Fifteen minutes later, the Davenport brothers where quietly working in the lab. While Donald was working on the motherboard, Douglas was sitting behind the cyberdesk doing some programming for Donald's project.

"So… What were you and Chase doing in your room?", Donald suddenly said, slightly startling Douglas.
"Not much", Douglas answered as he continued his work "Just talking."
"Talking you say...", Donald replied.
"Yeah", Douglas nodded, looking up from his programming "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Wrong?", Donald asked, suddenly nervous "Wrong? No! I mean, you've got every right to talk to my children... your children... The kids!"
Douglas stopped typing and crossed his arms in front of his chest: "Don, what's wrong? And don't say it's nothing!"
Donald sighed and walked over to his younger brother: "Ok, fine"
"So, what's up?", Douglas asked "You can trust me"

"Really?", Donald glared "Can I? Because the last time you said that, I returned to find three genetically engineered children with bionics who you wanted to use as weapons!"
Douglas flinched at the tone of his brother, but quickly recovered: "I made mistakes, Don. I know that. But now we can start all over again."
"Can we?", Donald asked "Because I'm not so sure of that yet. I'm letting you live here, but that doesn't mean I forgot what you did. I've forgiven you, but I don't trust you."
"So that's what this is about!", Douglas said "You're worried I'm gonna do something bad to the kids?"
"Can you blame me?!", Donald exclaimed "Who knows what kind of an influence you'll have on them?"
"I was merely talking to Chase!", Douglas told his brother "And if you really wanna know, he came to me."
"That's another thing I'm worried about…", Donald muttered silently, but Douglas had heard him.

"What?!", he yelled "Why?!".
"Chase is already acting like you!", Donald yelled back "What if he turns out just as evil as you did?!"
"He won't!", Douglas replied, still yelling at the top of his lungs.
"And how can you be so sure of that?", Donald yelled, convinced that he had won this discussion/fight.
But Douglas just crossed his arms and lowered his voice: "I'll make sure of it."
Donald was taken aback by this sudden confidence in Douglas.
"You really are confident about this, aren't you?", he asked after a small silence.
"Yes", Douglas answered immediately "Why aren't you? Don't lose faith in the kid, just because I'm around."
"Okay", Donald nodded "I won't."

Donald just wanted to turn around when Douglas spoke up again: "Oh yeah, one more thing."
"Yeah?", Donald asked as he faced his brother once more.
"In case you wanted to know: Chase has been feeling a little down lately.", Douglas said as he leaned against the cyberdesk.
"Really?", Donald asked surprised "How do you know?"
Douglas shrugged casually as he answered: "He told me."
"But you've kidnapped him!", Donald said with big eyes "Twice! I've taken care of him for sixteen years! Why didn't he come to me?"
Douglas looked Donald in the eyes as he answered: "Because I listened."

Donald flinched and looked at the floor, instinctively knowing that he had lost: "We should get back to work."
"Donald, wait!", Douglas said before his brother could leave.
Donald looked up in surprise at the use of his full name: "What's up?"
"I'm not trying to reclaim my kids", Douglas explained, trying his best to hide the sadness behind his eyes "I just want to be there if they need me. Are you okay with that?"
Donald nodded: "Okay… And Douggie?"
Douglas smirked: "Yes… Donnie"
Donald smiled: "I'm glad you're back on our side."
Douglas smiled back: "You and me both."

Two hours later, Chase went down to the lab to check on mr. Davenport and Douglas. When he entered the lab, he had expected seeing them yell at each other or maybe even fighting physically.
Instead, Douglas was typing on the cyberdesk and mr. Davenport was leaning on his shoulder, silently going over the calculations.
"Come on in, Chase", Douglas suddenly said "Have a look at my work."
Chase, slightly impressed that Douglas had noticed him, walked over to Douglas' other side and looked at the programming he had done.
"It looks good", Chase admitted after a couple of minutes.
"Good? It's great!", Douglas exclaimed proudly.
"It's okay", mr. Davenport admitted "But I could've done it way faster!"
"No, you couldn't have!", Douglas immediately replied.
Chase laughed: "Okay, I get it! What's important is that it's done now and it looks good!"
"Now we just have to put these codes into your invention and then we're ready for a test", Douglas said to mr. Davenport.
Mr Davenport nodded: "I'll get it so we can plug it into the computer".

"Okay, I see everything is going smooth here.", Chase said "If anyone needs me, I'll be upstairs."
"Chase, hold up.", Douglas said.
Mr. Davenport turned back around and put the invention down on the table, watching the scene from the other side of the lab. 'There's something going on between those two', he thought.
"There's something I have to tell you", Douglas continued as he put his right hand on Chase's shoulder.
"Okay", Chase said, trying to stay calm.
Douglas looked Chase straight in the eyes with the most serious look he could muster: "Chase Davenport, you will never be anything even close to me!"

Chase looked confused, thinking about their talks in the park and at Douglas' room.
Also mr. Davenport looked surprised. His entire life, he had seen Chase like a mini Douglas. Then, he thought about their talk/fight earlier. 'Where is he going with this?', he thought.

In the blink of an eye, Douglas' serious face was replaced with a proud smile: "And I couldn't be happier with that."
With that being said, he pulled Chase into a huge hug. Chase didn't even resist, he just hugged back.
Mr. Davenport was looking at his brother and youngest son with big eyes, but also with a big smile. Now, he saw what Douglas had seen before. Chase would never turn out to be evil. And he swore to never make the same mistakes his parents had made with Douglas.
Chase looked over Douglas' shoulder and saw mr. Davenport smiling at them.

"Thank you", Chase whispered in Douglas' ear.
Douglas shook his head: "No, Chase. Thank YOU."

Author's note: And that's the end of this story! It almost hurts me, because I have really enjoyed writing this :). There will definitely be more of Chase and Douglas.
I hope to see you in one of my future stories :)

Bye!
x
Sweetheart91597