Maeve walked up to the beaker on the table.

"Why does no one put anything away in this place?" She groaned.

"No!" Chase exclaimed, grabbing the beaker. "There are microscopic nanobots in there. Mr. Davenport made them to seek out and destroy diseased cells in the human body."

"How many are in there?" Maeve asked, staring at the beaker that appeared to be empty.

"Thousands. Here," Chase grabbed weird-looking glasses and gave them to Maeve, who put them on. As soon as she did, she could see the tiny blue nanobots crawling around.

"Aww!" She said. "Can I have one?"

Chase laughed. "Sorry, Maeve. Mr. Davenport's testing them for medical use."

Maeve sighed and sat down next to Chase, taking off the glasses. She watched as he filled out a worksheet.

"You waited until after dinner to do your homework? Wow, I didn't take you to be the procrastinating type," she smirked.

"This is tomorrow's homework," Chase replied.

Maeve rolled her eyes, smiling. "Of course it is."

"Hey, I'm not doing it for fun this time!" he explained. "Perry is assigning us to guard the dingo mascot costume so that Deerfield High doesn't steal it again, and Adam and I have a shift tomorrow afternoon."

"Aw, so I won't get to hang out with you?" Maeve pouted, half-joking.

Chase froze and stared at her, blushing. "Oh, well-"

"I'm kidding. I feel like there are better ways to guard the costume, though."

"There definitely are - Perry just likes taking away all our free time. I could be doing next week's homework!"

Maeve smiled. "You're cute."

Chase's eyes widened slightly, and he stared straight down at his homework. "Uh..." he stammered. Maeve giggled as the lab doors began to open. Maeve gasped and Chase looked at her. She quickly ducked into the closet.

What a fun few days this was going to be.

-

The next afternoon, Maeve sat in the lab, making a bracelet out of string. Chase entered the lab, upset.

"Chase?" She laughed. "What happened?"

"Adam let the dingo costume get stolen while I was in the bathroom. Now I have to help him get it back." He sat down next to Maeve.

"Aww, I'm sorry," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened a little, then relaxed.

"Yeah, well, now I just need to call him while he sneaks into Deerfield High."

"And you trust Adam to do that?"

Chase laughed. Maeve smiled. She didn't like seeing him upset. He got up and took a comm set.

Maeve sat in her chair, tying her bracelet together, watching Chase talk to Adam over the comm set.

Something Adam said made Chase roll his eyes. "Adam, have you found the Dingo yet?" He asked. "Okay, but be discreet." Chase suddenly winced. "That's on me for thinking you know what 'discreet' means!"

Maeve furrowed her brow, wondering what could be happening on Adam's side. She kept working on the bracelet as Chase talked to his brother. Eventually, he hung up.

"He got the costume back. I'm gonna go meet him at school," Chase said.

"Have fun," Maeve giggled. She put on some music, hanging out alone in the lab by herself. When she suddenly heard loud footsteps, she ducked into her closet.

She listened as she heard a voice that sounded like Adam's, along with a weird clip-clopping noise. When the footsteps and shuffling eventually faded away, Maeve hesitantly exited the closet.

To her surprise, a llama stood next to the cyberdesk.

Maeve did a double take. The last time she checked, the Davenports did not own a llama. She walked up to it and held out her hand. The llama stretched out his neck, nuzzling Maeve's hand. She would love to say getting along with animals was natural for her, but it was honestly just one of her bionic abilities.

The llama was truthfully kind of sweet.

"Hi, sweetie!" Maeve cooed, petting the llama's head. She wanted to take him outside or somewhere he would feel better, but she couldn't really risk leaving the lab. "Are you hungry?"

The llama pushed his head against her hand.

"Aww, let's see what we can do about that!" Maeve held out her palm, growing a small dandelion and feeding it to the llama.

Some time passed as Maeve hung out with her new llama friend. He was calm, just sniffing around, circling back to her every once in a while. Eventually, her phone buzzed. It was Chase, texting to tell her he was coming back to the lab.

Chase entered the lab, visibly upset at the llama.

"Chase, why didn't you tell me you had a llama?" Maeve asked. "Also, please tell me you normally take better care of him because this lab is no such place for a llama."

Chase rolled his eyes. "It's the Deerfield High Llama. Adam stole it."

Maeve paused. "What kind of high school just has a llama?!"

"I don't know, but we need to watch it to make sure it doesn't ruin anything."

"Hey," Maeve frowned, covering the llama's ears. "Do you see his ears? He can hear you."

Chase stood still for a moment before breaking into a small smile. He sat down as Maeve smiled back.

"How'd you get to be such a llama whisperer?" He asked.

"I'm not," she laughed. "I just think they're cute."

"Have you interacted with one before this?"

Maeve grinned. "A few years back, Marcus and I went to a petting zoo. I was really upset because those places usually don't take good care of their animals, and Marcus was trying to make me feel better by showing me the llama. But I guess it didn't like him because it, like, sneezed at him or something. And, I don't know, I guess I just thought that was really funny. Marcus was so upset."

As Maeve thought back to this instance, her smile slowly faded. She felt a certain weight on her heart as she remembered she would never laugh with Marcus again.

Chase noticed the shift in her mood. "I'm sorry," he frowned.

Maeve looked up at him and quickly shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry."

There was a small awkward pause before Chase spoke.

"Maeve, can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"Why'd you do it?"

Maeve looked down, trying to find the words to explain why she would ever try to capture the Davenports. "I don't know. I know you deserve an explanation, but I just-" she took a shaky breath. "I guess... maybe I wanted to prove I could do it."

Chase frowned, thinking.

"I'm sorry," said Maeve.

Chase sighed. "It's okay. I don't want you to feel bad anymore. I know Douglas and your dad made you do it."

"No, Chase, please don't forgive me for this. I mean, yeah, they told me to, but I still did it. I didn't have to."

"Maeve-"

Chase was interrupted by the sound of glass clinking followed by a crunch. Their heads whipped around to see that the llama had knocked over the nanobot beaker and was now eating them. Maeve gasped.

"The nanobots! Bad llama, bad llama!" Chase scolded, panicking.

The llama huffed and Chase took a step back.

"Okay, if you and I are gonna be spending any kind of time together, you're gonna need a mint."

Maeve rolled her eyes. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I mean, probably! The nanobots are meant to destroy diseased cells, but they were designed for the human body. I don't know how they'll affect a llama!"

"Well, what are we gonna do? I was supposed to be watching him," Maeve groaned, guilt clouding her mind.

"We were watching him, Maeve. Don't blame yourself," Chase said. "It's okay. I'll just take him back to Adam at school."

"What? Why?"

"He's the one who stole the llama in the first place. I'm done cleaning up his messes." Chase grabbed the leash around the llama's neck, leading it out of the lab.

While Chase was away, Maeve tried to relax in the lab. She kept working on making her bracelet. Over time, her anxious thoughts dissolved. Chase would know what to do - he always knew what to do.

-

That evening, after the llama had been successfully returned to Deerfield High, Maeve unwinded in the bathroom near the lab, changing into her pajamas. She then exited the bathroom, heading back to the lab. The doors opened, revealing Chase, Adam, Bree, Leo, and Donald.

Oh, shit.

Maeve jumped. She locked eyes with Chase, who stared back at her, panicked. Donald's eyes widened. Leo screamed.

"Maeve?!" Bree exclaimed.

"Woah, that girl looks exactly like Maeve!" Adam gasped.

Donald ignored him. "Step back, Maeve. What are you doing here?" Maeve swallowed and began to lift her hands up in surrender.

"Mr. Davenport, it's okay," Chase frowned, stepping towards Maeve. "I said she could stay."

"You did what?!" Leo shrieked.

"Chase, how could you do something like that without even asking me?" Donald asked, upset.

"Because I knew what you'd say. I'm sorry, I should have told you. But-" Chase paused, "she had nowhere else to go."

"Chase, are you forgetting what she did to you? To us?!" Donald said. Chase sighed.

"Look, I didn't mean to be any trouble by staying here," Maeve said hesitantly.

"No, Maeve, you're not," Chase told her. Mr. Davenport looked at him, angry.

"I'm with Big D," Leo chimed in. "Sorry, Maevey, but I never wanna see you again."

Maeve furrowed her brow. It hurt a little, but he was definitely justified after all she had done to him.

Donald shook his head. "I'm sorry, guys. Chase, I'm really disappointed in you. Do you know how dangerous this could've been? What if she was still working for Krane?"

"Okay," Bree interrupted, "Can we not talk about her like she's not here?"

Maeve flashed a small smile to Bree, who did not return it. Maeve sighed.

"I don't even know where my dad is," she explained.

Donald turned his angered state to her. "And how do I know you're telling the truth? You helped kidnap my children."

"Mr. Davenport," Chase interjected.

"No, Chase. I just can't even believe what's happening. How long has she been here?"

Maeve paused. "A few days... I'm sorry we didn't tell you guys. I was just... scared."

"Mr. Davenport, I know I should have told you," said Chase. "But I believe Maeve."

"Chase, don't take the blame for this," Maeve frowned. "I was the one who talked him into it."

"No, Maeve. I chose to help you. And I would do it again."

Butterflies. That's it.

Maeve looked away before she blushed. Then, she sighed and looked at Donald. "I'm really sorry, guys. I get it. All I needed was a few days. I can go."

Donald sighed, rubbing his forehead before speaking again. "No, that... won't be necessary."

Maeve stared in confusion.

"You need a place to stay. You'll be safest here," Donald continued. "I believe in second chances."

Maeve smiled, exchanging an excited glance with Chase. "Thank you, Mr. Davenport!"

Donald flashed a smile. "If Douglas weren't frozen right now, I would love to rub it in his face that I GOT ALL THE KIDS! Who's the better bionic caretaker? Me!" He practically danced out of the lab as Maeve stared at Chase in shock.

"You're staying," Chase smiled.

"Yeah," she replied, turning to Adam, Bree, and Leo.

What do you say to people whose house you have been secretly living in for the past week?

"Uh, do you guys wanna go out and get ice cream or something later?" she asked hesitantly.

"We're busy," Bree answered. "Let's go."

Bree, Adam, and Leo left the lab, leaving Maeve staring at the wall. She slowly turned to Chase.

"They'll come around," he said.

Maeve shook her head. "I don't know."

"They will, Maeve. I did."

Would they?