Who I am
Once upon a time, a long ago, I had a very different life. That all changed when I moved in my step-dad. That was the day I stumbled into the lab. The day I met my family. The day I let Adam, Bree, and Chase into my heart and, I have never let them go since.
Over past eight years or so, some crazy stuff has happened but, some things never change. Adam and Chase always bicker and fight with one other. Bree always try to keep the peace between the two of them. As for me, I am the one who always have their backs no matter what.
If there’s one thing about me; it’s I don’t give a darn what happens to me just as long as my family is safe and alive. Maybe that makes mad man. Adam, Bree, and Chase, are heroes. Not just any old heroes, but bionic heroes. While they are so busy saving the world and everyone in it, who is going to save them? I am. That’s who.
Anyone person can save the day. That’s easy. There are very few who can save the world. My brothers and sister are part of few that can and have saved the world. I don’t know if I could ever save the word. I am always too busy saving my family on missions.
I am my family’s backup. Someone has to watch out for them. Maybe I’m not the most qualified to do, but someone has to do it. It seems that I’m the only one that is willing. I live in their shadows because that choice. It used to bother quite a bit. Now, it doesn’t matter. Keeping my family safe is more important than any glory or praise I could get.
Before, I was lonely kid living in one bedroom apartment with only my mom. Then, in the course of one day, I gained a family. A family that wasn’t just my mom and me. I love my mom, but something was always missing when it was just the two of us.
Growing up, my mom was often busy with work. Wasn’t her fault really. She was a single mom trying to provide for me, her son. It was lonely childhood. My friends were TV shows and movies as I was branded the “weird kid” at school.
All that changed the night my mom brought home Big D. I was skeptical of the man at first. Strange for thirteen year old boy to be skeptical of his mother’s boyfriend. I know. I love my mom and I hoped that this man that brought home that night was the one. Experience told me that it wasn’t going to be easy.
It was always hard for my mom get man to actual want to met me. Most men when they found out about would just reject my mother. I hated that. It was like I was ball and chain in the way of her happyness. Why was it so hard for men to understand that she had kid? In the long run, it was for the best.
The night he came over was one filled with anxiety and fear. As night went on, that fear and anxiety would be replaced with hope for the future. I had soften to the man as left that night. As no one has ever made mom smile like Big D. Except maybe me.
Soon, my mom and Big D got married. Moving in the palace that Big D called a home was shock at first. Then I stumbled into the lab. I met Adam, Bree, and Chase then. Everything from that moment was different. I had family. I had friends. I had everything I had wished for as kid.
Sometimes, I wonder what my life would have been like, if I have never met Adam, Bree, and Chase. Where would have life taken me? At the same time, I cannot imagine a world where we never met.
I often wonder, if Adam, Bree, or Chase even think about what my life was like before we met. They never ask. Nor do I bring it up. It is like unwritten rule to never bring up my past. The past isn’t all that important. It is just a past, but I know many things about their past. My family, outside my mom, doesn’t know it.
The day I met Adam, Bree, and Chase was one of the greatest days of my life. That is fact that will never change. I made my way into the lab by accident, and I am so glad I did. I don’t know if I had as big impact on my family as they did on me. I’d like to think that I did.
Since the day I met my family, I looked out for them. Whether that be at school or in the field. I have always tired to kept my family safe. Adam, Bree, and Chase don’t seem to notice this. That doesn’t matter though. All that does matter is keeping my family safe.
Sometimes, I feel like my family doesn’t notice me at all. I suppose it doesn’t matter. They might not always listen to my ideas or take me seriously, but I know at the end of day none of it matters. I love them and they love me. That’s what really matters.
Over the years, the family has grown to include Douglas, Daniel, and Namoi. Douglas was once a villain, but I have come to realize is a big softie. Daniel and Namoi are a new brother and sister. Family changes over time as do the seasons.
One night, Big D when was stitching up a cut I had obtained on a mission. I had withstaned the injury while pushing Bree out of way of falling debris. I often get injured on missions, but I will never forget the conversation that was had in the lab that night.
“Leo?”
“Yeah, Big D, what is it?”
“You could have killed,” he stopped working on the stitch to look me dead straight in the eyes “You know that right?”
“I didn’t die.”
“That isn’t point. You could have.”
“So, could have Bree.”
“Maybe.”
“What do you mean maybe?!”
“For the love of all! In case you haven’t notice, she’s less breakable than you,” silence followed that last statement.
Big D wasn’t completely wrong about me being more ‘breakable’, but my sister needed me and that’s was all that mattered. Maybe, I am crazy. I have often wondered that. I do run headfirst into danger not giving a second thought to what will happen to me.
“Leo, your my son and I can’t lose you,” Big D doesn’t often call me his son and that’s how I know he was he was upset. “Especially if it’s on stupid idea that you’ve got something to prove, because you don’t... you don’t, Leo.”
“That’s not the reason, I did it. I know I don’t have anything to prove.”
My step-dad sighed and went back to patching me up, “I don’t think I’m ever going to understand you.”
I laughed at that. I still do. I know I’m strange. I always been that way. I used to hate it. I wanted to fit in. Now, I’ve come to embrace it.
“Leo, I didn’t mean to shout,” he told me after what felt like hours of silence.
“I know.”
“I just worry about you.”
“I know you do, but you shouldn’t.”
After that statement, I swear I hear Big D almost telling that ‘I’ll always worry, so stop asking me not to.’ He didn’t say that. Oddly enough.
“Look, Leo, can you do me one favor?”
“I guess.”
“Next time you want to do something this reckless and stupid, promise me that you’ll be little more careful?”
I lied to Big D that night. I said I’d be careful. Careful is not in my nature. Not when comes to protecting those I care about. I know shouldn’t have lied, but I wanted to have some kind of peace when I went into field. If that conversation taught me anything, then I don’t want nor need the credit for what I do.
I know. I know. Sounds nuts, but I don’t need anyone worrying about me. I can take care of myself, for the most part. It might be nice after save one of them to get a thank you or something, but to be honest I don’t need it. Knowing my family is safe and alive is all I need.
My family will always be the best part of me. It always be the part of me worth protecting. I won’t ever stop. How can I? Where ever and whenever, Adam, Bree, and Chase need me that’s exactly where I’m going to be. No matter what.
I will never stop looking out for and protecting my family. I may never get a thank you, but I will always be the protector of my family. Even if it gets me killed one of these days.
My name is Leo Dooley and that is my story.
