I'm sure you'd like what I brought to play with. I wasn't sure if you'd like to play. But my cousin loves to play with this whenever my weird friends come over."

I pulled out two nerf handguns from inside my bag.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "I've always wanted to play with Nerf but my friends all tell me that it was only for boys and I should stick to princesses."

"Well, I watch princess movies with you and my sister all the time. Do you think I'm a girl?"

She chuckled. "No. But you are one of the nicest boys I've ever met."

"See." I said. I handed her one of the toy guns.

There shouldn't be anything strange with that right? But for a little girl who has never held toy gun before she had a surprisingly good aim. And held the gun professionally. Not like a child. But like cop.

"My dad taught me with a few pens tied in rubber bands." she had said.

There was something suspicious with this kid.

~()~

Joe had his crime scene photos scattered on the dining room table. I couldn't help look at Jade's mom's lifeless eyes. She looked like a beautiful woman. Jade looked a lot like her. It's so sad to think that she'd be growing up without her mom. She is a lot younger than I was when I lost mine.

"What do you think would happen to Jade?" I asked hearing Joe from behind me.

"We've contacted her dad and some relatives. While the investigation is going on, she'd be staying with her grandparents." He said "I remember a case like this a few years ago."

"A little boy, he lost his mom too." Joe looks at me straight in the eye. "And he grew to be one of the most caring, smart, and amazing young man. Sometimes things look tought. But they get better."

"Thanks, Joe." I said.

I analyzed the photos again. The bullet wound shot through her chest.

"Do you have any suspects?" I asked as I looked through the other photos.

"The mom had an ex." Joe said. "He had a bit of a grudge and seemed to have an argument with her a few weeks back. But so far no leads."

"This gunshot is from up close." I said. "The bullet went all the way through the body. If the victim didn't put up much of a fight, then this was shot from behind."

"The forensic report said that the bullet was shot at a downward angle." Joe said. "It's impossible for it to be from the back unless…"

"Unless the suspect was at most four and a half feet tall."

~()~

I took Jade out to Jitters for a snack. I know it's stupid bringing a possible murderer to coffee alone. But there wasn't enough evidence to prove anything. For all we know, it could've been a man with mild dwarfism. Or someone who shot while he was crouching down.

Jitters was fairly empty, since it was around late in the morning and on a weekday.

"I've never had pie that tasted this good form a coffee shop." Jade said. "Mom never let me go to a café."

"Really?"

"She's a bit controlling." Jade said. "She thinks that places like this has a lot of dirty food and over priced drinks."

"We've got a new lead on your mom's case." I said. "The gun was shot upward. So the police said they might have some clues on how to find the killer.

"I don't want to think about it anymore." I watched her expressions closely. She looked a bit doubtful. "She doesn't love me anyways."

"I'm sure she did." I said. "She's your mom."

"We'll she's a terrible mom." Jade said darkly. "She doesn't want me anyways, I'm glad she's dead."

"You don't mean that."

"I'm not the perfect daughter." She said. "She wants a daughter that would allow her to dress up and play like some stupid doll. And she isn't the perfect mom either. I'm better off with my grandparents."

"It will get better."

"I doubt it." she said darkly. "It got better already. Now that she's gone."

"You killed her." I muttered. And she gave me an innocent smirk.

"Well, that was a good deduction, Sherlock." She said. "Too bad, you wouldn't be alive to tell anyone of your discovery."

She grabbed the knife for the pie and launched herself.

I grabbed her little hand before she could stab me. She struggled at my grip.

"Enough."

"No!" she exclaimed kicking hard she hit be between the legs. I groaned in pain and she stabbed the knife to my side. I could feel the knife pull out. But before she could go for another hit, one of the costomers pried the knife from her hand. My vision was starting to blur.

"Stay with me kid." I felt something press on my side. But everything went dark.

OOOkay there goes part one of Summer after Season 3 :D there's one more chapter for the summer before I head to season 4 plotline :D Warning though since the Warblers were in about 3 episodes in Season 4 I would be making most of the stuff up.

I'm sorry but this might be the only chapter for this week. I wont be able to update in the weekend I stayed up late to at least write one. Next week is my exam week. So I have a friends over for project making all the three days of my three day week end. So I'm going to be very very VERY busy. I'm sorry

Random Thought: I've been fixing some old plots and I thought of writing it for Wattpad and I know some of the Wattpad writers use to look for characters. And I thought why does Nolan Funk (Hunter) always plays as a bad guy. I mean I know he looks a bit antagonistic but I think he could play a great good guy. But then again when I was writing the summary of the plot I was making I was thinking of casting, and I thought he'd be perfect for the character I made, Dezmon (a demon but a protagonist)… oh well there goes that idea…

Anyways Please Review :D