Author's Note: Wow. Feels like I started this story forever ago. Probably because I did. :) I thought I could quickly write up a tag to "Sink or Swim" back when it first aired and have it posted within a couple of weeks.

I. Was. So. Wrong.

A lot of stuff happened in real life that resulted in a total loss of writing mojo. Finishing this story was a real struggle, and I will readily admit that it is not my best work and feels a little unresolved. However, I feel it is time to get this thing posted and move on to other stories. Dedicated to thewriterswayoflife. I hope you like it, even though it may not be exactly what you were hoping for.

"Back To Life"

Alternate Ending to Sink or Swim

By 88Keys

7/6/14

It felt like someone had driven a railroad spike into his brain.

Not that he had ever had that particular experience, but Chase didn't see how being spiked through the head could feel any worse than the blinding headache he was currently experiencing.

He wasn't sure what had happened. One minute, he and his siblings were back home, getting ready for dinner. The next thing he knew, he was levitating a heavy wooden crate over Leo's head while his brother cowered in front of him.

"Where's my brother, Chase?" Leo had asked desperately.

It took every ounce of willpower he had to toss the crate aside. Afterwards, he collapsed to the ground, his body weakened and his head feeling like it was on the verge of splitting open.

And then Adam and Bree came into view, their eyes glowing green and their expressions anything but friendly.

"You have to fight back!" Mr. Davenport cried out.

Fight back? The thought of hurting his own brother and sister was incomprehensible to him.

And then a blast of Adam's heat vision slammed into his gut and threw him back against the wall, making it painfully obvious that he had no choice.

Maybe I can restrain them without injuring them. Chase walked forward and shoved a large heavy crate in front of Adam. It took about two seconds for Adam to push it aside with an enraged yell.

Adam blasted Chase with his heat vision again, but Chase was ready. He threw up a force field, which blocked the damaging rays from hitting him. But, unlike their usual brother battles in the lab, Adam did not stop at one short blast. He kept the lasers trained on his brother. Chase maintained the force field, but it was already obvious that he couldn't keep this up forever. Using the force field drained energy from his body, which was already tired from being on the run and from using two abilities at once earlier. The force field wasn't meant to be maintained over a long period of time.

Adam wasn't backing down. He kept advancing forward, and Chase kept backing up until he was trapped against another crate. Adam seemed to be more powerful than ever, and he clearly had no inhibitions about harming his brother. Chase felt his body draining of the little energy it had left. He growled, trying to summon any bit of strength that might be remaining, but it didn't help. He could feel himself getting weaker.

Somewhere, far away, he heard Leo mention the Override App on his system. Of course! It was clear that he couldn't overpower Adam, and that he wouldn't be able to catch Bree. He would have to shut them down manually.

He heard Mr. Davenport objecting, saying that it would be too much for his system to handle. Chase was inclined to agree, since he was already running on empty as it was. But he had no choice. If he didn't stop Adam and Bree, they would take out the rest of the family without a second thought.

Chase was not going to let that happen.

His head was still aching with pain, making it hard to concentrate on maintaining the force filed while he accessed the Override App. His body was so weak that he could barely lift his arm.

Somehow, he accessed the Override App. Somehow, he managed to connect to Bree, knowing that he needed to shut her down first. She was just too fast, and there was no way he could stop her in his weakened condition.

His energy was completely gone. His body was a lead weight, trying to pull him down. The force field was about to collapse.

"Connect to Adam."

Miraculously, the laser assault stopped. Adam fell to the floor.

Chase wobbled uncertainly for a second before his body gave out completely and he collapsed next to his brother.

After a few seconds, both Adam and Bree began to stir.

"What happened?" Adam asked. "And why does my head hurt so bad?"

"And why are we all on the floor?" Bree chimed in

"Douglas was controlling you," Leo answered, still crouched behind the couch. He cautiously stuck his head out so he could observe his siblings. Adam and Bree had both risen up to their knees and were looking around, disoriented. Chase was still lying on the floor. "You were attacking us. You don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember is talking about dinner," Adam responded, rubbing his temples with his fingers as he spoke.

"We talked Chase out of it," Leo continued, "but then you started attacking him with your lasers. He was resisting you with his force field. He had to use the Override App to shut both of you down." He warily moved out from behind the couch and extended a hand to help Bree to her feet.

"I was attacking Chase?" Adam asked, frowning.

"So why is he still lying there?" Bree asked as she took Leo's hand and stood.

"He probably over-exerted himself, maintaining his force field and accessing the Override App at the same time," Donald explained. He and Tasha had finally dared to venture out from behind the couch, although both still looked ready to dive back behind it if the kids started attacking again.

Donald knelt down next to his unconscious son. "Chase?"

No response.

Donald gently tapped him on the cheek and repeated himself, more loudly this time. "Chase? Chase, wake up."

Nothing. Chase's head lolled limply to the side.

As the entire family watched, Donald reached down and pushed two fingers against Chase's neck. After a moment he moved them down to his wrist. Then he leaned his head down against his son's chest.

"Mr. Davenport?" Bree asked nervously.

Finally Donald looked up, his eyes wide with fear.

"He doesn't have a pulse. And he's not breathing!"

Bree felt all the breath leave her lungs. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but stare at her little brother lying lifelessly on the floor.

To her right, Leo was a similar reaction. Adam was on his knees, staring in confusion as Donald's words sank in.

Only Donald seemed to still be able to move. He sprang into action, stacking his hands on top of each other and placing them on Chase's chest. As the others watched, he began counting out loud, one number for each compression on Chase's chest.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-"

The rhythm quickly burned itself into Bree's brain.

"-nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen-"

This can't be happening.

"-sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen-"

We've come so far, survived for so long, escaped Douglas and Krane."

"-twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six-"

Chase can't die now. Not here, at home, after all that."

-"twenty-nine, thirty." Donald bent low, pinched Chase's nostrils, and breathed two times into his son's open mouth. Bree watched in terrified fascination as Chase's chest mechanically rose and fell twice, then became still again.

"One, two, three, four, five-"

She felt something move next to her. Leo. He reached over and gently took her hand. The gesture roused her from her shocked state, and she managed to glance over at her brothers. Leo was still staring at Chase, but had begun to speak word of encouragement.

"Come on, Chase…come on…"

She wondered if Chase could hear him.

To her left, Adam had rocked back from his knees into a sitting position. His hands were balled into fists. His face was wide-eyed and scared; Bree had never seen her big brother look so afraid before. He looked down at his hands and said something, so quietly that Bree could barely make it out.

"What did I do?"

"-twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two-"

Tasha appeared in Bree's line of vision, kneeling next to Chase's head. She was about to bend and breathe into his mouth when Donald stopped her.

"No. Find my emergency medical kit. The one that was under the bed. Maybe it's still there. Hurry."

She rose and took off. Bree heard the clatter of her feet going up the stairs.

I should help her look, Bree thought. She wanted to help, wanted to do something besides stand and stare, but her body seemed to be frozen. She couldn't move. Couldn't take her eyes of her brother, and couldn't ignore the rhythm pounding through her head.

"-three, four, five, six, seven-"

She heard Tasha's footsteps coming back down the stairs. "I found it! It was still under the bed," she called breathlessly. In her hands was a large black box. She nearly threw it at her husband when she reached his side.

Donald hastily opened the kit and pulled out a pair of scissors. He quickly cut through the middle of Chase's shirt and pulled it aside, revealing his bare torso. Bree winced when she saw the large swollen red welt on Chase's stomach. She knew that wasn't there before. It must have come from Adam's lasers. She looked over at her brother and saw his fists clenched even tighter than before. He must have noticed. She placed her free hand gently on Adam's shoulder, but he did not look up or acknowledge her.

Donald pulled out a box with two cords attached to it. At the end of each cord was a paddle. Bree recognized it as a defibrillator. Chase needs a defibrillator…he can't need a defibrillator…that's for people whose hearts aren't beating….

Donald turned the knobs on the defibrillator. "Please don't let the batteries be dead," he mumbled. He had not checked the batteries in so long, never really thinking he would need to restart one of the kid's hearts.

They all heard the hum of the machine as it came to life. Donald pushed the biggest button on the box and pressed one paddle to each side of Chase's chest.

"Clear!" he called.

Just like on TV, she thought dimly.

Electricity shot through the paddles and into her brother's chest. Chase's body jerked slightly.

They all watched, but Chase remained still.

Bree heard a distant-sounding whimper. It took a moment for her to realize it had come from her own throat. Leo squeezed her hand.

"Come on, Chase," he whispered.

The machine charged again.

"Clear!" Donald called.

Bree jumped as the jolt passed through Chase's body. He rose up, then fell back down.

Then his eyes opened and he took a gasping breath.

Chase began coughing, and Donald rolled him onto his side. Bree felt her breath come out in one big rush. Her knees weakened, and she leaned on Leo, who leaned back against her gratefully.

On the floor, Donald had placed a hand on the side of Chase's head and was speaking to him, too quietly for Bree to hear. Chase seemed to be using all his energy for breathing and blinking. His eyes looked tired and unfocused.

Finally, Bree turned away from Leo to check on Adam. But instead of on the floor, she found he had pushed himself up to his feet. He was staring at Chase and taking steps backwards, away from his brother.

"Adam?" Bree asked.

He did not answer. Instead, Adam turned and ran out of the room and up the stairs.

He had never felt so weak in his entire life.

Chase gradually became aware of where he was (the living room), what he was doing (lying on the floor), and who else was with him (the rest of his family). He could make out Mr. Davenport kneeling next to him. His body felt completely drained of energy. No longer did it feel as if lead weights were pulling him down. He had become that lead weight; heavy and useless.

Distantly, Chase could hear Mr. Davenport saying his name and asking him something. When he tried to answer, his mouth moved, but no sound came out. He felt himself being rolled over from his side to his back. Chase tried valiantly to sit up, but his head seemed to weigh fifty pounds. He had never felt this way before. The simple act of lifting his arm took more energy than he had available.

"Just relax, Chase. Don't try to move. You need to take it easy. I'm going to move you onto the couch."

He felt himself being lifted in Mr. Davenport's arms. A small part of his was mortified and wanted to object; he was not a child who needed to be carried around! But the rest of him was too weak and too tired to protest. He couldn't even lift his arm…he was so tired…

Chase felt himself being placed on the couch. He felt something soft being placed behind his head. A pillow. Someone was covering him with a blanket.

He was asleep before they could finish covering him up.

"Mr. Davenport?" Bree asked softly as her father continued to check Chase's pulse and breathing. Tasha had covered him with a heavy comforter she had found in one of the many boxes littering the room. "Is he OK?"

Donald nodded. "Yeah…now that his heart is going again, he's fine. Weak, but fine." His voice sounded shaky and a little hesitant to Bree. She looked down and noticed that his hands were trembling.

"What happened?" Leo asked. "Why did he collapse like that?"

"Well, being controlled by Douglas, and using two bionic abilities at once, including his force field, which is really draining even on a good day… it was just too much for him. He was probably already weakened from using two abilities at the same time earlier today. His system just couldn't take it anymore and shut down."

"So what do we do now?" Bree asked. "I mean, how can we be sure he won't shut down again?" She watched Chase's chest rise and fall, this time on its own. His breathing seemed steady, but what if it stopped again?

"He won't," Donald said simply. "Not unless there's another enormous strain on his system, and we're not going to let that happen. His bionics shut down when he did, and Douglas can't access them again unless he re-installs the Triton program. He can't do that remotely."

Donald finally stood and turned to face Bree and Leo. "He needs to rest. If we had your capsules, he could regenerate much faster. But.." his voice trailed off and he glanced at his wife, who nodded. "I'm sorry, but Douglas destroyed the lab."

"We know," Bree said bitterly. "He made sure to tell us."

"Any equipment that was stored down there has been completely destroyed," Donald continued. "No capsules, no records, no GPS tracker…I can't even do a scan of your bionic systems. We're just lucky I had some back-up supplies upstairs." He glanced back down at Chase. "Anyway, since we don't have capsules, the best thing for Chase right now is to sleep and let his body heal on its own. So let's try to be quiet and let him sleep, although I doubt we could wake him up now even if we wanted to."

Donald looked up and gave his wife and children a half-hearted smile. "So, now that the excitement has died down…I believe we were talking about dinner."

Tasha shook her head. "Why don't we just order a pizza? I know I certainly don't feel like cooking right now."

Donald walked around to the back of the couch and gave her a quick hug. "That sounds good."

"What about Adam?" she asked, looking back at Bree and Leo.

"We'll go talk to him," Leo answered.

"Yeah," Bree agreed. "I think I know where he went."

They found Adam upstairs, sitting in the floor of an empty closet in one of the seldom-used guest bedrooms. Bree knew it was the place he went when he wanted to be alone. He had stashed a collection of "treasures" there, including pieces of chewed gum and empty soda bottles. But he ignored them now, instead choosing to sit on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest, staring at the floor.

"Adam?" Bree asked hesitatingly. "Are you OK?"

He nodded but did not say anything.

"You, uh, must be hungry," Leo said. "Mom's ordering pizza. I'll pick all the mushrooms off my slice and give them to you."

Adam didn't bother to answer or even look up at the mention of his favorite food.

"Adam?" Bree asked again.

"Is Chasey OK?" he replied, still not looking up at them.

Bree and Leo glanced at each other, concerned. Adam only used the hated childhood nickname for Chase when he was really worried or when he really wanted to humiliate his little brother. And the latter didn't seem likely right now.

"He's fine," Leo said reassuringly. "Big D said Chase just needs to rest a lot." He reached out a hand towards his older brother. "So….pizza?"

"I killed him."

Bree and Leo both froze, shocked at Adam's words.

"No, Adam," Bree said. "He's not dead. Mr. Davenport re-started his heart. Remember? He's going to be fine."

Adam still didn't look up. "But…he was dead, wasn't he?" His voice sounded husky, like he was holding back tears.

"Well…," Leo stuttered, "his heart…it may have... taken a break for a few minutes…-"

"Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot." Adam cut Leo off with surprising vitriol. "I may not be smart, but I know that no pulse plus not breathing equals dead. And I know it was because of me. I killed my little brother."

He finally looked up at his siblings, who once again exchanged worried glances.

Bree shook her head. "No, Adam. It wasn't you."

"You said I was attacking him," Adam said, looking at Leo.

"Yes…but-"

"I saw his stomach. He got burned by my lasers, didn't he? And then he had to use two abilities at once to stop me, and he couldn't handle it. And then, his heart stopped."

"No, Adam," Bree said. "He had to use two abilities at once to stop Douglas. Not you."

Adam looked down at his hands again. Bree got down on her knees so that she was face to face with her older brother. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You didn't kill Chase. For one thing, he's not dead. For another thing, you were being controlled. We all were. You didn't know what was happening, did you?"

"No…" Adam admitted, still not looking up.

"Neither did I. None of us did."

"Yeah," Leo chimed in from above them. "Chase almost smashed me to death with a big crate, but I don't blame him for it. And you shouldn't blame yourself, either. None of this was your fault."

Adam considered this for a moment. "But earlier, when we were trying to climb onto the helicopter, he called out to me to help him. And I just made fun of him. And later, I wished that his head would explode. Those things…they were my fault."

Bree patted him on the shoulder. "Well, you can apologize later when he wakes up." She stood up and offered her older brother a hand. "Now…pizza? You haven't eaten since that sketchy-looking gas station burrito you had before we got on that ship. I know you're hungry by now."

Adam shook his head. "Maybe later."

Leo looked like he was about to say something, but Bree shot him a look. "Well, OK then. We'll save you a few slices for later." She stepped over Adam's feet and took Leo by the arm, pulling him gently out of the room and into the hallway.

"That's it?" Leo asked when they were out of Adam's earshot. "You gave up kind of easy, didn't you?"

Bree sighed. "It's been a long couple of days, Leo."

Leo glared at her. "Believe me, I know. It hasn't exactly been a party around here either."

"Adam doesn't get like this very often, but when he does, you just have to give him some time to come out of it." She walked a few feet down the hallway and stopped near the top of the stairs. Leo saw her cross her arms and rub her hands up and down them, as if she were cold.

"Are you sure you're OK, Bree?" he asked as he came up behind her.

She nodded but didn't turn around. "It just…it just sucks that someone can control me and make me try to hurt my family without my knowledge. Like, I feel…dirty. Like I need a shower or something."

"That stuff you said to Adam about not blaming himself? That goes for you too, you know," Leo said patiently.

Bree took off quickly down the stairs without acknowledging his comment.

Late that night

Donald Davenport descended the stairs quietly, just as he had every hour for the past few hours. He had been sneaking down hourly to check on his youngest son. The rest of the family had found places to sleep upstairs. But Donald knew he probably wouldn't sleep tonight.

It was after midnight. Donald walked up to the couch and was surprised to find an extra person there, sitting on the floor next to it.

"Adam," he said quietly. "What are you doing?"

Adam shrugged. "Just…checking on him." His eyes never left his brother's sleeping form.

Donald walked around and sat down on the end of the couch, just past Chase's feet. "He's going to be fine. He just needs to rest."

Adam nodded. "Yeah, that's what Leo and Bree said."

Donald studied his son carefully. "And this is not your fault. You know that, right?"

Adam looked down. "It kind of feels like it's my fault."

"Well, it's not," Donald said firmly. "None of you did anything wrong." He looked away from Adam, down at Chase's sleeping form on the couch, then around the room.

"You guys don't deserve any of this. That's why I've been thinking that…well, maybe we should move away. Go somewhere else, where Douglas and Krane can't find us…maybe change our location periodically-"

"What?!" Adam interrupted. "Move away? Are you serious?!"

Donald motioned for Adam to keep his voice down. "It would make it harder for anyone to find us and help protect our bionic secret. We could stay at some of my off-shore facilities, do some traveling, stay on the move for a while-"

"No," said a voice below them, softly but firmly. They both looked down in shock.

"Chase!" Adam said happily. "You're awake!"

Donald immediately went to Chase's side and began checking his pulse and breathing. "How are you feeling? Are you in any pain? How's your vision? How long have you been awake?"

Chase rose up into a sitting position. "I feel OK. Still tired, and my head still hurts. And I've been awake long enough to hear you say we're moving."

"You need to rest," Donald said as he gently tried to push Chase back down onto the couch. "We can talk about it later."

Chase pushed his hand away. "Just let me say this first." He took a deep breath.

"Mr. Davenport, being on the run was terrible. We didn't know where we were going to sleep, or when we would get to eat next, or if we would have enough money to even buy food. We didn't know if you guys were OK, or if the authorities were about to capture us. It was awful."

"Yeah, being on the run was the worst," Adam agreed.

"We have a good life here," Chase continued. "We can't let Douglas or Krane or anyone else force us to give it up."

Donald sighed. "Guys, you know that Douglas and Krane will most likely come back at some point. I don't know if I can protect you all forever. Look how badly everything went this time."

Chase shrugged. "We can deal with that when it happens. But we shouldn't leave everything we know over something that hasn't even happened yet. No more running." He looked at Adam, who nodded in agreement.

"No more running."

Donald still looked uncertain and uneasy, but finally nodded. "OK. We'll stay put." He gave them a small smile. "You should both get some rest. Adam, let's find you a bed upstairs."

Adam motioned towards the armchair, which was the only other piece of furniture in the room. "Actually, if it's OK, I'll stay down here with Chase."

Donald nodded. "Sure." He smiled tiredly at his sons.

Chase yawned as Donald shuffled up the stairs. "Adam, you don't have to stay down here and baby-sit me. I'm fine."

Adam shrugged. "It's OK. I mean, it's the least I could do after…well, you know…"

"After what?" Chase asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"After I…attacked you, and all." Adam looked down at the floor. "I'm really sorry."

Chase sighed. "Adam…you don't have anything to apologize for. That wasn't you, just like it wasn't me who almost smashed Leo with a crate. None of us knew what we were doing."

Adam nodded. "That's what everyone keeps saying, but I still feel bad. And I feel bad about earlier, when I wished that your head would have exploded. I didn't really want your head to explode. That would have been really messy, and you wouldn't have had a head and all, and I know you need your head…I mean, you use it ALL the time…"

Chase smiled. "It's OK, Adam. I know you didn't really want my head to explode." Truthfully, he had been a little hurt by his siblings' apparent lack of concern for his well-being earlier. But after the events of the afternoon, their teasing didn't seem to matter as much anymore. They were still a team, and they could still count on each other in the end.

Chase could tell that his brother still felt bad, so he made an attempt to lighten the mood. "Besides, I did send you to the bottom of the ocean with no oxygen, so I guess we're even."

Adam gasped and looked up accusingly. "I knew you didn't know I could breathe underwater!"

Chase held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I thought you would come up to breathe when you needed to! I wasn't trying to drown you! That…that would have been bad. It was bad, when Bree and I thought you had drowned." He yawned again, feeling the sleepiness threatening to overwhelm him.

"Now that we got all that stuff worked out, how about we get some more sleep?" he asked as he settled back down into the couch and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders again.

"Goodnight, Adam," Chase said sleepily. "And…thanks for staying down here. It's kind of nice not to be alone."

"'Night," Adam replied. He settled into the chair and pulled one of the blankets Tasha had found over his legs. He looked appreciatively around his home. Somehow, it looked different now. Special in a way he had never noticed before. He yawned and stretched his long legs out in front of him until he was comfortable. He looked at his younger brother, already asleep again.

"Sleep tight, Chasey," he mumbled.

At least one of them would sleep tonight.

THE END