"Okay guys," Chase had called an emergency, secret guys' meeting in the lab, "Bree has moved past the initial shock into stage four. Like I said, this will take a few days, but the next few stages are crucial." By this point he had invested in a nice binder, which he kept having to hit Davenport away from touching with his fingerprints. "Stage five is The Bounce-Back, which goes either one of two ways. She goes crawling back to Owen, which ends in disaster and a complete revert back to stage three, or she finds a rebound or has a successful night with her friends doing whatever it is that girls actually do. The latter moves her on quickly to stage six: Philosophical Bree, in which she begins to passive-aggressively contemplate the existence of herself, of love and the hatred for anything to do with the Y-Chromosome. It is crucially important that you do not mention Owen's name in the sixth stage, because that reverts her back to stage two and the cycle starts all over again."
"What's the seventh stage?" Leo asked and Chase nodded.
"The Voldemort Stage," he said, "This takes a few weeks to a few months, but it is easy and barely an actual stage, I just needed seven to make the pun work. Basically, do not mention the word Owen for the next half year unless specifically brought up in a conversation by Bree. Even then, limit the mentioning of 'Owen' to twice per conversation so she doesn't miss him and get any ideas. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," Adam nodded completely seriously, "Even to me. I like the colours."
"Yes well they're mine and you can't have them." Chase pulled the binder back to himself and closed the meeting, he hid the binder behind his capsule and went upstairs to find his sister.
"Bree," Adam sighed from the kitchen, he was eyeing the toaster, which he could tell was about to pop, but he couldn't move. Bree was very pathetically hugging him from the front, which made movement restricting even for someone with super strength. "Bree," he said again, "I love you, but I," he sighed, the toast popped, "Bree I want my toast!"
He caught Chase's warning gaze from across the room and sighed; he had to be a supportive big brother.
"Okay," he sighed, "I need to get the butter out of the fridge now," he shuffled with her, this really wasn't working. "You know what," he smiled, "I don't need toast," he gave up. "You have it."
"Really?" Bree broke apart and took Adam's toast out of the toaster; she took a bite, "Thanks, bro."
"No problem," Adam walked away. He breathed out in his personal grief and Chase lay a hand on his shoulder.
"You did good, buddy," he nodded, "That was a big sacrifice."
"Yeah well you owe me some toast," he hissed and stomped off to the lab. He could make toast down there from his secret bread stash and laser vision, so the joke was on Bree really, because she didn't get bionic toast and Adam did.
Chase was taking a breather from Bree worry, which he hadn't wanted to do, but Tasha had made him. As his, Adam's and Leo's video game loaded on the screen, he thought back to his and his Step-Mom's conversation:
"I know it's the weekend," Chase had said to her, "And I probably have tons of homework and catch-up work due, but I'll do it when Bree's in a better place."
"Chase," Tasha had smiled, "I'm not talking about your homework. You look worried and Bree worries about you just as much as you worry about her. Just take a break, play some video games with your brothers."
Chase had been hesitant, but it did sound good, "Okay fine," he had agreed, "But just, will you watch Bree?" He hadn't told Tasha about his Seven Stages of Breeif theory and he didn't want anything to jeopardize it. And he wanted Bree to be okay. Tasha chuckled and lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Sure honey," she smiled, "Go and have fun, you old worrier." And Chase had walked to the couch, but Tasha had called him back. "And Chase?" He turned, "You're a good brother, Bree is lucky to have you and Adam."
So now Chase was here, playing with Leo and Adam on a team to defeat the hardest level imaginable on this game. They had been training for this for weeks, but no matter how hard he wanted to concentrate, he was still worried about Bree and his theory. If this theory was correct, as his genius brain knew it would be, that meant he had cracked the mind of girls. He really was a genius.
Bree right now was down in the lab with Mr Davenport, he was letting her help build something, when in reality she would be watching him whilst forcing a hug every twenty seconds. So, although Chase didn't wholly trust his father with this, it did give him some time to stop worrying about Bree.
The boys were almost at their high score. This was amazing. Chase had almost forgotten all about Bree's break-up, and probably would have done too if it wasn't for a small voice behind them.
"Hey," Bree sighed and Chase paused his game to look at her; Leo complained, but then saw Bree and Adam went straight to a concern for his sister.
"How was your toast?" The oldest bionic glared. Bree climbed in the middle of her brothers.
"Can I play?"
Chase hesitated. Letting her play would compromise their mission, but not letting her play would upset her and might make her revert back to stage three. They had to include her, make her feel loved.
"Please?" She widened her eyes and the guys shared a look.
"Okay," Chase nodded; it was a knockout game. Two characters could still go for the end. "Here," he handed her the controller, but found he had trouble letting go. "This button's forward, this is backwards, this is jump, duck, kick, punch and," he sighed, "Try not to die."
"Got it," Bree nodded, "Thanks, you never let me play."
"No problem," Chase nodded and got a side glance of 'Are you crazy?!' from Leo. He made to shuffle out of the way to give Bree space to move and play, but instead she just leant against Adam; she was slumped so far down there was no way she could move. "Aren't you going to sit up?" Chase prompted, but Bree shrugged.
"It's just hitting buttons, my fingers can do that." Adam moved to un-pause and Chase sighed. This was a mistake.
But at first she seemed to be doing alright and Chase watched her every move on the screen as she played his character for a bit. At some points he had to bite his fist to stop him from shouting, but at other's he just couldn't help himself.
"No, no, Bree – jump – duck – kick – kick him! – He's behind you – no, that's Leo! Bree!"
"Shut up, Chase, it's a game! You're not mission leader!"
Then Chase's third of the screen went black.
"No," he whispered, "You died," months of training for this. "Oh my God." Leo and Adam were still playing, but Bree dropped the controller in her lap and turned to her little brother.
"Sorry," she looked at him, "Really Chase I didn't mean to ruin it, I just…sorry." She looked on the verge of tears.
"No, it's fine," Chase hugged her and silently swore when she couldn't see, but he took a deep, calming breath.
And he was literally saved by the bell. The elevator dinged and Davenport strolled into the living room; he was wearing a huge grin and only Tasha, Bree and Chase watched him.
"Bree, where did you go?" He smiled, "I thought we were working on a robot."
Bree shrugged, "Missed my brothers." Chase inwardly sighed; how was he supposed to be mad at Bree for ruining his game when she was this pathetic?
"Aw," Davenport saw Chase's not-so-subtle-but-hidden-from-Bree expression and smiled, "So how is my little Bree barnacle at the moment? You're better off without Owen, sweetie."
Chase widened his eyes; what the Hell did Davenport think he was doing? No! That was rule one! Don't mention Owen. Chase gave him one job!
He turned to Bree, the tears started turning her eyes glassy.
"Why did you call me a barnacle?" She asked Davenport, then turned to Chase, "Am I clingy?"
"No," Chase lied and hugged her, "No, absolutely not, Bree, we love you." She sniffed, "It's okay, please don't cry," he silently begged a lot more than he was soothing. Being the comforting, understanding brother was stressful. "Bree," he changed his tone, "You don't want to give that piece of trash the satisfaction."
"Wait, are you talking about me?" Davenport began, "I just –"
"Shut up, Mr Davenport!" Chase glared at him.
Bree finally nodded and sat up, "You're right Chase," she managed a half smile and cuddled into him, "I'm not going to give him the time of day, he's not worth it."
"Exactly."
"I'm just going to get some water," Bree made to stand, but Chase was, firstly, quite liking comforting Bree and secondly, he needed the sturdiness back in stage four to stick after that close slip back.
"Mr Davenport," Chase looked at his father, shoed him to the kitchen and hugged Bree tight, "She's thirsty."
When Bree was content watching Adam and Leo finish the game, Chase walked up to Davenport. "What the Hell was that?" He hissed. "You know, for a billionaire inventor, you're not very smart."
"Hey," Davenport held up his hands in a surrender, "I was trying to help, okay? I'm sorry."
"Well stick to the plan!" Chase ran a hand through his hair; he had no idea why this was making him so stressed. Maybe he just hated seeing Bree so down. He fixed everything with logic – that was his thing, even if that meant his sister's break-up too. "Look, what if we have a mission alert when she's in the crying stage?" Chase explained it that way and Davenport widened his eyes.
"Alright, I'm sorry," he sighed, but then he leant in to Chase, "Although, your little hypothesis is scarily accurate."
"Thank you!" Chase threw up a hand, "Again: smartest man alive!"