It's been too long! This is the busiest summer break I've ever had, but as I've said I'm not giving up on any of my current stories. This chapter's on the short side, but hopefully that's not a probably since it's building to my take on "Avalanche" next chapter. (Which is why there's a three-week time skip after Monday.)

This chapter is dedicated to Lady Cougar-Trombone, Sodaluv8, AnythingReally1 and We'rekindacrazylikethat. Enjoy!

I do not own Lab Rats

"Marcus, if you had a middle name, I'd use it right now."

Leo wasn't the only one who caught onto what his housemate broke. Donald found a few more shards of the Neural Scrambler in the lab.

The warning didn't seem to scare Marcus. Proof of that could be seen when he mimicked the man's stance, crossing his arms over his chest. "Who says I don't?"

Leo failed to swallow a scoff over the comeback, so it sounded like he was coughing. Now he understood why Marcus had said he knew no one was going to use the Neural Scrambler again. They couldn't even if they wanted to.

"You broke a million-dollar product. You really are just like one of my kids."

"I really wish you'd stop saying that." Marcus replied dryly. His tone brightened a bit after that, but there was something scary about it. It reminded Leo of the things he used to say when no one else was around to hear. "We discussed this before, but that seems to have escaped you."

Marcus had told him something important, and Donald had no recollection of it because of his invention.

From the moment Marcus showed up on his doorstep, Donald had been trying to help Marcus deal with his pain. Apparently, comparing the boy to his own children wasn't a way to do that. It only added to the hurt he wanted to heal.

So, at least for the time being, he stopped.

The three stood there silent for awhile, and Marcus' smile lost its look of sarcasm. He was glad he destroyed the Neural Scrambler before it had another chance to destroy him.

"Were you thinking about skipping out on the most important meal of the day? Because breakfast is served in there." These were the first intelligible words Marcus heard out of Thari's mouth Monday morning. The first few were just a jumble of worried gibberish.

"No," He insisted, outwardly cringing at the sound of her bracelets clinking together when she pointed. "I just need to go ask a favor-"

"You'd be doing me a favor if you ate first." She said through a sigh, knowing she was picking up on a habit of the people she lived with. Showing concern for friends was a good thing, but she doubted she could be as convincing as they were.

Especially if Marcus was as stubborn as the people he lived with. His stubbornness wasn't what made him keep up the argument. It was more about how he didn't like asking favors of people. In this instance, he had to. And the longer he put it off, the less likely he was to actually go through with it. "It won't take long." He insisted. "I'll still get to eat, just a little later."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Thari asked: "Where are you headed, anyway?"

"The prop room." He told her.

"I'll come with you." She decided. It seemed very spur of the moment, but it was actually something she'd been meaning to do.

"You don't trust me, do you?" Marcus didn't sound surprised.

"I do trust you. You just reminded me of something I forgot to ask. That's why I'm going with you."

"Looking for a spot on the crew?" Thari seemed like the kind of person who would try anything once, but he didn't see why she'd waste her time with stage crew twice.

"Yeah. It's gonna be weird without Shirlene." That's why Marcus considered it a waste of time. Even when she finished her thought. "But it'll give us a chance to get to know each other better." She said that so matter-of-factly. Not in a flirtatious sort of way. Marcus was glad for that.

He didn't think he could handle it otherwise.

"Before you didn't want me to give you any special treatment, and now you asked me to rush your order." Gordo wasn't making a complaint, just an observation.

Marcus figured he owed the costume designer an explanation. "Well… I wouldn't say rush. I just don't have any collared shirts. Or dress pants. Or dress shoes. But I'm gonna need them once I get my cast off."

"So you need to borrow that?" The other boy asked, referring to his costume.

"Is that okay?"

"Sure." Marcus almost didn't believe that, until he realized the way Gordo sounded wasn't about the fact that Marcus asked to borrow the costume, but that he needed to ask.

He knew how he made it sound. As if clothes like that weren't available to him. The truth was the less Marcus had, the happier he was. He hated having the Davenports spend money on him. He needed these clothes if he was to have any chance of making money of his own.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"No problem." Gordo assured. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"That test isn't for weeks." Janelle told Leo when he asked about studying together after breakfast. "I know. I'm asking in advance because I'm grounded." He wouldn't be able to use his phone for awhile, so he decided to make arrangements in person.

She chuckled, closing her locker. "How did that happen?" The movie ran later than the teens had expected, but not by much. That wasn't grounding-worthy.

"Oh, ya know. Regular Dooley-Davenport sibling shenanigans." He didn't go into detail because those shenanigans involved Adam, Bree and Chase practicing bionics. Out of the public eye, of course.

"Was Marcus with you?" Janelle wondered aloud. It wasn't like Leo called him his sibling, but she wouldn't be surprised if he did. Something told her the other boy wasn't comfortable with that status.

"Of course."

Janelle nodded, as if that fact had a direct link to why Leo had asked her to study with him. "So he's mad at you."

"What? No. Why would you think that?" Maybe it was the fact that Marcus hadn't said much at the table. But he had other things on his mind.

"You got him in trouble."

Leo doubted Marcus would get himself in trouble these days, but he didn't agree with Janelle's statement. "It wasn't just me."

"Yeah," Janelle understood that. He was missing her point. "but you're who he's closest with, right?"

He didn't realize how obvious that was to people outside of his family. "Yeah…"

The way Leo trailed off, Janelle could tell he still hadn't caught on to what she was saying. "Well, they say the people closest to you are the ones capable of hurting you most." She tried to say this as if she didn't know it from personal experience. Leo saw through that. "So even if it wasn't just your idea, Marcus must be mad at you for the consequences."

"Maybe." Leo answered, tired of arguing. From what he'd seen, Marcus was most angry about how everyone had handled getting in trouble. That was more about the Neural Scrambler itself than the people who used it.

"And that's why you're asking me to study with you."

With that, he understood what really bothered her about it. She thought she was his second choice.

He had to curve a laugh when he reply. It was weird to see her worry. "No, I'm asking you to study with me because I wanna spend time with you."

"Okay then." She grumbled playfully, making him smile.

In the minutes before the warning bell rang, ushering students off to class, various conversations were going on. Only one of them seemed to be more like a confrontation.

Chase approached Shirlene with that look on his face. The look she didn't have a name for but knew wasn't good. Having the look directed at her made her feel small. Even though she knew it was a reflection of how he felt inside. He'd been unable to express it before, but he was going to try.

"Before you say 'Hey, Gorgeous' out of pity," He hardly faltered when she sent him a look that told him that was an absurd accusation. Something she would never do. "Let me just explain that lately I have no idea what's going on. So I thought I'd be used to this by now. But I really don't get it. Don't you like talking to me?"

He waited out the weekend before bringing up what had happened at the movies. In part because he wanted to have this conversation face-to-face, but also because he thought he might be over it by then.

"Of course I like talking to you." She didn't realize she'd done anything to make him think otherwise.

"Oh, well… good." He replied, unable to think up words that would better articulate his relief. Perhaps Shirlene had no intention of stopping, even if -as Thari said- it made her nervous. Chase thought he didn't have a guess as to why, but he found himself voicing one. "I know what it's like to feel… pressured and have things expected of you, so I can recognize that in other people." He said, his expression softening into a sad one. "I would never wanna be someone who makes you feel like that. But if I am, then I can understand you not wanting to talk to me."

"You're not that kind of person, Chase." Shirlene assured. The words weren't exactly comforting, since her tone implied that she'd known someone who was.

When it came time for Marcus to get his cast off, he was surprised to find that everyone dropped what they were doing to watch. Like it was something ceremonial. He tried not to pay the others much attention as they talked, and just let Donald do the job a doctor would've taken care of had the situation been different. Sitting there waiting for things to be set up, the boy realized part of the reason it was difficult to accept Donald as a surrogate father. He seemed to fit the role of his doctor better. He supposed that all parents were part-time doctors, but making this transition would have been easier for Marcus if Douglas had not fit that description as well. The first time they met, the man was basically putting him back together. And even now that he was healed, Marcus still felt broken.

"Ready?" It seemed like Donald was asking that for his own benefit. He was the one who looked nervous. That expression could be seen in the eyes of the audience, but it felt out of place for Marcus. He had done this sort of thing before. He wondered why everyone looked like it would be such a problem. Even Chase seemed uneasy, and it wasn't often that he made that obvious to Marcus.

"Whenever you are." Marcus said nonchalantly. He didn't realize the lack of truth in those words. Not until he heard the whirring blade of a saw starting up.

The thing was designed to not cut through skin, but the sound seemed to go straight to his brain. Spilling out the memory of when he nearly killed Leo. The second time.

Before the saw even made contact, Marcus could feel teeth. Like the ones that shot up from his knuckles.

The saw stopped before Marcus could even process why. He was not only shaking, but screaming.

Marcus tried to close his mouth and steady himself, but it wasn't working. Now he was worried like the rest of them.

The adults weren't sure how to handle the situation, remembering the reaction they got the last time Donald had given Marcus a nudge to bring him back to reality. Adam's protective instincts failed him in that moment. He sat at the table silent, like he had early on after Marcus' arrival. Bree and Chase exchanged glances. Leo was the only one who acted before he thought.

He stood in front of Marcus, which was enough to make the screaming stop. The other boy saw him there, but looked like he couldn't believe his eyes. Especially since they had welled up with tears, blurring his vision.

"I'm still here." Leo said calmly, proving that he sensed what the problem was. Then he added: "Nobody gets rid of me that easily."

Marcus said something too quietly for anyone but Leo to hear. "But I tried to."

He brushed that off with a joke. "You're lucky I'm so invincible, then." He wasn't answered back with a laugh. In fact, Marcus looked worse than he did a moment ago. "We've been over this." At first Leo sounded annoyed, but he knew getting angry wouldn't make for progress. "I'm happy to review, though. We're different people now."

"How are you different?" Marcus had seen a change, but he didn't know Leo recognized it within himself.

"Because now I actually care to know your side of things. Not the one that Douglas… puppeteered you into having. Even if I don't always agree with it."

Marcus nodded, but not just so he could acknowledge Leo's statement. He was also telling Donald he could resume his work.

The boy kept his eyes on the others until his cast was off. Then his eyes scanned his bare wrist. The dead skin made Marcus feel like the monster he kept having to be reminded he no longer was.

Keeping his job search a secret wasn't the wisest idea Marcus ever had. Especially considering what he said to Donald in one of their past conversations. "I'm not your responsibility, I'm your obligation! And as soon as I'm healed, I won't even be that anymore." Leaving without letting the others know where he was going made it seem like he was leaving for good.

Normally, Leo would have been the first to notice Marcus' absence. The only thing he realized was missing was his phone, when he went to call Janelle about scheduling that study date of theirs. He headed down to the great room to ask the others if they knew where his phone was, only to find them all standing there wearing worried faces. Because of this, he stopped mid-step and mid-sentence. "Hey, has anybody seen-"

"He's gone." Bree interrupted, assuming he was asking about Marcus.

Despite the family's fears, he had only gone into town to inquire about getting a job. He didn't expect to get very far without experience, but he hoped for the best. Or at the very least, he hoped someone would break the vicious cycle of needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience.

He found an understanding ally in Shirlene's mother. "We can train you, pay you, but first we want to know why you want to be here." She explained.

In response, Marcus did what Leo had been advising him to do since he came to stay with the Davenports. He told the truth. "You're the first ones to give me a chance." When it comes to this, anyway.

The other people who had given him a chance were beginning to think he considered his chance lost. They were beginning to think Marcus was lost. "See," Donald began. "this is why he should have a phone."

"He does have a phone." Leo replied, since he'd connected the dots by then. "Mine."

Before Tasha got through asking if they should call to make sure he was alright, Donald was already dialing.

"Oh, I see." Ms. Onyx sounded surprised by Marcus' honesty, but looked appreciative of it.

"I'm not gonna be an instant expert." He went on. Those days are behind me. "But I do wanna learn, and I know I can." He found he would have to demonstrate that he was a fast enough learner quicker than expected. The phone in his pocket rang. Instead of apologizing for that, he answered the call. Trying to be professional about it. "Onyx Catering Company, Marcus speaking, how may I help you?"

Under an amused laugh, Donald said: "Well, you told me where you are before I even asked, so I guess you did help me. I'll send Adam over to get you when you're done there."

"Thank you for calling." When Marcus hung up, it was Joanna's turn to laugh.

Marcus counted that as a good sign.

"I don't see the point of getting the band back together." Marcus admitted from his usual spot on the couch. He was honoring Leo's agreement to be honest, even at the risk of hurting his feelings in the process.

He was answered by a dropped jaw, shifting eyes and a scoff.

"Why not?" Leo asked, clearly disappointed. "You owe us after scaring us like that."

"You didn't even know I was gone." Marcus pointed out. He seemed to find this funny, but Leo wasn't laughing.

Beyond feeling bad about that, he wanted his friend to have something to keep him busy besides school, the play, and the job he had yet to start. "Fine. You owe Adam and Chase, then."

Chase said nothing, but his expression matched his younger brother's.

"This was supposed to be my gift to Leo." Adam argued. Then, as if he was a disgruntled store owner, he added: "No returns!"

"It's a good idea, Marcus." Leo promised.

Chase nodded, hoping to not only convince him but also Adam of that.

"The rest of us wanna make this work." Adam pointed out. To the others, it sounded like he wasn't just talking about being a band again. "Why don't you?"

In an attempt to be encouraging, Leo spoke before Marcus had the chance. "You've kept up with your wrist exercises. You can play now."

"No, I can't."

The response struck a chord with Adam and Leo, but Chase missed the logic in it. "What do you mean?"

"I never learned." Marcus explained regretfully.

"But we've seen you play." Chase wasn't arguing for the sake of it, he just had yet to make the connection.

So Marcus cleared things up for him. "I didn't say I never knew how to play, I said I never learned." He demonstrated with the guitar Adam got him, and Chase could tell almost immediately that the sound was off. He stopped strumming soon, and said: "I thought it would just be muscle memory, but everything I knew about guitar was because of bionics." The skill was gone along with his chip.

Almost automatically, Leo told Marcus: "It'll come back to you." He hoped so, though he didn't see how as he never really had the skill in the first place.

"You seem to know your lines as well as I do." Marcus told Stephanie. She thought she must've misheard. If not his words, then certainly his proud, impressed tone. "Why do we still have to rehearse?" He wondered aloud.

"We're both offbook, but… we should work on… blocking." She suggested.

Marcus still didn't see her point. "We know where to stand."

"Yeah, but that's just the basics." She said. Her voice lowered when she nearly misspoke. "I… was a cheerleader. I know that performing is not just about how it sounds. It has to look good, too."

"It doesn't look good?" Marcus asked, disappointed in himself. He thought he'd been putting his all into this. He felt like he was failing at everything, especially after finding out he could no longer play guitar like he used to.

"It doesn't look… natural." Stephanie clarified.

"Why not?" He was sure he could fix it, if he only knew what the problem was.

Stephanie seemed to be approaching the subject delicately. "I don't know if you just… don't realize, or if you're trying to be polite, but…" She trailed off.

Marcus doubted he sounded very polite while his patience was wearing thin. "What?"

"You don't touch me." After all that hesitation, the explanation still somehow seemed abrupt. Marcus felt like he was sinking as he sat on the edge of her bed, too shocked to speak. His scene partner went on talking. Still just telling him the facts, no longer stating her opinion on his performance. "You never touch me. Not even now that you have your cast off. It's in the stage directions. You… you're supposed to touch me."

A few more seconds of silence dragged on before Marcus said: "I'm conscious of that." Nowadays, he never touched people without asking. That was one of his rules. It wasn't like the script left room for adlibbing, so he supposed he'd have to learn how to ask with his eyes.

Stephanie misinterpreted his response. "So it is about being polite?" He wasn't sure he could answer out loud. He didn't think she would want to understand. And he doubted he could handle finding out she could relate. Stephanie cut off his thoughts. "Thanks for that."

Marcus nodded, even though he didn't feel deserving of thanks. He let fear hold him back, which was something the family that took him in never did. As far as he knew. "I would've said something about it sooner," Stephanie admitted, "but I was kinda… scared."

"You were scared?" Marcus asked, so surprised he didn't realize where he put the emphasis. "Can I ask why?"

Before answering, she laughed lightly. Her whole point of saying that was to find out if he cared enough to let her explain. "You know about my reputation." There wasn't a student at school who didn't. "You know I haven't been the greatest person." The way she rolled her eyes then, he could tell she saw that as an understatement. With the way she had been acting, no one really wanted to be around her. "I'd tell you I don't know how I got a part in the play, let alone one of the leads, but we've been through this."

"We're good actors." Marcus agreed. He wanted to open up to her more, but felt that this was her turn.

"So you get that people aren't exactly opening up their arms to hug me, right?"

Marcus tried to say something in reply, but nothing came to mind. He'd been hugged in recent days, and he knew how comforting it could be. Even if he hadn't admitted how much he needed it. He saw Stephanie as brave for doing that.

In trying to be just as brave, he stood up and opened his arms. When he saw her unspoken response to this -an eyebrow raise that could rival his- Marcus put his arms back at his sides. His hands hit them with a disappointed pat.

"You're offering me a pity hug?" Stephanie's emotions about this were all over the place. She wanted it to feel real even though they were in the middle of rehearsing for something that wasn't. And not just because looking 'natural' together would get the audience more interested in the play. That was something she couldn't put into words, but didn't have to.

"No." Marcus said simply, before elaborating. "I would never want anyone to take pity on me. So I'm not gonna do that to you. I was offering a… practice hug."

Though he faltered as he finished, this made her smile. "Okay then." Stephanie said nonchalantly. Now it was her turn to open up her arms. After all the time she'd gone without being hugged, she wasn't sure she'd let go very soon. Marcus understood that without even having to be told.

He found himself feeling thankful in that prolonged moment. Thankful for how well the cloaking worked, because his metal hand was pressed to her back. Thankful for his second chance, because without it he never would have been able to get well enough to participate in the play. Thankful that his scene partner allowed him to take as much time as he needed.

To get back something that had seemed long lost before he was taken in by the Dooley-Davenports. Something he never thought he would have outside of their household.

"Wow," Stephanie said when they broke apart. She sounded impressed, but also empathetic. Like she understood what he hadn't told her. "I don't think you need to practice hugs."

This was her way of saying that the touch came across as natural, and that the audience would see it that way, too.

"Of course not," He mumbled jokingly. "that was just for your benefit."

She gave him a playful shove in response. It caught him off guard, and almost threw him off balance. His shock was absorbed by his amusement. "Looks like you don't need to practice shoves."

"Are those even in the script?" Stephanie asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah." Marcus answered, sure of it. This sparked a laugh.

"You memorized all of the stage directions? Even mine?"

Marcus saw no reason not to. If he knew her next moves in the play, perhaps that would help him understand more of her backstage. Every motion and emotion told a story. "We've gotta be prepared for anything." He replied with a smile. "Besides, the first character I auditioned for was yours."

"The way I heard it, you auditioned for, like, five characters at once."

"Yeah." Marcus confirmed. "Like I said, gotta be prepared for anything."

As much as Marcus wanted to be prepared for anything, he wasn't ready to walk into another type of rehearsal after leaving that one. He walked into the great room to find Leo sitting in there with his siblings. They were all mid-discussion, and failed to see Marcus standing in the doorway.

"We can't have any real band practice until Marcus learns to play again." Chase pointed out.

"Right," Leo agreed, but only partially. "but he should still be a part of these band meetings."

Leo's brothers nodded, while his sister asked: "Why am I a part of these band meetings?"

"Because," Adam explained. "Our band needs a manager."

"And you'd be perfect." Chase added.

Which prompted Leo to say: "Especially since we don't have to pay you."

The eyeroll Bree gave in reply switched from serious to playful halfway through. "What's the name of this band, anyway?"

Her brothers blinked. Leo laughed, realizing they'd forgotten to pick out a name. "Uh, that's a good question."

"I think it should be something distinguished." Chase weighed in. "Sophisticated."

"I think it should be something funny and ironic." Leo countered.

"I think it should be something Adam picks out, since this was his idea." Marcus had to choke down chuckles halfway through his sentence, because he made the others jump in surprise.

"Oh good, Marcus is home." Leo said, his hand over his heart to make sure it was still beating.

"Any ideas on a name, Adam?" Bree asked.

He looked around at his bandmates, as if trying to decide on something that fit all of their personalities. Along with that, he couldn't help thinking about how chaotic their lives had been. Ever since they took Marcus in. Ever since they met Leo. That's not to say that he would want the chaos to come to a complete stop.

When the others heard what he came up with, they didn't quite understand. "How about… Keep Calm?"

Leo's face scrunched up a bit in response. "I get it, but I don't get it."

"Yeah, even I'm gonna need that broken down." Chase told his older brother. Though that was the case for a lot of things lately.

Marcus and Bree wore matching smiles. They knew what Adam was about to say.

"Chase, Adam, Leo, Marcus." He pointed to each person as he said their name.

"Oh." Leo said with clarity, while Chase wore an expression that reflected that. "You gotta say it with a bit more oomph."

"Oomph?" Adam echoed, like he was looking for an excuse to repeat the word.

"Yeah, oomph." He said, making a fist for emphasis. "It's Keep CALM."

Bree had to laugh at the double meaning the emphasis gave, like the notion was abandoned halfway through.

"That doesn't sound very calm." Chase argued, catching onto her train of thought.

The comment confused Marcus. "Don't we want people to go a little crazy when they hear our music?"

Chase almost told him that was a good point. He found it easier to address the room instead, not looking at anyone in particular when he spoke. "Keep CALM it is."

While the others voiced their agreement, Tasha was asking Donald about his latest invention down in the lab.

"I call it a cryoblaster. I created it to help fight fires." He explained.

His wife didn't have to guess where he got his inspiration. "You've been thinking about it, too?"

"Ever since the dinner." He admitted. "That look on Joanna's face…" He trailed off as Tasha wrapped her arms around him.

"I feel so bad about the way I brought it up." She also felt bad that there was no way to take it back.

"Don't." Donald told her, "I wouldn't have thought of this otherwise. I know it can't change what happened at Cobalt Valley, but I think this will come in handy..."

Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW. I leave for vacation tomorrow, so I won't be able to reply until I get back.

Let me know if you have any questions, ideas and/or corrections. I'll update ASAP! =]