Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.

Despite his nagging protests, Chase and I had lunch at a pretzel hut in the mall. Neither I nor the vendor cared about the "dangers" of excess sodium Chase emphasized, but apparently the soccer mom behind us did. Right when she heard the statistics Chase spat out loudly at the vendor, she grabbed onto her son's arm and dragged him away from the cart, the boy scowling at Chase's back.

Nonetheless, Chase reluctantly ate a pretzel from the stand. Of course he had to scrape all the salt off of it, but he did actually enjoy it.

"So where to now?" he asked, throwing away his pretzel wrapper. I was just taking my last bite, brushing the leftover salt off my fingers. Maybe he did have a point about how much they coat them with . . .

"Well, I needed to tell you something . . ." I left off. I was too busy hoping he wouldn't lash out to finish the sentence.

"Tell me what?" he said suspiciously. We had started to walk towards the exit.

"Um, earlier today I went on a little trip to this research facility."

He looked confused. "Why would you want to go to a research facility?"

"I was trying to pick up some information on something."

"And this something was . . . ?"

"The intruders we saw at the lab yesterday," I whispered.

Chase stopped in his tracks and I turned around to face him. His face showed concern. "Please tell me you didn't . . ."

"I did," I muttered.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Well, what did you get out of him?"

"Not much. He cooperated at first, of course not without picking a few fights here and there, but then he got suspicious."

"What exactly did you ask him?"

I thought back to our conversation. "The only thing I could get a complete answer to was 'Do you know of anyone who would want to steal your technology', but it might've been my fault for distracting him before he could answer my other questions."

"What did you say that distracted him?" We started walking again, only a couple yards away from the mall doors.

"I accidentally brought you up without thinking and that sparked a conversation about the others."

"I see," he mumbled quietly. Just by the tone of his voice and the way he gritted his teeth I could tell he was tense. "I just hate how there's people digging around in our business right under our noses."

I could definitely relate to that. All Dad has been doing lately is getting into my business, especially last night.

Ugh, just the thought of last night's events brought a pang to my stomach. I was still going through the guilt. I tried to push the memories from last night out of my mind.

"Here, I have an idea that'll help both of us out."

"We're not going back to the old lab again, are we?" Chase asked, slightly disgusted.

"Really close guess, but no. Leo and Adam are covering for me today. You need to get rid of some stress, and I need to train. Plus, being the healthy, nutrition-conscious person you are, I bet you want exercise to balance out the sodium you just consumed. What do you say we go to my lab and train?"

A grin spread across Chase's face. "I'm in."

I smiled with him. I just hoped Adam and Leo would be able to keep their promise and steer Dad away from the lab. But just to be sure . . .

"I'm going to text Leo and ask him to keep Daddy Dearest away from the lab."

Chase raised his eyebrows. "New phone? That from 'Daddy Dearest'?"

"No, actually Leo made it for me. One of a kind, and without a tracer that can locate me."

"Your Dad was really going to put a tracking device inside your phone?"

I sighed. "That's what Leo suspected, and I figured he was right." I paused and showed him the lock screen. "There's a fine line between protecting someone you love and watching their every move. He's come too close to crossing that line, multiple times."

Chase raised his eyebrows. "Did he know you were at the lab yesterday?"

"No, or at least I hope not. But he knows I lied about staying at the mall all day. He sent Adam and Leo to find me, but that was after we left to Douglas' lab."

Chase sighed and we both kept walking. I started texting Leo.

Do me a favor?

I got a reply a few seconds later.

Depends . . . What kind of favor?

Keep Dad away from the lab for a couple hours?

Sure, but what kind of scheme are you planning now?

I'm going to train with Chase for a bit. Please don't tell.

Chase? As in 'the-guy-who-stole-you' Chase?

He didn't steal me. It was an accident anyway. Just drop it. What do you say?

Hold on, lemme get this straight . . . You're planning on bringing the boy that Dad hates into his secret lab to do the exact thing he forbade you to do? Gutsy.

Yeah, yeah. Just PLEASE distract him until I get Chase out. Have Adam ask him to explain something science-y or something. That should kill a lot of time.

Fine. Just be careful with Chase. I never exactly said I approve of him.

Like you get a say in who I hang out with.

"Hang out"? Sure, let's call it that.

Whatever, just keep. Him. Distracted.

I put away my phone, not expecting another reply. We'd been walking while I was texting Leo, so by now were were a decent distance away from people.

"Okay, Leo promised to keep my dad away. Let's go," I said, turning my back to Chase to signal for him to hop on. I'd rather get a little more practice with my speed than slowly trek home.

____________________________________________________________________________

I slowly opened the front door, popping my head in to make sure Dad wasn't anywhere in sight. Thankfully, the coast was clear. I swung the door open wider and Chase and I strolled in.

"Uh, this way," I said, leading Chase toward the kitchen. He followed obediently, looking around the clean house. I could only hope Dad was not somewhere in our path to the lab. I hit the panel that activated the lab elevator and we stepped inside.

"Fancy," Chase marveled as he glanced at the walls and all the buttons on the panel. One for every floor.

The elevator plummeted down and the doors opened to reveal the lab to Chase for the first time. He was clinging on to the support handles for dear life because of how fast we descended.

"Uh, sorry, forgot to warn you about that." I smiled sheepishly. Chase looked at me wide-eyed and slowly followed me out of the elevator.

I inspected the lab only to find it empty. Thank God Leo kept his promise.

"Okay," I said, turning around to face Chase. "What kind of training do you want to do? More basics?"

"No, I think you're ready for some actual training." Chase smirked. "Wanna try to get more use out of your bionics?"

"Sure," I said, even though I was completely confident. He smiled at me reassuringly.

"Don't worry; I know how to train somebody with speed. I always had to sit in on Marcus and Trevor's lessons anyway."

I nodded, and Chase started setting up stuff in the room. He put some crash pads on the walls in case I lost control of my speed and ran full-throttle into the metal sides of the lab. Good idea on his part.

While he was busy setting up the equipment, I changed out of my boots and put on sneakers. No way on earth was I sprinting for an hour in my heeled boots. I also took my phone out of my pocket and set it on the cyberdesk.

"All right, let's start with some tests. See how many laps you can sprint around the lab in under thirty seconds." Chase sat in one of the stools by the cyberdesk and pulled up a timer. "Whenever you're ready."

I took a deep breath and concentrated on running as fast as I could before taking off. I sped in circles around the open space in the lab and felt the air moving around me.

"Time!" Chase exclaimed after my time was up. I slowed down and started breathing heavily.

"How'd I do?" I asked, still slightly panting.

"Well, using the number of laps you ran and the amount of time you ran for, your speed is about 360 miles per hour."

I beamed. "That's good, right?"

"Yeah, especially for someone who just started using their bionics. But your chip allows you to go up to 500 miles per hour without burning out. Let's try again."

I huffed and got ready to sprint again. This time I focused on beating my last score.

"Time!" Chase yelled again after the time had passed. I skidded to a stop and almost slid into the wall, but I was able to catch my balance at the last second.

"Better! You got about 374 miles per hour this time, but now we have to work on some control."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. I don't know why I thought training would be fun. It's sweaty, and tiring, and difficult. And I just started.

"Hey, if you want to master your bionics, you need to train."

I inhaled deeply. "Right. Practice makes perfect."

"Wrong," Chase said plainly. "Perfect practice makes perfect."

I gritted my teeth. "Whatever you say," I said sarcastically.

"Let's just run it again. You have a new record to break."

"Fine." I huffed angrily and got into a lunging position to get a better start. I took off, speeding furiously around the room.

While I was running, I started drifting away from the walls so I would get more laps in less time. I didn't care if Chase yelled at me or said I was cheating; I just wanted to get a better score and move on to a different type of training.

I ended up too close to the middle of the room and Chase quickly told me to back away, but it was too late. I was running out of control and I ran right into the stool he was sitting on. We both toppled to the ground, him hitting first and me landing half on top of him.

"Ow." Chase's eyes scrunched up and he leaned his head back. I reached for my left leg, which had made contact with the stool first and rubbed it gently. Another bruise to add.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. My anger was immediately replaced with regret as I saw his face contorted in pain. I felt so bad.

"Fine," he mumbled, reaching up to the back of his head to soothe it. "I think next we'll work on your temper."

I tilted my head and gave him a half smile. I could tell by the way he smiled after he said that that he was only joking. I stood up and put all my weight on my right leg so I wouldn't aggravate my left one.

Chase still laid on the floor, but he wasn't in pain anymore. He was just being lazy.

"Aren't you gonna get up?" I asked.

He formed his lips into a thin line and looked upwards, pretending to consider standing up. "Nope. Floor is pretty comfortable anyway." He folded his hands behind his head and smiled at me.

"Oh, I'm sure a cold, dusty lab floor is just so inviting," I replied. He smiled bigger and I held out my hand to help him up. He sighed reluctantly and took my hand, letting me lift him off the ground.

I kept pulling on his arm, even though he was already standing again, causing him to stumble forward. He didn't step back, and his hazel eyes looked right into mine. Before I could move at all or apologize for making him almost fall again, his hand was on my cheek and he kissed me.

I instantly thought back to our first kiss in the woods and the same electricity flowed through me. Except this time the kiss was longer and the sparks were still going.

I lost track of how long we kissed. I knew it wasn't too long, but it was long enough for me to have subconsciously wrap my arms around Chase's neck.

"Hey!" Someone yelled. Neither of us had even heard the elevator doors open. We were both shocked at who now stood in the lab with us. "What are you doing here?"

AN: Okay, I was super sorry for going on hiatus, but I'm even MORE SORRY for leaving this on a cliffhanger. I'm hoping this cliffie will motivate me to return eventually. But I've decided to do something over the week.

From now (December 13, 2015) to December 20th, I will continue to reply to ALL pms. Whatever you guys want to say to me, whether it's hate or love, I will reply 100% honestly. But after the 20th, I am going on complete hiatus. I just wanted one last chance to talk to you guys one on one if you wanted to. Just to say goodbye, you know.

Well, I guess this is it for now. For the hundredth time, I am so sorry.

Bye.

Peace out pickles! :D I love you all!!