I know it's been a while, but here is chapter 25!

The Davenport family was gathered in the living room, trying to make sense of everything.

"Chase, are you sure it was here?" Bree asked, still trying to take in everything her brother had just told her.

"Of course, she responded to here name, she even acknowledged that I was her son!" Chase replied.

Adam shook his head. "Maybe you were hallucinating,"

"I wasn't hallucinating!" Chase denied.

Donald put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Chase, you were nearly mugged, with all of the adrenaline in your system, it is possible-"

"No! I know what I saw!" Chase whined.

Leo and Tasha all sat silently on the couch, waiting to see how this would all play out.

At this point the rest of the family had had begun arguing, rather loudly.

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but his mother stopped him. "Leo, give them a bit to work through this," Tasha whispered.

Hearing the noise, Douglas came downstairs. Once they saw him, the rest of the family fell silent.

"What's going on?" Douglas asked nonchalantly. "Wait- this isn't an intervention is it?!"

"No, no, that's not it Douglas," Donald murmured.

Douglas hopped into the nearest chair. "Then what's going on,"

Chase took a deep breath. "I was downtown and I-"

"Chase almost got mugged, and he is pretty shaken up about it," Donald interrupted.

Douglas shot up and approached Chase. "Chase, are you sure you're okay?"

Chase nodded. "But I saw-"

"Chase!" Donald snapped.

"Donald, let him speak!" Douglas huffed.

"Chase thinks he saw Hope," Bree said quickly.

"Hope?" Douglas echoed, taking a step back. The idea was so absurd, he didn't know what to make of it.

Donald sighed. "He only thinks he saw her-"

Douglas but his brother off. "Oh, I'm going head downstairs. I need to work on something in the lab," Douglas said quickly, retreating to the emotional safety of the lab.

"Douglas!" Donald called, but his little brother was already gone.

Douglas ran downstairs, taking a seat in the small area at the edge of the lab. He tilted his head back, trying to keep the tears back. He could not believe any of this. It was not possible. But it was a closed casket funeral. He never saw he body. Maybe it was possible-

"Hey," A gentle voice called from across the lab.

Douglas looked up to see someone sitting at the cyber desk across the lab. "What are you doing here?" he asked dreamily. He had not even seen her when he ran in.

Hope stood up from the cyber desk, walked over to him, and took a seat next to him. "I was going to wait until it was safer, but I knew chase would tell you and I didn't want you to-"

"To what, be upset?" Douglas huffed, running his hands through his hair, nearly pulling it out. "To be angry? To be scared? Because you are here now and I am still all three!"

Hope bit her lip down, trying to stop herself from crying. "So your not happy?"

Douglas cringed, then grabbed her into a hug. "Of course I am happy. I missed you so much," he cried.

Hope hugged him back. "Of Douglas, I've missed you too! All these years, I have wanted nothing more than to make it back to you-"

"Make it back? I'm so confused, Hope. Please, explain to me how all of this is possible, and where have you been?!"

Hope sighed, taking a few deep breaths before responding. "Graham. A man named Graham saved me, and I've been working for him-"

"Why? Why hide in the shadows and put us through all of this?" Douglas asked, his face contorted in pain and betrayal.

"Douglas, it isn't like that, they, they-"

"They what, threatened to tell your mommy?" Douglas scowled.

Hope narrowed her eyes. "They threatened the kids Douglas! And you, what other choice did I have?!"

Douglas grew quieter. "How long?"

"What are you talking about?"

"How long were you lying to me. Were you even sick? Was our whole marriage built on lies? Did you ever even love me in the first place-"

"I do love you. I always have," Hope insisted. "But I couldn't let anything happen to you or the kids,"

Douglas kept his eyes down low by the counter, unable to speak.

Hope took a step towards him, reaching out, almost putting her hand on his shoulder. "I did what I had to do. I hope you can forgive me for that,"

"I love you, and I am sorry that I put you through so much pain," Hope continued. She sighed. "And if you want me to leave, I understand,"

Taking Douglas' silence as a disappointing hint, Hope walked solemnly to the door way. Before she left, she couldn't stop herself from turning back to face him. "Is this really what you want Douglas?"

"I-I don't know what to do," Douglas whispered.

"If you don't want me to stay, just say so," Hope sighed.

"I said, I don't know!" Douglas snapped.

Hope nodded, turning back to the door.

"Just please, promise me you'll be back," Douglas whimpered.

Hope smiled. "I will,"

As she left, Douglas buried his head in his hands. Mostly because he knew he probably just screwed up again.

-LINE BREAK -

"So..." Leo spoke up, drawing the attention from his family members, each silently alone in thought. "So, what do we do now?" he asked aloud.

"I guess we try to see if we can find her?" Chase shrugged. Despite him being a genius, he was struggling in this particular situation.

"To make sure she exists," Adam nodded.

"But first shouldn't we make sure that Douglas is okay?" Bree pointed out.

"That sounds like a plan then. Bree and I will go check on Douglas while you guys work on tracking her down," Donald said.

"What can I do to help?" Tasha asked.

"Uh, well," Donald murmured. "You can, you can go make dinner?"

Tasha gave her husband a quick glare before heading upstairs.

Donald sighed, "Come on Bree, let's go see how he is doing,"

Leo watched the two head down to the lab before turning to Chase and Adam. "So where do we want to start?"

"Let's use Mr. Davenport's new facial recognition software to search through local security cameras to see if we can find anything," Chase suggested. He and Leo sat down an began analyzing the footage, but they were impeded by Adam and his "help".

"That's not her," Adam said, pointing to a random civilian on the screen. "That's not her either,"

"That's obviously not her," Adam sighed.

"What? I had no idea that our mother wasn't a middle aged asian man," Chase huffed.

Adam rolled his eyes. "I'm just trying to help,"

"Well, you are just making this ten times harder," Chase retorted.

"I want to find her just as much as you do," Adam muttered.

"Yeah right, you didn't even believe me when I told you I saw her," Chase hissed.

"Why should I have believed you?" Adam challenged. "We had, still have, no real evidence that she is alive,"

"But I saw her!" Chase snapped.

"Okay, correction, all we have is Chase's word on it," Adam snorted.

Leo cut in before Chase could retort. "Why don't you guys work in separate rooms, because you obviously can't handle doing this together,"

"Fine," Both boys muttered, splitting apart.

Leo could only sigh to himself, as in one hour nothing had been accomplished.

-LINE BREAK-

Douglas' postion hadn't altered in the slightest, his head still resting in his hands.

Donald and Bree quietly made their way down to the lab, watching Douglas as he was completely unaware of their presence.

"Hey Douglas, how are you doing?" Bree asked cautiously, taking a step closer to him.

Douglas flinched, startled by her voice. "Oh, hey Bree. Hey Donnie," he murmured.

Bree took a seat next to her birth father. "Are you okay Douglas?"

"I, I saw her," Douglas mumbled.

"Her?" Donald asked, leaning forward.

"Hope. She was here. She's alive!" Douglas swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"How is that possible?" Donald gasped.

"Did she talk to you? Did she say anything?" Bree questioned.

Douglas tried to find the right words to speak. "I, I didn't really understand. But she says she'll be back,"

Bree could not help but smile. "She'll be back?'

Donald sighed, "Now Bree-"

"She'll come back!" Bree grinned. "Isn't that amazing?!"

Donald nodded. "A sure miracle..."

Yep, so everyone freaked out. What about you? Go ahead and review if you want, I am going to go ahead and get emotionally prepared for the big fight in the next chapter. Thanks! AzulaTano.