When Chase opened the front door, he saw his siblings talking quietly on the couch. When they noticed him, they stopped their conversation.
"Chase, are you okay?", Bree asked.
Chase nodded: "Of course I am. I can take of myself, you know."
"I know", Bree replied "But we were really worried! Douglas and Krane are still out there and you were gone for more than two hours!"
Chase looked at all of his siblings: "You were really worried about me?"
"Of course we were!", Leo answered.
Chase smiled: "Thank you".
While Adam, Bree and Leo tried to understand what Chase meant by that, Chase walked over to Tasha and mr. Davenport who were sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen.
"Chase, where have you been?", mister Davenport asked "We were worried something bad had happened to you! Like Douglas kidnapping you… again!"
Chase did his best to hide the smile from his face: "No need to worry, I was at the park. But thank you for worrying about me. I appreciate it."
Mr. Davenport looked at Tasha and then back at Chase, not even trying to hide his confusion: "Euhm... You're welcome?"
When Chase walked over to the couch, he turned to Tasha: "Did I miss something?"
Tasha shrugged her shoulders and continued to look at Chase.
"Guys?", Chase asked as he sat down next to Leo.
"Yeah, What's up?", Bree asked.
"Is there something wrong?", Leo asked immediately.
"No, no", Chase quickly said "I just wanted to tell you something."
"Okay then…", Bree said hesitantly "Go ahead."
Chase took a deep breath and pulled himself together before he spoke up: "We may fight a lot, but I want you guys to know that I honestly care about you guys."
Adam jumped up with big eyes: "Who are you and what have you done to my brother?"
Leo put his hand against Chase's forehead: "Are you sure you're feeling okay? 'Cause I think you might have caught a fever!"
"I feel fine", Chase reassured Leo "I just wanted to make sure you knew that I honestly cared about you guys. All of you."
Tasha smiled and walked over to the couch: "We care about you to, sweetie."
"Chase, where is this coming from?", mr. Davenport asked, now standing in front of Chase "Has it got anything to do with what happened with Douglas today?"
Chase grinned: "You could say that, yeah."
"Okay then!", Adam said "This calls for a family hug! Bring it in, guys!"
It didn't take long before everyone had gathered in Adam's arms and they were dangling above the ground in his strong grip.
One mile further away, sitting on the darkest bench next to the pond, Douglas was watching everything from his tablet. Good thing they never discovered the camera's upstairs, Douglas thought.
As he saw his youngest son doing exactly what he had asked him to do, he felt his cold heart melt a little further.
He smiled as he closed the video feed: "I should have known: he won't make the same mistakes I made...".
Author's note: Hi! I know, short chapter. I just didn't know what else to put in there…
Anyway, two more chapters! :D If you like Chase and Douglas together, let me know! I'm willing to write more stories like this one :).
As always: ideas/suggestions/ reviews /requests/ … are welcome! :D
R&R!