Wow, already to chapter 5!
PurpleNicole531: In the next chapter, there will be all sorts of shared reactions between our teenage students, don't worry.
DirtKid: You may be onto something... ;)
LabRatsWhore: I know, the Kate and Adam pairing was just something I wanted to try and also to fill in parts of the story, but it has been really fun to write!
Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats
There were not really any leads on this investigation. Just information to find. And where do snoopy teenagers find stuff? In places their parents do not want them to go.
So where would Krane have hid information so important to Taylor? Well, there was only one place they knew of where Krane had stayed.
"Gross! Who knows what kind of bacteria are thriving in this dark, dusty habitat," Leo moaned, making his way into the hideout.
"Oh man up Leo," Taylor said, a small grin on her face.
"Why do I even have to be here?" Leo moaned.
"Because, if I do find anything, I need you to read it to me," Taylor replied. "Cause, you know, I can't,"
Leo raised an eyebrow. "You never learned how to read?"
Taylor titled her head and sighed. "No, because I'm blind,"
"Oh, yeah," Leo muttered. "So, where do we start looking?"
"Look for a computer," Taylor replied. "I vaguely remember Krane complaining about papers, something about scanning and shredding,"
Leo nodded, moving to the moderately large computer desk to the left. Krane may have had super intelligence, but Leo had spent enough time around his step father and brother to be able to hack the simple infrastructure.
"Are you in?" Taylor asked.
"Yep," Leo grinned. "Now, what exactly am I looking for again?"
"Records, of any kind, related to me or my origins," Taylor responded.
"Well, you may want to take a seat then, because it could take me a while to get through all of this," Leo sighed.
Taylor shrugged and sat down next to him. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes. "Let me know when you find anything useful,"
Leo smirked and continued to search, noticing that Taylor was falling asleep beside him. Might as well let her get some rest, Leo reasoned, no one wants a sleepy bionic navigating them home.
He scoured through the computer for what seemed like hours, until he finally found what they were looking for. It was some type of binding document, not exactly an adoption paper, but more like a business deal.
Krane was paying someone off in exchange for something.
"Oh no," Leo murmured. He looked to the left to see his friend, asleep and blissfully unaware. He could tell her nothing, spare her feelings, but then he would be keeping the very information from her that she was killing herself to find.
Leo put a hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. "Taylor? Taylor, wake up,"
"What?" Taylor yawned, sitting up.
"I, I think I may have found something," Leo murmured.
"Like what?" Taylor asked excitedly.
"It's an old document, which kind of gives Krane custody of you," Leo replied carefully.
"Kind of? Is it an adoption certificate?" Taylor asked.
Leo shook his head. "No, it's more like a legally binding document, that gave you to him,"
Taylor raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"Taylor, it isn't pretty-"
"Leo Dooley, tell me or I am going to think the worst," Taylor warned.
Leo sighed. "A woman, probably your mother, gave you to Krane,"
"Why?" Taylor prodded. "Does it say why? Does it say anything else?"
"Just that Krane was giving her a small monetary gift to help her with any 'expenses' she may have had in the process of their agreement," Leo said.
"Does it have her name on it?: Taylor asked.
Leo squinted at the screen. "Water or something must have gotten on it, I can't read it. All that is left is a phone number," Leo replied. He turned to his friend, and the two of them stayed silent for a few minutes.
"How much?" Taylor asked, breaking the silence.
Leo looked at her, confused. "How much what?"
"How much did she give me up for?" Taylor clarified.
Leo sighed. "Taylor, this isn't something you don't want to know,"
"Why? Shouldn't I know what she thought I was worth?" Taylor growled, trying to keep the tears from spilling out.
"What she thought doesn't matter. She never really knew you, she could never put a price tag on you. I'm scared to tell you because I worry that this number could consume you, and that you will begin to believe that is what you are worth. It's better not to know," Leo argued.
Taylor bit her lip. She wanted to argue, wanted to know, but she already knew that Leo was right. "Fine," She sighed.
"Maybe we should head back to the island know," Leo suggested.
Taylor nodded."But first, read my the number,"
"Taylor, I thought we just went over this,"
Taylor rolled her eyes, but he couldn't tell. "No, Leo. I mean the phone number,"
"But this number is from like, 19 years ago. Odds are she doesn't have the same number any more," Leo pointed out.
"I don't care. Just read it to me," Taylor responded.
"Fine. 415-619-6514," Leo read. "Are you even going to remember it?"
"I have an eidetic memory, I'll remember it," Taylor assured him. "If not, what's the harm?"
"Can we go now?" Leo asked. "This place get's creepier by the minute,"
Taylor nodded. "Sure, let's go home,"
Leo linked his arm with her, letting her super sped them back to the hydro-loop station.
Back at the academy,
Adam walked down the hall, bored out of his mind. Bob was training, he himself had no classes to teach, and let's just say the television had a little accident with Adam's heat vision earlier that week.
As he headed further down the corridor, he noticed a dark haired student curled up on a couch a lounge area by the dorms. He wasn't sure why, but when saw her, his heart race quickened and a smile spread across his face.
"Hey Kate!"
Kate looked up from the dark brown object in her hands and smiled at him. "Hey Adam,"
"What are you up to?" Adam asked, taking a seat next to her.
"Just reading," Kate replied.
Adam raised an eyebrow. "Is this for a class?"
Kate shook her head. "No, just for fun". The look Adam gave her made Kate want to giggle. "Why, haven't you ever read for fun before?"
Adam shook his head. "No, not really,"
"Why not?" Kate asked curiously.
Adam looked down at the ground. "Because I am really not that good at reading,"
"Adam, you can't be that bad," Kate replied.
"I can't even spell my own name correctly," Adam muttered.
Kate put her hand on top of his. "What about in school? Didn't you ever need to read or write, didn't the teacher's ever notice?"
Adam snorted. "Like they cared. They all thought I was stupid, and even Mr. Davenport told everyone that I wouldn't make it to college anyway. I'm a lost cause, academically at least,"
"No one is a lost cause," Kate told him gently. "Sometimes a different approach is needed, that's all,"
Adam looked at the wall, still unconvinced.
"Adam, when the last time you tried to work on reading?" Kate asked.
Adam shrugged. "I can't remember. It's not like I can just pick up any of the books around her and read them. It's way too hard,"
"Then what about starting at your actual reading level," Kate suggested.
Adam shook his head fervently. "No, if Chase or anyone else finds me reading picture books I'll be a laughing stock,"
"No one has to see you," Kate assured him. "Wouldn't it be worth it to try?"
"Why? I'll never be a famous writer or poet anyway," Adam countered. "I'll never be smarter than Chase, or be asked for my genius opinion on a paper,"
"Forget about Chase, or anyone else. Do it for yourself Adam. Do it because you want to get better, and to be able to read at your age level, for fun, for work, for life," Kate stressed.
"I wouldn't even know where to start," Adam murmured, laying back into the couch.
Kate stood up and walked over to the bookshelf, grabbing a magazine from the bottom stack. She returned to the couch and sat down again beside Adam, snuggling up next to him.
"What is that for?" Adam asked.
Kate smiled and placed the magazine in front of him. "For fun,"
In the Davenport Men's Super Secret Lab,
Douglas sat at his cyber desk, working away. He was so concentrated on the screen in front of him, he did not realize that his brother had entered the room.
"Hey Douglas," Donald said, waving a hand in front of his brother's face.
"Hi," Douglas murmured, his eyes glued to the screen.
"Douglas?" Donald asked.
Douglas only gave his brother the slightest nod possible in response.
Donald sighed. "Douglas!"
Douglas snapped his head up to look at his brother. "What?"
"How are you doing?" Donald asked carefully.
Douglas jerked back. "I'm fine, why?" he asked defensively.
His brother pulled his chair over and sat next to him. "You just seem a little off. I wanted to make sure everything was okay,"
"Well, thanks for checking in, but I'm fine. Can we drop this now?" Douglas snapped.
Donald shook his head. "No, because something is clearly getting to you. What is it?" he asked. Donald quickly, before his brother could stop him, leaned over the computer to see what was one the screen. After he caught a glimpse of the picture, he understood.
"Oh, so that's whats bothering you again," Donald murmured.
Douglas nodded. "So now you know. Lucky you,"
Donald put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it must be hard-"
"No, Donnie, you don't," Douglas huffed.
"I'm so sorry-"
"She didn't deserve what happened," Douglas nearly cried. "She only got sixty four minutes, do you get that, sixty four! Thats just over an hour. She never got to have a birthday, make any friends, to laugh. Hell, she only got to go outside once, and that was when I stepped outside into the fresh air with her at the hospital, and Giselle sure gave me an earful about the whole thing!"
"Douglas-"
"And it's not like Giselle cared anyway. We all knew that relationship had been going downhill for a while, we were on the verge of breaking up, but then she got pregnant. The entire time at the hospital, it was like Giselle was just waiting for it all to be over. She was never really invested in the Sarah's future, I was the one who got everything ready, she never bothered to lift a finger!" Douglas shouted, his blood pressure soaring. "I mean, that was the only thing she gave her, that name! Giselle picked it, I wanted Bree, but that was too 'main stream'. Giselle even put Vickers on the birth certificate without telling me, but by the time I found out, the death certificate was already signed as well!"
In his anger, Douglas had not even realized that he was now standing up, or that he was sobbing, or that his brother had thrown his arms around him for comfort.
"It just isn't fair," Douglas whimpered, collapsing into his brother.
Aw, pobre Douglas! Next chapter, we will get to see another rant, an attack, a cute moment, and a reunion.
But until then, please leave a review to not only encourage me to update, but to let me know what you thought of this chapter. Taylor's mother? We will see her sooner than later, but how? Adam and Kate, on a scale of 1 to newborn kittens, how cute are they? And what significant detail(s) in Douglas' rant stand out enough to make us all suspicious?
Thanks~ AzulaTano