Many thanks to Visatoarea10, LRW, Sarcasmisinmyblood, Dirtkid123, Casey Storm, BeautifulSupernova, Hithere, and AlienGhostWizard14 for the reviews! Glad to see that the little twist was received well ;)

Special shout-out to AlienGhostWizard14! Thanks for checking on me.

ShadowDragon1553's prompt inspired day eighteen's entry. They asked for one where Leo gets injured, and either Douglas or Chase takes care of him. Since Visatoarea10's prompt involves Chase (and Adam and Bree) caring for their little brother (entry coming in a few days), Douglas was chosen for this one. Thanks for the prompt, ShadowDragon1553, and I hope you enjoy it!

This entry's also inspired by Daniel Beaty's spoken word performance in Def Jam Poetry that has the same title. It's a powerful performance, and if you're into spoken word or poetry or both, please do check it out.

Onto day eighteen! (Days nineteen and twenty should be coming soon ;) )


/day eighteen/

Prompt: (from ShadowDragon1553) taking care

Featured LR character(s): Douglas, Leo


"Knock, Knock"


Douglas learns more about Leo as he helps him recover from an injury he sustained from a mission.


Douglas reels back as Leo yelps out in pain. He watches with wrinkled brows as his step-nephew leans back on his seat, clutching onto his knee, his eyes tightly closed and his jaws locked as he attempts to contain the agony. They had been at these therapy sessions for a week now, and watching the kid fight the pain has yet to get easier. "One to ten, where are you?" he prompts.

Leo tries to grin. "I'm at 'why do we have to do this?' right now," he says.

Douglas looks at him drily. "You know why," he says, reaching out for his step-nephew's foot. "Alright. Let's try that again."

"Wait, wait, wait. Can you give me a few minutes? Just a few?" Leo pleads as he slowly eases his foot back down.

Douglas stares at him for a moment before answering, "Fine. A few minutes."

He's not happy about this situation. Granted, what the kid did was good. He was trying to save a person from getting carried away by the floodwaters, but he dived in before his older siblings could finish up attaching the safety gear to him. That later resulted to his leg getting caught between a wooden fence. If the current had been stronger, his leg would have definitely been broken, but Chase was able to get to him and pull him out before anything happened.

He doesn't understand why this kid insists on doing stupid things on missions. He guesses that's none of his concern and that he shouldn't really care because what needs to be done usually gets accomplished anyways, but his step-nephew's recklessness makes him nervous. Angry, actually, because the kid just refuses to listen. Despite the repeated warnings from his stepfather, his mother, and even from him, he still does things like this.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Leo asks.

"A few more weeks. Until you gain good mobility on your leg," he says gruffly.

"Oh. So, I'm really benched until then, huh?"

"Yeah. Thankfully."

Leo's brows rise. "Thankfully?" he echoes.

"If you go back out there, you're just going to make it worse. Plus, who knows what else you're going to break if you go on another mission."

"I'm careful."

"Does that look careful to you?" Douglas asks with a nod to the teenager's heavily bandaged leg.

"I had to do it. That man was going to die if I didn't go in," he says defensively.

"I understand that, but there were procedures you had to follow," he says firmly. "You've been in trainings for months. Have you not learned anything?"

"Of course I did."

"Then why do you not follow it?"

"It's not that I don't want to follow it, it's just that sometimes there's no time for doing things by the book," Leo says, obviously offended and riled up, signaling the beginning of their argument for today.

"They're there for a reason, kid," Douglas says, his voice elevating.

"I know they are. You've been reminding me about it every day," Leo says. His head hangs low as he realizes how exhausted that disagreement is becoming. "I know this is not what you want to do right now, so if you want to, you can leave. I'll tell Big D we did what we had to do today," he says, looking at him.

"It's not even that. Leo, you need to start understanding that I'm ticked off, not because I feel forced doing this, but because I don't like it that this has to happen in the first place," Douglas answers. "You're a smart kid. I just don't understand why you keep sticking your neck out like that like it's nothing."

Leo doesn't say anything, but it's obvious he understands his step-uncle's point.

Douglas takes pity on him when he sees the troubled look on his face. He sighs. "How's your schedule looking like for the next month or so?" he asks.

Leo shrugs. "The same. The only differences are the crutches and that I have a pass to be a little late to the classes because of this."

Douglas nods. He drags the swivel chair he's on towards the cabinet located near the bed where Leo is sitting at to take out a box of new gauze. "Down time shouldn't hurt," he comments.

"Yep. I'm less dangerous that way."

Douglas glares at him. "I just meant that you'd get more rest," he says. "I overheard Donny telling your mom that he may give you time off from trainings and classes and let you come back to Mission Creek for a while. Have they talked to you about that?"

"No. Not that I remember."

Douglas smirks. "You're going to say no, aren't you?" he asks.

"No. Actually, I may just go. Mom has been asking me when I'm going to have a vacation. I think she wants me to visit. I may just go ahead and do it. It's been some time."

"You miss her?"

Leo chuckles. "Yeah. Big time," he says. As he watches his step-uncle examine the gauze, he says, "You know, before she got married, my mom and I spent a lot of time together. I don't know if you know this, but my mom raised me by herself. For years, it was just us. She was taking care of me, and, in my own way, I was taking care of her."

"Oh."

"She did well, though. At least I think she did," Leo continues as Douglas examines his broken leg. "I don't even know how she managed it, but she did. She's a good one."

Douglas concentrates on his task and pretends to be only passively listening.

Leo looks at him then laughs. "Am I talking your ears off?"

"No," Douglas says honestly. He doesn't tell him he has questions but hesitates to ask them because he doesn't want to be intrusive. "Are you ready to start another set?"

"Can I have a few more minutes?"

Douglas reaches for the scissors on the desk to open up the new set of first aid kit he had taken from the cabinet.

As his step-uncle begins the new project, Leo continues, "I'm glad Big D and Mom got together, because it was kind of getting more and more difficult for Mom as I was growing up. At least now it's not as difficult for her."

Douglas smiles down as he keeps at his work. "You really love your mother, don't you?"

"Yes. But don't tell anybody," Leo answers with a soft grin.

"There's nothing wrong with loving your parents," Douglas says. "So I'm told."

Leo laughs. "I know," he says.

"The internet can do some pretty interesting things, can't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your parents. Didn't they meet through a site?"

"You mean Mom and Big D?"

"Yeah. You were talking about them just now," Douglas points out.

"Oh. Yeah. Yeah, they did," Leo says with a smile. "I didn't like the idea at first because I didn't want her to end up with someone completely mental, but she met Big D."

Douglas grins to himself. "Well, there's not much of a difference between the two, really," he comments.

Leo laughs at the joke. "You better be glad Big D's not here to hear that."

Douglas shrugs, oddly happy that he has made someone laugh. "So, if you don't mind me asking, did your dad meet your mom online, too?" he asks casually but also cautiously.

"No. Actually, they started out because of a bet." When his step-uncle looks up at him, intrigued, he explains, "One of my dad's friends told him one day that there was no chance he could get my mom to go on a date with him. See, my dad was a junior in college then, and my mom was just starting out at the same school as a freshman. My dad apparently lived for dares like that, so he told his friends that he could do it easily. He came up to Mom, and, you know, sweet talked her and things like that, but once he asked, she shut him down. My mom didn't come from a rich family, so she was focused on her studies; she didn't want to lose her scholarship. Mom told me later on, though, that she'd actually seen my dad during the fall showcase a week prior – my dad was majoring in Dance – and she thought he was cute.

"Anyways, Dad was persistent. The more his friends teased him about that fail, the more determined he got to getting her to go out with him. But, Mom was as persistent, and when she found out that my dad had a bit of a reputation of being a womanizer, that made it impossible for him. Eventually, he just stopped trying. Two years later, though, when they met again and when Mom thought that Dad wasn't as bad as he was before, they started going out. Then, a year later, they got married."

Douglas smiles. "Much more interesting than the site story," he says.

"Yeah. I guess," Leo says. The smile on his face fades almost to nothing. "I miss my dad. It's been ten years since I last saw him."

Douglas looks at him. "Sorry to hear about that," he says sympathetically.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too," Leo says. He shoots him a consolatory smile. "Cancer's terrible. It takes away the people you need in your life."

Douglas stares. His brother has never told him this about Tasha and Leo before.

"Mom did her best to raise me, but there are just some things I wished my dad was able to teach me," Leo continued. "My grandfather taught me some things, and it's great and I'm thankful – but…"

"It's different," Douglas supplies.

Leo nods. "There are many things I wanna ask him, like, 'How do you shoot a ball?', 'How do you stand up for yourself? Stand up for other people?', 'How do you even shave without cutting yourself?'" he says, chuckling at that last part. "My dad was a good man, and I want to become like him, but how do I even do that when I don't remember him much anymore?" He smiles sadly and sheepishly at his step-uncle after a period of silence. "Now have I talked your ears off?" he asks.

Douglas shakes his head. "No."

Leo nods. "I think I'm ready for that next set now," he says.

Douglas scoots forward with his chair then places his hands under his step-nephew's knee and at the arch of his foot to give it support. However, before he can start he says, "Look, kid, I understand the importance of having a father in your life as you grow up. Donald and I had ours, and I can just imagine how much different things would have turned out if he wasn't there to teach us how to be men. I know Donald is different from your dad, but you can always come to him when you need something." After a moment, he adds, "And if, you know, he's a bit preoccupied with teaching Adam or Chase or both of them, you can always come ask me if you have a question."

Leo smiles. He nods. "Alright."

Douglas clears his throat, uncomfortable with the idea of staying on that topic. "Okay. We're good to start?" he asks.

"Yep."

Douglas gradually elevates Leo's foot to level it with his knees. When the boy hisses, his features scrunching in pain, he slows the movement more.

A grin comes through the grimace on Leo's face. "Hey," he says, "do – ow. Do you want to hear a joke?"

Douglas looks at Leo. The kid amazes him. Even in the nearly torturous pain he's in, he still finds a way to make light of the situation. "Yeah. Sure," he says with a smile.

"Okay," Leo says, calling to mind how his father told it to him when he was younger. "Knock, knock…"


Reviews are appreciated! :)