bionic besties 5 | lab rats elite force

The One With the Plot Twist

Previously...
"Zadie," he said softly, trying to reassure her.

"No," she insisted, tears welling up in her eyes. "You're not real. You're dead." Her voice broke.

"No, I'm not."

"Then you're one of them."

"Zadie," he said again, his tone gentle.

She sobbed, shaking her head violently. "No. My dad is dead."

"Honey, Zadie, it's me. I promise you. It's really me."

"Dad?"

"No, you're dead! You died!" Zadie's voice grew louder, her confusion spiraling into anger. "I got the call— the call saying you were dead!" Her fists clenched at her sides. "I got that call! I read the will. I spoke at your funeral. I watched them put you into the ground!"

"Zadie," Wes said softly, his voice steady. He had raised three daughters of his own and two stepdaughters; he was accustomed to handling intense emotions. He placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

Zadie jerked away, her eyes sharp. "Don't touch me. You're not him. You're one of them."

"I'm not," Wes said firmly.

"Then prove it!" Zadie's voice cracked with desperation. "Prove to me that you're my dad—the same one I lost four years ago." Her tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

Wes nodded solemnly. "I know that your favorite color is purple and you drive a white Jeep."

"Anyone could know that," Zadie retorted bluntly.

Wes' voice soft but steady. "I know that you, Delta, and Leo have been best friends since first grade. And that you love to sing so badly when you're getting ready that the dogs would howl." Zadie hesitantly cracked a smile. "I remember how you and your sisters would pull pranks, like the time you put green hair dye in my shampoo."

"Still," She shrugged, not wanting to give in and get her hopes up.

"I know what I wrote in my will to Chase."

Zadie stared at him, her expression ridden with disbelief.

"I know that I used the term 'lovey-dovey' in my will," Wes said with a scoff. "And that I gave Chase an engagement ring to give to you."

"How would you know that?" Zadie's voice trembled with a mix of skepticism and hope.

"It's me, Zadie," Wes said gently, his eyes truthful.

"It's you?" Zadie asked, her voice cracking.

Without another word, Zadie tightly embraced him, her emotions flooding back. She thought about the heartache she had felt when she received the call with the devastating news. She remembered how her world had shattered, and she had wished she could share all the good things that had happened with him.

Her heart ached for the moments she had wanted to tell him about - all the fights she'd won, getting into college, finding the ring. And all the little things too. What she'd had for lunch, where she and Chase had gone shopping, what she'd bought.

She had wanted to cry to him about her breakup with Chase, desperately needing his comfort and advice. As she clung to him, she felt a profound relief mingled with the lingering pain of her loss, her body trembling with the weight of her emotions.

"I don't get it. You were gone," Zadie's voice cracked with a mix of confusion and hurt.

"I know you're confused," Wes said firmly, pulling away from his daughter's embrace, "But we need to focus on getting out of here. I don't know exactly what they're planning, but it's big. They're starting here, then moving on to the academy, and even Mission Creek. They'll destroy everything if we don't stop them."