In the lab, Bree is on the phone with her friend Caitlin while Adam, Chase, and I follow her around and laugh. "Caitlin, calm down, okay? Calm down." Bree says.

"Yes, Caitlin, calm down!" Chase says.

"Yeah, you need to CHILL OUT!" Adam shouts.

"Uhh! Hey, Rodney breaks up with you every two weeks. That is, like, totally normal." Bree says. "No! No, don't cry, don't cry." Bree flinches away from the phone when Caitlin screams. "Okay, scream. Screaming is good."

"Screaming is so good!" I say, mimicking her scream. Adam and Chase also start taking turns making shrieking sounds, and the three of us laugh.

"I am so sick of you!" Bree says to us. "No, no, no! I'm not sick of you, Caitlin. Maybe Rodney just needs some space."

"Yeah, maybe Rodney's an astronaut!" I say.

"Yeah, maybe he dumped Caitlin for a one-eyed Martian girl!" Adam says.

"Caitlin, hold on!" Bree says, angrily getting into her capsule.

"Ooh!" Adam, Chase, and I say. Bree silently laughs at Adam, Chase, and me through the soundproof capsule and goes back to her call.

"Okay, what were you saying?" Bree says.

"I got this," Chase says. He pushes some buttons on the console, and Bree's phone goes flying into the capsule's ceiling with a bang. Adam, Chase, and I start laughing as we watch Bree try to reach for her phone. "I love magnets!"

In the living room, Mr. Davenport, Tasha, and Leo were on the couch watching TV when Bree stormed upstairs with Adam, Chase, and me behind her. "Mr. Davenport, I cannot stand them anymore. Can they please go live in your warehouse?" Bree says.

"Bree, the warehouse is where I keep my explosive chemicals." Mr. Davenport says.

"Like I said, can they please go live in your warehouse?" Bree says.

"Well, Donald, she is getting older. She needs privacy." Tasha says. "Why don't you give her one of your extra rooms? You have like fourteen."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I do not have any extra rooms." Mr. Davenport says, getting up from the couch.

"You have a pool table room, bumper car room, arcade room, surf simulator room, not to mention a room full of mirrors!" Tasha says.

"Yeah, or as I like to call it, a room full of me." Mr. Davenport says.

"Okay, Bree, you can have my sewing room," Tasha says.

"Yes! So long, bozos!" Bree says.

"Fine. Without you, we will make the lab totally awesome for ourselves." Chase says.

"That's right. No more hair scrunchies, or rainbow-colored toe socks or pretty, pinky, shiny junk!" I say, pretending to gag.

"Ooh, wait! I am a little chapped. Could I borrow some of your Bubble Berry Pucker Bomb?" Adam says, taking the chapstick necklace from Bree. He applies the chapstick to his lips. "Man, it's always so hard not to eat." Adam tries to eat the chapstick, but Bree takes it from him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the living room, Mr. Davenport and Leo were playing a virtual video game. "Leo wins." The voice in the video game says.

"Man, this is awesome. Bigger is always better." Leo says. "Except for in this case, where the little guy just kicked the big guy's butt."

"Uh, you know, Leo, I don't let just anybody use my holoscopic screen. You know, this is a big father/son moment for us." Mr. Davenport says.

"Please don't make me play catch. That's just gonna get ugly." Leo says. "So, Big D, can I ask you a question?"

"I don't know. Can you?" Mr. Davenport says.

"It's funny every time," Leo says, opening the fridge and taking out a juice box. "So...let's just say there's this girl you wanted to ask out."

"I would never do that!" Mr. Davenport shouts down the hall. He looks at Leo. "Wait, your mom didn't put you up...Oh, then never mind. Sorry. Carry on."

"See, there's this girl I really like, and we like a lot of the same things: Science, comic books, and I...I thought she smiled at me one time, but instead of smiling back, I did one of these." Leo puts his tongue out as he smiles.

"Leo, I...I think I know what you're trying to say. Um...you're in love!" Mr. Davenport says.

"No! No! I am not in love! I am not in love!" Leo says. "I'm just carefully exploring my options as I adventure into a place I like to call Ladyland."

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Mr. Davenport says.

Leo shakes his head. "Not a clue."

"Well, the first time I met your mom, I offered her a ride in my futuristic, high-speed helicopter." Mr. Davenport says.

"So I can borrow the helicopter?" Leo says.

"That's a great idea...in an alternate universe where bad ideas are great." Mr. Davenport says. "Leo, what I'm trying to say is, you're like me. You know, you're smart and you're handsome, but people think you're a nerd, so you've got to be flashy so they know how cool you are."

"Okay. Be flashy. Got it. I'm gonna try some of that on Janelle. But let's keep that between us, okay?" Leo says.

"Absolutely." Mr. Davenport says. "What happens in Ladyland stays in Ladyland."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Down in the lab, Chase is meditating, and I was hitting a punching bag when Adam walks in and knocks over a gong with a dusty chair. "Whoo! So, I was looking for stuff to spruce up our new pad, and I found this awesome chair. Someone just left it on the curb with a take me, I'm free sign on it. Suckas!" Adam says.

Adam taps the chair, releasing a cloud of dust and making Chase cough. "Oh, look, and it comes with a free chihuahua," Adam says. He lifts the cushion of the chair to reveal a rat.

"Adam! That's a rat!" I say, walking up to my brothers.

"Oh, good, then it won't keep me up with its barking," Adam says.

"Adam, get that chair out of here right now," Chase says.

"Well, if I do that, then where's the rat supposed to live?" Adam asks.

"How 'bout we check with the neighbor's cat," I say with a smirk.

"Hey, if you guys don't like my rat, then why did Chase buy him such a fancy little hot tub?" Adam says.

"No! You keep that disease-ridden thing out of my zen fountain." Chase says.

"And if he can't swim in it, then I don't want it in here," Adam says.

"The fountain stays," Chase says.

"The rat stays," Adam says.

"I'm gonna go back to my punching bag," I say, annoyed with Adam and Chase's fighting.

"Okay, there is only one solution for this. We'll have to split the room down the middle." Chase says.

"Fine. Me and my pet will be happy right over here." Adam says, taking the right side of the lab.

"Great. Then Cassie and I will take this half of the lab." Chase says.

"Fine. Good news, Mr. Little Paws. You and I are gonna be roomies." Adam says to his rat. "Oh, look! He's so excited, he made raisins!"

In Tasha's sewing room, which is now Bree's new room, Bree was talking on the phone with Caitlin. "Caitlin, can you believe it? I totally got my own room. Now I can give you misguided boyfriend advice in peace." Bree says. Tasha walks in and starts vacuuming.

"What? Caitlin, I can't hear you." Tasha continues to vacuum and Bree tries to get her attention. "Uh, Tasha! Tasha!"

Tasha turns off the vacuum cleaner. "Oh! Are you on the phone?" Bree nods her head. "Sorry. I'll just do something else."

"Okay, Caitlin, where were we?" Bree says. Tasha hammers a nail into the wall and shows a picture of her and Bree.

"Look, it's you and me: BFFs. That's best friends forever." Tasha says.

"I know," Bree says.

"I'm just so excited to have you up here. Go ahead, pretend I'm not here." Tasha says. She hangs up the photo.

"Anyway, Caitlin, I would just give it some time, play it cool, and hopefully Rodney will come to his senses," Bree says.

"Ooh. I wouldn't do that." Tasha says.

"Uh, do you mind?" Bree says.

"Oh, sure, no problem," Tasha says. She takes the phone from Bree. "Caitlin, it's Tasha. You gotta show that boy who's boss. If it were me, I would grab him by the collar and I would say, you are not gonna walk all over me, mister!" Caitlin starts crying over the phone.

"Oh, you're a crier." Tasha lowers the phone and looks at Bree. "This is gonna take all night."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ooh, honey. Guess who is the world's greatest stepdad-slash-inventor?" Mr. Davenport says when he sees Tasha walk into the dining room area with a load of laundry in her hands. "According to this mug, it's me." He points to the mug he was holding.

"I'm surprised it doesn't have your face on it," Tasha says.

"Bam!" Mr. Davenport says, turning around the mug to reveal his face on it. Tasha laughs. "Get this: Leo and I had a moment, and he told me about a girl."

"Well, what did he say?" Tasha asks.

"Well, I can't. He asked me not to say anything...her name is Janelle!" Mr. Davenport says.

"Aah! I knew it!" Tasha squeals.

"Wait, you knew? How did you..."

"Yesterday he slipped and asked me for a peanut butter and janelley sandwich," Tasha says. They both laugh. "I know her mother. This is so exciting!"

"He was having a little trouble talking to her, so I kind of helped him out in that department." Mr. Davenport says. "Go, dad, go."

"You didn't tell him the helicopter line, did you?" Tasha says.

"Uh...no. Yeah." Mr. Davenport says, taking a sip from his mug.

The next day, Leo was sitting on the couch reading a comic book when someone knocked on the door. "Mom," Leo says. The person knocks on the door again.

"Mom!" Leo shouts. The person knocks on the door for the third time, and Leo gets up and opens the door. He gasps when he sees Janelle at the door and slams the door in her face. "Okay. Leo, be calm. Think flashy." Leo opens the door. "Well, hello there, Janelle. The strong wind in here blew the door shut."

Janelle walks into the house. "You don't have enough windows open to create a cross breeze."

"Suddenly I'm torn, because it's both good and bad you're smart enough to realize that," Leo says. Leo and Janelle stand in awkward silence for a moment. "What are you doing here?" Leo asks.

"Well, I'm supposed to pick up some cookies your mom made. I guess she knows my mom, and they do some kind of...weird cookie exchange." Janelle says.

Tasha walks in. "Leo! Who's at the door?"

"It's Janelle. She's here for the cookies." Leo says.

"Oh, no. I ate them all. I'm such a pig." Tasha says. "But here's an idea: why don't you two make more? Leo is very handy in the kitchen. He would make a great husband one day." She walks away.

"Janelle, please don't take this the wrong way, but I did not want you to come here," Leo says.

"Yeah, I could tell by the way you slammed the door in my face," Janelle says.

"No, I...I had nothing to do with it." Leo says. "I mean...I..."

"Leo, I hate to bake, and I hear your mom coming, so I'm just gonna go," Janelle says. She leaves, and Tasha comes back.

"I got heart-shaped cookie cutters! Where'd she go?" Tasha asks.

"Mom, why did you invite her here?" Leo asks.

"Me? I didn't! Well, I wouldn't. Did she say...?"

"And what's up with Mr. Blabbenport? I spill my guts to him, and he blabs all about it." Leo says. Mr. Davenport walks into the living room.

"Hey, buddy, what do you say we fire up the bumper cars?" Mr. Davenport asks Leo.

"You told my mom about Janelle! I'll never trust you again." Leo says. He walks upstairs.

"This looks like a father/son moment, so...I'm just gonna mom my way out of it," Tasha says, leaving the living room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Downstairs in the lab, Chase was attacking a training dummy, and I was drawing something in my art journal when Leo walked into the lab. He sees a statue of a cow and points to it. "Nice cow. Is Davenport down here?"

"Nope," Chase says.

"Haven't seen him," I say.

"Good. I'm mad at him. But I need one of his gadgets so I can be flashy for Janelle." Leo says.

"Leo, what are you talking about?" Chase asks.

"I'd love to tell you more, but I've lost my ability to trust," Leo says. Adam walks in with a mailbox.

"Check it out: another thing left for us on the street," Adam says.

"Adam, that was bolted to the sidewalk!" I say. "You just stole private property."

"Oh, no. Don't worry, I left the newspapers on the ground. I just wanted the box." Adam says. I roll my eyes at him in annoyance. "I'm running out of space. I think I might put it over here." Adam tries to walk over to the taped line in the lab, but Chase blocks him.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you don't. This is my side." Chase says.

"Try and stop me," Adam says, putting the mailbox down.

"I will," Chase says. He taps a few buttons on the console, and when Adam tries to walk over, an electric force field pops up, and it shocks him.

"Guys, would you stop arguing? This is getting out of hand." I say.

Chase laughs. "I set up an invisible electric fence," Chase says. "You went right..." Chase accidentally walks up to the fence, and he gets shocked by the barrier, making me and Leo laugh.

"Oh, no way! You were laughing so hard, you bent over like this..." Adam bends over the fence and gets shocked. "Okay, that's starting to hurt!" Mr. Davenport walks into the lab and sees the cow statue.

"Nice cow. Um, look, Leo, I'm really sorry I betrayed your trust. I just got really excited 'cause we had this nice father/son moment." Mr. Davenport says.

"I got it. Fine. Let's hug it out." Leo says. Mr. Davenport tries to lean over and hug Leo, but he accidentally runs into the invisible barrier and gets shocked, making him fall to the ground. I covered my mouth in shock and tried to hold back laughter. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I really thought that was off!"

In Bree's room, Bree was sleeping in her capsule when she started to hear a squeaking noise on the glass. She opens her eyes and sees Tasha cleaning her capsule. "Morning!" Tasha says.

Bree jumps back in surprise. "Whoa!"

"I just wanted to keep your new room fresh. Oh, and good news...I talked with Caitlin. She's back with Rodney. Yay!" Tasha says.

"Um, Tasha, no offense, but I moved up here so I could have some privacy," Bree says.

"I totally get it, so look what I did!" Tasha says. She pulls a rope, and a curtain falls over Bree's capsule. "Whee!" Bree sighed in satisfaction and closed her eyes until Tasha opened the door and squeezed into the capsule with her.

"Whoa," Bree says.

"Privacy. Yay!" Tasha says.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At school, Leo walks up to Janelle. "Janelle, thanks for coming. I suppose you're wondering why I asked you here."

"We're at school," Janelle says.

"Oh, you!" Leo says. "Anyway, I wanted to show you something that someone who's both cool but nerdy can appreciate." Janelle gives Leo a look and crosses her arms. "Please ignore the fact that I called you nerdy 'cause I also called you cool."

"Fine. But if you call me ugly-pretty, we're gonna have a problem." Janelle says.

"Oh, you!" Leo says. "With the flip of a switch, I can create a virtual trampoline. Allow me to demonstrate. Bam!" Leo points a device at the ground to form a virtual trampoline and starts bouncing on it. "Wow! I did not think that was gonna work."

"Cool. So...how high can you go?" Janelle asks.

"Let's find out," Leo says. He jumps on the virtual trampoline, but he bounces too high and lands in the arms of a lunch lady. "Uh, would you mind carrying me over to that girl who's walking away in disgust?" The lunch lady shrugs her shoulders and carries Leo, following Janelle.

In the lab, Chase is setting up more tape dividers across the lab when Adam walks in riding a horse. "Look what I found. Who would leave a perfectly good horse in the middle of a field?" Adam says.

"Okay, you and your stolen horse need to get on your side of the lab!" Chase says.

"Ugh, calm down! We tried to take the elevator, but he couldn't press the buttons with his hoof. Poor thing didn't even know what floor we were on." Adam says. "He's not the brightest."

"Is that horse wearing my new leather boots?" I ask.

"Well, I wasn't gonna let him walk across town with bare feet," Adam says. "I mean, he's not an animal."

"All right, that's it! I've had it with you! Come here!" I say, trying to come at Adam, but Chase holds me back.

In Bree's room, she hears someone knocking on the door. "Uh, sorry Tasha. Bree's not here. Thanks for stopping by." Bree says in a deep voice.

"Bree, it's Cassie, and your lame man voice doesn't fool me," I say. Bree opens the door. "I cannot deal with Adam and Chase's bickering anymore. Without you, I'm outnumbered! The three of us have turned on each other. I need you to come back to the lab and help me stop Adam and Chase from tearing the place apart."

"Really?" Bree says. "Hmm. Here's the thing: I can't leave this place. I mean, I just love it up here so much."

"Please, I'm begging you," I say, getting on my knees.

"Well, I guess I could, as long as you promise me full privacy whenever I ask for it," Bree says.

"Yeah! Like that's gonna happen." I scoff, standing up.

"Hm," Bree says, making a face at me.

I make a face at her. "Huh." I start to walk out, but Bree steps in front of me.

"Wait! I have to move back!" Bree says. "I have less privacy now than I did before." She grabs me by the shoulders. "Tasha is a smothering lunatic! She stepped inside of my capsule!" I gasp.

"I know! Boundaries!" Bree says. Adam and Chase walk into the room.

"That horse just ate my giant plastic chili cheese dog, and I'm afraid to see what happens next," Adam says.

"See what I have to deal with?" I say.

"If you give me what I want, I can take care of that for you," Bree says.

"Okay, fine. Privacy whenever you want it." I say.

"Adam, we're all moving back down to the lab. You're gonna get rid of the horse, and things are gonna go back to the way they were." Bree says.

"What? Can you believe how bossy she is?" Adam says.

"I know," Chase says.

"Yeah, she's the worst. We should probably just stick together and do whatever she says." I say.

"Oh, yeah! That'll show her!" Adam says. The three of us leave Bree's room just as Tasha walks in. Bree starts grabbing her things.

"Guess what, Bree: I just read your horoscope, and it says you shouldn't be alone tonight," Tasha says.

"You know, actually, I'm moving back down to the lab. My brothers and sister need me." Bree says.

"Oh, okay. Well, if you change your..." Bree super speeds out of the room. "Mind! I wonder what Leo's up to."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the living room, Mr. Davenport was sitting on the couch when Leo walks in. "Oh, hey, Leo. Remember when you shocked me earlier? Yeah, neither do I, because I pass out when I'm electrocuted." Mr. Davenport says.

"Yeah, well, I took your advice and tried to add a little dose of flash to my nerd, and I ended up in the arms of a lunch lady," Leo says. "Luckily for me, she's also a retired pro wrestler." He tosses the gadget back to Mr. Davenport.

"Leo, let me make it up to you. I...I think I have an idea." Mr. Davenport says, getting up from the couch.

Back at the school, as Janelle was walking in the hallway with her friends, they heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. Leo walks into the school wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. "Leo? What are you doing?" Janelle asks.

"Your ride awaits, m'lady," Leo says. One of the lunch ladies walks up to Leo. "Not you!" Leo extends his hand to Janelle, and she takes it. As the two walk out of the school, the students in the hallway follow them outside.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Leo, this is amazing," Janelle says as she and Leo are flying in the helicopter.

"Amazing...or just another Thursday?" Leo says.

Janelle laughs. "Aren't you a little young to be a pilot?"

"Please! My first diaper was a parachute. I went straight from crying to flying." Leo says.

"You're funny." Janelle laughs.

"Well, if by funny, you mean..."

"Don't kill it," Janelle says.

"Right."

Janelle leans closer to Leo and wraps her arm around his. "Control tower, this is Captain Leo. Thanks for a great flight." Leo says.

"No problem, Leo. Hey, even though I'm controlling this, let's not let your mom know I let you up in a helicopter, okay?" Mr. Davenport says over Leo's comm.

"Copy that," Leo says.

"And if you're gonna get romantic, snap to it. You're almost out of gas." Mr. Davenport says.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, imagine my surprise when the plastic chili dog came out in one piece!" Adam says to Mr. Davenport and Tasha as they stand in the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and grabs a drink.

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Tasha asks Mr. Davenport.

"Nope. I just smile and nod until it's over." Mr. Davenport says. The elevator bell dings and the horse walks out.

"Good boy! You learned to push the buttons!" Adam says. "Now let's get Chase and Cassie in here, and we'll hit every floor. Down, please." The elevator doors close.

"Huh. Nice horse." Mr. Davenport says.