75Hi guys! I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated for so long! It turns out that coursework on top of controlled assessments on top of illness is not helpful when you are trying to write new stuff. I think this is going to be my last chapter for this story, and although this ending was a lot harder to write I really enjoyed doing this :) I hope you like it, and please give me any suggestions that you'd like me to write in the future! I don't know how much time I'm going to have to upload stuff because I have GCSE's looming very near, but I'm going to do my best :) Thank you to my beta, LBozzie, for being generally awesome in every way, and to you guys for reading this and reviewing because that really makes my day :) Summer x
"Chase, hurry up! We're leaving in a minute!" Bree yelled to him, banging her fist against the bathroom door. Her school bag was slung over her shoulder and she would have frowned at her watch in mock disbelief if he'd been able to see her. "The bus will be here any second."
Chase, with his toothbrush stuffed in his mouth, made some sort of affirmative grunt sound and listened as she made her way back upstairs. He continued with his morning routine, carefully and methodically, until he was sure she'd left the lab.
Today was his first time back at school since Douglas had broken in.
He was fine with it. He had told everyone he was fine, told himself he was fine… But right now, just before he was about to leave, he wasn't so sure.
What if Douglas came back while he wasn't there? That was the question that he'd been shoving deep into the back of his mind for the last two weeks, hoping that it wouldn't come back to haunt him. It did, though, and it did so at the moment when he needed to just be calm and think about lessons and books and exams and the problems that normal humans had to deal with. He couldn't get that question out of his head.
He knew it was stupid; Mr Davenport had put every new security measure in place to make sure it didn't happen again. There was even a hotline from Eddie straight to everyone's mobiles in case someone broke in. And yet, he couldn't stop picturing Douglas holding that gun to Adam or Bree or Leo instead.
He met his own hazel gaze in the mirror. He thought he looked paler than he had done before, but that might have just been because he was checking for it. His shirt was deliberately loose so that it wouldn't put pressure on the still fresh scar. The stitches had come out a few days ago but the area was still tender, and he rubbed it absent-mindedly as he stared. Same old face, same body (mostly), but somehow different.
Had he changed? Maybe. After all, there was nothing like getting shot to alter your perspective. But then, he wasn't sure how much he actually resented it. He had never worried about going to school this much, but at the same time he'd never been closer to his family. And wasn't that more important? They'd spent so much time together lately, and Mr Davenport had even taken time off work to help him get ready for today. And although he'd been trying to hide it, he'd been more caring and interested towards Adam, Bree and Leo, too.
Upstairs, he could hear Adam stomping around in an attempt to find a matching pair of shoes, with Leo yelling random sarcastic insults in his direction. Bree's light footsteps skittered overhead as she changed her outfit six times over. He knew Tasha would be in the kitchen, cleaning up the typical debris that came with early Monday mornings, and that Mr Davenport would be slumped against the counter beside her, sleepily cradling a mug of coffee. Any minute now, he'd go and join them.
He didn't want anyone to think he'd been panicking. God knows, they'd been too concerned about him over the last few weeks as it was. He wanted things back to normal now. Or at least, as normal as thing could get. He understood enough to know that some things had changed forever.
One day, Douglas would come back. That was a fact, and he could deal with facts. They were solid, truthful, you couldn't mess with them. It was something that he would, in time, be fine with, because there was nothing he could do to change it. And when his uncle did come, his family would be ready. The Davenports did not go down without a fight.
He pushed open the bathroom door, surveying the empty lab. The space where he'd lain just a few weeks ago, dying, was shiny and spotless as if nothing had ever happened. He'd moved back into his capsule a few nights ago and he'd found it hard to stop staring at that patch of floor.
He'd so nearly lost everything. Everything they'd worked for, the whole life they'd suddenly discovered and made their own, would have been snatched from them.
But, it hadn't. He'd made sure of that. And he knew, if any of them were in the same position as him, they would have saved them like he did.
He made his way to the lift, slinging his bag over his shoulder and sighing at the prospect of double sports that morning. Some things had not changed. He'd still be absolutely awful at football, and the jocks would laugh, and then Adam would inadvertently make some crazy comment that would save him from embarrassment. And Bree would literally run rings around them all. Ten minutes into the school day and he knew the last few weeks would feel like a bad dream, even if deep down in the back of his mind he'd still be worrying. But he could live with that.
If he was honest with himself, he didn't mind the worry that came with recent events all that much; it meant he had a family worth worrying for.