Chain Reaction Generation Three Summary: Chapters 1-10

The following is the beginning of the summaries for generation three of Chain Reaction. If you are indeed a summary person, I recommend that you begin with the first summary of generation one because I will not take the time to explain things that have already happened. :)

For those of you who have already read some summaries, thank you for your continued interest! However, these summaries for generation 3 will be a little more in depth than the previous generations because I simply feel I need to add more detail than before. That being, I have broken them down into tens instead of twenty-fives so that if, like me, you have crappy internet speed, your screen loading will be faster. That all said, I still believe it's much faster than reading the chapters themselves... but don't say I didn't warn you that you might've missed something. :)

Generation three heir: Charlotte. The boy in the foreground is Jarvis Watanabe, a boy she runs into who has an obsession with finding collectibles and things. Charlotte offers to help, and he gets annoyed by it. After all, he'll be a teen soon, and he doesn't want some little kid tagging along behind him. He tells her about the store he wants to open, and when he jokingly calls it "Jarvis' House of Treasured Junk," she giggles. That giggle changes everything.

And Charlotte can feel it. Literally. She's a natural empath; it's something she's just been able to always do, feeling the emotions of those around her without trying to. (She'd make a cool vampire, but I don't go there :P .)

Jarvis wants the help but is hiding something, and Charlotte, or Lottie as he calls her, can't figure out what it is. Well, true to form on all these summaries, I'll tell you: Jarvis has run away. He wants to sell the goods he finds at the flea market until he can open his own store, and he needs the money to, well, survive.
Why did he run away? He despises his step-father, who is none other than Malcolm Landgraab. Yep. The very dude who killed Charlotte's mother.
Charlotte still wants to help, so he agrees.

Charlotte has another friend named Tommy Keenan. (son of Branden Keenan and Kelsie, who were friends with Ethan) The very second Tommy sees Jarvis with her (that's Jarvis in the background running up), he gets jealous...

...and sneaks a kiss. (rather convenient head turn) Charlotte is shocked.

Tommy quickly shows a rather ruthless side of himself. He's always sorta liked Charlotte, and it took Jarvis running up the way he did for him to outwardly act on it. While Charlotte is still trying to figure out if he did, in fact, kiss her, he tells her who Jarvis really is: Pearl Landgraab's older brother. Charlotte hates Pearl, along with obviously hating Malcolm Landgraab, her father.

"His dad killed your mom!" Tommy so 'nicely' points out. Jarvis had no idea Lottie was the daughter of someone his step-father killed, but he's sure to quickly get across how he hates the man and how he doesn't accept any support from him, financial or otherwise.

But the damage has been done.

The next day, Charlotte realizes she wants to talk to Jarvis--to let him know she understands that he also hates his step-father. She doesn't want to go near the Landgraab house, so she decides to go out looking for him, knowing he's always out somewhere looking for collectibles. She chooses to start her search where the drama happened the day before.

But instead, she finds Pearl here, also looking for him. This is when Charlotte learns that Jarvis has run away. Pearl is mad that she's being forced to help try and find him, obviously not caring one way or the other whether or not she does. For the meantime, Charlotte ignores her hatred of the other girl to get information, which she doesn't get.

So Charlotte has to make her own conclusions: Jarvis ran away, and that's why he's so preoccupied with money. Now, she really has to find him.

Eventually, she does, but...

He ages up right before her eyes, looking quite proud of himself. It's getting late, and she startles him when she walks up.

She's devastated that he aged up, thinking that means they can't be friends anymore, but Jarvis thinks she's still on about the fact that he's almost technically a Landgraab. He goes into a sputtering explanation that he and his mother were starving when Malcolm put out the word that he wanted to hire a surrogate mother (whom Malcolm eventually fell in love with). Charlotte blurts out sadly how he's a teenager, and he finally gets the message that that's what she's crying about.

Jarvis tells her that there's still the same kid inside him even though the game makes the age-up look so drastic. He even proves it to her that he doesn't care that he now has her snot and boogers on his new shirt since she was pretty much using it like a tissue. She tells him he's too big. Then they argue back and forth like a couple of kids for a moment before he points out he's 13 and she's 9. Big deal.

They sit and talk while she hears the story about why he ran away. She's sad they can't be friends anymore, and he says that's stupid. They have another kid-like argument before he says that just because he's a teen doesn't mean that they can't be friends and anyone who thinks otherwise is lame, a very teen word in Charlotte's mind. So she agrees to be his assistant, and she warns him they're looking for him.

He realizes he's not the only one who's probably being looked for as it is now dark. Another thing that happens is she finally figures out why he keeps calling her Lottie. She'd never known that was a nickname for Charlotte. (her family would call her cha-wet, mimicking Mikey's baby talk) They tease each other back and forth with Jarvis threatening to pick her up if she doesn't pick up her pace as he takes he back home.

Then, we switch gears to Drake:

He's married to Violet, as a reminder, and she's pregnant. And she's not 'satisfying' Drake enough.

And she tries to kill him. Poison. He can't prove it, but he knew it had to have been her. He spends 3 weeks in the hospital, during which time both Alex and Laura visit him with Alex acting like he wants to reconcile. Drake assumes that Alex assumes that he's going to die, so he tells him to plum off.
When Drake returns home, he notices he has a new butler, and he's suspicious it was hired by Uncle Donovan. He decides he's perfectly capable of hiring his own staff, so he does. He hires a cook, who will later double as a nanny when the baby is born.

She's... hot, and Drake (who suddenly grows body hair out of nowhere!) is rather frustrated. Plus, her foreign accent turns him on. (I hated writing that accent. I just hate writing accents in anything but my own, southeastern US or "southern," because I feel I should only write what I'm absolutely sure of. That's just me, and I don't hold it against anyone else who's brave enough to try. Well... unless they screw up mine, but that's a whole 'nutha ball a wax, dahlin'.)

Alex is mad at Violet, and he's frustrated how he wants the cook/nanny, who is asking him what to fix for dinner. After replying, "Whatever doesn't upset that woman's stomach," he punches the bag extra hard, hurting his hand. Melody (the cook/nanny) asks about it, but Drake makes up a lie and escapes to take a shower.

Later, he goes to the basement spa to relax.

And she, finished with her other duties, finds him and decides to massage his hand. As she does, Drake gets out of her that she's in Eden hiding from a dangerous ex-boyfriend. He mentions how she's just trusting him with this information, but she claims he doesn't have much. But he has plenty because now he can do searches to see where she really comes from. (Why he didn't do that before, I don't know. I wrote this so long ago now that I can barely remember!) Well, everything he said scares her, so she quickly tells him she's finished with his hand.

But then he plays Mr. Pitiful and complains the other one is hurting.

So she does, and Drake keeps playfully pulling his hand closer to him, making her have to step closer. She complains, and he more-boldly flirts with her. She quits again. He stands up and asks her to stop from walking away.

He complains about how lonely he is with Violet not giving him the time of day anymore and how Melody is the only bright spot in his day. He explains his marriage is a loveless one, it being arranged and all. He tells her she even stars in his dreams. She's speechless and tells him so. So he keeps going and tells her she's safe here, that no one is going to hurt her. She comments that his eyes are dangerous--because they're beautiful.

Yeah that's all it took. He'd started planning to work up to this, but his need was greater than his plan. She melts into it, wanting it just as much as he.

They woohoo in the sauna where, as he puts it, "she rides me like she's breaking a rogue stallion."

Graham ages up.

Brielle gets an older look.

And Isabella ages up. Look familiar? She may as well be a Brielle clone!

Graham narrowly avoids having a heart attack when he sees her. Good thing It's Isabella that's the clone and not Emily or he would never believe that Alex was interested in Emily for Emily's sake. She looks exactly like her mother the night Graham met Brielle, and he tells Isabella that.

So he immediately wants to do the "we need to talk... about high school boys" talk. Isabella's like "ew!"

Graham can't relax, and Isabella teases him that 4 different boys asked for her phone number in the first 20 minutes of school. Brielle makes her admit she's joking, which she is.

Back to Charlotte:

She and Tommy still play together, but Tommy gets aggravated any time she sees a collectible thing pop up because he knows she's only going over to it for him (Jarvis). He accuses her of acting like a trained dog. Charlotte can't tell him the reason is because she wants to help Jarvis because Jarvis is still living like a runaway. He'd gone and visited his mom to let her know he was okay, and she called off the search. Charlotte also brings Jarvis food, which he always says he doesn't need yet eats every crumb.

Tommy stalls her by asking her to look at clouds with him.

They talk about stuff, and then she feels him suddenly get nervous. She can't figure out why until he asks her to be his girlfriend. She doesn't see why they have to be boyfriend and girlfriend because they're ten. Sure, other kids in their class parade around that they're couples, but they never really do anything. She doesn't see the point. She insists that she doesn't want a boyfriend, that Tommy is her friend, and she wants to leave it at that.

He gets really, really upset but doesn't show it, even though she can feel it. She tells him he's her best friend. That doesn't help.

They stand up and kid around, and he tells her he can't have a girl as a best friend, that that's why he wanted to be her boyfriend. She tells him he's nuts to think that. Then she wonders if Jarvis thinks he's her best friend.

Back to Drake:

Melody, now acting as cook and mistress, gets bolder. Drake warns her they need to be discreet. Melody wants Drake to divorce Violet and marry her. He doesn't want to; that was never his intention. He tells her that he doesn't want to upset Violet while she's pregnant.

He can't stand Violet, but he wants that baby. It's a boy, and the heir to the Goth name. Drake may hate his father, but he has a high respect for the line of succession.

Violet goes into preterm labor, but they stop it. Violet has to stay in the hospital so they can hurry along the production of the fetus' lungs. Drake, and especially Melody, don't mind.

There's a funny little story in this chapter where 'the maker' (me) hijacks it to describe the ridiculous occurrences of the delivery.

The Goth heir, even though this isn't a Goth legacy. >.> It isn't! <.< Really!
Drake's a dad. Welcome to the world, Valentino Goth.

(I named him Valentino in honor of a Valentine Goth in Sterritjeee's legacy that I really liked. It's a good name for a Goth, imho.)

Drake gets out his phone to tell Emily to tell his dad he's a grandfather. She wonders why she doesn't just tell him himself. He says he'd rather tell her. She's like 'why? so you can tell me I'm technically a grandmother?' He replies that she knows he'd rather she be the mother. Then he tops it off with telling her he still loves her. Always. They text/argue back and forth before Alex takes the phone from Emily and definitively stops that line of conversation, giving a cease and desist order on all further wishfully-romantic overtures.

Drake calls the phone.

He and Alex have a heart-to-heart (yeah right) where Drake tries to piss his father off. Eventually, he comments that it'll be such a shame when Alex gets too old to be able to properly perform in the bedroom. Alex laughs at him and says that day will never come because there is certainly more than one way to please a woman and that Emily rather enjoys his advanced talent in the bedroom. "She's really rather vocal. Did you know? Funny, but I don't remember hearing anything when the two of you were together, and she can certainly be loud enough." (Emily has left the room at that point.) This pisses Drake off, leaving him with only a "we'll see" as a rebuff. Then he hangs up.

Later, Uncle Donovan comes by to meet the baby, and he also brings news that Drake is losing business to Malcolm Landgraab. Drake wonders if a former-cop-turned-PI can help him.

To whom do I refer? Ethan!

Ethan has started his own private PI firm, with help from his bro-in-law Alex. Ethan finally solved the missing Jules Parikh case, but it's not satisfying at all because it won't bring his Claire back.

"Alex" (me) takes a Windenburg café and adds a second story to it to make Ethan's office.
As Ethan describes the place in a narrator fashion, the pics depict Drake walking up the stairs and to his office...

...as Ethan also comments how he doesn't get much foot traffic, people preferring to contact him via email and/or his website. He mostly does cheating spouse discovery kind of stuff, even featured on a TV show that deals with it. (and I have been a background extra on several times--the irl version)

Ethan is naturally suspicious. Drake informs him they now have a mutual foe in Malcolm Landgraab. Drake wants to make sure that if he hires Ethan that he will remain quiet about Drake's own illicit activities. Ethan assures him he has no love for the police anymore, and Drake reveals that not only is he continuing his step-father's (Kenneth) grocery supply business but is also gotten into arms dealing. Malcolm is undercutting him with cheaper product.

Ethan is intrigued by the prospect of catching Malcolm in this, but he warns Drake that he could get caught in a full-scale investigation. Drake assures him there is no paper trail at all, but he'd prefer that it not come to that. He recommends that Ethan try to find other activities to nail Landgraab on. Ethan tells him that's his obsession, but he can't find the missing link. Drake thinks he can help with this. He can pay someone off to get the information, and Ethan can be the 'whistle-blower' to turn Malcolm in.

So Ethan makes what he calls a deal with the Devil.

Drake takes better control of his life, including his wife. Violet discovers he and Melody together but shrugs and says she's been sleeping with the butler since the baby was born. Drake laughs and orders the butler in before telling him to woohoo Melody right then and there. The butler does while Drake pins Violet in his arms, forcing her to watch. She's crushed, and Drake Goth is king of the castle again.

But later Violet visits him in his office...

...and pulls a gun on him. Drake isn't too concerned. While Violet had been in the hospital, he had certain "precautions" put into place for just such a scenario. After they discuss things for a while, he pushes a button at his desk, and a poison dart flies to Violet where she sits in the chair.

After trying to get at him, she eventually succumbs to the poison, claiming her uncle will kill him. But Drake assures her he's thought of everything.

He's paid off Donovan's bodyguard, and within moments, Donovan joins his niece in the afterlife. Then Drake decides it's time to disappear, and he takes Valentino to stay with Laura for a while. Drake is going out of town. Way out of town [future link].

Then, a week later, the planned attack on Malcolm Landgraab is about to begin...

At first, Ethan had been worried Drake was setting him up for a trap, but he finds that Drake spoke true when he said that Malcolm doesn't send a lackey to do his deals for him. And Malcolm is meeting with an agent from SIMS.

Ethan's old partner Finn and my standard-issue cop extra meet him. Finn is not Ethan's biggest fan since he stood up to the chief for him. After Ethan got fired, the chief retired, and Finn got passed over for the promotion. He only agreed to provide backup for Ethan to make sure he didn't do anything stupid or illegal or both.

The agent's bodyguard goes to draw a weapon, and Finn immediately neutralizes him. Ethan goes for Landgraab, and the rookie goes for the agent, which at first worries Ethan until he discovers the agent sucks at the more militaristic aspect of the agency.
And Ethan kicks Malcolm for what he's done to his family. Malcolm taunts him, and Ethan replies how he'd love to spill the rat's blood all over the stones but that he's not worth jail, especially since, thanks to him, his children only have one parent.
Finn takes Malcolm from him, and the three crooks get taken in. Malcolm is charged every bit as heavily as the double-crossing agent, and he's placed in a high-security prison, where Ethan hopes he remains for a good, long while.

But... does he?

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