#space elevator

"Chase, we need to talk about it."

He managed to bring his hazy vision up from where he was laying on the couch to meet his sister's eyes, concern and determination palpable from feet away, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Bullshit," she spat back like his words were venom, "you know as well as I do that-"

"I'm not having this conversation."

Bree paused for a moment, clearly trying to process the interruption before letting her hands fall to her sides, "if you don't want to talk to me, fine, whatever. But you need to talk to someone, Chase. You're…wasting away."

Her words pulled his attention from his haze-filled head to the painful reality of his greasy hair, his mentor suit making indentations in his skin, his gritty teeth- "so?"

And fuck, the hurt in her eyes nearly had him standing up and forcing his bionics to finally do what they were made to do, to get his head back in gear, to focus on the next mission, to go through all the probability to make sure next time was better, safer, successful.

But she recovered faster than he did, like she always did, and stood up straighter before he could begin to force his feet onto the hardwood beneath him, "please, just…talk to someone, or I'm stepping in."

And with that, she was gone, leaving Chase yet again to lay in his misery while his bionics slowly began to fail.

'she doesn't get it,' the bitter voice that lingered in his head, one that tended to resemble various figures in his life but seemed pretty intent on imitating Mr. Davenport for the time being, 'she's not the one who calls the shots, and she's not the one who nearly got Leo killed.'

…

The jolt of adrenaline hit Chase like a truck as the space elevator fell onto Leo's leg.

For a moment, there was nothing; a collection of "oohs" behind him, reactions belonging to their students, his students, who just witnessed his brother's leg getting crushed, his feet firmly stuck in place and Leo.

Leo, looking up at the crowd with a terrified smile feigning assurance that almost had Chase believing that it wasn't as bad as it looked.

"It's okay," he said, holding up his body weight with his hands, like he was trying to push himself into standing, "if I don't look, it won't hurt as much."

Chase barely pulled in a breath before Leo, ever curious Leo, turned his head behind him and his next look was full of pain-filled horror as he screeched, "I looked! I looked!"

Chase was on his knees in an instant, one hand on Leo's back and the other around his left arm, but as he looked to Mr. Davenport, trying to find guidance in his eyes, his nose was hit by the overwhelming scent of blood.

Coppery, bright red blood flowing out of Leo and seeping into the fabric of Chase's white pants; he couldn't even bring himself to begin worrying about the inevitable, permanent stain when he could feel the shaking under his fingertips.

…

No one had been surprised when Tasha demanded that Leo come home for a few days after the surgery; despite the bionics rendering his leg healed and in working order eight hours after he had been rushed to the hospital, everyone on the island knew that she would raise hell if she didn't make sure of that fact herself.

And when Tasha called, Donald followed; it was sweet, how much he prioritized her and her needs when he could have easily stayed behind once he made sure Leo had made it back to Mission Creek.

But with him gone, Douglas had been put in charge of two things; making sure that the academy didn't sink in a fiery explosion and keeping business running as usual.

It should have been an easy task; the academy only had one fiery explosion since operations had properly started, and he trusted the kids to work just as they had been doing for months at this point.

But, at the end of the day, they were his biological kids and they were just as dysfunctional as he was despite him having twenty odd years more experience at this thing called life.

And maybe that's why it didn't surprise him when, after what he would call a semi-successful morning, he had been found out by Bree in the only way she seemingly knew how.

By speeding right to him without any warning and expecting him not to flinch with thousands of dollars worth of his brother's technology in his hands.

"I'm getting you a bell for Christmas," he panted, trying to get his heart to beat correctly in his chest again, but when he could focus again and saw the distraught look on Bree's face, he quickly stilled and any jokes flew right out the metaphorical window, "what's wrong?"

His brain instantly started running through the worst case scenarios for him; one of his former colleagues had tracked them down, the fiery explosion Donny was so worried about had indeed happened, yet another project had failed-

"I…I'm just really worried," Bree finally spoke, choking on her words despite quickly rubbing a hand over her cheeks, "a-and I know that Leo's fine, that he went home to calm Tasha down but…" when she met Douglas' eyes, near tears had become full blown sobs, "Chase is…"

Despite being unable to get the words out, Douglas filled in the blanks in his head; it had been a collected effort to get Chase to talk, let alone help him out of the head space where everything that had went down with Sebastian, including the near death of Donald, had been solely his fault.

With that context in mind, and the fact that the space elevator had been Chase's project in the beginning, it made perfect sense why Bree was now standing in front of him, shaking from the weight of worry for her younger brothers.

"Okay," Douglas whispered, pulling her into a hug and letting hot, wet tears soak into his bomber jacket, his fingers reaching back and gently working through her brown waves, "okay, I'll see what I can do.

…

Douglas hadn't planned on directly confronting Chase.

Partially because it was still difficult for him to assert a foot in the kids lives; one wrong step, and they'd accuse him of taking too much of a fatherly role, a role that his brother had firmly planted himself in.

It had been nearly eighteen months since he switched over to their side, the wickedness of Krane forcing him to realize just how fucked up his own evil plan had been.

Add that to the fact he wasn't the best at confrontation that wasn't strictly in the vein of "you've fallen right into my trap" and he had fully planned to wait it out.

But Bree had the impatience that ran strong through his brother's veins, and it must have only been a few hours since they had hugged within his shared lab on the island when he got a text from her, asking him to come down to the medical wing.

And that had Douglas scrambling to his feet, rushing past students on their way to bed and ignoring the quiet whispers of gossip that he could hear the tail end of as he left.

This fell strictly outside of the "keep things running as usual" guideline his brother gave him and the last thing he wanted to do was call Donny back to the island because something had gone wrong on his watch.

But when he arrived to the medical wing of the island, it was surprisingly mellow; the lights of the operating room were dim, a pair of nurses were leaning against the wall, engaged in idle chatter and one of the doctors even gave him a quick smile and nod as she walked past.

It was slow, quiet and still; everything you'd want in a medical wing reserved solely for bionic teenagers.

However, that didn't explain the text from Bree, and he nearly started to make his way toward the mentor's quarters until he noticed that one of the curtains had a light on behind it.

"Knock, knock," he said, his fingers wrapping around the baby blue curtain after he approached, "Bree?"

"Yeah, we're in here, Douglas."

He opened the curtain, making eye contact with Bree first and catching determination and that unwavering stubbornness within her crossed arms as she leaned against the row of cabinets.

Her gaze was what caused his eyes to drift over to the bed to see Chase sitting on the side with his feet dangling a few inches off of the ground.

Seeing the two of them in harsh, florescent lights gave him the chance to see just what Bree was so worried about; the youngest of the three had always prided himself on looking put together, but with dark under eyes and greasy hair paired with the stain on the right leg of the mentor suit, he looked anything but.

And that had Douglas pulling in a deep breath, because he knew exactly what all of this meant; someone had to get Chase talking, and unlike with Sebastian, that responsibility had fallen squarely on his shoulders.

"Okay, Bree?" Douglas finally managed when he remembered how to speak and his words didn't quite feel like they were going to die on his tongue, "can you go find Chase some clothes?"

"Yeah, I'm on it." She nodded before walking out, seemingly catching onto the fact that she could take her time by not coming back in the manner of a few seconds.

Douglas turned back to Chase, trying his hardest to remove his emotions from the situation, trying to remember his training on bedside manner from med school, trying to stay calm and collected.

"So, any reason Bree forced you into here?" He finally asked, adding when he saw an excuse begin to form behind Chase's eyes, "and there's no point in feigning that you're fine, not with your hatred of medical, well, anything."

He watched, quietly, as the sixteen year old pulled in a deep breath, his hands folded neatly in his lap before his tired, hazel eyes finally met Douglas'.

"I…there's something wrong with my bionics."

Bionics was easy, bionics was a quick fix, Douglas knew bionics like the back of his hand; he busied himself with quickly washing his hands and donning a pair of the blue nitrile gloves before taking a step toward Chase and gently pressing his hands to the sides of his neck.

"Are you checking my lymph nodes?" Chase asked after a beat, his normal, questioning cadence giving Douglas a small portion of relief.

"Kind of," Douglas brushed him off, his hands slowly moving to the back of his neck, "what exactly is wrong with your bionics?"

"There has to be something wrong with my intelligence. That's why what happened to Leo-"

"Chase, what happened to Leo was not because of an issue with your bionics," Douglas cut him off, frowning when he felt the heat around where his chip was located, "but your chip is running pretty hot. When was the last time you slept in your capsule?"

"But it was. If I hadn't been fighting with Dr. Ryan about who was correct, which is directly related to my intelligence, than we wouldn't have had the critical design errors in the first place and that's before you add in the fact that I made the mistake of tampering with the space elevator-"

"Chase, deep breath." Douglas cut him off again, placing a hand on his chest. It wasn't that he wasn't listening, or brushing off Chase, but he knew just how easy it was for him to get worked up and that was the last thing either of them needed.

But Chase didn't fight him on it, complying with his hands folding in his lap yet again and this look in his hazel eyes that showed just how young he really was and how much all of this was really eating at him.

"Do you remember that conversation you and I had with Donnie after everything happened with Sebastian?"

"But that's different," Chase protested, shaking his head, "Sebastian fooled all of us, Sebastian was evil…I was just jealous of Dr. Ryan, and wanted to get him in trouble with Mr. Davenport."

"Your bionics give you a level of intelligence that the average human would kill to have, Chase," Douglas explained, "but you aren't a robot, or a computer program, you're a teenager. Teenagers, and humans in general, make mistakes."

"No kidding."

"Let me finish," Douglas let the scoff fall off his shoulders, "but that intelligence comes with a price, doesn't it? You're the smartest person in the room at any given moment, so when something goes wrong, you find yourself taking the blame because it happened under your call."

"Is this supposed to help me feel better?"

"Not if you keep interrupting," Douglas retorted, his face softening as soon as Chase shrank on himself due to the sudden volume shift, "look, Chase, accidents happen, okay? When you wanted to get back at a man who lives in his mom's basement, that does not equal "and I wanted Leo to jump up on the platform and play catch with the elevator". No one blames you."

"But they should," Chase retorted, "if I hadn't gotten so jealous in the first place, this never would have happened."

"Maybe not," Douglas shrugged, "but if Donny had just told you that he had a parachute, you would've been more than willing to just let it crash."

"Are you putting the blame on Mr. Davenport?" Chase questioned, the tears in his hazel eyes finally beginning to dry up.

"No, I'm just saying we can play the blame game all day, but at the end of it all, it was an accident," Douglas insisted, reaching over to gently pat Chase on the shoulder a couple of times before taking off the gloves, "now, you should take a quick shower and change into whatever clothes Bree is bringing you."

"Okay."

Douglas nodded, considering his work here done before a final thought popped into his head just as he stepped out of the curtain-covered room, "and Chase?"

"Yeah?"

"Sleep in your capsule tonight, your bionics need the strain taken off of them."

Douglas left as soon as he got the half-hearted nod from Chase, and chose to believe that he had left the youngest of the three safe in Bree's capable hands.

…

"You're sure that you're ready to go back, sweetheart?" Tasha asked, leaning against the doorframe as Leo threw the last of his things in his duffel bag.

His mother's anxiety was palpable, and completely warranted; he couldn't even imagine how scared she had been when she got the call that another one of his limbs had been crushed in fourteen months.

It's why he didn't hesitate when she demanded that he come home for the weekend, why he didn't protest when she hugged him tightly with a hand in his hair for longer than she had in a long time, it's why he only pulled her in tighter when she started muttering "you're okay" under her breath as a reassurance to herself rather than him.

It wasn't that he needed to see her to be okay, but that she needed to hold him to get her heartbeat to stop pounding through her head, just like she had after Krane, just like she had after the runaway train, just like she had after the divorce was finalized.

"Yeah, I need to get back," Leo said, unplugging his phone charger and tossing it in the bag, "I want to get back to the academy, to figure out just what this baby can do."

The gesture to his leg, his bionic leg, his leg that was now just as strong as Adam, did nothing to wipe the concern from Tasha's face.

"I just…I worry about you, honey," Tasha said, taking a few strides to pull him into another hug, "I know that the academy, with the others, is supposed to be a safe place for you and the other bionic kids, but accidents happen and…"

"I'll try not to get any more bionic limbs, mom," Leo said, filling in the blanks for her, "but I can't promise anything, you know that."

"I know," she sighed, finally letting him go, "I just want you to be safe."

"That's why I have to go back though, so I can learn to be safe with my bionics."

She nodded, giving him another hug, much quicker than the ones she had been giving him all weekend, before smiling as she said, "be careful, honey."

"I will be." He nodded, pulling the duffel bag over his shoulder before making his way down to the lab and the hydro loop.

Unsurprisingly, Big D was waiting for him, already having said his goodbyes to, and getting chewed out by Tasha, greeting Leo with a smile.

"You ready to get back?"

"Yeah." Leo agreed, hoping his nod was convincing as he sat down in the seat, dropping his bag to the floor.

He'd just have to get used to the low, metal thud coming from his leg whenever he set his foot on the ground.

As he leaned against the seat, he could see the look in Big D's eyes, a look that proved to Leo that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't hiding the fact that he wasn't as used to his leg as well as he could be.

But the hydro loop docked into the academy before he was hit with any hard hitting questions, and he quickly found himself using the "I should go unpack" excuse before his stepdad could ask him anything.

He knew that it was only a temporary wait, that someone would ask questions before he could easily smooth over the concerns weighing heavy in their veins; he just hoped that when someone finally asked, he was able to lie to himself easily enough.

Until than, all he could do was ignore the dull, metal disconnect between himself and his leg and focus on unpacking, and getting back into the groove of things with his siblings.

At least, that was the plan until he arrived into the mentor's quarters and noticed the pure lack of family that was in there; sure, there was a different blanket draped over the couch and some old plates on the coffee table which he quickly took over to the empty dishwasher, but his siblings were nowhere to be seen.

But, Leo brushed it off; it was not even close to the first time he had gotten back from school, or hanging out with Janelle, or any other place only to see that his siblings were on yet another mission and it did hurt a little that they had left without him, but part of the blame was on him for not sending them a "heads up" text.

Sure, there was also the more likely possibility that Big D or Douglas had told the trio not to wait on Leo, to give him more time to adjust to his new…upgrades, but he chose to go with his own reasoning before busying himself with unpacking.

'I'll just surprise them when they get back.' He decided before letting himself fall into the familiarity of rearranging his stuff back to its rightful place.

Admittedly, he wasn't sure of how much time had passed when everything was back to the way it was before his forced departure, but now satisfied with how everything looked, he made his way back to the hydro loop, to wait for Adam, Bree and Chase, to fulfill the last piece he needed so maybe he could feel normal again.

But when the hydro loop finally opened, his grin was instantly pulled from his face and replaced with a sickening horror filling his gut after being met with the sight of Chase in Adam's arms and Bree holding her gloved hands just above his stomach.

It was only made worse by Bree looking up at him, faint red stains on her face as she demanded, "Leo, go get Mr. Davenport."

"On it." He nodded, taking one more glance down at the blood dripping on the floor before starting to run with the metal thuds following his every movement.

After that, things moved quickly, quicker than Leo could keep up with, quicker than anyone's brain could have possibly processed and he couldn't stop himself reflecting briefly on his mother's words before he had come back and wondering if maybe, just maybe, she had been right to be worried.

Every glimpse of red only added to the swirl of nauseous adrenaline in his gut as he sat down, and that was before the added stimulation of Big D, Douglas and the other doctors and nurses filing in and out of the room with an urgency faster than Bree's.

"-a lot of blood-"

"-stitches for sure-"

"-hit his head?"

The muffled voices were overtaken by what sounded like a gasping, strangled groan morphing into a mix of a cough and a sob that could have only belonged to his brother under the hands of two inventors and various medical personnel.

"Come on," Adam said, gripping Leo's left arm before he could stand, unable to pull away due to the lack of bionics on that side, "we should wait outside."

And Leo, partially in shock from his oldest brother's sensibility and unable to get that pained noise out of his head, followed Adam and Bree to the small waiting room but not before hearing Big D's voice clearly doing his best to calm Chase down with a "be brave for me, Chase," like he was a small toddler and not sixteen years old.

It made him wonder if maybe, just maybe, he had said the same words to him while he was unconscious as he reconstructed his all too heavy and unfamiliar leg.

…

Time passed slowly, the air filled with a painful, heavy silence between the three of them; it was impossible to think, let alone talk, about anything other than the mental image of Chase bleeding out in Adam's arms.

For a few moments, Leo contemplated calling Tasha, thinking that maybe telling her what happened would help the exhausting worry stop pumping through his veins but he ultimately decided against it.

He had just convinced her that he would be safe here that morning, this would not do anything to help his case and only make her just as anxious about his siblings well-being; add that to the fact that he was confident that Big D would call her as soon as he was able, as soon as Chase was stable, and he knew that it would be better to sit with his older siblings who had witnessed…whatever had happened.

Bree looked like a wreck, her discarded gloves on the chair next to her along with a damp washcloth from where she had wiped Chase's blood from her face, her hair frizzy from anxiously running her hands through it and over it and red-rimmed eyes that Leo knew could only be from tears.

Adam didn't look much better, his gloves angrily tossed on the ground next to his feet in frustration, his hands brought up to rest against his mouth, dirt on his face that he hadn't even begun to wipe away and a band-aid stuck to the skin just above his eyebrow, more than likely pulled from the first aid kit that sat just outside of the medical wing for minor injuries.

Leo couldn't find any words to say; not knowing what had happened made it hard to offer anything other than general reassurance he didn't even believe, and he knew that any joke he even attempted would get nothing more than two sets of watery eyes glancing up at him, silently telling him that it was not the right time to try and lighten the situation.

He couldn't stop his mind from wandering, though, that this had been how his siblings had been just a few days prior, only he was the one behind closed doors and Chase was the one sitting across from Adam and Bree, his stomach in knots and his thoughts racing.

The 'whoosh' of the automatic door had Leo on his feet before he could even process that it may just be a nurse getting off of their shift, but his heart nearly stopped when he made eye contact with Big D.

"How is he?" Bree asked behind him, concern lacing her tone in a way that hit Leo with nauseating worry.

"He'll be okay," it felt like all the air returned to Leo's lungs, the nausea that had filled his gut since he first made eye contact with Bree finally beginning to ebb away, "we had to sedate him to get him taken care of, but he's gonna be fine."

"Can we see him?" Adam asked, his voice just above a whisper but thick with emotion.

"In a little bit. Douglas is manually recalibrating his bionics while he's still out," Big D explained before finally breaking the eye contact with Leo and looking behind him to the others, "what happened out there?"

The room was filled once again with a tense silence, forcing Leo to turn around and see the glance pass between Adam and Bree before she finally spoke, her eyes never leaving Big D's face, "It's on me. Douglas had warned Chase, warned me, what would happen if he didn't start sleeping in his capsule again, and he did last night, but I guess it wasn't enough?"

"He had his force field around the flames, trying to put it out while Bree looked for water but than it kinda flickered before completely shutting off; it hit the generator and-" Adam cut himself off, making the noise of an explosion with his mouth before adding, "I didn't think to grab him, or put myself in front of him."

That's what made Leo realize that what he thought was dirt on Adam's face was soot from an explosion that he couldn't bring himself to remove.

"Well, I guess that leaves me with one question," Big D said with crossed arms, but instead of any anger, it was just confusion and concern, "why wasn't Chase sleeping in his capsule?"

And the look that passed over Bree's face answered the question for Leo more than her words ever could, it made the state of their room make sense and it confirmed something he had hardly considered in the chaos that had been the last few days.

Chase had been the one sleeping on the couch, and he placed the blame for the space elevator squarely on his own shoulders.

"Okay, you two should get checked out if you need to and get cleaned up," Big D finally said, waving Adam and Bree away, "Chase isn't going anywhere for awhile."

The two of them nodded, Adam gently clapping Leo on the shoulder before following Bree to the showers, leaving him alone with Big D who had this look of quiet fury in his eyes that he was clearly trying to suppress to little avail.

"Leo, can you sit with Chase? I need to talk to Douglas."

"Yeah, yeah, of course I can." He agreed, knowing at this point that "talk to" when it came Douglas translated to "yell at" and it would be best for all of the medical personnel if the brothers didn't do that in front of a patient coming out of sedation.

All of that aside, Leo hadn't fully braced himself for what was behind one of the wooden doors that Big D opened, allowing him to walk inside before him; now that he really thought about it though, something about his older siblings being bionic had resulted in him blocking any thoughts of them being in a hospital bed.

And while Adam had a tendency to joke about how small and weak Chase was, seeing him unconscious with an IV in his left hand, an oxygen tube draped over his face, the pale blue hospital gown covering his shoulders and his face almost as pale as the sheets he was under really did make him look less like the confident mission leader he propelled himself as and more like the sixteen year old that lied beneath that demeanor.

And right beside him was Douglas, his left hand wrapped loosely around Chase's right and the beginning, or maybe the end, of tears in his eyes which made Leo freeze entirely; he and Douglas had gotten close after he had saved his arm, but outside of Krane throwing him into a wall and aggravating his already broken ribs, Leo had never seen him cry.

"How is he?" Big D broke the silence, a hand falling to one of Chase's blanket-covered knees, bringing Douglas' gaze up which had him scrubbing roughly at his face with his free hand.

"Dr. Pike came by awhile ago to get updates on his vitals and everything, but he's still out."

"Did she give an estimate on when he might wake up?"

"I mean, vitals are trending in the whole "awake" direction, but it's kind of waiting on him at this point."

Leo watched as his stepdad's gaze trailed off to Chase's face for a few moments, this look of regret that he had seen not even a month earlier when the Incapacitator had broken in, before it returned to look his brother in the eyes.

"Mind if Leo takes a shift while we discuss some things?"

"Yeah, no problem." Douglas agreed, standing from the chair and following Big D out of the room, leaving Leo by himself with an unconscious Chase and a mountain of things to say.

But no matter what he wanted to say to Chase, how he didn't blame Chase for the elevator, how it wasn't even fully Chase's fault, he figured that all of it would be better said when Chase could respond, and blink.

So he settled for saying, "just so you know, I am not draining my life force for anyone else," before settling in the chair that Douglas had vacated and pulling his phone out of his pocket.

He had been neglecting his phone since the accident, not wanting to divulge details, not ready to talk about what happened; it had been easier, to tell his mom and to tell Janelle, who offered to come over multiple times, but he had declined every time.

He loved Janelle, so much that it made his heart flutter with excitement and joy and overall happiness, but he loved her so much that it was impossible to lie to her with every attempt blowing up in his face miserably.

And that was small things, like that he wasn't scared of sharks, or that he was good at basketball, he hadn't even been able to keep his bionic arm a secret from her for more than a week out of misguided jealousy; he had no idea how he could look the girl he loved in the eyes and tell her that he was okay, that he was used to the bionics in his leg, let alone that he preferred it over what he had before.

Despite all of that, he didn't hesitate to respond to her text to let her know he was back on the island and that he was okay.

Just as he heard the 'ding', indicating that the message had successfully found his girlfriend in the vast cyberspace, that was when a second, attention grabbing sound hit his ears and had him nearly dropping his phone on the linoleum.

The sound being Chase letting out a hoarse, low groan as he came back to himself.

"Chase," Leo spoke instantly, his right hand moving to rest on his shoulder so he could have that grounding contact but also to keep him from moving, "Big D and Douglas will be back soon, they're talking outside."

"Leo?" His voice was just above a whisper, his hazel eyes squinted like he didn't believe he was in reality.

"Yeah, it's me," Leo nodded, carefully holding Chase's right hand with his left, mindful of just how much power lied within his palm, "you feeling okay? Well, as okay as you can feel right now?"

The last thing he expected was for Chase's eyes to well up with tears as he twisted toward him with his left hand, clearly trying to pull him into a familiar, tight hug; Leo didn't hesitate to lean over his brother and hug him, feeling the wet eyelashes against his shirt sleeve but not even thinking about pulling away.

"I'm here, Chase. I'm here."

…

"He's fully coherent if you want to go back in," Big D said, leaning against the wall, "Dr. Pike is pretty sure that the crying was a side effect from the anesthesia, but he's fully off of it now."

"Thanks," Leo said, standing up, "it's not that I'm not okay with that, it's just-"

"I get it," he was cut off with an understanding nod that felt like a small amount of the wait being pulled off of his shoulders, "I figured you two had a lot to talk about, and that tends to go better when there's less tears involved."

Leo nodded, adding just before he opened the wooden door, "I'll let Adam and Bree know as soon as I'm done, so they can hang out with him."

"Thank you," Big D said before whipping his phone out of his pocket, "because I need to tell your mom what happened."

"If she tries to come down here, don't let her unless it's specifically to coddle Chase," when he got a raised eyebrow of confusion, he added, "she did it to me all weekend," which got his point across enough that Big D nodded as he walked away with the phone pressed to his ear.

With his stepdad gone, the only thing left to do was push himself through the threshold, and finally have the conversation with Chase that probably should have happened before he left.

And luckily for Leo, when he went back in, Chase looked much like his usual self, propped up on a couple of pillows and a tablet in hand that was instantly discarded to the side when he looked up and met Leo's dark eyes.

"Hey."

"Hey," Leo greeted, sitting down on the end of the bed, "feeling any better?"

"As better as I can feel with about twenty stitches and a repaired liver laceration," Chase shrugged, "but my head isn't fuzzy anymore, so there's a plus."

"It could be worse, Big D thought you had a concussion when you got here," Leo said, getting a curt nod from Chase which finally had him cutting past the small talk and into the meat of the necessary conversation, "Bree said that you haven't exactly been doing the best, mentally, since Thursday."

"Yeah, that…" Chase trailed off, seemingly finding the blanket very interesting as he picked at a loose thread, "that sounds right."

"And I'm guessing that it wasn't a result of the digs Dr. Ryan made at you," Leo offered, hoping to get Chase to talk, maybe show some of the emotions that the anesthesia had forced out of him; but with the medicine now filtered out of his veins, his brother was tight-lipped again, leaving Leo to do the talking, "fine, I'll be straight with you. You're blaming yourself for what happened to my leg."

"How could I not?" Chase demanded almost instantly, "I was so busy fighting with Dr. Ryan that I didn't notice the braking flaw until it was too late, not to mention I sabotaged the fucking elevator."

"I chose to jump onto that platform, Chase. And if I remember correctly, you even told me to get down, to get out of the way, even if it meant that Big D was gonna crash."

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt," Chase insisted, still looking down at the blanket when he added, just above a whisper, "I never want anyone to get hurt."

"I know," Leo agreed, leaning forward to wrap his hand around the one that had not stopped picking at the loose thread, "that's why I'm not mad at you, or blaming you, for what happened. You sabotaged the elevator, my leg got crushed, but…you're my brother first, Chase."

"So, you don't hate me?"

And that made Leo's heart pang with achiness, the fact that all of that had happened to the two of them in the last few days, and the biggest thing Chase was worried about in his brain that seemingly always ran on every possibility was that Leo would hate him.

"Look, I know that you and I aren't like, picture perfect or anything, but I will never hold a mistake over yours, or Adam's, or Bree's, head. That's all this was, Chase. A mistake. And despite being bionic, we all make mistakes."

Chase nodded, finally bringing his hazel eyes up to meet Leo's before asking the last question that Leo could have predicted would come out of his mouth while he was still on pain meds, "so, are you doing okay?"

"I'm not the one with twenty stitches and a liver laceration."

"I meant with the leg," Chase sighed, a gentle roll of his eyes, "I just remember how long it took you to get used to your arm, even with your training here."

Leo nodded, giving his leg a long, tired glance before meeting the hazel eyes again, "you know, yesterday I would have said "not really". It's weird, because now every step I make with my left foot leaves behind a kind of metal thud, one I'm not even sure anyone else can here."

There was a beat of silence before Chase prodded again, "but now?"

"Now, I think I'm getting used to it."

Chase pulled in a sigh, a look of guilt still lingering in his eyes, "I am really sorry."

"And I forgive you," Leo said, standing up, "now, should I let you sleep, or do you want me to let Adam and Bree know you're awake?"

"Can we wait on that a bit?" Chase offered, "I just…I think Bree might still be mad at me."

"It's cause she cares," Leo offered, getting no reaction which had him adding, "she's like mom, when she gets worried."

That got a smile out of him, "do not let her hear you say that, she will freak."

"Duly noted," Leo nodded, raising an mischievous eyebrow, "so, got any snacks you want me to sneak in here?"

"What?"

"You know, being the son of Donald Davenport," Leo started, getting an eye roll from his older brother in response, "I have exclusive access to plenty of places in the academy, including the mentor snack cabinet."

"So, mine, Adam and Bree's snack cabinet."

"Do you want something out of there or not?"

"I mean, since you're offering."

Leo sighed, his chest much more light than it had been just twenty minutes before, "I'll be back."