March 31st Davenport Lab (Chase's POV)-
"Hey Madds? Can you pass me the slip-joint pliers?" I put my hand out expecting the tool, but nothing came. "Madds?" I looked up to see my girlfriend asleep on her desk.
"Madds," I whispered, rubbing her shoulder, "Maddie you need to wake up."
"Five more minutes." She mumbled. I checked to make sure no one was in the lab, Mr. Davenport had left to get some more supplies. I leaned over her shoulder giving her a kiss on the cheek and she stirred.
"Madds, you need to wake up." I said slightly louder, still rubbing her shoulders.
"Yeah, yeah." She yawned, sitting up.
"Well good morning, sleeping beauty." I gave her a kiss on the top over her head, then I grabbed the pliers and moved back to my work station.
"Why'd you have to wake me up?" She cried, getting up and starting on her work.
"You know how important The Call is. We need to be prepared. Even if you did look very cute, we need your help." I explained.
"Yeah, but you had to wake me up?" She asked.
"Well, yes because you are also presenting your own new device." Then Mr. Davenport reentered the Lab.
"Okay Chase, once you finish recalibrating the tachyonic extrapilator, help Maddie prepare her laser induced plasma gun, please come up with a shorter name." Mr. Davenport instructed. He moved to work on another device on the cyber desk, when Leo came in.
"Ooh. Ah. Ho, ho." He gushed, moving from station to station. "What's this?" Leo said picking up a sensitive device.
"Hey, that's part of my Put That Down collection." Mr. Davenport said grabbing the device from Leo.
"Oh, sweet pen." Maddie looked up as Leo grabbed the pen looking air canister.
"It's not a pen. It's a highly-pressurized air canister that can inflate a blimp in 8.6 seconds." He warned.
"This little thing?" Leo asked doubtfully.
"Mmm-hmm." He confirmed.
"Impossible." Leo clicks the gadget and wind blows throughout the room. Maddie was pushed into my arms as she caught her blaster before it fell. The two of us fought against the air, moving across the room to help shut off the device.
"Ah!" Mr. Davenport explained turning it off.
"You might wanna put a little warning sign on that." Leo warned. "So, what're you having? Garage sale for geeks?" He asked.
"No." Mr. Davenport laughed. " We are preparing for... The Call."
"Once a year, Mr. Davenport, Maddie, and I present his newest devices to all the international buyers. In other words..." I explained while Maddie rolled her eyes knowing what we were about to do.
"Ka-ching!" Mr. Davenport and I did our handshake. Then Leo tried to join, blubbering.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I wanna be in on... The Call." He explained.
"Yeah, sorry, Leo. There's no more room. Me and Maddie are already the product specialists, the set designers, chief demonstrators, and insanely happy spokesmodels." I explained.
"You know two of those mean the same thing right?" Maddie asked me with a smirk. "There might be a role for Leo. As long as someone follows him around everywhere he goes with a fire extinguisher." She explained.
"Maddie's right Leo. We might have a place for you." Mr. Davenport agreed.
"But Mr. Davenport, I'm way better at selling this stuff than Leo." I fought.
"Please. I could sell nunchucks to a nun named Chuck." Leo fought, he picked up the electrofield destabilizer. "I could sell this thing without even knowing what it is."
"Leo, no. That's an electrofield destabilizer. Whatever you do, don't let it--" Mr. Davenport tried to warn as Leo let it touch the metal stand. "Touch metal." He frowned.
"I have to admit. A small part of me was hoping that would happen." Maddie smirks, I laughed.
"Well, can a big part of you come over and help me up?" Leo yelled.
April 1st Davenport House (Maddie's POV)-
"Yes, Mom. Leo and I love our new home. Oh, you should come and visit." Tasha said, with a fake smile plastered on, to the person on the phone.
We were all in the living room. I was on the couch working on the patent for my plasma blaster (the name was too long before), Adam was using Leo to do bench presses-
"467, 468-- Put some muscle in it. 469..." Leo counted.
"Shh! I'm picking up radio free Singapore." Davenport is wearing an invention on his head. He stands on one foot and sings in a foreign language. "That's gonna be a hit. You mark my words." He exclaimed.
"But not today. Why? Because Donald's not feeling well. Look, I gotta go. He just threw up in my purse. Love you, bye!" Tasha rushed, hanging up the phone.
"You know, we're gonna have to have your mother over eventually." Davenport added.
"No, we don't. Look, my mom doesn't just visit. She has inspections. If she spots anything weird, she will use it as an excuse for her to move in." Tasha explained to him. Bree super sped across the room to catch a ball.
"Nothing weird here." She said ignorant of their situation.
"Nothing at all." I added with an innocent smile.
"Honey, when your mother visits, I will shower her with love, I will make her feel welcome and I will do anything humanly possible to--" Davenport started.
The doorbell rings and Tasha gasps. "It's my mother!"
"I'll be in the lab." He said running away.
"Quick! Turn invisible! Oh, come on, you have every other freaky ability." She explained here reasoning. "Just run and hide." She said to the four of us. We all sat behind the kitchen counter and I continued to work on my tablet.
"Really?" Chase asked me, I just shrugged.
"Oh, good. It's unlocked." Tasha's mother said walking in.
"Mom! You're here." Tasha said through her teeth.
"Would've been here sooner if it hadn't been for your stupid gate." She criticized.
"Oh, that's just Donald's titanium security fence." Tasha justified.
"Well, if you ran it with your car hard enough, it pops right open." She mused. "Leo. There's my baby. Come and give me some sugar. Ooooh!" She gave him a tight hug. "Grandma's so glad to see you. Let me see your face. Let me see that face. Let me see your face. Let me see your face. You're so cute!" She said pinching Leo's Cheeks. "Grandma brought your favorite bran fruitcake." She dropped it in his hands and he almost fell from the weight of the cake.
"Oh! Wow. Grandma, you shouldn't have!" Leo started. "And when I say you shouldn't have--" He continued.
"Leo..." Tasha stopped him. The four of us tried to sneak into the hallway so that we could get to the Lab.
"Who are they?" Leo's Grandma asked.
"They are the... staff! Big house." Tasha said, lying through her teeth.
"Staff? Oh, Tasha. Still so lazy." Mrs. Dooley mused.
"And you are still so-- my mother." Tasha covered and laughed awkwardly.
"So what do you do?" She asked Adam.
"Well, I collect rocks, I lift heavy things, I chase bugs." He said not understanding what we needed to do.
"Adam is our chef." Tasha cut in.
"Oh. Right. Chef. Normally, I wear a puffy hat and I yell things in Italian. Bonjour!" He said with nervous laughter.
"What a wonderful sense of humor." Tasha covered.
"And who is she?" Mrs. Dooley continued.
"Bree is my personal trainer." Tasha was pretty good at this.
"Oh. And what exactly does a personal trainer do?" Mrs. Dooley asked.
"It's personal?" Bree added.
"What about you?" Mrs. Dooley asked me.
"I'm Maddie, Mr. Davenport's personal assistant." They say that the best lies are based in truth.
"And Chase-- Chase is-" Tasha said scrambling.
"Maddie's boyfriend!" Leo yelled. "Leo's nanny. Man-nanny. Manny." Tasha said at the same time. I glared at Leo, he mouthed I don't know, we needed something.
"Aren't you a little young to be a manny?" Mrs. Dooley asked Chase, who was still stunned from Leo's excuse.
"Aren't you a little young to be a grandma?" He used to take attention off of him.
"Oh, I like him." Mrs. Dooley smiled.
. . .
"So, Chase is your boyfriend?" Bree came up to me teasing.
"It's just for today, because that's what Leo decided to tell his grandma." I said pretend to be upset, but honestly it was kinda happy to be able to spend time with my boyfriend without people realizing that we're actually together.
"Yeah, don't act like you won't be enjoying it." She added as Chase walked in from the lab elevator. Great he's doing his weird little evil laugh.
"What did you do?" He looked like a deer in headlights.
"Nothing-" He stretched out.
"Mmm-hmm. Sure." I warned. "Come on." I grabbed his hand taking him back down to the Lab.
Davenport House (No one's POV)-
"Mmm-mmm. See, there is too much technology around here. In my day, we didn't have all these gizmos and gadgets. You had your family, it was horrible, and you lived with it. And don't get me started on your staff. I mean, how is my Leo supposed to learn how to do anything for himself?" Rose asked.
"Well, he'll learn without someone criticizing his every move. I'm guessing." Tasha said.
"So, what is the master chef preparing anyway?" Rose asked Adam.
"Uh..." He said unsure.
"He's making-- What's easy, what's easy?" Tasha ripped a recipe from the cookbook giving it to Adam, "Spaghetti. I love how you always follow the directions exactly as written." She pointed out.
"Uh, hey, why don't we do some exercises? It'll help loosen up your creaky bones. And by creaky, I mean time-tested and full of experience!" Said pulling Rose to the living room to do an exercise.
"Add one can of tomatoes." Adam said reading out loud. He crushed the can and the metal lid fell into the pot. "Simmer on low heat. Low heat. Oh, okay!" He used one eye of heat vision till the sauce boiled. "Yeah! I'm cookin'!" He exclaimed. Rose looks at him strangely. "...Which I always do." I covered.
"Okay." Bree stood up.
"Oh, thank you." Rose said as Bree helped her stand.
"Um, let's move on to a simple little exercise that can strengthen your core while crushing a man's windpipe." She said in a fearsome tone.
"Ooh." Rose cooed.
"They already kicked her out of book club for using that one. Anything else?" Tasha asked.
"How about, um, pick up the hat? Yeah. You reach down like you're gonna pick up a hat, and then you kick the air behind you." Bree explained.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Rose exclaimed as she began to fall but Bree caught her. "How'd you get behind me so fast?" She asked.
"Uh, how do you get in front of me so fast, you speedy, little grandma, you?" She laughed.
Davenport Lab (Maddie's POV)-
I had finished my presentation which went really well. Three of the buyers put in an order for the Plasm Blasters, a large amount of the money goes back to Davenport since he is the distributor of the devices. I usually love The Call, but I couldn't enjoy it because I've been so caught up on what Chase is doing. Right now Leo was fishing up a presentation.
"The Davenport Industries' Tabletop Particle Collider. I have absolutely no idea what it does, but it sure looks pretty." Leo said showing off the device.
"Isn't he cute? Kids. Okay." Chase said, pushing Leo away, "Up next we something even more exciting." Leo picked up the device, "It's thrilling, yet mysterious. Exotic, but useful. I have no idea how any household has survived without the--" Chase saw Leo took the device, "Leo."
"Go ahead, you're doing great." Leo said.
"You stole my thunder. He stole my thunder!" He fumed turning to me.
"Who needs thunder when you've got lightning? Zap." Leo added.
"Guys, uh, now might be a good time to unveil my coup d'etat." Davenport said, bringing us over.
"Yes, Leo, why don't you go do your demo?" There's that look. The look that says Chase is doing something stupid and childish.
"One coup de Leo coming right up." Leo said leaving the room with Davenport.
"Last chance. You can tell me now and you won't face punishment." I warned.
"Punishment?" he paled, "What punishment?"
"If I find out that you are doing something stupid, and probably reckless, then you get no kisses for two weeks." He gulped.
"Two weeks?" His voice cracked.
"Two weeks." I confirmed. "Last chance, is there anything you want to tell me Chase?" I moved in closer, fluttering my eyelashes.
"N- no, I didn't do anything." I choked.
"Okay." I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
. . .
"You know, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's about time for the moment we have all been waiting for." Davenport started.
"I know it's the moment I've been waiting for." Chase said to himself, I sent him a look, an the heavy footsteps of the exoskeleton sounded.
"Exo-skeleton in the house!" Leo cheered.
"That's right, the power of ten men in a one size fits all suit. Leo, please demonstrate by lifting this table. Now, ladies and gentlemen, see how elegantly he--" Leo groans and chops the table in half. "Smashes my table of priceless inventions." He said, horrified.
"Gee, if only I had warned you that letting Leo help us was a bad idea." Chase teased. He did this?!
"Leo, stop!" Davenport called.
"I can't! I'm not doing anything! This thing is out of control! Whoa!" Leo explained.
"Not good." Chase exclaimed seeing that he put Leo in danger.
"Not good? That's it." I can't believe him. The three of us ducked behind a desk as Leo and the exo rampaged through the room.
"My bad! You didn't need that, did you? Oh! Was that expensive?" He said knocking over a few devices. He got to my plasma blaster and kicked over the stand knocking it off the stand.
"Live web cams. You know anything can and will happen, it's just extraordinary. You know what? We'll call you back." Davenport said to the buyers quickly. Leo punched the screen, ending the call so this couldn't be seen. He had continued to destroy the lab moving over to the side the capsules were on.
"Okay, this is the scariest and most awesome thing that has ever happened to me." Leo exclaimed.
"Are you using me as a shield?" Chase asked as Davenport.
"You're bionic." He reasoned. We ducked behind the cyber desk for cover.
"I don't get it. I must've tested it, like 120 times. I don't know what could've happened." Davenport explained.
"Something must've gone haywire with the power source when I reversed the controls." Chase revealed thinking out loud. "I guess?" He tried to cover. I hit him shoulder with my blazer repeatedly.
"Why?!" hit. "In?!" hit. "The?!" hit. "World?!" "Would?!" hit. "Do?!" hit "That?!" hit.
"I'm sorry. I-- I didn't mean for it to go berserk. I just wanted to mess with Leo." Still ducking away from me.
"Well, next time, could you just give him a wedgie like everybody else?" Davenport fumed.
"Big D, I hope this doesn't hurt our friendship, but I think I'm about to crush you." Leo picked up Davenport by his coat jacket, raising his fist.
"Not the face! Not the face!" Davenport whimpered before the suit powered down.
"I think it drained its battery!" Leo explained.
"Oh. Still unnecessarily handsome." I rolled my eyes at this. "Leo, get out of that thing." He commanded.
"I know this wasn't exactly what you were going for, Big D, but, man, are we gonna sell a ton of these!" Leo said trapped inside the powered down suit.
. . .
"Chase, how could you do this?" Davenport reprimanded.
"Come on, with my mechanically inclined intelligence, how could I not do it?" He said boastfully.
For someone so smart, he doesn't always think about the possible consequences of his actions.
"Well, you did something, all right. You ruined my biggest sale of the year. Now I'm gonna have to reschedule... The Ca-- You know what? It's not even fun to say anymore." Davenport whined.
"What on earth is going on down here?" Tasha asked, coming from the elevator.
"The exo-skeleton went berserk and almost crushed Davenport." I explained, dryly.
"My mother is upstairs." Her tone is serious and unwavering.
"Yeah, okay. You win." Davenport answered.
"She's been asking where you guys are and I'm running out of excuses. I need everyone upstairs acting like a normal family now!" She commanded, walking out of the lab.
"You know what? We should probably do what she says. She's more prone to violence than the exo-skeleton." We all nodded. "And, Chase, I am very disappointed in you. I don't want you on the next Call." He said walking out.
"I wasn't trying to bump you out. I was trying to show you up. You know, add a little sizzle to your steak." Leo explained as I headed for the elevator as well.
"Well, congratulations, Leo. You won. You got the sizzle, you got the steak, you got the whole stinkin' cow!" He exclaimed joining me as the elevator doors opened.
We stood in silence for a few seconds, before he took a chance.
"How mad are you?" He questioned warily.
"Well I asked you to tell me the truth and you repeatedly lied. Then you put us all in danger." I said crossing my arms not breaking my gaze on the doors. "Two weeks." I said and the elevator docked and I walked out.
Davenport House (Maddie's POV)-
"Donald!" Mrs. Dooley called as we reached the living room.
"Rose." He said with the same tone.
"About time. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me." She accused.
"I was-- Uh, sick. I mean I was sick. I was feeling very ill. And I had a very important phone call. Uh, it's not nearly as important as you." He rambled.
"Nice save." She said.
"Thank you. I thought so." He turned to Tasha, "Honey, what are Adam and Bree doing?"
"You mean our chef and trainer?" She explained.
"That explains what they're doing." he caught on.
"Uh, just a couple more minutes." He said, pulling a melted spatula from the pot.
"Till what? You melt the pot?" I asked him.
"You know what? Let's just all sit down and have a nice dinner together." Tasha said, holding things together the best that she could.
"We can sit down, but having a nice dinner just isn't gonna happen." Leo added receiving a glare from Tasha.
"Hey, you're Leo's manny and you're letting him near a hot stove?" Rose accused.
"Watch it, Leo." Chase led him away from the stove. "You wanna get sent to bed without any supper?" He asked.
"Yes." Leo stated dryly. Adam poured the contents of the pot into Mrs. Dooley's bowl. Charred and crispy noodles.
"What the--?" She exclaimed.
"Pa-sghetti?" Adam shrugged.
"What in the name of great Caesar's ghost is going on around here?" She asked.
"Trust me, there is nothing unusual going on here. Everything is completely normal." Tasha tried once again, before the exo walked in from the lab elevator.
"That was horrible timing." I added.
"What is that?" She asked.
"That is another member of our staff. Go away, James. We don't need you right now." Leo said, continuing the lie while the exo flipped the bench that was next to it.
"Boy, I'm old, not senile, and that's no butler. I'm out." Mrs. Dooley led us all to hide behind the couch. I was with Leo and Chase behind the grass planter.
"Adam, don't just sit there. Go take that thing down!" Bree pointed out but before he could get up Tasha cut in.
"No! If you do that, someone will know that someone has certain abilities!" She huffed as the toaster oven came flying over their heads.
"Oh, well, great. Now dinner's ruined." Adam exclaimed.
"Donald, You're the man of the house, do something!" Mrs. Dooley spoke.
"Right. I'll take care of this." He got up walking towards the exo before a shot came towards him that he nearly missed. He screamed ducking back behind the couch.
"My hero." Rose added dryly.
"Wait, I have an idea." Leo got up dodging a shot as he ran for the lab.
"Now, do you see? Your little gizmo's putting us all in danger. That's robot's about to kill us. Now, see, back when I was a kid, back in the day--" Mrs. Dooley started.
"Yeah, that's a fascinating story, Rose. Do you mind if we hear about it later?" Davenport stopped her.
"Oh!" another blast came. Davenport started using the throw pillows to try and slow down the suit.
"It's destroying your house and you're tossing pillows at it." I commented.
"Well, they're called throw pillows." he justified as Leo ran back in with the da-stabilizer and my plasma blaster in hand.
"Time for this exo to meet its match." He tossed me the blaster.
"The electrofield de-stabilizer. Great idea, Leo." Chase started as I fought the exo with multiple blasts.
"Thanks. Here. You should do it. Sorry for stealing your sizzle." Leo apologized.
"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I just have to get used to the idea of having another brother around." I smiled. I was proud of him for understanding and apologizing.
"Guys, I'm really enjoying the heartfelt moment, but I'm running out of pillows here and Maddie can only knock it back with her blaster." Davenport explained.
"Should we take this bad boy down together?" Leo asked.
"I'll flip, you zap?" Chase offered as they agreed.
"Hey, exo!" Chase started as I ceased fire. He flipped over the fake grass onto the couch. Then moved in front of the exo.
"Here comes the pain." Leo moved to zap it but was disarmed and caught. "Oh. Hey. Hey, Chase, did we have a plan B?" I would've shot it but Leo would've gotten hurt and I couldn't risk that.
"Hey! Nobody lays a hand on my grandson. It's time to pick up the hat!" She ran over to the exo kicking his midsection as hard as she could. It released Leo and moved back. I sent a few blasts now that it was clear, keeping it off balance.
"Way to go, Grandma! And you didn't even break a hip!" Bree cheered.
"Look out, Leo!" Chase slid over picking up the de-stabilizer and grabbing Leo. "Stay close." He commanded activating his force field. Well there goes that secret.
"Yes!" They cheered.
"Somebody better tell me what's going on right now. And right now just passed, so you're not talking fast enough." Mrs. Dooley exclaimed.
"Uh, Rose, there is a completely rational explanation for all of this. You are, uh, delusional. Who wants dessert?" Davenport tried.
"You know what, Mom? This is our life. Our house may be high-tech and chaotic, but it is full of love. And it may not be perfect for you but it is perfect for our family." Tasha explained truthfully.
"What family? Wait a minute, who are these people?" Mrs. Dooley said catching on.
"They are, uh, my brother's kids. That I adopted when he died. Fell in a volcano." He explained quickly.
"I actually am his assistant," I said pointing to Davenport, "but not his girlfriend." I lied, pointing at Chase. Even though I'm still kind of mad at him it did still hurt to say that he's not my boyfriend.
"You sure about that?" Mrs. Dooley questioned, we both nodded. "Well, why didn't you just say so? Now it all makes sense. You're just a modern family with a bunch of adorable kids." I let go of the breath I waholding on to. "Who is gonna need their grandma around all the time. You know, I can stay for a few days in that spare room you got down the hall. Come on, baby. I got my overnight case in the car, and Gladys is watching Poochie so it's no problem. Don't thank me now. Come on." She said inviting herself.
"Chase, you really messed up today, but you kinda made up for it in the way you helped Leo like a brother. And since we have to reschedule it anyways, I want all three of you" Davenport gestured to me as well, "to be on... The Call. Hoo-hoo, it's back, baby." He looked like a kid in a candy store.
Davenport Lab (Maddie's POV)-
Chase and I came down to the Lab to talk. I started.
"I'm less mad at you now." He looked up a glint of hope in his eyes at my words. "You did the right thing upstairs with Leo, I'm proud of you for that." I said.
"I really am sorry Madds. It was stupid to lie to you and hurt you."
"Yeah that sucked." I admitted. "But for some reason I like your stupid face too much, which makes it hard not to forgive you." I joked. He smiled. "Instead of two weeks it's gonna be one, cause you still lied and that's not cool." I explained. He frowned.
"Can I still hug you?" He questioned. I nodded and he came straight to me engulfing me in his arms and spinning me around. "One whole week?" He questioned.
"Do you want it to be two?" I said my hands against his chest.
"No, nope. One week is perfectly fair." He said quickly. We got to work on fixing the exo-skeleton.
Davenport house (Leo's POV)-
We all sat down in the living room
"Oh, man. I am starving." Grandma said. The doorbell rings.
"Oh, that must be the pizza." Big D said.
"Yeah." My mom agreed.
"I'll get it!" I walked out in the exo suit that Maddie and Chase had fixed.
"Leo, what're you doing in that thing?" Maddie asked me, from her spot next to Chase on the couch. I opened the door and the delivery guy panicked, dropping the pizza running away.
"Gettin' free pizza!" I cheered. I got the suit off and we all sat down for pizza and a movie.
We watched a movie and at the end I turned to see Maddie and Chase asleep cuddled together. She had her head on his shoulder and arms around his middle. He had his head rested against hers and his arm around the shoulder. It made sense that they fell asleep. They were up early for the past couple mornings, preparing for the call.
"Are you sure those two aren't dating?" Grandma asked.
"We have a running bet to see what will happen." Bree explained.
"There's no way they won't get together." I added, "But they insist that there's nothing going on."
"I say they'll get together within the year, Adam already lost because he thought they would've gotten together before March was over, and Leo thinks neither of them will do anything till junior year." Bree explained.
"Promise to tell me when it happens." Grandma said looking at me.
A/N: Next is either Smart and Smarter, Bionic birthday fail, or an original chapter.